The Ereri Project!

Lunch ( Senior Eren)

The first other resident Eren meets is Armin; who he is incredibly excited to see.

He looks much different than Eren thought he might if he ever saw him again.

His hair was long and the parts that would have framed the sides of his face were back in a bun, shiny and silver and more perfect than most other old people he's ever met.

He has glasses now and slightly better fashion sense but he's still small and skinny liked he'd been when they were younger.

If his knees didn't ache he would've run over to the old man. "Armin!" he says excitedly.

The used-to-be-blonde man scrutinizes Eren for a moment. "Eren?" Armin asks.

Eren grins and nods. "How've you been, man?" Eren asks, sitting beside his old best friend.

"Pretty great," Armin replies. "Even though I'm wheelchair-bound these days. You?"

Eren shrugs. "Too stubborn to let my legs waste away without me."

Armin smiles. "That sounds like you."

"So where have you been? The last time I saw you, you were getting ready for a trip to backpack in Europe right after we finished college and then I never heard from you again."

"Sorry," Armin says. "The only people I called or wrote to were my parents when I left, I guess. Once my trip was over I couldn't stay in one place for more than a couple months at a time and I had started writing a lot, I don't know if you've seen my novels?"

"I have."

"I climbed some crazy, tall mountains, I lived in China for a year, I lived in India for a couple months, I taught yoga for three months in New York and then four in San Francisco. I took care of lions and bears at a zoo for a while, I went to the Amazon to go see all those crazy things. And then suddenly I was old and living in our hometown again teaching Literature at the local college and swing dancing in my free time until my legs stopped working."

"Wow," Eren says, smiling. "You've been busy."

Armin nods. "Unfortunately."

"Hm?"

"I didn't know I had kids until they were adults because I moved around so much so often," he says absently. "What about you, what've you been doing?"

"Well, I taught kindergarten for a few years, then elementary school for a few more while I was working on my Master's Degree, and then middle school while I was working on my Doctorate before going to teach at a University. Got married, had a couple kids, got a divorce. Since the divorce I've dated around a lot though so it wasn't lonely. Things have just been pretty quiet. I read all your books."

"All of them?"

Eren nods. "Right after the divorce, in the period of time when I wasn't quite ready to date yet I spent most of my time reading. Your books helped the most I think because it was your words so I could pretend you were there helping comfort me through all that."

Armin smiles. "Glad to know those things could help someone."

"Okay everyone!" Zoe says. "It's lunchtime! Get to the tables."

Eren is glad to see he's not the only one without a walker or a wheelchair, there's a familiar looking Asian woman with a red scarf who seems to be walking just fine as well.

However, he's also sad to see there's a man with tons on freckles missing an arm and a leg with burn scars on one side of his face sitting at the long table as well.

He's laughing at least, talking to the man sitting beside him.

"That guy's Marco," Armin tells him. "He and that guy next to him, Jean, are both veterans." Armin points to pair at the far end of the table sitting by themselves.

"That's Annie and Bertholdt, they used to be social with the rest of us but since their friend Reiner died about six months ago they only talk to each other and Dr. Erwin." Armin points to a small group all chatting with each other. 

"Those women are Hannah and Mina and those men are Thomas Hannah's husband Franz. Over there, that woman who refuses to take potatoes from Mike is Sasha and her husband Connie and the tiny woman with them in Historia." Armin smiles at the woman walking toward them.

"And you ought to recognize this person."

"Eren?" the woman with the scarf asks, her voice is coarse; probably from a lifetime of cigarettes. "Is it really you?"

Eren has to stare at her for a moment before he eyes widen. "Mikasa?"

He's out of his seat in an instant, hugging her. Mikasa grins into his shoulder. "I thought I'd never see you again!" she says.

"Me either!" he says.

Zoe walks over. "Not to break up the love, but I can't get the food cart around you if you're standing," she says.

"Sorry," Mikasa says and sits across from Eren and Armin.

"Well what happened to you?" Eren asks. "After you're parents..."

"My uncle took me in," she says. "It could have been a better arrangement but it also could've been much worse. He wasn't mean to me or anything, I just didn't get much attention, had to start working immediately out of high school. That nurse over there, the short one with the black hair is my son."

Eren's eyes widen, glancing over at Levi. "He's your son?"

Mikasa nods. "Good boy, likes to pretend he's not as sensitive as he really is. Gets that from me though." Eren shakes his head.

It figures the first person he ever had real feelings for produced a child he has an immediate attraction to.

"Levi!" Mikasa calls. "Mama has to smoke, can I have my cigarettes?"

Levi shakes his hand, taking a pack from the pocket of his scrubs. "I told you, you need to quit Mom."

Mikasa shrugs. "I've only got a few years left in me baby," she says, taking the pack. "Let an old woman have one of her pleasures."

Levi just shakes his head as she walks to the back door to smoke.

Eren watches Levi while he goes to finish dishing out food. Armin smirks at his friend knowingly.

"I know those eyes," he says.

"What?" Eren replies, not having paid attention.

Armin giggles at him. "You like Mikasa's son, don't you?"

"Yup," Eren replies, smiling. "He's cute."

"Well, he was married for five years before he came out of the closet and divorced his wife," Armin says.

"That was ages ago so who knows what's going on in his personal life now."

"How old is he?"

"Let's see," Armin say. "Mikasa just turned seventy-two, she had him when she was twenty-seven so he's probably forty-five or so."

"Great," Eren says. "He's not way too young."

"Well," Armin says, patting the back of Eren's hand. "Good luck. He's a tough nut to crack."

"Thank you," Eren replies.

When Levi walks over to put their lunches on their plates, Eren is not shy about pinching the short man's butt when he's walking. "Eep!" Levi accidentally exclaims, his ears going red.

Zoe and Mike both turn to stare as Eren and Armin both burst into bouts of laughter.

Armin holds out his hand for a low five under the table as Mikasa walks back in, confused. "What just happened?"

Levi continues working, shaking his head as muttering to himself.

Eren doesn't miss the slightly pink tint to his cheeks as he goes