lovefool | eren x levi

fourteen years.

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all talk of the norm went out of the window by the time eren and armin were fourteen. instead, they filled their minds with the excitement of high school, cellphones, house keys, and new people.

and with new people, came new friends. and with new friends, came a jostling pack of diverse teens, all with distinct personalities that shouted all the same.

whilst finding new friends, eren, armin, and mikasa had all branched away from levi, and no longer came after school. they were growing up with or without levi, even if he had not wanted to accept that anymore.

with this, levi was now alone. he passed through the corridors alone, sat through the classes alone, ate the disgusting lunch that made him puke two hours later alone. he felt like he was spiraling down that black hole he had climbed so far up from.

at least he still had farlan.

"haven't packed a lunch?" farlan asked.

"nope."

"you can have some of my cinnamon rolls if you want," farlan suggested. levi shook his head.

"i'll be perfectly fine on my own, thanks."

"are you sure? i heard they left that food out for two weeks, and then tried to refrigerate it last minute," said a voice that did not belong to farlan.

a girl was standing next to where farlan was sitting, her hands on her hips, and a grin plastered upon her face.

levi just groaned and looked back down. "i'm good."

"do you like rice cake? i packed some," she said, making herself comfortable. levi looked up and snatched it out of her hand, then bit into one.

"i, um, thanks."

"no problem!"

her puffballs bounced on her head as she moved, and farlan chuckled as levi chewed off the rice cake. "who're you?"

"isabel! i was in the same preschool as you, don't you remember?"

"no. i don't remember preschool at all, actually. but nice to see you again," levi muttered.

she just giggled and started to chat with farlan, and sometimes levi butted in, but for the most part, stuck to his rice cakes.

just like that, she had made herself comfortable. she had filled the void of eren, and levi's glances at his table, as loud as they were, reduced by half.

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running track in high school was extremely different than in middle school. now, it meant more track meets, higher standards, and greater rewards. it also came with the side treat of being popular.

eren was not new to popularity—he was new to it being so blatant. in middle school, people liked him, sure, but they were never that much interested in him since he barely interacted outside his friend group.

now, it seemed that no matter what, people loved him. they didn't seem to care about his relationship with armin or the fact he was bisexual. they just loved him.

with track and field, he had met some of his new friends. jean, a great runner and even speedier with running his mouth, was one of the first to come to sit at his table.

"hey, mikasa," he said, sliding in a spot next to her and nodding his head to eren.

"not interested, sorry," she quickly said, scrolling through her phone. he sighed and turned his head to sasha, annoyance spreading through his face.

"can you stop munching in my ear?"

sasha made an 'mmm!' sound as she stuffed pastel-colored shrimp chips in her mouth, then turned to connie. he passed her his bag and then turned to defend her.

"you're the one that smushed yourself in between them! there's so much room on eren's side, just sit there!"

annie, ymir, and historia were on the girl's track team but practiced with eren nonetheless.

when annie saw jean hopelessly flirting with mikasa, she rolled her eyes and continued to talk about her dream that was just her slicing newborns and adult men out of the air with a katana.

"my dreams lowkey suck ass, but this one was good! i loved it. i hope i get it again so i can kill more of them."

"how is the murder of babies ever good?"

"do you know how fucking annoying babies are? with their whiny, snotty, helpless asses. i would dump them in hot grease and watch them fry if it wasn't illegal. so now, my dreams of killing kindergartners must only be dreams," she said with a somber undertone.

"sad that such creative energy must go to waste," ymir added with the same nature, shaking her head.

"oh, and men? don't even get me started on men..." she said, then threw herself into a tangent about how men should've killed themselves off centuries ago. ymir nodded at parts and chimed in on other parts, while historia fiddled with a string hanging off her grey sweater.

reiner and bertholdt, who didn't sit at his table but still acquainted with eren, waved by them as annie went on. eren seemed to drown out annie's voice and squeezed armin's hand while looking back to levi's table.

levi had not looked as sickly as he normally looked. he was actively talking to that girl with the frizzy hair.

all is well, at least. if levi's doing fine, then there was no guilt on eren's shoulders.