Just This Once || Erenxreaderxjean

32

A/N: The following flashback relates to the argument Jean mentioned in chapter 18 (for anyone confused).

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about 2 weeks ago...

Jean grasped the doorknob to his front door, pushing it open and stepping inside.

It'd been so long since the blonde had been home, the familiar scent of his house immediately relaxing his shoulders as he crossed the entryway.

"Jean? Is that you?!", a voice shouted from the kitchen.

"Yeah ma, I'm home!", he shouted back, slipping off his shoes.

The boy made his way to the kitchen, where he found his mother icing cupcakes.

Jean took in the scene of flour and icing littering the countertops, as if his mother had set off a grenade in the cupcake batter.

"Ma? What is this?", he asked, gesturing to the many cupcakes that had already been frosted.

Mrs. Kirstein looked up from her work, and frowned at her son.

"You rotten boy. You can't even tell your mother hello? I don't even get a hug?"

Jean scoffed, hiding a smile, having long ago learned to roll with his mother's seemingly aggressive nature.

He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around his mother, squeezing her in a bear hug.

"Hello ma. Now, why have you destroyed the kitchen?", he teased.

His mother smacked him on the arm with her spatula. "Watch it, boy. Or else you're grounded."

Jean held his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay."

He watched as his mother continued her work, icing the cupcakes in neat swirls.

He had missed her much more than he would ever admit, especially since the old witch was such a pest.

Sitting down at the bar, Jean dipped his finger into the bowl of icing, and quickly popped it into his mouth before his mother could see.

"So are you going to tell me what these are for?"

Jean's mother side-eyed him, having already suspected that he was dipping his unwashed hands into the frosting.

"The Ackermans are moving back to town. I thought I would bring them cupcakes since-"

"What?", Jean blinked.

"Oh don't act stupid, Jean. You know the Ackermans. You used to be friends with Mikasa before they moved", his mother said.

Jean wasn't sure he was hearing her correctly.

Mikasa?

She was moving back to town?

"Anyways," Mrs. Kirstein continued, "I was going to bring them some cupcakes to welcome them back once they get to town. I was also thinking of inviting them over for dinner, since you two used to be so close."

Jean's hand tightened into a fist, clenching the material of his sweatpants.

"What?", he repeated.