As I'm typing this, I think it's going to be a one-shot, but it might not stand that way at the end. Note!:
Hanji shall be referred to with they/them because at first Eren is uncertain as to their gender.
Random note:
I have found a beautiful thing on YouTube. NateWantsToBattle! He does anime/manga covers and parodies among many other things. HE IS PERFECT! You must look him up and be amazed!
You'll know at the end of this chapter if it'll be done or not! So, here's my reincarnation/modern AU! Ereri.
Finally! I had finally been able to woo The Survey Corps manager with my work, landing me a gig to possibly photograph their upcoming concert at Wall Maria, the new music café downtown! With how much I really needed that kind of money, I would never be this excited or nervous again! Though this band was fairly obscure, I hadn't even heard of them until I came across an ad online requesting a permanent photographer to sign on, they were paying damn well, two hundred and fifty dollars for just the thirty minute trial shoot. With me paying my sister's way through college, as well as the bulk of our living costs, this was going to be great, especially if they sign me on!
Double checking that I had everything I needed for the shoot, I zip up the good sized carrying case, hoist it over my shoulder and walk out the front door, locking it behind me. Carefully, I strap it onto the back of my CB500X motorcycle (a gift from my best friend), throwing myself onto the seat, I clip on my helmet and try to contain my excitement and not speed on my way to Titan Records, where I'd meet up with Erwin Smith, the band's manager, before going to the shoot site. Pulling in, I check the time, about fifteen minutes early. Taking the precious cargo from its spot behind me, I make sure the bike is upright and walk into the large lobby my equipment in one hand my helmet tucked under my other arm.
At the front desk was a delicate looking woman with short strawberry blonde hair, she looks up, a gentle smile on her face as she eyes me questioningly. Striding over to the receptionist, I feel slightly out of place in such a huge, neat, almost fancy building clothed in fairly grungy black skinny jeans an old band tee (My Chemical Romance will never die!), and a beanie partially covering my choppy dark brown hair with fire engine red streaks and gages.
"Ah, hi. My name's Eren Jaeger. I'm supposed to be meeting with Erwin Smith?"Her smile widens as she clicks a few thing on her screen before lifting a phone beside her.
"I'll notify him now, Mr. Jaeger." Wow. Too damn formal, I check her nameplate before addressing her.
"Eren. Please call me Eren, Ms. Ral." I smile my thanks at her.
"Well then, call me Petra. Please, make yourself comfortable." She gives a sly grin before pressing a button on the base of the phone, I wander over to one of the plush chairs, placing my equipment gingerly at my feet, my helmet resting on my knee, as she speaks softly into the phone. I'm not waiting long before a large man in a black three piece suit and a light raspberry colored necktie with silvery swirls detailing it with neatly combed blond hair and arctic blue eyes emerges from further in the building and makes the short trip to where I was sitting. Lifting my helmet from my leg in one hand and standing, I smile at the taller man and brush some stray red hairs from my eyes as he holds out a hand. Returning the handshake, I inquire. "Mr. Smith?"
"Yes, please call me Erwin and I'll call you Eren." He smiles gently and I nod before stooping down to grab my bag. "Right, well. Follow me, the car's just out front." I trail behind him, following closely to the white 2015 Acura NSX convertible, the top was down, showing off the red leather interior. At my first glance at the car, my mouth flops open and as Erwin continues on his way to it, I try to come up with intelligible words to ask if it's the right car. No way in hell was anybody actually going to allow me to get close enough to something like that to even breathe on it. Absolutely no way in hell was someone actually going to let me ride in one.
"Er-Erwin..?" I finally find my voice as he moves to the trunk of the car, popping it open.
"Yes?" He looks to me and holds a hand out for my bag.
"Are you suuure this is the right car?" He cocks his head to the side, swiveling his gaze back to the sleek vehicle, his eyes trail its length before turning back to me, humor evident.
"I'm fairly certain I know my own car Eren. Now, come on." He reaches the car, opening the trunk my hand gripping the strap of my equipment case tightly again, this time I move forward, placing it and my helmet in the surprisingly spacious trunk of the luxury car. Erwin pushes the lid down as I slowly make my way to the passenger side door, hesitant to even breathe on the car.
"A-are you sure?" He looks at me strangely and nods, sliding easily into the driver's side without a second thought. When I'm still tentative about getting in, Erwin's eyes are trained on me.
"Eren. If you don't hurry, we'll be late. Is that really the first impression you want to make?" That pushes all my reservations to the side and I begrudgingly get in the insanely expensive car. Though it's very comfortable, I am so out of my element having never been near such a luxurious car.
Erwin seems to ignore my strange behavior, pulling away from the front curb of the large company headquarters, the drive itself is fairly short only taking a few minutes to get to the studio booked for our time slot today. As Erwin parks, I fidget, trying to steel myself to not only meet this band that I'd never heard of, and to calm myself to no longer appear on edge at all the niceties thrust at me in one day. Soon, we're walking up the steps to the rented building, my stomach flipping with anticipation as the door is pulled open by the tall blond man at my side. Shortly after walking in, Erwin pulls off his suit jacket and vest, loosening his tie before yanking off, adding it to the growing pile of apparel, undoing the first few buttons on his shirt, he runs a hand through his hair, messing it up, a glint of silver from his left ear draws my attention and I notice for the first time a dragon earring, the tail piercing through the lobe, the claws hooked through his ear to create a helix, the body snaked around out of sight behind his ear, the dragon's head rested harmlessly by his tragus.
My eyes widen slightly at this sudden transformation as the man pulls off his dress shoes and steps lightly through the short hallway. I step out of my Converse and follow him into a large empty room with four other people in it. A very androgynous looking person with long, light brown hair tied back in a loose ponytail, a huge smile on their face, decked out in fingerless leather gloves, the same shirt as I, with white and red lettering stating, 'I'm not okay. I promise', skinny jeans half black half red, black, and white plaid, and a couple of chains hanging from their belt loops. A shorter male, about 5'4", with raven black hair done in an undercut, he had pale skin and a small figure, but defined muscle, he was lean but his strength was obvious, he was wearing a dark green hoodie and dark wash blue skinny jeans. Another male, quite a bit taller than the raven haired man, also with an undercut and dark hair sat right beside another male, his hair two toned, darker underneath where it was shaved, the longer bit on top and ashy light brown. Both of them were recognizable immediately for me.
"Jean? Marco?" I was incredulous, I didn't even know they were into the music industry. The whole group turns to look at me, all surprised.
"Eren? I didn't know it was you who was going to be doing the shoot!" Marco jumps up from his boyfriend's side, pulling me into a hug. The boy was so nice, I could never understand what he saw in Jean.
"That's because shitty eyebrows didn't bother giving us a name to even see any of the previous work of the brat." The short man complains, I would be offended, but I was too happy to be seeing one of my favorite people after a couple years.
"I didn't know you were even in a band! What the heck Marco?" A faint blush covers his face as he looks away, Jean is suddenly by his side, wrapping an arm around his waist and tugging him into his side.
"None of your business suicidal little brat." I roll my eyes and stick my tongue out at the douche I've known for most of my life. He knew that was in the past but insisted on the 'nickname'.
"Fuck you too horse-face." Suddenly the air is knocked from my lungs and my beanie falls from my head, pushing my head back to reveal the 00 sized gages in my ears as well as the industrial in my left ear. As soon as the crushing to my ribs and lungs begins, it's gone again and Erwin's voice can be heard, a chiding tone present as he scolds. "Now Hanji, what have we said about personal space?" I turn to see who it was getting chewed out, the Hanji who could give a damn serious bear hug. It was the one in the twin MCR shirt.
"But-! He's so cute!~ And we match!" They pull out their shirt to show it off and draw attention to it as they simultaneously gestures to mine. They look over to the short man in the too big forest green hoodie. "He's exactly Levi's-!" They're cut off as a combat boot clad foot slammed into their jaw, the short man, presumably Levi, had a look of murder upon his face as he threw his leg out to kick them.
While the scuffle's happening, I fix my hair and tug my beanie back into place on my head. I watch their lively horse play for a few minutes before Erwin steps in, pulling Levi back, looking as though he was going to rip Hanji into pieces. "In case the lot of you have forgotten, we're not here to mess around. We're here for business. Now. Stop and get ready for the shoot as Eren sets up." I shake my head, almost forgetting about the photo-op as I pad back down the narrow hallway to scoop up my equipment.
Returning to the large room, I look over the empty space again, the three walls painted the same shade as a green screen, I grimace a bit at the garish paint before grinning a bit at the wall of just glass, an entire wall of window. Figuring my placement wouldn't matter, I set up near the center of the room, aimed at the glass wall, the sky was overcast but that was perfect. The best time to shoot is when the light is evenly distributed by the clouds and slightly diluted so it isn't as harsh. The light filtering in along with the great view being received, that would look perfect behind the lot of them. In the midst of me screwing my EOS Rebel T5i EF-S onto my tripod, Marco comes over and plops onto the ground beside me, watching curiously.
"Why are you facing the window?" After his question, I go on my rant of positioning, lighting, view et cetera he nods and I look up to see a few others following along with my speech as well. I finish shortly and wait for the rest of the band to be ready.
"All right, stand there, but do whatever. I need to check the exposure and crap." Once they're all in the viewfinder, I fiddle with the settings a bit to get optimal light and zoom and all, making small talk while doing so. "So what kind of music do you guys focus on? I'm guessing since Jean's in the mix something alternative?" Hanji's head bobs excitedly.
"Tch. Shitty brat, you take a job but don't even bother researching your clients?" Levi's deep, smooth voice drowns out whatever Hanji was attempting to say and they pout. I simply roll my eyes at him as I make my point.
"Well, you're paying quite a bit for the amount of work you're having me do. I wasn't about to pass that up. Besides, my sister works at Titan Records. Says Erwin has an excellent sense of people and is very picky about who he works with. I wasn't too worried about getting murdered or anything, so what's the point? Anyways, I didn't have much time, this was only made official this morning." He seems appeased with this answer. "All right, do your thing." With no further instruction to them, hoping to make it as natural as possible, I begin snapping photos, throwing out requests every once in awhile.
After the allotted half hour, I dismiss the group and begin to disassemble my stand. Marco asks if I need any help, I simply shoo him off as Erwin makes his way over. "I'll come by whenever to go over digital copies. If you like them, you send me the money and I'll give you the photos." He stays over a bit longer, going over details, when and where we'd meet, before going back to the rest of the band to mediate some fight that had sprung up between Hanji and Levi.
Once I finish packing up, I go over to Marco, looking worriedly over the scene before him, Levi being held back by his manager and Hanji standing just out of reach, taunting him a bit as Erwin scolds them. "Marco. You better freakin' text me soon! I thought you died or something!" He looks around awkwardly, face flushing pink.
"I uh… I deleted your number…" He mumbles and I gasp exaggeratedly, pressing a hand to my chest.
"How dare you? I THOUGHT WHAT WE HAD WAS SPECIAL!" Using my knack for crying on cue, I look up at him with tears in my eyes, my lower lip trembling.
"I- I'm sorry! Can… Can I have it? My number's different now anyways." I grin at him, wiping away my tears and holding out my hand for his phone. Once he gives it to me, I type in my number, title myself simply 'Sexy' and send a message to myself, to be able to save his number. That being done, Erwin lets me know we're leaving and I give my usual farewell to Jean and Marco and a 'Nice to meet you' goodbye to Hanji and Levi.
After the short trip back to Titan Record's headquarters, we confirm our next meeting once again before parting ways. Strapping my equipment bag back onto my bike and pulling my helmet over my head I race home, making it there before Mikasa left for her second job (she works graveyard at a 24 hour convenience store). After checking and rechecking that my safe containing the expensive apparatus is locked, I make myself a quick late lunch of beef flavored ramen before plopping myself into bed for a very needed research expenditure. After the comment Levi made, I decided it was a good idea to look up the band I might be working for, even if horse-face sucks he's good at music and I'll admit that, so it can't be bad. Even Jean has standards.
All right, so yes. This is now yet another new series from me. There's chapter one. I hope you enjoyed! Please review and such!