Circles | Eren x Reader

Chapter 26- Madeleines:

The next morning, oddly enough, I met up with Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie to put the finishing touches on our project. It was about how to build stronger walls surrounding underdeveloped communities. (Yes, I am aware of how strange of a project topic that is, but Annie was insistent on the idea.) We met up at my locker to organize our papers before we handed everything in. I could feel Eren's teal-green eyes piercing me from a few spaces down. I sighed. Maybe I'll just give it to him right now, so I won't have to worry about it anymore. Plus, the situation would be fairly simple to explain to Annie, Reiner, and Bertholdt. They were pretty good at keeping secrets. Or, at least keeping it on the down-low— I mean, not like there's anything suspicious going on, but I know how teens can be.

"Would you three mind, really quick? I have to return this—" I pulled the navy-blue clump of fabric out of my locker. "—back to Eren. I can explain in a minute."

They nodded with an expression of confusion. I balled the sweatshirt up in my hands and threw it at Eren before I reached him.

"Okay, goodbye, now," I said, turning away. I saw my three group members trying to look over here inconspicuously. I rolled my eyes.

Eren caught my arm and pulled me back to face him: "Did you wear it at all?"

"No. I have plenty of perfectly good jackets at my house," I replied.

"I heard you kissed Jean," Eren said bluntly, teal-green eyes peering into my soul. Mikasa has really rubbed off on him... When I failed to reply he continued, "Was it any good?"

"Yes," I sneered. "What's it matter to you? We aren't friends."

"Hm... I suppose not. So, are you and Jean a thing now?" Eren asked.

"No. It was a spur of the moment thing. We haven't seen each other since." (Y/N), stop talking.

Surprisingly, Eren released my arm. "Okay. Thanks for the sweatshirt."

'Okay'? What the hell was that supposed to mean? I thought as I walked back to the group.

"(Y/N), what was that all about?" Reiner asked.

"Why'd you have his sweatshirt?" Bertholdt prodded.

I wasn't sure why, but my face flushed. Annie swooped in to help me: "Eren left it on the field. I saw it, but I was too lazy to care. (Y/N) picked it up on the way home to give it to him today."

I gave Annie an expression of gratitude.

"Oh. Seems reasonable enough," Reiner and Bertholdt agreed.

Per usual, Jean walked with me to my locker after Shadis' class. He didn't bring up anything that happened yesterday, nor did his physical interactions with me reflect anything that happened at the roller rink. I appreciated that. It seemed that Jean didn't want to push it, which was ideal because I wasn't in the mood for any potential PDA.

At the lunch tables, he sat on my left, with his arm lying on top of my seat— but that was typical Jean behavior. Same with the arm around the shoulder and pushing and flicking stuff. Sasha and Connie never mentioned anything. They must have gotten the gist that there was nothing official going on with Jean and me. I thanked them in my head.

I never spoke to Eren after our encounter at school. Not even over text. It seemed that I had become boring again. Either that or Eren had finally accepted defeat. I doubted the latter— it would be quite out of character for Eren to give up so easily. Although, Levi did mention that Eren would probably back off if he knew Jean and I were together. However, I had just told him we weren't, so wouldn't that mean he planned on coming back? Wait. Why was I looking forward to the idea of seeing him again?

After the first full week of not conversing with Eren at all, two weeks were left until Historia's birthday, and the afterparty was going to be hosted at my house. She invited everyone: including Levi and Hanji and... Eren, as well. I wasn't sure why. They weren't friends, after all. In fact, she couldn't even gather up the courage to walk up to him to invite him. She told Mikasa about it instead, to have her relay the message. Perhaps, being the loving and wonderful angel that she is, Historia invited him out of the kindness of her heart.

One week turned into two, and I still had not seen or heard from Eren at all. Sure, I'd see the back of his head from my desk in class, but he had not looked over at me once. Not at lunch, not in the halls, not even at soccer practice. It was starting to annoy me.

Why do I care? I asked myself. He means nothing to me. He's irritating, always stresses me out, and only gives me attention when he can get something out of it.

But, what annoyed me even more was that I missed it. I missed the random late-night texts he'd send; and part of me wanted to repeat that dinner we had together in my room. The boy that I originally couldn't stand talking to had become the only person I was dying to converse with. I guess I wanted to be friends more than I had thought.

I spent a lot of nights lying awake in bed thinking about him. He and Jean, of course. I couldn't stop flicking my thoughts back to my kiss with Jean at the roller rink. He was so... enticing? Forward? I couldn't describe it. It was like he was someone else. For a few moments, Jean was no longer passive, and he took what he wanted. Not to the intensity of Eren— but Eren was a manipulative, unfeeling dickwad, so I didn't mind that it took Jean a few steps to get there. I was hoping that, at some point, Jean and I could share a minute in the closet, if you know what I mean. Although, I doubt it would play out anything like it did with Eren. Stop it. This isn't a competition. You like Jean. You kissed Jean— for real. It wasn't on a dare or revenge scheme. It was real.

Something beeped. I sprinted out of my bed across the wood floor to my phone, which was charging on my desk. It was Eren.

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xxx-xxx-xxxx

do u still want those Madeleines?

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I was ashamed at how quickly I responded: "I guess so. They were pretty good."

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xxx-xxx-xxxx

cool. i left a bag outside your house

enjoy ;)

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I scrambled down the stairs to the front door to pick them up, hoping to catch a glimpse of Eren. But he had already gone.

(A/N~ Hey y'all, hope you enjoyed the update!! I'll try to get the next set out by Friday. Thank you so much for reading and commenting, it makes this so much more fun for me. Love you all! Stay safe and take care of yourselves! ❤️❤️)