Promise Me

Levi walks out of a restaurant with a bag in his hand. Inside the bag contains the delicious hamburgers that he ordered to-go. For a restaurant as cheap as it is, it sure does serve some good food. Greased up food that would make a doctor cringe, but food none-the-less. Levi’s attention is diverted from the smell of the food inside the bag to a sound coming from his left. It sounds like it’s coming from the dark alley.

Levi hesitates, knowing that alleys are often filled with dangerous people, but this sound coming from the alley sounds nothing like dangerous. It sounds like sobbing. Not just a pity sob that some people give, no, a full-blown sob. The type of sob that makes your chest hurt from trying to breathe, or the sleeve you’re wiping your tears on soaking wet. He walks towards the alley to make sure that the sound is, in fact, coming from that alley. And it is.

Gripping the bag tighter, Levi makes his way to the sound to see a petit boy hugging his knees to his chest. “E-excuse me,” Levi says softly so he doesn’t startle the boy. He’s not sure what the boy has been through. The boy looks up at him, tears fresh on his face. Levi inspects him. He doesn’t seem to have any bruises or major bleeding, but that doesn’t mean anything. The boy has brown hair and ocean blue. They’re a bright color, but seem dull at the same time. “What’s wrong?” Levi asks, kneeling in front of the brunette.

He swallows down his tears and attempts to talk. “N-noth-thing I j-ust...I’m s-sorry to ha-ave bothered you.”

Levi shakes his head, “You’re not a bother.” He takes a deep breath. “Listen, I know I’m just a stranger, but I’m a good listener. Now, why don’t you tell me what’s wrong.”

“I just...don’t feel comfortable talking to a stranger...sorry.”

He rolls his eyes, “Hi, I’m Levi Ackerman. I work at home as an artist. I’m not the most popular artist so money’s tight right now, forcing me to live off dollar burgers like these.” He lifts up the bag, indicating the burgers. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Eren Yeager. I just started college with an undecided major. A-and I don’t know what I’m doing with my life.” The boy-now Eren-spits out. Levi tilts his head in Eren’s direction.

“And that’s perfectly alright, Eren Yeager.” Levi chuckles. “Well, wouldn’t you look at that. Now we aren’t strangers. So, why don’t you tell me what’s wrong while I eat my dinner over here.” Levi offers one of the hamburgers that he bought. “Would you like one? Fresh from the grease bucket.”  

Eren hesitates, but then accepts the sandwich. “Thanks…” He says awkwardly. Eren opens the paper wrapping the burger while talking. “Well...my parents are pressuring me into things I don’t want to do. Sure, making me have a good GPA is swell and all, but...they want me to become the world’s best doctor. I want to become teacher, I love kids and teaching them would be amazing. I just don’t know what to do.” He doesn’t know why he’s admitting all this to a person he just met, but for some reason he feels like he can trust Levi.

“Why don’t you just tell your parents? It’s your life, do what you want.” Levi suggests, taking another bite of his burger. He thinks back to the time where his parents criticized his choice to be an artist until Levi’s parents were forced to accept it.

Eren sighs. “I tried. You know what they told me? ‘If you become a teacher you can just kiss the Yeager name goodbye.’” He says in a mocking tone. “They threatened to disown me! I don’t want to become a doctor, but I still want to have a family!”

Levi contemplates how to respond to that. Why is he even doing this? All he wanted to do was get some food, now here he is talking to some kid. I guess I’ve always had a habit of helping people. Levi thinks, remembering when he helped the elderly cross the street, or the one time he helped pay for someone’s groceries when they were a few dollars too short. I guess this time’s no different.