Inspired by Kotonoha no Niwa

"A faint clap of thunder

clouded skies

Perhaps rain comes

if so

will you stay here with me?"

The air was wet and laced with slowly falling raindrops, the forecast never called for rain, but it was a nice surprise for Eren, as rain was his favourite weather. The soft patter of water droplets, hitting against the sidewalk or spraying over tree leaves was relaxing, soothing even. Sometimes a crack of thunder would wake him out of his morning eerie. It was all enjoyable in his eyes.

Often, on rainy mornings, instead of transferring to the subway to catch the train to his educators, Eren exited out of the station gate, His deep green umbrella popped open and hovering over his head. It was only days like those, the sky falling down in the form of water, filling his senses of the scent he adored, that the male let himself miss his first class of the day to take refuge under a wooden gazebo.

The walk there was short, some water managed to flick at the bottom of his uniform pants, but it never bothered him. Eren only hummed lightly to himself, switching the weight of his heavy backpack to the other shoulder while walking into the flourished park.

The male glanced down to his feet as he walked over the dark wood bridge, crossing over a small pond. His gaze was set on the shoes; a pair which he made. The chocolate brown leather was tied together at the front of his foot with a matching, maybe slightly lighter, tone lace. They were not fancy in any way, but they were the first pair he made by hand, and he cherished the fact that they sustained through the wet weather.

The rain was making a song against the material of his umbrella when he stopped to take in the beautiful scenery.

Eren knew that he would never walk through that park and not gape at its beauty. All the flourished bushes, plump with crisp green leaves, and trees that shielded the entire park from the sun, which would have been out if it were not raining. And though he shivered a bit, the scene made him warm.

His shoes squelched against the wooden bridge, then on the dirt path- which was becoming muddy -as he continued on walking. Admiring could be done later, maybe he'd come back yet another time.

The rain didn't hit his umbrella as much as before, the soft tune of droplets hitting the surface of the plastic shield had become dim and slowly faded away. The trees blocked most of the rain, of course, not all of it.

He could hear the sound of his wet footsteps, the chirping of happy morning birds, and the not so quiet sounds of water droplets exploding against green leaves, as he walked deeper into the park. It wouldn't have taken too long to have gotten to the pine-wood gazebo which was placed in the midst of trees, bushes, and premature, yet still beautiful flowers, if it weren't for Eren's slow pace he set.

When he was a few feet away from the gazebo, Eren noticed a pair of shoes pass by him, since his eyes were trailing the ground for puddles and what not. They were sleek, well polished and pristine looking pair of office shoes. Whoever wore them must have been well put together, a business man of sorts. Eren only got the sight of the back of the mans head, though, when he looked up and behind his shoulder. He had a short structure, black hair that fell over an undercut, and from the looks of it- black dress pants with a white shirt. The student found himself wondering if the man had just come from his special gazebo- though it wasn't really his -or if he had walked further down the trail to the clearing by the pond.

Ah, Eren thought to himself while walking under the coverage of the wooden structure, It shouldn't matter.

His umbrella made a wet sound, like soaked fabric rubbing against fabric, when he clicked it shut and rested it against the Pine bench situated under the hood of the gazebo. The wood was decorated in leaves and flowers, the roof of the structure was covered in luscious green plants. It looked nice, comforting even. Eren enjoyed it.

The air felt moist in his lungs when Eren sucked in a breath then sat down onto the dry bench, setting his backpack down next to him.

The setting was tranquil, it gave him a chance to breathe freely, work in the soothing home of nature as the rain soaked the world around him.

He gave himself an hour to sit there with his sketch pad, drawing out designs for a pair of men's shoes. When the hour was up, he collected all of his things then walked back to the subway, to catch a ride to his high school.

"I've finally found my footing. I am learning how to walk again, step by step,"

"You mean your job?"

"Partially,"

"Then what?"

"Don't think too hard about it, brat,"

It rained again a week later, and Eren found himself under the coverage of the gazebo with a strangers company. The wind broke through the silent air between the two, bringing a slightly wet breeze through eren's hair. It didn't damage his sketch book so he was alright with it.

He was drawing feet, sketches of a sleek pair of mens shoes that he was designing, and hopefully would make in the near feature. The new project excited him, but he had no one to make the shoes for. Maybe Armin, he could use a new pair…

And yet, his gaze wandered from the page and landed on those black leather shoes, the one that belonged to the stranger his eyes rested upon just a week prior. What a coincidence, really, seeing him there again.

The mans shoes looked a bit worn down, even though it had only been a week since Eren saw its pristine shape last.

The dark pant leg was lifted a few centimetres up the stranger's leg, giving a prominent view to the shoes, and a small flash of milky white skin. His legs were crossed, professionally and very neat looking. The whole man had a neat demeanor, or so Eren thought. Because when his gaze finally landed on what the man was holding, and the bag which was beside him, the student saw just how very un-neat the entirety of the situation was.

Wine and… dark chocolate? What kind of a snack is that… nevermind I guess.

Eren's gaze returned to his book and he kept sketching out feet, and not yet perfect designs for a pair of shoes. He definitely heard the slosh of liquid being guzzled out of a bottle, but there were so slurps or satisfied 'ah's, so it didn't get on his nerves. Chocolate broke between the man's teeth after downing half of the wine bottle, and Eren couldn't help but think of how unhealthy that diet would be for the man, who somehow looked very muscular even with the black blazer on.

The rain dripped on, falling thicker by the minute. Maybe a storm was near, or maybe mother nature was just happy. Rain was a happy thing anyways, in Eren's eyes of course.

Leaves rustled against each other, the branches coming to life in the slight wind. June was starting in two weeks, so the start of Shinganshina's rainy season was just around the corner. It promised more visits to the quaint gazebo, more time to sketch, think about his future in shoe making. That's all he wanted, a future in making shoes, by hand.

A droplet of water whipped onto his page as the wind picked up even more, and it blotched the sketched out foot, making the led of his pencil markings blur into something undefinable. Maybe it could be classified as a dark storm cloud, if you thought about it. Of course, Eren didn't, he only sighed and closed his sketch book. It was time to leave anyways.

When the student looked up, he was shocked to see that the man that was sitting on the other end of the bench was gone, along with all of his things. He must've left when Eren was sketching, because the boy didn't remember hearing the stranger collect his things and go. How strange.

His thoughts remained on that man all day, wondering who he was or even what he did as an occupation. Eren found himself very curious about the mysterious stranger, that he didn't even pay attention in class when he finally made it to school.

By the end of the day, after classes ended and he took the subway home, Eren came to the conclusion that maybe, the man wasn't someone he should reckon with. Drinking wine, nibbling on dark chocolate without a single word, it was just strange and off putting. The dark haired man hadn't even glanced at Eren when he sat down on the opposite side of the bench, didn't utter a single 'hello'.

The next time it rained, it was the last day of May. The birds were squawking in their nests, trying to take coverage from the light downfall of rain. It was barely drizzling, but it was an excuse to head to the gazebo again, so Eren took the opportunity.

He exited out of the station gate, popped open his forest green umbrella and began walking to the nice park he visited on days where the sky fell.

The rain wasn't enough for the need of an umbrella, but it was habit and holding something so weightless was comforting. Eren truly thought the rain would let up before he even got to the gazebo, but he was alright with that. It meant no more splotches of wet on his sketch book.

Eren hummed to himself as he payed the five cent toll to get into the park, and happily began walking down the familiar path. He was almost to the wooden gazebo when he heard music go off from his bag; his phone was ringing. Though, who it could be was a mystery to him. All the contacts on his phone had the same ringtone, it wasn't very convenient but, alas.

The student managed to reach into his bag which was now only hanging off of one shoulder, and grab his phone whilst still walking and holding the umbrella.

"Hello?" He inquired once the cold phone rested against his ear and cheek. "Eren, where are you? I lost you in the subway.." The voice was very familiar to him, and it caused him to sigh silently to himself. "Why aren't you at school?"

"I'll be there for second period Mikasa," He kept on walking down the path to the gazebo. "Alright. I'll cover for you. You're lucky Mr. Pixis isn't strict," Eren knew the girl on the other end of the line wasn't too pleased, but she was still helping him out, so it was alright.

"Thanks Mika. I'll see you later, bye," His goodbye echoed from the other end before he pulled the phone from his ear and pressed end call.

That's when the student noticed he was standing right in front of the gazebo, which was being occupied by that very same raven haired, strange man. The one he saw two times before. Did he always visit that place?

"Are you going to stare all day, brat?" The words shocked him. The mans voice was very deep and smooth sounding, depside the empty wine bottle he had next to his crossed legs. Eren hadn't even noticed that he had been staring. He must have gotten little sleep, yeah, that was it.

Actually, now that he thought about it, the man wasn't even glancing at Eren. How the hell did he know he was staring? So weird..

"N-No.. my apologies, sir," The student said quickly before he closed his umbrella and sat down on the bench, far from the stranger.

There was no other response from the man, so Eren just shrugged it off and took out his sketchbook and pencils.

Sounds of a pencil scratching against paper and liquid swirling around a glass bottle filled the air between them. Birds did have their share of noise making with their chirps. It was all relaxing, somehow. In the presence of that strange man, Eren found himself calm.

It was when he heard another bottle being open that Eren looked up from his book and to the man, whom was facing away from him. "How many have you had?" It obviously wasn't healthy for him to have so much to drink, with only dark chocolate as a food substinance.

"That isn't any of your business, brat," The man replied without gazing over to Eren. He only carefully unwrapped another bar of chocolate and took a small bite after taking a swig of alcohol.

"It's unhealthy, you know. To drink so much and only have chocolate. It'll ruin your stomach," The stranger scoffed and set the bottle down next to his thigh.

"You know a lot about alcohol for just a kid," He only rolled his eyes and tapped his fingers against the notebook resting on his knees. "It's my dad, he's the drinker, so I know a bit about it,"

The man grunted in response, and stopped drinking for a while. Eren had thought that he'd taken his advice, but ten minutes later the swishing sound of liquid being drained from a bottle filled the air. The stranger had drunk once again.

"You're a student, correct?" Eren glanced back up once he heard the low voice of the other person, and smiled a bit. "Yeah, I am. Second year,"

"Then why aren't you in school?" He sounded bored about talking to him, like the world was just dull and everything was a bother. It was a tone of voice Eren certainly was not used to, everyone he knew was so full of life but this man…

He seemed like a rag doll, unable to stand and walk on his own, to see the true beauty of the world.