The Time You Were Gone | Eremin Story

Calm before storm

~chapter 22 of part 2~

"Eren, are you back?" A voice called for him when he closed the front door on his house. Something strange and unexplainable the mothers were doing, asking questions with obvious answers. Yet, he nodded when she showed up to give him a big, needed hug.

It gave him comfort. To not be able to hug his mother seemed like a nightmare and he didn't care if it sounded pathetic. Just imagining, if less than a year ago things didn't turn out so good for them..

He brushed these thoughts away because that should have been the last thing to think about. Instead, he made his way through the living room, deciding to unpack everything later. Even though you're sitting the whole time, driving definitely isn't an easy job. And oh God, Carla had made brownies!

She told him Mikasa preferred to go to sleep right away, and he didn't question it. She definitely needed rest and time after everything and it was sad he had learned what she's been through just now. Thinking about it, he needed a rest too.

His mother sat right next to him on the couch, forgetting what personal space was. "What are you doing?!" Eren lifted his gaze up startled. "Start speaking right now! I need every single detail!"

"It was okay." He decided to say. "It was fun. I think we all had fun." dwelling around it wasn't going to help but aiming straight to the point wasn't a good idea neither.

Carla rolled her eyes at the expected answer. "I can tell this much. What happened? Did it happen finally?"

Well, she was definitely insistent. He looked at the served food on the glass table in front of him, but surprisingly even after this long drive he didn't feel hungry at all. "Oh, yes, of course. I think for a first time he really liked the beach."

Next he heard her suppressed laughter. "You know that's not what I mean."

Her son turned back at his mother in question, because definitely, surely, without a single doubt there was no way in the bloody hell she actually meant-, but she did. And his cheeks grew hot.

His mouth slung open and he tried to find the energy to deny what was truth, but he stood silent, just proving her point. And she was grinning.

But.. How? How did she know? There was no way, unless..

"I saw the packet of condoms in your drawer." She clarified. "Seriously, who brings just one? What's there a whole packet for?"

"Oh god, shit, no, we're not having this conversation." He stumbled over his words as he tried to recover quickly. "Not with my mother."

"And what's the problem with talking about it with your mother?!" She snorted, but seemed to let it go. At last she just sighed, slapping her hands on her lap. "I just want to make sure you're safe. Alright, I'll take it as if you know enough on the subject. I still need details of the trip, tell me everything exciting!'

And seriously, it was sweet of her. She was ready to sit there and listen to him all day about things that didn't even concern her, there was no doubt she was the best mother he could wish for. But this time, her demand weighed on him.

He started it off easy, speaking about casual things like the surprise birthday party they, more precisely he, had planned for their friends, the amazing date he and Armin had, of course skipping the consequences of it, the awkward truth or dare game, the bird they had to rescue. And then he had to talk about that too.

"Mikasa and I decided to take it to a vet." His tired eyes wandered around in panic. "And uh.. My,.. Grisha was there? I didn't know he had quit his job as a doctor. But um.. He wasn't alone neither." She stared at him continuously. "She was also there."