Circles | Eren x Reader

Chapter 50- Ymir's Potluck:

The next morning was the day of Ymir's potluck. It was a hazy and boring day that seemed to pass by dreadfully slow. When the final bell rang and we were released from prison, we split up into separate groups to go home and grab our food before heading to Historia's place. Jean waited for me at the door, which made me smile, and from there we walked to my house to pick up the pastries and salad.

"Shit, it's cold outside," I commented, wrapping my jacket tighter around myself as I treaded through the snow.

"Are you seriously talking to me about the weather right now?" Jean lifted an eyebrow.

I threw my hands up in the air. "Look at the sky! There's a storm coming!"

He scoffed, standing high above me, brown hair whipping from the wind. "Sure, (Y/N)."

When we reached my doorstep, Jean and I zipped inside and started packing the food into a cooler, although, with this weather, it was a bit unnecessary. While he finished up, I rushed upstairs to grab a thicker jacket for the walk to Historia's, making a quick note about how Eren's blanket was still in my bathtub. When I came downstairs, Jean had already opened the door and moved to step out. I followed him, my eyes focused on putting on my jacket, when I hit Jean's back hard.

"What the hell, Jean? Why'd you stop walking?" I leaned over, trying to see what was in front of him. "You barely got one foot out the door!"

"Not even," he agreed, staring outside with a blank face.

"Well, let's go! What are you waiting for?" I pestered.

"Look outside," he answered, stepping out of my way.

As I had rightfully predicted, a storm was upon us. Wind howled, coming from all different directions and— "Is that... hail?"

"Looks like it," Jean said, squinting. "We can't walk to Historia's in this weather! We're gonna be impaled!"

Jean's remark wasn't too much of an exaggeration. Hail was falling fast— and it was falling hard.

"What do we do?" he asked, stepping back inside the house, dragging me along with him.

"I'll call Ymir," I said, dialing her number into the phone.

"What?" she asked flatly, answering the call.

I rolled my eyes. "Are you still having a part— potluck?" I corrected. "It's hailing really bad outside right now."

She groaned. "Hold on. Historia's on a group call with everyone else right now, I'll add you to it."

"Okay, thanks."

I put my phone on speaker and Jean and I waited.

"Hello?" a sweet voice asked.

"Hi, Historia, it's (Y/N) and—"

"(Y/N)! Is it hailing for you too?" I recognized Connie's voice.

"Of course it's hailing for her as well— we live in the same area," Annie replied apathetically.

"Yeah, Connie— duh," I heard Sasha's muffled voice through the speaker.

"You were the one who told me to ask, Sasha!" Connie yelled back. The two of them must have been together. Unsurprising. They were attached at the hip. While they argued in the background, Marco continued the conversation:

"Historia, I don't mean to spoil things for you, but I think we're all going to be a bit late."

"'Late' is a bit of an understatement, I think," Bertholdt replied. "This weather seems almost impossible to get through. I went outside for a moment and couldn't see anything over three feet in front of me. I'm not sure we can get there."

"I can take it," Reiner said confidently.

"No, you can't," Annie rebuked.

Everyone went silent and waited for Historia's reply.

"Let's wait a half hour, and if the storm is still going on by then, we'll have to cancel," she said sadly. "Is that okay with everyone?"

We all mumbled in agreement and Historia ended the call.

"Well," I said, turning to Jean, "We have half an hour. What do you want to do?"

"Erm... Build a fort?" he suggested hesitantly.

"Like a pillow fort?"

"Yeah."

"What are you, seven?"

"Probably," Jean replied.

"Bet."

We high-fived and started mapping out the location, size, and structure of our fort. After about twenty minutes of only planning, I realized that we'd never have time to build the real thing. It didn't matter much to me though, as long as I could keep things up with Jean.

Everything seemed to be going well. It was like we were good friends again, without the lingering sexual tension. I watched Jean work, brushing the hair out of his eyes every so often as he wrote down how many chairs and blankets we'd need for the perfect fort. The inside of my house was warm, and he had taken off his jacket to reveal that white button down shirt he always wore— with just a few of the top buttons undone. It was hard not to admire Jean from afar, but I found that it was slowly getting easier. It didn't really matter much anyway, right? We can be friends and I can think he's hot. Right? Is that allowed? I spent a few moments pondering this until my phone rang.

Jean picked it up from the kitchen table swiftly and answered. "Hello? Hm... Okay—"

I motioned aggressively for Jean to put my phone on speaker. Historia's voice crackled through:

"— a no-go for tonight, I think." I heard half of her sentence. I ran to the window to confirm. The hail had turned to the size of pennies. Yikes. I ran back to Jean to hear the rest of the call.

"Well," Reiner said, "It's what Ymir wanted. No party."

"Awwwww," Sasha whined, "What about all of the good food?"

"If you want, Sasha," Marco intruded, "I can bring what I made to school tomorrow and you can have it."

"—Assuming we have school," Bertholdt added.

"Really?" Connie asked. "You'd do that for us?"

"Hey, dipshit— he was talking to me!" Sasha yelled.

"Anyway," Historia said softly, "We can push things back to another week. Is that okay with everyone?"

We confirmed that it was.

"Hey, Historia," Sasha said sneakily. "Are you still going on your 'trip' with Ymir?"
There was a long pause. "Yes," Historia said faintly.

I could hear Connie and Sasha snickering on the line.

"Okay, I'm leaving. Goodbye, everyone. Historia— tell Ymir I say 'happy birthday'," Annie hung up.

"Do the same for me," added Bertholdt.

"And me," continued Reiner.

"And us," said Connie and Sasha.

"And me, too— if you wouldn't mind," Marco said politely.

"And Jean and I, of course," I finished.

"Will do. Love you all and see you soon!" Historia said brightly, "Stay safe!"

The line went dead. Jean and I lifted our heads and stared at each other for a moment.

"So," he said, "as of now, I can't leave with this weather... What do you want to do?"

"Finish the fort?" I suggested hesitantly.