Chapter Text
You weren’t a morning person, not by a long shot, but growing up somewhere where the sun shined almost incessantly made you appreciate them a little more. Mornings were meant for warm things like waking up being held by a lover and a nice warm drink and lazy kisses as greetings—not the nagging pounding of a door.
Awareness kicked at your senses, and you took a quick inventory. You clearly weren’t in your own bed and the warm body pressed against yours was a gentle reminder of your late-night activities. Pushing your face into the back of your partner, you huff, “P the door.”
Pieck huffs, pressing further into your hold; if you weren’t a morning person, she was a worshipper of Hypnos. If Pieck did nothing all day, she would at least sleep. “Ignore it.”
“Pieck, open the door we need to talk! I got you food!”
Your eyes snap open, breaking the illusion of peace you were trying to build. Pushing yourself out of the warm sheets, you stumble around the room to gather your discarded clothes. Pieck watches you from her spot on the bed with tired but alert eyes “You don't have to leave (Y/N) I can send him away.”
You scoff in amusement “We both know you’re gonna take him back, Pieck,” pulling your shirt on, you clumsily climb into your shorts “But hey, in case you don’t, you have my number.”
It's stupid, and you know it's stupid to still offer yourself up as a backup plan, but you didn't really care all that much. You weren't that attached to Pieck romantically because, at the end of the day, you knew who she’d go back to, but that didn't mean you couldn't have your fun.
Leaning onto the bed, you give her a farewell kiss “Take care of yourself, sweetheart you got a good boy you’re both just stupid.”
Pieck huffs in that cute sleepy way of hers. “As you’ve told me—be careful hopping those fences ‘kay?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Dropping out of the window, you listen to her shuffle out of the room and down the hall to open the door. Shaking away the tiredness that still clung to your bones, you start the trek back to your house.
You're completely exhausted by the time you get home, having to scale multiple fences and then get chased by a dog left you kissing your bed the moment you got in. You don't even get to sleep that long because your mom ends up calling you and forcing you awake.
“Yeah, momma, I’m fine.” Sliding the phone into the space between your shoulders, you bend down to tie and pull the trash bag free from the trashcan. You don't know exactly how you’re functioning so well this morning, considering you’d woken up with a raging hangover, but honestly, you felt great.
“You sure? I know the house is lonely with just you in it.” Her voice sounds all nasally but warm through the phone speaker.
Stepping out into the open summer air, you hum. It felt wonderful, not too hot and there was a pleasant breeze going on. “Mom, I'm 21 I can take 2 months alone, plus Zeke’s here I’ll live.”
Zeke may have only managed your family's juice bar, but that didn't stop you from befriending the older man.
Throwing the bag into the bin, you dust your hands off, listening to your mother sigh. “I know, I know I just can't help but worry.”
Clomping back into your house, you slide up to the kitchen sink and wash your hands one of the few good habits you picked up. You weren't obsessively hygienic, but you haven't had any major illness since you were 14, so that had to stand for something. “Hey, I'm responsible!”
You weren’t.
Your mother clears he throat, not agreeing with your statement at all “Anyways, I have to go. Your father and I are about to ride a gondola!” You were a little bitter that you hadn’t been invited on vacation with them, but considering you could now party without being yelled at for coming home at odd hours, you'd count it as a win. It was the little things.
Grabbing your longboard, you locked the front door behind you and hopped off your porch “Have fun, tell the old man I said hey.” Your mother's laugh sends a flood of affection through your system as much as you played it off, it sucked to not see her after a long school year, but you’d get over it.
“Alright, love you.” She sighs longingly down the line.
“I love you too.”
As the phone clicks in your ear, you do a light jog before jumping on your board. You lived on a slight incline, so there was no need for you to build up too much speed; gravity would do that naturally. Skating down the asphalt, you put your headphones in, setting your music to shuffle. A familiar singer's smooth voice greets you, causing you to hum along to a song you know well. You were cruising, enjoying the nice breeze totally not expecting an arm to shoot out of your parent's juice bar to snatch you off your board.
You let out an undignified scream, only stopping to breathe when you saw who had grabbed you. “Yelena, what the hell?!”
Yelena didn't look it, but she had a bit of muscle on that thin frame of hers, clearly displayed by the way she was just casually holding you up off the ground by your waist. Plucking out one of your earphones, she runs a soothing hand down your cheek “Sorry, I knew you weren’t gonna stop.”
The pounding in your heart doesn’t get any better with her being so affectionate. You're sure she only does it to mess with you “So you don't flag me down like a normal person?”
“Where’s the fun in that?” She finally plops you down onto the ground and guides you into the shop. It was fairly empty, not many people walking around this time of day to crowd the registers, but you knew that lunch rush was coming and that would change. “If you weren’t so cute, I’d punch you in the face.”
She squeezes your hip with light affection “Adorable—but Zekes looking for you.”
Groaning, you push yourself away from her and sit on the counter “Ugh, for what?”
It’s not that you didn’t like Zeke; you loved Zeke. You just knew he was volunteering you for something you probably didn’t want to do, or else he would have come to find you himself. Yelena laughs at your pout, tapping your cheek lightly “I don't know; he just told me keep an eye out for you—he's at home.”
Groaning, you give her a small smile making her narrow her eyes at you “Make me a sunset paradise for scaring the shit outta me.”
“You got it, little boss.”
A sunset paradise was a mix of strawberries, pineapple, mango, and orange juice—and your breakfast for today since Zeke apparently needed you. She hands you the drink, and you immediately take a large sip while walking out the door “Oh fuck yeah, thanks ‘lena.”
“Welcome!” She calls as both a farewell and a greeting to a couple that walks in the door.
Stepping back out into the ocean air, you tread over to your discarded longboard and see some kids fawning over the stickers. Stopping next to them, you smile “Nice, right?”
They look up at you with wide eyes and nod. You didn't have that many younger kids in your family to dote on so you tended to be extra nice to any little kids that came in your path. Plus, they're kids; what kind of asshole is mean to kids? The littlest one tugs on your shorts while holding up her own sticker book “Can I put a sticker on it?”
Sipping on your smoothie, you nod “Sure, sweetheart.”
You watch them put various stickers on the deck, and then the littlest one motions you back down and puts a few on your cheeks. “Oh, why thank you.”
“Kids, cmon!” you hear what could be their mom calling out to them.
You watch them scamper off and laugh they were so freaking cute it made you sick “See ya round squirts!”
Sipping your drink, you weave through the slowly growing crowds of people. As much as you liked how naturally quiet your hometown was tourist season just brought more life to the place. Gliding across the pier, you turn to the left and cruise through Zeke's neighborhood. Despite being so close to the tourist spots, it was relatively cut off from everything else.
Turning into his driveway, you take note of the unfamiliar truck parked there and hop off your board, letting it hit the garage shutters. Walking straight into his house, you call out, “Zeke? Heard you’re looking for me—Shit!”
A tall boy with startling green eyes stared back at you from the kitchen. He looked a mix of amused and bored, but you couldn’t help but note that he seemed familiar. “Uh, is Zeke here?”
You hear noise from the backyard, and Zeke’s voice floods through the balcony door. “(Y/N) That you?” Walking that way, you see him messing around with his lawnmower. He glances over at you and grins at your disheveled state “Ha ha, you’re up early—thought you'd still be passed out in a ditch somewhere.”
“Oh, that's so funny; you know you have a phone, right? Why didn't you just call me?’ You ask while leaning against the doorway. He just looks up in a faux thinking expression before shrugging “I knew you would say no over the phone.” That makes you huff, and he finally gives up on the lawn mower and returns inside.
“Anyways, My baby brother and his friends, I need you to show them to the beach.” Zeke gestures to the three people sitting at his dining room table. “
You make a face “What the hell am I? A tour guide?” It's not that you actually minded, but Zeke could have simply sent you a text rather than all the theatrics. You got a year shaved off your lifespan for this? You didn't really mean to sound like an asshole, but who actually liked volunteer work??
Zeke raised his eyebrows at you “Hey, be nice—this is Eren, Mikasa, and Armin.” Eren and Mikasa give you slightly unimpressed looks while Armin smiles politely. As far as first impressions went, you weren't winning any awards. “This is (Y/N), local trainwreck.”
You push him away from you, laughing under your breath “You’re so mean to me, Zeke, I should fire you.”
Zeke smirks “Outta your jurisdiction—anyways, show them around the boardwalk or something. They're spending the whole summer here, and I won't be able to show them around.”
You sigh but eventually resign yourself to the role of tour guide. It's not like you were doing anything anyway. “Fine, whatever, you owe me.”
“Yeah, sure.” He sarcastically agrees and digs his pocket to pull out his wallet and hand you twenty. “By the way, what this I'm hearing about you cutting through Mrs. Grice’s backyard? She said she saw you climbing out of Pieck's window this morning. Care to explain?”
You pocket the twenty and shrug “Nope.”
Sure, you aren't making yourself look good in front of Zeke’s guests, but you also didn't know them, and they didn't know you, so who cared about their judgment? Zeke is also clearly not impressed if his expression was anything to go by “I thought Porco was your friend? His girlfriend, really?”
You shrug and look off to the side, accidentally making eye contact with the blonde at the table, who looks away almost immediately, his ears turning a little red “Me and Porco haven’t been friends since 5th grade, and he hasn’t been with Pieck for a month, we’re both free to do what we want.”
Again, you weren't winning yourself any points here.
Zeke just makes a face and glances at his little brother before looking back to you “Oh, you and Eren are gonna get on just fine.”
Eren makes a sound in offense, not expecting to be called out in any capacity “Should I take offense to that?”
You give the green-eyed boy a rather innocent look “I'm really lovely, so I would say no.” This gets Eren to laugh
“Anyways, we can go now if you want. I'm not really doing anything.” They all share a look before shrugging in agreement. “You guys got any place you really wanna see?”
Mikasa nods and walks with you out the front door “Anywhere that's not a tourist spot.”
“---And the beach.” Eren cuts in, “ Armin’s been talking about it all morning.”
You nod and make a thinking face “Ok, we’ll walk; traffics a bitch around this time.” Snatching your board up, you decide to walk with them rather than ride beside them, knowing that can come off a little rude. “It's kinda hard getting lost out here since there's signs everywhere and everything’s pretty affordable on the pier, but you do better eating local.”
Since they were Zeke’s company, you didn't mind telling them where all the good things were. You point out all the places they can go while on the residential streets and explain how to get back to Zeke’s place
You lead them back to the main road, and just like you knew, the streets were crowded with tourists. Keeping them on away from the throngs of people you turn back to Mikasa. “You guys are from Paradis, right?” You stop them at a crosswalk “We get a lot of people from down there maybe you’ll have some friends pop up.”
“(y/n)! Hey!” You hear once you cross the street.
Your face lights up when you see Pieck sitting on the hood of Porco’s car. He was nowhere to be seen, but that didn’t mean he was too far away. “Hey, sweetheart.”
“Come hang?” She makes a gesture near her mouth insinuating she wanted to smoke and you shake your head. “Nah, last time we “hung” your boyfriend tried to fight me.” You could feel the curious glances the three were sending your exchange but ignored them.
She laughs and shrugs “It is what it is, who’s your friends?”
You gesture to them, “Zeke’s folks, we’ll talk later though!” You say trying to keep your impromptu tour going. The moment you turn away from her, you make a face that makes Armin laugh a little. You continue guiding them along the sidewalk, slowly leaving behind the tourist spots. “The pier is where all the tourists will be, but we have other shoppes and such out past the boardwalk.”
“Arent we supposed to head to the beach.” This would be the first time you heard Armin's voice, and it was probably the nicest thing you’d ever heard. Looking over at him, you note you’re around similar heights but you are taller than him. Smiling over at him, you take note of how his face is turning a bit pink “We are I’m just taking you away from the crowds.”
He nods and looks away briefly “Cool.”
Taking a sip of your basically empty smoothie cup, you herd the group to the juice bar “Alright, lemme drop off my board—you guys thirsty?”
Armin answers quickly before the other two, much to Erens amusement, “I could go for something to drink.”
It was a little busy, leaving you to swiftly navigate the growing crowd without bumping your board against someone. Spotting your extremely tall friend, you whistle to get her attention. “Yelena! I need three drinks and a refill!”
She eyes your new friends curiously before giving you an incredulous look “We don't do refills, you know that.”
Shrugging her off, you move past her to the back rooms “Is my mom's office unlocked?”
She manages to answer you in between ringing up customers. “Yup.”
Barging into the office, you carefully sit your board down you take in your mother's comforting scent, her office always smelled like her perfume and that air freshener plugin by her desk. You were a little hurt about her and your dad not thinking of you for their vacation but wouldn’t say it.
When you eventually rejoin the trio, they have their smoothies and an extra one just for you. You take the cup appreciatively and send Yelena a look “I'll come back and help once I'm done with them.”
She nods. It's not like she was struggling there were two other workers there, after all, but any help was appreciated.
It takes a while more but finally, you get them to the beach. It's pretty empty so far from the boardwalk, and you can see their eyes light up. “Now that my job is done, I’ll be off you ever wanna party, ask Zeke he should know where I am.”
You turn on your heel almost immediately but get stopped by Armins slightly raised voice calling out for you. “W-wait!”
Pausing, you raise your eyebrows at him, not really expecting it, all things considered. “Yeah, blondie?”
“Can I get your number? Just in case we need anything?” He sounds completely nervous, and if the smirk Eren has on his face tells you anything then the taller boy definitely pushed him to it.
You feel something stir to life inside of you like a lion being roused from a nap in the sun. You could tell when someone was attracted to you, and he clearly was. You would be keeping your eyes on him for sure.
Pulling out your phone, you hand it over to him easily with a grin “Sure, sweetheart.”