Hello! Welcome to my second Shingeki no Kyojin fanfiction! Yes, I know that I already have an ongoing story, but I couldn't help myself to put this down on a doc. It might be a written disaster, nonetheless.
Disclaimer: I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin or any of its characters featured in this story.
...
Eren grinned largely upon turning to his right side, his sneakers emitting a high-pitched screech due to his sudden spin. He rearranged his luggage on his back to prevent it from slipping off his shoulders, ignoring the weight of his bag. His expression was nearing the levels of being childish, his gleaming emeralds eyeing the scene before him with an enthusiastic gaze. "We're here, guys! We are in high school!"
Mikasa barely changed her expression, throwing a ghost of a smile behind her bright red scarf towards her brother. Armin, on the other hand, tried to join his best friend's excitement by placing a hand on his shoulder and looking in the same direction Eren endlessly watched, mouth curling in a shy smile.
Before the trio, was a large, almost invitingly doorway leading to a much bigger hallway. Painted in a comforting beige, the walls stretched their way to a far away end, illuminated by ceiling bubs high above. It divided itself in multiple doors, all of them wide open. With the exception of a few which were closed shut. The hall was completely populated by hundreds of students, some bearing their bags, some not, all of them walking with their eyes constantly reading the plates stuck next to the respective room's door.
"C'mon! Let's go!" Eren exclaimed, placing an arm around Armin's shoulder to force the blonde into a walk.
Eren quickly let go of his friend the moment he felt that he was already moving by his side. Mikasa joined him in a light pace, buttoning her brown jacket after a rather chilling breeze coming from God knows where made the three teens shiver unconsciously. Eren simply pulled the sleeves of his pitch-black hoodie until they covered his pale hands. Armin seemed to be quite comfortable in his white sweater, barely doing anything rather than placing his gloved hands over his mouth to diminish the growing feeling of ice forming around his lips. And so they walked by each other's side through the over-populated hallway.
Oh, did they love this season of the year. Autumn.
A thought passed through Mikasa's mind, making her tug at Eren's long sleeve to get his attention.
"Have you still got the paper with your room's number on it, Eren?"
"Why wouldn't I have it, Mikasa?" Eren replied, sticking his hand in his hoodie's pocket and pulling out a small sheet of paper, kneaded completely.
The green-eyed boy looked at his paper after unfolding it, taking some time to register the numbers written on it due to how messed the paper was. "Umm... I'm in room 99..." He gazed up and then to his side, catching a glimpse of the nearest door's number, 57. "I guess it's on the end of the hallway."
"Oh, mine's 94." Armin came in the exact moment Eren finished his sentence, his face getting a tad sad from what he read. "Mikasa? What's yours?"
"94, too." The girl said with such precision that one could guess she spent hours memorizing the number.
"Well... it's sad that Eren won't be with us." Armin lowered his head, placing his paper in the pocket of his jeans. His voice had a faint hint of nervousness.
"Aw, c'mon guys!" Eren intervened, wrapping his arms around their necks. "Just because we aren't in the same room, it doesn't mean that we won't be able to see each other again! Right?"
He received brief nods from his friends. Eren kept smiling widely at every single direction his face turned too, the idea of being in such an interesting, not to mention new place was incredibly exciting for him. He never felt that being at a school would be so fun. So... exhilarating.
They passed one solid minute in silence, catching bits of small talk coming from the other students as they moved through the hallway. Eren and Mikasa were eyeing every single door they came across, and the numbers obviously increased with time. Finally, the trio found room 94. The door was closed, and locked. Mikasa fished in the breast pocket of her jacket and pulled out the key she had received earlier in the morning, unlocking the door effortlessly. It swung open, and Mikasa lead Armin inside. Before closing it, Mikasa looked at her brother:
"You should go to your room now, Eren. We'll meet in class, thankfully."
And with that, the door closed, leaving Eren alone in the crowded hall. He smiled to himself, thinking deeply about who was his roommate. He hoped he could get a nice friend, someone that had the same likes as him. Someone cool.
He reached his designated room, which was bordering the end of the hall. He looked happily at the metallic '99' stuck to the door's surface. It was already closed, so Eren assumed that his roommate had yet to come, or that he was already inside doing something. Shrugging his thoughts off, Eren placed a hand on the cold doorknob and swung it open, proving to be unlocked.
It gave a quick creak before ceasing when Eren held it in place. The boy noticed that it consisted of a short hallway, splitting itself into a larger room just two steps from the door. He closed it with his foot and looked at the room before his eyes: A desk was placed on the left side, nearly empty with the exception of a book and a small pencil case laying on top of the wooden surface. It had a nearby armchair next to it. Eren could already see himself sitting on it for hours to make his homework with whoever was his roommate.
The floor was covered in bright wood, much to Eren's surprise. He changed his line of sight to the center of the room, where a small coffee table was situated at. There was also a couch, big enough to have at least three people sitting upright next to one another. On the wall opposite to Eren, was a window, covered in a white curtain that merely blocked the faint daylight coming from the outside. The room in itself was pleasantly cozy, and warm, considering the temperature outside. A long, deep breath echoed in the dorm as Eren took a few steps forward in the living room.
To his right side, he noticed a door, probably leading to the bedroom, but a counter caught his attention: The kitchen, he presumed. The counter only gave a tiny space for a single person to pass through, and even like that said person would have trouble moving in the suffocating space. He was quite pleased to see an oven, a simple snow-white fridge and a sink conveniently placed. A microwave, looking older than anything in the dorm, stood on top of the counter.
"Wow, this place is really neat!" Eren said to himself, then he swung his bag out of his back and held it tightly in his hand. I better go to the bedroom. My roommate might be in there!
He grinned madly and took himself to the doorway leading to the bedroom. The room was painted in a deep shade of blue, what added a more calm air to it. The two beds were set opposite to each other, leaving a hollow space between them that was only occupied by a bedside cabinet, supporting an alarm clock on top of it. A closet, the only one in the room, was leaned against the wall on the contrary side to the bedside cabinet.
Finishing his watch of the room, Eren looked down to see luggage set next to the bed situated to the right side of the room. Now there were no doubt left that his roommate was in fact inside the dorm. Dropping his bag on the feet of the left bed, Eren crouched and curiously craned his neck, enough to spot a closed door. Oh. He might be in the bathroom. Guess I'll just unpack until he gets out.
Suddenly, the sound of hinges screaming filled the teen's ears. He shifted his gaze from his unzipped bag to where the noise came from, an expectant sparkle in his emerald orbs.
Well, what he saw didn't exactly meet his expectancies.
An incredibly short blonde girl emerged from the bathroom door, her gaze not meeting Eren's in first place. From what Eren noticed, her irises where of a light tone of blue, resembling the sky's color greatly. However, the expression spread across her features wasn't the most pleasant: Mouth closed shut, a curtain of golden locks hiding her right eye, a gaze that could extinguish the hottest of the flames on Earth. Her hands escaped from the pockets of the dark purple hoodie she was wearing right after she closed the door shut.
Eren shot up in the blink of an eye from his squatting position. He never ever thought of having a girl as his roommate, not to mention someone with such a bored face. Eren visibly shivered when she took notice of his presence inside the room, her expression not changing on the slightest. The boy took in a silent breath. He had to introduce himself to her.
"Hello!" He spoke up, a bit louder than his usual tone of voice.
"Hey." Wow, did her reply kill Eren's friendly look.
Eren tried his best to ignore the cold, freezing feeling brewing in his stomach with all of his strength. The words that left her mouth were... dead. Emotionless. His mind raced with a million thoughts about how screwed he was, stuck with such a happy person. Well... I can't allow myself to give in with first impressions, right?
He took a few steps to approach her, and the girl incredibly stood in place. Yes, maybe he shouldn't be seeing her as a gelid person. Eren shook off his thoughts out of his head and stuck out a hand in her direction. The blonde looked down at his palm with a seemingly skeptical shine in her eyes, but took it nonetheless. Despite how tiny her hand looked when holding his, Eren felt her strong grip.
"Eren Jaeger!"
"Annie Leonhardt."
The exchange of words was short, but enough for the duo to acknowledge one another's name. Eren looked up for a second in thought, as if trying to decide what he was going to say next.
"So, I take that you're my roommate, right?" Eren asked the clear obvious.
"I wouldn't be inside our room if I wasn't." Her blunt reply came with a slight sparkle in her bright blue orbs. A sparkle of amusement caused by his idiotic question.
"Oh well... right." Eren replied, attempting to shrug off the weird moment.
"Before you ask, yes, we are in the same classroom, and I'm just going to tell you that there's a box under your bed. It says it's from your father." Annie quickly intervened and darted towards her bag, shuffling inside before taking out some thick notebooks and a light pink pencil case. "First period will start in-"
Her phrase was abruptly interrupted when a loud bell rang into the room, slightly muffled, but easily audible. Annie looked at Eren, as if ready to leave. "Well, hurry up. You wouldn't like to get late on your first day, would you, Jaeger?"
Eren literally teleported to his bag, leaning down enough to notice the cardboard box placed carefully under his new bed. There wasn't time to check inside now, so the boy simply fished momentarily inside his bag, pulling out the necessary for a day: Two notebooks and his pencil case. Considering that today was his first day, he wouldn't have to take all of his material.
"Of course I wouldn't, Leonhardt." Eren replied to her, standing up and moving next to the short blonde. He placed his material under his arm.
He failed to notice a single change of expression on her face after his rebuttal. Frowning slightly, Eren waited for Annie to take her move, but she seemed to be fishing in her pocket for something.
"Here." She suddenly came up carrying two shiny keys in her free pale hand. She dropped one of them when Eren stretched out his left arm to grab it. "Let's go already."
Eren nodded to no one in particular and followed her suit to the door. While he carried his possessions under his right arm, Annie preferred to hug her notebooks close to her chest, not that the green eyed teen cared. She opened the door and walked out, her blond curtain flying to the sides of her head when a cold breeze hit them. The girl simply pulled the bangs over her right eye again and waited for Eren to leave the room, locking the door the moment he stepped out.
"Hey! Eren! Over here!" A familiar voice called from behind, earning both Eren's and Annie's attention.
A hand rapidly waved in the air, turning out to be from no one than Armin. Mikasa was right by his side, holding her material with a curled arm. Armin's wave didn't cease until Eren started to move towards him, both boys grinning joyfully at each other. Annie gave a low sigh and followed her new roommate behind.
"Yo, Armin, Mikasa!" Eren cheerfully responded, spinning briefly on his heels to 'present' the petite girl coming from behind him. "It's good to meet you two. I would like to present you guys to Annie, my roommate."
"Hello." Annie solely said, already switching her notebooks to her left arm in case someone wanted to shake hands. Again.
"Oh, nice to meet you, Annie!" Armin politely greeted, sticking out his hand.
Annie rolled her eyes curtly before greeting both in a lightning fast motion. Much to the trio's surprise, Annie apologizes just as quickly and sets off half-running, leading her out of the dorm's hallway and on her way to the main hall. The three friends shared confused glances with each other, but put themselves to walk, nonetheless. As they moved, Eren couldn't help but to think deeply about how he would live in the same space with a girl such as Annie. Hmph. I guess she's just having some 'new friends' awkwardness. She'll probably get more friendly with time.
...
A few moments after, Eren, Mikasa and Armin were already inside the classroom. It was a pleasant place, even if a certain teen didn't enjoy school much. The desks were comfortable, and the air in its whole was light. Not to mention cold, but that was due to the open window allowing currents of gelid air to enter the room. Most of the desks were still empty, save for Annie who decided to sit on the last row of the rightmost line by herself. Eren was sitting in the very middle of the class, with Mikasa on the desk behind him and Armin on his right side.
The two boys talked at a low timbre of voice with Mikasa quietly watching them, not noticing the ever-growing number of students entering the classroom. Minute after minute the classroom grew crowded. This was enough to make Eren's and Armin's chat to meet an end as they spin on their rears and face forwards, noticing that the teacher had yet to arrive. Eren gives a sigh and prepares to face Mikasa, but his elbow accidentally hits his pencil case, causing it to fall from his table.
He grimaces slightly when he hears the faint sound of his pencil case hitting the floor, but gives a relieved breath when he looks down and sees that it was closed beforehand. "Damn, lemme pick this up..."
The boy forcefully grasps around his desk's leg with his right hand to serve as support and prevent him from coming face-first against the hard surface beneath his feet. Eren could finally feel his fingers touch the fabric of his pencil case... until he saw another hand closing in. Baffled by the sight of the pale palm nearing his case, Eren abruptly rose his head from his lowered state. Only to groan in pain when the top of his skull came into a harsh collision with something hard.
"Ow, shit!" He silently cursed under his breath and brought his right hand to his head, rubbing the hit spot vigorously. He placed his left hand on the ground and pulled himself up from his bent position.
Upon ignoring his throbbing cranium for a second, Eren felt his eyes grow as wide as dinner plates. The green eyed teen wasn't able to remove his eyes from the big, blonde boy sitting right by his left side. His eyes were half-lidded in mild pain, a hand rubbing his chin in slow motions. The attire he was wearing was a simple dark blue jacket together with the baggiest pants Eren had ever seen in his life. It, however, did not stop Eren from seeing how bulky he was. "Oh, damn... I'm sorry!"
The big youngster made Eren raise an eyebrow with the lighthearted chuckle he gave. He leaned down and grabbed the pencil case, carefully setting it on Eren's desk without much effort. "Relax, dude. It was just an accident."
Eren breathed inwardly in pure relief. His hide would stay attached to his body a few more days. Thankfully. He glanced to his side again to see the blonde sticking an open palm towards his direction. "C'mon, I ain't mad with ya. I'm Reiner Braun. You?"
"Eren Jaeger." Eren replied quickly and fist-bumped the bulky man in a gesture of friendship. Right after that, he retracted his arm and rubbed the same spot on top of his head.
"Heh, that was one hell of a headbutt, friend." Reiner commented, rubbing a finger on his chin. He smirked brightly before adding, "Nice to meet ya, Eren!"
"Same, man!" Eren's eyes sparkled with joy when he looked at Reiner one last time: He should his roommate. A cool guy, not the walking ice cube that he got. Damn, the expression on his face was friendlier than any other face he had seen in his whole life.
"So, who have you got as your roommate? Just curious, you know."
"Ummm... a girl named Annie Leonhardt." He answered, looking around the class to try and find the aforementioned girl.
"Daaaamn... What a stroke of bad luck, man." Reiner said in a quite worried tone, looking at the lightly tanned boy sitting behind him.
"Why do you say that?" Eren asked, as if trying to look oblivious to Annie's rocky attitude.
"Me and Bertholdt," Reiner turned his upper body to the tanned boy behind him, who gave a quick wave and passed a hand on his black hair for a second before staring at Eren with a friendly gaze, "Studied with Annie since the start of Middle School, ya know. She hasn't been the most talkative, nor she has been the life of the party on most moments."
"She is also scary with her strength, even if she's short." Bertholdt spoke up, nervously smirking at Eren. "She managed to put Reiner down by flipping him over her shoulder."
Reiner's face flushed slightly at the mention of such event, but he kept his composure. "All in all, that girl's danger. Not trouble, but danger. I really hope you don't try to commit suicide to excessive boredom. Just remember to not piss her off, okay? For your own sake."
Eren swallowed the lump that has formed in his throat as he looked at the two tall boys before him. Mikasa only watched the situation with her typical stoic expression, not showing interest in them at all. "I-I'll try... I guess?"
"Oh!" Bertholdt suddenly snapped. "Where are my manners. I'm Bertholdt Fubar, but you can call me Bert. It's a great pleasure to meet you, Eren Jaeger!"
...
The loud sound of chatter was enough to stop Eren from diving in his thoughts during recess. Students left and entered the large cafeteria, all of them talking between themselves or just wandering around in their own. He never saw so many people concentrated in one place, and he was finding the whole situation in its own a bit... suffocating. Much to his luck, he arrived early enough to avoid the titanic line and get an empty table to share with Mikasa and Armin.
"So, what did you guys think about the first half of classes?" Armin spoke up, then occupying himself with drinking the juice from his cup.
"It was very... nice, I guess?" Eren quickly replied, grabbing his fork and his knife to start eating his lunch. "I liked Ms. Hanji's class, but Levi's was boring. He sounds like an ass, really."
"Mr. Erwin's class was the one which passed more quickly." Mikasa added her own opinion, already taking her fork to her mouth. Her face contorted slightly when she realized that her food was way too hot for her liking.
The trio all looked up when two tall figures neared their table. They stopped on the edge of the table, revealing themselves to be no one other than Reiner and Bertholdt, the boys Eren and his childhood friends befriended during the times when the whole class talked at the same time. Eren got to like them both rapidly, even with Bert's shyer nature.
"Hey!" Reiner greeted, not removing his hands from the tray. "Can we sit with you guys? This place is filled to the brim with people."
"But of course, Reiner!" Armin accepted their presence before Eren could even say anything.
The two teens grinned at the three and set their trays on the surface of the table, sitting next to each other and opposite to their new friends. "Wow, this place used to be emptier, you know."
"What do you mean?" Eren asked.
"You see, me and Bert studied here since Elementary School. We practically know every single corner of this school. It's our first time in this part of it, though, but the school in its own was waaaaay calmer last year." Reiner explained, taking a bite off from his lunch.
"Mikasa and Armin, who are your roommates?" Bertholdt threw a calm look at the two, wishing that his question didn't annoy them.
"Me and Armin are in the same room." Mikasa simply answered, taking a sip from her juice.
"Well, I'm in the same room as Bert too. I guess it's easier to live with a friend, but nothing beats making new friends." Reiner added in, briefly before he started to feast on his lunch with satisfaction stamped on his face.
"I find strange the fact that this school allows girls to be in the same room as boys, you know..." Eren commented, his voice carrying a hint of suspicion.
"Ah, don't worry, Eren. When you get to know the true colors of the staff, you'll won't be so surprised." Bert explained.
The taller boy's explanation made Eren raise an eyebrow in confusion, throwing a questioning look at both Reiner and Bert. He silently chewed on his food, noticing that Mikasa and Armin were expecting a clearer answer too.
"Heh, you know, the guy who takes care of this matter is called Dot Pixis." Reiner began speaking after a lighthearted chuckle. "He's one hell of a drunkard. What means that he works while swaying from side to side, if you get what I'm saying. His decisions are quite precise, though. He likes to look at new student's past profile reports, so he might have seen something in your old stuff that got his attention."
Eren gulped down the remaining orange juice in his plastic cup and looked around. It didn't take much time until he spotted the short figure of Annie sitting in a table not far from his. Her expression was the same she wore earlier this day. Uninterested, bored, lifeless. A black-haired girl sat by her side, face marked with excitement and cheerfulness. From what Eren was observing, Annie seemed to be deeply bored by whatever the girl was excitedly talking about.
He stopped staring the moment he heard heavy footsteps closing in towards their table. Nearly every one sitting turned their heads to face the source of such noise: A stout boy, sporting a buzz-cut, also carrying a tray. He was wearing a long-sleeved shirt colored with a bright shade of green. From what they noticed, he just got his lunch a few moments ago, telling by the dancing trail of light fume raising upwards. He scoured his eyes through the students at the table, and apparently got a tad intimidated upon noticing Reiner.
"Umm... can I sit with you guys? All the other tables are full." He said, shivering on the slightest as he diverted his sight from Reiner.
"Of course, dude!" The invitation came from no one other than the teen who intimidated him: Reiner. The blonde patted the space by his side, signaling for him to sit down.
And so did the 'newcomer'. He dropped his tray carefully and sheepishly sat down on the available space, seemingly shrinking next to Reiner's big frame. If one looked closely, they could see small droplets of sweat running down his shaved scalp.
"I saw you during class, man." Reiner broke the silence by turning his body to the teen sitting by his side. "You're..."
"C-Connie Springer!" He blurted out, glancing at Reiner.
"Oh, yeah. You're Connie. Nice to meet ya, dude." Reiner stuck out his hand in a friendly manner.
Eren simply watched the scene before his eyes, giving Connie a large smile and an across-table fist bump when he asked for his name. So far, High School was turning out to be incredibly great. Having his old childhood friend and his sister together in the same class, not excluding the super-friendly pair of walking skyscrapers that go by the name of Reiner and Bertholdt, was simply, plainly great. He, however, noticed that Reiner's conversation with Connie was still going up, and that everyone in the table was paying attention.
"...So, Connie, who's your roommate?"
"A girl called Sasha." Connie said while throwing a sideways glance towards the nearby table. More specifically, his glance was directed to a brown-haired girl who was viciously assaulting her lunch.
"Oh." Was Reiner's only reply.
"The weirdest part of it is that she brought a big-ass box inside our room before class. When she left for the bathroom, I took a peek inside and..."
"And?" Eren intervened, waiting for the completion anxiously.
"There were tons and tons of food!" Connie stroke a dramatic pose while holding both arms up. "Meat, fruit, potato chips, everything you can ever imagine!"
"Well..." Armin spoke up as he rubbed his chin in thought. "I think you won't have a problem with cooking, I guess?"
"Yeah! You should see that as a headstart, Connie!" Eren supported his friend's statement with joy, causing Reiner and Bertholdt to chuckle about the story in its own.
Before Connie could even spill out his rebuttal, the ear-shattering ringing of the bell interrupted him abruptly. Everyone stood up and grabbed their trays, placing them at the counters next to the cantina. Eren hadn't emptied his whole plate, but he assumed to himself that he had eaten the necessary to help him keep up for the next periods. He joined Armin and Mikasa in the exit of the mess hall, and then moved to their classroom without many words being said. He never liked school, to be honest, but today... today was proving to be different.
He headed over back to the classroom smiling widely. But of course, he was being guided by the two 'veterans'.
...
Eren tiredly stumbled across the hallway, his eyes half-lidded with pure exhaustion. He was accompanied in such a battered state by no one but his blonde friend, Armin. They both suffered in PE class, and the guilty could be thrown upon a not so friendly teacher called Keith Shadis. It seemed more like a military training drill rather than a Physical Education class, really. Eren lost count of how many laps he ran around the gym long ago, and now, in the state that he was, he could care less.
"You both look horrible." Mikasa's words stroke through their tired trains of thought and was enough to make them look at her. Mikasa herself wasn't as tired as her friend and brother were, but her labored breathing showed enough that she didn't escape from the fatigue.
"I... know..." Eren replied curtly, sucking in a deep breath. He felt a sparkle of hope light up in him upon seeing the dormitory hallway right before his eyes. The pain in his shins and the sole of his feet decreased a tiny bit. He switched his material to his left arm and kept his slow march to his room.
It was for a flinch, but the trio managed to find the way back to the dormitories after their last class with the help of Reiner. If it wasn't for him, they would be probably wandering through the school's Elementary section right now.
The hallway was oddly empty, but that was because of Shadis' PE class. Nearly every single freshmen had tucked themselves into their rooms and fallen asleep, while the ones who managed to stay in their feet, such as Reiner and Bertholdt, gave a trip to the nearby convenience store to buy their dinner.
Wait... dinner.
Eren's eyes widened like saucers the moment this thought passed through his head. He didn't recall ever carrying any kind of food together with him when he arrived in the morning. Wait, he did. But they were just a for-two sized bag of chips. The freshmen looked quite worried now.
Upon arriving at the step of Armin's and Mikasa's room, Eren was told to wait. And so he did. He just wished he wouldn't be much of a bother if he called them during the following night to get to their room and eat there.
Wait. He did have a roommate. Eren still had to get used to the fact that he wasn't home now, obviously. It's a new world that he'll have to grow accustomed to with time. All while sharing space with no one other than Annie Leonhardt. I don't think I need to worry about Annie. Like, I think she's just being shy and all, she'll come out of her shell in no time! I just need to try and talk with her.
This made Eren grin dumbly to no one but himself. His smile faded when he saw Mikasa and Armin coming at the door, while his sister carried something in her arms. Oh, his salvation: A pack of instant noodles.
"Here." She tossed it right into Eren's arms. The pack landed almost perfectly together with his stacked notebooks. "So that you don't die of starvation."
"Thanks... Mikasa!" Eren smiled brightly at her, noticing that Armin had something to say as well.
"Oh, Eren. Just letting you know... if you want to come here any time, just call our phones!" He took in a deep breath before stretching his sore limbs. "Bert told me that curfew starts at 8 PM, so we don't exactly have to worry."
"I... I'll talk to you guys later. See ya!" He waved off to them, starting to slowly move towards his door in a zombie-like pace. He did saw Mikasa giving him quite the concerned look before closing her door shut.
Eren placed a hand on the pocket of his hoodie and pulled off the key he had received from Annie. He stared deeply at the doorknob, body tilting slightly with tiredness. He was halfway to try and unlock the door, but then he thought about Annie already being inside. Well, the girl simply disappeared after class, so she should be doing something. At least he liked to believe so.
With a shy swing of the cold doorknob, the door opened slowly. Eren raised his eyebrows in surprise as he walked inside, feeling a weak yet comfortable warmth rushing through his battered body. He could very well dart to his room and dive for his bed, but he yet had to know about Annie's whereabouts, and of course check the box under his bed that the blonde had told him.
After closing the door, Eren narrowed his eyes went he heard a faint yet constant noise coming from deeper within his room. The boy finally stood at the living room, noticing that Annie's material was laying on top of the desk. He dropped his next to hers, and proceed to his bedroom. That is, not before setting his instant noodles on top of their 'kitchen's' counter.
When he set foot inside his bedroom, Eren finally recognized the sound: It was the sound of water dropping, coming directly from the bathroom door. He shrugged at the thought and fought against his desire to hug his pillow and sleep for the rest of the day. Or should he say night? A glance to the window, which was curiously without the curtains blocking the view of the outside made him realize that the daylight was already dying, but since the skies were completely overcast, the only hint of nightfall was the ever-darkening atmosphere growing in the city.
"Well... time to check what my dad left for me..." He said before bending down to his knees and tilting his head enough to allow him to see what was under the bed.
It was a simple cardboard box. The sides were a bit stuffed from the content it was holding, but Eren didn't bother himself to notice and pulled it next to him. When it came to light, Eren saw a small sticky note attached to the top. He tore it off the box and read.
Eren,
How did you forget about your wallet? You thought you would live with your roommate by leaning on him for food? You shouldn't have left in such a hurry, son. Well, that doesn't matter right now. We managed to put everything that you forgot back home in this box, along with your old things and your phone's charger. And some clothes too. We are hoping that you're enjoying your new life at the dormitories well.
Please, don't forget about calling us every week or so, too.
Your parents, Grisha and Carla.
He groaned lowly at the letter and placed his palm squarely on his forehead. Eren then grabbed the sides of the box and opened it in one swift motion. His jaw dropped at what he saw before his eyes:
"My video-game and my old TV?!" He exclaimed out loud, using the sound coming from the bathroom to partially muffle his words. His hands threw aside some of the extra clothes that came together with his beloved possessions. What made his heart beat even faster was the sight of multiple bright green cover boxes buried in the mess of objects and clothes. Digging in the box only led him to find another of his electronics, his laptop. "Oh my God, this is fucking awesome!"
Eren crazily hugged his Xbox, TV, and as well his laptop in one impressive yet loving embrace. His eyes gleamed with happiness, and he let out little noises that could be mistaken by a child's squeaks.
During his happiness outburst, Eren failed to notice that the sound of water coming from the bathroom ceased out of nothing. He continued to hug his favorite objects with all of his strength, despite being physically exhausted. So much that he failed yet again, but now, he failed to hear the bathroom door opening.
"Jaeger... what are you doing?" Annie's left eye twitched for a split second when she emerged from the bathroom, a small cloud of steam following her.
Eren immediately froze from the mention of his last name. The world around him finally snapped when he recognized the tone of voice coming from behind him. He carefully dropped his things and craned his neck towards his roommate. Her emotionless expression was still stamped on her pale face, much to his surprise. Her eyes traveled down to the scattered electronics on the floor, and her face sparkles with acknowledgement.
"H-Hey, Annie..." Eren said, his cheeks stained with a light shade of pink.
"Jaeger." She replied, placing one of her short, damp locks behind her ear.
"Uhhh..." Eren struggled to find the right words to explain his situation.
"You don't need to explain anything." She said while she moved to their living room before eyeing him over her shoulder. "Just take a shower, please."
The boy breathed in relief. Maybe that was a pro of having such a stoic roommate. He grabbed his things and placed the electronics on top of his bed, looking back at his bag and the box. Well, he could unpack later. He needed a shower, like, right now. To relax.
...
It didn't take long till Eren emerged from the bathroom, dressed in his favorite olive green pajamas. The first feeling he had when stepping out of the hot room was renewal. He wasn't the one to take long baths, and nor was he the one to care about how childish or laughable his pajama looked. In conjunct with the pair of black socks he put in, the teen sported a goofy smile as he left the bathroom. He seemed to forget about the fact that there was another human being in the dorm. Eren then checks both his bag and the box he received for any clothes, and delivered those to the cabinet he had seen earlier.
He then remembers about what Armin had told him. Eren grabbed his phone and checked the messages, seeing one from his blonde friend saying that he and Mikasa were going to stay in for the night due to Keith's rigorous class. The boy smiled at the message before sending a simple reply, obviously repeating what his friends had said.
Grabbing the desired objects, Eren carelessly dragged himself to the living room. He looked to his left side first, thankful to see that his instant noodles were still there, on top of their simple counter. Glancing to his right side now, Eren's mouth fell slightly agape as he saw no one other than Annie sitting on the couch, eyes busy with a thick book placed next to her face.
She was also dressed in her pajamas, much to his surprise. But her short stature, including her golden strands made her look like a fragile person. The pajama she was wearing was colored in a light pink, adorned with multiple pink dots. She didn't even look like the blunt and gelid girl he met earlier today.
For some reason, Eren grinned dumbly at the thought of Annie standing in the same attire, but with a sleepy face and carrying a fluffy teddy bear on her left arm. You know, giving those adorable long yawns as she rubbed her eye with her free hand.
Wait.
Why was he even picturing this in his mind in first place?
Shaking his head for a moment, Eren quickly set the 'equipment' on top of the small coffee table that he had seen earlier. His act managed to get Annie's attention, who watched the boy before her icy eyes dart from place to place while holding a line cord in a tireless search for an outlet. When he finally found one on the wall behind the couch, he came back to grab another line cord and connect it to the second outlet, powering up both his console and his TV. The sound emitted from the pitch-black device made Annie jump curtly on her seat.
Eren smiled enormously again and raced for his room to grab his controller. A quick glance to the clock, and he saw it: 7:31 PM. His eyebrow raised slightly at the time, but he got what he needed anyways. Upon crossing the doorway leading to the silent living room, his stomach grumbled in need for food. Time to eat some noodles.
After a few minutes wasted in failed attempts to turn on the microwave and finding a fork, one that could have been Annie's (Which she could have cared less. They were roommates, so they were bound to borrow things from each other. Of course that clothes were out of this) when he opened a shelf at random in the kitchen's counter, Eren sat comfortably at the couch. Annie barely flinched when his rear's landing was quite heavy, and only eyed him from time to time as he devoured his fresh noodles.
"So." Eren began, chewing on his food before swallowing it and looking at her in hopes to form some kind of bond. "What did you think of today?"
"Pretty interesting." Annie responded, not taking her eyes out of the book before her.
"Have you studied here before?" Eren tried to rescue the conversation.
"Why do you ask?"
"Some guys called Reiner and Bertholdt told me so." He answered, now halfway in his dinner.
"Well, yes. I've been studying here since Middle School." She managed to keep Reiner and Bertholdt out of her answer somehow.
Eren nodded in acknowledgement and started turning on his Xbox, what seemed to make Annie divert her gaze from the book again. He eventually finished his noodles and began playing a game at random.
Annie herself put her book aside and quietly watched the gameplay, slightly impressed at how he could not take his gaze off of the screen for a single second. She crossed her legs, staring at her pink shin-length socks without much interest. Little did she know that Eren was aware of her watching, and he smiled to himself with pride.
...
Incredibly, hours pass like minutes as the duo shared nothing but a suffocating silence between each other. Eren struggled to find something good to ask her rather than his usual "The weather today was nice" which didn't got an agreeing response. He looked at the clock from across the room and hoped that it is late enough for him to head to bed.
"Huh. Let's head to bed and sleep for now. Tomorrow's going to be more tiresome than today, Jaeger." Annie stood up and headed off to their bedroom, leaving a mildly baffled Eren looking at her as she walked off.
Goddamn, her shell is hella hard to break. Eren thought to himself as he started to scratch his back. I just hope that I manage to make Annie friendlier towards me. Can't say I'll last long enough with her.
Eren didn't waste much time into turning off the videogame, only staying additional seconds in the living room to place his laptop on top of the desk in case they needed to use it. He stood up, left his controller on the coffee table and turned off the lights, allowing the whole living room to envelop itself in pitch-black darkness.
He dragged his body to their bedroom and saw Annie leaving the bathroom, probably after brushing her teeth. Eren then proceeds to do the same thing she did, brushing his teeth quickly before returning. He still found strange to see that time passed so quickly before his eyes. Maybe he has spent a lot of time without playing games, and this is an after-effect.
As Eren headed to his designated bed, he thought about the awkwardness of this night. He never even imagined about someone this... rocky. This cold. Not that he would hate her from now on, since the fact of having an enemy inside your dormitory wouldn't be the best idea ever. Eren trusted himself that he would break her ice. He knew that he was going to do that. How? He doesn't know now. But he will.
"Before we go to sleep, Annie, who will wake us up?" Eren questioned, looking at the girl already wrapped under her blankets.
"There's nothing to worry about, Jaeger. Class only starts at 8:10, and I wake up early." Annie appeared out of her coverings for a moment. Eren simply gave a nod before heading to the light switch.
He turned off the light, shrouding this environment too in total darkness. He makes a quick dive for his bed, enveloping himself around the blanket and taking some time to find the pillow. Eren finally stopped shuffling about in his bed, and, turning to the left side and pulling his blanket high enough to partially cover his face, he called out:
"Goodnight, Annie."
Annie, on the opposite side of the bedroom, shot her eyes open at the mention of her name. Her gaze is fixated into the ceiling, but the absence of light made her feel like staring into pure nothingness. She gave a quiet yawn before coming up with a reply as well.
"See you next morning... Eren."