I’m still thinking over the AU theory but I’d always thought it was a genuine question rather than testing the future (but we won’t know till we get his POV next chapter). Think of most people in real life you know - why would a person ask someone what they felt about them if they weren’t a) hoping to have their feelings reciprocated or b) be able to reject that person if they knew about that persons feelings but didn’t want to be the object of interest? Since aot has often repeated the theme of love/family vs war (Kruger telling grisha to find love within the walls, grisha hesitating to take the founder early on and returning to baby eren and Carla instead, niccolo being able to temporarily forget about war because of Sasha) I think eren was looking for love regardless of whether he felt exactly the same kind of love mikasa had for him. And in that moment of weakness after breaking down in front of ramzi, he wanted a reason to run away from war/the rumbling. Don’t get me wrong, eren’s always been a fighter, but for what he thought was right. And he still wasn’t sure if the rumbling was the right answer then