Stay With Me

Twenty Years Ago

Eren wanted nothing more than to ignore the fact that Jean even existed. Over the course of their first week working for the same company, Eren kept focused on his job. If he heard Jean laughing at the water cooler with Reiner, he rolled his eyes but kept quiet. Once after lunch, he was heading to the restroom when he saw Jean entering. Rather than follow him in, Eren waited until Jean came out and then entered, making him almost late to get back to his desk.

Despite going out of his way to avoid Jean, it seemed his old rival had no plans to act civil. Jean made sure to say hello to him every morning, and while the greeting sounded normal enough, he always called him "Little Jaeger," a nickname Jean knew Eren hated. Once while walking by his desk, Jean bumped into it, sending Eren's coffee spilling all over his keyboard and paperwork. Jean apologized profusely, yet all the while his eyes gleamed with mischievous glee at the sight of Eren snarling in frustration.

There were other issues. His pens began to go missing. Files would be placed in the wrong areas. Once, he left his desk to deliver a file and returned to find his coffee spiked with salt. He thought about reporting Jean for harassment, but half of the pranks he could not prove were done by Jean, and the meaner things were not habitual enough to bring up with the HR Department.

That left him with no one else to vent to but his best friend.

* * *

"I'm telling you, Armin, I can't go on like this. I'm already stressed enough as it is." Eren fumed on a long-distance call with his best friend, who was now studying for his doctorate degree in Paris.

"I know," Armin said sympathetically over the phone. "Maybe this sounds crazy, but how about you try to befriend him?"

"Befriend him?" Eren shouted. "I can't stand him. Just the other day, he purposely gave me a long-form document to fill out. When I handed it in to Levi, he looked pissed off because he hadn't asked for any forms. I wasted two whole hours that could have been put toward clients, and looked like an idiot in front of the CEO."

Armin sighed. "I don't know what to say. Do you know why he's doing this?"

Eren flopped back on his couch. "He's always been like this, as far back as I can remember. I never knew why."

"That was years ago. You'd think a childhood rivalry like that would be long dead."

Eren grumbled, "Yeah, you'd think so."

"Did you two start off badly with each other at work?"

Eren let out a wry laugh and ran his hand through his long hair. "We never start in any way but badly. Remember middle school? The first day of seventh grade, he yanked down your shorts in gym class and I punched him hard enough to break his nose."

Armin muttered, "I'd rather forget that day."

Eren had a glare in his eyes. "If only I could beat the crap out of him like old times. That'd set him straight."

"Eren, don't!" Armin scolded seriously. "You're an adult now. You won't simply get detention; you'll get arrested. You can't risk losing your job over him."

"I know," Eren grumbled. "He's not worth it."

Armin sighed loudly, sounding like he really wanted to reach out and comfort Eren. "Try to reason with him. I know it's hard, it's not in your nature, and ... well, it's Jean. Still, be patient. Don't get angry over every little thing he does. This could be a good opportunity to mend the wounds of the past. Who knows? Maybe if you manage to understand each other, you two can turn out to be friends."