𝐜𝐮𝐩𝐜𝐚𝐤𝐞. eren jaeger

xix

laughing at his answer, you playfully smacked his upper arm whilst telling him to stop with all those jokes of his, "stop that. i might end up agreeing," you joked, now facing your back towards the german as you ordered a cup of double dutch from the ice cream stall.

jaeger stuffed his hands into his pockets as he observed you. you were smiling. the smile that had made kiana grow so attached to you; the smile that always shown how much you cared for everyone around you, especially him and his daughter; the smile that always lit people's lives up with optimism and never ending energy with all your jokes. the smile that you've put on was beautiful ー was utterly breathtaking ー that he wished to protect it, to protect you. it was a part of you that somehow told everyone that you were okay, that you weren't even experiencing shit ー like you were trying to cheer others up though something was totally trying to bring you down. he couldn't help, but think about how you were able to overcome so much despite how difficult and how painful it was. his thoughts would always come back to the question: how could she still smile like that? this was giving him all the more reason to hold you when you felt like crying and to support you in whatever you wished to pursue. he genuinely loved you and that meant being with you through and through.

you had now completely faced him, holding out to him his own cup of ice cream as you decided to treat the german with one, considering this as a token of gratitude for bringing you out today. it was about a year or two ago since you've last been here and you found it nice to be back, but now with the person you've considered as someone more than just a mere friend.

"i didn't actually know what you want so i got you vanilla," you told him as his hand rose to receive the dessert you've bought for him, hearing a 'thank you' from the handsome lad you were with.

coming up with an agreement to rest on a nearby bench while eating your ice cream, here you both were doing the exact thing, falling under the shade of the big tree as you felt the soft gushing of the wind pass through your h/c locks.

you and eren held no conversation, deciding to just permit this whole comfortable atmosphere to completely overtake the entire situation, thus allowing your mind to wander back to the events that occurred the night prior.

"hey, i... just have a question," you announced, making sure that your voice wasn't that loud to awaken the sleeping little girl in between you and eren, "w-why me?"

"why do you ask, y/n?"

"it's just that, you know, i'm insecure of myself and sometimes i would break down and cry as all of them would consume me," you continued, "being with someone with that kind of mental state must be tiring," you added, slightly feeling bad about yourself, and for eren, thinking that you would just be a hindrance to his happiness ー a burden.

"i don't see anything wrong with being insecure of ourselves," he countered, "we commit mistakes; we have flaws too since we're human. we can't just expect to be someone who's incapable of messing up ー that's absurd. all wrongs could right everything slowly as time passes by," he reasoned out, trying his very best to uplift your down spirits when conversing about insecurities and the like.

"i mean, yes, i would agree," you said, softly chuckling by the end of your statement as you stared right into your white bedroom ceiling whilst laying comfortably on your back. "it's just that, i might be a burden to you. you know how all my exes tell me that," you explained, letting out a soft sigh as you did so.

"am i 'exes', y/n?"

"no, i didn't even say so, you protagonist-antagonist-hero-anti-hero type of guy. just saying like it's some heads up so that you'd know what it would be like, yeah."