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Her laughter, soft and gentle, echoes out from the courtyard.
He can already see her smile, the image tugging at his heartstrings when she presses the back of her hand to her upturned lips, a look of shyness in her eyes as she tries to make herself smaller in large groups of people.
A wide smile tugs his lips, and he turns the corner, grinning toothily. “Hey, what’s so funny—“
In the middle of the courtyard, she’s seated on one of the warm benches. Those butterfly clips glimmer in the afternoon light when the figure before her moves, hissing out something that can’t really reach Eren’s ears.
His mouth grows bitter nonetheless.
Jean stands before her, one hand on his hip as he blabbers about. Esther bites her lip, holding back peals of laughter as she looks up at him in amusement. Armin’s standing there too, brows scrunched because of whatever nonsense that horse faced idiot is spouting at the moment.
He can feel his blood simmering when Jean grins smugly, saying something again. Eren’s hands curl into fists by his sides.
He marches up to the trio, a scowl etched onto his face.
Eren holds himself back from knocking Jean’s teeth in when the asshole spares him a wry glance. Beside him, Armin says his name cautiously but Eren doesn’t hear it.
He can’t hear anything, can’t see anything, can’t feel anything.
Except for the curious girl before him.
Esther peeks up at him, a look of concern on her face. She’s still sitting on the bench, hands in her lap with her doe-like eyes focused on him.
“Eren?” She says unsurely.
He doesn’t care that the others are looking, doesn’t care if Armin is calling him again, uttering his name with worry.
He swiftly reaches down and clasps a hand around her thin wrist.
Esther blinks, her eyes flaring up with surprise as he roughly tugs her to his feet.
“Oi!” Jean snaps, moving closer. “The hell you tryna do now, you suicidal mania—“
Eren knocks his shoulder into him, throwing him to the side. Esther yelps behind them, stumbling over her feet as he quickens his pace, dragging her away from a floundering Armin and out the courtyard.
From behind them, Jean curses him out loudly.
“Eren!”
His fingers curl tighter around her wrist. He tugs her down the open corridors, the heels of their combat boots clacking noisily against the tiles. She can twist her wrist out of his hold anytime she wants, but she still lets him pull her along, her quiet eyes watching the back of his head as he furiously leads them to the end of the building.
Once they’re out, he corners her against the wall, his hands clasping both her elbows. She peers up at him again, her back flattened along the warm stones.
Her hands touch his chest, but she doesn’t push him away.
“Eren?” Esther says again, her eyes wide as she looks up into his glowering gaze. Beneath her soft hands, his heart thunders in his ribcage. “Your heartbeat is so fast. What’s wrong?”
Eren clamps his mouth shut, holding his tongue because he knows he’ll say something that he doesn’t mean to— Why were you laughing over there? Do you like that horse face more than me?— that’ll make him look like he’s some mean, hotheaded idiot.
“Eren?”
He blinks, breaking out of his stupor. Esther grimaces, her assessing gaze still trained on him and he faintly realizes he’s been gripping her elbows too hard.
“Sorry,” he mumbles finally.
His fingers loosen but he still doesn’t let go. She’s searching his face expectantly as she tips her head to the side, most likely contemplating what’s going on in his thick titan transforming head.
Eventually, her eyes widen in realization.
“Eren,” there’s a hint of amusement in her voice, her brows raising as his heart rattles loudly. Her fingers clench into the front of his shirt, keeping him rooted before her and his face begins burning when Esther smirks, a playful tease in her voice.
“Are you jealous?”
He has an abrupt urge to clamp his hands over his warm ears.
It’s not fair how she can just speak her mind so easily. She wears her heart on her sleeve, her emotions an open book, and Eren can’t help but wonder how brave she is to be this kind, to be this free.
Heat slithers up the back of his neck as she looks up at him expectantly, awaiting a reply with that teasing smile on her lips.
The waning afternoon light casts golden streaks over the side of her face and he silently notes the dust of freckles spread across her pale cheeks.
His head promptly dips, chapped lips pressing to her cheekbone.
Esther squeaks.
Goosebumps scatter across her skin as she stammers out his name once more. His hand lifts to cradle the other side of her face as he follows the trail of her freckles, peppering quick kisses to each and every of them. Her skin warms under his touch, and Eren holds back his own laughter when Esther squeezes her eyes shut. She clings onto him tighter, her face flushing as he kisses the bridge of her nose, trailing after the constellation of freckles on her face.
With a gentle turn of his fingers, he tilts her face to the other side. His mouth finds her skin again, soft kisses dotting along the expanse of her cheek. She smells like lavenders and he absently thinks back to the lone red tulip on the top of the hill, the wind rustling through its soft petals.
Eren finally buries his face into her shoulder, nose brushing along her slim neck.
Esther shivers, her arms loosely slipping around his neck as he waits for the thrum of his pulse to calm down.
“I am,” he mutters, closing his eyes.
His forehead presses into her clavicle, and he wishes he could burrow himself deeper into her instead, dig a home for himself in the softness of her heart— where her laughter, her smile, and her love is just for him and him alone.
Esther shifts slightly, confused by his words and he steps back, her arms looped around his neck as Eren glances sideways in embarrassment.
“Jealous, I mean.” He grumbles childishly.
Esther laughs, standing on her tiptoes to hug his waist. He embraces her back, feeling a little embarrassed when her giggles are muffled by his chest. “Is it because I was laughing?”
“Why were you laughing anyway?” He blurts out, frowning. “Is Jean boy really that funny he had you giggling like crazy?”
“I wasn’t laughing because of Jean,” Esther admits, falling back onto her feet. She snorts. “I was laughing because of Armin.”
Eren stares, dumbfounded. “Armin?”
Esther nods, an amused smile curling her lips.
“He was talking about how Jean got thrown off his horse and…” she trails off. Eren stares, prompting her to continue.
“He, um, landed in fresh manure,” she adds sheepishly, sounding somewhat guilty for finding the whole story amusing now.
A snicker slips past his lips, and Eren lets out a loud guffaw, clutching his stomach as he snorts. “Horse face finally ate some horse shit, huh?”
“Eren!” Esther scolds, pouting. He grins cheekily, leaning down to peck her cheek.
A hot blush immediately adorns her warm face, her mild anger crumbling around him. He laughs when she embraces him once more, her flushed face hiding back into his chest.
His arms find her waist—where they belong—and he tugs her closer, content.