Circles | Eren x Reader

Chapter 5- Apologies:

"Woohoo, (Y/N)! That was freaking awesome!!" Jean was ecstatic. I saw that everyone else was smiling too. Reiner and Annie were doing their best to hide it, but I could see a small grin creep up on their faces.

Perhaps it was unwise of me to give Eren more reasons to dislike me, but at that moment, I didn't really mind. I mean, I had hit him in the face two times now. How cool was that? Seeing Eren's eyes widen with fear was too satisfying. However, when Coach Erwin finally lifted him off of the ground and started carrying him to the infirmary, I saw that Eren was bleeding profusely, clearly in a lot of pain, possibly with a broken nose or needing stitches. Watching him be dragged away in that state almost made me feel... bad?

"Practice is over, brats. The next time we see you will be to announce who made the cut for our team," Levi looked over at the bloody soccer ball that hit Eren with disgust. "Tch— and I expect to see this ball completely spotless and all of your uniforms cleared of grass stains. Got it? Dismissed."

Everyone crowded around me as we walked to the locker room and chatted excitedly about the end of practice.

"Damn, (Y/N), you really didn't hold back! Great job!" Connie high-fived me.

"Yeah, that kid looked like he wasn't gonna touch a soccer ball anytime soon," Reiner added with a slap on my back.

"Yes. That was... impressive," Annie commented quietly.

Before I could get pulled into the locker room to change, I decided that I should stop by the infirmary to check on Eren. The least I could do was apologize.

When I arrived outside I saw Mikasa and Armin huddled around Eren, Mikasa trying to keep him awake while Armin consoled him. I couldn't see his piercing teal-green eyes from here. They must have been shut. The second I stepped into the door, Mikasa appeared beside me and shoved me into the wall. She kicked my legs out from underneath me and flipped me onto the floor. My head hit the concrete hard and my vision went blurry. She pushed my chest into the floor with her foot.

"If you ever come near him again, I will hurt you in ways you cannot even fathom," she threatened.

"I... came... here... to... apologize!" I said in between short breaths. God, I was in so much pain.

"Mikasa! Please! I'm sure it was an accident!" Armin pleaded, "Let's just give her some space to apologize!"

Mikasa backed off and stormed out of the nurse's office, Armin tailing close behind. I did my best to bring my head off of the floor and nod a quick "thank you" in his direction. He smiled back timidly and wished me good luck.

After about five minutes, when I was capable of standing up again, I heaved myself over to Eren's bed. I wanted to check how bad his injuries were, but he still had a lot of dried blood splattered on his face, so I couldn't see anything. I grabbed a wet towel and started to clean him up. He winced when I tried to rinse his lips. Yikes. His teeth had bitten down onto his lower lip pretty hard. It looked like it needed stitches. Thankfully, his nose wasn't broken, which was surprising, since it definitely should have been. I sighed with relief.

After he was all patched up by the nurse, I waited for him to wake up.

"Eren!" I said, shaking his arm. "Eren!"

His eyes fluttered and he grumbled, grabbing my arm. "Mikasa— leave me alone."

"Wake UP!" I yelled, slapping him across the face.

He jolted awake and his bright teal-green eyes met with mine. He touched his cheek in pain. "What the hell was that for?!"

"Erm..." I had no excuse for that. "Well, Mikasa and Armin have been waiting for me to leave for awhile now, but I wasn't going to go home until I apologized... and you were taking too long to wake up... so, I decided to speed up the process."

He looked at me with anger and confusion, and then pushed me off the chair.

"HEY! I came her to apologize! You should be grateful that I decided to say anything to an asshole like you!" I retaliated.

"I don't need your pity."

"Well— too bad!" I threw him the remnants of my lunch and turned towards the door. "By the way, next practice we'll be told who made the team," I stopped. "And I'm sorry."

"(Y/N)... uhh... thanks..." he paused. "Also, if I'm still stuck here by tomorrow... could you maybe let me know if I made the team?"

"Why can't you just have Mikasa do it?" I sneered.

"... Mikasa wouldn't have the heart to tell me if I failed." He said.

I didn't reply.

As expected, Eren wasn't in class or at practice the next day. Coach Erwin listed off the names of the people who made the team: "Reiner Braun, Ymir Fritz, Annie Leonhart, Mikasa Ackerman—" No surprises there. Erwin continued, "Sasha Blouse, Connie Springer, Jean Kirsten, (F/N) (L/N)" there was a small cheer that came from our group.

"Tch, brats," Levi commented.

"— and Eren Yeager," he finished. "We leave tomorrow morning."

Levi added, "Don't forget to bring your practice uniforms. I'm not going to let our school be humiliated by MP because we're an unorganized, sloppy mess."

Hmm. I guess that means I'll have to talk to Eren again. Weirdly enough, I didn't actually mind. In fact, I was almost looking forward to it...? Maybe it was because there was a small chance we could actually be friends. Or, if not friends, something better than enemies.

The group decided to go out to dinner to celebrate, but I had to pass to say hi to Eren. God, this would be a lot easier if he just gave me his number. Then I wouldn't have to put my life on hold for him.

I found Eren still in the infirmary after practice and told him the good news. He was thrilled: "Wait, actually?! Finally! Take that, Mikasa!" He threw a fist up in the air and then realized I was still there. "— Well," he said aloofly, "it's not actually that much of a surprise really. I already knew I was going to make it." He scratched his head and blushed in embarrassment.

"Well, congrats Eren. Hope everything works out for you." I turned to go. Even though I looked forward to these short exchanges, I really didn't have anything to say to him.

"Ah, erm, (Y/N)? Do you think you could send me a list of everything we need to bring for tomorrow?"

"Psh," I scoffed. "Just ask Mikasa, prick."

"I don't want to ask— Agh!" Eren screamed in pain. I turned around to see his teal-green eyes glittering in fear as blood dripped down his lip. Looks like he wasn't paying attention to his words and accidentally re-bit himself.

I sighed and walked back over to help him clean up. When everything was said and done, he shoved me forward when I got up to leave. I stumbled, but didn't fall. He laughed to himself.

God, what is this kid's problem?!