Title: Communication

Disclaimer: I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin

Warning: This story will contain yaoi.

Hey hey! Welcome to my first SnK fanfic. This will be a light, slice of life story with Riren thrown in the mix. I apologise for any mistakes made, I do not have a Beta. I hope you all enjoy.

Prologue:

Noise. There was an insufferable noise. Eren knew what it was, but that only made his situation all the worse. A day of demons and an evil overlord awaited him, and it was all thanks to the damn noise. He cursed its existence as he yanked his pillow out from under his head and hugged it over his face.

The shrill ringing continued.

"Eren!" A voice shouted form the other side of the bedroom door.

"What?" came the muffled reply.

"Get up. The bus will be here in half an hour and the alarm will start to annoy the neighbours." There was a pause before the voice said, "If you miss the bus, you'll have to skip breakfast."

Eren groaned into the pillow. He violently pulled the pillow away from his face and slammed it down next him. He reached up and felt backwards along the shelf that was the headboard. After a few moments of having felt around and finding everything but his phone, Eren pushed himself up onto an elbow and looked for his phone through bleary eyes. It was nestled between two stacks of books on the shelf furthest from him.

Damn conscience, Eren cursed at himself. He knew that he had intentionally put the phone there so that he would have to stretch in order to get it. Once he did that, his brain would start to function more, and therefore, he would wake up. If his phone had been beside him, he would have just killed the alarm and continued sleeping. It had happened in the past. The aforementioned evil overlord had decided to dock a day's worth of pay because of it.

Eren started his day by sitting up, a momentous improvement from earlier. Without giving anything much thought, he went through his morning routine. He frowned at the paper stuck to his wardrobe, squinting his eyes to read it. He started at the top of the list: Monday – Yellow. He knew it wasn't Monday, so he skimmed down until he saw the day he was looking for: Friday – Blue. With a sigh, he pulled open his wardrobe. He could not remember if he had worn his blue shirt sometime earlier in the week or not.

Noticing he had still had a clean blue shirt, Eren was disappointed by the distinct lack of emotion at finding it. He didn't know what he had expected. He just wanted to get himself worked up so that he could be ready to face the day ahead of him, and he knew he wouldn't achieve that by finding a clean shirt. He hung the shirt and a pair of black pants on the hook behind his bedroom door.

Eren opened his door and made the great distance of four steps to the bathroom, grabbing his green towel that hung over the stair railing as he went. He glanced over to the bedroom perpendicular to bathroom. The door was open, so he glanced in as he stepped into the bathroom. It looked like Bertolt was awake already. He did not even have to look behind him to know that the bedroom door next to his was open as well. Marco was always the first to wake up out of the three of them.

Sighing to himself, Eren showered quickly. The house they lived in did not have a geyser, none of the houses in the complex did, but they rarely needed hot water in any case. They would suffer when December finally came around though. It was not cold in December per say, it was just cool enough to make the cold water really chilly to shower with. Living in a tropical environment like Thailand had its pros and cons. One of those cons, for instance, was that there was no proper shower enclosure. They had a detachable shower head and a drain in the corner. When you showered, you had to do it in a way that would not wet the entire bathroom floor. Luckily, they had two bathrooms. Marco had the downstairs bathroom all to himself, which had a wall that separated the shower from the rest of the bathroom.

Lucky bastard, Eren thought as he used his foot to sweep as much of the water towards the drain as possible. If he had more time, he would have used a mop, but time was precious. He dried himself off and wrapped his towel around his waist. He brushed his teeth and rinsed out his mouth with mouthwash. Once that was done, Eren returned to his room and dressed. He half-heartedly dried his hair with the towel and made his bed. Once both of those were done, he tossed his towel over the rail and went downstairs.

It was a semi open plan space with white tiled floors and white walls. To his right was the living room with the small, grey L-shaped couch, a TV they rarely used and a tall glass cabinet that housed various papers and paraphernalia belonging to Eren and his two housemates. In front of him was the 'dining room' that consisted solely of a cheap table and three blue plastic chairs. If Eren rounded the small corner around the wall to his left, he stepped into the kitchen with their small fridge and large shelving unit that housed various things from spices to their mountain of plastic bags that was shoved into the one corner. They had both a back and front 'yard'. The back was used to wash dishes and hang laundry, while the front had a pathetic, dying patch of grass with a large rectangular concrete area for parking a car. The space was instead used to barbeque and eat outside, where there was another cheap table and more plastic chairs. It was certainly not the most luxurious he had lived in in the four years he had moved out of his father's house, but it was not the worst either.

"Morning Eren," Bertolt greeted as he walked into the house, sliding the security/anti-bug panel closed behind him.

"Morning."

Eren walked over to the table and started the little coffee machine. He would have preferred tea, but he knew they were out of milk, or rather, Eren was out of milk. He was the only one that used it. It was a good thing too. Milk was not the cheapest to buy.

"What's the time?" Eren asked.

"About seven thirty," was the reply as Bertolt gathered his things, putting them into his laptop bag.

Eren groaned. He didn't have enough time for coffee. He switched the machine off and walked over to the couch and picked up his laptop bag, checking to see if he had his wallet, house keys and passport. With all of those present, he got a one and a half litre bottle of water from the fridge and followed Bertolt out of the house.

Bertolt locked the all the sliding doors while Eren slipped on his shoes. Eren could see the neighbours going about their own business. He greeted the old lady that lived across the street and walked to the entrance to the complex with Bertolt, where Marco was would be sitting in front of the small convenience store, waiting for the bus.

The walk was a short one. Eren spotted Marco and silently sat next the man, putting his bag next to him on the bench. He watched as Marco talked to the children and also glanced as people went about their business, going in and out of the store. He had long since memorised all the morning regulars. A factory worker would ride to the store on his scooter and buy six bottles of M-150 energy drinks every day, without fail. There was also a mother that bought her children's food at the store every morning as well.

A hand touched his shoulder, and Eren was drawn out of mind numbing activity of watching people. He looked to Marco, who smiled and pointed. The bus had arrived. He glared at the yellow monstrosity and made his way to it. Five kids ran towards it, and Eren and the other adults had to wait for them to get on it first. Bertolt was the first of them to climb on, then Marco and lastly, Eren.

A bus full of kids awaited them. They had learned to let Bertolt take the one seat open that was actually the access point to the engine, because he was too tall to stand in the bus. Eren moved down the seats and stood near the back, where the older children sat. The first eight rows of seat were taken over by kindergarten children who sat three in two seats.

"Teacher Eren!"

Despite his grouchiness, Eren smiled and greeted the child back. He was an English teacher at a school in town, just like Marco and Bertolt. Marco taught at the kindergarten and Bertolt taught at the same school Eren did. He had been a TEFL teacher for the past four years, and he had moved around Thailand a lot over that time.

The bus he was currently on was the school bus. It first dropped off all the kindergarten students, and Marco and then proceeded to the other school. It wasn't free, of course, but it was better than walking an hour to get to the school.

"Teacher Eren," one teenager said.

"Yes?" Eren asked.

"Is Jiàoshī Mi your girlfriend?"

Eren sighed. It was a wonderful way to start his day without even having arrived at the school yet. The only upsides he could see to his day was that it was Friday and he got free lunch. Other than that, it would a busy six hours of trying to teach children English.

XxxxX

(Meanwhile in Japan)

Levi stopped typing long enough to glance at his clock and then continued. It was nine-thirty. He was just about done with his proposal. All he needed to do was order a junior member to print it for him and then hand it in the copies to Finance and Sales before he left for his meeting.

"Uh, Levi-heichou?"Perta asked.

"Yes?"

"Hanji-sensei is here to see you," she said.

Levi didn't stop typing. He clicked his tongue and reread his proposal. He knew Petra was waiting for him to acknowledge that he had heard her, but he was busy.

"Damn shitty glasses," Levi cursed. "If she's not late, she's too early."

Petra gave a light chuckle and then sat back down in her seat. Levi saved the document and looked over his laptop at his team. He was editor-in-chief of a monthly seinen manga magazine called Shiganshina in Chōsa Heidan Publishing. He had handpicked his team, because he didn't have time to edit manga chapters, review and edit the final layout of the magazine and babysit junior editors at the same time.

"Olou,"Levi said, "I want you to print out copies of my proposal and hand them to Finance and Sales. Tell those idiots not to lose them. I won't give them any spares during the meeting tomorrow."

Levi got up from his desk and walked out of Shiganshina's office space that share floor space with four other teams as well. He took the elevator down to the ground floor, where Hanji would be waiting for him. The elevator ride was boring, tedious. He was glad to be out of his office for a while. He had invested a lot of money in a decent office chair, but a person could only sit in it for so many hours on end. Hanji would pay for his tea in any case.

"Levi!" Hanji called before the elevator doors finished opening.

Levi let Hanji pull him out of the elevator by the arm, but yanked his arm back as soon as he was out of it.

"Tea shitty glasses," he said, heading for the doors. "After tea, we're going to look over your storyboard and discuss the plot for you upcoming chapters."

Hanji smiled broadly. "And after that, I'll tell you abo-"

Levi stopped her from finishing the sentence by letting the door close in her face. He pulled on his coat as he waited for Hanji to exit the building. He had no interest in hearing about whatever weird, latest science experiment she had read about recently, nor did he want to know about some blind date she organised for him behind his back. All he wanted to do was his job. That included telling her that her work was utter shit, which it was at times.

He would give Hanji credit where it was due. Her current work, Kyojin, was ranked in the top ten most popular on-going manga. Levi had been Hanji's editor since her debut manga, which had made some ripples, but it was not until her second work, Primordial, that Hanji started getting noticed and selling her works well. Kyojin had won the Chōsa Heidan Award in 2007 and came second in the Manga Taishō in 2010.

"That was mean Levi," Hanji whined. "You can buy your own tea now."

"Oh, is that what you think?" Levi asked rhetorically. "Maybe you can find yourself a new editor that will put up with all your bullshit and see how well your tankōbon sell then."

"No way," Hanji said firmly as she caught up with Levi. "Everyone knows you're the best editor in the shōnen/seinen field. Just look at what you've been able to do with my work! You probably have dozens of up-coming mangaka asking you to look over their works. Most of them are stupid people. Remember how much you hate stupid people?"

"What exactly does that say about you?"

Hanji gave Levi a face of mock shock and hurt. He had known her for over fifteen years, so he knew that as much as he threatened to leave her high and dry to struggle with a new editor; he would never actually do it. He hated the fact that Hanji knew that as well. She liked to pull on her leash because of that.

They entered the café and sat in a booth near the back, away from prying eyes.

"I want a Hong Kong," Levi gave his order to the waitress.

"That's not your usual," Hanji commented. "Trying to make up for you black personality?"

Levi glared at her.

"There's no need to try use that old trick on me. It stopped working long ago." Hanji laughed and waved the look away dismissively.

Levi continued to glare at her.

Hanji's laughter died away with a nervous chuckle. "You can stop anytime now."

"I thought it stopped working on you, so why are so quiet now?" Levi inquired. He turned his attention to the waitress. "That sorry excuse of a human will have the House Blend."

Hanji was quiet for a few seconds before she started talking again. Levi was thankful it was about trivial matters that included her assistants and her cats Sonny and Bean. He would just tolerate it until their drinks arrived and then start work.

"Oh, I wanted to tell you earlier that I know how I can help you."

"Help me?" Levi asked. That had certainly gotten his full attention. "I don't remember needing any sort of help, especially from you."

"Aw, everyone needs a bit of help sometimes, even you Levi," Hanji crooned.

"Whatever it is I apparently need help with, I'm sure I will manage on my own."

"Just here me out!"

Levi was silent. If he kept on refusing her, she would keep on pestering him, and that would ultimately get in the way of his work, which would delay work that was waiting for him back at the office.

"I'll listen," he said, albeit reluctantly.

"Great!" Hanji cheered. "You were invited to Humanity Publishing in England, right?"

Levi frowned. "How do you even know about that?"

"That doesn't matter," Hanji said with a dismissive wave of her hand, "but what matters is that the CEO, Erwin Smith personally invited you."

"I don't see how this is a problem that needs your intervention."

"You have to give a speech at an important party. Humanity Publishing owns Chōsa Heidan, and when you joined the company, you transformed Shiganshina from a deadbeat magazine into the bestselling magazine there in less than a year."

Levi still didn't see this problem Hanji was so eager to help with. He had worked at a different publishing company, but circumstances made him leave, and Hanji had followed him right to Chōsa Heidan.

"And your point is?" Levi asked.

"How good is your English?" Hanji asked.

Levi remained silent. He now understood. He would have to give a speech about his experiences in rebuilding Shiganshina. He doubted it would be received well in Japanese. His English was good, but he knew that his pronunciation was lacking. Writing a speech in English would be a challenge, nothing major, but he would have to spend time he didn't have to work on it.

"This is where I come in," Hanji said with a smile.

"Do you now?"

"What, did you think I've been using so many English and German terms in my work for the fun of it?" Hanji asked. "I have a teacher you know."

"And how exactly does this teacher help you with your work?" Levi asked. He actually didn't want to know because he speculated that he would end up murdering Hanji if he did.

"Maybe I send him copies of my script?" Hanji asked uncertainly.

"What? Are you-"

Levi was interrupted by the waitress that had arrived with their drinks. He waited until she left again, but Hanji beat him to it.

"Don't be mad! You haven't seen any leaks on the internet have you? He doesn't have time for that."

"That doesn't chance the fact that you have been sharing your works with an outside source, or that you have been consulting with someone without telling me about it."

Hanji pouted as she took her coffee in hand. "You can be mad at me, but let him help you with your English, especially the speech!"

Levi blew on his tea. It was true that Hanji said Hong Kong milk tea was not his usual, but he had felt like a change. As he took a sip, he thought about this mysterious new English teacher Hanji had been contacting.

"Why should I pay some ugly, old man to do my work for me?" Levi asked.

Hanji smiled again. Levi didn't like that smile. It usually meant she had something else up her sleeve.

"Do you want to see a picture?" she probed as she took her phone from her handbag.

"Normal people don't have pictures of their language teachers on their phones, shitty glasses."

"Just one look, Levi," Hanji said. "If you still don't like him, then I'll drop the whole thing."

It was a tempting offer, but Levi knew that Hanji had something planned. She never suggested something and then just dropped it. Even characters she created that were completely written off by him were incorporated into the story, even if only to appear in a single panel. They were usually brutally murdered.

Levi had a sinking feeling that he was about to go through a similar process.

There's the prologue for you. I hope I piqued your interest enough to read more of what is to come. This is not my main project, so updates will be erratic. For those who don't know, Jiàoshī is Mandarin for teacher. It is the title given to Chinese teachers in Thailand. This story starts in November 2014.

Please leave a review, constructive criticism is also appreciated. Reviews are the bread and butter of every fanfic author.

See you later.