A/N: I'm glad I'm getting some love on this ff so far! I read every comment! And I love how much people love this ff so far! We've got so much more to go! Stay tuned-ian :3
✩✩✩✩✩
Monday loomed on me and if it wasn't for Mikasa and Eren's help with my work, I would be smoking cigarettes by the pack. I'm thankful for them. Although I haven't expressed my gratitude towards Eren.
I've been trying to play nice towards Eren to have him in my favor but since I was stressed about school and what's going on at home, I was snappy and mean. Although, I don't feel bad for that since Eren has been like that towards me since the very beginning.
I walked into the cafeteria and see everyone hanging out at a table, casually talking. I saw Eren and Elisa sitting by each other like always. But I never noticed her here. I had no idea she went here. I approach the table and creep up on Mikasa before leaning down and hugging her, giving her a kiss on the cheek. She embraced my arms around her before looking up at me with a smile.
"We were just talking about you," She casually tells me. Connie subconsciously pulls up a chair for me to sit beside Mikasa. I thank him before sitting by her in close vicinity.
"Yeah? About what?" I ask lightheartedly.
"I was just telling them about how Eren and I had to do your work for you to catch some sleep. They could all tell how shitty you were feeling and it's just kind of cute that everyone's starting to pick up on your moods a bit better," She tells me. I chuckle before looking at the group. Elisa spoke to Eren at a volume only he could hear. He glanced at me before smiling at her, responding.
"But you look much better now. So that's good," Jean comments, complimenting me. I nod.
"Thanks, Jean," I reply shortly. As the group spoke amongst themselves, I watched them speak passionately about minuscule topics and sometimes I joined in myself or added my two cents but I'd much rather be an observer. I felt my back pocket vibrate from my phone. I mindlessly take it out and check the notification. I read a text from someone who I haven't spoken to in a while.
I was slightly surprised to see that Colt texted me. Colt and I were close and ended up getting into this weird relationship. But it ended pretty quickly. He was still a good friend. At least I considered him to be. We rarely talk. This text wasn't something that completely caught me off guard since he's always had access to me on the phone. But the last time we spoke was about nine months ago.
colt
colt
Hey
y/n
hey
whats up?
colt
Nothing much.
Just wanted to check in on you.
Wanna hang out?
I stared at my phone at his fast response. He probably just wanted to see me since he was thinking about me. Last time, and like every time, it always ends up in us hooking up. But seeing his text this time kind of made me feel different. A little empty. Maybe that's odd. The idea wasn't appealing to me anymore. But Colt isn't a shitty dude. He's a great friend and he's super fun to be around and he's hilarious. We just met when we were so young and we both changed. We grew apart and that's okay.
But Colt and I have this disagreement every time we're around each other. And it's about how much he thinks I've changed. We met when we were still preteens and he seems to just hold onto this image of me that he can't shake off. And it's this constant argument of the fact that I didn't change, I grew up. It's as simple as that. And maybe he's taking my growth as a loss of the child that his child self met and instantly connected with. It's a long story and a deep history. We're complicated together for sure.
Mikasa nudged me out of my deep thought. I blinked as I looked at her.
"You okay?" She asks me. I chuckle before nodding.
"Yeah. Actually, I have to ask for some advice from you guys," I announce to the table. All the eyes turned to me. I forget how beautiful they are for a minute. I swallow before speaking.
"So I have this...Old friend. And we talk and meet up maybe twice a year. At the very most. And he just texted me that he wanted to meet up again. Should I just go?" I ask them. Jean hums.
"Well, do you guys meet up to hang out or hook up?" Jean asks for clarification. I felt my cheeks get a bit red at the question but I keep it as casual as possible.
"Both. But this time around I think I won't hook up with him. But what if he's expecting that?" I ask.
"If he's a friend then he'll respect it. I say you go since it's a ritual at this point," Connie adds. Mikasa hums.
"But if you're having doubts that he'll respect it then I say you don't go. I mean, what if you go and tell him that you don't wanna hook up and he tells you that you wasted his time?" Mikasa asks me. I think about it.
"I don't think he'd be mean about it but I would sense a kind of bummed-out feeling from him. I've known him forever now so I can just tell," I reply. The group nods.
"Then just text him and say you don't wanna hook up but you're down to hang out. It's as simple as that," Eren speaks up, annoyed at the topic of conversation. Elisa's eyebrows creased before looking at him.
"Are you okay, babe?" She asks him, giving him a pet name. Eren and I held eye contact discreetly. His jaw clenched slightly. He rolls his eyes before nodding.
"I'm fine. It's just a stupid dilemma." Eren plainly says as he looks away. The group's conversation grew silent at his reaction. Connie looked around awkwardly. Elisa scoffs quietly.
"Really? Because it seems like you care about it a little too much," She tells him. Everyone shifts in their seat uncomfortably, including myself. Eren looks at her with creased eyebrows.
"Not this shit again..." He dismisses her. She scoffs before standing up.
"Yeah. Why should you give a fuck?" She rhetorically asks as she walks away. Eren sighs before following her argumentatively. The group watched the two empty chairs before looking at each other with awkward faces and reactions. I glowed red at the base of the argument being about something I asked. I felt a bit guilty. Mikasa's pursed lips relaxed as she took a sharp inhale and sucked her teeth awkwardly.
"That was awkward as fuck..." Mikasa finally breaks the ice.
"Talk about trouble in paradise," Sasha adds. We snickered at the situation before laughing.
"Anywho...Y/n, just go. I'm sure it'll be fine. If he's a real friend he would be okay with it," Sasha finally gives advice. Mikasa sighs at the advice given.
"Only if you want to go. Remember that," She reminds me. I nod before looking down at my phone. It was time for my next class. I get up.
"I'll tell you guys my verdict later. I gotta go. See you guys," I tell them before leaving and going to my next class.
As I walked out of the cafeteria building, I glanced to my left and saw Elisa and Eren arguing in a low volume outside. Elisa's hands were moving with passion as Eren stared at her with a cocked head. He blinks before looking over at me, who he didn't expect to see. He quickly looks away and continues to sit through Elisa's complaints. I turned back and faced the front, walking to my class as casually as I could.
colt
colt
Wanna hang out?
y/n
yeah sure. when?
✩✩✩✩✩
After school, I decided I'd hang out with Colt. He told me he worked late so he would come to get me around ten and we could get some fast food and talk. I told him I didn't live in Shiganshina anymore and he said that he knew but didn't care. It showed that he wanted to see me badly. I could tell.
I wore a casual outfit; Sweats and an oversized jacket. I barely did my hair too. It was too late to do anything I wanted to do anyway. I walk out of my room after getting ready and sit on the couch with Mikasa and Eren as they watched a movie. Eren came over a couple of hours ago to blow off some steam from his argument with Elisa. Mikasa casually glanced at me.
"You're really dressed for the occasion, eh?" She teases. I snicker.
"No. No sex. Just conversation. I'm staying true to my word," I rebuttal. She chuckles at my sarcastic remark.
"So you don't wanna fuck him?" She asks for confirmation. I shrug my shoulders.
"Depends on how I'm feeling," I tell her as she laughs.
"Can you guys shut up and let me watch the movie?" Eren butts in, clearly still in a bad mood from his argument. Mikasa and I look at each other and smirk, mocking Eren's anger. I check the time on my phone before standing up.
"Alright, he said he'd come around ten so I'm gonna wait outside," I announce before heading to the door.
"Have fun. Be safe," Mikasa calls out before I closed the door behind me. I headed towards the front of the apartment complex and stood against a wall, casually waiting.
After about twenty minutes, he wasn't responding and there was no sign of him. I sighed at the confirmation that he probably just forgot. It's a good thing that I didn't dress up for anything. I hear a door opening and glance to see Eren walking out of the complex. He looks at me with creased eyebrows before smirking and chuckling at his revelation.
"He ghosted you, didn't he?" Eren mocks me.
"Ha ha, very funny. Your girlfriend's mad at you by the way," I try to remind him of his sour mood. He scoffs.
"I'm not worried about that when there's something laughable happening," He mocks me in return. I roll my eyes as he walks past me. I look at him before speaking.
"Why didn't you tell me about Elisa?" I ask him casually. He turns and faces me with a confused expression.
"I didn't know I had to tell you anything," He tells me. I suck my teeth.
"No, you don't. But I was saying in the sense of just knowing. What if I wanted to make a move on you? Would you tell me then?" I ask him a hypothetical question. He scoffs.
"I wouldn't need to because I'd turn you down before you could even finish hitting on me," He makes fun of me, pointing out our incompatibility. I get off of the wall and walk back inside.
"Alright. Night," I dismiss him before walking towards the door.
"You wanna go for a ride?" He asks me, completely out of the blue. My eyebrows creased at his question. Did he really ask it? I turn around with a skeptical expression.
"Are you...Asking me to do something with you?" I ask for confirmation confusingly. He looks at me with a deadpan expression.
"Yes or no." He barely asks, already annoyed with my hesitance. I slowly approach him. He looked at me, weirded out by my speed before leading me to his car. He unlocks it and I get inside his passenger's side. This was weird...So odd. I can't put my finger on it. It feels like he's gonna murder me. Not really. But him putting his hand out for me to go out with him is very new. It's never happened actually. I wonder what his motive is.
I put my seatbelt on as Eren adjusted himself before turning on the car. He backs out of his parking spot and drives into the road with no direction. I glanced around his car. In the passenger door, I see a pink scrunchy in one of the pockets. I look around and see other little hints and traces of Elisa. I smiled to myself. It was cute as much as I hated to admit it. And I don't know why I hated to admit it. I glanced at Eren as he drove. A familiar image from when Armin tricked us into riding together.
"...Is there anywhere in particular you wanna go?" I finally speak. He shrugs his shoulders.
"I dunno. You hungry?" He asks casually.
"Nothing's open except Mcdonald's," I comment. He makes a right turn.
"Then that's dinner," He tells me. I didn't question him.
After parking at the Mcdonald's parking lot and eating our meals casually, I finally found the courage to speak again.
"This is a big shift in our relationship right now. I hope you know that," I joke with him. He huffs as he drinks his Sprite. He puts it back down in his cup holder.
"I told you I'd cut you some slack and after seeing your sad ass outside, I figured I'd just invite you to do something," He calmly explains. I nod as I ate a nugget.
"But you're so mean to me and now this is new. It's confusing," I tell him.
"I told you I cut you some slack and after that, you were the one being a major bitch to me. And I didn't react," He tells me. My eyebrows creased as I pondered the past couple of weeks. I guess Eren wasn't as reactive as when I first met him. I look at nothing before turning to look at him.
"Shit...I guess you're right. I guess I was just used to our mean back and forth. Don't forget that you started it," I tell him. He chuckles.
"It's been months now. I told you I was just getting used to you. And yeah, I could be a little stand-offish but it's just how I am," He explains. I shake my head.
"No. Stand-offish and being a mega bitch are different. You were so mean to me. And you still kind of are," I rebuttal. He lightly laughs at my statement. I couldn't help but smile at his laugh because I was the one that made it happen. He never laughs near me and now he's finding some comfort to be able to laugh around me. Even if it isn't fully. I sighed.
"I'm really not as bad as you might think, you know," I assure him. I felt like I had to. He glances at me before looking away.
"I wasn't judging your character. From what I hear and see from Mikasa, I can tell you aren't a bad person. Actually, I was thinking about that. If I trust Mikasa enough to pass judgment on me as a friend, I don't know why I wouldn't give you a chance," He explains. I chuckled at his awareness.
"It feels weird that we're talking so casually. What made you change your mind about me?" I ask him curiously. He shrugged his shoulders.
"Elisa said something to me and it sat with me so I decided to see what it was about. And here we are," He tells me elusively. I nod, still confused but not bothering to ask for an explanation.
"So you and Elisa. Is it getting serious?' I ask as I drank my smoothie. He looks at me.
"We're not that close yet," He calmly warns me. I nod, respecting the boundary he set. I use a napkin to wipe my fingers from the grease of the finger food.
"I'm sorry for being bitchy to you. I had some shit going on and it was just a lot of built-up anger toward you for being mean," I tell him. He sniffles before burping.
"It's cool. I don't care. It wasn't scary anyway," He tells me. I look at him with a curious smile.
"Well, what was it then?" I ask lightheartedly. He looks ahead at nothing before licking his teeth in his mouth and huffing. He shakes his head as I heard his muffled chuckle.
"Nah, nothing," He replies. I creased my eyebrows before chuckling lightheartedly. I put my trash in their bags before Eren reached over and pushed his garbage down the food bag. I fold the top.
"I'll throw it out. It's late," He offers before grabbing the bag from me and getting out of the car. His phone vibrates with a text. I glance and see it was from Elisa. I watched as Eren approached the garbage can. I look down and glance at the text.
Ellie <3
where r u? we argue once and you go awol?
I cleared my throat before Eren approached the car again and got in. I adjusted myself before putting my seatbelt back on. He clears his throat before grabbing his phone. He sighs before putting it on his lap. He turns the car on and starts driving.
"Anything else you wanna do before I drop you off?" He asks. I shrug my shoulders.
"Anything you have in mind?" I ask a question in return. He shakes his head slightly before responding.
"Nah. I'll just take you back. I gotta head back to Elisa's anyway," He casually speaks with me. I nod but don't verbally respond.
As we drove down the empty road, Eren glances over at me.
"I have a question," He starts. I look at him with curious eyes. He glances at my eye contact before looking away.
"Yeah," I give him permission to ask.
"You read my note, right?" He asks, a different tone to his voice that I couldn't really catch. I look over at him and analyzed his face as he drove. I was staring and I was aware. But I didn't care.
"Yeah, I did. Did you read mine?" I ask him. He chuckled slightly before nodding.
"I did," He shortly replies, not wanting to go into too much detail.
"You haven't bugged me about it. How come?" He asks with skepticism. I snicker and shrug my shoulders before responding.
"I dunno. I thought it was too intimate in the sense that it was personal. You wrote it for me and I doubt you'd not care if other people knew what you said. Not like there's anything to be ashamed of. But it felt personal to me and I kind of just wanted it to be between me and you," I respond. He stopped at a red light and looks at me before nodding.
"I respect that. I haven't shown or told anyone what you said either. Maybe in the same sense," He tells me. I chuckle.
"We're a lot more alike than you'd like then," I tease. He huffs.
"I doubt it," He dismisses me. His phone vibrates again. He checks it quickly before ignoring it. He drives.
I yawned and loosened up a bit in his car. I was tense originally. Not wanting to touch anything with my hands and only touch with my eyes. But now I was feeling more okay to slouch in the chair. I leaned my head against the door. He glanced with a smirk.
"Don't get too comfortable," He teases. I huff.
"I'm tired. Sorry," I keep it short. Suddenly, I get a text. I grab my phone and unlock it before seeing the text that I found out was from Colt.
colt
colt
Sorry I completely left you in the dark.
I had to pick up Falco from baseball
And he was just being annoying and
It all slipped my mind completely.
Are you still up?
"That Colt dude text you?" Eren asks out of the blue, clearly minding my business. I turn my phone off and look at him with a smile.
"Were you being nosey?" I tease him. He shrugs his shoulders.
"Maybe. Was it him? What'd he say?" He asks curiously. I chuckled before looking back down at my phone.
"He got tied up with his little brother and he forgot," I explain simply. He scoffs at the statement.
"Do you believe that?" He asks. I scoff before shrugging my shoulders nonchalantly.
"I don't care if it's true or not. Just tell me, you know?" I ask him to relate. Eren nods.
"That dude is old news. Go find someone else. Someone new," Eren suggests. I chuckled before looking at him.
"We're not that close yet," I throw his own statement back at him. He chuckles at my joke. But he asks no further questions. He gets a phone call and looks down at his phone momentarily before sighing. He glances at me.
"I gotta take this. Be quiet," He tells me. I nod before he answers the phone.
"Yeah," He flatly answers.
"Where are you? Did you not see my text? Can you come back to my place so we can talk shit out like adults do?" I hear Elisa faintly on the phone. I look out of the window, trying my best to mind my business.
"I'm coming home now. I gotta drop Y/n off and then I'll head back," Eren answers simply. I hear a scoff through the phone.
"So that's what we're doing now? Do you not listen to what I say to you?" She questions him. He sighs.
"Jesus Elisa...It's not like Y/n and I are making out as we speak. Calm down. If you can't trust me enough then is being with me what you really wanna do? I hang around Mikasa, Sasha, Annie, Hissy, and Ymir all the fucking time. Why is Y/n an issue?" He questions her. I want to get out of the car so bad right now.
"Historia and Ymir are lesbians. Mikasa might as well be since she's all over Y/n. Sasha is an airhead, and I'm fairly sure Annie likes torturing men. Y/n is the only normal one. And it's not like I don't trust you. But from what you said to me, I don't trust her," I hear her on the phone, explaining. My eyebrows creased as I turned to look at Eren, irritated with Elisa's statement. Eren glances at me, giving me a look to contain myself and not speak.
"They're my friends, firstly. So the shit you think is okay to say because you're my girlfriend? Cut that shit out. I don't let any of them disrespect you so I'm gonna stand on that for them too. And honestly, after you said that shit, I have no desire to even come over so sleep alone. Bye," He hangs up on her. I bit my bottom lip in anger as I looked out of the window.
Props to him for defending his friends but there was a lot of questionable shit said and it didn't sit right with me. Just as I thought we were making some progress. Silence ensued in the car as Eren drove into the parking lot of the apartment complex. He puts the car in park before looking at me, not sure what to say. He clears his throat.
"She–"
"I think I'm done talking. Thank you for the food and the ride–"
"Can you not? Let me explain," He tells me. I look at him as I open the car door.
"You know I'm telling them what she said, right?" I calmly ask him. Eren sighs before looking at me.
"That's not fair. At least let me do it."
"You won't. Don't lie," I tell him.
"I will. I swear. Just keep it between us for now. Please," He begs. I watch him for a minute as he leaned over his middle console, almost desperate for me to keep my word. I sigh.
"...Fine." He sighs with relief. My eyebrows creased again.
"What did you say about me?" I ask him. He shifts in his seat uncomfortably before looking at me, clearing his throat. He shakes his head, dismissing me.
"Nothing you didn't know already," He elusively replies. I scoff.
"Enlighten me," I tell him. He sighs.
"...I might have mentioned your staring problem," He quietly admits. I chuckled with an annoyed tone.
"And why doesn't she trust me?" I question him further.
"She thinks you like me," He simply tells me. I scoff before closing the car door and heading back to the apartment complex.
"So you don't?" He asks from inside his car, rolling the window down. I turn and look at him for a moment. His sultry eyes stared into mine, trying to find an answer or a confirmation. Anything. My eyebrows slightly creased at his gaze. He was clueless. He genuinely had no idea if I liked him or not.
I watched him for a moment before smiling small.
"I don't."
Beat.
I turn around and walk back to the apartment building and approach the apartment door. I open it and go inside and see Mikasa asleep on the couch. I close the door quietly before locking it. I put my things down and approach her on the couch. I watched her as she slept peacefully. I stood over her for a moment before moving her hair out of her face. She flinches slightly before opening her eyes. She looks up at me with a groggy smile before reaching out and holding my hand, caressing it. She sits up and looks at me.
"How was it?" She asks. I contemplate if I wanted to tell her what I did instead. I shrugged my shoulders.
"Nothing major," I reply. She nods before standing up. We side-hug each other as I walk her to her room. She sniffled before looking at me as we entered her room.
"I love you so much," She tells me. I chuckle.
"I love you more, Mika. Go get some sleep. It's midnight," I tell her. She chuckles before laying down on her bed and falling asleep just like that. I smiled at her before walking out of her room and gently closing the door.
✩✩✩✩✩
October
Mikasa and I meet up after classes and talk mindlessly about small things that didn't matter. We sat on a bench on campus as we waited for our next classes together.
"Eren's throwing a Halloween party. He said it in the group chat," She mentions. I haven't talked to Eren much since that night when things got awkward. I definitely was avoiding him. Especially since I've heard a word about him and Elisa breaking up pretty dramatically. I wanted to stray from it as much as I could since that argument they had last month sort of brought a weird thought to the surface. I didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea, especially anyone in the friend group.
I nodded nonchalantly.
"Yeah? On Halloween?" I ask her for clarification. She shrugs her shoulders.
"Maybe earlier since we all have this ritual on Halloween," She tells me. My eyebrows raised curiously.
"Ritual? What ritual?" I ask curiously.
"Nothing major. Stay home, wear shitty costumes, and watch scary movies. Sometimes we play board games. Mostly, we get high," She tells me. I chuckle.
"Sounds fun. Is everyone going?" I ask. She nods.
"They always do. You wanna come?" She asks. I think about it. I really wanted to avoid Eren. It's so weird. I can't be around him right now. Especially since his breakup is so recent. I hum, thinking about it.
"I think I'll sit it out. My dad will probably make me visit anyway," I tell her. She nods, not asking any further questions.
After classes, Mikasa and I met up with the rest of the crew at the nearby coffee shop that we frequently go to. We walked in and saw them engaged in conversation like always. Mikasa and I took our seats quietly as we listened to see what they were talking about.
"That doesn't make sense though. If your leg gets cut off, you're not gonna feel the pain in your leg. It's gone. Duh," Connie rebuttals. Sasha scoffs as she puts her head down in disbelief.
"If your leg gets cut off then you'll feel the pain at the base of where it got cut off. Duh," Sasha technically explains it. Jean shakes his head.
"But that is your leg. Technically. So how are you gonna feel the pain in your leg if–"
"Your leg is gone," Connie and Jean say in unison. They high-fived as they laughed. Mikasa snickered.
"You guys are stupid," She comments. Connie looks at me with a smile.
"Oh, Y/n. You haven't been added to the group chat yet, right? Eren's throwing a Halloween party," He tells me.
"Yeah, I already told her. When is it?" She asks no one in particular.
"Sometime next week," Sasha answers.
"Is this a costume party?" I ask curiously.
"No, but it should be. Tell Eren that," Connie tells me. I scoff.
"I don't have his number. You tell him. I'm not in the group chat," I tell him simply. Connie's eyebrows creased.
"What? No way. I feel your presence in the group chat. Jean, add her in," Connie tells me. I snicker. Jean grabs his phone and gives it to me. I type my number down and Jean proceeds to add me to the group chat. Mikasa watched us carefully.
'Eren ghosted us' club
Jean
Added Y/n to the group chat so say your names LOL
After the entirety of the group chat says their names, I take time to give them contact names. Jean looks at me with a soft smile.
"Did you wanna maybe go to the party with matching costumes?" He suddenly asks me as everyone else was distracted with their own conversations. I look at him with slightly creased eyebrows.
"Oh. Us? How come?" I ask him curiously. He shrugs his shoulders before answering.
"I was just thinking about it. I needed a pretty girl for a matching costume," He tells me. My eyebrows slightly raised at his blatant flirting. I chuckled nervously as I glanced at Mikasa. I remember what she said about him. It felt too weird. Jean noticed my glance and chuckled.
"Oh, do I need to ask for Mikasa's blessing?" He jokes. I chuckle lightheartedly. Mikasa turns and looks at the sound of her name being said.
"Who called my name?" She asks innocently. I nudge her.
"Jean was just asking me if I wanted to do matching costumes with him to Eren's party," I tell her. Mikasa's eyebrows raised with slight surprise.
"Oh...! I was gonna ask if you wanted to do something funny but if Jean–"
"No, I'll do it with you. I don't care," I interrupt her. Jean looks at me, bummed out. But I felt like I dodged a bullet.
"Sorry Jean," I let him down. Jean nods, understanding. Eren suddenly approaches the table.
"Is Jean sad that Y/n rejected him?" Eren asks no one in particular. The group chuckles aside from Mikasa and me. Eren sat across from me, next to Sasha. He puts his arm around Sasha platonically and kisses the top of her head casually before letting her go. Sasha mindlessly lets it happen as she laughed at something Connie was saying. This showed that maybe he was more affectionate with his friends than he led me to believe. We make eye contact again and he quickly looks away. I clear my throat awkwardly.
"We added Y/n into the group chat, by the way, Eren," Sasha tells him. He nods.
"Yeah, I saw. We're cool now," He comments to others' curiosity. Mikasa looks at me before looking at Eren with a small smile.
"Yeah? Finally. What made you change your mind now?" She asks him. He shrugs his shoulders.
"I'm over it. Not best friends though," He tells her. I snicker.
"Not yet at least," I joke. Mikasa chuckles.
"Y/n asked if the party was a costume party," Connie tells Eren. He gives an interested look.
"Sure. Sounds fun," Eren agrees on the spot.
"Now I need to figure out what I'm gonna be," Sasha replies.
✩✩✩✩✩
Today I had History with Eren and like these past couple of weeks, I've been ignoring him and speaking as minimally as possible. Not like I'm angry with him or have a grudge. But even then, I just can't wrap my head around the progression of our relationship. So I won't. Not like I have to anyway.
As I wrote down notes, I felt a nudge. I turn and look at Eren discreetly, still trying to pay attention to the class.
"You're being weird," He tells me simply. I look down as I write.
"How am I being weird?" I keep my volume down. He shrugs his shoulders.
"After our ride, you've been distant and ignoring me," He replies casually. I side-eye him before looking back down at my notes.
"Did you think I wouldn't notice? Why are you being like that?" He asks me again. I shrug my shoulders.
"Can we talk about this after class?" I ask him, dismissing him. He sighs before looking back to the front of the room. He slouches down in his chair as he impatiently sighs, waiting for the class to be over.
Once class was dismissed, Eren walked down the aisle and waited for me to approach the door to follow me. I sigh before chuckling to myself. Eren looked funny when he was curious. I approach the door as he held it open for me. I exit the building as he walks by me.
"Can you tell me now?" He asks. I sigh as I looked at him.
"Can you give me a minute? Let me sit down or something," I tell him before approaching a bench. I sit down as he stands, looking at me. I invite him to sit with me and he looks around before eventually sitting down. I sigh.
"I'll be honest, I didn't like that you spoke about me to Elisa. And maybe I was never supposed to find out, whatever. But I know. And it bothers me. Obviously not majorly since I can speak to you. But also the shit she said about everyone. I don't know if you told them yet but I hope you did because that's fucked up. And now you two broke up and she doesn't trust me for some reason and it was so obvious when you guys argued that other time. So it's weird and I don't want to be around you too often," I explain. He watches me with creased eyebrows before scoffing.
"Do you think you're the reason we broke up?" He asks for clarification.
"I don't know. I'm not gonna say yes. But that's not what it's about. It's just weird. I don't want to make it seem like I'm the reason or anything. Elisa goes here and I want to respect that. I bet she's probably going crazy at the thought and the group already thought that whole thing was weird so I was just playing it safe," I tell him. He takes a minute before nodding.
"I get that. But you aren't responsible for anyone's feelings. Big fucking whoop if Elisa goes crazy. That's not your fault. We didn't...Necessarily break up because of you anyway," He tells me elusively. My eyebrows creased as I looked at him.
"You always phrase things so weirdly," I comment. He chuckles before sniffling from the cool October air.
"I just seem to know so little about shit that matters. So..." He trails off. I keep my eyes on him.
"What things that matter?" I ask. He looks at me, analyzing my face before sighing and standing up.
"Nothing. I'll see you later though," He casually tells me. I nod.
"Okay. Sorry for being so avoidant with you. We're cool," I assure him. He chuckles before adjusting his bookbag strap.
"I know." He walks away. I sniffle before grabbing my things and heading to my next class.
✩✩✩✩✩
I got home from a study hall around three in the afternoon. I sighed as I put my stuff down at the door before closing and locking it. I walk into the living room and see Mikasa, Armin, and Eren, all talking and watching TV. Their homework was splained out on the coffee table as they laughed. I observed them for a moment before intruding.
Mikasa laughing and putting her hand on Armin's arm for leverage so she doesn't fall over from laughing so hard. Armin laughs big and boyishly and his eyes close as his cheeks almost devour his eyes. His pale skin turns red. Eren watched them hit each other in between laughs as he slouched into the couch with a big smile and laugh. His eyes barely open as he watches them. He threw his head back and attempted to take a breath as his stomach was practically in stitches.
I chuckled at their contagious laughs and attitude as I approached the living room with an apparent presence. Mikasa glances before doing a double take and smiling at me.
"Oh shit. I had no clue you were there. Hey," She tells me in between laughs, trying to calm down. I smile at her before approaching her and sitting by her.
"Hey. What's so funny?" I ask curiously. Eren and Armin were still laughing in the corner of the couch they were on. Mikasa wipes tears from her eyes as she takes a deep breath. She shakes her head.
"Nah, it's nothing. We were just looking at this ugly ass photo of us when we were kids and laughing our asses off. We took the corniest selfies. We shouldn't have had phones at that age," Mikasa explains with a hoarse voice from laughing so hard. I chuckled.
"Dude, tell me about it. I took a selfie at my grandma's funeral. Open casket too," I tell her. She laughs at me.
"No way. Please tell me you have it," Mikasa says in between laughs. I laugh with her before shaking my head.
"I don't. I'd have to go through my old phone. It's probably in there," I tell her lightheartedly. Eren and Armin finally calm down from their laughing frenzy before looking at me and Mikasa.
"Hey Y/n," Armin finally says hello. I chuckle before nodding at him.
"Hey Armin. Hey Eren," I say hello to Eren.
"Hey," He says as he sighs.
"I can't laugh like that again. That shit was too funny. My body hurts," Eren comments. Mikasa chuckles.
"Wait! Do you remember that video that Armin did when he was like eight? That internet challenge where you look nerdy and then you're good-looking?" Mikasa asked. Eren snapped as he shot up from his seat in laughter.
"Don't judge me challenge!" Eren exclaims as he laughs even harder. Mikasa and Armin laughed harder.
"Dude, oh my god. That shit was so funny. I gotta find it. I think I have it," Mikasa laughs as she pulls her phone out and looks for the evidence. I chuckle as I observe the trio in its prime. Just three best friends who were laughing so hard that they cried. And it felt odd to see it from an outside perspective, especially from Eren. But it didn't seem too out of the ordinary for some reason. Maybe that's just how he is. And I'm happy that I'm finally getting a glimpse.
"Alright laughing buddies, I'm gonna get some work done. Keep on going," I tell them lightheartedly as I stood up and approached my room.
"Science?" Eren asks curiously. I sigh before nodding as I looked at him.
"Yeah. You wanna help me out?" I ask him. He scoffs before shaking his head.
"No, but I'll do it," He answers. He looks over at Armin and Mikasa.
"You guys don't mind if I help her out, right? She sucks. Mikasa knows," Eren pokes fun at me. I nudge him as I scoffed. Mikasa and Armin chuckled before nodding.
"Yeah go ahead. We have to focus on our shit too," Armin tells him. Eren turns to me, waiting for me to walk into my room. I open my door and take my shoes off before going into my bookbag and taking my notes and laptop out. I sit at my desk and look at him as he stood there, waiting for directions.
"You can sit on my bed. Leave the door open," I tell him. He nods before getting on my bed and laying down comfortably. I suck my teeth as I watched him shift around in my bed.
"I said sit down not roll around," I tell him. He sighs before sitting up.
"Your bed is comfortable. Shut up. Pull up the work," He dismisses me. I sigh before turning around and opening my laptop to pull up the work. I get out of the way to show him the different questions.
"I have to take some notes and do these equations," I explain to him. He squints before nodding.
"I can do it for you," He tells me. My eyebrows creased.
"What? No. I have to know this shit," I reply. He gets up before looking at the laptop. He shifts it towards him and he nudges me out of the way as he looks attentively at the assignment.
"This shit is easy. Just let me do it and I'll explain it to you," He insists. I sigh before standing up.
"No. I'll stand. Sit down," He tells me. I sit back down and look at the laptop. He puts it back in front of me and grabs my notebook and a pen. He starts to write things down and show it to me. He points at a part of the equation.
"What am I looking at?" I ask him, confused.
"The equation, idiot. Look," He tries to get me to refocus.
"What equation is this?" I ask another question. He sighs.
"You should know. It's supposed to be a part of the assignment. Jesus. This is force and friction. Are you familiar with it or not?" He asks me. I chuckle before shaking my head.
"Fuck no. What the hell?" I question it. He writes more things down.
"This symbol stands for the vector sum of forces," He starts to explain. My eyebrows creased.
"Vector? What's that?" I ask.
"A vector is a quantity or phenomenon that has two independent properties. That's magnitude and direction," He explains almost straight out of a textbook. I nod.
"Right. I knew that," I lie.
"Yeah, sure," He sarcastically replies. I chuckle as I watch him write more things down. He points at what he wrote.
"The M stands for mass. Obviously. The A stands for acceleration. The Fw stands for weight and the Ff stands for the force of friction. Are you keeping up?" He asks me. I stare at the paper that he wrote things down on before nodding slowly.
"Yeah. I got it. Keep going," I tell him. He watches me for a moment before continuing. He writes down more things.
"This weird U-shaped thing stands for the coefficient of friction. Fs is spring force. The K is the spring constant. Then the X is the displacement of the stretched spring. Got it?" He asks. I hum before nodding.
"...Yeah, sure," I tell him, unsure. He sighs as he looks at me.
"What are you confused about? Tell me," He picks up on my confusion. I clear my throat before looking at the paper.
"Explain to me what the coefficient of friction is," I tell him. He looks before explaining.
"That's a number that's the ratio of the resistive force of friction divided by the normal or perpendicular force pushing the objects together," He explains. I nod slowly.
"Okay. Yeah, I remember that now. And what's spring force again?" I ask him, my voice still small from being embarrassed about not knowing my own material.
"You won't understand what it means if I explain it," He tells me, fed up. I chuckle before shaking my head.
"I swear I'll know. Just refresh my memory. Please," I tell him lightheartedly. He rolls his eyes before pointing.
"It's like when a metal spring is stretched or compressed. It's displaced from its equilibrium position. Do you know what equilibrium position is?" He asks, a little annoyed. I snicker.
"You don't have to explain anymore just–"
"It's the condition of a system when neither its state of motion nor its internal energy state tends to change with time," He explains anyway. I nod.
"Right. I remember that," I tell him.
"Shut up. Stop saying that. You don't remember shit," He tells me off. I sigh as I lean back on my desk chair. He nudges me.
"Sit up. Listen to me," He tells me.
I sighed before sitting up and looking at his writing in my notebook. He continues to explain things as I glanced up at him. He was leaning over me a bit and his hair was loosely tied into his usual low bun. Stray hairs fell on the frame of his face as he spoke and looked attentively at the notebook. He glances at me as he spoke.
"Did you even catch that? Stop staring at me, weirdo. Jesus..." He tells me before standing straight and putting the pen down. I laugh as I shook my head.
"No! No, I was listening. I swear," I say as I laughed. He looks at me with a deadpan expression.
"What did I say then?" He interrogates me. I look off to the side before chuckling. I put my head down.
"Okay, sorry for staring. You got nice hair. I couldn't help but look. But you got to cut me some slack. This shit is hard. I suck at science and math. It's never clicked for me," I explain. He sighs.
"I told you to let me do it for you and you refused so you have to take it in when I explain it," He tells me. I nod.
"Alright. You're right. I'm sorry. It won't happen again. I'll focus," I reassure him. He sighs before grabbing the pen.
"One more chance. Pay attention or I'll never help you again," He threatens. I scoff before nodding, paying close attention to what he was telling me.
✩✩✩✩✩
A/N: who's happy that they're finally getting along better? I am! Are you? LOL-ian :3