Love Me Not - {riren au}

Love Me Not ~ 14

Eren was glad he lived close. He was home in less than five minutes. Once he opened the front door he was met with Mikasa and Grisha in the living room. The two were watching a movie.

"About time." Grisha teased. "Did you get lost on your way back from the bookstore?"

Mikasa turned and looked at Eren.

"Oh, I bumped into a friend. We were chatting." Eren shrugged and set his bag down. He sat on the couch and pulled his shoes off.

"Our only other friend is Armin." Mikasa teased. She usually had a serious facial expression, so Eren always had to figure out if she was actually joking or not.

Eren knew he should've said he was with Jean and Sasha. They wouldn't have bumped into each other if they were hanging out after work. He didn't know what to say.

Mikasa was right. He didn't have any other close friends.

Eren knew he'd have to be honest or Mikasa would bug him about it. She would get curious.

"Now I'm wondering who it could be." Mikasa tilted her head as she thought.

"Maybe he snuck off with some girl." Grisha suggested. "I would have trouble believing that one though, since you've never brought a girl home."

"Dad." Eren sighed. "I said I didn't want to date. I'll get there one day. You'll have grandkids, I promise." He joked.

"Ah, your mom would always talk about how cute your future kids would be. She always hoped that they'd have your eye color." Grisha said, thinking about Karla.

Eren grew silent and frowned. He probably wasn't going to have biological children. If he did ever find someone to be with in the future, it'd be a man. At such a young age he was already thinking about how he'd rather adopt children. He wondered if even getting an egg donor was a thing.

Grisha raised an eyebrow and watched as his son got lost in thought. "Okay, so it wasn't a girl."

"I didn't know I'd be getting grilled over this. As I was walking home I bumped into Levi again." Eren shrugged. "We talked for a bit."

Mikasa raised her eyebrows. "Interesting."

Grisha looked at Mikasa, figuring out that she knew something he didn't. What was it though?

"Yeah, I've been seeing a lot of him. It's weird since it's your cousin." Eren added, trying to make it seem like they had never really interacted before.

Eren knew there was a lot more that made it weird. He wondered if Levi would ever bring up Eren's past actions that were cringeworthy.

"It's nice to see you're making friends though. I'm sure you'll make more when you start college too." Grisha watched Eren. "You didn't eat right? You must be hungry."

"Yeah, I didn't get a chance to eat on my break." Eren walked into the kitchen. "What did you make?"

"Lasagna." Grisha said back. "Cut yourself a piece and just put it in the microwave."

Eren cut himself a large piece and set it into the microwave. He leaned against the counter as he waited. Once it was done he grabbed a fork and walked back into the living room.

Grisha shifted so there was room for Eren on the couch. He watched as his son sat down.

Mikasa turned to look at Eren.

"Do you like working at the bookstore?" Grisha asked curiously.

"Yeah, I do like it. Working there brings back memories." Eren looked down at his plate. "When we'd be waiting for you to get back from work on days she felt okay we would go to the bookstore. I think we went a few times after Mikasa came into the family, but that's when her condition worsened." He looked at Mikasa. "Do you remember going?"

"I remember going. It still looks similar, just more modernized." Mikasa smiled lightly. She thought about the days where her, Karla and Eren made cookies together. Or when she'd take them to the park and they'd play with Armin.

Karla and Grisha took her in when she thought she didn't have anyone. She blamed herself for Karla's death when she was a kid.

Mikasa saw what had happened to her parents. Death followed her everywhere. Karla's condition worsened once Mikasa came into the picture.

Now she knew that wasn't the case and even as a child she was always one to think realistically and rationally, yet that was the one thing that stuck out to her. 

Eren noticed Mikasa seemed to be in deep thought. "Everything okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, I was just thinking about Karla." Mikasa admitted.

Grisha looked at Mikasa and smiled lightly. "I think we should visit her grave in the next few days."

Eren nodded. "Yeah, that's be nice." He silently she his lasagna afterwards. A part of him wanted the subject to chance.

Grisha could tell Mikasa and Eren wanted to talk about something else. He got up and yawned softly. "I'm going to get some coffee and head to my room. If I don't see you two before you're in bed, goodnight." He patted both of them on the head and went into the kitchen.

Once Grisha had his coffee made and was in his room, Mikasa turned to Eren. "I need you to be honest with me right now."

"What?" Eren raised an eyebrow and set his plate on the coffee table.

"You're seeing him a lot." Mikasa said quietly, not wanting Grisha to hear. "Are you two seeing each other?"

Eren's eyes went wide. "Not you too Mikasa. Armin is already on me about it, you know that. There isn't anything like that going on. We've been bumping into each other a lot and I really don't enjoy it." Did he though? Seeing the other sometimes gave him a giddy feeling that reminded him of his early teen years. It despised that he felt that at times. There was nothing there. There was nothing to feel giddy about and have butterflies over.

"Alright. I was just curious. A part of me was wondering if you two were talking, but didn't want to tell us because of how we'd react. I honestly don't care that it's my cousin, but he's just not a good guy." Mikasa said, head tilting. "We can't tell you who to date though, so if you did date, we obviously wouldn't oppose."

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