Above All || Eren Jeager || Eren X Reader Modern AU

19 - pain and joy

CW: mentions of suicidal thoughts

You don't wake up next to Eren.

You press your hand around the mattress with droopy eyes in hopes of meeting his body, but to your disappointment, he's nowhere. Not on your bed, not in the bathroom, not in the room.

You sigh in defeat and look at yourself in the bathroom mirror, deciding it's best to just get ready for the day for now and maybe you could text him later why he left without saying a word. It's not like you need to know right away, pft. Not like you wished you woke up still nuzzled into his chest or like the fact that you did not is a little upsetting, pft. Haha.

It's no shocker you got the best sleep you had in months, years even. It felt so... faultless in his arms. It didn't feel wrong or strange, although it should be considered as such, maybe, because only either best-friends or lovers voluntarily cuddle like that throughout a night.

Would Eren have feelings for you?

Nah. No. That's improbable. Not impossible, but... improbable. He probably just liked cuddling you and stroking your hair and holding you close. Haha.

But the forehead kiss.

Butterflies hover over you again at the thought of his soft lips pecking your skin. How could he do that? Why would he do that? Was it a- a spur of the moment? Or was it just casual for him? What is going on inside his brain?

You freeze in place when you hear the room's door open. Rushing out of the bathroom in your robe with your toothbrush in your mouth, you find Eren pausing step in the middle of the room, holding a paper bag in his hand. "You're up," he says with a smile at the sight of you. "I got us breakfast bagels."

Your feet remain stuck to the floor with a fear of melting down onto it. Breakfast bagels. He remembered. And bought for you. You point a finger at the door and move it over to Eren. "How' you ge' in?" you manage to ask through the brush in your mouth.

He plops down onto the mattress and puts the key-card to your room next to him. "You didn't think I'd leave the room unlocked while you were sound asleep in it, did you?" You step closer to take the card and place it by the lamp-side table while he lifts the bag yet again to say, "Let's have these while they're still hot."

And so you wash your mouth and walk out to sit down next to Eren on the bed, deliberately letting the robe expose a reasonably large span of your legs. And best believe Eren notices it. He notices it so well that his eyes linger there for more than a moment, all until you extend your arm for the bagel. He quickly looks away and hands you your bagel that you excitedly accept with a thank you. "Where'd you get these?"

"This bagel place nearby. Oh, I also got you one mango lassi," he says and pulls out the lassi from the bag. You take it from him and bite into your bagel with an approved hum. "It's good?" You nod in yes and he expresses relief in his face. He takes a bite into his bagel and also hums. "That's good. Try the lassi."

You hold the cup with one hand and he pushes the straw into it with his, and you take a sip out of it, soon widening your eyes. "Wow, that's good. You should try some," you suggest and extend the drink to him, which he looks down at for two seconds before taking the cup with a twitch of his lips and wrapping them around the straw.

Right where your lips had been mere moments ago.

This is so dumb, getting flustered by what middle-schoolers would call an indirect kiss, but you don't miss the change of shade in Eren's complexion. He takes a rather long sip before pulling his mouth away with a pleased reaction. "Oh, that's real good." He returns the cup to you which you gently place between you two before averting your attention to your bagel. "Anyway, I was gonna ask you how it was yesterday but we got too busy, too tired, so tell me now. How was your day?"