Walking through the mall and trying to find your destination was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. He pushed his way through the crowd after ditching the bookstore and fled to find the obnoxious, German teen. The air was hot and the lights were dangerously dim as he ran with his short legs. Levi's cellphone was clenched tightly in his hands as he frantically spun his head in all directions to see where the boy could possibly be.
He finally found the stupid Toys R us and rushed inside the store. The store was absolutely huge and had hundreds of shelves filled with boxed toys and other things that children would drool, scream and whine over. The man groaned internally as he began to strut down the aisles in search for the tall teenager.
He arrived at a small area with baskets of bouncy, multi coloured balls and head a sound of springs having pressure applied to them. He immediately found Eren hopping up and down repeatedly on a trampoline. Levi narrowed his eyes at him as he shouted.
"Oi! What are you doing?"
"I was waiting for you. What do you think I was doing?" he replied quickly.
"How did you even get lost in the first place? You're hopeless."
They erupted into an explosion of arguments and questions but soon had to quiet down when a bunch of surprised looking nine year olds with Angry birds and Minecraft shirts came waddling in with balls and scooters with them.
"Whatever. I'll continue to scold you even more once we get to my place. Come on, Eren," he muttered under his breath as he held onto the boy's ear and started to drag him away from the staring children.
"Ow! Stop that!" he exclaimed. "You're gonna rip my ear off, you damn sadist!"
"I have to do this because you'll get lost, you dumb idiot."
"I didn't even intend to get lost in the first place," he told him.
"I know that, but just in case it happens again."
Anyone else like a parent with their child or a boyfriend with their significant other would usually hold hands, but this was a whole different case of course. They were once rivals so of course they wouldn't intertwine hands but Eren would prefer it that way if it meant he wouldn't feel any pain because Levi had rather sharp nails and a hard pinch.
Once they were outside, the short man let go of the boy's ear and spun around to face him as the rain started to splatter on him once more.
"I'll be busy tonight so I need to give you the music just in case I lose it somewhere when things get messy," he explained which sounded pretty fishy to Eren since the man's house was very blank and organize.
"Sure," he replied shortly. "What will you be doing anyway?"
"None of your business whatsoever," he told him flatly as he glowered.
Eren just shrugged and looked away.
"I don't intend to walk in the rain so we'll be taking my car."
"What makes you think I want to get in a car with you? You could be a serial killer for all I know," Eren joked but was actually half serious.
"So are you saying you would prefer to walk in this very damp weather? I wouldn't argue if you would," Levi smirked.
"If it means staying away from you, then yes please."
"You're a pain," Levi scoffed. "Whatever. Let's go home."
---
The car ride to Levi's place was what Eren had expected which was tense and the air around them felt very dense like maple syrup from those Canadian stores. The radio was on with the lowest volume but was possibly saying some news about the LGBT+ community , Eren couldn't really tell though.
Levi's hands were firm on the steering wheel as he stared straight out the windows. Eren's face was literally pressed against the window panes as he watched his breath fog up the glass. It was still raining heavily outside and he could feel himself shiver although he wasn't outside at that moment. They arrived pretty quickly at Levi's house and quickly hurried out the car and into the house to avoid getting even more wet from the rain. The shut behind them with a loud bang and they were left in the darkness until Levi clicked the light switch.
"I've added a few last touches to the piece," Levi told him. "Hopefully the words fit with it."
The short man hurried behind a wall to where it probably lead to another room to retrieve something, and when he came back he had a small stack of paper in his hands.
"Is this all you want to give me?" Eren asked as he took it.
"Yes. You may take your leave now."
The german teen gave him a small and sharp nod and spun on his heels and walked towards the entrance as his free hand reached for the doorknob.
"Hey, Eren?" Levi called out as the door opened and a small gust of wind entered the house.
"Yes, Mr. Ackerman?"
"Nevermind. Goodbye."
The door slammed behind him and he was left alone with the moon and the howling wind of the night sky.
---
It was morning and Eren couldn't feel anything but frustration and confusion. He didn't check any of the paper that Levi had left him because he knew (or thought) that it was simply their song; the creation of notes strung up together to create some kind of beautiful ballad but oh boy was he wrong.
There were a few extra notes attached to the stack of paper and it seemed to be written all in Levi's writing. They weren't anything special, but he noticed how there was this one sheet of paper that appeared crumpled and a bit torn. It was adorned with gold coloured curlycue designs and had cursive written names. The date was on it too and the boy was pretty surprised to discover that it was a ten whole years ago.
There were a few red smudges here and there from a certain pen and a few notes were scrawled next to a few names, but Eren couldn't read it properly because it was messy. His eyes' attention were caught when he spotted his name and a faint, red circle around it. He managed to read a single word written next to his name.
Rhapsody.
It was clear to him that it was probably Rhapsody in b minor op. 79 no. 1 because of course, he usually remembered all the songs he played on the piano. He shrugged it off and started to flip through more and nearly jumped when some pieces of paper had fell on the floor. He dipped his body to pick it up but let it go as soon as he read the first few words.
It was many paragraphs printed off a site and it seemed that it was all about Eren and it even had his photo and everything.
"What the fuck..." he trailed off under his breath as he squinted at the printed paper. He knew he was pretty well known, but he didn't know he was so known that someone would write some kind of wiki about him. The boy noticed how more red pen was circled around his name whenever it had appeared on the paper which was strange because to him, they didn't seem to have any important meaning. Whoever did it probably just wanted the name to be embedded into their brain until it was the only thing that mattered, but then again he knew there wasn't any person who would do that because he knew he wasn't important.
He was just about to clean everything and give up and just start his day but stopped abruptly when even more things fell on the floor. Hr groaned and snatched them and took a look at them and felt a chill run up his spine when he realized they were photos of him. They were all kinds of photos and there were even a few from a while ago when he performed at the café.
Was Levi some kind of stalker?
Eren angrily fumbled for his phone on his desk and lazily dialed the short man's number, and was rather irritated when he didn't pick up but was left with a voice mail.
"Hello. Levi Ackerman speaking. If I didn't answer it probably means I hate your guts or I'm gone on a trip that probably has something to do with music. If you don't mind, please leave a message and I will try to answer as soon as possible. Goodbye."
Eren swore out loud and threw his phone at some random direction with a loud bump. There would be no way that he would hate Eren because it's not like he did anything wrong so he most likely on a trip. The thought that Levi left without even saying anything angered the teen and he was deadly furious.
Well this would probably be the reason to why he had decided to give all the notes and lyrics, but was it really necessary? He would only give it all unless...
he wasn't able to show up and perform alongside Eren at the concert.
Panic started to flood Eren's body and he felt a chill run through his veins. He shook his head and sighed and thought that maybe he was paranoid. Levi wouldn't leave Eren to play their performance all by themselves because he was just that kind of person.
For once, this was when Eren wanted Levi to be stuck by his side.
---
Few weeks later...
Levi, I swear to if you don't come back I'm going to kick you so hard that you land in fucking China.
Where the hell are you? Please tell me you didn't end up in some accident, did you?
Mr. Ackerman, I would really appreciate it if you would just answer your damn phone for a change.
Are you ignoring me? It's been almost four weeks, Levi, four weeks! Why is it so hard for you to answer me?
You know what? I don't even give a fuck to why you won't answer , okay? Just let me know you're okay because I'm seriously freaked out here...
Eren spent the next few weeks spamming Levi's answering machine. Everyone else in his band class noticed how he would no longer show up, but there was a chance that maybe Mr. Rutlee might've known. It was a cold Friday afternoon and school had just ended and Eren rushed his way to the band room as fast as he could.
Mr. Rutlee was sitting in his desk with a cup of coffee held in one hand as the other held a piece of sheet music. He was wearing his spectacles and looked up when he heard the door open then shut quickly as Eren entered the room.
"Oh hello, Eren. What brings you here?"
"Just wondering if you know where Lev- I mean Mr. Ackerman had disappeared to? I'm a little concerned," he replied and looked down at his dirt stained sneakers.
"He told me that he was moving to another city a few hours away from here and won't be returning due to the fact that they have more opportunities. We didn't have him here for long but he sure did help us improve," he told him with a sigh.
"O-oh," Eren stammered. "I see. Thank you."
Eren's knees felt weak as he exited the band room and tried breathing steadily but failed miserably and was soon gasping for breath as if he were in the deep end of the pool. His heart was pounding from the stress and the terrifying thoughts of what was going to happen in the future. He was gonna fail and he knew it himself.
He was going to perform alone.
AN:
school has really taken away all my free time :c
i miss my friends :c
i miss my band program :c
:c :c :c :c :c :c :c :c :c :c :c :c :c
if you enjoyed this (sloppily written) chapter, please leave a vote and a comment! thank you for reading!
~Your Friend Takeshi