when you were younger, you were fascinated at the amount of sweet goods your grandmother could create just about whenever she felt like it. the amount of recipes she kept in a book on the kitchen counter were enough to feed you for a year.

around the time you had reached the age of four, she insisted you helped her in baking which you happily obliged. you grew up just always watching or being in her care as she baked so when she had finally asked for your help, you were delighted. even you got eggshells in the mix, poured too much flour, added more salt than sugar, she would simply smile and pat your head. mistakes were always made in the process of learning.

it wasn't until after her passing you had realized that she was a stress baker. of course when you were younger, you would have never noticed. but as you grew older, you realized that she was always stressed about your mothers whereabouts, your well-being, taking care of you and even her own declining health.

during your exams in high school, it dawned on you that you were a stress baker as well as countless of sweets that were made during your childhood scattered the kitchen. of course your family, especially the twins, did not mind at all.

and that's exactly what you were doing as you flipped over another chocolate chip pancake, your grandmother's book full of recipes out in front of you. what exactly were you stressed about? well for starters, you had another night of no sleep, you ignored your roommates when they stumbled into the dorm an hour after you got home, and you didn't know how to face mikasa.

sure eren said that she would understand, but what if she didn't? you also didn't know if she was truly over eren either despite their short lived relationship. and then you were stressed about being stressed about all this. there was no reason you should feel guilty about hanging out with eren seeing as you had no feelings of the sort for him... right? you shook her head to yourself, trying to rid of all the thoughts as you plated two pancakes for yourself and sat at the small dining table the dorm provided.

you ate in silence by yourself, your eyes checking the time on the microwave. 9:56am it read. you had work in an hour, a full eight hour shift. in a sense, you were glad seeing as you would be away from your dorm for the day but you dreaded it because you felt physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted. a small ping! sounded from your cell phone and you reluctantly pulled it out of your pocket.

you frowned at the message emi had sent you since she was spamming you about how the guy she was seeing finally asked her to be his girlfriend. you found it ironic that she entered a relationship just as soon as yours had ended. leaving her on read, you looked in the direction of sasha's room as she lazily walked into the living room. she was dressed in an oversized shirt, her hair a mess around her head and rubbing sleep out of her eyes.

"i never want to drink again." she grumbled, slumping into a chair across from you.

you slide a plate of pancakes over towards her and her eyes instantly lit up. you raised an eyebrow as she practically drowned them syrup. sasha took a huge bite, a noise of satisfaction falling out of her lips.

the girl took a swig of some chocolate milk you had poured for her before finally speaking. "we were worried about you last night. you suddenly disappeared but some blonde girl said that you had left with eren. she also said something about looking like you were crying?"

you pursed your lips, setting your fork down ever so slightly. "does mikasa know?"

sasha's face filled with confusion as she chewed. "yeah, why?"

"i-i gotta go to work." you stood abruptly, almost crashing into mikasa and annie who were entering the living room. their bedhead almost resembled sasha's yet was more tame.

"you're working today? did you want me to take you?" mikasa offered around a yawn she let out.

you quickly shook your head as you thought up a lie. "hitch offered to carpool with me."

with that, you grabbed your bag that one of them kindly brought inside for you and your phone. after quickly requesting an uber, you left the dorm and headed towards the area where you were to meet your driver.

after your departure, the three girls looked to one another. annie sighed as she served herself and mikasa some of the pancakes you had made. when you did stress bake, you always made more than enough.

"something's up."

"do you think she's avoiding us?" mikasa mumbled, running a hand through her short black hair. she nibbled on her lip in frustration.

"maybe just you." sasha said nonchalantly, shoveling more food into her mouth. "i think she probably feels guilty or something about leaving the party with eren."

mikasa scrunched her eyebrows together in confusion. "but why would she avoid me?"

"you're his ex." annie added in a 'duh' tone. "she probably doesn't want you to hate her if she tried making a move on him or something."

"no, there's something more. her eyes were really puffed up and she seemed more exhausted than normal." mikasa observed. "besides, she knows we broke up. i think they would be really cute together."

"i agree."

"well, we can't force her to tell us anything she doesn't want to. she barely knows us."

mikasa pursed her lips. "i think it's best we give her space."

annie nodded in agreement while sasha's eyes widened. she could see written all over your face what you were thinking. if mikasa and annie were to give you space, it would feed in to the narrative you had created that they were angered by you leaving with eren and wanting nothing to do with you. of course, sasha did not want that because she knew truthfully that they all cared and were worried for you but she missed her opportunity to speak as mikasa took her plate of food back into her own room where she claimed she would be doing homework for the remainder of the day.

sasha groaned in annoyance at her hesitation and slammed her forehead against the table. annie stopped mid-chew and quirked an eyebrow at the girl.

the next day was the same. after work, you ubered back to your dorm and immediately went to your room to work on any upcoming assignments. mikasa was giving you space and as sasha had guessed, you thought she was angry with you.

when it was around ten at night, you snuck into the kitchen to make yourself a cup of noodles for dinner before returning back to your room to finish the work you had started. once you were finished, you decided to go on disney plus and watch the marvel movies in order. eventually, you dosed off in the middle of the first captain america movie but woke up during the end credits as you could never sleep for long.

around 11am, you pulled out your grandmothers recipe book and began to bake her famous banana nut muffins. once finished, you decided to leave for work early even though you weren't scheduled until four. it was only one thirty when you left but you hoped that no one would question you hanging out in the breakroom before your shift. there was something about being at work that suddenly washed away all your worries. maybe it was because when you came into work you had to leave all personal problems at the door.

so you did just that as you slumped into a chair at table in the breakroom, resting your head on your folded arms upon the table. you decided that maybe you could take advantage and try to take a nap before you had to clock in and get to work. just as you felt yourself slowly drifting off into sleep, a sudden jolt to the leg of your chair shocked you awake. you lift your head to send a glare at whatever pulled you away from your almost slumber only to see your boss with his arms crossed over his chest. immediately, you sat up straight.

"seeing from the schedule, you aren't supposed to be here until four. you're two hours too early and although i appreciate the eagerness, i can't have you sleeping in the breakroom." levi tched.

"sorry, sir. i haven't gotten much sleep at home and being here clears my head enough to get some." you admit, rubbing the back of your neck in embarrassment.

levi studied your face. of course, he was aware of your insomnia since your father so kindly informed the school upon your acceptance. this was then passed on to your professors. even though levi never really spoke much to you at work or in his class while teaching, he was worried. the older let out a sigh. "follow me."

you gulped, nervous that he was gonna write you up or worse, fire you. you followed after him down the hallway to the last room. he opened the door and gestured for you to step inside. it was his office, adorned with a desk, paperwork, mini fridge and a small couch. "i can't have you sleeping in the break room but you're welcome to rest here when you can't sleep at home. trust me, i know how hard it is."

"levi, you..."

"yeah, yeah. i have insomnia too. why do you think i have two full time jobs. if i can't sleep i may as well be useful somewhere. i have to head back to the floor so rest up but don't be clocking in."

"levi, you don't have to do this. i-i..." you were simply at a loss for words. most people who knew levi were scared of him because of his almost emotionless state and his harsh tone of voice. but now you knew why, the man was exhausted. and even though he was exhausted and overworked, he still noticed those around them and offered them kindness.

"just get some rest." levi tsked once more before leaving you in the office dumbfounded.

monday classes went by smoothly. connie and jean spoke to you as normal before walking you to levi's class. sasha worked with you and marco on the reading discussion. even though annie and mikasa were you giving space, though you still believed the two were mad with you, sasha was glued to your side. she waited till you got off work and watched movies with you until she fell asleep. she walked you to your first class even though she didn't have one at the time. and now she was walking you to hange's class. sasha just wanted you to know that she was there.

"good luck!" she cheered as she jogged to catch up with marco and connie. you gave a small wave to the three before opening the door and heading to your seat.

thankfully, it was only you and few other students. you decided to scroll through your social media while you waited for the start of class. the trio you were dreading to approach their seats walked through the door together, a minute before class started. hange was right on their tail, greeting the class.

you felt yourself stiffen in your seat as eren slumped next to you. he rested his head on his backpack on the desk, half lidded eyes focused on hange as they blabbered on about something. your mind was occupied elsewhere to even pay attention to the lesson they were giving. neither armin nor mikasa had greeted you, but instead they were giving full attention to hange as well. they scribbled down notes and key points that hange spoke of.

it felt as if lasers were burning a hole into you as you turned your attention to the boy beside you. he raised an eyebrow at you as your eyes met. you okay? is what it seemed like he was asking. you wanted to say something but the words were caught in your throat. there was just so much tension yet you were the only one who felt it. so when hange dismissed the class to discuss some questions they left on the board before doing a class discussion, you gathered your things and walked out.

armin's eyes widened at your abrupt departure before looking to eren. "what did you do?"

eren's head snapped to look at his best friend. "me? i didn't do anything."

mikasa cleared her throat before mumbling, "she's been avoiding me."

"that idiot." eren rolled his eyes. he then turned to look at mikasa. "let me guess, you're giving her space."

"i don't want to upset her further if i've done something."

"she probably thinks you're mad at her and you avoiding her is making it worse."

armin just observes the two going back and forth. he then turns to look intently at eren who is pinching the bridge of his nose in irritation. "you know something, don't you?"

eren closes his, pinching himself a bit harsher. "it's not my place to tell."

mikasa grabs his wrist which causes his eyes to snap open. he looks at her with a bored expression. "what do you know, eren?"

"like i said, it's not my place to tell. ask her yourself." he yanks his wrist back, clicking his tongue.

it was now mikasa's turn to sigh. she opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by hange calling the class back together. the trio barely paid anymore attention to the discussion at hand. mikasa mindlessly scribbled in her notebook as all she could do was worry about you.

__________

author here

yeah this chapter kinda sucks imo 😭 but i felt that it was necessary?? idk

but the next chapter will be better and have more interaction of y/n n eren hehe.

also i have an idea for another eren x reader fic but im probably gonna write it slowly before i publish since this book is my main priority

i hope you're all enjoying it so far and if u arent then uhh sorry 🤠