A/N: I just want to thank you guys for the love this ff has gotten. I am grateful for any and all reads! I also read every comment and yall make me giggle LOL- ian :3
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I hadn't talked to Eren much since the altercation with Colt. I hadn't talked to Colt at all. He hurt my feelings badly. I didn't think that I would be this affected by what he said to me but I also blame myself for neglecting him. Because I did. And I'm grown enough to acknowledge that. Maybe I strung him along and gave him false hope instead of being as straightforward as possible.
I was a little down about it. Because despite the crumbling status of Colt and I, he was someone I was used to being with. I had built a routine with him slowly but surely. And now that it's stripped from me, it's not like I'm codependent, but I'm just a little sad. Which honestly, I didn't expect. I didn't think I would feel this way. I guess I am just a big commitment phobe.
Maybe that's because I've seen firsthand that no matter how much you love each other, it ends. It always does. And that's also probably because of my annoying ass parents. It's definitely not common to say that love does not fix everything. It doesn't overpower commitment or loyalty or clear communication. Love is simply a product of the rest of the qualities of being in a relationship. Then why do we give love so much credit when it did nothing but exist? I don't think there will ever be someone in my life that will make me think: Love did this.
"My sister's birthday is next week. We're having this huge family vacation. You guys down to come? If you can," Historia drags me out of my somber thoughts as she asks the group a question. We sat at a large makeshift table in the coffee shop. I blink before looking at her.
"Where are you guys going?" I ask curiously. She takes a sip from her coffee before answering.
"Just to a resort by the shore. Odiha," She answers simply. Eren's eyebrows creased slightly.
"That's like three hours out of Marley," Eren tells her. Historia nods.
"Yeah, I know. That's not bad," She replies obliviously. The group sounds with scattered chuckles.
"A three hour drive from Marley to Odiha is already crazy but I think you're forgetting the part where we're in Paradis," Jean adds. Armin nods.
"That's like a five hour drive from Forks," Armin adds. Historia rolls her eyes.
"So? Have you guys never driven far distances? It's not bad with the right people. A nice road trip!" Historia gives us a silver lining.
"Maybe we'll sit this one out since it's a family vacation. Your family would probably want–"
"No. I can't stand them. I'll buy out like six rooms on a floor. Freida is the only reason I'm going. Don't turn me down. It's not an option," Historia interrupts Mikasa's mindfulness. We chuckled at Historia's passion and strong desire for us to come.
"Why can't you stand your dad?" I ask her curiously. Historia groans.
"Because he married my step-mom like right after him and my mom divorced and that bitch is like ten years older than me. Not too far off. Such a gold digger. And now my mom spends her time blowing her money on...Other things," Historia paraphrases, catching me up with what the group already knows. I nod slowly before deciding not to ask further questions.
"When are you guys going?" Sasha asks the blonde.
"Next Thursday. That's enough forewarning, right?" She asks the group. We all groan in dissatisfaction.
"What? What is it?" Historia asks between all the mutters and groans.
"We have a week to do our work for classes ahead of time. It feels like midterms all over again," Armin replies.
"How many days would we be staying?" I ask her, a little unmotivated from the news. She smiles at us before responding.
"Just three days. Only three days of work in a week! You can do it, guys!" She encourages us as we all groaned comically at this point.
"Alright, alright. Who's driving with who? Let's decide this now," Mikasa announces.
"First, the drivers. Raise your hand if you're willing," Armin announces. Three people raise their hands.
"Okay. Jean, Eren, and Mikasa. Who are you guys picking?" Armin asks the trio. They look around before Jean raises his hand to make his choices.
"I'm taking Connie and Sasha. That's all I know," Jean announces.
"Then I'll take Armin and Y/n. Oh, Elisa is coming too if that's cool with you, Hissy," Eren announces. The group's eyebrows raise at the reappearance of his ex-girlfriend. Historia blinks in surprise before nodding.
"Yeah, that's fine," Historia answers. Mikasa looks at Annie.
"I'll take Annie, Ymir, and you," Mikasa speaks to Historia. Historia nods with a smile, pleased with the lineup.
"Wait a minute, why am I the only girl in my group? No fair," Sasha announces. Eren chuckles.
"You eat and burp like a man. You'll fit right in," Eren teases her. She rolls her eyes playfully. I look over at Sasha.
"Eren has one extra person. Sash, if you want, I can ride with you, Jean, and Connie instead," I volunteer. To be honest, I didn't want to be in a car with Eren and Elisa. Poor Armin, he'd have to be in the middle of a couple. A third wheel.
Sasha smiles at me before looking at Armin.
"Ah shit. I was about to say yes but I realized you would leave Armin alone to be the third wheel so you should stick with him in solidarity," Sasha teases Eren and Elisa. I look over at Armin who gave me a small smile.
"You're right. I'll stick with Armin then," I lightheartedly reply. Fuck my life.
"Can we address the elephant in the room? Elisa's back with Eren?" Connie asks questions. Eren looks at him before flicking his forehead. Connie rubs his forehead and hisses.
"Asshole..." Connie mutters.
"That's my business. Mind yours," Eren replies nonchalantly. My eyebrows twitched before standing up.
"Alright, well, I gotta get a head start on my assignments. Science and history are kicking my ass," I tell the group. They stand up in a ripple effect.
"Shit...Me too. My biology and botany classes are catching up to me," Armin replies before grabbing his bookbag.
"That means I have to finish my paper tonight..." Mikasa says under her breath as we all scattered and left Historia and Ymir to sit alone. They smiled at each other before shaking their heads comically.
✩✩✩✩✩
Now that this week was a mock midterms all over again, everyone was nose deep into their assignments. No one spoke in the group chat at all until Connie texted.
'eren is NOT ghosting us anymore!🥳' club
Connie
wait how many days are we staying again?
Jean
Three I think
Mika<3
yeah its 3 days
Annie
reiner and bertholdt just asked if
they can tag along. @hissy
Hissy!
jesus just bring the entire football team atp...
yeah it's fine but they have to get their own rooms
since i already booked the rooms 4 us!
Jean
(Laughed at 'jesus just bring the entire football team atp...)
Annie
👍will let them know, thanks.
Eren
who changed the gc name to that dumbass title
Hissy!
shush eren it's a funny name.
since i got all the rooms already, let me assign you guys!!
mika and y/n
connie and sasha
jean and armin
reiner and berholdt obviously
annie and elisa
ymir and me
and eren gets his own room as a welcome back present LOL
Eren
bless u hissy
Jean
That's not fair AT ALL. at least all the drivers should
get their own rooms...
Eren
you get what you get and u don't get upset
horseface
I was perfectly fine with rooming with Mikasa since I live with her. I wasn't worried about anything else.
I put my phone down and continued to work on this stupid fucking equation. Fuck science. Fuck math. I can't stand these classes. It makes me want to shoot myself. I can't input any of this in my brain at all. I groaned before taking a break.
I remembered from looking at the group chat that I should probably tell Armin about Colt and Annie hanging out without him knowing. Even though it was a group hang out, I don't know if Armin would care about it...I'm still on the fence. Also about the fact that Colt accused Armin of a felony.
I walk out of my room and see Mikasa casually on the couch, her laptop on her lap as she typed on it, focused. Of course, she had to be ahead of her work as well. She completely didn't see me as I walked to the kitchen to get a drink before I strolled back to the living room. She had her wired headphones on before she glanced and saw me. She takes an earbud off, still focused on her screen.
"You're done already? Smarty pants," She gives me a nickname. I huff before chuckling. I sat down on the other couch, adjacent to her to give her space.
"Fuck no. Science makes me want to splatter my brains on the fucking walls. I can't do it. I was gonna ask Eren but he's probably also busy with work and now Elisa is back," I comment. Her eyebrows creased before looking at me.
"Does Elisa not like you?" She asks me. My eyebrows twitched when I realized I never told her what happened when Elisa called Eren that night we drove around. Actually, I never told anyone about the car ride with Eren that night that Colt was supposed to pick me up. So many things slipped my mind. I blinked.
"...I don't think she does. Remember when she walked out of the cafeteria after Eren spoke to me? I'd rather steer clear of that. Don't wanna get in the middle of shit," I save myself by recalling a story she knows to come to my conclusion. Mikasa nods, thinking about it.
"I get it. You want to be respectful. But be honest, how thrown off were you when he said he was bringing Elisa? I was so..." Mikasa trails off, purposely not finding the word. I laugh at her comment before shrugging my shoulders.
"Eren and I aren't close so I wasn't taken aback or anything. But I was a little thrown off, not gonna lie. I guess we'll see how they are after all that," I reply. Mikasa looks at me.
"After what? Messy break up?" Mikasa asks. I groan internally at how much information I knew that Mikasa didn't. Why was Eren keeping this so under wraps? It's not even a big deal. I shake my head.
"Just a break up in general. I dunno about anything they got going on," I reply lightheartedly, saving myself yet again. She chuckles in response.
"Well, if you're struggling, call him and ask for some help. See if he's busy. Wouldn't hurt to have a tutor on call," Mikasa teases Eren. I chuckle before finishing my drink and putting the cup in the sink.
"Yeah, we'll see," I comment from afar before going back to my room. I contemplated if I actually wanted to call Eren but after glancing at the equation on the notebook and recalling how I wanted to set it all on fire five minutes ago, I decided to just bruise my ego a bit and give him a call.
I groan to myself before grabbing my phone and going on the group chat to get to Eren's contact information since we don't text outside of the group chat.
I click on his name before pressing the phone icon. After two rings, the line picks up.
"Who's this?" I hear his voice. My face goes deadpan before sighing.
"It's Y/n. Maybe save this number so that you don't deal with any further confusion," I tell him. He chuckles.
"You're gonna call me more for further confusion to happen?" He throws a question back at me. I ignore him.
"I need help."
"Science again?" He asks like he did last time. I nod to no one in particular.
"Yep," I pop the P. He sighs.
"Are you busy with work? I could just throw this notebook out of my window and not think about it too," I jokingly suggest. He chuckles.
"Not busy. Facetime me so I can see what the deal is," He casually tells me. I look around before looking at myself in the mirror. My hair was a mess. I didn't want him to look at me like this. Just because it would be embarrassing if he was feeling like he wanted to take a screenshot of me. Not saying he would. But just in case.
"Wow, tough crowd. Did you hear what I said?" He asks me. I suck my teeth.
"I heard you, dumbass. Give me a minute," I tell him before putting my phone down on my dresser. I stood in front of my mirror and fixed my hair the best I could before grabbing my phone and Facetiming him. He answers immediately. The sound of the call picking up followed after his face showed up on my screen.
He laid down on his bed in his dim lit room. He wore a black hoodie over his head as his hair fell out of the hood. He hadn't had his hair tied up. He had one hand under his head as he watched me. He smirked.
"Do you wanna show me the equation now or is this a pageant show?" He teases my staring. I blink before rolling my eyes and sitting at my desk. I turn the camera around before showing him. He leans into his phone more and squints to see what I was showing him. He observed it before sighing.
"Your Wi-Fi fucking sucks. I'm coming," He tells me suddenly before hanging up. I sigh before putting my phone back down. I walk back out to Mikasa and wave my hand to get her attention.
"He's coming so I'm just letting you know," I tell her. She chuckles.
"You asked him to come over?" She asks. I shake my head.
"Fuck no. He said the connection sucks and he couldn't see the equations so he insisted. And then he hung up on me," I explained. She huffs before nodding.
"Alright. Have fun with your tutor then," She teases me. I swat her away as I walked back inside my room, waiting for Eren to come and help me.
✩✩✩✩✩
After about fifteen minutes, I hear Eren walk through the front door. I sit up on my bed before getting up and meeting him by the door since he was here for me. I sighed to myself before opening the door and walking out of my room. I observe and see Eren and Elisa standing side by side. My expression remained neutral and non-reactive. Even though I know Elisa doesn't really like me and for that reason, I just don't like her all the much either.
I don't have a personal problem with her but I'm not gonna kiss her ass just because she thinks I like Eren. I already told him how I felt about him so hopefully, there's no more confusion or misunderstanding. But I still can't really stand a girl who thinks everyone wants her boyfriend. I certainly don't. Eren looks at me with an amused expression.
"Looks like whatever formula you're working on is draining the life out of you," He jokes. Elisa chuckles. I glance at her before looking back at him. I signal my room.
"I'm working in my room. Elisa can chill in the living room with Mikasa, if you don't mind," I then turn and look at her. She gives me a small, uncomfortable smile before looking at Eren, who gave her a nod of assurance.
"Sure. It's nice to see you again, Y/n," She tells me kindly. I turn around and face my room before walking.
"Yeah." I tell her as I walked inside my room. Eren followed behind me before I sat back down on my desk and handed him my notebook. He sits on the edge of my bed, behind me, before observing what I was working on.
"Give me a pencil," He tells me. I hand him one over my shoulder, not looking at him. He spins my chair around and makes me face him.
"Don't turn your back on me. I'm helping you. Least you can do is look at me when I'm talking to you," He casually tells me as he keeps his eyes on the notebook. I watched him as he focused on what he was writing.
"I didn't ask you to come all the way over here," I tell him. He huffs.
"How else was I supposed to help you? I couldn't see shit on the phone," He replies.
"Could've sent pictures," I replied, being a devil's advocate. He cocks an eyebrow, looking at me past the notebook.
"And you think that if I texted or voice memo'd an explanation, you would understand? You're clearly a visual learner," He comments on a detail about me that he picked up.
I watched him as he kept his eyes on the notebook. He jerks his head towards my desk. I turn around as he slaps the notebook back down on the desk. He leans in with his hand supporting his body as he was bent over, looking over me at the formula he wrote.
"For the most part, you did shit moderately correctly. But you forgot one major thing. It's a common mistake and people get it wrong all the time for this," He tells me. I turn my body slightly before looking up at him.
"You wanna tell me? Or are you gonna leave me on a cliffhanger until the next episode?" I mock him. He pushes the back of my head lightly before replying.
"You're acting like a smartass but you're struggling with kinematic formulas. Ironic," He replies. I sigh.
"Alright, alright. Tell me," I tell him. He chuckles.
"You forgot to include the negative sign. That fucked your entire formula up. Let's start again," He tells me. I groaned before nodding.
"Well, you already figured out which variable was missing from this formula so that's good. Now we have a formula to work off of," He comments. I roll my eyes.
"Starting with the easiest equation, we can start with the definition of acceleration which is..." He starts writing.
"A equals delta V divided by delta T," He tells me. I nod as he wrote it neatly.
"But we can just replace this top delta with v minus v0. That's final velocity minus initial velocity," He tells me. I nod.
"I knew that..." I tell him, bothered that he feels the need to teach me this all over again. He chuckles.
"If you knew this, I wouldn't be here. Focus," He instructs me. I mock him before looking at the paper.
After Eren walked me through the equation, he finally sat down on the edge of my bed again. I sighed as I finished my work and showed it to him for correction. He looks at me.
"What? Did I get something wrong? I swear I was listening though," I hurriedly tell him. He chuckles before shaking his head. He stands up and raises his hand. I look at it and give it a high-five.
"You got it right. Good job. It only took you thirty years," He teases me. I scoff, rolling my eyes before putting my notebook back down on my desk.
"So what's up with you and Colt? You guys talked much since then?" He asks me casually. I look at him with a careful expression.
"...I haven't talked to him since that night but he keeps on texting. But I got my badge of honor for fucking with him in the first place," I tell him before lifting my sleeve and showing Eren my bruised arm from when Colt tightly grabbed me at the bar. He hisses as he gently grabs my arm to inspect it further.
"Jesus...It's not a phenomenon. No need to stare at it intensely," I tell him before tugging away and putting my sleeve back down.
"He doesn't normally put his hands on you, does he?" He asks with forewarning. I shake my head.
"No. That was the first time he ever touched me like that. Maybe he was just angry and needed someone to be angry at. It's fine now," I reply calmly. He nods, understanding. I watch Eren for a moment before speaking again.
"...You know...He pulled me outside because he made a crazy accusation about Armin," I tell him. Eren looks at me with an interested expression.
"Yeah? What?" He asks unknowingly. I chuckled in retrospect of the accusation before speaking.
"He said that Armin..." I look around before looking back at Eren.
"Stole his car," I whisper. Eren watches me before snickering and laughing out loud. I chuckle.
"Armin? Stealing a car? Right. What made him think that?" He asks. I open my mouth to speak before a knock interrupted the door frame of my open door. We turned our attention to Elisa, who stood there awkwardly.
"Sorry to interrupt. I have to go soon. When are you gonna be done?" She calmly asks Eren. Eren pulls his phone out of his pocket before looking at the time.
"Twenty minutes? Give or take," He replies. She nods before walking back out. I turn around and watch him as he puts his phone back in his pocket. He looks at me with his eyebrows casually raised.
"So...Elisa again? What made you change your mind?" I ask him. He watches me before shrugging his shoulders.
"Relationships can be complicated. That's all," He replies. I nod slowly.
"You love her?" I ask suddenly. He chuckles before standing up from my bed.
"Why do you ask? You got something you wanna tell me?" He teases me. I scoff before sitting back down at my desk.
"You wish. Just curious. We still have to hash things out though. I'm still upset with you," I tell him. He smiles.
"I thought we were cool. Y'know, since I'm saving your ass in science," He tells me as if this was an exchange. I shook my head gently.
"Thanks for the help but I'm still mad. Go take your girl home. We'll talk whenever," I dismiss him. He chuckles again before walking out of my room.
After Eren and Elisa left the apartment, I headed to the living room to debrief with Mikasa about Elisa showing up. She looked at me with wide eyes before straightening up on the couch. We chuckled.
"I had no idea he was bringing her," I start the gossip. She scoffs.
"Neither did I. I think she invited herself though. Maybe she's feeling iffy about Eren. You think he's playing her?" Mikasa asks me. I shrug my shoulders.
"I asked him about her in the room and he was all like 'Relationships are complicated.'" I mimic him with a deep voice. She laughs.
"I barely talked to her but you can tell she was trying hard to listen in on you two. Like if my music started blasting real loud, she would turn and look at me," Mikasa tells me. I chuckled.
"Well, it wasn't like we were making out. He was teaching me this stupid fucking formula again. And I would never do that to her. I have some girl code," I reply. She chuckles.
"I think she's a sweet girl but just super insecure. I mean, if you're dating someone like Eren, you got to know that bitches are gonna throw themselves on him. You just gotta handle it," Mikasa tells me. I chuckle.
✩✩✩✩✩
A couple of days have passed and the countdown for the three day trip to Odiha and I was honestly looking forward to it aside from the car ride. We were all slowly but surely catching up to our work and preparing ourselves for the trip as a group.
Armin, Mikasa, Eren, Elisa and I sat in the living room of our apartment as we ate sushi while casually watching an Adam Sandler movie. Eren gets call and excuses himself before going into the bathroom to answer. Armin nudges me.
"This is the best part. The Lucy song," He tells me as his eyes were glued to the screen. I chuckled at the movie as Adam Sandler sang to Drew Barrymore on the beach. Such a stupidly funny movie but so cute. I would fall in love if my date ever took the time to bring me to the beach and then sing me a song about me.
"Forgetful Lucy," Mikasa sings along as she rocks back and forth to the song. I laugh as she memorizes the classic.
A few moments later, Eren walks out of the bathroom before sitting back down on the couch. I glanced over at him before Elisa rubbed his arm, seemingly asking him what was wrong. He shrugs her off, dismissive and cold. She watches him, concerned and upset with him.
"Jesus Elisa. Back the fuck up. I don't want to talk," Eren suddenly snaps at his girlfriend. Mikasa and Armin look back at Eren as he watches the movies, ignoring the looks from his best friends. He sighs before glancing at me. I held a subconscious worried look. He blinks before getting up and leaving the apartment. Elisa watched him, a somber look on her face.
We looked at each other.
"Maybe I should go talk to–"
"No. He's upset with you right now. It wouldn't be best. Mikasa, Y/n, why don't you two go out there and talk to him? I'll talk to Elisa," Armin tells us. Mikasa and I looked at each other before nodding and quickly grabbing our coats. We hurried out of the door before looking to our left and right.
"Where do you think he went?" I ask her. She sighs.
"I'll go left. You go right," She tells me. I nod before we split up. I approach the stairs and observed them before going down to the floor below us. I look around before going down another floor. I check the public patio through the glass door, peering inside. I glanced at Eren before turning away.
I then realized that I found him and turned back to the door before opening it. The cold wind blew and I hugged myself in my coat as I watched him, peered over the patio railing, looking out to whatever he could see. I sniffled as I walked carefully and closer to him. The wind was still dancing in the air and messing his hair up more than mine.
"You okay?" I finally call out and ask him. He looks over his shoulder before looking back out at view. I approach him as he gave me nonverbal permission to speak to him.
I leaned against the railing in the same manner he did. Forearms on the cold railing. I watched him as he sniffled from the cold air. His cheeks beginning to turn a light hue of red as strands of his hair blew against his face. He watched my hands as they hung off of the railing with his.
"...I'm fine," He keeps it short, his voice filled with a tone of resentment or anger. I scoff before looking at my hands.
"Right. And I have six fingers on my right hand," I throw his past joke back at him. He glances at me, a twitch on the corner of his mouth. Almost a smile but not quite. I huff with a small smile.
"You can't take my jokes and then use them towards me in an effort to make me feel better," He converses. I chuckle.
"So something is up? What made you get mean with Elisa?" I ask him. He sighs before shaking his head.
"It had nothing to do with her. She just–Kept annoying me and pushing me to talk to her when I told her I didn't want to. I hate that shit," He explains. I nod.
"I get it. But do you think she deserved that kind of embarrassment?" I ask him for reevaluation. He watches me before looking ahead again.
"Probably not." He keeps his answer short, aware that he messed up by doing that to his girlfriend. I yawn before blinking a couple of times.
"Who called?" I ask him. He sniffles again before looking at me, trying to make eye contact with me to answer. Well, he did try before he looked away again.
"Just the doctors. They said with where they are with treatment on my mom, I can't see her on her birthday. And it bummed me out," He finally tells me what the issue was. My eyebrows creased upwards in an empathetic expression. I put my hand on his shoulder, rubbing it to comfort him.
"I'm sorry, Eren. I bet that feels like a punch to the fucking stomach. I'd be just as angry and upset as you. It's valid," I assure him. He glances at my hand before nodding.
"Thanks. It's just so fucking annoying. Then my Dad's birthday is tomorrow and he works. Like always. He can't just cut some time to see me. Or even relax on his own birthday. And now all the plans I had with my mom went to shit. I miss her," He tells me. I nod as I watched him. He faced away from me, not being able to look at me while he expressed his anger for not being able to see his parents. I didn't look away for a second.
"Maybe the right word isn't 'bummed out' but it's sad. You're sad that you can't see your parents. And that's okay. Don't downplay your feelings to act all cavalier," I tease him. He huffs before chuckling. He finally manages to hold eye contact with me as the wind blew against us with light snowfall. I was freezing. He looked at me, analyzing my outfit up and down before snickering.
"You're wearing pajama shorts and boots with a coat. Are you not cold?" He asks me. I chuckle as I looked at my own outfit before answering.
"I can barely feel my legs. Come inside and apologize to your girlfriend before you freeze to death, dude," I lightheartedly tell him. He sniffles before watching the view for one more moment. He nods as we walked back to the door together.
"I'm sorry," He tells me suddenly. I chuckled before shaking my head.
"It's cool. With enough time by the heater, I'll be able to feel my legs all over again," I jokingly tell him. He shakes his head.
"No. I mean I'm sorry for disappearing like that and worrying you. I get why you would be mad at me. Thank you for taking care of everyone while I was gone. You really picked up those pieces," He wholeheartedly tells me. I watched him as we walked back inside. I chuckle.
"You think so?" I ask comically. He chuckles.
"You had to worry in silence because of everyone else. And Mikasa too but granted; She worries about me if I sleep in for too long." I chuckle.
"She cares about you," I comment, defending Mikasa. He nods with a smirk.
"Yeah. I know," He replies. I nod.
"Can we just make up?" He asks me suddenly. I look at him and smiled.
"We weren't even fighting."
"Can we make up anyway?" I laugh at him before nodding.
"Yes." He chuckles with relief.
"Oh, and also, sorry you had to see me be an asshole to my girlfriend. Trust me, I'm not like that," He tells me. I laugh.
"You were like that with me before her so you're not fooling me," I tease. He sucks his teeth as I laughed.
"Oh. You found him. Jesus it was cold out there. Are you okay?" Mikasa approaches us before looking at Eren. He nods.
"Yeah. I was just being too reactive. I can't see Mom on her birthday so it's messing with me," He paraphrases it for Mikasa. She lightly gasps in sympathy before hugging his arm as we walked back to our apartment. She rubs his arm before speaking.
"That sucks. I'm sorry," She empathizes with him. He huffs before nodding.
"Yeah. It's okay."
Once we reached the apartment, we see Armin comforting Elisa as she cried in her hands, sitting on the couch. Mikasa and I looked at Eren as he had a regretful expression on his face. Armin turns and looks at us before Eren approached the crying girl. He reached out and touched her shoulder before she shoved it off. She looked up at him as she stood seated.
"You get to be reactive so I do too. Do you ever realize how fucking mean you could be to someone? Does it not hurt you to hurt someone else? How can you exist like that?" Elisa speaks out of character. Eren watches her, listening.
"You leave and no one knows where you are but when you came back, who was here to welcome you back with open arms? Me. And this is how you treat me? You shit on me like this? I mean, seriously. And I wanted to be the one to go out there and chase after you and console you but I knew that you would just give me the cold shoulder," Elisa continues to rant.
Armin stood alongside Mikasa and I as we stood by the door, watching painfully from afar. We couldn't look away. It was like an ugly accident. An ugly accident that reminded me too much of Colt and I. I bit the inside of my cheek, watching.
"Of course, when Y/n goes out there to check up on you, you're back to normal. And I just have two questions." She stands up and faces him.
"Would you stay by my side if I did this to you?" She asks him angrily. Eren opens his mouth but she sticks her finger up.
"I'm not done. I have another question," She shuts him down. She sniffles and turns her attention to the three of us. But she looked at me intensely before looking back at Eren. She lifts her arm and points at me.
"What is it about her?" She asks, her voice weak and somber. Mikasa and Armin's eyes widened as I watched Eren, confused. He glances over to me before looking back at Elisa.
"Why do you give a fuck so much? What is it? Did you guys sleep together?" Elisa asks him unreasonable questions. Eren shakes his head.
"What? Elisa, no. I've never even touched Y/n. It's not like that. Stop. You're being unreasonable–"
"So you're the only one allowed to do that? You know what? Fuck you, Eren. I don't deserve this. I've always felt like a second option to you. I can't win with you. I don't deserve to be treated like the last resort just because you can't have her," She tells him before she walked past him and grabbed her coat. She approaches the door, where we stood. She stops and looks at me before giving me a small smile.
"I'm sorry you guys had to see that," She told the three of us. We all nodded awkwardly, moving out of the way so that she can leave. She sniffled as she grabbed the door knob. She turns and looks at me over her shoulder.
"Y/n. I'm sorry I didn't like you. Clearly, I was mad at the wrong person," She tells me before she turned back around and left. We watched the door for a moment. I turned and looked back at Eren, who stood where he was. He had regret still painted on his face but he knew Elisa was gone at this point. There was no point in chasing her. Silence.
"...So what I'm hearing is that Eren is in love with Y/n?" Mikasa breaks the silence with a joke. Armin snickers before nudging her. I look at her with a comical straight face as she chuckled. Eren sat on the couch and we finally approached him before sitting with him on the couch.
He sighed as he comfortably slouched on the couch. He finally mustered up the courage to look at all of us in the face.
"I'm not in love with Y/n, asshole," Eren finally responds to Mikasa's joke. We chuckled as he groans.
"She just can't shake off this idea that Y/n and I are like secret lovers or some shit. She doesn't trust me around her. And I don't get that. I've never done anything to question her trust for me. Y/n can second that," Eren explains to us. I clear my throat.
"Yeah. It's true. Eren and I aren't like that and we never have been," I announce to the three people who already know this information. They laughed at me.
"We know. No need to try to prove yourselves. It's clearly a different issue," Armin tells him. Mikasa nods.
"She's probably just really insecure. That's all. That just means you have to reassure her about how you feel about her and then go from there," Mikasa gives him a solution. He shakes his head.
"Nah. Not worth it. She clearly made up her mind. I think she really needed to be angry with me and yell at me in order to let it all go. So I let her do that. I owe her that much after how much hurt I put her through. Even if I didn't mean it," He tells us. Armin nods before patting his shoulder.
"She's had this idea in her head since before I even left. She never trusted me. I'll cut her some slack since I don't have the best track record. But I never cheated on her. Especially with Y/n," Eren pokes fun at me. Armin and Mikasa laugh as I held a straight face.
"Asshole," I jokingly reply, not taking it too deeply.
"Well you have all the time to talk to her if you want to. She probably wants you to so keep that in mind. I'm assuming she's not making it to the trip then?" Armin asks. Eren scoffs.
"We'll see if she's willing to forgive me again," He replies.
"Alright. Back to the movie then," Mikasa presses play on the movie and our attention went back to watching.
After the movie ended, Armin and Eren started to prepare to leave. Mikasa said her goodbyes to the boys before going to shower near the end of the movie. I stood seated before standing up and walking them to the front door out of some kindness.
The boys put their boots and coats on before adjusting themselves and getting ready to open the door and leave. Armin takes his keys out of his pockets.
"I'm gonna go start the car to give it some time to heat up. Be right back," He tells Eren and I before quickly leaving the apartment. I nodded as I stood across from Eren, who was on his phone casually, texting. He looks at me before chuckling.
"That's mine, by the way," He comments. I look at him, confused about what he was talking about.
"What?" I ask for clarification. He jerks his head at me as he kept his eyes low. I look down before looking at him. He finally reaches his hand out and taps on my wrist. I watched him before looking at him.
"That's my hair tie. How'd you get it?" He asks me. I look at the hair tie, remembering when I put it on months ago. Geesh, I barely remember when I put it on but I remembered when he left it behind. I chuckled as I played with the string that hung off of the it before looking back at him, who kept his eyes on my hands and fingers as I fidgeted with it.
"You left it behind when you were bothering me while I was studying. Way before you left," I keep it short. He chuckles before nodding. He finally looks at me.
"Do you want it back?" I ask him. He shakes his head casually.
"Nah. I saw it when I saw you the first time. I notice you like to fidget with it so I'll let you keep it. It was my lucky one though so don't break it," He lightheartedly tells me. I huff before chuckling.
"Why was this your lucky one?" I ask him. He laughed before leaning back on the wall. He shrugged his shoulders.
"I just always managed to get lucky when I had that hair tie on," He tells me. I chuckle.
"Lucky in what ways?" I jokingly ask. He chuckles.
"In all ways. But you can have it. Even though you've had the worst luck," He tells me. I shake my head playfully.
"Gee, thanks," I comically replied as I stared at the hair tie. I was always wondering why he tied this string so I thought about asking. I open my mouth before Armin opened the door to come back inside. He exhales as he shivered.
"It's cold as hell out there. Give it five minutes," Armin tells Eren. He nods.
"I'm sorry things with Elisa ended badly. You gonna talk to her?" I ask him. He sighs before shrugging his shoulders.
"What's the point if she doesn't trust me? You remember what she said about you," He comments. I shifted uncomfortably before speaking.
"I do. And I hope you told the rest of them what she said too. You told me you would tell them," I reply. He watches me for a moment before responding.
"How do you tell someone that? 'Hey. My girlfriend insulted you but please don't beat her ass or hate her'? It's not like I'm planning on keeping it from them but I can't seem to find the right time to break the news about Elisa not really liking you. And then her talking shit about my friends. So I'm sorry I haven't told them," He apologizes falsely. I watched him before rolling my eyes.
"It's not easy, sure. But that doesn't mean you get to keep those kinds of things from them. The fact that you would bring her around knowing what she said about your friends seems like you don't care."
"So I have to pick my friends over a girlfriend every time? How is that fair to me?"
"Look at what happened when you chose your girlfriend over your friends. Still didn't end up too good for you, did it? If this was someone who trusted you and didn't give you a hard time then I would probably find some sympathy for you. But what excuse is there if you're defending someone who doesn't give you peace? What's the point?"
"You're one to talk. You should practice what you preach. Colt? Seriously? Who told you that was a good idea?"
"Doesn't matter who told me if it was a good or bad idea. I can make my own decisions. It's my life. I'm an adult."
"Me too, dumbass. But you can't lecture me for not choosing my friends over someone who wasn't the best for me when you did the same thing. Let me ask you this; What excuse is there if you're defending someone who doesn't give you peace? What's the point?" He throws my question back at me.
We held eye contact as he leaned against the wall next to me. I held my arms, crossed as my eyebrows slightly furrowed. I rolled my eyes before looking back at him with my palms facing him.
"Alright. Fine. You got me. I'm the tea pot calling the kettle black. Maybe we just have shitty taste in people then. I'm done dating for now," I tell him. He chuckles.
"Me too then. Consider it a pact," He tells me. I scoff.
"People make pacts when they wanna marry each other at thirty or something," I comment. He laughs at me.
"Well, we're making a different pact. The first one to date someone else owes the other a solid," Eren suggests. My eyebrows furrowed.
"What the fuck is a solid?" I ask him, confused. He looks at me, bewildered that I had no idea what he was talking about.
"You don't know what a solid is? Are you crazy?" He asks me. I chuckle.
"Maybe."
"A solid is an unbreakable favor. You can't say no. It's a major favor. A big one that can't be denied. If I ask you for a solid, I owe you one automatically. It's like a credit card," He explains. I chuckle.
"Why not just call it a favor like a normal person?" I tease him. He rolls his eyes.
"Because a favor and a solid are in different levels," He replies. I snicker.
"But if you owe me a solid after I ask for one, then doesn't that defeat the purpose? I mean, don't we both get a solid then?" I ask him. He sighs.
"That's the pact. You just have to do it for nothing in return. That's the circumstance. God, you're a little slow," He lightheartedly insults me. I stick my pinky out.
"Fine. It's a deal then," I tell him. He looks at me before wrapping his pinky around mine. We bring it to our mouths and kiss it, sealing the promise. Or pact. Whatever it was.
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