CHAPTER 1 of 12
A Dry Place Became Our Solace.
A barrage of knocks clash against a house window, startling the sleeping body of a brunette boy. His room barrens, until suddenly, an alarm echoes into his ears. Finally becoming focus with space and objects, he smacks his fingers against the phone, ceasing the device from further annoyance. The brunette tardily thrust his head from the pillow, a string of drool trying to remain grip to the side of his tan cheek.
"Ern~"
A series of grumbles and moans hollow from his throat, as he rubs his sandy eyes with each damp wrist. His sight remains in slits before they widen their vicinity. As his ears arouse to the knocks against the bedroom window. He consciously turns his head towards the origin of the sound, face flushed with excitement.
"Rain…Rain!-"
"Oi, Eren! It's 7:15, we're going to be late for school!"
"Y-yes, Mikasa!" The boy startled.
"Shit…"
"Don't you have some project you have to work on with sensei?" The boy muttered, walking down the staircase.
"Rescheduled. Just shut up and put on your shoes, hurry!"
Eren sighs and maneuvers lingeringly each foot inside the pair of shoes. He straightens himself out before he finds himself chasing after Mikasa, for she has already made her way out the door.
"Wait up! Wait up, Mikasa!" Footsteps crashing against miniature puddles.
No response passed her lips, but a stare of warning to catch up.
"Here."
She stops in her tracks and hands Eren a square-shaped furoshiki from her bag, laying against the palms of his hands. A bento box. Thoughts of wonder and confusion beam his mind.
"What could be inside? Mom left last night, and dad doesn't know how to cook…so…It must have been…"
A smile creeks the boy's faces, and gratitude passed his lips fluently to the girl. He slides his arm, like a puzzle piece, fitting next to his sister underneath the umbrella.
They arrive to the school's courtyard minutes later, and bells begin to beacon across the property. Cuss words screech from their throats, sprinting to their classroom, forgetting about the rain, forgetting about the umbrella.
"Mikasa! Eren!" A familiar voice sprang out from his desk, concerned as to why the pair are wet.
"You're almost late, thank goodness. I wouldn't want to eat alone again…"
"Armin, we're fine." Mikasa dictated.
"Y-yes. Eren!" shouted the blonde boy. "I recently ordered a new book!"
"Really? What's it about?" The brunette responded, sarcastically chalant about the news.
Mikasa avoids any further harm to her nerves, sighing and finding her seat as Armin excitingly blares out unorganized chunks of the plot. Seconds later, all voices soon became masked by a raven haired man's bellowing, stern voice. Each student makes their way back to assigned seats, organizing and straightening their journals. Eren finds his way to his and relaxes his back against the chair, staring at a broad, slim-but-muscular figure 2 seats up from his.
"Jean…"
Jean hasn't spoken to Eren in a few days. No call, no text.
"He's acting funny…" The brunette spoke in his mind. But all thoughts came to a halt as his homeroom teacher, Levi, asked for attendance of each individual student. An exchange of names and presents were passed back and forth.
"Eren Jaegar."
"Here."
The hallways barren only to be interrupted by shouts and questions, as students make plans with one-another for the afternoon.
Levi bids farewell to each student rushing out the classroom, only to receive shouts and screams. As he thought that each student has left, he hears a familiar, soft-spoken voice.
"See you tomorrow Rivaille Sensei!"
"Ah, Eren."
The boy's ears wait anxiously.
"Have a good afternoon, and be safe."
Eren smiles and a farewell passes his lips, before a sudden voice enters his presence outside the classroom. A tall, shady figures obstructs his view further down the hallway.
"J-Jean!" A hug follows a shriek of excitement, but no response came from the other.
"Jean?" The boy questions.
"Eren…We-…We need to talk."
"About what?" Ignoring the request, Eren parks his right leg between Jean's, hands scrunching the sides of his partner's uniform, and perking his chin forward for a kiss. But the other doesn't respond, pulling his head back.
Eren's brows burrow into each other, and his mouth become slightly pursed and confused. Silence jointed their eyes, until the tall, slim boy spoke.
"Eren, We need to break up."
Silence rejoiced its way back between them, Eren returning his right leg, spaced evenly next to his left. His head slouches under his shoulders and a shroud of darkness drapes over his passionless, trembling emerald eyes. Sweat streams his cheeks slowly, accompanied by tears.
"It…doesn't feel right. I'm sorry-"
A force mixed with sorrow and anger pushes Jean out of Eren's way, coursing down the hallway, stairs, and finally out the school's exit, into the courtyard. Leaning over, gasp of air hollow in the boy's esophagus and drops of tears disguise themselves into the rain-painted pavement. Before catching his breath, the brunette grits his teeth and runs, with no specific finish, or destination. His only priority is to get away.
Reaching in far enough into the neighborhood's local park, Eren stops due to exhaustion. Tears continue streaming down the boy's face, but he can't differentiate between what's sweat, tears, and reality. His spine spouts his head above his shoulders, crossing each arm across his chest. Tears come to a stop, but sweat and rain still sheet his face and neck. His heart is still heavy, pounding in sync with each split second. The boy's legs begin to cadence slowly on the runway of pavement, neighbored by gravel, bushes, and trees. Leaves hiss to one-another, rubbing against each other as the wind's gust pushes against the brunette, sliding his soaked uniform further up his skin. The sky, filled with ashen clouds, continue to drop of what Eren believes to be memories. As the rain further soaks into his uniform, his heart becomes heavier, sponging up the pain of what he use to call 'Love'. His mind envelopes these memories, striking him down to his knees. Spears clashing against his back makes each breath deeper. Eren's head cocks up, and frames a bench with planks of wood hovering over it as shelter, hidden behind full bushes. He spines himself straight, and begins to walk towards it. As the frame becomes larger, he see's a male oxford, kicking with seconds of time. The brunette flinches back, but continues onward for a dry place to stay. Rain continues their journey from the clouds, popping against puddles on the trail. The frame soon becomes a landscape of another bench, sheets of grass behind it, with a vein of water, streaming and bordering the blades of green. All of this, behind a raven-haired man. The boy's face soon becomes flushed with confusion, as his tongue raises a question.
"Sensei?"
The man consciously turns his head over to the brunette, concerned of the familiar voice. His, however, soon becomes shock at the boy's state.
"Oi! Eren!"
The man notices the boy's soaked clothes, and red-circled eyes. He takes off his blazer, spirals it around Eren, and hooks it more securely onto the boy's shoulders. The blazer capes the boy's back, and the man gestures the boy further into the hut to take a seat. Eren sits down next to a grocery bag, and notices the beer cans that fill inside of it. The man sits on the other side of the pile of aluminum, and motions his hand for a can. He snaps the beer open, but before taking a sip, he scouts over the tan brunette, to see a face flushed with concern at his teacher's current actions.
A chuckle spat from his lips. "You shouldn't be out in the rain, you'll catch a cold."
"Stay here, until the rain stops. Wouldn't want you to miss tomorrow's math quiz. I'll call your parents and let them know." Searching inside his bag.
The brunette responds in shame but his heart no longer felt so heavy, instead, light. Sorrow no longer anchored his shoulders to slouch, for they have rejoiced their posture. The scent of sharp, cheap cologne of Levi's blazer entering the boy's canals. The rain was no longer grievous, for they have stopped dripping the memories that Jean and Eren shared. The storm within Eren's mind became lull, rays of light tearing through the clouds of confusion and anguish. But his eyes and the end of his lips still remain heavy, and a pounded red.
"Thank you, Rivaille Sensei-"
"Oi, Eren. Out here, just Levi."
The brunette nods in agreement, then crooks his head down and stares gloomily to the dry, ashen pavement beneath him. Rain accompanied the silence between both Eren and Levi.
The raven-haired man takes a large gulp of his beer, then chucks a sigh out of his mouth.
Chapter 1 of 12.
