Love Me Not - {riren au}

Love Me Not ~ 71

The new semester was about to begin and Eren was as busy as ever.

He tried to balance working at the bookstore and the potential schedule he would have for school, but it was hard.

Being so busy made it hard to talk to Armin. Some time had passed and now they hadn't really talked. He didn't want that to be how he lost his best friend.

He misunderstanding was not how their friendship would end.

How would he be able to get that time to talk with him though? There was no choice but to try and corner him.

After work one day, he walked straight to Armin's house.

Armin's grandfather was in his usual spot on the porch. He was enjoying the chill air with a hot cup of coffee.

"Gramps, I feel like I haven't seen you in forever." Eren greeted the old man.

Armin's grandfather squinted his eyes before grabbing his glasses off of a small table beside him. "Look who it is." He smiled. "How's the family?"

"The same. How are you?" Eren asked.

"Getting old, but I think that's obvious." He chuckled and shrugged. "Armin is up in his room."

"Gotcha, thanks." Eren opened the door and stepped inside.

As he stepped in, he heard a voice.

"Grandpa do you need help getting in-" Armin's voice cut out when he saw it was Eren. "Oh."

"Do you have a sec?" Eren tilted his head.

"Yeah." Armin opened a closet and pulled out his boots and jacket.

Eren waited on the porch for Armin.

"Grandpa, I'll be right back. I'm walking down the block with Eren. I'll know if you try and get up without my help. The doctor said to be easy on your knees." Armin turned and walked down the front steps, waiting for Eren.

"It was nice seeing you." Eren said, before following Armin.

"What's up?" Armin asked, his cheeks turning red from the cold.

"I uh..feel like things kind of left off on a weird note." Eren looked down at the cracks in the sidewalk as they moved.

"How so?" Armin asked. They were nearing Eren's house. He could see his dad's car wasn't in the driveway.

"Let's talk in my house." Eren tugged on Armin's sleeve.

"I really can't. I need to help my grandpa. Eren, he's so sick. He tries to play it like he's fine, but I can see him getting weaker." Armin frowned. "Please, let's make this quick."

Eren sighed. "When you were here last and Jean slipped about my relationship with Levi. I didn't want to hurt you. I was waiting for the right time. I felt that if I knew about your feelings and then abruptly started dating someone else that would hurt you. I wanted to wait some time."

Armin stayed silent for a bit, as if he was collecting his thoughts. When he finally spoke, it felt like forever had passed. "You waited a while to try and clear up this "misunderstanding" of yours. You didn't care that I could've been thinking this for this long?"

"I wanted to, but she told me to give you time." Eren mumbled.

"She as in Mikasa?" Armin's frustration grew. "I love Mikasa. I see her just as much as a sister as you do, but you know me. You know that I would've wanted you to chase after me to explain! Not to let me run away not knowing!"

Eren was stunned. In all of the years they had been friends, he never raised his voice that much at him. "Listen, wait-"

"No, you listen. If you had chased me, you would know that I wasn't upset because I'm in love with you and you're with someone else! It's because you're my best friend. You told me nothing would change. That we'd be fine. I still thought that meant telling me everything! Not withholding because you thought my feelings for you would be an issue. I'm still your best friend before any of that." Tears streamed down Armin's face at that point. "I felt so.. lonely. Everyone was in on something and I was just the odd man out." Armin wiped his eyes with the palms of his hands.

Eren stood with his mouth slightly open.

"Seems I'm interrupting something? A voice spoke from the driveway.

Armin turned to see Levi leaning up against his car. His face turned red. He fully admitted to his feelings with Levi right there.

"When did you get here?" Eren asked.

"Couple minutes ago. You two were so deep in conversation." Levi wasn't sure what was happening, but he did hear all of Armin's words. He was also a bit irritated because Eren hadn't mentioned the situation to him at all.

Armin was extremely embarrassed and started walking away quickly.

Eren went to grab his wrist to stop him, but Armin pulled away.

"Eren, please just stop. Just leave me alone for a bit okay?" Armin sped up his walk until he was just a silhouette running back into his own home.

Eren groaned. "Your timing was horrible."

"And? You're the one that told me to come pick you up at this time because your dad wouldn't be home. Very surprising to hear about this situation though. We've seen each other a lot since then and you didn't think to tell me about this?" Levi asked.

"Not really. It wasn't that big of a deal." Eren shrugged.

"Clearly it was. He was mortified when he saw me. He was in tears. Seemed like a big deal. So, I think you should deal with your big deal and come to me when you'll tell me about it." Levi opened the driver's side door.

"Huh? Now of all times is when you get jealous?" Eren asked. "You knew about his feelings and you weren't bothered by it."

"I didn't know he was still actively pining over you like that." Levi sighed.

"But you heard what he said. He wasn't upset because of that." Eren defended.

"That doesn't matter." Levi got into the car. He rolled the window down. "Get your shit settled first, then call me. I really don't have time for games like this."

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