Love Me Not - {riren au}

Love Me Not ~ 33

Eren did his best to keep his mind clear of what had happened.

There were times where he'd dwell on it, but that was normal. He knew that as much as he wanted to forget about Levi's existence, it wasn't possible.

He made sure to hang out with his friends and kept working his usual amount of shifts at the bookstore. There was no way he was going to show any weakness.

Eren hadn't seen Levi enter the bookstore at all, and if he did he assumed he went when he wasn't around.

He always took Levi for the guy that didn't care that much. He had expected to see him constantly.

Was he still going in the bookstore while Eren was there working? Was he stupid to assume that Levi actually felt bad and was avoiding the bookstore to keep Eren sane? He wasn't usually on register and was organizing books so it would be possible that he slipped in and out without Eren noticing. Sasha could've been ringing him up.

Eren also had odd interactions with Erwin. He was the son of the owners and he did manage them quite a bit. It looked like Erwin wanted to ask him questions. But what about? Levi had said that Erwin was trying to meddle with something. Did that involve Eren?

He knew the relationship that Erwin and Levi had was peculiar. He didn't know all of the details, but assumed even with how Levi could avoid him like to plague, they were close.

The brunette was expecting to see them hanging out and walking into the bookstore together like they had in the past.

Grisha didn't seem to be very annoyed anymore at that point either. He got his thoughts across and then moved past it.

Mikasa also didn't ask too many questions. That was suspicious to him, but he knew he'd find out what was going on with her soon enough.

All of the unknowns and the weight on his shoulders was suffocating him. He had a house party, he stayed out at a guy's house that he slept with... the list went on. He could never tell his dad.

People always said he was a good kid, was he still that good kid? It seemed he had too many lies to cover up. If those lies came out, that "good" label he had on him would surely disappear.

Eren also kept Armin and Mikasa in the dark. They had no idea what happened. They saw the hickeys, but didn't know anything else. They didn't know how far he went, and he honestly felt embarrassed telling them.

He knew they were his best friends and he could tell them anything. They had his back whether they agreed with his choice or not.

He had already disappointed Grisha and didn't want to face anymore disappointment in that moment.

Mikasa and Armin didn't pry because they already knew. There was no other person it could be. They just didn't know how far things had gone.

While Eren was at work one evening, Armin had made his way over to talk to Mikasa and see if she knew anything.

Grisha was back from work and sitting on the couch, watching whatever evening news was on.

"Hi, Mr. Jaeger. How are you?" Armin asked.

Grisha didn't mind if Armin came and went. The front door was usually unlocked so he expected the blonde to just walk in.

"Tired, but all right. Are you here for Eren? He's at work unfortunately." Grisha said, picking up the tv remote and changing the channel.

"Oh, no I'm here for Mikasa. She sent me a text to come over." Armin shrugged. "I think she wants to talk about something to do with registration for classes in the fall since Eren isn't here and can't help her."

"Ah yeah, Mikasa has been kind of bad with technology. Thanks for helping her." Grisha chuckled a bit. "You'd think she was my age."

Armin laughed a bit. "I should get going to help her then!" He walked to Mikasa's room and stood in the doorway. He was glad he was able to lie so smoothly. He usually didn't lie and hated doing it, but it was something very small. 

He knew he didn't need to give Grisha an explanation as to why he was there to see Mikasa, but he felt he had to. He was going into her room after all.

Mikasa looked up from her phone when she heard Armin in the doorway. She pulled out the concealer Armin had used on Eren and tossed it at him.

Armin fumbled when trying to catch it and dropped it. It rolled right under Mikasa's bed. "Why did you have that?" He asked.

"Oh, I took it from his room just now. Not like he can use it anyways since you got such a light shade." Mikasa teased.

"Hey, it works." Armin huffed softly and moved  to sit on the bed with Mikasa.

"What do you think even happened?" Mikasa asked. "I know it's something that he is avoiding completely."

"Well we know Levi was involved. It just makes sense that it would be him." Armin sighed. "And now he's probably hurting even more and doesn't want to tell us."

"Yeah, I'm sure he's trying to figure out how to cope in his own way. I just wish he knew he could rely on us. As disappointed as I am in his choice, it's not something I'd hate him over or try to stay away. We're the closest people to him." Mikasa sighed. "So much has happened and I just want to support him."

Armin plopped back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. "Things were always so drama free and peaceful during high school. The second we're out of high school and on our way to college things start going crazy. This is the time we really need to be on our game."

-

Hi! I haven't checked in with all of you in a while, I hope you're all doing well and staying safe/healthy. I know most of you are probably as shook as I am with everything STILL going on rn :(.

Also, if you look back at previous chapters I made some changes! Basically erased all the weird tension I put between Erwin and Levi. They're on good terms and Levi has basically been avoiding his friends because he knows they'll grill him on Eren. (Little summary for those of you that don't wanna go back and read it, which is totally okay because I barely wanted to go back to edit it)

Don't forget to vote/comment :)