♬⋆.˚"She doesn't know who I am, and she doesn't give a damn about me."♬⋆.˚
⟡Pairing: Eren Jaeger x Female!Reader (2000s AU)
⟡Synopsis: After a brief (and slightly awkward) encounter on the playground with the school's biggest crybaby, Eren Jaeger, he became utterly enamored with you. With that being said, you seem to have totally forgotten about that day, about him. He just wants you to look his way one more time. :(
⟡Content Warnings: Not really anything crazy going on, possible implied bullying, Eren's kind of a creep, but it's not too bad (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶)
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The loud, shrill shrieks of the rusted swings, the sun beating down onto the pavement, and the sound of children running around filled the air. It was recess, and school was almost out for the summer. You were thrilled, everyone was thrilled.
You were sitting with your friends under your designated tree (because every friend group had its designated tree), sitting comfortably against the large trunk with your nose stuck in a book. It was a random book, one of those that none of the other kids even glance at in the library, but of course, you did, to no one’s surprise. Your eyes were glued to the pages, the discussion between your friends about which boy on the playground was the cutest simply becoming background noise as you completely immersed yourself. That was until, of course, someone had to disturb your peace.
You jumped slightly after hearing a thud beside you, shortly followed by loud sobs. Peeking up from your book, you find yourself staring silently at Eren Jaeger, who had obviously just somehow toppled to the ground right in front of you due to the way he was lying on the grass, his knee scraped and bloodied. The girls sitting around you begin turning their noses up, letting out quiet giggles. It was evident that he was definitely not considered the cutest boy on the playground.
You slip your bookmark between the two pages, gently closing the book before carefully setting it down on the grass. Eren watched you with a puzzled gaze as you stood up, offering your hand to him. His sobs and whimpers quickly halt as he blinks, a few stray tears rolling down his chubby cheeks. His curious and slightly guarded eyes meet yours before he hesitantly takes your hand.
“Are you okay?” Your quiet words finally break the silence, and he immediately straightens his posture, nodding his head vigorously. “Just a scratch…” His shaky voice mutters, as though he totally didn’t just cry his eyes out in front of you.
“Really? You were crying, really loudly, actually.” Eren cringes at your words, his bottom lip quivering. He couldn’t help that he was sensitive…anytime he felt any sort of strong emotion, the waterworks just flooded out. “It’s okay if you’re not…you hit your knee pretty hard.” The reassurance makes him pause and look down at his knee, blood trickling down to his beat-up sneakers.
You look back down at his wound, offering him a sympathetic smile. “Maybe you should go to the nurse.” He remains silent, staring at you with a dumbfounded expression, causing you to shift uncomfortably. “Uhm…do you need help? I can walk you there.” You watch as his eyes light up at your suggestion, nodding so enthusiastically you thought his head would fly off.
You reach down to grab your book, just in case you find yourself in the nurse's office for longer than anticipated, ignoring your friends' judgmental looks and hushed whispers. You knew what they were talking about, Eren knew too. It was no secret that Eren Jaeger was weird. ‘Unique’ is what you would call him, though none of your friends really knew what that meant; they always said it was a word only your big books used. He definitely wasn’t an average kid; that much was evident when your teacher paired the two of you up for your solar system model project, and he cried because he hated how the foam balls felt on his fingers. You didn’t really judge him for it, though; you were more frustrated that you had to paint them all while he only labeled the planets.
He let out a few sniffles as you walked with him, occasionally sneaking glances your way, thinking you wouldn’t notice. But you did, you noticed everything, and you definitely noticed the way he would blatantly stare at you from the back of the classroom.
“Does it still hurt?” You pipe up, desperate to reduce the awkwardness between the two of you. Your efforts proved to be pointless when he simply nodded, looking down at the colorful tiles that lined the school’s halls. “Maybe the nurse will give you some medicine.” Another attempt to get him to say something, anything, but he simply nods again.
After what felt like hours of endless uncomfortable sniffles and pointless questions, along with your silent regret of even offering to walk with him, you finally make it to the nurse's office. You look up at him with a surprised expression as he holds the door open for you, though the exchange is cut short as he quickly looks away from you, only his pink-tipped ears visible. The cool air of the nurse's office hits you as you enter the room, for some odd reason, it was always freezing in there, and you weren’t the only one to notice. Eren’s dark brows knit together as the cold air hits his wound, causing him to wince slightly.
The nurse, an older, wrinkly woman, who ironically is the complete opposite of a caring and compassionate caretaker, swivels around on her chair to look at the two of you, her naturally hostile expression hardening as her eyes land on Eren. “What do you need?” The two of you tense up at her malicious tone.
Eren looks at you, silently begging you to speak. You purse your lips together before sighing, “He scraped his knee…ma’am.” The nurse lets out a scoff, already reaching into the nearby freezer for an ice pack. “He can’t speak for himself?” Both of you remain silent and unmoving, as though if one of you slipped up in the slightest bit, you’d both be punished.
The nurse sets an ice pack down on a nearby table, turning her attention back to whatever was much more important on her computer than her job. With hesitation, you pick up the ice pack before hurriedly walking out of the room, Eren at your heels. The two of you sit down on the chairs outside of the office, the ones that the really sick kids have to sit in when their parents have to come pick them up. The idea that a kid who threw up their peanut butter and jelly sandwich from lunch previously sat in the seat you now sit in made you feel a bit queasy. You hand the ice pack to Eren, wiping your numbed hand off on your jeans.
“Thanks.” He speaks quietly before placing the ice pack on his knee, letting out a quiet hiss. The two of you stare silently at his knee, watching as the freezing cold water drips down his calf. “You’re…very nice for helping me.” Eren, much to your surprise, finally speaks when unprovoked. You pick your head up to look at him, though he keeps his eyes glued to the ice pack like it’s the most interesting thing he’s ever seen.
“No one else was going to.” Your blunt words cause him to flinch, which makes you pause. Was that mean? You weren’t trying to hurt his feelings. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it in a bad way.” Eren shakes his head as his grip on the ice pack tightens. Your teeth gnaw at the inside of your cheek, the only sound in the hall being your hands running up and down the denim of your pants.
“I can walk back to class by myself.” Eren huffs in offense, at least that’s how you hear it. You’re having a hard time reading his emotions, partly because his shaggy hair is covering most of his face.
“Oh…okay.” You respond, your tone coming out slightly disappointed. But you don’t get up, not yet. The two of you sit in silence for a few seconds longer, neither of you quite sure what the other is thinking. After finally snapping out of whatever trance you seemed to be in, you get up from the uncomfortable plastic chair, your book still held snugly against your side. Eren doesn’t budge, though you swear you saw his shoulders dropping with dismay. Without another word, you begin walking off, glancing at the clock above the nurse's door. Recess was over; it had been over for quite a few minutes at that. You hug your book to your chest as your shoes thud against the tiles. A part of you felt bad for leaving Eren behind. Would he be okay to walk back on his own? Though now that you’re really thinking about it, he didn’t seem to struggle too much on the way there.
You stop in front of your classroom door, lightly knocking on it to signal your arrival. After only a few seconds, your teacher opens the classroom door, looking down at you with a displeased expression. “You best be glad your friends knew where you went. You come to me next time you leave that playground, understand?” Your cheeks flush with embarrassment, you had completely forgotten to ask for permission to even go to the nurse. You nod quickly before swiftly making your way to your seat, silently hoping that all of your classmates weren’t actually staring at you and it was all a figment of your imagination. But you sat in the very front of the classroom, of course, everyone was staring at you.
Throughout the rest of class, you continuously glance behind you, in the direction of Eren’s seat, which remained empty the entire class period. You heard the teacher muttering something about an ‘office referral’ over the phone, and your heart dropped. It wasn’t for you; you never got in trouble, but you knew who it was for, and you couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty. You scrambled to your feet as soon as the bell rang, signalling that the school day was over. Your heavy bookbag weighed on your shoulders as you hurriedly made your way out of the classroom, not even stopping to tell any of your friends goodbye. The guilt was eating at you, and walking by the visible water droplets on the floor beside the two chairs in front of the nurse's office, where both of you sat earlier, didn’t make it any better.
He wouldn’t be upset, right? He got office referrals all the time; it was nothing new. It wasn’t even your fault; he should’ve watched where he was going. Or maybe he should’ve just brushed it off; it was only a scraped knee. Or maybe you should’ve brushed it off; it was only a scraped knee. You sulk as you exit the school through the front doors, not even bothering to hold the door open for the other kids exiting behind you. The only time you look up from the ground is to double-check that your mother’s car was the first in line, waiting to pick you up like always. You open the car door, ignoring your mom’s pestering questions about how your day was as you turn to face the car window, your bottom lip poking out as you try to ignore the tight feeling in your throat and the nausea settling in your stomach.
You were sensitive, you couldn’t help it, the same kind of sensitivity that made everyone avoid him at recess, the same kind of sensitivity that made his classmates walk past his desk when the teacher instructed everyone to pick a partner, the same kind of sensitivity that made Eren Jaeger so weird. But you weren’t like him; you had friends to play with at recess, you had classmates who would immediately look your way when pairing up was mentioned in class, you weren’t weird. At least, you told yourself that, and you were very good at pretending.
・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・
Ten years. It had been ten years since you and Eren had spoken for the first and last time, had looked at each other, had walked beside each other, but surely not ten years since you’ve thought about each other. Oh, no. Absolutely not. You’ve thought about each other every single day, well, at least he’s thought about you every single day.
It was hard not to. You stayed on his mind ever since that day he tripped and fell on the playground. Although now, you were an intelligent young woman, ready to graduate high school and begin the successful life that has already been mapped out for you, rather than the little girl who always sat beside that big tree with her nose stuck in a book. Actually, you still did that too, which he only knows because he decides to take the long way to work every day, the route that conveniently passes through your neighborhood, by your house. The number of times he’s almost swerved into the ditch or wrecked into a car driving in the other lane is comical. How is he supposed to explain to the cops that he was too distracted staring at some girl whom he’s been enamored with since third grade?
“Don’t overthink it, Eren, just talk to her.” That one sentence was one he had been hearing since that day, after he had told his best friends, Armin and Mikasa, how the cutest girl with the highest grade point average in the school walked him to the nurse. But they were wrong, they were so wrong. Sure, Eren was obsessed with you, knew your entire schedule, knew all of your relatives, and knew things about you that others wouldn’t even care to learn, but he was still realistic. You hadn’t spoken a word to him since then, hadn’t looked at him; he’d bet money that you hadn’t even thought about him. Why would you? He turns in mediocre, half-assed work in every class, which shows in his even more mediocre grades. The only times he leaves his house are to go to school, work, and occasionally hang out with his two best friends.
He was a loser; there was no way around it, everyone knew it, and he knew it too. The kind of guy who everyone expects to drop out and work a part-time job for the rest of his life while still living with his mom, spending his ‘hard-earned money’ on video games, comic books, and action figures. You didn’t need a guy like that. If the human race were going extinct and you two were the only ones left, he wouldn’t bat an eye if you chose a slow, painful death over him.
Eren was abruptly snapped out of his thoughts as the bell to the door of the video store chimed. Oh, right, he was at work. He straightens his posture, something his boss previously instructed him to do since management had been getting complaints about his customer service. “Welcome in.” He mutters unenthusiastically.
“Don’t sound too happy to see me.” Armin peeks his head from around the shelf that’s placed right in front of the door. Eren’s earlier irritation dwindles as he relaxes, watching his best friend make his way to the front desk. “Oh, hey, Armin.”
“I thought you were off today. You seemed like you were in a good mood in class.” Armin props his elbows against the counter, his chin resting in his hands. Eren was in a good mood in class today, but not because he had the day off, but because that was the one and only class he had with you. It was art class, nothing special, there’s no way he’d ever make the cut for all those college-level classes like you and Armin. He remembered overhearing you talking to your friends about class schedules one day at lunch, his heart fluttering when he watched you become so enthusiastic about your art class. He also remembered immediately turning to Armin and Mikasa, demanding that the three of them also take art. Mikasa declined, stating that her elective class was already reserved for drama, but Armin agreed. It’s not like he was planning on speaking to you, or sitting at the table you were quietly sitting at when he walked into that classroom for the first time, but something inside him shattered when he saw none other than Jean Kirstein plopping his obnoxious, horse-faced, idiotic ass right next to you.
Luckily for him, Jean had come down with the flu and had been out the entire week, serving him right for sitting beside you. “Jean hasn’t been in class the entire week, yeah, I’m in a good mood.” A cheeky smile tugs at Eren’s lips. “She looks so radiant when that bastard isn’t breathing down her neck. There’s just no way he’s actually interested in her work, a guy as shallow as him who doesn't have the complexity to even begin to understand her art.” Armin looks at Eren with an unamused expression as he rambles, simply letting out a low exhale in response.
“What? You don’t think so?” Eren’s tone becomes defensive. “He’s not good for her, he’ll never be. I bet he doesn’t even know that she loves classic literature, and that The Odyssey is her favorite.”
“No, he probably doesn’t, because you’re the only one who stalks the poor girl.” Armin quickly butts in, causing Eren to freeze. “It’s not even a little crush anymore, Eren. It’s getting creepy.”
Eren scoffs, shaking his head in disbelief. “You don’t get it. I’m not being creepy.” He grabs a box of DVDs from the bottom shelf of the retail counter, huffing as he sets it down on the countertop. “You don’t give Mikasa this much shit about that girl she's been gushing over.”
“Maybe because Mikasa actually talks to her on a day-to-day basis? Unlike you and your…soulmate.” Uncomfortable silence fills the store before Armin speaks up again. “Are you ever going to talk to her? You know she’s moving off for college, right? What then? You just gonna stare at your ceiling at night wishing you said something while she’s moving on with her life?” Eren’s entire body tenses up at that, at the reality of it all. You were moving, soon at that. It was April, and next month was graduation. Then come those lousy three months of summer break, and then August, when classes would start. Armin’s displeased expression softens slightly as he sighs. “Don’t you think this is kinda unhealthy? It’d be different if you spoke to her…if the two of you were at least acquainted…but you’re not. It’s only messing with your head, she’s not going to magically decide she wants to be with you for the rest of her life, y’know?”
“I know that, Armin.” Eren runs his hand through his messy brown hair. “She’d never even think about going out with a guy like me. Even if she did, do you know how many people would probably talk her out of it? I’d only mess things up for her.”
“Just try talking to her. We literally have a class with her. Why don’t you…uh…compliment her art? Since you’re apparently some kind of complex and emotionally intelligent guy who fully understands the true message behind her meaningful pieces that she works on in her high school art class.” Eren glares at Armin, though there’s no real ill intent behind it.
“That’d be weird.” Armin rolls his eyes at the blunt statement. “Oh, puh-lease. You know what’s weird? Ogling her for the entire duration of class from the back of the room. You think she doesn’t notice? She’d probably appreciate it a lot more if you spoke to her.” Eren’s cheeks redden with embarrassment as his eyes dart around the store, desperate to find anything to save him from this conversation.
“I don’t ogle her. I…admire her.” He mutters.
“Yeah, ogle…admire…whatever, you do both. Either way, it’s weird.” Armin pushes himself off the counter, stuffing his hands in the pocket of his oversized hoodie. “Let’s make a deal. You talk to her tomorrow, and then me, you, and Mikasa can throw a celebratory pizza party.”
Armin’s ‘deal’ earns a chuckle out of Eren. “That’s so not a fair deal, dude. You’re just saying that because you wanna throw a pizza party.”
“I’ll pay for the pizza. And we can get Dr. Pepper instead of Coke this time.” Eren looks at him expectantly. Armin sighs. “Fine, and you can play as Scorpion in Mortal Kombat…and I might let you win.”
“Deal,” Eren smirks smugly, his previous dejected mood quickly brightening. “Only if Jean isn’t there tomorrow.” Armin holds his hand out, smiling as Eren grabs and shakes it.
“Jean would get off on knowing this entire deal is reliant on him not showing up for school tomorrow.” Armin teases, his smile widening when Eren snatches his hand away from him.
“Shut up. I don’t give a shit about what that prick does. He just needs to mind his own damn business.” Eren shakes his head as he goes back to the box of DVDs in front of him. Oddly enough, he’d rather do his job than even think about Jean. “Now leave so I can close.” He swats his hand at Armin.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m going. I’ll see you in class tomorrow.” Eren remains silent, letting out a long, weary sigh after hearing the familiar jingling from the bell above the door. No way he actually just agreed to finally speaking to you, after ten years, especially for a damn pizza party and Mortal Kombat character privileges. He was such a loser.
⟡Yayyyy finally posted chapter 1!! Tysm for being so patient and supportive!!! ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡
