Chapter Text
Ackerman. As soon as his lips formulated the name, Eren turned his head to the window and rolled his eyes. His Ralph Lauren polo, Gucci jeans, and goody two shoes hair cut instantly gave him away. It was enough that he had to live through this school misplaced, where everyone was the child of a celebrity. Hell, probably a kid with a last name "Pitt" strolled around these very halls, who knew. It was a private academy overpopulated with spoiled brats, and none other than the son of a rumored mafia boss had to be in his class.
"Is that a Tommy Hilfiger sweater? What, you live in dollar store?" Who the fuck asks if it's T.H then assumes it's from dollar store? These fucking kids had issues, they frowned on his Calvin Klein apparel. So he officially gave them all the cold shoulder, minus a very small minimum.
And this new ghostly addition probably carried a gun around. His adoptive father was goddamn Kenny Ackerman. Really, though, the kid looked tapped dry of blood. He briefly met Eren's gaze, occupied a desk on the other side of the room. Eren soon forgot about him.
For the rest of the day, a small lingering feeling of tiredness bummed him out. Occasionally, his chest would sting in pain. Funny feelings that were slight but he weren't used to. They met in one other class along the way, making Eren spend half of his school day with this potential brat. He coughed a lot.
In correspondence, Eren's chest would clench in pain. He laughed it off in his head.
A cough. A twinge in his chest. A series of coughs, and his pulse drowned out the world. He swallowed and stared ahead.
Carla still had the courtesy to ask about his day.
"What do you think."
"I think that the school isn't the issue."
"Mom." He unintentionally whines."Do you even know who the new transfer student is? Freaking Levi Ackerman."
"Ooh." She teased, and he wanted to break something."Remember what you said about Mikasa?"
"Mikasa was a misunderstanding. Coincidence. This one screams Ackerman. I can almost smell his pompous cologne, mom."
"Eren, please."
Eren stomps up the stairs, then breaks something. Someone needed to take him fucking seriously in this house. He sullenly sat in bed sulking for a good hour.
A familiar twinge of pain in his chest made him go rigid. He probably coughed.
No, what the fuck? That's stupid to think.
Eren reconsiders when the pain in his chest suffocates him all night. He rolls around his bed and fidgets so much, angrily bites into his pillow, but it still fucking hurts. He clanks around the kitchen in the dark like a zombie, swallowing a painkiller and plopping in a chair at the dining table. He falls asleep there, gets a good fussing from his mother.
It's really not a good time for Jean to get a mood swing. At first, it looked like he was preparing to eat up a dumb giggly female pressed up against a locker, and Eren grimaces in distaste at the display so early in the morning. He lost whatever appetite he had left.
But then it became apparent that there were no giggles--just murderous whispers of "Go the fuck away", and Eren rolled up his sleeves before he even figured out the slightest about the situation.
"Why should I?" Jean all but purred, and Eren noticed the Ackerman he'd bitched about all day weakly trying to shove him off. A surge of anger overtook him out of nowhere, and his fist was already connecting with Jean's jaw in the time it took him to yank him back.
"What the fuck?" The taller reaches for his collar just as Eren fists a hand in his hair, and he stops himself from kneeing him into oblivion with the reminder of one more bloody nose and you're expelled.
Jean's jaw is already blooming red and his expression is seething."Who the fuck pissed in your bowl of cereal, you penniless mutt?"
"Shut the fuck up before I get us both expelled, fucker."
"You gonna snitch? Who believes you?"
"You're trying to answer to a fucking mafia boss, aren't you."
Jean's anger falters momentarily, and so does the grip in Eren's shirt. He's pushed back indignantly, Jean bulling past him with a bruised ego. Eren glowers at his back until he disappears around the hallway, giving the boy a once over."Sorry about that, he can be a douche at times."
The raven sends him an unreadable gaze, pointedly fixing his disheveled shirt. Eren wasn't looking for a sign of gratitude or anything, but the way he was being treated looked intentional.
He steadily brushes past him without a word, and Eren stand there in confusion.