SNEAK PEAK: CHAPTER 3 OF INNERMOST!! (Eren x reader & Jean x reader - College AU)
A brief few seconds later, Eren’s hand slides into his pocket. He reveals his retrieved item – a small folded plastic bag. Your heart drops a little. Sasha swivels around at the sound, twisting to stare at him with big pleading eyes.
“Erennn…” She begins. “You know how I appreciate you so much.”
“Stop sucking up to me, you know I'm gonna give you some anyways.” He mutters, faint amusement playing in his eyes. Sasha had a way of getting to everyone’s soft spot, even on those most unyielding.
“Thank you! You’re the best, I'll only take a teeny bit.” She returns back to facing forward, waiting eagerly for her turn but keeping a leash on her control.
“You smoke?” Eren asks, momentarily looking away from his fingers that are already fiddling with papers to glance at you.
“Yes.” You lie as he returns to his business, skillfully rolling the paper between his fingers as if it was second nature.
The hands at work are slender but rough – fingers stretching long and slim. His knuckles jut out like mountains, bony and defined – you notice they bare small nicks and scars, imperfection standing out as if it didn’t belong. They don’t convey a rugged look, but they certainly don’t seem unmarred – still tainted by the world’s cruelty.
With a brisk swoop of the tongue, he licks the paper, sealing the joint indefinitely. It’s soon positioned in his mouth as he fumbles with the lighter – eyebrows furrowed, fighting for it to spark into a sole dancing flame. The lighter finally co-operates, igniting into a brief but vivid blaze, flickering a passionate bright orange. He draws the lighter closer, triggering it to light up the joint, sending smoke weaving through the air like a ribbon – etching its presence into the air as it leaves a faint white trail behind it before dissolving into nothingness. The strong smell floods your senses, clinging on to every particle of the very atmosphere you breathe.
“Ugh. Eren you know I can’t smoke, I'm driving.” Jean groans, glaring back at Eren through the rearview mirror. “And you know Mikasa doesn’t do that shit. Open some windows or something.” He shoots Eren a scolding stare before forcing his eye back on the road, immersed in his concentration.
“Chill out Jean, I’ll roll you another one when we get back and you can have it all to yourself if you need it that bad.” Eren jeers, a slight look of annoyance painting his face.
Jean lets out a small scoff but nods in agreement, pleased with the results he’s gained. You hear Eren mutter a faint apology to Mikasa.
“Sorry. I forgot.” He admits, leaning across her to wind the window down.
You take that as an indication to wind down yours, letting the warm breeze tickle your face as it pours into the car – sending your hair floating in the wind. Still eavesdropping on Mikasa and Eren’s conversation, you overhear your name mentioned.
“It's okay, I don’t mind that much.” She says. “Y/N, you can take some extra for me to make up for it.” She lets a small smile loose, raising her voice just enough for you to hear.
Fuck. She’s trying to be nice to you but in reality she’s stitching you up badly. Your stomach drops and you can feel a flicker of panic course through your veins. You’ve never smoked weed before – and you know that on your first time it's imperative you don’t overdo it. You scramble to come up with an excuse on the spot, not wanting to seem ungrateful for Mikasa’s generosity, mind racing at an aching speed. Nothing comes to mind. You can feel your chest tighten as you realise your fate has been sealed – you’re going to have to bite the bullet and take it on the chin.
God I’m such an idiot.
Eren makes a faint whistling sound, slowly inhaling from the joint that teases his lips – his head leaned back on the headrest. With a hand dragging up to meet his face, he removes the paper from his mouth and exhales his soul into a cloud of hazy smoke, twirling in the air before getting swept away by the stream of wind flowing through the car. After a few more tokes, he leans forward to pass it to Sasha, who promptly begins to smoke it with a content smile on her face – occasionally pausing to flick the ashes out the window.
Eventually comes the dreaded moment. Sasha rotates her body and extends her hand out, gesturing for you to take it from her. Hesitantly, you pick the joint up between your fingers. The whole world slows around you as you carefully place it in between your lips. You’ve had your fair share of cigarettes in your lifetime, surely you’ll be fine.
Wrong. Dead wrong.
As you inhale, the smoke strikes the back of your throat as it floods into your system – seeping into every corner of your lungs, poisoning your mouth with its persistent foul taste. You stifle a cough, body convulsing in protest.
Despite your adamance to go unnoticed, Eren clearly catches you.
“Are you sure you smoke?” He looks at you and raises an eyebrow.
“Only occasionally.” You lie again, trying to cover up the previous fabrication you’d told. What was the point of lying in the first place? Were you trying to seem chill? Were you afraid they’d judge you for the lack of experience you own? They don’t even seem to be the type of people to act that way, they don’t care that Mikasa doesn’t smoke.
“Clearly not enough then. Go easy.” Eren says. He stares at you, again not seeming angry or judgemental, he just simply looks. You guess it’s his way of showing he cares. After all he has just told you to not push your limits – in a way it’s kind of considerate of him. You also assume it was a way of hinting that he could tell you didn’t smoke, but didn’t want to expose you in a way that would embarrass you.
“Don’t tell Connie I've smoked though.” You add, realisation dawning on you that if he found out he might throw a fit – he’s always had a protective side when it came to you.
The car falls silent, confusion clouding over everyone’s face. What the hell?
“What?” Mikasa echos, the first one to voice the group's shared daze.
Suddenly, the surroundings explode with laughter – the air filled with sounds of amused cackles, Sasha is literally wiping tears from her eyes as they spring down her face. The main culprits are the two in the front, but you can still see Mikasa lightly giggling away to herself too. Even Eren is faintly chuckling, snitched on by his shoulders jostling as they move up and down against yours.
“What?” You retort, perplexed by everybody's mockery.
Mikasa, being one of the more composed, is the person to answer you.
“Y/N, your brother is probably the biggest smoker out of all of us. Most of the weed they get is off of him.” She explains, leaning forward a bit to show her the serious but earnest look in her eye – a slight hint of empathy floating around in the greyish blue tint of her iris.
“Infact” Eren plucks the joint from your hands, holding it up with two fingers in front of your face. “He provided this very joint.”
Your jaw drops in astonishment, completely dumbfounded. How long had he been keeping this from you?
“Well obviously he never told me.” You huff, a slight twinge of embarrassment heating your face.
(Chapter releasing tommorrow!!! Innermost on AO3 & Wattpad by Scoutjaeger)
