Your Love is like a Riddle (Eremin)

Something's Different

March 2021

          Eren had never really had feelings for anyone before, nor had he ever thought about it. He was completely oblivious to love. He harshly blew off every girl that had liked him without even trying to. Soon enough he had become the talk of the school, his name nearly up in lights. Eren Jaeger was the "heartbreaker" that every girl knew not to fall in love with. The only girls who hung out with him anymore were Historia and his adopted sister Mikasa, who were both raging lesbians. Besides that his only other real friend was Armin Arlert, whom he had practically grown up with, and who was heading towards him now where he sat at their lunch table.

          "Eren! Look at what they had in the library!" Armin's brown eyes gleamed as they looked into Eren's, a look Eren immediately recognized as his best friend's excitement. Armin was a bookworm, and he always brought Eren his favorite reads to tell him about. Eren was never really interested in books, every time he tried to read one he fell asleep almost instantly, but for some reason whenever Armin talked about them, he found that listening was no chore. Armin's find of the day was a riddle book, one his favorite activities. Eren seemed to know a lot of Armin's favorites: His favorite book genre was Fantasy, his favorite color was royal blue, his favorite food was pasta--specifically angel hair--his favorite animals were lovebirds, and he could go on. He supposed that was just what happened when you've been friends with someone since you were eight.

          "Will you help me solve some?" Armin's words snapped Eren out of his thoughts. "Sure, Armin," Eren responded, scooting his chair over so Armin could pull one up beside him. "This one is pretty good, I still haven't figured it out," Armin said, flipping open the book and pointing to a line. Eren didn't really know why Armin asked for his help with these things; whereas Armin was extremely inquisitive and intelligent, Eren's mind was pretty average. If Armin couldn't figure this riddle out, Eren definitely couldn't. But he could try.

          You see a boat filled with people. It has not sunk, but when you look again you don't see a single person on the boat. Why?

          Eren knew he wouldn't get it, but he thought as hard as he could. Did it have something to do with the ocean? No. Did they all drown? Nah that's too morbid. Eren looked at Armin, he was focused on the riddle and nibbling his thumbnail, his eyes intense and determined. Eren smiled slightly, but he didn't know why. He brought his hand up to Armin's without thinking and pushed it down, "Stop. That's bad for your teeth." Armin rolled his eyes, "Figure out anything yet?" Eren looked down at the book again, and a word stood out to him. Single. It was the thing Ymir, Historia's girlfriend, had always teased him about. When was he gonna get a girl? He better not have the hots for Historia. Eren laughed to himself as he remembered Ymir's words, when it suddenly hit him. Single! "Maybe it has something to do with relationships? Like not a single person was left because they were all in relationships?" He asked Armin. Armin's lip quirked up slightly at him, "Eren you're a genius!" Armin flipped to the back of the book where the answers were. His eyes lit up as he showed Eren the answer.

          All the people were married.

          Wait, did he really get that right? Eren was shocked, and it showed when he looked back up at Armin. Armin giggled at his reaction, "Nice one, Eren, that one was really stumping me." Armin closed the riddle book and sighed. "Where's Mikasa at?" Armin laid his head down on the table and swirled his finger on its surface, glancing up at Eren. Was it the sight of this that made Eren's chest tighten? He looked away, "Not sure, she's usually here by now, huh?" They were now 10 minutes into their lunch period, which was usually about the time Mikasa showed up after she was done flirting with Sasha. He looked out the window they were sat by and spotted her across the courtyard. Sure enough, there she was with Sasha, hiding her blush behind the red scarf Eren had given her for her 9th birthday. Eren couldn't help but laugh and point her out to Armin, "She'll be a little while." "Well, I'm not waiting for her any longer," Armin pulled out his lunch from his backpack, Eren could guess what he had brought. "Spaghetti!" Armin licked his lips at the sight, already beginning to dig in. Eren chuckled and brought out his own lunch, a turkey sandwich, as usual. It was boring but it got the job done. Eren and Armin chatted and joked around for the rest of the lunch period, which Mikasa never showed up to. Everything happened normally, yet something felt different to Eren.

P.S. The following chapters will be MUCH longer and more interesting! Thanks for reading bestie :)