The Ereri Project!

Sign (Deaf)

Eren hates going to the library.

His mother, however, is convinced he still has a lot of studying to do before his History exam on Friday so she drives him to the library and kicks him out of the car without his wallet or cell phone so he'll have to stay until she comes to pick him up at six.

It's only four o' clock. He's already bored. He has no idea what his mom was expecting leaving a fourteen year old alone in a library when she knows he gets antsy quickly.

He looks around the big, quiet room for the fifth time when he notices a young man around his age has seated himself at one of the other tables.

He's cute too. Eren smiles and walks over to say hi. "Hey, I'm Eren," he says, sitting down.

The other boy doesn't so much as acknowledge him.

"Hello?" he asks again.

The boy still doesn't move his gaze from his book.

Eren waves his hand in front of the black haired boy, startling him. The boy looks up with a scowl. "Sorry, I just wanted to say hi," he says.

The boy points to his ear and shakes his head.

"You can't hear?" Eren asks.

The other boy just stares at him, pointing to his ear and shaking his head again before looking down at his book. Eren frowns and stands again.

He starts walking back to his own book when he gets an idea. He goes to find a librarian. He finds a young woman working behind the counter at the entrance. "Excuse me," he says. "Where can I find books on sign language?"

"Sign language?" she asks. "Follow me." She takes him into an alcove in the back of the library. "This is the language section," she says and kneels in front of the right side. "The ASL books should all be on these shelves here."

"Thank you," Eren says and kneels in front of the shelves as she smiles and walks away.

He can't decide on one book so he picks out a few and carries them back to that boy's table. When he sits down, the boy looks up because of the way the table shook when Eren out his books down.

He watches Eren closely while the determined brunette looks for a section on greetings. He still remembers his alphabet from when they learned it in elementary school but he doesn't want to have to spell everything out.

Hello, he signs. I am E-r-e-n.

The black haired boy smiles slightly and starts signing a response. I am L-e-v-i.

Eren smiles at his first successful shot at communication and looks through the books for more to say. He spends so much time talking to Levi he doesn't notice when his mom comes in to pick him up.

Mrs. Jaeger is surprised to find her son using sign language with another boy when she walks in. She pauses, watching them. "Are you one of their mothers?" the librarian asks.

"Yes, the one with the brown hair is mine," she replies.

The librarian smiles. "He asked for sign language books about two hours ago and they've been talking ever since. That boy comes in here a lot by himself so I'm glad he's made a friend."

Carla smiles. "Yeah, Eren has always been pretty social."

She walks over. "Eren, it's time to go, dinner will be ready soon."

Eren looks up at her, frowning. "But mom~" he whines.

"Sorry," she says.

When Eren looks back at Levi, he's writing something down. When he passes the paper over, it reads Text Me with his phone number written underneath.

Eren smiles and nods at him before picking up a couple of the ASL books. "Can I check these out mom?"