Alarm Clock - Ereri/Riren (Re-uploaded)

Chapter 31 Part 2

I headed down the road on my way to Armin's house with Mozart playing in the background. I hummed cheerily along to the piece as I pulled up a few streets away so his parents wouldn't notice. The Arlerts were a really nice family over all and they really liked me. I would always come over for dinner and enjoyed playing board games with his little sister. But right now I wasn't here to play board games. I was here to see Armin and make sure he was sleeping alright. And I don't think his family would like me very much anymore if I showed up at their house at 2:00 in the morning. So I had to be discrete about it.

I climbed the ladder that was placed in its usual spot, leading up to his bedroom window. Once I reached the top I saw him curled up on his chair, reading a book. I couldn't fully read the title but it was something by Aristotle. That little nerd. I sighed and rolled my eyes at the fact that he was still awake. I guess this was why I was here anyways. I lightly tapped on the window with my finger and he quickly looked up from his book, giving me a relieved smile. He hopped over to the window and opened it so I could crawl in.

"Why the hell are you still up?" I said to him, grabbing him in a tight embrace.

"I could ask you the same question, love." he mumbled in my chest. He smelled of strawberries and coconuts, like the hair product he often used. I kissed him on the forehead before letting go and crashing onto the bed.

"You know why."

"Yeah, I do." I smirked.

"It's so late. Have you even tried sleeping? I only came tonight to make sure you were rested for your debate. You said you wanted to beat Marlo."

"You know how it can be sometimes. I guess I've been overthinking it." he replied. He seems too tired to be joking around like he usually did. I looked around the room and noticed he had a new poster up on his wall of someone named 'Friederich Nietzsche'. "Who's Nit-ze-shay?" I asked scratching the surface of my head wondering if I had even said that correctly.

He laughed pretty hard at that before coming over to sit beside me and responding: "The man who killed God". He intertwined his fingers with mine and rested his head in the crook of my neck. What a peculiar achievement. I didn't even know God was dead. But it was too late at night for me to ask him to elaborate. So I got up, turned the lights off then made my way back over to the bed to wrap my arms around him, pulling him down into a little spoon as we lay in his bed. I played with his hair and gently caressed his hand to put him to sleep. He was always thinking so he never slept. This usually seemed to help. I hated seeing him at school all disoriented and pale. It affected his grades too which always bothered him. After his breath had slowed down and his fidgeting had stopped for a couple minutes, I slowly, making sure not to wake him up, got up from out of his bed, and put the covers over him. It was a cold night after all. I then gently kissed his forehead before quietly exiting out the window and down the ladder. I slept well knowing he slept well.

I had planned to do a cute gesture while I asked Armin to junior prom today. This was so unlike me. He was really bringing out a side of me I used to make fun of. I woke up early despite going to bed at 4:00 in the morning to make sure he was asleep. But that didn't matter. My excitement was enough to keep me awake. I had bought some of his favourite candies. I knew I could be such a cliche sometimes but it made Armin happy so it made me happy.

I was now on my way to the bookstore to go buy this one book he told me he was thinking of getting but didn't really have any money right now. I was pretty sure I remembered the title. Something to do with grapes and revenge. Or was it wrath? Yeah, that's it. I walked into the bookstore. It wasn't too far for my place so I was pretty familiar with the area. After a few minutes of searching, my sense of peace and calmness was quickly erased when I saw...him.I was in complete and utter disbelief as his sharp eyes focused on mine. I had to be hallucinating. Or perhaps I was dying and revisiting some part of my last before passing on. That was more bearable than the thought of him being here, in front of me, halting at me the same way he did all that time ago, millions of miles away. Reiner Braun. My old piano teacher from way back in Germany. He was the man who took it all away. My innocence, my trust in others, and my privacy since he had put it all online afterwards. All my bruises from when it happened showed in those videos and they spread like a wildfire. It was all over my school for a really long time. Kids would call me a fag and no one would talk to me because I was the apparently the one who initiated having sex with a man 3 times my age. Luckily, around this time, my dad was accepting a job in New York and we moved. No one but Mikasa and my family knew about this. Not even Armin. We were able to get all the pictures taken down from everywhere it was posted and shared. The police couldn't really do anything about it so my dad had paid someone to "get the job done". I still didn't know what that meant but I had a feeling that if I did, I'd be involved in something pretty shady. I hated the fact that I had to live away from Germany. I was so happy there. I would actually get decent grades and had great friends. But I worked really hard to get rid of my accent and ended up really liking New York.