First words

Tch, shitty brat

It displayed in black ink, visible there in the mirror, something like a tattoo, though he was born with it. As was every other person that walked the earth. It was a mystery how it got tattooed onto their skin, maybe it was a God that did it, A god of romance and fate, no one honestly knew how the first words your soul mate would say to you got written somewhere on your skin. It was always a hundred percent accurate, too, if you had no words tattooed onto your body, you’d have no soul mate. A lonely fate, really.

 Eren Jaeger, a fresh out of high school graduate, didn’t know if he liked his soul mates first impression, or not.

He ran a thumb over the smooth letters which decorated his hip, the last word dipping under the band of his boxers, the words were laced with annoyance as the male read them over in his head.

 There were times in his life when Eren wondered what his soul mate would look like; short or tall, thin or chubby, even male or female. Since he was five years old and could read the letters dipping under his hips had he been curious. His adoptive sister, Mikasa wasn’t too pleased with the language that painted Eren’s skin. “They sound crude,” She had often said to the male, sometimes over the breakfast table when Eren was barely awake enough to pay attention, others when they walked to school together. And, more recently, over the phone, the long distance bill nagging at them.

 Eren would only reply with a sloppy smile and a roll of his green eyes “Wait until we meet them to nag about their personality, Mikasa,” And the subject would be dropped for a while. 

It was dark outside, the window in the cramped bathroom looked like a plane of black, though the teen could not sleep for the life of him. He’d heard the story of how his late mother and missing father met, long ago, but he still remembered it like the back of his hand.

A beautiful winters night, christmas was around the corner and their small town was bursting with festive joy. Lights were hung on every building, red and white hats decorated the peoples head, light snow was falling from the sky. His mother was alone in a 24 hour open book store, and she wasn’t able to sleep. While browsing through the book isles she met a man who had long hair a circular glasses; Eren’s father.

The male had that story running through his mind as he stood before the dirty mirror, completely unable to get any sleep. He wondered if being restless was a sign that his encounter with his soul mate was to happen soon. It was so for his parents, and a few other couples the male had asked years back. restlessness was a sign.

It had to be soon, and Eren wasn’t going to lie; he was more than a little nervous. He felt butterflies swarming in his stomach, the back of his neck and the palms of his hands slick with sweat. The male didn’t know what more to do than take in a deep breath, stare into the mirror and give a slight nod. The nerves were gone.

He trudged away from the bathroom and sat down on his bed, grabbing his phone in the process. The bright screen lit up the room and practically blinded Eren, making him squint until his eyes adjusted to the brightness. 3: 56 Am, three hours until he’d have to be up and start just another ordinary day, while working as a waiter at a popular restaurant downtown.

I wonder who it will be…

Three hours later Eren sat in the same position, his eyes foggy from the little amount of sleep he got. The alarm he set on his phone went off and some new pop song blasted out and filled the once silent room. He hated the song that was playing. The male broke out of his daze and tapped the screen to make the awful song shut up before standing from the rickety bed.

Getting ready for work was a daze, he floated to the bathroom, washed his face, brushed his hair and teeth, skipping breakfast because his hunger was non existent. Eren looked at the words marking his skin before sliding on some black jeans and a white button down shirt. He slipped on a random pair of shoes waiting at the front door before walking out of the small apartment, keys and phone in his pocket.

It took a half hour to get to work, twenty minutes longer than shoulder be, the butterflies returned to his stomach while driving causing the already bad driver to turn down the wrong road. It should have taken him five minutes to backtrack to where he made a wrong turn, but the male was also bad with directions.

“You’re late again Eren, is everything okay?” Called a familiar voice, just seconds after he walked into the restaurant, it figured, Marco was always worried about his co-workers.

“Yea, I just made a wrong turn. Ended up at some random gas station,” Eren looked around, seeing that the closed sign had not been replaced with the open one yet “Were you waiting for me?”

“We had to, since you’ll be the only waiter for the morning shift. Sasha called in sick, she ate too much when Connie took her to a buffet last night,” The taller male with freckles and kind eyes chuckled a bit, it was indeed something Sasha would do.

The brunette groaned slightly at the news, waiting tables alone would be hell. It wasn’t like Eren disliked his job, it was the very opposite actually, but with how busy the popular little restaurant got, it would be hard to wait on every table, inside and out. To look on the brighter side of things, Eren thought of the more socializing he’d get to do, that was his favourite thing about the job. Saying hello to elderly couples, watching their eyes crinkle when they’d smile at him, the younger kids who would be so enthusiastic about ordering the shirley temple. The teens his age he could converse to about the latest video games or what not. Though, there were those few people who got on his nerves and made him snap. That’s what Sasha was there for; the rude people. She could handle them better than Eren, who would most likely rip out their throats if given the chance. “When do we open?”

“Right now. Before a line starts,” Marco had said before walking over to the closed sign and flipped it so a green ‘open’ appeared, a drawn smiley face across the bottom. Sasha most likely did that, or Connie.

Eren nodded then quickly tied an apron with sizable pockets around his waist, grabbed a pen and a pad of paper, and waited for people to start arriving. Which happened in merely two minutes.

An hour passed by and the restaurant was completely packed, the tables taken inside and out, and Eren was having a hard time keeping up with the orders. He buzzed around the restaurant, getting orders then passing them off to the chiefs, once the food was ready he’d bring it back to the tables. and repeat. It was like a bee collecting pollen and bringing it back to the hive, only Eren couldn’t fly, oh how he wished he could with how much his feet were already aching.

Just survive until lunch break

But he didn’t. As soon as that thought occurred in his mind, the brunette stumbled, the plate of drinks he was holding went flying as he fell to the floor. Eren quickly picked himself off of the floor and looked to the mess he made. He expected to see the cups splattered over the floor, which was an easy fix, but no. Luck wasn’t on Erens side. The drinks had landed on top of a short man with black hair and a glare that could kill the receiver.

“S-Shit! I’m sorry!” Eren managed to say under the intimidating stare of the older male. He wouldn’t have guessed he would feel so intimidated by someone shorter than him, but that man made him swallow his words.

“Tch, shitty brat.” Eren opened his mouth but it only hung open, the words the other said taking him back. Tch, shitty brat… that sounded familiar to Eren, he couldn’t think of why though. He closed his mouth and made a move to clean up the mess but he froze again.

Tch, shitty brat.

Those were the words tattooed along his hip. That, standing right there before him, glaring as harshly as ever, was his soul mate.