How I became Bankrupt

Chapter 8: Who's Kenny?

The day dragged on forever for Eren. They had arrived in Shiganshina only three hours earlier, and he felt as if he had exhausted all the interesting options the town had to offer. Armin and Jean returned to their families, so Eren, wanting to be a good friend, did not try to contact them or disturb Mikasa, who was busy training.

He was simply bored and lying on a huge velvet couch that was probably worth more than the lives of African children to his father.

Grisha and Carla Jaeger went to another business meeting, so Eren had the entire little palace to himself.

He sighed, and then she lazily rubbed her right eye as the next words fell from the TV presenter, who was quietly playing a news program hanging on the wall.

Should he write to Kuchel.? he thought, swallowing another spoonful of strawberry yogurt into his mouth.
Kuchel seemed out of sorts lately.
That is... Eren had the impression that since he had written to Kuchel, the day after the banquet and the accident with Jean, the boy on the other side had started to maintain a kind of distance that he had not felt before.

He didn't remember saying anything unpleasant to Kuchel, and when he looked through their last messages, he only confirmed it. When they said goodbye, two hours before the banquet, everything was as usual. So whatever happened, it must have happened within the next ten hours.

He cursed when yogurt dripped from the spoon and onto his white T-shirt. He stood up, vigorously wiping the growing light pink stain, knocking the phone and the rest of the yogurt off the edge of the couch and onto the dance floor.

-- FUCK! - he rushed towards the device, wanting to protect it from drowning in yogurt. He wiped the screen with the now-discarded clothes, shaking his head in frustration, and as soon as he was sure that the yogurt hadn't fallen into any of the holes in the phone, he placed it on the nearby chest of drawers with a sigh of relief, turning back to the mess himself.

•••

From: Kuchel
"I'm sure your reunion with your family must have been touching, brat."

He took another bite and then wiped his hand carelessly on the light sheets before writing his answer. His fingers were still sticking unpleasantly to the yogurt residue left on the screen, which, combined with the grease of the chips, gave an unpleasant sticky feeling.

To: Kuchel
"My father didn't look at me and my mother wasn't even home because she went to visit her bitchy friend Agatha."
He answered honestly.
"And how was it with you?"

He reached for another snack, staring at the screen waiting for a response.
Which didn't come.

To: Kuchel
"Are you there?"
"Oi, buddy."
"Buddy?"

From: Kuchel
"We're not buddies, brat."
"My father called me for dinner, I will write later."

Eren frowned.
To: Kuchel
"But it's 7 p.m.."

After fifteen minutes, he realized that he was unlikely to get an answer, so with an irritated growl he threw the device away from him, which rolled to the edge of the mattress, but fortunately did not fall.

From above, he heard the jingle of keys being placed on the table and quiet footsteps, suggesting that it was none other than Mikasa returning home after her damn long and hard whatever-she-wasn't-training workout.

He counted to three before he rose to a sitting position, but he didn't have to do anything else because after a few seconds, footsteps headed towards the stairs leading to his basement room. A knock on the door echoed throughout the room, and when he answered with a loud "Come in!", Mikasa, looking exceptionally rested, appeared at the doorway.