There Is Freedom Here

Chapter 3: Würstchen

By the time you had made your way downstairs, you already found Eren doing push-ups on your marble floor. He was still in his pajamas from yesterday, but he had taken his top off. You guessed he usually spent a lot of his time without a shirt on. "Good morning," you greeted. Eren glanced behind him and stopped exercising. You pulled your phone out of your pocket to open the app that you've been using the most lately.

"Hey." He snatched his shirt off the table to put it on, but that didn't prevent you from getting a front-row seat to his abs. You blushed a bit and got flashbacks of being a hormonal teenager in highschool. Eren was really attractive, you thought. Any woman would become flustered when given a nice view of his body. You had to admit that he had a dirty look to him because of the long hair that he didn't seem to comb, but he was still handsome nonetheless. You steered your mind in a different direction, now going through your options for breakfast. You entered your kitchen, the cool tile floor meeting your bare feet. "Are you going to make breakfast again?"

"Well, today's a Tuesday, so I don't have class. If you want, we can go out to eat." You glimpsed at the clock on your microwave. It was around 10 AM.

"Interesting, only the people in Wall Sina, the innermost one, would be able to go out and eat breakfast. Also, you wake up absurdly late." You furrowed your eyebrows at his statement. 10 AM was actually a pretty good time for you to wake up when you didn't have school. "I've been up since... I think it would be 5 AM, that's the number I saw on the machine anyway." 

"How do you not even have dark circles?" Your eyes raked over his face, trying to find any signs of sleep deprivation. However, you did notice that his lips were chapped. Eren disregarded your question and slid onto a barstool. "You should try to sleep more often. Not sleeping enough can actually shorten your lifespan."

"I don't need to worry about my lifespan." You furrowed your eyebrows but brushed off the question.

You opened a cabinet and grabbed a tall glass. Then, you pressed a button on the fridge and filled up the glass with water. Eren stared at the fridge, perplexed. "The fridge can also provide water. How long has it been since you've drank any?"

"I was wondering where the water was. I thought this society still depended on wells with how hard I looked," he replied, dodging the last question. You raised your eyebrows at him and he sighed. "I don't drink much water anyway."

After the short exchange, you retreated back to your room to first get dressed for the day, going over the different types of food that you could please Eren with. Realizing that you should probably give him a new set of clothes, you made your way to your lifeless parent's bedroom. The dark red shade of the curtains, how the bed was always made, and the lack of any personal belongings always sent a chill down your spine as you took a step on the carpeted floor. Your parents were always private about their work-life but made sure to always pay attention and be there for you. Not knowing what they did for a living didn't bother you, as long as there was somebody to tuck you in and sing you a soft lullaby, making sure to leave the room after you were asleep.

Sliding open the heavy closet door, you made your way to the rear of your parent's closet to find clothes that would fit Eren. Picking up a pair of dark blue jeans, because he didn't need another pair of black ones, and a plain white button-down shirt, you approved your choices and began retreating downstairs. Right as you were about to leave the room, you paused and quickly placed the clothes somewhere inside the closet. You cringed at what you were about to do, but the thought of having to wear the same underwear for days troubled you. Opening the drawer with a bit of caution, you quickly selected a pair of your father's underwear and tossed them where you had placed down the clothes you had chosen. Maybe you were being a bit dramatic, but who likes touching their dead father's old underwear?