The sound of a creaking bed came from the sudden weight shift. Courtesy of the sudden visiting guest, the spreading raw fingers on Eren’s exposed chest were retracted in haste. It was as if those hands were forced to pull away by something unseen. Not quite impossible, even when said guest physically stood metres away from the bed.
“I’d like to have my turn as well with him, if you please,” the stranger continued.
To Eren’s confusion, the person on top of him offered no hostility towards the intruder and instead quickly subjected himself to retreat, looking frightened enough as he quickly step away from the rented bedroom in shame. Not a spec of disappointment forming across Eren’s face from being left shirtless and dissatisfied as he was more annoyed for the loss of income.
The situation then led him to the one who was no longer standing by the door, but instead had made himself comfortably seated by the window.
Oddly styled flaming hair, colourful painted tattoos on both cheeks, extremely pale white skin, a set of outfit worthy of public controversy; qualities that made it extremely hard for the teenager to shift any of his remaining attention away.
“Expecting something from looking?” Eren came off flat.
“Pity, but my interest lies elsewhere,” the man spoke off his unexpected sultry voice.
With a barrel filled with mixed emotions, Eren decided to button up his shirt with a vague sigh. “What do you want, then?”
“Since it’s all you’re going to have before they break through that door.”
Back and forth, the boy was staring between the door and the man. Many scenarios came up in his mind, one of which would pit him against the only group of people he had been running away from for years. The thought had put him on edge. ”I don’t know what you’re on about.“
The knowingly smirk were that man’s immediate response. “Oh, I think you do.”
The weak strain in Eren’s voice gave the stranger a chance to openly enjoy the situation they were in.
“That depends. But to you, I’m someone who had just spared his precious evening to nicely inform you that they will be arriving here soon.”
“Your name,” Eren pushed.
It was nothing more than a simple demand, but the sinister chalk-skinned figure somehow managed to close the wide space separating them just to drop off a gentle threat right at Eren’s face. “I don’t think you’re in any position to demand anything of anyone right now. Do you?”
A string of sweat on the side of the boy’s tense feature at first, then his breath rapidly got heavier by the second.
It was as if Eren was being choked with only that piercing stare of those frightening cat-like eyes. They were yellowish bright andalmost golden, similarly close with the stain of molten gold Eren had on his right eye. He couldn’t decide if fear had taken his mind over or if something he couldn’t explain was being done on him. Either way, he couldn’t tear away the gaze despite the silent screaming of the mind urging him to get away.
“There, there.” He suddenly parted their eye contact, stopping the impending doom. “I haven’t the heart to see innocent children being made to suffer, see.”
Heaving breaths, Eren cursed. “You’re expecting me to believe that?”
“Fortunately for me, it isn’t within my interest to indulge any of your various opinions. I’m here to tell you that it is within your best interest that you come to Paris. There you will find interesting people who might help you.”
The flow of conversation had gone somewhere the now-helpless teenage boy couldn’t follow. Furrowing, he did his best not to snap. “And who are these people?”
And as if he hadn’t heard a word of any defiance, the eerie man continued, “And with that information, here comes my proposition; Reside in Paris, make fake friends with necessary people, have yourself in their favour, and you’ll likely will find leads on what you’re looking for.”
Groaning was the only best rebuttal Eren could muster. “Even if I wanted to, you just told off this month’s earnings out that door not a while ago.”
“Trivial thing,” he mocked. “This is a one time offer. When I step out of this room it immediately expires and you will never see me again.”
“That isn’t an offer. You’re practically cornering me.”
Again, feigning ignorance to any given protest had seemed to be one of the clown’s controversial perks. “Let’s say one day I woke up and decided to extend my hand for those in need. Charity seems to be my calling.”
Transparent lies. Too easily saw through that walking away from this would have made Eren standing the fool and possibly captured. The boy was left no other choice, a hardened jaw, and a sick feeling of a bottled up vexation he couldn’t channel through any means in his current situation. Worse, those flashy-shaped clothes combined with those heels even managed to somehow push Eren more over the edge for no fundamental reason.
This was a newly-found and unspoken detestation for a man he only knew for nine minutes.
“You have ten seconds to decide, Eren Jaeger.”
