𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐰 || 𝐄𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐱𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤!𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

-𝕋𝕨𝕖𝕝𝕧𝕖-

As the two of you hung up your aprons and nametags, as well as flick off every light in the place, you met Eren by the front door, which he held by the handle, waiting for you to pass through first.

"Thanks," you said, shrugging your bag on your shoulder.

"No problem." As the door closed behind him, he scotched his back up against the wall and slipped his phone from his pocket and slanted himself against the wall while you closed up everything.

You quickly locked up the door itself first. Then you shoved the next key into the keyhole to activate the security gate and watched it come down to the ground, so you could secure it at the bottom as well.

Eren lifted his head to once you stood up from your crouch.
"Oh," he uttered. His finger hooked onto the hair tie and stripped it away, resetting his hair to its natural state. "Thanks again for letting me use your hair tie." It dangled from his fingertips until you took it and rolled it back onto your wrist. Then he turned a step away from you. "See you," he raised a parting hand.

"Um?" It was loud and clear enough for him to stop and twist his head back. "And where do you think you're going?" You crossed your arms over your chest.

He blinked. "Home?"

"Uh-uh," you shook your head. "No, you're not. You're gonna stand up right here beside me and wait until Jermaine gets here so we can talk." You bucked your chin toward the space beside you. "I called him earlier to come to pick me up, so he should be here within the next 5 minutes. Less than that if he's speeding."

I have to stay? But why? His heart began to race. He didn't want to be here when you were gonna talk about his eye. "No, well--"Eren finished twisting the rest of himself to face you against and chucked his thumb over his shoulder. "The bus..." he buffered. "I gotta go stand for the bus." His hand fell back to his side. "It's late and I don't know when the next one might come."

"Where you live?"

His brain short-circuited for a moment to the point of him forgetting to answer. "Here? Ah--" His brain mixed up his answer as a question. "I meant here. I live here in the city."

"Okay," you shrugged half a shoulder. "That's not a problem. I'll walk you to the bus stop and stand with you if you end up missing this one."

"Nah, it's cool," he threw his hands. "Really. You don't have to go out of your way. I'm sure you can just talk to him on your own without-"

"You're not going anywhere," your chin tipped up as you spoke over him. "It's not up for debate. Get over here."

Eren's heart seized when he realized he was now locked out of options and excuses. The height in Eren's shoulders deflated in an instant. His insides? Churning like putty. And his feet? Turned anchors which he had to trudge inch by inch to close the 2-feet gap he made from you.

As he stood there beside you, the young male's lips folded while he forced his eyes to concentrate on the game on his phone. In actuality, though, his mind raced on the scenarios of how this would go down. What he just said, 'eff it' and flung him across the sidewalk? Just the mere thought caused his heart to do the same. Even his fingers stopped moving.

You glanced over curiously to the sounds and felt the need to ask, "what're you playin'?"

"Huh?" He cleared his throat from the sudden crack then glanced back to his screen. "Just Word Find."

The name didn't catch you at first, so you side-stepped a foot closer and tipped in to see. "Ooo," your lips curved to the memory the sight triggered. "I haven't played that game in a minute. What level are you on? 28?" One last 3-letter word was missing, and he had to find what it was using the 4 given letters below that spelled HEAR. He already had EAR, and ARE, so what was the last?