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[14:34] Eren: Ok. The bait’s been set. Now I just gotta wait.
[14:35] Armin: What?? I though you said, and I quote, “I’ll eat shit before I go fishing with fucking horseface again.”
[14:35] Armin: At least don’t lose your phone this time. Drop your pants into the water if you must but PLEASE don’t let Mikasa think you’ve drowned again.
[14:36] Eren: Ew no wtf Armin. I was serious. This has nothing to do with fishing.
[14:37] Eren: I’m at the park near the legion. Sitting on a swing, coffee cup in hand, looking to the distance, making sure the sun hits the right side of my face.
[14:37] Eren: It’s only a matter of time now until my prince charming arrives.
[14:38] Eren: I’m done with just having a steed. I need a man. *.*
[14:40] Armin: Omg. This is even worse. Now you will be mugged and killed, then Mikasa will think I was an accomplice in your plan and kill me. T.T And THEN she will kill herself too because you’re gone. THIS IS HOW WE DIE, EREN.
[14:41] Eren: Pffft don’t be stupid. It’s daytime I’ll be fine.
Eren pocketed his phone in order to look around the park he chose for his plan. It wasn’t the biggest or the fanciest one around but it was near his university, close to his favorite coffee shop, and he could see in advance if Jean (also known as horceface) decided to take the same bus home as Eren. It was a nearly perfect location to meet the man of his dreams. All that was missing was…
Not a man in his 30’s with a little red-head girl in his hands glaring at Eren. The little girl (his daughter, presumably) was longingly looking at the swing set, whispering something into the man’s ear. Eren quickly decided to take out his phone and stare at it. Maybe if he didn’t look, he won’t have to give away his seat.
[14:41] Armin: I hope we can at least find your body.
Eren scoffed and pretended to browse on his phone. He was hoping the black haired man was a jerk, honestly. Maybe if the guy decided to confront him and act tough (which would be difficult considering how short he was), they could just exchange insults and Eren could stay in the swing with an excuse of how much of an insufferable asshole the other man was.
His hopes, however, were crushed when he was pulled from his “browsing” by a little girl’s voice.
“Hey, mister. Can I use the swing? I can only stay here for a little while and this park has THE BEST swing set in the city. Please?”
Her eyes looked so hopeful (and green, much like his own, just without a blue hue to them) and her 2 low pigtails were bouncing along with her excitement. Eren was beaten before he could even consider saying no, so he smiled, put his phone back in his pocket, and got up saying:
“Sure thing. Have fun, kiddo.”
When Eren looked up, the other man was still glaring at him. He glared back and went to the bench to finish his coffee as he wasn’t in the mood to go home, and besides, his plan hadn’t worked yet. Taking out his phone he watched the little girl bend back and forth in the swing, attempting to move it.
“Dad, push me! C’mon, we don’t have time!” She cried when her efforts proved to be futile.
“You’re not a baby anymore Izzy, you have to learn to do that yourself. I already explained to you how.” At least the man wasn’t glaring anymore and Eren wasn’t reminded of an angry dwarf when looking at him. Instead, he noted his facial features (sharp, from his nose to his jaw), eyes (grey, with dark bags under them), eyebrows (furrowed a little even when smiling at the little struggling girl), mouth (kind of tiny, really, but it suited him).
“Well maybe I’ll just get someone else to do it!” At those words she – Izzy- turned to Eren, put on her biggest mischievous smile and started waving him over with her hand. “Mister! Can you push me? Levi won’t fucking do it!”
“Isabel, language.” Hissed the said man named Levi, apparently. Eren looked at him (he was glaring again, only this time it was even worse), then back to the red head.
“I don’t think your dad would like that.” Eren couldn’t blame the man, if he had a kid he’d be wary of strangers too. “Maybe you really should try yourself though? I’m sure your dad will help if you ask nicely.” He continued, trying to cheer the girl up without risking his limbs being cut off.
“Pffft. Dad doesn’t know anything. And I don’t have all day to wait! I tried before and it didn’t work!” She pouted, crossing her arms. “And it probably never will because I’ll grow up to be so short I will never be able to reach the ground with my feet from here.”
Eren snorted, suppressed his giggles and quickly took a sip of his drink to hide his smile from Levi who seemed, rightfully, personally offended and pissed off. It looked like the raven was about to say something when his phone rang. He took it out of his pocket, looked at the screen and looked defeated for a second, then shot a glance to Eren, silently communicating a threat. The brunette only rolled his eyes, drank more of the (cold, pretty much useless by now) coffee, and started to play a game on his phone. From the corner of his eye he could see Levi walk to a bench a little further away and argue to the person on the other end.
His gaming session was interrupted when he heard a weak cough. Automatically lifting his eyes he saw Isabel scrunching up her nose and two guys leaning at the swing set, one lighting up a cigarette, another taking a drag of his own. Without a second thought Eren threw the rest of his coffee into the trash can, then got up and walked up to them.
“You can’t smoke here. There is a kid literally less than two meters away from you.” At times like these he really wished he was taller. Now, he was forced to look up at a buff man who was frowning at him while slowly inhaling. His ridiculously tall friend, Eren assumed he was a friend, seemed stuck holding his cigarette in the air in one hand, a lighter in his other, his eyes darting nervously from the tan man to his blonde companion. The latter regarded Eren for a few more seconds, then exhaled smoke right into his face.
“Piss off.”
Before Eren could cough from the smoke, or regard the situation logically, he saw red and snatched the cigarette from the other guy’s hand. The blond’s sound of surprise was ignored, his cigarette thrown to the ground and crushed under a heel of one pissed off Eren Jaeger.
“What the hell, man!?”
“Go kill yourself somewhere else, asshole. What kind of dumbass decides to go for a smoke near a kid’s playground anyway? Isn’t there a brain in that teeny head of yours? Or did you work out too much one day and it was replaced by muscle? Now go. The fuck. Away.”
By the end of the sentence Eren had shoved his face into the jock’s, glaring at him and shoving his finger into his chest. The third guy had given up on having a smoke by then and started to put his lighter back into his pocket when he looked behind his friend and paled a little.
“Reiner, we should go. C’mon.” He tried to interject but it had little use because by then Levi had reached them, holding Isabel’s hand.
“Yeah, you punks should go.” Hearing the sudden words, Eren stepped back from Reiner and turned towards Levi, in time to see the police badge in his hand. “You are lucky I am off duty and trying to have a good time with my kid. But I’ll remember your faces and if I ever see you being scumbags again I will make sure you have to pick up trash with your bare hands in this very park for two months. That clear?”
Reiner’s friend started nodding frantically and grabbed his friend by the arm to walk away. Before they left the blond flipped Eren off, a gesture which was met with 3 glares.
One of the glares was quickly replaced by a look of pure wonder.
“Thanks, mister! That was great of you!” Isabel exclaimed and started jumping from foot to foot. “What’s your name? I wanna know because you deserve ice-cream for that. Dad, will you buy him ice-cream? I can’t because I spent my money on chocolate. But that doesn’t mean that others have to suffer, right? Because he totally deserves ice-cream, right? And me too, for going straight to you now, right?”
“Fine, Izzy.” Levi sighed. “You both deserve ice-cream.” He turned to Eren without glaring for the first time. “What’s your name?”
“Eren.” He smiled as he answered.
“Well, Eren, thank you for standing up for my daughter. I’m Levi.” He extended his hand, which Eren took, grinning as he shook it.
“No problem. I’m sure you would have done the same for my kid. If I had any, that is.” He laughed a little at that, feeling as if he wasn’t prepared to hear words about children from his mouth said so casually.
“I’m Isabel!” There was no time for anyone to linger on the handshake (which lasted a bit longer than people might expect) or on the fact that clouds were starting to gather above the scene because by the time Eren finished his sentence, the little girl grabbing his other hand by the wrist and dragging him towards what was probably a café, chatting about how she’s going to tell her friends about that time she was saved from ugly goons by a prince with pretty eyes.