✦ ━━ YOUTH, UNFINISHED
“for someone who couldn’t wait to leave, he sure hated saying goodbye.”
modern bf!eren ⌇ senior year headcanons
eren x fem!reader
summary：one last year. one last chance to sit in the same classroom, walk the same hallways, and make memories before graduation pulls everyone in different directions. so when you find out you’re in the same class again…
words ：6.0k〜
warnings：fluff, nostalgia, senior year, graduation, discussions of future plans, mild jealousy, emotional themes, lots of japanese high-school traditions, eren being embarrassingly in love
author’s note：if some parts seem oddly specific, it’s because i based most of this on my own high school experience in japan 💧 a lot of the little details come from things i grew up with, so just roll with it if you’re confused. anyway, enjoy :)
⟣ SPRING ⟢
✦ when the class assignments are posted, eren finds your name before he finds his own, and the second he realizes you’re in the same class, his first thought is “holy shit.” his second thought is “the charm worked.” he’ll spend the rest of the year pretending neither thought happened.
✦ during orientation, your homeroom teacher decides to do one of those awkward “tell us something about yourself” introductions, and somehow your relationship gets mentioned before either of you can stop it.
“they’ve been together for years.”
“thank you, jean.”
“happy to help.”
“nobody asked.”
✦ by the end of the first week, your classmates have already stopped asking where one of you is and started asking the other instead.
“where’s eren?”
“how would i know?”
“you’re literally dating him.”
“that doesn’t mean i have a tracking device.”
somehow, five minutes later, he walks through the door anyway.
✦ picture day is dangerous because you decide to wear your hair half-up after remembering him casually saying once that he liked it; the second he sees you, he forgets what he was about to say, spends the next few hours avoiding eye contact, and gets bullied by your classmates when they catch him staring.
“what?”
“nothing.”
“you were staring.”
“was not.”
✦ the first few weeks of school are chaos because eren insists on making his own bento every morning; his mom keeps offering to help, he keeps refusing because he wants to prove he can do it himself, and even though he’s running late almost every day, his favorite part is still watching her inspect the finished bento and smile like she’s never been prouder.
“it looks good.”
“i know.”
“don’t get cocky.”
✦ because he’s always running late, he ends up stopping by the school store constantly, but somehow he still remembers to buy food for you too; he claims it’s because you would’ve forgotten lunch, but really he just likes watching you happily munch on whatever he brought.
“why’d you get me one?”
“because you’ll eat it.”
“that’s not an answer.”
“sure it is.”
✦ during the class photo, your classmates somehow manage to rearrange the entire formation until you’re standing next to each other; nobody is subtle about it, nobody feels bad about it, and eren complains the entire time despite secretly liking it.
✦ after cleaning assignments are announced, eren ends up in a completely different area of the school and immediately starts volunteering for every errand that requires leaving his designated spot; taking out trash, returning supplies, carrying boxes, delivering forms—anything that lets him wander around long enough to maybe catch a glimpse of you while you’re cleaning.
“weren’t you assigned to the stairs?”
“yeah.”
“then why are you here?”
“important business.”
“you mean your girlfriend.”
“same thing.”
⟣ FINALS WEEK ⟢
✦ every time you ask him to stay after school and study, he reacts like you’ve personally ruined his life, yet somehow he still shows up every single time and stays until you’re ready to leave.
“let’s study.”
“no.”
“please.”
“fine.”
✦ the funny part is that he spends half the session sleeping, scrolling through his phone, or staring out the window, and still ends up scoring better than anyone in your class.
they all hate him.
✦ whenever you’re stressed, he immediately starts making up ridiculous backup plans.
“if we fail, we’ll become farmers.”
“eren.”
“sasha can hire us.”
“that’s not helping.”
“jean’s family needs some helpers.”
✦ every “did you study?” text is secretly an “are you okay?” text.
✦ after late-night cramming, you sometimes fall asleep on the train ride home and end up leaning against his shoulder; eventually he starts resting his head on top of yours and reaching for your hand before closing his eyes too, like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
⟣ SUMMER ⟢
✦ outdoor PE always does something weird to your brain because standing eren next to the other boys in class makes it painfully obvious how athletic he actually is; watching him casually outrun half the grade, carry equipment like it weighs nothing, and somehow still look completely normal about it should not affect you as much as it does.
✦ during those unbearably hot afternoon classes when everyone is half-asleep, eren mysteriously “forgets” his handheld fan way too often, which somehow always results in him ending up behind your chair stealing yours; sometimes he leans down close enough for his chin to rest on your shoulder while both of you try to cool off, and the worst part is that he acts like this is completely normal while your heart is actively malfunctioning.
“eren.”
“what?”
“personal space.”
“it’s hot.”
“get your own fan.”
“this one works.”
✦ after club activities, convenience store runs become routine; every time you buy one of those ice creams with two sticks and split it in half, your side somehow ends up bigger, and every time you celebrate like you won the lottery, eren pretends to be devastated while secretly being the reason it happened.
“i won.”
“this is corruption.”
✦ you spend the entire summer nagging him about sunscreen.
“you’re gonna regret it when you’re older.”
“i’ll survive.”
“put it on.”
“…fine.”
✦ he only listens because you told him to.
✦ after retiring from your clubs, the friend group celebrates with suikawari (a japanese summer game where you try to hit a watermelon) by the river, and eren is ridiculously confident when it’s his turn. he grabs the stick, rolls his shoulders, and takes the most dramatic stance imaginable like he’s about to save humanity instead of hit a watermelon.
“watch and learn.”
“oh brother.” — jean
✦ he swings with his entire body, fully expecting to destroy it in one hit.
only to miss by an embarrassing amount. like, not even close. the watermelon is a good two meters away.
the entire riverbank erupts into laughter.
“EREN.”
“SHUT UP.”
“THE WATERMELON WASN’T EVEN IN THE SAME POSTAL CODE.”
✦ the second he rips the blindfold off and realizes how far off he was, he looks absolutely mortified. everyone else is crying laughing. meanwhile, you just think it’s cute. unfortunately for him, that might be even more embarrassing than missing.
✦ after the watermelon is finally defeated and in everyone’s stomach, you decided to cooling off in the river, and what starts as harmless splashing somehow turns into an all-out war.
your biggest mistake is splashing eren first.
“oh, so we’re doing this?”
“what are you gonna do about it?”
“you’ll see.”
✦ after several failed attempts at revenge, eren finally catches your wrist when you try to run away. the next thing you know, he’s lifting you bridal-style out of nowhere. for one glorious second, you genuinely think he’s about to do something sweet.
“eren…”
he smirks.
“got you.”
and then immediately dunks you into the river.
not gently, either. full baptism.
you come back up absolutely offended.
“I TRUSTED YOU.”
“that was your first mistake.”
✦ he should probably apologize. instead he’s doubled over laughing so hard he can barely stand.unfortunately, the sound of his stupid giggle makes it impossible to stay mad at him.
✦ later, eren blushes when he notices your undergarments visible through your wet blouse.
⟣ SPORTS FESTIVAL ⟢
✦ sasha braids your hair for sports day, and eren spends the entire morning pretending he isn’t distracted by it; unfortunately for him, every time he sees you he does a double take.
✦ during team huddles when everyone’s linking arms, jean ends up standing next to you.
eren immediately notices.
jean immediately notices eren noticing.
jean finds this hilarious.
✦ during tamaire (the event where everyone throws small balls into a giant basket attached to the top of a tall pole), your aim is genuinely terrible; some balls miss the basket completely, one somehow flies sideways, another nearly bounces off your own head, and despite being one of the most competitive people alive, eren can’t even get annoyed because watching you try your absolute best is somehow adorable.
“how did you miss that badly?”
“i don’t know.”
“that’s actually impressive.”
✦ during the obstacle race, eren pulls a card from the box.
“bring your crush.”
the entire grade starts screaming before he even moves.
he reaches you in record time.
“get on.”
the next thing you know, you’re on his back while your classmates completely lose their minds.
✦ later, he runs anchor in the relay and brings the class into first place; he’s exhausted afterward, can barely breathe, and still immediately starts looking for you in the crowd.
✦ after your class wins overall, the two of you stop by a photo booth before going home because eren wants pictures of the day, and absolutely not because he’s been staring at your braided hair since seven in the morning.
one of the photos catches you kissing his cheek.
his face is red enough to become school history.
⟣ CULTURAL FESTIVAL ⟢
✦ you perform a k-pop dance with mikasa, historia, sasha, annie, and hitch, and eren cheers louder than anyone; unfortunately, he also notices every random guy cheering a little too enthusiastically and immediately starts looking irritated.
ymir notices immediately.
“jealous?”
“no.”
“that’s exactly what i look like during historia’s performances.”
“…shut up.”
eren hates how accurate that comparison is.
✦ when a guy from another school tries to ask for your number, eren appears out of nowhere like he was summoned.
“can i get your—”
“no.”
“i wasn’t asking you.”
“you got your answer.”
afterward he acts like he handled the situation perfectly.
nobody agrees.
✦ later, his band performs during the volunteer stage and spends weeks insisting the setlist was chosen democratically; then the encore somehow ends up being a love song, and your friends spend the rest of the day making your lives miserable.
“HE PICKED THAT FOR YOU.”
“he did not.”
“LOOK AT HIM.”
✦ after the festival, everyone goes to karaoke, where connie immediately forces eren to sing the same love song again; halfway through, he accidentally makes eye contact with you and the entire room erupts.
⟣ AUTUMN ⟢
✦ because autumn weather changes every five minutes, eren starts carrying his soccer jacket everywhere; the second you mention being cold, it’s already draped over your shoulders, and seeing his name and jersey number across your back secretly makes him ridiculously happy.
✦ for some reason your hay fever decides autumn is the perfect time to attack, so eren starts carrying pocket tissues everywhere; not the cheap ones either, the ridiculously soft “luxury” kind because he saw you complain once and immediately decided your nose deserved better.
“you’re carrying tissues because of me?”
“don’t make it weird.”
“eren, these are the expensive ones.”
“your nose is high maintenance.”
✦ he never misses an opportunity to tease you about your allergies though.
“wow.”
“what?”
“nature really looked at you and said ‘absolutely not.’”
“i hate you.”
“no you don’t.”
✦ walking home becomes a competition to see who can step on the crunchiest leaf first; neither of you remembers who started it, but somehow it becomes serious enough that accusations of cheating are regularly thrown around.
“that one was already cracked.”
“prove it.”
“you can’t just say ‘prove it’ to everything.”
“sounds like something a loser would say.”
✦ your favorite seasonal menu is the tsukimi burger from mcdonalds, and eren knows this well enough that he starts asking about the release date before you do.
✦ he pretends he’s only there because he happened to be hungry. meanwhile he somehow knows the exact day it comes back.
“what a coincidence.”
“you checked the website.”
“that’s a serious accusation.”
he spends most of the meal watching you get excited over it.
✦ sunsets start happening earlier, so the two of you end up watching them together more often while walking home or waiting for the train, and for some reason autumn always makes eren accidentally romantic.
“kinda crazy.”
“what is?”
“we’ve probably seen hundreds of sunsets.”
“okay?”
“and i still think this one’s my favorite.”
“why?”
“because you’re here.”
“…”
“…”
“that was so painfully romantic.”
“i wasn’t trying to be.”
“that’s the embarrassing part.”
✦ he spends the next five minutes pretending the tracks are suddenly the most fascinating thing he’s ever seen while you try not to laugh at how red his ears are.
✦ autumn nights get colder, which means eren suddenly becomes a lot more affectionate during sleepovers. during spring and summer, you’re always shoving him away because you’re convinced you’re sweaty and smell bad after a long day. but once autumn arrives, you stop protesting as much, and eren takes full advantage of it.
back hugs. cuddling during movies. falling asleep tangled together under blankets.
“you’re only doing this because it’s cold.”
“and you’re only complaining because you like the attention.”
every now and then, you still get self-conscious.
“i probably smell awful.”
“you don’t.”
“you answered that way too fast.”
“because your shampoo literally smells better than mine.”
✦ eren genuinely loves the familiar scent of your shampoo, body wash, and whatever fabric softener you use. not in a weird way. in a “this smells like home” kind of way.
✦ around this time he starts taking more photos, but never the kind people post online; most of them are blurry pictures of sunsets, empty classrooms, train rides home, friends laughing during lunch, and moments nobody thinks are important until later.
✦ he starts saying “remember when…” a lot more, which is slightly concerning because the year isn’t even over yet.
“remember sports day?”
“that was last month.”
“yeah.”
“eren.”
“what?”
“you’re acting eighty.”
✦ conversations that used to end at the school gate somehow continue all the way to the station.
⟣ WINTER ⟢
✦ your hands are permanently freezing while eren’s are basically portable heaters, so by december he’s carrying extra hand warmers around without even thinking about it.
“here.”
“isn’t this yours?”
“don’t worry about it.”
it was his.
✦ eren sends you a perfectly normal “happy new year” text at exactly 12:00 a.m. on january 1st, then acts like it’s no big deal that he also spent days preparing and mailing a nengajō even though you live less than ten minutes away from each other.
“you already texted me.”
“that’s different.”
“how?”
“it just is.”
✦ the card itself is surprisingly thoughtful; the handwriting is neat because he rewrote it three times after messing up, there’s a tiny sketch in the corner that he pretends he didn’t spend twenty minutes on, and the message is simple enough that nobody else would think twice about it, but you know him well enough to read between the lines.
“let’s do our best this year too.”
somehow it feels a lot more meaningful coming from him.
✦ the funniest part is that the card usually arrives around seven in the morning, and every single year he wakes up before it does just so he can immediately text you asking whether you’ve received it yet.
“did it come?”
“good morning to you too.”
“well?”
“it’s seven in the morning.”
“that’s not an answer.”
✦ he spends more time waiting for you to get the card than he spent actually writing it.
✦ during new year’s, eren disappears for a suspicious amount of time during your shrine visit and later pretends to be offended when you discover he secretly bought a love charm.
“that’s embarrassing.”
“i know.”
“does it work?”
“…obviously.”
✦ after late-night study sessions, the two of you are usually some of the last people left at school, and with winter sunsets coming so early, the hallways are already dark and empty by the time you’re leaving; eren has a habit of pulling you into random empty classrooms before going home because he isn’t quite ready for the day to be over yet.
“we should go.”
“in a minute.”
(i’ll leave the rest to you ( ͝° ͜ʖ͡°) )
✦ entrance exams mean the two of you end up applying to different universities, and afterward every conversation somehow becomes about the weird people you saw instead of the actual tests because talking about next year feels harder.
“some guy brought six pencils.”
“that’s normal.”
“six identical pencils.”
“okay, that’s weird.”
“he arranged them by height.”
✦ as graduation gets closer, eren occasionally has moments where he remembers that next year the two of you will be at different universities, and instead of talking to you about it like a normal person, he ends up complaining to armin and mikasa.
“what if she finds someone cooler than me?”
“the bar is on the floor.” — mikasa
“that’s crazy.”
“you asked.”
“eren, you’ve been together for years.” — armin
“and?”
“and do you really think a train ride is stronger than your relationship?”
“…”
“wow.”
“what?”
“that was disgustingly wholesome.”
✦ he still worries sometimes, but after that, the future feels a little less intimidating than it did before.
⟣ GRADUATION ⟢
✦ eren spends most of senior year acting like graduation can’t come fast enough.
freedom. adulthood.
no uniforms. no attendance sheets. no teachers.
easy.
except somewhere along the way, it stopped feeling exciting. and started feeling temporary.
✦ he starts remembering things at random.
lunch breaks. train rides. festivals. stupid arguments.
all the moments that seemed ordinary when they were happening. somehow those are the ones that matter most now.
✦ graduation day arrives before he’s ready. everyone else starts crying immediately.
eren doesn’t.
he thinks he’ll be fine. then your name gets called.
and suddenly he’s not.
✦ because all at once he remembers every version of you he’s known.
every season. every classroom. every morning.
every ordinary day that quietly became important.
and now you’re here.
graduating. moving forward.
and he’s never been more proud of anyone.
✦ afterward, everyone is taking photos and making promises and trying to pretend this doesn’t hurt.
eren mostly just watches.
armin. mikasa. jean. sasha. connie. everyone.
everybody is carrying a different future now.
✦ and for the first time, he’s scared.
not of growing up. not of university.
just of change.
✦ then he remembers something.
a stupid little charm.
the one he secretly thanked when he saw your name on the class list back in spring.
the one he kept in his bag all year.
the one he swore didn’t matter.
✦ for a long time, he thought that charm was the reason senior year turned out the way it did.
the reason he got one more year in the same classroom.
one more year of walking to school together.
one more year of lunch breaks, train rides, festivals, stupid arguments, and ordinary days.
✦ but standing here now, watching everyone say goodbye, he realizes the charm was never really what he was grateful for.
✦ because the moments he keeps coming back to aren’t the big ones.
they’re you stealing karaage off his bento.
you falling asleep on his shoulder after exams.
you missing the basket during tamaire.
you laughing so hard you couldn’t breathe.
you being there.
that’s all.
✦ somewhere along the way, you became the thing he looked forward to every morning.
the thing that made bad days easier.
the thing that turned an ordinary year into his favorite one.
so maybe the charm worked. or maybe the luck was never hanging from his bag in the first place.
maybe it was sitting a few desks away from him all along.
when he looks over and sees you laughing with your friends, diploma in hand, the future suddenly doesn’t seem so terrifying anymore…because that transition becomes SO much stronger.
the charm gets a payoff.
the “same class” thing gets a payoff.
and the message becomes:
the lucky charm didn’t give him a good year.
you did.
☾⃝໋᷂꙳⟡
