CHAPTER 5

Author's Note

Last reminder, this story has strong themes of internalized homophobia. It might get uncomfortable but that's the point. As the story progresses, I discuss some of the homophobia I myself have faced, like I said, it's kind of like therapy lmao. If these themes are too upsetting for you, now would be the time to refrain from reading the rest. It is completely understood.

~Gum

Eren's eyes lazily wandered throughout the diner. He was currently working the cash register after a whole morning of being "coached" on how to do simple tasks like mop and take orders. In reality, that meant that he was just staring there waiting for customers. While it was quite boring, Eren considered it better than having his new coworker go into another winded explanation about how to properly wipe down the tables.

Currently, there were only 4 customers in the whole shop; a couple and two men eating by themselves. As a result, the boy didn't have much to do but to stare outside in the hopes that something interesting would happen. His eyelids felt heavy and a sudden tiredness washed over his body. The soft sounds of the jukebox playing in the background, the quiet chatter of the couple and the noise of water running as his coworkers washed the dishes in the kitchen didn't help his case. He was just about to give into slumber when the little bell announced someone's presence, pulling Eren out entirely from his previous state.

"H-Uh-Hello! Welcome, what can I get you?" The boy shook his head in an attempt to rid away the sleep.

"Oh... are you the new guy?"

Taken aback by the question, Eren took a good look at this new customer. He seemed to be around Eren's age, slightly taller, with light brown hair and just an overall punchable face.

"I guess."

The other teen looked behind Eren as if he were looking for something, "So, is there anyone else here or just you?"

The green eyed boy lifted an eyebrow,"Huh?"

"Oh! Hi Jean nice to see you here! Ididn'thinkyouwouldbecomingtoday..." Armin let out a nervous giggle, "But I'm glad you took the time to stop by! Don't worry Eren, I'll tend to our customer."

The blond boy shooed the brunet off to the side to get directly in front of Jean. Eren couldn't help but feel a little irritated by his dismissal. With a huff and a stomping of his feet, he went to sit down on the swivel chair. It was close to the window to the kitchen where Sasha, the brown haired girl from yesterday, would drop off the plates for Eren and Armin to serve.

"Hey, Sasha."

"Hmm?" The girl appeared with a plate and a drying rag in hand.

"What's with this guy? He tells me all morning about how to do things professionally and shit and just as this random dude comes in he shoves me aside and starts acting all weird."

His green eyes analyzed the weird way that Armin swayed his body from side to side as his hands nervously played with his hair. Not to mention the light blush dusting his cheeks or the way his eyes seemed to spark when they met the other boy's darker ones.

"Hah, don't worry about that. Armin's just in looOOooVe~"

Eren scrunched his face in disgust, "Wait, I thought Armin turned out to be a guy."

"Yup! Armin's a guy!"

"But that other person is definitely a guy."

"Yup! Jean's also a guy!" She said casually.

Eren's stomach lurched. So not only was his coworker a man instead of a cute waitress but he was also...

The teen watched how Jean would lean into Armin once in a while, smirking at the fact that the simple act would throw the blond boy into a nervous fit of giggles. On the other hand, Armin would make excuses to touch the other boy like by complimenting his shirt or saying his hair was getting longer. They were... they were flirting.

Eren couldn't take the sight of them any more and turned his back to them in an attempt to calm down his nausea. His dad had taught him that the people that sought romance with those of the same sex were nothing but hooligans that had nothing but lust and orgies on their minds. Even though Armin was a rather effeminate man, Eren hadn't thought the blond was a sexual pervert.

Man, if he wasn't regretting taking the job before he really was now.

After Jean ordered a black coffee and a pastry, the two boys sat down in one of the booths to talk. During this time, Eren still had to be managing the cash register so he tried ignoring them by playing Snake on the shitty phone Levi Ackerman had given him. Still, once in a while he would catch a glimpse of the two smiling at each other like idiots or laughing together and it would cause an unexplicable rage inside of Eren.

Two men weren't supposed to do that.

After two long hours, the taller male finally said goodbye with a long hug and a wink, leaving the blond boy on cloud nine. A couple of minutes passed and he finally seemed to have woken from his daze. He practically bounced his way to Eren and with a goofy smile said, "Sorry about that, I got a little carried away with my-uh... friend."

Eren squinted his eyes at the word friend.

"But", the blond continued, "I'll make it up to you! I can manage for the rest of the day with Sasha so you just go home and rest, ok?"

It should've been news that would make Eren jump with joy but he was still bothered by something, "Ok..."

"Ok!"

As Eren slowly took off his apron and gathered his belongings, he eyed the blond boy who was writing some stuff onto a piece of paper, "Sooo..."

"Yeah?"

"You're... one of those."

Armin was puzzled, "One of those?"

Eren sighed, "You know... you're..." he made vague gestures, "gay." He finally blurted out.

Armin's eyes widened only for him to narrow them a few seconds later, "Yeah."

The brunet's green eyes wandered around, not really knowing where to look or what to say.

After a few awkward moments of silence, Armin finally broke the ice, "Is that a problem?"

Eren took a step back. What was he supposed to say to that? Was he okay with having to spend so much time with a sexual deviant? No. But also, this place was the closest to his apartment and he hadn't seen any other place offering jobs nearby. The teen had a hard enough time calming his nerves long enough to get out of the door, he wished to avoid being out on the street as much as possible.

Eren pensively looked out the windows. Of course there was a problem but he wasn't exactly in the best situation at the moment to do something about it. Best he could was to keep his mouth shut. Unfortunately, keeping his mouth shut wasn't his strong suit.

"Whatever, just don't try to start something with me 'cause I don't flow that way."

Armin was irked by the response but decided to keep his comments to himself, "Trust me, I won't."

"See you tomorrow then." Eren strolled out of the diner, not even bothering to say goodbye to Sasha. He just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible.

His own plan backfired however when he was already a few feet away and heard his name being called.

"Eren!" Armin called out his name, holding the brunet's jacket in hand, "You forgot this."

The brunet awkwardly approached his coworker, "Right, thanks."

The two stood there a while, not quite sure what to do next. It wasn't until Armin spoke up that the building tension dissipated, "Like you said, see you tomorrow then." And with that, the blond boy walked back into the restaurant.

Eren instantly retook his path onto the streets, head full of too many thoughts to truly take in his surroundings. It was a sunny day with a couple of clouds in the sky, enough to keep the day cool but not too much to make it chilly. Typical of the area and the hour, there weren't many people out and about. Since Eren's apartment wasn't located on a pretty side of town, not many were big on the idea of wandering through the area especially considering sunset would begin any minute.

There was a strange stillness in the air, one that some might've chalked up as calm and comforting. However, if Eren hadn't been so wound up in his own thoughts he would've thought it to be eerie. He was so distracted that the boy hadn't noticed how empty the streets were just as he was passing an alleyway. In fact, he didn't notice a lot of things up until four hands forcefully grabbed him from behind, dragging him into said alleyway and disappearing him from the public eye in an instant.

The green-eyed boy twisted and turned in an attempt to escape. His screams were muffled by a dirty hand.

"Grab onto him better dammit, he's slipping!" A grating male voice hissed.

"I-I'm trying!" Another masculine voice replied.

"You're fucking useless, I'll shut him up!"

Just as Eren thought he could escape from the tight grasp, BAM! He received a big blow to the back of his head. His knees buckled, his vision blurred, his whole body went limp. For a moment, Eren wondered if the dusty floors of that random alleyway were the last thing he would ever see.

"Not so tough are you now brat? Don't worry though, we aren't gonna kill ya. Your daddy Grisha wants you alive, didn't say anything about roughing you up though." The voice cackled.

His green eyes watered at the sound of his father's name. He thought about those endless nights the two had spent under the stars. Flames of anger burned him from the inside. How had things gotten so fucked up?

Suddenly, the mysterious hands let go of Eren who in turn plopped onto the ground face first. The boy heard a bizarre sound he couldn't quite place alongside the sound of liquid splashing on the floor. He meekly lifted his head to look back at what was occurring behind him. The two older men who had attacked him were now falling to their knees. Eren couldn't make out their faces as they were both looking up, hands desperately clawing at their necks. That was because of the hideous gash marked deeply into each one. The bizarre sound he had heard were the gurgled screams coming out as bubbled blood. Behind both of them was his bodyguard Levi Ackerman.

The man had seemed quite short when Eren had first saw him but now Levi Ackerman appeared so tall, no, at that moment he looked like a giant. He stood tall and proud with a bloody sword in hand. His face showed no expression at all, as if he were staring at grass growing and not at two men meeting their demise. Said couple had now fallen completely onto the ground, a wet sound bouncing off the walls as their bodies collapsed onto their own pools of blood.

One fell directly in front of Eren, his green eyes now looking at black, lifeless ones. He stayed there in shock and maybe he would've stayed there all eternity if Levi Ackerman hadn't pulled at the back of his clothes so Eren would reposition himself onto his knees.

"You okay?"

Eren slowly nodded his head.

"Good. Think you can hide behind the dumpster over there for 15 minutes?" He pointed to the item in question.

At that point, Levi Ackerman could've asked him if Eren wanted to dress up in a bunny suit and dance around and he'd say yes. The teen got up, his knees still shaky from the event. The older man firmly helped him get up so Eren wouldn't topple over. Once he was completely up, he stumbled over to the dumpster that was pressed against one of the walls of the alleyway. Once the boy was there, he let his body slide back down to the ground and he hugged his knees.

"Stay. Here. Ok? Don't go anywhere, and if someone sees you and tries to question you give them false information."

The brunet vaguely registered the sounds of his bodyguard moving things around for a while. He heard an abnormal whirring noise and then silence. Moments passed and all he could do was sit still. Eren's eyes sluggishly drifted to where the men were killed only to find that there was nobody there. Not even the pools of blood. The teen didn't even question it. He couldn't. All he heard was a buzzing sound in his head. He simply waited like a good boy for Levi Ackerman to come back for him.

The minutes passed by like water and Eren remained absolutely still during all of it. Had anyone taken a look at the scene they would've thought that time itself had stopped. Before the green-eyed boy knew it, the older male was once again standing before him, looking down at him with a neutral expression.

"Let's go." The bodyguard gestured towards the exit of the alleyway where he had been initially attacked.

The brunet mustered up all his strength to get up once again and walk out. Shivers ran down his spine as he passed the spot where the dead men previously laid. Upon approaching the site, he noticed the area was covered by something akin to black sand.

"Don't worry about that," the shorter man looked down at the pile, putting a hand to his hip, "It absorbs liquids like blood and then stiffens with time so it ends up looking like asphalt. It's for cases like these when you can't exactly get a clean-up crew to cover up what happened." His silver eyes then traveled to meet Eren's which instantly made the boy look away. There was something about Levi Ackerman that made Eren Jaegar incredibly nervous.

The bodyguard stepped in front of Eren, taking precaution of any passerby before gesturing at the younger male to follow him. It was so bizarre to walk around like two buddies hanging out when they had just been part of two murders not even five minutes ago. Eren made sure to give the shorter man enough space so as to not accidentally bump shoulders. He didn't want to end up with a gash on his throat as well.

Levi pulled out a handkerchief and passed it to Eren, "You should probably take care of that bruise as soon as you get home."

Eren snapped out of his shell-shocked state, "What bruise?"

"You mean you haven't noticed? When you fell face first onto the ground you hit yourself pretty hard."

The brunets tan hand quickly traveled to the right side of his face. Indeed, the area above his eye was swollen and he had even broken skin right above the tail of his eyebrow. There was even a small trail of blood travelling southward. As soon as he had touched the center of the wound, he hissed in pain, suddenly being hyper aware of just how badly it hurt.

"Fuck. How did that even happen?"

"You gonna use the handkerchief or not?" The bodyguard reproached.

The teen gratefully took the cloth and wiped the blood the best he could.

Eren busied himself poking around the sensitive area while he mindlessly followed the bodyguard. He had deduced that the wound wasn't very big and that it was no cause for concern. Still though, he knew that by tomorrow morning, his eye would look like purple plum if he didn't ice it soon.

It wasn't until they were a few feet away that Eren realized they were headed for his apartment. At no moment did the bodyguard require to be reminded how to get there, basically walking up to the door of Eren's apartment as if it were his own. While it was reassuring to know how efficient Levi Ackerman was at his job, it was also chilling. They went inside the building and up the numerous cases of stairs.

"You first." The raven gestured at the door.

The teens stomach sank. Why did he want to go inside? Of course, Eren quite literally trusted the man with his life but on the other hand, last time they had been alone, the bodyguard had scared the absolute shit out of him, pressing him up against the wall and yelling at him.

Upon seeing the brunet's hesitation, the bodyguard rolled his eyes, "I'm not gonna do anything to you. We're just gonna talk."

Eren's eyes shifted nervously between the doorknob and the older man until he sighed and caved in. After all, if it hadn't been for the man he'd probably be in the back of a van right now. He jimmied the key in and turned it, opening the creaky door with a small push. The brunet awkwardly stepped back to let the other person in.

"Uhh, after you...sir." Eren didn't really know how to refer to the bodyguard.

"Sir? What are we, in the military? Just call me Levi." The bodyguard said as he pushed the brunet another step back.

He watched as Levi casually strolled in, his face distorting into one of disgust. Eren could tell he was secretly judging the messy bed, the pile of garbage and just the overall state of the room.

"I knew you were a slob but it's even worse up close."

He closed the door, feeling a tinge of embarrassment.

"Sorry." He shrugged.

The man waved him off, "Whatever, its none of my business. I just need some info and I'm off again."

While his bodyguard stood in the middle of the room, the teen took the liberty to walk past the shorter male and sit on his bed. He put his back up against the wall in an attempt to make as much space between the two of them as possible.

Sitting on the bed, his nerves began to settle. While that hadn't been the first time that he had faced a live or death situation, the mention of his father's name had agitated him.

"What kind of info?"

The raven-haired man crossed his arms. He hummed as he thought about his words. As the bodyguard sorted out his thoughts, Eren's mind started to wander. The green-eyed boy had to admit there was something captivating about the man's face. That is, not that Eren found him attractive, Eren was very much straight. It was much like how people of all walks of life could appreciate a sculpture. Because in reality, Levi Ackerman was much like a living, breathing sculpture. His skin was pale and smooth and his features were slim and fine as if an artist had spent hours and hours carefully chipping away at their block of marble. Even with his uniform on, the brunet could tell that the man had toned muscles underneath.

Eren quickly snapped out of his own thoughts. He really didn't need to be wondering what was underneath another man's clothes.

I must've hit my head pretty hard.

A fiery pulse spread through the right side of his forehead, reminding him of its wounded existence, "Uhm, I'm gonna grab something for my bruise. You think about that."

The teen headed to the restroom where he picked up a small plastic container and a rag that had previously been an old T-shirt. He filled up the container with cold water and headed back to the bed, putting the supplies onto the cheap night stand.

"The hell is that?"

Eren turned to look at the bodyguard who looked almost irked by the very existence of the plastic container and the old T-shirt, "It's... for my bruise?"

"You're cleaning your wound with that? The rag is so dirty it'll give you an infection instead of preventing one."

Eren looked at the dark brown cloth, "Well... it's the only thing I have right now."

The bodyguard pinched his nose and sighed. Whatever was frustrating him, Eren couldn't tell.

"You are... ok, look kid, some things aren't adding up. You told me that people were out to murder you but those two dipshits weren't trying to kill you otherwise they would've pulled out a gun or a knife so, what gives?"

Eren looked down at his lap, "Well I thought they were gonna kill me. I mean... I didn't exactly leave on the best terms... but, one of those guys said they were just planning on kidnapping me, you know, take me back to where I left. But-" Eren turned back to the bodyguard with fiery eyes, "that doesn't change shit! I'm not going back so if any more of those assholes attack me please don't hold back!"

The man tapped his foot, "Right. Well in any given case that makes things easier on my end. If they ever do manage to kidnap you I'll track you down and bring you back, just don't go blabbering on about how you hired me. It's best to keep the element of surprise, got it?" he said sternly.

Eren nodded. He slowly dipped the cloth into the water, "Man, how'd they find me so quickly? I thought I had done a pretty good job at leaving without a trace." The teen mumbled.

The bodyguard watched as the teen sloppily wrung out the cloth and absentmindedly smeared it onto his brow bone, "Don't be so surprised, they weren't total idiots. They found you three days ago and were stalking you 24/7. Since you never leave the apartment, and when you do its during broad daylight, they had no choice but to attack you when they did-what are you doing?"

"Huh?"

Suddenly, the bodyguard took wide strides to the bed and snatched the rag out of the brunet's hand, "Do you do everything so haphazardly?"

"Haph-whatnow?"

Eren's green eyes widened in panic, his pulse instantly fastening at the sudden lack of space between the two males. Levi neatly folded the cloth, dipping it rhythmically into the water and then wringing it properly till it was still wet but not dripping with water. He then placed a delicate finger below Eren's chin, lifting his head ever so slightly. The feeling of the marble fingertip on his own skin made Eren's heart race even faster. He looked up at the man's silver eyes and was fascinated by the way his delicate eyebrows would furrow in concentration. The bodyguard then began to gently press the cool cloth onto Eren's cut. The brunet felt like a deer in the headlights.

"As I was saying," the bodyguard said casually, "They were keeping track of the people passing by through live footage they had on a tablet. Not to mention their van was nearby. They had equipment ready. They weren't just two random criminals that had been offered a hundred bucks to find you, they knew what they were doing."

Eren gulped. It was chilling to know they had been stalking him and he hadn't the slightest clue, "Why didn't you tell me?" He whispered, still uncomfortable with how close the bodyguard was.

"I wanted to analyze how they operate. With how jumpy you are if I told you that they were stalking you, you'd give it away instantly."

Eren frowned, he knew it was true but the comment still irritated him.

"Anyway," the bodyguard sunk the rag into the water, a light pink now flourishing as the once dried blood mixed into the liquid, "don't worry too much about it kid. They had means of communication with someone else so I'll plant a false lead. If I can keep it going for long enough this shitty town will be the last place they'll look. The good thing is that you didn't drag anyone else into this like your blond friend."

Blond friend? The brunet recalled how Armin had chased him outside of the diner to give him his jacket back. Armin the pervert that flirted with other men.

"He's not my friend." Eren blurted out, "Don't get things mixed up. He's one of those weirdos that like men and I don't want anything to do with homos like him."

The words came out much angrier than he had originally intended to the point where even Eren was surprised by the acidity of his own voice.

The atmosphere shifted. The bodyguard stopped what he was doing and then silently put down the rag onto the nightstand. There was a quick downward tug at the corner of Levi's lips. Eren's anger rapidly died off, instead feeling embarrassed about his sudden outburst. The awkward silence didn't help either.

Ultimately, the bodyguard turned around and headed for the exit, "Ok then, I'm off, that's all the information I need for now." He opened the door but stopped at the doorframe, momentarily looking back at the teen still sitting on his bed, "I wouldn't be too harsh on the kid though, after all, a homo just saved your life today." And with that he closed the door.

Eren sat there shell-shocked, his mouth hanging open. A homo had just saved his life? What the hell did that mean? Could that possibly mean that Levi Ackerman was... no, it couldn't be. Had he understood correctly? He reviewed the sentence over and over again trying to comprehend what had just happened.

The teen buried his face in his hands. Had he just pissed off his bodyguard? Was the man going to stop protecting him because of what Eren's stupid mouth had said? An everlasting pit grew inside of Eren's stomach. With all that had happened that day the teen knew that he preferred no one else to Levi to be his bodyguard. Eren only ever felt safe when he knew the raven was watching over him.

Eren groaned, throwing himself violently onto the bed. He had just fucked up big time, hadn't he? Fuck. Why did he have to have such a big mouth?