Superstore (Eremin AU)

scary boxing sister and sarcastic rival

I sighed as I watched Connie and Sasha keep stealing various food items from the shelves.

"Guys, the store's gonna open soon, shouldn't you teach me what to do?" They looked up from the baguette they were sharing.

"Oh, yeah," Connie replied with a full mouth.

"Fine. Let's go," Sasha said, gulping down the bite and handing Connie the rest of the bread.

Connie threw it in the trash "for later". I wasn't sure what that meant but it kind of disturbed me.

Sasha and Connie led me to the storage room. "This is where all the stuff comes from. It says what it is on the top of the box. So -- here. I'll take these three boxes of chips 'cuz they're already on the cart. And -- follow me. We just take these to the isle where the chips are and put them where they go." She led me to the chip isle. "Then just open the box and put the chips on the shelf. That easy. And remember to put the newer ones in front of the older ones."

I rubbed my head -- this job, along with the people, would take some getting used to. I wasn't sure if Sasha taught me correctly so I made a mental note to ask someone later. But as the opening time crept closer, I could tell Sasha I was good for now. She told me I could just shelve things for now and I would learn the other things later.

"Oh, and watch out for Mikasa." Connie noted.

I didn't know what that meant until I got back into the storage room. A black haired girl was carrying three boxes by herself with no help from the cart. I could also see that Eren was there with her, struggling with one box.

The girl spotted me and instantly says, "you must be the new kid. I'm Mikasa, the master boxer." She made a face at Eren and he just scowled. "I'm also this one's sister."

"What does it mean to be a boxer?" I asked her, imagining her in boxing gloves.

"Oh, I bring boxes from out there." She pointed to a door on the other side of the room. "And put them on carts. Very interesting work."

Eren, who had been intensely concentrated on lifting that one box, realized I had been staring at him and smiled weakly at me. I moved my gaze to the floor then to Mikasa. "I'm just shelving today, I guess." Mikasa nodded.

"Eren should help you. He's no help in here anyways." He frowned at his sister, but put down the box he was struggling with to grab a cart.

"Fine," he mumbled. And suddenly I remembered what Sasha and Connie had said about Eren and the janitor.

Disappointed and now dreading the time I had to spend with Eren, I stared at the ground quietly while walking beside him.

"So, you excited for this job?" Eren tried to fill the silence.

"Kinda," I mumbled, not really in the mood for talking. "I mean, it doesn't sound very exciting." Eren laughed a bit at that.

We talked for a while, I asked him about the job, the different departments, who works what shifts, things like that. We finished one cartful and as we were heading from the storage room a second time, I meet one of Eren's friends. In a strange way.

I was looking at the ground, and didn't see the guy running towards us. Before I knew it, I was on the ground with boxes on top of me.

"Ouch," I muttered, looking up.

"Yeager, watch where you're going!" I saw a sandy-haired boy with an undercut standing above me.

Eren replied, "you're the one who was running straight towards us!" I rubbed my head, and sat up. Eren and the other guy didn't seem to notice me, and instead went on fighting.

Fine, I'll get up on my own. It would've been nice to be helped up by either one of you, who are the reason why I fell down in the first place, but I'll just get up by myself, that's fine. I sighed as I stood up.

"Hey, is that the new guy?" Undercut guy practically shouted into my ear.

"Yep, that's me," I said. I knew I was going to have to get used to being called 'new guy' for a while.

"Cool. Name's Kirstein, Jean Kirstein." He smiled an odd smile and slapped me on the back. "So newbie? You gettin' to know the place?"

"A little, I guess." I replied shyly, hoping to Jesus that I wouldn't have to talk to all these people everyday because they were sure annoying.

"Well you'd better or you're in for some real trouble from Smith--"

"Hey, just shut up and leave Armin alone!" Eren yelled.

Jean got a smug look on his face, and looked behind Eren. I followed his gaze to... Levi.

I sighed. Not Eren's boyfriend. Please, why me?

Eren turned around and jumped. "Ahh! What the heck, stop sneaking up on me like that!"

"Shut up, I don't care what you think, brat. Now get back to cleaning." Levi said, then turned to leave. What!? That didn't sound at all like a conversation between boyfriends!

"Hey, uh, Eren?" I blurted out when I knew the janitor was out of earshot.

"What?" he practically yelled, a bit over the edge. I couldn't tell if it was because of me, Jean, or the janitor.

"Are you two dating?" I asked.

"No! What? Are you crazy? Why would you--" snickers that sounded like certain food-loving freaks came from behind a shelf, "... think that? I'm not gay! And even if I was I wouldn't date someone so old!"

Oh crap. Not only is he not dating Levi, he isn't gay and possibly homophobic. This could be worse than I thought.

"Yeah, this is a strict 'no homo' workplace." Jean added, suddenly laughing his idiotic face off.