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Over the course of a year, they saw each other nearly twice a month—once during the New Moon, and the second time during the Third Quarter.
He'd bring her curious little human trinkets, and she'd occasionally help trick a group of fat fish into his net. That way, they could spend their nights talking and laughing, wasting the time away. More than once, they talked until the sun rose over the shore and were then forced to say their goodbyes.
It was during one of these conversations that [Name] confessed she felt useless compared to the other sirens. Eren had been shocked, to say the least, and asked why, but she never gave him a straight answer.
That night, he'd wanted to reach down and kiss her, but [Name] didn't seem very interested in such things. He chalked her disinterest up to the fact that she wasn't human, and soon after that thought crossed his mind, he found himself fantasizing about her being one.
She slipped into his dreams more often than not, but the one scenario that returned time and again was a simple, real one.
He would be de-scaling fish at his father's stand, his fingers raw from the knives, when he'd hear her sweet voice call him. "Eren Jaeger," she'd whisper so carefully it made his face flush. When he looked up, she was dressed in a pale blue dress, and her hair was brushed and out of her face so he could finally get a good look at her neck.
"[Name]," he'd say simply, and somehow she understood what he meant. She'd gesture toward the other end of the market, and then run off. In a haste to reach her, he'd drop everything—fish, knives—and chase after her. She'd turn a corner toward an alleyway, and when he turned the same corner, out of breath, he was always close. So close, some nights he'd even reach out and graze her fingertips before waking in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, with the bitter taste of blood in his mouth.
Still, the fantasy of them walking down the pier together remained, and one night as they met, she was talking about her foolish friend, Armin, when he leaned forward and cut her off.
"[Name], have you ever thought about coming up here... with me?" he asked, and when her eyes widened in shock, he quickly tried to correct himself. "I... I've heard stories before, when I was a child. I heard that mermaids can grow legs the second they step foot on land. Is that true?"
"I am not a mermaid." Her lips pursed. "And it's not that simple, Eren Jaeger."
"But it's possible?" His heart caught in his throat, and he could already see her in a seafoam green dress.
"Yes, usually sirens can do it," she mumbled, but her worried eyes stared down at her wrists. There was a strange catch to her voice, something he couldn't quite pin down.
"Are you unsure? Is it dangerous?" he asked, trying to coax the answer out of her, but just as he reached down to hold her hand, she pulled back.
"No, no, it shouldn't be dangerous. But I would need some time to think about it, and—and then some time to obtain the legs." She looked down at the water, then behind him, before pursing her lips. "I've never tried it before. I don't know if it'll work."
