The Exchange Student

Chapter 9

Eren woke up to a splitting headache crossing his skull. He groaned, sitting up to put his head into his hands, willing his headache to vanish on the spot.

What could be worse than feeling like someone was repeatedly swinging an axe at your head ?
Something could : Waking up to find yourself in the bed beside the guy you're supposed to be distant with.

Eren began to panic, wondering why he was sleeping next to Levi once again, and why he couldn't remember much from the last night. He carefully edged himself out of the quilt, rolling off the mattress and falling with a soft thud on the floor. And ...

"Why am I not wearing a tee-shirt ??"

Levi turned over on the bed, his hair messy and yet stylishly attractive. Not that Eren was attracted in the least. "Getting you into a pair of sweatpants was hard enough, and your knight couldn't be bothered to put you in a fucking shirt."

"Knight ?" echoed Eren.

"You don't remember ?" smirked Levi.

"Remember ?"

"Last night ... What happened .."

"What happened ??"

"Fucking parrot," muttered Levi under his breath.

"Did ... did I do something stupid ? Like ... Really stupid ?" Eren's eyes were wide with fear as he waited for Levi's answer - coming far too slowly in his opinion.

"Yeah."

"Fuck I'm so sorry please forgive me, I'm so so sorry, I was drunk wasn't I ? So I didn't -"

Levi let out a dry chuckle, rising from the bed, dragging a hand through his tousled black hair. "I'm just fucking with you Eren. You didn't do shit, apart from getting absolutely hammered with those beers and acting like a child."

"You ... actually ... " gaped Eren, looking astounded.

"It's just a joke brat, no big deal."

"You actually laughed."

Levi glared at the brunette, who let out a short amazed laugh. "That's what is shocking you ? You motherfucker ..."

"I'm sorry, but ... You've made my day," grinned Eren, starting to leave the room, followed by an eye-rolling Levi.

"So you really can't remember shit ?" asked Levi, sliding the slices of bread into the toaster.

"It's blurry, but I know we went to Mika's house, I decided I should drink a bit ... Then there are blanks, and I can faintly remember Jean and Marco making out at last ... and puking all over Armin," he added guiltily, grabbing an Advil and water to calm his thundering headache.

Levi nodded, placing the toast on a plate as he began to butter it, bathed in the morning sunshine streaming through the kitchen window. "That's all ?"

"I think so - maybe a few bits and pieces with Mika or Petra, a round of beer pong with Armin, stuff like that. Nothing really interesting to be honest."

"You don't have any memories of anything out of the ordinary do you ?"

"I remember some weird feeling, I was touching something that was silky and soft. I remember loving that but I have no idea what it is. Why ? Should I be recalling something like that ?"

Levi bit into his toast, jaw clenched. Eren thought he looked angry or sad, but he couldn't tell. Eren swirled his spoon around his cereal-filled bowl, creating circles with his index and middle finger on his temple, in an attempt to push the dull thudding from his head,  waiting to see if Levi would answer his question. He began eating spoonfuls of Cheerios at the lack of response.