The Exchange Student

Chapter 4

He turned onto his right side, and grabbed his phone, sighing as he saw the numbers 6:30 on the top center of his screen. He let out a yawn, bored and very tired, not having slept much that night. He reached towards his bedside table, opening the top drawer that had a lock with the key hidden at the back of a frame that sat there, a picture of him, Armin and Mikasa, when they were in 7th grade. Armin looked like a child, with a soft and innocent face, while Mikasa had already started to gain her signature cool and mature expression. Eren gazed fondly at the picture, remembering that day at the water park. The joy at being there seemed to radiate off his face frozen in time. His Caribbean eyes seemed to sparkle, a dimple apparent on his left cheek. He wore a wide smile, his chocolate brown hair wet from the water, hanging over his forehead.

He reached into the drawer, all at the back, and took out his prized black sketchbook. He grabbed a HB pencil, and began to sketch out the outlines of an angel. One of his favourite pastimes and relaxation methods was drawing. He drew anything from simple sketches of objects or plants, to landscapes and portraits.
He drew the outlines, and content with them, he started doing a little detailing on the wings, such as the feathers, and the clothes his angel wore. He then went over the outlines with a 2B pencil, to darken them out.
He stared for a while at the face, not knowing what he wanted it to look like. He attempted to draw one a few times, but ended up erasing it every time. Deciding to do the facial features last, he moved on to other elements of the drawing.
Eren got lost in his passion, until he heard his unfortunate roommate shift on his bed.
The brunette quickly closed the sketchbook, carefully putting it back into the drawer, before shutting and locking it, hiding the key back behind the photo frame, as silently as possible.
He was glad his bed didn't creak as he put his folded arm under his head, pretending to be asleep, his back to Levi.

He heard a quiet sigh, and the imperceptible sound of Levi moving under the covers. He stared at the wall, waiting until he would hear Levi go back to sleep.
A pale face popped into his vision and Eren screamed.

A hand of the same white shade covered his mouth, quieting him down. "Shush. Don't wake up your parents."

"Fuck Levi you scared the shit out of me !" Eren whisper-shouted at him.

Levi removed his hand, folding his arms as he leaned against the wall. Eren barely needed to tilt his head up to watch the raven speak due to his small height. "You were awake."
He said it more like a statement than a question.

"Yeah. I couldn't sleep. Not that you would give a damn anyway."

"Mm you're absolutely right."

Eren resisted the urge to say something in return, knowing full well that Levi was able to find witty retorts against anything Eren could say to him. Eren wished he could go back to sleep, and let him continue on with something else while he waited for his parents to wake up. Levi's presence awake was much more unnerving than asleep, also slightly frustrating, like a stain on a shirt you couldn't possibly get rid of.

"Are you going to stand staring at me until sunrise ? Go back to sleep. Mom should have something planned for your first weekend here. It would be such a shame if you fell asleep during whatever trip she has in mind," said Eren, attempting to keep the biting and sarcastic tone out of his voice.

"Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed," scoffed Levi. "I don't feel like sleeping or pretending to be asleep, or talking so, I'll stand up without talking. Or," he added, "I can pace around the room like an idiot if you want."

"Please, suit yourself. Make yourself well at home in my life. And of course, don't worry about me, or what I could be thinking, or feeling," said Eren sitting up, anger seeping into his voice.