MARIA ★ aot one-shots

acts of love

"Just football," Jean shrugs.

"Just football..." Eren scoffs and shrinks back down in his seat.

You laugh quietly, petting Eren's leg with faux sympathy. As you move your body to glance around the stadium, strangely anticipating the start of the match, a flash out the corner of your eye makes you look over in Connie's general direction. Connie holds his phone up, taking a photo, and then smiles as he checks it on the screen.

"Connie Springer, delete it now!" you gape, realising what he's done. "Oh my God, I bet I look so ugly...you could have warned me."

"Sorry," he laughs sheepishly. He then shows you the screen, "you looked pretty! And it's your first live match ever, we had to document it. Jean, look. Wow...I'm sending this to Armin for proof that you're having fun."

"What if I'm not having fun?" you ask.

He glances up, "you are."

⋆˚✿˖°

(02) randomly giving tiny gifts (a comic book that ur friend likes, a heart-shaped piece of paper with a sweet message on it)

"Can anybody here share the exact chemistry behind Elephant Toothpaste?"

Chemistry is the absolute bane of your life. It's only been a few weeks, and you're already regretting taking additional classes in it. Technically, it was Reiner's fault you were here in the first place. If it wasn't for the fact that he was too much of a pussy to enrol into classes alone and therefore had guilted you into taking advanced chemistry with him, then you wouldn't be here. You sigh for the fourth time in the last ten minutes and shove your chin into the palm of your hand. The clock above Professor Han's head seems to be still, taunting you with zero movements.

Can boredom kill you? You wonder about that, letting your mind wander as Professor Han continues to quiz the front two rows on the exact chemical formula of the affectionately named Elephant Toothpaste. You're so close to finding the answer when you feel somebody poking your upper arm. The finger that pokes belongs to Reiner, and you angle your head to look at him with a questioning glare.

Reiner smiles. Like you, he rolled out of bed this morning and tried his best to look semi-presentable; if you counted borderline pajama wear and a serious case of bed-head to be presentable and acceptable for a 9am lecture. Reiner says nothing, just smiles and pushes something towards you with two fingers. 

The sound of the paper sliding towards you brings your gaze down, and as you look away to stare at it, he returns his attention to Professor Han. Bare in mind, his notebook is empty, save doodles of someone on the front row, occasionally losing focus and staring around the room for long periods of time.

What Reiner has pushed before you is a small little piece of paper, smoothly cut into a heart shape. Now the sound of scissors makes sense... It's just scrap paper from the back of his notebook, decorated with tiny stars and circles, a pathetic hand drawn galaxy on the front like a book cover. You slowly pick it up, more interested in this than the lecture. You turn it over curiously, your heart thumping endearingly and a smile picking up on your face as you read what he's written on the back.

you and me have some serious chemistry.
love u

Reiner refuses to make eye contact again. He'll say something along the lines of, "you're taking it too seriously" when you'll no doubt ask him about it later, but really, Reiner's just a softie, with the sudden need to tell his friends that he loves them. You're not complaining.