The Exchange Student

Chapter 2

Eren awoke to the sound of his digital alarm clock playing a little tune, at 7:05 AM.
A few rays of sunshine peeked through the white curtains, bathing the room in a soft golden glow.
He stretched and tried to make the most of his comfortable bed before he had to get up.
He heard Levi groan from the floor, where his mattress was.
"What the fuck is that ? Turn it off."
Eren suddenly remembered that there was someone else living in his house. A wave of anxiety washed over him, and he took deep breaths to calm himself.
He leant over to his bedside table and silenced the alarm as quickly as he could. He looked over to Levi, who was propped up on his hands, looking around the room. As his gaze fell on Eren, the brunette looked away, sliding out from under the warm covers.
"I'm going to go have breakfast, you coming ?"

"I'm not hungry" replied Levi.

Eren ran a hand through his messy mop of hair, wondering if he should insist, skip breakfast too, or leave Levi alone.
"I'm worrying about breakfast because of him. Seriously Eren stop it" he chided himself.
"I won't die or vanish or set fire to your room" Levi stated with a smirk, sitting up.
Eren felt his face flush as he started fiddling with his bottom lip. He looked back up to see Levi waiting for him to do something, his expressionless face returned.
The poor boy hurriedly went downstairs, mentally swearing about how stupid he was.
He found his mother in the kitchen, drinking a mug of coffee.
"Hey honey. How did you sleep ?"

"Fine, Levi doesn't snore, so that's something" grinned Eren. "Why didn't you tell me the students were arriving earlier ? A little warning would've been nice ..." said Eren, his brow creasing a little, but making sure to keep any accusing tone out of his voice.

"I know how much you don't like being around other people, let alone share your personal space with them. I also know how much you have been stressing over somebody's arrival here. I thought it would be best if I didn't make you worry more than you already were."

"I get it" he sighed, "it was probably a good decision over all ... I just ..."

"Don't like it ? You and Levi will get along after a while, it will take a bit of time for him to settle in, but he seems like a good kid, just a little reserved. He actually reminds me of you, Eren. Be nice to him and give him time, okay honey? Give him a chance" smiled Carla, ruffling his hair.

Eren scrunched up his nose "I hear you ... I'll be kind, don't worry Mom. I couldn't bring myself to be rude to him even if I wanted to. Anyway, I better eat now if I don't want to be late to class" he said, grabbing a bowl from the cupboard.
He poured cereal into his bowl before adding milk.
His way of doing it was prone to debate with Armin, who did it the other way around. Their debates never ended, with Eren determined to stand his ground and defend his poor bowl of cereal, and Armin finding some intelligent answer to everything Eren said.
Eren sat down in front of his mother, and the two of them started chatting animatedly.

The tanned boy glanced at his watch before realizing that he was running late. He stood up in a rush, just as Levi walked downstairs in a pair of black jeans and a matching black sweater.
Eren couldn't help but think that black suited him a lot.
He mentally shook himself to get focused again and rushed up to his room, backing his bag as quickly as he could and throwing on a pair of faded denim jeans and a white Levi's tee shirt.
He attempted to fix his hair while brushing his pearly white teeth, but to no avail.
"Eren ? I'll drive you to school today, I'm passing by there and I don't want you and Levi to be late. We're leaving in five minutes" called Carla.
He hurriedly grabbed a pair of shoes before running downstairs, almost face planting as he tripped in the last step.
He heard Levi scoff, and as Eren looked up, he saw a slight spark of amusement in his eyes before it vanished as quickly as it came.
The brunette started walking towards the door.
" ... They're my shoes brat."
Eren paused in his tracks and looked down, and saw that they were indeed not his. He groaned before racing upstairs, then back down again with a pair that were his this time.