Rating: M

This contains malexmale action, you've been warned!

ErenxRivialle

Filler Couples

Note: Um, sorry about grammatical errors and sentences that don't make sense. I was supposed to grade through this chapter today, but, alas, I ran out of time.

Chapter 11:

Toxic Relations

Eren entered his house, trying not collapse. He was exhausted, all his limbs felt like jelly. Every little movement, every little jerk of his joints, left him groaning. His body was spent.

He'd have to blame it on his stressful workday and the amount of homework he had. After Hanji left, Eren thought he'd be able to finally relax, but he was wrong. Rivialle had chore after chore for him to do. It left him on his feet until the end of his shift.

When he could finally leave, he had only a couple minutes to get to class, and of course, he was late. The professor pointed out his lateness in front of the whole class and purposely embarrassed him to the point that his cheeks had turned bright red.

To make his day even worse, he was given a pop quiz and he was certainly sure he failed it. Especially since one of the answers asked for a mathematical formula and instead he wrote down something that he had learned last year in chemistry. He wanted to just fall asleep and never wake up.

But, here he was, in a cramped, creaking house, hoping for a hot meal but probably getting leftovers. It only reminded him that he should go pick up more groceries before they only had rice in the cupboard. One time, they had to live off rice that they boiled underneath a bridge for a week and a half. Eren got sick.

The door slammed behind him as he slipped inside the narrow hallway. He walked past the living room where Mikasa sat, the TV in the background, as she concentrated on the work in front of her. She must be working on her applications for a college transfer. She had dropped out of college last year in order to work and since they could only afford Eren. Now, that they had finally gotten their jobs in order, it was time for her to go back to school.

He made his way to the kitchen, opening up the greying fridge and seeing what was inside. He sighed in disappointment.

"Mikasa!" He yelled for his adoptive sister.

"Yes, Eren?" Came her nonchalant response.

"Do we have anything to eat?" He asked again. He heard the TV shut off and almost groaned out loud. She was only going to scold him for eating so much again. He tries to explain that it's not his fault but Mikasa is very observant and she's noticed the increase in his eating and the decrease in his sleeping habits.

Eren saw her round the wall corner, leaning across the side frame, her eyes staring at his, a small worried expression hidden in her eyes. She was wearing simple jeans and a grey, short-sleeved sweater, looking comfortable in her casual clothes.

"You seem tired more often, Eren." She pointed out. Eren tried to keep any emotion of his face but it was becoming increasingly hard. He hated lying to her, but it was necessary if she was going to keep up with her own health.

"I'm fine. School work is just more difficult." He said with a small grin. Mikasa stared at him suspiciously.

"But, you haven't been home. Are you doing it at the library?"

"Uh, yeah!" Eren would have included that he was working there with Armin but, if cornered, Eren couldn't guarantee that he would lie for him to Mikasa. But, he realized that it was about time for Mikasa was growin suspicious and that he was treading on cold ground.

"Seriously, Mikasa, it's fine. I just need to readjust. My bodies not used to doing continuous work." Eren reassured her again. He moved forward, putting a hand on Mikasa's shoulder, proving that he was all right.

MIkasa's eyes softened slightly, and she looked away. She felt guilty for questioning Eren but she couldn't rid the feeling in her stomach that he was lying to her. But, she trusted Eren. If he was lying, it must be for a reason.

"There is some cereal in the cupboard." Eren opened the cupboard to confirm but was disappointed to see just some old, plain cereal. He wanted to just lie down, but he needed to eat something.

"I'm going to the store." He mentioned, walking towards the coat closet. Mikasa looked towards him, concerned.

"You're tired. I'll go." She wanted to stop him, but he continued past her.

"Mikasa, it's fine. You need to work on those applications. Do you want anything?" Mikasa was about to object once again, but then she realized the look in Eren's eyes. He was tired, weary, and needed to rest, but underneath that, she realized he looked cramped and stressed out. Doing something that was normal for him, as easy as going to the store for some fruit, might take something off his mind.

So, she let him slip past, no matter how much her mind told her to have him lie down and sleep. Instead, she let him walk out the door with a sigh, moving back towards her applications.

Eren wanted to turn around and thank her, but he kept going before it became too late and the store closed. The front door shut behind his footsteps as he made it towards his car parked in the street.

He walked quickly, it wasn't a safe neighborhood and there had been a number of breakdowns lately, and he didn't want to cause problems. He brought up the hood of his black hoodie, hiding his face.

He got in his driver's seat, locking the doors right away, and drove towards the store a couple miles away. He usually drove quickly, but he decided to drive normally for once, taking his time.

It was a short drive, but it seemed long because Eren had a lot on his mind. About Levi, about his feelings at the club, about the truth. He really didn't know what to do, but he had no one to talk to.

Armin had his exams, and even so, he was smart, but he wouldn't be able to give Eren social advice. And, he defiantly couldn't tell Mikasa. That would be a mistake of it's own. It was filling up his mind with possibilities and questions that he couldn't answer.

His first problem was his boss. How did he really feel about working under the man he fucked? See, he didn't know. Rivialle was too tyrannical for him to think about it on a daily basis, but there were times when he would get a whiff of his smell and he could only imagine the scent mixed with sweat and fuck, it hurt his nose.

Other days he could see Rivialle's body ripple underneath his suits. He hardly had the willpower to not grab at his body and touch every divot and craves of his abs that Eren knew were there. Fuck, it hurt him to just watch from afar.

Was he horny? Yes. All the time. He blamed it on his teenage hormones, and on the fact he wasn't getting some. Please, he hardly had time to masturbate these days. His body was protesting.

The worse part of it all, is, that his body wants to take Rivialle more and more every day. Maybe, it was because when they had sex last, he didn't get to see Rivialle, everything was done blindly in the dark.

It was killing him, but he ignored the feelings to the best of his abilities. Most of the time he felt like he was failing and couldn't help but keep his eyes on him. Rivialle has probably noticed.

His second problem was how exhausted he always was. But, that was unavoidable.

His third problem was his constant lying. He hated lying; in fact, he hated it so much it almost destroyed him to do it so often. Especially to the people he loved like Mikasa.

It was tearing him apart.

[]

Wow, surprise, he's back at work. Was there a day he wasn't working anymore? Either at the club or in the office he was always working. It was the same day, different things. He was at least lucky that Rivialle enjoyed changing things up by assigning the utmost of random of chores.

Today, Rivialle took the utmost of joy in assigning him with organizing different types of fabrics. Eren laid out squares of fabrics and matched them to their names. Rivialle expected him to know all of them by heart, but Eren was doing horribly at sorting these out. He knew how to wear fabric, not organize it.

He didn't understand how that would do anything for him, but here was picking out a square that he thought was polyester, although he was sure he was wrong. He was on his last wit.

Eren's pretty sure he's been doing this for a lengthy amount of time, maybe an hour or so and he wasn't even half way done with his sorting. It was a waste of time to him, he was bored, and he wanted to throw everything to the ground.

The sound of a door slamming turned Eren to the door that connected this small room to the hallway. Supposedly this room is used as storage, but it gave Eren enough room to work.

"Are you done yet?" His boss asked him from the doorway. He had a hand on his hips and an eyebrow slightly lowered in annoyance. It looked to Eren that he wasn't having the best of days today. But neither was he.

"No." He tried to say it softly but it came out a bit harsher, but Eren did care as much. He continued to ignore his boss's presence and went back to the work in front of him that he really didn't want to do. Rivialle sighed.

"You've been working on those for too long. You should be done." He pointed out and Eren about turned around and told him to go away, but he controlled himself. Unfortunately, his bad mood was giving him a bad temper as well.

"Sorry, I don't know what I'm doing." Eren emphasized his apology sarcastically. Rivialle noticed his tone of voice, and drew closer. He entered the room, a threatening look in his body language.

"Maybe if your weren't so damn stupid you could figure something out." Rivialle's voice growled. A hand snuck up his hip; his black pant legs were brushing against the floor.

Eren looked away quickly, sick of being insulted and feeling worthless. Although, he wasn't sure why what came out of his mouth came next. He'd like to blame it on his lack of sleep, but he knew that he should have had some self control before he talked to his boss quite like this.

"Maybe if you weren't so short you'd get some more respect." The words left Eren's mouth, coming out in a jumbled and fast jumble of words, and he turned his head, embarrassed. The adrenaline was already coursing through his body, though.

Rivialle stepped even deeper into the room. His face showed little emotion but the aura in the room proved that he was angry. His height was nothing to joke about.

"You are on dangerous ground. Finish your damn work." Rivialle spit back. Eren looked back around.

"What is the point of this? Nothing! I'm wasting my time doing this. Give me some real work!" Eren yelled, he already got so far, why not get everything off his chest. Rivialle walked forward, so close, that he was suddenly right below Eren's chin, his eyes staring hard into his. Eren is pretty sure that in that moment, he lost every sense of pride he had before he started sticking up for himself.

"You want some real work? Good, then you can find it somewhere else." Rivialle's voice was clear and Eren understood his words right away. He overstepped his boundaries and it was becoming something he was regretting moment by moment.

He moved back a step, fully registering his words.

"Are-are you firing me?" Eren sounded offended, but truly he wasn't expecting this. Rivialle had put up with him for so long, he hadn't think that just as quickly he would drop him.

"Well, of course, you wanted real work, didn't you? Since, I obviously can't provide you that here, go find another work area." He waved off Eren, stepping back and moving towards the door. Eren's body took a few moments to get into motion before he was moving quickly after him.

"Wait!" Rivialle didn't stop.

"I'm sorry. Oh, god, I'm sorry. I need this, I'm sorry." His regret of his earlier words were becoming more apparent. How could he be so stupid? Sure, he was stressed out, but this was no excuse.

Rivialle hardly batted an eyelash and kept moving forward, towards his office. Eren followed him quickly, right on his heels.

"Rivialle! I'm apologizing, goddamn it!" Eren was desperate. He continued after him, his legs carrying him, following.

"Obviously." Rivialle simply replied. If he lost another employee it wouldn't be any surprise to anyone. It happened regularly.

"Jeez, I'll do anything. I'll go organize those fabrics, or I'll go clean your office or something! Let me redeem myself." Eren continued. He was exasperated and grasping at just about anything. Rivialle stopped at his words, finally. Eren felt relieved but he knew it was much to soon to celebrate yet.

"Anything? Truly?"

"Yes!"

"Then I will see you at my house in a few mornings, during your day off, you can clean my house. And I am not very lenient about a half-assed job." Rivialle pointed out. He unlocked the door to his office, Eren standing right behind him. Eren let out a short breath, realizing how much work this would be for him.

But, if he wanted to keep his job, and if he wanted to continue to earn the amount of pay he was earning now, he would keep his mouth shut and do as he was told. He needed the money, more than anything.

With Mikasa going off to college soon, they had to pay double the tuition, and they couldn't afford it on only his club money and Mikasa's café money. He needed to support her and help her continue with her life past focusing on Eren. He owed her this much.

But, he might have made a deep, grave mistake.

[]

Eren was sweating; beads of pure sweat were dribbling off the side of his face. His body felt hot, and his arms sore. They have been scrubbing the same spot on the floor for over twenty minutes but the stain was permanently clear.

Rivialle had made it pretty clear that he had expected everything to be clean to utmost perfection, and anything that marked his floors or walls would not be accepted.

It was unbelievable hard work, to the point that Eren doesn't think he's gotten such a workout since he tried losing all that weight before the summer shows at the club last season. Maybe, he should start doing this more often. Ha, that was a joke.

He doesn't know what the hell Rivialle could have spilled, but it was caked into the carpet and Eren couldn't get it out. Although, Eren has to say that he was a bit suspicious, because there was defiantly not these many stains last time he was here.

"I can't get it out!" Eren complained. No matter how hard he pushed, only water surfaced from his rag.

"Excuses!" Rivialle yelled back from his place in the kitchen. At first, Eren thought he was going to be making him food. And, Eren didn't want to believe that he wanted Rivialle's food again, but all he could think about is how damn good it had tasted before.

He kind of missed the taste. Just, like he missed the taste of Rivialle in his mouth. Fuck, there goes his mind again. Eren looked back down at the stain below him. He was going to get those thoughts out of his mind now.

He's already organized his towel closet and mopped every single hard wood floor. He was beginning to dust his living room when he noticed the stain that Rivialle obviously wouldn't want on his carpet. It has been his fiery nemesis since.

'It's one stain, Eren." Rivialle's voice sounded closer, and Eren looked to where he now stood in the doorframe. He had a nonchalant look on his face, but years with Mikasa have made Eren aware of blank emotions. He noticed that he had a bit of a teasing glint in his eyes.

"I give up! The stain is going to be there forever. Fire me!" Eren got up off his knees, throwing his hands up in exasperation. He was tired and he just wanted to lie down for a quiet nap.

Rivialle gave him a quiet look, before making an obvious appearance to be looking down at the stain on the ground. He raised an eyebrow to Eren's surprise.

"Oh, that stain? That's been there for years to the point it's almost part of the carpet. It doesn't need cleaned." He said, bringing his eyes back up at Eren's, daring him. Eren was about to burst a vein at the mere thought that he spent all that time working on something that has always been there, when he noticed something. Rivialle's tone wasn't demeaning, it was more, er, playful. It stopped Eren in his place.

Rivialle had a hint of a smile on his face and Eren wanted to bang his head against the wall.

"I hate you." Eren said, rolling his eyes.

"I'm your boss, you're supposed to hate me." Rivialle said, walking away from the room and back into the comfort of his kitchen.

Eren flicked him off as he walked away, and picked up his cleaning supplies. Half of him wanted to quit, but Rivialle had already made sure that option wasn't available. The other half of him wanted to prove to his boss that he could do this.

If only his house wasn't so big. Eren would be lying if he didn't say he was jealous. It was an amazing place. It was only an apartment, but since it was in the city, it was more exquisite and bigger. Eren's shamble of a "house" hardly compared. He'd much rather live in this place than his now.

He decided to make his way to Rivialle's bedroom. Might as well get that room out of the way. Las time he was in there, it was reasonably clean, so he doubted he'd have much to do. He needed a short break, so maybe he'd take one after he finished with that room.

It was toward the end of the hallway. Opening the door, the sweet scent of some sort of scented candle came to his nose and the perfectly white walls, floor, and bed sheets blinded him. It was amazing how clean he kept it.

Eren's own room had clothes on the floor and dirt smeared on the wall. He wasn't sure of the last time he cleaned his bed sheets.

He got to dusting first, pulling out the duster and getting to work. He started with the dresser, cleaning off the top, moving the very little personal items on top of it, and picking up any of the dust that was left from the objects.

He slid a finger across the hard, wood surface; it was almost like it was brand new. There was no skid marks or look of usage. Continuing on, he dusted the wood boards, the edges of the doors, and even the closet. When he thought he had thoroughly gone over every surface, crook, and space, he put away his duster and began to organize around the room.

He went through the closet, beginning to group together Rivialle's very little fashion sense and small variety of clothes. How many black shirts could one man own? When he finished, he looked around, appreciating his handiwork, proud of himself. He began straightening things around the room, when his right hip bumped against the dresser, hard.

He winced in pain, cupping the now forming bruise. He shook his head at his bad luck when something caught in the corner of his eye. There was a sliver of cream that seemed to becoming from inside the dresser door that had opened.

He looked inside and his face deadpanned. He reached a cold hand inside, plunking the item out of its place. He held it up to his face, and could feel everything drain from his cheeks.

Everything he had thought before was wrong and he felt an incredible surge of embarrassment and great denial hit him in the stomach. He didn't know what to do, a bundle of confused feelings pulled at his mind.

A familiar cream mask with blue feathers was hanging by one of its strings between his fingers. It was the mask that he had forgotten in a certain someone's car only weeks before.

Hello children, I come bearing a new chapter. which I was unbelievably excited about writing. I know it went a little slow at first, but, hey, the end was worth it yes? Actually, I'm more excited about getting my butt moving on the next chapter.

I know there hasn't been very much sexual encounters or what not, but you guys just wait, but not too long! But all your reviews are so sweet omg thank you!

Oh, real quick, I know that someone of you might be like "Why is Eren so rude to Rivialle!? He would never be like to his superior!" and my answer to that is "Eren is 19 and a teenager. A very angry, unstable, and horny one."

You should totally Review because next chapter is going to be delicious and more

reviews=faster update. ;)