Chapter Text
Eren closed the door behind him and stepped into the familiar appartment he shared with Armin and Jean. He layed the bouquet of flowers he just bought on the coffeetable and then let himself drop on the couch without saying a word. On the couch across from him sat Armin who looked up from his book. Eren noticed it and looked back at him. The look in Armin’s eyes practically asked ‘again?’. But then Eren noticed his best friend’s smug grin.
“Awe, flowers for me? For the fourth time this week? You really shouldn’t have.” Armin said with a teasing tone in his voice. Armin’s smug grin intensified after he dodged a pillow Eren threw at him.
“Well, I certainly didn’t buy them for Jean.” Eren felt more annoyed than amused. And as if called Jean walked out of his room. “Ah, you’re here too huh?” Eren scoffed.
“You can always leave Jaeger, I sure don’t mind.” Jean gestured towards the flowers on the table. “You’re an idiot. You’ll never get there like this” Jean said as he rolled his eyes.
“It takes one to know one” Eren snarled
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.” Jean put on his Jacket and headed for the door. “I’m heading out. Gonna do homework with Marco. Bye”
“Sure… homework.” Eren replied, but Jean was already out the door and quickly closing it behind him. “Calling me an idiot, what was that supposed to even mean?” Eren said as he stood up to get a vase for the flowers.
“Eren, he could’ve phrased it differently but he wasn’t exactly wrong. Sorry to say it but you’re not gonna get that girl to like you this way.” Armin said watching Eren with a look that he saw often enough, a look that told him his best friend saw right through him. Why did he even bother trying to hide anything from Armin? They had known eachother for longer than Eren could remember. It didn’t help Armin was one of the smartest people Eren knew.
He groaned a little in frustration while filling a vase with water. Even if he didn’t want to, he had to admit they were right. He had been at it for weeks now and had spent more money on it than he cared to think about. He couldn’t help it though. The day he saw her he just had to get to know her. This beautiful, dark haired girl he saw when he passed by the flower shop one day. She had the most beautiful, black hair and her face, her smile, the way she moved just hypnotized him.
His trance was interrupted by Armin. “You’ve been buying flowers every single day for the past few weeks, but I bet you don’t even know her name.”
Well, he was right. Eren still didn’t know anything about her so he could do nothing but shake his head in response.
Armin sighed. “Eren, why don’t you just talk to her?”
Eren looked up with a face full of disbelief “Are you kidding me?” Eren had put the flowers in the vase and put them on the counter. He walked back over to the couch, leaning against it. “And what am I supposed to say? 'Hi, I’ve been buying flowers everyday to see you, by the way will you go out with me?’ Something tells me that won’t work.”
Armin chuckled “It’s a start, but maybe leave out that first bit. You never know untill you try.”
Eren remained silent, romance had never really been his forte. He liked to think he was smooth and all, but he was just proven otherwise.
“Just do it.”
“Alright, we’ll see, buddy. I’ll be in my room if you need me.” Eren replied
Armin gave him a quick nod before returning to his book.
Was Eren really gonna do it though? Over the years he had learned to listen to Armin, he was never wrong. But still, there’s a first time for everything right? At least Eren hoped so.
The following morning Eren struggled to get out of bed, which wasn’t unusual, but today it was more difficult than any other day. He hoped that after a good night sleep his nerves would have calmed down a little.
As he stepped out of his room and made his way to the kitchen through the livingroom he noticed Jean’s shoes and jacket were still gone. So either Jean had left really early or he stayed at Marco’s. Eren suspected the latter of the two. He got into the kitchen and was greeted by Armin.
“Good morning Eren. Or should I say good afternoon?”
“Hey! I still woke up earlier than usual.” Eren groaned.
Armin shook his head but he was grinning. “So Eren, are you gonna do it today? If so, you might wanna hurry up. You slept so long they’ll probably be closing soon.”
Eren sighed “Give me a break will you? I just woke up.” then he made a simple and quick sandwich before stuffing it in his mouth. He made his way over to where his coat and shoes were on the other side of the room, near the door. “I’m gonna go for a walk.”
Armin immediately got a look on his face that almost screamed 'yeah, right’.
“Don’t even start about it.” Eren said, but he couldn’t help smiling just a little. He put on his shoes and made his way out the door.
“Good luck buddy!” Armin said just as Eren closed the door behind him.
As he made the short walk to the flower shop Eren’s mind was racing at a thousand miles an hour. Was he really just gonna go talk to her? What should he say? “Damnit, why does this have to be so difficult?” he mumbled to himself. “She’s just some random girl, right?”. But he knew that if he needed to ask himself that the answer was most likely 'no’. “What if she doesn’t work today? I mean, she usually does but you never know.”
No matter how he tried, he just couldn’t quiet his mind and he had pretty much run out of time. He was now standing in front of the shop and through the window he could already see her. He stood there for a bit, working up the courage to go inside. He couldn’t take too long though, didn’t wanna be caught staring; that would probably only add to the embarrassement.
It was now or never.
Eren walked up to the door and went inside, the by now familiar ring of the small bell by the door signalling to the employees that the door had been opened. The girl looked up and a bit of a smile came up on her face as she saw Eren walk over to her.
“You’re early today.” the girl said jokingly “Usually you don’t stop by untill late in the afternoon.”
Eren paused for a moment “Yeah… well, I have the day off so I thought I’d stop by sooner. That’s not a problem, is it?”
“Not at all” the girl replied. “I probably shouldn’t, but you come here so often. May I ask what your name is?”
“Uhm.. Eren.. my name is Eren” The question kinda surprised Eren, but also brought some relief. He was getting somewhere. “So uhm… what is yours?” He paused for a second but quickly added “If you don’t mind me asking?”
“I’m Mikasa.” the girl said with a smile before turning around “Wait here, I figured you’d stop by so I went ahead and picked a nice bouquet for you.” Mikasa proceeded to pick up a beautiful bouquet consisting of roses, lillies, poms and some other flowers. They both walked over to the counter on which Mikasa carefully laid the bouquet.
“It’s really beautiful.” Eren said feeling a little bit of shyness.
“I’m sure your girlfriend will love them.” Mikasa replied.
Eren looked up with his eyes wide open. Her comment had caught him completely off-guard. “I… I uhm… I don’t have a girlfriend. I’m.. I’m actually single” he only just managed to reply.
Mikasa smile quickly disappeared from her face, her face turned red like her scarf. “Oh.. I’m sorry.. I just figured because you bought flowers so often you had someone special in your life.”
Eren felt his face turn just as red as hers. He didn’t think he ever felt this stupid. Why didn’t he think of this before? He also realized what Jean and Armin meant. He didn’t mind Armin being right, he was used to that. But Jean? Eren was never gonna hear the end of this.
His trance was broken by Mikasa’s quiet voice. “So.. who do you keep buying flowers for then?”
Oh great, what was he gonna tell her? That he did it to see her? Was he gonna be honest? He just as well might, this probably couldn’t get worse right now.
Without looking up Eren replied softly “Well, I did it to.. well.. just so I could see you.” His cheeks felt like they were on fire. Carefully he looked up at Mikasa.
She was now looking at him with a face full of surprise.
“I thought I was being smooth about it… yeah, nothing could be further from the truth.”
Mikasa let out a small laugh “I can’t disagree with you on that.”
Eren just groaned a little.
“But.. I also think it’s kinda cute.” she said.
Eren looked up at her again and he couldn’t help but smile. “Well, then it’s money well spent on a very beautiful girl.”
Mikasa giggled “You’re a dork, Eren”
Eren rolled his eyes “So, what would you say about going out with me? Maybe get some coffee tomorrow? Or whenever you’re free.”
“Tomorrow sounds lovely. I live in the appartments across the street from you. I see you walking every morning. Appartment 27. You don’t even have to bring flowers, I see those enough on a daily basis.”
Eren chuckled “I’ll pick you up around 2pm, okay? And I’ll just leave this bouquet here then.”
“Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Mikasa said as Eren notice her smile widening and a sparkle in her eyes.
“I can’t wait.” Eren said as he headed through the door. Once outside he let out a big sigh of relief. He was still never gonna hear the end of this back home, but he didn’t care anymore. He waved at Mikasa as he passed the window. Her face still a little red as she waved back at him.
“I should’ve listened to Armin sooner.” Eren said to himself.