Million Dollar Man [ SNK / EREJEAN ]

Chapter 1

The birds were chirping, the sun was streaming through the curtains, and Eren Jaeger's day was probably still going to end up shitty anyway.

He sat up, cringing as nearly every muscle in his body hurt horribly from the night he'd had before. He didn't even want to look down at himself, knowing he would be absolutely disgusted by the marks that were on his tanned skin.

Sometimes, he would sit back and wonder how his life turned out that way. Other people his age were probably having the time of their lives, partying in college, but also studying their asses off. Honestly, Eren would've rather felt the stress of having ten exams in a week while balancing a part time job at some stupid fast food restaurant rather than doing what he was doing now for a living.

It certainly wasn't something to be proud of, no. However, he had no choice. His parents.. Well, that was a long story. His mother died when he was very young, due to a car accident. Something to do with a dumbass, teenage drunk driver. Eren actually really, really loved his mother. Carla Jaeger was the kindest soul that could've possibly resided on the earth.

Eren convinced himself that's the reason she passed away so early. Maybe she just wasn't meant to be on earth, with the personality and mentality of an angel. She belonged up in the heavens, she deserved much more than the realm of ignorant human beings.

After his mother died, Eren's father began to grow increasingly abusive towards him.. Both verbally and physically. Eren didn't know what had gotten into Grisha, but he assumed that the sudden and tragic death of his wife must've sent him into a deep depression.

Grisha would come home late, visibly drunk.. Sometimes under the influence of drugs, too. Eren was never sure.

Those late evenings with his father were terrible. Eren would get screamed at for hours on end, usually over something stupidly minor. Most of the time, Grisha was drunk and angry enough to hurt him physically too.

One particular night when he was fifteen, Eren remembered all too clearly. Things were getting pretty bad between his father and himself. After suffering an especially hard beating, Eren was kicked out of the house by Grisha. Permanently. He was tossed out into the street, with nothing but the clothes on his body and a few dollars in his wallet.

At first, Eren thought Grisha was joking. He thought his father would get over it once he sobered up. He spent the night in one of the parks nearby, loitering around aimlessly until morning came. As soon as the sun rose, he headed back home and tried to open the doors.

Locked. Front door and back door were both locked.

Upon knocking, Eren could only hear Grisha's angry voice behind the door, calling him some pretty bad names and telling him to never come back again.

From that day on, Eren managed to get a few odds and ends jobs here and there, eventually raising enough money by the time he was eighteen to rent himself a pretty rundown apartment.

However, he also resorted to prostitution a couple times over the years, but it only became a more reoccurring thing briefly after he turned eighteen.

That was where Eren was now, nineteen and living in the same rundown apartment. Part time waiter at his local diner, part time prostitute by his local bar.

It was pretty sad, really, but the saddest part was that he was barely making enough money to get by, even considering his two "jobs." The diner he worked at didn't attract many customers, due to the fact that it was just a tiny restaurant in the corner of the city, amongst many bigger, more popular restaurants. Bad placing.

About his other job, people weren't paying him enough. Usually, Eren tried to negotiate, but nobody listened. They paid him what they wanted to pay him. It was whatever they had in their wallets, which wasn't much most of the time. Just loose cash and change. Eren didn't dare argue, knowing the mental and physical capability of some of those men. He didn't want what had happened between himself and his father to happen again. 

-

A knock on the door to his apartment brought Eren out of his thoughts. Yawning, the brunette slid out of bed and shuffled over to the door. He didn't bother with how he looked at the moment, only running a hand through his hair to smooth any stray fly aways.

"Who could it be this early, anyway?" Eren mumbled to himself, opening the door- only to be met with absolutely nothing but an empty hallway. "The fuck..?" He stuck his head out and looked around, but didn't see anything particular.. That was, until he looked down and saw a letter at his feet.

Bending down, Eren picked it up and shut the door. He tore it open, letting the scraps fall to the floor, and quickly scanned over the words on the paper.

"Oh, fuck me. This is just perfect."

If his rent wasn't paid within two weeks, he was to be evicted.