Chapter 3: Armeen
-eren
Unlocking his locker the dark-haired man couldn't help but think about this morning. After all of this time, you had finally noticed him again. He feels his body heat rise as he thinks about it.
Though, he knew one day you were going to notice. He wasn't sure what he was expecting to happen or when you'd catch him. He just knew it was going to happen and that day happened to be today.
The last time you noticed him was long ago, he doubts you'd remember.
Although he's excited you had finally noticed, it felt like the little world he had built all these years was slowly shifting, he couldn't tell if whether it was a good or bad thing.
He remembered the way you were spacing out staring at his house, he's curious if you're freaking out wondering if he knew you were in your head again or not. He can tell when you're zoned out. It's not hard to tell when it looks like there's not one thought going on behind your eyes. He usually sees that lifeless expression in Mr. Ackerman's 5th period Honors English.
Eren smiles, thinking about you sitting in class with that look on your face. He then remembers that you make that same expression when Reiner is explaining something to you. The smile he once had faded away as he thinks about you with him. It looks like there's always something on your mind but yet you say so little.
He can tell you're not truly and fully happy with Reiner. The only time he can tell when you're happy is when you're with your friends. Otherwise, he doesn't see that glint in your eye anywhere else. Anybody would be able to tell this if they watched you as much as Eren did.
He remembers the way you looked when you had spotted him from your window, surprised and terrified that Eren might think you were watching him. The once dull expression you had before exploded into a face full of emotions. Just thinking about you looking at him, the dark-haired man feels that electric shock he felt this morning go through his body when you two had made eye contact.
He feels the slightest zap in his fingertips giving them a tiny buzz as he grabs his last book from his locker and into his bag. The buzz traveled through his fingertips, up to his arms, and into his lips causing them to curve into a smile, thinking about your pretty face, again.
If only you knew the effect you had on him.
Eren breaks out of his thoughts just in time. He spots his best friend Mikasa walking up to him pursing her lips at him. She already knows what was going on in his head.
"Hey Mikasa," Eren greets the raven-haired girl like he doesn't see her unenthusiastic expression. Mikasa crosses her arms and furrows her brows without saying anything. "What?" Eren questions, shutting his locker and leaning up against it, acting clueless.
"I'm not stupid asswipe" She growls. Mikasa sucks in her cheek and starts chewing it.
Mikasa has always been straight up with Eren, which he appreciates because if it weren't for her then he'd probably never snap back into reality.
"Someone's grumpy" Eren frowns at her and grins a little. Mikasa scowls at him. He tries to pat her head but Mikasa shoos his hand away, causing Eren to laugh. Mikasa was not impressed in the slightest resulting in Eren laughing harder at her reaction. He enjoyed pissing her off, she always gave the same reactions but it'll always entertain him.
"Shut up asshole, you were thinking about y/n again weren't you?" She asks him leaning on his locker again. "And don't lie to me." She forewarned pointing her slender chipped manicured finger at him.
"Nope," Eren lies, staring right into her cold gray eyes. He felt his ears grow warm and the smirk that always finds a way on his face has crept onto his lips again. He watches a fire ignite in her smoky eyes, obviously not impressed with his answer.
"I can tell when you're lying bird brain, your ears are red" Mikasa reaches her arm up and tugs lightly on his ear.
"Hey quit that!" Eren yanks his head away. Eren knew what was coming next, he knew that Mikasa was about to go on her tangent about how he shouldn't be thinking bout y/n because she's in a happy relationship. He knows it word for word by now. It's become annoying to him after time so he just tunes evrything out when she begins.
"Eren, you have to understand, y/n is in a happy healthy relationship with Reiner. I know you like her but you had your chance your entire life-" Mikasa starts doing exactly what Eren had predicted, so of course, he stops listening and starts spacing out.
It's funny to him how Mikasa, your own best friend, can't tell that you're not that happy. The fact that you two had been friends so long, Eren would think she knows everything about you... everything he's dying to figure out for himself one day. Or maybe she can tell just she knows it's not her place to say anything. With that last thought in Eren's head, he's starting to realize that's probably the case.
"Eren Jaeger." She snaps her chipped black polished fingers at him. Eren shakes off his thoughts and looks at the raven-haired woman again. Her dark purple lips were pursed at him. She knows he wasn't listening, and she wasn't happy about that. "Were you even list-"
"Yeah for fucks sake Mikasa I know." Eren smiles and laughs a little out of annoyance. "You tell me this how many times?" Eren scoffs. "Y/n is in a relationship with an asshole, I had my chance my whole life, I shouldn't ruin another relationship again, and I should be focusing on college next year and not some girl yeah I got it thanks mom" Eren interrupts Mikasa. The raven-haired girl's face grows into anger. "Anyways where's Sasha?" He asks before she can argue back.
The fire that was once ignited in Mikasa's gray eyes was blown out once Sasha's name was mentioned.
"She's running late today" Mikasa submits to the subject change, not feeling up to argue anymore. Her eyes dart behind Eren and her eyes soften even more. "Okay I gotta go I'll see you at lunch" She pats his chest and walks away. Eren watches Mikasa and sees she's walking over to you behind him across the hallway.
Eren knew she saw you, she's always so comfortable with you. Your friendship with her is something she'll treasure forever. She truly does love you.
Eren doesn't hear a lot from Mikasa about you but when he does he enjoys every story and eats them up. She stopped talking about you so much when you had started to date Reiner.
Mikasa isn't always so strict and bitchy, she's laid back. She's only like this when it comes to relationships. She just doesn't want to see her friend's happiness go down the drain or any more morals be broken. Not that she doesn't think Eren wouldn't make you happy, just you're currently with Reiner and it would be wrong for Mikasa to encourage Eren to make a move at a time like this, especially with the two years of your relationship coming up.
Mikasa absolutely despises Reiner though, to be honest, she would probably prefer Eren with you but once again, you're already with Reiner and Mikasa doesn't want anything to be ruined for you, just in case you were truly happy.
Eren watches you take out your earbuds and pause your music to give Mikasa your full attention. He thinks you look beautiful today, you're wearing the outfit he's seen you wear at least 3 times within the past month.
After all the years of watching you, you'd think he'd grow used to your beauty but every day it seems as if you get more and more beautiful and it never fails to amaze Eren.
Bringing his attention back to you, he begins to notice a stressed look on your face. It makes more sense to him more now why you were listening to music in the hallways, you rarely do. You're usually saying hello to everyone passing by and socializing. You only listen to music when Mr. Ackerman assigns some busy work in class or when you're studying.
"Hey, Eren" He hears a familiar voice. He turns his head and meets his eyes with the familiar blue ones that hide behind a glass frame. His best friend, Armin smiling at him with his hands in the pockets of his brown corduroy pants.
Armin and Eren had been best friends since they were kids. They're always with each other, almost as if they're attached at the hip. The two are inseparable. Eren will never forget how they met because of Armin's constant teasing about it.
Eren was sitting alone on the bench of the elementary school playground. The sounds of kids screaming, laughing, and yelling filled his ears. Kicking his dangling feet, he was examining the woodchip in his hand that he was planning on taking home to his mother. Of course, he had chosen "the best and the biggest" woodchip, the only thing now was how was he going to get it back into the school and into his backpack safely without getting in trouble again...
He watched as kids ran in front of him playing a game of tag and laughing. He smiles faintly at them hoping they'd maybe notice him and ask to play. They don't though, Eren wasn't expecting them to but he wished they would've.
As the kids moved out of his way he went back to watching the girl playing on the swings with her stuffed animal. She had the stuffed animal on the swing and she was pushing it like it happened to be her child but, it ended up falling getting dirty. The slivers of wood and specks of dirt getting stuck in its fur. Every time it would fall he would watch the girl put her hands over her mouth and pick it up brushing it off and hugging it so tightly.
He wanted to march over there and call her stupid for repeating the same actions that would make the stuffed animal fall but he couldn't get himself to do it. She was a girl and girls were scary to him. His mom told him they had this disease called cooties.
He knew the girl playing on the swings lived across from him though, just today is the first day he really noticed her. She was really pretty to him, maybe that was the reason why he was so scared but a 7-year-old boy would never admit it.
He was wondering if the girl had anyone else to play with, maybe tomorrow he'll ask if he can play with her and he'll bring one of his action figures from home. He can work up his courage tonight, and as long as she doesn't touch him, he won't get cooties.
Eren stops spacing out and he notices that the girl was locking eyes with him now. A confused look on her face that read, "why are you staring at me like that weirdo".
His eyes widen and he hops off of the bench and starts running away. He wasn't ready to talk to her yet, he didn't have his action figure nor did he have the courage to actually face her, and after seeing that look on her face... he doesn't think he ever will now.
The little green-eyed boy hid behind a wall far away from the girl. He was breathing in and out heavily from running so he sits down. He didn't see the girl running after him so he concluded that the coast was clear.
After catching his breath he hears some commotion. It sounded like it was coming from the other side of the wall. He holds his breath so he can try to hear what's going on.
He hears some arguing mixed with what sounds like shoes shuffling on concrete and then pounding into something. Whatever it was, it didn't sound good and Eren was curious.
He starts to go towards the wall to peek on the other side to see what was happening. He peers around the corner and his eyes are met with a group of boys standing and kicking something, he couldn't tell what it was though until he heard a voice of a boy.
Eren didn't quite hear what the voice said but he just saw the boy laying there in the middle, just taking the hits. It confused Eren.
The group of boys just scoffed at whatever the boy said and ran off in the opposite direction. He watches the boy sit up and cup his knees in towards his face and cry.
The boy had an atrocious blonde haircut and he was wearing an outfit that had looked like his parents may have thrown together for him. Not that there's anything wrong with that, Eren's mom still chooses his daily outfits for him but once again, a 7-year-old boy will never admit to it.
Eren stays in his spot, stalkerishly peeking at the boy. Eren doesn't think before he spoke and decides to ask him, "Hey, why didn't you defend yourself?"
The boy stops crying and looks at him and says nothing, he's more shocked and embarrassed someone had seen all of that, he also looked confused, startled, and frightened.
The blonde boy had big round blue eyes that reminded Eren of the ocean. Though he's never been and has only seen pictures, he thinks the boy's eyes match the google images precisely.
"You're going to keep losing and getting bullied if you never defend yourself" Eren continues. "Are you okay with that?"
After a few moments of silence from the blonde boy collecting himself, he bluntly states, "I didn't lose." Eren was taken back and even more confused now.
"What?" Eren asks. He just saw this kid get beaten to a pulp and now he's claiming he didn't lose? It further puzzled him.
"Because I didn't run" the blonde boy answers Eren's question.
Eren's eyes widen, he had never heard something like that before. He always thought to win you had to fight back, never did he think that winning could also mean not running. It opened a new point of view for Eren. He immediately took a liking to the boy from that sentence, now impressed with him and his courage. Eren steps away from the wall and starts approaching him.
"What's your name?" Eren asks. Eren had a feeling deep inside from this moment on that the boys were going to play together every day for recess, he'd finally have a friend.
The blonde boy looks at Eren, surprised that someone would ask him such a thing after he got beat up. "Armin, Armin Arlert," The blonde boy responds. "What about you?" He stutters a bit.
"I'm Eren, Eren Jaeger" Eren holds his hand out to help the boy up. The blonde boy stares at his hand and then at him. He quickly wipes his tears and grabs his hand. "You wanna go play on the slides?" Eren asks while helping Armin up.
"Sure!" Armin smiles a bright smile at him.
"Last one there's a rotten egg!" Eren laughs out and starts running barely giving Armin a headstart.
"What? Unfair!" Armin yells back running after Eren.
"Hey, Armeen" Eren greets the blonde boy. Armin purses his lips and sighs at the dumb nickname Eren calls him all the time. Eren couldn't help but laugh at the same reaction he gets.
"Anyways," Armin starts, not giving into any more of Eren's antics. Throughout the years he's just learned to deal with them. "Moblit wanted to know if you'll be at the game Friday, I told him I'd get back to him for you," Armin asks.
"Are we taking pictures?" Eren asks.
"Of course we are" Armin nods his head. "We're assigned to our usuals"
"Then yeah, tell him I will be" Eren responds. Armin and Eren are a part of the yearbook club. There was nothing that the dark-haired man loved more than to take pictures. He was good at it too.
Eren will always take a picture of something that captivates him whether it be on his iPhone camera or his professional camera. He and Armin had been in the yearbook club since middle school and joined again in high school. The two boys absolutely loved it and it made Eren happy he was able to share his passion with his best friend.
Eren turns his head back to face you and he sees you get slapped on the back of your head by Connie, it brought a smile to his face. He watched you scold Connie and watched Connie die of laughter at his own actions.
"Well well, Jaeger" He hears a familiar voice. "Staring at my girl again huh?"
"Morning Reiner" Eren looks at Reiner and Bertholdt with a bored look on his face. He knew Reiner was here just to clown on Eren and Armin, then make fun of Eren and rub in his face that he's with Y/n like she's some trophy to win. He does this every day and it pissed Eren off.
Bertholdt never encouraged Rener's behavior but he never did anything about it either. Eren wouldn't have a problem with the tall man if it wasn't for him letting everything happen. Bertholdt genuinely seemed like a good guy, he wonders why he follows Reiner around like he's some sort of lost puppy.
"It's embarrassing" Reiner starts. He chuckles doing exactly what Eren had predicted. Eren just keeps a straight face not giving a reaction.
"Why stare at my girl when you have your boyfriend right here?" Reiner slaps his hand on Armin's back laughing. Armin jumps a little from how hard Reiner had slapped him. His glasses almost fell off his face as well.
Usually, Eren gives no reaction when he makes fun of him. But when he touches Armin or says anything about Armin is when Eren will do something. He wouldn't let anyone make fun of or touch his best friend. He especially wouldn't let an idiot like Reiner do so.
"Get your fucking hands off of him, what's your problem mega milkers?" Eren questions him obviously upset and annoyed. He stands up straight and in his face. Reiner is just a few inches taller than him and he was for sure bigger than him. Eren was strong though and he had muscle on him, normally Eren wouldn't be able to beat him in a fight but if it was over you or the other people he held to his heart dearly he could take on anyone.
Eren's so tired of this though, it's every day. Reiner comes over here to say some bullshit to Eren and Armin on his way to say good morning to you. You really deserved better. If you only knew what Reiner was doing you wouldn't be with him. Or maybe you do know and you're fine with it... but you don't seem like that kind of girl based on what he's heard and seen.
"Eren it's fine please-" Armin pleads.
"Mega milkers?!" Reiner interrupts angrily. Eren chuckles seeing the reaction from the nickname he gave him. Reiner shakes off the nickname seeng that the reaction he gave him was exactly the one he wanted.
Reiner and Eren had never fought before but they get close to it. Eren just wants to beat the shit out of him for all the shit he's done to him and his best friend, and even you. He hardly knows what happens behind the scenes but based off how Reiner is, he just knows it isn't good.
Eren's hand was clenched so hard his knuckles were turning as white as snow. His blood boils thinking about all of the shit Reiner has caused and just staring into Reiner's face made him even angrier. He just wants to force his fist right into the side of his face, he doesn't know what's stopping him. It's probably the thought of you hating him, he couldn't stand that. He could care less about the consequences the school would give him and the fact how more people wouldn't like him, but you. Just thinking about you hating him or not liking him made him feel sick and anxious. He couldn't have that happen.
He turns his head slightly looking at you again out of his peripheral vision, watching Jean Kirstein, one of Reiner's "friends" put his arm around you. Eren knew Reiner would hate this. Of course, Eren didn't like it either but he couldn't do anything so he tried not to think about it that much.
If there's anybody who Eren could possibly hate almost just as much as Reiner it's Jean Kirstien. The richest guy in school and next to Reiner he's one of the best football players as well. He only doesn't like Jean because he also participates in the tourmenting sometimes. He sees Jean treat you better than Reiner so he also feels like Jean is future competition.
"Nothing except for the fact you're looking at my girl. What did I tell you?" Reiner threatens, answering Eren's first question.
"Well," Eren brings his attention back to Reiner with a sly smirk on his face. "you should probably have a better eye on YOUR girl" Eren chuckles. "Jean's got his filthy hands all over her right now" Eren nods his head over in your direction. He watches Reiner's face turn red and grow into pure anger.
"Kirstein hands off!" Reiner's voice echoed through the hallway making everyone stop talking for a split second. All attention was on Reiner.
Eren rolls his eyes. This idiot, always wanting attention.
He spots your face and sees you look scared half to death but that look slowly went away as Reiner comes up and embraces you and kisses your cheek all while looking at the dark-haired man. Eren scoffs at his immature actions. He hated Reiner and everything he's done to him.
Eren turns his attention back towards Armin.
"Are you okay?" He asks making sure Armin was alright.
"Yeah I am, sorry" Armin apologizes. "Are you?"
"For what? You didn't do anything wrong" Eren's brows furrowed showing that he was confused why Armin had said such a silly thing and completely ignored Armin's question.
"I know but you almost got into another fight because of me" Armin looks down at his shoes.
"Armin, nobody's going to hurt my best friend. I won't let it happen" Eren reassures the blonde boy. Armin nods his head and takes a deep breath.
"Thanks, I appreciate it" Armin smiles at him. He starts babbling on about his schedule for the day. Eren's half-listening as he's thinking about his own day. He hears the warning bell ring as he starts to think. Eren was in no rush to get to his first class, he'll become up with another bullshit excuse like usual. The teacher only believes his excuses because he's the best student in the class. Or when he meets with Mr. Ackerman this morning there's a slight chance he could get a pass.
The dark-haired man realizes that he has a busy day today. He had a test in Ackerman's class and then there was something he needed to talk to him about as well. He'll probably go there when the bell rings for his first class. After all, he only had math first period, it was his best subject so he wasn't all worried if he ended up missing the first 20 minutes.
(Play Swim By Chase Atlantic)
Just then Eren notices you saying goodbye to Bertholdt and then you start heading toward the direction of your first class. He couldn't help but just watch, it's like you put him in a trance every time his eyes land on your figure. Every time he decides to look at you he has to force his eyes to break away. He notices your head spinning towards him and his lips curve up into a smirk from getting excited.
He sees your mouth slightly agape with the same surprised expression from this morning. He feels his body temperature rise and the electric shock zap through his body again, this time much stronger. His heart was beating a million miles a minute as he forced himself to maintain eye contact.
This time was different. It felt as if you two were the only ones in the whole world right now. Eren couldn't understand why it may feel so different. He wasn't upset though, he wanted this moment to last forever, just the feeling of you two and nobody else. There was nothing more he wanted so badly than to just be with you, and only you.
He watches your face grow confused and then back to normal, he loved watching the lines on your face shift and the emotion in your eyes change as well. He then lets his eyes travel down your figure taking a picture with his mind of this moment. The way you looked, the way you walked, the way he sees your fingernails picking at the coarse skin around your fingers because you were nervous. It was all so beautiful to him. He knew this moment was going to be burned in his brain forever. He watched you so carefully, he was making sure he can relish this moment and remember it so he can think about it later.
His eyes meet yours again and you flashed an awkward crooked smile at him with a small wave. You were so pretty and you didn't even know. That action alone could've caused Eren to collapse. He kept it together and nodded his head acknowledging your kind gesture. He always loved how you acknowledge him with just a simple smile and wave and sometimes a hi with that pretty voice of yours, though you did it for mostly everyone it still meant something to him. He's just dying to get to know you for himself, he wants you and only you so badly it was becoming painful and embarrassing. He didn't care about Reiner anymore, he hopes he suffers the way Eren had to those years or even suffer worse.
Eren was confident with his suspicions that you weren't happy with Reiner but he'll test the waters when he's finally able to talk with you. If you weren't happy with him then it'd be easy for him to persuade you and if you were, he'd come to the conclusion he'll just give up at that point, but he isn't sure that he'd just give up that easily. Only if you really pushed him to that point.
Eren then saw you turned the corner of the hallways and just like that you were gone. The moment and feeling he wished would last forever vanished just like that as well.
The world had gone back to normal once you turned that corner and Eren had forgotten Armin was still there talking to him. He felt bad now because he only listened to the first half of his day but it's alright, it's not like he's going to quiz him on it or anything. Armin would understand anyway but he'd still be hurt if he found out Eren wasn't actually listening.
"...and then after English, my day ends and then you wanna hang out after school or something? We can invite Mikasa and Sasha too!" Armin asks enthusiastically.
"Yeah sure that would be fun" Eren replies with a smile thinking about how gorgeous you looked. He feels himself get excited again, those electric jitters in his fingers.
"Okay cool! I'll text the group chat, see you at lunch" Armin says. They do the handshake they created when they first became friends and then Armin runs off. The bell rings signaling that class had started. Eren starts to walk through the empty halls to Ackerman's class to talk about you.
-
Ackerman's classroom was boring and dull. Nothing exciting about it at all, it kinda matched Mr. Ackerman's personality.
Eren had just sat at a desk amongst the other empty chairs. His teacher was typing on his computer in front of him.
"Hey, Mr. Ackerman can I talk to you?" Eren asks making himself comfortable in the chair.
"Shouldn't you be in your first class?" The teacher Scoffs not taking his eyes off his computer.
"Eh, it's math it'll be fine" Eren shrugs.
Levi looks up at him with no expression on his face whatsoever and sighs. He knows Eren is one of the best students at the school so he lets it go.
"What do you want to talk to me about?" Mr. Ackerman grabs a hold of his teacup and sips on it. Eren always thought he grabbed his teacup so weirdly but that didn't matter at this moment. What only mattered right now was getting the old man to say yes to his question.
"I was wondering if you have any tutoring spots open," Eren starts. "I was interested in tutoring Y/n L/n, she's in my 5th period class in here-"
"Yes, I'm aware of who she is," Levi interrupts Eren and leans back in his chair. "Why do you want to help her? You've turned down every other tutoring opportunity we've presented to you." He questions crossing his arms.
"My friend Mikasa has told me she's been stressing about this class and wondering what she can do to get her grade up," Eren starts. "the extra credit she's been receiving isn't helping her, so Mikasa had asked me if I could possibly help her." Eren feels his ears grow warm from the lie he was telling. If Mikasa were to find out about any of this he knows she would definitely kill him. "I wanted to run this by you so I could get extra material to help her better understand what she's supposed to be learning"
"Yeah, that's fine" Levi sighs and starts going onto his computer. "I'll email you some worksheets she can do"
Eren tried so hard to hide the smile that was fighting to be on his face. He felt his body heat rise and butterflies dance all inside him. He can finally talk to you with an excuse and this time he was ready to. He's been waiting for a moment like this ever since he laid his eyes on you that first day. He wonders what it would've been like if he would have just talked to you that day and not run away but then he wouldn't have met Armin.
"I'll have the two of you stay after class so I could tell her and you two can start as soon as possible" Mr. Ackerman adds while continuing to type on his computer.
"Alright, sounds good" Eren replies standing up. "I was also wondering," Eren starts. Mr. Ackerman looks up annoyed that he hasn't left his classroom yet. "do you think I could possibly get a pass for my first class?" He asks still fighting back the smile that wants to find a way on his face. He knew asking Levi that question would be risky, he doesn't usually give out passes that easily but asking never hurt anything.
Levi stops typing and glares at him and sighs. Rolling his eyes, he takes out a piece of paper and writes on it and hands it to him.
"Thanks, see you 5th period Mr. Ackerman!" Eren says goodbye and leaves the classroom. He was finally out alone in the empty hallway and he let the smile spread onto his face.
The way he was feeling was something he hasn't felt ever. He was just so excited to finally talk to you and get to know you for himself. He felt the electric travel through his body just thinking about it.
It then occurred to him in his moments of feeling this happiness, what if you weren't anything like Mikasa had said or what he's heard of or seen. Eren shakes off those thoughts not wanting to sabatoge this moment. He was just proud that he finally, after all of these years, he built up the courage to talk to you.
He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard noises coming from the bathrooms down the hall. Noises he was all too familiar with. He was curious so he moved closer to the sounds.
As he approached he heard soft and muffled moans. Eren's face wrinkles in disgust, he wonders who would be so dirty to have sex in the school bathrooms.
He was dying to know who it is though. Maybe it would be someone he could blackmail in the future. What if it was Reiner? You would be sure to break up with him. You could finally be free from that asshole and of course, Eren could have his chance then. With that idea in mind, he starts to sneak into the bathroom but he was stopped when someone had moaned a name his ears couldn't believe.
With that being said, he leaves the bathroom and starts walking in the direction of his first class, feeling content.
A/N: HAHA CLIFFHANGER!!! Who's name do you think Eren could have possibly heard????? I hope you enjoyed this chapter though! I wanted to let you guys know though that I started writing on my laptop so my grammar could be better and I can fix mistakes easier. Things are starting to pick up from here on out now so be ready! I'm so excited!!