"Eren… Eren, wake up"
The next morning, Mikasa and Armin were nudging him awake. He didn't know why, but he could hear excitement in their voices. When he got around waking up, he saw the usual face on Mikasa, but her eyes held a sort of happiness and Armin was smiling.
"W-what? Did something happen? Did we get a donation from the nobles or something?" I said mid-yawn turning my back to them and away from the glaring rays of the sun not noticing that the others had stiffened behind me, until I realized what I had said. My eyes shot open in confusion. Who the heck were the nobles and why the heck would these guys need donations? I slowly sat up rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and the other two were staring at me like I had grown two heads, but I didn't know what to say or do. It seemed like Mikasa was about to speak, but at that same moment Hanji barged in and I let a small sigh of relief out, glad for the distraction.
"What are you still doing in bed Eren? We have to go! We are going out to the city, yay!" At Hanji's excited words, I quickly stand up, almost tripping over the sheets and my eyes opened wildly. The city! I never thought I would be able to go back, maybe I can somehow come in contact with my old buddies. Quickly ushering the other three out, I start to wash my face and get myself ready for the day.
After having a quick breakfast, I met the others in the front of the castle only to feel down heartened when I see Levi among the group, also wearing outing clothes. With dark blue skinny jeans, short leather boots, a cardigan, and a blue scarf over a white shirt, he turns towards me as I step and I immediately feel my cheeks flush at his attention, but I hide it with the fact that I feel underdressed with my simple t-shirt and scraggly, ripped jeans, and sneakers. "What is he doing here?" I ask Hanji and Mikasa, seeing Armin pull up with a nice Gray, Jeep Patriot.
Hanji gives a devious smile before throwing an arm over my shoulders and leads me towards the car, "Levi and I have some business to attend to, but you three will be going shopping for some new clothes for yourself, can't have you wearing the same old clothes from the orphanage, now can we?" I stare at Levi as he replaces Armin in the driver's seat and with a small huff, I climb in the back between Armin and Mikasa, while Hanji takes shotgun. During the ride, I have to remind myself not to check out Levi's reflection on the rear view mirror, and keep my thoughts away from how good he looks with the new outfit.
Sometime during the ride, I dozed off, leaning my hide on Mikasa's shoulder and gently shaken awake to see that we had parked outside a café, and my brow knitted in confusion, wondering what we were doing here, Mikasa and Armin also seemed at a loss. "You brats go sit down, while we go order," Levi commanded as he and Hanji left to the counter to order. "What are we doing here guys, I thought you didn't eat?" Mikasa gave a small shrug as she grabbed a napkin from the napkin holder and started folded it in many folds, "We don't, but doesn't mean we can't, but as you know, the food is rather tasteless now." I gave a small nod, and soon watched as Hanji and Levi returned with the order, a strange grin on Hanji's face as she spoke avidly with Levi.
"Here, mint hot chocolate for the brats, coffee for shitty for eyes, and Rosemary Tea for me," Levi said with a strange look in his eyes and both Mikasa and Armin stared at him and his cup of tea as if surprised that he had ordered that kind. With a small glare from Levi, the other three vampires took a drink from their order and Levi stared expectedly at them, but refused to look at Eren at all, but he was too curious staring at the others too to take notice. As they set their cups down, Armin and Mikasa both had disappointed looks, while Hanji only stared back a Levi, also with the expected look. When everyone's eyes were on him, Levi also took a drink, and if it weren't for his self-control, he probably let the cup fall, however, his eyes widened, and he completely downed the cup, even though the taste was too sweet for him to ever consider doing it at any other time.
"Well?" asked Hanji as she, more out of habit then anything took another sip of her coffee as Levi, with a small sigh, set his cup down, "I could taste it." The words seemed to send a chill through Armin and Mikasa, while Hanji just grinned triumphal and sat back at her chair. Eren taking a sip of his own drink, started ignoring what was going on, but he felt the burning eyes of Levi across from him, and started feeling uncomfortable once again as if he was being put under the spotlight. Both Levi and Eren had another round of drinks before they exited the café, taking separate ways.
The three of them headed out towards a shopping center with a few hundred bills Hanji had given them and while Mikasa and Armin talked about what had happened in the café, Eren walked a little bit behind them, checking once in a while the alleys they crossed, because he knew this area was where his buddies, usually frequented in. If somehow he could get a hang of them, he hoped they could probably help him out of this situation. "Eren!" he heard Mikasa's voice, and his head snapped up to see her and Armin standing in front of an Aeropostale store that he had passed ahead of when lost in his thoughts. "O-oh, sorry, I was distracted," he said when a nervous laugh as he back tracked his steps and followed them in. While in there, Mikasa immediately went mother hen mood, and started choosing outfits for Eren while she ushered him and Armin to try them out. Eren was flustered by her acting, but somewhere deep inside he felt good for having them care for him life this. After a few new outfits later, as well as a couple pair of shoes and underclothes, Mikasa seemed sufficiently satisfied, and they made their way to a bookstore that had been decided as their meeting place.
The three of them sharing the weight of the bags, they perused the isles of books and that is where he caught sight of his three buddies, whispering to themselves in a corner, occasionally their glances heading his way. More out of habit, he started approaching them, and he noticed how they tensed when the saw him coming, but he hoped that they wouldn't run off before reaching them. However, before being able to utter a word out, he felt a dark aura emanating from behind him, and the three of the boys whined in fear before running off. Upon turning around, he saw Levi with his arms crossed over his chest and a few feet back, Mikasa had a menacing expression that followed the boys as the ran out the store. Before Eren could question their actions, Levi grabbed his arm and started dragging him to the rest of the group, Armin and Hanji already heading to the car that was parked outside.
"H-hey, what do you think you're doing? You're hurting me let go." Eren whined as he tried to tug his arm free, but in a flash, the bags in his hands where gone and he was thrown in the car with frightening accuracy that he was caught by Armin on the other side. The bags that the three of the, held were now in the back of the car, and Mikasa climbed in after him. Hanji turned around from the front passenger seat and gave him a sympathetic look, "You should really forget about the people you used to know here in the city, Eren. We wouldn't want them to become involved with us." A cold fear swept through him as he caught Levi's cold stare before they backed out of the parking lot.
While Eren had thought they would be heading back to the castle, he was surprised to see that they were heading towards a hotel, and as they were parking, Hanji explained to him, that she and Levi, had still business to attend to here and that they would staying for a few more days, also that Erwin was going to be coming. When the rooms were booked, each had their individual ones, but Levi had gotten the room with a connecting door to his, saying that he would be the one keeping an eye on the brat, seeing as to how, he was the most likely one to catch him if he made any sudden moves. Eren was only irritated by these show of untrustworthiness, but really couldn't argue against it because quite frankly he didn't trust Levi either. When Armin finished helping him set his clothes away, and Eren helping him set some of the luggage that Armin had brought too, which he hadn't noticed earlier, they both retired to their own bedrooms, Eren undressing to his boxers and a small sigh escaping his lips. He felt tired, and his body heavy, he never expected to be able to buy such high brand items and to be able to sleep in a hotel such as this, but as he stared up at the ceiling, he wondered if sticking with these people wouldn't be so bad after all. And with those thoughts, he finally succumbed to his sleep, not noticing as the adjacent door softly creaked open, and the man that quite often perturbed his thoughts, stepped in.