Chapter 7

Hey everybody! Yay! Another update! I'm sure you guys are wondering why Eren is in jail now that you know why Levi is. Don't worry, I promise you'll find out eventually! In this chapter, Eren gets to see Armin and Mikasa, so expect feels!

What happened recently: "Absolutely adorable, brat."

Eren thought he was once a rational person. He weighed the pros and cons of every tricky situation he faced. Like he had done when he went to the prison's gym for the first time. But now...

...now he wasn't sure what to think. Levi kissing him yesterday hadn't been a pro, or a con. It was certainly pleasant, but there was nothing other than that, was there?

Eren had spent his whole morning thinking about the kiss and why Levi had done it. Was it because of what Hanji said? That he reminded Levi of "what he holds dear"?

Eren decided it must have been because Levi was feeling so much emotion he wasn't thinking properly, when the bushy 'browed role call guy Hanji called 'Erwin', walked up to where Eren was sitting at an empty table in the prison's cafeteria. Breakfast had ended hours ago, and Eren guessed it was around noon, but where else was he supposed to go to avoid the risk of running into Levi? He always spent his mornings and early afternoons in the gym, and spent the rest of his day showering and cleaning up in their cell, not that there was much to clean. It amazed Eren how one could spend four hours cleaning a room that was the size of a large storage shed.

"That phone call request you put in this morning was accepted. I have the honor of escorting you."

"Oh, thanks Officer Smith." Eren got up and walked in front of the cop, as was the custom to avoid sneak attacks by the prisoners.

"You can call me Erwin."

"Oh, not you too. Aren't you guys afraid the prisoners here will track you down and kill you when they get out?" Eren's exasperated voice was followed by a low chuckle.

"Only Hanji gives her first name out to everybody. But she told me about you and I've deemed it safe enough. Especially if Levi thinks you're okay." And as he said this, Eren could hear the smile in his voice. He whirled around and faced the man, bright red in the face.

"How did you know!?"

"Hanji." coolly answered as his smile grew, earning a facepalm.

"I should have known..."

When they reached the phones, Eren rushed to sit down and quickly dialed his sister's cell number, knowing Armin would probably be near by because they would have both noticed him missing by now. His suspicions were confirmed when he heard a certain yellow coconut answer frantically after the phone rang only once.

"Hello! Who is this? Eren, is that you?"

"Yeah, Armin. It's me. Is Mika there? Put me on speaker." Eren smiled fondly when he heard a faint "It's Eren!" over the line and the sound of a quick scuffle for control of the phone before it was put on speaker.

"Eren! Are you okay? Where are you? Are you hurt? Why haven't you called? What's going on? Mom and dad are worried sick!" Mikasa rambled over the line, earning a nervous laugh from Eren.

"Um...I need to tell you guys something, but you have to promise to listen to me and not freak out or tell mom and dad yet." Eren said slowly, filled his voice with caution.

"Okay..." Armin answered suspiciously. He didn't like the terms of the agreement, but he knew Eren wouldn't spill otherwise.

"Mika, you too. I need you both to promise." There was a faint pause on the other side of the line before he heard her agree reluctantly.

"Fine."

"Great. Uh, yeah...I'm in jail-" As soon as the words left his mouth he was cut off.

"WHAT!?"

"Eren! What did you do!?"

"Mom and dad are gonna be pissed!"

"Is this the result of another stupid dare from Ymir?"

"HEY!" Eren yelled over the merciless questioning. "Guys, calm down! I don't know why I'm in here, and mom and dad are not gonna be pissed because no one is going to tell them, remember? Not yet anyway. Let me explain. Remember the other day when someone knocked on the door and I answered it? Yeah, that was a cop. He arrested me and told me I was being arrested for second degree murder- hold on, I'm not finished yet." He pinched the bridge of his nose as he cut off the beginning of a protest. "He asked if it was the Jaeger residence and if we had any guests over and as soon as I said it was and we didn't (Armin had been living with them since his grandfather died), he was dragging me to a squad car! I haven't done anything you guys, I swear! And I'm not even going to be tried to prove it until a couple months."

There was another pause on the line before he could hear Armin and Mikasa quietly discussing it among themselves before Armin said

"We believe you, Eren. The cop must have come around the time we were watching that movie, so we wouldn't have noticed you were gone until it was over. And even then we didn't think much of it at the time. We all thought you must have just gotten tired halfway through again and went to bed."

"'Again?' Hey, how could I have fallen asleep watching a movie like that?" Eren pouted. Another pause.

"Really Eren? You almost always fall asleep in the middle of movies. How could we have known you were arrested?" He could practically hear the deadpanned expressions they wore as Mikasa said this. Eren hung his head in defeat before muttering

"Not always. But that's not the point! Point is, I'm in jail, I don't know what to do, and I really miss you guys."

"We miss you too, Eren. Hey, do they have visitation? I mean, I'm pretty sure all jails do, if not most."

"Yeah. Han- I mean, an officer told me earlier that they did when she was explaining my rights."

"Then we'll come first thing tomorrow!"

"Really!? That would be great guys! I can't wait! But what if mom and dad see you sneak out?"

"Oh...Eren, they're going to have to find out eventually. And they will, especially since your mom filed a missing persons report last night." Armin said meekly.

"What!? Oh, man." Eren took a deep breath as the information sunk in. "Yeah, I guess she will find out pretty quick where I am then, since they search names in the computer and it'll pull up that I'm here. Crap. There goes my record." Eren muttered. "Could you guys tell them what's happened for me then? The guard just signaled my time is almost up."

"Sure, Eren. Please promise us you'll do your best to be careful." Mikasa said gently.

"I promise." Eren was on the verge of tears now. "I just miss you guys so much already."

"We miss you too Eren. Bye. We love you."

"I love you too." And the line went dead. Eren put the phone back on its hook before taking a moment to compose himself. Then he allowed Erwin to escort him back to his suddenly lonely table.

At home with Armin and Mikasa:

Carla sat in deep thought as she struggled to comprehend the words she had just heard. Her baby was in jail? It just didn't make sense. Why were the police looking for him when he didn't do anything? There must have been some mistake. Maybe there was another Jaeger family in the area and the police mixed the two up? It was all just so mind-blowing.

Grisha on the other hand sat in stunned silence. So the police had finally found them, huh? Shit. Poor Eren. His son didn't deserve this. His thoughts of concern for his son came to a halt when he heard Mikasa's exciting news.

"And we're all going to see him tomorrow!"

Carla, Armin, and Mikasa were too busy excitedly chatting about how their visit would go to notice how Grisha's face paled.

Hee hee! Cliff hanger! Don't hate me~

Now you guys kind of get an idea as to what's going on, huh? And I just died inside writing lonely Eren! Don't worry. He'll get some much needed comfort in the next chapter. :-)