The fist came flying at his face, again. This time he couldn’t dodge it, not because he was already bloody and beaten, nope it was because he couldn’t move. The other two were holding his arms. He frowned. Why was his life always like this? He took the hit to the face, arching his back he kicked his feet out. He caught the muscled bound moron in the crotch. Reiner doubled over.
Eren twisted. He felt his shoulder pop out of its socket. The pain almost had him screaming, but he held it in. He head butted Jean in the dick. The horse faced looking guy let his arm go. Now it was only Bertolt.
Eren heaved himself up from the ground. He rammed his head into Bertolt’s stomach as he did so. He let go of his arm. Eren caught it since that was the one he had dislocated to get away. He ran.
“What are you doing?” Reiner yelled at his friend. “Go after him, he’s hurt!” Bertolt’s feet stuttered over the pavement. Eren ran faster. One thing he was good at was running away. He hated this part of himself. Well, to be honest he hated most of himself.
He raced into the alley. Dodging a sleeping body he ran out the other end, zig zagged around two buildings to another alley. By the time he reached the end of it, he didn’t hear Bertolt following him any longer. He stopped to pop his shoulder back into place. Biting his lip he kept from yelling. That would only give his location away.
He stood there for a bit to catch his breath. He realized that he was on the opposite side of town that his house was. He sighed resting his head against the wall. He could go back the way he came but they would be there he was sure. He should go the long way. It wasn’t like anyone was waiting at home for him. Not since the “talk’ his parents hadn’t been around much.
Well that wasn’t fair. His mom was finally doing something for herself. She had begun to write. Her first series about a vampire falling in love with a nymph was pretty good. Eren had listened on the phone last night as she raved about her newest idea. She had always loved the supernatural and fairy worlds. She would tell Eren stories all the time as he was growing up and helping her with her chores around the house. He loved her stories.
Her newest idea was about two lovers. A witch had fallen for one. When she couldn’t get his attention away from the man he truly loved she had cursed them both. During the day her wanna be lover was human, at night he turned into a wolf. His lover by day was a bird at night they were human. They had stolen moments between changes to see each other.
Eren had discussed with her ways to break the curse and how to get them back to human. This was what he loved about his mother. She was always there to support him. It hurt that she was on the road so much now. It was just a coincidence that the talk came just before her first book tour. Now she was off to film the first movie from her book series.
The talk. His father had caught him and his then friend Bertolt “wrestling”. The problem came when at the end of their “match” Bertolt had kissed him. Eren had returned the kiss and dear old dad had seen it. He had come out yelling at them. Bertolt had left.
His father had sprayed him with a house, hitting and kicking him yelling about how no son of his was going to be a flaming fag boy. Eren had taken the abuse. Honestly, it was nothing new for him. That was their relationship. Eren did something, Grisha didn’t like it, Eren got his ass kicked. Rinse and repeat.
That had been three years ago. Eren thought about this as he moved away from the alley. He began the long trek around town to get back to his house. His mother had come out to see Grisha kicking the shit out of Eren. Usually he stopped before she ever saw. Eren would just say he got the bruises, cuts whatever from school. She tried to talk him out of fighting so much. Eren would only snort and tell her life wasn’t like that.
That day she had seen it happen. Saw just what her husband was capable of. She forced them back inside. Made Eren shower and change. Then they sat down for a family discussion. She got Eren to admit that his father did this a lot. Of course Grisha only said he disciplined him. Carla hadn’t bought it. When she asked about Eren being gay, he had hung his head.
She had pressured him into talking. He loved his mom and would do anything for her. So, he told her the truth. At only fourteen, Eren knew he didn’t like girls. Not sexually. There had been this one, Mikasa Ackerman. She dressed more like a boy and kept her hair short. He had liked her because she looked like a boy, fought like one too. They had become friends. Then her parents were killed and she moved away to live with an aunt or something.
That was the last time he had any feelings for a girl. Eren kicked at a rock as he walked. Rain started to drizzle down a little. It wasn’t anything major, he walked on. His head down, his body aching. During the talk, Carla gave Grisha an ultimatum, either he sought therapy, or she sought a divorce lawyer. Grisha went to hit her, at this Eren had leapt between them.
He took the punch to the head. It knocked him out. When he awoke he had been in the hospital. His mother was sitting beside him, her arm in a sling. Eren had gotten upset. Apparently after knocking his son out, Grisha had yelled at her that he was fine and would wake up soon enough. Carla had insisted on calling an ambulance. That’s when Grisha broke her arm.
The neighbor lady heard and called the cops. They had arrested Grisha. Carla took her son and left. They moved to another town. Eren found his friend Armin. He even began to be friendly with Jean, until Bertolt showed up a year later. His old boyfriend got to be friends with Reiner, the school big shot dick wad. He hated Eren on sight. The kid didn’t know why.
His mom got him settled into their apartment and she left too. At fifteen he was alone. He went to school and hung out with Armin. At sixteen Bertolt ruined what happiness he had. Now, at seventeen, Reiner, Bertolt, Jean and anyone else who followed the lug, beat the shit out of Eren any chance they got. It didn’t help that Eren had been small for his age. It wasn’t until this last year that he began to grow. Now he was almost six foot, but he still didn’t know how to fight. He snorted.
Maybe if Mikasa had stuck around he could have asked her. She had been studying martial arts since she was two. At least that’s what she told him. Eren sighed lifting his head up as the rain came down heavier. He was soaked. He sighed pushing the wet shaggy hair out of his eyes. Life, why was it so hard?
He went to take a step, suddenly there was a yowling sound in front of him. Eren looked down. A jet black cat was under his foot. He moved his foot to put it down beside the cat. He was lucky he didn’t step on the poor thing. It looked like it was pissed off at the world too.
Eren bent down. He held a hand out. To his surprise the cat came up to him. He stroked its slick black fur. It was like a little old slick. He giggled at the thought.
“Wow, you’re cute. Where did you come from?” He asked it. Looking around, Eren tried to see if there were any places nearby. Nope he was behind the shopping district. Only a few houses were scattered around here.
Before he could look to see if the cat had a collar, it crowled up under his hoodie. Eren laughed out loud. “You don’t like the rain?” he asked it. The cat made a noise as if to say no. Eren chuckled again. He repositioned the cat to get a better grip on him.
“Alright you can come with me.” Eren told it. He walked on, now he had someone to talk to at least.
“So, where did you come from, little fella. Oh, I don’t know if you’re a boy. Huh, will check that out later.” He petted the tiny head snuggled just under the opening in his hoodie.
“Hm, I don’t have cat food at home. Do you like tuna?” he asked. The cat started to purr. Eren snickered. “I take that as a yes. But what to use for a litter box?” Eren walked with the cat all the way home. He kept up a stream of conversation, even if it was only one sided.
“OK, this is home. It ain’t too bad.” Eren walked up to the door. He punched in his key code into the building security panel. This was what Carla had liked about the place. You couldn’t just come in. Grisha had a restraining order so he couldn’t come with in five hundred feet of either of them.
Eren carried his new furry friend up the white stairs. He lived on the third floor. There was an elevator but the elderly couple up on the fifth floor often looked it so it stayed up there. Eren got sick of waiting for it. Instead he typically jogged up or down the stairs.
Today he didn’t feel like running. His body ached from the rain and the fight. Also he didn’t want to frighten the cat. When he reached the third floor he hit the code on the door panel. Each floor had its own code. Even to use the elevator you needed a code. It was super secure and state of the art.
The door clicked and Eren walked into he hall. The carpet was a deep green to resemble grass or some stupid shit like that. The walls were a chocolate muddy color. The ceiling was blue. It looked ridiculous and Eren hated it.
He turned from the stairway to walk down the hall. Their apartment was on the end. This he did like. All the end ones were larger apartments. Eren didn’t have a key to his house. Instead it was another code. Each code he put in was different. This had resulted in him getting locked out a lot when he first moved here. He couldn’t recall all the different codes. He gave them to Armin. His friend was super smart and remembered them all. Armin either walked home with him, or they talked on the phone until Eren got home. The blond coconut head helped his grandfather in their store after school most days.
“Well, here it is. My home.” Eren pushed the door open. He flicked the light on. To be fair at first it didn’t look like anyone lived here. The front room looked like a photo out of a magazine. Dark brown couch, matching love seat and recliner, a glass topped coffee table all facing a fireplace. There was a TV on top of the fireplace, but Eren hardly used this room.
He took his wet muddy sneakers off and put them in the closet by the door. Carrying the cat, he walked through this room to the hall beyond it. The first door was just an opening. This was the kitchen. He went in found a saucer and poured some milk into it for the cat. The kitchen was long and narrow. It opened up to a dinning room on the other side of the stove which faced the fridge. Eren sat the cat on the floor and gave it the milk.
“I need to get out of these wet clothes. Be right back.” He told it. He went back to the hall. Across from the kitchen were double doors. They slid into the wall to reveal a washing machine and dryer. Eren stripped off his clothes and tossed them into the washing machine. It was getting full, he would have to run it soon. He walked down to the next door, heading in he used the toilet. The mirror showed him all his new bruises. He fixed the cuts and went to his room. This was tucked in behind the kitchen. His mother’s room was at the end of the hall.
Eren’s room was the only place that really looked lived in. He had posters of bands on the wall, some movie posters he really loved Lord of the rings. His bed was a mess, he never made it. Clothes stuck out of his dresser drawers, he closet was hardly ever closed. He had a desk along the wall facing the bed. This held his TV and gaming system. If he had homework, he usually did it at the table in the kitchen. It was nice having study hall as his last class. He got his work done in school.
The cat came strolling in as Eren pulled a shirt over his head. The cat bawled out some complaint. Eren chuckled.
“Sorry, maids day off.” He joked. He sat down to play some games. The cat curled on his lap. After a bit he got hungry. He made the cat tuna. He placed one of those throw away cooking pans on the floor. He had some left over sand from an art project. He put it in the pan. Placing this in his room he looked to the cat.
“It’s all I have right now. I will get you a real litter pan tomorrow.” The cat went to check it out. Eren fell asleep just after midnight.
His alarm woke him just as his phone died since he never charged it. He rushed through his morning. He had forgotten about the cat until he almost stepped in the litter pan. He spent a few minutes looking for it, but couldn’t wait to long. Instead he left some milk and tuna out for it.
He dashed down the stairs. Reaching the front door he all but collided with someone coming from the lobby where the elevators were. They reached the doors at the same time. Grey eyes flashed up at him. Eren blinked at him.
“Ah, sorry.” He stepped back to let the kid go out before him.
“Where do you live?” the guy asked.
“Third.” Eren muttered wanting him to just go out. He was late enough.
“Huh, I just moved to fifth.” He told him. Eren was jiggling his leg. The guy glanced at it. “You in a hurry?” he asked.
“Yeah, I, uh, I have to get to school.”
“It doesn’t start for another hour.” The short raven haired teen stated.
“Yeah, but if I run I can beat my muggers.” Eren tried to smirk. He was sure the kid was taking in his cuts and bruises.
“Walk with me. I’ll keep you from getting mugged today and you can show me the way to school, deal?” he asked holding out his hand.
“Uh, sure.” Eren took his hand. “Names Eren.” He said.
“Levi.” The kid grunted out as they walked out into the sunlight day.