꒷꒦꒷⭓Hσɳҽყ Bҽҽ Oϝ Mყ Eყҽ⭓꒦꒷

⭓⭔Fɾιҽɳԃ⭔⭓

◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤

You and Eren exchanged stories throughout the hour. For the most part though, you listened to him share his experiences traveling to different countries. All the different cultures he's been able to experience. Be it their food, activities, or traditions. A slice of envy settled in your heart the further he went on. You never gave too much thought about which places you would've liked to visit if you ever left this place for good, but from how much he talked it up, Barbados seemed like a pretty nice place to start.

Just then, the alarm clock resting on the nightstand interrupted Eren mid-sentence to begin urgently and excessively beeping.

Already? he thought. That was fast.

"Welp, that's our time." You put your feet back on the slightly chilled floor. Then you tiptoed forward as you raised your intertwined fingers to the sky and forced a stretch out. "Thanks for the break, hun. I really needed it." Your arms swung down with you and did a clap in the back. You grunted when you stooped down low to swipe your heels from the ankle straps and sat back down to put them back on. "It's the first time in a looong time that an hour felt this short. A couple months, maybe?"

Something Eren caught and lingered on for a bit. "Does every day usually make you feel like you need to hold out?"

You scoffed, "duh." You thought it was cute, his naivety. "Not everybody who's walked through those doors is normal. Rulebreakers, assaulters, racists, people with all kinds of fetishes, abusers, and plain ol' dumb jerks. We get 'em all. Last week my masochist client brought an entire bag of instruments to use and asked me to be his sadist. The day before that?" You put your hand up to soothe your neck. "He told me he couldn't get off unless he was choking me, so I let him for the entire hour. Each time I was on the very of passing out, he'd loosen his grip to give me a break, and start up again a few minutes later." And you didn't stop there. "We have a shower in that bathroom," you nodded toward the room. "You think they all use it?"

Eren chewed his lip regrettably, lowering his eyes away. "I shouldn't have asked the obvious. My bad."

"It's alright. I'm not offended. Besides, I do get a few here and there that make it fun and take you out of that 'work-mode' mindset."

But still, it's not something you had to stand for. "What about the Yellow Jackets?" Duh. "Can't you just call on those guys whenever you don't like it? Isn't that the main reason they're around?"

He lowered his eyes with you as you knelt down in front of him and began feeling around underneath the couch for something. Shortly after, you told him to have a look. So he did as you said and knelt down beside you to see what it was you were about to show him. Stuck to the underside of the couch was a red button. Not too small, but not too big either. "What's it do?"

"I call it the snitch button. Does exactly what the name says." You got back on your feet and so did he. "It's not the only in the room though. There's more hidden throughout here. Just can't remember where exactly. They installed all these damn buttons and I barely know they're there. That's how much I don't touch them." That made him all the more confused though. He just couldn't understand it, and you could see that. "Time = money, Eren. And what we don't work for all the way or at all, is taken by our mistress. So pressing that button is a big no-no for me. She says it's for our protection, but in reality, it's for the Bees who can't and won't endure."

"For the money?" Concern furrowed into his brows.

"For the money. Every minute is precious."

The brightness over your face from earlier, though limited and composed, had just about gone. He was so concentrated on how the stories poured turmoil back into you instead, that he now only fully registered your hand caressing around the back of his neck.