Secret Admirer

"Mmmm…" Eren woke up as the phone on his nightstand next to his bed vibrated loudly. Who could be calling at this time of the day… He looked at his phone screen and groaned, it was Hanji. He decided to ignore the call and wait for it to stop ringing, but it kept ringing and at last Eren couldn't take it anymore and accepted the call "Hello hello, Hanji what is so important that you had to call at-" He glanced at the clock and continued "3:15 in the morning."
All that replied was silence, but Eren knew Hanji was there. "Hanji? Hanji? HANJI TALK FOR GODS SAKE." There was still no reply. Eren suddenly didn't feel sleepy anymore, as if someone had poured ice cubes down his back. "Hanji? What's the matter? Talk to me! Hanji!"
It was still silent, but this time Eren thought he heard something in the background, and he hoped that the reason why Hanji called at 3:15 in the morning wasn't the reason he was thinking right now.

"….."

He listened more carefully this time and his thoughts were confirmed.

"….Fuck, Hanji I'm gonna kill you tomorrow."
That was the last thing he said before he ended the call. He fell back into his warm bed and rolled around for a few hours before he felt tired again and fell asleep.

He knocked on the door to Hanji's house the next morning with bags under his eyes, he wasn't particularly happy to see Hanji today, especially after what happened last night. "Eren!" Hanji opened the door with a huge smile "I was just about to call you since I thought you were running pretty la- woah when did you sleep last night? You look tired as." Eren glared at her and walked through the door greeting her parents as he did so. "Eren ~ come this way ~" Hanji didn't really seem bothered by his attitude as she leaded Eren towards her piano room.

As soon as she closed the door, she asked him again. "Did you get enough sleep last night? You look like you had a bad night or something. Do you need to take a nap before we start?" Eren stared at Hanji and answered "I would have had a better night if SOMEONE hadn't accidentally slept on her phone and called me at 3:15 in the morning." Hanji's eyes widened as she answered in surprise "Wow, that's some talent the person's got... I thought it was impossible to sleep on the phone and call someone by accident. I need to meet the person and have a chat with her, maybe take a look at her brain and check out if she's any different to a normal human." Hanji sighed sitting down mumbling to herself thoughtfully. Eren rubbed his temples "Hanji can you do me a favour and take out your phone"
"Huh? Why?" Hanji asked confused but did as she was told and took out her phone.
"When was the last time you called someone? Check for me."
"The last time… I remember was yesterday afterschool when I called my mum to say I was going to be home late." She muttered as she checked her history.
"EHHHH?! I CALLED YOU THIS MORNING AT 3:15?! I WAS THE ONE WHO SLEPT ON HER PHONE AND ACCIDENTALLY CALLED YOU?" Hanji shouted in surprise.

Eren sighed as he walked over to the piano and sat down, ignoring the guilty look Hanji had on her face and started playing Fur Elise. Hanji kept talking to herself for a few more minutes before quietening down and admiring the music Eren was playing. The music was soft but when you listened carefully, you could hear all the hard work Eren had put in when practicing this piece. The way the notes were played carefully below his hands, each note was filled with personality. His music was alive, as if every note had a will of its own and was dancing around his fingers. Hanji closed her eyes as she listened silently to her friend's music, this was the sound she tried so hard to imitate. She wished her music would be like that.

As the last note was played, Hanji's eyes opened. "That was great Eren!" She praised and stared at him with admiration. "Thanks. I screwed up a bit though." Eren closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Hanji smiled, his music was just like his person. Soft but filled with personality. People only saw the outside of him, no one really knew all the hard work and time he invested to get to the place he is now. "Let's get started Hanji" Eren suddenly said.

"Ah right, let's get started."

The piece they decided on was the piano duet of 'Shut up and dance' they thought the piece had a happy touch towards it and would cheer up the sick patients in hospital. They settled down, Eren playing the on the left hand side and Hanji playing on the right hand side.

Eren's hands rose above the piano and started off, just as good as Hanji imagined. She suddenly started to worry that maybe she wasn't good enough, Eren must have saw the worried facial expression that seldom appeared on Hanji's face and said while playing "It will be fine Hanji, didn't you say that to me yesterday? Besides, it's not even the actual thing yet. How are you gonna do the actual thing if you get nervous now?" She gulped and nodded as she too rose her hands above the piano and started her role in the piece. Smiles slowly appeared on both of their faces as they played on, it was sounding wonderful Eren thought as he paused while Hanji did her part. Although their styles were different, the music they played together had a strange sense of harmony. Hanji looked at Eren and grinned as her timing was in sync with his, Eren looked back at her and laughed. As they both raised their hands away from the piano, there was applauding coming from the doorway.

"Wonderful!" Hanji's parents stood there with huge smiles on their faces "I can't wait to see you guys perform tomorrow at the hospital! The people will LOVE it!" Hanji's smile had stretched so far, that Eren didn't even know it was possible to stretch a smile so far. He too found himself smiling, it was perfect. He just hoped that everything would go just as well at the hospital. The rest of the day was just the same as usual. Hanji annoying Eren and Eren ignoring Hanji, they practiced some more before Eren decided that it was getting late and he needed to go home. "See you tomorrow Eren!"
"See ya Hanji."

"I'm home!" Eren yelled as he entered the house, "How'd it go?" both his parents came out to meet him and asked. "It went well, Hanji's music and mine surprisingly fits well together." He tilted his head a bit and asked "You are coming to see me perform right?" His mum and dad exchanged looks and laughed "Of course son." His dad replied. Eren smiled, he was starting to feel nervous already. "I'll be upstairs in my room if you need me." He said as he made his way up the stairs. "Ok"

His phone vibrated as he received a message from Mikasa.

Mikas.a 5:38 pm
Eren, whens your concert tomorrow?

Eren sighed, how did she know he had a concert tomorrow…

Me 5:38 pm
Tomorrow morning 10:30 am.

Mikas.a 5:38 pm
Ok, we will see you there :)

….We?

Me 5:38 pm
Who's we?

Mikas.a 5:38 pm
Let me see… Me, Armin, Sasha, Connie, Krista, Marco and Jean. Reiner and Annie couldn't go.

… Wow.

Me 5:39 pm
Ok.

Mikas.a 5:39 pm
Good luck :)

Me 5:39 pm
Thanks!

Eren ran his hand through his messy hair and closed his eyes. Now he was actually nervous for tomorrow, hopefully he doesn't screw up. His mind suddenly wandered to the weird stranger he met on the train. Well… technically he's not a stranger because they go to the same school but who cares. "I wonder if he will be there tomorrow." He mumbled to himself.

"Who's going to be where?"

He turned around with a start to see his mum standing by the doorway. He sighed in relief and answered "Oh nothing, just a person I met at school." He gulped seeing his mum eyed him suspiciously "Ok, come down to dinner then. I called you for a while but you didn't reply so I came to check on you." She said as she made her way down the stairs.

After dinner, Eren practiced some more piano. He completely forgot about time until his mum told him to get some rest or else he would feel tired tomorrow. He thought about the school ball as he lied in the dark on his bed. There were rumours about it that he had heard from Hanji, apparently the school spent A LOT of money on the ball this year because they had support from some rich parents. Therefore they decided to change the rules a bit, the ball this year would be unique. Every person will receive a piece of jewellery 2 hours before the ball starts, girls will get a necklace and boys will get a bracelet. The jewellery is given out at random, so at the start of the ball, students are to find the girl/boy that has the matching piece of jewellery (necklace or bracelet) as their own. "Wouldn't that mean most people would be paired up with people they don't know…" Eren said to himself. He wondered if Hanji will register him as a girl or boy, probably a girl he thought. He was wearing girl clothing after all. He remembered that the school also had a Christmas special activity going on that day, he wasn't sure what that was yet since the school hadn't actually told them yet. He would be knowing on Tuesday or Wednesday. The ball was only for their year level, so maybe that's the reason why the school was willing to spend a lot.

Closing his eyes, Eren decided to actually get some rest.

"Eren wake up. Go get ready now." He heard his mum say "Whats the time…?"
"It's 8:50. Go get dressed."
"Ok…"

He got up from his bed and walked towards the bathroom to brush his teeth and take a quick shower. He put on his formal clothing and looked in the mirror, gently slapping both of his cheeks and made his way down to have breakfast. "Eren, your tie isn't straight." His mum sighed as she adjusted it for him "Sorry" Eren replied with a mouthful of toast while looking at his sheet music.

By the time they were out of the house ready to go, it was 9:45. Eren plugged his earphones into his phone and relaxed, he had received a lot of good lucks from his friends this morning. He wanted to do well, he wanted the patients in hospital to cheer up and fight back to whatever disease or problem they had.

He must have fallen asleep again, because when he woke up, Hanji was already in sight. She was wearing a black thigh-length halter neck dress, the hem of the skirt was decorated with black sequins that sparkled as she moved around in the sunlight. Her hair was tied in a bun loosely at the back of her head, and her matching black high heel sandals made her seem taller as she walked towards Eren smiling. "Morning Eren! I'm so nervous!" Hanji yelled making Eren think the elegant person he just saw was an illusion. "Morning Hanji. Let's go inside."
"OK!"

It was 10:20, they went to find the head of the hospital first before doing anything else. "I'm glad you guys could come." He said with a smile "The people have been looking forward to this day."
"Thank you for inviting us." Hanji replied smiling back, "We hope you won't be disappointed with our performance."
"Oh of course not! I'm grateful you guys made time to come here and perform for us already." He bowed down. Hanji and Eren quickly bowed back to him before Eren said to Hanji "It's about time for us to leave." Then turned around to the head of the hospital "Please look forward to our performance, sir."
"Of course. Good luck!"

They walked slowly down the stairs, both nervous. "It will be fine." Eren suddenly spoke, breaking the awkward silence. Hanji nodded as they appeared around the corner to the stage of the little hall the grand piano was put. "Good luck Eren." She said before they appeared in front of the audience.
"You too."

Eren settled down on his side of the piano, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. He then opened them again and exchanged looks with Hanji, signalling he was ready to start. Hanji looked back at him and nodded. His hands rose above the piano just like the way he did at Hanji's house, staying there for a second before his fingers touched the first key of the piano. His lips curved into a small smile as he heard Hanji join in, it sounded just like yesterday. The sound of the music filled the small hall, Eren relaxed and played with everything he's got, his fingers moving skilfully over the keys. Hanji was clearly enjoying herself too, Eren could see from the corner of his eye the smile of his friend as they played on. When the performance ended, the audience was silent. Everyone was too astonished to do anything. Then a small clap started, it grew bigger and louder as Eren and Hanji bowed at the audience and moved off stage.

As soon as they were out of site from the audience, Hanji high fived Eren and said "THAT WAS EVEN BETTER THAN YESTERDAY!" Eren only smiled and nodded as a small boy walked near them with a bunch of flowers. He stopped in front of Eren "You're Eren right?" he said with a cute voice. Eren nodded and the little boy continued "A man told me to give these flowers to you, to Eren." He handed the flowers over to Eren "I really liked your performance! Thank you for this wonderful day Eren and Hanji!" He said while running off. They exchanged looks then both turned to look at the flowers that were in Eren's hands. Hanji noticed a little card within the flowers and reached out to grab it. She opened it, there was only three words written down 'Nice performance Eren.' There was a moment's silence before Hanji's eyes widened with some sort of realisation. She turned back to Eren with a weird expression on her face. "So Eren… looks like you got a secret admirer."

"Hahaha PLEASE Hanji, who wouldn't like me? I just did an awesome performance back then." He joked. Hanji was still looking at Eren with a weird expression but soon went back to the annoying Hanji face.

"EREN!" He turned around to see his friends waving at him while walking towards him, "Who's this?" Connie asked "This is Hanji Zoe, she's in the same school and same year as us." Eren introduced Hanji to his friends "She was in the music competition with me last time and we both won first place." He continued. "Hey! Just call me Hanji, nice to meet you guys!" she said with a smile. Eren smiled as he introduced his friends to Hanji, they seemed happy to get to know each other. "Eren, let's go find our parents first. Bye guys! See you soon!" Hanji said walking towards the door with Eren "BYE!" They replied as the door closed.

After meeting with the parents and receiving small gifts from the head of this hospital, they went home at around 1:35 pm. Eren spent the rest of the day doing nothing, occasionally chatting with the group but mostly just staring into space. The ball was next week. He still had to go shopping with Hanji and Petra, and he was worried about the reaction his partner would have when he found out that he was a guy not a girl. Maybe he wouldn't tell his partner that he was a guy. He reached out to the flowers he had received and pulled out the small card. The handwriting was neat and written in black ink. It couldn't be any one of his friends, they would probably leave their name on the card. He examined the card and figured that it was a guy's handwriting. Who knew Eren was performing today? His mind suddenly wandered to the beautiful student he met on the train. Could it be him…?

"That's impossible, he doesn't know me and I don't know him. He wouldn't have known my name, besides the concert was private, he wouldn't have known there was a concert today." Eren said to himself as he put the card on his table. He needed somewhere to put these flowers, so he left his room in search of a vase. He returned a few minutes later was a clear glass vase and put the flowers neatly into it. Looking around the room, he decided to put it near the window so it would have enough sunlight. He sat down once again and stared at the flowers.

"Who could it be…"

Note:

So this chapter may have been a bit more boring than the rest since it's just talking about the concert and stuff. I WONDER WHO THE FLOWERS ARE FROM WINK WINK. Information on the ball will be filled as the story goes on, that might be a bit more interesting (I hope). Anyway, I have already made a start on the next chapter. The chapter when Eren finally goes shopping with Hanji and Petra!
Me: *shakes head* have fun Eren
Eren: …
Hanji: DID I JUST HEAR EREN SAY HE LOOKS FORWARD TO SHOPPING WITH US PETRA?
Petra: Aww Eren we do too *Evil grin*
Me: HAHAHAHAHAHA (Gets hit by Eren
Ok so hopefully the next chapter will be up soon :)