Big Little Secret

Chapter 2

2. Helper

After that, things went pretty smoothly.

You had apologized to Mikasa and told her what had happened, how Professor Jeager had kindly given you a second chance and you had to work hard to get good grades because of that. You had left out the part where you had hugged the man, you knew she would get sad and overthink it while you did it just because he looked miserable and for nothing else.

You had completed the first three assignments successfully, you tried to be as organized as possible and stayed up almost all those nights to study and write, it was exhausting but rewarding every time you received Professor Jeager's emails telling you that you were doing very good and even praised some of your works.

You didn't exactly know why, but hearing encouraging words from him made you feel appreciated and inspired you to work even harder for some reason. But you brushed it off as the sense of satisfaction after working so hard.

"Are you sure you've been sleeping enough?" Jean asked as soon as he sat down next to you. "Your eye bags are terrifying, seriously." He poked at your cheek with his finger and you groaned tiredly.

"I've been studying, dumbass." You said before grabbing your notebook, Professor Jeager had just started his lesson and you were absolutely not into it. You were aware of the difficulties of studying both at school and at home, it was as if your whole life had been sucked away and you only had one thing on your mind.

You didn't even know how someone like Mikasa could be so good at everything with so little effort and, to be honest, you were already sick of all that hard work and wished you could just relax and do all the work later. Surely your professor wouldn't fail you if you sent one of those assignments a day later, would he?

But no, that card had already been used way too many times. You couldn't depend on his generosity anymore, let alone screwing your last chance to prove him wrong.

Your ex-boyfriend stared at you intensely, as if he was trying to study your body language and expression. But again, what kind of expression could a sleep-deprived girl have? "Damn, you look like you're going to pass out any minute, have you tried listening to some asmr? That always helps me fall asleep."

You frowned. "I don't have a sleeping problem, Jean. I simply don't want to sleep so I can get my work done."

"That sounds like a sleeping problem to me." He poked at your cheeks again. "You are pale like a zombie."

"Glad to hear your compliments this morning." You rolled your eyes at him.

He grinned. "I mean, you're still hot, just the tired kind of hot." He joked and you snorted. "Hey, if you come to my place tonight, I could help you with whatever you have to do, and then we could sleep while watching a movie together, how does that sound?" He winked and you wanted to hit him in the face.

Same old Jean, just a more annoyed you.

"Mr. Kirstein." Professor Jeager stopped right next to your desk, you wanted to disappear right there. "If you're not interested, you're welcome to leave or mind your business, but I would appreciate it if you didn't bother the rest of the class." The man said with a cold tone of voice, his eyes felt like blades cutting through the student, you wondered how he could change from those gentle and lovable eyes to that.

Jean snorted and leaned against his seat. "I'm sorry." That apology wasn't sincere but the man didn't seem to care that much about that, he shot a glance at you but you ignored him and kept doing what you always did: sleep with your eyes open.

The rest of the lesson went on without any problem, Jean kept quiet, and Mikasa took notes that you would ask to see later as usual. Eren didn't say anything about whatever had happened and you were glad, even if you kind of felt disappointed.