Bittersweet ~ Eremin ~ Modern AU

Chapter 15 - Truce?

Eren Jaeger (17)
Fall of Junior Year
Saturday, October 31st, 9:16pm
🎃Halloween🎃

🍁

   So originally, I thought "Man... What better way to cope with your separation from your best friend and your relationship with your retched new friends than spend it in a nostalgic carnival with your old friends?"

   And then Marco brought his new boyfriend. Jean. Fucking. Kristen.

   Both of us were kicked from the football team. I guess he finally cracked and went gay or something.

   Now, I know Marco had only good intentions. But to have everyone ditch us so we could 'work things out' together was just awful. We're walking distantly from each other, tasked with the operation to get funnel cake for everyone. If you haven't already guessed, I don't work well with horse-faced assholes.

   In the awkward silence, I decided to make sure my clothes looked fine. I wore a white Nike hoodie, black jeans, and white Adidas. Thank god... no stains.

   "Out of all people, why Marco?" I finally asked Jean out of the blue, hearing him inhale sharply and looking at me from his peripheral. "That's none of your business." He simply answered.

   I narrowed my eyes a bit and said "You know, Marco is an open book. He wears his heart out right on his sleeve. That's why I had the audacity to ask." I aggressively emphasized, feeling Jean's anger radiate off him. "If we weren't in a crowd full of tiny little gremlins, I'd kill you."

   "Likewise."

   It fell quiet again, the space between us getting smaller as we were forced to squeeze through the crowd. Eventually, I sped up enough so I could walk in front of Jean.

   A couple seconds passed until Jean asked "Why do you still care for Armin?"

  My head swiveled around, now causing my torso to face Jean a bit more. I stopped walking, lining up face to face with the dirty blond. "That's none of your business." I hissed through my teeth, popping my 'b' for further emphasis.

   "You tell me why and I'll tell you why I chose Marco." He bargained, stiffly hissing.

   I huffed through my nose and continued to walk beside Jean. "Armin is my best friend. I don't pity him. I didn't do anything to help him because I froze. I was sc-... I wasn't processing right. Now I don't know what to do because he probably hates me."

   Jean lightly nodded, soon grumbling "I hate those bastards..."

   I soon looked to Jean in surprise, finding what he said quite curious. "Well? They are! They're bastards, all of them!" Jean stood by what he said.

  "I agree..." I lowered my voice, trying to show him that I wasn't as angry. "It was a mistake getting tangled up in their mess."

   Jean let out an affirmative grunt, taking a deep breath. "Marco is the only one who gets me. We hung out secretly over the summer and everything just kind of clicked together. But I asked to keep us a secret. But now that your dumbass got us kicked from the team, I can have a life.-" Jean hesitated to say more, even though what he wanted to say next was dancing on the tip of his tongue.

   "Th-Thanks..."

   He was... thanking me? For getting kicked from the team? Seeing my confusion, Jean sputtered out "Dude, it's all an act! You know it too well. Just don't fucking follow through with their bullshit. You'll loose the people you care for most. All I have is Marco now..." Jean soon spoke quietly, looking like he was quite satisfied with what he said. It didn't look like he was going to say any more.

   As the people started to thin out, I realized that we were towards the end of the boardwalk. Some how, Jean's words lit a fire in me that I didn't even know I had.

   "You'll thank me later." He groaned, face palming himself as he put some distance between us.

   "You'll loose the people you care for most... Mikasa, Mom, Armin... Holy shit... Did Jean just actually help me?"

   I couldn't help but perk up at the sound of muffled screaming. Something was clearly happening to my right where the line of shops were. Jean definitely heard it too.

   I started to look around and investigate, coming up to an ally way next to the bathrooms. Soon, another hushed wail called out. Not much people seemed to notice.

   As I approached the alleyway, I peered down to see one of my new friends and a tuft of blond hair laying on the ground. "Shut up!!" A voice hissed, kicking who I soon was able to identify after.