foolishly. selfishly. | e. yeager
➳ tags ;; lovesick!eren, pining (mutual but eren centric), childhood friends to lovers, sfw but suggestive towards the end, drinking and weedsmoking, college parties, male oc named haru who plays ex, eren being unbearable, feelings of resentment, yall both a lil dumb, not beta read, intoxication, ouid, eren is campus sweetheart lowkey, fem!reader
➳ wc ;; 3.9k 😃❓
➳ a/n ;; forgive me i think this is the first aot fic ive ever written so if the eren characterization isn’t ur thing.. ah. inspired by the song fools by troye sivan. also maybe part two for like.. actual smut LOL
➳ plot ;; eren yeager has been in love with you his whole life. when rumor comes your ex is gonna try and win you back for good, he decides to swallow his pride and finally tell you how he feels
“You’re down bad, Yeager,”
On his 3rd beer of the night, Eren watches you sway your hips to another heavy-bass hip-hop song. He’s disgruntled to put it lightly, sneering with disdain as you dance and sway to the music. Ymir is behind you, and he can’t tell if that pisses him off more or less.
Armin sighs, gently prying the latest bottle out of an already tipsy Erens hands, giving Jean a look who just snickers.
“You should just confess already, ‘ren,” ― Armin says sagely ― “It’s clearly bothering you,”
Jean speaks again. Connie laughs too, ashing a blunt before handing it back to Jean.
“When is it not bothering him,”
Connie chokes on blunt smoke in the middle of laughing and Eren shoots him a dirty look, to which all Connie does is put his hands defensively. Eren can barely stay mad for that long, given the way he knows that everyone right. Even Jean, who’s a fucking dumbass.
They’re right about how it’s always bothered him and about him down horrendously.
Eren Yeager is... a lot of things.
Stubborn, immature, childish. Among those things, he’s also brave. Lion-hearted. Not smart but strangely kind, always encouraging other people to be a little better. To do a little more with themselves and push past their boundaries. He’s not hypocrite either - more often than not he’s doing a dare or participating in something admittedly reckless.
He approaches everything with the same shrug, a half smile on his mouth - tan skin and green eyes shining brilliantly.
“What’s the worst that could happen?”
It’s his thing at this point. Every video of him that’s gone a little viral on TikTok or on his schools twitter has him saying just that at the beginning. It’s ironic in it’s own right because... a lot of things could happen. He does some pretty stupid shit - like climbing to the top of the deans building or spray-painting cars during holidays
He’s stupidly charming to the point everyone around seems to so easily give up into his whims. He’s never even been suspended. He gets a little slap on the wrist and goes on to live his best life. He’s life of the party and for someone who is so unafraid of consequence - it makes you wonder..
Why the hell hasn’t he confessed his feelings for you?
Eren Yeager thinks of you with even higher regards than the sun. You grew up with him, Armin, and Mikasa on a little street corner - only minutes away from each other. He’s retold the story in his head a million times - you knocked on his door nervously with a plate of cookies and he’d been in love with you ever since.
He can’t remember a time in his life where you weren’t directly influencing him. His parents were ecstatic when he went into highschool with a 4.0 but he only did it because he wanted to follow you into university - as bad as that sounds.
It’d be an understatement to say that he’s.. a little bit in love with you. The two of you are attached to each others hips but a lot of it is Eren absolutely hovering over your every move. Overprotective, overbearing, generally a little unbearable. Everyone around seems appalled by it when they see it but you brush him off so easily, a little shrug and uninterested glance. It’s probably something only you could do.
Armin swears that’s why he even fell for you even harder for you. You seem to look at everything in the world with affection with him as the exception. With everyone else, you’re so.. friendly? Once you’re comfortable - you’re nurturing, kind. The amount of times people have assumed you and Armin were an item just because you were so sweet on him is honestly embarrassing
But that’s just how you are with everyone. With Mikasa, Jean, Connie, Sasha, Historia, Ymir, Reiner... everyone. Everyone he can think of except Eren Yeager.
There was a point you also acted like that with him, actually even more than before - but as Eren’s feelings for you grew, his ability to handle your affection only dwindled. You got in a fight over it during your sophomore year of high school and you told him you’d stop if it made him uncomfortable. Eren, because he’s not very bright, agreed because he wasn’t ready to confess just yet.
And.. in terms of how longing goes, the lack of affection only seemed to make him want it more. You and Eren are still close but just.. best friends close. And Eren wants to be a lot more than best friends close with you. Despite the very small drift in your relationship - he’s still the same old bratty Eren Yeager.
For example, he’s hated every single boy you’ve ever dated in your entire life. Every time a new boyfriend has entered the arena, everyone jokes that before they worry about meeting your parents, they should worry about meeting him. You’ve dated some worthy men in your life, an entire Neuroscience major when you were a sophomore, an athlete, a graduate student. Eren hated all of them, since who could be better for you than him?
Despite his constant protest and disdain for them (which you’ve promptly ignored), your relationship with the Neuroscience major lasted almost an entire year. Eren was insistent with his pestering about it but you weren’t swayed. The reason you broke up is still unclear to him but he didn’t care either.
You never seem particularly heart-broken by any of these break-ups. Historia likes to call you stone cold but you sigh and shrug. They’re good but none of them have been “the one” is what you always say
Eren is just happy you’re single now - after about a year of dating, you’ve come to this party to celebrate with your friends about being free of a relationship and you seem happy. Ymir has her fingers on your hips a little bit more than necessary and a hand on your throat when you lean back to dance. You don’t seem to mind, smiling with all of your teeth as you throw your head back, tipsy.
The way Eren watches you while you dance is telling. Love-sick like cupid himself has shot an arrow through his heart. Everyone knows. Every single person on this campus, every friend, all of your parents combined. Everyone knows this shit but you.
He’s made it his lifes mission to evade this information from your pure, unknowing ears. It’s the one time Eren simply can’t find it in himself to brave. You present to him the one thing he never really faces… consequence.
The reasoning is admittedly unclear on his end about why he hasn’t just said fuck it and confessed. He’s said a number of things about it. He’s not ready, what if you don’t like him back and you never speak to him again, what if you’re upset with him. All of these are valid concerns to the blind-eyed and to the outsider.
But his friends, Armin and Mikasa namely, know much better than his bullshit. He’s ready he’s just terrified. Mikasa has never heard you say it explicitly, but call it intuition that she knows you like Eren back. She told one time in middle school that she liked Eren, but she’s well and over that. She’s literally dating a girl from her Anthro class You won’t listen to her no matter what she says but, she knows that you like Eren. She knows in the way your eyes flutter when he’s around - how your hands reach from him so briefly but the retract from touching him like you’ve agreed on. She can just tell.
They, more than anyone, find this clown show miserable to watch. Armin is too tired to care and Mikasa isn’t really sure how to approach so they do their best from a distance. Armin finds himself placing a hand on Erens shoulder to which Eren slumps forward. Jean sighs at his sorry state.
“C’mon Yeager, how bad could it really be? It’s Y/N... they’re like the nicest person ever,”
Connie gives Jean a look before laughing, rolling his neck a little.
“Yeah to everyone except Yeager,” Connie comments unhelpfully. Eren gives him a little glare, elbows on his knees as he holds his face in his palms. He finds himself folded over a little, palm on cheek as he stares at you.
He can’t even be mad at him… it’s true.
“Why is that, though?” ― Sasha asks, face deep in a bag of Doritos ― “Aren’t you guys childhood friends? Shouldn’t you be like... super close? Armin and Y/N are super close?”
Eren groans again as Armin sighs.
“They got into a fight sophomore year and Eren is overbearing,”
“Am not,”
“Yes, you are, Eren,” Mikasa adds after a long while. Eren gives her a pleading look but she refuses to cut him any slack. Sasha nods like it makes sense and Eren is even more upset by that.
“Well, Yeager - if you never confess, maybe I’ll have to slide on over and - “
Eren’s eyes go hard, brow bone furrowing, eyes losing all of their light.
“I’ll beat the shit out of you if you get near ‘er,” he spits.
Connie doubles over in laughter.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” ― Connie comments, relaxing into his seat ― “But if that’s how you really feel - pretty sure ol’ dude is gonna come back to tryna win her back,”
“Haru is coming here? Seriously?” Armin asks, seemingly perplexed. They have classes in the same building and it was almost a given that he never went out to any parties. He studies his ass off and rarely ever made time to do anything but see you.
“Who the hell is that?”
“Seriously, Eren - you didn’t even learn the dudes name?” Jean asks. Eren squints.
“Haru is her ex-boyfriend,” Mikasa answers. Eren stiffens immediately but Connie pretends not to notice, looking at Armin.
“Yessir. Caught him on campus yesterday, he looked disheveled. Said he was gonna try and get back with her. Gave me a whole speech about her and I had to sit there and pretend like I cared..” Connie says with a yawn. Jean breaks out into a fit of laughs as Armin quickly catches on to Connies scheme.
“Seriously? He’s not very talkative,”
Connie nods and takes a hit of the blunt, blowing it out before continuing.
“Yeah. Apparently, he’s really serious about her. Bought an engagement ring and everything,”
Mikasa cuts in this time, knowing but wanting real confirmation as she stares at Connie.
“Seriously?”
Connie nods, honest and relaxed.
“Seriously,”
Eren sits for a long while processing what Connie has said. His heart might fall of his ass, the way it drops into his stomach.
“Damn… they were only together like a year and he deadass wants to propose? Y/N’s must be something special,” Jean hums. Connie nods.
“Shit, they’ve had Yeager in a trance for damn near 15 years. Gotta be some kinda hex,”
Eren, decidedly, doesn’t hear the rest of the conversation. Instead, he stands up on his feet and stares at you for a while as his friends go quiet.
“Damn,” ― Connie chuckles ― “Did we break him?”
“I’ll be… right back,” Eren says absently, immediately heading towards you. Mikasa almost goes to chase him but Armin keeps her at bay.
“Yeah,” ― Jean sighs, chuckling ― “Definitely broke him,”
—
Eren finds you grinding slow to Brent Faiyaz song with Ymir. Your clothes are much tighter than he’s used too - they show off your figure so much it almost makes him angry but he swallows it down anyway.
“Hey,” ― he says, voice low as Ymir gives him a side eye ― “Could I talk to you real quick?”
You pause your movements, stumbling a little. You smell like perfume and cognac, but you smile anyways as you give him a once over. You brush your hands down your pants.
“Uh.. sure. Did you need something?”
He nods, hands in his pockets. Ymir steps always like she knows something, and maybe she does. She always seems to.
“Yeah.. just for a bit. Sorry to interrupt,”
You shake your head, waving him off as you lean over to give Ymir a kiss on the cheek. Eren swallows the jealousy in his mouth.
“Thanks for dancing with me tonight,” you tell her. She gives you a shrug.
“Thanks for dancing with me baby, take care,”
Before you get in a good wave, Eren decides hearing Ymir call you baby is enough to put him in an early grave and drags you away to the balcony before anything more can happen.
Once you’re out there - view of the whole campus and then some sits beneath you. You’re too busy shaking off Erens rough hands to really notice it, frowning.
“You’re too rough, ‘ren,” you say with a sigh. He almost goes to reach for it but he stops himself.
“Sorry,”
You shake your head
“.. ‘s fine,” ― you tell him, a soft yawn leaving your lips ― “What’s up,”
He stares at you for a long time. He knows that he has to tell you now. That even if it’s unlikely you’ll say yes, you could and then he’ll really lose out.
But he has to know first. He stops and waits, turning to look at you with his hands in his pockets.
“Why.. did you break up with your ex-boyfriend..?”
You seem taken aback by the question. For good reason, since Eren never really takes interest in your love life for anything other than the fact you’re single. Your eyes widen before softening. You go from staring him to the staring at the floor.
“… Why do you wanna know,” ― you say, crossing your arms over your chest uncomfortably ― “That’s unlike you,”
He takes in a sharp breath.
“I’m.. I just wanna know why. You two dated for a year. What happened?”
You feel something bitter inside of you. Something unrequited, a relationship demarcated by distance and unspoken feelings. Memories of Eren’s outburst, of fights about boyfriends and butting heads. It comes rushing back all at once. You grit your teeth.
“I don’t feel like telling you,” you reply, simple and straight-forward. You know that he won’t drop it but you just don’t think you can get in an all of this today. He looks at you like he’s offended by something you’ve done but you hold your ground, crossing your arms under your chest uncomfortably.
“Why not?”
You’re a little too tipsy to figure out a good lie, and you’re already exasperated with his attitude. You’re used to Eren being overbearing but it’s too much for him to do this.
“Because I don’t feel like it and it’s really none of your business,”
“How’s it not my business?”
You glare at him.
“How the hell is it your business?”
He scoffs at you.
“I’m your best friend, obviously it’s my business”
It feels so bitter in your mouth, coppery like the taste of blood when you think of why. When the reason is standing right in front of you with that hardened glare on his brow and that arrogant fucking attitude you have a love-hate relationship. When the reason you broke up is asking you about it even though he’s never cared before. It makes you so angry, these feelings you can’t tell each other.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re my best friend, you’ve never cared before and I don’t know why you decided to now,” ― you say, hands trembling, turning on your heel to leave ― “But I don’t want to talk about it. I’m going back inside,”
You try to leave but Eren has you by the wrist, and he’s so much stronger than you that when you spin around to face him, chest to chest, you leave a little gasp. And he’s looking down at you with fire in his eyes, jaw feather with something sinful. He has you pressed to his chest and the contact overwhelms you. He smells so nice and he’s so strong and it’s making you dizzy.
“Eren,” ― it comes out weaker than you intend, pushing him with your hand on his chest ― “S-stop. I know you don’t like when I touch you but I’m not budging on this,”
For whatever reason, your words seem to make him angrier. More desperate but he lets go and you stumble. You look at him just to make sure he’s okay, watching as he pinches the bridge of his nose.
“Connie..he said he saw your ex on campus,” ― and he swallows something in his throat. It’s the first your hearing of it so you listen ― “Said.. said that your ex was comin’ here tonight. Said that he was serious about you,”
Your eyes go wide. It’s the most Erens ever cared to know about your relationships.
“That he.. bought you a ring. He’s coming here tonight to win you back,” He explains. You soften a little at the thought.
“...He is?”
Eren runs a hand through his hair, so frustrated he doesn’t know what to do with himself. He stares at you.
“Are you serious about him? Haru, if he comes here tonight.. are you gonna get back with him?”
You raise your brow at him. He doesn’t seem angry anymore just desperate. Almost sad. You scratch your arm, uncomfortably.
“Haru is a good guy, Eren,”
“Answer my question,”
“Eren,” you repeat. He looks at you, strained.
“Please.. just.. answer me. Please,”
You don’t know how to feel but you know you hate the sound of his voice this upset. You shake your head, messing with something in your pockets.
“I dunno,’ren. Maybe. We broke up because I just don’t think we were on the same page, but he’s a good guy,”
Eren takes a step towards and your heart races. You wonder what Auntie fed him to make him grow like this broad and tall and athletic. You blink at him as he looks down at you. A little gasp leaving your lips as he places a hand on your face. Your heart pounds.
“What are you -”
“Don’t say maybe,” he interjects, running his thumb under your eye.
“Eren -”
“Wh-what are you doing, ‘ren? How drunk are you?”
“Don’t get back together with whatever his name is,”
“Haru,”
“Don’t get back with him.
You want to say something. There are so many questions but they remain lodged in your throat, somehwere beyond your reach. You cough a little and his hand is still on your cheek and he’s so close you don’t know what do
“Why not?” you ask finally.
“Because,” he replies childishly. You frown at him, but there’s nothing harsh about it. No matter how he acts, you always find him endearing.
“Because what, Eren?”
“Because..” ― he stops, and closes his eyes, and drops his forehead on yours, arms wrapping around your waist like this is even close to normal ― “Because... it should me your with,”
It feels like the whole world comes to a halt.
“What?” ― you gasp ― “What did you just say?”
He swallows.
“It should be me. Shoulda always been me,”
“Eren, slow down. What are you even saying?”
“I’m saying I’m in love with you. And that you shouldn’t get together with that fucking -”
“His name is Haru,”
“Didn’t ask,” he replies shortly. It’s like his words don’t reach you, too foreign.
“You’re...?” ― you push him back, you try too but he’s so strong so he keeps you right where you are ―”You’re in love with me?”
“Always have been,”
You shake your head like you’re in some kind of dream, pinching yourself to see if you’ll wake up. It feels too real, his voice and his breath like mint and beer and his green eyes and pretty long hair - all of it is too much.
“But then.. during sophmore year,”
“‘s when I realized,”― he explains, voice softer than you’ve ever heard ― “I was too nervous to tell you that when you touched me I thought I was gonna die,”
That makes you laugh and your laugh makes him smile. You settle back down, still lost but he’s so comforting. Your hands end up on his chest and you look at him.
“Been in love with you since we were kids. It was always you and it’ll always be you. I was too scared to tell you but I can’t... can’t let you go like that. I can’t stand it,”
You fidget, dropping your head.
“We uhm.. the reason I always break up with people is ‘cause I was trying to get over you. I didn’t think I..had any chance especially since I thought Mikasa liked you,”
Eren’s eyes widen,a grin breaking out onto his face as he hugs you so hard you yelp.
“Fuck, you’re so cute,”
You let out a little whine but you melt anways because of course you do.
You stay like that for a while. The music blaring, the night going cold - all of it fades into background noise as you sheepishly hold each other. And Eren will squeeze you tight like he’s trying to remember you’re still real.
You pull back, just to look at each other but neither of you can hold your smiles in. You break out into giggles together.
“We’re both stupid, huh?”
“Always have been,”
Your smile settles in your cheeks and it’s too much. But you let him hold you and he seems starved for it.
“Missed touching you,”
You scrunch your nose up.
“That’s dirty, Yeager”
His eyes widen, shaking his head.
“That’s not what I fucking meant -”
“Later,” ― you hum, a little sleepy ― “You can touch me all you want when we get to my dorm,”
His eyes widen and he prays to ever god he can think of that he survives long enough to see heaven like you’ve promised. He swallows.
“R-right. Right,”
You chuckles before leaning up on your tippy-toes.
“For now though.. think it’d nice if you kissed me,”
He lets out a shaky breath.
“Fuck.. Can I?”
You nod.
“Please do,”
And he does, leans down with his hand cradling your neck to kiss you as hard as he can. It’s gentle but messy and needy. Hot mouth pressed against yours, hands moving down to hold and touch you wherever he can. All you can think to yourself is that you’ve never felt it like this before, the electricity running through your whole body. From the tips of your fingers to your toes, you grab his shirt like you can’t get enough. Maybe you can’t.
You kiss for so long and only pull away when you remember you’re supposed to breathe. Lips swollen and his face covered in gloss.
“H-how soon can we get to your dorms?”
You giggle.
“You’re down bad, Yeager,”
He laughs too.
He figures he can’t really deny it now.
You hold onto his arm.
“But we can skip the rest of the night, right now,” ― you say flush ― “If you want,”
“Yeah... yeah I want that,”
2K notes
·
View notes