Strings

His name was Eren Jaeger. He was a twenty-two year old psychology major who was working on his master's degree and worked part-time at a downtown hotel to help pay for his student loans.

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A few restless hours passed. The hummer was silent the whole time. It was almost eerie, how, once Eren got used to the beeping of the heart monitor, it was so quiet. Finally, the silence was broken by a nurse, who walked in, closing the door behind her.

"Good afternoon," she said, writing something down on a clipboard and sticking in a plastic binder at the foot of Eren's bed. "My name is Annie. How's your head?"

She wasted no time, Eren thought to himself.

"It's hurting like hell," he said, quite bluntly. The nurse gave him a wiry look, walking towards him and starting to check his vitals. Eren sat by quietly as the blonde worked on him, noting how incredibly big her nose was.

"Hey, um," Eren said, looking at her. "Could you tell me why I'm here?"

Annie gave him a somewhat concerned look.

"You don't remember?"

"I mean, not really. I just remember being outside for my shift at the Survey Hotel and....now I'm here. Do you happen to have a phone, by the way?"

Annie tore off the sphygmometer from Eren's arm and sighed a bit.

"No, I don't." She said simply. "And don't worry about it too much. Give it a few days, and then I'll tell you." She assured him. "Oh— and keep the TV off. Your neighbor requested it."

Eren glanced over at the curtain, which Annie was walking behind at the moment, pulling it even farther out. His neighbor, huh? Eren scoffed. What right did that random fucktard have over what he did with his side of the curtain? This must be some sort of joke. He waited until Annie came back from the other side, Eren waving her down to get her to come closer.

"Hey, who is that guy over there anyway?" He asked in a hushed whisper. Annie shook her head at Eren, brushing him off.

"None of your business for now." Was all the blonde said, leaving the room and a very upset Eren.

.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.

Eren sat in his bed later that night, staring up at the ceiling. He wondered relentlessly who was on the other side of that curtain. Maybe some old rich person who wants to keep their identity secret? As Eren let his imagination go wild with possibility, an alarming realization hit him.

Tonight was the night he, Mikasa, and Armin were going to the concert. Not just any concert, the Rivai concert. Eren had been following Rivai for years, from his debut with the Raven Corps as their guitar player and back-up singer, to his own solo career as the god of music he was today.

Eren wouldn't dare lie and say he might have been a little bit in love with the mysterious rocker. He had such a range of musical talent, from alternative— which was his beginning path— to rock, to his current genre of a mix of alternative, rock, and indie, with subtle hints of electronica. He started to whine a bit. He'd waited so long for this concert, and now he wasn't even going to be able to see it? This sucked. But...speaking of Armin and Mikasa, why hadn't they come to visit him? Mikasa especially, since she was almost like a sister to him. A day seldom went by that Mikasa did not know where Eren was. Had they...no, no way they would go to the Rivai concert without him....right?

Eren let out a rather loud groan, capturing the attention of his neighbor.

"Are...you alright?"