CHAPTER 25
Funnily enough, Eren hadn't seen much of his bodyguard in the few days he had spent in Levi's apartment. By the time the brunet would wake up he would already be gone and by the time the bodyguard would come back, Eren would be in his room entertaining himself with one thing or another. It was like living with a ghost. Sometimes, things would shift in place like a jacket on the sofa or the remote control but Eren would never actually see these objects being moved.
As so, one can imagine how surprised Eren was when he woke up one morning to find his bodyguard in the very flesh, standing in the kitchen with a piece of toast hanging from his mouth. He was plating himself breakfast which consisted of two eggs, sunny side up and a fresh salad on the side.
The teen cautiously walked over to him, wondering if the bodyguard was actually standing there or if it was nothing more than his imagination. Hearing his footsteps, the raven-haired man glanced towards Eren.
"Hi." He said simply.
Eren rested his elbows on the kitchen counter, still staring at the bodyguard like he was a creature from another world, "You're... eating breakfast?"
Levi sprinkled parsley on top of his eggs, "Yeah, what of it?" He said through the toast still in his mouth.
Eren shrugged, "I dunno. I've never seen you eat. I was starting to think you never did."
He switched the toast to his free hand and said, "You know Eren, contrary to popular belief, I am human." Then he took a bite.
The brunet turned around so he was now facing the living room. He muttered, "I find that hard to believe..."
"What did you say?"
"Nothing! Anyway, since I have you here I've been meaning to ask for a favor."
"Hmm? What'll that be?" The bodyguard blankly stared into the void as he took another bite of toast.
Eren inhaled, "I need to go to the diner. With all that went down, I told Armin I couldn't go anymore but I still think I should go resolve some stuff with him face-to-face."
"Oh yeah," Levi mumbled, "the blond one. Yeah, I'll take you this afternoon."
The brunet blinked slowly, "Really? Not much on the to-do list today?"
Levi looked Eren dead in the eye as he chewed carefully, "You know what's on the to-do list? Doing my job, AKA taking care of you. This-" his finger pointed to and fro between himself and the boy, "You see this? This is me. Taking care of you."
It seemed the bodyguards biting tone was extra sharp in the mornings.
The brunet sighed, "Okay. Gimme a time and I'll be ready by then."
Levi checked his watch, "Be ready in 2 hours. Yes?"
"Yesssiirr." Eren teased.
Levi shook his head, "You're such a little shit you know that?"
"Or so I've been told." Eren chuckled.
"I'll wait for you here. Don't take longer than 30 minutes. I'm not your mom so you better not keep me waiting."
"Yeah, yeah. I'll be in 'n out in no time."
The brunet staggered out of the car, hands in pocket. He made his way to the diner without any solid idea on what he was going to say to Armin. The blond boy had sent him various texts as time had went on. First, he simply asked where Eren was and if he was going to go to work that day. Then, he became concerned, asking if Eren was okay and if he needed anything. The brunet had answered dryly, saying he was sorry but he couldn't work at the diner anymore. Armin had tried prodding further but Eren had ignored the messages, too confused by what he should say to make up his mind.
The little bell signaled Eren's entrance. Armin, who had been writing a couple of things while at the bar, immediately dropped everything as soon as his eyes hit the brunet.
"Eren! Hi! I-I didn't know you were coming today."
The tall boy approached him, "Yeah, sorry. Things have been super crazy lately."
Armin exited the bar and ushered the boy towards a stall. The restaurant was pretty empty. There was a woman chastising her two children under her breath in one table and a regular customer, a man that would always order a hamburger, in another. Eren let himself be lead, sitting down where Armin signaled as the boy sat across from him.
"Do you want anything? Food, a drink?" The blond questioned once they were both settled.
Eren shook his head, "No, I'm good thanks. Just had breakfast."
"Hey," the shorter boy said softly, "is everything okay? I've been wondering about you."
Is everything okay?
That three-worded question had a loaded answer.
The brunet scratched the back of his head, "Ah... it's complicated." His mind went back and forth between what he could say and what he couldn't say, "Do you remember me mentioning Mikasa when we first hung out? Well, for starters, she's in the hospital. I've been told it's nothing life-threatening. She'll be out soon but I have no idea what I'm going to do about her."
"Oh Eren, that's awful. Will she be staying with you for a while?"
Eren thought about the night those criminals had barged into his apartment, aiming a gun to his head. The possibility of Mikasa having been there had his stomach in knots. He needed to get her as far away from Grisha as possible. No matter how much he liked the idea of having her nearby, it would only put her in danger.
He shook his head, "No. I want her to live in a nice place. Somewhere where she'll be safe. I'm not even at the apartment anymore, I had to move. I want something more stable for her."
A lightbulb went off in Armin's head, "She could stay with me!" He blurted out, "I-I mean, if you're comfortable with the idea."
Eren chuckled nervously, "Oh come on Armin, I couldn't ask you to do that. I don't want to intrude really-"
"No, no! Hear me out! My parents and I were just talking about renting out a room in my grandfather's house for my University expenses. The house has two floors but we don't even use the second floor anymore with my grandad not walking anymore and my room is on the first floor so, it's kinda like we have this whole section of the house completely empty."
Eren leaned forward, reconsidering the option, "You really think you could do that for me?"
"Of course. Trust me, I know what it feels like to have a sick family member and it's NOT fun…"
Eren was perplexed by the words. He didn't understand what family member Armin was referring to. The blond must've noticed as he suddenly narrowed his eyes in thought.
"Err… sorry, it's been such a long time since you told me that story. Mikasa was your sister right? Or am I getting that wrong?"
"Sister." The word flew out of the teens mouth before he noticed.
The offer was sounding too good to be true and Eren wanted all the help he could get. Maybe Armin wouldn't be jumping to help Eren if he found out Mikasa wasn't a blood-relative. Then Eren remembered that the girl in question would eventually find out and would surely mock Eren for it till the day he died. The brunet groaned internally but it was too late to back down.
"Well then, it's kind of perfect isn't it? I would have to talk to my parents... and fix the place up... you say that she'll be out soon? I could probably get everything ready by the time she's discharged. And, you know, I'm not a doctor or anything but if she's struggling her first couple of days I could help her out. I've learned a thing or two from taking care of my grandad. The stairway is close to the entrance so she'd hardly see me or my grandad if she prefers to be alone..." Armin sat silent for a while, lost in his own mind. His eyebrows furrowed, twitched and moved as he thought about all the logistics. After a while, he turned back to Eren with his bright blue eyes and said, "What d'ya say?"
The brunet felt like a heavy weight had been lifted from him, "Aw dude! You're right, that would be perfect! I- man- I don't know how thank you enough, you're amazing dude."
"Don't worry about it, I'm glad to help!"
Armin giggled gleefully, proud to receive such a genuine compliment from the taller boy. Eren's heart was cast with a gentle gloom when he saw the blond's bright smile. From one moment to another, he saw things differently, as if he was wandering in the dark and someone had turned on the lights. Studying the enthusiastic expression, Eren thought back to his past experiences with Armin, specifically to those times he had treated the other boy with disdain. It made no sense to the green-eyed boy how Armin could be so kind to him when Eren had been nothing but distant and aloof towards him.
"Hey Armin... can I ask you something?"
He was puzzled, "Uh, sure. What is it?"
Eren traced random figures into the metal table. Circles, triangles, squares, even random squiggles, "Why... why are you so nice to me? I mean... I've been kind of a jerk to you. Why don't you just tell me to fuck off?"
Armin stared back at him with shock, "H-hah! You... never fail to amaze me Eren. To be honest, I think that's why you're so alluring."
The green-eyed boy frowned, "Alluring? What's that? Are you insulting me?"
Armin laughed, "No, silly! Alluring is like captivating. Like someone or something you just can't get away from. When I'm with you, I have... fun! I don't know what's gonna happen 'cause you're so unpredictable! Like when we went to the party I thought I was gonna sit there all night like a loser and I ended up tipsy and keeping you from getting in a fight with Jean. Or when we went to buy groceries and we ended up chasing a cat through streets I had never been through before! You're an adventure!"
Eren mulled over the words. For some reason, the words became funnier and funnier in his head until he was snickering, "An adventure?"
"Yeah!" Armin snickered as well, "But that's not it. I dunno how to explain it. I get this feeling. I genuinely believe that there's a heart of gold deep inside you, albeit a bit misguided at times."
Eren chose to ignore the misguided part, "A heart of gold, ey? Please, please, tell me more. Maybe something about my rosy cheeks or my sparkling eyes?" He purposely looked at his nails with a pretentious expression.
"Oh by the Gods, STOOOP!" Armin playfully punched Eren's shoulder, "Have I mentioned occasionally annoying?"
The green-eyed boy chortled, "Aw come on! What happened to all the pretty compliments!"
"Hey! Is that you, Eren? Yo, why didn't you say something! Hiiiii!" Sasha screamed through the restaurant as if there weren't customers peacefully eating their lunch there.
She had crossed through the double doors that led to the kitchen with a shorter guy next to her. He had a shaved head and grey eyes. As the two made their way to the booth, the guy accidentally knocked over the can of tips. He must've said something funny as in seconds the two were roaring in laughter.
"Who's that?" Eren inquired.
"Your replacement!" Armin responded.
The teen analyzed his so-called replacement and the peculiar way his face would distort with the heavy laughter, so much so that the boy was hitting the counter with a fist because he couldn't contain his glee.
"That's my replacement?" Eren whispered to Armin.
"Mhmm! His name is Connie. He's actually a friend of Jean's. He's adapted quite well to our little environment here."
Eren chuckled as he watched Sasha cough in the most un-ladylike manner from laughing so much, "Yeah, I can see that."
"Hey Connie, this is Eren! He's the guy that used to work here before you. Scooch over! Lemme sit with you." The girl ushered Eren into the booth so she could take a seat. Meanwhile, Connie sat next to Armin.
The four of them chatted for a bit over all kinds of things: how Connie had been faring in the diner, what Eren had been up to and even some talk of how well Jean and Armin's relationship was going. However, it wasn't long before Eren eyed the clock and knew it was time to go. Though Sasha insisted on him staying a bit longer, she had to bid her wish goodbye when a family of six came in.
The girl was forced to say her farewell, dragging Connie along with her so he would help her tend to the tables. Armin, on the other hand, escorted Eren all the way outside of the restaurant. While the two stood right outside of the diner, they snickered about something funny Sasha had said earlier.
"Man," Armin said, "Sasha always knows how to get a good laugh out of me."
"Yeah, she's the best." Eren added.
The blond boy clapped his hands together, "Alright, I won't keep you any longer, you must have things to do! Keep me updating on how Mikasa is doing, I'll sort out the details with my parents as soon as I get the chance."
Eren nodded gently, "Hey man, thanks again... not just for this but for everything. You've really been a great friend to me."
Much to the taller boy's surprise, Armin stepped forward and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, "Of course, you ever need anything don't be afraid to ask, ok? Don't let yourself become a stranger to me, Eren."
The brunet took a breath, "I won't."
Armin smiled, slowly removing the hand, "Good. See you later then! Bye!"
"Bye."
Eren turned away and walked towards Levi's car. He rubbed the back of his neck wondering what he had done to deserve such a kind friend like Armin. He couldn't come up with an answer.
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Y'all, this lil chapter has caused me so many headaches for no particular reason lmao. Y'all ever write and rewrite something to death but just can't get it right? That's how I feel about this chap! Call me Hamilton 'cause I cannot be satisfied XD I'm thinking about rewriting it whenever I finish the story, whenever that may be! In the meantime, see you guys next week! I'm so excited for us to get to the good stuff! n.n