Highschool Ereri AU, LevixMute!Eren. Story is better than the summary, i promise.

my first attack on titan fanfiction! glad i have a bit of practice writing characters like Levi. hehe. Hope you enjoy!

The first time it happened, he thought it was a joke.

Levi heaved a sigh, twisting the combination into his locker, opening and pulling the door open in a few practiced movements, shoving his bag inside. Grabbing the books he needed, he was ready to turn and make his merry way to his History class, and endure an hour of hell with Ms. Mcnair's whiny, grating voice, and her dull green eyes that always focus in on him and give him an venemous stare when no one seems to be looking. So he carves his name into the side of her car once, and apparently he's the bad guy. However, he noticed a small white note that had fallen to the ground, apparently from his locker. Huffing, he leaned down and picked it up, an eyebrow raising and his lip curling when he read the text.

"I'm failing in math. Mr. Dawson said that you have the best grades, and that you'd be a good tutor. Would you be willing to tutor me?

- Eren Jaeger"

Jaeger...Jaeger...He combed through the list of names in his head, trying to think of the people in his math class, and sighed. Of course, it was the silent kid who sat at the very back of the classroom. He never spoke up, never raised his hand, and the teacher never called on him. The only reason Levi had taken any notice of him was because he was often pulled out of class by a counselor, or kept after class to talk with the teacher, and was one of the only kids in their grade that still walked home from school, with his sister no less.

Sighing, he crumpled the paper up and tossed it into the nearest trash can. He didn't want to deal with some brat a couple days a week, with nothing in return. Levi did not work that way. Snatching a spare pencil from the hallway floor, he slammed his locker shut with his foot, working his way through the crowd and thanking god that he went to school with what appeared to be mutant teenagers, making it easier for his smaller body to duck and weave through the crowd, arriving to class early, and plopping down in the very back, feeling Ms. Mcnair's icy glare the entire time he went to his seat.

He couldn't wait for the old bat to retire...or die.

It takes sending him fifteen notes before he starts to get annoyed. When he opens his locker on the twentieth day, he starts to get pissed. Each note gets increasingly more desperate, the pleas making him curl his lip in disgust. Why notes? Why couldn't he just ask like a normal human being? Did he just not have the balls to walk up and request that he tutor him? The boy never degrades himself, or calls himself lesser, he'll give him that, but god is his begging near pathetic. Almost made him feel bad for turning him down so often. Almost.

Then he read the notes and remembered why he'd said no in the first place, all the guilt immediately vanishing. Please Levi! If I don't pass this year, my Dad will kill me! You don't even have to do a whole lot, just tell me if I'm doing it wrong. Please? Today's note was grinding on the very last of his nerves. Crumpling the paper in his hand, he felt his eye twitch slightly. Tossing it into the garbage can, he slammed his locker door extra hard this time, earning a glare from the principal standing nearby, which he readily returned. After this year, the principal could suck his dick, because he would be out of here.

Stepping out of the school, he heaves a heavy sigh, glad that he's being released for the weekend. Fridays were one of his favorite days of the week. His Mom gets her paycheck so she spends most of her night up at the bar, his Dad stays up in his study, and he's free to sneak out and wander the area. While he hates the usual smack he gets on his back or shoulder from his Mom with the beer bottle when he gets home at 1 A.M, and she's off her ass drunk, it's better than when she was hooked on pills. Pulling his MP3 from his pocket, he jams the buds into his ear, pressing play and letting a slight smirk cross onto his lips when Breaking Benjamin's "Dear Agony" begins to blare on high through the device.

Starting on his walk home, he continued on for a good minute before feeling a sort of...presence behind him. Glancing back, his eyes narrowed, scanning behind him for something, or someone, letting out a huff when he sees nothing.

You're losing it, Levi. Probably turning crazy like Mom. Dear God, I hope not... he thought, shaking his head. Pulling out his MP3, he changed it from the Good Charlotte currently playing, and flipped through the selection, sighing at pretty much everything, until he came across a song that a buddy had put in.

"Tyr - Hold The Heathen Hammer High."

The display read. Shrugging, he clicked on it, jamming it into his pocket. The moment the guitar started, he nodded, feeling that he was going to enjoy this song. He continued on his walking, but it wasn't even a minute later before he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning around, he felt that twitch in his eye return. Eren Jaeger stood in front of him, looking down slightly at him.

If you don't stop looking down at me, I will take you down at the knees and see how much you like being looked down at, asswipe. He thought, rolling his shoulders.

"What the fuck do you want, Jaeger?" he asked, already feeling his temper dwindling down.

Eren's mouth rounded, as if he meant to say "ah!" but no sound came out. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small notepad, tearing off a sheet and handing it to Levi.

I figured I'd come up and get a straight yes or no answer from you seeing as you've been ignoring my previous notes.

And Levi felt his short temper finally snap. Crumbling the paper, he threw it to the ground. "Why the fuck won't you speak up then? All you've been doing is leaving notes in my locker, like a fucking pansy. Just ask! It's not that goddamn hard, right? These notes have been clogging up my locker, pissing me off, and have made me dread coming into school even more than I do now, because your way of begging is pathetic." he practically spat, using every inch of his height to intimidate Eren.

Eren looked startled for a long moment, looking down a moment later. He could see the boy's hands shaking, balled into fists at his side, the notebook dropped on the ground. Was he...crying? Scoffing, he turned on his heel. "Figured you were that weak." Just as he began to walk away, there was a sharp pain in the back of his head as Eren yanked at a bit of his hair. Once it was released, he turned on his heel, reading to punch Eren right in his smug little mouth.

"Mind explaining what the fuck that was about?" he snarled.

Eren shoved a piece of paper into his face, his hands shaking with anger. Levi snatched the flimsy thing from his hand, and felt his stomach drop to his feet when he read what was written. In large, capital letters, Eren had scrawled out "I'M MUTE, ASSHOLE."

He reread the note once, then twice, and a third time just to make sure that he'd read that right. Once he was sure his eyes weren't deceiving him, he made a note in the back of his head to call Hanji later.

So she could punch him right in the dick.

The anger faded from his features. In fact, everything faded from his features. Including the color of his face. He was white as a sheet, and completely expressionless as he jammed the paper into his pocket. Breathing out heavily from his nostrils, he rubbed at the nape of his neck. "Hand me the notebook?" he muttered, holding a hand out.

Eren carefully placed the book and pen in Levi's hand, and he quickly scribbled down his phone number. Giving it back to Eren, he turned around, starting to walk away again.

"Send me a text with your address later, and we can meet up at your place, okay?"

About to put the buds back in, he felt the tapping at his shoulder again. Looking over at his shoulder, he raised an eyebrow when he glanced down at Eren writing more.

'Why my place, and not yours? Do you know sign language? And you can't expect me to just invite you over when I know nothing about you!' Levi sighed, his shoulders slumping.

"Why not play twenty questions, Jaeger?" he asked, giving only a halfhearted shrug to accompany his dry tone.

Eren looked a tad confused for a moment, but he just waved a hand dismissively.

"To answer your questions..Question number one, bad home life. I'd rather not talk about it, honestly. Not a suitable environment to take people into, let's leave it at that. Question number two, I don't know sign language. Never needed to, before now. And lastly, I will not spend any more time in that building than I have to, being around idiotic assholes in public pisses me off and, like I said, bad home life, which leaves one place. Your place."

Eren's brow furrowed, and his mouth opened and closed like a fish again. Pulling out the notepad, he jotted down a quick thing, and handed the pad back over to Levi.

'True...Hey, this writing is getting kind of awkward. Do you think we could head back to my place?' Levi almost felt like chuckling, but managed to keep a neutral face.

"You were just reluctant about inviting me over, and yet you turn around and invite me over?" Eren went red, and stared down at his feet. While he was looking away, Levi let a small smile slip onto his face. The moment Eren looked back up, it was wiped clean from his face though. There was a long moment of silence between them before Levi piped up.

"Well? Weren't we going to your place?"

As they approached the house, Levi felt his nose wrinkling. Of course, it was in a nice subdivision, in a nice neighborhood. Not quite filthy rich, but they didn't really have to worry about money issues. It was a nice place, he had to admit, at least from the outside. It was just any other subdivision home. A simple porch with a window to the left of the door, white curtains drawn shut, and a simple black steel knocker. Eren glanced back at him as Levi followed behind him, obviously eyeing the building with a sour look. He raised an eyebrow, but Levi just shook his head. Eren obviously wanted to protest, but instead elected to ignore it, knowing that it would save them a bunch of trouble. Turning the knob on the door, he poked a head in, and Levi heard the distinct clicking that was a dog's nails scratching against a hardwood floor. He stood there for a long moment, waiting as Eren slowly managed to squeeze himself through. He waited four minutes, feet shuffling back and forth as he heard shouts from two other residents within the house, mostly directed at what he assumed was the dog.

Finally, the door was opened, Eren gesturing into the house, kicking his shoes off at the door. Levi followed his example, turning down the hand Eren offered to take his backpack. The first thing he had to note was that the house didn't smell like stale beer. But, then again, this was something he should've expected, seeing as it wasn't his house. Still, it was a pleasant alternative from his home. All in all, it was just...normal. Pictures of an infant Eren hung on the walls. The farther he got into the house, the more he noticed the almost subtle inclusion of his sister, Mikasa, into the pictures, which Levi had to note was a tad strange. Why have baby pictures of one child, but not the other? Shrugging, he brushed these thoughts aside as they entered the kitchen. Sitting at the table were two kids, one being Mikasa, who had a large rottweiler laying at her feet, staring up and whining pathetically, and the other being a blonde-hair blue-eyed little nerd, with his head currently facing down at what appeared to be an a College level Calculus book.

Slowly, Mikasa glanced up from the dog, nodding to Eren. "So, Eren explained the situation to me. Are you really willing to tutor him in math?"

"Yes, otherwise I wouldn't have followed the brat all the way here," Levi deadpanned. "Although, from what I see, blondie over there would fit the bill too."

Mikasa let out a huff. "His name's Armin. And, he's taking college courses, so his plate is a bit too full to tutor Eren. Besides, we already tried it, and the house almost wound up on fire. Don't ask, it's a very, very long story."

Levi slowly raised an eyebrow, turning his head over to Eren, who's expression seemed to be a mixture of embarrassment and murderous rage. He tried to sign something, but Mikasa just sighed.

"Eren, I figure I should answer truthfully, and he should have an idea of what he's walking into with you." Turning her head back to Levi, she slowly stood up, grabbing the empty glass that had been resting out of sight near Armin and walking over to the kitchen sink to refill it. "Now, I know you have quite a reputation with the authorities and with the school. I will say now that if you try to pull Eren into any of that, I will be forced to send both of your dumb asses to the hospital. He already gets himself into some bad situations on his own, we don't need anyone encouraging him."

Levi backpedaled a bit, about to get in her face because how fucking dare she threaten me like that what a bitch but there was that small, annoying voice in the back of his head that was telling him to rein it in. He'd already started shit with almost everyone in the school, or had offended them somehow. These were probably the only two kids in the school, besides the few that deigned to come off their high horses and speak with him, that didn't already hate him. Besides, she was just looking out for her little brother. While the idea of a family supporting each other was foreign to him, he could at least understand her reasoning.
"Yeah, alright..." he muttered, knowing that, if he said anything else, he'd probably wind up pissing her off.

She glanced over, eyebrow raised, and nodded, letting out a hum. "Good. Now, there has to be someone to translate for Eren while you're still learning sign language. Either Armin or I will fill in this role, depending on who happens to be available at the time." Shutting off the tap, she walked back over and set it next to Armin, who nodded and grabbed it, scribbling away on his notebook as he took a long drink.

"When are you available?" she asked, grabbing the magentic calender off of the refridgerator door. Levi glanced over it, eyes widening at how full it was.
"God damn..." he whispered, glancing at each event carefully written in tidy cursive.

"Oh, this is mostly Eren's Dad's schedule. He usually forgets the appointments he has. Most of our days are actually free, mostly just us lazing around here. However, every other Sunday Eren is required to go into our specialist to have his vocal cords checked out and make sure that the cancer hasn't made a nasty reappearance."
Levi nodded slowly. "Well, I'm available pretty much every day besides Fridays and weekends."

She nodded, gnawing slightly on her lower lip. Then, glanced up. "Eren! How bad are your grades again?" she asked. Levi watched as he sighed, signing something he couldn't even barely recognize, and then going into the living room and flopping down on the couch. Wincing, she nodded.

"Are you okay with coming three days a week?"

"I don't really have much else better to do..."

"Good. Do Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays work for you?"

"How many times have I said I really don't give a fuck already?"

"Touchy." She muttered, taking the time to neatly write underneath a huge stack of appointments "Eren's Math Tutoring" on the specified days. Then, she stuck the pad back onto the fridge.

Going to flop down into her chair at the table, she glanced back at him. "You can leave now, if you want. But you're welcome to stay for dinner."

Do it, Levi. It'd be the first proper meal you've had in a month, just say yes. It won't be another fucking microwave dinner COME ON.

"Nah, I really have to get back to my parents. Thanks for the offer though." Adjusting the strap of his bag on his shoulder, he turned and began making his way toward the exit. "See you Monday!" he shouted as he closed the door.

Starting on his usual walk home, his mind berated himself for being stupid enough to turn down that offer.

Looks like dinner tonight is going to be another T.V dinner...he thought solemly, pulling out his MP3 and jamming the earbuds back into his ear, clicking a random playlist and letting it run. The walk to his house was a bit longer than usual, seeing as the subdivision Eren lived in was a little farther from the school than his house, and he got lost a couple times back, but eventually wound back up at the broken down, two-story house. Nobody really lingered around the place. It was well kept, of course. The lawn was always mowed, bushes in the front yard always trimmed, car in the front drive way always clean.

Too clean.

The white curtains were dingy, however, and stained a deep yellow from the chain-smoker they'd purchased them from, and had tried and failed multiple times to wash them, and they were always pulled closed. A couple of beer bottles were resting on the sill, both standing upright and on their sides. And there was always this...air around the house. Everything seemed like a mask, a layer of film to hide what was really going on behind the door.

Groaning, he felt his heart and stomach drop to his feet. He always hated coming home. Slowly, he dragged his feet to the door, pulling the key from his pocket and unlocking the door. He carefully opened the door, minding that the hinges squeaked when he yanked too hard, and tried to be his quietest as he entered. He set his bag down gently on the floor, turning around and pulling the door shut.

"Levi...You're home late...Why is that?"

Even from here, he could smell the alcohol and vomit, and his eyes blew wide.

Shit.

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