The Exchange Student

Chapter 13

TW : Death, loss

Yawning as he rose from his bed, Eren regretted that decision, longing for the warmth beneath the covers, so welcoming compared to the gloomy, wet day he could see out the window. Not only that, but he was one hundred percent allowed to sleep in since it was the weekend.

It was too late though, the colder temperature outside of his bed had seeped into his bones, fully waking him up.

The mattress next to his bed was empty, carefully folded clothes in the center of the bed, neatly made up, not a single corner undone. When that bed would be left messily, that's when he would know something was wrong. Eren smiled at the thought, popping his muscles the way his mother told him not to, bending his fingers in half to the left, making sure to complete his morning stretching routine. He padded to the bathroom, ready to get the lost warmth back with a steaming hot shower. He preferred the heat to the cold, no matter what the situation.

Unless it was ice-cream in the summer, that was a sacred delight he couldn't forsake for his heat preference. Ice-cream anywhere, anytime, as long as it wasn't the carrot-pumpkin-cucumber flavored ice-cream. He had tested it with Armin last summer, and it was just ... wrong. Sending Armin to go get his ice-cream was a terrible idea, since Eren pointed out the "orange one", next to the other "orange one" containing apricot, mango and nectarines. And as payback for the Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Ice Cream Eren had once picked out for him, Armin happily chose the orange vegetable one, skipping back to Eren, pure joy radiating from his smile as he watched Eren's mouth curl into disgust at his first taste.

He still needed to get back at Armin for that one. When he would be on speaking terms with them again.
He knew how ridiculous his decisions were, but he couldn't help himself.

Running his hand through his tousled hair, he began to think of a way to approach Armin and Mika.

The bathroom was filled with the strong scent of cinnamon and apple, the pleasurable odor wafting around Eren. He smiled, enjoying the smell.
Then a memory tickled him, the same, teasing and comforting scent, fading into the past as he tried to pull the memory back into his grasp. One he didn't recall crossing before.
His smile dropped as his mind drew in the fragments of the memory, linking them up, into an unbreakable picture of a disaster.

※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※

"Levi Ackerman !! What the hell ??" yelled Eren, entering the room with a bang.

Levi rose his head, looking at Eren passively, who was in a panicked rage. "Good morning to you too, Jaeger brat."

"You didn't tell me ! I remember now ! Why didn't you say anything ? The smell, and that taste !"

"I can't understand a single shred of your incoherent rambling, so sit, and breathe. You're shit at it." Levi grabbed his shoulders, steering him in front of the couch, plopping him onto the white leather.

"You know what I'm talking about," pressed Eren, giving in to his lungs' request for oxygen. "That night. Like, that night."

"Oh so you remember now. What do you remember ?"

"The way you smelled."

"That's creepy as fuck."

"I know. I mean, yeah. Yeah it is. But I had never smelt it - you - before."

"You're digging yourself into a hole. Stop talking about my body odor. "

Eren veered to a pink, rose colored blush. He cleared his throat, moving backwards into the sofa. "You kissed me."