Chapter Text
Seated hunched over, pencil in hand, scribbling nonsense on the lined paper in front of you, the murmur of students faded as you drowned in the thick and thin grey lines that traced the paper. The hand that your face leant against withdrew to wipe the build up of sweat on your blue mom jeans.
Leaning back and sighing, you observed the collection of doodles spread across the sheet of paper on top of your tiny desk. The drawings ranged from cubes, to stick-men, and the "cool s" that everyone drew in middle school.
Placing your pencil down, you cracked your fingers one by one, before readjusting the baggy collar of your grime covered white knit sweater. Gaining consciousness of your surroundings, the chatter of your classmates took over your ears.
One particular shrill voice made you bring your shoulder up to your ear and rub harshly. You looked at the window next to Mr. Ackerman's desk, taking heed of the pristine snowfall. February's chilly weather brought frequent unexpected, hard to read snowy weather, a perfect pair with the start of a new semester which so far resulted in incomprehensible lessons and an enigmatic teacher, Levi Ackerman.
Only on your fifth day of semester two, you developed a dislike for a certain person in your fourth block History class. Hitch Dreyse, who unfortunately sat directly behind you, happened to not know the concept of a conversation. You only ever heard her talk amongst her friends, and any sign of a new voice was always overtaken by Hitch's shrill, outspoken voice.
Despite Mr. Ackermans continuous efforts to tell her to stop talking, she still chatted, loud as ever. You often wondered how members of her friend group handled her. Christa Lenz, the sweetest, kindest girl you knew in class, concealed her irritated mood with smiles and laughs.
Jean Kirstein, known for his cocky and blunt personality, appeared to reduce to a mere chicken anytime he was around Hitch. He never made attempts to shut her down, nor inform her of her obnoxious persona. Probably because Hitch's presence was so exhausting and overwhelming to others.
Floch Forster couldn't care less, as he only inputted himself into situations that were, according to him, "meaningful," and "ideological."
The only person who ever made an effort was Ymir. She straight up sent death glares to Hitch, which the latter was oblivious to, and her confrontational personality often resulted in childish remarks being passed back-and-forth between the duo.
At last there was Eren Jaeger. You had known Eren for a few years as your best friend Mikasa Ackerman's brother. Despite never being close to him, or ever holding conversations that exceeded a few words, you knew he was a pretty open-minded person. He was all for "speaking your mind," and supported the idea of individual liberties to a huge extent. Perhaps that is why he was known as the "trouble child" or "rebellious sibling" amongst his family. Due to those views, Eren joined with Floch in that matter, remaining silent and unbothered.
As for you, you believed it wasn't your right to tell her to shut up. It's not like you were friends with her, although there was a time where you both once considered each other dear. That is a story for another time though.
You had to admit, her conversations were interesting at times. Many of her statements were made to catch Eren's attention. It was uncertain whether others caught the same realization, but as you were quite an observant person, it was obvious to you that she liked Eren.
Her pick-me personality seemed at an all-time high in History class. She would go to the extent of comparing hand sizes, and asking Eren if she could braid his hair. Though Eren seemed unfazed.
As someone as popular as him, it was normal to have girls drool over you. Even with all the offers he would get, and the continuous flirting he would experience, he always brushed them off. He wasn't a player, nor was he known as the "bad boy." He never led any girl on, and you respected him for that. By all means, he was sneaky, witty, and rowdy, but overall you considered Eren to be sincere and genuine.
Maybe that's where you stood because that's the Eren you knew from Mikasa's eyes. Who was to know the real him though? Certainly not you. Your relationship with Eren was nothing really. Simply put, he was your best friend's brother. Neither of you acknowledged each other in class, hallways, or at the Jaeger family home. At the rarest of occasions you would say "hi, but that was only when Carla was at home and would force Eren to greet the guest.
So that is where your relation with Eren stood, nothing more, nothing less. None of you expected to be more, nor had any interest in developing into something more.
"L/N," a deep voice spoke. You felt your heart pound in your chest and somewhere down below. Lets just say you had a thing for men calling you by your surname. Resting your phone screen against the textured desktop, you turned around and directed your sight to the fierce, but sweet, honey coloured eyes. Your heartbeat slowed once your gaze fixated on a friendly smile.
"Do you have a pencil?" Jean asked. You smiled and gave a slight nod before reaching back for your red polka-dot pencil case. Opening the zipper, you dug through the collection of colourful markers, highlighters, and pens before finding a decent looking mechanical pencil. You tested the led to see if it worked, and once you were satisfied you scooted your chair back, stretching out your arm and passing Jean the pencil. He gave a quick "thanks" and sent you his million dollar smile. You gave a close mouthed smile and returned to your original position.
A much needed exhale left your mouth as you lifted your phone to check the time. Ten minutes left, you thought. From behind you, you heard Jean scolding Floch for not being able to understand a math problem, followed by Hitch's very much unneeded laughter.
"I can't believe you were using a pen this whole time. Who the fuck uses pen for math?" Jean said disappointingly. You couldn't help but quietly chuckle. From Floch's end you heard very subtle sniffles. "Dude are you crying?"
"N-NO," Floch replied with weak assertion. Jean scoffed. "Math is hard okay!" From the reflection of your black phone screen you saw Jean place a hand on his forehead stressly. Hitch attempted to calm the situation by adding her input,
"Just use PhotoMath." Jean lifted his head from his hands and gave her a "are you serious" expression. Floch on the other hand pulled his phone out, but Jean quickly snatched it away.
"You can't use PhotoMath for world problems, idiot. Even I know that" Ymir intruded.
"Don't be mean, Ymir," Christa said, shooting a look of disapproval in Ymir's way. Hitch looked like she was ready to chastise Ymir, and even took a deep breath, ready to go off, before Eren intervened,
"Ymir's right." He took this as an opportunity to get off his phone, and tuck it into the pockets of his black jeans. Eren crossed his arms over his chest and leant against the back of his chair.
"Oh right! Nevermind, don't use PhotoMath guys!" Hitch agreed in a flash. You rolled your eyes. Of course she would agree with whatever Eren said. The girl was practically at his feet, begging to be seen and heard, day after day.
Oftentimes, you felt bad for her. Even with her numerous efforts, Eren overlooked her clear liking for him. Ymir and Christa exchanged quiet words before simultaneously standing up and heading towards Mr. Ackerman's desk. Hitch stared at them as they left and lazily pulled her phone out from her Lululemon leggings, swiping through her notifications.
You heard a loud sigh leave Eren's mouth as he leaned towards Floch's desk. His long, slender fingers glided the math sheet closer to his body as he squinted his serene blue eyes. A few seconds of silence passed as Eren gently traced the tip of his fingers across the words, reading the world problem.
"This is easy stuff," Eren told Floch. He grabbed the mechanical pencil out of Floch's hand and started guiding him through the steps to solve the question. Jean released a huff, and looked in your direction. You felt a blank stare against your back, before hearing the aggressive pushing of a chair, and heavy footsteps finally coming to a stop by your desk. You looked to the right and saw Jean plop down beside you.
"Hey," he said. You put your phone down.
"Hey," you replied. Jean looked behind you at Floch who was loudly expressing his success in finally understanding how to solve the question he was struggling with. That was quickly cut off with Eren pointing out that what he just "understood" was basic long division, and that there was more to the question. Jean shook his head and rolled his eyes before settling them on your E/C coloured ones.
"I was gonna tell you that I won't be coming to peer tutoring on Tuesdays and Thursdays cause I have basketball practice now." He continued, "So you're gonna be on your own." Jean sent you a sympathetic look.
"Ugh. I'm gonna be stuck with all the middle schoolers." You complained, tossing your head back in agony. Jean laughed.
"Well actually there's probably gonna be more high schoolers cause it's the last semester and everybodys tryna get their grades up," he said in an effort to cheer you up.
"I guess that's not so bad," you smiled. Your phone screen lit up with a message from your close friend Sasha.
Sasha❣️
COME TO LCOKERS
I HAVE SURPISE
Jean snickered at the message, and you picked up your phone to reply. While doing so, Jean asked,
"So, what do you think of Ackerman?" He tilted his head towards your left indicating Mr. Ackerman, your History teacher. Since you were still replying to Sasha's message- trying to explain that you couldn't come right now because there's no way the teacher would allow it- you missed Jean's movement and thought he was talking about Mikasa.
"Why? You still tryna hit?" You quipped, and lifted your head to look at him and were met with a confused, perplexed look.
"The fuck? I'm talking about our teacher, Mr. Ackerman," he paused.
"-Shit, I'm so sorry. I thought you were talking about Mikasa." You bursted out laughing and Jean joined in as well.
"Nah I'm over her." You swear you saw a look of pain flash over his face.
Meanwhile behind you, Eren had finished explaining the question to Floch. He mentioned that there were only two minutes of class left, and tossed Floch your mechanical pencil. Floch pointed out that it wasn't his pencil and nodded his head in your direction.
He then proceeded to lift his arm up preparing to throw it your way. Jean saw his movement and tapped your knee with the back of his hand, signalling that Floch was returning your pencil. You turned around prepared to swiftly catch it, but all efforts were deemed useless when the pencil came flying a good two metres away from your spot.
You and Jean both watched the pencil land right next to where Mr. Ackerman was sitting. Ymir, who was engaging in a conversation with Mr. Ackerman, instantly shot her head back squinting her eyes, and inspecting every individual. Christa, who was next to Ymir, reached down to pick up the pencil, but the teacher stopped her. The deadpan History teacher grimaced and pulled a tissue out of its box, followed by picking up the pencil with the tissue wrapped around it, and tossing it into the trash bin next to his desk.
Your beloved mechanical pencil ultimately met its death.
"Holy shit, I didn't think he was being serious when he revealed that he was a germaphobe," Jean claimed.
You were skeptical about your teacher being a clean-freak, which he revealed on Monday, however the dozens of disinfectant sprays and sanitizer bottles, as well as the event that just occurred, cleared all doubts.
The sound of Eren's giggles brought you back to reality, as you faced the culprit next to him. Jean twisted his head back and aggressively whispered to Floch,
"What the fuck was that aim?" You gave Floch a nasty look and said,
"You owe me a pencil," to which he replied,
"I'm sorry Y/N." He brought a hand up to nervously scratch the back of his neck. Eren wrapped his hands around his stomach and tossed his head back, laughing uncontrollably, giving everyone a display of his annoyingly sharp jawline and sparkling white teeth. You wanted to snap at him but decided not to; only because he’s your best friend’s brother.
"This is why you didn't make the basketball team," Jean snapped at Floch. Floch's mouth fell open, as Eren continued laughing, tilting his chair back, and almost falling before grabbing onto Floch's shoulder for support. His smile immediately faded from embarrassment. You looked at him and brought a hand to your mouth, attempting to suppress laughter. The corner of Jean's mouth twitched as you both looked at each other and turned back to the front.
Ring Ring
At the spur of moment, the dismissal bell rang. You quickly put all your belongings in your bag and tossed it over your shoulder. Students began rushing out the door, blocking out Mr. Ackermans protests of staying six-feet apart- which is absolutely absurd because it's not like there's a pandemic or anything.
Jean returned to his desk and began packing his belongings. You headed to his desk and stood in front of it, watching him. He began zipping his bag and threw it over his shoulder once he was done.
"Walk me to the lockers." You ordered. Jean smirked before looking at Eren's direction.
"Jaeger." He called. Eren paused his conversation with Floch and looked your way. 'I'll meet you outside." Eren's eyes flickered to you for a split second before resting on Jean's. He gave Jean a quick nod. Jean tilted his head towards the door, signalling to head out.
As you both made your way down the stairs he asked,
"Did you pass the Food test?" You scrunched your eyebrows and looked at him.
"Obviously," you laughed. "Everybody passes the Food test." Jean remained silent. "Did you not?!" You asked in shock.
"No no no, I passed too," he laughed. You smiled. "Barely though..." The both of you simultaneously laughed.
"Sasha's internet friend helped us out, that's the only reason why I passed." Jean looked down at you and made a confused face. "Some dude that graduated two years ago from here.'' His mouth formed an "o" shape.
Jean and you had been good friends for about two years now. You both went to the same middle school alongside basically everybody else in the same grade as you. Your friendship started to develop at the start of tenth grade, when you both took up peer tutoring. He would always stay after school helping out other students, and so would you. The two of you had different schedules the first three years of high school, but currently in your senior year, both of your schedules are just about aligned. Foods and History are the only classes you both share, but after-school activities, and mutual friends bring the two of you closer.
You both turned into the locker hallway and spotted your friend group. Mikasa, Annie, Armin, and Connie were huddled around Sasha's locker, dressed in winter coats. Lucky for you, your locker was right next to Sasha's, so you made your way towards the crowd, Jean following.
"Hey guys, how was gym?" You greeted, your right arm leaning on Mikasa's shoulder. She turned her head and gave you a close-mouthed smile, which instantly turned into a subtle scowl when she saw Jean. You internally chuckled, knowing that Mikasa found Jean annoying. The others turned to look at you.
"Boring. We played lacrosse." Annie said nonchalantly. You raised your eyebrows and gave a look of sympathy.
Looking down at everyone's hands you saw Halloween treat bags. As your eyes surveyed everyone's hands they came to a stop at Sasha's seated figure on the ground. She seemed to be digging through her locker for something, paying no heed to your presence. You glanced up at Armin who gave you a "don't ask" look.
"Found it!" Sasha snatched something from her locker and hastily stood up. "Oh Y/N you're finally here!" She shoved a treat bag into your hands with much force, which caused you to slightly stumble back into Jean and take your arm off Mikasa's shoulder.
"What's this for?" You asked. Sasha, who was currently chewing what looked like two, three, Starbursts, said between chomps,
"I found leftover Halloween candy," She began to choke and Connie started smacking her back in an attempt to clear her throat. Everybody watched them in surprise with a look of cringe. As Sasha regained her composure, she noticed Jean and reached into her locker to toss him a candy bag as well. He caught it flawlessly.
"Thanks," he said, to which Sasha replied with a nod (because she had already stuffed her mouth with more candy). "Dude you didn't come to practice yesterday. It was the first one." Jean said, looking at Connie who was digging through his treat bag, not realizing that Jean was talking to him.
Annie kicked him in the shins to get his attention. Connie immediately reached down to massage the sore spot and gave her a nasty look. She nodded in Jean's direction and Connie looked up at him. Jean stared at him waiting for a response.
"What practice?" Connie questioned. Jean rolled his eyes.
"Basketball practice dude." Connie's eyes went wide. He stared at Jean in silence for a good five seconds.
"I made the basketball team!?" Connie shouted. Everybody brought their hands to their ears due to Connie's unnecessarily loud voice.
"Yes! They put the results on the boys locker room door," Jean answered. Connie's mouth went wide open. He immediately shoved his candy bag into Armin's arms in an aggressive manner and ran towards what everyone assumed was the boys locker room. The whole group- except Armin who had a slight scowl on his face- began laughing at the sudden movement.
"You guys literally have gym last block, how did he not see the poster?" You said. Just as everyone's laughter died down, you saw Connie sprinting towards you guys from the opposite side he left from.
"I MADE THE TEAM," he yelled. Connie brought up his hand, high-fiving Sasha who was squealing. He then began giving air kicks and air punching Annie's way. His fists came dangerously close to Annie's face but she remained undisturbed and stared at him. "YEAH BABY."
Connie then instantly stopped. "Shit, I'm gonna miss my bus!" Sasha's eyes and mouth went wide.
"Oh no me too!" She realized. Armin instantly tossed Connie his treat bag, and Sasha urgently slammed her locker shut. She gave quick "byes" to everyone before sprinting off with Connie. You and Mikasa shook your heads and looked at each other with wide smiles on your face.
"I need to leave too," said Jean. Everybody's heads shot to him, as Jean looked down at the message he got on his phone. "Eren's such an impatient ass." He immediately realized what he said and looked at Mikasa, putting his hands up in defence. "N-No offence."
The corner of Mikasa's lips twitched, as she looked down, slightly blushing. You observed her unusual behaviour and made a mental note to tease her about it later. Jean sped off towards the front doors.
"We're gonna leave too guys," Armin said, with a slight smile on his face.
"Okay, see you guys Monday!" You said. Armin and Annie headed out, side by side. You observed their invisible intimacy which brought a smile to your face.
The two started dating at the start of the year after continuously denying feelings for each other all of high school. You considered their relationship development an enemies to lovers type of transition.
As you heard, in elementary school, Annie would constantly tease and bully Armin. To say the boy was scared of her was the least. Apparently, Armin would fake being sick to avoid seeing her.
At the time, Eren, Armin, and Mikasa were the perfect trio, so whatever problem Armin had was dealt by Eren, but to be honest it was mostly Mikasa. Eren would confront Annie with no plan whatsoever and end up butt-hurt. Mikasa acted as the mediator and tended to keep tensions low. She was never directly involved in confrontation but she tried to keep them both apart.
Then came middle school, where Annie's bully behaviour curbed. She would still use her power and terror to get what she wanted, and Armin was usually the victim. During this time, the trio began distancing. Armin and Mikasa remained close friends, however Eren began mingling with other people.
This was also the time where you met Mikasa. She introduced you to Armin, and from there you all became friends. Armin was left to deal with Annie on his own, since Eren distanced himself, Mikasa tended to stay out of drama, and you were a pussy.
Despite Annie's numerous teasing and harassing, Armin continued to bear it and never once snapped at her. You were certain that Armin's actions must've sparked something inside Annie because she suddenly stopped her rude behaviour. Instead, she began completely avoiding him.
Eventually, during shared classes they began friendly chatter- which was mostly one-sided because Armin was the only one attempting to talk. One thing led to another and they became good friends. Annie began spending more time with your friend group, and the chemistry between Armin and her became more thick when you all entered high school.
Anyways, now they're dating and happy and that's all that matters. Armin must have a degrading kink or something because you still don't understand how he could soften up to Annie.
"You ready?" Mikasa asked. You were Mikasa's ride for most of the days as Eren started picking up and dropping off Jean, and Mikasa did not want to be present during those times.
"One sec." You rushed to your locker and quickly put in your code. Mikasa stood beside you, hands in the pockets of her purple winter coat. You grabbed your coat and slipped your arms through it. "Okay, let's go." With your foot you shut your locker and walked towards the front doors with Mikasa, excited to go home and enjoy your Friday evening.
"So, about Jean," you started.