Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

 The summer before your senior year of college was supposed to be filled with parties, celebrations with friends, loads of alcohol, and the beginning of the end of everything.

Instead, it proved to be much more mundane. You managed to land a job at the coffee shop in the city, renting out an apartment nearby campus. The rest of the students had gone back home or went on vacation, so there was a significant lack of friends or parties.

It's not like you had much free time, anyway. Working full time to pay for your apartment and barely getting to see your boyfriend, your original plans for the summer were almost a complete bust.

To your complete and utter disappointment, despite the majority of college students going home for the break, your boss still clocked you a full schedule. When Hitch, one of the afternoon shift workers, brought it up to your boss, they just chuckled and said it was good for the economy.

"How was your weekend?" your coworker, Connie, grumbles. You could tell he was probably up streaming games all night, as he had dark circles under his eyes. If he had hair, you were sure it would be unruly and greasy from his endless streaming and full time job.

"It was alright, mostly just spent it playing Seventh Prayer," you reply as you scratch the countertop.

He seems to immediately perk up, despite the dark circles under his eyes still being present. "No way! I've been waiting till next paycheck to buy it - It any good or just overrated?"

You smirk as you begin to make him an espresso. You have his taste pinned down pretty well, and he looked like he could use one.

"Yeah, graphics are pretty insane. Story is alright, but addicting enough to make me almost pull an all nighter playing it. You should play it on your stream."

Connie gawks at you, his hands gripping onto your shoulders tightly as he shook you back and forth violently. "Let me borrow your copy! Please, (l/n), I will totally buy you drinks sometime!"

You snatch his wrists and twist them off your shoulders, causing him to scream and hiss in pain. The espresso machine beeps behind you, signalling the coffee was finished brewing.

"Fine, but you buy all my drinks. And we go this Friday." You put a top on the drink and turn to hand it to him. He takes it without question.

"Deal."

It's early morning in the coffee shop, so there's not many customers. It's still dark outside, so most people are bustling their way through morning traffic to their workplace. There's been one or two customers since you opened, but all of them left in a hurry so they wouldn't be late to work.

The bell on the front door rang, signalling a customer had entered the shop. Both you and Connie turn towards the door to see a blond man enter. He had a bowl cut, which is the first thing you notice. Surprisingly, it doesn't look bad on him at all. He had a round face, big, blue eyes, and a button nose. He looks similar to a cherub.

Despite his bright looking outward appearance, his features held a sadness you couldn't place. The guy isn't outwardly smiling or frowning, but you can just see it in his blue eyes. It looks similar to the expression you see on people when they've seen things they can never truly come back from.

You allow your eyes to trail down to what he's wearing, only to find it doesn't match his angelic cherub features, either. He's wearing all black with dark combat boots.

He locks eyes with you, and you swear a shiver goes down your spine. For some reason, you can feel your fight-or-flight kick in, and you want nothing more than to run to the back of the shop and bolt out the back door.

The boy in front of you is obviously not threatening in any way. He's around your age, he doesn't look overly tall or strong. You could probably take him in an arm wrestling match, you surmise, but you can't really tell what his physique is due to his black baggy jacket that he had shrugged around his shoulders. You're just going off his chubby cheeks.

He walks up to the counter stiffly. His eyes are on yours the whole time, unwavering.

Run, your mind tells you. Get out of here while you have the chance.

"Hi, what can I get you today?" You say in your best "customer service" voice.

"A small Vienna dark roast."

You grab the small cup, pushing buttons on the register. He takes out a credit card, you see its black. You don't say anything, but you know what that means, as Eren has one in his own wallet.

Dark roast was usually what older men ordered. Or, people who were trying to seem cool, edgy, and academic.

You scanned him over again as the transaction went through. He didn't seem like he was trying to appear scholarly, and he definitely wasn't old.

You could say your curiosity was piqued.

"Here you go," Connie says to the boy, giving him his cup. He must've prepared it while you were finishing his order.

The blond gives a small nod towards the two of you and sits in one of the chairs in the back of the shop. He pulls out a notebook and begins writing while taking the occasional sip of his coffee.

"Who the fuck orders straight black coffee? He didn't even put any sugar or creamer in it," Connie scoffs beside you, shaking his head.

"I think the better question is who sits in a coffee shop at 7 AM to drink said black coffee," you surmise jokingly.

"I mean the guy looks our age. Seems like a loner though," Connie concludes. You allow your eyes to wander back over at the blond, only to see he's already looking at you.

A jolt goes through your body in alarm, and you pretend to wipe down the countertops to play it off. "I don't think I've ever seen him before," you say quietly, afraid he'll somehow be able to hear you talking.

"Yeah, me either. And I've been to a shit ton of parties on campus. Never seen him."

You tap your finger on the counter. "Maybe he's new here, in the city."

Connie downs the rest of his espresso in one go and tosses it into the trash. You have no idea how the hell he just chugs it like that. He's probably used to the taste now, since he pulls so many all nighters for his streams.

"Yeah, maybe. Either way, he gives me the heebie jeebies. It's like there's no soul behind his eyes," Connie points at both his eyes as if to make a point.

You slap his arm and he dramatically falls backwards, catching himself on the counter.

"You don't know what he's been through, so don't be rude."

"Well, it's true-"

The bell to the entrance rang again. Both of you looked towards it, expecting a customer. Instead, the blond boy was now on his way down the sidewalk, without a word of farewell.

You began to hit Connie's chest, all the while he grumbled and tried to keep you away. "Stop, stop!" he kept saying. "You're gonna beat me to a pulp!"

"You dumbass! What if he heard what you said!"

"He'll be fine! His emo ass can take it!"

You sighed and stopped hitting your coworker, leaning against the counter with a huff of frustration. You knew there was something about his stare, but you didn't think it was creepy. It was just... empty.

You couldn't help but wonder why his eyes looked like that.

-

"Eren!" you called affectionately, running up to the man. You wrap your arms tightly around his torso as he stares out his penthouse window into the dark city below. He twists around in your grasp, putting his hands on your shoulders gently. He was still in his suit from his meetings, and his tie was pulled loose.

"Did you miss me?" He asks quietly. You look up at his face and see that it's neutral. Eren wasn't good at expressing emotion, but you still beamed him a bright smile.

You nod vigorously. "I've been so bored recently. I wanted to come see you."

Eren lets out a hum. His long hair is tied into a bun, loose at the back of his head. He pulls out of your grip and walks over to his white couch. There's alcohol on the table, and he's already pouring a glass for you.

Alcohol always ended in the both of you naked and wrapped in each other's sweating limbs in Eren's king-sized bed. You wished you could actually spend some quality time with your boyfriend, but the way he stared at you with his hollow green eyes while holding the glass up to you for you to take, you knew you couldn't say no.

You take the glass into your hands, and sit on the couch beside him, allowing his arm to drape around your shoulders.

"Wanna talk about your meetings today?" You ask, suddenly becoming hyper aware of the silence.

"Not really. They give me a headache everytime I think about them."

You hum. There's even more silence. You don't know whether or not he feels uncomfortable when you both get quiet, but it usually makes you feel on edge. Usually, you're the more talkative one nowadays. You wonder if he's just tired from all the stress from the company.

"How was the shop today?" He suddenly asks. You set your glass on the table and lay your head on his lap, staring up at the chandelier glittering above you. The crystals reflect the light in various directions, and you've always been mesmerized by it.

Eren had almost gotten rid of it once, saying it was too old but you begged him to keep it. He ended up caving into your demands.

You noticed that Eren wasn't making any moves to play with your hair like he usually does when you lay your head on his lap. You couldn't help but frown at the lack of affection.

"It was alright," you admit. "Not busy. Some new guy came in."

It wasn't odd for new people to come in, but for some reason you felt the need to bring it up, since he was around Eren's age.

Eren stares at you for a prolonged period of time. "A guy?" he questions. His unchanging expression begins to make you feel uneasy. Not being able to read him scared you sometimes.

"Yeah. He was blond and a little shorter than you. He had a bowl cut, too. Connie and I had never seen him before, and you know how Connie practically knows everyone on campus."

You reach your hands up to Eren's face to caress him. He grabs your hand midair and grips it. "Should I be jealous?"

You give him a little giggle. He was always possessive. "No, it's not like I gave him my number or anything. I only spoke to him when he ordered."

Eren nods, releasing your hands and taking a sip of his alcohol. Brandy. He set the glass back on the table, leaning over your face briefly.

"You're mine," He says finally, smacking his lips together due to the taste of the brandy. "Don't forget it."

You feel your spine shudder at his words. You go to pull him in for a kiss, but before you do, someone bursts into his living room.

"Mr. Jaeger," the female voice comes. You recognize it as Mikasa, his assistant and personal bodyguard.

You lift up from Eren's lap, allowing him to stand, knowing that if she interrupted your time with him, it was probably something important.

"Colossus is waiting for you."

You feel a little heart broken knowing that your night with Eren is getting cut short due to his business endeavors. Being the heir to his dad's company, he always seems to be busy and never have enough time for you anymore.

You want to be happy for him, though. You're grateful he's successful and that he loves you despite the obvious difference in wealth between the both of you.

Eren seems to notice your pouting, as he leans down and gives you a kiss on your forehead. You swear you see Mikasa get a murderous look on her face for a split second, but it vanishes quickly.

"Don't worry, baby. I'll see you again soon. Work has just been busy, is all. We'll hang out again sometime soon. Just be a good girl for me, okay? Make sure to remember I'm your man."

You nod frantically, forcing yourself to look eager. Appearing eager made it easier to hide the pain you felt in your heart as you watched Eren disappear into one of the meeting rooms in his penthouse.

You allow yourself to sit on his couch for a few moments. You wonder if you'll cry this time or not. You stare into the glittering chandelier above you, lifting your hand and pretending to grab it. The little dots of light litter across the ceiling, reminding you of the stars you haven't seen in years due to the smog and light pollution of the city. After a few minutes, when tears refuse to come, you lower your hand and grab your purse, going out the door to your own shitty dump of an apartment.

A little heart broken, and all too calm. 

Chapter Text

"Then one of my viewers was like you suck ass bro and I totally kept my cool and just kept playing. Oh, thanks for lending me Seventh Prayer by the way, I'm super excited to play it tonight. I even tweeted I would be streaming it. Did you ever finish it last night?"

Connie's way of making conversation was always sporadic and all over the place. You enjoyed his ability to fill silence though, much unlike when Eren would sometimes go quiet. His extroverted-ness always brightened your day, even if you had a terrible night like last night.

Thinking about Eren made your heart ache. You clutch your apron in your fist.

"I did. The ending was... nice."

"Oh?" Connie sounds surprised. "I thought you said you were hanging out with Eren last night. I didn't think you would be able to finish it anytime soon."

You try to give a careless shrug, as to not hint at how it hurt that his job was becoming more important than you. "Just for a bit. I had some time after hanging out with him to play. Either way, I finished it last night. The ending is a tear jerker."

Connie stares at you for a long time in silence. You know he's starting to catch that there's a rift between you and Eren, and his eyes show he's concerned.

"He's not like... cheating or anything is he?"

You can't help but smile at Connie's caring tone. You never took him as the one to care so deeply for others, but he was truly a friend you wouldn't dream of replacing. He was a terrible barista, though.

"No, no. At least not that I know of, he's just been-"

The bell rings. Both your heads shoot up in unison, conversation long forgotten.

It's the blond boy again. His blue eyes meet yours almost instantly, as they did yesterday. It's like he doesn't even bother to look at Connie.

Today, his outfit is all black once again, all the way down to his black combat boots. The only difference from yesterday is that today he instead opted for a white t-shirt under his black jacket.

He walks up to the counter stiffly, as if on guard, maintaining eye contact. You stifle a shiver as you continue to stare at him. It's due to the expression he holds. It's like he's just simply existing. It's like he's just a shell of a human being.

"Vienna dark roast, please," he says before you can even ask.

"Small?"

He nods. Connie shifts to the coffee machine behind you.

"A cranberry muffin too," the boy across from the counter interjects.

You raise a brow. "You'll have to wait till they're done baking, we just put them in."

"That's fine."

Straight to the point. Makes sense, since he drinks black coffee.

He swipes his card.

"Name on the order?" you say before he walks from the counter. You know he's the only person in the shop due to it just opening, but you can't help your curiosity. He seems to hesitate for a moment, before finally answering.

"Armin."

"Armin," you repeat, writing his name on a piece of paper on the counter. Connie hands him his coffee.

"Alright, we'll have it out to you in a bit!" He does nothing but give a small, stiff nod, before going towards his seat in the back corner.

"Weeeeeeirdo," Connie mumbles underneath his breath. You jab him in the side with your elbow, causing him to sputter and grab his rib.

Instead of pulling out a journal today, the guy - Armin - pulls out a book. You go and stand by the oven, and another customer comes into the shop. Connie takes their order, his loud voice booming throughout the shop, causing you to wince.

You pull on mits and take out the muffins alongside the other baked treats, before turning the knob to the oven to switch it off. You allow all the goods to cool before you begin putting them in the paper and plastic wraps.

From the back in the kitchen, you peek into the seating area. Armin is still sitting, reading away. He's leaning back in his chair, and his legs are crossed. Although, you can see his shoulders are tense, like he's not actually relaxing.

His expression and his stance are both very guarded. It's like he's on defense constantly.

You take one of the cranberry muffins and begin to head towards him. You can't help but wonder what book he's reading, as you read often due to you majoring in classical literature and minoring in creative writing.

You set the muffin in front of him, and he lowers his book onto the table.

"What're you reading?"

He seems taken aback by your interest. His blue irises scan over your face, analytical. It's like he's suspicious that you know something that he doesn't. Once he finds nothing, he turns his gaze back to his book.

"Catcher in the Rye."

"Oh." You say, your mouth contorting to an "o" shape in surprise. You can't help but think to yourself of why he would be reading that at 7 AM on a Wednesday in a coffee shop in the middle of summer.

"Ever heard of it?" he asks, seemingly annoyed. You surmise it's because he's reserved and you're forcing him to conversate with you.

"Of course. I've read it several times."

His attention seems to pique at this, as he lets his gaze travel back up to meet yours.

"What did you think of it, then?" It was as if he was quizzing you to see if you had actually read it, or if you were just saying that to make empty conversation.

You hum to yourself as you think, looking around at the wall art in the shop. "I think it's interesting how Holden never matures throughout the entire book. Despite going through so much, at the end he's still the emotional and immature boy he was at the beginning."

"You think so?" Armin questions. It sounds as if he thinks you're incorrect and challenging your opinion. Although, you quickly see the slight twinkle of amusement and curiosity shine in his eyes.

You give him a small nod. "Wrote a paper on his character arc and how flat it is. Although, that's the purpose of the book. Showing that feeling different from everyone is just a phase everyone goes through as a teen."

He looks back towards his book. "I see."

There's a bit of an awkward silence. "It's not one of my favorites, but I did enjoy it. Personally, I like Julius Caesar. Oh, did you know that Brutus has more than 4 times the lines of-"

"(y/n), you're needed over here!" You hear Connie cutting your passionate rant short. You give Armin a small smile as he glances back over to you. He hasn't smiled once, but he hasn't frowned either. His neutrality reminds you briefly of Eren.

"You heard baldy, I gotta get back to work. We should meet up sometime and talk books," you say, giving a small thumbs up as you slowly walked backwards to the counter, accidentally bumping into a chair on your way back.

"Oh- ah- only if you want to of course. You don't have to," you quickly voice after you realize maybe you were overstepping your boundaries. You didn't want him to feel like he had to.

There's a sad look on his face. You wished you knew what crossed his mind in that second

"Maybe sometime."

-

Eren doesn't even so much as call you when you get home. He says he's far too busy, but he continues to text you throughout the night. You shoot him a few spicy texts, hoping that maybe if you get him frustrated enough, he'll ask you to come over.

Your plan falls through, and you can't help but feel boredom since you allowed Connie to borrow your newest game today. You had already finished it anyway, so you weren't sure it would've been fun to play through again so soon.

You finally decide to go to sleep earlier than usual as you slip onto your worn down couch, too bored to go lay in your bed.

You lay your phone on the cluttered coffee table, too lazy to get your charger from your bedroom and plug it in. You decide to charge it in the morning while you get ready for work.

You switch on the TV and watch episode recaps until eventually your eyes lull asleep.

-

Your lips were moving in sync with the blond's. You couldn't stop thinking about how soft they were, how they effortlessly moved against yours, easily mimicking your movements. Finally his lips separated from yours, and you hopelessly stared into his cold, ocean blue eyes. Even in the heat of the moment, they seemed distant and closed off.

"Armin," you huff. His eyes flit down to your torso, seemingly drinking in the sight of your bare skin.

His head dips down to kiss your now barren chest, a thumb rubbing against your nipple. Your arms wrap around his bare shoulders to bring his closer to your body. You dig your fingernails into the skin there as he teases your breasts. When you open your eyes from the bliss, you realize you were in the coffee shop, sitting on the cold, glass countertop.

Behind Armin stood Eren. To anyone else, his face would've seemed neutral. He was good at keeping a neutral face. Although you could spot the seething fury in his eyes.

"Having fun?" Eren's voice cuts through.

You pant as Armin's tongue flicks around your nipple. "A-Armin," you breathe out, keeping eye contact with Eren. You couldn't even think of a response to Eren's question, too engrossed in the burning feeling currently flooding through your body.

Eren's green eyes trailed down to your naked body, where Armin is teasing you, his mouth now fully latched onto your nipple. He lets his teeth graze over it, causing you to whine and jolt upright.

"I know you were aching to get him between your legs. Am I not good enough anymore?" The brunette walks up to the both of you, getting close to observe as Armin starts to leave wet kisses down your stomach. He pulls your hips closer to the edge of the glass counter.

You can't decide whether to focus on Eren - your boyfriend - or the complete stranger settling between your legs.

You think of all the things you could say to Eren. "You're good enough, you just haven't been a good boyfriend recently", or "please just give me more attention and this wouldn't have happened." None of those words come out of your mouth, like you're being choked by the lust clouding your brain.

The only word you're able to say is "Armin."

You repeat it like a mantra, his tongue swiping languidly over your entrance. You can feel your legs shaking. His every touch feels like it's sending shockwaves of pleasure through your body. His kisses leave hot trails on your skin, and you spread your legs eagerly for Armin.

"I just didn't take you for a whore," Eren says, still watching the lewd scene in front of him.

"You don't even know him and you're letting him do this to you in front of your boyfriend. You're still mine, right?"

You nod vigorously, and Eren pulls you in for a kiss. All you can do is whimper against his lips as Armin teases your lower regions, lapping up and down your entrance languidly.

You moan eagerly into Eren's mouth-

-

A loud crashing noise makes you jump up from your sleep. The TV is still playing, although it's muted from before when you dozed off

When your cloudy mind starts to clear, you spot a mug that was sitting on the counter now shattered all over your kitchen floor. It must've been the cause of the loud noise that had woken you up.

You palmed your eyes vigorously and sat up from the couch, trying to make out the scene and rub the crust out of your eyes.

Without warning, your dream floods back into your head, and you can't help but become flushed at the memories. "I can't believe..." you put your cold hands to your cheeks, trying to cool them down.

Shaking your head as if to dispel the thoughts, your hand reaches towards the coffee table to grab your phone to check the time, only to find it wasn't there.

Your eyes snap back over to the broken mug. Your heart starts to race as bad thoughts start to pour into your head. The thought of there being someone else - an intruder - in your apartment makes your hands start to shake in anxiety and fear.

Maybe you fell asleep with your phone in your hand? You hurriedly check underneath your body and in the covers and pillows only to find nothing.

A feeling of dread suddenly washes over you.

Your phone is gone, meaning you can't call the police.

At first, you're completely frozen. You're afraid that if you move to look behind the sofa, there's going to a masked man standing there with knife in hand. The TV keeps flashing silent pictures, lighting up the dark living room.

Without wasting another second, you jump from the couch and into the floor in front of the TV, stumbling up and running into the kitchen. You move to flip the switch on, careful to avoid the shattered ceramic on the floor.

You fish out a butcher knife from the knife holder and lean your back against the counter top, holding the knife out in front of you. It shakes in your grip. The feeling of dread and fear is flooding your body, a nervous sweat breaking out on your body. You feel like you can barely breathe as your heart tries to pound out of your ribcage. You can't hear anything due to the blood rushing in your ears.

Your eyes scan the room, looking in every corner and crevice. No one seems to be in the vicinity.

That meant two things. Either they had already left, or they were still in your apartment. Your eyes landed on the front door. Half of you wanted to run out into the night and escape.

The thought of someone waiting outside the door for you to run out, grabbing you and placing a hand over your mouth to silence your screams pops into your head.

Even if someone wasn't outside, where would you go? No one lives nearby, and you don't have a phone. Taxis don't run to this part of town, and it was safe to say it was around 2 AM.

You decide to check your apartment. If anything, you could shoot Connie a message over Discord. Your laptop was in your bedroom, though, meaning you would need to make your way safely to the room. Checking every room was your best bet, hopefully catching the perpetrator off guard.

You walk cautiously into the hallways, first opening the bathroom door completely and yanking the shower curtain open. Nothing. You make your way to the hallway closet. Nothing there, either.

You feel a bit of relief wash over you, but there's still one more room where the intruder could be hiding.

Your bedroom door is closed. You palm the handle and slowly opened it completely till it was touching the wall, just to make sure no one was behind it. You can barely keep your hands steady, and you have a death grip on the knife in your hand. Sweat is beginning to collect on both your palms, and you were sure if you had to use the knife it would slip completely out of your clammy hands.

That was the least of your worries, though. If push came to shove, would you even be able to use it in the moment? You shake the intrusive thought from your head, trying to focus on finding the intruder, if he was still in your apartment.

The room is dark, so you flip on the light. The window is still shut tight, and you live on the 4th floor anyway. If the intruder was still in your flat, they would be in here.

The first place you check is underneath your bed. To your relief, nothing is under there except random boxes of junk.

Your eyes trail hesitantly to your closet. There's a lump in your throat as you take slow steps towards the white doors, inching to what you feel like is your impending doom. You try to imagine the scenarios in your head of how you would fight the intruder. Most of the fantasies ended in your death.

A sudden noise comes from behind you, making you jump in alarm. You recognize the sound as your ringtone. Your breath hitches in your throat as you look at where the sound is coming from.

You spin on your heels, only to find the phone setting on your bed atop of the covers. You don't remember putting it there. In fact, the only time you had come into your room tonight was to change from your work clothes, but you know you had your phone after that in the living room because you were texting Eren.

Speaking of which, his name is lit up on your phone. You jump to your bed and grab the phone, tapping the green button quickly with your thumb.

"Eren?" you breathily say. You just now realize that your heart is pounding in your chest threatening to break out of your ribcage. You grip the knife tightly.

"Hey baby," he says nonchalantly, as always. "Sorry it took me so long. How's your night been?"

You quickly turn, looking around the room as if someone is going to jump out at any time and kill you if you let your guard down for too long.

"I think someone is in the apartment," you whisper into the phone.

"What?"

"I think someone is in the apartment," you repeat a bit louder.

"Fuck," Eren breathes. "Get outside and wait for me, I'll be there in five."

You nod, even though he can't see it. "Can you at least stay on the phone-"

Dial tone. He hung up.

You sigh and shiver, now cold. Your body, now that the adrenaline is beginning to wear off, is now shaking violently in fear. You're scared at any moment you will get jumped on, but you make your way out of the apartment without getting knifed or shot.

Within minutes of standing outside, Eren pulls up in his expensive black car. When he jumps out, he slams his door shut and runs up to you and yanks you into a hug. He smells like expensive cologne and sweat.

"Why are you crying, baby?" he asks, petting your head.

Your hands come up to touch your cheeks, and you feel tears. You wondered when you had begun crying, in his arms or while you were still in the house? You were so overwhelmed with fear, you didn't even notice. "I thought I was going to die," you sob into his button-up.

He coos at you, quiet shh's. "You're okay now. Just don't call the police, okay?"

You separate from his hold. "Why not?" It takes you aback, as it was suspicious of him to say that.

"They'll make it worse. I don't want them to say you're crazy or something. I believe you, and that's all that matters, right?"

You nod slowly. It makes sense.

"You can stay at my place in the meantime, I'll keep you safe."

Somehow the one thing you've been trying to do for weeks seems like the worst possible thing you could do. You wanted to call the cops and have them stake out your apartment, tell you it's okay and that the intruder had no ill intentions other than stealing some valuables like your phone, laptop, and maybe your TV.

Although, your phone being on your bed confused you. Why would they just leave it there? It was obvious that they were in your apartment, when they could've hid and pretended they were already gone with your phone.

Eren opens the passenger side door for you, and you slide into the seat. You buckle your seatbelt as he shut the door behind you. He enters the driver's seat, starting the car.

"Did you see anyone inside?"

You use your sleeve to wipe your wet cheeks as he pulls out of your parking lot. It crossed your mind a couple of times if he judged your living conditions, considering he lived in a penthouse and you lived in a drug ridden apartment complex.

"No," your voice came out pitiful and small. "I didn't check the bedroom closet, so he could still be in there."

Eren lets out a deep breath, his shoulder's relaxing. "It's a good thing you didn't find the guy. I don't wanna think about what would've happened to you..." His voice trailed off as he stared into the dark road. Lights from the city lit up the interior of the car, and you could see his serious facial expression.

His brown hair was in a half-up-half-down style tonight. He was handsome, but you wished he would tell you what he was thinking more often. It was irksome to guess what was going through his mind.

"I'm okay, though. That's all that matters," you say in an attempt to ease his worry, turning your gaze out the window to look at the passing late night taxis and the people walking on the sidewalk. They were all going about their normal lives despite you having just gone through something life changing.

Your brain was still numb. You were now just realizing you were in your pajama shorts and a t-shirt, the cold biting straight through your thin fabric. You turned up the heat in Eren's car.

"Just stay at my place for a while, till things settle down. I'll have Mikasa guard more often to make sure you're safe. No one will be able to hurt you."

Your heart melts at his words, but even with the added luxury of his security network, you still can't help but feel uneasy.

"Thank you," you whisper, still feeling empty on the inside.

Somehow, his comforts didn't make you feel at ease at all.

Chapter Text

 "Eren, I have to go to work. I can't just let this one thing control my life," you say while gathering your things from the living room, preparing to go out for the day. Thankfully, he had decided to lend you one of his chauffeurs to drive you to work, as your car was still at your apartment.

"It could be dangerous," he says, following you around and fixing his own suit. "It's possible the intruder could be lurking around. Or even worse, he could be a stalker."

You turn to him and scoff, fixing his crooked tie. "That's absurd. I doubt it's a stalker. It was probably just a one time incident and they wimped out last second. I do live in the worst part of the city." You give his chest a pat, pushing away.

"You don't know that, though. You don't know if it was a one time incident or not."

You shrug and pick up your bag that has your apron and other personal items in it.

"Well, maybe I don't know one hundred percent, but I'm pretty sure. Either way, I'll be fine." You give him a kiss on his cheek. He doesn't react, which isn't unusual.

"Just promise me to be safe."

You nod vigorously. "Of course. I love you."

He hums. He rarely voices his affections. He struggles with his emotional turmoil, and you decided long ago that you would wait for him to open up and not push it.

You leave and head to the coffee shop in silence. The chauffeur has the radio turned to a random channel, volume somewhat low. You're once again watching the city scenery go past. You try to keep the scary images from last night blocked out from your brain.

It's early morning, and the tall buildings block out the sun till 11 AM. Therefore, it's still mostly dark.

When you get to the shop, Connie is already inside, brewing himself an espresso.

"'Bout time you showed up, (y/n). Was worried you weren't gonna show. I had to open by myself."

You shrug and go to the back to put your bag up and tie on your apron. "Well, I thought about calling in, but I would feel bad if you had to work first shift by yourself."

He peeked around into the back of the kitchen. "Calling in? Are you feeling sick?"

You shake your head and come to the counter. You begin to organize for the day ahead, putting cakes and pastries into the display rack.

"Not quite. Long story short, my apartment was broken into last night."

His whole demeanor changed suddenly as he grasped onto your shoulders tightly in worry. "What the fuck!? And you didn't call me? Did you at least call the police? Did you get any sleep last night? Why didn't you call in?"

His bombard of questions makes you giggle bittersweetly. He truly cares about your wellbeing, and it makes your chest warm. You don't know what you would do without Connie.

Although, you're still in disbelief that the break-in happened yourself.

"I didn't call the police. I stayed at Eren's."

His shoulders lax at this and he reluctantly releases your shoulders. "You could've at least called me."

You give him a small shrug, sliding the glass casing shut. "I was in shock. Besides, you would've just come to my apartment, guns blazing."

"Abso-fucking-lutely right I would've." He gives your shoulder a soft punch, retrieving his espresso from the machine. "Wait, why didn't you call the police? Don't tell me..." his gaze gets serious. "Did you kill him?"

You burst out laughing and slap his shoulder. "Are you kidding me? I didn't even find the guy. As soon as I found my phone I called Eren and left."

Connie still seemed tense despite your joking tone. "Right. I wouldn't snitch on you if you did."

The bell to the shop rings pulling your attention to it. Connie goes to step towards the register, but you put a hand on his arm. "It's alright, I got this one." You give him a smile.

He doesn't question you, instead he cocks an eyebrow.

"I can tell you're tired from streaming. Take it easy for now," you offer. He doesn't question you again, as he leans against the counter and sips his espresso.

"Morning, Armin!" you beam, giving him a smile. You can't help but think of your dream that you had last night, that took place in this very room.

You, on the counter, and Armin, between your legs and licking you up while Eren watched. You grew hot at the thought.

Eren. Eren. You love Eren.

It wasn't unheard of to think of other men, as you knew Eren probably thought of other women as attractive and had dirty fantasies of them.

That's how it worked, right?

"Good morning."

You snap yourself out of your thoughts. "Dark roast?"

He nods, pulling out his card. He doesn't mention that he wants anything else, and you realize how little he has said to you. He somehow speaks less than Eren.

Your eyes spot that he has his copy of The Catcher in the Rye under his arm. You wonder if he'll do much reading today.

Connie has already prepared his coffee before Armin can even slide his black card back into his wallet.

"Say, Armin," you suddenly pipe up. This is the first time you notice he hasn't looked you in your eyes at all the whole morning. Everything about Armin interests you, and secretly you wanted to get down to the bottom of it.

He hums as he finally looks at you, but otherwise remains silent as you continue to speak. "Would you like to continue talking about books? We probably won't have many customers for a while, so I don't care to sit-"

"Not today."

Your smile falls off your face, and his eyes shift back to the floor. They look indecisive and surprisingly calculating.

"Oh. Well, uh, if you want to talk let me know." Desperate. You sounded desperate and embarrassed. You were sure Connie had second-hand embarrassment watching the whole ordeal go down, and that worsened the feeling for you tenfold.

"Will do," Armin mutters as he takes his coffee and sits in his usual seat.

"Ouch," You hear Connie whisper beside you. "That was so awkward."

You turn and hit him, in which he dramatically falls backwards onto the counter, hand to his forehead like he had just been critically wounded.

"Shut up!" you hissed at him, as you continued to punch his arm repeatedly.

He eventually grabs your hands into his larger ones. "Quit, dammit! You're gonna cover me in bruises!"

You stick your tongue out at him and he pushes your forehead away so he can snake away from your hold.

"Are we still on for tomorrow night drinks? I say we go to the club Niccolo works at. Sasha and Jean will come with us, too. I hope you don't mind that I invited them."

"Not at all," you give him a grin.

A shiver goes down your spine. It's the type of feeling you get when someone is staring at you without you knowing. You cautiously turn, your eyes meeting cold, ocean blue ones. You shudder and turn your attention back to Connie, trying to shake the icy feeling settling in your stomach.

Maybe your brain telling you to run when you had first met Armin was right. You didn't find him creepy or scary, but there was just something about him that just kept drawing you in. That itself was dangerous, as your subconscious had already started to betray your relationship with Eren.

"I love hanging out with the gang. We should get burger's after, too," you try to suggest, shaking away the thought that you know Armin is staring holes into the back of your head.

Connie practically breaks into a grin, which makes you feel a little lighter. "Sasha is gonna love that idea. You do realize she's gonna try and steal everyone's food though, right?"

You raise your fists into the air and get into a fighting pose. You can't shake the weird feeling as you know Armin is still staring at you.

"Don't worry, I can protect the food!" You punch the air as if to prove your point.

Connie grabs your hand midair. "Sure you can," he mocks. "Just remember that when she gets feral over food, her strength practically becomes tenfold."

You roll your eyes and yank your wrist from his grip, massaging where he had his grip.

Armin's voice from behind you startles you, and you can't help but jump.

"Miss?" It's quiet, and soft, but it lacks any warmth or emotion. It's eerily similar to Eren's, except Armin sounds emptier and higher pitched.

You turn to the blond, giving him a smile despite his rude rejection earlier.

"Can I get you something else?"

"Oh, no thank you. I'm just here to give you this," he replies. He slides you a piece of paper on the counter top. When you open it, you see a phone number. Armin is written neatly in cursive above the number.

You blink at him a couple of times. There's a voice inside of you that says not to accept the number. You have a boyfriend who seemingly cares deeply about you, even if he struggles showing it. Plus, you weren't fond of Armin's reply to your attempt to make conversation earlier. You didn't want to hold it against him, though.

Then there's that feeling where you don't want to disappoint or hurt Armin. The last thing you would want to do is make him close himself off more or become more cold and distant. You'd be lying if you said you weren't curious about who he was.

"Your number?" You ask quizzically.

He nods. "To talk about books in the future. I didn't have time today."

Somehow you don't believe he's telling the truth, but you let it slide and pocket the slip of paper and give him a friendly smile. "I'll shoot you a text on my break."

You see a hint of something flash across his face, and he gives a small wave before leaving the shop.

Connie grabs onto your shoulders from behind you, nearly making you scream.

"You are leading him on! You didn't even tell him you had a boyfriend, idiot!"

You sweat, jaw hanging open. He was right. You should've given the paper back to him, said sorry, I can't but something in your pea-brain told you to keep it.

Just like something inside your brain told you to run when he had first entered the shop.

"It's not like that," you try to deflect. "He obviously isn't interested. It's just book talk."

Connie scoffs and releases your shoulders to finish his espresso. "Sure, you can believe that. But as a guy, I wouldn't risk it all like that unless I was interested in someone. Like dating-interested in them."

"I'll tell him if he starts flirting. I'm allowed to have male friends."

Connie gives a sarcastic hum. "Yeah, but Eren doesn't even like you hanging out with me."

Connie was right. Eren got extremely jealous of the two of you, even though you had told him several times that you thought of Connie as a brother. It was the cause of many arguments, but eventually Eren decided to drop it for good.

"It'll be fine," you reassure. You can't even fully convince yourself.

-

A:

I'm almost done with The Catcher in the Rye. I'm thinking about starting Julius Caesar after.

"oh? did i affect that decision?" you type into your keyboard on your phone.

A:

Yes, actually. I have plenty of books in my collection that I need to reread, and I haven't read that one in years.

"we should meet up and have and talk about it while you read it."

Bad idea, your mind tries to tell you. You push the send button anyway.

A:

I'd like that.

Butterflies. You almost miss the faint feeling in your stomach, but it's there. The feeling of anxiety but also excitement.

You love Eren. You want to be with Eren.

You look over to the man, his hair tied into a neat knot at the back of his head. He still has his suit on, as he is in a virtual meeting. You can see the small portraits of the other executives of the company on the screen.

You chalk up the feelings as making a new friend that shares the same interests as you. Eren was more into the stock market and football while you were nestled in books and other forms of media, like art. You liked games, which was something you had in common with Connie, but that was the extent of your passions being shared with others.

Yes, that was it. It was nice to have someone with a similar mindset as you when it came to classic literature and art.

It was nothing more. You loved your boyfriend. You were going to marry him one day, maybe even have children. That was going to be your life. You and Eren had planned it many times over, especially at the beginning of your relationship.

Armin was nothing more than an acquaintance, a background character in your marvelous life.

Chapter Text

You had opted to dress up a bit for your night out. A black dress hugged your body in the perfect places, loose in others. It was extremely comfortable and extremely expensive. It was something Eren had gotten for you as an anniversary gift. Too bad it didn't stay on very long the night you wore it out for the first time. It was one of the only pieces of clothing you had at his apartment.

You pull on some heels as well, despite hating them. They were essential to pull off the outfit, though. You examine yourself in the mirror.

"You look so good, baby," Eren's arms snake around your waist, pulling your bottom flush against his groin. You shot up at the sudden contact, embarrassed and caught off guard.

"T-thank you, Eren."

He places small kisses along the side of your neck, which send tingles down your spine. You couldn't help but struggle in his grasp, letting out small giggles at the tickling sensation.

Eren turns you around by your hips so that you are facing him. His calloused hand caresses your face, before pulling you in for a heated kiss.

He pulls away all too soon. "Don't so much as look at any other guys while you're out," he demands, before placing a kiss on your forehead.

"I won't," you promise. It feels empty, but you don't understand why. You've never truly thought about cheating on Eren.

"Good girl," he tucks a piece of your hair behind your ear and you shudder. No matter how affectionate his words seemed, Eren's expression never changes.

He goes over to the nightstand where he had already begun to pour drinks from himself and you. He hands you a glass, tapping it gently against yours in a silent cheers.

Your ringing phone ruins the moment, and you jump in surprise, the alcohol in the glass sloshing. Eren looks a little irked for a split second, but the small show of emotion disappears quickly as you make your way to your phone.

"Baldy"

You answer.

"Hey, we're outside!" Connie yells into the phone. You hear shouting in the background. Someone screams, and you can hear Jean yelling at Sasha. A smile breaks onto your face as you examine the liquid inside the glass.

"Okay!" you yell into the phone back, as if you're in the loud car with them. "I'll be out in a sec."

You hang up, not allowing Connie to reply. You peer at Eren as he saunters his way over to you, downing his drink in one go. He drank often to release his nerves from work, so his face doesn't show any expression of disgust at the taste of the alcohol. He lays a solemn hand on your waist, eyes expectedly awaiting for you to down your drink.

You give him a confident smile, copying his actions and downing yours as well. The whiskey is warm in your mouth, and you feel it go all the way into your stomach. You shiver in disgust, but try to mask it.

"Come back soon, baby," he says, his voice rumbling in his chest.

"I will, don't worry, Eren," you try to reassure him. He doesn't look convinced.

Eren steals one last kiss from you, before pouring another glass of whiskey for himself and making his way to his work room. He doesn't seem too thrilled about your night out to the club without him, but he masks his discomfort well. You know it's just one of those trusting things he has to learn and figure out as your relationship grows.

Although, you'd be lying if you said it didn't bother you that he was so possessive.

You begin to grab various items you know you'll need for your night out. Deodorant, keys, your wallet, pepper spray; Shoving them all into your purse.

When you get outside, the gang has the windows down in the car and Sasha is leaning out one, obviously already extremely drunk. She's waving her arms around frantically as if trying to get your attention..

"Come on, (y/n), we don't have all night!"

You chuckle to yourself and jog towards them in your heels. "Sasha, we literally have all night. It's the weekend," You hear Connie rebuttal as you sink into the back seat with the pair. Jean is driving and Marco is in the passenger seat, looking a little stressed out and lost. You don't blame him.

You had only met Marco a couple of times. He was one of Jean's friends. That's all you really knew about him, other than he was a bit on the quieter side.

"Wow, you look so sexy, (y/n)!" Sasha shouts in your ear. You wince at the volume.

"I'm surprised Eren is letting you go out by yourself, especially so dressed up," you hear Connie say in an amused tone. You can't help but scoff.

"He's maturing, you know. He's getting better." That's what you want to believe.

"Sure," you hear Jean say from the front seat. Before you can rebuttal to his sarcastic tone, Sasha screams when the song on the radio changes to one of her favorite ones.

Your phone vibrates.

A:

Have fun and be safe.

You had told Armin that you were going out with some friends. You checked your messages, checking to see if Eren had sent you anything yet.

Nothing. He must have been busy.

"thanks i will! i've needed a day out for a long time. its been a long week."

The reply was almost instant.

A:

I'm sure it has been. If you need anything, give me a call.

You couldn't help but smile to yourself, and as you were preparing a response, Sasha yanks your phone out of your hands. "Come on, we're trying to talk to you! We haven't seen you in forever and you've got your nose buried in this damn phone!" She waves the device in her hand as if to emphasize her point.

You bit your lip as you watched her. "You're right, Sash. I'll put my phone away."

She gives you a wide grin as she hesitantly hands your phone back to you. You slip it away in your purse and she places a sloppy kiss on your head.

Sasha was a loud and affectionate drunk. At this point, you were used to her antics.

The car ride to the club was anything but quiet. Whenever a song all of you knew well came up on Jean's Spotify, he would turn the volume up all the way, causing all of you to yell the lyrics out loud till your voices were nearly hoarse at the end. Marco seemed to grow less and less tense, as he began singing along to some of the songs he knew as well.

When you pulled up to the club, it was already lively. People were dressed up, smoking outside while chatting against the wall. You could hear the music booming from outside, and the neon lights illuminating the street were bright purple.

You weren't sure of the name of the night club. All you could see was the unicorn symbol made out of neon lights.

"Alright, try not to get too hammered guys. I don't want anyone puking in my car," Jean says as he parks the car in the parking lot, turning the vehicle off.

All of you pour out of the car, and you're thankful to be out of Sasha's side. She was already extremely sweaty.

Despite screaming inside the car and being wild, you can't help but feel a little tired already. Maybe working a full shift and then going clubbing wasn't the best idea. You brush it off quickly, trying to focus on the fun night ahead.

You have to help Sasha stumble inside, somehow you manage to slip past the guard who was currently ID-ing a young guy. Not that any of you were underage, it was just a lot quicker walking in.

Immediately, your lungs are filled with cigarette smoke, the smell of weed, and the humidity of sweat in the air. It was suffocating. The music vibrates the floor beneath your heels, and you can't hear anyone's voice. Jean's hand grabs your shoulder, as he silently pushes you towards the bar area.

You sat Sasha down before sitting down yourself at the corner of the bar. Niccolo, Sasha's boyfriend, was working hard and pouring drinks for various customers. When he saw all of you, he rolled his eyes.

"Sasha, darling, you're hammered," he utters as he grabs his lover's hands.

She says some incomprehensible words that you can't make out due to her slurring and the music blasting.

Once he's done reprimanding his careless girlfriend, you order something sweet to cover up the alcohol taste. You used to believe that once you got older, you would like the taste of alcohol, but you still weren't fond of it.

You sip on your drink while watching the others talk and laugh. They were high school friends, all from this city. It made you feel a little left out, but you were grateful Connie would invite you along with them, as all your other college friends had gone home for the summer.

"I'll have what she's having," a voice to the other side of you pipes up.

You turn to look at who the voice belongs to. It was a boy; He looked young, a little too young. He looked like he was probably a college freshman with his boyish face and short blond hair. You figured he got in with a fake ID.

Niccolo serves him the same drink you have, and he sips it while eyeing your dress languidly, not even trying to hide that he was practically undressing you with his eyes. "What's your name?" He asks suddenly.

You cock an eyebrow at him. You're a little too old for him, in your opinion, as he looks fresh out of high school. Not only that, but he reminds you too much of the frat boys at your university.

"(y/n)," you tell him with not an ounce of enthusiasm.

He nods, smacking his lips at the sweet drink. He must not be used to mixed drinks. "Colt. Nice to meet you," he reaches his hand out and you hesitantly take it, allowing him to shake your hand. His is sweaty and rough in your much softer and smaller one.

"Nice to meet you, too," you say with an ounce of distaste and sarcasm.

"You from around here?" At this point, he's making boring talk to try to get in your pants. You weren't an idiot to these kinds of things.

"Yeah."

He seems taken aback by your short response, but he just clears his throat to build his confidence back up.

"Oh cool. I actually just moved here last year. I'm in a frat."

You nod stiffly and stifle a laugh at your insanely good intuition. A frat. It explains a lot.

You continue the mostly one-sided conversation trying to ignore Colt for the most part and focus on your friends. Niccolo is begging Sasha to quit drinking since the night was just beginning, and she was bound to be puking before you all even went out for burgers later. Jean is eagerly talking to Marco and Connie about Seventh Prayer.

Connie's eyes suddenly land on you when he notices you looking in his direction.

He stands from his stool, walking over to you and shielding you away from Colt. "Hey, wanna come dance, (y/n)?"

You nod quickly, standing from your seat as well, eager to get away from the stranger. You eye your half empty drink, and then let your eyes drift to Colt.

"Toss out the rest of my drink, Niccolo."

"Got it," He says as he takes the glass and pours it down the drain of the sink in the bar area. Colt looks surprised.

You weren't about to leave your drink at the bar with a frat boy.

"Are you going to come back? I'll buy you a drink next time," the young blond says.

You shake your head. "My friend already offered to pay for all my drinks tonight. Thank you, though," you say trying to get lost on the small dancefloor as soon as possible. Colt pouts like a child.

Connie puts a hand between your shoulder blades, leading you into the crowd. It was easy to mesh into the crowd, bodies sweaty and bumping into each other as you began to dance.

You wish you hadn't worn heels, but it wasn't a big deal. Watching Connie do the renegade to a random song was worth it the achy feeling in your feet.

An ill feeling started to enter your stomach, and you figured the stuffy, hot atmosphere was beginning to get to you, along with the sickly sweet alcohol. You leaned in close to Connie's ear. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom! I'll be back in sec!" you yell. He winces at the volume of your voice, but he nods in response nonetheless.

"Alright!" he shouts back into your ear before continuing to dance.

You snake between the people dancing, only getting pushed a couple of times. By the time you make it to the dimly lit hallway in the back of the club where the bathrooms are, you're dizzy.

You lean against the wall, trying to steady your shallow breathing. Your body suddenly becomes very heavy and you're trying everything you can to at least make it into the women's bathroom.

You reach towards the handle, but someone grabs your wrist.

Your vision is blurry at this point. You see short blond hair.

"Are you lost, little lady?" you hear Colt's voice. His body is pressed up against yours now, pressing you into the wall so that you don't collapse. You attempt to raise your hands to push his face away from yours, but your limbs feel so heavy and they shake every time you lift them.

You let your head fall back against the wall, your eyelids continually fluttering shut. You're trying your best to stay awake.

Colt's lips move to your neck and clumsily nibble on the skin there. You feel like you could vomit at any moment.

One of his hands snakes to your breast, squeezing the flesh through the fabric of your black dress.

Everything begins to sink in. There's nothing you can do, as you are lucid yet unable to move your body.

"Please," was all you could muster the strength to say. It sounded like a plea, a cry for help.

Colt's weight pressing you against the wall disappeared, and you fell against the floor, limp. He must've moved away from your body, completely releasing you from his hold.

You could feel a sharp pain in your nose, and a warm liquid on your face coming from your nostrils. You dabbed your upper lip with your fingers, and when you pulled them back you saw dark red.

Blood.

Your eyes closed and you tried to reopen them. All you could see was two blurry blond figures, one of them holding the other in a choke hold against the wall. You squinted, trying to focus your vision more.

"... Name..."

"... didn't do anything to her, please..."

"...reason... kill you..."

You were on the verge of blacking out. The music still pounding in the background was making the conversation almost impossible to make out.

One of the blonds dropped back onto the floor and he fell to his knees, grasping his throat.

The other one walked over to you, and when he got close to your face, his face came into focus.

"A-Armin," you whisper, lips barely moving.

"Shhh," he coos, wrapping arms underneath your body. "Save your strength."

After seeing his face and feeling him hoist you into his arms, you allow yourself to black out.

When you became conscious again, you were in a car. The interior was glowing from the console, and the radio was playing quietly.

"Eren?" you whisper, recognizing the car's black leather interior. You look to the driver's seat, to your surprise you see a head full of blond locks and large blue eyes. Armin has both his hands on the wheel, eyes focused like a hawk on the road.

"You should sleep while you can," he says matter-of-factly. "You'll be tired the next 24 hours or so, so it's best to just sleep it off."

Your vision was still fading in and out of blurriness. You turn your attention back out the window, and let the passing scenery lull you back into a dark sleep.

-

"You should've known better than to interfere without telling me first."

"I'm sorry, I'll do better next time."

"It shouldn't have happened this time around. I'm really disappointed. Did she see you?"

"She was blacked out when I got her. I doubt she will remember."

Someone was pacing the room, their shoes tapping against the floor.

"What if she does remember?"

"She won't."

The other person hums and continues their pacing. Your mind drifts off again.

-

You're back in your apartment, TV flashing illuminating the dark room. You have a knife in hand, but you can hear someone speaking to you. You recognize the voice to belong to the young blond you met at the bar, Colt.

"Come find me," he says in a teasing voice. It almost sounds like he's speaking over an intercom in your apartment.

The TV then shuts off, leaving you completely in the dark. You raise the knife in your hand and walk around in the dark, moving your hand around frantically to feel where you are. Your heart is pounding, trying to break out of your ribcage. A sweat had begun to soak through the fabric of your shirt and your skin felt like it was on fire.

"You're getting warmer!" he suddenly yells over the intercom, startling you.

You open the bedroom door, knowing he will be in here. No matter how badly you want to turn around and run away, your legs keep going farther into the room. You know when you find him you will die, but you can't stop yourself from walking over to the closet.

You stop in front of the white doors, gripping the knife and holding it up, ready to stab.

You shove the closet door open. No one is inside.

Your shoulders lax and you let out a baited breath. You were so afraid that you were going to get killed.

Out of nowhere, a hand wraps around on your mouth, another around your throat. It starts to cut off your airways, and when you go to stab the person behind you, you realize your knife has vanished out of your grip.

"Let's play a game of cat and mouse," Armin's voice comes from behind you. You stop struggling as you lose oxygen, slowly blacking out in his arms.

"I'll be the cat," He loosens his grip on your throat so you stay awake. "You are the mouse."

You're still relaxed in his grip, struggling to stay conscious. "I'm going to let you go. You'll have 30 seconds to run away. You can hide, if you want. But just know that if we catch you, you die. Understand?"

You nod slowly. Your heart is beating so hard that you can hear it in your ears.

You're suddenly released, and you fall to the floor, sputtering and coughing.

"1, 2, 3..."

You stumble upwards and towards the door, only when you exit your bedroom, you're in Eren's apartment instead of your own. You turn and head towards his bedroom down the hallway. Your body is moving in slow motion.

By the time you're on the floor of his bedroom about to slide under the bed, you can hear footsteps outside. You barely manage to snake under the bed before the person enters.

They stop at the side of the bed, before they bend down.

Eren's face comes into view. He gives you an uncanny smirk. It was the most emotion you had ever seen him express before, and it unsettles you completely, making you shudder and whimper.

"Found you."

Some invisible force pulls you out from under the bed as you helplessly struggle and scream. Once you're out, you notice he has the butcher knife in his hand that you had earlier.

He has it held above his head, and he brings it down to your chest in one swoop, stabbing it into your chest.

Chapter Text

 When you finally wake up, it's late morning. Eren's sheets are practically stuck to your skin as the sweat has begun to collect all over your body. You feel like you are on fire.

You sit up and look at the shaded windows. Everytime you try to recall anything before waking up, your head hurts. You couldn't even so much as remember the dream you had while you were asleep.

There were faint images of Sasha screaming in the car, then Niccolo at the bar, Connie dancing, but after that everything is just a blur.

You rub your palm into your forehead. Your stomach feels weak as if you had thrown up multiple times and the muscles were sore. In fact, the more you were awake you realized all your muscles were extremely weak and tired.

You decide a shower would be good for you and your achy muscles. Plus, the sweat was making you feel oily, and you noticed you still had your makeup on from last night, too.

You stood, almost tumbling down, but quickly catching yourself. While holding yourself up with the nightstand, your eyes frantically searched for Eren. He must've already gone to work, as he was nowhere in sight. Although, the small dent in the bed beside where you were laying shows that he slept beside you last night, and that provides you some comfort.

It bothered you that he even worked weekends. Although, you never voiced this. You were proud of his motivation and perseverance.

You trek carefully to the bathroom once your legs gain their strength back.

The shower was rather short due to the lack of strength you had. You must've clubbed hard if you were so sore and couldn't remember what had happened.

You pull on your underwear and wrap a fluffy white robe loosely around your form. You didn't bother changing into clothes yet as the only other person who had access to Eren's apartment was Mikasa, and usually she went wherever he went. It was safe to say you had the complex to yourself.

You leisurely walked into the living room, holding onto the sliver of hope that you would get to see Eren, only to see the familiar sight of the empty minimalist room.

One good thing about Eren's penthouse was high enough so that no buildings could block the morning sun from seeping into his windows. It was a luxury you enjoyed taking advantage of often.

You laid gently on a rug beside the window, being careful with your unusually tired muscles, crossing your legs in the air and closing your eyes. In the warmth, it was easy to become sleepy again. It didn't take long for you to fall back asleep, despite having just woken up.

-

Armin still had to finish up some paperwork in Eren's apartment before he left. He should've already been out, but the night he had last night made him sleep later than usual. He barely got any sleep, as he was worrying so much.

She was safe. She was sleeping in Eren's bedroom. That was good enough for him. Sure, deep down it struck a chord he didn't even know existed, but it was best to ignore anything he felt. In the end, his thoughts or feelings didn't matter.

The other thing he was worried about was Eren's reaction to him interfering with his girlfriend. He knew he should've called Eren and guarded her unconscious body, pretending to call 911, but when he saw the younger boy trying to take advantage of her... He simply lost control.

Armin had never felt possessive over anything. To be honest, he had never felt much of anything in the past 10 years, as he had had everything stripped away from him other than Eren and Mikasa. Without the feeling of anything, he was able to control himself unusually well.

Though, in that moment, he lost control. He almost killed the guy right then and there. Armin was looking for a confession before he offed him, but the boy's face showed he wasn't lying when he said he had nothing to do with drugging her.

He was watching her the entire night. Who was it? Was it the bartender? Or maybe one of her friends? He couldn't figure it out.

Maybe it was the boy. Maybe he was just a good liar.

He opened the front door to Eren's apartment, walking hesitantly into the living room and peaking around the corner to make sure she wasn't sitting on the couch. The coast appeared to be clear, so he took a few steps into the living room only to freeze.

There she was, bathing in the sunlight like a lazy house cat. Her arm was draped over her eyes, so she couldn't see him. He was lucky that was the case. He noticed she was wearing a bathrobe loosely around her body.

He allowed his eyes to trail down to where she had her legs bent up, one crossed over the other in the air, giving him a perfect view of her underwear.

He half expected her to wear lewd underwear, like a thong or black lace. It just seemed like Eren's taste.

Instead, she was wearing lavender, satin panties, and he could see the lining had a cute lace pattern on the edges. It was like something was gluing him into the spot he was standing in. He couldn't take his eyes off of her.

He was a pervert. A dirty-minded freak. This was anything but okay.

She was with Eren. Eren was everything Armin could never dream of being, and therefore it wasn't even worth the thought. In the end, he would just end up hurting himself more.

He finally took his eyes off her and continued quietly towards Eren's work room. He was glad Eren wasn't here, or else he would've probably killed Armin on the spot for staring at his girlfriend, especially when she was exposed like this. If not killed, he would've beat the shit out of him, that much he was sure of.

But Armin would've been lying if he said he didn't feel the flicker of arousal in his pants when he saw her like that. Combined with her lewd whining and moaning the night he had snuck into her house...

She was driving him insane. In the worst ways possible.

He couldn't give in to her, no matter what. He had to practice self control. She wasn't his, and she never would be.

He just had to come to terms with that harsh reality.

-

"Baby, why are you sleeping on the floor?" Eren's voice startles you awake. You groan while rubbing your hands into your eyes.

"Eren?" You whisper, despite knowing it was him. Your head was still cloudy from your nap.

You feel his arms snake underneath your back, pulling you up into a sitting position. You crack open your eyes to see it was late afternoon. The sun was no longer warming your skin.

"I'm here, I got you," he coos near your ear.

Usually that would comfort you, but for some reason an icy feeling spread through your chest.

"I'm hungry," you suddenly blurt out. It was true, you felt so hungry that it was making you sick. You hadn't eaten all day.

"Alright, let's get something to eat. How about Click-Clack Burger?"

When your eyes finally open and focus, you see Eren's blank face. He's in a button-up and tie still, signalling he had just got off work.

You give him a lazy, half-hearted smile. "I'd like that."

Instead of going out like you had hoped, Eren got the food delivered to his building. You both sat on the couch, his arm draped around you while you nibble on your burger.

"How are you feeling?" he asks suddenly, his eyes still fixated on the football game on the TV.

You shrug. "Pretty weak. I must've partied hard."

There's a pause as he glances at you, muting the TV. "What? You don't remember?" Eren suddenly questions in surprise, catching you off guard.

His gaze was intense and you couldn't help but shrink into the couch. "No," you admit sheepishly. You felt like a child getting scolded.

"(y/n)... you were drugged. You called me before you passed out and I came and picked you up."

You couldn't help but gawk at him. You couldn't even remember what happened once you got to the dance floor with Connie, but you supposed it made sense as to why you couldn't remember.

"Nothing... nothing happened to me, right?"

His hand came up to your cheek, and he ran his thumb over it. "Of course not. I sped there so fast, I'm surprised I didn't get pulled over."

You nuzzle your face into his hand. There was something nagging at the back of your head, and you couldn't place it. It was almost as if you could sense there was something off about what he was saying, but you didn't know what.

You wrote off the feeling quickly, trying to dismiss your suspicion.

"Everything is okay now, though," he says into your ear. His shaved scruff was tickling your cheek.

You hum and snuggle into his side as he turns his attention back to the game on the TV. You realize you haven't checked your phone all day, and when you do you see tons of notifications.

You sweat and open them, seeing the majority are from Connie.

Baldy:

hey u ok?

Where are u?

dude answer me

were going to the police, please call me asap bro

Those stupid fuckers said we would have to wait 24 hours before they can do anything. this is bullshit. please just be okay

they got a hold of eren and apparently he said he came and got u. call me when u can

hey are u awake yet?

please call me. im worried.

"i'm with eren rn," you type. "i'll call later, but i'm fine. Thank you for worrying about me connie. idk what i did to deserve you as a friend." You push send.

Baldy:

thank god i was so worried.

You smile before proceeding to see that you still have unread notifs in your messages. You tap the back button, scanning over the unread messages.

One from Sasha, just asking if you were alright. Jean sent you a friend request on Facebook last night, no doubt everyone was probably trying to find every way to get a hold of you.

Though, you eyed the unread conversation.

A. Armin.

You haven't messaged him all day, and you felt awful. You hoped he wasn't worried sick about you.

A:

Good morning, how was your night out?

Would you like to go out next weekend? I'm about halfway through Julius Caesar. I was hoping we could discuss it.

Do you like boba?

You couldn't help the smile that broke out onto your face.

"my night was alright, but i don't remember much of it. i think i drank too much but i'm safe."

It was half a lie, but you figured it would be oversharing if you told Armin what had actually happened.

"but i think going out for boba would be fun! i love the boba shop near the library downtown. does noon-"

Eren snatched your phone out of your hands, looking at the conversation. "Who's A?"

You blink in disbelief as he holds the phone high, scrolling through the messages with his thumb, skimming over the conversation. You notice he's holding it out of your reach, and you decide to not try and go for it. You don't want to appear like you have something to hide.

"Allison," you lie. It comes out before you have time to think it over, and you curse yourself in your head. "She goes by A though."

Eren gives you a sideways look, and you can tell he's searching for a lie on your face. Your heart starts pounding in your chest due to a fear you can't place.

"Why haven't you mentioned her before?"

You shrug as he gives your phone back to you. "I haven't texted her since the end of last semester. I thought it would be good to keep in touch with her so that she can read over my papers and stuff."

"So she's a literature student like you?" He keeps pestering. It feels like he's trying to catch onto a hint of your lies.

"Yeah. She's reading Julius Caesar right now for one of her summer classes."

Despite everything you told him making sense, Eren still doesn't seem to buy it.

You feel terrible for lying. It feels like you really are cheating on Eren and trying to go behind his back, but it wasn't that at all. Sometimes, Eren was too possessive.

You wanted to get to know Armin, and you knew Eren would get mad if he knew you were going to get boba with another guy. Especially one that liked books as much as you did.

"Show me a picture of her," Eren finally states.

You chuckle a little bit, hands fumbling with your phone. "We don't have any pictures together, she's just a classmate, so... " You trail off, suddenly getting nervous.

"Okay, then show me her Facebook."

Another nervous chuckle leaves your lips. "Well, I forgot her last name..."

Eren is quiet for a moment, but his arm that's around your shoulders tightens a bit. "You're not going out to see a guy, are you?" His voice is low and domineering, in a scary way. It sends icy shivers down your spine.

You shake your head vehemently. "No, no! If I was, I would definitely tell you."

The lying was getting a bit out of hand at this point, but you had no choice but to keep the ball rolling.

"I'm trusting you," he says as if he's giving a warning. "Don't do something that'll piss me off."

You swallow at his threat, the arm around your shoulders began to feel like a death grip. You finish the text to Armin, feeling Eren's gaze on you as you await his reply.

A:

That's fine with me. See you Monday.

Chapter Text

 You decided to head back to your apartment the following morning with Connie, packing some clothes to take back to Eren's. You were seriously lacking outfit choices since your apartment was broken into, so it felt good to finally have some options.

The week at work went the same as usual. Connie and you both opened everyday, Connie told you about his streams if you weren't on there watching yourself, and brewed himself an espresso.

Armin would come in around 7:30 AM, order his usual Vienna dark roast. Sometimes he would get something small to eat with it, other days he simply opted for his coffee. Some days he would bring his copy of Julius Caesar, and other days he brought his journal.

Most of the week, you tried to make conversation with him. He sat in his usual corner, and Connie would roll his eyes, mutter "Nerds" and take over the register while you would talk to Armin.

It was alright though, because a new girl had started coming into the shop everyday, a big smile on her face, glasses atop her nose. When she left, Connie immediately started gushing endlessly about her, and he even gave her his Twitch username.

Therefore, while Connie took over the register while you talked to Armin, you would take over the register while he - horribly - flirted with the new customer. It was a balanced set-up.

It was Saturday. You were wearing a skirt and a sweatshirt with a button up underneath. You also pulled on some stockings as well, to keep you somewhat warm in the fall weather. It was cute, super cute, but something told you to rip it off and throw on leggings and a hoodie, so you did. It was much more comfortable, but you certainly didn't feel as attractive as you did in the previous outfit.

Then again, it wasn't like you needed to impress Armin. You stuck with the hoodie and leggings.

Almost running late, you ran out the door and flagged down a taxi. The closer you got to the boba shop, the more anxiety began to eat away at your insides. By the time you were in front of the shop, you were nearly shivering in fear.

It was the first time you and Armin had been able to talk alone, and it felt more formal than when you talked to him within the shop.

This time, you both were going to be focused on each other, talking about books and ordering tea.

You entered the shop and immediately spotted the blond in line. He was staring intently at the menu. You half expected him to be tapping his foot or shifting his weight from foot to foot, but instead he stood completely still.

"Hey, Armin," You call aloud as you walk up to his side, laying a hand on his upper arm. He immediately jumps from the contact, yanking his arm away.

You blinkat him, startled by his reaction.

"Oh, it's just you," he says quietly to himself, sheepishly looking at the ground.

You try to offer a smile to him while rubbing the back of your neck embarrassedly. "I didn't mean to scare you, my bad. I'm gonna go stand at the back of the line," you turn to walk away, only for him to grab your arm before you can step away.

"It's alright," he mumbles quietly. He still had the sheepish look on his face. "You can stand in line with me. I'll buy your drink."

Tell him, your brain yells at you. Tell him you have a boyfriend. This is getting out of hand.

Your smile grew as you stood beside him in line. "Oh you don't have to!" you eagerly deflect. There's a horrid warm feeling blooming in your chest when you stand next to him and look into his eyes, no matter how empty they are.

For the first time, within a week, you strangely feel safe.

You push the thought of Eren to the back of your head. The more you think of him, the more you think of this as a secret date.

And it wasn't, at least not romantically. It was platonic.

"Did you have fun last night?" You hear Armin say beside you.

You remember that you told Armin that you were going to play The Woods with Connie on his stream. It was a surprisingly good night for him, as he managed to get up to 200 viewers at one point.

"I did! The stream went pretty well and I legit could not stop laughing. We had a lot of fun."

"That's good," he says simply.

You hum humorously to yourself and step forward with him in line.

"You've been drinking plenty of fluids and eating, right?" His voice trails off, and when you look up to meet his gaze, he looks embarrassed. He's been worrying about you ever since you told him you drank too much the night you went out.

You can't help but feel touched at his worry. "I had a burger and a soda last night, but that's pretty much it," you respond.

"No breakfast?" He questions, leaning a little closer to you to stare into your face. You can smell his cologne and what smells like shampoo or soap. He must've taken a shower this morning. It smells floral and sweet.

You feel your face heat up a little from the smell. You're treading into dangerous territory.

"No breakfast," you repeat. "I usually don't eat it."

"I see," Armin responds, leaning back and focusing back on the menu.

"Say, Armin," you pipe up. His eyes don't leave the menu. "Are you a student at the uni here? I haven't seen you before."

He seems to hesitate for a moment before finally responding. "No, I graduated with a bachelor's degree when I finished high school."

You couldn't help when your eyebrows raised in surprise. It didn't surprise you that Armin was intelligent. He came off as the intelligent, witty, but quiet type.

You both step forward in line again.

"What did you get your degree in?" you ask quietly. You can't help your curiosity when it comes to him. You want to know everything about him, as much as you hate to admit it.

He cranes his neck to you, as if to gauge your reaction. "I double majored in classic literature and philosophy."

You immediately perk at his response. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?" You give his arm a soft, playful punch.

For a split second, you swear you see his lips twitch into a smile.

"I wasn't sure if I should tell you or not," he admits as he steps forward in the line once more. There were only two more customers in front of you both.

"You didn't know if you should tell me that we are - well, were - in the same program?" you give a scoff, shaking your head. "Well, anyways, you must be pretty smart then if you got two degrees when you graduated high school."

Armin shrugs, looking off somewhere distant in the shop. "I just had nothing better to do. Studying helped to take my mind off things."

You silently wondered what Armin needed to take his mind off of during high school. Most people were out making friends and enjoying the free time while they had it. For him to be completely dedicated to his degrees and schoolwork, Armin would've had to push everyone and everything away.

You subconsciously scoot closer to him, your arms now touching. You can see him look at you, eyeing where you both are connected. He looks like he's debating stepping away, but before he can decide, the lady at the counter calls out to the both of you.

"Hi! What can I get you both today?"

"A Sly Chai, please," Armin orders beside you. You pull out your card, ready to pay for your own despite him offering.

"What do you want?" He asks, looking down at you.

"I can get it myself, you don't have to worry," you flash him a smile while holding up your card.

Armin hums, then returns his attention back to the menu. "She'll have a French Kiss and 5 strawberry macaroons."

You gape at Armin, blinking at him a couple of times in surprise. He swipes his own card, and you lower your hand in defeat.

He ordered your favorite drink. You never told him it was your favorite. And he ordered macaroons for you, too, and you realized it was because you said you hadn't eaten today. He truly was a good listener, you noted. You appreciated that immensely.

The lady who was taking your order, a short and petite blonde girl with big blue eyes, ran back to begin making your drinks. You and Armin walk to the pick up area together, staying close to each other.

"How did you know?" You decide to finally question, your curiosity piqued.

"How did I know what?"

"My favorite drink," You raise an eyebrow at him quizzically. He's silent for a moment.

"Call it a hunch."

You slip your card back into your wallet before crossing your arms at him. "A hunch?"

"I read over all of the menu, and it seemed to fit you the best."

You couldn't help but feel your gaze soften a bit.

Armin may have an empty stare, but you were rapidly discovering that deep down he was soft and caring. You wondered how caring he could be, if only with the right person.

Some sick and selfish part of you wanted to be that person.

It felt nice to be shown affection. After being denied it for so long, seeing Armin's guarded yet bashful eyes made you feel... good again. You felt alive. You felt seen.

The blonde girl gave both of you a smile and handed you both your drinks and the container of macaroons. You both thanked her, before walking over to an empty table. When you went to sit, you accidentally stepped on Armin's shoe. You apologized profusely, and he just shook his head, telling you repeatedly it was fine.

You took a sip of your boba, relishing in the taste and slumping into your chair. You let your eyes flutter shut. When you took a few gulps, you raised up and set the drink back down on the table.

"It's so good," you utter in an exasperated voice, picking up a macaroon from the container it was in. "You really didn't have to do that, but I am thankful. Thank you so much." A small smile lights up your features as you take a bite of your macaroon.

"It's not that big of a deal," he deflects right away. You watch him take a sip of his own boba, before reaching into his bag and pulling out his copy of Julius Caesar. There were pieces of post-it notes sticking out between the pages, and you couldn't help but grin. You knew you were going to be sitting here for a couple hours.

-

By the time you both had decided to go back home, it was late afternoon turning into evening.

"And then Connie literally body slammed me so hard onto the floor that I swore I broke a rib, and his friend Sasha had to drive me to the hospital. As soon as we got there, it didn't hurt anymore so we went and got milkshakes," You retell the story with a smile on your face as you walk down the sidewalk with Armin. He's silently listening, which you appreciate. He asks questions when it's appropriate, and seems interested in everything you say.

As much as you have tried to repress Eren from your thoughts, you can't help but think all the times when you were trying to talk to him and he would say "Not now baby, I'm watching the game," or "We'll talk later, I've got work to do."

It felt nice to be the center of attention for once. For Eren, it just felt like you were just something he sometimes felt like interacting with. It's like all he cared about was work, or his own free time.

It hurt coming to that realization.

"It's good that you didn't break your ribs. They take a long, painstakingly time to heal." Armin says suddenly, breaking you from your thoughts. "What milkshake did you end up getting?"

"Strawberry," you say with a grin. You wonder if he'll remember this small detail about you later.

The faint trace of a smile etched on Armin's face, and you could see it in the low light of the city.

It disappears as soon as it appears.

"It's your favorite flavor, isn't it?" He asks, looking ahead towards the sidewalk. Some people were out and about, weaving around the two of you. The buildings blocking the setting sun made the city begin to grow dark and cold.

You nod eagerly. "Yeah, it is. It was my mom's favorite flavor too..." You trail off, getting lost in thoughts. You quickly push them away, shaking them from your head.

Armin seemingly understands that it's a touchy subject. He doesn't push.

You pass a store that has antiques in the window. You stop and Armin follows, standing at your side while you gaze at the artifacts of the past.

"You know, I haven't been thrifting in years. Eren-" You stop when you say the name, completely catching yourself off guard.

There's a few moments of silence, save for your heart suddenly beating hard in your chest.

"Eren?" Armin asks softly.

You swallow, staring into the glass. A tight knot settles into your stomach as you try to think of a way to tell Armin about your boyfriend. There's really only two options. You lie about who Eren really is to, or you tell Armin the truth.

Lying about having a boyfriend made the ever growing pit in your stomach even worse. You stare at Armin's reflection in the glass. He's simply peering into the shop as you are, but he seems to be a little more guarded and sad at the mention of Eren's name.

"He's my ex," you say without thinking. You regret the words as soon as they come out of your mouth.

Armin's eyes shoot up to meet yours, and there's a look of surprise on his face.

"Ex?" he questions. It's almost like there's alarm in his voice.

You nod and begin walking away from the shop window, expecting Armin to follow suit. "We broke things off a month ago," you say, trying to make sure it didn't sound like you were using Armin as a rebound.

You want to hit yourself in the head. The more you lie to Armin about your failing relationship, the worse you feel.

At this point, you were becoming a compulsive liar. Though the look Armin held on his face after he heard the name, the sad and broken expression that just slightly showed through, it was enough to make you lie through your teeth.

You didn't want to hurt him. You wanted him to stay ignorantly blissful.

Now, though, Armin looked alert and alarmed. His face became strained and calculated.

"I'm not using you for a rebound, if that's what you think," you quickly tried to reassure him.

Armin swallowed. You could see the way his throat bobbed and how nervous he looked. "I don't think that at all," he says quietly, looking at his shoes as both of you walked.

"Then what is it?" you interrogate, bumping your elbow gently against his arm. He shook his head.

"It's nothing," he emptily reassures. "I'm just tired, is all."

You know better than to believe this, but you decide not to push him for an answer. You assume he's simply a little hurt over the fact that you supposedly just got out of a relationship so soon.

Both you and Armin stop at a crosswalk, waiting for the signal to go across the street. On the other side, there's a man in a baggy jacket and tight pants. He's wearing a black bucket hat, and it's mostly obscuring his face. The thing that stands out to you the most is the bright red bandana loosely wrapped around his neck. You would've not even noticed him, if not due to that small detail.

As soon as Armin sees the man, he stops in his tracks.

The signal turns, and you begin to walk across, only for Armin to grab your arm and yank you back.

"Armin?" you question, turning to look at him in question. He's staring wearily at the guy walking toward the two of you, your wrist still in his grip. You notice he holds it firmly, but also gently.

"Let's take a different way," he suggests quickly, pulling you back down the sidewalk where you had just come. He begins to pick up his pace, and you look behind you to see the man is trailing behind, picking up in speed as well.

You run into Armin's back when he stops abruptly. Your breath is starting to become rapid and all you can think about is how you ignored all the warning signs.

The break-in. The drugging. Now this.

And you had somehow managed to drag Armin into it.

You look past Armin only to see two more men wearing black coming towards both of you. Armin looks around frantically. Traffic is going by on the street, so you can't run that way. There's an alleyway beside the both of you.

Convenient, you think to yourself. Armin releases your wrist and grabs your hand instead. It's warm and soft in your grip.

"This way," he calls out, pulling you along. The three men group behind you, now running after you and Armin between the buildings.

"Armin, I'm sorry," you speak loudly so he can hear you over your thundering footsteps echoing in the alleyway. He pulls you around a pile of trash bags. "This is because of me! I'm so sorry." You choke back tears of regret and fear.

"Don't apologize," he yells back. You feel him squeeze your hand tightly, and when you both run into a dead end in the alleyway, the tears spill over and down your cheeks.

Armin frantically searches for anything to climb up the buildings or to escape. He sees a door and tries to open it, only to find it locked. He bangs his fist on the door, knocking violently.

"Is this it, Armin?" your voice sounds pathetic. "Are we going to die?" Tears are pouring down your face now as you shake with fear. The men round the corner, now with a fourth person. He has a beanie on, but his outfit is similar to the others. It's all black with a red bandana around his neck.

Armin eyes the men wearily, before turning to you. He gives your hand a firm squeeze, his expression becoming stern.

"We're not going to die," he reassures you confidently.

"Long time no see, Arlert," one of the men says as he steps forward, it's the one in the beanie. He has a swept red bowl cut peeking from his black hat. His outfit reminds you of the ones you've seen Armin wear into the shop, minus the bandana tied around his neck. It's the same one the other men are wearing in the back, bright red.

Armin doesn't say anything, instead he holds your hand steadily.

You're trying not to cry and shiver in fear as the man approaches, but at this point it's uncontrollable.

"No reply? That's kinda rude. I went through all this trouble to track you and the boss' little sweetheart down and you can't even grace me with a reply."

The man is now standing a couple of feet in front of you. The other men stand at the corner of the alley, as if guarding.

The man reaches into his jacket, pulling out a handgun. You nearly jump when you see the metal glinting in the darkness of the evening. He pops out the clip, as if checking to make sure you know it has bullets. His hand reaches into the other side of his jacket, fishing for something else in the inner pocket.

His eyes travel to your interconnected hands. At this point your body is wracking with muffled sobs that you're trying to hide.

A smirk crosses his features and he motions the gun towards your hands.

"Oh, Arlert, that's gonna get you killed."

Chapter Text

The redhead pulls out a metal silencer, twisting it onto the end of his gun.

"I thought you were smarter than this," he keeps speaking, and you couldn't help but wonder how the stranger and Armin knew each other. You were trying to keep up with the conversation, all the while trying not to pass out from fear.

Silencer on a gun in the city. You knew this wasn't looking good for either of you.

You couldn't help yourself any longer; You grabbed onto Armin's jacket, hiding partially behind his arm and sobbing into it.

"Why are you here, Floch?" Armin finally asks in a stern tone. His soft and empty demeanor is now seemingly replaced with one that's much more commanding and angered.

The redhead - Floch - gives Armin a small smirk. "I think you already know why, Arlert." He motions his gun towards where you're standing. You try not to cower further behind Armin.

You steady your breathing momentarily as you take a shaky step from behind him, towards Floch and his pointing gun.

"If I'm the one you want, then take me. Kill me, if that's what you want. Don't drag him into this," your voice sounds pitiful, even though you're forcing yourself to walk forward with false courage.

Armin is still holding your hand, and he gives you a soft pull back towards him.

"(y/n)," he coos softly as he pulls you back behind him. "Don't."

"What a heartwarming display," Floch mocks, lowering his gun and fishing into one of his jacket pockets. He pulls out a house key, going over to the door Armin was standing beside and unlocking it.

He walks behind the two of you, pointing the gun into your back.

"Go on in, star-crossed lovers, or I might accidentally happen to pull the trigger."

Armin hesitates for a moment, and you briefly wonder if he is going to comply. The inside of the building was dimly lit by a single dangling bulb from the room. The wall paper was ripped off, and there was already a guy standing inside, leaning against the wall.

You definitely didn't want that to be the place where you died.

When Armin started to walk forward into the building, you let out a small pathetic sob.

"Armin, we shouldn't..." you try to argue, pulling back on his hand, your weak voice trailing off.

"Just follow my lead," he urges.

Once the three of you enter, Floch shuts the door behind you. Your fate was sealed at this point.

Armin stood in the middle of the floor, and you stayed attached to his side. You notice you have stopped crying, the aftermath of the adrenaline starting to wear off, leaving you numb.

Floch took a couple of paces around the room before going to stand beside the man on the wall. He leans his back against it, facing Armin.

"Well. Care to explain?" Floch inquires, pulling the top of his gun back. You begin to realize that this entire time there wasn't a bullet in the chamber.

I'm such an idiot, you bitterly say to yourself in your head.

You could've possibly fought him outside, or ran. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking, since he had his henchmen with him. It was too late for regrets at this point.

"It's not what you think," Armin says defensively. He was tense, and on guard, not unlike how he usually was. You grip his hand tightly in your own and he reciprocates the grasp.

"Oh, no, Armin. Please, enlighten me on what is actually going on, because if I didn't know any better I would say you went on a date with the boss' girlfriend."

Boss? Did he work for Eren? Now that you were thinking about it, he had mentioned something about his boss earlier, too. You couldn't possibly imagine Eren having any gangsters or hitmen working under him. You definitely couldn't imagine him sending them after you.

"How would you even know what that's like, Floch?" Armin says lowly beside you. It was the lowest you had ever heard his voice. It was like the danger made his voice drop an octave. "Every single girl you've asked on a date has rejected you. I bet you're still a virgin, aren't you?"

Floch seemed to be irked by Armin's attitude. He kicks off the wall, trying to keep his cool, before standing in front of Armin and eyeing him down aggressively. It was like he was daring him to continue speaking.

You were surprised by Armin's attitude yourself, as you had never heard him say anything so vulgar. Not only that, but the blond seemed genuinely annoyed and angered. You wondered how he wasn't scared out of his mind like you were.

Maybe he was just good at hiding it.

"Like you've got room to talk?" Floch deflects back, not denying Armin's claim. "Trying to wet your dick with Eren's girlfriend, come on now. You know how that's gonna end, Arlert."

Your ears perk at the name. You gaze at the redhead with wide eyes.

So he did work for Eren.

"At least I'll know what it's like before I die. Once you kill me, you can take the money you get from Eren and maybe you can buy yourself a girl, because we both know no one wants you-"

He suddenly grabs Armin's collar with one of his hands, gun still in the other. He yanks Armin's face close, his face getting red with anger.

"If you keep talking, I'll just kill you and force all the information out of her," he points the gun at you.

As soon as he lifts the gun towards you, Armin quickly grabs his hand and pushes it towards the man leaning against the wall. He covers Floch's finger on the trigger with his own, pulling back.

There's a small and metallic pop sound, and the man leaning against the wall groans. You watch in horror as when he slides down the wall, a blood streak staining the wall behind him as he slumps over.

It takes a few seconds to register. Armin shot someone.

You let go of Armin's hand and back up from him in fear. You watch as he headbutts Floch, tackling him to the floor and digging his knee into his wrist that's gripping the gun. One of his hands is holding Floch's wrist to the floor.

"You fucker!" Floch shouts as he tries to squirm out from Armin's grip. "You'll pay for that! You'll fucking pay!"

"Drop the gun," Armin says in an alarmingly calm tone.

Your heart is pounding away in your chest fiercely.

Run, your mind tells you. Get out of here while you have the chance.

You fall to your knees as your legs suddenly give out from underneath you.

Armin rips the gun out of Floch's grip and the redhead lets out a loud growl.

"You're gonna die! You're so dead!" Floch shouts up at Armin. Armin looks unphased.

You glance over to the man who is laying on the floor, blood now pouring around him. You crawl hesitantly over to him.

"How much does Eren know?" Armin interrogates Floch. You don't bother to look over at him. You know he has the gun pointed at Floch's head.

"He knows that you're a fucking simp for his girlfriend!" There's a cracking sound. "Ow, fucker! You didn't have to hit me! Fuck, I think my head's bleeding."

"It is." Armin's calm voice is scaring you.

By the time you make it over to the guy, he's letting out struggling breaths. You bite your lip, trying to keep the bile in your throat from spewing out as you smell the strong scent of metal - blood.

You move his arm to see the extent of the wound, only to see it landed right at his lower rib cage.

It must've clipped his lung. You look at his expression, only to find his eyes wide and unblinking. The sight startles you.

"I'm sorry," you whimper. His dark irises land on you.

"All this..." He rasps out. He's breathing his last breaths. "For a... fucking whore..."

You draw back from the man, a sudden feeling of dread washing over your entire body.

He shakily raises his hand, which you realize is holding a gun similar to Floch's. As he goes to pull the trigger, you rip it from his grasp, your breath coming out in short gasps.

His now empty hand drops, and his eyes become glazed. He is staring at you, unblinking while his jaw hangs open.

A whimper escapes your mouth as you crawl backwards away from the now dead man, his gun in hand.

"Did Eren send you or did you come on your own accord to get on his good side?" Armin continues to interrogate Floch, seemingly completely uncaring about the life he just took.

"Fuck you!" Floch yells in his face. You watch in horror as Armin shoves the gun into Floch's mouth.

"Floch, you know I don't want to have to do this. Just give me answers."

Floch lets out a muffled groan, but the fear is still present on his face.

Armin removes the gun from his mouth, allowing him to speak once more. Instead, he opts to hold it to his forehead.

"Now, did Eren send you?" Armin asks once more.

"Yes," Floch states reluctantly. Armin lets out a deep breath, trying to steady himself.

"Did he drug her last weekend?"

Floch is silent for a while. Your eyes widen at his answer.

"Yes."

The door beside you creaks open, revealing the man from earlier who was crossing the street. By the time the man sees Armin on top of Floch, he's reaching for his gun in jacket.

Your hand raises on its own, shooting the man. Somehow, it manages to hit him under his chin, going through the top of his head.

He collapses to the floor, dead.

You can't breathe. The world feels like it's imploding on you.

You look at Armin in shocked bewilderment, hoping to find comfort and refuge in his gaze. You want to run into his arms more than anything in that moment.

His blue eyes convey sorrow. It's the first emotion you've seen him convey so whole-heartedly, other than annoyance. Floch struggles underneath him. "Fuck! Fuck!" He won't stop yelling.

Armin's face snaps back to Floch's, and he presses the gun harder into his temple.

"You tell Eren nothing. You tell him that she came to meet a girl, that you lost them when you ran into a gang," Armin states, his voice unwavering.

"He's not gonna fucking buy that."

"Maybe not, but you will tell him that."

"Like hell I'll tell him!" Floch yells, continuing to struggle. Armin sneaks his hand into Floch's jacket, pulling out a switchblade. He flips it open and places it over his crotch.

Floch's eyes seem to light up with fear for the first time. "I may not be able to kill you, but you can live without a dick," Armin threatens. It doesn't necessarily sound like a threat, as the way his voice carries is intellectual and pacific.

"No! Fuck!" Floch looks scared for his life.

"Then you'll tell him that you got caught up with some gangsters from the Ackermans' company, and that his girlfriend came to meet with a classmate of hers."

"Yes, fuck it, I'll do it!" Armin inches the knife ever so slightly further into the crotch of Floch's pants as a threat, before whacking his head with the gun. Floch is out cold, his temple bleeding badly.

The smell of metal is becoming overwhelming. You feel sick to your stomach and your hand is gripped tightly around the gun. It shakes in your grasp.

Armin sighs exasperatedly, like he had been holding his breath the whole time. He lets his head drop, blond locks falling forward. He stays like that for a while before he slowly rises from Floch, standing and taking a step towards you.

"Come on, let's-"

You raise the gun at him, hands shaking.

"Don't get near me," you warn. More tears are prickling at the corners of your eyes. Armin slightly raises his hands, as if he were surrendering.

"I know you're confused right now," Armin states quietly. "But you need to trust me. I want us both to get out of this alive."

"How-" you voice cracks, and you swallow trying to clear your throat. "How do you expect me to do that?"

Armin is silent. There's a look of regret on his face.

"You're right. It would be best if you killed me right now. There's things I've done..." his voice trails off. "...and I dragged you into this. Because of my own selfishness."

You swallow and your hand is getting shakier. Armin seems to know more about the situation than you do.

"You didn't even flinch when you killed him," you motion over to the man Armin shot.

"He's not my first, and probably not my last."

"You've killed before?" Your voice is barely above a whisper. You're in disbelief - no, denial.

Armin goes silent again, debating on what to say to you next. "We can talk about this later. I'll tell you everything, but we can't stay here for much longer. So please, just trust me," he slowly moves his hand down towards you, extending it for you to take.

You stare at it for a few moments, before tossing the gun and grabbing his hand. He hoists you up from the floor, and you take a look at the scene before you. It's complete gore.

"Don't look at it," he says, placing a hand over your eyes and pulling you over the corpse you shot. "It'll make the nightmares worse."

Armin keeps his hand over your eyes, leading you through a room until you assume you get to the front door. He releases you and opens it, gun hidden inside his jacket, but still in his hand.

He scans the outside area. "It's clear. Let's go."

Armin grabs your hand, leading you outside into the now dark cityscape. The cold makes your shiver down to your core. 

Chapter Text

 Armin's apartment is nice. It's not quite as showy as Eren's, and not quite a dump like yours.

Armin had given you his jacket and flipped his hood over your head, as you had somehow managed to get blood on your shirt from either one of the men. You don't know which one, and you don't bother to dwell on the thought. Everything is just a blur around you at this point, and the only thing keeping you grounded is Armin's hand firmly gripping yours.

He managed to flag a taxi, and thankfully the darkness concealed any blood on your body from the driver. Once you got into the complex, both of you hurried into an elevator, avoiding anyone in the lobby. You stood silently behind him in the corner, just in case anyone else decided to step on.

And now here you were, in Armin's apartment. It was nice. Comfortable, with books and coffee mugs on the coffee table in the living room, a fluffy blanket on the couch. He lets go of your hand, and gently takes his jacket off your shoulders.

Your arms wrap around your body as soon as he pulls it off, hugging yourself tightly. You can still smell the metallic stench of blood and gore on your clothes.

"Follow me," Armin calls as he walks past you, walking into his apartment towards a hallway. You follow cautiously.

He might kill you. He told you to trust him, but your mind is in shambles. You don't know who to even trust anymore.

He leads you into the bathroom. It's themed black and white, but the tiles are black, giving it a dark look. You look into the elongated mirror above the sink, only to see you have splatters of blood across your face, and your hoodie is splotched.

You nearly faint at the sight.

Armin seems to notice, as he places his hand on your cheek, pulling your face towards him and away from your reflection.

"You did what you had to do," He says quietly, placing his hands on his shoulders and leading you over to the toilet. The lid is down and he pushes you down to sit upon it.

Once you're sitting, you stare at the black tiled wall. You're at his mercy, and if he wants to kill you he can. You don't know whether you want to run away or stay put.

"No one can fault you for what you did. You shouldn't blame yourself," He encourages as he walks back to the sink, taking a white rag and wetting it. He holds the rag under the water for a while, waiting for the water to get warm.

"I killed him." Your voice is hoarse and dry.

"You did. And he would've killed me if you hadn't," Armin says in a gentle tone, pumping some soap onto the rag. "Then you would've had to defend yourself from them. Eren wouldn't have cared what they did to you at that point. He would've been pissed. In fact, he probably would've ordered them to do terrible things to you as some sick punishment."

He dabs the warm, soapy rag onto your face, delicately wiping the dried blood away. His thumb is tilting your head up under your chin. You stare at his face, looking for refuge, for answers, for remorse.

His eyes show immense care. It's the softest expression you had ever seen him hold.

"You know Eren," You point out quietly. He only pauses his wiping briefly, before continuing.

"I do. We're good... friends," Armin responds quietly.

Your heart rips. It tears and shreds and breaks. You want nothing more than for it to stop beating at this moment.

"Then you know..." You trail off.

"I know you're his girlfriend. And I know you lied about him being your ex." Armin tries to pass off unphased, but you saw the way his brows furrowed ever so slightly.

You press your lips together and look away from his face as he continues to scrub your cheeks gently. He pulls your chin ever so slightly to change the angle of your face.

"I don't think I want to be with him anymore," you say quietly. "Not after this. How could I?" Your eyes are welling with tears, and your body is shaking. You're on the brink of a panic attack, the aftermath of everything finally settling in like heavy weights in your chest.

Armin seems to notice this, and he sets the now pink rag down on the counter. His arms wrap around your head, pressing it into his shoulder. You bring your arms around his torso, sobbing into him. His hand leisurely pets your head.

You can't help but feel at comfort in his hold. His hand stroking your hair delicately helps to keep you grounded as your body shakes.

"I know. I know this is all hard to understand," Armin coos gently. You're gripping his shirt so tightly that you can't feel your fingers. "Let's not worry about Eren until after you settle down, okay?"

You let out sobs and whines of terror and regret into his shirt. You wish you could forget everything and go back to the simplicity of being a senior in college working in a coffee shop during the summer.

He pulls away all too soon. Snot is dripping down your nose, and tears are streaking through the remaining smeared blood on your face. Armin seems to soften at the scene in front of him.

Then, a steely look passes over his face, as it looks like he realizes something.

"How about you take a bath?" He offers suddenly. You glance over to his bathtub. It's only big enough to hold one person, and it's separate from the shower. Much unlike the one in your own complex.

"Will you stay in here with me?" You ask in a pleading voice, grabbing his hand.

A pink flush coats his cheeks, and he looks away from you in embarrassment. "While you take a bath?" His blue eyes land back on you, hesitant. "Are you sure?"

You nod vigorously, no longer having any shame. "I'm scared... I'm scared they'll come and finish me off. Or worse."

He lets out a sigh of defeat as his expression and demeanor softens once more. He places a caring hand on your head. "Alright, I'll stay in here with you. Go ahead and get in the bath and I'll come back in a second."

"Where are you going?" You pull him back gently as he begins to walk off.

He gives a soft smile. It's the first time you've ever seen him smile. A feeling of comfort and safely washes over you in a big wave, making you let out a deep, content breath.

It feels like a home you never had.

"I'm just going to grab a book and my gun," he says nonchalantly.

Reality snaps back to you as you remember everything, and you forget his smile. You falter and let go of his hand.

Armin is a killer. He's killed many people, and probably hurt many more. How could he still smile at you despite being a murderer?

"Alright. Knock before you come back in," you say, trying to shake the thoughts from your head.

He gives a curt nod before leaving, shutting the door behind him.

You slowly and shakily stand from the toilet, shedding off your hoodie and leggings. You scan wearily around the bathroom, half expecting someone to come out a random corner to kill you where you stand.

You turn the knobs of the bathtub, letting the water run. Sitting on the edge of the tub, you dip your hand into the stream of water.

Everything seems to race through your head at once.

You lied to Armin about Eren, just as he had never told you that he knew your boyfriend. You couldn't help but wonder why he had kept it a secret. You supposed he had his own reasons, just as you had yours.

Not only that, but Armin and Eren know each other. Eren apparently sent gangsters after you both. You can only assume he knew what boba shop you were going to because he read your texts.

He didn't believe your bluff about "Allison" after all. Hopefully Floch would do what Armin said, and tell Eren you were with a girl classmate.

If Armin was a close acquaintance of Eren's, that made sense of why Floch and his men approached you two. He probably recognized Armin and wanted to confront him and get information before going back to report to Eren.

Then there was the drugging.

Back then, you had wondered why Eren was so calm about you going to the club with the others when any other time he would beg you to stay home with him. Him offering you a drink of whiskey before you went was strange, but you just chalked it up to him trying to be a better boyfriend.

Perhaps, you hoped he was beginning to realize the worst parts of himself and change himself for the better.

It turned out to be the exact opposite. He must've drugged the whiskey he gave you, so that you would feel too unsafe to go out and party ever again.

You didn't even want to see his face at this point. If not for him, you would not have had to see two people die. You would not have had to kill one of them.

Your body starts to shake again, as you remember dead, wide eyes staring through you.

A knock comes at the door, startling you. You jump and remove your hand from the water, turning the knobs off as you see the tub is getting very full.

"One second," you say quickly, stripping yourself of your underwear, stepping carefully into the warm water. It caresses you and relaxes your tense muscles instantly. Your shoulders slump as you ease into the water, leaning your back against the end of the tub. You can't help but let out a sigh of contentment at the feeling, briefly forgetting what had happened earlier.

The bathtub was only wide enough for one person, but it was deep enough to submerge your chest in the water. Although, if Armin walked close enough he could definitely see it through the surface.

You pulled your knees up to your chest, wrapping your arms around your legs. You didn't think he would try anything, but then again he was a man.

"Come in."

The door opens, and Armin steps in. He has a gun in one hand, and a book under his arm. You notice in his other arm he has clothing; A t-shirt and what looks like sweatpants. His gaze purposely avoids you. He slides down against the door and sits on the black tiles, setting the gun beside him.

He says nothing; He only opens his book to begin reading.

You stare at him for a long while. You had to admit, he was quite attractive. There was a boyish innocence about him that you found cute, but there was also a manly maturity deep underneath his surface.

He really did look like an angel, like the ones in the old paintings. You can't help but wonder if maybe he was sent to you by some higher deity to make you realize the truths of your life full of lies.

Or maybe, he was sent to corrupt you, tear apart your life from the seams and create chaos before leaving you in the path of destruction he had created.

You slowly move your knees away from your chest and allow them to lay lax in the water. Armin doesn't so much as look up at you, even at the sound of the water sloshing. It's safe to say you don't think he's going to try anything to hurt you or make you feel uncomfortable.

You wonder if he feels the same attraction you do. Whether platonic curiosity, or actual romantic infatuation, you want to know how he feels about you.

"Armin, am I a terrible person?"

He doesn't lift his gaze from his book, as if scared he will accidentally catch a glimpse of your naked body.

"No. You're one of the best people I've met."

You let your head fall back against the edge of the tub. You stare at him tiredly. He's very tense, but he keeps his eyes glued to his book.

"You're just saying that," you wearily say. "You've only known me for two weeks."

Armin's silent for a moment, and you assume he's either too caught up in his book, or just too nervous to respond.

"I've known you for longer than that."

You rub a soapy rag along your skin. You get overwhelmed by the floral scent you smelled earlier coming from Armin in the boba shop. It feels like a distant dream.

"What do you mean?" You ask quizzically. The water is sloshing around you loudly as you move.

"I've known Eren ever since primary school. When both of you started seeing each other, he wouldn't stop talking about you. So I've known you for a long time."

You nodded your head dully and un-energetically, despite knowing he couldn't see it. You supposed if Eren talked about you a lot, perhaps that's why he knew your favorite boba order.

"I see. You knew I was dating Eren all along, then." He doesn't say anything in response, confirming your suspicions. "Is that why you rejected me in the shop that one day? You said you had somewhere to be, but you didn't seem to be in a rush."

You hear Armin sigh. It's a sigh of relief with a hint of defeat. "It was. Then I felt so terrible afterwards, I couldn't think of a way to apologize. I thought maybe I could make up an excuse, and even then I half expected you to rip up my phone number and yell at me to get out."

You pause, allowing the water to settle around you. It's quickly becoming tinged a pink.

"I know I shouldn't have given you my number. But... I had reasons," he admits cryptically. You don't push for him to clarify.

You risk a glance at him and you see he's raised his face, but his eyes are still looking at his book. Your eyes drift to the gun laying beside him, and you have to clench your eyes shut to keep the intrusive thoughts at bay.

"Without you, I wouldn't have seen Eren for what he truly is," you quip, slowly reopening your eyes. You lean over the edge of the bathtub, wet arms dripping onto the black tile. "So I'm glad you gave me your number, no matter why you did it."

Armin's lips pressed together in a thin line before he spoke again. "Ignorance is bliss. It might've been better if I hadn't. There's still things you don't know about."

"Like what?" you ask, your curiosity now piquing. His eyes finally dart up to you for a fleeting second, but he quickly glues them back down to his book. He gets a wide-eyed look, the innocent pink returning to his cheeks.

"Don't worry about it for now, it's already been a long day as is. Like I said, ignorance is bliss. You're probably better off not knowing."

As much as you want to pester him for an answer, your body and mind are both tired. He's right, as much as you want to figure everything out, you also need rest.

"I'm done for now. You can leave," you command. Armin doesn't seem bothered by your suddenly cold tone. Instead, he lays the clothes on the sink counter and does as you say. The door shuts behind him.

You stand out of the water and dry yourself. The reflection you see in the pink water is you, technically speaking. She has the same face, the same eye color, the same hair.

But the expression she holds is something different. You are the same person, in a different way, forever changed.

You pull the drain in the tub, letting the water drain. Your legs carry you over to the clothing on the sink, and you don't look at yourself in the mirror.

All this for a fucking whore.

You slip on the clothes, avoiding your naked body in the reflection till you're fully clothed. The t-shirt is just white, there's no logos or symbols. The sweatpants are comfy and warm, but obviously well worn.

The scent coming from both of the articles of clothing is strong. You lift the collar of the t-shirt up to your nose, taking a deep inhale.

It smells subtly like cologne and expensive deodorant. The most prominent smell is lavender, most likely Armin's detergent choice.

Either way, it smells fresh and like Armin.

Whore.

You glance at your dirited clothes in a pile on the floor. You refused to touch them again, afraid the smell would trigger the memories of the horrid encounter.

When you finally leave the bathroom, you see Armin on the couch. He's writing in a journal, the same one he brought to the coffee shop on his first visit, and he's turned on music at a low volume. It's some classical song that you've heard before, but don't know the name of.

You cautiously approach behind him, and he seems oblivious to your presence. Peering over his shoulder, you can see what he's working on.

It turns out he wasn't writing at all, instead you see a sketch. He's working on refining the lines carefully, dusting away eraser bits from the page with his hand.

The picture is of you in the coffee shop, a bright smile on your face as you're behind the register. You're stunned at how beautiful the artwork is, and how detailed. It's almost like Armin took a picture of you.

"You're talented," you comment, laying hands on his shoulders and leaning closer towards the journal to inspect the drawing.

He instantly jumps in your grasp and snaps the journal shut. "A-ah, you weren't supposed to see that..." He sounds sheepish and bashful. Your heart skips a beat at his cute reaction. Seeing him like this is endearing, you can't deny it.

"Not even when you finish it?" You attempt to say in a teasing voice, but it sounds like all emotion is drained from your tired voice. You round the couch, sitting against the arm of the sofa.

Now that you can see his face, you see he's blushing furiously. He looks absolutely embarrassed. A warm feeling of endearment blooms in your chest.

"I hope it's not... creepy or anything..." Armin looks like he's struggling on the right words to say.

You quickly shake your head. "Not at all, I would actually like to have it once you're done." You pull your knees up to your face, wrapping your arms around them. Hugging yourself like this makes you feel protected and safe.

Armin allows a small smile to appear on his face. Your heart skips another beat. "Sure. You can have it."

There's a moment of silence, and his smile falls from his face slowly, as his thoughts seem to plague his mind. He sighs wearily, before placing the sketchbook onto the coffee table. It joins the already present clutter.

"About Eren," Armin starts. "I know you want to, but you can't break up with him. At least not right now."

You furrow your eyebrows at the blond in confusion. He looks indecisive and calculating as his gaze doesn't move to you. Instead, he focuses it on the sketchbook, deep in thought.

"What do you mean?" You ask quizzically after he doesn't continue. He lets out a large sigh before finally turning to face you on the couch.

"If you broke up with him, he would probably make your life a living nightmare just because he can. He's obsessed with you, and not willing to let you go so easily."

You look at a dirty mug on the coffee table. There's black coffee grinds in the bottom.

"So you're telling me I'm stuck with him?"

"For now, yes. You might be able to get away from him by slowly making him dislike you. But that's just a hypothetical."

You hum in response, understanding. Eren had always been possessive, and recently he had been more possessive and less affectionate. His love was warping into an obsession, but you ignored all the red flags and warning signs, simply sweeping the behavior under the rug.

"There's no guarantee he will ever stop obsessing over you, you know?" Armin says, a thoughtful look on his face.

He's right. Eren was becoming twisted ever since his dad's death. You noticed since he had been in contact with his half-brother who was inheriting a different company, Eren had become increasingly closed off and unempathetic, even towards you. Especially towards you.

You wouldn't be surprised if Eren locked you inside his penthouse at this point, chaining you to the floor if he had to.

"I know." Your voice is quiet and defeated.

Armin gives you a small nod, acknowledging that the weight of the situation has fully settled on you. He doesn't continue to dwell on the subject, knowing that all this isn't easy to digest in a couple of hours.

"You should get some sleep," he finally says after a few heartbeats of silence. "You can have my bed for the night."

"It's fine, I can sleep on the couch," you rebuke, standing from the sofa. Armin follows suit, standing up as well.

He motions towards the front door, clearly in view of the couch. "If someone tries to come in during the night, I can fight them off and buy you time to escape. You sleep in the bed." His voice sounds like it's conveying an order.

He must've been a seasoned killer if he was thinking this in depth about everything. For some reason, the thought didn't unsettle you like it should've.

Perhaps it was because you were like him, now. A killer.

"There's another gun in the nightstand. It's a .44, do you know how to use a revolver?" Armin says, stepping past you and towards the hallway where the bathroom and other doors were.

You nod, remembering the day Eren had taken you shooting a shooting range. You always wondered how he was so good at hitting the targets. Everything made sense now.

"Good," Armin says, placing a hand on your shoulder and leading you towards the bedroom. He doesn't question your knowledge on guns, to your relief. "I'll be in here if you need anything. Are you hungry or thirsty?"

He opens the bedroom door in front of you, urging you inside. The thought of the blood and pieces of skull on the ground flood back into your head, almost making you throw up on the spot.

"No," you say dully.

Armin's bed is neatly made, and he pulls the sheets back for you. He has a fan going already, and his sheets smell like his clothes. His scent overwhelms your senses.

When you lay down, and he pulls the covers back up to your chin, almost tucking you in like a child. You can't help when your face snuggles into his pillow subconsciously.

"If you have any nightmares, call for me, okay? The first night is always the worst."

He strokes a stray hair out of your face. His fingertips seem to leave streaks of warmth on your face.

A part of you wished for him to lay down and hold you through the night, but you knew better.

"Don't worry. I'll be okay."

Chapter Text

When you open your eyes, you're greeted with the familiar scenery of the coffee shop. The only thing that appears to be different inside the room is Armin on his knees in the center. His mouth is gagged with a red bandana tied tightly around his head, and his arms are tied behind his back.

His blue eyes alight with fear as soon as you lay eyes on him. He starts making noises, shaking his head frantically and pulling at his restraints.

Tears prickle in his eyes. It's the first time you have ever seen him cry.

"Look what the cat dragged in," you hear Eren call beside you. You turn your attention to him, only to see him in one of his nice black suits, and a gun in his hand.

"Hello, my little mouse," Eren coos into your ear, placing one of his calloused hands on your jaw.

"Don't touch me," you say as you swat away Eren's hand. You take a step away from him for good measure.

His expression doesn't change, although something shifts behind his eyes. It's a predatory look, combined with annoyance.

"I can touch you if I want. Because you're still mine, right?"

"Fuck you." You make sure to glare daggers at him.

Armin struggles on the floor, strangled noises emitting from his gagged mouth as he's trying to say something.

Eren lets out a dark chuckle, shaking his head. "Wrong answer, mousey bitch."

His hand grips your hair in aggression, yanking you in front of Armin's kneeled form. You whimper and yelp in pain, teeth gritted together tightly.

His other hand grabs one of your wrists, flipping your palm upwards. Once it's open, he puts the gun into it, wrapping your fingers around the grip. He raises your arm so that it's pointed at Armin's head.

"Shoot him, and I'll let you go."

"Fuck you," you repeat again, this time holding back strangled cries. "I'm not killing anyone."

Eren smirks at this, before tugging your hair to one side, effectively turning your head towards a corner in the coffee shop.

On the floor is the man you shot in the backroom of the abandoned building. You can see the gore of his brain, pieces of his skull and brains litter the floor around him.

Although, this time instead of his body being fresh, there's maggots crawling out of his head. His eyeballs had been completely eaten away, maggots also crawling out of his empty sockets. His mouth is still slightly agape, and his skin is a gray-tan color.

You whimper and hold back a scream of terror and disgust at the scene. You feel like throwing up, but the bile never rises.

"You shouldn't have a problem pulling the trigger since you've already done it before," Eren points out. He tugs your head back to look at Armin.

A few moments go by. Armin is staring into your eyes with his blue ones, a look of fear written over his features. He shakes his head back and forth in panic.

"Oh, don't tell me..." Eren trails off, his hand that's holding yours on the gun lowers. "You have feelings for him, don't you?"

Armin lets out a choked sob.

"Well, I'll just have to show him who you belong to, won't I?" Eren states in a low voice, a husk of possessiveness enveloping his tone.

He pulls your hair back, turning your gaze to him. His lips crash onto yours and you try to pull away from his domineering kiss, but his hand at the back of your head keeps you in place. Armin is crying pitifully in the background as you fight against Eren. Your limbs feel weak as pulling and punching against Eren does nothing to stop him.

He shoves his tongue into your mouth, causing you to squeal and try to escape his grip more.

Finally, he pulls away, a salvia string connecting the both of your mouths. He releases the hold on your hair, allowing you to look at Armin.

Tears are streaming down his face. His eyes show nothing but betrayal and heartbreak.

"You should put him out of his misery. He knows he can't have you and he's in nothing but pain."

For a brief moment, you look at his face. The blond looks truly hurt. You raise the gun, pointing it towards his head.

Eren is right. You should shoulder the burden for both Armin and yourself. You don't want to make him live through seeing you controlled by his friend. You don't want him to feel any pain, so it's better off if he were dead.

Your finger on the trigger hesitates. You can't imagine a life without Armin visiting you in the very coffee shop you stand in.

You shake your head back and forth, lowering the gun back down to your side. You decide to be selfish.

"I'm sorry, Armin. I can't," you utter pitifully.

"You're so sentimental sometimes. It's annoying." Eren rips the gun from your grasp and shoots Armin in the head in one easy shot. His blood splatters on your clothes and face, warm and wet. Armin collapses onto the floor, the red liquid spreading into the cracks of the wooden floor.

His blue eyes are wide, unblinking as they stare through you. His mouth is agape, the bandana now gone.

"All this..." he breathes raspily. "For a fucking whore..."

A whimper leaves your lips as you take a couple of steps backwards, until you trip and fall. Your back lands against the floor harshly, knocking the wind out of your lungs. As soon as your back hits the ground, Eren is on top of you.

He's now shirtless and covered in blood. The scent is overwhelming you, it makes you immensely sick in the stomach.

"It's okay, I'm here," He says. His voice is higher pitched than usual.

"Please," you begin to sob out. "Don't hurt me."

"I'm here, (y/n)."

You close your eyes in your dream, preparing for the worst.

"I've got you, shhh," the voice coos.

You open your eyes and the room is dark. There are arms around you holding you tightly, keeping you in a sitting position as your head rests on their shoulder. You take in a sharp breath through your nose, intaking a floral scent.

Armin. One of his hands is rubbing circles on your back through his t-shirt.

"Just breathe. Deep breaths."

You do as he says, steadying your rapid and irregular gasping. The pictures from your dream are still vivid behind your eyelids.

"There you go," he praises gently. "You're alright."

Your tensed shoulders finally relax and you bring your hands up to grip his shirt.

"Armin," your voice is hoarse and ragged. It sounds like you've been screaming for hours non stop. "What time is it?"

"11 PM," he responds, continuing to rub your back. He doesn't make a move to pull away from your embrace, either.

You can't help but let out an exasperated sigh. It had only been a couple of hours and you were already having nightmares.

"You can say no," he suddenly says, seemingly a little hesitant and insecure. "But I can sleep in here if you want. Only if you think it'll help, though."

You assume by his embarrassed tone, he's asking if you're okay with him sleeping in the bed with you to provide you with some comfort.

You debate it in your head for a passing moment. As much as you want nothing more than for someone to hold you, especially the man whose affection you've been desperately craving since the first day you met him, you don't know if it's necessarily a good idea.

Though, your needy side gets the best of you.

"Yes, please," you plead as you bury your face deeper into his shoulder. At this point, you don't know if you get back to sleep after the horrible dream you had just witnessed. Having Armin there, living and breathing and in your arms, would hopefully help.

"Go on and lay back down." He pushes you away gently by your shoulders. You do as he says and lay back into the mattress.

He gets up and rounds to the other side of the bed, pulling back the cover. You stare at the ceiling as he places a pillow in between the two of you.

Once you notice this, you turn your gaze towards him, giving him a questioning look.

In the lowlight, you can't make out the colors of his face, but you figure he's probably blushing. He rubs the back of his neck bashfully and avoids your questioning gaze.

"I don't want to overstep my boundaries."

He climbs onto the bed, laying down and pulling the cover over him. He looks uncomfortable and tense.

Armin is laying on his back, staring up at the ceiling with an unreadable expression. You try to stealthily remove the pillow blocking the two of you, which he catches onto easily.

"What are you - ?" He looks baffled at your actions.

You toss the pillow to the ground and inch near him. "Just hold me," you say quietly.

He doesn't move for a while, blinking his eyes in disbelief and astonishment. The small feeling of rejections prickles in your chest. You begin to turn over in defeat, only to see him begin to move beside you.

He slowly turns on his side, one of his arms wrapping loosely around your waist. The other grabs one of your hands laying in between the two of you.

His muscles are a little tense, but he seems a little more comfortable than what he did. He closes his eyes and you do the same.

Eventually after an hour, you feel his arm slump against the curve of your waist, and his breath comes out evenly. You risk opening your eyes, but to your relief Armin is fast asleep like you had assumed.

You raise your free hand, caressing his face in adoration. Your thumb skims across his lips, and they briefly open as you pull across the soft skin. Wet, warm breath fans across your thumb, sending shivers down your spine.

You move your hand back to his jaw, craning your face up and letting your lips brush against his. They're soft, plump and wet. You're overwhelmed with the scent of flowers and other sweet smells.

You pull away and lay quietly in his hold.

It takes a while, but you eventually fall asleep listening to Armin's even breathing. You try not to think of anything else, focusing solely on him and being safe in his arms.

Armin sleeping with you worked, because you fell into a dreamless sleep.

When you wake up, the sunlight is pouring into Armin's curtained window. His back is facing it, but the sunlight shines directly into your closed eyes.

When you peek open your eyelids, the first thing you see is the sunlight glinting off his hair. It's bright and makes him appear angelic. You can't help but stare, taking in every detail of his peaceful face and messy, golden hair.

As you start to take in your surroundings, you realize his arm that was draped around your waist is now tightly wrapped around your torso, pulling you flush into his body. One of his legs is bent in between yours, your own leg resting on top of his.

For the first time, you feel your face flush. Your body grows hot from the intimacy and close proximity. Armin makes a small noise, shifting his leg farther between yours in his sleep.

You cautiously and shyly glance back up to Armin's face half expecting him to be awake, only to find him still fast asleep.

"Armin," you call without thinking. Your voice is gravelly from sleeping with the fan blowing on you all night.

Armin shifts again, and your body and face feel like they're on fire. You know if you stay like this any longer, you won't want to leave his embrace.

"Armin," you say again, this time a little louder. You place a hand on his shoulder and give him a little shake.

Finally, his blue eyes crack open and he stretches his arms, grunting loudly. He rubs his eyes furiously, eyebrows furrowed as he tries to wake up.

"Huh?" is the first word that comes from his mouth, as if he has no clue what he's doing or what's going on around him. You can't help but smile and let out an enamored sigh.

"Armin, it's morning."

He lets out a big yawn and rubs his eyes some more, squinting to focus on you through his blurry vision. "(y/n)?" He quietly says, his voice hoarse and much deeper than usual.

Your face flushes at the baritone, and you can't help but silently hope for many, many more mornings when you wake up to this.

Armin sighs wistfully, letting his eyes close briefly, before they snap open and look down at you. He stares at you wide-eyed in borderline panic. He then clears his throat abruptly, pulling his leg from in between yours, and pushing your body away from his.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to - I wasn't trying to - I'm so sorry -" His face is completely flushed at this point, his cheeks becoming a dark red quickly. After he's successfully pushed you away from his body, he sits up. His blond hair is crazy on one side of his head, sticking up in every direction.

You sit up as well, leaning on your arm for support. "It's okay," you say calmly, despite the warmth on your cheeks as well. You offer him a smile of reassurance. "I didn't have any more nightmares last night."

His big eyes become wider in surprise as he stares at you. "That's wonderful," he mutters, a small smile etching its way onto his face.

Despite seeing his smile several times, you don't think you could ever get tired of seeing it.

Without thinking, you raise your hand to smooth out his unruly hair. He freezes up as soon as you come into contact with his head, but he soon relaxes. Even with your fingers grazing through hair, there were still a few pieces that couldn't be tamed.

His hand suddenly shot up to your wrist, pulling it away from his head.

"We need to talk."

You give him a weary smile. "About what? It's only been a day."

He lowers his hand as it holds your wrist. He looks hurt all of a sudden, his features showing indecisiveness and despair.

"I know it's soon, but we need to talk about how we're going to get through all this. We got extremely lucky, but there's no guarantee that luck will be on our side forever. Floch will spill if Eren ever threatens to torture him."

Your heart lurches when you hear Armin mention torture. Before yesterday, you would've never known what Eren did behind your back.

You could never go back. Your life was different now. Everything you once knew was gone in the blink of an eye.

"I need to continue to threaten Floch so that he doesn't say anything. If he does... well, I guess it's best to not think about it." Armin's face falters, but he tries to smile at you when he remembers you're gazing at him.

You were about to argue against him threatening Floch, but then you realized it was necessary for both of your survival.

"In the meantime, you should act like everything is normal with Eren. Maybe do small things to upset him every once in a while, but just be careful. He can..."

"Snap," you finish for him.

Armin nods solemnly, his face searching yours for any signs of discomfort. He must've known that at times Eren could have outbursts of anger, destroying anything in his path and yelling for hours.

It hadn't happened in a while, but the wounds for the memories were just now beginning to heal.

"I just don't know if I can. Keep up an act, I mean," you say in a somber tone. Seeing Eren's face in your mind made a hate start to brew in your chest.

"Not to put pressure on you," Armin rubs his eyes once again, still groggy and trying to wake up. "But it's necessary you do. Eren may not be smart, but he's sharp. He'll pick up if you act strange or weird suddenly."

You swallow and look at the covers now gripped in your hands. He was right, and you knew he was right. If you wanted Armin and yourself to survive, you would have to act out the role of being Eren's loving girlfriend, as you had been before.

"You'll wait for me, won't you, Armin?" you ask before you think. You know it's a selfish thought, but you want to hear his answer.

You both let silence wash over the room. You begin to think that Armin is going to say no, but he finally speaks. "It's best if I don't answer that, (y/n)."

Heartbreak isn't a new feeling to you. For months, Eren's cold behavior had been chipping away at your heart.

Although, hearing Armin say this hurts more than anything. You know you can't force Armin to wait out the tricky situation you were both stuck in, but a selfish part of you desired it.

Platonic, romantic, sexual; any part of him that you could have. Maybe you were just in love with the idea of Armin, empty stare and all, warming up to you and you alone.

And now that you realized all of these terrible things that had happened to you - that were happening to you - Armin was the only person who knew about them and understood.

Selfish. You were selfish. And you selfishly wanted Armin.

"I think it's best if we forget about each other, at least for the time being. Delete our numbers from our phones, and I stop coming to the coffee shop for a bit. It just takes one slip up, and the whole plan comes crashing down."

It hurts. It hurts so much. He doesn't even allow you to get out of his bed before explaining how things had to be from here on out. You're still processing the information from yesterday, and this added on top of it makes your heart feel like it's been ripped out of your chest.

"You want to pretend like nothing happened?" You ask in disbelief. You don't want it to be true.

Armin nods slowly, looking away from you. "Yeah. No loose ends."

His blue gaze lands back on you, soft and caring as ever. You would have never been able to see this side of him if you both had not shared the terrifyingly vulnerable moment.

"I'll be honest, I don't want this either, but it's what's necessary," Armin states, feigning firmness on his soft face.

"I understand," you say in a cold and dejected tone. "How do I explain not showing up at his place?" You go to reach for your phone on the nightstand.

Armin scratches the top of his head, staring at a large painting he has on the wall. "I thought about all this last night. I think it's best if you say you stayed with Connie and the others."

"Alright," you say as you get up from the bed. You no longer want to be in the apartment, as it makes you feel cold and rejected. The longer you stayed, the more you wanted to scoot yourself into Armin's arms and wail until your voice gave out.

"Wait," Armin calls after you. You stop in your tracks, a feeling of dread beginning to settle in your stomach as you pause. "Go ahead and delete my number off your phone. I'll delete yours, too."

You turn to look at him. "I don't want to."

Armin takes in a deep breath as he grabs his own phone from the nightstand.

"You have to, or we'll get caught."

"You make it seem like I'm cheating on him," you say in a defensive tone.
"And that's obviously what he thinks," Armin quips back to you. His eyebrows are furrowing at this point in frustration.

"You can't make me delete your number," you say with finality in your tone.

Armin sighs and shakes his head, letting it rest in his hands. "Alright. Listen to me, and listen closely." the blond says, sitting back up. "Eren plans on getting you a new phone with a tracker installed. He'll see all your texts, phone calls, and even your location. He's been planning on it for a while."

"Then I just won't accept it."
"You know that's not how he works," Armin says back defensively before continuing. "He'll also have access to your contacts, so that means he can see phone numbers. He would recognize mine if you left it on your phone, so delete it."

At this point, you know it's a losing battle. Armin stands from the bed, stretching his arms above his head before walking over to you phone in hand. Both of you delete each other from your phones, and he doubles checks to make sure his number is completely gone of yours.

One of his thumbs glides across your cheek. "I'm sorry it has to be like this," he says quietly.

You realize you're crying when a sniffle emits from your nose. Your shoulders begin to shake.

The one person who shared your burden with you, who knew everything about your life, was now erased. You were to have no contact with Armin any more.

As you exited Armin's apartment, you knew one thing for sure.

You were going to make Eren Jaeger pay

Chapter Text

 Playing the role of "loving, loyal girlfriend" was easier said than done.

It had been a week since you had last seen Armin, and no matter how hard you tried to get the blond from your head, he stayed there.

When you would read, you would picture him beside you, looking over your shoulder and reading along with you. When you cooked, you imagined giving him a bite to taste, one of his small smiles working itself onto his face.

Then there were your dreams, constantly plagued by him. You had your share fair of nightmares for the week, Eren simply groaning and going to the couch when you began your whimpering at night.

The worst nightmares were with Armin, as Eren was usually present to torment both him and you.

Though, that wasn't the worst part of everything. Even while you were trying to sort out how you felt and understanding how life moved forward, you were still stuck dwelling on how you felt about Armin.

It felt romantic, like the type of hopeless crushes you used to get in high school. Though, as an adult now you know that it was too soon to say, and it wasn't worth your time to dwell on romantic feelings at this point. Your best bet was that you simply began crushing on Armin because he knew of all the terrible things in your life, and someone sharing that burden with you made you feel lighter.

It was just the feeling of being connected through trauma. That's why you wanted to be with Armin. Nothing more.

Over the week, you had a lot of time to mull stuff over. You didn't just think about your feelings towards Armin, you also began trying to formulate a plan to eliminate Eren.

Killing him in theory seemed to provide a lot of comfort, but when you thought about the nitty gritty, your mind flashed images of the violent deaths you had witnessed. You weren't sure if killing him was something you wanted to do.

You just wanted him out of the picture, forever.

That was much, much easier said than done. You had thought about a million different scenarios while you wiped down the tables at the shop; tricking him into moving into a different country, somehow getting the federal agents on his trail and getting him imprisoned, getting him permanently injured - but once you began to think through all of those plans, all of them fell through.

You stared at the window in the coffee shop, early morning hours allowed you plenty of time to think. There were rarely any customers that came in at this time anymore, ever since Armin had ceased showing up.

"Earth to (y/n)," Connie says as he gives your body a small push, causing you to look up to him. He has a wide grin on his face, and the eyebags that are usually present under his eyes are gone.

"Sorry, just got a lot on my mind," you respond, continuing to wipe down the tables and organize the things atop the surfaces.

Connie scoffs humorously, wiping down other tables. "Wanna talk about it?"

You pause before giving him a small shrug. "It's probably boring to listen to," you dryly say. You know the things you went through are anything but boring, but the less Connie knows, the safer he is.

It's sad that you have to think about this now.

"If you're worried about it, then I don't care if it's boring."

You're silent as you slowly wipe down the table you're working on. As much as you want to scream and burst into tears and tell Connie everything that had happened in the past weeks down to the last second, you knew you couldn't.

You press your lips into a thin line. Connie seems to get the message.

"It's fine if you don't wanna talk about it, I get it," he says, letting out a large breath. "You just look a lot sadder recently, is all."

You didn't doubt Connie's words in the slightest. The melancholic cloud that had settled over your demeanor had even begun to be noticed by Eren.

"The break-in has gotten to me," you expertly lie. "I miss having my own space."

Connie hums and nods, seemingly believing you. "Makes sense. Do you think it's safe to go back to your apartment?"

You shrug and move back towards the counter, now finished wiping down the tables. "Just too scared to go back." It's partially true, but you also know that Eren will make up a bullshit excuse to make you stay at his place for as long as he can.

Hell, he might even send someone to your apartment to intrude again to make you run back into his arms.

The cards were in your favor for now, though. You knew more than what he thought you did, so you were going to use that to your advantage while you could.

"Don't blame you for that. How's Eren been to you?"

You let out a deep sigh. "He's been alright. Busy as always."

Connie is silent for a moment as he stares at you. He lays the wet rag on the table and walks over to you, placing his hands on your shoulders. "If he ever does anything to you, you let me know."

Connie looks deadly serious. You've never seen him look so scary before, as if he had murderous intent.

"I will," you say, gently swatting away his hands off your shoulders and walking away. It hurts to lie to Connie, because you know he cares about you so much.

Though, you also care for him and it's all for his safety.

The day goes by as usual. Hitch, one of the workers that work a later shift, comes in and starts to work beside you and Connie as lunch hour picks up. There's still not many people, as the coffee shop isn't very busy in the summer.

Except, once lunch rush is over, Connie convinces your boss, Hange, to let you go for the day, going out of his way to call them and ask himself. They tell you to take as long as you need off, knowing about the break-in at your apartment. In fact, Connie gives you the phone and Hange scolds you for a good ten minutes for not taking off after your house was broken into.

So you go back to Eren's apartment. To your utter surprise, he's there for once. Although, he's packing a suitcase and some paperwork. He's already in a suit, black blazer around his shoulders and red tie around his neck.

"Hey," you try to say casually as you lean against the bedroom door frame.

Eren perks his head up as he's packing his suitcase. "Hey, baby. Get off work early today?" He says as he stuffs deodorant and his toothbrush into a pocket.

You dully nod. "Where are you going?"

"Last minute business trip," he stops for a moment and lets out a deep, almost annoyed sigh. "I was going to call you once I got to the airport while waiting on my flight."

He zips the bag closed and hoists it off the bed. He carries it easily and walks over to you, placing a kiss on your forehead.

It takes immense self control to not shrink away from his affections.

"I'll be back in a couple of days. Two, at least."

You nod solemnly. His free hand grabs your chin and he forces you to look at him. "Hey, cheer up. I miss your smile."

You offer him a strained smile. There's nothing you want to do more than punch him in the face.

"Be good while I'm gone," He says, before walking past you in the door frame.

"I won't," you mumble once he's out of earshot. You hear the entrance to the apartment close.

Having the apartment to yourself didn't seem too bad. There were plenty of things you could do.

Although, despite having so many things at your disposal, including Eren's large entertainment system and pool table, you couldn't help the boredom that washed over you.

You knew the reason why the boredom ate away at your insides. It was because you were craving something that was out of reach and gone, at least for now.

You wanted Armin.

You sigh dreamily to yourself, remembering waking up to him and being held in his embrace. Even down to the little things, like how he was always respectful of your boundaries and how he comforted you so easily. Nothing felt forced around him.

You specifically remembered when you had run out of your apartment crying after the break-in, Eren's first words were "why are you crying, baby?"

Armin held you, caressed you, stayed with you. You craved that again.

It felt like you were truly alone, now. It felt like there was no one that you could tell your endless secrets that were biting away at your resolve slowly.

You went to your now shared bedroom with Eren and changed into a small nightdress he had gotten you recently. It was a little revealing for your taste, but it looked very good on you. Not to mention how comfortable it was, as it made you feel like you were basically sleeping with nothing on.

You saunter into the living room and turn on some music on Eren's sound system, dancing and singing for as long as you could. You screamed your head off, getting out all of your pent up emotions. You danced in circles, lifting your arms above your head, jumping around crazily. If your night hadn't been absolutely ruined by him, you imagine this was how your night at the club would've gone.

After you worked up a sweat, you decided to go and shower. You sang in the shower, screaming and letting out tears you had held all week. At one point, you pretended you were talking to Connie, telling him everything that you hated about Eren and how much you wanted to punch him in the face.

When you get out, you slip the dress back on, stepping into the bedroom. It was eerily silent, and for a moment you half expected Eren to jump out from somewhere, knife in hand, and stab you to death.

You shake the thoughts from your head and leisurely walk towards the door. You swing it open and to your surprise, someone is walking past it in the hallway. As soon as you open it, they stop dead in their tracks.

"Armin?" You question in bewilderment.

"I-I'm-uh-" His eyes travel down to your small night dress, then he snaps them back up to your face. His cheeks are turning red quickly.

"What are you doing here?" You say, crossing your arms over your revealing chest.

He rubs the back of his neck, looking down at the floor in embarrassment.

"I-uhm, well I needed to complete some paperwork for Eren that he forgot to-" he swallows, clearing his throat. "He forgot to complete- before he left."

You stare at him for a couple of moments. "You knew I was going to be here."

He's silent for a moment. "I thought you'd be at work."

You realize you've gotten the rest of the day off, and that Eren must've not have told Armin that you had gone home.

A bittersweet lucky chance that the universe had given you.

"I should get going, ah-uhm, it was n-nice seeing you," Armin stutters as he turns to walk down the hallway.

"Wait," you call, grabbing his wrist. He looks unbelievably uncomfortable and embarrassed, but he turns back to look at you.

"Stay with me," you say quickly, almost a little too needy. "I've been wanting to see you all week."

His eyes dart back down to your nightgown, and he turns away, trying to pull his hand away from yours. "I can't do that, you know I can't-"

You take a couple of steps to catch up with him, and you latch yourself onto his back. "Just- please don't go. Not yet."

You feel him sigh as he stops in his tracks. "Can you at least change into something different?"

"No," you say in a rebellious tone. "Why does it matter what I'm wearing?"

Armin pries from your grasp and turns around to face you, his face now serious, albeit he's still flushed.

"You know why."

You stare at him blankly. "It's just a dress," you say as you smooth your hand over your torso, flattening any wrinkles in the fabric.

Armin presses his lips together tightly as he allows himself to stare at your skimpy nightdress, eyebrows furrowed.

"It barely covers you up," he grumbles under his breath.

"Well, it's a night dress. It's not meant to cover me up."

He looks away for a split second, before looking back at you. It was almost like he was making an escape route in his head.

"I have to leave soon, so what did you want?" His voice is a little deeper than a few moments ago, dropping the slightest octave. He looks tense and like he's trying to be uninterested.

You give a small pout. "I wanted to see you, I have all week. Can't you just stay and talk to me for a while?"

He shifts his weight on his feet. "I've got somewhere to be."

Your hand raises without thinking, placing itself on his torso. You stare at your hand for a moment before risking a glance up at his round face.

His plump lips are parted ever so slightly, staring down at you. It looks like he's trying to decipher your motives. Killer instinct.

There's a moment of silence as both of you stare at each other.

"Can it wait? For me?" You ask with an innocent and sensual tone. You tilt your head to the side to add to the words.

Before you know it, Armin sweeps in and presses his lips against yours. He pushes you back until you're against the hallway wall, your back hitting it with a bit of force.

You get hit by the scent you had missed so much - floral, sweet, and clean. It invades your senses and nearly makes you dizzy almost immediately.

He places both of his arms on either side of your body locking you in. He doesn't immediately go in to explore your body.

His lips work against yours, a little clumsy and needy at first, but when you wrap your arms around his neck to bring him further in, he gains a little confidence in his kissing.

Just as you had kissed him before, his lips were soft and plump, they felt nice against yours. You separate your jaw, kissing him open mouthed and desperate for more.

Instead of reciprocating your movement, he pulls his face away, panting. You peek open your eyes, letting your arms lax around his shoulders. He's red faced, and you realize his lips are already a little pink from the kissing.

"I- I'm sorry," He pants out, looking down at the ground between the two of you. He keeps his hands against the wall, pinning you in.

"Don't stop," you remark breathily, guiding his face back up to look at you with your hands.

His eyes are focused on your lips. "Is it alright... if I touch you?" His voice is hesitant, but far from insecure.

"Of course," you reply, digging your hands into the back of his hair in encouragement. He swallows and kisses you deeply again, one of his hands caressing your jaw while the other grips possessively onto your waist.

In one swift motion, he pulls you flush against body. You rake your fingernails against his scalp, and the sensation is enough to make him let out a guttural moan into your mouth.

You open your mouth again and this time, he follows your advances. You're the first to attempt to try anything with tongue as you languidly lick the inside of his mouth.

It tastes like coffee - black, bitter, savory coffee. You roll your tongue over his, and in result his thumb digs farther into your waist. He grips the skin there, giving it a soft squeeze.

He sucks on your tongue for a moment, before he leans back, both of you out of breath. There's a small salvia string connecting the both of you for a brief moment.

You have to lean your head against the wall, as you feel the endorphins begin to overtake your brain. Your legs are shaking with anticipation, and you can't think straight.

One cohesive thought does come into your brain through everything, though.

"There's no cameras in here, right?" you ask, huffing repeatedly. Armin runs his tongue over his bottom lip, gathering the excess saliva. You feel your neck burn in lust as you stare at him.

"No cameras," he replies, his eyes becoming relaxed as he gazes upon you. "I told Eren that they could get hacked, and he seemed to buy it."

"Lucky us," you say with a smirk, pulling his head back down for another kiss. Everything feels right with Armin.

A voice in the back of the head tells you that it's a bad idea to get yourself involved with Armin anymore than you already have, as you know it's going to get you hurt in the end. Though, as he puts his hands on your thighs, hoisting you up against the wall, you know it's too late to care.

You wrap your legs easily around the tops of his hips, your clothed sex now pressing into his stomach. He presses farther into you to keep you against the wall, your lips barely breaking apart in the process. His hands squeeze the supple flesh of your thighs.

Armin gives you one more kiss before working his way to your jaw, then down your neck. You roll your head back against the wall, feeling his lips leave wet marks all the way to your collarbone. You can feel the heat of want and desire prickling all over your body.

You can feel his mouth open against the skin, his teeth scrape over it, and you shiver. You bury your fingers deep into his blond locks on the back of his head, ready to grip them when he bites down.

You want him to mark you. You want him to claim you. The craving for carnal flesh is becoming overwhelming.

To your dismay, his mouth leaves your skin before biting down on you. He looks hesitant.

"Are you sure?" He asks, his voice wavering a bit. You can tell he's battling off the logical side of himself that's probably telling him this is a terrible idea. It was a terrible idea.

"Never been more sure," you say a little too eagerly before pushing your chest up towards his face. "I just want you."

"I can't leave any marks on you," he says in a saddened tone. You wiggle your hips against him, letting out a pout.

"Why not?"

"You know if Eren saw a hickey he would raise Hell," Armin utters in a deep and possessive tone, letting his lips get close to your skin. They graze across the surface near your collarbone, edging towards your exposed cleavage.

"Don't mention Eren right now," you wearily warn. "I don't want to think about him anymore. Only you."

Armin lets out a needy and possessive groan, letting his mouth trail downwards. He takes both his hands on your hips and lifts you up higher on the wall so he can get a better angle on your chest.

The neckline of your nightgown dips low, and he easily takes advantage of this, skimming his teeth along the flesh of your breast. You can tell he wants to bite down, but he's controlling himself.

Suddenly he pulls from the wall, and you have to quickly hold onto his shoulders and wrap your legs tightly around his waist to keep you from falling to the floor.

"What are you-" you question, but Armin quickly cuts you off.

"Taking you to the bed," he answers easily, wrapping his arms around your back to steady yourself. He walks to Eren's bedroom door, opening it with one of his hands before he snakes it back around your back.

He easily walks over to the large bed while you're still latched onto him. When he gets to the edge, he throws you on top of it.

You gasp in surprise, flopping into the air before he climbs on top of you, caging you underneath him.

His face easily dips in and kisses you again, and it doesn't take long for you to wrap your arms around his head again, hands in his hair. At this point, his hair is becoming messy around his face, pieces already sticking up here and there. His hands trail down the sides of your nightdress, squeezing your curves.

He separates from the kiss, straddling your hips. Both of his hands start to snake underneath the bottom of the night dress, leisurely pulling it up. His fingertips trailing against your skin make it feel like you're on fire.

You feel out of breath, light and airy all at once, like one wrong move and you'll float away. Armin's hands continue to trail upwards till the night dress it's pulled up to your breasts. He lifts his hands, exposing the naked flesh under the silky fabric.

His eyes light up in surprise, wonder, and adoration. He takes a moment to indulge in the sight, before his hands gently takes the flesh into his palms. He experimentally runs his fingers over both of your nipples, causing them to perk the more he rubs them. After a few moments, pulses of pleasure start to ripple through you.

You squirm and turn your head away from him, tiny moans emitting from your mouth. You can't help but feel embarrassed.

"Your body is so beautiful," he says in a breathy tone. You look back up at him in surprise. It was the first time anyone had ever directly referred to your naked body as beautiful.

His hands leave your chest and run down your naked torso. His eyes worship all of the bare skin, and his hands trail over all the natural marks there, as if memorizing them by heart.

Your heart beats rapidly, and you wonder if he can feel the blood rushing fast underneath your skin. You swallow hard as you look down to Armin's pants, seeing the slight outline of his erection in his pants. You raise your hands, snaking them underneath the edge of his shirt.

"I want to see you," you whine playfully, making Armin look up to your face. He gives you a slightly shocked look, as if he didn't expect you to say such a thing, before nodding. He removes his hands from your body, pulling his t-shirt over his head and tossing it to the floor in one motion.

You easily let your eyes explore his entire body, taking in the sight before you.

Armin's face was definitely deceiving. His body was petite, but with sculpted muscles under his skin. You ran your hands down his abdomen, revelling the way his stomach twitched from your touch. He sucked in a sharp breath when your hands rested on his soft v-line above his pants.

You peer up at him expectantly, dragging your hand down further to palm his clothed erection. You watch his eyes clench shut as he bites down on his lip, a bit of a groan pouring through. When he reopens his eyes, he lets out a couple of pants and huffs.

Armin climbs on all fours above you, allowing you easier access to begin unzipping his pants. He watches you with intent, one of his hands trailing around various parts of your exposed skin.

The zipper was a bit hard to get down due to his growing bulge, but you manage and begin to work on his button. Everytime your fingers gently brush against him, he shifts above you, his eyes fluttering.

You lick your lips at the sight of him above you, red-faced and amorous. You wanted to commit the image to memory.

His pants now undone, he rolls off you to the edge of the bed, shifting them quickly off his hips. Before he completely lets them drop onto the floor, he fishes his phone out of his pocket and lays it on the nightstand.

He leaves his underwear on, glancing over at you with hesitance in his eyes.

His expression conveys that he's still unsure. You know there's no going back after this, but when have you ever cared about regrets? You hurriedly sat up, your nightgown falling back down over your torso.

Once you were at the edge of the bed, you reached out towards him, hand outstretched.

"You're not sure," you utter in a questioning tone. "What's wrong?"

Armin looks away as he latches onto your hand with his own. You pull him towards the bed and he sits on the edge, looking at the floor in thought.

He's silent for a couple of moments, as if debating if he should voice his thoughts.

"It just hurts knowing that you're not mine," he admits, a passive sadness washing over his face.

You sigh dreamily, wrapping your arms around his small shoulders, placing kisses on his neck.

"But I'm yours right now. Yours and yours only," you say into his skin, breathing against it.

Armin lets out a huff of defeat, twisting around and placing a hand on your jaw. "I guess I can't argue with that."

His gaze passes over your face, taking in every detail before he kisses you passionately. You feel his hands move down to your shoulders and he pushes you down softly onto the mattress again.

His hands snake down under the small coverage of your dress, his fingers dipping into your entrance, pressing the fabric of your underwear into you.

Your legs involuntarily move together, but he pushes them back open. You separate from the kiss, letting out a shaky breath against his wet lips.

"I'm going to go down on you," his voice is deeper than usual, and the husky undertone of arousal makes you twitch. "Is that okay?"

You nod quickly in excitement, a little too eager. "Yes, yes, it's okay," you suck in a sharp breath in preparation, watching his head move down your body towards your hips.

He pulls the dress up over your waist, exposing your underwear. You feel a wave of embarrassment wash over you, knowing Armin is about to see every bit of you, but you push it down. You let your eyes trail to his own sex, which is now almost completely erect in his boxers. You lick your lips a bit nervously seeing the length.

Your underwear being pulled down tears you from your thoughts as you feel Armin sliding them down your legs. He's slow and graceful, and he waits for you to lift your feet off the bed so that he can completely get them out of the way. He tosses them to the floor, looking between your legs with hesitance.

His ears are a bright red, along with his cheeks. His lips are parted as his breathing is rapid, his eyes relaxed in lust.

You swallow a nervous lump in your throat. His hands are placed on the inside of your thighs and he spreads them apart to his liking, which is far. He gives both of your thighs a squeeze before lowering his head.

The first lick is experimental almost. It's hesitant and slow, but you still close your eyes at the sensation, breath hitching in your throat.

Armin lets out a groan when he licks again, this time a little deeper than the first.

You let out a shaky breath, watching him as he begins to lap at your entrance, his eyes flitting up to yours dangerously. He holds your stare with his own.

His eyes are clouded, completely driven by lust. A moan escapes your mouth when his nose hits your clit briefly.

Your hand rakes into his hair, gripping the golden locks gently. Noticing your small mewl of pleasure, he brings one of his hands up to thumb your clit.

The sudden sensation makes you jolt your hips into his hand. Your eyes screw shut as you concentrate on the feeling starting to brew in your loins.

His tongue delves deep into you and curls repeatedly, and you feel yourself getting closer and closer to the edge of climax. He doesn't change what he's doing, noticing that the more he keeps at what he's doing, the needier your whines or pleasure get.

He doesn't put pressure on your clit, instead he lightly rubs over it repeatedly. Before long your legs are shaking from being pulled apart for so long and the pleasure building inside you.

"Armin," you finally moan his name. It sounds so good coming off your tongue. The syllables taste forbidden and sweet in your mouth.

"Armin, ah," you say again, and you feel his tongue somehow inch deeper inside you, curling and circling around. Your hand begins to tighten in his locks, and you subconsciously push his face farther into you.

"It feels so good," you whine. "You're so good at this, I'm- ah," you lose your train of thought, knowing you're close. He groans at your praises, making small vibrations reverb against your sex.

Armin doesn't let up, and he continues. He doesn't get more aggressive, but he does pick up his pace a little on your clit. It's not enough to be overwhelming, but just enough to drive you over the edge.

Your muscles around Armin's tongue clench and you open your mouth, letting out a throaty whine, your hand gripping tightly to his hair. You subconsciously roll your hips repeatedly, and he helps you ride through your orgasm.

All you saw was white behind your eyelids, and it felt like fireworks were exploding inside you. It feels magical, in its own way; Dark and sinful.

Panting as you came down from your high, you reluctantly let go of Armin's hair. He got the message that you were finished, raising his face from between your legs.

His hand that was restraining your leg finally releases, as it was shaking in his hold.

You give Armin a fuck-drunk grin. This was the best you had felt all week.

He licks his lips now coated with saliva and your slick. You allow your legs relax against the sheets as you try to collect your thoughts.

"That was..." you pant a bit, before grinning again. "That was wonderful."

"You think so?" Armin asks, climbing on all fours above you again.

You nod eagerly, your hair bunching up against the pillow behind you. Your eyes trail down to his bulge, and you allow your hands to grab a hold of it.

"My legs are still shaking," you say as you palm him again. His eyes flutter shut at the sensation.

"I-I'm..." He stutters. He's fully hard at this point, throbbing through the fabric of his underwear. You can't help but raise your eyebrows in amusement.

"I should take care of you next, shouldn't I?" You ask with a seductive lilt. His eyes snap open at this, as he lets out a shaky breath.

"Y-yes, please, ahh," he mewls, neediness clouding his gaze.

"Lie down," you order him, sitting up. He does as you say, switching positions with you he lays down with you on top of him.

You hook your fingers under the waistband of his boxers, slowly sliding them down his hips. Within a couple of inches of being slid down, his erection pops out. You lick your lips, seeing your original observations were correct.

Armin may not have been wide, but his length was enough to send you spiralling. Not too long, but not too short, either.

It had a bit of a curve to it, and it was flushed pink and red from the strain. After you slip the fabric down his legs, you look up at him innocently. Your hand wraps around his cock, and he immediately jumps at the contact, his hips jolting upward.

You stroke your hand up and down, and almost immediately a dribble of pre leaves his tip. Armin looks absolutely embarrassed that you're touching him and that he's so openly turned on.

You bend your head down, running your tongue along the tip and gathering it into your mouth before swallowing it down.

"Ahh," he moans out as your tongue leaves his sensitive tip. He gives you a shy look.

You keep pumping him for a bit, before attempting to straddle his hips. You position yourself above him, knees on either side of his body.

He stops you before you can push yourself down on top of him, his hand on your stomach.

"W-wait, condom," he quickly stutters out.

You blink at him, but a smile lights your face at his thoughtfulness. Most men didn't like condoms, and you were grateful he reminded you. You almost got too caught up in the moment.

"Of course," you say as you climb off him, reaching towards the nightstand and opening the drawer. There, you pull out one of the packages, opening it with your teeth and unfurling the latex.

You take Armin's cock back into your hands, and he jumps at the contact again. He's painfully hard at this point.

You expertly slide the condom down over him, causing him to let out a small whine at the brief friction he gets.

Once it's secure, you move your hips atop of his, taking his length into your hand and rubbing the tip against your sex. His hand gripping the top of your thighs squeeze tightly as he lets out a guttural moan.

"Oh, God - you feel so good," he whimpers underneath you, letting his head roll back into the pillows. You let a smile grow on your face at how bothered he is for your teasing.

Once you feel like you've teased him and yourself enough, you position yourself, holding him gently in your hand before sliding down.

You take him in with a bit of resistance, but you're wet enough that it doesn't hurt too bad. Armin groans at the tightness now gripping his erection.

Once you're fully seated, you lean forward and place both hands on his toned torso. You let out a huff of air before moving your hips at a slow and cautious pace.

Armin's eyes screw shut at this point in immense pleasure, his mouth open as he whimpers and moans. Your first couple of thrusts on him are messy and clumsy, as his cock is a little longer than what you're used to. You can't help but clench your muscles around him at the thought that his cock is almost touching your cervix.

Eventually his hands on your waist grab you and position you correctly so that the thrusts become more pleasurable for both of you and less clumsy.

Armin, through his lustful haze, lets go of one of your thighs and instead begins to work on your sensitive clit again. His thumb rubs soft circles around it, as you try to ride him.

You're beginning to work up a sweat when Armin's phone rings, making both of you freeze mid-thrust. Armin's eyes light up with realization as one of his hands hurriedly leaves your body and shoots towards his phone. He picks it up and gazes up at you, as he checks the caller ID.

"It's Eren," he says with a distasteful look on his face. "I have to answer."

You nod, but stay seated on top of him.

"What are you doing?" He says as he tries to wiggle you off his cock. You give him a menacing smile.

"You better answer fast before he gets suspicious," you say as you sit still atop of him.

He tries to hold your hips down with one hand, the other hand answers the call and he brings it to his ear.

"Hello?" Armin says into the phone, trying to sound as casual as possible. You run your hands up and down his torso, mesmerized by his body. It was warm to the touch and if you placed your hand on his chest, you could feel his heart hammering underneath.

"Yeah, I'm finishing it up right now," Armin says as his eyes dart up to you.

Yeah, he's finishing something alright, you think humorously inside your head as you slip up and down slowly on his cock, teasing him.

You watch as he sucks in a sharp breath and bites his lip. His hand grips your the top of your thigh tightly, as a warning.

"Oh, is she?" He says into the phone. You assume they're talking about you. "I'll make sure to avoid her, then. She must be sleeping."

You stifle a chuckle as you pinch one of his perked nipples, making him jump and send you a glare.

"Yeah, I haven't seen her since I came in."

You raise an eyebrow, before you sneakily slip up and down on him again.

"She's didn't-ah-" Armin nearly moans into the phone, but he stifles it. His hand is gripping so hard into your thigh, trying to keep you still, that you're wondering if it'll leave bruises at this point.

"Sorry, I thought I had to sneeze," Armin says in a low octave into his phone. He shoots you a warning glare that you can't help but smirk at. "She didn't see me."

There's a pause as Eren talks on the other side. "I'll be there as soon as I finish the paperwork," Armin finally says. Another pause before he responds to Eren. "I will."

He hangs up the phone and places it back on the nightstand, before flipping the both of you over, his cock still inside. Your back lands on the bed with a flop, and you can't help but smirk. He was obviously riled up at this point, and a bit irked, too.

"That was naughty," Armin's hand that's gripping your hip pumps you on his length slowly, working back up to the pace you were both at. His other hand latches onto one of yours, interlocking your fingers together.

You mewl and roll your hips as he begins to pick up his pace. You're wet enough that pumping is making tiny wet sex noises as he continues to fuck you.

"But I guess-" He stops talking as he continues to roll his hips quickly, chasing his own orgasm. "I guess you get off on trying to get me killed."

You chuckle dryly, but it's quickly cut off by a moan. "I- I just- ah-" At this point, Armin is snapping his hips into yours so fast that it's hard to think of anything else. His thumb travels to your clit and doesn't let up, either, rubbing slow circles.

Your eyes are nearly rolling back into your head at this point.

You want the feeling to last forever, but eventually you feel the rush of an orgasm wash over you. It's not nearly as powerful as your first one, but it still feels good and leaves you fluttering on Armin's cock.

That feeling alone is enough to make him halt hilt-deep in your sex, cumming into the condom while he lets out a choppy moan. His eyes flutter open after he stops twitching, his chest heaving.

You looked down at your hips, only to see where he was gripping the top of your thigh during his phone call. There were still red marks, and they were sure to leave small, light purple bruises.

He leans down and kisses you sloppily, still coming down from his post-orgasmic high. His once neat hair is now messy on top of his head, as his golden locks brush against your face.

"You're too good for me," He whispers as he separates from you.

You can't help but laugh dully. "I think you're just saying that because I wet your dick."

His eyes widen in surprise and he furiously shakes his head. "No- no, not at all!" You can't help but chuckle at his defensiveness.

He's cute, and so hot at the same time. This did nothing but complicate how you feel about him more.

But you would be a liar to say it didn't make you feel better after the week you had just had. You felt a boost of revitalization. It was like now you knew Armin wasn't gone forever, he was still within reach, even if it was temporary. That alone gave you some comfort.

"Are you just going to, uh," You look down between the two of you, where Armin's length is still inside you, somewhat erect.

"Ah, sorry." His voice is still low and hoarse from moaning and working up a sweat. He slowly slides out from you, and you sigh dreamily.

He slides the condom off carefully and ties it shut, throwing it into a trashcan in the bedroom.

"So, what now?" you ask wistfully, laying on your side. You still have the nightgown on, albeit no underwear underneath. "How about you shower and we watch a movie?" You offer.

Armin sits on the bed and lets out a deep breath, before he makes his way across the room, gathering his clothes.

"I have to meet Eren at the airport. I'm supposed to go with him to meet Zeke."

You recognize the name of Eren's half brother. Your smile falters.

"I see," you say, a little heartbroken. Armin is already sliding his pants up over his hips and buttoning them. He leans over and gives your cheek a kiss, then your nose. Finally his lips meet yours, but only briefly.

"If I could, I would stay forever," He says wistfully, pulling up the zipper.

You sigh and nod. "I know."

Armin begins to slip his shirt over his head, making sure it's not backwards or inside-out first. "And for now, it's probably best we forgot this happened."

Your eyebrows shoot up when he says this. Your heart had already hurt enough.

"Armin. That gets us nowhere. We said that last time and look at where it got us, not even a week later."

Armin sighs, sauntering over to a mirror and adjusting his clothes. His eyes widen at his messy hair, and he quickly tries to fix it.

"Maybe that's true," he says quietly. "I just don't know what else to do. I've never... I've never been in this kind of scenario before."

You stand from the bed and walk over to him, wrapping your arms around his now clothed torso.

"We stick together, and we come up with a plan to get rid of Eren."

Armin opens his mouth to deflect, but you cut him off. "Not necessarily kill him. We just need him out of our lives. And we can't do that without each other."

Armin is silent for a moment, seemingly in thought. He turns in your hold and puts his hands on either side of your face, his thumbs stroking your cheeks.

"You're right. Let's do this. Together."

Chapter Text

“Look,” Eren said to Armin, holding his phone out for him to see. On the screen was a picture of what Armin had come to know as Eren’s girlfriend. She was sleeping peacefully in the photo, but there were hickey marks all over her exposed neck and chest.

Armin blinked at the picture, unsure of why his friend was showing him the picture.

“Isn’t she sexy?” Eren remarked, bringing the phone back up to his own face. His hair had started growing out longer, now reaching past his jaw. It was almost the same length that Armin’s hair used to be, before his most recent haircut.

“I suppose,” Armin responded without much thought. “Not really my type, I guess.”

Eren scoffed and playfully gave Armin’s shoulder a punch. “Aw, come on man, you can say she’s hot. I won’t get mad.”

Armin shrugged and took a bite out of his sandwich. He opted not to say anything else.

Eren kept staring at the picture on his phone, before swiping with his thumb. Armin caught a glimpse of some of the pictures he was scrolling past, and they were significantly more raunchy, some of them borderline nudes.

He looked up at Eren’s face, only to see a possessive smile forming as he stared at the pictures on his phone.

“You know Armin, that’s what I like about you,” Eren announced, locking his phone and placing it on the ground.

“I could show you a picture of my girl’s tits and you wouldn’t even care. You would probably just - fucking, I don’t know. Shrug and be like that’s nice and just keep doing whatever you were doing.” He snickered after his sentence, probably imagining Armin doing what he had just described.

Armin was growing more and more uncomfortable with the conversation.

“You shouldn’t talk about her like that,” Armin reprimanded, emotionless and firm. “Or show those pictures to others. It’s disrespectful and kind of disgusting.”

Armin almost immediately regretted what he had said. Eren turned his sharp gaze to him, his smile gone.

“And who are you to tell me what I can and can’t do, Armin?” Eren started to speak, a low and dangerous baritone in his voice. “She’s not yours, is she?”

Armin simply gulped. “No. She’s not.”

Eren nodded, turning away from Armin, aware that he put him back into his place. “That’s what I thought. So keep your mouth shut. I do what I want.”

Armin, like the good guard dog he was, snapped his mouth shut. He said nothing more about the girl. Though, he couldn’t help but feel terrible for her.

As loyal he was to Eren, he doubted the girl deserved this. She didn’t deserve to be treated like some expendable body that Eren owned. 

A silly, childish part of him imagined being a knight from the fairytale books his grandpa used to read to him as a child. He imagined saving her from the clutches of Eren.

“Her and I are gonna get married one day, ya know? I never wanted to get married, but I don’t want to lose her,” Eren randomly spoke aloud, as if voicing his inner thoughts.

Armin took another bite of his sandwich. His foolish dreams smothered out like a dying flame.

“And you, Armin,” Eren leaned in, gripping Armin’s wrist. Armin looked up at him with feigned uninterest.

“You’re gonna help her fall so deeply in love with me, that she never wants to leave my side. Do you understand?”

Armin stared at Eren for a couple of moments, unwavering.

Eren was Armin’s best friend. He was Eren’s bodyguard, his strategist, his right-hand man. He was fiercely loyal to Eren, and if Eren commanded, Armin followed.

“I understand. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

-

You run into the front doors of the hospital, jogging up to the front desk. A lady was sitting on the other side, typing away at her computer. She was chewing a piece of gum, smacking her jaw.

“Excuse me,” you barely manage to breathe out, having just ran across the parking lot and into the building. 

The lady looks up to you, ceasing her smacking for a moment. “Can I help you?” she asks with a snarky tone, as if you were bothering her. You don’t point out her rude behavior, as you don’t have time to.

You let out a huff, steadying yourself against the counter. “I’m here to see someone in the emergency rooms.”

She sighs and turns back to her computer, her manicured nails typing away at her computer.

“Name of patient?”

“Connie Springer,” you huff.

She types in his name on her keyboard, before looking up to you. “And you are?”

You give her your name, running the back of your hand over your forehead, wiping away sweat that had collected there. “I’m a friend of his.”

She lets out a hum and nods. “Looks like he put you down as an emergency contact. He’s in the recovery unit on floor 3,” she goes quiet for a moment, squinting at the computer. “He’s in room 346. It’ll be on that side of the building.” She points behind her.

“Thank you,” you quickly utter before running towards the elevator, not wasting a single second of time. You push the button furiously, the people in the lobby giving you weird stares.

You know pushing it several times won’t make the elevator come faster, but you do it anyway.

A ding! noise finally sounds, alerting you that the elevator has arrived. The doors open and you nearly hop into it.

You push 3, and wait. Your nerves are eating you up, making sweat collect all over and your limbs shaky. You’ve never felt the fear of losing a family member, but you’d say this was probably as close to the feeling as you were going to get.

Connie was like your brother. He was like the only family you had in this city, and not to mention one of your closest friends. You would be lost without him.

So when his girlfriend called you and told you that he had been jumped and left on the sidewalk for dead, you immediately hailed the closest taxi.

You jog down the hallway, eyes scanning the plates next to the doors that held the room number and patient number.

When you finally found 346, you knocked quietly. A girl came and opened the door, and you recognized her to be the girl Connie had started talking to recently, Bri was her name. She was a regular at the coffee shop.

Her brown curly hair is tied into a messy bun on top of her head, and instead of her usual business attire, she’s instead wearing a gaming t-shirt (no doubt Connie’s) and sweatpants.

“Come in,” she quietly mutters, moving out of the way of the door. You step inside and see Connie surprisingly conscious on the bed.

There’s tons of machines connected to him, mostly IVs and a heart monitor. Although, as you step closer to him, you see he’s got a black eye swollen almost completely shut. His lip is busted up bad, but he still gives you an idiotic smile when he sees you.

One of his arms is in a cast, and the other is bandaged.

You drop your bag on the floor and gasp. You almost break into tears on the spot, but his girlfriend grabs you, hugging you tightly. 

“He’s okay,” Bri coos. “I know it’s scary, but he’s okay.”

You let out a shaky breath, trying to steady your breathing.

“Hey, (l/n),” Connie says. His speech is a little impaired from his busted lip, but he talks like it's a casual, normal conversation.

Bri leads you to a chair in the room and helps you sit down carefully, before walking over to Connie’s bedside.

“Be careful of what you say,” she warns him in a warm voice. A wave of suspicion washes over you. You didn’t know much about Bri, but you’ve been Connie’s friend way longer than she has known him.

“I know, I know,” Connie says in a fond tone. You raise an eyebrow at the small interaction, but you say nothing.

He must’ve truly trusted her. Thinking about it, you would be the same with Armin if you were in Connie’s situation. 

Bri sits down in a chair across from you, her eyes staring at you through her glasses.

“Sorry, we just don’t know who we can trust right now,” she states casually, eyeing the door as if someone could come in at any moment.

You shrug. You know the feeling of paranoia well, as it had become almost second-nature to you. You can’t say you blame her.

“So you think this was planned?” you question in a borderline skeptical tone. “You don’t think it was just someone trying to rob Connie?”

Bri shakes her head, a solemn look on her face. “No, they didn’t even bother taking his wallet or phone.”

“Rookie mistake,” Connie rasps, a dry chuckle leaving his mouth. If he was healthy and well, you might consider slapping him. He was lucky to be alive.

“Be glad that they let you keep your phone,” Bri scolds Connie like a child. “Or else you would be dead right now.”

Connie lets out a small scoff. “Scolding me just like my ma.”

The fact that Connie is still joking around makes you feel a little more at ease. When Bri had called you, you were afraid he would pass before you got to see him by how she described the severity of his wounds. If he felt well enough to joke around, it meant he was going to heal fine.

Everything was going to be okay. In due time.

“The fact is,” Bri turns back to you in her chair, her hands raising to convey her point. “They didn’t take anything from him, and they knew his daily schedule and routine. He was leaving my apartment late, and he was passing a secluded area of the city. They knew and were ready.”

You already had a biting feeling deep down of who you thought was responsible for what had happened to Connie.

You swallow, listening intently to Bri.

“So they knew where to stop him so that there would be no witnesses. They were all covered from head to toe in black, with no identifiers except a red bandana around their necks.”

You nod, sucking on your teeth. 

It was Eren.

Despite not telling Connie anything about what had happened, Eren still had pulled a hit against Connie. It was probably simply because you were close to him.

You squeeze your fist in your lap.

“Bri,” you state in a firm tone. “Can I talk to Connie alone for a minute?”

Bri clamps her mouth shut, giving you a questioning look. She obviously doesn’t trust you, and you can’t say you blame her. If you were in her position, you wouldn’t know who you could trust either.

In fact, you were in her situation. If something were to ever happen to Armin, you would want to stay by his side until the end. 

“I promise you can trust me,” you finally try to reassure. You give her a caring, yet fleeting look.

Finally, she gives in and stands from her seat, glancing wearily back at Connie. “Call if you need me,” she tells him in a soft tone.

“Will do, worry-wart.”

She gives him a glare before she leaves the both of you in the room. You sigh before rising from your seat, walking over to Connie’s bedside. He turns his attention to you.

“You know who did it,” he mutters.

Your eyes drop from his face, looking away almost in shame. “I do.”

Connie is silent for a moment, before he nods. “I’m listening. Tell me.”

You take a shaky breath and ready yourself. You figured if Connie was already looped into this mess, he needed to know what you had dragged him into.

“There’s a lot of things I’ve kept from you these past few weeks,” you start explaining slowly. It’s best to build up the information easily so he understands.

“I figured,” he remarks. You weren’t surprised that he was able to connect the dots about your weird and secluded behavior.

“Where do I even start? The break-in? The clubbing accident?” Your eyes dart around the room.

Connie’s bandaged hand reaches up and grips yours. He holds it tightly, running his thumb over your knuckles. Your muscles tense in ease, knowing that he is there, alive and with you, is comforting.

“One step at a time,” Connie mutters looking up at you from where he’s laying. Even through his black, swollen eye you can see the care in his gaze.

You nod, looking down at where your hands are connected.

“Let’s start with the break-in,” you announce. “I still don’t know much about it, but I can assume from what I’ve been told that it was planned.”

Connie raises his eyebrows, but stays silent.

“It was Eren. He sent someone to break into my house. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was the one who broke it.”

“I fucking knew it,” Connie grumbles with anger, turning his head away. “Well, not that he was responsible, but I knew that he was the reason you’ve been down. Seriously, he’s been sus since the start, (y/n).”

You give Connie a bittersweet smile and a pathetic shrug. You knew he wasn’t wrong, you couldn’t sit here and defend Eren. You had ignored all the warning signs and red flags, and this is where it got you.

“I know,” you simply mutter. “Then the night we went out, I ended up getting drugged. I later found out it was Eren.”

“Fuck,” Connie mutters. “I-”

“Let me finish,” you reprimand him. Connie clamps his mouth shut and nods, allowing you to continue. “And you know the guy, Armin? The blond guy in the coffee shop?”

“Creepy eyes?” Connie states nonchalantly.

“Yeah,” you say, a bit humored at Connie’s nickname. “The closer we got, the more I learned about Eren. He told me that he actually works for Eren, and he only started coming to the coffee shop to spy on me.”

“Jesus fuck,” Connie rasps. “Not even blondie is innocent, huh.”

You shake your head. He wasn’t innocent, but neither were you.

“Armin is on my side, though. He’s been helping me get through all this.”

Connie scoffs, obviously not believing what you had just said. “Oh, so he randomly had a change of heart? Don’t be a moron, (y/n). Think this through, for a second. He’s probably a spy for Eren.”

Your gaze drops away from Connie again, as you feel like you’re a child being scolded. “He was the only person I could trust during all this.”

Connie’s features become steely as he glares at you. “I was there the whole time! You could’ve trusted me! You’re making a mistake, (y/n)-”

“Connie,” you announce over his loud voice. “I was scared that if I told you something, Eren would hurt you, or even worse - kill you. I didn’t tell you anything , and I still managed to get you dragged into this. Look at you now,” You gesture to his casted arm and black eye, along with all the other injuries littering his body. 

He scoffs in rebellion, looking away from your solemn and serious face. “You make me feel like I wasn’t trustworthy enough. For fuck’s sake, you trusted the enemy before you trusted me.”

“Armin isn’t the-”

“I’m hurt. Really,” His voice cracks, backing up how he feels. 

You squeeze his hand, giving a small sigh. “Connie. I know you don’t understand. But I had my reasons. And I’m telling you now, aren’t I?”

“After I was almost killed by your fucking crazy ass boyfriend.”

You briefly glance away before looking back at him. “I know. But I’m telling you because I care about you and I want you to live.”

Connie lets out a deep sigh, before giving you a stiff nod. He’s willing to listen to what  you have to say, even though you betrayed him, and you’re grateful for that.

“I think it’s best if you move away, possibly even out of the country.”

Connie lets out an exasperated sigh. He knows he doesn’t have a choice, at least if he wants to stay alive. He’s backed into a corner.

“Alright, whatever. Just promise to come visit me sometime when everything settles down.”

Chapter Text

It had been a week and a half since you had last seen Armin, and 3 days since Connie had almost been killed off by Eren.

Standing in the coffee shop felt so different from the true reality of your life. The rare customer coming in and taking their order; It was a brief slap to the face of what a double-sided life you were living. 

It almost didn’t feel real, having life continue as normal despite the very abnormal events you were living through. You half expected the world to completely change around you - which it had in a sense. Though, there were still mundane parts of it, like working in the same coffee shop you had worked in for a year.

Not that you were complaining. It was nice to feel normal, even if it was briefly.

Now that you were on lunch break, you were staring at your phone. Connie had just texted you this morning while you were on shift. 

Baldy: 

can you grab me some clothes at my place? 

i would ask bri but she wont leave me alone for like .02 seconds

shes afraid they might come into the hospital and slit my throat in my sleep or smth

You actually didn’t doubt that was a possibility. Bri being a lawyer-in-training, it wasn’t surprising that she thought everything through carefully. You were honestly happy that Connie had someone else to watch over him since you couldn’t.

also, i still have your seventh prayer copy. figured you might wanna have that back soon, ya know, before i leave the country.

It had been a while since you had played it, and you wouldn’t mind giving it another playthrough soon. It would help take your mind off things, and give you time to think.

“ i’ll stop by and get them tonight,” you type and send the message. 

-

You call a taxi to Connie’s apartment. You’re too weary to take one of Eren’s chauffeurs, even if it was easier on your wallet.

You step out of the cab, stepping into the parking lot. Connie’s apartment is a lot nicer than yours, but still quite average. Its layout is similar to a small complex than an actual apartment.

Your shoes resound on the pavement as you tread over to his door. You know he keeps his spare key under the frog sculpture he has sitting on his tiny awning. 

Just as you’re getting close, the door to his apartment opens, revealing two men who are dressed somewhat casually, albeit their outfit is mostly black. They’re about to turn in your direction, which you automatically grasp that if they turn, they’ll spot you.

If their clothes gave you any hint to who they were, you knew better than to let yourself get caught by them.

 You don’t hesitate to spin on your heels and jog the other direction as quietly as possible.

Before you can even three paces away, someone grabs you from in between the buildings, pulling you into the darkness. Their hand clamps over your mouth, and their other arm snakes around your waist. Immediately, you begin to fight in their hold, wriggling and writhing in rebellion.

You’re held firmly in place. Your mind begins to race as you think of every possibility and outcome of what was happening.  

Connie’s apartment was being broken into, that much you could surmise with ease. You didn’t recognize either of the men coming out, and their all black outfits reminded you of the ones Eren’s lackeys wore.

Secondly, the man holding you in the darkness against your will, was most likely Floch. He had you pressed up against the front of his body, completely flush, making you unable to move. You tried to silently weasel from his grasp, little sounds of protest emitting from your covered mouth.

You could only assume he was the ringleader of Eren’s lackeys, and that he was going to steal you away and finish you off for good for killing one of his men - two if you count the one Armin killed.

You were fortunately wrong.

“(y/n),” a voice came from beside you, whispering softly into your ear. You instantly recognized the voice as Armin’s. “Be still.”

You almost instantly relaxed, your shoulders falling and your muscles easing down in submission. 

The men who were coming from Connie’s apartment walk past the small alleyway, chatting away.

“Too bad we didn’t find anything,” One of them announces.

“Yeah, whatever. Colossus didn’t expect to find anything. I think he’s beginning to believe it’s Floch or something,” the other one speaks in a loud voice, uncaring about who is listening.

“Makes sense, I guess. I mean, he is the smartest one out of all of us. He’ll get to the bottom of this easily. Besides, I think Floch would fuck anything he lays his hands on, even if it’s Eren’s property.”

You almost let out a growl, realizing that they’re talking about you. Armin’s arm around your waist immediately tightens comfortably, causing you to relax once more. Your anger is easily smothered by his delicate and endearing presence. 

“Yeah, yeah, exactly. Hey, you care to drive? I’ll buy your dinner,” the voices fade into the distance, their conversation continuing.

Armin finally removes his hands from you, and you pull away from his grip, spinning around to face him.

“Armin?” you question quizzically. Your body reacts before your mind when you see his blond locks peeking out of his black baseball cap and his soft blue eyes staring back at you. You wrap your arms around him in an excited hug. You feel him stiffen underneath you, obviously on guard.

Eventually, his arms wrap around your body too, as if giving into your affections. His body relaxes just as yours did, practically melting into the intimacy. Smells of lavender and other sweet things invade your senses, and you allow your eyes to flutter shut in bliss.

If there ever was a true home for you, it would be in Armin’s arms. There’s something so comforting about the rhythm of his heart, the way he smells like wildflowers and the way he smiles so warmly.

You look up at him, a small smile of pure, ignorant joy overtaking your features. Armin is gazing at you with pure endearment and adoration. It’s an expression you could never get tired of seeing, and you hope you get to see it for the rest of your life, much like seeing him awake in the morning.

He parts his lips to speak, but before he could utter a word you pull his head into a kiss. It’s sloppy, but fueled with passion. He hesitates at first, but it isn’t long before he is backing you up against the opposite wall and kissing you with the same amount of fervor.

His lips pull hesitantly away from yours, almost if he had to force himself to separate. At some point, you had wrapped your arms around his neck, and his hands were planted firmly on your hips. It was almost like muscle memory for the both of you, as if you had held each other your entire lives.

“I’ve wanted to see you for so long,” you whisper against his lips. They’re only an inch away from yours, tantalizingly close. You can practically taste him.

Armin gives a faint, bittersweet smile. “It’s only been a week or so,” he tries to joke. Immediately you can tell there’s something bothering him. You decide to question it later.

“It’s hard not being able to see or talk to you.” You fiddle with the zipper of his jacket, letting it dance between your fingers.

His hand caresses your face gently, thumb strokes slow lines over your cheekbones.

“You have no idea,” he mutters, leaning his forehead against yours. You want to stay like this forever, knowing he’s so close and in your arms. It feels too good to be true, a strike of fate and luck all on your side.

His forehead pulls away from yours, and he lets out a sigh. There’s something weighing Armin down, you can tell it by the way his shoulders seem tense and the suspicious glint in his eyes.

“I have a lot to tell you, but I can’t here. It’s too risky.”

“Let’s go to your place,” you suggest a little too eagerly. You know what you’re hinting at, and Armin does too because his eyes light up with amusement. It dies out quickly, though.

“Too risky, even there. Just follow me,” He steps away and begins to pull your arm out of the alleyway but you stop him, planting your feet firmly into the ground.

“Hold up. I need to get some stuff from Connie’s place,” you announce.

Armin continues to pull you, shaking his head. “There’s still three guys in there. Just come with me.”

“Wait, how do you know that?”

It dawns upon you, a sudden realization striking your brain and making you jolt in place like you had just been shocked.

“You’re breaking into Connie’s apartment, you’re the-”

“Again, wait till we’re in the car,” Armin cuts you off, leading you to a sleek black car. He opens the door for you, and you can’t help but give him a weary glance.

“You don’t have to come with me,” he utters quietly, a soft look in his eyes. “I promise I would never try to hurt you or Connie.”

It hurts knowing that Armin is still working for Eren, even if it is undercover, and you can’t help but think back to the last time you saw Connie. Though, you really have no one else at this point. Without Armin’s help, you have no way of eliminating Eren and fixing your fucked up life.

You slide into the car seat, and he shuts the door behind you.

Once he climbs in and starts the car, he reaches across your body, grabbing the seatbelt and buckling it for you. Even the faintest of brushes of his hands against your torso make you feel a bit lightheaded.

“Please tell me you weren’t the one who hurt Connie.”

Armin’s hands grip the steering wheel as he backs out of the parking lot, driving onto the road. 

“I didn’t. That was a shared operation between Floch and another one of Eren’s foot soldiers, Yelena. She’s a double agent for Eren and Zeke.”

You can’t help when you let out a relieved sigh. It comforted you that Armin wasn’t responsible for nearly killing Connie.

Although, it still didn’t explain what he was doing at Connie’s apartment. 

“What were you doing there?” you finally decide to ask, a hint of reluctance in your tone.

It’s silent in the car for a moment, as you can only hear the car and the sounds of the city around you. 

“Collecting information.”

You raise an eyebrow at him, before realizing what Bri was talking about. They were dedicated and planned. A flash of fear ran through your body, thinking of how even indirectly Armin could be involved with the hit on Connie.

“You’re not going after him again, are you?” you feel uneasy talking about Connie’s life so casually.

“No. Actually, I’m trying to prove Connie’s innocence. Eren must think you’re seeing Connie behind his back because the past few days he’s been unbearable.”

You were a bit surprised hearing this, as Eren’s behavior towards you never changed. It turns out that he was better at hiding his emotions than what you gave him credit for.

“If you’re proving Connie’s innocence… do you think he’ll suspect you next?”

Armin shrugs, hands still on the wheel. He stops at an intersection, waiting for the light to turn green. The city traffic is light, which is surprising for this time of night.

“I don’t know. He doesn’t act like he suspects me.”

You let silence envelope the car as you look out the window. It isn’t like the uncomfortable silences you had with Eren.

It was the weight of everything settling between you and Armin. The infidelity, the danger, the love or lust (you had yet to sort that out). Everything was beginning to dawn upon you.

Armin pulled off into a side road leading out of the city. When the city was no longer surrounding the car, he parked in an almost empty parking lot in front of a secluded motel.

He turns the car off, looking through the glass at the city skyline.

Observing his angelic features was your favorite thing to do now. If you stared at him long and hard enough, you could commit the image to memory.

“I’ve got a plan,” he announces suddenly. He looks sturdy, firm, but also soft.

“I’m all ears.”

He finally turns his attention towards you, reaching out his hand. You’re a little confused at first, but you realize quickly he wants your hand.

Your chest blooms with warmth as you place your hand into his hold. His fingers easily interlace with yours, as if they were meant to be there.

“Okay,” he finally says, as if working himself up. “I’ll just give you the overview, simplified version for now. I have yet to work out the details.”

You nod, leaning your head against the seat behind you. He looks so gorgeous, you don’t know if you could ever get him out of your head.

“The basis is that we frame Floch for now, if Eren thinks you are cheating, which I’m fairly sure he does. Like I said, he’s sharp when it comes to things like this.”

Armin’s thumb strokes your hand as he stares at it. He looks analytic, calculating and affectionate all at once.

“I know Floch probably isn’t the best person, but will anything bad happen to him?” You ask, a little hesitant. 

Sure, Floch had been part of the reason you were dragged into a wild sequence of crime, horrid memories, and the truth of everything. But if there was one thing you wanted to avoid, it was getting more blood on your hands. You were still struggling with the aftermath of the first time.

Even now, it made your stomach feel ill and bile rise in the back of your throat.

“That’s where the second phase of the plan comes in. We use Zeke as a scapegoat for Eren’s death, before anything can happen to Floch.”

Your eyes flash as you give him a bewildered look. “I thought we agreed on not killing Eren.”

Armin shakes his head, his eyes dropping away from yours. He looks ashamed at what he’s suggesting, as he shrinks into his seat. Armin seemed close to Eren, so it probably hurt him to even consider killing off his friend. Or at least, someone he used to consider a friend.

“I’ve thought of everything. I’ve gone over the outcomes and the pros and cons. No one is safe unless he’s completely gone.”

You nod and turn away to the window outside. There’s a motel, the lights on the sign fading out and blinking.

You understand what you must do. If there was one thing you had learned from everything that had happened to you, it was that you must bite the bullet and endure the pain and the burdens of it all.

“I know. I can’t have you until he’s gone, and I’ll do anything…” you trail off looking back over to Armin. He’s still holding your hand, unwavering and full of affection.

You unbuckle the seatbelt, climbing over the center console carefully. You kick your shoes into the floor, placing your knees on either side of Armin. Reaching down, you unbuckle Armin’s seat belt, and he’s watching you like a hawk. His hand is still holding yours, and the other rests gently on your waist.

His voice is unsure and insecure when he finally speaks as you’re finally settling into his lap. The hand that’s on your waist comes up to dust a few stray strands of hair from your face.

“What are we?” 

The question throws you off. It’s what you’ve been trying to figure out for weeks now, unsure of what your mind, heart, and body wanted. 

You release from his hand, allowing your palms to rest against his stomach. You can feel his muscles shifting every time he breathes. Your face nuzzles into his hand on your cheek, the strong smell of lavender already invading your nostrils once again.

“I don’t know,” you admit in truth and honesty. “I want you like I’m hopelessly in love, but I don’t know if it’s because I’m in love with the thought of someone else understanding my fucked up life, or if I actually want to be with you.”

Armin shifts underneath you, and you can tell he’s becoming rigid at your words. 

“Well, I have feelings for you,” he mutters barely above a whisper. He’s looking out the window, avoiding your gaze entirely.

Instead of your heart dropping through your stomach like most unwanted confessions caused you to feel,  your heart sped up. You allowed your hands to smooth out his shirt, pulling it taut against his abdomen.

“Okay then,” you say with a hint of a smile playing on your lips. “Let’s try it. Let’s try to be a thing.”

He gives you a surprised and shocked look. “Really?”

You nod, giggling at his childishly excited reaction. “Of course. I don’t know my true feelings completely, but I do know that I want to be with you.” your hands ran up to his neck, before you pulled off his baseball cap, tossing it to the side. Leaning forward, you began to litter kisses across his jaw.

“I’m willing to explore them with you. My feelings, that is,” you whisper into his ear, feeling him shiver underneath you. 

It doesn’t take him long to pull you into a heated and passionate kiss. Both of you have gotten the pattern down, having kissed a handful of times before. You know which way to tilt your head, how much pressure to apply, when to separate for a split second to take a breath - it almost felt like two puzzle pieces sliding into place.

It felt like you had found your other half. For now.

Chapter Text

The thing you love the most about making love with Armin was the passion and eagerness between the two of you. Armin was pressing feverishly into your lips, lapping at them and kissing you open-mouthed like it was the last time he would ever get to taste you.

You were reciprocating every movement, hands entangling into his hair and hips straddling his legs. You arch your back so that both your torsos are flush and pressed together. You wonder if he can feel your hammering heart in your chest against his own.

Your fingers trail along the end of his hairline on his neck causing him to shiver underneath you and moan into your mouth with a wonton neediness. The vibrations are enough to send pleasant, warm tingles up and down your spine.

When you separate, it isn’t surprising that a thin string of saliva connects both of your mouths. Armin licks his lips as if to savor the taste, blue eyes half shut and staring up at you expectantly. 

“Sure you want to do this again?” He asks almost in a slurred tone. He tilts his head to the side as he examines your face in the lowlight of the motel sign. You watch him take in every detail with care, seeming to burn it in his memory.

“Of course, yes,” you announce confidently, shedding off your shirt in one, clean movement as if to back-up your statement. Armin gasps a bit at your bold quickness, his hands firmly planted on your hip bone as he gazes at your nearly naked torso.

His hands trail up your sides with enough gentleness to cause your skin to prickle with goosebumps. You stifle a giggle, squirming on top of him, nearly ticklish. His hands eventually reach the back of your bra, failing to unclasp it several times.

You smirk at him before reaching back and undoing it yourself. 

“Not used to undoing bras, huh?” you tease. His cheeks practically glow red as he looks away in embarrassment. 

“It’s not something I do often,” he admits shamefully. You laugh at his bashfulness, slipping your bra off your shoulders, tossing it into the passenger seat. He still doesn’t look at you, even though you’re bare for him to see. You rest your hands on his cheeks, gently turning his attention back towards you.

His eyes stay on your face instead of immediately trailing down to your body. Armin has a lot of self control, you’ve noticed.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Now, scoot back.” You let go of his face, sitting up.

“Scoot back?” he asks, finally letting his eyes dart briefly to your chest, before they go back up to your face.

“Your chair,” you clarify with a smirk. A sudden look of realization washes over his features before he hurriedly fiddles with his chair, sliding it back. He adjusts the back of it so that he’s nearly lying down, his face still able to look up at you without much struggle.

Butterflies flutter around your stomach at the sight of him underneath you once again. It was a sight you could never get tired of seeing, and you hoped he felt the same way about you on top of him.

You scoot backwards to the edge of the chair, bending over and nuzzling your face against the crotch of his pants. Armin wasn’t completely lying flat on his back, so you could see him staring down at you with a bewildered and shocked expression.

“You’re being so cute right now, you know? It’s driving me crazy.” Your fingers begin to work with his button and his zipper, quickly undoing them. Armin seems unable to reply, as his head falls backwards and a whimper escapes his mouth.

You can’t help but lick your lips and salivate a little thinking about what you’re about to do. You wonder if Armin had daydreamed about this before - you sucking him off before fucking him senseless. You know you had thought about it several times, even before your first sexual encounter.

“Keep your hands away from my head. You’re not allowed to touch me till I say so,” you state clearly, working his boxers below his erection. 

“Yes, I won’t, I won’t,” he pants out, his head lolling to the side as his lust begins to overtake his brain. His bashful eagerness goes straight to your lower stomach, making it flutter in excitement and arousal.

He’s half erect, and when you rub your thumb over his sensitive, pink tip, he squirms under you, a loud groan coming from his throat.

You missed this, even if it made you a terrible person because of your superficial title of being Eren’s girlfriend. There was something about Armin that made you so incredibly riled up that you simply couldn’t get enough of him and his small whiny noises and embarrassed expressions.

You decide to give him a few lazy pumps, all the while he whines and whimpers and moans. You notice he hasn’t looked back down at you yet, probably too embarrassed, you conclude.

This provides the perfect opportunity for you to take him by surprise. As you stroke him, you try to stealthily bend your face down, placing your lips around the first inch of his length.

As a result of this, he shudders underneath you, restraining himself from pushing his hips up to fill the rest of your mouth. His jaw has fallen open, leaving his lips parted as he takes shaky breaths. It almost looks like he’s concentrating on keeping his composure with his clenched eyes and furrowed brow.

You keep stroking the base, as you know you probably wouldn’t be able to fit his entire cock down your throat, at least not without gagging or cutting off your breathing.

You take in another inch, letting your tongue hug the underside of his cock. You feel him stiffen and twitch in your mouth, a breathy whiny noise leaving his throat.

“M-more, please, God,” he barely manages to say in between the noises he’s making.

You almost smirk at his begging, but decide against it to make sure your teeth wouldn’t graze him. You want this to be a completely pleasurable experience for him.

Within seconds, you take the majority of his length in your mouth to appease his begging. You can feel it poking the top of your mouth, almost reaching your throat area. You begin to pull back up, making sure to go agonizingly slow, providing extra friction with your tongue. It made him emit all sorts of strangled, sweet cries that sounded like music in your ears.

In fact, every mewl and moan he made, you felt your own self throb, ready for him to fill you. It encouraged you to work harder to get him farther down your throat as you continuously bobbed up and down, creating a rhythm. At one point, you clench your eyes shut, nearly taking him in all the way down to his base.

Suddenly, his hips jolt forward, shoving the rest down your throat in one swift movement. His tip briefly hits the back of your throat and you immediately pull your mouth off him, coughing and sputtering into your hand.

Armin sits up right away, his hands reaching for you to make sure you are okay. 

“I’m so sorry, I got carried away-” you raise your hand to silence him as you finally clear your throat. It’s a little sore at the impact, but nothing you couldn’t handle.

“It’s alright, don’t worry,” you croak out, giving him a warm, chapped lip smile.

His shoulders instantly relax when he sees you smile. “Are you sure?” He asks again, scanning your face for any evidence that you were lying.

You lean forward, nodding your head as you let his breath fan against your wet and chapped lips. “More than sure,” you whisper. He seems to believe you completely this time, pulling you in for a warm, deep kiss.

You start to pull off his shirt, only briefly pulling away to completely slip it off his head and toss it to the side.

You continue to kiss him for a few moments more, before slinking your way back down to his erection to continue, only for him to stop you. You give him a couple of blinks in question, before he begins to work at your pants. He unzips them and fiddles the button open with ease.

“T-take them off,” he stutters out, embarrassed at hearing himself attempting to be dominant. 

“Taking the lead?” You smile smugly at him before shimming your pants off into the floor, along with your underwear. You don’t miss the sheepish expression that forms on his face. 

Armin doesn’t hesitate to pull you forward to straddle him again, and his fingers slide along your entrance.

It feels hot, passionate, and yet soft. His touch is gentle enough to make you ache for more and more.

The more he rubs around your sex, around your entrance and up against your clit, the more you relax in his arms like putty. Your hand wraps around his cock, stroking it delicately and slowly.

He moans, and you pant at his teasing. Both of your aroused noises fill the car, making the situation even more lewd.

Armin’s hand comes to cup your sex, confusing you at first, as you had no idea what he’s trying to do. Although, when the palm of his hand starts to massage and apply pressure to your clit, you nearly gasp. He moves up and down, and eventually you start riding against it, picking up your hand’s pace on his cock in return.

When the tip of his fingers start to enter and tease your entrance, you nearly cum right then and there on his hand, your legs beginning to shake and hips jerking.

You quickly grab his hand, removing it from your crotch as you pant furiously, nearly drooling from the quick, immense pleasure.

“Is something wrong?” he asks in a small voice, obviously afraid that he somehow hurt you. You shake your head feverishly fast, trying to regain your senses.

You were thankful for his constant asking. He was considerate and thoughtful, even in the heat of the moment.

“No, that felt good,” you let out a breath, huffing. “Too good.”

Armin gives you a shy, adoring smile, before he runs his fingers over your entrance dipping inside briefly. Coming down from your near-orgasm high, you have to stop yourself from pushing his fingers deeper inside you. 

“That’s ah-” your thumb rubs over his tip, making him whine and clench his eyes shut in pleasure. 

He pulls his hand away from your loin causing you to let out an unsatisfied whimper. He examines the slick on his fingers, making sure to look you in the eye as he stuck his fingers into his mouth, sucking on them.

Your skin flares at the action, breath hitching and butterflies fluttering in your lower stomach. Getting impatient, you put your hands on his chest and force him to lay back.

“I don’t-” you already know what he’s going to say, so you silence him by putting a finger to his mouth.

“I have some in my bag. No worries.”

He gives you a wide eye look as you reach over to your purse, pulling out a condom. 

“I decided to keep some in my purse in case I ever ran into you,” you admit sheepishly, letting out a small, embarrassed chuckle.

“I-I- uh,” Armin stutters, obviously flustered that you expected to have sex with him again. You ended up being right, though, and as a result you were prepared. 

You open the wrapper the same as last time, using your teeth to rip it open before sliding it over his length. And just like last time, Armin’s hips wiggle and he moans as the condom and your fingers make contact with his cock. 

You liked how needy and noisy he was. It really did something to you that was indescribable. 

When the condom is finally secure, you don’t hesitate to position yourself above him and sink down without warning. His hands shoot up to rest on your hips, guiding you down slowly. His eyes dart back and forth between where you’re both connected to your face to make sure he’s not hurting you.

When you’re finally fully seated, you start thrusting up and down, causing him to immediately roll his head back into the car seat, his blond bangs falling from his forehead. Small panting noises emit from his mouth, eventually growing into choppy moans. 

You didn’t realize how wet his hand had gotten you, as he nearly had slipped out of your entrance several times. Your skin flushes at the thought, and you try to pick up your pace to satisfy him as he had done for you.

Armin snaps his head up, as if he suddenly remembered something. His fingers easily find your clit, rubbing in unison with your thrusts, making shockwaves of pleasure roll through your body. 

You loll your head back, an amorous sigh leaving your lips as he continues his ministrations. Armin’s other hand that’s on your hip travels up to your breast, dragging the pad of his finger gently over your nipple several times until it becomes erect and sensitive.

The pleasure is becoming overwhelming. The build-up is faster than you think you’ve ever had before, your body working faster to meet your climax.

It was easy to get lost in the moment quickly, unable to think of anything else except the intimacy you were both sharing. Everything else left your mind.

“A-Armin, ah,” you moan out, your voice quickly becoming hoarse. You weren’t sure if it was because of all the moaning and heavy breathing or where Armin shoved his cock down your throat.

“(y/n), ahh, f-fuck,” he moans out shortly after, causing you to flutter around him. You lean forward a bit while still riding him, your legs quickly becoming sore and tired as your thrusts become more sloppy.

Armin seems to notice this, grabbing both sides of your hips with his hands, holding you in the air and slamming into you at a rate that is nearly making you dizzy. His length was reaching far inside you, to areas you never thought could be reached before.

The hot air, the whines of pleasure, the heavy breathing, the feeling of him pounding into you; You could feel yourself approaching your climax once more. Your eyes screwed shut and your jaw fell open as he kept his unmerciful thrusts going, continuously moaning your name as if it were the only thing he could think about.

The familiar wave of pleasure flooded your body, making your body become limp in his arms. When he felt you orgasming around him, he took in a sharp intake of air through his teeth, continuing his thrusts, as they were growing more shallow and needy. 

“Armin,” you mewl quietly, as your body feels like warm putty as he fucks into you, close to his own release. He gazes endearingly up at you, his expression full of love, devotion and hazy arousal.

“I’m yours,” you whisper softly like a secret, although it’s loud enough for him to hear, even over the sound of skin slapping. “I’m yours, I’m yours.”

His hips jerk to a stop as he cums, head rolling back and a whimper leaving his mouth. His throat was exposed to you, allowing you to see the vein in his neck and the way his Adam’s apple bobbed with the noises he sobbed out. 

After his release, he lets go of your hips and you can’t help but fall forward on top of his torso. Both of you are breathing heavily, skin sweaty against one another. 

A feeling of joy envelopes your heart, causing you to grin like an idiot. You’re tired and spent, sore from the awkward positioning in the car, but you feel reenergized in ways you can’t explain.

Armin lovingly pets your head, letting his fingers brush along your neck with delicate care. He treats you like you could fade away in his grasp at any moment if he makes one wrong move. 

“Did you mean it?” he asks aloud, suddenly.

You raise up, your limbs are still weak and warm. You lift your hips off him, letting him slide out of you. 

“Mean what?” You ask, laying down against him once more. This time he settles for just wrapping his arms around your bare torso, holding you against his.

“Saying you’re mine,” he tries to explain, his voice growing quieter in a bout of insecurity. “Or was it just in the heat of the moment?”

You let out a deep sigh, raising your head to peck him on the lips. “I mean it.”

His mouth breaks into an uncontrollable smile, and you can feel his heart hammering away in his chest. 

Despite the sex smell filling the car, you can still smell his floral, clean scent. You wish you could imprint it in your mind forever.

It wasn’t the only thing you wished for. You wished to know everything you didn’t, you wished to escape Eren, and a deep part inside of you wished that your relationship with Armin could be normal.

It was stupid and childish, but you still wished for it.

-

“Hey,” you try to sound as normal as possible, but the anxiety and guilt of knowing you just had sex with someone else was eating away at you as you greeted Eren.

Even if you hate him, there is still an impossible feeling of shame that washes over you as you stare at him. You repeatedly tell yourself that you’re not a bad person, and that you’re a victim of an inescapable situation.

It wasn’t your fault.

“Hey, baby,” he replies easily, looking up from some paperwork on the couch. He pats the spot beside him with his hand, asking you silently to sit with him.

“Oh, I need to shower. I probably smell like coffee and sweat. Plus, you seem busy.”

Eren stares at you, his green eyes wide and hollow. It was like he could see Armin’s fingerprints all over you and he knew what you had just done.

Sweat forms on your forehead in anxiety as he continues to stare, almost right through you. 

“Fine. But I have a present for you after.”

You let out a small breath you didn’t even know you were holding. “I’ll be fast, don’t worry,” you reassure, hurrying past him and making a b-line to his bathroom. 

He watches you the entire time as you go past, causing the hair on the back of your neck to stand up.

Nowadays, you feel like a prey corner by a predator who could eat you at any given moment. 

The nightmares don’t help either, as ever since you had learned of Eren’s true nature, he usually is the one tormenting you in your dreams.

The shower is relatively short as you promised to Eren. You spot marks where Armin’s fingers gripped your hips tightly, but it would only leave a faint bruise and it would be gone within the next day or so.

You throw on some sweatpants and a t-shirt, making sure to confirm it was your clothes and not Eren’s. You didn’t want to give him the pleasure of seeing you in his clothes, like a doll of his playing dress up.

When you saunter back into the living room, Eren has alcohol out, along with a small gift box. Instead of his usual hard liquor, he’s instead opted for some fancy wine, already poured into matching fancy wine glasses.

You sit down on the couch beside him, and his arm instantly drapes around your shoulders posessively. You try not to shift uncomfortably underneath him. The last thing you needed was to act weird around him.

“I didn’t know it was my birthday,” you joke with him, forcing yourself to lean into his side. Eren bends forward, grabbing the box off the coffee table and handing it to you, as if urging you to open it then and there.

He’s watching you carefully. All it takes is one slip up to cause him to be suspicious.

You unwrap the gift, and pull the lid off. Inside is a new phone, out of its original box. He didn’t even bother trying to make it look like he didn’t chip it.

“I just like to spoil my baby,” he purrs into your ear as you take the phone out of the box, examining it. His nose is burying itself in your hair as he lets his breath fan against your ear.

“You shouldn’t have,” you attempt to sound surprised and happy, although it sounds fake. You pray he doesn’t notice.

If he does, he says nothing of it, keeping his gaze on you intently. 

You feel like a mouse being watched by a hawk, like you could be plucked up in his talons at any moment, killed in a moment’s notice. Swallowing down your fear, you let a false grin spread across your face as you peer up at Eren.

“Thank you! Thank you,” you wrap your arms around his torso, pressing your ear against his chest.

You half expect to hear his heart pounding away inside his ribs, as you had heard Armin’s heart not even hours prior. Though, you hear nothing, as if Eren’s heart is not even there.

Eren’s arm stays around your form as you pull out the phone and turn it on. You set it up, transferring everything over. Nothing about it seems outright chipped, but you don’t doubt that it is. You trust Armin’s words, and you know to be careful with where you go and who you text.

Even Connie isn’t safe. He won’t be until he’s far away from this city.

Eren rubs your arm calmly, before reaching forward and grabbing the glass of wine. He holds it to you, waiting for you to take it.

You stare at the rich purple liquid inside the glass for a long time. It’s almost like something in your brain is keeping you from taking the drink, like an attempt of self preservation.

Memories of what happened last time you accepted a drink from Eren ended. Or perhaps, it was the lack of memories. You were not about to allow yourself to be drugged once more, or even under the influence in his presence whatsoever.

You give him a chaste smile, taking the glass delicately in your hand. As soon as he lets go of the stem, you allow the glass to fall from your grasp and into your lap.

The dark purple-red liquid seeps into the fabric of your pants, some of it spilling over onto the couch. Some wine soaks Eren’s leg, and he freezes in his spot, unmoving.

“Oh my God,” you mutter, quickly moving to clean the mess you had made. “Eren, I’m so sorry I-”

“Just clean it up,” he says with a short tone, massaging his temple with his hand in an irked manner. You set the glass back on the coffee table, before fleeing to the kitchen and retrieving as many towels as you could carry.

When you return to the living room, you dive into the floor and start blotting the couch and floor. You glance briefly at Eren a few times, catching his stare every time. Thankfully, he’s not pissed, just a little annoyed. 

You could deal with him being irked. His anger, on the other hand, was something not easily controlled. In fact, it terrified you. 

Once you think you’ve cleaned up the couch enough, you stand.

“I’m sorry,” you mutter in a somewhat pathetic tone. You’re not actually sorry, but you hope your acting is good enough to pull off the victim act.

Eren grabs your wrist, a little too tight for your liking. He pulls you forward, almost on top of his wine-stained lap.

“Clean me up too,” he commands, empty eyes staring straight through you.

You blink a couple of times at him, trying to process what he had said.

“Don’t just stand there. Come on, I don’t have all day.”

a feeling of dread washes over your body, but you don’t question Eren’s command. Instead, You present a fake sheepish grin across your face, before dabbing the towels on Eren’s pants. You strategically avoid touching anywhere near the crotch of his pants, afraid that it might lead to other things .

“I’m so sorry, I should’ve paid attention more and now I’ve ruined your couch and your pants and-”

Eren lays a hand on your head, making you pause mid-sentence.

“Don’t worry about it. I would ask you to take a shower with me if you hadn’t already.”

It felt like a stroke of luck. Everything had panned out perfectly. It almost felt too convenient.

Eren rises up from the couch, leaving to take a quick shower as you throw the dirited towels away. He doesn’t so much as spare a glance back at you.

Eyeing the new red stain on the white couch, you knew it wouldn’t be forgiven so easily, despite his unbothered attitude. He had got you a new phone, and you had soiled his expensive couch that probably cost as much as a new car.

You hoped that Eren didn’t have something under his sleeve. Although, your luck was running short. It was only a matter of time before everything slipped between your fingers.

Chapter Text

Love:

Come home right after work, I have a surprise for you <3

You had read over the text multiple times throughout the day at work. The words were simple, and if anyone else had read them on your phone screen, they would seem normal.

For you, the words sent chills down your spine as they froze you to the core. 

The last surprise Eren had for you was a new phone, nothing terrible. Although, ever since you had spilled the wine a few days ago, he had acted stand-offish. You wondered if he knew what had happened between you and Armin that night, or if he was just pissed about his grand sofa being ruined.

And if he did know what had happened between you and Armin, then the surprise he had in store for you was not a good one. 

You hadn’t heard from Connie in a while, as you had told him not to text you unless absolutely necessary. One day you had gone back to his apartment and delivered clothes to him at the hospital, strategically leaving your phone at Eren’s place.

That was the last time you had seen or heard from him. The loneliness was already starting to eat away at your heart.

You don’t know what to expect when you open the front door to Eren’s penthouse. Perhaps you expected for Eren to grab you, or for him to be standing thoughtfully at the window, prepared to expose you for your web of lies.

Though, you were definitely not expecting Eren to be sitting on the couch peacefully, Armin standing in front of him, both of them immersed in conversation.

When they hear the door open, both of their attention shifts towards you. You carefully spare Armin one glance, before looking back at Eren.

The next movements you take are extremely calculated; You shut the door behind you, making sure it clicks softly, despite your blood rushing quickly through your body. Your heartbeat is practically pounding in your ears, and you try to take steady, soft breaths to calm yourself down.

Spinning around once again, you take a couple of short paces into the living room so that you’re a couple of feet away from where Armin and Eren are.

You carefully examine Eren and Armin’s reactions. Eren doesn’t seem pissed, and Armin doesn’t seem scared.

If you were right, it seemed that it was just a simple meeting between the two men. At least, that’s what you were hoping it was. 

“You’re the guy from the coffee shop,” you say in a feigned, surprised tone, eyebrow raised in question. You wanted to make sure it seemed completely as if Armin and you were both strangers who had only ran into each other at the coffee shop. 

“I am,” Armin replies simply. He turns his gaze to Eren, almost as if expecting him to introduce the both of you.

Despite your racing, pounding heart, you feel comfort in Armin’s presence. It’s like the aura he emits envelopes you in a safe feeling.

“This is my personal right-hand man, Colossus, ” Eren introduces, lifting his hand towards Armin.

You had heard the nickname several times before, though you never knew it was Armin behind the pseudonym. 

You reach out your hand for him to shake. “It’s always nice to meet Eren’s associates,” you say almost a little too stiffly. 

Armin’s hands stay latched behind his back as he stares at your outreached hand. After a few moments of silence, you drop your hand back down awkwardly, a little hurt at his deflective attitude.

Although, you had to admit. It was convincing. He even had you fooled, if only for a brief second.

“Must be a small world,” you comment lowly, giving Eren a sheepish smile.

“For you,” the brunette replies with a sharp edge in his voice. You can’t help but bat your eyes at his sudden distanced tone, as it makes your anxiety go into overdrive again.

Now that you realize it, his eyes seem a little darker than usual as his lips are pulled into a slight frown.

Did he know? Had he figured it out? Put the pieces together within a brief moment of contact?

“I know you’re cheating on me, (y/n).”

You nearly faint at the words, your knees almost buckling underneath the weight of your sins.

“What?” you choke out, trying to catch your breath. Your eyes dart to Armin, although he doesn’t seem scared.

His eyes are hurt, but empathizing at the same time. It looks like he wants nothing more than to pull you into his arms and hold you tightly.

“I know you’re cheating on me,” Eren repeats firmly, his dead and empty gaze staring through you.

You know there’s a look of horror on your face, but it’s impossible to contain. You were caught red-handed.

“Eren, I would never-”

He cuts you off, interrupting you mid-sentence. “Who was it with?”

You don’t dare to glance at Armin. All you can do is shift uncomfortably under Eren’s penetrating gaze.

“Who the fuck was it?” Eren repeats, his voice becoming a bit louder. You knew it wouldn’t be long before his anger would be unleashed, tearing into you like an uncontrollable beast.

You wonder if Armin would attempt to stop him, or if he would watch Eren yell and scream at you until you were in tears.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you try to deflect again, your throat suddenly becoming parched.

“I saw the condom in the trash can.”

Fuck.

“The fact that you did it in my bed , you’re lucky I’m not throwing you out into the streets. No,” He stands from the wine stained couch, placing his thumb under your chin and raising your face to look at him. “I love you too much to do that. You’re so lucky.”

You swallow down a lump that’s forming in your throat, clamping your lips shut.

“ Colossus , who did you say it was again?” Eren finally asks, not bothering to turn his attention to Armin. His green, hollow eyes instead focus solely on you.

“Floch,” Armin’s voice is even and stiff. It’s the essence of emotionless, closed off, and straight down to business. It reminds you of the first week or so you had known him, how he was so cold and hollow.

“Sound familiar?” Eren asks you, tilting his head and leaning in close. His breath was minty as it hit your face.

You remembered Armin’s plan of using Floch as a temporary scapegoat until you could get rid of Eren. The fact that Eren had bought such a far-fetched lie was relieving, but you still weren’t in the clear.

Armin was safe. That much was enough for you. 

 You, on the other hand, were far from safe. In fact, it was almost like you were in the lion’s den, poking and prodding at it with a stick.

Eren’s fingers suddenly grip the sides of your face, squeezing into the flesh of your cheeks. “Answer me. I deserve an answer,” he demands in a gravelly and almost hurt tone.

“I’m sorry,” you say pathetically. “I’m so sorry.”

He pulls his face away from yours, remaining completely silent. The lack of noise is almost enough to send you into complete panic.

What was he thinking? Was he going to kill you on the spot? You wouldn’t doubt if he did. At this point, Eren was a complete wild card, unpredictable in a frightening way.

Your eyes drifted to Armin standing dutifully behind Eren. He’s glued to the spot on the floor he occupies, arms folded behind his back like he was a soldier.

Although, his eyes are piercing through Eren. When he sees you staring at him, his gaze considerably softens.

What if Eren had Armin kill you?
Would he do it?

In the brief seconds you held his stare, you internally accepted him being your killer. You wanted nothing more than to live with him by your side, but you would much rather Armin take your life than Eren.

“I see,” Eren mumbles, breaking you from your thoughts. He drops his hand from your face, turning and walking past Armin.

“Follow me, both of you,” Eren orders, walking to a room in his penthouse. It was a large storage room that you rarely bothered to enter. It was on the other side of the penthouse, so you rarely even walked past it to begin with. You had completely forgotten of its existence until now.

Armin stays in his spot until you pass him, his gaze remaining on you the entire time. His expression conveys wordless worry. There’s something he’s trying to silently tell you that you can’t quite grasp at.

You give him a small, comforting smile in return. You want to reassure him that no matter what happens, you’ll be fine.

After all, it was your own selfish desire that ended up in things being like this. If you had remained dumb and docile to Eren, perhaps you could’ve lived an ignorantly blissful life. The thoughts are fleeting, and soul crushing, but you can’t help but dwell on regrets.

Your thoughts are smothered out quickly when Armin holds the door open for you, snapping your attention back to reality. Eren has already stepped inside the dim room, turning on a lamp in one of the corners.

The door clicks shut behind Armin, and you hear him turn the lock to prevent an easy escape. You also assume it’s to keep out anyone from intruding.

Though, what immediately catches your attention is the bruised and battered person sitting in a chair in the middle of the room. There’s a piece of cloth tied around their head and in their mouth, effectively gagging them.

When Eren finally turns on the lamp at the other end of the room, you finally see the person.

It’s Floch. The light makes him stir to life, as he sits up in his chair.

You notice his arms are handcuffed behind him and strapped to the chair. Dry blood cakes several different parts of his face and body, alongside several deep purple bruises.

When he raises and sees you standing in front of him, he fully jumps to life. Strangled noises emit from his mouth, and he yanks his arms in the restraints as if trying to free himself to get to you. Instinctively, you step back, despite knowing that he can’t reach you.

“Stand guard at the door,” Eren commands, assumingly to Armin. When you steal a glance over at the blond, you see him standing tall and square at the door, obeying orders quietly like a dog. “I don’t want her escaping,” Eren finishes.

Other than Floch’s cries of muffled rage, you can hear Eren pulling out a briefcase from under a table in the room. He flips the notches up, cracking open the metal case.

“I don’t understand,” you mutter in a quiet tone, watching Floch in the dim light. Even from a distance you could see the fire in his eyes, the hatred he felt for you burned right into your soul. 

“It’s quite simple, really. A confession, if you wanna call it that,” Eren announces as he pulls something out from the suitcase. Squinting your eyes, you can make out the outlines of a shiny metal object. 

A gun.

When Eren turns, he points it at you, aiming directly between your eyes. Your heart leaps in your chest as you stare into Eren’s one opened eye, focused on you in aim.

“Go ahead,” Eren urges. “I want to hear you admit it.”

Was this it?

Slaughtered like an animal, shot straight in the head by the man you had come to hate wholeheartedly; was that really how you were going to let yourself die?

The words left your lips before you could stop yourself. It was like fear had completely rewired your brain. 

“I slept with Floch.”

Lying has become second nature to you now. You had no idea when you had started to spin this web of lies, but now you were so far in you could no longer see the person you once were.

Eren kept the gun pointed at you firmly, unwavering. It dawned upon you at any moment that he could pull the trigger, ending your life once and for all.

You wondered what Armin was thinking. Did he want to jump in and save you? Or perhaps he was just as selfish as you, unwilling to put his life on the line, even if he admitted that he loved you.

“How many times?” Eren asks, a crack in his voice hints at the insecurity slowly eating him up.

“Two,” you answer somewhat honestly. You had slept with Armin twice, that much was true. 

Eren lowers the gun, massaging his temple with his fingers as he lets out a scoff. 

“Fuck,” he grumbles to himself lowly. “I’ve been losing you this whole time…”

You stand in the room as Floch glares at Eren trying to tell him the truth silently with his eyes.

An uncomfortable, tense silence takes over the room. Your eyes dart from Eren, to the gun gripped in his hand, to Floch’s beaten and gagged face. There was no guarantee in what was to happen next, and that terrified you.

The situation was barely registering in your brain, as it felt like you were in one of your horrid nightmares once again. You were half-tempted to pinch yourself to see if you would wake up.

Eren takes long, quick steps over to where you’re standing and you subconsciously take a few steps back in fear. Once he’s standing in front of you, he holds out the grip of the gun for you to take.

“Take it,” he commands

You hesitate, but eventually your fingers wrap around the metal. It isn’t an unfamiliar feeling to you, unfortunately. 

You rotate the weapon in your hand, examining it. Your finger rests easily on the trigger, as if it was programmed into your muscle memory.

Bile almost rises into your throat looking at a gun in your hand again. The man you had shot appears in your head, and you almost spiral into a panic attack.

You decide to finally look back up at Eren, tearing your thoughts to shreds, attempting to forget the terrifying past.

He doesn’t have a weapon on him, you notice. There’s no one else in the room. 

You have a gun. You can kill Eren here and now. 

Do it, your mind urges. Do it now!

You want nothing more than to raise your arm, point the muzzle at Eren and pull the trigger.

In fact, nothing would bring you more joy and contentment than getting rid of Eren. It would be easy, simple.

Though, it’s almost like an invisible force is restraining your arm, keeping it down near your waist. 

Without thinking, you turn around to face Armin. You just want a glimpse of what he’s thinking. Maybe he had the same idea you did.

When your gazes briefly connect, it’s almost as if he reads your thoughts. He barely shakes his head, signalling you not to go through with your impulsive plan.

You trust Armin. 

“Well, I can’t leave Floch alive. Not after what he’s done,” Eren says aloud, pacing around the room with his back turned to you.

You look down at the gun in your hands, slowly realizing what Eren was hinting at.

A lump forms in your throat and you hesitantly tread forwards, taking cautious steps as if one wrong move could set him completely off.

He looks down at you when you’re beside him. His eyes are scarily cold, unlike you had ever seen before.

You attempt to give him an ashamed look, holding the gun up for him to take. 

You want to apologize, and you even open your mouth to do so, but the words never come out. Even if you were able to apologize again, you doubt it would change Eren’s mind. 

Eren stares at you for a long while, and in the heat of the moment it feels like an eternity.

“It would be too easy if I did it. You kill him. I want you to learn your lesson.”

Your eyes snap wide open as you peer up at Eren. His hair is down and framing his face in shadow. He looks uncanny and terrifying, similar to how a ghost standing in the corner of your bedroom might look.

That combined with his expression is enough to make you start to shiver in fearful anxiety. 

“What?” you barely manage to choke out in a whisper.

Eren rolls his eyes at your reaction, looking into the distance and away from your shaking form. It’s almost like he’s disgusted at your response.

“If you can fuck him in my bed, you can kill him,” he says as he places both his hands on your shoulders, turning you towards Floch.

You can see it in Floch’s eyes, the betrayal and hurt. At this point he’s gone silent, but you can see the pure hatred seething from his being.

He hates you. He hates you with every fiber of his being, to the point where you swear you can feel the heat of his hatred burning holes into your skull.

You look at the gun in your hand, then over to Armin, then back to Eren.

“I can’t,” you say pathetically. “Don’t make me do this, Eren. I still love you, I promise I won’t do anything else to hurt you - just please don’t make me do this. Anything but this.”

Eren ignores your pleas, as his face remains stoic “Kill him or I’ll kill both of you. Your choice.”

Floch began to emit more noises, screaming over the gag in his mouth. Eren turns towards him and glares at him for a few moments.

“It seems he has some final words,” Eren says as he takes a few steps over to where Floch is bound and seated.

You watch helplessly as Eren’s fingers begin to work at Floch’s gag, the fabric falling loose around his jaw. It must’ve been there for a while, as the corners of his mouth were raw and red.

Floch opens his mouth to speak, “It was Ar-”

A small noise echoes in the room, and Floch slumps over, a bloody hole in his chest.

Eren is frozen for a moment, but he looks back at you, seeing the gun raised in your hand. 

Now that you realize it, you’re not even shaking at this point. You’re completely still.

That’s what scares you the most.

Just like last time, you didn’t have a choice. But this time, the shock didn’t hurt as bad. You weren’t scared or shocked at your actions.

Some of Floch’s blood splattered across Eren’s white button-up, staining it. Unsurprisingly, Eren seems unphased. You don’t even want to turn around to look at Armin. You know that if you look at him, you will burst into uncontrollable tears.

You lower the gun back down to your side with a newfound power.

Disgust at your own thoughts floods your mind as adrenaline shoots through your body. How could you  feel like this after ruthlessly and selfishly taking someone’s life?

No matter what you thought, the feeling was still there.

Eren wasted no time, walking back over to you and pulling you in for a kiss. Up close, you could see some blood had gotten on his face as well, including his lips. It smeared across yours as he continued to kiss you with heated passion.

You shut your eyes, not even bothering to lean into his lips. There was no point in hiding how you felt about Eren now, since he had caught onto everything that you had been hiding from him. How you felt was no longer a secret to him.

You tried to smother out the thought of Armin watching helplessly by the door as Eren continued his fiery affections, hands beginning to roam your torso all the way up to your jaw.

When he finally removes his lips from yours, all you can smell and taste is iron.

Eren licks his lips, savoring the taste of what you had done.

“That was so hot,” he comments lowly. You have to keep yourself from cringing in disgust. “You’re so hot,” he repeats again, leaning his head in towards your neck.

His breath is hot and wet as it fans across the side of your throat. You tilt your head over in numb submission as he places kisses on it.

When you look over, you see Armin stiff against the wall. He isn’t looking at you, but you can see the hurt in his rigid form and unwavering eyes.

You wonder if he wants to kill Eren here and now. You know you want to, but did he? Was he thinking about all the ways he could pull the larger male away from you and murder him?

“I could eat you up right here and now,” Eren says between his kisses, his arms travelling down to your legs to hoist them around his waist.

Before he can lift you, you stop him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Not… not now, Eren,” you say quietly. His face lifts up to peer up at your expression. He looks lost in aroused thoughts, and it disgusts you that killing someone got him turned on. 

“Why not?” He questions in an irked tone, completely clueless.

“I… I just… and he’s in here,” you say, looking over at Floch’s dead and bleeding body.

Eren sighs in annoyance, standing up straight. “You’re so sentimental sometimes. It’s annoying.”

He takes a couple of paces towards the door, stopping when he unlocks and peeks it open.

“Clean this up,” he orders Armin. “Try to get her to calm down then send her to my room.”

He shuts the door behind him. You don’t dare move from the spot you’re standing in, gun still in your hand.

Armin finally moves from his spot, walking over to you. His shoulders slump as they untense.

“Are there cameras?” You ask just barely above a whisper.

“No,” he responds in the same quiet volume. “Would be bad if the police got a hold of the footage if there were.”

Both of you stand there in silence, the weight of everything slowly settling around you. 

You know you can’t talk to Armin here about what happened and how it will affect the long term plan.

And you also know that no matter how badly you want to wrap your arms around him and sob into his shirt, you can’t. Not without the risk of Eren walking back in.

“I don’t want to go to his room,” you finally decide to say.

“I know,” Armin says simply. His voice is still quiet, as if Eren could be listening on the other side of the door. “I don’t want you to go, either.”

“What do I do?” Your hand is beginning to shake again, and finally you release your death grip on the gun. It clatters to the concrete floor.

“I don’t know.”

It hurts. It hurts to know that even someone as intelligent and strategic as Armin doesn’t even know what to do.

You accept it. You accept everything, all the consequences to your actions. Slowly, you straighten your back, heading towards the door.

Armin’s footsteps tell you that he’s following. When you reach the door, you spin around. He’s about an arm’s length away, and you don’t hesitate to fill the gap and pull him in for a brief kiss. You savor it in the short amount of time that it lasts.

“I’ll be okay,” you say aloud, quickly pulling away. You’re not sure if you’re saying to reassure Armin or yourself.

Armin doesn’t smile, making your stomach fill with dread. 

He raises his hand to caress your cheek, thumb stroking your cheekbone in soft adoration, even if it doesn’t reflect on his face.

He says nothing more, instead he pulls his hand away and turns towards the dead body now in the middle of the room.

You left the room silently, heading towards your inevitable doom.