Zìyóu cāntīng zhī yì

by Diaglassheart

Rated T for now, but may go to M later on Eren is a nervous 19 year old, recently returned from a 2 year trip to Germany, who has been forced into working at a restaurant with all his old classmates by his cousin, Hanji. Here he meets Levi, a cold hearted man with a lot of secrets... Ereri

Hi guys!

Umm… so, despite it being my OTP, this is my first Ereri fanfic. I have never written Yaoi before, and I've only been writing fanfiction for the past 5 months, soo…. Yeah, any tips on how to write this kind of stuff would be greatly appreciated.

If anyone is OOC, please let me know. If you guys have any ideas, I am always open to suggestions

I don't own Shingeki no Kyojin, unfortunately, but I do own the plotline, Zìyóu cāntīng zhī yì and my OC's

Eren POV

It has been confirmed, ladies and gentlemen, I, Eren Jaeger am the No.1 Screw-Up of the world. Make way, commoners, World-class f*cktard coming through. Step aside geniuses, His Highness the King of the Twits has arrived in all his moronic glory. With an army of Simpletons behind him, Lord Eren of the Imbeciles can make even that idiotic loser Jean McHorseface look like an intelligent and cunning brainiac. Yup, I'm actually that thick. It may have seemed impossible, but Lord Eren has actually got an IQ lower than a block of wood. You want proof? Well, his majesty, Prince Low-Class, so-broke-that-he's-indept-to-the-people-living-on-benefits-street has turned up for a job interview at the most famous restaurant in all the world, Zìyóu cāntīng zhī yì. Yes I f*cking have. And I am out if my f*cking mind. This place is well-known all over the globe. People travel from every corner of Earth to eat at this place, flying in from even the most prehistoric countries. And I have decided to just walk (because I can't afford a car) into the back courtyard, my hair still damp from the shower I took earlier, in an old sweater, scruffy converse, a beanie, and my dirty jeans that I wore mountain-climbing yesterday, 7 minutes late to meet my cousin. Well done Eren.

I gulp nervously, staring up at the colossal building with apprehensive teal-&-gold eyes. A shiver runs down my spine, chilling me to the bones. The Arctic air around me bites at my face, and nips at the exposed bits of flesh peeking through my frayed, fingerless gloves. I can't believe my stupidity at listening to my cousin and agreeing to work here with her. What the f*ck was I been thinking?! I am going to screw up a billion times and get fired within my first sixty seconds of working in such a fancy and prestigious place like this. That is, if I even get the job in the first place. The owner will probably take one look at me, and kick my ass right back out of the door again. But would it be worse if they do give me the job? I'll probably make food so indigestible that even a goat won't be able to stomach it. Anything I cook will probably be better off used on a building site to create an indestructible fortress. I'll probably set the whole building on fire too, and the whole of Shiganshina as well. Sh*t, this is gonna go bad. I can feel my anxiety levels rising at the very thought of even placing my unworthy, worn-down converse on the sparkling, glassy floors of the 5-star food-temple. Oh crap. To top off this whole nauseating experience, I forgot to take my medicine this morning. Eren, you sh*thead. You actually want to die, don't you.

That's it. I can't take this anymore. Just thinking about working in this restaurant is putting too much pressure on me. I have to remain stress-free at all times, and a job here will just ensure my tragic demise. I'll probably blow up from all the weight of the job, and leave a massive crater where Shiganshina used to be. Actually, the explosion would probably be so big, that I'll take out the neighbouring district Quinta as well. My death would be more destructive than the nuclear button. Yup, I'm officially out of here. I'm turning around, and escaping back to my dirty, bomb-zone dump of an apartment. Yes. They will never even know I was here. I grin to myself, and turn quickly on my heel, speed-walking my low-class ass out of the world-famous grounds of Zìyóu cāntīng zhī yì. Uh huh, this is definitely the best choice. I'm just a lowly peasant, and this restaurant is so high-class that even it's name is superior to me. What the hell does Zìyóu cāntīng zhī yì even mean?! Is that even Hajime? Probably not, actually.

I all but run towards the tall iron gates that lead out into the cobbled streets of Old-Maria, and my freedom. I am so close to the exit, I can practically taste the escape. The only sounds I can hear is my blood roaring in my ears, my heart pounding in my mouth, and my feet slapping against the cobblestones of the backyard. I quickly close the distance between me and the deserted street, and smile victoriously as I grow ever closer to the exit. Just a few more meters to go, and I will be released back into the safety of the dark, cramped alleyways of the ancient half of the city, that serves as a home to infamous gangs like the Titans. Well, I guess you can't really count it as safety, but at least I'll be away from here. My dampened eyes lighting up with a confident determination, I reach out a gloved hand towards the metal, my fingertips almost brushing the bars. Then the illusion breaks, shattered by a loud voice exploding behind me, successfully bursting my eardrums and stealing all hope of my breakout with one word.

"EREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!" I hear my cousin squeal, excitement obvious in her voice, and the sound of feet hitting the stone courtyard behind me reach my sensitive ears. My heart stops, and the world feels like it's going in slow motion as I turn my head to the side, my eyes widening in horror and face contorting in fear as the terrifying picture of my four-eyed freak of a relative launching herself at me, insane smile etched onto her face, arms wide, burns itself into my dysfunctional brain, and I realise that it's too late to move to the side and avoid my upcoming doom. Nanoseconds after this blood-freezing image registers in my mind, strong arms wrap around my neck, cutting of my airway and dragging me down towards the skull-splitting surface of the hard, cold ground. In a split-second moment of epicness, I push my right foot out backwards, stabilising my body. I thank heaven for my lightning-fast reflexes, and focus on trying to stop myself passing out from oxygen loss. I can feel my face turning blue as my poor blood cells cry out for the precious, life-saving gas that my cousins muscled arms are depriving me of. Minutes tick by, and the screaming of my body grows louder and louder in my ears. My eyes begin to pop, and dots fill my vision, as I feel my legs become weak and jelly-like. Only years of training myself to hold my breath for 5 minutes or longer, to prevent death-by-constriction is saving me now as the seconds tick dangerously closer to 4 minutes. Finally, my cousin releases her stranglehold, and staggers away from me, grinning madly.

"You came, you came!" She yells excitedly, jumping around in circles while I lean against the stone walls, desperately dragging air down into my lungs. That was a close call. Whilst trying to return my heart rate to normal, I looked up at my friend. Her crazy smile lights up her whole face, and happiness radiates from her. I internally wince. Damn, I kinda almost feel bad for trying to leave now. But I'm useless, I won't be able to get the job done! I have to tell her… but I can't seem to open my mouth. The words won't come. Seeing the smile on her face makes me think… will it really turn out so bad? I mean, it can't hurt to try, can it? Well, if you're me, it sometimes can. If I just try… no, it won't work. Or will it? I can't tell the future… and f*ck, she just seems so happy… Damn you Hanji.

"Come on in, the Captain says she'll see you in 30 minutes. Until then, I'll show you around and introduce you to everyone else." She grabs my arm, and literally drags me across the ground. I sigh, and give in. There is no point in fighting with Hanji, she will always win. Just let her do her stuff, and get on with life. We reach the end of the employee's court, and she climbs up several concrete slabs that serve as steps up to an oak wood door. She slams it open with enough force to rip it out of the stone, but shockingly, it just smashes of the wall, creating a loud 'BANG!' as she stands dramatically in the entry. "He's here, people!" All heads turn in our direction, eyes boring into me, making me flinch under the weight of all the stares. A wide variety of emotions rest in their eyes; boredom, curiosity, frustration, warmth, the occasional anger, and more that I can't read. I can hear an alarm bell ringing in my brain, yelling at me to get out of the spotlight before I start to panic. I tug lightly at Hanji's shirt, trying to remind her about my anxiety. Luckily, it works, and after a couple of seconds of her confused state joining the mix of other gazes, she realised what I'm trying to get across with my frantic pulling.

"Oh, right!" She exclaims in her usual ditzy manner. She grabs my hand and pulls me through the kitchen, leading me through the tight, twisting gaps between people and surfaces. It's hard for me to keep up with her speed, and several times I stumble, regaining my balance at the last second. Well, most of the time. "EREN, LOOK OUT!" My cousins shout reaches my ears a second too late, and my foot collides painfully with the metal pan. I fall in what feels like slow motion towards the wooden door, my toes trapped in place by the weight of the pot, when someone grabs the back of my shirt, yanking me upright and almost strangling me. "Gah!" I choke on air, flailing my arms madly in front of me until I am standing straight. "Eren, are you hurt?" Rubbing my neck where the fabric cut into me, I turn around to try and see who my saviour is.

"Mikasa?" I stare in shock at my childhood friend. What the hell is she doing here? I haven't seen her in two years. Her silky black hair is longer than I remember, and she's grown several inches, now making her the same height as me. I can still see the frayed red scarf that I gave her when we were 9 wrapped around her neck under her uniform."What-?" my sentence is cut off when she wraps her arms around my middle in a bone crushing hug to rival that of Hanji's, which is even more confusing because the Mikasa I knew would never ever willingly hug someone. "Gah! Mi…...kas…...can...t…..brea…." I choke out. I can feel her reluctance as she loosens her grip, allowing me to pull away from her. She runs her emotionless black eyes, the ones I am so familiar with I can read, up and down me. Barely anyone else would be able to detect the hint of worry in the depths of her orbs, but knowing her like I do means being able to see feeling in what would be emotionless voids in the eyes of others. "Eren. I missed you so much, I thought you would die without me." I roll my eyes at her statement, childhood memories of her strange overprotectiveness flooding back to me. "I'm not a little kid anymore, Mikasa, I can take care of myself. Besides, I had mom with me." She frowns, unconvinced. "You are impulsive and hot headed. I doubt anyone but I can calm you down and save your ass when you're in one of your reckless rages." I can already feel a sense of foreign normality settling over me. It's been so long since one of our daily fights. "Yeah, whatever. What are you doing here anyway?" She gives me an unimpressed look. "I would have thought that was obvious. I work here, Eren." Oh. "Eren, come on, we gotta go, we gotta go!" An excitable voice cuts through the conversation. I had completely forgotten about Hanji, bouncing impatiently on her heels next to me. "There will be time for catching up later, but we only have 17 minutes before we go and see the Captain, and knowing you, ya little klutz, there will undoubtedly be more accidents like this." I scowl at the taller woman, but deep down know she's right. It's inevitable at the speed she's taking me. "Later Mikasa!" she continues to pull me through the twisting pathways, leaving Mikasa behind us.

Several minutes later, we reach a part of the colossal kitchen currently in use. Going at top speed through this area is dangerous enough for a normal person, but with me being a klutz and Hanji being an overly-energetic freak, it's pretty much a death sentence. "OUTTA MY WAY!" Too late, my heterochromia eyes register a sandy flash, as a sack of potatoes smashes into me, knocking me and the person carrying it to the floor. In a rush of colour, I am soon lying on my back, a brown-haired girl sprawled on top of me. I groan in pain; the floor is hard as she's heavier than she looks. Apparently, she's more resistant too. Almost instantly, she's back on her feet, glaring down at me. "What do you think you're doing, eh?! I wa-" her voice suddenly cuts off in a sharp intake of breath. Tears spring to the girl's hazel eyes as she surveys the chaos around us. The massive sack of potatoes lies empty on the floor, as the large vegetables lie spilled around us. She drops to her knees, and picks up one of the bruised roots with horrified eyes, shaking her head in denial, before clutching it to her heart and letting out a devastated howl of grief and agony. I finally recognise her; Sasha 'Potato Girl' Braus, a close friend from high school, who was caught eating potatoes on our first day by Shadis. Before I can regain my voice, I hear the pounding of feet, and see another familiar face come skidding four the corner. "Sasha!" Connie Springer, Sasha's best friend and food partner. Noticing the horror of the potato-massacre, he drops down besides the brunette, and wraps a comforting arm around her. "They were all so young! Barely out of the ground! And now all of them, ALL OF THEM, are gone, unusable!" She continued crying over the potatoes as the bald boy turned to me angrily. "Hey you! Is this your faul-" he stops mid sentence, green eyes widening in horror. "IT'S EREN'S GHOST!" He screams loudly, causing Sasha to stop her mourning, looking over at me in shock, before she to scrambles to her feet in terror. "AHHHHHHH!" They both yell, forgetting all about the potatoes, and sprinting off round the corner. I just watch them, half in dazed shock, half in amusement. Hanji chuckles besides me, and lends me a hand, pulling me to my feet. "Come on, Eren, we gotta a get going."

Hanji continues pulling me through the maze until I reach a brightly painted office stretching along the far right wall. It is a neon rainbow, and it hurts my eyes to look at it. I squint, wishing I had worn my nerdy glasses rather than contacts today. My cousin opens the rotting wooden door, oddly out of place in the sparkly clean kitchen, and glow-in-the-dark office that looks like a unicorn has barfed it up. A gay unicorn at that. A gay unicorn who'd had an overdose of glitter and rainbows. Seriously, they should put a warning up by the door: 'DO NOT LOOK UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE VISUALLY IMPAIRED. I'M NOT KIDDING, YOU WILL BE BLIND FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.' Anyway, going inside is an instant relief, as the room I now stand in has black walls, with polished mahogany floor-boards, several shades darker than the honey panels in the kitchen. The ceiling is a soft grey, the same colour as the little furniture that is in the room. It consists of 6 chairs that line the wall on my right, the ones you might find in the typical waiting room, a small table, and a lamp in the corner. Most of the left wall is taken up by a window which looks out onto the kitchen, but has blinds pulled down. A small fish tank against the left wall, which holds a couple of odd fish, and one of those water refilling things that I don't know the name of. I guess that the assumed-office is split in 2, as there is a wall across the back with a door in, and it looks much smaller on the inside than it did on the outside, like a reverse Tardis.

Hanji shoved me into one of the seats, and collapses into another on my left. She looks over at me, smiling widely, and starts speaking. "You still have 6 minutes before the Captain speaks with you. My plan was to show you around and introduce you to the crew, but I completely forgot about your anxiety! I'm sorry, Eren. Still, if you do get the job here, you will have to interact with not only the crew (who I can promise are very friendly for the most part), but the customers as well." Her voice is unusually quiet, but I assume it's because next door is the manager's office. She continues speaking about the other employee's for several minutes, telling me that most of them went to school with us, and they're all very nice, blah blah blah. She seems to notice my boredom, and her talking slows down. She frowns at me slightly, and crosses her arms in front of her chest. "You're not listening, Eren!" She whines childishly, stamping her feet on the floor. I sigh, letting my head roll back on the chair. "Sorry Hanji. I'm just nervous about this whole job thing." It's true. My nerves are to loud for me to concentrate on what my brunette cousin is saying. She just rolls her honey eyes, but I see softness in their depths. She's always had a weak spot for me.

Without warning, she jumps up from her chair, startling me. She spins round, planting her feet in front of me, and glaring down at me with a mad grin on her face."You know what Eren? Screw your anxiety. You need to get out there and show it who's boss. Go make some friends! Live a little, kid." I groan. "Hanjiiii, you know it's not that simple. If it was, you think I wouldn't have done that already? I just… can't…" she frowns again, her expression deep in thought. "Eren… do you remember that councillor I saw awhile back?" Oh sh*t. "...No?" Hanji raises a brow, and gives me that don't-lie-to-me-I-can-read-your-mind-and-I-know-that-you-know-that-I-know-that-you-know-what-I'm-talking-about look. "Eren, seriously, it does help." I sigh dramatically. "Hanji, 1. No, it didn't work, you still try to dissect me at every chance you get, and 2. You didn't even go for anxiety!" She waves her hand in dismissal. "Yeah yeah, whatever. But you remember Petra Ral? The really shy girl who would faint from nerves every time you said hi to her? She went, and now she's one of the best lawyers in all of Isayama." I roll my eyes, about to respond with some witty comeback that I haven't thought of yet, when the door opens. I can see the faint outline of someone standing behind it, but can't make out any features. "You can come in now." A strong voice calls out from the shadows, and Hanji wastes no time in dragging me inside.