𝗮𝗼𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀

89 | you're from another country

haaaaAAAppy friday, beginning of february and black history month! hope you're liking the profile change, more info about that in my conversations tab B)

anyway, this is a mish-mash of requests from wattpad and quotev. someone on quotev was having a lot of ideas for things based around different cultures, while i swear someone on here wanted a chapter about being filipino...so i decided to combine the best of both worlds and basically make a preference about being from another culture / country, a lot of the stuff being genuine cause i'm a 2nd gen immigrant yippee. but anyone can read this chapter, another good alt title for this would be 'you're from another country that the aot character happens to not be from' if that makes sense. enough rambling from me- hope you enjoy and have a great weekend! see you all in two weeks

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Eren: In high school, Eren remembered having a distaste for Spanish. He was okay in all his other classes, though he just found it hard to learn a language. A few years down the line? He wants to try again. The difference is that this time, you're the instructor. He wants you to teach him for a few good reasons. Not only will it help him communicate with your parents better, but it will also help prove to himself that he doesn't suck at learning things. With this in mind, you take him in as your pupil. It starts with small lessons for greetings and vocabulary, though the pace quickens in a few months. At this point, Eren struggles...a bit, though he manages to keep up with a determination you haven't seen before. To this day, you can still remember the first time he went up to your family, took a deep breath, and greeted them in their language. Teaching him was worth it for the moment alone when the whole room filled with cheering and "OOOOH DID Y/N TEACH YOU???" Maybe not, but you get the point

Mikasa: Being a first generation immigrant, Mikasa was a little lonely growing up. In school, everyone she knew either didn't know their roots, made fun of her for eating different food, and were all comically insensitive about her race. Then you came around. Since you're also not exactly native to this country, Mikasa is excited to have you around. Sometimes your conversations will trail off into talking about your cultures, what's similar and different, food, language, values, everything. You name it, the two of you have talked about it before. Expect a lot of her sending Pinterest posts that are memes revolving around your country. She loves those. Anyways, her dream is to one day spend a week in your hometown and take time to go down memory lane.

Armin: Armin LOVES learning. Your country is no exception. He likes to hear everything you have to say about it, especially any goofy stories you or your parents have been keeping in store. However, unless prompted, he doesn't try and bring up conversation around it. He's pretty shy when it comes to this stuff; the last thing he wants to do is say a comment / question that would offend or make someone uncomfortable. While this is thoughtful, you tell him that the best way to learn and grow is to keep asking and making mistakes. It took him a bit of prodding, but he finally realized this and kinda went "hey, maybe it's not so bad if I talk about this sort of stuff" and ever since it's been going great. Now his love for learning about your country is doubled but still in good boundaries. Yay :D

Levi: With his mom passing away at a young age and not knowing who is father is, Levi has always wanted to get in touch with his roots. His identity has always been a tough topic from him, and he wished he could have gone back into the past to find out more. Unfortunately, he can't. Whenever you talk about stories of your family and how they came to be, he finds himself feeling a little jealous, for lack of a better word. It's not the 'I hate you' sort of jealous, but the kind that makes him go 'I just wanna be like you'. Noticing how important it is for him to learn about his own ancestry, you get him the one thing you can think of: a DNA test. You're a little surprised that he hasn't thought about doing that yet, but oh well. Convenient, right? Back to the story, he takes the test and is happy that some closure has been brought to a once mysterious aspect of his life. He's been loving how diverse the world really is, and appreciating you for your personal story and where you come from. Isn't that sweet

Erwin: Erwin has always been fascinated by other peoples and cultures. If you asked him, he would say it started as a kid. His dad was a history teacher, so he already had a variety of famous battles and folktales drilled into his head. As he grew, so did his interest. And when you fell into his life, he was very excited. A wonderful person that loves him and is able to teach him a lifestyle he would have never known about otherwise? HECK YES. And while his passion for you and your culture is crystal clear, he's good at being a decent human being and not fetishizing that aspect of you. A better way to phrase it is that he 'celebrates' it. I kinda don't know how to end this paragraph, but lemme say that dinners with him and his dad are hilarious. His father knows your country's history better than you. Like fr through any piece of trivia at that man and either he or his son will know the answer. What???

Hange: What more is there to say? The unknown fascinates Hange, and considering that you're from a place they haven't visited or read up on much, you're very interesting to them. A little...too much? At the beginning of your relationship with them, you kind of had to put things on pause for a moment because it was becoming a little weird. You had to sit down face to face to Hange and say "hey I love that you're super engrossed by one part of me, but when everything you do circulates around the fact I am from somewhere different maybe you're taking it to far especially since you're not from another country" (hopefully that made sense). Which, to say the least, surprised them. They apologized and have been getting better, and you're glad. Hange still wants to learn about you, but in a more respectful way. And with more food, because they still cannot live down the hype from eating the food your family makes.

Mike: While not much of a talker, Mike knows a lot more about your culture than he lets on. One of the main things he observes is the body language: does your family do things like take their shoes off when they enter the house (cause his family sure as hell didn't), use specific gestures, etc. Being honest, it took a while for you to pick up on it. But once he started to go to your family meet ups and try and blend on, you had a sudden epiphany. If that was too subtle, then fine. Another way he integrates your culture in the relationship is cooking. As stated in the cooking chapter, his skills are fantastic. He wants to use them to cook, and will often ask you if there's a dish you've been wanting to taste again for a while. After he memorized the recipes and added a few personal touch-ups on some that he liked, he'll start to surprise you with them on special days like your birthday. You don't even know that it's coming, but bless this man's heart