Often // Attack On Titan

Chapter 5

Mikasa sighed and stopped halfway into the serve.
"Eren, do you think I'm improving?" She said, turning to face him and tapping the ground with her racket. Eren stared back at her - her playing was flawless.
"If I'm honest, I don't think there's much to improve. I know that's not very helpful, sorry," he said, shrugging slightly. Mikasa exhaled loudly and fanned herself with her hand. Eren picked up her water bottle and extended his arm out to her, wondering how she could be so hot. The weather hadn't heated up whatsoever and the winter coats were starting to come out of the wardrobes.
"Oh, Eren! Why don't we have a game?" She exclaimed, her eyes lighting up. Eren laughed and pointed to himself - he was fully decked in a scarf, coat and jeans. Mikasa rolled her eyes and beckoned him with her hand.
"Well this is going to be embarrassing," he muttered, discarding his scarf and coat. He had a thick jumper underneath that seemed ridiculous compared to Mikasa's skirt and t-shirt. Eren looked around for a spare tennis racket that he could perhaps use and was decided he was in luck when he found one laying underneath the bench he was sat on.

"I'll go easy on you," Mikasa smirked from across the net. Eren exaggerated positioning himself and she rolled her eyes.
"Lets go Mika," he replied with a grin. There was no way he would win.

[...]

"I was only taking it easy," Eren panted, his face flushed and sweaty.
"Sure," Mikasa chuckled, swinging her bag over her shoulder. "Let's get a move on, Jaeger-Bombastic," she said as Eren continued to scramble about with the many layers he had discarded, starting with the jumper he'd thrown off.

The pair walked in silence. Not the awkward type of silence but the one thats just 'quiet'. In silence of not speaking, not ignorance. Eren felt obliged to say something interesting, but could only think of tennis.
"When's your next match?" He asked, kicking a stone as he walked. It skidded into a bush before Mikasa replied.
"At the end of this month," she said, taking her hair down from its ponytail. "The 28th I think," she included. Eren nodded and watched as another stone flew from his shoe and into the middle of the road. "Why, are you coming?" Eren stopped attempting to slide stones and grinned at her.
"Of course!"
Mikasa didn't smile at first, just gave Eren a sideways glance.
"It's after school,"
"And?"
"And you're telling me you will be allowed out for it?"
Eren paused before shrugging.
"I'll sneak out," he replied, earning a tut from Mikasa. She looked at him as if to say don't be stupid but at this point, Mikasa couldn't convince him not to.
"Well, don't get into trouble," she said, almost in a sigh. Eren nodded in response. Then she smiled.

"Do you want to come in?" Mikasa said, leaning against the door frame. Eren smiled and shook his head.
"Gotta get back, I was meant to be home twenty minutes ago," he said, scratching the back of his neck. Mikasa rolled her eyes, a smile still on her face.
"Thanks for coming," she said, raising her hand to wave as Eren glumly began to walk up the pathway.
"Bye."
Mikasa wondered how bad his mother really was. Eren had always hated scolding and having to be dependent on others...

When Eren got home, he instantly returned to his bed. He laid on his back, staring at the ceiling. Of course, there was nothing different or special about the ceiling; Eren was just deep in thought. Something was not right about his routine, something was missing. But everything was the same, Eren couldn't put his finger on a difference. What had he done before? School? Hospital? Homework? What else would there be?
Then it clicked.
Hospital.

With the excuse of forgotten homework sheets, Eren yanked his bike out of the garage and raced off down the street. It was a fairly cold evening, but not as arctic as the previous. Eren's chest felt very warm, but perhaps that would be guilt. His hands wound around the bike's handles, cold and red. The black rubber from the bars was rubbing off on his hands and clothes, like black ash. If it had been ash from smoking, it would just be another habit to fail at quitting - such as the one he was tending to now. The colossal building came into view and Eren sped up just a little bit faster.

The reception was cluttered. And loud. One man was bickering with himself, another was arguing over the counter - a woman glaring by his side. The seats were full, people leaned against walls and sat on the steps upstairs.

"Ah, Eren. How are you doing?" The receptionist said, staring at Eren. He smiled in reply and gestured upwards with his hands. The woman seemed to get the idea and nodded, her hair swaying in its neat bob. "Sure," she said, watching as he briskly moved to the stairs. The elevator could wait, it was too slow anyway. His trainers squeaked against the shiny flooring and his hair swished against his head. He could have gone up two flights of stairs, or ten, or one hundred but Eren couldn't care less. The only thing on his mind was checking that he was okay, his anxiety rising at every wasted second.

There was light under the door. Nobody had told Eren that he could not go inside, so his brain connected to his hand and his hand connected to the door handle and then he was inside. And staring at the nurses like they were the ones who had burst into the room.

"I'm sorry," one of them spoke, standing up to usher Eren out of the room. He tried to see past them but was only greeted by hands shoving him out of the door. "No visitors," the nurse said, trying to shut the door on him.
"Wait!" Eren called, jamming his foot between the door and the frame. "What's wrong? What happened? Just let me i-'

Eren wrapped his arms around his body and shivered at the breeze attacking its way through the hall. The nurses hadn't come out yet and he wasn't leaving until he had answers. Half an hour later, the buzzing from inside the room stopped and the world fell silent. The door opened and a man stepped out. He looked slightly surprised to see Eren sat on the floor and offered him a hand up.

"What were you doing down there?" He asked, knowing Eren would ignore him. Which he did.

"What happened, why were there so many people in there?" Even enquired impatiently, zipping up his hoodie and stuffing his hands inside his pockets. The doctor sighed and started walking slowly. Eren followed.

"Is Mr Alert your friend?" Even nodded, staring in expectancy. "Well, there are a few problems that have arisen with his health." He stopped and looked down at Eren. "My name is Dr Rhett, I've been called in to monitor his health. We've had a huge change in his behaviour. The chances of him recovering are incredibly low, I'm sorry. Maybe we should have called his grandfather first, but I think you deserve to know."

Eren stood staring across at the wall. He wasn't distraught, he wasn't angry. He was confused.

"I'm sorry but I don't understand," he stated blankly. "He was fine just last week, he was improving." Dr Rhett shook his head.

"We're trying our best," the doctor said, turning back into the room. Eren was left staring at the wall, alone.

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AN: Hello! Thank you for reading! Sorry for taking so long to update, school gets really busy!