"Hey, Jean," Connie whispers from behind as he nudges Jean with a quick elbow jab. "That blonde guy's back again! That's, like, what? The third time this week? Fifteenth day this month?"

Jean doesn't respond right away. Instead, he hisses low under his breath, gripping at his side. That jab had been more than just a jab; it was a death blow, and for a moment, he sees spots of purple and blue in the air. The sight of blonde hair, however, from the corner of his eye rings alarms in his head and, together with the sound of the store's entrance chime and the swish of the sliding doors, he knocks over a box of protein bars sitting on the counter.

The ARMORED TITAN bars—going half-off—spill over the counter and Jean's frantic scramble to keep them from fall over only makes them slide off the edge and onto the floor.

"Gah," Jean lets out, a little heat rushing to his side because he can feel the stares of some of the store's patrons on him. Connie's snickers are loud and clear to his ears as he picks up the ones on the counter, only taking a quick moment to toss a quick glare and mutter 'I'll knock down those salonpas later, you dumbass' under his breath.

Jean's work cap later slips off his head and falls over the counter to join the bars on the floor. He groans. It's been one thing after the other today, and he just wants nothing more than his much break to happen.

But that isn't going to happen for another fifteen minutes and Jean just can't wait to see what else might pop up for the day. Unfortunately, as he moves around the counter to pick up the bars on the floor, the sight of another hand reaching over and beating him to the punch makes him regret his words.

Jean swallows—hard. And even though he shouldn't, his eyes trace up from the floor, over a gray sweatpants and a white muscle tee, to a pair of fierce, blue eyes staring back at him.

He gulps—hard—and he reaches over to grab the bars only to realize that the blonde guy holding them isn't letting them go or making a move. The bit of heat that he felt earlier is soaring right back into his head again. Jean could feel it in his ears, in his cheeks, in his neck, and he didn't doubt that he might have been looking completely red at this point.

From behind, he hears Connie whistling casually, and he could imagine the guy just stacking box of salonpas one right beside the other on the back shelves, enjoying the show.

It's only the sound of the store's chime and the sliding doors that push Jean out of it, and he coughs.

"Uh, hey, Erwin…" Jean rubs at the back of his neck, trying to look anywhere else but failing miserably. He points a finger. "Thanks for helping pick all that up. I can take it from here." He holds his hands out, his arms out wide.

Erwin smiles and holds out the bars, casually passing them into Jean's arms. Then he reaches for Jean's cap and places it gently on the male's head.

"Jean." He starts with a chime to his tone, enthusiastic.

"Yeah?"

"It's good to see you," Erwin finishes with a wide grin on his lips.

Jean almost jumps and nearly drops a few of the bars if Erwin hadn't reached out to keep him steady.

"But I—we!" Jean quickly jabs a thumb behind him over his shoulder, pointing at Connie (who actually wasn't there anymore). "We saw you yesterday, and—and, uh, the day before yesterday."

"I know," Erwin chirps, placing his hands on his hips. The muscles on Erwin's arms flex slightly, and Jean quickly darts his eyes back up before he lets Erwin catch him. "But I like seeing you."

"You mean us! Haha," Jean laughs nervously, jerking an arm and flailing it behind him (but again, Connie was no longer there). "But it's great, uh, seeing you too! Out for a jog, huh?"

Erwin's lips purse together and Jean could see the slightest hint of a smirk. Jean gulps, imagining a twinkle in his Erwin's eyes, before shaking it off, trying to go against his creative mind. But then his eyes drift down the rest of Erwin's attire, eventually reaching the picture of a pair of wings on the man's thigh.

"Yeah," says Erwin, knocking Jean out of his trance. He shakes himself a little, trying to rid himself from thinking anything more. "I try to go for a job before work. This route's the best so far." He smiles.

"Oh yeah? Why's that?" Jean would have smacked himself in the face if it weren't for the bars in his hands.

To his luck, Erwin just keeps up that smile, making it larger if anything, and the heat is practically crawling all over insight his body. He shouldn't have asked. He shouldn't have asked.

"Less traffic," Erwin answers, and for a bit, Jean could feel something in his chest drop. What was he even expecting? No, wait. Was he actually expecting something?

The sound of clicks and the familiar ding of the cash register brings him back to reality and Jean realizes there's a line of a few people shuffling by the counter, watching the pair oddly out of the corner of their eyes. The sight of a few snickers and amused faces brings back the heat to his cheeks for the umpteenth time this morning and Jean shifts his foot awkwardly, turning his body to dump the leftover bars back into the box.

"I'll take it from here, Jean," Connie calls from behind the register, the smallest sign of a smirk and a snicker threatening to break from his lips as he rings up a couple of water bottles. "Take your break early! It's on me, bro!"

A line of heads that actually turn to look at Jean makes him want to die, but he feels a tap on his shoulder and remembers the blonde beast lurking behind him. With a gulp, he flashes a nervous grin. "Uh, yeah?"

"Do you want to go on a date?" Erwin smiles.

"What?"

"Jean, he proposed!" Connie Springer fist-pumps into the air and dings the cashier bell several times for good measure. An elderly lady is softly clapping her hands, and Jean wants to die on the spot.

Jean pushes his hands against Erwin's chest, feeling an awkward conflict of 'hell no' and 'but I kinda want to?' going on inside him. But before he could better enforce the 'hell no' part of him, Erwin lets out a small chuckle and grabs Jean's hand. He gives them a slight squeeze before letting go, leaning and resting on the balls of his feet.

"It's okay," Erwin says, thumbs slipping into the pockets of his sweatpants. "I'll try again tomorrow." He beams before nodding his head and then heading out of the store.

"Oh wow," says the elderly lady from behind him. "What a keeper!" she chimes, and Jean could only inwardly groan as he overhears several other people muttering in agreement. ("Oh yeah, definitely," "Ten out of ten," "Would be gay for that.")

"He's a virgin too, ladies and gents!"

"Connie!"

x

author's notes: I kind of messed towards the end, in the middle, and from the beginning. So, the whole thing. It's just some light humor going on the verge of crack.

I don't actually know what I wrote this. I guess it's just something to get me back into my fanfiction writing again after, like, two years or something? Please review/comment~ This is also posted on my ao3 account sassirin & on my .com blog where you can find (sadly, a few) Erujean pics. This pairing doesn't have a really big community and that's so sad because Erujean is pretty hot. ; u ;