Circles | Eren x Reader

Chapter 48- Bad Cook:

(Y/N)'s POV:

Jean and I walked down the paved streets back to my house, the sun shining in our faces, despite the winter weather. At first, it was quiet. There wasn't much substance to our conversation as we made our way down past the park. Eventually, however, I was pleasantly surprised to see Jean opening up again. Of course, I still wasn't completely at peace because of what Ymir had told me. Jean, as good as he was at hiding it, was still struggling to cope. Not with losing my love, but falling prisoner to his own insecurity. As he spoke, he said one thing, but I heard another.

"Yeah, that test was absolutely awful. My grade was crushed the moment I handed my paper to Shadis," he said.

"I loved you. You broke me."

"I couldn't have done that bad, right? I guess I should have studied more."

"It's my fault though, isn't it? I should have been able to pull you away."

"What if my grade drops to a C? How am I going to recover?"

"What did he do that I couldn't? Why am I not good enough?"

"Do you think Shadis will let me do extra credit?"

"How could you hurt me like this, (Y/N)?"

"So, what were you planning on making for the potluck?"

"I hate myself because of you."

"(Y/N)?" Jean waved his hand in front of me. We had reached my doorstep. I hadn't noticed.

I snapped my head up, "What did you say?"

"Sorry, I must have bored you while rambling about class," he grimaced. "I was asking what you wanted to make for Ymir's party."

I unlocked the door and led him inside. "Let's see what my fridge has to offer. We can go from there."

After lots of searching, we found some vegetables and chicken. I was still living alone in the house and it had been awhile since I had went grocery shopping.

"So... What can we make with this?" Jean asked, waving around the packaged raw chicken.

"Don't do that!" I scolded. "It'll, uh, mess up the chicken."

"Will it really? You don't sound very confident in your answer," he smiled.
"I don't know! But, don't wave it, just in case."

"I think—"

"I think—" We spoke at almost same time, me just a second behind. "Uh, sorry, you go ahead." Idiot!

"No, it's fine. You go," he said politely.

"Well, uh, I think we could cook those vegetables with the chicken— with seasoning, of course— and just have a bowl of cut up chicken and veggies. Is that a good idea? I'm not a very good cook either."

"Yeah," he said, nodding his head. "That sounds like a good idea."

We rushed around the kitchen, Jean adding the spices I brought for him to the chicken while heating up the pan. Once the oil had started to bubble, we threw on the chicken and waited. So far, everything had been going well, although Jean had mostly been listening to my directions. When it came to cooking, he was certainly not an independent thinker.

It was already dark outside from the winter weather and I was starting to get chilly. "I have to go upstairs and grab a jacket," I said. "You watch the chicken."