Superstore (Eremin AU)

really short janitor and food-obsessed friends

Surprised at this sudden flooding of emotions, I flusteredly replied, "Hi, I'm, uh, my name is Armin Arlert."

He smirked at the bit of pink painting my cheeks and shook my hand. "I'm Eren Yeager." He wore T-shirt that was reminiscent of the front of TitanMart, and I assumed that was the normal uniform for them. I felt too dressed up for the job, though I only wore my normal clothes: a tee shirt with the name of my favorite band, black jeans and a beanie. "First of all, let's get you into the uniform," he said, confirming my thoughts.

He handed me the trademark TitanMart shirt: forest green with a symbol on the front they called 'the wings of discounts'.

I sighed and slipped into the cramped men's room that smelled heavily of cleaning products. I quickly changed into the uncomfortable shirt and tried to leave before anyone else could see me, it would be awkward to meet one of my coworkers in the bathroom. But I was too late. A short man with dark hair and a snarky look walked in carrying a mop and a bucket. Do you really need to clean this bathroom again? I don't think anything could smell any more like cleaning products, I thought.

I tried passing by the small man I assumed was a janitor, but he stopped me with his arm. "Hey, you know you you're not supposed to be in here while I'm cleaning." He stopped, looking up at me with an intense grimace. "Wait, you're the new kid, aren't you?" A slight grin flashed on his face. "Well listen here, new guy, I will not tolerate any kind of uncleanliness. If I see you litter... I'll have you know I know 11 kinds of martial arts."

I furrowed my eyebrows and pushed the janitor out of the way, then finally escaped the toxic bathroom smell. I saw Eren outside the door waiting for me. The instant I saw him I smiled, excited to talk to him more. God, I'm so pathetic, I thought. "Sorry I took so long," his gaze rose from the linoleum tiles on the floor. "but did you know there's a crazy midget janitor working here?" I added.

He chuckled. "Don't pay attention to Levi. He's just a bit obsessed about being clean." Eren put a hand behind his head, and laughed awkwardly. I looked at the ground, biting my lip, trying not to think about how cute he looked doing that. Only 10 minutes into the job and I already have a crush. I can't believe myself.

After an awkward silence, Eren said, "so I should probably tell you what we do in this job, shouldn't I?" He brushed a chocolate colored lock of hair off his face, revealing his eyes to be a stunning green color I hadn't noticed before. Wow, he's just getting hotter by the second! How does God allow anyone to be this hot?

Eren led me to the front where the checkout counters were. "So this is where we bag things, but you won't have to do that for a while. If it looks like someone needs help with their bags you can..." I stopped listening when I realized that when he talked, sometimes he looked down at his shoelaces shyly and instead of listening I stared at his pretty eyes and beautifully tanned skin. Armin stop, I told myself. No, I replied.

When he stopped talking, he looked up at me again expectingly, like he'd asked a question. Crap, I thought. I decided to just nod my head slightly.

"Okay," he said, offering no explanation of what he'd asked. "Here they are now. They're going to give you the rest of the tour, I'm going to go on break." No! I picked the wrong choice! I died slightly when he left but I let it go, knowing there was no way I could explain myself if I called after him.

"Hey, new kid," I heard a female voice behind me and saw a brunette with a high ponytail and a shorter kid with a buzz cut tied to her hip.

I nodded, my blonde hair bobbing with my head. "That's me," I answered.

"I'm Sasha and that's Connie," said the girl, gesturing to her friend. "I guess we're going to show you around."

Sasha and Connie exchanged a lot of glances and whispers when showing me around the store. I didn't catch any of the conversation but I could guess it was about me.

"Guys, what's up? What are you whispering about?" Sasha got a terrified look that she inadvertently shared with Connie.

"Uhh.. Nothing? Err..."

Connie interrupted her struggle. "Armin, do you like Eren?"

I did not expect that. What would they think of me if I told them? Having a crush on a guy I met maybe half an hour ago? Let alone the fact that he was a guy? "N-no--"

"Dude, we saw you checking him out. It was pretty obvious." Connie said.

I felt my face heat up and knew it was totally red. "I-I..."

"Don't worry. We're not judging you or anything. We're just..." he looked at Sasha, "worried."

"Why?" I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Well... Eren and Levi kinda have a thing going on."

My heart broke at that moment. I knew I only met him a few minutes ago but... hearing that was not what I expected. No wonder he defended Levi. Also... Levi looked at least 20.

"Oh," was all I said.

"Sorry, new guy." Sasha comforted, putting a hand on my shoulder. She looked behind her at the shelves. Trying to cheer me up, she said, "we can tell you all the best places to steal food.