Cast List Protest (ErenxReader)

“It’s so fucking stupid!” he hissed, watching as you gathered up leftover scripts from auditions. He stomped around the room for a bit. “What the hell was he thinking?”

You sighed. “I don’t know, Eren.”

Another growl, low in his throat, pulled a heavy breath from your lungs. At least he was still a great actor, regardless of what role he thought he deserved versus the role he actually did get. “I’m gonna drop,” he threatened, voice completely serious.

“Eren,” you forced the hyperactive boy to look at you, “Why?”

“Because this cast list is ridiculous!”

Patting down the scripts into a neat pile, you made a note of how many copies of the full script you’d need to make. “Just because you didn’t get the main role-”

He whirled around to face you, putting himself between you and the table. “I didn’t want the main role!” he shouted and you flushed, dropping the stack of papers back on the table and pulling yourself away from him. Thank goodness no one else was in the room to hear his outburst. “You should’ve gotten it!”

You stiffened, then licked your lips, trying to buy time to carefully pick out your words. “I’m just a costumer,” you told him gently, “with no acting experience.”

“But you were good,” his said, his bright eyes wide and piercing and earnest and you couldn’t help but feel your heart ache. So you didn’t look. You moved away from him, putting a more than fair amount of distance between the two of you. Placing your hands on your hips, you tried to chide the boy for being to brash, but it just wasn’t in you. You had tried your best with the audition, it just didn’t work out. Other actors had more experience, other actors knew the script by heart already, other actors-

Eren watched as you slowly crumpled in front of him, his eyes wide with concerned shock, but he had no idea what to do. So when you looked up at him from the ground and your eyes were glassy with tears unshed, he stiffened. You laughed without humor, rubbing at your eyes and pressing your lips together into a fine line.

“I tried,” you told him, voice hardly breaking at all though your eyes were still misty, “I really did.”

He stayed distant, his frightful gaze softening into something distinctly Eren.

“I know.”

You chewed at your lip, and he shuffled on his feet, and you composed yourself again. Closing your eyes, you let out one soft sigh and with it your entire body seemed to shrink. Eren couldn’t look. He turned around and gathered up the audition scripts, swallowing hard so he wouldn’t get caught up in the emotion. You didn’t move from where you stood, and so he walked right up to you and held the papers out to you.

Eyes dry but puffy, the skin around them red with irritation at your rubbing, you blinked at him, then smiled and took the papers.

“At least I still get to work with you with costumes,” he told you, two sets of hands still holding the stack.

You smiled, and it was a true, grateful smile, and nodded. “This way I actually get to watch you.”