denial

by fan-nerd

You hate Eren Jaeger – hate him with every bone in your body. He's volatile, and a shitty human being, but deep down (and you loathe admitting such a thing to yourself), you hate Eren the most because he's right. Eren's usually right, and you hate that more.

14. growing up isn't any fun

xiv: growing up isn't any fun
s: Maybe everything's going to be okay after all.
a/n: Because this is so freaking short, the rumored triple update is at last upon us. The fic is already 3/4 of the way through!

/

Senior year of high school is a joke. Freshman year of college is an even bigger joke. Throughout it all, you're stuck with Jaeger, who is the biggest joke of all.

There are two good things you can actually remember from that period of time. One, you finally surpassed his track record. (Once, but that still counts.) Two, your GPA was .1 point higher than his upon graduation. (Petty, but important.)

Jaeger has a tearful parting with his sister and his ex-boyfriend-slash-best-friend, and you have one with Connie, Connie's new girlfriend, Sasha, and Marco. Neither Eren nor you move out of home, because college is so close, but you are so, so ready to. The only thing keeping you sane is your car, your job, and your friends.

Eren looks lost and lonely, roaming around campus, and when you bump into him, you're actually pleasantly surprised to see a familiar face. Even if the two of you butt heads and bump elbows, you have two classes together, and you refuse to admit that you're happy about that.

Sometimes, the two of you bar hop and party together, and the people around you praise your ability to hold liquor. You remember telling someone that the first time you had a chugging contest with Jaeger, you were fourteen. They laughed, and you laughed too.

For the first time in your life, you find yourself openly curious about more than just girls. Eren may or may not be heartbroken over his blonde childhood sweetheart, but you're going to finally make an impression on people in college, and the first step to doing that is dealing with this bout of internal denial. You date guys and girls, but nothing ever lasts more than a month, and you can't figure out why people just don't love you. It hurts, so sometimes you call Marco to drunkenly wax poetic to him, and he lets you ramble while he studies for his nursing classes.

Jaeger asks you for a book for one of the classes you have together one day, and you let him borrow it for the night. He actually smiles for the first time in ages, and he's not staring at his phone. Then, when you realize that he can pick himself up and figure this whole adulthood thing out, you can too.