Pathway [Eremin AU]

Chapter Ten//Armin

Eren pulls into a driveway and it's not mine.
"Where are we?" I ask.
"My house. Did I not tell you?" He asks.
"No," I sigh. He undoes the strap under my chin and takes the helmet off my head. He hops off and puts the helmet where he was sitting. I hop off and stand there without making a sound.
"Your parents know," He says and grabs my wrist. He quickly drags me to a window and opens it. He grabs my wait and boosts me up.
"Go in," He said. I make my way through the window and my feet land on a desk. I Quincey hop off and Eren makes his way in.
"Go out and take a right. Find the attic door and wait up there for me. I'm going to grab some stuff to drink," He says and walks to the door. I do as he said and I walkout and take a right. I then see a door at the end of the hall that has Eren's name on it. I open the door, just wondering what his room looks like, but it turns out to be the attic. I walk up the stairs and I see a bed and a desk. Some fairy lights hang from the ceiling and some of the beams have posters and hooks hanging from them. A computer and a few textbooks sit on his desk. His bed is messy and a pillow is on the ground next to it. I see three beanbags sitting around a small glass coffee table and a pile of books and motorcycle magazines sit on it.
"I'm back," I hear Eren's voice and the sound of two glasses.
"Why did we have to go through the window?" I ask.
"My parents took the latter off my porch and I don't have a house key because I broke it by accident a month ago," He says.
"Why did they take the latter off?"I ask.
"It kept banging on the side of the house when the wind blew," He says. He opens up some curtains with one and and opens the window.
"Here, take a glass," He says and hands me a wine glass.
"You know I'm not twenty-one, right?" I say and run my fingers over the rim of the glass.
"Yeah, I know, but no one else has to know. Take this and go and lay it out. I'll grab a pillow," He says and hands me a large blanket. I step through the window and set my glass down, I lay out the blanket and Eren steps out.
"Here," He says and hands me a tee shirt.
"Go and change into some pjs. Your parents gave you permission to stay the night. I'll drive you to school tomorrow," He says.
"How did you convince my parents?" I ask.
"Just asked," Is all he says and then he pushes me through the window to go and get changed. I sigh and Eren crawls through after me. He goes to his closet and grabs himself a pair of sleep pants and grabs another pair.
  "See if these fit you, if not, then oh well?" he says. He walks out of his room and leaves me to change. I sigh and change into the large shirt and pants. I then hear footsteps again and Eren walks in in his sleep pants and a white tank top.
  "If you get cold there are blankets and sweatshirts in the closet on the right," He says. I nod. We crawl out the window one last time and sit down. I grab my glass and Eren pops open the bottle.
  "It tastes like spiked orange juice," Is all he says and grabs my cup from my hand. He pours some in and hand it back. He pours some in his glass and puts the bottle down.
  "Mimosa, right?" I ask.
  "Yeah," He says. I nod and he holds his glass out.
  "Time for you to start talking," He says then puts the glass to his lips.
  "About what exactly?" I ask and cup both my hands around the glass. I take a drink and look down.
  "What was going through your head earlier. I know you don't cry easily," He says.
  "I don't really know how to explain it. Stress of everything?" I shrug.
  "Stress of what?" He asks.
  "I don't know. School? The tournament? Friends?" I say, making t sound more like a question.
  "What's going on at school?"
  "Bullies, graduation. Normal stuff."
  "Graduation shouldn't be that stressful. And if someone is messing with you, give me their plate number and name and that's all I need," He says. I just chuckle and take another drink.
"Fight me! I'll do something about it," He says and raises his glass.
"How exactly did you get my parents to let you have me over on a school night?" I ask.
"I guess your mom and my mom were friends in college," He shrugs and shifts in his spot.
"Really?!" I ask.
"Yeah. I introduced myself to your mom when I went by your house and I said, 'Hello Ms. Arlert. I'm Eren Jeager, I'm in your sons dance class.' She's asked if my mom was Carla Jeager and I nodded. I asked her and she let me after she called my mom," He explains.
"Wow," Is all I say.
"Yeah, so that happened," He sighs and looks at the sky.
"How come you were acting so blunt earlier?" I ask.
"Just wanted to get my point across," He says.
"What point?"
"You didn't pick up on it?"
"No."
"I'm not going to let anyone mess with you like that."

It's about two in the morning and I started to feel sick. Not from the alcohol, but from going back to school tomorrow.
"Hey, I'm going to grab some Sprite and a trash can. Go ahead and get comfy," Eren says and gestures to his bed. I sigh and fall on it face first. I grab a pillow and hug it to my stomach. I hear my phone buzz for the fifteenth time tonight and I know it's Connie from the ring tone.
"I'm back," I hear Eren say, "God, that phone of yours is annoying." He grabs my phone, sets down what he brought up and opens the window. He pulls his arm back and my eyes go wide.
"No no no!" I say and try and reach towards his arm. He chucks it out the window and I just slouch over with my hand in my lap. He turns towards me.
"I'll buy you a new one," He says and closes the window.
"With what money?"
"I do have a job by the way," He says and comes and grabs what he set down.
"Really? Where do you work?" I ask.
"The club. I teach a lot of girls how to dance. I've been getting a lot lately because prom is coming up. None of them know how to dance," He sighs. I shrug.
"Some even asked me to prom. It was weird. And are you even going?" He adds.
"No. One, I have no friends to go with. Two, I don't have a girlfriend or boyfriend. Three, I don't know how to slow dance," I shrug.
"Wait, boyfriend?" He asks.
"Oh, crap," I mumble. I slam the pillow into my face then I fall forward. I curl my knees into my chest and I can't feel my face heat up very quickly.
  "Dude, are you gay or something? I won't judge you for it," I here him chuckle.
  "You already are," I say, but it gets muffled by the pillow.
  "No no! I only chuckled at how ironic it is!" He says.
  "How's it ironic?"
  "I'm pansexual." I look up.
  "Really?"
  "Yep. Kind of questioning though."
  "Oh, well, I'm not gay, I'm bi."
  "Bisexual, hm? I guess that's a new addition to the group."
  "New addition?"
  "Almost everyone in the club is a part of the community, if you know what I mean."
  My jaw falls open. Eren just chuckles.
  "What are you questioning between?" I ask.
  "If I'm actually pan or bi," He shrugs. I nod.
  "This is going to turn into a big discussion now. I can see it."

(A/N: this will continue next chapter!
-CT)