Ace of Hearts [Erwin x Reader | Modern!AU]

Ace of Hearts [Erwin x Reader | Modern!AU]
a/n: Beware of horribly mischaracterized Erwin… And language…

    You ran desperately down the hallway of East Maria High with your [h/c] locks streaming behind you. If you weren’t about to be late to your algebra class you’d think you looked fabulous, but that wasn’t the case at all. Being a fateful freshman and the youngest of the underclassmen you essentially thought yourself screwed over. You were lost in the vast high school. Just as you thought your first day couldn’t get worse you slammed into a sturdy figure at his locker. You cried out in distress as your books flew everywhere and papers scattered. Tears threatened to spill over.
    “Are you all right?” a deep, soothing voice asks. You look up at the owner and nearly let your jaw drop. It was none other than Erwin Smith, the senior heartthrob who had ensnared the hearts of many teenage girls like you. He was tall, blonde, handsome, and super smart. Not to mention he was the star of the East Maria Legion’s football team.
    “I’m fine,” you said your [e/c] irises stretched wide. What were the chances you’d run into him?! Out of the 2000+ students attending East Maria you just so happened to run into him! “I, uh, I’m sorry I wasn’t looking where I was going and—”
    “You’re lost aren’t you?” he asked. His blue eyes were gentle. A strong hand brought you to your feet and he helped you gather your scattered supplies. He placed them back in your arms. “Where are you going?”
    “Second period Algebra with uh, Mr. Jinn, I think,” you tried to find your schedule and only succeeded in dropping your stuff again. “Oh damn it all!” you cried. Here you were, flustered and fumbling, with the only onlooker being the most popular guy in the school!
    Erwin proceeded to go down to help you gather your belongings, but then so did you. In the midst your head collided with his. What, of all the things you’d done, had you done to deserve something like this? Embarrassment rooted itself in the red colour of your face. “I’m so sorry,” you apologized hastily. “I’m a mess. I can’t do much right, right now.”
    Erwin laughed, and you looked up in surprise. The red blush deepened. “H-hey!” you exclaimed.
    “Sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh.” Erwin’s blue eyes still sparkled which told you he wasn’t fully sorry. “But it seems both of us will be late.” As if on cue, the bell rang signaling that every brat in the school had to be in their classes or the vicious hall monitor would kick your ass to detention. That’s all you needed on your first day. Tears fell.
    “Hey, now, it’s all right. They never give detentions on the first day, ever. Just ask my friend Levi, he’ll tell you that he’s gone to class late on every first day and not once has he been given a detention slip. I’ll walk you to class; I can usually pass by some of the staff.” Erwin said casually. “Oh, here’s your schedule, you do have algebra with Jinn. He’s just down this hall, actually.”

    The detention rumour was true. Your teacher just glanced as you opened the door and slid into the only empty seat next to a brown-haired girl and nearly bald boy. Your heart was still pounding at the encounter with Erwin. He’d kept true to his word and walked you down the hall; he spoke a few words with Mr. Jinn, and then left you with a wink. Half the girls in the class looked prepared to murder you, and a few of them were still glaring at you as Mr. Jinn went through the roll. After that was done, the class knew your name. Whispers rose to your ears. “So [f/n] is familiar with Erwin?” “Do ya think they’re a thing?” “I bet if anything he’s using her. She’s just stupid enough to fall into his suave.” You rolled your eyes. So you had a thing for Erwin, it meant nothing that he walked you to class. He was just being helpful and friendly, just like everyone said he was.
    The bell rang and you scrambled to find your next class: biology with Ms. Hanji Zoe. You’d heard rumours about the teacher from your older brother. She was crazy, but likeable. You almost prayed you’d run into Erwin just as an excuse to see him. You found your class and took a seat next to an Asian girl wearing a red scarf. Next to her was a boy with beautiful turquoise-green eyes and dark brown hair. You were staring into the hallway through the open biology class door and saw Erwin walk by. You shot up in your desk and yearned for him to look over. A young looking blonde person was walking next to him. Erwin ruffled the person’s hair affectionately and then pushed the person towards the door. Erwin looked up to make sure the student had made it safely in and he caught your gaze. He smiled, and then proceeded down the hall, gone. You sighed. You couldn’t keep thinking of him in any way, trouble would be the only result. The Asian girl and pretty eyed boy waved the younger blonde over. “Armin!” the pretty eyed boy called. “Over here!”
    The blonde nodded and walked over. You looked at him discreetly. He resembled Erwin slightly, with darker blonde hair to his chin but the same blue eyes. “Was your older brother showing you around?” the Asian girl asked. “It’s hard for me to believe that Erwin Smith is your older half brother.”
    You tried not to eavesdrop, but failed miserably. You figured out that the Asian girl was named Mikasa, and the pretty eyed boy was Eren. Biology ticked on by and you had determined that Ms. Zoe was eccentric. Once she started talking about the dissections the entire class turned green. Unfortunately you had lunch right after this. The bell rang obnoxiously and the entire class basically fled from the room.
    At least the cafeteria was easy to find. You searched the crowd for your only friends. The only familiar faces you saw were Eren, Mikasa, and Armin. The trio had a crowd around them, including the brown-haired girl and baldish boy in your algebra class. Praying you would be accepted you walked over. “M-may I sit here?” you asked nervously.
    A freckle faced boy answered for Eren, “Of course, we always like new company.” He smiled at you with warm brown eyes.
    “That might be your thing, Marco, but I for one think that we have enough people here,” a copper-blonde haired boy said.
    “No need to be an asshole, Horse-face,” Eren finally came into the conversation. “She can be here too, you know. Hey, aren’t you in my biology class?”
    You nod. “[f/n][l/n],” you said.
    “Well sit down then,” Marco said. “We’ll get you introduced.”
    Names swirled around in your mind and you tried to match the words with faces. Horse-face was Jean. The blonde girl with a flat expression and icy blue eyes was Annie. Near bald kid was Connie, and the brown-haired ponytail girl was Sasha, who had a thing for potatoes. The tall, sweaty boy with brown hair so dark it was almost black was Bertholdt and the muscular short cropped blonde headed was Reiner. Halfway through lunch you saw Erwin coming towards your table. He came up behind Armin and mussed up the shorter blonde’s hair. “So, how’s high school treating you, kid? Lots of friends I see.” Erwin looked up and surveyed the group of teenagers. “Oh, you’re that girl from this morning.”
    Your heart pounded and you were sure you were blushing. “Uh, yeah, uhm, thanks for that,” you mumbled. “I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.”
    “I never caught your name,” he said.
    “Uh, [f/n][l/n],” you stuttered. ‘Fucking hell!’ you internally swore. ‘Can I not even get my own name right?’
    “It was no problem helping you, [f/n],” Erwin said with a smile that made you melt.
    You were finally lost for words, and Erwin soon left. “You have a thing for Erwin Smith, don’t you [f/n]?” Jean almost sneered.
    “N-no I don’t!” you protested.
    “It’s okay, [f/n],” Armin smiled. “Everyone likes Erwin.”
   “I don’t like him!” you protested further. Your insistence was brushed off and used as evidence to say that you liked Erwin. “Besides,” you muttered halfway to yourself. “Why would he like someone like me?”
   “Erwin hasn’t dated anyone before,” Armin replied. “He always talks to me about how superficial girls in our peer group are. He said he wanted someone real and down-to-earth. I can drop a word by.”
   “Don’t,” you said frantically. “He probably wouldn’t even like me back—”
   “So you do like him!” Jean exclaimed victoriously.
   “Shut up, Horse-face!” you snapped.

   You waited outside of the school for your parents. Being a freshman sucked, but being 14 and unable to drive sucked even more. You refused to ride the bus home because kids on the bus were pricks. Your phone buzzed in your pocket and looked at the caller ID. It was your mom. She was calling to say that she was running late and your father was working late into the night and asked if you had anyone to give you a ride home. Your older brother was in college, so he was a no go. You lied and said yes, figuring you’d just walk home. It was probably a thirty minute walk to your house. You hung up and sighed before beginning your trek down a busy street. Before you’d left the parking lot a white coloured car pulled up by you. A tinted window rolled down. “Hey.” You froze at the voice because you recognized it well. “Do you need a ride?”
    Turning, you confirmed the voice’s identity. Erwin Smith was offering to drive you home. ‘Well fuck,’ you thought. “Uh, no it’s fine I can walk,” you said rather un-smoothly.
    “I insist,” he replied. “It’s a busy street you’re going to cross, what if you get hit by a car?”
    “Pedestrians have the right of way?” you said meekly.
    “Just get in, please?” he asked.
    “Okay,” you opened the passenger side door and slid in. The car was clean and surprisingly very nice for a car owned by a teenaged boy. You pointed your way home and thanked him for the ride. As you were about to close the car door you hear something unexpected slip from Erwin’s lips.
    “So now that I know where you live, do you think I could pop over any time?”
    You stopped dead in your tracks. You were sure you were wearing a mortified expression. “Uh,” you stuttered. “I guess? I dunno, I mean Mom might be a little surprised, and Dad might kill you, but uh, you could.” Your words lost confidence the longer you spoke. By the last syllable your voice had dropped to a whisper.
    “Expect me over, then,” Erwin shrugged and drove away. (a/n: wtf. “lol coming to your house now.” #invitingmyselfover)
    You ran into your house, upstairs and flung yourself onto your bed. Shoving your face in a pillow you screamed, part out of fear, part out of joy, and part out of uncertainty. Erwin Smith, the most popular guy at school, might make a random visit to your house, and you were not prepared for any of it.

    Saturday at noon weeks after Erwin drove you home, someone knocked at your door. Groaning you pushed yourself off the couch and away from the TV. Your mother and father were away at work and it was just you for today. Opening the door you wore your best disgruntled look in hopes the potential solicitor would run away at the sight of you. “What the hell do you wan—” you broke off as you looked at the person standing there. Erwin Smith was standing at your door. You rubbed your eyes and he still remained.
    “I said I would visit, and I’m a man who sticks to my word,” he said curtly.
    “Uh, come in, I guess?” You looked around. “Mom and Dad aren’t home, but I’m guessing we won’t be doing anything scandalous.”
    Erwin chuckled. “You have my word,” he said.
   “What are you even doing here? I’m a boring person and you barely know me,” you said.
   “I don’t think you’re quite as boring as you make yourself up to be. I barely know you, but I want to change that, so here I am.” Erwin said.
    You stepped back and opened the door wider letting the blonde boy step in. He looked around your house a bit. “Nice place you’ve got here,” he remarked.
    “Uhm, thank you?” you said questionably. “What do you want to do?” you asked.
    “Well, it depends, what have you to do?” he replied seamlessly.
    “I was watching [favourite show/anime] but you kind of interrupted it,” you responded.
   “Have you gotten to [favourite scene] yet?” he asked you.
   “Wait you watch [favourite show/anime]?” you asked incredulously. “Oh my god, yes I’ve watched that scene a million times! It’s just so [reason for it being your favourite scene].”
    He smiled. “I think I’ll grow to like you, [f/n],” he told you. You blushed and looked to the side.
    “Do you play any card games?” you asked suddenly.
    “I can’t say that I have. Do childhood games of Go Fish and War count?” he questioned.
    “Here, I’ll teach you some that I played with my younger sister.” You said going back to your room. You grabbed a deck off your desk and shuffled the cards as you walked back. “We used to play card games all the time.”
    “You’re using the past tense,” Erwin noted.
   “Oh, yeah,” you said. “Uh, it’s kind of personal. She’s you know, not here anymore…” your voice trailed off. “But off that topic, uhm I can teach you all sorts of games; Palace, Garbage, ERS, Speed, Murder, Hearts/Spades or even Suicide. Group games like Mafia, BS, or Spoons aren’t fun to play with two people.”
   “I haven’t heard of any of those,” he replied.
   “Let’s start with something simple then,” you said. “Suicide’s real easy to grasp. It’s an awful name isn’t it? But what you do here, is—” you place the shuffled deck on the coffee table “—you can take as many cards as you like. But you can’t draw the Ace of Spades or you lose. Simple right?”
    Erwin nodded and you commenced the game. Daringly Erwin took the top half of the deck. He scanned through the cards and put them face up on the table; no Ace of Spades was in sight. He looked at you with his eyes, daring you to do something risky. Intimidated, you only took five cards. Sifting through them you put them face up with no Ace of Spades. Erwin proceeded to take a fourth of the remaining deck. He looked at each one and revealed no Ace of Spades. You internally groaned and decided to take a risk. You took every card but the last one. All of the cards in your hand were clean that you looked at, but coming to the second to last card the Ace of Spades reared its ugly head. You audibly groaned and tossed the card on the table. “I win,” Erwin said calmly.
    “Yes, you do,” you say drily. “Now please, leave me to sulk.”
    “Teach me other games first,” Erwin said. “Then once I’ve beaten you at all of them you can sulk.”
    “Is that a challenge?” you asked. “Because let me tell you I can play a wicked game of Speed.”
    Hours later there were twelve wins for Erwin and four wins for you. You groaned being the sore loser you were. You put your face down on the coffee table and stretched out your arms and let out another resonant groan. Erwin patted your head. “All’s fair in games of chance,” he said rather smartly.
    “Shut up,” you growled.
    Erwin picked up the scattered deck and began shuffling again. The flurry of cards neatly stacking themselves sounded like music to your ears. It was about three in the afternoon, and you knew your parents were going to check in on you at four. You shot up from your sulking position. “Mom and Dad will be here in an hour!” you said hurriedly. “Within forty-five minutes you have to go.”
    “Forty-five minutes is enough to do anything,” he replied smoothly.
    “Why are you even here?” you blurted out. “I mean what are you, the poster child of East Maria High, doing here with me a freshman who you won’t remember when you graduate? I mean, you’re nice company, but why are you here? What do you want? It feels like a sick game to me.”
    He looks at you calmly. “I’ll try to be succinct. As overused as this may be, I truly want to get to know you better. You walked into East Maria not knowing a single thing. I noticed you swimming among the student body, dodging your way around, and I wondered why you did that. What made you do that? You didn’t stop to talk with people, and you didn’t have your face layered with makeup. You weren’t wearing any clingy clothes, and that alone caught my eye. I wanted to know you when I saw you walk in the courtyard. I was glad when you ran into me in the hallway. I took the opportunity to see you when I could.” He ended his speech there.
    “So much for being succinct,” was all you could say. “That’s lovely, but you’ve only known me barely a week and even so we didn’t talk. I don’t know doesn’t this feel a little, fanfiction-y?”
    “Emotion is a strange thing,” he replied cryptically. “But if you will, take the chance to know me. We can be friends for a while, that’s okay. I don’t want to dive in head first either.”
    He still had the cards in his hands and resumed shuffling. A few minutes later his phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID and paused. “I have to take this.” You hear a couple of words, and catch Armin’s name so just brush it off as a simple call. After hanging up, Erwin looked at you. “Well, it seems I have to go anyway. But call me some time, okay? I’ll leave my number here.” He scribbled down the digits on conveniently placed sticky notes. “It was a nice day with you,” he said as he got up. You didn’t notice him place the single card on the table. You walked with him as he exited your home. “Take care now, all right?” he asked. If he was wearing a hat, he would've tipped it. “I hope I can see more of you in the future.”
    “Of course,” you laughed nervously brushing a piece of stray [h/c] hair behind your ear. “But next time, call before you come, okay?”
    “You have my word,” he said as he walked down your front walkway. “Have a wonderful day, [f/n].”
    “Goodbye,” you called out to him. You watched as he drove away and once his navy car disappeared around the corner, you went back inside. You leaned against your closed front door and sighed with happiness. You turn your head and look at your coffee table with the deck of cards neatly stacked, but one thing bothered you. You went over and looked at the single card Erwin had removed. It was the Ace of Hearts, and damn had he stolen yours.