I AM SO SORRY! For this late update ofc. I have been terribly busy with work and cosplay! Especially the latter, since I've entered a competition and I've never done that before, like ever, so I have to make my shit look good!
Anyway, I hope you guys will enjoy nr 20. I know some of my writing is shit, cuz I don't have a Beta reader, and I work till what… 2 AM soooo I'm mega brain dead when I write this hahaha (looking for a beta reader thought, I'm trying my hardest)
I hope this chapter is interesting, trust me it is actually going somewhere hahahaha~ Enjoy!
The Mad Titans and the World of Tomorrow
Chapter 20
By the time Eren woke up he had found Levi gone. Well, that was neat. Shit. He still had to tell the ravenette about his new job, preferably face to face. He could always send a text. No. This is something important, so important even a call wouldn't suffice.
He still felt a bit tired and shifted under the warm confinements of his blanket, he pulled it up to his nose, breathed in deep, and enjoyed the smell of the older male. He opened his eyes and glanced at the empty spot beside him.
'Goodmorning… I guess.' He mumbled into the blanket. He got up to his feet and regretted it the instant he straightened his back. A sharp pain shot through his lower back, and he swore he felt like the muscles in one of his legs stood ablaze.
'Fuck, I knew I wasn't that flexible.' He cursed as he bent his back to a more comfortable hunch. Great, I look like the freaking hunchback. Just, great. Excellent. He tried shifting his weight experimentally, only to grumble string of hurt and curses. He huffed, feeling immobile. Sex could do this to people? Ridiculous. But when he thought about the events of the previous night, maybe… maybe it was worth it. Oh, shit. It so totally was. Eren relived that hot bathroom scene, moments of passion and lust flashing by. He released a shaky breath. Oh, my. But walking like a regular person still sucked ass.
He placed foot before foot, shuffling towards his wardrobe, pulled some stuff out at random and threw them over his naked body. He wore a large deep green sweater and some loose fitting sweat pants he didn't know he still had. He'd had to comb out his closet one day, but today was not that day, and the day after told the same story. He wasn't sure when, but he decided on eventually, yeah, that sounded just perfect.
He lazily brushed his teeth in front of the bathroom mirror, staring at the door. The bathroom door. The broken bathroom door. Fuck. He walked over to take a closer look and his toothbrush nearly fell from his mouth as his hands ran across the splintered wood. The latches were bend and tore into the wood, leaving two scar like lines over the width of the door. The handle… where the fuck was it?
Eren spotted the lost item in a corner behind his laundry basket. How did it end up there? His eyes stood wide, and his gaze returned to the door. The frame was nearly torn off in the middle, where the lock was… well, suppose to lock. He found said missing chunk of wood still in the side of the door, and when he flipped the lock open, the piece fell to the ground with a loud thud. 'Well be damned.'
Levi a man his size, okay, slightly smaller, a man who loved clean places, a man who remained stoic in almost any possible situation, had bashed his bathroom door to… get a piece of him. He gulped. He came to a serious conclusion at the end of his deduction.
Levi was a scary man.
'Okay, so I want you all to think of something for the tour outfits.' Petra scribbled some notes down in her scrapbook.
'New ones again?' Erwin cocked a brow.
'We change outfits in the blink of an eye.' Hanji whined.
'Better yet, so fast you don't even have to blink.' Levi agreed with Hanji on this. They just had photo shoots some days ago, yes for a magazine but still, it's the thought that counts.
'Can't we just go old school on this?' Erwin suggested.
'Old school?' Petra stopped scribbling and dropped her notebook, placing it on a salon table beside her. 'Like what?'
'Shirt and jeans.' Hanji added, knowing what Erwin was after. 'You know, a simple look. Nothing to flashy, nothing to insane. Nothing to tight?' She was referring to all those super skinnies '…Tour shirt? Yes, we could do that.'
'Come on guys, you are stars! You need to look flashy, and classy.' Petra tried to get her point across. She sighed deeply when no one looked convinced. 'Fine.' He crossed her arms in front of her chest and before Hanji could cheer she added: 'But…' Hanji's arms were stuck mid-air, no sound escaping her open mouth, if she'd been a bit quicker she'd be cheering. 'You can wear what you want, however nothing that has already been done, and you will never, ever wear the same thing twice in a row. If you do that, I swear I will kill you guys when you sleep.'
'That's sounds fair.' Hanji said still with her arms above her head.
A heavy breath escaped Levi, this was so trouble some. 'You know what, I don't care. You give me some shit to wear and I'll wear it, I'm not gonna waste my time bickering over what I'm gonna can and cannot wear. Stupid shit.'
'Loser, don't give in!' Hanji yelled.
'Fuck you.' Levi shot back.
'You're a little um, sensitive?' Erwin tried carefully, his attention directed at none other that Levi. He worried about his friend. Something was obviously bothering him. Levi was never really a star in expressing his feelings, which left the raven even more frustrated.
'Hm…'
'Haven't told him yet, have you?' Erwin was always rather straight to the point.
Levi's expression changed from irritated to a slight pained one and he shook his head. 'No, not yet.' And before Hanji could say anything stupid he continued 'And I don't know how. Hey, 'sup, I'm going to leave your sorry ass here for a month, later.' He saluted, sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Shit was too complicated. 'I don't know how he'll handle it. I don't know how I'll handle it. But, I'm gonna have to say in eventually. Tonight perhaps.' He pursed his lips, thinking matters over, running different kinds of scenarios through his head. He seemed pleases with none, as the result was undeniably the same, they had to be parted for a month.
His train of thought was interrupted by a knock on the door.
'Come in.' Petra directed her attention towards the door. Oluo opened the door and looked irritated. 'What is it?' Petra added when she saw his expression.
'Well, we kinda got a situation.' He grumbled.
The band members moaned in frustration simultaneously.
'Now what.' Levi hissed as he slumped in his chair.
'It's the president of the fanclu- ah!' Olou spoke so fast he'd bitten his tongue. It was a bad habit but there were times he just couldn't help himself.
'Slowly! Oluo, speak slowly.' Petra giggled.
'Loser!' Hanji beamed, which made Levi snort, she seemed to have a heart for people in pain. She was a cruel woman.
'What I tried to say was…' Oluo spoke slowly now, which made Hanji suppress a laugh, because now he sounded like a retard. Erwin shot her a come-on-give-the-man-a-break look, she ignore him. Of course. 'The president of the fanclub is here.'
'Ah, fuck. Come on!' Levi groaned. Even Hanji's smile seemed to have disappeared. This certain president was always a handful.
'As in, here already?' Petra's eyes bore into Oluo's. He nodded. 'Shit!' She cursed and clapped her hands. 'Get your asses in those chairs now!' she pointed towards her beauty emporium as she'd like to call her little studio. 'Let me change you into something cool. I don't want her saying shitty stuff about my skills.' It was true, if there was even one hair out of place their number one fan noticed, Petra had heard a preach of 4 hours already and received several letters and emails of obsessed fans. It had made her furious to an extent nobody wanted to witness, and ever since Petra wanted everything to be perfect.
'Oluo, get the guys, I'm gonna need their help.'
After only 25 minutes the Mad Titans walked down the hallways looking absolutely fabulous. Petra and her team had outdone themselves. The band looked stylish from head to toe. Levi was clad in black from head to toe; a pair of army boots on his feet, black skinnies graced his strong legs, and he wore a loose fitting tank top, which he had partly stuffed in his jeans, while the other half reached his thighs. The oversized shirt showed off the upper part of his toned chest and the tattoo on his shoulder.
Hanji wore her hair to one side, a pair of black all stars, burgundy shorts and a white sweater filled with crazy cats. He adjusted her glasses and shoved her phone in her back pocket. She eyed Levi 'That shirt makes you look even tinier.' She laughed earning a loud curse from the raven. Then she turned her attention towards Erwin 'But, I defiantly like your boots!' she referred to the dark cowboy boots the broad male was wearing. 'Thanks' he smiled, he had always had a heart for cowboy stuff ever since he'd been a little boy. Further more he wore regular black jeans, and a basic dark blue shirt. He never wore complicated stuff, it didn't match his character.
'Okay guys, she should be here so-' Petra was interrupted midsentence by a high-pitched girly voice.
'Hello! You all look so amazing today! Like, wow! Just, wow!' a girl no older than sixteen walked up to them. Her long black hair was tied in two pigtails. She wore a grey band shirt of the latest tour, the front of the shirt contained the so-called wings of freedom and the back contained a list of all the shows of that tour. Simple black skinnies and Vans finished her look. With a broad smile on her lips she bounced forward, nearly too excited for her own good.
Erwin took it on himself to greet her wholeheartedly when he saw Levi's annoyed glance and Hanji was to occupied with whatever she was doing. Thank god for Erwin. Levi thought, but he felt guilty somehow that Erwin always was the one to talk to the fanclubs, so he decided to mingle, backing up his friend. He deserved it. The girl seemed absolutely delighted when Levi joined the conversation.
'It's so good to see you again. I heard about the new tour and all of us got so excited! We wanted to wish you the best with your performances and I hope it's not too much to ask if I could have a bit of your time for a short interview?'
Levi simply huffed and ran a hand through his hair, while Erwin nodded; it wasn't like they had anything better to do at the moment. Levi pulled out his phone to check the time; it showed it was about 3 o'clock. He was silently praying that all this wouldn't take to long so he was able to go home soon. His attention was caught by the snapping sound of a phone, it was the sound that belonged to the click of a camera, and it was of course Hanji that had taken a picture of him.
'May I ask, what the fuck you are doing?' his expression remained stoic.
'Snapchatting.' She said not even looking up from her phone like it was the most normal thing on the planet. In her perfect world, she hadn't done anything wrong.
'The what now?' he raised his brow, watching his friend snicker at something she was doing with the picture she'd just taken, dragging her finger from one end of the screen to the other, and back again in a wobbly line.
'Snapchatting.' The fan club president said as if too this was something everyone knew.
'You know it Mina! That's fantastic, Levi here never knows shit about apps.' Hanji's eyes were still glued to her phone. 'Ah, done, and sent! Kaboom!' she pressed the send button. Short after her phone beeped, her eyes grew wide and laughter erupted from her throat. 'Ah! Oh, my goodness! Ha ha! I'm dying.' She coughed a couple of times. She then made a picture of her face, when she pulled a you-pervert face and quickly scribbled those words on the picture and clicked send.
Erwin, Levi and Mina just stared at Hanji. What the hell? 'It's official.' Levi huffed 'She's mental.'
Hanji squeaked when she'd received another picture. 'Oh, Eren, you're so cute!'
'What!?' Levi nearly yelled and tried to grab Haji's phone, but she was too quick and moved just out of reach. 'Give me that! Give it to me, now.' His voice turned dangerously low. Hanji giggled and shook her head and if it wasn't enough mouthed a "no", teasing Levi mercilessly.
Mina looked rather shocked, she'd never seen Levi act like this. Her eyes were wide with curiosity and before she could ask, Erwin interrupted her train of thought. 'Come on, can I get you something to drink?'
'Oh, uh, y-yeah, sure.' She was caught of guard, never in her wildest dreams she'd dare hope one of her heroes would get her something to drink. This day was heaven for her.
Erwin shot a warning look at Levi and Hanji. They both understood that what they were doing wasn't very smart. Levi punched Hanji in the shoulder, which she returned, leaving them both rubbing the sore flesh.
'Can't keep your cool when you hear his name?' She mocked in a low whisper, but in a friendly teasing way.
'Shut up.' Hanji laughed at his reply, it increased in volume when she saw the look on his face. He knew she was right, and now she'd seen it too, she would use this against him again. Demon.
They followed Erwin and Mina to their studio, their usual hang spot, while Levi asked; 'So… what did he send you?'
'Hm? Oh, nothing.'
'That was not, nothing.'
'Hm. Okay. If you say so.'
'You laughed like an idiot. It was something good.'
'It was better than good, it was priceless. And no, I'm not gonna show you the goods.' She winked.
'For fuck sake, Hanji.'
'Oh, chill out. Besides, I have something for you. I don't know when I took the shitty picture, cus I was piss drunk but…' she selected something on her phone. 'Here.'
Levi's phone vibrated in his pocket. He narrowed his eyes at her. 'What did you send me?' he didn't trust her one sec.
'Oh, come on, you'll thank me later.'
He opened the received file and pursed his lips. 'Hm…'
'Hm? Is that all you have to say? Hm? This my friend…' she pointed at his phone 'Is pure skill.' And nodded her head proudly. 'Yeah. Skills. I'm all that!'
'Okay, let's say I'm impressed.' He saw Hanji's eyes light up and a big smile nearly tore her face in half.
'Oh, you are impressed.' That smile never left her face.
He looked at the picture again. On in of course was Eren, during their celebration party at World's End, when he wore that nice, very nice uniform. He brat stood behind the bar, pouring a glass of wine, while he was looking to the side, laughing at something his sister had said. Mikasa stood partly on the picture, right next to him. 'Fine.' He gave in, what was the point in denying? He liked the photo in every possible way. And now he could look at Eren when he wasn't at home, and best of all, the kid would never know.
'Thought you might like it when we're on tour.' She snickered.
'You thought correct.' He set the picture as Eren's caller ID.
'Putting it to good use already huh?'
'Shut up.' He sighed, he could never really hate Hanji, she always meant well, though sometimes she showed it in the weirdest of ways, but that was tactical Hanji. The sat down on the familiar couches and Mina started the much anticipated interview, at least, on her part.
Eren couldn't help but stare at the picture Hanji had send him over Snapchat. At first he was stalked by Hanji, practically begging him to take on several apps, he never understood why, but he certainly enjoyed pictures of Levi when he looked dressed up for an interview or whatever. Any picture of Levi was perfect. He saved it as fast as he could before it would disappear again. He thanked Hanji from the bottom of his heart. He put his phone away. He'd no idea when Levi would be home from work so he made himself use full, he prepared dinner and picked out some clothes for tomorrow. He didn't even know if he would get a uniform or anything. Eren wasn't much a planner, but even so he hated not knowing things, he hated looking stupid. What if he showed up looking ridiculous? He sighed out loud. No, he shouldn't think like that! Everything will be fine. But, I'm so nervous! Shit.
He still had to take care of some stuff before Levi came home, he was done with cooking and such, and grabbed his phone, first he needed to call his old employers and quit, he'd totally forgotten about that. Bad Eren. Ah, stupid! Been to busy with other things lately. It took him quite a while to have cancelled all his previous jobs, and since he was on a leave of absence already they didn't even mind him quitting right away. Each of his bosses knew him quite well, and they all wished him the best. Eren couldn't wish for anything better.
Second he called Mikasa, because it felt like he hadn't seen her in ages, and of course she hadn't heard of his new job yet.
'Oh, my gosh, Eren, that's amazing!' she sounded even more excited then Eren.
'I'm so proud of you! What did Levi say? I mean wasn't he surprised?'
'Ah, well… I haven't told him yet…' Eren mumbled.
'What? Why not? Go tell him now.' She scolded him like the beloved sister she was.
'B-but…'
'No but's Eren! You have to tell him. Now! Call him.'
'No, I want to tell him in person.'
'Call him. And I'm not taking no for an answer. Bye.' And with that she'd hung up.
'Wow, that was short. Nice talking to you too.' he mumbled to his phone enjoying the long beep at the other end of the line, singling that, yes, Mikasa had indeed hung up on him. Just checking. Great. 'Okay… just call him.'
Levi peaked at his watch. This interview was taking forever. Mina was asking all these questions about unimportant stuff, it was a drag. It was past seven already and he was hungry. His stomach was empty, more than actually, and his had to supress the growling sounds that escaped said emptiness. Such a drag. If his eyes could carry anymore hate, the Devil himself would get jealous.
'Yeah, I don't know.' He answered Mina's question truthfully, frankly he hadn't paid much attention, and the question had slipped his mind entirely.
'Well…' Mina tried. 'What do you guys have to tell about your super party?'
'Um…' Hanji scratched the back of her head. 'The parts I can remember were cool.' Erwin covered his face with his hand, slightly embarrassed. 'I think I have the same answer as Hanji.'
'Wow, the party was that amazing?' she directed her attention towards Levi again. Give me a shitty break, for fuck sake. As if on queue his phone sprang to life.
Mina knew from experience of past interview, Levi never, ever picked up his phone, but this time there was something different. The way he stared at the lit up screen, he seemed… happy… in a way. Weird.
'S'cuse me. I gotta take this.' He slowly stood up.
'Who's it? Who can be more important than us?' Hanji whaled overdramatically.
'It's Eren. I'll be back in a sec.' and he left the room.
Mina stared at him in disbelieve. What had just happened? She was so baffled she didn't know what to say anymore. 'Uh, c-can we, uh… continue this some other time? I'm here tomorrow too, do you h-have time?'
Erwin nodded. 'Yes we do, you can come visit us around noon, besides I think it's interesting for us to see how you direct the fan club.' He sounded genuine. And he caught Hanji giving him an aw-look-at-you-so-mature-look. He snorted.
'Thank you!' she said so fast even Hanji had trouble hearing her correctly. Then she nearly raced out of the room.
'Odd girl.' Hanji huffed.
'No, you're one to talk.'
'Not you, too.' she laughed 'You ass.'
Mina searched the hallways looking for clues of Levi's whereabouts. She could proudly say she was Levi's number one fan, even though she knew of Levi's sexuality and she was fully supporting him, she loved him with all her heart nonetheless. She'd never seen him behave like this. Somehow he seemed more… relaxed, and happier, than he used to. She stopped in her tracks when she heard his voice just around the corner, she didn't recognise it at first because she'd never heard him laugh before. Wait. Levi could laugh?
'Shut up! That's weird.' He was still on the phone with this so-called Eren. 'Fine, fine. Sure, you do that you idiot. When I'm done? Dunno, I hope soon. Hm? You what?' he now sounded rather surprised. Mina was dying to know what they were talking about. She peeked around the corner, spotting Levi leaning leisurely against the wall, one hand in his jeans pocket, the other with his phone in hand up near his ear. 'You have something to tell me? Important you say?' he chuckled. 'Lies. Don't tell lies Eren.' He breathed in deep. 'Tell you what, tell me when I get home okay? I've got some pretty big news myself. Deal? Deal. Miss you.' He lowered his phone.
Mina clapped her hands over her mouth. Had she heard all that correctly. Home? Miss you?
There was only one question running through her mind; Who was this Eren person? And she swore she'd get to the bottom of this.