Tired eyes stared at an empty word document as similar tired hands remained perched on the laptop keyboard unmoving. He groaned rolling his head back breaking eye contact with the screen to instead stare up at his ceiling.
"What's up?" Armin looked up from the magazine he was currently thumbing through when he heard the breathy none too polite word leave his friend's lips.
"It's this stupid paper!" Eren wheeled around in his coaster chair pointing an accusing finger at his laptop, the source of so many of his problems.
"Or lack thereof." The blond gave him an apologetic smile, blue eyes shifting between him and the screen.
"This wouldn't be happening if you would just help me like I asked."
"Noo, this wouldn't be happening if I had done it for you like you wanted." Armin corrected. "It's just a two page essay, free writing. It should be a walk in the park for you."
Eren sighed again closing the top down but not before giving it one last dirty look. "Not if I can't concentrate. I need a clear head…hey! Wanna run down to the café? I heard they got new pastries." He grinned. Oh Armin groaned, trying to bribe with sweets and not just any sweets. So cheap but so very effective.
"Eren now you're just avoiding it."
"Come on…come on…" He bit his lip to keep back the smile nudging his friend in the shoulder.
"Well…" What could he say? His arm was twisted. "Alright." The blond smiled back dropping the magazine on the bed following him out the door. As they slipped their shoes and jackets on a voice called out through the house no doubt from the kitchen.
"Eren? Where are you going?"
"To the café mom, we'll be back soon!"
"Did you finish your homework?"
Of course it wouldn't be that easy. Planting on his best charming smile he turned around to see his mom step out of the kitchen giving him a questioning look, wet sudsy dish in hand. "Well, no but-"
Here it came. She set a frown on her face, a hand on her hip the other shaking the plate. "And just how long do you intend to put it off?"
"Not…forever?" Her eyes hardened.
"And you should be saving your money." She wasn't wrong, this much was true but darn it all he needed this!
"I know but I just can't think, I need something sweet. We won't be gone long promise! And then I'll get back to work right away." This answer seemed to pacify her enough, for the time being anyway. She sighed, the tension leaving her shoulders the frown melting away into a defeated smile. "You want anything while we're there? Wait wait, I got it." The brunet snapped his fingers with a grin. "Ginger chip cheesecake."
"Go already." She grinned. "And hurry back will you?"
"Sure thing!" Armin just gawked at his friend before following him out the front door, shutting it behind him. "Dude pick your jaw up."
"Using food against me is one thing, but your mom? The most trusting, kind, and compassionate woman in your life? That's so low."
"Oh hardly!" He huffed pocketing his hands making sure he had his wallet on him in the first place. "You heard her, she wants something too. Not guilty."
"By all reasoning she should have made you stay." Armin muttered apparently to himself as Eren marched on happy as a clam.
This café in question was something fairly new, having opened up just a few months prior. Small place called café Maria but with the quality it really didn't matter. What Eren loved about it was the fact it was just a short ways from his house and the sweets that were addictive as all hell. Already it garnered a stellar reputation especially with the ladies. There was just something magical about the combination of coffee, tea, pastries and chocolate.
Upon entering the café all the wonderful smells invaded their nostrils. "I'm thinking dark chocolate." The brunet licked his lips looking to Armin. "You?"
"Caramel sounds nice." He sighed blissfully, moving up closer sizing up the display case with hungry eyes. Oh it looked better today than it looked last week.
Ushering Armin in line, Eren rocked on his heels in anticipation looking over the shoulders of the people in front. Good day, it's a good day. "Oi Jaeger." Was, was a good day. As he looked over Eren knew full well who it was. He sighed eying the other teen coming up with that stupid grin on his face.
"Great it's horse face." He grumbled, grunting softly when Armin elbowed him. "Omf, I mean s'up horse face?"
"What he means is hi Jean." Armin gave him an apologetic look only to the find the two were already sizing each other up like the big tough dogs they pretended to be damn near nose to nose growling at each other.
"The hell you doing here anyway?" Eren smirked, not backing down.
"You own the whole damn block now? " Jean sneered back holding his ground.
"No I just own the personal space you happen to be standing in, so why don't you step back some? Preferably to the next continent."
"Why? Your ass that big?"
"Guys stop." The blond teen looked between the two pouting as they came close to literally butting heads. "Seriously, please don't start a fight in here."
There was a heated rivalry between the two, everyone knew that. While they didn't hate each other's guts as much as they claimed, they weren't best friends either. Interesting enough if you were to put them in a room together they would be perfectly fine until they noticed each other. Then came the grunting, staring and circling. Like cavemen, Armin marveled.
"Jean." Came a response from behind him making him turn around. Ah crap. Marco perked a brow trying to display his disapproval. Bad Jean, bad. "Eren." The freckle faced teen tilted his head to look around Jean. "What are you guys doing?"
"Nothing…" They grumbled in unison backing away from each other looking away.
"Let's see to it that it stays that way." Armin mouthed a thank you from his place beside Eren giving him a light pat on the shoulder. That was Marco, like Armin he was the voice of reason. Really the only voice Jean would listen to other than his own. "Are you here to try the new menu too? It's a bit crowded today." Smiling in relief of the now not too tense atmosphere he joined the queue with Armin letting Eren and Jean in front of them where they muttered profanities to each other under their breaths. Cavemen.
"That was the idea." Armin laughed. "Where's everyone else?"
"They're waiting at school, we were just going to bring something to snack on before the meeting starts."
"Oh yeah that's right, you're the student council president this year." Armin beamed. "How's that going?"
"Not good I'm afraid." He sighed stepping up when the line moved, his eyes leaving the two sulking boys in front of him turning his attention back to Armin. "We found out fairly early that we don't have enough in the budget and we're trying to think of extra events to raise the money."
"That's not good…twelfth year always takes this trip. If the money can't be gathered before December…"
"Yeah." Marco sighed. "We'll have to cancel." There was a lot of pressure on the committee this time of year. Marco was more than qualified for the job of class president and yet something was going wrong. "Is it because I'm too nice?" Armin tilted his head in confusion. "You know…lenient on the others…I don't really like pulling rank on my friends to get things done and they're already working as hard as it is."
"It's not you, I can promise that." Armin shook his head. "You're not that outgoing, neither am I, but everyone respects you. You'll come up with something soon." The blond smiled as Eren and Jean made it to the front of the line watching them hiss at each other trying talk over the other. The girl behind the counter simply smiled awkwardly taking down their orders.
"Your turn Armin." Eren stood aside but not before shooting Jean an irritated frown waiting at the counter for his drink with a dark chocolate filled turnover letting the other patrons come up to order not giving them much thought.
"Large coffee, black." A man uttered stepping up after Marco and Armin.
"If you need any help, you can call us if you want." Armin offered standing off to the side nibbling on his caramel apple strudel, another sack of sweets hanging from his arm.
Marco simply laughed shaking his head. "You think I want to purposely put Jean and Eren in the same room together? We'd never get anything done!"
"Well, we could separate them from the rest of the herd." Armin grinned. "They'll get confused."
"We can hear you you know, we're not cattle." Jean gave the both of them a scowl of annoyance chomping down on his danish.
"Says the horse." Eren sucked a bit of chocolate off of his thumb.
"You want to date my fist?!" Jean growled reaching to grab his shirt missing narrowly as Eren darted away happily to retrieve his drink from the lady behind the counter. "You're going to get yours Jaeger!"
"I don't see that happening any time soo-" As he spun around to gloat he plowed right into another customer. A customer who was just handed his large black coffee. Whose coffee was now all over his once pristine pressed eggshell dress shirt. "H-Holy…I-I, dude I'm sorry I didn't-" Without a word the man stared, eyes unblinking. Reaching out he pulled the blended mocha creamice from Eren's hand, removed the dome and dumped the frozen contents over the mop of messy brown hair.
Oh. My. God.
He stood there an extra few seconds longer to let it drip insuring there was nothing left even purposely shaking what was left out on Eren's head before letting the empty plastic cup drop to the floor with a hollow rattle. If there wasn't a scene before there was a scene now. Marco's and Armin's jaws hit the ground as Jean shoved his Danish further in his mouth to keep from laughing. Eren couldn't move, he was speechless, and freaking cold.
"Hn." Without a word the man took what was left of his coffee and walked out the door like nothing happened.
"E-Eren…are you…" Armin uttered meekly. Shit it didn't happen to him and he was terrified!
"I wish I had a camera…I wish I had a-tell me someone got that!" Jean shouted out to the crowd looking around eagerly.
Eren was still in a state of shock, his eyes glued to the ground as he trembled from the blended ice sliding down his neck and into his shirt. He wasn't going to move on his own any time soon his friend deducted. Shaking his head Armin looked to Marco taking Eren by the shoulders. "W-We're gonna go but um, still, let me know how things go okay?" The freckled faced teen could only dumbly nod watching as Armin urged Eren out the door.
"Marco! Marco man, someone recorded it!" Jean practically squealed in excitement behind him.
AN: It's a miracle this happened at all really. I recently got into SNK thanks to the combined efforts of my sister and friends, that and my morbid curiosity got the better of me. It's been a while since I posted anything... A lot of things went on at home and long story short my own comp and all my files is waiting for me on the other side of the country. I really must finish those other fics before starting another but I never learn :P I hope you enjoy and I'll get started on the next chapter ASAP.