Author's Note: This story started off in my head as a happy-go-lucky high school AU, but it morphed into something dark and twisted. And I love it. I should have another chapter posted by the end of next week, so stay tuned!
Also, this fic deals with some pretty touchy topics (Child abuse, child abandonment, drug use, and Levi Ackerman among other things). So, if that bothers you, then don't read it.
The droning blare of an alarm clock dragged Levi Ackerman out of a deep slumber. He blindly reached his right hand over and hit the snooze button once, twice, three times before the damn thing finally shut up.
For the first time in ages everyone had slept peacefully through the night, he realized. Nobody woke up unexpectedly to screams of terror echoing off the walls. There were no half-choked sobs coming from the room at the end of the hall. In fact, the only sounds that could be heard were the slight snoring from the room to the right of his and the soft piano music coming from the stereo on the desk across the room. It was a miracle to say the least, and one that he was very thankful for.
He laid there for a few minutes doing nothing but simply thinking. Thinking about the events that had led to him raising two children instead of one. He had no obligation to Eren, and yet he felt responsible for him anyways. Mikasa was his flesh and blood, whether he wanted her in the first place or not, but Eren was nothing to him. Should have been nothing to him. But there he was, living with the literal green-eyed monster under his roof.
The alarm started blaring again in his ears again, breaking his train of thought. He had the sudden urge to just throw the object across the room in the hope that it would break. But that would mean having to buy a new one, and with two teenagers to look after and a shitty job of watching even more teenagers, he didn't have the spare change to buy a damn alarm clock. He reached his arm over once more and hit the off button, silencing it until tomorrow morning. He resisted the urge to just shove his head under his pillow and sleep for the rest of the day because that's not what responsible adults did.
With a groan, he pushed the warmth of the blankets off of his body and stepped into the cold morning air. He quickly made his way into the bathroom that was connected to the master bedroom and turned the knob labeled 'heat' up to full blast. As an afterthought he turned the cold on just a bit to keep the water from burning his skin. He shucked off his boxers and t-shirt before practically diving into the scalding spray of the shower. By the time he was finished and dressed for work, he could hear Mikasa and Eren in the kitchen.
"It's too fucking early for anyone to function." Eren grumbled moodily, not noticing Levi standing behind him.
"Watch your mouth, brat." He said as he walked by Mikasa, pressing a quick 'good-morning' kiss to her forehead.
"It's your damn fault." Eren said as he pulled his brown hoodie up over his head. He banged his head on the table and Levi snorted, but didn't comment any further. He knew it was true. The language he used on a daily basis could make a sailor blush with shame. He poured himself a cup of coffee sat down at the table where the morning paper was already waiting for him. He let his eyes scan over the pages quickly while being careful not to spill any of his precious caffeine on his white button down shirt. He sipped the drink in silence until Mikasa placed a plate of pancakes and sausage in front of him.
"Thank you, Mikasa." He said as he folded the paper and set it to the side. Sitting across from him, Eren was only picking at his food. Levi frowned as he took a bite of the warm blueberry pancakes. "What's wrong, brat?"
"Don't wanna go." Eren said as he took a swig of orange juice.
"Too bad. You don't have a choice." Levi quipped, eating another bite of pancakes. "I took my personal time to make sure you studied your ass off this summer so you could catch up with all the classes you missed and could actually be in the grade you're supposed to be in. I'm not letting that go to waste."
Eren was silent, but at least finished his breakfast, which was a good sign. The boy excused himself from the table and left the room after putting his dirty dishes in the sink. As soon as he was sure that Eren was out of earshot, Levi leaned forward and put his head in his hands.
"What the hell am I doing?" He muttered to himself. Mikasa cleared her throat, causing him to look at her.
"That's a dollar to the swear jar." She said, deadpan. Levi stared back with an equally expressionless face.
"It's my house. I pay the bills. The swear jar doesn't exist for me."
The rest of the morning at the Ackerman house was routine and uneventful. Levi had another cup of coffee, finished reading the paper, and made sure the three of them were on schedule and out of the house by seven. The three of them piled into Levi's black SUV and took the short drive to Trost High School. By the time the car pulled to a halt in the teacher's parking lot, the air in the car was tense with silence. Mikasa grabbed her bag and was out of the car with a quick 'see you later, dad!' before anyone could say anything to stop her. Levi rolled his eyes at her, but then turned around to face Eren with a serious face. He sat in the back seat nervously fiddling with a zipper on his backpack. He didn't look up as Levi began to speak.
"Eren, I know you're not happy. I know you don't want to be here, but you worked so damn hard this summer for this. You deserve a chance at a normal life, and I'm not letting you fucking pass that up." He paused for a moment, studying how Eren tensed up, but then plowed on ahead anyways. "If anything goes wrong today, and I mean anything, you come to me or Erwin. You know where our classrooms are. If you start to feel a panic attack coming on, if you start to think you can't handle it, then you come straight to one of us. Whichever is closest. But if I think that you're faking just so you can go home, you can bet your ass there'll be consequences."
"Deal." Eren sighed. He fidgeted in his seat but looked up and made eye contact. "You and Erwin have done so much for me already but I don't want to be a bur-"
"Not another word." Levi said quickly, effectively cutting him off. "I may be a grade A asshole, but I'm not heartless. I wasn't going to let you get passed around in foster care when I know firsthand how shitty the system is. I'm an adult. I don't need or want thanks for what I did. What I want is for you to get better and I know it's going to take time. A lot more time than a year and a half, but going to school is a step in the right direction. So grab your bag and get out of the car and go see Armin. He looks like he's going to explode if you don't go see him soon."
Eren looked out the window to see Armin rocking back and forth on his heels and let out a short laugh. He hoisted his backpack onto his shoulder and got out of the car and made his way over to where Armin and a small group of people were standing. None of the faces were familiar to Eren except the blonde girl, Annie, standing next to Armin. He remembered seeing her a few times over the summer, which wasn't surprising since she was his best friend's girlfriend.
The rest of the group was unfamiliar to him. Probably because the only Freshman in the circle were himself and Mikasa. Armin was a year above the pair despite being the same age. Back in middle school they had pushed him forward a grade, and even though he was only a sophomore now he was taking all advanced classes. It didn't surprise Eren at all because Armin was the smartest person he knew.
"Aren't you going to introduce everyone?" Asked a guy with a face that Eren thought looked quite equine.
"You guys are all nearly adults. You don't need me to introduce you. So get to it." Amin replied. There was a collective eye-roll at Armin, who turned a bit red in the face.
"Jean Kirschtein." Horseface said, holding a hand out towards Eren and Mikasa. Mikasa reached out a hand and shook it with a firm grip.
"Mikasa Ackerman." She replied. A guy with muscles the size of a mountain gave her a confused look.
"Ackerman…. Any relation to Mr. Ackerman, the Lit teacher here?" He asked. Mikasa just laughed.
"That would be my dad." She explained.
"Oh God, I feel so sorry for you. How do you put up with him 24/7? Just having to sit an hour through his class is torture!"
"I've never had a problem with him." Mikasa shrugged. "But then again, I've never had to see his teacher side, so who knows?"
A few laughs went around and then the introductions continued and names were exchanged. When Mikasa snapped her fingers in front of Eren's face he realized that he had spaced out and was probably the only one who hadn't told the group his name.
"Eren Jaeger." He said quickly, noticing the strange looks he received.
"You'll have to excuse my brother, guys. He's dumb as a brick." Mikasa joked lightly, elbowing him in the ribs. Eren elbowed her back with equal force and turned on his heel to walk away.
"If you're going to be insulting I can just leave." He said, throwing his arms into the air. She rolled her eyes and grabbed his shoulder, turning him back around.
"You don't look like siblings. You don't even have the same last name." Jean pointed out. The rest of the group were sporting confused looks. Eren froze. Beside him, Armin tensed visibly. Mikasa's hand on his shoulder tightened slightly and she gave him a concerned look out of the corner of her eye.
"I'm adopted." Eren supplied simply. Jean probably hadn't meant anything by his comment, and there's no way he could have known the exact circumstances behind Eren's adoption. The subject was dropped almost as quickly as it was brought up. Conversation moved smoothly after that and Eren found himself actually enjoying their company by the time the bell rang, signaling that it was time to go to first period. Eren pulled the straps on his backpack tight around his shoulders and thanked his guardian angel that Mikasa was in his first class, though he wasn't particularly happy that it was math.
The rest of the day moved quickly, and when lunch rolled around he was feeling much more at ease than he had been earlier that morning. By theend of the day he was actually looking forward to his next day at school. The incident that morning had been all but forgotten. The only thought on his mind was how sore his hand was going to be after filling out and signing all of the forms from the student handbook. Before he left the building he made sure to stop by room 104.
He poked his head in to see Levi sitting behind his desk looking down at some papers. His expression made it seem like he wanted to commit mass homicide. He chuckled quietly, causing the man to look up from his work.
"Mikasa and I are gonna shove our bags in your car and then walk home, okay?"
Levi simply made a grunting noise and then looked back at the papers. Eren resisted the urge to outright laugh at the man, but snorted as he walked down the hallway to the exit to meet Mikasa. The walk home was only twenty minutes if they took their time, though much less leisurely when they had twenty pounds worth of textbooks and papers on their backs. The pair left their bags in the car, then made sure it was locked before walking home.
By the time Levi got home, Eren had dozed off on the couch while watching some documentary on Discovery Channel, and Mikasa had been playing video games in her room for about an hour with no signs of stopping. Levi called the two to the kitchen, where three large pizzas were waiting for them.
"Pepperoni or cheese?" Levi asked as he passed out paper plates.
"I'm a teenage boy, Levi. I don't care as long as it's food." Eren said as he grabbed the pizza on top, which turned out to be pepperoni. He took three slices and piled them on the plate, while Mikasa grabbed two slices of the plain cheese, and Levi grabbed one of each. The trio ate their pizza with very little conversation, and when they were all satisfied they made their way to the living room to start filling out the paperwork from school.
"That looks just like Jean Kirschtein." Eren joked as he saw the horse on the screen of the television. Mikasa frowned.
"Eren, for the last time, Jean does not look like a horse!"
"No. Eren's right." Levi said seriously.
After five minutes of arguing over the quality of Jean Kirschtein's face, Mikasa gave up on convincing them of anything. Two hours and five paper cuts (three of these were Eren's) later, they decided that they'd made a big enough dent in the paperwork and anything else could wait until they all had some sleep. Most of it wasn't even due until the end of the week anyways, and it was only Monday. They said their goodnights and trailed off to their respective rooms in what they assumed would be another night of uninterrupted sleep.
They were wrong.