Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Since they were about 14, Mikasa and Armin had been attached by the hip. From a different point of view, no one would probably ever expect them to be friends. Mikasa, in all her roughened up hairstyles and jewelry and all-black clothing glory. And Armin, with his light colored sweaters, cozy books, blonde hair and khaki's.

 From Mikasa, you would probably expect her liking a band literally called ‘Bloodied Angels’ but from Armin?

 No.  

 But lone and behold, there he and Mikasa were, sitting in front of the mirror in her bathroom getting ready for a concert.

 
 Mikasa had her hair up in her signature disheveled pig tails, her bangs cascading across her forehead, not quite covering up her eyebrows. She had her makeup done and was helping Armin with his. She had on a dark red lipstick, with clear lipgloss layered over it. She had mascara on and black eyeshadow surrounding the entirety of her eyelids and a little under, making it go down to her cheeks. It looked like a ‘I just got done crying and my makeup is running’ look. It was done with a strategy, to make it look pretty of course.

 Armin was sitting in front of her on the closed toilet seat, carefully making his eyes look up, but being sure that his eyelids were wide open to give Mikasa enough entry to do his eyeliner. she was focused, her tongue sticking out slightly from the corner of her mouth and her thin eyebrows furrowed as she dragged the black pencil carefully across his bottom eyelid.

 “And… done!” Mikasa chirped, “eyeshadow or no?” She backed away and her pleaded skirt swayed backwards as she moved to let Armin stand up and look at himself in the mirror.

 “Hm… I think this is fine. This foundation makes me look like a ghost”

 “Armin, you were already as pale as a ghost before” she chuckled a bit Armin let out a long groan.
 
“I know”

 “picture before we leave?”

 ”sure”

 Mikasa pulled dig out her phone from the pocket of her skirt. It was one of her favorites, mainly because it finally had a place to put things and be stylish. She quickly tapped on the camera app, and positioned her phone so it would cover her face.

 Armin did the same, thinking about the nice, aesthetic addition it would make to his small Instagram page. They both stood in the mirror, holding up peace signs with their free hands.

Click! Both of their phones took a picture at the same time. Just now had he actually got to see all of what both of them were wearing. Mikasa was wearing a small red pleaded skirt that went to about where her thighs stopped and her knees started, she had black knee-high socks and chunky boots to go along. Sported with a large black shirt that had a headless body on it, blood splattered on the ground around it, and right of above it it read ‘Bloodied Angels’ in a ragged and fluid red font. She had on millions of chain necklaces, but a specifically long one that had a key on it.

Armin was wearing the same shirt, with some black baggy ripped jeans, showing off some fishnets underneath them that Mikasa had convinced him to wear. His freshly cut blonde hair was a bit roughened up, and he had on his black converse. He too, had a necklace with a key on it as well.

“You don’t mind if I post this, do you? It’s so cute.” Mikasa piped up.

“No, it’s ok. I was gonna post it too.” Armin answered honestly, “thanks for doing my makeup and lending me some clothes. Appreciate it.”

“Min, you’re my best friend. Anytime.”

“I know, Kasa. But we gotta get going. The concert starts in like 30 and the ride to the stadium takes like 10”

Mikasa just nodded and ran out the bathroom to get their tickets off her bedroom nightstand. Armin walked out the bathroom too, to see Mikasa and with her leather mini backpack on already.

”I’m guessing you already grabbed the tickets?” Armin mused, walking over to the window to close it.

“yeah. It got dark outside quick.”

“I can see, cmon”

Within a matter of seconds, Armin was already out the door and was clutching the handle to the drivers door with his right hand, keys in his left.

“Miiinnnn!” She dragged out the nickname, “I wanted to drive!” Her plump lip curved into a pout as she locked the door to her shared house.

“Yeah you will!” Armins lips stretched into a grin, “when u get your license.” He ducked into the car.

Mikasa just groaned as she walked over to the car and pushed herself into the plush passenger seat of Armins navy blue car.

______

When the friends arrived, it was packed. It was an inside concert, so they both knew it was gonna be hot as hell in the actual event. As Armin was trying to find parking, there was at least 20-30 people lined up and turning in their tickets.

 When they finally found a parking spark close enough to the front of the establishment, they ran out of the car and greeted each other behind Armins car.

 They laced fingers and stood on their tippy toes, and squealed like little kids.

“I can’t believe we’re finally getting to go see them! We’ve been obsessing over them and their hotness for like what.. 4 years?” Mikasa gushed.

 “Yup! Let’s hurry I wanna see them come out on the stage!” They ran, hand in hand to get in the line like their lives depended on it.

 Once they were in line, it started to lessen slowly. At least that’s what it felt like. Every second that the employee took taking peoples tickets felt like an hour to Armin.

 Mikas’s excitement had died down a little, since they were in front of people now. Armin sighed. She had been like that since they had grown to be friends. She only ever really talked or, to be honest, shared any emotion with anyone or anybody until they were close.

 
Armin was snapped out of his reminiscing when he heard the worker ask for their tickets. He stuttered fro a second like he was gonna say something, until Mikasa pulled them out of her bag. He forgot she grabbed them. As soon as the worker told them they were free to go, Mikasa grabbed his hand and bolted for the doors of the building.

 Armin couldn’t help but smile at her happiness, and he felt his own excitement bubbling up his stomach as they entered through the wide glass doors.

 The inside was a bit musky smell, mixed with the faint scent of body spray and alcohol. It made Armin scrunch his nose a bit.

 It was light up with blue lights at the beginning of the building, where the bar and such was, and more towards the stage the lights became a gradient to bright red.

 Before he could register the sea of people waiting at the stage , Mikasa, still latched onto his hand, ran head first into it.

 
 She tugged him through people, gushing apologies left and right. He just stumbled and struggled to keep up with her. He was finally about to open his mouth to get onto Mikasa about shoving him into multiple fellow fans, they came to an abrupt stop.

 Armin looked up and he saw those bright red lights illuminating the stage, and realized how quiet the crowd had gotten in anticipation. It felt like everyone was holding their breath. It made the hairs on his arms rise, and he inched closer to Mikasa’s bicep.

 He felt his stomach churning as the slightest bit of wind hit the curtains that were the wall separating him from one of his favorite bands.

 Eren had his fingers already in position for the first chord of the song. He was gonna be playing a couple solo’s throughout some songs tonight, so he made sure to do some extra hand workouts before their concert today.

 “Y’all ready?” Sasha said from behind Jean, who was standing and tuning the microphone. She didn’t have her usual ponytail, today she let her reddish-amber brown hair flow over her shoulders as she held up her drumsticks, playing on her lap.

 “yeah. We should get pizza after this. I haven’t eaten shit.” Ymir retorted, getting her guitar ready with Eren.

 “I saw historia trying to shove some pasta in your mouth before the show. Why didn’t you eat?” Jean questioned.

 
“Because I knew it was gonna be fucking hot in here, and I didn’t want throw up in some fans face or some shit.”

 “fuck.. is stuffed my face before this. I didn’t think about that.” Sasha huffed, making a face of defeat.

 
 ”We know.” The rest of the band responded collectively.

 
 “Well, get ready. Curtains bout to open” Jean announced through a long sigh.

 
 They all hopped into their positions, ready to face the crowd, hearing them grow quiet and steady.

 
 The curtains flew open, the lights blinding Eren for a second. His eyes squeezed shut for a moment, and they blew back open with determination as the crown whooped and screamed at the sight of them.

 The feeling always flooding his body with ambition and made him grin his signature sideways smile as he heard a ‘Marry me Eren Yeager!’ Somewhere among the ocean of people.

 “Take me out to dinner first” he says into his own microphone, as his eyes scanned the crowd.

 That made the group scream.

 
 “Well, slow down there, Yeager. We still have a show to put on, don’t we?” Jeans ashy brown mullet swayed as he spoke to the crowd.

 Multiple ‘hell yeahs’ and ‘please!’ ‘S were heard as they started the opening of a their song ‘I made out with a stranger at a Kroger’ played.

Chapter Text

  
  There they were. All Armin could do was sit and stare at the band members as the curtains lashed open abruptly, not giving him a moment to even breathe as he latched onto Mikasa, and even she was breathless for a second.

 Before his mind could actually wrap his head around that his favorite band was standing in front of them, going to play them songs, he felt steaming liquid hit his cheek.

 What the hell? He thought, before inched his pupils to the where his fingers gripped tightly at the end of Mikasa’s sleeve.

It was Mikasa, the hot liquid he felt hit him a second ago were her tears. Tears of happiness. She had loved the band much longer than Armin had. But seeing her over the moon enough to be crying and vulnerable in a public space because of excitement, he had realized his own cheerfulness welling up in his own chest.

Seeing Mikasa cry has always made him cry, too. No matter what it was about, if Armin cried, Mikasa would rub small circles on his back and comfort him. But for Armin, crying with her was really all he knew to do.

 And so, that’s what he did. He enveloped him in her arms, sure that their makeup was partially ruined by now. But it didn’t matter much to them, anymore. They both held onto each forger for dear life, turning their heads together- ear to ear to watch the show. Even through their sobbing. They heard the opening lyrics of that one Kroger song Mikasa liked, and they both squealed.

 It would’ve been an odd sight to see, he thought about how people around him saw this scene. Was it doing too much? Was it necessary? But from the whoops and hollers of the crowd, he figured they were much too occupied to even be batting an eye their way.

_____

Soon enough, they had stopped crying. Though, they hadn’t made an effort to stop embracing each other. 

 The band had already sung an official one of there albums, and the bonus cover of a song would be coming up soon. It was a suprise, so none of the crowd really knew what song it would be. 

 As if on cue, the ashy blonde male upon the stage stood carefully in front of the microphone, already covered in sweat from their performance. 

 “Up next, and last but not least, the cover we promised.” His husky voice reached over the entire audience, making them wave their arms and shout.

Sasha tapped her sticks together loudly before the start of the song. 

 And Eren and Ymir had started on their guitars. It was a soft song. It felt promising, but solemn at the same time 

 A hush immediately came down upon the audience like a blanket at the sudden change of emotion. And then, unexpectedly, Eren had began the beginning lyrics. His voice soft, not his usual raspy- screeching like voice. It was.. enchanting.

 “Blood red sheets are my favorite.”

 He started, the spotlight leaned against his heavy figure. His expression of rage and pure playfulness had left his face. 

He stood still had he watched the spotlight change over to Ymir. Her hands still playing a chord, with Erens in the back ground.

“I could be your greatest weakness”

Armin felt his heart swell up, hearing the lyrics of his favorite song being executed so emotionally perfect. He felt tears threatening to spill down his face again. He was alone this time, Mikasa had disappeared from his side a second ago, mumbling she was gonna go get them a drink.

The spotlight flicked over to Jean, who had his lip pursed, about to say the next lyric as Sasha’s light drumming could be found in the background.

”cause’ she’s got me so damn nervous.” 

 Eren and Ymir, guitar in hand, still strumming away, began to start circling around the stage slowly. 

“I’m a zombie baby, what’s my purpose?” All three of them had harmonized perfectly. All in sync. Like their souls were intertwined- in a platonic sense.

 “I want your heart, I want your brain.” They paused for a moment, Eren bending down towards the audience to pick up a dark red rose from a fans hand, the group of girls practically dropping dead at the proximity to the infamous Eren Yeager. “and that body” 

Ymir was on the other side of the stage, also coaxing fans and reveling in the shower of white roses thrown her way. She smiled, knowing how much of a sloppy kiss she was gonna give historia after this. 

 Eren made his way down through the line of fans lining up against the edge of the stage, making sure not to give any too much attention, that might spike suspicion in some weird journal one of his obsessive fans had.

But he couldn’t help it when he came across a blonde man, looking around his age, staring at him brightly like he was gonna combust with blissfulness if he looked at him a little longer.  “Cause you’ve got me” Eren whispered with the rest of the members, his eyes lingering on the boys hand for a second. He hadn’t even realized he had done it. His touch went on for far too long until he moved onto the next fan. “Going too insane” he finished, as he and Ymir met in the middle, and walked back to their original positions to finish out the song.

”you can’t control me” they all crooned together.

 Eren knew everyone noticed how he kept glancing back at the fanboy until he was dragged away by a Gothier dressed woman. His eyes were forced to look down at the strings of his guitar, not even realizing how much his hand was cramping.

_______

 “Yo Eren, you find your soulmate or what?” Sasha snickered behind him as they all lounged backstage.

 
 Eren just rolled his eyes before he left his head fall back into the maroon sofa.

”better not have. No fan - member relationships.” Levi, their manager came out from a small department on the other side of the room of backstage. “Remember what happened last time? That Floch bitch was something else.” 

 Eren grimaced at the name Floch. It had been forever since then, but he couldn’t get the bad taste of blood out of his mouth when Floch literally tried to kill him with the argument ‘if I can’t have you, no one can.’ That childish shit that was spewing from his mouth. Eren still had a scar from where the knife had grazed the small of his back. “Augh. Don’t remind me.. but I wasn’t thinking about anything..”

Levi hummed, obviously not believing him, sitting down on a black couch across from the maroon one Eren was sitting on. “Well, your brats did great. A lot of money has flown in already.” Despite his words, his voice was still a sort of cold and icey. “Now get the hell out and go mingle or whatever kids your age do..” he spat.

”yeah, yeah. Whatever old man.” Jean mused as he walked passed him. “Gonna go meet some fans and friends or some shit, do I can go home.” 

 “For once, I agree with Jean. I’m tired as hell, but I could go for a couple shots.” I the chimed in, getting up to follow him. 

“I second!” Sasha wailed at the realization that they were leaving her.

 “Nah, I’m just go gonna home to my sweet Christa.” Ymir said proudly as she strutted out of the room, guitar on her back.

 Levi waited for all of them to leave. He sighed, a soothing and relieved one. He chuckled slightly. they've Come so far. He just took out his phone and shot Erwin a text.

- Come pick me up, dipshit.

Chapter Text

 Eren twirled the ring on his lip as he walked through the back of the stage, stopping to sign autographs for people. He was tired, just wanted a drink and an Ibuprofen or some shit and, to go home, more than anything. 

 He kept walking once the attention started to revert back to the other members as they walked out also, he kept going til he reached the bar at the beginning of the establishment.

 Armin had been sitting on a plush stool in front of the counter while Mikasa sat beside him, sipping on a black, shimmery cocktail. She had been trying to convince him to try some, since it was officially legal for him to. But he couldn’t bring himself to it. He had heard nothing good from how alcohol tasted, and he had a weak enough stomach already. 

 He was twiddling with his fingers when Mikasa spoke. 

“I’ve gotta use the restroom. I’ll be back in a minute” 

 “Alright, clock anybody in the face if they try messing with you.”

”you know me so well, Armin”

He chuckled and went back to sipping on his Shirley Temple, the only non-alcoholic drink they were serving that night, when something caught his eye. 

 It was a tall man, who had the same clothes Eren Yeager had been wearing up on the stage, except he had his hood up. Armin couldn’t see their face so he figured they were just a fan or something. So he turned to face back at his drink.

 Except, when the so called stranger pulled his hood down, it wasn’t just a stranger. It was Eren.  And he had the biggest grin on his face as he looked at him. Eren sat down in one of the stools about a seat away from Armin, and put his elbow up on the counter for him to rest his head on. “You the cutey from the crowd?”

Armins mouth hung agape, a slight blush creeping up on his cheeks, reaching his ears. “What?” 

“Never mind, but you don’t look like you fit round here.”

Armins eyes had been quickly trying to find anything else to stare at something, “oh” is all he managed to get out. A weak “oh.”

His lips pursed, then he bag an to speak again, trying not to say anything creepy now that his dream man was literally sitting beside him.

 “Me and my friend are big fans.. could we um,” he began, “have a picture. .?”

 “Yes..” Eren paused, “if I can have your number” He kept smiling so casually, as if what he said wasn’t just the most arbitrary thing on earth.

 Armin just whipped his head back around to stare back at his half empty glass.

 God. . When is Mikasa coming back? He contemplated.

 “Leave that man alone, Eren. Stop hitting on fans, you know what happened last time..” the bartender spoke as they had a red rimmed shot glass in their hand, scrubbing the bottom of it. “The usual?”

 “Ok, first of all” Eren snapped, “this dude is waaaay cuter than fucking dickhead Floch. Never trust a ginger” That made Armin smile a bit. Which in turn, made Eren smirk as he saw him out of the corner of his eye. “But yeah, thanks Hange”

 The bartender just turned their back towards Eren, their tied back half-ponytail swaying as they turned. 

Eren turned back to him. “Sooooo. . About that offer. Phone number for a picture? Picture for a phone number?” 

Armin had to think for a moment before he said anything. It would make Mikasa really happy. Plus, him. A picture with his favorite band member of the Bloodied Angels? How did he even had to think about it in the first place, honestly. Not to mention the fact that he was mentally freaking the fuck out. It hadn’t even registered in his mind that Eren Yeager had asked for his phone number. And called him cute. What the fuck was happening tonight?

Armin huffed out. “. . Sure.” He replied in a squeaky voice. This was the first time he wished he had his long hair back, so he could hid behind it like a shield again.

 “Awesome! Can I uh, see your phone? For the number I mean” 

“Um, alright” He dug into the pocket of his jeans, and whipped out his light-blue iPhone and handed it to the brunette man.

 Eren gently took it out of Armins hand, his black painted finger nails overlapping a bit with Armins when he took it. 

 As the man tapped away on Armins phone screen, tucking a particularly long string of hair that kept getting in his face behind his pierced ear. Armin took this time to admire him, as if he hadn’t already looked at pictures of this man for hours.

”and now the picture!” Eren had reached out with Armins phone in the air, “you don’t mind if I do it, do you?” 

Armin shook his head, smiling softly at the camera.

 Eren just smiled wholeheartedly, his sharp canines sticking out and sinking into his bottom lip as he clicked the button to take it. 

 Just as Eren gave back Armin his phone, his drink had been placed on the counter. It was a orangey red drink, and As soon as Eren picked it up he gulped it down, slamming some bills on the counter in front of him. 

 “Well, give me a text later, it’ll last longer, …” Eren just gave him a questioning look as he got up from the stool, dusting off his pants.

 “Oh! Um.. A-Armin.” 

“Alright, Armin. Cute.” He said as he walked away.

 And before Armin could even turn back around form watching the man’s back disappear into the crowd, a hand landed on his shoulder harshly. 

 “Was that just THE Eren fuckin’ Yeager?” Mikasa almost shouted in his ear.

Armin didn’t have the capacity to say anything, he just  nodded his head frantically trying to recollect his thoughts.

 “Please tell me you got a picture.”

Chapter Text

It had been a day after his birthday, and after the concert, and he was laying in Mikasa’s purple bedsheets. Her thick, dark comforter laying gently over his nose as he lay with his knees against his chest, facing the raven haired girl.

Mikasa was over by her vanity, leaning over to look more closely at her makeup or something in her lit-up mirror.

“Good morning. Were you really that passed out last night? It’s 11 already.” Mikasa hadn’t moved from her spot when she said this.

Armin shot up immediately. “11? ‘Kasa! You let me sleep til 11?” He frowned.

”don’t blame me! You looked tired. Tired enough to just throw your shirt off and crash in my bed”

“I did what?” He looked down. He was, in fact, shirtless and in her bed. A horrified expression tore across his face like paper being ripped in half aggressively. “Holy shit! I’m so sorry ‘Kasa. Where did you sleep?”

“Wow, that’s how you know Armin Arlerts messed up. You don’t cuss often. What the hell did meeting Eren do to you, huh?”

“Um, sorry..” a rosy pink settled on his chest and cheeks as he remembered his meeting with him. “But still, where did you sleep?”

“On the couch. It was your birthday, Armin. Don’t apologize.” She turned to him, eyebrow pencil in hand, “and you have an iced pink drink on the nightstand, just how you like it” she turned her torso back to the mirror.

Armin turned his head over to the black nightstand, and surely enough, his drink and phone was there. He reached out and wrapped his fingers around the cup, and fell back onto the silk pillows. “You’re an angel” he sighed out as he took a long swig of his drink, making sure not to spill it anywhere.

“I know I am. By the way, I’m going out with Annie and Hitch in a little bit. You can leave whenever you want, just make sure you lock the door behind you” Mikasa muttered as she did the finishing touches of her mascara.

”yes ma’am” he replied, eyes closed, as he lay there on the bed, limbs spread out like a cat basking in the sunlight that streams through windows.

Speak of the devil. Mikasa’s black, bombay cat, Hydra, came to nuzzle under a bit under Armins chin, keeping her warm body together on his chest.

“Yeah, you haven’t come over in a while, she’s missed you” Mikasa smiled as she grabbed her black purse and wrapped it around her shoulder, “I’m going now. See you later”

“Bye, Tell Hitch and Annie I said hey” he called out to her as she walked out of the room.

He silently brought his hand up to pet through the fur of Hydra’s back, as she purred quietly and snuggled into the midst of his chest.

He and the cat sat there for a couple of minutes, Armin curling up his fingers to scratch her small chin before finally getting up and having to pry the cat up off of him without her clawing onto him the way cats do blankets. As he failed to do so, there was a faint red line on his chest from the place he had picked Hydra up from.

 He grimaced at the quick ache there, but shaking it off and swung his legs over the bed. He silently got up, letting out a breathy yawn before going over to where his shirt was thrown on Mikasa’s show box.

 As he threw his shirt back on sloppily, he walked back over to the night stand. The wood creaked under him as he stood there for a second, his mind started to pick up its pace and actually start functioning back from his slobbery, melting morning brain. He swiftly snatched his phone up, and started to tug his shoes on, not bothering to tie them. 

 Armin Arlert has a bad case of  ‘Ill ignore my problems and feelings until they catch up with me.’

 And today, was no exception. He didn't have time to deal with the situation he got himself in last night. What if it involves into something way bigger than Armin is ready for? What if him and Eren get seen together and people start hating on him, or judging him? 

 Don’t be silly, Armin. It’s Eren Yeager. He was probably just playing around anyways. . Armin’s thoughts wandered as he jogged out to his car and pulled open the drivers door.

 He still couldn’t help but think about it, imagine it, take sneak peeks at his phone. The man of his dreams is just a text away. He swatted his hand as the air in the car started to suffocate him. He rolled down a window and put his key in the ignition.

Armin puffed out hot air as he sat with his hands in his hands, slightly crouched over the counter of the bookstore. It was his part time, but still tiring nonetheless, it being a pretty busy cafe-library type thing.
 

“you stay up last night, Armin?” Peick asked as she walked quickly, a large brown box filled to the brim with books in her arms.

Armin sighed as he spoke, “No. Don’t remember half of the night last night, other than meeti-“ he paused. He didn’t know if he should be telling people. Armin didn’t even know if what he experienced last night was real. “Never mind” He leaned upwards to sit straight again, another few customers pouring through the door.

 Peick looked like she didn’t believe him at all. She just turned around, looking for a place to put the box as her messy black hair swayed as she walked away.

 Armin perked up and plastered on a small, friendly smile as the group of customers stammered past the checking out counter. His smile faltered as his eyes followed them, he noticed one of them looked pretty familiar. He just couldn’t put his finger on it. One thing he did note, however, were the bright, almost neon teal-green eyes on a tanned stranger as they walked past- slightly trailing behind the group. He had on a basic drawstring grey jacket that went down to his mid thigh, normal slightly baggy black pants, completed with a normal white shirt. He had a messy man bun, a bunch of stray hairs coming up at his neck. 

 He looks kind of like Eren. A weird basic dopple ganger, I guess. Armin thought as he slowly turned his head back to his coffee sat in front of him.

 Usually he would be doing his college stuff at work, because they allowed him to. But they were off because of something they had on campus, but that didn’t stop his professors from piling work up over the past couple days. But Armin had gotten damn near everything down the night before the concert so he would have to stay up that night. But now, he had nothing to do at work other than mindlessly scroll through instagram reels.

 
 And that’s exactly what he was doing when the stranger he had admired earlier came up to the check out counter, holding a fairly girthey book in his strong hands. 

 “Will this be all for you today sir?” Armin asked as he looked down, taking the hook form the man’s hands.

 “Well is that how you greet me?” A husky voice asked from slightly above Armin.

 Armin whisked his head up, almost hitting the stranger with his head. “Eren?” He asked, eyes wide. He could barely contain his excitement, but did a fairly good job concealing it. At least he thought so.

 “yeah, well that’s my name” Eren chuckled, “So ya gonna check out my book or not Blondie?”

Armin blushed a bit at the nickname. “Uh, yeah.. right” he tried his best to act causally as he answered, despite mentally freaking the fuck out again because THE Eren of Shiganshina was standing near him.

”The Twilight Saga?” Armin mused.

 “For a friend, they asked me to pick it up. Here’s the library card” 

 “oh, makes sense. Um.. you don’t look like you usually do..” 

 “yeah, this is to keep people away from me. Ya like it?” Eren gestured to his body playfully as he smiled lopsided-ly. 

 It made Armin giggle a bit. “Yeah” he answered, giving Eren his card and his book back.

”Text me when you get a chance, Armin. Bye” Eren walked off before Armin even had a chance to respond, leaving the blonde man to lean over the counter to watch Erens back as he rounded the corner. 

 It was only then that, again, it registered to him that that is Eren Yeager. Eren Yeager kept asking him to text him. The thought brought a blush to dust over his cheeks slightly. 

Chapter Text

 Armin had been sitting in the back of Mikasa’s car. He had gotten done with work a couple hours ago and after had gone to a restaurant to join Mikasa, Annie, and Hitch for dinner. He was sitting with all of his belongings in his lap, looking out his window when Hitch spoke.

 “Soo.. wanna go to a bar something?” Hitch asked, “Has Armin had any alcohol yet? I know his 21st birthday was just yesterday” 

 “No. Well, he had a little bit last night. He’s either extremely light weight or the concert really tired him out last night.” Mikasa answered as Armin just sat and listened. “I’m not particularly in a mood for alcohol, I doubt Annie is either. But we can go with you guys if Armin wants to go.” They all looked at Armin expectingly. 

 “Um” he paused, trying to think about it. It shouldn’t hurt, right? I mean.. I know it doesn’t taste great.. but I’m in my twenties now.. I guess it could be fun.. he thought. “Why not?” He smiled sheepishly.

 “Hell yeah!” Hitch exclaimed, pumping her fist into the air, almost hitting Annie.

 “Hit me hitch, and I’ll leave you on the side of the street.” Is all Annie had to say about it before looking back toward Mikasa, who was driving. 

“Where should we go?” Mikasa asked, her purple-ish almost black eyes flicking at them through the mirror.

 “We can go by that one place on Trost Ave.. I heard it wasn’t that bad” Hitch queried.

 “Alright” 

 Armin just fiddled with his thumbs as Mikasa kept driving, a comfortable silence fell over them while the steady sound of tires on the road echoed in Armins ears, until they came to an abrupt stop. 

 Armin peaked out of Hitches window, and saw a large, black building with neon signs everywhere, but a particularly large one hanging in front of the door that read ‘Liquid Alchemy’

 “Is this it, Hitch?” Mikasa asked as she parked as the side of the road in front of the building, turning her torso to face Hitch. 

 “Yeah, let’s go” Hitch replied, already unbuckling. “Oh.. and I forgot to add..” she had the most shit eating grin Armin had ever seen. “Its not just a bar” she finished as she stepped out of the car.

 “What?” Armin asked as he too, stepped out of the car.

“oh my god, Hitch, you need to tell us next time. Armin might not be all right with going on there now.” Mikasa sighed as she went and circled around the car to wait for Armin with Annie and Hitch at her side.

 “Is it one of those?” Armin asked as he got to where they were standing, his voice full or horror but also disappointment as he turned to look at Hitch. 

 
 “What do you mean?” Hitch snickered as she turned around.

 Armin just huffed and pulled out his new ID. 

 
Inside, it stunk of perfume and alcohol. It was dim, and there was several put off booths they walked past that Armin didn’t even want to imagine what was happening inside of them.

 They all found a spot at the long bar counter, sitting on the black, leather seats. They all heard the loud bump of music from a large doorway behind them that was covered by a thick curtain. 

 “So..” Hitch started, “Armin, ya wanna go watch the show with me?” 

 Armin just stared at her before he knew what she was asking, a slight rosy pink rose up to his cheeks as he thought about it. “No thanks..” 

“You’re no fun. Annie? Mikasa?”

 “Absolutely not.” 

 “no.” 

 “You guys are no fun” Hitch huffed as she walked off, as she opened the curtain, the music got a bit louder but quieted down when it got shut again.

 Armins eyes just wandered around the bar, taking in everything. It was nothing like the small bar that was at the show.There was only a couple other people that sat in the corners on the bar, minding their own business and drinking. There was a large range of alcoholic beverages lined up against a large wall, cascading down several shelves. There was a couple mixers and some weird cup looking things he didn’t quite recognize lined up too. A man with a slightly long face and amberish-brown hair wearing a formal vest started to walk up to them. 

 “Hello, could I see your ID’s?” The man asked.

Armin already had his in his hand from earlier, and Mikasa reached into her purse for hers and Annie’s. Armin put his on the counter with the girls and the man picked them up, inspecting them. 

He hummed for a second, then put the ID’s down. He smiled warmly before clasping his hands together, “what can I get for you guys today?”

 Armin stayed silent, biting the inside of his lip a bit. Annie and Mikasa had already started to move their mouths, though. 

 “A strawberry spritzer” Mikasa answered, looking over at Armin while Annie ordered.

 “Do you want me to order something for you?” She whispered to him, in a serious tone. 

 Armin nodded eagerly. 

 “He’ll take a Blue Lagoon.” Mikasa answered for him as she began to take out her wallet. Armin put a hand on her sleeve. 

“No, Mikasa, I can pay” He assured her, but she just brushed him off. He knew if Mikasa didn’t want to pay, she wouldn’t. But Mikasa was also as stubborn as a mule when she did want to. He just sighed in defeat and put his elbow on the counter to hold his head up.

 “Soo..” Armins lips curled a bit into a smirk as he spoke, “is there anything going on between you guys?” 

 Neither of the girls said anything, they just kind of sat there with a dead expression on their faces. 

 “Really?” Armin asked, “cmon I know you guys can feel that tension. Getting a tad fed up with you guys ignoring your obvious feelings” he rolled his eyes.

 “There are no feelings.” Annie deadpanned, slightly pulling at the string of her white hoodie. Mikasa just sat there, waiting for their drinks.

Armin just turned his head back to watch the man making their drinks. But it wasn’t a man this time- it was another person. It was the same person who had been at the bar while they were at the concert. They were wearing the same formal vest the man had had on, but with a black tie. They started to walk toward the group, drinks in hand.

 “Here you guys are” the person said as they put the groups drinks down, pausing when they looked at Armin. “You’re that dude Yeager was talking to, right?”

”uhm, I- I, yeah..” Armin sputtered at the sudden question, his full attention now on the bartender.

 “Names Hange, by the way.” The bartender shared, “so, you two got something going on? Not that it’s any of my business.. I just care for him is all. Last time he talked to a fan.. if your a real fan on Eren’s you should know” 

 “Oh uhm, no.. we don’t have anything going on” Armin replied, shaking his head slightly, nervously. 

 “Alright then, I’ll be off” Hange trailed off, as they walked back towards a door on the far side of the bar counter.

 Suddenly, Hitch arrived by his side. “What was that about?”

 “Nothing..” Armin replied, reluctantly taking a sip of the blue-clear cocktail drink that had been sat in front of him, twirling the little umbrella as he did so. It was bitter sweet, the horrible taste of alcohol landed in the back of his throat. It made his face scrunch up in disgust, but it was tempting to go back for more. 

 “whatever you say man” Hitch replied, sitting on a stool beside him and ordering a drink as well. Armin didn’t quite hear the name of it, but it sounded strong. And when it was placed in front of her, it didn’t look too appealing. The clear to brown liquid swirling around in a slightly large glass as she took a big swig of it. Hitch had barely any reaction. And if she did, she hid it well. 

 “Hey Armin, wanna try some?” She asked with a grin, leaning towards the blonde male.

He huffed. It shouldn’t hurt anything, right? The drink he had wasn’t too bad. “… sure” 

Hitches face contorted into shocked expression, easing her eyebrows all the way. “Wait, for real? I didn’t think you’d say yes! Cmere” Hitch put her arm around Armins shoulders and held the glass to Armins mouth. 

 Mikasa and Annie didn’t seem to pay much attention to them. They were off having their own conversation, Mikasa’s back turned to them.

 “I said-“ hiccup “some..” Armin hiccuped again as he laid his chin on the counter. His eyes felt like they were 100 pound magnets, trying to touch each other no matter what. His limbs felt much too heavy for his body, his head felt like it was going to pop off. He had been forced to chug almost the entire glass. 

 Mikasa was just scolding Hitch, and Annie was playing on her phone. No one was really paying him any attention. 

“Armin, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.. let’s get you home” Hitch apologized as she put Armins limp arms around her shoulder, Mikasa doing the same on his other side as they walked him out to the car. 

 “Are you sure you’re gonna be able to make it to your apartment?” Annie asked him, in an uncharacteristicly-kind way.

 “Yes!” He yelled back triumphantly, puffing his chest out, even with his words slurring together. 

 “Be safe Armin. If you get into any trouble..” Mikasa called from the passenger seat.

”I’ll call you!” He yelled back as he walked toward his apartment building, his feet slightly dragging. 

 Once he was up to his apartment, he got his keys out and ever so slowly picked up the right one and slid it into the key hole. As his door opened, a wave of consciousness hit him like a truck. He was suddenly wide awake now, he even felt like he could fight a 50 foot monster and be victorious.

 He closed his door and locked it, put his keys up, kicked his shoes off, and ran to his bedroom.

 He plopped on the bed happily, reveling in the feeling of his soft blankets before digging into the rough pockets of his jeans to retrieve his phone. As soon as he whipped it out, his swiped upward and put in his password. Not even knowing what he got it out for, he stared at the screen for a moment. Then a thought came to him. Eren.

 He immediately fumbled with his fingers to press the IMessage app, clicking to make a new chat. as soon as he typed ‘E’ on his keyboard his name popped up. ‘Eren 🤗’ 

 When did he name his contact? Oh. He must’ve put it like that when I handed him my phone.. Armin chuckled at the idea that Eren put that dumb emoji by his name. He clicked on the contact. 

 Usually, Armin wouldn’t have even thought about texting Eren. Like, ever. He’s too much of a nervous wreck.. but this wasn’t usually. He could blame the drinks he had if he got asked about it.

 The realization brought Armin a pretty steady source of confidence, and he shot Eren a text.

 Armin: Hey

Armin immediately turned his phone off and turned it around to face the bed. He buried his face in his hands and giggled like a child, before a loud ding came from his phone. 

 Armin had never picked up his phone so fast in his life.

 Eren: Was wondering when you would text ;) 

 Eren: what made you do it?

 Armin: A couple of drinks.

 Eren: oh was it now? Guess you don’t

like me enough to text me when your sober..

Armin: No I do

 Eren: oh so you like me? My charm never

fails

 Armin: Why did you ask me of all people for

my number?

Armin grimaced at the straight forward message, knowing he was gonna die of embarrassment when he wakes up.

 Eren: Well, your really cute and you seem

nice

 Armin: I’m flattered. Your the best band

member ;) 

 Eren: is someone trying to flirt with me???

 Armin: Something like that.

 Eren. Well, if you like me so much you’ll let 

me take you out. Niccolos? Tmr? 5pm?

 Armin: I’ve heard it’s good. I’ll see you there!

 Eren: glad you accepted, Blondie

 Eren: I’ll see you there ;)

 Not only did Armin have a massive head ache when he woke up, he almost threw his phone across his room when he saw what he had done last night. Now he had to go have dinner with THE Eren Yeager. He was so nervous he wanted to cry, scream and throw up. 

What. The. Fuck.

Chapter Text

 Armin had felt nauseous all morning. It was falling into the afternoon when he finally stumbled out of bed and made him some cereal, his fingers fumbling to turn months coffee pot. He had his head in his hands, the back of skull was throbbing. 

 He stumbled away from the counter his elbows were aching on, and flipped through his cabinets until he reached where he kept his medicine. He quickly snatched some Ibuprofen and a water bottle, chugging down the two pills quickly.

 “Ughh..” he groaned, it was cold in his apartment, the hairs on his arm sticking up with goosebumps.  He dragged himself into the cold, tiled bathroom, turning on the shower to the hottest setting. He waited until his whole mirror was foggy, and dampness and droplets were clinging to his skin. 

 Armin let the hot water trickle through his hair, and down his chest. His head was slightly tipped back, taking in the warmth, his short, light, blonde hair now turned a dirty blonde from the wetness. He was whipped out of his trance when his phone rung from the bathroom counter. Ehh..it can wait. 

 His hair still a bit damp, Armin was getting dressed to go to work. He had on a tightly knitted dark red sweater, his white collar picking out underneath, his basic khaki cargo pants and his white converse. As of now, he decided to ignore the situation with Eren until he just had to deal with it. 

 
 “Armin, you have that look again.” Pieck sat in front of him, they were both on their 15, Armin staring blankly down at the message on his phone screen. 

 Eren: are you still on for later tonight?

 “It’s nothing.” He assured her, waving his hand dismissively - but he paused. “Well..”

 Pieck perked up in her seat, her messy black hair in a ponytail today. “Hm?”

 “I can trust you, right? That sounds stupid.. but I don’t know anyone else to ask” 

 “yes, Armin. You can trust me” Pieck answered almost immediately.

 “Ok so.. what if a dude asked me out to dinner but I’ve been avoiding him because it made me nervous but then again I had drinks last night and drunkenly told him I wanted to go, and, and” Armins words had been spewing from his mouth, much too fast.

 “Slow down. I think, you should tell him how it is.” Pieck said casually, “do you want to go?” She looked at him expectantly.

 “I, I don’t know..” Armin stared at his lap.

 “Just go, Armin. I never see you taking to anyone else but Mikasa. If you don’t like it just call her- I’m sure she’ll beat him up.” 

 “But it’s not- he isn’t..” 

 “he isn’t what?” 

 “Nothing, thanks for the advice.. I think I’ll go..” 

 “there you go. Anyway, I’m gonna go get myself a muffin.” She got up, dusting off her long skirt.

 “Isn’t it a bit late for a muffin?” Armin chuckled.

 “Never too late for a muffin.” She said as she walked off towards the cafe.

  He laughed a bit before switching his phone back on, his thumbs hovering over his keyboard for a moment.

 
 Armin: Yeah

 Armin swiftly tucked his phone away in his pocket before Eren could respond, going back to restocking shelves with new books they had just got in.

 
 5:00 was inching closer and closer, and the closer it got, the more worried and sweaty Armin got. So many thoughts swirled his mind.  

 What if it was just a cruel joke? What if he doesn’t actually want to see me? What if he ditches me? Is what I’m wearing ok? Do I-

A hand lightly landed on his shoulder. He didn’t even realize his forehead was leaned against one of the shelves and he was sweating like crazy. He probably looked like a mad man. 

 “You ok there?” The man whose hand had been on his shoulder asked. 

 Armins head whipped harshly to the side, only to see a familiar freckled face of Marco. “Oh, hi Marco.. yeah I’m ok. Sorry” 

 “no, it’s ok. You just looked wrapped up in thought. You’re off in 5 right?” 

 “Yeah, why do you ask?”

“It’s kind of complicated.. I just need to talk to you about it. It shouldn’t take long” 

 “alright” Armin replied, putting the last book on the manga shelf. “We can go ahead and talk, I’m technically already off” 

 “Great! The sooner the better” Marco gestured for Armin to follow him to one of the cafe tables. 

 As soon as they sat down on one of the cushioned seats, Marco enthusiastically clasped his hands together. Marco was always so cheerful, come to think of it.. Armin couldn’t remember a time when Marco was upset. He was always optimistic about everything. 

 “Ok.. so..” Marco started, “I have a.. proposal to make. You know the little ‘battle of the bands’ thing coming up soon in Trost?” 

 Armin nodded his head, Mikasa had told him she wanted to go recently.

 “Soo.. it turns out, you don’t actually need a real band. Just throw some people together and make music, get a prize if you’re good, as simple as that.” 

 Armin nodded again, slowly this time. “Where is this going?” 

 “Well, you have quite an angelic voice. I was hoping.. maybe you could be a singer with me, and Bertolt.” Marco put it simply, “don’t worry! You wouldn’t be singing alone. We all would be, but you would be the lead.. and we would also be playing some instruments, because obviously” 

 “that’s, that’s a lot..” Armin replied

 “I know, I know, I’m sorry for suddenly laying all this on you. But we don’t have anyone else, and your voice is amazing. I think you would be a great fit for the song we’re doing. You have at least three weeks to think about it anyways, I’ll see you later! I’m so sorry I have to go!” Marco had already bolted out the door before Armin could even fix his lips to say anything. 

 Armins eyes just stared there for a moment, his mouth gaped when he remembered how close it was to 5:00 when he had checked his phone last. He fumbled it out quickly. 

 ‘5:03’ 

 Fuck! 

 Eren waited at the empty reserved table. He was being as patient as he could, but he was pretty much known for not being so. He just put his hands on the table, playing with his rings before he took out his phone.

 ‘5:10’

 There’s no way he flunked, right? He seemed pretty nice. Eren thought to himself, he could feel the slight bubbling of anger in his chest, his thick brow furrowed.  What the fuck am I talking about. How would I even know if he’s nice or not? 

He was considering leaving if the blonde didn’t show up in the next 5 minutes, but as soon as he did, he saw a flash of short blonde hair st the front of the restaurant, looking around frantically for someone. For him. 

 When Armins eyes finally fell on the brunette, a slight flash of guilt tore across his eyes for a moment as he sped walked towards Eren. 

 Eren just smiled at the other man, relieved that he showed up in the first place. 

 Armin pulled his own chair out, his mouth already moving and bombarding Eren with apologies - but Eren cut him off abruptly. “It’s ok, I wasn’t waiting for long..” 

 “Even still, I’m sorry I was so late, I didn’t even have time to change my clothes..” the blonde man’s ocean blue eyes wandered everywhere but to Eren’s own emerald eyes. 

 Eren just chuckled, looking down at what he was wearing, “well, I’d don’t dress all that well either” he was wearing some normal size black jeans, tightly round with a black leather belt, a normal grey shirt with an open black button up. “At least your outfit is cute” 

 “Oh, thank you, yours is good too” Armin gestured to Eren’s outfit. 

 “So, you ready to eat? I’m pretty hungry.”

 “Uh, yeah.” 

 They both picked up a simple menu that was sitting on their table.  It was mainly sea food, but seemed neither of them had the biggest taste for it. Armin got avocado sushi and Eren go fried rice. 

“So, Armin, what do you like to do? Other than listen to us, of course.” Eren smirked before he took a big fork-full of rice and stuffed it into his mouth. 

 “Um, I like to read and go on walks..” 

 “that’s it?” 

 “Yeah, my life is pretty quiet.” 

“well, I’ll make it non-quiet if you give me a chance to” Eren smiled wholeheartedly.

 Armins nose and cheeks had a slight blush painted on them as he laughed a bit. 

 “Well, are you to the event in trost? We’re gonna play.” Eren asked, taking a big sip of water as Armin picked up a roll with his chopsticks carefully.

 “Uh, that’s something I’m not sure about.. my friend actually asked me to compete with him.. I’m still thinking about it though” 

 “really? You ever sung before?” 

 “No, but I won in Karaoke nights.. does that count?” Armin grinned a bit.

 “Yes, it counts 100 percent. Hope you compete, I’m sure you’ll do great!” Eren hummed enthusiastically, leaning back a bit in his chair, watching Armin chew on a roll, his cheeks full of food. He looked quite adorable like that.

 “Thank you, but I don’t think so” Armin admitted when he swallowed his food. 

 “No, trust me. If you just do some vocal warm ups I’m sure you’ll get it right. You know what song you’re singing? If you even do it” Eren asked as he cleared the rest of his plate. 

 “No, I didn’t ask yet. But I’ll tell you when I know” 

 Then, a waiter with a slightly grown out buzz cut came up to there table, dropping off a check. Eren began to dig in his pocket, looking for his wallet - but when he looked up, Armin already had his wallet out looking for the right amount of money.

 “Hey, no, I’ll pay.” Eren insisted.

 “Please, just let m-“ 

 Eren cut Armin off immediately, “absolutely not. I invited you out. I get to pay” Eren puffed his chest pout, unrelenting.

 Armin visibly deflated in his seat. “You remind me of someone else I know” he muttered to himself as the same waiter came up and collected the check and Erne whispered a “thanks Connie” before looking back at Armin.

 Eren looked Armin up and down for a second before asking, “Do you want me to give you a ride? Or is it too early?” Eren joked.

 “Oh, I’ll call an Uber. It’s fine,” Armin smiled as they both got out of their seats, walking shoulder to shoulder with each other out the doors of the establishment.

 They stood and looked at each other a moment. “Uhm, well, bye, Eren” Armin waved nervously as his Uber had already arrived in minutes.

 Eren just sat and waiting for the car to drive off, still with his hand in the air, he watched as the black Honda that had picked Armin up made its way out of the parking lot. 

 He sighed, and walked back to his own car.

Chapter Text

 They were all gathered in Marco’s basement. Bertolt on his small drum set, Marco on a small, portable keyboard. They were both practicing the sound together. Armin had been doing his vocal warmups. And a veil of recognition spread over his face as he realized what song they were playing. He hadn't been told yet. 

 “Are we playing Red Swan?” He swiveled around, to turn Bert and Marco. They both looked at him in confusion.

 “I thought you already knew?” Bert spoke up, lightly tapping his sticks against a lonely drum. 

 “Well how was I supposed to know if no one told me? Ir’s literally one of my favorite songs to do karaoke.” Armin put his hand on his hip, in a sassy way, almost.

 “Why didn’t I think of that! Armin, you’re a master at karaoke! We could totally just go do some karaoke for your warmups, then we can evaluate what’s wrong and what you need to fix while me and Bert practice on our instruments!” 

 “Hm. Karaoke.” Armin hummed back to himself, “and since we’ll be singing for a lot of the song, I guess it’s a good practice for all of us. But, I don’t usually do too much karaoke in front of people..” Armin trailed off. 

 “How do you think you’ll do on a stage?” Bert asked him.

 “I, I don’t know..” 

 “I guess our costume designs can help a bit with that.” Marco perked up, a cheeky smile on his face.

 “Costume designs?” Both Bertolt and Armin questioned Marco in unison. 

 “Yeah, you guys thought we were just gonna go in our normal clothes?”

 “ I mean, I hadn’t really thought of it yet..” Armin replied honesty.

 “Alright well, I’ll have the reference pictures around here somewhere…” Marco gestured to the rest of the basement, getting up from his small stool and walking to a desk that sat in the corner, and he shoveled through multiple papers before he finally waved one in the air. Both Bert and Armin walked over to where Marco was standing to inspect the paper. 

 On the sheet, there was a sketch of a man who what what looked like bandages wrapped around their eyes and head, but their hair covering them up except for the ones on his face. He had on a fancy and lacy long sleeve shirt on - the sleeves had excessively long, lacy fabric hanging down from it. He had very high waisted pants on, with 3 large buttons going down them - they had to at least gone up to the man’s bellybutton. He had a large, black, fancy - tuxedo-like jacket hanging from this shoulders.

 “This outfit is for Armin. Don’t worry, I already have every thing made. Trust me, I’ve prepared for this for the longest. And to help with your stage fright a bit- and to be fashionable and mysterious,” Marco continued, smiling wholeheartedly, “we will all have the little eye thingies”

 He pulled out another piece of paper that was laying to the side. It showcased the same thing the first design had, except there was no jacket, and the top was a bit less fancy. They also had a suit vest over the top. 

 “This will be me and Bert’s outfits” Marco exclaimed, clearly very excited. “Is that ok with you guys?

 “I guess it’s ok with me” Bertolt answered, looking at Armin expectantly.

 “Uhm.. can we see how well I can ignore you guys first? I’ll wear the outfit if I need to. It’s cute and old timey, but I still don’t know about performing in front of all those people..” Armin  trailed off.

 “it’s ok, me and Bert already did enough practice today. We can go ahead and head up to the karaoke place you like?” Marco placed a gentle hand on Armins back, the warmth made Armin feel much better about the situation.

“Yeah, sure, we can do that” Armin smiled at the other two men.

 The song was about to start, and even though his friends, that he was quite comfortable with were there, he still felt like curling into himself.  His breath became uneven, and his hands became clammy. Marco must’ve noticed it happening, because he paused the song snd assured Armin.

 “Hey, we can step outside and listen to you from outside the door? We can evaluate like that and slowly build up into us being in the room with you? We still have two more weeks to do this”

 Armin just nodded eagerly. The two other tall men stepped out of the room, enough to where Armin couldn’t see them through the tiny space on the small glass window.  His sweaty hands brought the small remote to unpause the music, and the beginning of ‘Red Swan’ had began.

 “You’re pretty good, Armin” Bert told him as they walked back into the room. 

 “You were amazing” Marco chanted, “but- I promised you feedback. I did notice, that at the end, the ‘we’ll fly away, we’ll find a way’ part, I feel as if more what can I say.. umph? Needs to be put in it. I feel like it needs to have more emotion to it, the song over all- I mean.”

 They were now sitting on the back benches in the room. “I can see what you mean.. I’m not sure if I know how to do it, though” Armin replied.

 Then Bert spoke up. “With I bit more desperation. Like, imagine your trying to both tell somebody something, yell at them, and convince them all together.”

 “I agree with Bertolt, we can also sing for a moment so you can see what we mean”

 “I guess I could use an example” Armin nodded his head and sat comfortably on the red couch as his friends got ready to sing the song.

 By the time they were done, both Bert and Marco were sweaty. They didn’t say anything as they sat back on a couch across from Armin, the coffee table between them had three water bottles on it that Bertolt immediately grabbed and gulped down.

 “I think I understand a bit now” Armin told them, in a serious tone.

 “Yeah, this sounds a bit weird, but I’ve never seen anyone sing like that and they’re not sweating. So you know your doing something right if your gulping done three water bottles.” Marco chuckled and gestured to Bertolt.

 “Ok.. I can try to practice.. I get off of work at 6 every weekday, so I can head here after work everyday.” Armin suggested.

 “Alright,” Marco scooped up his keys off of the table, “just don’t over work it, ok? Because we still need that voice for the show” he added.

 “I won’t” Armin responded, standing up with Marco.

 It had been an about two weeks since Armin agreed to keep practicing with karaoke, and he had made considerable progress. Armin had been going to the place everyday after work, and after that would all practice together in Marco’s basement. They still had one more week to practice, and it was all catching up with Armin. He was a lot more tired at work than usual, but he put up with it. He didn’t want to let his friends down. But the more he thought about performing the more anxiety had been bubbling up in Armins chest. 

 It was Saturday, Armin was laying in bed. So much had happened in the past month. He had finished college early, was about to go full-time with his job, and really hadn’t had time to relax in a while. Everything had taken up his time. 

 He sat at his counter, coffee mug in hand, head down on the counter while he rested his eyes, until his phone rung.

 *one missed call from: Eren 🤗*

Oh yeah. Armin hadn’t even had time to think about Eren recently. His life had been going every which way. He picked up his phone for a moment, thumb hovering over the ‘Call back’ button.

 Is he busy? Maybe it was just an accident.. He pandered a moment, but decided against calling him back, instead he would text him.

 Armin: Did you need something?

 Armin typed out quickly and went to sip back on his coffee, looking at the coffee pot as he did so. ‘11:30’ 

 Eren: yes actually, I wanted to know if you wanted to come get lunch with me 

 Armin hummed as he read the message, asking himself the same question he always did. It shouldn’t hurt, right? 

 Armin: I guess so, where?

 Eren: Hm.. I was thinking Niccolo’s again

 
 Armin: Ok, see you there.

 Eren: Cya

 
 Armin immediately hopped up from the small chair he was sitting on, and raced to his room. His feet must’ve been moving faster than his mind, because as he was running through the lounging area he hit his eyebrow on a shelf - considerably hard. 

 His hand flew up to where he had hit, grimacing as it burned from the contact. When Armin brought his hand back, there was a slight brushing of red against his fingertips. Great.

 He went ahead and walked to the bathroom, inspecting his eyebrow in the mirror. It wasn’t that bad, it just looked like the skin had busted a bit. Nothing a bandage couldn’t fix. He opened the mirror to reveal a couple of small baskets of basic toiletry things, like toothbrushes, toothpastes, bandages, etc. Armin carefully pulled a small butterfly bandage from a bandaid box and placed it over his eyebrow after cleaning it a bit with tissue. 

 He huffed out hot air as he turned and walked toward his bedroom door, pushing it open and immediately walking over to his small closet. When he pushed it open, a nice row of sweaters and Tee shirts were lined up against the rack.  Hmm. It has been getting colder recently..

 He picked out a soft, white sublime sweater, a pair of black pants, and his white converse. 

 He quickly got changed, checking himself out in his full body mirror to make sure the outfit didn’t look stupid. He nodded his head in approval, and walked back out to his kitchen to finish his cup of coffee. The coffee pot read ‘11:45’ 

 Armin swiftly took out his phone from his pocket, clicking in to call an Uber. The Ubers and cabs around his area weren’t the fastest, so it was for safe measure that he went ahead and called one. He tapped his foot as he did so. 

 When he arrived, he spotted Eren immediately outside of the restaurant, taking a picture with a fan, Armin guessed.

 Eren was wearing a normal black Tee, with some gray sweat pants, his hair in a man-bun.  When the fan walked away, Eren turned his way and smiled as Armin stepped out of the vehicle.  

 “Your on time! Even a bit early” Eren greeted him as he checked his watch.

 Armin let out a small yeah as they both walked into the building.

 When they were sat by a waiter, Eren spoke as he picked up the diners lunch menu “So, you doing the battle of the bands?” 

 Armin spoke as he did the same “yeah.. it’s been pretty tiring practicing for it” 

 “well, welcome to the life of a musician” Eren said enthusiastically as a waiter came up to them, asking them what they wanted to drink. Eren got Orange Juice and Armin got water.

 “You don’t like Orange juice?” Eren asked, as he put the menu down.

 “Not really, I also don’t like apple juice. They’re both pretty gross” 

 “your just weird” 

 Usually, Armin would’ve been put off by a comment like that from someone he’s not that close to yet, but it was different when it was Eren for some reason. It was like they were puzzle pieces that belonged together. 

 “No I’m not, your weird for getting orange juice” Armin joked back, “especially when it’s lunch time” 

 “Am not!” Eren huffed back as the same waiter came up to them, this time asking what they wanted. Armin got a couple chicken strips, while Eren got a burger.

 “So, you know what song you’re singing?” Eren asked after he took a big bite of his burger. 

 “Um, Red Swan” Armin replied, not looking up to meet the other man’s eyes as he bit the end of a chicken strip. 

 “Oh! I love that song. We’re doing a song called ‘The Rumbling’ We haven’t performed or released it yet, but your special.. so” Eren shrugged, taking another bite of his burger.

 “Special, huh?” Armin teased. He was feeling a bit confident today, but he quickly steered the conversation away “about performances.. I’m not sure I’ll be able to do it infront of people..” Armins brow furrowed at his own words, his confidence dissipating.

 “You know, I had terrible stage fright the first time I performed and almost shit my pants?” Eren chuckled a bit.

 Armin giggled a bit before opening his mouth again, “well, I was hoping you had some advice..”

 “One trick I learned, just pretend you’re singing to only one person. I know it sounds hard, and a lot of the time you can’t just pretend someone’s not there, but it’s just part of performing. You perform for people”  Eren sat his burger down, and payed his hands out on top of each other on the table.

 “I could try.. but I’m still so nervous..” just thinking about it, Armin could feel his hands getting clammy.

 “Everyone’s nervous when they perform. Even Justin Bieber” 

 Armin bit back a laugh and smiled, eating the rest of his chicken strips. 

Chapter Text

 It was officially only about half a day before the Battle of the Bands. Armin, Marco, and Bertolt were in their hotel room, one they had picked out for staying at Trost. It was about an hour or two away from Shiganshina, really, it wasn’t that far. But none of them wanted to be the one driving back. They had woken up at 6 am, and driven to Trost, and now it was 8:40. They were all getting bundled up to go exploring the city - they had practiced enough and the event didn’t start until 5. They all had hoodies, beanies, and Armin had on an extra jacket over his blue hoodie just incase it got too cold. They all knew it was getting towards the colder seasons, but Trost’s weather was far chillier than Shiganshina’s.

 “Does everyone have everything?” Marco asked, grabbing the hotel keycard as he stood by the door. 

 “Yep” Bertolt called from the small bathroom.

 “Yeah.. are you guys sure we shouldn’t practice again?” Armin asked as he sat on the side of a bed, his brows knitted together in worry.

 “Armin, we’ve been working at this for enough time. We’re ready, trust me. And if we’re not..” Marco paused, “it doesn’t matter because we’re ready. So we don’t need to worry about if we don’t!” Marco reassured Armin with a thumbs up.

 “Alright..” Armin replied as Bert walked from the bathroom. 

 The three men headed out of the hotel, and onto the busy streets of Trost. It honestly wasn’t that too bigger than Shiganshina, but definitely more.. what could he say.. developed? Trost had a lot of bigger buildings, local parks, and things of that nature. 

 “Where should we go first?” Bertolt asked the two shorter men. 

 “I don’t know, but I’m so cold” Armin stated the obvious, he was shaking a bad his teeth were chattering.

 “I just looked it up, there’s a coffee shop around this corner. No reason they wouldn’t serve hot chocolate, eh?” Marco smiled, as the three of them started walking to where Marco had pointed. 

 As soon as they rounded the corner of the large Hotel they had been staying at, sure enough, there the coffee shop was. It was small place, connected to a couple other food chains. It had a cozy, yet clean exterior. It was kind of like if you had been hiking in a blizzard and suddenly you stumbled upon a cozy, light up log cabin. Maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration. They didn’t stay outside long, the cold air painting their faces red the longer they stood outside. They quickly ran through the glass doors, not even leaving time to read what the damn shop was called.

 When they stepped through the doors, the smell of freshly baked chocolate croissants and jelly filled pastries with a hint of peppermint filled their nostrils. “Holy shit, it smells good as hell in here.” Marco cursed. And you know Marco’s serious when you hear him utter even merely aggressive phrase.

 “I know” Both Bertolt and Armin agreed, Armins eyes wandering the building for a booth to sit in.

 “Let’s go sit down, and we can decide what we want to drink in a minute.” Armin pointed to a booth by the door, in front of the counter.

 They all sat down with their drinks. Bert had a white hot chocolate, Marco had a chestnut-praline Créme - whatever that was. Armin had a Gingerbread Chai. 

 “I can’t believe you got Chai tea” Marco grumbled as he took a sip of his drink.

 “It’s not ‘Chai Tea’” Armin snapped back.

 “What is it then?”

 “It’s just Chai. Chai means tea, so saying ‘Chai Tea’ is not grammatically correct” Armin rolled his eyes.

 “Of course you would know that, nerd” Bert joined in on the banter when Armins phone dinged. 

 Armin picked it up immediately, not wanting his friends to see anything if it was a message from Eren. Since they had lunch together, they had went out a couple of more times - not to mention some conversations they had at night sometimes when they were bored. They had even held hands! Well, not really. More of like held pinkies as Eren walked him back to his car, but that wasn’t the point.

 “What’s got you in a hurry? You leaving us behind for a boyfriend?” Marco laughed as he watch Armin snatch his phone from where it had been sitting on the table.

 “Something like that..” Armin replied as he read the message in the notification box. 

 
 Eren: Hey, Min. You in Trost yet? Me and the band are getting breakfast right now 

 Armin blushed a bit at the nickname, completely forgetting he was with his friends until he heard one of them clear their throat.

 “What! Seriously, Armin? And you didn’t tell us? What did he say to you, is that why you’re blushing? What’s his na-“ Armin cut the string of questions Marco was spewing off. 

 “I, well it’s, I don’t know, we’re not dating..” Armin muttered, moving his eyes everywhere but at Marco’s and Bert’s. Bertlot was always a bit quieter, but Armin knew that he wanted to know too. “He’s just taken me out a couple times, is all.” 

 “Oh my god! Have you guys kissed yet?” Marco asked, far too loud, earning a ‘Shhh’ from a short, black haired man that was behind the counter. Marco quietly added a quick ‘sorry’ and turned back to Armin.

 “What? No! I just told you we weren’t dating, why would we kiss?” 

 “Just asking.. so, may I ask who?” 

 Armin thought for a moment. It shouldn’t change anything.. I trust Marco, if I ask him he probably won’t say anything. Bert too..

”ok, but you have to pinkie promise not to tell anyone. Or freak out.” Armin looked at both Marco and Bertolt, scanning their expressions. 

 Both Marco and Bert held out their pinkies, and Armin interlocked his pinkies with theirs as they both whispered “promise” 

 He sighed, and opened his mouth. “Ok, I don’t wanna exactly tell you who.. but I’m seeing someone? Going out with someone? Same thing.. someone in a band..”

 Both Marco and Bertolt just looked at him, not really knowing what to say. Marco nodded slowly, “ok..”

 “thought you would have a bigger reaction”

 “I will if you tell me who.. just tell me if their famous or not”

 Armin thought for a second. The Bloodied Angels are a lot more of a local band than a really famous one, hmm.“Some what, they are from Shiganshina..” 

 “from Shiganshina, Huh? Hmm.. let me think” 

 Armin got nervous. Maybe he should’ve never told him. He could see Marco’s expression change ever so slightly as he marked out bands that Armin listened to that were from Shiganshina. Armin could see the lines of realization veil over his fface as he came to his conclusion. “Is it the Bloodied Angels?” 

 Armin didnt quite deny it. “Well.. I guess so. I’m not telling you which one.”

 “Well you obviously aren’t that interested in women, so Sasha and Ymir are out. Jean and Eren are both hot..but mainly Jean.. But I heard Jean is dating is dating someone.. so that leaves Eren” Marco added.

 Fuck! He figured it out. When Armin didn’t say anything for a good minute or two, Marco’s jaw dropped to the floor. Even Bert’s mouth hung agape for a second.

 “Eren fucking Yeager has been taking you out!?” Marco shouted, then grimaced when the man behind the counter shot him a cold glare with his sharp grey eyes.

 Armin nodded. “It’s, it’s not that big of a deal.. well, I guess it is.. that’s not the point! We need to go, we’ve been here for like 30 minutes!” Armin stood up, slipping his phone into the pocket of his jacket, and walked out the door to answer Eren.

 Armin: Yeah, we just got some drinks and now we’re heading out to our hotel.

 “Ok, but we’re gonna talk all about this later!” Marco shouted as he and Bert ran after Armin.

 “Yo, you texting your little boyfriend?” Jean called from across the hotel room, slicking back his grown out-shaggy mullet in a decorative mirror that hung on the beige wall.

 “Eat shit, Kirstein” Eren shouted from the bed he was laying on. It was 3 already.. I wonder what he’s doing right now..

 “Eren, ur making fucking heart eyes right now. Get the fuck up and get the fuck ready, we still have to be at the thing at like 4” Ymir shouted as she stood in front of a mirror in her sports bra, “You too Sasha. Get your fat ass up and get your clothes on” 

 “I know my ass is fat, thanks” Sasha smiled as she rolled off the bed opposite of where Eren was laying on.

 “Historia’s is bigger” Ymir yelled at her.

 They continued to banter while Eren got up and walked to the bathroom, groaning for them to shut the fuck up. Once he stepped into the bathroom, he pulled on a black tight shirt - well, it wasn’t really a shirt. It was more of a thick, fishnet shirt, that you could see his skin through. It was slightly cropped, and had long sleeves on it. He slipped in some black, low rise baggy jeans. They rid down to half of his waist, revealing his sharp V line. He knew it was gonna be cold, but once they got performing, and inside that damn building that was probably gonna be cramped with people, it was going to be hot. He quickly drew on some eyeliner on his waterline, combed quickly through his hair, threw on some deodorant and left the bathroom. 

 When he walked out, everyone else was already in their clothes. Both Sasha and Ymir were matching, a thick sports bra, a loose tie, baggy black pants and an open black button down. He and Jean also had the same outfit on, but Jean had a tight cropped tank top under his shirt. “About damn time, let’s fucking go” Jean sneered at him, throwing a grey jacket at him. 

 When they arrived to the building, there was already a couple of people scanning their tickets to get in early so they’d have a seat. The band members parked in their reserved area, spotting a couple of other large cars in the area. 

 They were all in a large gym looking area behind the stage, and there was certain parts of the room reserved for certain people. There was several other bands he slightly recognized as he looked around, while he and Ymir were tuning their guitars. He’s neck almost snapped when he whipped his around to see a flash of bright blonde hair.

 Erens heart skipped a bear when he laid eyes on Armin. He was dressed in an elegant top, a large jacket thrown over his shoulders. He had large black boots on with hot black dress pants, and a something sparkly on his lips. Was that, lipgloss? Eren must’ve been staring for too long, because Ymir hit his back harshly. “Well, we’re gonna leave if that Blondie distracts and we lose because you do horrible” she barked, “he almost looks like a male version of my Historia” 

 “Shut the hell up, we’re not gonna lose dipshit” He snapped back, and got his hands busy testing his guitar strings.

  Armin was so nervous. What if he messed up? What if he looks horrible in his costume? What if his singing is terrible? Armin felt a lump in his throat. His palms were sweaty, HE was sweaty. His eyes kept wandering around the ground, his heart was bumping out of his chest. He was snapped out of his freak out when both Bertolt and Marco took him in an embrace. 

 “Wha- guys! Let me go!” He yelled at the sudden bear hug. 

 “We just want you to know that you’ll do amazing. You’re not the only one performing for the first time” Marco chuckled as he and Bert let him go. 

 “Yeah, I almost threw up earlier because of how nervous I was” Bertolt tried to reassure him.

 “Yeah, Bert, I was there” Armin laughed, but just about jumped out of his skin when there was a loud, booming voice of a person on the stage in front of them. There was a small screen in the back so that everyone could watch what was happening on the stage without being out in the crowd. All three of the men scurried over to get closer to the screen, so had the other people at the back. 

 On the stage, there was a tall, blonde man that was quite attractive, if Armin had a say in it. He had long hair that cascaded down his shoulders and down his blue suit he had on. He introduced himself as William.

 Armin suddenly felt a slight tap on his shoulder. At first, he ignored it, figuring that someone had just bumped into him on accident. But he was proved wrong when he felt a breath ghost against the cuff of his ear. He quickly turned around, fully ready to pepper spray someone when the stranger had turned out to be Eren. Eren smiled and brought his hand up to wave. “Eren!” Armin beamed, as his eyes brightened when he saw the man. He quickly brought the man into a hug. 

 Eren seemed to stand in shock for a second, shocked that Armin, shy oh shy Armin, had hugged him. Suddenly Armin backed away as quickly as he had hugged him. “So-sorry.. I just got excited to see you” Armin muttered an apology as he scratched the back of his a bit. 

 “No it’s ok, I like hugs.” Eren spoke quickly, tripping over a few of his words, “w-well.. I got excited to um, see you too” 

 He’s so cute when he’s nervous. God, Eren is gonna be the death of me.. Armin sighed as he thought, opening his mouth again. “I wonder whose going first” he turned back around to face the screen, and Eren looked back up at the tiny TV that was displaying the stage.

 The man just kept blabbering about this and that, and how he’s grateful everyone showed up, and that the judges are excited, ect. Most of everyone had gone back to what they were doing, putting last finishing touches to their makeup, tuning instruments. 

 Eren had to go back to his area, but not before promising Armin he was gonna do great. As much as Armin wanted to believe he would, he just felt queasy with all those people watching him. But it made him feel a bit better knowing Mikasa would be out there, rooting for him too.

 Armin had gone back to his own area with Marco and Bert. Bertolt already had his eye wraps on. “Can you see through it well?” Marco asked as he righted the back of Bert’s. 

 “Yeah, they are quite transparent, actually.” Bertolt answered Marco got done and walked over to where Armin was sitting, quickly putting the eye wraps on Armins head. Once Marco was done, he looked around steadily. “Your right, I can see out of it pretty well” he added.

 Bertolt went behind Marco to do his, and Armin watched the exchange. When all of them were in costume officially, Marco quickly pulled out his phone. He snapped a quick picture of all of them, when the same booming voice earlier talked to the crowd again. 

 “And first, we have..” the voice paused, probably reading a paper or building up dramatic effect, “Sharp Division” 

 Some of the crowd whooped, the rest staying a bit quiet. Armin realized they were probably a bunch of people thrown together the way him, Marco, and Bert were. Then the group beside them started to walk to the stage, the rest of singers wishing them luck, or to break a leg.

 When they stepped out on the stage, the opening melodies to ‘I Don’t Care’ started to play. 

 Armin started to get nervous. Most of the bands had been called already, with the exception of him and his friends, Eren’s group, and an another group of people. 

 Armin could feel his head getting light, and he jumped out of his chair when the Bloodied Angels were called. Before the rest of his group left, Eren ran over to Armin. “U-um, yes?” Armin stuttered under the man’s gaze.

 “Just wanted to see you. For good luck. By the way, you look pretty” Eren winked at him before he ran out to the stage with the rest of his friends. 

 When Armin turned around, Marco’s and Bert’s eyes were locked on him. “Guys! Stop staring..” 

 “get ur man! Oh my gosh Armin” Marco nearly screamed, as the band on the stage started playing. They all hurried to the TV to watch the band perform, immediately, in the background music, there was the voices of the band yelling “Rumbling” Armin wandered what the story behind this song was.

 The crowd was screaming at the band. Once the opening lyrics were done, the extremely loud music piped down, just enough. And Eren’s voice spoke out loudly as he played on his guitar. “All I ever wanted to do was do right things,” his voice swept over the crowd. “I never wanted to be the king” Jeans voice called out the next line. But only Eren was really capable of the ‘I swear’ part. Eren just had that husky-ness and growling part of his voice to do it. 

 Armin could feel tears burning his eyes again. God damnit.

 
 Armin blinked, and suddenly he was on the stage in front of the silent crowd. He could feel his legs shaking, until he spotted jet-black pig tails at the front of the crowd. He faltered for a second, and smiled warmly at the girl. Mikasa smiled brightly at him, giving him a thumb up, her elbow bumping into Annie - who was beside her. He could’ve sworn that even Annie was cracking a smile at him. 

He shivered and closed his eyes as Marco swiftly played the first few notes of Red Swan. He huffed. It’s ok, it’s ok, it’s ok, its ok, you’ll be ok, just pretend your singing to Eren., he solemnly sweared to himself as Bertolt hit his drums, the loud harmony of music drowning out Armin’s own thoughts. He sighed and brought his hand up to hold the back of his microphone. Bertolts drumming got a bit quieter, which was Armins que to start. He opened his trembling lips.

 “Like a scarlet night, veiling the dark” He felt like when he opened his eyes no one would be there anymore because he was so bad. Not even Mikasa. “You can hide your fear, Can lie, my dear” 

 “このまま 夢を見て    血だらけの翼 広げて” Armin spoke fluently, he had token classes for multiple languages when he was younger, but recently had to practice a lot more because he got a bit rusty. 

 
 “Like a fallen angel” the music had began to pick up volume again, and Armin could feel the words start to spew from his mouth like second nature. He even surprised himself. He suddenly had a rush of adrenaline, and a lot of his nervousness began to dissipate.

 “We’ll fly away” he nearly screamed at the top of his lungs, the words coming out like liquid. He had began to get into the music much more than he thought he would, or even could, for that matter. “We’ll find a way!” 

 “You can hide your fear! Can lie, my dear!” He shouted into the microphone, sweat dripping down his cheek and his blonde hair sticking to his eye bandages, as he began to smile at the cheer from the crowd. 

 As soon as the men ran back to the backstage, they all enveloped each other in a hug. Marco was laughing the entire time, Bertolt letting out a slight chuckle. Armin smiled warmly at his friends, as he unwrapped the bandages. “You did so good Armin! You’re a natural!” Marco cried, letting go of Armin and Bertolt to wipe his face for a moment. 

 “Oh my good, Marco, are you crying?” Bertolt asked, putting a hand on the freckled boys shoulder. 

 “Wha- no! It’s just raining!” Marco sniffled as his voice shook.

 “whatever you say. Anyway, Armin. You were seriously great. We might even win.” Bert smirked, “go talk to your boyfriend or something” 

 “he’s no- ugh whatever!” Armin joked back, eyes scanning around the room for Eren. But he couldn’t find him, even after he did a double and triple check. Maybe the bathroom? 

 
 He almost sprinted to the men’s bathroom, he had time - winners didn’t get announced until almost another 30 minutes or so - but he just wanted to see Eren so incredibly bad that it hurt.  

 He busted through the door, to see a shocked Eren with wet hands. Once Eren realized it was Armin, he wiped his hands off on his pants. They stood there for a moment, ocean eyes staring into emerald green ones, until the owner of the brilliant green eyes spoke, “I- Armin.. you did-“ he was cut off when Armin just about barreled into him, but to his luck, he caught the blonde in his arms. 

 “Are you trying to kill me?” Eren asked playfully, a smirk on his lips. Armin looked down slightly at him, his bottom lip pouted a bit more out than his top. He looked longingly at Eren. “You did so good, you’re gonna win. I swear it. I could listen to your voice all day” Eren’s smirk turned into a large smile, while he looked into Armin’s eyes. 

 Armin’s large eyes became half lidded as he stared back into Eren’s. His slim fingers landed on broad shoulders, and he lowered his face a bit. He flicked his eyes slightly down to Eren’s plump lips and looked back up. Full green eyes also became half, as their breaths mingled and their noses touched. “Is.. is this ok?” Armin whispered, his words tickling Eren’s lips. 

 “More than ok.” Eren replied in a smoky tone, closing his eyes. Armin did the same, leaning down to touch their lips together. They both backed away. Both looked at each other as if they had waited so long to do this. Eren walked over to the bathroom sinks, placing Armin down, slotting between the blondes legs as they crashed their lips together once more, much harsher than the first tender kiss that they had shared only a couple moments ago.

 Eren cocked his head slightly to the right, and they slotted together perfectly. Eren licked Armin’s bottom lip hungrily, causing him to let out a small whine as he opened his plump lips for entry as Eren quickly slid his tongue into the blondes mouth. Eren tasted like chocolate, coconut, and.. a hint of ash? All Armin knew was that he was loving whatever was going on right now. 

 “Eren, are you shitting or someth-“ A women that had freckles and a low pony tail busted through the door, which Armin recognized as ‘Ymir’ 

 They immediately let go of each other, Eren wiped his glistening lips with the back of his hand, his cheeks dusted with a dark crimson. Armin looked away, edging himself off of the counter to stand beside Eren, his blue eyes locked on the floor. 

 “Well, stop shoving your damn tongues down each others throats! Judging is about to go on!” Ymir rushed out of the door way and left the two men alone.

 They both sat in a comfortable silence for a while, until Eren spoke up, grabbing Armin’s hand, interlacing his own strong, tanned fingers with Armin’s slim, pale ones. “I liked that. Let’s do it again sometime” Eren smirked as the blondes face immediately turned into a bright red. He looked like he was straight out of a cartoon with how red he was. 

 “I- um, y-yeah..” is all Armin could manage to get out, waking toward the door with the brunette.

Chapter Text

  
 It been about a day after the competition. They hadn’t won, but Armin couldn’t really hm find it in himself to care. They all fun performing, and on top of that, him and Eren had kissed. They had fucking kissed! Marco had been a little bummed out though, but he’s sure Bertolt could cheer him up with on Eid his bogus sleeping positions.

 Armin was in his apartment, a milky bowl of oatmeal sitting in front of him on the counter. If anyone had saw him, they’d probably say he looked quite sad as he moved his spoon around in his food, not eating it, but it was the complete opposite. Armin couldn’t get his mind out of the gutter. Eren was just so.. he didn’t know how to explain it other than hot. All morning he had been thinking thoughts that he probably shouldn’t have been thinking in the first place. But he couldn’t help it. After how good their kiss was, he just couldn’t stop thinking about what else Eren would also be good at other than just kissing.

 He was finally snapped out of it when his phone rung, the caller ID read ‘Kasa💞’

 “hey, Mikasa” he immediately said, holding the phone between his shoulder and his cheek while he grabbed his coffee mug and bowl to bring them to the sink.

 “Hey, Armin” she replied neutrally before adding, “I was calling to tell you tho at I won’t be in town all of this weekend, and possibly half of next week”

 “alright, is that all? Wait, do you have anyone to watch Hydra?” 

 “Yeah, Annie agreed to watch her”

 “Annie huh”

 “Yeah, I think Hydra liked Annie more than you”

 “Impossible!” He said, only after an exaggerated gasp.

 Mikasa chuckled, “yeah, well, I gotta go. See u when I get back. Love u” 

 “love you too, Kasa, be safe!” 

 Mikasa hung up first, and Armin slid his phone into the back pocket of his jeans and skipped over to his room to get ready work.

 Once he was in his room, mid-taking his shirt off, his phone rung again. He groaned, but continued to answer it while he put on grey and blue striped sweater. He put it on speaker phone and set it on his dresser.

 “Hello? Armin?” A deep voice came from the other end of the phone.

 “What do you want Reiner.” Armin asked bitterly. Even if he was friends with Bertolt, him and Riemer never got off on the right foot. To many things happened that he didn’t exactly want to get into.

 “Look, I’m not here to argue with you. But you should get your stuff and get out of you apartment.”

 “And why the hell should I do that?”

 “Because not only was there a bomb threat, there’s a fire a couple stories above you. Get true fuck out, now. Before I go in there and drag your ass out myself.” Reiner hung up, leaving Armin in shock.

 “A fire?” He stunned himself, heart beating in his ears, but quickly ran to grab things before the fire would spread. He lived on the first floor, so it would be easy to get out, but he had no idea had far up the fire was. He zoomed around the house, stuffing a backpack full of things he didn’t want to go of as of yet. Like pictures, stuffed animals, and things of that while there was sirens blaring on the outside. As soon as he had his shoes in his hand, about to step out of his door, loud banging could be heard from it. “Hello!” A rough voice shouted, before a large, burley blonde man busted through his door. 

 “Sir, you need to get out and leave your belongings behind.” The man commanded, shoving Armin out of the door, not really caring about his backpack, and guiding him to the front door of his apartment complex.

 “Is there anyone you left behind?” 

 “N-no sir!” Armin answered quickly, and at his answer, the firefighter stomped away and barreled down his old hall.

 Armin ran outside, seeing all the other people who had gathered that were from his building, or just nosy neighbors who wanted to see what the commotion was about. 

 He whipped out his phone, smashing in numbers until the first person who popped up was Eren.

 “Hello? Armin?” Erens husky voice sounded like he had just gotten up. 

 “hey um, there’s not really a lot of time- I mean,  there might be but I’m far too tired and I-“ Armin sighed, “could you please come pick me up? I’m so sorry”

 “you don’t need to apologize. I’ll be there shortly”

Armin held his phone in a shaking hand, waiting for Eren’s black car to pull up, eyes jutting every which way up and down the street.

 And eventually, Eren zoomed onto the side of the road, almost hitting a curb in the process. The car engine stayed on as Eren exited the vehicle, his hair was going every which way, and he was in a loose tank top and baggy, plaid night pants as he jumped out of the car. 

 It made Armin smile a bit.

 “Armin!” Eren shouted as he jogged up to him.

 “Hey, sorry for the short notice”

 “what the hell are you apologizing for? Quit doing that, would you? Your apartments on fire.” Eren sounded a bit commanding, and his brows were knitted together in worry.

 “Well, it’s not exactly my apartment.. just the building.. I honestly don’t know why I called you,” Armin paused, “bu-“

 “do you have a place to stay?” Eren interrupted him abruptly.

 “Huh?”

 “I said, do you have a place to stay?” 

 “Oh, um.. well.. I could stay with Marco, but his boyfriend is always over.”

“You can come stay with me for a couple nights.”

 Armin looked up at Erens green eyes. They’re even more beautiful in the light.. 

“you don’t have to do that!”

 “Yes I do, let’s go Armin. I’m not a murder or anything”

 “yes, I know, but I really don’t wanna bother yo-“

 “you’re not a bother. I promise”

Armin stayed silent for a moment, before sighing in defeat. “Fine..” 

 When they rolled up to the house, it was much more simple than Armin had imagined. It was a small house, on the outskirts of the town. The inside was pretty cool though. There was LED lights in most of the areas throughout the house, even the kitchen. There was nice, soft, black couches in the living room.

 They both had sat down on the long couch, sipping hot tea that Eren had made for himself and Armin. 

 “Do you need a shower?” Eren asked when he stretched his legs out on the sofa. 

 “I mean, one would be nice, yes” Armin quickly answered, knowing he was quite sweaty.

 “Alright, let me show you were it is” 

 Eren got up and led him down a dimly lit hallway, a couple family photos hung on the white walls. They kept going until they reached a large black door.

 “here we are, sir” Eren joked as he turned the silvery doorknob to reveal a large black bathroom. 

 Armin stepped inside, admiring the marble counter tops and the beautifully tiled floor, until a realization hit him.

 “Hey, Eren?” 

 Eren poked his head from around the corner of the door. “Hmm?”

 “Um.. I don’t wanna be a burde-“

 “Armin, I promise you aren’t bothering me. In fact, I’m willing to let you stay here for as long as you like. It was starting to get a bit lonely” Eren looked at the blonde man while he held a nervous smile, and scratched the back of his neck.

 Armin felt a bit taken aback by the sudden speech, a pink dusting on his cheeks at the kindess as they stood there together.

 “Let me guess, you need clothes? Got you covered” Eren grabbed something off a shelf outside of the bathroom door, “here” 

 Eren handed him some basketball shorts and a large, gray tee shirt. Along with some short black socks.

 “Thank you, Eren. You really don’t have to..”

 “yes I do, there’s literally a cute blonde dude that needs to stay for a while.. why the hell would I say no?” Eren smiled wholeheartedly, his sharp canines showing.

 “Wha- Oh my gosh, Eren!” Armins cheeks practically radiated the heat for miles. He giggled a bit anyways. “Um, thank you. A lot.”

 “Any time. Now get in there and shower. You can use my shit” Eren just swatted his hand at Armin like it was no big deal, and walked back down the hallway back towards the direction of the living room.

 Armin huffed, and turned around to examine the bathroom. It was sleek and modern, a glass shower area, easily being see through when he got in the shower.

 He kind of felt violated, knowing that someone could just walk him and see his naked body. Armin quickly turned to lock the door, and set the clothes Eren had given him on the toilet seat. He opened the glass door to the shower, feeling the need to be extra careful. Being around almost anything glass made him extremely nervous. Candles, windows, cups, his own damn glasses before he got contacts, pretty much everything. When he was younger he used to be super clumsy, knocking things over and getting in trouble for it.

 He slipped off his clothes, and carefully entered the shower. He turned the heavy glass knob labeled ‘hot’ As soon as he turned it on, it burned his skin. He let out a shriek, and quickly clammed one of his hands over his mouth while the other tampered with the temperature to make it just right. 

 Eren knocked on the door, shouted a bit to be heard over the rushing water running over Armins head. “Hey, you alright? Heard something” 

 “y-yeah! It was fine, water just got a bit too hot” Armin yelled back.

 “ok! Yeah, the temperature can get a bit wonky sometimes. Shout if you need me” 

 “ok!”

 Armin quickly went back to focusing on the warm water trickling down his back, the aches in his muscles unwinding. His eyes darted around the showers shelves, looking for some shampoo to refresh his slightly greasy hair. All he found was a couple old spice bottles, but he quickly spotted a strawberry scented bottle.

Is this a lady friends? Well, I certainly do my research. He hasn’t had recent dating history with a women… maybe his sisters or something? They shouldn’t mind if I use this.. Armin thought as he squeezed a bit of the pinkish substance on his fingers.

 He brought his hands up to his head, scrubbing his scalp with the product as it got all bubbly around his blonde hair before he swiftly rinsed it out. 

 Armin stepped out of the bathroom, his damp blonde hair still dripping a bit down his face despite him scrubbing it dry with all his strength a few seconds before. He perked up a little as the smell of Alfredo filled his nose. 

 He stepped in the kitchens cold tile floors with the black socks and clothes Eren had given him. They were pretty loose, but that was to be expected from a man about a head taller than him. 

 “ah, your out. I started making some food. Chicken Alfredo, you like?” Eren asked as he whipped some of the pasta onto a white plate sitting on his marbled counters.

 Armins face lit up a bit, a grin tugging on the end he’s of his pink lips. “Yeah, thank you, Eren. For letting me stay. And the food”

 “Like I said, anytime Armin.” Eren quickly dismissed Armin, handing him a plate. It looked delicious.

 “This looks really good” Armin complimented, walking over to the small table in the dining room with his plate in hand.

 “Why, thank you. Moms special recipe” Eren replied, waking over to the table with him.

 Both of the men sat down in comfortable silence for a while, Armin starting to dig in. 

 “Holy shit, this is amazing. I didn’t know you could cook.” Armin exclaimed after a big forkful, realizing what he said when Eren took a huge, exaggerated gasp and put his hands on his chest, looking betrayed.

 “No offense!” Armin quickly added.

 “None taken..” Eren said through fake pout set on his lips. 

 Erens eyes still lingered on Armin for a minute before they started eating again.

 “What?” Armin accused, between bites.

 “Nothing, just never seen you curse before”

 “oh” Armin Kind of ignored him without meaning to, too focused on the pasta in front of him. 

 Eren just went back to eating as well.

 Once they were done, well, when Armin was done, he got up to put his dirty plate on the sink. “You don’t mind if I do the dishes, do you? Small price to pay for starting over” 

 “by all means, if you want to” Eren replied gratefully, slurping up a last bit of his Alfredo, wiping a bit of sauce off of his mouth with a napkin. 

 Armin picked up the green and yellow sponge and got to work, scrubbing his plate and a couple other spoons and forks that had food all over them. When he was cleaning, he was always kind of in his own world. He was quickly snapped out of his little fantasies when he felt hot breath on the back of his neck.

 
 He just about screamed until he saw a tanned hand snake around his waist and turn him around until Armins backside was leaning against the counter informer of the sink, and Erens hands were on either side of him, caging the shorter man in his arms.

 Neither of them said anything. They looked into each others full eyes, and Armin started to get a bit breathless as he stared at the brunette man. A strong, capable tanned arm snaked around his left side, pulling Armin into Eren’s chest. It took everything Armin had not to literally burry his face in the larger man’s pecs, and sit there for eternity.

 Eren gently placed his plate in the sink with his right arm behind Armin, and backed away so the blonde man was standing in front of him, cheeks flushed, lips parted slightly. Eren walked away nonchalantly, as if what he just did wasn’t the biggest tease in the world.

 Armin froze, no matter how much he commanded his limbs to move they wouldn’t. He watched as Eren went to his room, and came back out with pillows and a blanket. 

 “Hey, Blondie, snap out of it” Eren chuckled, letting him hair down from its bun so it fell around his shoulders.

 “Wha- o-oh. Sorry..” Armin stood there, embarrassed, plastering on a nervous smile as he scratched the back of his neck.

 “I’m sleeping on the couch, you can have my bed” 

 “what? No, Eren it’s ok.. I can sleep on the couch. It’s your house” Armin objecting, knowing it was useless anyways.

 “No, just no. End of story” 

 “please, Eren, you don’t have to sleep on the couch”

 “I mean, if you insist..” Eren had a mischievous glint in his eyes.

 “Wait, really?” 

 “I mean, yeah, I don’t have to sleep on the couch.. you don’t either..” 

 “huh?” 

 “We could use the bed together?” Eren smiled, innocently.

 Armin felt heat crawling up his neck, and onto his ears. He opened his mouth and closed it multiple times, but nothing came out.

 “Get your mind out of the gutter, Arlert!” Eren chuckled, heading back down the hallway toward his bedroom. 

 Armins brows furrowed, the blush on his cheeks not dissipating because he just got called out. He just swiveled around and finished washing up the dishes.

 When Armin crept into the room, Eren was already knocked out under a mountain of covers. Armin laughed slightly, his blue eyes lingering on Erens face a bit too long. He pulled out his phone. How could he not take a photo? Who wouldn’t? after snapping a picture, he set his phone on a nearby dresser.

 He lifted up one of the layers of covers, it being a large, gray duvet. Armin slipped under it, laying his down on a silky black pillow. He tried his best not to look at the man laying beside him, his arms all sprayed out around the mattress, but he couldn’t stop looking.

 How the hell was this man always so majestic.? Armin thought as he turned around to face his back toward Eren, his eyes falling, blonde eyelashes tickling his cheek.

  When Armin woke up, he felt a large amount of heat radiating off to his back. He suddenly became hyper aware of the man clinging to his back, his large pages entangled with his own. Pink dusted his cheeks, wide eyes staring forward as he felt hot breath hit the back of his ear.

 He squeaked, more so of it turning out a slight moan. He always had sensitive ears. He clamped his hands, well, he tried to. Erens hands- wrapped around his midsection- slightly bounded his arms to his sides. 

 Suddenly, Armin felt the breath on his ear hitch. Erens hands let up on his torso, letting him free of his makeshift prison. The brunette man quickly shot up, staring at a sweaty, flushed Armin apologetically as he sat up also. 

 “Shit! I’m so fuckin sorry, Armin..” Eren spewed out.

 “It’s fine.. you just.. got really close to my ears” Armin chuckled a bit. A beautiful sound. Eren could listen to it all day. “We should, um, get up. It’s 10.. my work should let me off considering the circumstances” Armins brow furrowed as he picked up his phone, going to text someone. 

 Erens green eyes watched his face for a while before hopping off the bed. “Yeah.. since we have nothing to do, maybe we could do something” 

 “alright” Armin mumbled, clearly trying to focus on something on his screen. 

 Eren huffed as he got up and stood infront of the bed. 

“Armin, your gonna be the death of me” he whispered underneath his breath as he exited the room.

Chapter Text

 Eren shrugged on a long, gray coat over his black ribbed sweater. He looked over to where Armin was sitting in one of his dining table chairs, skidding his white converse on. Armin had on a baby blue hoodie with a white jacket draped over it, and white, fluffy ear muffs covering his ears.

 “You ready to go?” Eren asked as he sat there, car keys in hand.

 Armin shot up from his chair, “you still haven’t told me where your going” 

 “it’s a surprise, duh, I can’t tell you” Eren am grinned and playfully rolled his eyes as he turned the knob to his front door, “race you to the car” with that, he immediately bolted outside.

 “I- wait!” Armin laughed and closed the door behind him, already emitting defeat when Eren is already in the drivers seat.

 
 “Cheater..” Armin mumbled as he got into the passenger seat of the car, crossing his arms over his chest.

 “No, I’m just faster” Eren replied promptly, putting his hand on the back of Armins seat and leaning back to see behind him as he pulled out of the driveway. Armin took this time to admire Erens side profile. The way his hair was unkept, yet still flawless and perfect. His sharp jawline, and his sharp green eyes looking away from him for once.

 “Like what you see?”  Eren snickered as he turned back around, one hand on the wheel.

 “I, what?” Armin almost shrieked, realizing he had been caught. He put his head in his hands and looked away, feeling the heat that crept its way up Armins chest.

 “I was just joking. Take a picture, it’ll last longer” Eren gave Armin a lopsided grin, and zoomed down the street.

 They had been driving for about five minutes, and suddenly Laufey turned up on the radio. Armin perked his head up in surprise, “You like this type of music?” he said as he inspected the brunette. He had rings on his fingers, a worn down Rob Zombie shirt underneath his coat, and a tattoo slowly creeping up his neck from underneath his clothing layers. Armin giggled as he imagined Eren jamming out to PinkPanthress. 

 “Yeah, I like all genres. What’s so funny?” Eren asked with a raise of an eyebrow, eyes still focused on the road.

 “nothing.. just didn’t expect you to like soft music, you know” 

 “well, you don’t look like you’d be at a Bloodied Angels concert either, so..”

 Armin groaned a bit, but his eyes wandered as the car came to a sudden halt.

 “We’re here!” Eren told him, enthusiastically.

 Armin looked around where they were. It wasn’t anything special, it just looked like an ordinary restaurant. He stepped out onto the wet ground, and Eren walked over to him. “Shall we go?” He smiled wholeheartedly, wrapping his arm around the blondes bicep and dragging him in the establishment, earning a shout from the shorter man.

 They walked in through the doors. It surely wasn’t anything too extravagant, just some couples and friends sitting here and there in the red booths. It had a friendly vibe to it, and there was soft lofi playing over the speakers quietly. It smelled of crisp fries and vanilla. It was a weird combo, but it worked for the tiny building. 

 
 A waiter in a cream colored apron approached them and gave them their booth. They sat opposite of each other, Eren reveling in the menus that were passed out on the table while Armin gazed at him a bit. “We.. we could share something? I’m not too hungry..”

 Eren looked up from the menu. His hair was down today, framing his face perfectly the way it does at so many of his performances. “I guess so. What do you have in mind?” He asks as he closed and set down the menu. Armin sat there for a moment, about to start flipping through his own menu when Erens hands suddenly slammed on the table quite hard.

”I have the perfect idea!” Eren exclaimed, but later added on in a much calmer way, “Ir was the original purpose I brought you here, but I ditched it when I realized how chilly it had gotten outside..” Eren looked outside the window to their left thoughtfully. “But, yolo, right? You don’t mind to eat ice cream in the fall, do you?” 

 “I mean, I don’t know.. it wouldn’t be too bad- but are you seriously about to order ic-“ Armin was cut off by a new waiter that had stomped up to their table. Eren looked at Armin playfully, before ordering.

 “A chocolate-vanilla swirl shake” 

 The waiter scribbled the order down on a small notepad before disappearing into the back of the restaurant.

 “Eren, ok, first, why a shake? Second, you sure only one will suffice?” Armin asked a bit warily, only for Eren to chuckle in response. 

 “It’s because it’s special, trust me, it will. And I ordered a shake because.. yeah. It’s special and stuff.” Eren scoffed, “ugh, you’ll see!”

 Armin laughed. “Not excellent with words, are you?” 

 
 “Well, obviously not as good as you. Heaven knows I didn’t write any of the damn lyrics.” Eren sighed.

 “Sooo… how exactly are the shakes special?” Armin asked curiously, tilting his head.

 “Sigh. Armin, you’ll see!” 

 “Did you just say ‘sigh’?”

 Armin didn’t get to nitpick what was wrong with what he had just done - said? Before the waiter that had taken their order earlier showed up at their table, huge glass in tow. It had to be about a foot tall.

 
 Armins eyes grew wide, and he whipped his head around to face Eren, who was smiling cheekily as the waiter set the huge drink down on the table.

 “Eren! How are we gonna finish this all!” Armin had to lift from his seat a bit to see the top of the glass.

 
 It was decorated with the regular chocolate milky substance, with soft serve chocolate-vanilla swirl stood on top of it. It had a large amount of whipped cream, rainbow sprinkles scattered across it. Two black straws protruded from either side of the large glass.

 Eren let out a soft laugh. “We will, trust me. It seems like way too much ice cream, but in reality, it’s not.” He smiled as he took a sip from his straw. 

 Armin just inspected the towering cup for a moment, thoughtfully.

 “Um.. could I take a photo? With, with us?” Armin asked, sliding his phone from the back pocket of his jeans. 

 “Of course” 

 Armin smiled warmly at the response. He held his phone slightly behind him, making sure both his and Eren’s face were visible. He quickly snapped a picture. Ok, maybe a couple, and shoved his phone back into his pocket. He was definitely going to be staring at them before he tucked himself into bed. Well, into Eren’s bed..

 “do me a favor, and send me those when we’re done here?” Eren asked, taking a spoon to scoop off some whip cream off the top of the milkshake.

 “Yeah” Armin giggled as he watched the brunette man get his face dirty.

 Eren quickly ran his sleeve over his lips to get the cream off.

”Eren, you have something” 

 “huh? Where” 

 Armin carefully reached over the table, napkin in hand, wiping off Erens nose. After a quick look down at his own nose, Erens eyes stared toward into big blue ones. 

 Armins hands Immediately back away from Eren, and he sat back down in the plush seat of the blotch, turning his head to examine something outside of the window. “Sorry..” his voice was barely a whisper.

 “No, it’s all good. Thanks, Armin. Now let’s finish this god forsaken milkshake”

A final laugh escaped Armins pink lips before he too started gulping down the cold, thick liquid.

 “Aughh….” Eren groaned as he laid his head down on the table. 

 “Wasn’t a good idea, was it?” Armin smirked as he eyed the tall glass, now almost empty. 

 Eren stayed silent, but lifted his head up to look at Armin, resting his chin on the cold table. His bottom lip curved into a slight frown.  His eyes looked to the side, and he whispered “no..” 

“Huh? Couldn’t hear u sorry. Gotta speak up” Armin laughed playfully, propping his elbow up on the table, resting his head in his hand.

 “You know what I said.” 

 “No.. I really couldn’t hear you!” 

 
 “I said no.” 

 “Ah” 

 “I’ll pay, let’s go” Eren's head shot up, placing some bucks where his check had been set down on the mahogany table.

 Armin scooted off of his seat to stand up with Eren. 

 
 “Shall we go?” Eren asked, grinning, as he hooked his arm around the smaller man's bicep.

 “We shall”