Ereri Fanfic: Changes

Reduction in Force

(A/N: This was originally supposed to be chapter 9.5, a small insert, but I got carried away and it turned into a full chapter. Next chapter is officially the last chapter, though!)

It took Eren Jaeger about 15 minutes and 23 seconds before he tuned his professor out, letting his mind wander as his eyes glazed over with boredom.

No one mentioned culinary college would involve listening to someone talk for hours. All the brochures showed were smiling students actually cooking. He jiggled his leg in an attempt to stay conscious, feeling his phone shift around in his pocket. He was going to pass out if he didn't have something to grab his attention. Who the fuck was the genius who came up with 7AM classes, anyway?

His hand twitched toward his pocket as he kept his eyes glued on the professor, aware that he was in a room with about 200 other people and the man probably couldn't care less. Stealthily, he pulled out his phone and slid his thumb across the smooth screen to unlock it.

... Who was he even going to text?

Mikasa was out, she'd lecture him on not paying attention. Armin wouldn't text back if he was in the middle of class. Rivaille...

Would probably yell at him about wasting his money, if he wasn't in a meeting. It still seemed odd to Eren, that he didn't have Rivaille's schedule memorized anymore. Not that long ago, that was his job. He frowned a little bit, suddenly feeling out of the loop. Numbly fingering the silver ring on his other hand, he wondered what Rivaille was up to.

Letting his curiosity get the better of him, Eren opened up Snapchat and hit the photo button. (ignoring the 15 unopened Snaps from Hanji. Sometimes he thought she missed him more than his boyfriend did.).

Rivaille was just going to love his appearance. He had just dragged himself out of bed, with his messy mop-hair and wrinkled "it smells clean so it must be clean" shirt. He smiled softly at the thought of Rivaille crinkling up his nose in disgust, holding out his phone in front of him. With one hand he pulled his nose up pig-style, went cross-eyed and mustered up the dopiest grin his mouth would let him. With the other he held the phone steady, pressing the capture button and praying that it was centered.

He blinked a few times at the image as he pulled the phone back down into his lap, biting the side of his cheek to keep from laughing out loud. What a masterpiece. Stifling a snicker, he sent the image to Rivaille and waited.

It wasn't even a few minutes later that Eren received the reply. Excited, he snatched up his phone again and grinned when he saw the response.

It was so typical of Rivaille, a seemingly deadpan face to anyone who didn't know his little nuances, couldn't point out the slightly amused glimmer in that always-straight face of his. "Attractive" was written across the center, and Eren only had 5 seconds to admire the rare picture of his lover before it disappeared again.

He frowned, realizing he probably should have taken a screenshot before it expired. It wasn't very often that Rivaille sent Eren pictures of himself. (although he got plenty of River. As cute as the cat was, that wasn't really what he was looking for when he Snapchatted Rivaille.) Closing out of the app, he pulled up his texts and tapped Rivaille's name.

"Eren Jaeger

7:32 AM

wait can you send me another pic pleaaase"

He received another message back almost instantly.

"Rivaille

7:32 AM

No."

Eren furrowed his brows at the reply. He should have known better, but still...

"Eren Jaeger