UNCAGED SOUL || Attack on Titan x Reader

I'll be Coming Home || Eren Yeager

Pt. 7 of "Unchained Melody" Mini-Series

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ༶•┈┈⛧┈〄┈⛧┈┈•༶ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Eren gently closed the car door as his eyes fell on the familiar suburban house that had never changed over time. The cream paint was newly coated, but it was exactly the same shade as the one from six years ago when he was still around. There were some new plants, a new hobby that his mother had found, but the place was the same most of all.

It still made him feel like the burden had left his body. The only physical thing in life that he considered — home.

Carla's voice boomed into the air the second she came out from the front door. Her hair was tied to the side, and grey hair was visible here and there, but Eren always thought she would forever be young, always so beautiful with her smile that was enough to make him teared up, such a contrast to his image when he was upstage.

From Mikasa to Armin, they received the same hug of welcome. She was always extra, and he scoffed at himself sometimes for even disliking such affection from her. Well, he was a stupid teenager years ago anyway. But now? He never once thought about turning down any of her love anymore.

"Eren..."

"Mom,"

He promised not to break down. He promised himself that he would smile and squeeze her smaller body, lifting her playfully like what she used to do to him when he was twelve. The two would ask about each other's day. She congratulated him on yet another successful performance, and yet —

That wasn't the case when instead of a playful hug, he sobbed there instead the second she wrapped her arms around him.

"Oh, my boy."

She didn't need to ask anything, to question why, because nothing of that ever mattered. Carla's goal right now was to make sure her son knew she would always be there as a shoulder to lean on, a figure who never judged him. No matter if he changed so much in the past few years. "My poor boy..."

Adulthood was shit. Eren wondered how his parents were able to maintain their life so well. He needed to talk; needed guidance. He felt like he was on top of the chain, but somehow, ‌he was also plummeting. He had been free-falling for the past two years. It was scary, and he didn't know what to do anymore.

Even when Carla guided him inside his room, he couldn't force himself to smile. He greeted his father with another hug, a long one that at the same time made the man who shared the same colour of his hair get worried. Eren was usually so filled with confidence, optimist with everything even to those who tried to tear him down.

And yet, here he was. With his head lowered as his feet descended to the basement. The entertainment area, another place of the house that was untouched, was never once renovated drastically. He didn't bother to change clothes or shower, already did anyway before he and the rest of the band drove here.

The second his eyes found the same old comfy couch in the middle of the room, he didn't waste any other second and buried himself there. When he was still in high school, the couch was wide enough for him to lie there. Now, with him growing like a bean sprout, some part of his legs dangle past the handrest.

It was fine though, this couch still became his comfort place despite all that. His fingertips, now calloused, and hard with how much he had been playing the guitar, skimming over the leather that cladded the padding. He did nothing, only sucking a deep breath as nostalgia seeped inside his body. God, even the smell was the same.

This was the place where Armin and Mikasa would crash since they were in elementary school. One of them had their eyes and nose touching any kind of book, different every day. While the others played the console together with him, Mario Kart became their favourite. It was just the three of them for years.