Artist's Hands [Ereri/Riren Fanfic] [COMPLETE]

Chapter Eight

Eren's POV

I was cooking a simple meal for Armin and I when my phone buzzed on the countertop. I had asked Armin to read me whatever it was.

" Hey Armin, could you read me what just made my phone buzz please?"

" Sure thing."

He set down his phone and turned down the music. I heard him clear his throat and start reading.

" " I don't know if you're going to reply back but I just watched a show that displayed two collages you had given the studio they aired at. This shouldn't be any of my business but what happened during your childhood? Why would you take such mor-" "

" On second thought maybe you shouldn't, here..." I set down the knife I was using to cut vegetables and dried my hands with a towel; motioning Armin to give my phone back, " I'll end the conversation quickly so I can finish cooking and we can eat." I put on my signature smile as using it seemed to get me most things I wanted or needed, and it always worked on Armin.

Or so I thought, for some reason he wasn't giving my phone back.

" Eren, what pictures is this person referring to?"

My smile went away and I wore a desolate expression. The last person I wanted to see me like this was Armin, after all that he's done for me. I just wanted this to be some prank so this won't turn out nasty, at this point I was only holding onto some thin threads. I sighed and decided that in order to save my friendship with Armin I'd tell him what this person was talking about. I put my hands up in surrender and hung my head in defeat.

" Okay, okay okay okay. You got me, you can read the rest and I'll answer your questions after you're done."

He stared at me a little longer before picking up where he left off.

" " Why would you take such morbid photos and display them for your own gain? If you went through something even worse than what I had went through then please come to my place so we could possibly talk about it. Levi Ackerman." "

My head shot up when I heard the man's name, after he left me I had thought that he never wanted to see me again. I suppose I was wrong,  but this could be my chance. I let out a slight laugh mixed with a sigh and looked Armin straight in the face.

" Armin, would you believe me if I said that I'm actually clinically depressed? Meaning I'm mentally ill, that is."

" W... what? Eren... You've never told me about this until now so why are you-"

" Even though I'm clinically depressed, my doctors say it's nothing too major and that's how I've been able to live my day-to-day life style. However, they did say that it was a side effect from the abuse I had received from my father, and so it might worsen."

I stopped there thinking that it'd be fine to leave it at that, but I'd never want this to reach Levi in any way. I extended my hand again for my phone but this time I wore my mother's sweet and gentle smile, but only it was saddened. My friend gave my phone back and quickly read the text over again and started to reply to him.

Levi, would it be okay if I came to your place to explain some thing with you? I'll tell you the reason behind the pictures on the collages.

Took you long enough to answer me! Why not tell me here?

My friends take my phone occasionally so they'll end up seeing these when I never wanted to tell them. You're the only one I'm going to tell everything to under one condition, but I'll talk about all that if you allow me to come to your place.

It took him a while but he had agreed to let me go to his place, so I decided to go tomorrow. I walked to my bedroom, plugged in my phone and set it onto the nightstand. I went back into the kitchen and picked up the knife to continue cutting the vegetables, but Armin remained quiet until I finished cooking. For him it takes a while to accept something, but I think this time it's going to take a while longer since I just now told him my illness. It was a shock to him when I told him about the abuse I took from my father, and when I told him about my mother's death. Armin caught me staring at him so I quickly looked at my plate, I never eat much and sometimes Armin would point that out so I'd just play it off. However it was really because of my illness, so because of that my fatigue had caught the attention of both female and male citizens. And I don't mean just catching their eye, I mean they want me for my body. So that leads to the one major regret I have in my life, but no one knows about it. I plan to tell Levi if we get pretty close to never part because of something in the past.

I excused myself from the table and went to the restroom.

Armin's POV

All this time my best friend was suffering from a mental illness, and he never told me about it. I've known him since childhood, the bullies at our school would always pick on me and he'd always help me. I've kind of looked up to him in a sense, but after I heard about his mother's death and what his father did to him I decided that I was going to make him look up to me. Of course I'd never beat anyone up or anything of the sort, but I'd be there for him every step of the way. But to think that he's been suffering all this time made me feel as though I had let him down.

I watched as Eren slammed his hands into the table and rush towards another room. I saw that he had barely touched his food, and then I heard the sound of my childhood friend hurl what little food he had.

AN: Okay so Ik I said that I was going to upload like three chapters to this a couple days ago, but I was feeling out of it. But hey, I'm gonna be updating Twisted Memory starting tomorrow! So that's something. Welp I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you in the next one!!!

To Be Continued...