Chapter Text
it had been a year since jean called you his ‘little girlfriend’ now (just because you were almost a foot shorter than him) and although it was tough to handle it at first due to his popularity among girls (and well, you were the type to get jealous), he always went out of his way to reassured you that you were his one and only.
he made everyone talk about the two of you since the final basketball match against trost high school. when he was getting ready to shoot his ball for a three-pointer, he called your name out loud and said, “this one’s for you,” which invited gasps from your side of school (not to forget trost high school’s side, as they were already talking about your school’s point guard the moment they arrived at the court). even mikasa widened her eyes and looked at you, who were trying so hard to hide behind your can of coke and sour patch pack.
from that moment on, you began to get teased a lot, especially by your boyfriend’s teammates. mrs. zoe would also often teasingly call you ‘mrs. kirstein’ whenever they addressed you in class, that you began to think that his surname would look good on you.
since he was your first boyfriend, he was your first time too. though, you knew that you weren’t his. you decided that you were ready on the night he met your family for dinner at a hotel. you followed him home after the dinner and went to his room just so you two could have a privacy that you so longed for. and that was when the scent of his cologne and his looks seemed more intoxicating than ever.
he did not force you on it, though, which surprised him as you were the one to unbutton his white shirt first. “feisty, huh?” he smirked with his hot breath touching your lips. although your first time was sort of impulsive to you, every part of it was worth it, and your relationship with him just got more intriguing after that.
—
“do you want the burger or i can have it?”
jean asked, fazing you out of your trance as you looked through the glass walls of the diner. you chuckled and returned your focus to your boyfriend, who already finished his pancakes and bacon.
“what are you so hungry for?” you furrowed your brows, eyes still focused on the lean figure opposite from you. “coach hannes made us train so hard that we couldn’t have lunch,” he frowned.
his inter-school basketball tournament was about to begin again, and jean had been working harder than he ever did, as your school’s team lost against trost high school last year. this year, he was determined to win before moving on to college, as this was his “final contribution for our school,” you quoted him.
although you understood that basketball was his passion, your time with him was now limited. that was why whenever he had the chance to see you, he would. just like tonight, when he called to pick you up for dinner just to see your face and talk, because he needed to see you everyday before taking off for college, as both of you did not know if you would get the same college or not.
“well, you can have-“
jean’s face brightened up.
“half of it.”
he furrowed his brows towards you and pouted. “fine, still a burger anyway,” he took your burger and split it into half, almost effortlessly due to his strength. you laughed as you took your share.
*
you arrived in front of your house, and you could see your father watching the television from the window. you looked at jean, who smiled as he looked at you, his left hand tapping his steering wheel as he did so.
“i need to tell you something.”
your heart raced at that very sentence. you clenched your jaw and returned his smile, with your eyebrow perking up slightly.
“what is it?”
jean sighed, caressing your hair as he looked deeply into your irises. the fact that he had to delay his words made you feel like running away. anything could be on his mind, and you had no clue what it was.
“i have to fly over to georgia for my first game next week.”
you exhaled in relief, as it was not something you half anticipated it to be. you smiled and shook your head before reaching out for his strong cheekbones.
“okay.. and why the long face?” you asked.
“i would have to be away from you for four days. like, away away,” jean’s voice softened, his lips curved into a small pout. the distance was far, considering that you lived on the west coast and georgia was in the south.
you shook your head, disbelieving the fact that jean kirstein was clingier than you could have ever imagined.
“just four days,” you reassured him, and he leaned towards your palm on his cheek to give it a peck.
“just four days,” he repeated your words and nodded, before unlocking the car to let you get inside your house.
—
“that’s it?” you asked jean as he got into the passenger seat of your car, after loading your dad’s range rover with his black suitcase. you could feel the car shaking slightly as jean made his entrance, considering how tall and buff he was. jean could’ve rode the bus along with his teammates, but he kept on begging you to send him off to the airport instead.
“yep,” he smiled, resting his torso on the seat comfortably as he looked at you. you nodded before turning on the ignition. “let’s go,” you smiled, pressing the accelerator towards the airport, which was 30 minutes away from
jean’s house.
*
you wanted to accompany jean before he took off, but since you both saw your school bus as you drove closer towards the airport, jean decided that you should just go home, and that he would meet up with his coach and teammates.
“call me when you arrive,” you smiled in between the kiss that jean ignited. he was hesitant to pull away, but because time was envying the two of you, he gave one last peck before resting his forehead on yours. “mhm,” he nodded, his ashy blond strands brushing your temples as he did. he lifted his head slightly to kiss your forehead.
“i’ll keep you updated,” he smiled before getting out of your car to take out his suitcase from the trunk. when he was done, he waved and gestured for you to go, since it was already 9 pm and he wasn’t fond of you getting home late, especially when you had no one to keep you company.
your heart felt heavy as you departed from your boyfriend. “just four days,” you whispered to yourself as you eyed him from the rear mirror, still waving towards you as you drove away from him, opening the distance between the two of you yard by yard.
“kirstein. departure hall,” coach hannes shouted, gesturing his player to join his teammates. jean jerked his head up to see if you were really gone, and when he was definite that you were, he turned his back towards his coach and nodded.
*
at around 1 am while you were getting your homework done, your phone rang and showed a text from jean. you took your phone and read it.
‘i’m here, baby. good night <3’
you smiled stupidly in front of your phone, imagining his face if he said this to you right now. you replied with a ‘good night and take care, jean’ before continuing to stress over another calculus question.
—
you silently ate your caesar’s salad as your parents talked about college. your parents were excited about it, but you felt otherwise. you were scared of all the possibilities that would come with college, like being far from home, meeting new people, choosing a major, and the fact that you might not be in the same college as he would.
jean had already received a letter of scholarship from UCLA a few months ago, and you could tell that he would accept it, from the gleam in his eyes when he talked to you about it during lunch break in school. he was thrilled to say the least, for being able to be a part of UCLA’s Bruins. this was a huge chance for him to really make basketball his career, and you were in no way taking that happiness from him. you knew that his love for basketball came after his love for you; which meant a lot.
your father called your name, and you lifted your gaze to meet his. “yes, dad,” you answered. he smiled, taking a bite of his steak as he eyed his only daughter.
“how does NYU sound?” your father asked, an eyebrow perking up as he anticipated your answer. you sighed, slowly chewing on your salad before you swallowed it to speak.
“jean’s going for UCLA,” you monotoned. your parents exchanged glances, indicating that they probably knew you would mention about jean. your father was aware of jean’s scholarship, as jean talked about it when he was asked about his future during the dinner at the hotel with your parents.
“we know sweetheart, but NYU is great. after all, both of us were in NYU, remember?” your mother forced a grin as she spoked. you pursed your lips and diverted your eyes towards her.
“i remember,” you deadpanned. your parents knew that this would not be easy, because they were aware of how inseparable you were from jean and vice versa. at first, they were skeptical of jean as they knew that jean was popular among girls. however, after seeing how he always would make time to see you every day even after he had an extensive training routine, they knew that jean had an intense love for their daughter.
“cupcake, i know it would be hard. but if jean really loves you, he would try to see you when he has the time, right?” your father tried to convince you. your breaths now seemed forced, as you thought of the possibility of breaking up, moreover when you would be in the east coast while him in the west. that would take a long flight and a lot of money, and even if jean would be willing to do it, you wouldn’t have the heart to allow him to. he wasn’t from a wealthy family, he was just like you; someone who lied somewhere in between.
truth be told, you knew that there was a possibility of jean to move on. you somehow felt it, although you always denied yourself while you thought about it. because, let’s be real, jean could get any girl he wanted, so if he would be in UCLA where so many hot girls would surround him, why would he stay with you?
you sighed, trying to suppress the tears that were ready to turn your salad into soup.
“i’ll think about it,” you gave a thin smile as you answered your father. he simply nodded before returning his focus to his steak.
“just try to talk it out with jean, okay?”
you nodded at your father’s sentence as you nonchalantly chewed on the shredded chicken from the salad.
—
“how’s your place?” you asked, beaming at the sight of your boyfriend, whose mouth was full with chicken tenders he ordered from chick-fil-a. jean stood up and showed you around the living room of the airbnb his team had rented for four days. it was a three-story house with a modern yet cozy interior. you could distinguish connie; your boyfriend’s sidekick, reiner, bertholdt, and some other guys who were in jean’s team.
“it’s cool, but there’s no you,” jean pouted, making you roll your eyes and smile. “how about your room?” you raised your eyebrows. “oh yes,” he nodded before walking up the stairs, taking just 30 seconds to reach the next floor due to his long legs.
he showed you a bedroom that was just the size of what a regular bedroom should be, with a queen-sized bed placed in the middle of it, a dressing table and a three feet drawer next to the entrance of the bedroom door, a 42” television hanging on the wall opposite the bed, and a door which you believed would lead to the bathroom. there was a window on the opposite of the entrance door, and an air conditioner placed on top of it.
you could see jean’s familiar suitcase resting beside the nightstand, and you figured that he had the room to himself.
“you aren’t sharing this room with anyone else?” you asked. jean shook his head, he was now able to speak as he finished all his chicken tenders just a minute ago. “i reached this room first and treated them chick-fil-a in order to keep this to myself,” he said proudly. you chuckled, remembering the sight of the chick-fil-a paper bags on the dining table at the living room. “so that’s why you’re having chick-fil-a for dinner,” you smirked.
“yep,” he grinned and nodded, resting his head on the pillow of his bed as he eyed you through his phone screen.
“how about you, baby? how was your day?”
and with that question, your smirk faded. you wanted to talk to jean about this, but at the same time you didn’t know where to start. you sighed as you brushed your hair with your fingertips, and jean knew something was up.
“baby, you okay?” he asked, voice softened as he noticed the change in your mood.
you took a deep breath before thinking of the right words to ignite this topic.
“jean, what do you think if i go for NYU?”
jean’s jaw clenched at your words, he chewed on the insides of his cheeks as he looked at you, sighing.
“if you like NYU, go for it baby,” he forced a reassuring smile. deep down, you knew he was disappointed. after he had told you about his plans with UCLA, he did give out vague signs for you to join him. from the way he said “when we’re in LA, you and i can visit the staples center,” you knew that he had you on his mind when it came to college. but now, things probably would not become reality.
you shook your head as you sighed. “i wanna be with you,” you said, tone so low, jean knew you enough that you really did not want that to happen.
“we’ll work this out, don’t you worry,” he called out your name towards the end of his words, convincing you that long distance wouldn’t have a chance towards you and him.
you nodded slowly, eyeing him through your phone screen. if only he was here, you would have ran into his arms and buried your face in his chest. you knew that he would be able to live through that distance you might share, but you weren’t sure if you would be, too.
throughout your life, the closest person to you next to your parents was mikasa, and mikasa also had a plan of her own. she was aiming for MIT, and you knew she could do that; she was an einstein in your eyes. so if mikasa would head over to massachusetts, you would only have jean by your side, and now there was a possibility that you would be away from him too.
you lifted your head to look at the clock hanging on the wall of your bedroom, which showed that it was 12 am. you had checked the time difference between your place and atlanta, and jean should’ve went to sleep by now.
“shouldn’t you go to bed, jean?” you asked. he pouted as he heard your words, and you couldn’t help but to chuckle at his unwillingness to hang up on you.
“my training session is at 3 pm,” he said defensively. you smiled, eyes locked on his wet ashy blond hair, as he had just finished showering before he decided to give you a call while eating his dinner, as he “was so hungry i could even eat coach hannes.”
“and you voluntarily want to do 200 push-ups because you might be 5 minutes late to your last training session before the game?” you squinted, and when jean sighed, you knew that it was a sign of surrender.
“fine.. not like you wouldn’t like to see me doing push-ups, anyway,” he smirked teasingly, his right hand pillowing his head as he spoke, and you couldn’t help but to feel the butterflies in your stomach going wild when you noticed his large bicep. in order to hide your nervousness, you rolled your eyes as a response instead.
“good night, jeanboy,” you sang, inviting a grunt from him which made you laugh genuinely for the first time today. the first time you heard his mother call him ‘jeanboy’ when you followed him home a few months ago, you would not stop teasing him about it when you reached his bedroom. as a sign of protest, he gave you a silent treatment for 15 minutes, until he decided to make up with you again by tracing kisses all over your face and neck.
upon hearing your laugh, jean was relieved as he knew that you felt better. he smiled and shook his head. “good night,” jean smiled, singing your name at the end of his sentence. “sleep well, jean,” you scrunched your nose as you responded to his wish. he nodded.
upon ending the facetime call with jean, you placed your phone on the nightstand. your stomach grumbled, sighing as you thought of the chicken tenders jean had while facetiming you just now. as you heard your mother calling out your name and saying that the thai food she ordered had arrived, you practically jumped out of your bed, impatient to devour the fried rice that you could already smell from the upstairs.
—
right after training ended at 7 pm, connie, reiner, and bertholdt decided to drag jean along to cumberland mall, a mall which was just 10 minutes away from the court that their team had rented for practicing.
jean was dying to get to bed, as coach hannes was even stricter today. if any mistake was done, he would make the players run 70 laps around the area of the court, and that was why everyone felt so drained today. jean knew that their defeat last year disappointed the older man, but his method in coaching was extremely autocratic, that jean felt like giving up basketball and working at a fast food restaurant instead, just a few hours ago.
“why are we going there?” jean asked, yawning as he was sandwiched between reiner and bertholdt in the uber. connie eyed him from the rear mirror. “if you want to have shitty cafeteria meals as your dinner, you’re welcome to go home,” he monotoned, and jean grunted at his best friend’s sarcasm.
connie was right. jean was in fact tired, but he also didn’t want to go to bed with just some trash-worthy sandwich as his dinner, especially when tomorrow would be the big day. he unlocked his phone to see a text from you, asking if he was done with training an hour ago.
“just finished 10 minutes ago, baby. heading to the mall now for dinner,” he replied. just within two minutes, you responded to his text.
“alright, eat well! also, i won’t be able to call tonight, chem quiz tomorrow.”
he sighed upon reading your text. when days like this would come, he needed you to accompany him so he could sleep soundly. but since he knew that you were someone who took your studies seriously, he did not want to get in the way.
“alright, baby. good luck ;)”
upon locking his phone, the uber arrived in front of the main entrance of the mall. all four of them split the fare and tipped the driver before heading inside to find a chinese restaurant bertholdt had googled on just now.
*
dinner was heavenly for jean, that he felt as if his abs were fading due to how full he was. that’s okay, he would do 70 push-ups as soon as he would reach their airbnb soon. after dinner, they decided to walk around the mall and see if they could get anything as a souvenir. it wasn’t like californians like them would get to visit atlanta often, and they all agreed to get something for themselves, their family members, or even their girlfriends.
bertholdt, reiner, and connie practically drooled when they saw a huge sports outlet with a standing signboard in front of its entrance, which had ‘50% OFF SALE’ written on it in bold red. the sports outlet was just a few shops away from where they were standing. “what happened to souvenirs?” jean questioned, perplexed by his friend’s reaction.
“screw that. i wanna see if they have those obsidian air jordans so i can wear them for the game tomorrow,” connie said, half sprinting towards the sports outlet, followed by reiner and bertholdt. jean rolled his eyes, hands reaching for the inside of his sweatpants’ pockets for warmth. he continued his walk in hopes that he would come across a souvenir shop, and he lifted his brow as he saw a stall located in the middle of the mall, offering customized jewelry.
he walked over to the stall, and was instantly greeted by the middle-aged lady who was a saleswoman there. there was no one else hanging around the stall, so he figured that he should be able to have his orders made quick.
“hello, young man. we make customized jewelry. rings, bracelets, necklaces, and even hand chains for men like you,” the lady smiled, eyes watching jean as he looked at the samples presented upon him. there were rings with initials printed on them and necklaces with names as their lockets. there were also bracelets with shapes like stars and planets as their pendants. he immediately thought of your initial and his.
“how much time would you take for initials?”