Love Me Not - {riren au}

Love Me Not ~ 5

"So what was all of the ruckus about?" Grisha asked. "I know that Eren embarrassed himself in front of Mikasa's cousin, but there seemed to be some intense chit chat."

Eren, Mikasa, Armin, and Grisha sat around the dinner table.

"Oh, I was talking about how I hope I don't act weird again." Eren shrugged. "It's not a big deal. Can we not talk about it?"

"I don't get why it's such a big deal that you acted weird in front of him." Grisha shrugged and served himself spaghetti. He handed the bowl to Armin afterwards.

Armin served himself as well and listened closely. He looked at Eren, wondering what he'd stay in response.

"I don't know. It's just embarrassing to act like a complete weirdo in front of an acquaintance I'll probably see again." Eren watched as the bowl was passed to him by Armin and served his food. He began stuffing his face.

Grisha chuckled. "You don't seem like the type to care about that stuff. I'm surprised." He then turned to Mikasa, "I was talking to Kenny and he told me he wanted you to go over soon."

Mikasa sighed softly and nodded. "Okay."

"You don't have to go if you don't want to." Grisha said. "No judgement."

"I know, I just.. I have my family here. I also found out about them too late. Where was Kenny when my parents were killed? That was when I needed him. Plus, I know he's had a sketchy past  and he raised Levi. I don't know what they do over there." Mikasa mumbled. "I don't mind going once in a while because I shouldn't completely ignore them, but I don't want it to become common."

"Understood. Did you want to call Kenny and tell him?" Grisha asked. "I don't want him to think I'm making these decisions for you."

"Yeah, I'll call him tonight." Mikasa looked over at Eren. The teen was still stuffing his face with spaghetti to try and forget his problems. "Eren, if you eat so fast you'll get a stomach ache."

Eren rolled his eyes. "No I won't." He spoke with a stuffed mouth.

"Ew." Mikasa smiled faintly and rolled her eyes.

Armin laughed softly. "Eren, don't be gross."

-

The next day came and Eren was dreading his work shift. It was another closing shift and the thought of seeing Levi again made him anxious.

"Work again?" Mikasa asked, seeing Eren as he headed towards the door. She was on the couch reading a book.

"Yeah, when do you start work?" Eren asked curiously.

"Next week." Mikasa went back to reading her book. "I'll see you later."

"Bye." Eren left the house and walked to the bookstore. He didn't mind walking since it was close to his house. He planned on saving up for his own car though with the money he made from working. He'd also help Grisha out with bills.

Once he stepped into the bookstore he sighed softly. The bookstore was a place he loved going as a child and he now dreaded it. He thought working there would be fun and would keep his mother's memory alive.

He really just didn't want to step foot in there again.

"Ah, shit. Back again?" Jean rolled his eyes when he saw Eren.

"Hey, asshole." Eren smirked and went to clock in. He met up with Sasha at the register.

"Welcome back." Sasha smiled.

"Hey." Eren started stocking the register. He made sure the receipt tape was stocked and that there were enough bags.

"Do you think you survived your shift last night?" Sasha teased. "Being weird with a customer and all."

Eren sighed. "Come on, I wasn't that weird."

"You were though." Jean called out from behind a shelf. He was restocking books.

"You're lucky these shelves are huge. If they weren't I'd push one over on you." Eren said back, rolling his eyes. "Is your life so boring you want to focus on mine?"

Jean poked his head out from behind the shelf. "You're just fun to bother. Everything gets under your skin. It's like you constantly have a stick up your ass."

"That's definitely not correct." Eren rolled his eyes. "You don't even know me. You somehow always end up around where I am because you think Mikasa is hot." He called the other out.

Jean stayed silent for a moment, thinking of what to say in response. He then spoke, "Dude, I'm not always around you. I worked here first and we were in the same high school. Also, not my fault Mikasa is hot." He shrugged. "I can at least appreciate when a guy or girl or whoever is hot."

"Jean, your bisexual is showing." Sasha teased, laughing softly.

Eren looked surprised. "Wait, you're bi?"

"Yeah so?" Jean shrugged. "It's not a big deal. I thought everyone knew."

"Oh wow, I didn't know that." Eren went back to stocking the register. Why did everyone else seem so confident about their sexuality but him? Jean clearly didn't care about who knew. He thought everyone knew.

"Is that a problem?" Jean asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What? No. I don't care." Eren put his hands up in his defense. "How else would I respond to that? I didn't know you were, I was just saying that."

Jean shrugged and went back to the shelves.

Eren was still deep in thought. How come there were people that were so confident with their sexuality and some who thought they had to conform? He thought he needed to be straight, to "appear" straight, whatever that meant. He was frustrated. Did he come out? Was he safe to?

"Eren, did you hear the big boss is coming today?" Sasha asked, snapping Eren out if his thoughts.

"Big boss?" Eren asked. "The store manager?"

"No the owner, silly." Sasha smiled. "He's a really cool guy. His name is Erwin, he's only a few years older than us. He inherited this place from his family."

"Wait...Erwin Smith?" Eren asked.

"Yeah that's him, I'm pretty sure he was a senior in school when we were about to be freshman. Do you know him?" Sasha asked, a bit surprised.

"Uh, kind of." Eren sighed. Of course the person that owned the bookstore was one of Levi's friends.

Levi didn't seem like the type to tell people his personal information though. So there was a chance that Erwin didn't know.

"Well, you'll get to see him again. He'll be in soon." Sasha shrugged. "Can you watch register? I'm going to run to the back quick."

Eren nodded and watched as Sasha went to the back of the store and into employee's only area.

-

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