Eren woke stretching he arched his back listening to his joints pop. It felt good, until he looked at his phone. He had been so tired the night before he forgot to set the alarm. Damn! He swore pounding out of bed. He threw on some clothes as he raced around feeding the cat, and getting himself some pop tarts.
His phone dinged. 'Sorry I missed you last night. Big night for the book. Did you like your present? I refilled your account, gave you a little extra. Love you honey. Have fun in school.' Eren grinned. His mom was great but clueless about his life.
'Yeah, love the gift. Thanks mom.' He replied as he ran out the door. He reached his usual exit seeing a text from Levi.
'You forgot to wait for me?'
'No running late, just leaving now.' Eren responded. He tucked his phone away in a safe place. He just knew today wasn't going to be his day. He ran.
He wasn't even to the tree before Bertolt barreled into him. Their two bodies colliding, falling to the ground and rolling over each other. Eren's breath whooshed out of him. He had a hard time getting it back. They came to a stop.
Bertolt punched Eren in the side. He curled up to protect his stomach and head. He felt the kick to his back. That hurt a lot. He needed to get up. This was a very, very bad position for him to be in. He worked his hands down to the ground.
"Lookie, lookie we got us a pretty boy!" Reiner cried. Eren buried his face against the ground but still felt three feet kicking at him. He tried to push himself up, every time he did someone else would kick him.
"You're the reason Mikasa had to move away!" Annie yelled as her boot smashed into Eren's chest.
"Aren't you hurt enough?" A dark voice asked. Eren's entire body stilled. He lifted his head against his better judgement. Armin stood on the sidewalk holding two backpacks. Levi stood just before Reiner. Eren took Annie's knee to his cheek.
"You were told to leave us alone." Reiner snarled. Looking at Levi. Levi smirked.
"No, I was told not to make it so the starting line backer can't play." He lowered his head to watch them with an evil smirk. "There are many ways I can hurt you, and still have you be able to play." He added.
"Annie." Bertolt nodded to her. She laughed.
"Yeah this little fuck won't know..."
"Oh, he isn't apposed to hitting women. I wouldn't count on you getting off scott free." A light high pitched voice stated. Petra stood watching the group.
"Who the hell are you?" Annie asked. Petra giggled.
"Oh, I'm new." She said. "But I know Levi." She rolled her eyes. Levi snorted refusing to look at her. "Oh, weren't you told not to hurt him on school grounds?" Petra asked looking innocent.
"Very true." Levi answered. He turned. The school was still several blocks away. Levi looked back.
"One," He stated.
"Ooohhh" Petra clapped. "I would advise you not to let him get to three." She covered her mouth with her hand.
"2." Levi hissed.
"Get the fuck up." Reiner yanked Eren up by his hair.
"Yeah, go fuck your boyfriend." Bertolt kicked him in the ass sending him towards Levi.
"Jealous, you never got too?" Armin called. Levi shifted blocking the two from the larger teens. Petra moved up beside Eren.
"Come on, he will stay there like some guard dog until he knows your safe." She confided. Eren rubbed his closed fist into his eyes, then up over his hair trying to flatten it.
"Why are you doing that like a cat?" Armin asked. Levi glanced back.
"Shut up, I'm not." Eren pushed his friend lightly. Armin chuckled they missed the other two looking questioning at each other.
"Eren, you still wearing my bracelet?" Levi asked. Eren held up his wrist where the tied on bracelet rested.
"I won't let them take it, don't worry." He smiled at the ravenette.
The week passed both quickly and very slowly for Eren. Levi watched as Eren batted his napkin around the table at lunch, while he talked to Armin. It was obvious he wasn't aware of what he was doing. Then there were times when Eren would press his palm and fingers into Armin or even Levi's leg, just like a cat would knead something. Not to mention the amount of times Eren purred or hissed during the day.
At home Eren was beginning to worry about his mental health. He wasn't feeling like playing his video games as much. If he tried to draw, he ended up playing with the string or batting the pencils around. One night he accidently dumped the cat nip on the floor. Instead of cleaning it up, he rolled around in it. Sniffing it, as he tossed it over himself. He had been on the way to shower, so he was naked. Vincent had sat and watched him judgingly.
Thursday night Eren sat up on his bed. Vincent was curled in between his knees as he sat cross legged. Eren was stroking the cats fur. Levi had left about half an hour ago. The dark teen had been coming to Eren's house every night after school and staying for hours. It unnerved Eren sometimes, but he really enjoyed the company.
"I don't know what to do. Vinny." He whispered to the cat. "Levi sees me acting funny. It's, it's not normal. I, I know he isn't happy with the weird things I'm doing." Eren began to cry. He allowed the tears to run down his face.
"I, I think I need to not see him any more. At least for a bit. Definitely not go out on a date with him." Eren cried. "I don't want to lose him as a friend. But if I can't figure this out..." He stopped talking when his phone rang.
Wiping his face dry he answered the phone. It was a video call. "Hey, honey, how are you?" His mom's face appeared on the screen. "Have you been crying? Are you ok, Eren?" She cried.
"Mom, I'm fine." Eren smirked. "Made some taco's just got done cutting the onion." He told her.
"Hi Eren!" A man appeared behind his mother. It was her book publisher, Darius Zachary.
"Hey." Eren smiled. He didn't really like that guy, but didn't hate him either.
He chatted with his mom a bit. When Darius vanished, Eren decided to ask his mom something.
"Uh, mom, can I ask you something personal?" He asked. She held up a finger. Seeing the background change he was sure she was walking away from a group of people. The noise level dropped as he heard a door click shut.
"What is it?" She demanded looking concerned.
"Um, can I, um can I take you up on seeing a therapist?" He asked. Her eyes widened slightly.
"Eren, do you need me to come home? Are you ok?" She cried.
"I, I'm fine. I, we I just want to talk about somethings." He muttered.
"Yes. You find one close by. Give me all the details I will pay for it. Eren, I'm sorry for not being there for your birthday." She said. Eren smiled.
"Mom, it's OK. Really its not about that. It's more of the other thing." He had never discussed his being gay with his mother. She didn't ask and he never brought it up.
"Eren, you can talk about being gay. It doesn't matter to me. Did you know I had a girlfriend in college?" Eren was shocked. "You see son I'm bisexual myself." She smiled at him. "I wanted to tell you, but it seemed like never the right time."
"Mom, I get it. I love you." He told her. They hung up after a dew ore I love you's.. Eren felt a little better. He curled up to go to sleep.
In the morning Levi met him at his door. This way he knew Eren got to school ok. They walked for awhile in silence.
"Hey, brat, you're not having second thoughts about tomorrow are you?" He demanded. Eren smiled at him.
"How can you read me that well?" Eren muttered.
"I don't know, guess I'm good like that." Levi took his hand. "Look, it's a date, I'm not going to pretend it's not. I really like you, Eren. Don't freak out over it though. I'm not expecting anything more than your company." He said looking up at him. They were under the tree.
"Oh are you guys going to kiss now?" Annie had been spending more and more time with Bertolt and Reiner. Jean was leaning against the tree. Eren had noticed the tall horse faced teen was distancing himself from the others lately.
"Sorry, no one wants to kiss you." Levi told her in his dead voice. Jean laughed out loud. Annie went to hit him, but her fist was caught. The steel grey eyes looked down her arm into her blue ones.
"Don't be a bitch. I know it's difficult for you." Levi let go of her hand. He took Eren's arm again and walked him to class. That night, Levi stated he couldn't come over he had some things to get ready for the next day. Eren told him it was fine as Armin came to play games with him.
"Oh my god what a cute cat!" Armin cried while Eren set up the snacks. He looked over. The black cat was threading itself through Armin's legs.
"Hey, you get to meet Vincent." Eren walked over to them, petting the cats head. They played several games, laughed and were just being typical teen boys enjoying each other's company. At ten Armin had to leave. He had to open the store the next morning since his grandfather had an appointment.
"Enjoy your date." He winked laughing when Eren threw some dirty socks at him. When he was gone, Eren picked up the cat.
"Now, Vincent, just how do I do a date? I've never been on one." Eren moped as he sank to his bed. Petting the cats soft silky fur always put him in a relaxed state. More often than not it was how he fell asleep. He awoke on Saturday morning to the cat being gone once more.
Eren got up. Levi was going to be here by ten. Eren looked at the clock. He had three hours to get ready. He started with making muffins, from a box. While they were cooking he went to shower. He ate two fresh from the oven. He stood naked in his kitchen doing so. The hard part came next. He needed to figure out what to wear.
Stalling he cleaned up the kitchen, brushed his teeth, took extra time shaving and brushing his hair before he went to his closet. After searching through everything three different times, he found his black skinny jeans, a red shirt and black sports coat. He pulled his long hair back into a man bun. Looking in the mirror he assumed it was the best he could do. He was just tying up his boots when the knock came on the door.
"Really? Why do you even knock?" Eren called out. He stood up as the door was opening.
"To make sure you're at least dressed and awake." Levi's voice filtered in from around the door. When Eren saw him, his jaw fell open. The man looked mouthwatering good.