100 Ways To Fall In Love

Eren Jaeger

AGAIN: Take 5

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Love, to Eren Jaeger, is something that uniquely belongs to each individual. It is not preordained by supernatural forces beyond one's control. It isn't a profound discovery that is meant to change the course of someone's life. And it most definitely isn't something meant to chain and cuff one thing to another. Falling in love, to put it simply, is a choice.

Falling in love is just as much of a choice as choosing what to eat for dinner.

If Eren Jaeger were to fall in love he knew for certain that it would be his choice. Something that he wanted.

Truthfully, Eren never really thought much about love. He knew that his mother and father loved each other. He knew that he loved his parents and that his parents loved him in return but love never really went anything past that of the familial.

Platonic love was strange and abstract amongst the men of the cadet corps. Of course they cared about each other but it was never something they publicly and outrightly stated. Unless they wanted to be teased relentlessly.

Romantic love was... an unknown concept.

Okay, that was a lie. Eren knew a bit about romantic love.

Eren had crushes on the pretty girls that he used to see walk past his home back when he was younger. He had been there to see Hannes, the drunk garrison guard, stumble over his words when a woman walked past him. He had experienced the blatant crushing of Jean over Mikasa. He even had a crush on the silent girl himself.

Eren was mean to her. He was cruel, harsh and cold. And despite all the horrible things he had done to her, she was always there for him. She had always been there for him. Honestly, Eren would have fought anyone who didn't fall for someone who had always been there for them even slightly.

Love was a curious thing and Eren had been hesitant to step into it.

When he had worked up the courage to ask Mikasa what he meant to her she had answered that he was family.

He was nothing but a brother to her. He was family.

And so, Eren had made the choice to not step into love with Mikasa. Not when heartbreak was seemingly all that awaited him.

Apart from Mikasa, Eren was certain that there was only ever one other person that he had wanted to be in love with.

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When asked to describe Eren Jaeger, the most common words one would've heard fell along the lines of reckless and blunt. But they also often talked about how he was someone who always strived to create change.

He had wanted to change the world so desperately that it had become a burning desire inside of him that fed off the fuel of his soul.

A burning desire which had festered into frustration and anger towards this cruel and horrible world that he so desperately wished to change. That he so desperately needed to change. And for a while, that rage had been enough to keep him going.

But as anyone might guess, rage is a dangerous rule to run off of.

Rage most certainly burns but it also consumes.

It begins as the pain in your jaw as you grit your teeth. It becomes the numbness in your hands when you clench your fists and the burning passion that wells in your lungs without mercy. It floods your senses until you are ultimately consumed and have fallen to the ground. This anger that you had relied so heavily on will then send you crashing and burning.

Eren Jaeger had blundered on his mission to change the world.

Fumbled the baton before reaching the finish line.