Author's Note: Hi, everyone! Sorry it took so long for me to update, but here it is! This is the moment of truth, the confrontation... How will Carla react? Sorry that this is a kinda short chapter in comparison to my last few, but the next one shall be longer I swear! Anyway, thanks once again for reading, reviewing, following and favoriting! (I got about 800 reads since last week's update which makes me so happy!) Now, without further ado: Chapter 21!
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"Are you in some sort of relationship with Armin or something?"
"No, Armin doesn't swing that way, or at least I don't think he does…" Eren says, quick to protect his best friend.
"Then where were you tonight? Did you even go over to Armin's house?" Carla asks, her anger rising.
"No…"
"Then where were you?" She asks quietly, her voice dark and serious.
"I was with my boyfriend…" Eren mumbles, looking down at his feet.
"Boyfriend? You have a boyfriend? How long have you been seeing him? Why didn't you tell me? Did you ever plan on telling me? What kinds of things have you been doing?" Carla spews out a stream of questions, angry with underlying concern for her son.
"Mom, calm down. Yes, I have a boyfriend. I've been seeing him for about a month. I went over to his house for dinner and to exchange Valentine's Day gifts."
Carla breathes a small sigh of relief before returning to her anger.
"Why did you lie to me?"
"I wasn't sure you would accept him because he's older than me…" Eren whispers, hanging his head in shame.
"How much older?"
"Nineteen years…" Eren replies sheepishly.
"Eren Jaeger!" Carla screeches.
She begins pacing back and forth, thinking out loud.
"Why so much older? How did you meet him? Is he safe? Has he tried to hurt, abuse or take advantage of you? Did you guys have sex? Did you use protection? Does he have any STDs? Is this some sort of sugar daddy situation? Is he paying you?"
"MOM!"
Carla stops pacing and turns to look at Eren.
"He's trustworthy and would never, ever do anything to hurt me. He doesn't pay me, he doesn't take advantage of me, and we didn't have sex."
"How do I know that you're not lying to me about this too?" Carla asks, narrowing her eyes at her son.
"What?"
"You lied to me about going over to Armin's house and on who knows how many other occasions. How do I know you're not lying to me about this too?"
"He's-"
"You know what, I don't want to hear it. You are grounded until further notice and are to never see him again. I'll be taking your cellphone and keeping close tabs on you from now on. This is for your own good."
"But-" Eren gasps, but Carla cuts him off again, swiping and pocketing Eren's cellphone.
"Go get ready for bed. Lights had better be out in thirty minutes or else." Carla finishes, turning on her heel and leaving.
Eren stands in the entryway for a minute, dumbfounded, but then his mother's words sink in and he begins crying profusely. Eren runs down the hall to his room, slamming and locking the door behind him before collapsing onto his bed, not bothering to change his clothes or brush his teeth. He pulls the blanket from Levi out of his backpack and wraps it around himself, breathing in Levi's comforting smell as Eren cries his eyes out. After crying on and off for about an hour, Eren falls asleep, spent from the long day.
When his alarm goes off the next morning, Eren rolls over in bed and slams his hand down on top the alarm clock, silencing the annoying beeping before turning back over to face the wall. Chilly from the early morning air coming through his window, Eren pulls Levi's blanket tighter around himself. He falls back asleep for another twenty minutes before his mom comes banging on his door.
"Eren, wake up, you're going to be late for school!"
"I'm not going."
"What do you mean you're not going?"
"I'm not going!" Eren calls again.
"Eren Jaeger, if you don't come out right now…" Carla starts, but Eren tunes out the rest of what she says.
Keeping the blanket wrapped around his shoulders, Eren gets up and walks over to his music player and hits play, setting the music to play at a volume that would drown out the sound of his mom's voice. He makes sure the song will repeat indefinitly before flopping back onto his bed and curling up. His mom bangs on his door again and yells at him, but Eren can't make out a word she's saying. He belts out the next few lines to the song, the meaning of the words resonating deep within him.
As if I would care in the slightest
Running by all these arid days that I'd kill just so they'd go away
Yes, I'd rather be all alone!
Eren begins to cry again, great heaving sobs that rack his whole body. As the music gets to a slower and quieter section, his mom can hear his weeping on the other side of the door. Regretting her angry behavior, she stops yelling at him. She desperately wants to go comfort him despite his bratty behavior, but the lock on the door keeps her from doing so. Instead, she does the only thing she can really do: walk away and leave Eren to cry all alone.
Eren stays in his room for the rest of the day with Levi's blanket wrapped around himself, with dark music playing in the background, now much quieter than before. He spends most of the time crying until he's numb and then falling asleep, only to wake up and repeat the cycle.
At lunch and dinner time, Carla knocks on Eren's door to try and get him to come out, but he doesn't reply. She leaves him food outside his door in a desperate attempt to get him to eat, but when she comes back to retrieve the plates later, the food is completely untouched.
…
The next morning, Eren's alarm goes off again, and he shuts it off again in favor of sleeping more. Carla knocks on his door not too long after, trying to get him to come out.
"Eren honey, you need to get up and go to school." She says carefully.
"I'm not going." Eren's reply is curt, and Carla switches tactics.
"Will you at least come down to eat breakfast? You didn't eat once yesterday, so you have to be hungry by now…"
"No. I'm not hungry." Eren snaps, but his stomach rumbles so loud that even Carla can hear it on the other side of the door.
"Please, Eren?"
"I said no."
Carla sighs and leaves, hoping Eren's hunger will eventually draw him out.
…
Eren doesn't leave his room like Carla expects him to. Eren continues to hide in his room and listen to music, spending most of his time staring at the ceiling, trying to ignore the pain, both emotional and physical. Eventually he falls asleep and begins to dream.
"How much farther, Levi? My butt is starting to hurt from riding for so long." Eren whines to Levi on the horse ahead of him.
"I think we are going to be making a stop soon. Please be patient for a little bit longer." Levi calls back.
"Gahhh, I wish we got to use our 3D MG more. It's so liberating to fly through the trees, y'know?"
Levi nods solemnly at Eren.
"I'd love to get off this horse and use the gear for a while, but we need to save our gas for emergencies. You know that, brat."
Eren gives an exaggerated sigh and rolls his eyes.
"I know, I know. Let's just get to the meeting site as soon as possible so we can stretch our legs, okay?"
Eren tugs on the reigns and his horse begins to sprint, shooting ahead of Levi and the rest of the squad in a matter of seconds.
"Oi, Eren! Get back here!"
"Oh, come on, Levi!" Eren turns and calls back to Levi, a playful grin on his face.
"It's dangerous to run ahead like that!"
"It's not like there are any Titans near by; the scouts would have alerted us by now, right?"
Eren turns back around to face forward right as an aberration flies at him. Eren screams, startling his horse into a burst of speed, just barely missing getting hit. The aberration chases after Eren as he darts and weaves through the trees on his horse.
"Eren!"
Eren shoots out his grappling hooks, flying off of his steed and up into a tree. Once perched up out of reach, he draws his swords and zeroes in on the Titan below, who is now turning back toward the squad rapidly approaching. A bang resonates through the forest and a black flare goes up into the sky. The rest of the squad quickly scrambles and start shooting off into the trees, but the Titan is quickly closing the distance to the front of the group, cutting off safe aerial escape for Levi and the other leaders of the pack. Eren quickly fires off his grappling hooks, lodging the right hook in a tree and the left in the Titan's shoulder. He applies the gas and flies forward, going for the kill shot.
"Eren, dodge left!" Levi screams, and without even thinking, Eren disengages his right hook, pulling quickly to the left and narrowly missing getting taken out by a wild swipe from the Titan.
He slices into the Titan beneath him, and it begins to fall forward towards Levi. He tugs on the reigns to dodge and gets out of the way in the nick of time. Eren flies down to the ground and runs over to Levi.
"Are you okay?" Eren asks as Levi dismounts his horse.
Levi slaps Eren across the face, leaving an angry red mark on Eren's cheek.
"That's for being a brat and giving me a heart attack."
Levi pulls Eren into a bone-crushing hug.
"And that's for thinking fast and saving everyone."
"Heichou, that hurts…" Eren squeaks out, and Levi releases him.
"C'mon, let's gather up the horses and the squad and get moving again." Levi adds, smacking Eren's head on his way past to mount his horse.
"Ow!"
Eren wakes with a start, rubbing the back of his head as he sits up in bed.
"Levi…" Eren whispers.
"Eren? Are you alright?" Carla calls to her son through the door.
"What do you think?" Eren snarls back, and Carla is silent.
"I'm sorry for caring, Eren!"
When Eren doesn't reply, Carla turns and leaves, her mind a swirling mess.
I've got to something about this… But what? Carla thinks to herself, and begins pacing in the living room.
After about a half hour of thinking, Carla finally gets an idea. She pulls out her phone, dialing the number of the one person she thinks that will be able to get Eren to talk. Before she hits call though, she sees the time and curses to herself, deciding that the call will just have until morning.