Chapter Text
The cold, brisk air from outside was quickly replaced with warmth and the smell of whiskey as Eren stepped into the familiar bar. Shrugging the hood of his jacket off, he walked to the bar. Eren inhaled a couple of times and tapped his fingers nervously on the drink-stained surface. Why he was here; he had no clue, but it felt like the best choice due to his current predicament. Eren shut his eyes and tried to calm his breathing. His eyes flew open at the sound of someone’s glass being slammed down onto the wood. He scanned the room for the source of noise and his eyes met a setoff eyes the color of gunmetal grey. The rest of the man did not differ far from his eyes; he looked fucking pissed. Eren started to fidget under the man’s unwavering stare.
“Eren?”
Eren swayed his attention to the person who called his name. Annie Leonhart. Annie had been in Eren’s high school ever since she moved here with Reiner and Bertholdt, those two never left her side, and after school ended Annie had started working at the local bar. Usually, it was rare to see a minor working at a bar; however, the owner, Hannes, was fond of Annie and couldn’t care less about laws and their constrictions.
She stood there with her usual indifferent expression, cleaning a glass with a white rag.
Eren cringed. Even if Hannes allowed Annie to work at the bar it did not mean that anyone else her age or under twenty-one was allowed to set foot in the bar. So, he could see why this appeared odd to the blonde in front of him.
“Hey. Could you get Hannes for me I need to talk to him?” Eren did his best to pull off a pleading look but his nerves did well of getting rid of any confidence left in his body.
She gave him one more suspicious glance before sighing and disappearing into the back.
A shiver coursed through Eren as he realized that he was still being watched. He turned to the man and sure enough he was staring at Eren with the same cold expression before, holding the glass in his hand so firmly Eren was afraid it would shatter. The sound of shuffling broke his attention from the strange man.
“What’s wrong, Eren?” Hannes ran a hand down his mouth and Eren could tell he was irritated; he couldn’t blame him. It was the middle of the night and only an hour before closing and now all hopes of closing the shop early were ruined by Eren.
Eren ruffled his hair a bit before looking up at Hannes. Eren gritted his teeth. “I kind of need a place to stay for the night.”
“Why can’t you just stay at home?”
Eren avoided Hannes questioning stare and settled for looking at the ground instead. It was clean, probably because Annie had cleaned recently. He wasn’t even sure why the hell he came to Hannes but at the time who couldn’t think of anyone else to go to. Well, there was Armin and some of his other friends but if showed up at their doorstep in the middle of the night asking for a place to stay it would surely raise questions. Plus, college started tomorrow and Eren really didn’t want to disturb any of his friends sleep.
Hannes probably realized that he wasn’t going to get a straight answer out of the green eyed boy so he settled for simply sighing, which had to have been the umpteenth time tonight, and placed his hand on Eren’s shoulder.
“Go get cleaned up. I’m sure Annie will let you sleep at hers after closing.”
Eren cheered up immediately at the news and exclaimed a quick thank you to both Hannes and Annie before heading towards the bars bathroom.
Hannes never pushed to ask why Eren was so deathly afraid of his home but Eren was sure he had an idea. He knew he could count on Hannes; when there was no other adult to lean on in his life, Hannes was always around. Eren didn’t know why Hannes even bothered with him; maybe he pitied Eren since the first time he met him.
It was a week after his mother died and Eren couldn’t handle the growing tension in his house so he had run away.
Eren hugged the cool chain of the park’s swing set and let his head hang low watching his feet dangle above the ground. No one understood him. No one cared. Why wasn’t his dad looking for him? It had been almost an entire day since he proclaimed he was leaving; Grisha had just sat there too consumed with the drink in his hand to notice that his ten year old son had left the sorrowful home. Mikasa had been shut in her room at the moment and Eren assumed she hadn’t heard him or at least she didn’t believe the boy who could barely hold his own against school bullies would run away from his only safe haven. Maybe she didn’t care if Eren was gone and out of his life; after all, it’s not like they were related. Perhaps this way she would finally be free and wouldn’t have to follow Eren around 24/7 to make sure he wouldn’t stick his nose where it belonged.
The sun was starting to become less and less prominent in the sky and Eren started to wonder if he would have to spend the night on the streets. He could go see if Armin and his grandfather would let him stay over, but they would probably just take him home. He could sneak into Armin’s and not tell his grandfather. But Armin being Armin would just go report to his grandfather saying “It’s the right thing to do, Eren. You need to go home.”
Exasperated, Eren lifted his head to look up at the darkening sky hoping that maybe the resolutions to all of his problems would be written in between the white plush clouds. He heard the sound of feet scraping against gravel and he thought maybe another kid came to play on the swings but when he looked over he saw only a middle-aged man. The man was blonde and always smelled heavily of alcohol and usually looked like he was about to rip your spine out at any moment. Now, he was approaching Eren with a much softer look.
“What are you doing out so late, boy?” He kneeled in front of Eren so they would be eye-level and he would seem less menacing. Eren pondered whether to tell the strange man the truth but even if wanted to speak up it felt like his tongue had knotted and his throat had become impossibly dry. Tears welled up in Eren’s big turquoise eyes and he fell right onto a very astonished Hannes. Eren hugged him so tightly, scared that if he let go the reassuring man would be gone and would be replaced by the cool darkness of the night. The man pat Eren’s soft head and cooed into his ear, “that everything would be just fine.” And Eren had believed him; for the first time since his mother died Eren felt safe-he felt loved. Hannes was right; everything was going to be alright. He walked Eren home, Eren clutching the man’s hand loosely; no longer afraid he would leave him too. On the way there Eren had spewed out everything that was happening and Hannes had given him what had to be the most sympathetic look ever as Eren continued babbling. When they reached the front steps of Eren’s home, Mikasa was there waiting for him.
"Eren!” She ran and hugged the small boy fiercely, but soon her relieved face was replaced with anger. “Where were you? I was worried sick.” All previous thoughts and doubts of Mikasa’s love for Eren where erased. After Eren stumbled out a sorry excuse of an explanation she let go of him and studied the man beside Eren.
“And who are you?” She asked, narrowing her eyes. Eren explained to Mikasa who Hannes was and the man kneeled and patted Mikasa’s head, much to her annoyance.
“Look after your brother. He seems like the type to get in trouble.” Mikasa grinned at his correct prediction and Eren whined and with that Hannes left.
Eren had been talking to Hannes in the back so when he walked into the bar and no longer saw the man sitting in the back he was relieved and a bit surprised. Maybe he had left considering the bar was going to close soon and he was the only customer left; maybe he left because it was three in the morning and probably had work in the morning. Either way, the man was gone and no longer unnerving Eren.
Eren pushed aside the bathroom door and winced as it brushed up against his bruised hip. He rested his elbows on the counter and splashed water in his face hoping it would calm his still heightened nerves. The smell of smoke tickled Eren’s nose and he turned around to find the man from before leaning against the back bathroom wall. Eren let out a small noise of surprise and his newly steadied heart beat raced up again. The raven haired man was wearing a black leather jacket that contrasted with his pale skin; he was holding his cigarette slightly elevated letting the smoke climb towards the vent.
“You can’t smoke in here.” Eren said and, as soon as he did he mentally slapped himself. Of course the man knew he can’t smoke in here and, that was precisely why he was letting the smoke evaporate into the vent so it wouldn’t set off the smoke alarm. There was something about the man that made Eren anxious as if he was interviewing for a new job and had showed up late.
The man raised the cigarette to his lips and took a slow drag before speaking. “You can’t be in here.” His eyes never met Eren’s as he spoke.
Eren supposed that his face was adorned with confusion because the man sighed and began to elaborate. “You’re a minor, no?”
Eren simply nodded. “How did you know?”
“Because you look like a brat.” The guy’s expression didn’t change; he didn’t even smile and try to play it off like he was joking.
Eren, for the first time in a long time, was speechless; he stood there astounded at this asshole’s confidence. All he could muster was a pissed off, “What?!”
The guy’s steel orbs finally rested on Eren and were now raking up and down his body. Eren suddenly felt naked under the man’s stare and the more he looked at the guy the less Eren could deny his attractiveness. But the guy’s attractiveness wasn’t going to make up for how big of an asshole he was.
“You’ll do.” The raven crushed the cigarette under his boot and started walking towards Eren. Eren soon realized that the guy wasn’t going to stop walking towards him and started backing up only to be cornered against a wall; and the guy kept coming to him.
What the hell was this guy doing? What did he want from Eren? Was he going to mug him? Beat him up because he was a sick man and he was into that sort of thing?
What he did do wasn’t at all what Eren expected. The raven had stopped walking until only a couple inches between the two were left and smirked. Eren eyed him warily awaiting some sort of pain to be inflicted on him for the second time that night, but it never came. He opened his eyes that he had shut when bracing himself to be punched. Now that the guy was close to Eren, which Eren wasn’t too pleased about, he noticed how short the man was. As though the guy read his mind he narrowed his eyes in anger and now Eren was sure he was going to get beaten up.
The raven leaned forward and pressed his lips firmly against Eren’s, and once again the brunette was wrong. The raven’s lips were cold and smooth; he tasted like smoke and mint.
Eren’s body was pushed harder against the wall as the man maneuvered his lips against a very confused teenager. Eren whined at the pain sprouting in his back and the guy took advantage of Eren’s open mouth and shoved his tongue in. Eren moaned in protest but made no effort to push the intoxicating man away. Instead his hands found purchase on the guy’s neck, fingers grazing against his undercut. Eren’s entire being buzzed as the man’s lips traveled down his jaw onto his neck, leaving angry red blotches. The lips left his body and so did the lingering hands and Eren found himself missing them. The man scoffed at Eren’s reaction.
“Someone’s a bit impatient.” Grey orbs widened and were filled with lust instead of indifference. Before Eren stutter out a reply, that, no he was not impatient and that this was forced upon him and counted as assault, his shirt was grabbed and he was thrown against the marble counter. Eren gasped in pain at having his back and hips battered over and over again. The man caught this and stared at the boy like he could devour Eren with one look. He quickly pounced on Eren and pulled him back into a fiery kiss. He bit the boy’s swollen lip when Eren didn’t let the man’s tongue wander the insides of his mouth. The brunette felt fingers tangle in his disheveled hair and quickly his head snapped back as his hair was painfully tugged. Eren let out a low mewl and the man chuckled slightly before attacking his vunerable neck. He bit down on Eren’s soft skin leaving red marks all the way from his jaw to his right shoulder.
Heat started to pool in Eren’s lower stomach and he knew that if they didn’t stop soon he would come undone. The raven grabbed at Eren’s bruised hips and shifted his knee in between, pressing down on Eren’s growing erection. Eren tried to stifle a moan into the man’s shoulder.
“Stop, I want to hear you.” The raven’s warm breath enveloped Eren’s ear and he shuttered at the words. How could a complete stranger have this effect on him? Eren started leaving small chaste kisses along the pale neck he pressed his face into. Cold hands traced their way up Eren’s waist as Eren bit lightly on the man’s earlobe which he quickly found out was sensitive after receiving a low groan.
“God, you’re such a brat.” The voice was low and husky and turned Eren on even more.
“And, you’re an asshole.” Eren gasped out playing with the man’s weak spots. The man laughed slightly.
“Can’t argue much on that o-one-“ Eren used that moment to tug harshly on his earlobe. Eren smiled at himself, prideful.
“Wipe that shit-eating grin off your face.” The man then pressed his lips back to Eren’s neglected ones. How he knew Eren was grinning, Eren had no clue but he was too preoccupied with the short ravens rolling hips to continue pondering. The man’s sharp hips started grinding into Eren’s leaving Eren in a moaning mess. He started to pull at one of the boy’s nipples overwhelming Eren into overdrive. He bucked his hips up against the stranger, hoping to find more friction. The raven responded to Eren’s pleas and moved his hand down to paw at Eren’s heated crotch. He slipped his cold hand down Eren’s pants and grasped his shaft tightly, causing Eren’s breath to hitch in his throat. Eren threw his head back as the man gave a few slow tugs; he pressed lightly onto the head, wet with precum. Eren let out a lewd moan into the man’s ear which made him harden against Eren’s pressed knee. Eren wanted more. He wanted to taste every inch of this man’s body but his wish was not fulfilled.
The hand in his pants disappeared and Eren frowned as the other hand and his dizzying mouth left as well. Eren opened his lust-filled eyes to see the raven haired man wiping the back of his hand across his wet mouth. He was leaving, now. In the middle of… and Eren was still… Eren couldn’t form a coherent thought to save his life and the asshole could tell. He smirked and ran his fingers through his black hair.
“Wait.” The unbearably attractive man raised his brows at Eren’s demand.
“What’s your name?” Eren asked frantically not wanting to lose all connection with the enticing man.
“Tch,” he started to push the bathroom door open, “not for you to know, brat.”
Green eyes stared at the empty place where his lover- No, where the stranger once stood. Shifting his body into gear he pushed hastily through the door to follow the man and demand a name but the bar was empty save for a very confused and agitated Annie.