Key to a Caged Heart

I Just Needed You To Know

Armin reached across the cafeteria table to prod Eren in the arm.

Green eyes flickered away from the apple being spun slowly in his hands. "Sorry, Armin, did you say something?"

"I asked if you heard back from any of the places you applied to yet."

"The gas station convenience store, unsurprisingly, turned me down. I guess you steal from them a few times and it makes you untrustworthy or something. Annie thinks a coffee shop is hiring and she's looking into it for me. But otherwise, I haven't heard back yet. I only handed in my applications two days ago after all."

Armin leaned forward and squinted at Eren before drawing back with a worried frown. "If you're not worried about the job applications, why have you been spacing out all lunch? Is it...is everything okay?"

"Levi and I are fine. Great actually. That's not what has me anxious." Eren released a long sigh. "Tonight is our last basketball game and we've made it to the finals so the other team is going to be really hard to beat." Eren tossed the apple back and forth between his hands until Jean intercepted and snatched it.

"Hey!"

"Don't get so worked up, Jaeger. We'll crush 'em to a pulp." Eren reached for the apple but Jean leaned sideways into Marco and held his arm high in the air while his other held Eren at bay. "Connie, heads up!"

Jean tossed the apple to the other end of the table, pumping his fist in the air when the buzzcut shaven kid caught it.

"Springer, give me back my apple!"

"Are you going to keep whining or do something, Jaeger?" Jean murmured in his ear with a broad smile on his face as his friend became worked up, no traces of anxiety left in his vibrant eyes.

For the rest of the day Connie pouted over the sandwich Eren squished when he jumped on top of the cafeteria table and stomped his way to where Connie sat, the smaller boy's eyes growing wide in fear as the approaching boy tackled him before he could pass the apple to someone else.

In the aftermath, Connie sidled up to Sasha to ask for comfort (and some lunch since his had a footprint in it) but his girlfriend only tsked at him, telling him he should know better than to take someone's food, then promptly ignored his whining as the rest of the table snickered at the callous treatment.

After school, Jean drove Eren home. The game started at 8pm and Coach didn't want them at the gym until 7:30pm.

"Want to hang out until the game?" Eren offered, tilting his head to indicate the front door of Rosewall Court.

"Sorry, I told Marco I'd hang out at his and have dinner with his family."

Eren straightened. "So you told him?"

"Yeah, a few days ago. He's still upset, but it's more disappointment than actually being mad. You know Marco, he can't be mad for long."

"I'm glad everything is good between you guys. Do you know where you're going next year?"

Jean sighed, flopping back against the driver's seat and brushing a hand through his hair. "Not really. I hadn't given college much thought before, but now that I'm running out of time and forced to think about it..." Jean ran his hand through his hair again. "Ugh. I really regret not applying to SU. They are the only college on this half of the country with a good astrophysics program. I'm thinking of going to SCC for a semester and then trying to transfer." Jean shrugged. "We'll see. What about you? Have you heard back yet?"

"Stohess waitlisted me. I might do the same as you with SCC and then transfer, but right now I'm applying to jobs and planning to work until I can reapply."