*?? EREN JAEGER X READER
When you're paired with Eren Jaeger for a semester-long psych project on vulnerability, you expect awkward silences, not slow-burning tension and quiet moments that say more than words ever could. He's distant but not cruel...
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THE RAIN HAD STARTED sometime after six. Not the kind that thundered against windows, but the soft, steady kind that blurred the edges of everything outside: the cars, the lamplight, the people rushing by with jackets over their heads. It made the whole world feel a little quieter. Softer, somehow. Like the sky itself was taking a deep breath and trying not to collapse under the weight of the day.
You'd opened your window just a crack. Enough to let in the sound of it, that rhythmic tapping against the sill. The air inside your dorm had gone still and cool. A little damp at the edges. You were sitting at the table near your bed, legs tucked under you, notebook open in front of you with half a page of scribbles that didn't yet add up to anything useful.
Eren sat across from you, his chair pulled in close, one arm braced against the tabletop while he scrolled through something on his laptop. His hoodie hung damply on the back of the chair — he'd taken it off as soon as he came in, rain still clinging to the sleeves — and now he wore just a dark T-shirt, the cotton soft and a little wrinkled, like it had been stuffed in a drawer that morning. He hadn't said much since he arrived. But that was normal, wasn't it?
You'd been staring at your open notebook for ten minutes.
The table between you and Eren was scattered with papers: the 36 Questions handout, a half-eaten protein bar, and two copies of your joint personality profiles, complete with the typed answers from your last sessions. Tonight's part of the project involved a short written reflection and a final exercise, one that asked you both to sit down and identify your most dominant traits, how you believed others perceived you, and whether those perceptions aligned with who you really were.
Perception versus reality, the paper said in bold. How does your external self match or conflict with your internal self?
You hadn't gotten very far.
Eren hadn't either, as far as you could tell. He was sitting across from you, hunched slightly, one elbow resting on the table while he skimmed something on his laptop screen. His hair was tied back again, but a few strands had fallen loose, curling damply at his temples. He hadn't said much since he arrived. But that was normal, wasn't it?
Only it didn't feel normal anymore.
You shifted in your seat, then cleared your throat softly. "Eren."
He looked up. Not startled. Just... ready, in the way that made your stomach flip. His eyes were steady, quiet, like he was used to expecting the worst from people who opened with his name.
You didn't want to fumble this. "I just wanted to say... I'm sorry. About what Jean said. At the library."
Eren blinked once. The corner of his mouth twitched, but not into a smile. "You don't have to apologize for him."
