Circles | Eren x Reader

Chapter 29- Cyrano:

Eren's POV:

The next time I saw (Y/N) in class, she was with Jean and the others. She and Jean stood close together— closer than friends would, at least. I watched from my seat as she slapped Jean for teasing her. In response, he snatched her by the waist and pulled her into him aggressively. The sudden force when she crashed into him made (Y/N) lose her balance. Jean caught her before she hit the floor. Everyone was laughing and in high-spirits. (Y/N) tried to hide her smile with an angry look at Jean, but she was enjoying herself too much, and soon enough she burst out laughing as well. I couldn't hear any of what they were saying— all I know is at some point Jean irritated Reiner and they broke out into a fight. (Y/N) and Sasha snickered, whispering things I couldn't discern to each other. I sighed and rested my chin on my hand. Could they be any more annoying?

"Hello, Eren," Armin said as he sat in the desk next to me. "Still staring at (Y/N), I see."

I jolted upright to defend myself, "No, I wasn't! I don't care about her!"

I saw (Y/N)'s eyes dart in my direction for a second, but she quickly turned back into Jean.

"Hm. Really...?" Armin asked suspiciously. He stacked his books up neatly. "Tell me, Eren, have you discovered an explanation as to why you are so obsessed with (Y/N)? It's obvious, really—"

"I'm not obsessed with her!" I interrupted defensively, this time more quietly, so (Y/N) wouldn't notice.

Armin continued as if I hadn't spoken: "I could tell you why— if you're open to listening. Or should I let you figure it out yourself? Mikasa already told me everything. How you're still in denial and stuff. And," he paused and said deviously, "How you're jealous of Jean."

I could feel my cheeks burn up. "Shut up, Armin! You and Mikasa have no idea what my intentions are! This isn't even about (Y/N), it's about Jean and my vendetta against him, okay? Why won't either of you get that through your heads?!"

"Why are you so scared to admit that you like her?" Armin whispered.

"I—" My head sunk and I gave up: "I don't know."

"I see," was all he said.

When the class after lunch began and we were all seated, Shadis announced that we would have a partner project. We would have to pick one from a bunch of old plays and write an analysis about it. The class would be divided into groups of two and, to avoid what happened last time when we were allowed to pick partners, Shadis would be the one putting us in to groups. If you're wondering what happened last time, well, Sasha and Connie partnered up and did a rap about how our city needed better restaurants and cheaper food. You can imagine how Shadis reacted.

Anyway, he walked down our rows to assign groups; eventually, only four were left: me, (Y/N), Jean, and Mikasa. I crossed my fingers to get (Y/N) as a partner, so I could apologize for leaving her at an IHOP to walk alone in the middle of the night. Unfortunately for the both of us, Shadis paired Jean and I together. This won't go well.

Jean pulled up a chair awkwardly and sat down across from me. He pushed his hair out of his eyes and coughed: "So... what do you want to do our project on?"

I saw (Y/N) anxiously turn her head towards the two of us to make sure we were doing okay. I lifted the corner of my lip up ever so slightly to give her a sign that we were fine, but the second I did, Mikasa pulled (Y/N)'s head to face her. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Mikasa glaring at me. Jean was still waiting for a reply.

I scratched the back of my head: "How about Cyrano de Berjerac by Edmond Rostand? That one sounded pretty easy." Jean looked at me, confused. I continued to explain the play, "It's the one about the guy with a big nose, Cyrano, who likes this girl, Roxane, but he's too insecure to say anything to her, and eventually this guy Christian comes around and he also really likes Roxane and so Cyrano and Christian team up to win Roxane over."