Tutor

Chapter 21 ~ Fourth of July

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Third Person:

Within a number of days, Eren's temperature thankfully settled back to average. It was the day before the Fourth of July.

"Levi?" He looked up and saw him inspecting a newspaper.

"Hm?" He continued searching the paper.

"What are we going to do tomorrow?" He put the paper down and looked over his glasses.

"What's tomorrow?"

"The Fourth of July!"

"Oh, yeah." Eren looked disappointed at his response.

"What's so bad about it?" He asked.

"Nothing. It's just I've never celebrated it." Eren gasped as the raven haired man took a swig from his coffee mug.

"How?! It's the funnest holiday like, ever!"

"My dad wasn't that kind of parent..." Eren continued to munch on his cereal as a silence took place.

"Well I'm that kind of boyfriend!" He gave a toothy grin. "And we might as well do something fun while we're still at the cabin. We check out in two days!" Levi thought about it for a minute. He looked at Eren over the rim of his glasses.

"I'm claustrophobic."

"There's not that many people."

"I have a small case of OCD." Eren sighed.

"Can't you take a day off?"

"OCD doesn't work like that. It's like, everything has to be a high level of clean for me to be relaxed. I can't handle it Eren, I'm sorry." It was true that Levi had a not severe case of OCD. It's been with him since he was a kid, his father was a reckless and dirty man. And the teacup.

When he was a child, his father purchased a new tea set for some odd reason. His first time holding a teacup, the handle broke and the cup shattered. His dad, being the kind of parent he is, beat him for the teacup incident. Ever since then, he held his cups by them rim instead of the handle, afraid he'd break the cup.

Levi pushed the memory aside. He saw Eren with the same disappointed expression.

.

As the day passed, Eren tried brainstorming things they could do for the holiday, but drew up nothing.

It was getting late. Eren walked to the bathroom to brush his teeth when he noticed Levi asleep on the couch. His expression looked the same, but his eyebrows twitched. His breathing became heavy as he jerked to the right, like he was dodging something.

"Please.." he whimpered. He wildly flinched, jolting awake. Eren sat on the ground, looking at him. Levi was beginning to sweat.

"What was this one about?"

"My dad.. I hope the bastard's dead by now."

"Even though he isn't the greatest man, you should be thankful. He helped bring you into this world." Levi rolled his eyes in annoyance. He sighed and rolled onto his side so he was looking at the wall.

"You don't get it."

"I can understand how it's like not having a mom." Levi again closed his eyes, his fathers image creeping into his memory.

"Go get ready for bed," The wooden floor creaked as Eren followed orders. Moments later, Levi decided he should also get ready.

After a series of bed time rituals, they were ready to sleep.

"Tomorrow will be fun," Eren looked at Levi, whose eyes were closed. "we can go swimming or something. And we can get special burgers for your diet." Levi was a vegetarian, believing he was healthier and stronger without processed meat. Fish had traces of mercury, many farm animals died in the process of being shipped from one farm to the next. The number of vegetarians grew slowly, but he knew that he was doing the right thing.

He was a vegetarian since the age of 14, the age he decided to research about the food he consumes. He was living in a foster home at the time.

Thoughts of foster home made him cringe, it was another dirty house with reckless parents.

"Okay." He sleepily mumbled.

"Goodnight Levi."

"Go to sleep." Eren kissed Levi on his forehead and drifted into unconsciousness.

~

10:01am.

Eren jolts awake, more the ecstatic about one of his favorite holidays. He notices Levi was already awake, watching the TV.

"Where's your patriotic pride?!" He saw Levi in a plain beige shirt.

"In my ass." He sarcastically replied, making Eren chuckle.

"Oh c'mon, I got a shirt for you!" Eren ate a granola bar as they travelled to the room. He dug through the drawers and found a v-neck shirt.

"Take this." He shoved it towards the shorter man, which he hesitantly took.

"Why am I celebrating the victory of a shitty Union?"

"Because you're a shitty Union citizen!" Levi sighed as he put on the new shirt. Eren was decked out, blue shirts, a white shirt, and a flag bandana. He had a shitload of those beaded necklaces, too.

Instead of a parade, they were going on a hiking path then a picnic. The perfect start to an exciting day.

Piling into the car, Eren rummaged around the woven basket.

"Blanket, sandwiches, juice, grapes, yogurt," He mumbled as Levi stopped at a stop sign. "looks like everything's here." he smiled at Levi. It was truly unbelievable how Eren's smile could light up his day and mood

Arriving to the hiking park, Levi tied on a white bandana. Eren carried the basket with his right hand as he intertwined his left with Levi's.

After twenty minutes, they arrived at an open and sunny patch of freshly mowed grass. Levi set everything up as Eren drank juice.

"I'm sorry everything wasn't perfect." Eren laid down on the checkered blanket.

"It's fine, it's the effort that counts."

"It's the thought."

"Effort."

"Thought." Eren received a playful slap on the bicep from Levi.

"Effort." Eren smiled in defeat.

~

They arrived home around 5pm, prepping for dinner. Levi cleaned the grill at least twice, convinced it was filthy. Eren was grabbing all of the needed foods for tonight's dinner.

"Levi, I'm pretty sure it's clean." Eren inspected the grill from the kitchen.

"Tch." Levi muttered. He gave up on cleaning and helped Eren with the food.

"I was thinking we could watch the fireworks from the deck." Levi nodded as he began to chop some fruit. He nodded in silent agreement,

~

The fireworks were going to start any minute. The sun officially set, and a cool breeze settled. Beside Levi laid Eren, cuddling with Levi. He pulled the blanket up more around them.

The first one went off. It sparkled the sky with a purple dotted circle. They all made that firework-y shape. With each firework displaying, Levi was reminded of gun shots. The next 20 minutes were full of colors, 'oohs', 'ahhs', and occasional whispers from Eren.

The finale had started, with multiple designs filling the sky. Loud noises rang about, and all Levi heard was the repetitive sound. The last firework was formed into a flag, signaling it was the last one.

He had to carry the sleeping brat home, which wasn't that far. He stepped outside to get a breath of air when he felt a prick on his neck, and faded into darkness.

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