No Name, No Fame
I
"Hello, hi! Yeah, I'm calling about your Gumtree ad, regarding a workshop studio to let… Oh, I see… Well, maybe you should update it if it's not available anymore. Yeah sure, have a nice day."
Chestnut-haired, 24-year-old Eren hung up and threw his phone on the nearby couch in exasperation.
"Idiot," he muttered between his teeth, as if his interlocutor could still hear him.
He crossed the item off a list on his notepad. Only one option left before he'd have to move onto the old-fashioned ways of the journal and mouth-to-ear methods, which probably meant asking favours to long-lost acquaintances, or worse, to horse-friends like Jean.
Even when people did update their offers, they wouldn't let to a freshly graduate, let alone from Art School. And that's not taking into account the little-to-no money he had to pay for their exorbitant rent on top of his own flat. And the cherry on top of this titanic cake: if they knew he was actually a dropout, they'd probably tell him to go fuck off and back to school.
He sighed, uttering his frustration out loud. He could already hear his sister going:
"So, nothing good? Told you it wouldn't be that easy, you can't just snap your fingers and get a close-to-free place to paint at."
"Eren? You're in your head again."
Oh, she was in front of him and actually said that.
"I don't need your 'told you so' attitude right now, Mikasa. How was work?"
The raven-haired kissed him on the forehead, removing her jacket and starting to prepare coffee.
"Plentiful. Although I'm still not sure making coffee and taking meeting's notes qualify as work."
"They do, they just shouldn't qualify as your work though… Did you raise this with your manager?"
"Certainly not, I'm trying to get on her right side first. I can see she already has a lot on her plate to just be relevant to all the… obnoxious men. She doesn't need another whiner in her team, I want to prove to her I can do my part in asserting her position."
"I don't know how you have the patience… I would've exploded by now."
She laughs, "I bet you would've, and even way before that. Before even entering the company. Oh no! While writing the resume."
"In Law School!" added Armin from his room.
"Oh wait, no need to imagine, you did in Art School!" she giggles.
"Oh, that's so hilarious, thank you mates. Now if you could stop laughing your arse off on my account just for a split second, I need to make a phone call."
"How's your paper going Armin?" asked Mikasa, handing him a cup of coffee.
"Ugh... I'm a bit stuck, I need to put in more lab hours but I'd have to see my colleagues for that and…"
"You're both exasperating. I thought you were supposed to be a role-model of academic success for Eren, but you're really going to sabotage your PhD because you're scared of being confronted to people you literally write about?"
"Well, it's definitely easier to write about human psychology than to engage in small talk with people. At least from my point of view!"
The two interrupted their conversation as they heard Eren cursing over the phone: "Fifteen hundred quid a month?! That's not even what I pay for my own place, how am I supposed to— you know what, never mind, have a great bloody day."
"Spare your comments, you two."
"Why do you have to be so stubborn, you know I can help you pay for a place, or Dad…" tried his sister.
"How many times do we need to have this conversation before you understand that I don't need your money and that I certainly don't want to ask Dad for his?"
"So what, you'll go back to making stupid lattes to some rich kids from Business School and postpone your actual projects another year? The more you wait the less attractive you will be to the galleries—"
"I told you, what's relevant to your field is not necessarily true for others. Galleries don't give a fuck about gap years, they want to see proper art, that's all that matters… Well, that and connections but since I have neither, I might as well go and make 'stupid lattes'; at least I can make art on those without having to pay rent for a 9-square-meter studio downtown with an arm and a leg."
"You're done bickering? We'll find a solution. We could first make space for you in the living room, while we find you a studio. Mikasa, stop offering financial help, you can't afford it and it's humiliating for Eren. And you, maybe it's time you put your ego aside and start asking for help, to alumni from your school, associations, anybody."
"Yeah… that was my next idea…" murmured Eren. It was always a bit stunning when Armin raised his voice and gave orders.
#
Hanji took down their white coat, exited their lab and went to the common kitchen area.
They turned on the old hi-fi system, blasting some No Name album.
Humming to the tune they knew all too well¹, they started making two cups of tea.
"I'll sing a song to you my friend..."
Just as the singer started screaming, the sound suddenly went mute.
A not-so-tall pissed-off lad took one of the tea cups and sat down.
"Hey, you were singing a song to me, short stuff!"
"Don't you have anything better to listen to?" Levi asked, obviously irritated. "Don't even answer, that was rhetorical."
They both sipped their tea. Levi relaxed a bit. Nothing like a hot cuppa to wrap up a tedious day.
"How was your day?" Hanji asked with their usual excited smile, as if expecting the most incredible news.
"Uneventful and you know it. How are your maggots?"
"They're zebrafish larvae and you know it. Well, the auditory sensitivity tests could use some more… audio inputs to make progress." Levi didn't pick up on the remark undeniably aimed at him. "So, in the meantime, I'm trying to work on some visual stimuli instead, but I could use some inspiration, I'm no artist. I mean, you could say my research is a form of art in itself and…"
Levi listened to Hanji ramble about the cellular mechanisms of neurological diseases and evolutionary psychology and how their baby fishes were just the cutest for about half an hour without a word. One could say he was bored, but he was actually both happy they were so passionate about their work and a bit envious to have this much purpose.
When they finally stopped, gasping for air, Levi had had the time to finish his tea, wash both cups and sweep the kitchen's floor. He allowed a soft smile and looked at them: "I'm glad this is coming through. Good night, Hanji."
"Except that it's not, I just told you I need more audio data! Have you not been listening?!"
They stood up to leave too. "Ugh... you're impossible," they grunted as they hurried to follow after him.
"Hey, have you thought about what I told you?"
"What, about naming zebrafish #3 'Moblit'? Honestly, naming it 'Constipated Little Shit' would be less insulting to both."
"Oh, how do you know, you were actually listening to me!" they replied, both thrilled and surprised. "But no, come on! Please don't take the piss, you know what I mean. The third room, we need to fill it. It's such a shame it stays empty, I'm sure we could find someone to…"
Levi stopped walking and pinched his nose, annoyed about this now daily conversation.
"You already know my opinion about this, which I reckon you're going to ignore anyway so why are you even asking?"
"I—"
"Don't bother, this is rhetorical too. Good night."
"Levi...!" they tried. "You're the constipated little shit," they whispered to themselves.
#
Eren sat down at his desk with his mug. He wanted to be pissed at his sister but then she went ahead and made him coffee after spending her entire day already making some for her misogynistic bosses.
He turned on his computer, opened Discord, put his headphones on, played some good old No Name music² and instantly relaxed. There was something about them that soothed his nerves better than anything else.
Unlike having dozens of unread notifications from his friends' server. That usually never bode well.
He read through them: Conny and Sasha were flooding the server on where to go to grab food for lunch, then a series of memes mocked them, which made Eren laugh even though he was kind of disappointed he hadn't been able to participate (even angel Christa did!) and then Jean complained about his job because Jean was just being his obnoxious usual self.
Eren started writing out a template for his studio research:
"Hey guys! For those who don't know me, I'm Eren, an art school graduate looking for a workshop to have enough space to work on my paintings. I've been looking for weeks but owners don't seem to be too thrilled to let to an artiste if you catch my meaning. I'm starting to feel desperate, so I'm throwing a bottle here, if you've heard of anything, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you all for your time!"
He immediately sent it to his friends to get their opinions. He immediately regretted it.
Jean: Excuse me "graduate"?
Eren: Yeah, "dropout" doesn't sound very salesy, does it
Marco: I understand you want all your chances on your side but isn't it risky if people discover it though?
Connie: My cousin got his flat like this, never got bothered
Mikasa: I'm with Jean on this one Eren, this is straight up illegal, the fines are huge
Eren: But of course you're with Jean, why would you be on your brother's side for once
Sasha: She always is and you know it haha
Annie: Dropout or not, being from Art School won't get you far, I'd lie about that too, to be honest
Reiner: Not helping Annie
Ymir: Y'all a bunch of wusses, he's an art student innit? He can just photoshop that shit out perfectly, seriously nobody cares
Armin: That problem aside, I think the message is fine, where do you plan on posting it?
Christa: Me too!
Eren: I'll post it on all the servers I'm in, we never know
Bertolt: Well good luck, keep us posted.
#
Hanji was going through a bunch of notes from their PhD students when they heard Discord bleeping.
"Oh…! That bleep would be great for zebra 2! Who's the genius who pinged me?" they scratched a passing note to use the notification sound on "Erwin" before opening the No Name server pop-up from Discord.
"Oh… so Eren's looking for an art studio, huh…? Brilliant!"
Author's Note
Hi,
Thank you all for reading. I'm shy. I don't ever write. Well, apart form now I guess.
About No Name's music: It will be a combination of several artists, twenty øne piløts, Yann Tiersen and possibly others. I hope you'll like it, but listening to Tyler Joseph sing I could really envision Levi singing those. I will add asterisks to give you the titles and artists I'm referring to if you're curious to listen to them as you read. I will try to make sure it is not a necessity though for all the readers that are not too receptive to this type of music.
This chapter's music:
¹ Tyler Joseph, 2007. Taken by Sleep, on No Phun Intended.
² Tyler Joseph, 2007. Hear Me Now, on No Phun Intended.
Copyright disclaimer: Fans own copyright in their own original contributions to a fanwork — they don't own anything about the underlying work it's based on. Consequently, I don't own any of the characters or songs I will portray and mention in the current fanwork.