Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sunday, 5:38PM.

“Yes , mom, I made it safely.” You held your phone to your ear. 

As you struggled to drag your suitcase up the three steps (which felt like thirty), you huffed, listening to your mothers words about being safe and keeping a knife under the bed, things of that nature. 

You closed your eyes for a second, focusing more on finding the key you’d been given by the owner more than the words from the phone. 

“Mhm. Yes. I hear you, mom.” 

You finally found the key in the back of your pocket, happy-cursing internally before putting the key in the knob and twisting it. 

Your mother’s words were quickly overshadowed by the beautiful interior of the bnb. 

Your eyes widened as you slowly nodded at your mothers crumpled and honestly inaudible words, as if she could see you through the phone. 

You stepped back to grab your suitcase and drag it in behind you, taking the key out of the knob and shutting the door behind you with a click and a lock.

As your mothers words slowly faded back in, you rolled your eyes. 

“Yes, mom. Be safe, watch my surroundings, you’re repeating everything you said before I left the house.” You reminded her, which gained you a mini, but loving scolding from the other end. 

So much for getting away. 

You hummed at your moms words, reading the note the owner of the Airbnb left.

Please don’t leave food under the beds, it is very hard to clean and get the scent out. 

Thank you for booking!

“Ew.” you whispered to yourself, flipping the card over before putting it back on the island. 

When your mother finally finished pestering you about your safety and sending you her ‘prayers’, you hung up the phone with a “See you later, mom.” 

You placed your phone down on the counter, leaning over it with a satisfied groan. 

“Thank you.” you whispered, not sure who to, or for, but you just knew you had to thank someone or something for the peace and quiet of this beautiful place.

The kitchen was spacious, the livingroom, right across from it, sat three couches and a glass table in the middle. A fireplace and a huge TV attached above it for a whole family to watch. 

What a good waste of money, you thought to yourself. 

You tapped your phone twice, the light flashing and showing the time. 

5:45PM. 

The perfect time for you to prepare a good dinner and a nice bath for yourself. 

You hadn’t had time to yourself in months. 

Due to all the work you put into your education, there was rarely a moment you had to yourself, and throughout your whole college semester, you’d decided that before your sophomore year, you’d save up for a nice Airbnb to stay in for a while. 

I mean, it's not like you don't have friends.

You’d just… have more of a good time without anyone around you for just a week or two. And that was fine by you. 

You were used to being secluded most of the time anyways, not really taking interest in groups of people or parties–it all just wasn't your thing. 

It was time for peace and quiet. 

Finally.

A good dinner, consisting of eggs and bacon that were already prepared in the fridge for your convenience. 

Such nice people, you thought as you ate the well prepared meal.

Well, it was more like breakfast, but so? Being that you were alone, you could eat whatever you wanted to eat, at any time, and not be silently judged by pouring a cup of orange juice beside a plate of eggs, bacon, and added on toast in the afternoon. 

After washing your dishes out, you stretched, dragging your suitcase to the bedroom. 

A nice one bedroom, one office, and two bathrooms. While booking the place, you expected more bedrooms due to how huge it seemed, but it was whatever. 

It's not like you, yourself, needed more than one room. 

As you unpacked your clothes into three separate drawers, you picked some out at the same time. 

All you needed was a t-shirt to sleep in, some underwear, what good would a bra do? And pants? Tuh. 

This was the perfect and only chance you had to dress how you wanted to dress in the space of your own, and you were gonna take it like never before. Being that you had a roommate in your college dorm, and when you finally went back home, there’d be a family event every single day, 

there was never really a moment where you could be comfortable. 

But right now? As you soaked in the bath, your aching ankles soothing down from the fact that you’d been on your feet all day, trying to get everything prepared for this perfect moment right here, you didn’t care about any of that anymore.

You sunk deeper into the rounded bath, deciding not to turn on the jets.

The bubbles pops and crackles soothed your mind, along with the small but mighty speaker in the corner of the bathroom that played perfect music for this moment. 

You were taking a deeper liking to this than when you’d first arrived. 

Peace and quiet. 

No loud college students.

No classmates. 

No assignments, professors, people asking you to do work for majors you knew nothing about–and honestly wondered how they’d even chosen it. 

Just peace. 

You closed your eyes, and let the low background music you played take over the moment. 

When you opened your eyes, you raised your leg just slightly, looking at your toes as they peeked through the warm water and bubbles, and felt the cold bathroom air hit them. 

More time passed.

You wrapped yourself in a robe before fixing yourself up for bed in the mirror. 

Putting your hair into a style that wouldn’t completely tangle it the moment you laid in the bed. 

But that may have been impossible anyways, considering that the first thing you noticed earlier when you walked into the bright, white but definitely decorated bedroom was the silk pillow cases, atop of cotton pillows underneath them. 

You slipped on your slippers when you finished changing into your sleeping clothes, the cool breeze from the hallway hitting your legs and ankles when you walked to your bedroom. 

You placed the clothes into a hamper, deciding it would be best for you to wash them later on. 

But right now, all you wanted to do was lay down, and watch the TV that was mounted to the wall, right across from the bed, perfect for you to watch your favorite show. 

You slipped deeper into the sheets, resting your chin in your palm as your eyes focused on the TV. 

As lonely as you thought this seemed, it was probably the best decision you ever made. 

Checking your phone, 8PM, you saw how much time you’d spent enjoying your lone self. 

But all those thoughts drifted off to the back of your head. 

That warm bath, last minute meal, and those cold bedsheets were getting to you, not to mention the air conditioner hitting you perfectly. 

You felt yourself drifting off. 

Your head leaning off to the front every now and then before you jolted back awake, trying your best to finish the episodes you could. 

So, yeah. That didn't work. 

You were resting peacefully, a light snore leaving your lips every now and then. 

That was before, 

Before you heard the loud thud of a door, jolting you awake. 

You frowned, wondering if the sound was from the TV, or your mind wondering if you were just in a really deep sleep, or dead.

You paused there, grabbing the remote from the pillow beside you and pausing the TV. 

You blinked, squinting as if that’d make you hear better. 

You grabbed your phone, checking the time. 

9:19PM. 

You must’ve slept for longer than it felt. And you would’ve liked to sleep for longer if your restless mind didn’t wake you for no reason. 

You huffed, tossing the remote to the end of the bed and deciding that maybe, that sound just came from the TV, and it was nothing. 

So you adjusted your position on bed to a more comfortable one and closed your eyes again, drifting off into a deeper sleep that you did before. 

– 

Time passed.

You wouldn’t know though, until you woke up, thirsty. 

You groaned, pushing yourself off of the pillow and scratching your stomach underneath the shirt maybe a size or two too big. 

You checked your phone. 3AM.

You poked your bottom lip out, a little disappointed that you woke up earlier than intended for… a drink? That's what it felt like, since your throat was growing dryer by the second. 

You sighed, pushing yourself off of the bed and dragging yourself out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. 

Your vision was blurry, and being that there were no lights on other than the light above the oven, you had to adjust to the darkness. But as you neared the corner of the hallway, where the kitchen was just on the other side of it, your brows knit together. 

That wasn't an oven light. 

The bright, yellow-ish light that beamed from the kitchen and reflected onto the dark living room right across from it, wasn't an oven light. 

Too bright to be an oven light. 

You blinked and swallowed, slowing your steps and stopping at the corner. 

Your heart raced in your chest now. You really should’ve taken your mothers advice on the whole ‘knife under the bed’ thing. You internally cursed, looking up to the ceiling, taking the fact that the longer you waited around that corner, the less you’d want to go around it into consideration. 

“Fuck.” You mouthed to yourself, gaining the courage to go around the corner, and straight to the kitchen. 

You quickly reached into a drawer, grabbing a knife and holding it up while reaching towards the lightswitch to flick the bright light of the kitchen on. 

“Who the fuck are you ?” You hissed, frowning and holding the knife up at the unknown figure that was… in the refrigerator? 

Drinking from the rim of the orange juice you’d just poured a couple hours ago. 

Your face twitched into a disgusted look as the mystery mam flinched at the bright light and covered his eyes. 

“Geez–” he paused, looking over at you with a shocked face. 

His hair was up, some brown strands hanging over his forehead. He was shirtless, like he booked this Airbnb. 

Or… maybe he was the owner and you came in on the wrong day? 

How humiliating. Were you really holding a knife up to the owner of this Airbnb you’d booked for your own peace and quiet? 

“What’s with the knife?” He frowned, but his tone was somewhere on the lines of bored and concerned. 

“You’re in this bnb.” You pointed to him, gripping the knife tighter in your hands. 

“Now who are you, and if you don’t answer, I'm gonna stab you.” You threatened. 

The boy wiped his lips with the back of his hand and twisted the top of the orange juice back onto the bottle. “Well–” He started. 

He then closed the fridge before reaching in the pocket of his sweatbands and holding up a key with a tag on it. “ I booked this place. So I should be asking you that question.” He gave you a look of ‘are you serious?’ and ‘are you dumb?’ maybe a mix of ‘are you okay?’

You shook your head in confusion, lowering the knife just the slightest with a squint. 

“What?” 

He rolled his eyes, running a hand through the strands over his forehead. 

“I booked this Airbnb, so you’re technically disturbing my peace.” his eyes averted from you, to the knife. “With a …knife?” he tilted his head forward a little.

You blinked. 

You blinked again. 

So much for peace and quiet. 

Chapter Text

You honestly wondered if your life could get any worse. 

Booking a bnb just for a nice, comforting getaway, not wanting to worry about anyone or anything, and now there was a random boy standing just a couple feet away from you in the middle of the night, drinking juice from the rim like it meant nothing. 

You didn't know if you should be scared or disgusted, but you knew you were still tired.

Seriously, could this get any worse? 

Honestly, you wished you could be over this, but this is a stranger, and brushing it off probably wouldn't be the safest option. 

“Can you just–” you pinched the bridge of your nose with a sigh. "How'd you get in here?” You squint at the guy. 

He stepped over to lean on the island and grabbed his phone, scrolling on it like it was his typical night, and this didn’t surprise him. 

“Didn’t I just show you the key? I booked this place.” He tossed the key on the counter, jutting his head towards it. “Right there. Can you see now?”

You scowled at the sarcastic tone of his voice and rolled your eyes, crossing your arms to try to think of something snappy to say back. 

“And you can put the knife down,” He turned his phone off, sitting it on the counter and averting his attention back to you. “I don’t plan on killing you or something weird like that.” 

‘Something weird like that’? 

What was this guy's problem? 

Is he gonna ignore the fact that one of you was gonna have to leave the place, and it definitely wasn't gonna be you? 

“Can you get out?” You point the knife towards the front door.

He raised his brows in a “me?” type of way before scoffing. 

“Hey, I paid for this place just like you. If you think I'm leaving, you're an idiot.” He stood up straight with a long stretch and a groan. “Wheres the bedroom?” 

Your lips parted, brows raised. 

An idiot? 

You? An idiot? And he was waltzing in the place like there wasn’t someone already there. 

How damn rude. 

You scoffed, visibly offended by the guy's remarks. 

“You’ve got some nerve thinking I'm gonna lead you to the one bedroom I was sleeping in before I came in here and saw you drinking from the damn orange juice.” 

He didn’t seem to take your attitude seriously, as he let out a small laugh, looking you up and down. 

“Nice panties. Those, what– pineapples?” 

“What–” You looked down to see that you’d completely forgotten that you were pantsless, and not only that, you were wearing pineapple panties to top it off. 

With a gasp, you threw the knife to the side and pulled your shirt down, quickly turning around. 

“Are you a creep?!” You hissed at the boy behind you, covering up the little bits you could. 

He chuckled as his eyes trailed down again, this time to your ass, “Hey, you can see ‘em even better from the back.” 

You gasped again, taking the chance to rush back to the bedroom, and slam the door behind you. With a loud huff, you looked down at your underwear, like that’d change the fact that he saw them already. 

You rolled your eyes, walking over to the drawer in front of the bed and rummaging through your pants to find more comfortable ones. 

You would let the embarrassment take over you, but there was a stranger in the kitchen, and you weren't sure if he was honest about booking the same place as you or not. 

And you definitely didn't wanna find out when it was too late. 

You gulped. 

This had to be some kind of sick joke or summer prank. 

As you slipped your shorts on, you pulled your shirt over them and walked back over to the bedroom door, bracing yourself before you opened it. 

When you did, you rolled your eyes as you walked down the hallway and into the kitchen.

And of course, he was still there, now sitting and twisting on a stool behind the island and eating a piece of white bread. 

His eyes made their way back to you, then to your shorts, then you again, 

He let out a laugh, taking another bite of bread. 

You rubbed your forehead. This was the most stressed you’ve been since you arrived. 

“Okay.” you hesitantly eased over to the island and stopped across from the guy, grabbing his key and looking at it. “How do I know you're not lying and not just the owner breaking in and trying to kill me?” you said, half joking-half serious. 

He raised his brows at your statement before pointing at the key in your hand with the bread. 

“The key.” 

You played with the key in your hand.

“So the owner mysteriously has two keys to an airbnb?” you tilt your head at the guy. 

He just shrugged. “I’d hope so. You know how many people lose keys to these places? More than you expect.” 

You rolled your eyes. He had a point, but that's what made it annoying. 

He then spoke again. “Look, I didn't ask to be paired up with you like some kind of student doing a project, but I'm not leaving,” he gave you a certain look. “and i know you're not leaving, so we might as well spend the time together, right?”

Seriously? 

Spending the time with some stranger in an airbnb you booked for one person and one person only? 

Hell no. 

“Hell no.” 

He shrugged. “Well, leave.” 

Your eyes widened and you pointed to yourself in disbelief. “You want me to leave and I came before you?” 

He just gave a simple nod and a shrug. 

“Unless you wanna suck it up, and deal with it, and stop whining like a baby,” he suggested. “Thats an option too.” 

Unbelievable. 

Unbefuckingleavible. 

“You've got some balls coming in here like you own the place.” You point at him, disregarding the fact that he was there and putting more attention on how rude he was being. 

Maybe you were rude, but for good reasoning, right? 

No one wants to be met with a stranger in an airbnb. 

He rolled his eyes, twirling side to side on the stool and finishing the piece of bread. 

“Look, if it makes you feel better, I'm Eren.” He held his arms out like he was revealing himself. “See? Now we're not strangers.” 

You scoffed. “I’m not telling you my name.” 

He cocked a brow with a slight smirk. “Didn’t ask for it.” 

You sighed, leaning on the counter and letting your head drop. 

Though, it probably wasn't a horrible idea, you were unsure if you wanted a complete stranger, well, Eren being in the same vicinity as you every day for two weeks. 

Surely it was unsafe, right? Of course. 

And considering he’d already seen you in your underwear, it was worse. 

“You’re a college student too?” he suddenly asked, making your head snap up.

“What?” 

He then pointed his pinky at the green band on your wrist, which had the name of your college on it. “Paradis University, I know people there. You might know ‘em too but…” he trailed off, moving his finger in a circular motion while pointing at you. 

You cocked a brow and crossed your arms, already offended by the motion he was doing. 

“But?”

“You don't seem like you enjoy people much.” He snorted at his own joke, shaking his head. 

Asshole, 

…though, he wasn't wrong. But he wasn't completely right, either. 

“I enjoy people,” you defended yourself with a frown. “I just don't enjoy you. Stranger.” you muttered the last part loud enough for him to hear. 

Eren shook his head, “remember, it's Eren. And it doesn't matter if you don't like me,” Eren hopped off of the stool, walking around the island and to you. 

You backed away a little, stiffening when he tossed his arm around you and leaned in closer. “Cause we're stuck together for a while, baby.” 

Ew. 

Just ew.

First, he comes in like you're not there, now he's flirting with you. 

You could've threw up right then and there, but you shoved Eren off of you. 

“Didn’t your mother ever teach you to keep your hands to yourself, you creep?” you shot Eren a disgusted face. 

His brows raised at your statement before he toot his lips up and looked around. “You still didn't show me where the bedroom was.” he completely ignored the statement and you huffed. 

“Didn’t I tell you you weren't sleeping in the room I was sleeping in?” 

Eren held a hand up to correct you, following behind you as you walked down the hall and to the room. “Actually, you said you weren’t leading me.” 

There was a silence as you both walked, your irritation radiating off of you like an aura, 

And he loved it. 

Eren spoke again, in a quieter tone this time. “But you are now.” He mumbled. 

You groaned. “Can you please,” you finally stepped into the doorway and turned around towards him, as he stood there with his hands in his pockets like a lost child. “Just leave me alone?”

He pursed his lips together with a surprised look on his face.

He shook his head, mouthing a “no.” 

You rolled your eyes, closing the door and locking it. 

Now, of course, it wasn't the safest option to leave a complete stranger, fuck– Eren in the same house as you, but you were tired, underrested, and getting sleepier and sleepier by the second. 

So as you laid back down and unpaused the TV you’d paused about an hour ago, you could only hope he wasn’t some creep that snuck in when you were too busy gawking at the kitchen or something.

And if so, 

Then…

That was a tomorrow-you problem, because you were already drifting back off to sleep.

Even though you tried your hardest not to, truly, you just couldn’t stay awake to sit there and cautiously watch a manchild all night. 

Being that it was 4AM now, and you had to prepare breakfast for yourself when you got up, you had no choice but to go back to sleep. 

–

Monday, 9:43AM.

You groaned as you pushed yourself off of the bed and awake. 

You sat there for a couple seconds, rubbing at your eyes and letting out a long sigh. 

You slipped on your shoes, and stretched when you stood. 

The bright gleam of the morning sun peeked through the curtains, and though you liked it, you silently cursed it for waking you up, but thanked it at the same time. 

With a scratch of your back, you dragged yourself to the bathroom after unlocking the bedroom door.

Pushing the bathroom door open, you yawned, grabbing your toothbrush and the newly given tube of toothpaste. 

Turning on the sink, you squeezed the toothpaste on your toothbrush before wetting it and starting to brush. 

You looked in the mirror at the light bags under your eyes and the way your shirt slightly hung off of your shoulder. You leaned over the sink to spit after a few seconds, wetting the toothbrush again and putting more toothpaste before starting to brush. 

But the huge mirror showed so much of the bathroom, you were shocked to see Eren, standing right at the second sink, completely unnoticed. 

Your eyes widened and you gasped, choking on the toothpaste and hitting your chest. 

Eren, toothbrush still in his mouth, just gave you a confused look.

When he spit, he finally spoke. “Mint too strong?” 

You gave him a harsh, dismissing wave before spitting and letting out a loud groan at your own actions. “How long have you been standing there?” You point at Eren like it was a crime to brush his teeth. 

“Uh…” he tapped his phone to check the time before rinsing his toothbrush off. “Way before you.” 

You flashed him a look before rinsing off your toothbrush and wiping your mouth with a small napkin on the sink. 

When you tossed it in the trash, you looked around for a towel after turning on the warm water.

“You really need to stop scaring people.” you warned the boy, but he shrugged.

"You're the only one here, and you got scared on your own.” He nudged his head towards you, making you roll your eyes. 

You opened the bathroom closet to find a stack of towels. When you grabbed one, turning around, Eren stopped you. “Get me one?” he asked. 

You blinked, ignoring his request. “Get it yourself, stranger.” 

Eren rolled his eyes with a grin. “Why can’t you just call me by my name?” he walked past you as you walked back over to the sink.

You shrugged. “I don’t know you enough to be saying your name.” 

“I told you my name last night.” Eren reminded you. As if you’d forget. 

He walked back over to the sink and wet his towel. 

“You’re still a stranger and I don't know you.” You reminded him this time, making him scoff and roll his eyes. 

“You came up on me with a knife in the middle of the night. I should be the one scared of you.” he reached over to nudge your arm.

Your expression remained bored as you squeezed the water from the warm towel.

“Don’t touch me.” you muttered, raising the towel to your face and letting out a long sigh as you wiped whatever was on there from your wild sleeping, off. 

Eren, instead, only wiped his eyes and around his mouth. 

You weren’t paying that much attention to him, but you couldn’t help but notice how small his movements were compared to yours. 

You gave him an odd look. “Why’re you only wiping your eyes and lips? Wipe your whole face.” 

Now in no case should you be telling a complete stranger what to do, or more specifically, how to wash his face, but when he gave you a confused look and asked “is that how you’re s’posed to do it?” you thought it probably wouldn't be such a bad thing. 

But avoiding showing him your already annoyed side, you just shrugged. “Its not a correct way to do it, but it's certainly a better way. What if you drooled all down your cheek and you're just washing your lips?” you explained. “Doesn’t make sense, does it?”

It seemed like Eren’s realization kicked in as he started to slowly wipe all around his face. “I guess it does.” 

You nodded, raising your brows for a second before tossing the towel in the bathroom hamper. “I think that was obvious.” 

Eren quickly mirrored your actions, following behind you as you left the bathroom and went into the kitchen. 

You sensed him behind you, and huffing, you opened the fridge. 

“Why’re you following me?” you asked in a bored tone, grabbing the bacon and eggs.

Eren shrugged before walking over and hopping on one of the stools. “Dunno. Bored.”

You glanced back at him, catching his eyes straight on your ass as you bent over in the fridge. You rolled your eyes as he tried to play it off and look somewhere else. 

You closed the fridge. “You’re really a creep. I dont know why im sitting here and tolerating you.” you really said it more to yourself than him, but of course being the irritating person he was, he replied anyways.

“Don’t say I'm a creep like I'm some middle aged man preying on you.” He defended, but you shrugged, grabbing things to make breakfast with. 

“I don’t know how old you are.” You grabbed a pan, placing raw pieces of bacon in it. “For all I know, you could be a figment of my imagination. Could’ve snuck in my room last night without me knowing."

Seriously, you were only half joking.

Trying to make humor out of a slight fear, it was your best skill, but Eren didn’t laugh. 

He only leaned on his elbows as they rested on the island, watching you closely as you prepared breakfast. 

His eyes followed you as you walked over to the stove, turning it on and sitting the pan of raw bacon on there. 

When you moved back over to the island, your eyes flicked up to him and back down to the egg you cracked. “What?” you asked, deciding to entertain yourself with his stupidity. 

As much as you didn’t wanna seem like a bitch, Eren was still a stranger in the same house as you, and though you were nice to strangers, you didn’t wanna semi-live with them. 

“You really think I'm a creep?”

The question threw you off, but you walked over to the cabinets and grabbed the salt and pepper, quietly thinking about his question. 

It wasn’t his fault you showed up in front of him with pineapple panties, right? 

No, of course not.

It was kind of your fault.

So you pursed your lips together. “Not seriously, but boys will be boys.” 

Eren squinted at your statement, but he didn’t say anything. He just watched your hands as you whisked the eggs.

Your eyes flicked up to him again. “What now?” you said, more like a statement and not a question. Eren pointed at the eggs. “Where’d you learn to make eggs?” 

You sighed, glancing over to the bacon and leaving the eggs. 

You walked over to it and grabbed tongs, flipping each piece of bacon carefully.

You could still feel Eren’s eyes on you as you walked back over to the eggs. You added salt first.

“My mom.” 

Eren’s brows raised in surprise, but his expression quickly went back the same.

He then tilt his head. “Teach me.” 

You scoffed, “you’re a college student and you can't scramble eggs?” 

Eren let out a chuckle, raising up a little on the stool. “I can’t do anything, actually. College doesn’t mean shit to me– really. So I just go for the fun of it.” 

Your brows raised before they furrowed. He couldn’t be serious. 

“You had to have some kind of smarts to get into college.” You disregarded the egg situation now. But Eren waved you off. 

“It’s all a waste to me. I won’t be doing shit after I graduate, so I decide to make fun out of it.” 

You purse your lips together. 

You’d judge him, not in a mean way, just in a ‘that’s odd’ type of way. But who are you to tell someone about their life and what they should do with it? 

You already knew how hard it was to try to get through college with a purpose. 

To want to be something in life, that wasn’t an easy task. You really had to want to be something to be something. 

Starting from scratch, that whole thing. 

You knew how hard it was. So who are you to judge? 

No one.

You were smart, intelligent, you knew what you could and couldn’t do, or if you wanted to do something or not. 

You knew how hard it was to try to be the smartest, or try to be the most successful.

Hard as fuck.

So Eren unknowingly not wanting to do the things you did, you couldn’t blame him for that.

Shit, if you could turn around and change one thing about yourself, it would be being an outcast. Having to study almost every night because every professor wanted something new from you, and had set expectations for you.

Missing fun parties and staying up all night just to go over assignments that you eventually fell asleep on.

And all of it for what, a piece of paper that even the party-goers would get?

The whole 'work harder not smarter' personality you were set to play out,

You’d change that in a heartbeat. 

You chewed your cheek.

“Oh.” was all you said. 

You didn’t wanna pry.

Eren's eyes flickered up to you before they moved to the egg’s again. “So… you gonna teach me?” 

You looked at him. “No.”

Chapter Text

Monday, 12:38PM

“Yes, mom– look–” you sighed. “I know what you said about the whole– yes, yes , the knife under the bed thing, I know .” 

Right now, you were being scolded for not only ‘letting a strange man into your airbnb’, but you were also getting scolded for letting him stay . 

“Are you serious, Y/n? This is a serious situation and you should’ve called the police!” your mom scolded you on the other line. You sighed, blinking and looking up at the ceiling. 

You know how much your mother valued your safety. You don't even know why you chose to tell her about the guy. 

As you tuned her voice out, you looked at your nails. 

As unsafe as it seemed, what could he do? 

You weren’t dumb, the dangers of letting a stranger stay in the same place as you lingered in your mind from the moment you first considered it. Plus, you’d watched way too many horror movies to let that go unthought of. 

Then again, he was a college student, he didn’t prove it, but who would lie about being almost miserable in college? 

And you’re pretty sure a serial killer would know how to scramble eggs…

Right?

Was that even relevant in this situation–?

“Y/n!” 

Your mothers voice snapped you out of your thoughts and you flinched. 

“Yes, mom?” 

She continued to go on and on about how she was worried for your safety and how you should just stab him then and there before he did the same to you. 

Your mother wasn’t very… empathetic when it came to your safety. 

If you were scared, or in danger, (which you rarely were), she’d give you a solution immediately, ignoring your feelings all the way. 

Of course, she didn’t mean to be mean or rude when she did it. 

But you were an only child. She couldn’t lose you physically or mentally in any way. 

Especially since your father wasn’t there, she cared for you extra deeply. 

Cheered you on so loudly, you didn’t realize when he wasn’t. 

So as she yelled about your wellbeing on the other end, you couldn’t help but laugh a little, which shocked her. 

“Y/n, are you laughing?!” 

“Mom, I'm sorry, but don't you think if he wanted to do something, he would've did it already? He doesn't seem like any immediate danger right now…” you explained. 

You knew that if you were your own mother, you'd immediately shut down what you’d just said. 

But what other way could you explain that this guy looked like he wouldn't hurt a fly? 

You just heard your mothers sigh’s on the other end of the phone. 

“I need his name, full name, and all the information on him. I need to see him, because if something happens to you–” 

“Wait, what ?”

You shifted on the bed with a frown. 

You meant to tell your mother that you were now temporarily staying with a stranger, not trying to introduce her to him.

You groaned. 

“Mom, that's ridiculous.” you whispered a little lower, but you could almost hear the shaking of your mothers head. 

“Y/n, I'm serious.” she spoke. 

You blinked, dragging a hand down your face in embarrassment. 

How were you gonna tell him your mother wanted to see him? 

Oh, ‘hey, my mom thinks you’re a killer and wants all your personal information.’? 

So humiliating. 

“Okay, okay. I'm gonna send you… whatever you just said.” you interrupted your mothers reasoning and she hummed. 

You spoke again, “I'm gonna send it, like… later.” you mumbled. 

After a couple more seconds of your mother pestering you, you finally said your later’s, and you dropped your phone down beside you. 

Now how were you gonna break this news to him? 

You groaned again, shaking your head from the sheer embarrassment coursing through your body before standing up and walking towards the bedroom door. 

You opened it, and made your way down the hallway, processing the words you were gonna say to the boy. 

You walked slowly, scratching your fingers through your scalp nervously. 

When you passed the kitchen, you walked to the living room, seeing Eren sitting on the couch, leaned over on the armrest and pinching at the ends of his hair. 

You squint, noticing that he was still shirtless.

Did this guy ever wear a shirt? Geez. 

You silently sat on one of the couches, parallel from him. 

His bored eyes met yours, and you could see a small smirk creeping on the corners of his lips. 

You rolled your eyes, sitting back on the couch and crossing your legs. 

“So…” you started. 

Eren looked back at the TV, chewing his cheek. “Hmm?” 

“My mom,” you internally braced yourself for your own words. This was truly humiliating. 

Eren’s eyes met you again as he continued chewing his cheek. 

“She wants your name.” 

He blinked. 

“And she wants to know how you look… meaning she wants a picture of you.” you continued, refusing to make eye contact with him. 

Eren’s cheek rested on his palm as he listened to your words. 

“Wanna introduce me to the parents already, huh?” 

Your face scrunched up. 

“Ew,” you finally looked at him, slowly shaking your head. The boy chuckled and raised off of his palm, adjusting on the couch. 

“Okay, what kind of pic? Sexy? Flirty? She need my number too?” he grinned. 

You wished you could punch him in the gut. 

“She wants to make sure you're not some kind of damn serial killer,” you explained. “And if you do kill me, she wants to have your identity to turn you in to the cops.”

Eren's face changed from a joking one to a slightly concerned one. 

“You two really are alike.” he muttered. 

You scoffed, standing up and making your way to the kitchen. “I told her I'd send one later.” 

Eren’s head hung back over the couch as he looked at you upside down. 

“You should send her one from when I get out of the shower tonight. The ladies love me like that.” he suggested, making you shoot him a glare.

“Sorry to burst your dirty bubble, but my middle aged mother doesn't wanna see a young scrawny boy after his shower.” You pursed your lips together, looking through the fridge for your next meal. 

Eren barked out a laugh that practically made your ears flutter. 

You could roll your eyes at this guy three times in under a second. He was truly an annoying one. 

“Scrawny… have you seen this body?” he stood from the couch, stuffing his hands in his sweats pockets and walking over to the kitchen.

"I kinda have no choice but to." you mumbled under your breath.  

With your back turned to him, you grabbed a box of unopened cereal off of the fridge. 

“I hope you didn't come over here to flex your muscles. I don't wanna see that shit.” you glanced back at him.

Of course, Eren wasn’t actually scrawny. He had quite the muscle mass, not too much but not too little. 

You’d seen it last night when he was rambling in the fridge. 

But you weren't gonna be like whatever ‘ladies’ he was referring to, and gawk over them. 

He wasn't even attractive to be gawking over. 

“Damn, sorry.” he held up a middle finger to the back of your head and sat on one of the stools near the island.

You ignored his words and poured yourself a bowl of cereal. 

After a couple seconds of silence, peaceful in your mind, and awkward in his, the boy spoke again. 

“Am I really scrawny?” 

You rolled your eyes. “No.” 

You put the milk and cereal back before placing your bowl on the island and starting to eat, placing your phone down beside you. 

You could feel Eren’s eyes piercing into your forehead and you closed yours for a second, refraining from rolling them. “What, boy?” 

Eren’s head cocked back a little at the name you called him. “Boy?” 

You looked up at him with a death stare. 

He looked away. 

You looked down, shaking your head and taking another bite of your cereal.

This whole situation was honestly a fever dream to you right now. 

A random person accidentally being booked in the same airbnb as you, and you were treating it as if he was a normal roommate. 

You’d already mentally said goodbye to your peaceful first two weeks of summer, shaking your head a little as you thought about it.

Your eyes drifted to his phone, which laid face down on the counter.

There was a picture in the back of it, a polaroid, it looked like.

You tilt your head a little to see what the picture was, but in a failed attempt, you gave up and pointed at it. “What’s that?” 

Eren’s eyes left your face and moved down to the counter. 

He sat up, looking around the counter in confusion. “What?” 

You scoffed. “The picture in your phone.” 

Eren looked down at his phone before his brows raised and he grabbed it. “Oh,” he held his phone, looking at the picture for a few seconds before passing it to you. “My lil sis, and our mom.” 

You grabbed his phone and looked at the picture, your eyes trailing back and forth between his and his mothers face. 

6.24.XX

The year written under the photo was titled to be exactly a year ago, which surprised you, because it was the same month as this one.

“This date’s coming up.” you cocked a brow, and Eren nodded. 

Your eyes moved to Eren’s face again and you nodded slowly, making him give you a confused look. “What?” he questioned. 

You put his phone down and circled your nail over his mom’s face. 

“You two look just alike.”

Eren pursed his lips together and rotated his phone towards him, giving the picture a long gaze. 

“You think so?” 

You shrugged, taking another bite of cereal before eating it and speaking, “You have all her feminine features.” 

You watched Eren’s eyes soften a little. 

He hummed, taking his eyes off of the picture and shrugging. “I guess so.” 

You nodded, holding your bowl up and sipping the milk from it. “I don’t take you as the type of person to have a little sister, though. Seems like you grew up around a bunch of asshole brothers.” you paused. “No offense.” 

Eren chuckled, turning his phone face up before plucking the hair tie on his wrist. 

“Nah, a sister only. She’s a sweetheart.” he nodded to himself. 

You toot your lips up and tilt your head. “Totally different from you.” you point at him before turning around and walking a few steps over to the sink. 

Eren rolled his eyes and twirled on the stool. 

“She’s more of an asshole than me.” He breathed out, making you chuckle over by the sink. Eren paused in his spinning and his brows raised. “Was that the mystery girl’s laugh?” 

You took a deep breath and fixed your face, glancing back at him. 

“I laughed at the statement about your sister. Not you.” you say, washing the bowl you just ate from. 

Eren scoffed and continued to spin in his chair, his voice slightly fading in and out as he spoke. 

“Yeah, she's an asshole. Beats me up whenever I see her.” 

You tilt your head. “Why?” 

Eren shrugged, not like you could see, but you assumed he did anyway. 

You then turned off the faucet and grabbed a napkin from beside the sink. 

“It's summer, why aren’t you seeing her now?”

“Restraining order.” 

Your eyes widened and your head snapped back towards him. “A restaining– what ?” 

Eren chuckled at your shock and stopped spinning to lean on the counter. 

And you thought he wouldn't hurt a fly. 

Then again you can’t just assume he hurt someone to get a restraining order put against him. 

“Her dad and stepmom, two bitches.” he muttered, drawing imaginary shapes on the counter. “Wife put one against me ‘cause I beat his ass.” 

You wiped your wet hands at the word ‘wife’, considering his little sister looking so young in the picture. But you decided to be quiet anyway, not wanting to get too involved in his business. 

Then again, you couldn’t help but question further. 

“Why’d you fight ‘em?” when you threw the napkin in the trash, you held your hands up in defense. “Not defending whatever he did, I'm sure you had a good reason.” you assumed, and Eren shrugged with a nod.

“He was being an asshole to my mom… at that moment.” He tilted his head to the side a little, eyes on the counter as you leaned against the kitchen counter across from him, crossing your arms. 

As bad as it sounded, you were intrigued in what he was telling you. 

You stared at him, wondering if you should ask more. 

But before you could even make that decision, Eren glanced up at you, grinning when he saw your half concerned, half interested face. 

“You wanna know more.”

“Oh, definitely .” 

Eren shook his head, scoffing at himself. “Can’t believe I'm about to tell a stranger about my personal life, but it's not like we'll see each other again after these couple days, so…” he trailed off. 

You walked towards the island and sat on a stool across from him, leaning on the counter just like he did. 

“A thing happened with him and my mom after they broke up, it was about my sister, so I beat his ass,” he told it like it meant absolutely nothing. “Like I said, wife got a restraining order on me– three years, I think?” he frowned to himself before nodding. “Yeah, three years.” 

You rested your face in both of your palms, completely indulged in the small story he told. 

“Can I ask questions?”

“Shoot.” 

“When does the restraining order end?” 

Eren’s lips twitched a smirk at your question and he glanced at you again, his fingers continuing to trail the counter. “This month.” 

You exhaled in awe.

Then you frowned a little, looking down at his pointer finger as it glided across the marble. 

“Okay, so that happened three years ago.” 

Eren nodded, glancing up at you again. 

“Which means you were how old when it happened?” you questioned. If he was a college student, and you were pretty sure he wasn't a senior or a junior, this situation happened when he was in high school. Which would be a complete shocker to you. 

Seriously, he didn’t look like the type to hurt anyone. 

“Sixteen.” 

Your jaw dropped. 

This is probably the most emotion other than a negative one you’d shown since he got here. 

“ Sixteen , and you won a fight against a grown man?” 

Honestly, due to his tone, and his demeanor all over, it wasn’t something you’d put completely past him. Despite not knowing Eren for more than what, a night and half a day, you already knew somewhat about the type of person he was. 

So when he nodded slowly, you mouthed an ‘oh my God.’ 

You then leaned on only one arm and put the other on your hip. “Your mom found better, right? I mean, I hope she did, the woman's beautiful.” you spoke, full of surprise. 

Eren stared at you for a couple seconds before slowly smirking. 

“You know you’re cute when you smile? You should do that more.” 

Your face dropped into a disgusted one and you rolled your eyes. 

Eren let out a laugh and hopped off the stool, grabbing his phone and pointing at the counter. 

“I just drew your whole face on that marble by the way.” He glanced back at it. 

You squint, leaning up to try to see what he was talking about. 

“On marble, you creep?” 

Eren nodded, walking over to the table in the middle of the living room and grabbing some keys. 

“I’ll be back later tonight, and I lost my key, so I hope you're awake.” 

“Wait, what–”

Before you could even respond to what he said, the door was already closing. 

You blinked, face flushed with confusion. 

“Did he just leave the house without a shirt?” you mumbled to yourself with a shake of your head. “And his key?” 

If nothing else fazed you in that moment, one thing did. 

You had yourself a new pet to take care of. 

Chapter Text

Monday, 9:10PM

Standing in the mirror with a towel wrapped around your body and shivers trailing up your spine, you tapped your toothbrush on the end of the sink before putting it back into the holder. 

It’d been about eight hours of peace since Eren had left, and honestly, you were doing just fine. 

Of course… like you’d be doing if he never came around. 

You lotioned your body, yawning as tiredness washed over you. 

Despite the time of the night not being the usual time you’d sleep, you were awfully drowsed. You didn’t know if you should blame the annoying boy you were met with or yourself for not sleeping in a little longer. 

You sighed, pulling your shirt over your head and reaching for your pants. 

All you wanted to do was lay down, cover your body in cold sheets, and dream of a life without stress. 

Since you obviously couldn’t live one. 

You reached for your clothes off of the floor and left the bathroom, walking to the bedroom and tossing your clothes in the hamper. 

Yes, the bed you’ve been trying your hardest to rush to, despite your slow and exhausted movements. 

But there was one problem, 

You still had to wait for Eren to get back. 

You groaned, plopping down on the bed and throwing yourself onto your back. 

You outstretched your arms and looked at the ceiling. 

How the hell were you gonna stay awake long enough to wait for him when he was out for like, half the day? 

Maybe you could watch TV? Scroll on your phone? 

Or maybe that’d just put you to sleep quicker than you intended… 

Sighing as you got lost in your thoughts, just when you closed your eyes, there was a banging on the front door. 

It startled you, causing you to jolt up and rush out of your bedroom. 

“Fuck,” you frowned as the banging continued. 

You unlocked the front door and swung it open. “Why the hell–” 

Your eyes trailed from a grinning Eren, to a girl that gripped onto his arm. 

Her smile faded, and you just looked back and forth between the two. 

Surely he wasn’t about to invite another random person in the house, right?

“‘Scuse us.” was all that Eren said as he lightly pushed you out of the way with a chuckle to the girl. 

As he led her to the couch, you could hear her faint whisper, “Who’s she?” followed by Eren’s reply as he glanced back at you and tossed his arm around her. “My cousin.” 

Your face twisted and you shut the front door, locking it. 

As much as you wanted to ridicule him for bringing girls over, you considered that that’s probably what he’d be doing if you weren’t there, so what could you say? 

You honestly felt like an older sister having to watch over her rebellious younger brother, and it killed you inside.

Just don’t make too much noise, you thought to yourself as you silently made your way back to the bedroom.

You shut the door behind you and cut the light off, getting into bed. 

The lamp beside the bed remained on as you grabbed your phone, deciding that you needed a little entertainment before you went to sleep. 

And no, it didn’t last long before you actually drifted off.

The phone slowly slipping out of your hand, and your lips slightly parted as you shifted under the blankets, ignoring the repeating sound of a video playing on your phone. 

But what you couldn’t ignore, 

Was the repetitive thump of something. 

Whatever the hell it was. 

You ignored it at first, or tried to, but it came again. 

And again.

And again. 

Oh God. 

Your eyes snapped open and you huffed, grabbing the remote to turn the TV on, and the volume up. 

It had only been a couple minutes and the two of them were already making noises. 

Your stomach nearly churned at what you imagined it to be. 

Fucking ew.

“Shut the fuck up.” you muttered to yourself, turning your head and closing your eyes again. 

You really tried not to think about it– honestly. 

But the faint sound of a moan, it bothered you more than anything. 

By now, you’d have stormed in there and told him to shut the hell up, but you dreaded the idea of walking in on the two of them. 

So you did what any normal person would do, and you tried to sleep it off.

It lasted for about an hour, the sounds of groans and moans, bumps and thumps, every sexual fucking sound you could ever think of. 

Your brows twitched as you finally heard the sound of a door shutting, and you were silently thankful that the girl had left. 

Had Eren no decency? 

As you slowly drifted off again, your thoughts going completely blank, before you knew it, it was the next morning. 

Tuesday, 10:00AM

You pushed yourself off the bed, rubbing at your aching head as you dragged yourself to the bedroom door and out of the room. 

You slowly made your way to the bathroom, opening the door to smell the familiar scent of your soap. 

Shaking your head, you did your morning routine, passing a couple minutes. 

When you finished, you made your way to the kitchen to find breakfast. 

Your luck. 

Instead, you were met with a shirtless Eren with wet hair and a towel around his neck, sitting at (what you would now consider) his stool. 

You avoided any type of contact with the boy, opening the fridge and huffing. 

Your luck again. 

“Morning.” he spoke with a slight gruff in his voice. 

You ignored his word, tooting your lips up as you grabbed cheese out of the fridge. 

A grilled cheese would be nice, right? 

You grabbed a loaf of bread and placed it all beside the stove, getting ready to prepare your food.

Two grilled cheeses, maybe? 

“Someone pissed in your cereal this morning?”

You could almost smell the smirk creeping onto Eren’s lips. 

"Oh, by the way, that soap you got? Smells amazing," he paused. "Feels amazing too."

You rubbed your forehead, headache worsening as he spoke. 

You prepared the breakfast in a pan, rubbing a stick of butter on it before tossing a piece of bread on. 

“Oh, don’t tell me you’re jealous of the girl I had over.” 

Your face scrunched up and your head snapped towards Eren. 

“Jealous?” you repeat his words, and he points at your face. 

“Keep scrunching up your face like that, you’ll get wrinkles.” He pursed his lips together before looking at his phone. 

You rolled your eyes, shaking your head as you turned your attention back to your breakfast. 

“You’re a damn fool if you think I'm jealous of that poor girl.” You scoffed. “I can’t believe she even let you touch her.” 

Eren barked out a laugh and shook his head. “I think you want me to touch you.” 

You shot him a disgusted glare. You could almost barf at the image of him even rubbing your shoulder, let alone doing something like… that . 

“I’d rather lick a toilet.”

Eren cocked a brow. “I’m that disgusting?" 

You tilt your head, flipping your grilled cheese. “You're more disgusting.” 

He smirked and sat his phone down, standing up and walking over to you. 

You sighed. 

“What you makin’? Smell’s like shit.” he leaned on the counter beside you, poking at your grilled cheese in the pan. 

You swat his hand away and frowned at him. 

“Could you not be annoying for, like, two seconds?” You pressed the grilled cheese down with a spatula. “And it's grilled cheese. I'm sure you see the cheese and the bread.” You then muttered under your breath, “Idiot.” 

Eren blinked and then hummed. “My mom used to make those for me.” 

You glanced at him. “And I'm assuming you don’t know how to make any yourself.” 

“You can’t just assume I don't know how to make anything ‘cause of one thing I said.”

“Well can you?” 

“No.” 

You scoffed, shaking your head and putting the grilled cheese on a plate. 

Eren then rested his cheek on his shoulder while staring at you prepare the second one. 

“You seem more annoyed than usual.” 

You scoffed at the word 'usual' as if he'd been knowing you for months.

Your brows raised and you sarcastically smiled. “You guessed perfectly right.” 

Eren's nose scrunched. “I don't like that smile. Creeps me out.” 

Your face dropped and you glared at him, sprinkling cheese on the toasting bread. “Rude.” 

Eren then laughed. “Not in that way, in a real creepy way. You're not ugly, that was just genuinely creepy.”

Your eyes flickered to him as you placed the second slice of bread on top of the first. 

“I didn’t say you called me ugly.” 

“Isn’t that what you were referring to?” 

“No.” 

He cocked a brow. “Well why’d you say that?” 

You tilt your head. “You only said I'm not ugly because I called you rude?” 

“Yeah.” 

Your eyes widened a little. 

Eren quickly went into thought before pausing. “Oh, no, no, you’re not ugly.” 

“Right.” 

“What?” 

You shook your head, slightly amused by the conversation.

Eren then frowned a little.

“You think you’re ugly?” 

Your head jerked back and you frowned. “What– no!” 

“I hope not, cause you’re not.” 

You sucked in air though your teeth and shrugged, flipping the grilled cheese. “I think I'm decent.”

Eren hummed and shook his head. “Pretty.”

“Pretty decent?” you questioned.

“Pretty. More than decent.”

When you glanced up at him again, your curious face turned into an annoyed one at seeing that irritating smirk plastered on his lips. 

“Stop flirting all the time.” you said, genuinely disgusted at his actions. 

Eren groaned, rolling his eyes with a fake pout. He walked back over to the stool to hop on it. 

“Y’know, you have to stop treating me like that.” he pointed at you as your back was facing him now.

You glanced back at him. “Like what, the creep you are?”

“Like I'm some weirdo.” Eren corrected, leaning against the counter. “And what's your problem this morning? Slipped in the shower? I did hear a thump.” 

As you placed the second grilled cheese on top of the first and went over to the sink to wash your dish out, you rolled your eyes. 

“You didn’t hear shit, because I showered last night.” You glanced back at him. “Y’know, before you came and had sexual intercourse with that poor girl?” 

A smirk played at Eren’s lips as he looked up at you, staring at your backside. 

His eyes slowly trailed down. 

“If you heard so much, you could probably hear how much she liked it.” He corrected you, and you looked back to give him a dismissive wave. 

This was the second time– technically the third, you’ve caught him staring at your ass. 

His eyes quickly flicked back up to your face and he flashed you an innocent smile. 

You shot him a glare, turning off the water and putting the pan you used back into its place, along with the other utensils and food. 

“Sounded like she was begging you to stop.” you thought back on the sounds, a shudder crawling up your spine. 

In an attempt to offend Eren, you were only feeding into his cockiness.

“She was.” He said, proud, as if it was something good. 

Your face twisted and you turned after grabbing your plate. 

You sat it down on the counter and sat at the usual stool you did, directly in front of him. 

“And you didn’t?” you pulled apart your grilled cheese into two, taking a bite into the first one. 

Eren clicked his tongue three times whilst shaking his head. 

“You gotta know the difference between a pleasure ‘stop’, and a serious ‘stop’.” he explained, pressing his index fingers on the table as if he was explaining class work to you. “When a girl wants you to stop fucking her seriously, you’ll know. But the girl I had over last night? Nah, I was just too deep.” 

“Im eating.” 

Eren grinned with a shrug. “I’m sure you understand what I'm talking about.” 

Yeah, right. 

You chewed your food as Eren’s meaningless words got to your head. 

No, literally, meaningless. 

You’re a virgin. 

You’d never done any sexually explicit thing with a guy, being too focused on school and work your whole life to even consider it. 

Sure, some guys would ask you if you wanted to do something with them, or even tried to tempt you, but you always declined, due to your self respect and your common sense. 

So the thought of people doing anything together, it either interested you, or disgusted you, and right now, it was both. 

Also being that your mother never introduced you to those types of things. 

She’d ask you if you did sexual things, or if you were sexually active, but she never just sat and talked to you about it. 

Of course, that was when you were younger. 

You just turned nineteen and it was time for you to explore things on your own. 

Not like you were totally against the whole ‘sex’ thing. 

You wanted to do it. 

See how it felt. 

Eventually… 

But you were giving yourself time, waiting to find the right person, and your own strict rule for yourself was that you and that person had to be in a long term relationship, and planning for marriage. 

The whole ‘wait until marriage’ thing was something you didn’t really believe in. 

Despite being strictly a college student who seemed like she had no social life, you were open minded enough to know that that whole thing kind of meant nothing. 

Not to you at least.

Then again, knowing that all of your friends weren’t virgins and you were, it wasn’t something you were completely proud of. 

They always told you that you were doing the right thing. 

Untouchable– or, unfuckable, they said. 

But deep down, you couldn’t help but sense a pit of shame and pity in your stomach for yourself. 

So hooked up with your college life and major that you couldn’t even hook up with a real person. 

It saddened you a little– felt like you were missing out on the fun of being young. 

“Right?” 

Eren’s voice snapped you out of your thoughts as you slowly chewed your grilled cheese, and your eyes widened a little. “What?” 

Eren tilted his head a little, leaning it on his palm. “You’ve experienced that before. The whole ‘stop’ thing. Right?” 

Why was this even the topic right now? 

“What makes you say that?” you questioned, picking up the other half of your grilled cheese and biting it. 

Eren’s eyes flickered down to the grilled cheese before they moved back up to you. 

“I mean, you seem like the type of person to go through something like that.” he shrugged, pinching the ends of his hair as his face fell into a slightly shameful expression.

That's when you realized one thing. 

“I hope you’re not fucking imagining me–” 

“I am.” Eren pursed his lips together into a smile and you sighed.

“Well,” 

You wondered if you should tell him about the aching fact that you were a virgin. 

He’d probably make fun of you, though. 

Your eyes trailed to him and you stared at each other, like you were trying to read into the future, see what his reaction would be. 

Ugh, he’d definitely make fun of you.

Oh, most definitely. 

He’s so annoying. 

“I never experienced that.” You said low, but Eren heard you. 

He blinked. “The ‘stop’ thing?” 

You snorted at his words and started to laugh. Eren’s face lit up and he smiled. “Thats what you’re talking about, right?” 

You shook your head, finishing your grilled cheese as you sprinkled the crumbs from your fingers onto the side of the plate. 

“No, dummy.” Your expression went back to normal as you fell into your thoughts. “I never…” you bucked your eyes a little as Eren looked at you with a blank expression. 

He then raised his brows and leaned up. “You never–” his eyes widened. “Ohhhhhh.” he slowly nodded, staring at you for a couple seconds with a questioning expression. 

As ashamed as you were to admit it, so what? You only had a few more days with this guy and then you’d go your separate ways. 

Eren’s gaze just remained on you as he slowly shook his head. 

“So that’s why you're so uptight all the time.”

You gasped a little and frowned, “What? No– wait, you think I'm uptight?” 

Eren simply nodded, his hand slowly moving towards the plate of the abandoned grilled cheese. 

Before you could even notice, he took a bite. 

“Yeah, everybody– oh, shit this is good– everybody knows it. Like if you were to go out in public right now, with your pissy ass attitude, they’d be like ‘damn, she's uptight.’” Eren changed his voice for the example part. 

You didn’t know if you should take offense, agree, or turn the problem to the fact that he just ate the grilled cheese you prepared for yourself. 

But you just scoffed and shrugged. “I don’t care.” 

But you kind of did. 

Someone like him calling you uptight, of course you shouldn’t care about what others think, but the fact that it was coming from Eren completely blew you. 

Eren pointed the grilled cheese to you as you hopped off the stool. “See, that’s the problem. You don't care about anything.” 

You stopped in your tracks and held a finger up. “Okay, hold on, I care about things.” you were quick to defend yourself. 

But seeing Eren make a ‘be real’ type of face made you want to cave in on yourself and seclude yourself from the outside words. 

“You need to get out, and do something. You can’t stay in this house all day, and then complain that you’re a virgin.” 

“I didn’t complain! I don’t wanna be, what i’d only assume to be a manwhore like you.” you put your hands on your hips. 

Eren scoffed, taking another bite of the grilled cheese. 

“Well, whatever the hell it was.” he gave you a dismissive wave, hopping off the stool and leaving the plate where it was. 

You scoffed, crossing your arms. 

“And who are you to tell me about my sex life?” 

Eren snorted, pointing at you. “You, girl, have no sex life. You never had sex.” 

Okay, you thought he’d bully you, not tell you your embarrassing story all over again. 

“I–” you tried to retort his words, but when Eren stared at you, waiting for you to say something, you hummed.

Maybe he was right. 

As much as you’d hate to admit it. 

Gosh, you’d rather die than admit it. 

Before you could think about anything else, Eren gave a proud hum, knowing he’d just beat you in your own game. 

He then dusted his hands on the towel around his neck and walked over to the couch, tossing the towel aside and onto the floor. “I mean, if you don’t wanna fuck anybody, thats fine. But I'm just sayin, once you do it, you’ll feel like a new person.” 

You stood there in the kitchen, dumbfounded. 

Surely you weren’t gonna do exactly what he said. 

You weren't desperate to go out and have sex, it wasn’t that big of a deal to you. 

Then again… 

You were always stressed. 

Always. 

Maybe he was right. 

Maybe you needed to go out and have fun for once. 

Chapter Text

You know you shouldn’t let people's words get to your head. 

Let alone this stranger you’ve spent two days with. 

But as you sat in your room, staring at a blank television, what Eren said to you truly started to go to your head. 

Not in an emotional way, but in a way you were considering what he said. 

As much as your gut told you hell no, your mind told you hell yes. 

Should you go out and get stupid drunk just to lose your virginity and not remember it because you don't want to? 

Or should you stick to what you’ve always been thinking about and wait for the one?

Even though he said it was fine if you didn't, gosh, it seemed like you were peer pressuring yourself. 

Why’d you even tell him you were a virgin? 

You could've lied and said you knew everything there was to know about sex.

You palmed your forehead and shook your head. 

You're a college student, you deserve to go out and do what all the other college students are doing. 

Getting wasted, hooking up, one night stands, it all sounded really disgusting to you, but at the same time it sounded so fun. 

Your whole life, you’ve never, ever, cared about fitting in with groups and blending into crowds. 

You've always been the odd one out. 

There's always been something different about you, and despite the sometimes weird looks you’d get when you’d go out just to drink wine coolers and not all the other hardcore things your friends drank, you’ve never actually cared about those things. 

But when it was coming from Eren, 

Someone who was, and you’d never admit this to his face, but cool? 

You really thought deeply about it. 

You were isolating yourself right now, almost the whole morning, Eren had been back and forth between indoors and outdoors, and you’d been stuck in the bedroom, bored as hell.

And you never thought you’d be bored. 

You loved isolation. 

But when Eren said what he said about going out, suddenly, that isolation was something you wanted to come out of. 

Even thinking of interacting with Eren could fill the dark pit in your heart that’d just formed some hours ago. 

You checked the time on your phone.

7:29PM. 

Did you really spend that much time sulking about a problem that was only a problem to you? 

You were almost disappointed in yourself. 

You swallowed, feeling your throat go dry.

Huffing, you stood off of the bed. 

You could take a shower to pass some time– 

No, you already did. 

One that Eren had called you a weirdo for, since you took it in the evening instead of in the morning or at night. 

You felt so miserable, it was almost funny. 

And who would you talk to about it? 

Your mom wasn’t even an option. She was still waiting for that picture you promised to send. 

All your friends were out doing their own things, on their own family trips. 

You almost rolled your eyes. 

The only option you had was Eren. 

How fucking irritating.

You walked out of your room, and into the kitchen. 

But when you peeped your head in there, he wasn’t there. 

And when your gaze moved to the living room, he wasn’t there either.

Probably out preparing to bring another girl home. 

You were mentally preparing yourself for the sounds you were bound to hear tonight, and the headache that you’d surely have in the morning. 

As you reached in the fridge for a bottle of water, there was a sudden banging on the door. 

The same from last night. 

“Oh, God.” you muttered to yourself, shaking your head as you made your way over to the front door. 

As you swung it open, “Why do you always knock so damn hard, Eren?” you squint. 

Eren stood there with a surprised face before his lips curled into a smile. Your eyes moved down to see him carrying a big bag of fast food and two drinks. 

“Lovergirl called me by my name, finally.” 

You rolled your eyes, stepping to the side to let him in. 

Eren let out a loud exhale and walked over to the living room, placing the food and drinks on the table in the middle. His tone then changed back to normal as you closed the front door.

“Got fast food since you always cook.” 

“I haven’t even fully cooked yet.” you said, walking over and standing beside the couch as Eren took a burger and fries out of the bag. 

“Yeah, but I knew you would.” 

You raised your brows and with a sarcastic tone, “wow, you know me so well.”

Eren chuckled at your attitude and leaned back on the couch, kicking his shoes off. 

“We got the same things, don’t know what you're allergic to or don't like, so just don't throw up or die.” he reached over for the remote. 

You stood there for a couple seconds, looking back and forth from Eren and the food. 

You knew one thing, if you were him, you wouldn’t have gotten you shit. 

You were aware of how rude you were to Eren all the time, of course, he was annoying. But despite that, he still went out of his way to get you food? 

Or maybe he just didn’t want you to feel bad if he didn’t get you any. 

You walked over to grab a burger and fries, sitting it on the armrest of the couch as you unwrapped your burger.

Now you were starting to feel a little bad.

You were nothing like your mom. 

Empathetic, always thought about how the next person felt. 

And that innocent look on Eren’s face made you feel the worst you’d ever felt for treating someone the way you treated them. 

“You didn’t have to do this. I could’ve given you the money to get my own.” you spoke a little quietly as Eren took a bite of his burger.

He shrugged. 

“I had extra money, so I had to spend it.” He then showed you his burger. “Plus, I thought if I gave you one of these bad boys, you’d let me hit.” 

Your face dropped. 

All your empathy washed away and you huffed. “You’re a damn weirdo.” 

Eren laughed, choking on his burger a little.

You didn’t laugh. You looked up at the TV and took a bite of your burger, watching whatever movie he’d turned on. 

As the ambiance of the TV fell over the two of you, the sound of bags and paper towels rustling every now and then, you couldn’t help but fall deeper into thought. 

It annoyed you how much you cared about that whole situation, but you were also curious. 

Would it be right to ask a stranger about their sex life? 

No… 

But the same thought came back to you.

It's not like you had to spend the rest of your life with him. 

He’d be gone in a couple long days. 

Plus, he kind of made his sex life pretty known to you... kind of.

“Eren?” you blurted out, almost uncontrollably. 

Eren’s face flushed with surprise and he glanced over at you, chewing his burger with a “hmm?” 

You gulped, twirling a fry between your fingers. 

Oh, gosh, he was gonna think you were more of a weirdo than him after this. 

Maybe don’t ask him about his sex life.

Yeah, no. 

“You really think I'm uptight?” 

The question didn’t seem to faze Eren. He took another bite of his food, chewing and swallowing before glancing at you again with a bored look. “Yeah.” 

It took you back a little and you popped the fry in your mouth. 

But you can’t take offense to that. It's his opinion. And probably the truth. 

“Wow.” you said in almost a whisper. 

Eren glanced at you again, “What? You asked.” he shrugged.

You sighed, taking another bite of your burger and chewing. 

“I know,” you swallowed. “But that's brutal.” 

Eren continued to watch the TV, reaching over to take two fries. “Why, you know what you are.” 

Damn, another bullet wound. 

He sounded more blunt than normal, and by now, you were shamefully wishing the annoying Eren would come back. 

“That's mean.” you joked, glancing at him as you took another bite of your burger.

Eren hummed, finishing his and dusting his hands before swallowing. “I mean– ‘s not me trying to be mean. I'm just saying, you act like you're allergic to fun.” he shrugged like his words meant nothing. 

You scoffed. “Coming from someone who makes sexual things their whole personality.” 

Eren chuckled, slumping deeper into the couch as he ate his fries. “I don’t think sex is fun.” 

You tilt your head. “Then why’re you always joking with me about it?” 

“To piss you off.” 

Okay, so it was on purpose. 

You rolled your eyes, finishing your burger and tossing the wrapper into the large bag. 

“Anyways, how isn't it fun?” you questioned, a little ashamed to ask. 

Eren didn’t seem fazed by that either, answering your question with ease. 

“I mean, it could be fun, but usually it’s just something you do when you wanna get your rocks off–” he paused, thinking. “For boys, at least.” 

You ate a fry. “All boys?” 

“Some boys.” 

“Oh…” you looked down at your half eaten fries, eating another one. 

A couple seconds passed before you shot another question. 

“So, what’s it like? Y’know, hooking up with people.” you glanced up at Eren. 

Eren toot his lips up in thought. “Define people.”

You frowned in confusion. “Like, anyone? You don’t have sex with men, I assume?” 

“No.” Eren looked at you. 

“Sorry.” You pursed your lips together in an awkward manner. 

He chuckled, shifting on the couch. “People, like, girlfriends, randoms, crushes, all that?” 

You tilt your head, hesitant to ask the question. “Can I ask something? Personal.” 

“Shoot.” 

“How many people have you had sex with?”

Eren seemed to have been caught off guard by the question. He then tilted his head back, looking up at the ceiling. “More than you can count on one hand, less than a busload.” 

One side of your top lip twitched. “Ew.” 

He smirked a little. “You asked,” he said before continuing to eat his fries. 

You nodded. “Yeah, yeah,” you moved one of your fries along the inside of its box. “But i’ve gotta know,” you avoided eye contact with Eren as he looked at you, chewing on his fries.

He swallowed, “What its like? Yeah,” he tossed the empty fry box in the large bag and then grabbed his drink, sipping from it.

“Think of it like takeout,” he motioned to the food you both ate. “It's real good in the moment, but you don't remember it after. Sometimes you miss it when you don’t have any, and when you see something better, it leaves your mind completely.” 

Your face scrunched up. “Nasty.”

Eren chucked a little, sitting the cup down and stretching out his legs. 

He put his arms over his stomach and huffed. 

“Okay, something less graphic, just two people knowing what they want and being able to get it from each other.” 

He explained everything like it meant nothing, all the time. 

It nearly shocked you how nonchalant he was when it came to topics like these, especially being a guy, most guys would brag on all the women they’ve had sex with. Eren just spoke on it like it was his usual day. 

And you could only assume it wasn’t. 

You leaned up to toss your fries in the big bag. “But you don't think it's…” Eren’s gaze moved from the TV to you. “...a little nasty?” you finished.

Eren chewed his cheek in thought, eyes still on you, before shaking his head. 

“Not when you're genuine about it.” 

He saw the confused look starting to appear on your face and smiled a little. 

“Like, I'm not out here lyin’ to girls like I want a white picket fence. We both know what it is, and what it's not.” 

“And what isn’t it?” 

Eren stayed quiet for a minute before pursing his lips together. 

“Genuine.” He then looked at the TV. “Why, writing something?” 

You waved him off. “No, no, I'm just curious.”

Really curious. 

“Then shoot. You don't gotta be so awkward about asking things. They're just questions, ‘s not like you're criticizing me.” 

But to you, it damn sure felt like it. 

When you looked at Eren, you could see that that whole ‘flirty, annoying, idiotic’ demeanor was gone. 

For once, he finally looked normal. No judgement, or weird looks, just answers to everything you had to ask, and not half-assed ones either. 

For once, you appreciated that. 

“Okay,” you shifted on the couch, tucking your legs in beside you. 

You leaned on the armrest. 

Your heart rate increased as you thought about the next question you wanted to ask. 

It’d probably be so humiliating. 

“What do you think about virgins?” 

As much as you’d hate to self project, truly, it felt like you were asking what he thought of you, (which you were, but not completely.) 

You were leaning more on that ‘what do guys think of me?’ side. 

Considering you’d never just sat and told a guy ‘hey, i’m a virgin!’, but if you had the chance to talk to a guy who’d been with and hooked up with countless girls just to see what your future chances for yourself were, you were gonna take it. 

Eren sat there, hands patting at his stomach, eyes half lidded as he took in your question. 

He didn’t acknowledge it, not right away, but when he did, his gaze moved over to you. 

“You askin’ for real?” he questioned you, which made you wonder if you should’ve just shut up to begin with. Then again, the question had already been asked. 

So you slowly nodded, unsure if what his next words would be. 

“Oh,” his eyes left you and went back to the TV. “I don’t think nothing of ‘em.”

Oh, bullshit. 

“That's not even an answer.” you squint a little. 

“It is,” Eren shrugged, glancing at the floor. “Some people are and some people aren't. You want what you want and you don’t what you don't."

Okay, maybe it was a valid answer, but not for you. 

Not until your curiosity was filled to the tip top would you shut up, especially being given the chance to ask whatever you wanted to. 

Even though the embarrassment coursed through your body, you couldn’t help but ask, 

“Do you think guys–” you cleared your throat. “Would like doing things with virgins?” 

Eren hummed before nodding. “Yeah, it doesn’t really matter. Some guys prefer virgins cause they're tighter.” 

Your face scrunched up. “So you’re one of those guys?” you jut your head towards him. 

Eren frowned a little before shaking his head.

“Me, personally, i don’t fuck around with virgins. Takes too much patience and I'm not that.” 

Boom, another bullet wound. 

You’d be lying if you said Eren’s words didn’t affect you like hell. 

Not necessarily just him, of course, you didn’t give a damn what Eren thought. But he’s one of those guys that seem like they didn’t care who they hooked up with, and that's exactly what you were gonna be looking for soon.

No, it wasn't the fact that he himself didn't prefer virgins. 

It was the fact that multiple guys were just like him.

And multiple guys probably felt that same way. 

And when you thought about it, it was probably the most logical thing for a guy to think.

Why would a guy wanna waste his time messing around with someone inexperienced when there were girls out there who knew how to do every trick in the book? 

It started to go to your head, what he said.

You tried to focus on the fact that he said most guys preferred virgins, but gosh, it kind of hurt.

Never in a million years would you have let being a virgin get to you, you always thought it wasn’t that serious, but when you heard what a guy who fucked around had to say, your hopes were almost crushed.

It's not that damn serious , you kept repeating in your head. 

But damn. 

You exhaled, looking up at the TV, but you weren’t watching it.

You were trying to hide the fact that you were thinking. 

Fuck it, brush it off. 

You looked at Eren. “I can keep asking questions, right?” 

Eren breathed out a laugh. “Yeah, they’re interesting.” 

“How many people have you… been with?”

Eren chewed his cheek. “Enough.” 

“Ever got attached to someone off of the whole sexual thing?” you questioned, genuine.

Eren shook his head. “No.” 

Your face lit up in surprise and you shifted. “Really? Like, I thought when you slept with people you’d get attached–soul tied or something like that?” you frowned in question. 

He shrugged, looking around for a second. “No, it’s just,” he shrugged again. “Something to do. Doesn’t have to mean something.” 

You really tried to wrap your head around the whole thing.

You weren’t blind to the whole ‘fuck and leave’ thing, but you were genuinely curious about it. 

“But wouldn’t someone want something more than that? Like, I don't know.” you laughed a little. 

The corner of Eren’s mouth twitched into a small smirk but it went back to normal. 

“Nah, relationships, that whole thing ain’t for me.” he brushed off your question and you hummed, leaning on one of your palms with a slow nod. 

Eren’s eyes then met yours. “What about you?”

Yours widened. “Me?” 

Eren shifted, turning towards where you sat a little. “Yeah, you. You ever got attached before?” 

Oh gosh.

You blinked before clearing your throat. “I told you, I'm a virgin. That's how this whole thing started.” 

Eren’s lips parted and he covered his mouth for a second before breathing out. 

“Damn, that’s right.” he hummed, his eyes trailing off elsewhere. He sat up on the couch, fingers pinching the tips of his hair. “So I can ask you things too, right?” 

You sighed, smiling in embarrassment before nodding. “Sure, stranger.” 

Eren then tilt his head, “How does that feel? I know you’re a girl, so it won’t be the same. But you ever wanna do things?”

Absolutely, ever since you mentioned it to me.

You slowly nodded, “Since you let it be known that I was a virgin,” you let some silence pass by. “Which was today.” 

Eren's lips parted a little before he spoke. “Did you actually take that seriously?” 

You leaned your head to the side in thought and hummed longingly. “Yeah? I mean, you might be right. I was thinking about some things when you said it.” 

Eren frowned a little. “Like what?” 

You shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know, just– like, when I should do it, if guys would wanna do it, y’know. I know most of the people around me aren't virgins, so I guess I feel kind of left out?” 

Right. This is what you came to the living room to speak on in the first place.

Everything felt weird about telling Eren about your personal life. 

The fact that you’ve known him so short, it was weird, but maybe that’s what helped you speak on your feelings and thoughts.

He was only a temporary person in your life. 

It’d be fine to tell him about a few things, who would he tell? 

Plus, he wouldn’t remember you after the summer anyways. But when you lost your virginity, you’d damn sure remember him, and you prepared yourself for that. 

You’d remember him telling you that that was what you needed to do, and when you finally reached that point in sex, you’d be silently thanking him for pushing you into doing it. 

Well– not pushing you into doing it, but suggesting. 

“That's a lot to think about.” Eren stared at you, blinking slowly. 

You nodded, feeling a little humiliated on telling him about your pre-experience, but again, who else was there to tell? 

“But you’re a girl.” Eren tilts his head towards you. “Not to be stereotypical or nothing, but you’re more emotional than we are. More likely to get attached.” he explained. 

You slumped a little in your spot. 

“Then again, some guys are more likely to get attached than some girls, so,” he shrugged, "it's all a mental thing.” he slumped in his spot just like you, focusing on your expression and body language. 

Eren slowly frowned, “what, you planning on doing it for real? Like, soon?” 

You pursed your lips together. Right now, you felt like how you’d feel when your mom would turn a joke into something serious.

Then again, it wasn’t really a joke. 

“Define real.” you chuckled nervously. 

Eren stared at you, serious this time. 

“Like… with a random person?” 

Yes. 

As stupid as it seemed,

No– as stupid as it was,

Yes. 

Kind of? 

Not necessarily, you just needed someone you could feel the experience with. 

You slowly nodded, unsure.

Eren huffed through his nose and shifted. “It's your body… just… be careful i guess.” 

You poked your bottom lip out a little. "Why, you think I don't know the dangers of humans?"

“No, I'm serious.” he said, raising his brows at you. “Like I said, some girls– shit, people, can get attached easier than others. And while I don't know how heartbreak feels, I know how it looks.” he explained. 

Your heart started to thump harder. Now he was making you rethink your decision. 

“The whole thing I said about sex, you don’t have to do it just because I said it, or just because I do it. I'm not new to the whole ‘when guys do it it's okay but when girls do it it isn’t' thing. Some guys’ll make you think you can be in love forever, and they'll genuinely have you thinking that.” he paused, “you don't look like you're the type that can't get fooled with something like that.”

You raised up off of your palm and fidgeted with your fingers. “Whats that supposed to mean?” 

You understood everything he said, perfectly, actually. 

But there was something in you still questioning and lingering. 

Eren then sighed, shifting on the couch and leaning up to rest his elbows on his knees. 

“When you say sex, it’s not sex. Sex is…” he hummed. “Passionate. Meaningful. It's s’posed to mean something.” he then looked at you. 

“Guys, most guys, they don’t have sex. They fuck. And if you’re going out to do something with someone, right now it seems like you’re referring to wanting to have sex.” 

Eren looked you straight in the eyes.

“They’re not gonna wanna have sex with you. Not in an offensive way, but nobody has sex unless they’re in a long term relationship, engaged, or married. As passionate as that shit might seem, no matter how they touch you, what they whisper, it's not sex. They’re fucking you.” 

You gulped, 

“And like I said, you seem like the type to fall over something like that. So just be careful. Then again, you’re pretty mean so you might not go for that shit.” Eren shrugged, smirking to himself, and slumped back on the couch like it was nothing. 

Well, there goes your thoughts. 

And hopes. 

But you weren’t dumb enough to get attached to a stranger. 

You’re not that stupid.

Right?

Chapter Text

Wednesday, 12:23PM

Another sleepless night of hearing moans, groans, and bumping. 

You dragged sluggishly into the kitchen, instantly going to the fridge. 

“Someone woke up late.” 

Eren’s voice made you groan and you turned around, giving him a look. “I wonder why.” You mumbled, voice still low from your sleep. 

Eren grinned, drinking from a cup. 

You reached into the fridge, grabbing the orange juice before pausing, realizing what Eren had done with it. 

Your lip twitched and you put it back, grabbing a bottle of water instead. 

You faced away from Eren, turning the bottle up against your lips and taking long gulps. 

“You woke up too late. I’ve been bored this whole time.” Eren said, a fake pout forming on his lips. 

You ignored him for a few seconds before turning around, eyes still slightly baggy, and a slight headache in your skull. You blinked, “you’ve had enough fun last night to make up for that.” 

Eren squinted, sitting his phone down. “You think so?” 

You shrugged boredly, twisting the top back onto your water bottle and placing it on the counter. 

“I don’t know, but I'd prefer you penetrate your girls outdoors instead of in.” you glared at him. “There’s another person here, or are you always too lost in the moment to consider that?” 

Eren hummed, shrugging and twisting on the stool. “You won’t die.” 

You tilt your head towards him. “You’re a slut.” 

Eren’s eyes widened and he choked on his drink. “ Me ?” 

“ You .” you bucked your eyes at him. 

Eren took a longer sip, making you frown a little, “What’re you drinking?” 

“Orange juice.” he belched, making you groan and shake your head. 

“So now you wanna pour it into a cup.” You lean on the counter. 

Eren smirks, “thought you’d appreciate me not drinking from the rim again.” 

“Your DNA is still on the rim of that juice.” 

Eren poked out his bottom lip. “Don’t wanna drink after me?” 

You nearly gagged.
“With all the girls you’re bound to bring into this house, hell no.” you paused. “Hell no in general. I don’t even drink after my own mother.” 

Eren waved you off, shaking his head. “I don’t kiss the girls I bring over, if that’s what you think.” 

An unimpressed, but fake surprised expression washed over your face and you gasped sarcastically, “wow, that’s new.” 

Eren frowned a little. 

“I don’t.” 

You pursed your lips together. “You expect me to believe that?” 

“Why would I kiss someone I don’t know?” 

You snorted, “so you can bring some girls here, stick your,” you wiggled your pinky finger, “in their vaginas, but God forbid you kiss them?” 

Eren scoffed, rolling his eyes and resting his chin on his palm. “That's different.” he then looked up at you. “You wake up and immediately start talking about sex. What’s wrong with you? Got excited last night?” he slowly started to grin. 

You stared at him before rolling your eyes. “Not in the way you probably think. And I'm not excited.” you sat on one of the stools. 

“Then what are you?” Eren questioned, leaning in closer to you. 

You gave him a frown, which made him smile nervously and move back to his original position. 

“I’m neutral.” 

“That’s not exciting, you said you weren’t excited in the way I think.” 

“And?” 

“That means you're a different type of excited.” 

You looked up at him. “Neutral is considered exciting for me. I'm not neutral about anything. All my decisions and thoughts are either yes’s or no’s.” 

Eren gave you a blank stare before shivering and breathing out. “You’re creepy. And weird.” 

You gave him a dismissive wave. “I don’t do anything to impress you.” 

Eren then stretched his arms over his head as he let out a loud, annoying groan. “Okay,” he said in a breath, huffing and slumping over a little. He clamped his hands together as his elbows rested on the counter.  

“Thought about the whole virginity thing yet?” 

You chewed your cheek. 

What you wanted to do, or thought you needed to do, you’d completely forgotten about it. 

But when Eren reminded you, the thought hit you like a train. 

You rubbed your head, your headache worsening. 

“I don’t know.” you muttered. 

Eren’s face went normal and he raised his brows. “Change your mind?” 

You shrugged one shoulder. “No?” you thought about it. Maybe your exact ‘plan’ wasn’t the smartest idea, so there’d obviously have to be a few arrangements to change it around, the whole ‘random person random time’ thing. 

You made it a mission for yourself to at least get to know the person. 

At least. 

This was so against your morals. 

And your self-respect. 

This was such a stupid thing to even consider, especially coming from you.

You never cared about those types of things, but to be considering it and be almost desperate just because you know how people speak about it and because you wanna get it over with– it was so stupid. 

So, so stupid. 

You weren’t doing this because you felt like you just wanted to. 

You were doing it because you felt like you needed to. 

You felt like you had to be included in the long list of people who weren’t ‘pure’ or ‘innocent’. 

Completely against your original thought process. 

You were changing right in front of your own eyes, and it almost made you sick to your stomach. 

Eren didn’t even know. 

He didn’t know enough about you (except for the fact that you were an ‘uptight’ virgin) to know that what you were doing and considering was completely against the type of person you were. 

You felt almost ashamed of yourself. 

Shameful that you let someone else change your whole thought process on things. 

But… 

That's college life. 

You experience new things. 

No, it wasn’t your plan,

But it’d be nice to do something different than just sitting around all day, right? 

The one time you could take off of being a college student since joining college– you had to make the most of it, right? 

Right? 

“I just wanna…” you trailed off, eyes trailing off to the side along with your voice. “...do what you do.” 

Oh, gosh. That sounds so pitiful. 

Eren gave you a look, a look of questioning and uncertainty. 

“What I do?” he questions you, and you sigh, running the bottom of your palms along your eyelids. 

“I know… how stupid it sounds,” you groaned, dragging your hands down your face. “I know.” 

Eren’s brow cocked and his lips parted, but he didn’t say anything. 

You sighed. “I just… feel like I'm behind. I guess? I don’t know.” 

Eren dragged out a long “Ehhhh…” while slowly laying his arms and head on the counter. He rested his chin on his arms. “I mean, you say that like it’s a checklist or something.” 

“It is to some people.” you shrugged. 

Eren closed his eyes for a second in agreement with you. “Yeah, but half the time, they’re just stupid.”

You leaned your elbow on the counter. “You included?”

Eren grinned. “Definitely.” 

You pout a little. “You said it’d be fun.” 

“I didn’t say that.” 

Your brows knit together and you leaned up a little. “You implied it.” 

“No, I didn't." 

You scoffed with a roll of your eyes. “Something like that.” 

Eren pursed his lips together. “Nothing like that. I said it felt good.” 

You nodded slowly, “which sounds like fun.” 

Eren narrowed his eyes at you before pointing. “I thought you were more mature than me.” 

You shifted, offended. “What’s that s’posed to mean?” 

“You know only douchebags and fuckboys get fun out of that type of thing, right?” he chuckled like he was mocking you. “Like, genuine fun? People don’t fuck for fun, they fuck for a good time.” 

You crossed your arms, sinking into thought. “Well now I don't know if I wanna do it anymore.” 

Eren stared at you lazily from his arms. “I’m not stopping you.” 

You stared back at him. “Well you’re changing my mind.” 

Eren shifted, pushing himself off of the counter with a sigh. “Look, if you wanna go out and fuck, do it. I'm not your big brother or your guardian or something. I’m not stopping you.” 

You cocked a brow. “I’m not going by myself. I don’t even know this town.” 

“And you think I do?” 

You point at Eren, which makes him flinch into a smug smirk. 

“You bring girls home almost every day, I'd assume you do.” 

His smirk turned into a groan and he hopped off the stool, scratching in his head. “You know I'm not gonna sit there and babysit you while you get your guts rearranged, right?” 

Your face twisted into a disturbed one. “Don’t… don’t say that.” You shivered, getting off of the stool. 

Eren shrugged. “Just saying what the girls say.” he then looked at you. “You might wanna find your best outfit, though. Guys like good looking girls.” 

You put a hand on your head, looking at him from across the island. “Do I not look good when I'm not dressed up?” 

Eren slowly turned to you and looked you up and down, faking a hum and a frown that made you roll your eyes. 

9:23PM.

You sat, arms crossed as you walked into a house with Eren. You scoffed, thinking back on your thoughts and decisions. “We aren’t even legally supposed to be here.” you muttered. 

Seriously, what were you thinking?

It seemed like a party. 

You honestly wondered how he’d even walked into this place uninvited, well, as far as you know. 

“Who does anything legally anymore?” Eren smirked, looking around and speaking to some people he passed by. 

Right now, you wanted to turn back around, and take back everything you said about being a virgin. You don’t care that you’re a virgin. You don't need to lose your virginity. 

That’s what kept repeating in your head. 

Then again, you weren’t listening to yourself. 

“How do you know so many people here?” You questioned, the low music of the place making it semi-easy to communicate with the guy. 

Honestly, this whole thing was dangerous. 

Eren was still a stranger, to say the least. 

Roaming off with him wasn’t the best option in the world. 

Everything you were doing was so against your morals, and your gut wouldn’t let you live that down as long as you stayed in that party. 

You crossed your arms uncomfortably. 

You are so stupid , you thought to yourself. You then looked up at Eren, who paid absolutely no attention to you. “Where's the drinks?” you had to distract yourself from these stupid (logical) thoughts somehow. 

Eren hummed, looking around before grabbing your wrist and leading you over to the kitchen. “All the drinks, over here. But if you want, like, a bottled drink or something then look in the cooler. And I don't recommend drinking from the big, open bottles ‘cause everybody does.” he chuckled a little before letting you go and leaning against the kitchen counter. 

“Here,” he reached behind him and inside of a cooler before grabbing a bright colored drink. “Just chug a bunch of these and you’ll be good.” 

You cocked a brow, looking up at him. 

You don’t even know why you agreed to do this. 

You could only guess that this is what he did when he went out to get girls, and then take them back to the airbnb. 

“Is this what you do?” you questioned, opening the bottle and taking a small sip. 

Eh, not too bad. 

Eren shook his head, looking down at you. “It's what most people do, and since you wanna be like most people…” he tilted his head with a small purse of the lips. 

You narrowed your eyes at him. “So funny.”

You turned the drink up to your lips again, taking bigger sips than before. 

You weren’t prone to alcohol, of course. You didn’t drink as much as the people around you did. 

Never got shitfaced either. It honestly scared you to get so drunk that you’d black out. 

But you definitely got tipsy faster than anyone else around you. 

You leaned your back against the kitchen counter uncomfortably. 

You looked around at the unfamiliar faces, and chewed your cheek before taking another sip.

Maybe being with Eren in this wasn’t too bad. At least you knew someone instead of just walking into a party you knew nothing about. 

Eren sipped from his cup, greeting a couple people that passed him, mumbling to you about girls he wanted to fuck later on, which made your face scrunch up into a disgusted expression every single time. 

“Is this what guys think about girls?” you glanced at him. 

Eren snickered. “You can’t expect every single guy to act like me.” 

You shrugged. “I don’t know, seems like you have the same mindset as every single guy I've met.” 

Eren scoffed, tossing you another drink. “You’re running low.” 

You didn’t know what he meant until you looked down at your bottle and saw that it was, in fact, low.

You huffed, sitting it to the side and opening the second drink. 

You didn’t know how or what you felt yet. 

You were only here for a good time, not a long one. You weren’t gonna walk around dancing and partying. You were sure you had enough self control to stop yourself from doing that. 

And as independent as you wanted to seem, you couldn’t help but ask Eren almost every second if he was leaving your side. 

You didn’t know if you were tipsy. 

How did tipsy even feel?

You sighed, popping open the second drink. 

What’re you waiting for? A miracle? Go up to someone. 

“No.” you muttered to yourself, shifting your weight to your opposite hip. “That’s wrong.” You whispered. 

Eren side eyed you, blinking before tilting his head, “Who’re you talking to?” 

Your gaze shifted to Eren and you stared at him for a few seconds before shrugging and frowning, a dismissive look on your face. “Huh? No one.” You shrugged again. 

Eren’s lips curled into a grin as he nudged your shoulder. “You're already feeling it, huh?” 

You rolled your eyes, too smoothly. That’s how Eren knew, “You’re a lightweight.” 

“What's lightweight?”

“ A lightweight, someone who can’t handle a lot of things. And you,” He point a finger from his cup at you. “Your thing is alcohol.” 

You tilt your head, seemingly confused. But in reality, you were just wondering why you were seeing two Eren’s instead of one. 

He then points to your drink. “That only has like, five percent alcohol in it.” 

You looked at your empty bottle. How the hell did it get empty so quick? 

Eh, fuck it. “Pass me another.”

Eren tilt his head. “You sure?” 

You scoffed, pushing past him and reaching into the cooler for another bottle. “Don’t tell me…” hiccup . “...what to do.” 

“I didn’t tell you–” 

“Shut up.” You held a finger up to Eren. Your gesture made him laugh as you stared up at him through your lashes, starting to chug your third bottle. 

Yeah, the whole moral and self-respect thing was out of the window. 

“I’m,” hiccup . “Gonna go find… a bathroom.” You point at him. 

Eren cocks a brow at you before shrugging. “Well, I'm gonna go find a girl.” Before he walked off, he turned to you and pointed. “Don’t go outside. When you come from the bathroom, come back to the kitchen." He talked to you like you were some kind of child, which made you roll your eyes.
“Okay, dad.” you snickered to yourself. 

Before you knew it, you and Eren were parting ways. 

This time, you didn’t care about not knowing anyone. Or maybe you didn’t think about it. You honestly couldn’t. 

You stumbled your way to the stairs, earning a couple glares from people you bumped and shoved out of your way. 

You held on to the railing, pausing in your steps to take another sip of your drink before continuing up the stairs. 

Okay, now just go to the bathroom. Easy, right? 

Should be. 

You stumbled at the top, almost falling over before clinging onto a random person. “Sorry,” you muttered, patting their chest before pushing yourself off of them. 

You were nothing like this when you weren’t drunk. You knew it. But right now, you weren’t even thinking about what you were like when you weren’t drunk. 

You were thinking of a way to not be drunk anymore. 

When you finally opened the bathroom door, you stumbled in, slamming your bottle onto the sink counter and shutting the door behind you. 

“Pee,” you whispered, raising your dress and pulling down your underwear to do your business. 

Some seconds passed. 

It felt like minutes. 

This was taking a very long time.

No, you were done. You just didn’t realize. 

You cursed at yourself, finishing your business and washing your hands. Now all you needed to do was find your way back to Eren so that he could introduce you to one of his attractive friends– 

“Hey.” 

You snapped out of your thoughts when you stepped out of the bathroom and saw someone standing beside you. 

You blinked, slowly turning your head. “Hello.” You muttered, looking the guy up and down. 

His hair was red, very odd curls at the top of it. 

“You new here? Haven’t seen you around.”

You swallowed, blinking and slowly nodding. 

That made the guy chuckle, “You scared? Who’re you here with? Yourself?” 

“My friend.” 

He tilts his head back for a second, looking you up and down before narrowing his eyes. 

Suddenly, a grin appeared on the guy's face. “Are you the girl that was roaming around with that Yeager guy?” 

Yeager? 

Who the hell is Yeager?

“I don't know a Yeager.” you slurred, crossing your arms. 

He waved you off with a scoff before leaning on the wall next to the bathroom. “Sure ya do. He’s the guy you were walking around with.” 

You furrowed your brows in confusion before shaking your head. “No,” hiccup . “His name’s Eren.” 

The guy shot you a confused look before bursting into laughter. 

Your eyes got wide and you let out awkward, choppy laughs. 

“His names Eren Yeager . I’m Floch, nice to meet you, girl.” 

Your lip twitched and you slowly shook the hand he held out for you to shake. You weren’t sure who this guy was, or how he knew Eren, but he seemed like a nice guy. 

“How do you know Eren?” you questioned, resting your arm against the doorframe. 

Floch let out a low whistle before crossing one of his feet over the other. “Let's just say…” he looked up at the ceiling for a second, “we go way back.” he looked you up and down. “I don't suppose you're with him, right?” 

You blinked. “I just told you, I am.” 

“You said you came with him.” Floch’s eyes scanned your face. “But are you with him? Like actually with him?” 

You slowly nodded. 

Honestly, you were completely unsure of what the guy was trying to say, or emphasise, but you nodded anyway, in hope that he’d stop asking you all these difficult questions. 

You can already barely see, and you kept having to step out of the way of passers by. 

“Damn, Yeager.” he said under his breath. “Got you a fine one.” 

His eyes traveled to your body again. 

You pulled the hem of your dress down a little, looking around. Eren told you to meet him when you came from the bathroom. “I should probably get going–” 

“No, no, where you goin’?” Floch crossed his arms with a slight frown and a grin. “You don’t wanna leave a new friend hanging, do you?” 

Your brows raised and your lips parted. 

Your gut told you to get the hell out of there, it really did. 

“...no” you said after a few seconds, and completely without thought. 

That response seemed to spark something in Floch, which made him step closer to you. 

“Well meet me in this bathroom over here and we can have a fun time, yeah?” He muttered, glancing around the two of you. 

You knew what he was referring to, you think. 

A good time. 

You aren’t a toddler, you know what that means. 

But your mind, in the moment, your mind didn’t seem to comprehend what the guy was saying. All you heard was seductive words, the kind you’d hear in the movies. 

“But Eren–” 

“He’s probably guts deep into another girl right now, I'm pretty sure that’s not the type of guy you wanna be with.” Floch stepped in front of you before you could even make your exit. 

Of course, he probably was. 

But so? Why would that make you feel any type of way if you already knew that’s what type of person he was?

One side of your top lip twitched, and your face tried to go to disgust, but your mind completely betrayed you, and you let out a giggle. Is this what being drunk felt like? All fun and whimsical? 

And even though you weren’t with Eren right now, even though he told you to meet him, wasn’t this your perfect time? 

The perfect time? 

That time? 

Is Floch the one you were gonna give your virginity to? 

No, you weren’t in your right mind. 

You can’t do this. 

You felt your senses coming back in at the moment, but your body betrayed you. For some reason, you couldn’t move at all. 

“So, about that good time.” Floch’s voice came back in, and your gaze moved to him. 

His gaze moved from your body to your eyes. 

You pursed your lips together, “What about it?” 

Floch chuckled, jutting his chin towards the door while a smirk teased at his lips. “Bathroom.” 

You looked back in the bathroom before turning your attention back to Floch. Your words slurred, “What about the bathroom?” You hiccuped. 

Floch let out a laugh and grabbed your hand, looking around for a couple seconds before turning you around into the bathroom. 

As you followed behind him, mindlessly, he shut the door. 

You exhaled, leaning against the bathroom counter with your hands resting behind you. You were silent, unsure of what to do or say. Also unsure of if you felt the greatest. Maybe you’d had too many drinks? 

Eren did say you were a lightweight, apparently. 

Maybe you did have too many drinks… 

“Since you’re in here with me, I guess you won't mind betraying your loverboy, right?” Floch cocked a brow at you while leaning his head back against the wall, right across from you. 

You swallowed.

You didn’t even know what this guy was talking about. 

“Who, Eren?” 

Floch nodded once, arms crossed against the wall as a small smirk played on his lips. 

You frowned a little. Was he implying… 

That you and Eren were a thing? 

Your frown hardened and you quickly shook your head, “Me and–” 

“Oh, so you don't mind.” Floch stepped towards you.

“C’mon then, I'll show you a good time.” 

Chapter Text

You knew exactly how you got into this situation. 

Having your ass grabbed and your hips squeezed, a light breath leaving your lips as Floch’s tongue grazed your collarbone. 

It felt good in your head. 

Your hands were on his shoulders–you should really get out of there, though. Eren’s waiting for you downstairs. 

You swallowed, heart racing as Floch’s hand roamed up your hips and to your breasts. 

With a light squeeze, he whispered, “What’s wrong? Scared?” 

You slowly nodded, vision hazy from the alcohol that was fully taking over now. 

He hummed, kissing your neck softly, “You’re so stiff. Calm down.” He mumbled, glancing up at you. “It won’t feel good like that.” 

“It feels good.” You spoke almost too quietly. 

Floch moved away from your neck, lips curling into a grin as he swiftly turned you towards the mirror. It shocked you–the movement. You exhaled, shakily. 

As his arms wrapped around your waist, he nuzzled his head into your neck, softly kissing at it. You swallowed. 

“I…” you croaked out, letting out a nervous laugh. You wanted this. “I’m a virgin.” you stared at him sheepishly through the mirror. “You know that, right?” though, you knew he didn’t. 

Floch’s face lit up. 

“You’re a virgin and you’re with Yeager? Ain’t that something.” he let out a laugh, his grip around your waist tightening just the slightest. “That makes this ten times better, then.” 

His hands moved down to your thighs, fingertips almost stinging as he grabbed the hem of your dress. 

He looked at you through the reflection. 

You stared down at the sink. 

How would this feel? Is this really who you’re gonna lose your virginity to? Give your virginity to? You chewed your cheek whilst staring at the dripping faucet. 

His fingers tickled, a little. 

As you felt the hem of your dress raise above your hips, you heard a low laugh from Floch. 

“Ice cream underwear? That’s new.” he glanced at you, his hand rubbing against your ass.

You let out a small, nervous laugh. “I wasn’t prepared.” 

Of course, you’d forgotten that this was the whole reason you came out anyways. You didn’t even care about what you were wearing. 

You silently cursed yourself for your choice of under-clothing.

“That’s fine.” Floch smirked, keeping his eyes on your ass. 

You heard the unbuckling of his belt, and readjusted your sweaty palms on the sink. 

This wasn’t you. This was not you at all. This was a completely different person experiencing a completely different thing. 

You were not you. 

You’re not in your body. 

You felt Floch’s hand trail up your ass, gripping the side of your hips and pulling you back against him. 

His hand left your hips and moved down between your legs. 

You felt his head against your back as his middle finger found its way inside your underwear and right against your folds. 

It stopped moving, and he looked up at the mirror, straight at you. 

“You’re not wet.” He mumbled. 

You looked from the faucet to the mirror, your eyes on Floch, “Wet?”

What is he talking about? 

He let out a breathy laugh before shaking his head, bringing two of his fingers to his lips and sucking them once. “At least you taste good, I guess.” 

You breathed out through your nose.

Floch moved his fingers back to the original spot and rubbed his two fingers against your folds, using his saliva as lubricant. 

Your eyes traveled back down to the sink.

Is this the part where he fingers you? 

Though, you were a virgin, you weren’t blind to the whole fingering thing. Your friends always talked about it. You’d just… never been fingered by anyone before. 

Or yourself. 

All of a sudden, he moved his arm from around your waist and to the back of it.

This caused your head to turn around, and when you looked down, your eyes widened. 

That's supposed to be going inside of you? 

It’s not like you haven’t seen a dick before, or not at least pictured it, but gosh. 

Dick’s look weird in person. 

Your head snapped back around and you closed your eyes as you felt a… cold sensation against your folds.

He’d pulled your underwear to the side, only. 

And as of right now, he was rubbing his tip against your folds. 

“Feel good?” 

You stiffened.

Your eyes flickered to the side and you slowly nodded, unsure. How is good even supposed to feel?

Floch hummed.

That’s when– 

“Ow…” you blurted out lowly, feeling pressure against yourself. 

Floch only glanced at you, before grabbing your hips and pulling you against him like once before. 

You frowned, lip twitching. “That–” you wanted to speak, but nothing was coming out. 

Floch bit his bottom lip, thrusting once. 

If nothing else snapped you out of your ‘this isn’t me’ thoughts, that most definitely did. 

You let out a loud wince, sucking in air through your teeth and moving your hand back against his stomach. You frowned, shaking your head. “That hurts.” 

“It’s gonna hurt for virgins, it always does. You’re just…” he trailed off, groaning as he grabbed both of your hips now. 

He pulled you against him again. 

Fuck. 

It burned. 

It was like there was something blocking him from going deeper inside of you, and it burned. Bad.

Is this what he meant when he said you weren’t wet? Will it not work if you’re not wet? 

You grabbed his shirt, gripping it into your fist as he tried to thrust a third time. 

“Just let go, it's okay. It’s gonna feel good if you relax, I promise I'll make it feel good.” 

I’m trying to fucking relax , you thought to yourself. But is it supposed to hurt this damn bad?

You let out another wince, shaking your head and pushing against Floch, “I don’t think it's gonna go in…” You mumbled. 

Floch clicked his tongue, “It is.” 

You removed your hand from his shirt and took his advice. 

As he tried to thrust into you countless times, you didn’t know anymore, you weren’t thinking about it, you stared ahead into the mirror. 

You couldn’t see Floch’s face, as he was too focused on the spot between your legs. 

You chewed the bottom of your lip until you felt the faint taste of metal. 

Your brows furrowed and you blinked repeatedly. Tears started to swell up at the corner of your eyes as you let out a soft moan (wince). 

“This really hurts, Floch.” Your words were slurred, but your point was clear. 

But he didn’t listen to you. He only bent you further over the sink, fingers digging into the bones of your hips as he groaned, frustrated at you and your dysfunctional vagina. 

“No, I'll make it feel good. I'll make you feel good. Trust me.” he then looked into the mirror. “ It’ll feel just like sex .” 

He pulled you closer to him again. 

Nothing. 

Nothing but friction. 

Floch cursed under his breath, a frown plastered on his face, “Damn tip won’t even go all the way in. You're too tight.” he looked at you again. “And you said you’re a virgin, right?” 

You swallowed, nodding slowly as your bottom lip trembled. 

Floch scoffed, moving his hips away from your ass and pulling out the little bit he’d put in. 

Your knees buckled together, and you reached back, holding yourself with a small huff. 

“I’ve fucked with virgins before–none of em like you.” he fixed his pants and buckled his belt. “Shit’s a joke. You definitely need fixing down there.” he laughed at his own joke before shaking his head and exiting the bathroom.

Just… like that? 

That’s it? 

That’s what sex is? 

You stared at the bathroom door for a couple seconds before slowly reaching over to lock it. 

You… aren’t a virgin anymore, at least. You fixed your dress, staring at yourself in the mirror. 

Your tongue ran across your bottom lip, licking the dot of blood that formed in the middle of it.

You blinked slowly, tilting your head as you swallowed once more. 

A shaky sigh left your lips as you looked around the bathroom. 

Not sure what you’re searching for. 

You grabbed a tissue, though, dabbing at the small tears that formed on the corner of your eyes. You took a long look at the toilet paper and threw it in the small trash beside the toilet. 

You looked back at the sink. 

Oh. 

Your drink. 

You grabbed it, turning it up against your dry lips as you left the bathroom. 

As you carefully made your way through the crowd of people upstairs, you tossed the, now, empty bottle in the trash as you walked carefully downstairs. 

Were you even drunk anymore? 

You didn’t know. 

You sniffled, but no tears were coming out of your eyes. “Eren…” You mumbled, looking around as you walked through the living room. 

You just wanted to go home. 

But why? 

The music was loud, the bass vibrating through your ears with every beat. 

“Eren.” You called out again, still low. 

You fidgeted with your fingers as you stopped in the middle of the party and looked around for the kitchen. This house was huger than you’d expected it to be. 

When you finally saw a place with brighter lights than where you were, you made your way over. 

And there he was, holding a red cup in his hand as he talked to someone. 

A girl, maybe?

Her hair was brown, up in a ponytail, and he laughed painfully loud. 

You walked up to Eren, tapping his back with your index finger. 

Eren glanced back once, but seeing that it was you, his eyes widened. “I was looking for you everywhere, the hell’d you go?” 

You inhaled. “I’m ready to go.” 

Eren grinned, tossing his arm around your shoulders before pulling you forward. 

“Sash’, this is a stranger, stranger, this is my friend, Sasha.” 

As you waved awkwardly, the girl spoke back with a loud, drunken, “Hiiii!” 

You grabbed your phone from Eren’s pocket and checked the time. 10:02PM. 

“Alright, alright, don’t get your panties in a twist. We can go home right now.” Eren playfully rolled his eyes at you and pat his pockets for his car keys. 

10:52PM. 

You didn’t leave the party immediately, like you’d asked, but at least you were in the car now, right? 

Eren leaned on the door of the car, one hand on the wheel, another being used to prop his head up as he drove. Your arms were crossed as you stared out of the passenger side window. 

You weren’t thinking about anything good or bad right now. 

You didn’t know how to feel. 

All you could think about was what happened in that bathroom. 

If that’s how sex felt, you never wanted to have it again. 

Or was there just something wrong with your body? 

You wanted to sound like the girls that Eren had brought over those nights. All loud and carefree. Pleased . But it just hurt. You shifted in the seat, eyes following every streetlight that passed.

You chewed your cheek. 

Your eyes were bored. 

Maybe you should’ve just waited for marriage? Then maybe something would’ve come out of that? 

You were sick of comparing yourself to all those romance shows and those girls Eren fucked and even Eren himself, but you didn’t feel anything. 

Why? 

Or did you feel the exact thing those girls felt, but they felt the pain more drastically than you did?

Your winces did sound like moans, when you thought about it.

“So.” 

Your attention turned to Eren, whose eyes were on you. A subtle smirk plastered on his dirty little face to top everything off. “Did ya do it?” 

Did you? 

You pursed your lips together, nodding slowly with your arms crossed. 

Eren hummed. “Did ya like it?” 

Did you? 

You took a deep breath, shrugging. “It felt alright.” You lied. 

Eren glanced at you again as your small, innocent smile faded and you looked back out of the window. His lips pursed together. “The first time always feels the weirdest. You’re more worried about it being your first time than the actual sensation. That’s what my female friends told me.” He shrugged. “And that’s how it is for some boys too.” 

Focused more on the fact that it was your first time than the sensation? 

Yeah, you kind of had no choice but to focus on the sensation. 

“Hurt like hell.” Your drunkenness had worn off about thirty minutes ago, and now you just felt blank. 

Almost, empty? 

Eren chuckled a little. “The first time always hurts.” he paused. “Sometimes.” 

You looked over to him, parting your lips to say something–to ask a question, but you decided to keep it to yourself. You weren’t a virgin anymore, you suppose. It was time for you to start finding things out yourself. 

That's what you thought. 

“Used protection?” Eren glanced at you, sitting up a little to make a turn. 

You frowned, thinking. “I don’t think so.” 

“You don’t think so?” 

“I couldn’t see.” 

Eren hummed, nodding slowly. “So you weren’t facing the guy.” 

You shook your head. 

Eren’s lips toot up, paired with a confused frown. “Weird position for the first time, but okay.” 

You didn’t even wanna know what he meant by that. 

You didn’t wanna know anything he had to say. 

You weren’t doing that again, so whatever conversation involving it, you didn’t wanna have it. So you stayed quiet until you both got to the bnb. 

You wanted to understand why you were feeling the way you felt, the whole ‘empty’ thing. You washed in the shower, but you felt so… 

Dirty? 

Like you’d been used for something. 

Used to clean up a mess, and now you weren’t able to clean yourself. 

You scrubbed, scrubbed at every spot he’d touched you, groped you, your neck was turning red from how badly you scrubbed at where he’d kissed you. And you don’t know what you’d do to your lips if he kissed you there. 

You consented to it, right? 

You did. 

You wanted to do it. 

You were telling yourself you only felt disgusting because it was some tequila smelling stranger and you didn’t know him. 

Yeah, that's it.

It was a stranger, that's what makes your body feel so… weird. 

You turned the shower off, making your way to the mirror to get dressed for bed. 

You didn’t even look at the mirror. 

Not when you brushed your teeth, washed your face, put your clothes on, nothing. 

Your eyes remained either on the ceiling or the space below you. 

But at least you weren’t a virgin anymore, right? 

Yeah. 

That's all that matters. 

You’d fit in just fine, now.

Chapter Text

Thursday, 6:10PM

“So…?” Eren’s eyes went wide and curious as he stared at you with his chin resting on both palms. You were sitting in your usual seats in the kitchen and right now, he was all in your face, constantly asking you if the eggs he made were good. 

But you could see his curious expression drop to an annoyed one when he saw your face scrunch up at the first bite. 

“Why… so salty?” You narrowed your eyes, forcing yourself to swallow. 

Eren groaned, dragging his hands down his face and looking up at the ceiling. It was kind of funny how he acted like the whole word crashed down, over eggs. 

“I worked hard– hard –on those eggs.” he pointed to the plate in front of you. “And you mean to tell me you don’t like em?” 

You pursed your lips together, taking a sip of water before giving him a certain expression. 

The kind that your mother would give when she lied like she liked the hairstyle you gave her as a child. 

“They’re not bad.” 

“You lie.” 

“I truth.” You perked up in the stool, pushing the plate over to Eren slowly. “Try 'em yourself.” 

Eren eyed the eggs before picking up the fork you’d had. 

He paused for a second before putting it back down and picking up a scrambled egg with his two fingers, plopping it into his mouth. 

He chewed for a couple seconds… 

Slowly…

You waited patiently…

“Pwuh!” He spit the eggs onto the plate, causing you to flinch and groan in disgust. “That shit’s disugsting– you swallowed that?” He pointed in horror at the eggs. “Might wanna get your fuckin blood pressure tested after that- fuck.” he grabbed your water bottle and tilted it above his mouth, taking a couple chugs without touching the rim. 

“Eww, dude!” You snatched the water from his grasp, causing a little to spill on the eggs. “Don’t do that, you’re basically breathing on my water– I don't even want it.” You rolled your eyes, refraining from laughing and pushing the water bottle back to him. 

Eren choked up a laugh and grabbed the plate, walking over and turning it over the trash before tossing the plate over to the sink (very risky.) 

“Yeah, never that again.” He shook his head, sitting back on the stool and doing his routinely twists. “So…” 

You tilt your head at the boy, a smile curling onto your face at his antics. 

Eren rested his chin in his palms again, “You didn’t tell me about last night.” He almost cooed, making you scoff and roll your eyes. 

“Seriously?” 

“Seriously.” Eren blinked, a smirk playing on his lips. 

Your face dropped and you covered it, shaking your head. 

Half humiliation, half embarrassment. 

But, it’s not like Eren was there to see the way you were acting so… 

“I don’t remember anything.” You shrugged. 

Eren’s eyes narrowed and he scoffed, sitting up and putting his hands on the counter. “That’s what they all say, y’know?” 

“It was a random person.” You said in your own defense, but Eren shook his head, humming a ‘mh-mh’. “If I had to tell you about my sexual experiences, you gotta tell me about yours.” 

You sighed. 

Eren continued, “Plus, there’s a lot I gotta learn about your body before I… y’know.” He made a circle with one hand and put his index finger through it repeatedly. 

Your face scrunched up into something of disgust and Eren snorted, covering his mouth with the back of his hand to snicker. 

What a sadistic asshole. 

“You need to stop making sex jokes.” You point at him, face still scrunched into an unlikely fashion. 

Eren waved you off dismissively, “Someone’s lost their virginity and thinks they know everything.” He whispered to the imaginary person beside him. 

You narrowed your eyes before eventually giving up and groaning. 

“Seriously though, I don’t remember a single thing.” You shrugged. 

Eren stared at you for a minute before tilting his head. “So you don’t remember anything at all? Not the entering or the exiting or the climax?” 

You shook your head, face totally innocent. 

Because the truth was, you really didn’t.

From the moment you woke up, you knew you lost your virginity–your mind wouldn't leave you alone about it–but you didn't know how it felt. Or who it was with. Or when it happened. Or where. 

Eren cocked a brow and then furrowed them. “Must’ve been ass, then.” 

You rolled your eyes, leaning on the counter. “Whatever, I'm glad I don't remember anything about it. But you,” You pointed at him. “You didn’t tell me about your first time yet.”

Eren stared at you, blinking a couple times before shaking his head. “No.” 

You frowned, “Wait, why not?”

Eren shook his head again, “no, it’s nothing interesting.” 

You frown more, sitting up a little. “If i remembered, i’d tell you about mine.” 

“No, you wouldn’t.”

“I would .” 

The two of you held eye contact with each other, Eren searching for a lie and you searching for acceptance. 

He huffed, scratching his brow with his pinky. “It’s nothing interesting, honestly. The shit was–” He paused. “–yeah, no. It wasn’t regular.” 

You shifted on the stool. You felt like you were getting too used to asking Eren to evaluate the things he would talk about, simply from the fact that he let you do it yesterday, but you were curious, and you’d use that to your full advantage. 

“How?”

That was something you’d always ask–anyone actually. 

Someone did something, good, bad, or neither, there was always a ‘why?’ or a ‘how?’ lingering in your thoughts. 

Maybe it was connected to your academic reflexes, but you had to know everything. 

Only if given the chance to, of course. 

Eren chewed his cheek, taking a shallow breath in. 

“I dunno, it was just different.” 

But even though you were curious, you would sense when the moment was right or wrong, sometimes, so you simply said “Oh.” and let the situation go. 

But, Eren.

Being the type of person he was, he could read when you wanted to know something further. 

Because you’d say something in a certain tone and make a certain face, like you were thinking of all the reasons he didn’t wanna explain something further.

Kind of like how you always knew when he wanted to ask you something, or say something to you?

Or maybe he did wanna explain further, and you just didn’t wanna push any further buttons. 

He noticed that too. 

Surprisingly, you were easier to read than when he first saw you Sunday night. 

You seemed really mean, rude, and strict if he even had the right to use that word. 

But it seemed like that was just how people viewed you, maybe? 

I mean, if Eren saw you a certain way, other people definitely saw you that same way.

Actually, not really. But he liked to think of himself as a simple and relatable person. 

Although, he could tell from the second you started asking all those questions last night, you were nothing of the sort. 

And hey, he told you that you were uptight because of being a virgin–not that he meant it or that was actually the reason–but since you lost your virginity (which was only last night) you’d been… less mean? 

No, still mean, less…

Well… 

Uptight. 

That’s how it seemed now. 

He sighed, as if he just had to tell you more about his past. 

“Why should I tell you?” He jokingly looked you up and down with a judgemental look. 

You clicked your tongue. “Because you think you know everything and I wanna see if you were as awkward as I probably was.” You rolled your neck at him, making him twitch a grin. 

“And why would I tell you?” 

“You’ve told me worse things.” you shrugged. 

Eren, seemingly truly confused, cocked his head back a little. “Wait, for real?” 

You crossed your arms, shrugging with a shake of your head and a glance off to the side. “Actually, maybe not? I don’t know.” 

He sighed, rubbing his forehead like you were stressing him out.

You grew worried until you saw a small smile curve onto his lips. 

“Okay, shut up. It was weird.” He kept rubbing his forehead until his hand moved to his eyes and he exhaled, dropping his arm onto the counter. 

You turned your head to the side, your eyes still on him.
“How weird?” 

Eren’s eyes widened and he let out a laugh, drawing circles on the counter. “It just wasn’t how the people around me made it out to be.” 

You studied his face. “Like awkward, or bad?” 

“Not awkward,” He said quickly. “Just… off? I guess?” he paused like he had to think about it before nodding. “Yeah, that.” 

“Why?”

There goes that ‘why’ question.

Eren sucked his teeth and hummed, pursing his lips together before slumping a little, continuing to draw his circles. “I guess it just wasn’t about me?” He frowned a little.

You paused, uncrossing your arms and resting two fingers of each hand on the edge of the counter. “What’s that s’posed to mean?” 

Eren looked at you. “You know you ask that a lot?” 

You frowned, leaning back a little in realization. “Do I…?” 

Eren grinned, looking back down at the counter, “But, it was like…” He trailed off, huffing. “Someone wanted it more than I did, basically.” 

You snapped back to reality, frowning. “You didn’t?” 

He shrugged. “I just kind of let it happen.”

You leaned back a little, again, “Huh.” You stared at Eren. “...Did you like her?”

Eren let out a ‘pshh’ and his eyes widened as he shook his head. “I thought I did.” 

You frowned, cocking a brow. “What made you realize you didn’t?” 

Eren sucked in air through his teeth, clicking his tongue a couple times before resting his hands in his lap. “The bitch was–” he caught himself when he glanced at you. “–the woman was weird.” 

You narrowed your eyes. “ Woman ?” You crossed your arms again. 

Eren raised his hands in defense, “What can I say? I'm a womanizer.” But when he saw your concerned expression, he rolled his eyes.

“I don’t think that’s how it works.” You tilt your head towards him. 

“Yeah? Try telling a sixteen year old that.”

Your mouth opened, and you covered it, but your frown gave away everything. 

Eren flopped his arms to his sides and shook his head, “See that look? That’s why I don’t talk about it.” 

“But you are now,”

“I guess I am.” 

Then, there was a long beat. You didn’t know what to say, or even with all the evidence, if you should assume the worst. 

“Was she older?” You couldn’t help but ask. 

Eren let out a dry laugh, “Would I be this weird about it if she wasn’t?” 

Your heart dropped. 

You slouched a little, taking your hand from your mouth and rubbing them against your thighs. “Damn…” you let out in a low tone, almost a whisper.

You just stared at Eren. 

You could tell from the look on his face, he probably hated being pitied, but you couldn’t help but feel horrible for him. 

And he was just a teenager when it happened. 

And it only happened three years ago? 

“Gosh.” You whispered, brows furrowing the slightest. 

Eren slicked his lips, like he’d been lost in a daydream before blinking his way out of it. 

“She was my mom’s friend.” 

You went still. And quiet. 

“She used to come over to talk about her divorce and shit. Bring wine for her and my mom to drink. Stay over even later ‘cause my mom was so damn…” he paused. “...sweet. She felt empathy and pity for the smallest shit.” He glanced at you.

You wanted to say something, but you couldn’t. 

And you wouldn’t dare ask any more questions about the situation itself. 

“So…” you cleared your throat. “Did you ever tell her? Your mom?” 

Eren toot his lips up and shook his head, finally looking at you. 

“Didn’t tell anybody. Thought it was some regular shit. I felt weird after. I didn’t say no, but I didn’t say yes, and that was fucked up for her to even…” his lip twitched a little. “...cause I was still a dumb ass little boy. The fuck would I know about sex?” 

You scratched the back of your hand, listening to Eren, not saying another word. 

He just laughed like it was a joke. Like it meant nothing. 

“So yeah, use that against me if i piss you off.” He waved his hands out with a big, fake grin before letting out a breathy laugh. 

You still stared at him, brows still furrowed, heart still aching for the boy.

You were gonna tell him that he shouldn’t joke about those types of things, but who’re you to tell someone how they should cope with their trauma? 

You could tell it still affected him, and you didn’t wanna ask any more questions. 

Eren then straightened his expression and blinked slowly at you. 

“You don’t have to stare at me like a lost puppy every time I say something. You can ask questions.”

You inhaled a little before clearing your throat and shaking your head. “I don’t have any questions. I was just thinking.” 

Eren narrowed his eyes. 

“You’re lying. I don’t know how I can tell, but I feel like you’re lying.” He stared at you intently. “You always ask questions. That’s like, one of your traits.” 

Oh, wow. So suddenly he knew so much about you.

Though… he wasn’t wrong? 

You could admit that. 

“You’re right…” you huffed. “So… does that affect the things you do with girls now?” You leaned on the counter with a curious look. 

“No–” Eren paused and frowned, slowly looking back at you. “Why the fuck am I even telling you this?” He let out a laugh, shaking his head. “Damn, you know more about me than my own friends do.”

You completely agreed with his statement. 

To you, he kind of had no logical reason to tell you his business. 

I mean, who are you ? 

“But y’know what? You listen good. I like that.” He pointed at you, nodding. 

You smiled to take his and your mind off of the situation he was once speaking about. 

“First genuine compliment you’ve given me, like, ever.” 

Eren parted his lips in offense. “When I told you you were pretty I wasn’t lying.” 

Ew.

You scoffed. “You really have to learn how to complement a girl. Do all the girls you flirt with fall for that?” 

Eren twisted on the stool and looked up at the ceiling before quickly nodding, “Yeah, that’s what gets em bouncing on it.”

You furrowed your brows. “Bouncing on what ?” 

“My dick.” 

You pursed your lips together with your brows still furrowed, slowly shaking your head. “I know we’re somewhat close, stranger, but that doesn’t mean tell me about your sexual experiences.” 

Before Eren could correct you and tell you that you were the one that asked in the first place, you interrupted him, “Way after I ask about them.” 

Eren clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes. “Right, whatever.” He hopped off the stool. “Oh, by the way, I’m about to take a shower, and use your soap. Again.” 

You groaned. “You take entirely too long, and you run all the hot water out.” 

“Too late, already in.” Eren shrugged, walking towards the hall. 

You heard his footsteps halt and then heard them coming back towards the kitchen. He walked backwards until he could see you around the corner. 

“Also, can we switch spots tonight?” 

You flashed him a confused face. “What’re you talking about?” 

He pointed back towards the couch with his thumb. “Couch gets uncomfortable and this place gets cold as fuck at night. I have to sleep with that thin ass spare blanket they sat on the couch the first day I came to this shithole. 

Shithole was an odd way to describe borderline luxury.

You came to your senses, though. 

“What?” You frowned. “You want me to sleep on the couch?” 

“No,” Eren corrected. 

“I wanna sleep in the bed.”

Chapter Text

Thursday, 8:02PM

It didn’t take rocket science to know that Eren was all snuggled in the same bed you slept in when you came from the bathroom. 

A long, hot shower. A nice face wash, and thoroughly brushed teeth, you were ready to lay down. 

You actually didn’t know if he was in the bed… or at least yet. 

But you knew if he wasn’t, he’d come around and bother you sooner or later. 

You slowly opened the door, stepping inside of the room to, low and behold, Eren laying in the spot across from where you would be laying. 

He was turned, back facing you. 

At least he saved a spot for you, you guessed? 

You sighed, tossing your clothes into the dirty hamper and walking over to the bed. You crossed your arms. You were not about to lay under the same sheets as him. 

“Hey,” You called out. Eren hummed, still too busy scrolling on his phone to fully acknowledge you. “Sleep over the covers.” 

Eren shifted a little, turning over to lay on his back and outstretching his arms. 

He looked you up and down, blinking before looking back up at your face. 

“Why?” Was all he said. 

You scratched your head, huffing. “We’re not sleeping under the same sheets like I want you in here or something.” 

Eren blinked slowly, “Why can’t you sleep over em?” 

“I was here first.” 

“Exactly,” he moved over to make space for you. “I should be able to experience the feeling of a bed now.” 

He was completely right. 

He paid for this place just like you did, and expected the same thing you did. But the only thing you got was each other. The place too, but each other, sadly. 

“You should be glad I'm letting you sleep in the bed, let alone this close to where I sleep, ‘cause you’re still a stranger.” You put your hand on your hip and pointed at your spot. “You’re taking up all my space, look.” 

Eren looked at your spot, which his arm was covering. 

“What’s wrong with laying on the best guy in the world?” 

You cocked a brow, shaking your head and grabbing his wrist to toss it over his stomach. “You’re insufferable, you know that?” You shook your head, staring at Eren for a bit.

He just stared back at you as you got into bed and looked at him.

Your eyes trailed down to his chest. 

You frowned. “Do you always have to walk around shirtless?” 

Eren looked down at his bare chest like he’d forgotten he was shirtless, then he looked back up at you, resting one of his arms behind his head. 

“I’m actually laying down. But you could do the same.” His eyes lowered. 

Your face scrunched. 

Eren snorted, laughing and shaking his head. “That face you make–its fuckin hilarious.” He pointed at you as you rolled your eyes. 

The second time of the night you could finally get away from this idiot (other than when you’re showering) and he was here disturbing your peace. 

“You’re actually disgusting and I never wanna talk to you again.” You pursed your lips together, making Eren chuckle. 

“Come onnnn.” He poked at your waist, making you jerk to the side. 

“Don’t touch me! I thought I told you about that!” you point at him, but his eyes only followed your finger as he stayed there with a smug grin on his face. 

“You must be fun at sleepovers.” Eren rolled over with sarcasm dripping from his voice. 

You rolled to the other side, mirroring his actions and pulling out your phone to keep you company. 

Not only did you have to sleep in the same bed with this guy, but be in the same sheets as him too? With how annoying he is, you’d almost volunteered to sleep on the freezing, uncomfortable couch. 

You let out a long, silent yawn, the only thing audible being your sigh and the sound of your phone hitting the nightstand. 

If you couldn’t do anything else, you were just gonna try to go to sleep.

You were pretty tired anyways.

Two minutes passed.

Seven minutes passed. 

Eleven minutes passed.

You opened your eyes, frowning at yourself. 

You'd been laying there for more than ten minutes and you couldn’t even sleep. 

You silently blamed it on the presence of the boy behind you. 

Whose phone you hadn’t heard in a couple minutes…?

You refused to look back. 

If he was facing right towards you, you’d definitely have to put him out. How awkward would that be? 

You chewed your cheek. 

It wasn’t only dark as hell in the room, the only thing illuminating the room being the city lights from the window, but it was quiet as hell too. 

You could probably hear your heartbeat if you focused hard enough. 

You closed your eyes again. 

Nothing. 

Why the hell couldn’t you go to–

“Hey.”

You opened your eyes, adjusting to the darkness in front of you. 

You kept you back turned on the boy, though. 

“You awake?” Eren mumbled. 

“Yes.” 

“Why don’t I hear your phone?” 

“I tried to sleep.” you were gonna leave it at that, but who’d it hurt to entertain yourself until you went to sleep? “Why don’t I hear yours?”

“Turned it off when you did.” 

You stayed silent for a couple seconds. “Why?” 

There was silence. 

“So you could sleep.” You felt Eren shift behind you. “I thought you’d be asleep by now.”

You closed your eyes, exhaling. “You too.” 

There was a long beat. Nothing said, just the breathing patterns you heard from yourselves and each other. 

“I’m gonna turn, alright?” Eren mumbled. You almost thought you heard a snicker behind that.

You frowned. “Why?” 

Eren hummed. “It’s uncomfortable like this.” 

You couldn’t lie, it was quite uncomfortable turning the opposite way of how you always laid too.

But no. You weren’t gonna turn around. That’d be far too awkward, especially facing him. 

You already didn’t want Eren in the bed, so you stayed put. 

“You still up?” His voice cut through your thoughts. 

“I wish I wasn’t.” You said in a monotone voice, causing Eren to let out a small laugh.

You rolled your closed eyes. 

There was silence again. 

Pitch black and nothing but the small sounds of each others breathing to fill the atmosphere. 

It made you uncomfortable in a way. 

You shifted to lay on your stomach, face still turned the opposite way of Eren.

Maybe you could go to sleep now. 

And you tried.

And tried, and tried. 

You let out a long sigh, but you didn’t bother opening your eyes. There was nothing to look at anyways.

You heard Eren shift behind you.

You didn’t think anything of it, maybe he was trying to go to sleep too. 

But when he shifted again, you huffed. 

“Can you stop moving?” 

“I only moved twice.” 

“Twice too many.” 

Eren shifted again causing you to roll your eyes until he spoke, “I can’t get comfortable like this.” 

You frowned, opening your eyes for just a second. You didn’t respond to his words. 

You heard a long sigh from him. “When I lay on my back, don’t hit me or something.” He spoke. 

You let out a small, unbelievable laugh. Now why the hell did he think you’d hit him? 

“You dummy, why would I hit you? And I thought you were already on your back.” 

You finally heard Eren shift again and heard the pillow shuffle around. You guessed he was on his back now. 

“Cause you’re scary, and no, because you asked me why I'd lay on it.” 

You rolled your eyes, closing them again and shifting. 

I mean… it was pretty uncomfortable…

You huffed. “Don’t turn your face towards mines, creep.” You mumbled, turning your head towards Eren. While you couldn’t see much, you could see him staring up at the ceiling.

One of his arms rested behind his head and one across his stomach. 

You closed your eyes, stuffing your face comfortably into your arms. 

“Are you making eggs tomorrow?” 

You opened your eyes to see a, of course, wide awake Eren with his head slightly turned towards you and his eyes on yours. It was like since he knew you were wide awake right along with him, he’d use that against you, simply by disturbing the silence that washed over you two every second.

“There won’t be a tomorrow if you keep talking.” You moved a little, making a 4 with your legs. 

You felt your knee rub against his leg and moved it away. “Your legs are hairy as fuck.” You frowned, your eyes opening to look at him. 

You saw a smile creeping onto his face. 

“Why’re you even brushing your leg against mine?” He spoke, which made you scoff. 

“You say that like it was on purpose. I don’t even want you in this bed.” 

Eren rolled his eyes. You couldn’t tell, but he did. 

He looked at you again, scanning your face. 

You were completely unaware of that too, due to your eyes being closed. And Eren knew that if you knew, you’d probably put him out right then and there. 

He then looked back up at the ceiling, chewing his cheek. 

He was bored. 

Really bored. 

And you and his phone were the only things that could cure that boredom. 

“I’m bored.” 

Your eyes twitched and you took a deep breath in. 

“You act like an insufferable little child, you know that?” You questioned him. Eren chuckles at your statement and turns to look at you again, but seeing your eyes were already opening and on him, he looked back at the ceiling. 

“Just saying. We usually talk about things all the time.” 

You furrow your brows a little, “We’ve talked about things, like, actual things about three times. That’s not usual.” 

Eren clicks his tongue with a frown. “It was more than three times, you know that.” 

“I don’t know anything.” You retort. 

Eren lets out a loud, long, dramatic sigh that makes you huff and shake your head. “What do you wanna talk about, stranger? And if you don’t make it interesting, I'm going to sleep.” 

Eren stayed silent for a few seconds, looking up to the sky as he put his index finger on his chin and started to drag it down repeatedly. 

“You think it's weird how we booked the same airbnb at the same time? And came the same day?”

The question makes you think for a little. 

It was a bit weird. 

“I think it’s stupid how the owner gave us both a key.” You said in a suggestive tone. 

Eren blinked at the ceiling. 

“How were you in high school?”

You pursed your lips together, opening your eyes to look at him. He kept his eyes on the ceiling, scratching the corner of his nose for a second with a blink.

You accidentally let out an awkward laugh. “Weird question.” 

The corner of Eren’s lip twitched. “It’s the first one I came up with.” 

You sighed. “How do I put it…” 

You thought about it. In high school… you were exactly how you were now. The same way you’ve always been. Setting the same rules and goals to be the best you could be. And the smartest. 

Eren looked at you and he analyzed your thinking face. “Let me guess,” he shifted onto his side, keeping a small distance from you but resting his head on his hand. “You were a bully.” He paused. “Or something.” 

You ignored the fact that he turned towards you, which you dreaded, to pay attention to his guess about you. 

You sat up, staying on your stomach and propping up on your elbows, looking at Eren with a confused expression. “That’s what you think of me?” 

Eren shrugged, “Either that or you were one of those popular girls. But not like the popular ones that get all the boys, the badass ones.” he spoke again. “Not saying you don’t get guys, but, y’know the stereotype.” 

You scoffed, looking down at your clamped fingers. 

“I wish.” You shook your head. 

Eren shifted. “So you weren’t like that?”

You shook your head with a little frown. 

“If anything I was the one getting bullied.” You corrected him, and you could just barely see his brows raise. 

“Wait, so you got bullied.” 

You hummed. “Rarely, but it happened. I got talked about.” 

Eren stayed quiet for a second, slowly shaking his head. “I don’t believe you. There had to be one bad aspect about you.” 

You snorted. “Yeah, right. I wasn’t wanted by boys until like… my last years of high school. I was still going through puberty in my first years. Used to be a teacher's pet, or that’s what they’d call me.” 

And it was true. 

All the good grades you got, all the rules you'd never break, the way you got honor roll every single year, you were definitely a, what they say, ‘goody two-shoes’. 

Eren’s lips parted as he listened to you, narrowing his eyes. 

“So you were like… smart?” 

You pursed your lips together, looking at him. The genuine confusion and amusement on his face was almost funny. 

“What? Did you think I'd be stupid or something?” 

Eren quickly waved one hand. “No, no, it’s just… y’know, you don’t look like someone who… tries?” 

How ironic. Someone who never tries (apparently) is telling you you look like you don’t either. 

But again, you couldn’t judge him. 

So you tilt your head a little, “What makes you think that?” 

“I don’t know, you just look like you’d have things your way all the time. Like… I don’t know, like you’d tell people to do your homework and they’d say yeah all the time.” Eren shrugged.

Honestly, it made you laugh. 

No one ever explained yourself to you in that way, so it was odd to hear something completely different for once. 

You shook your head, looking back down at your hands. “No, I was a smart girl.” 

Eren shifted again. “So what happened?” 

“What?” 

“What changed that?” 

You frowned. “What? Me being smart?” 

Eren nodded. 

You shook your head. “Oh, no, I'm still smart.” 

Eren squint. “Why?” 

Why? Was he asking why you were smart? He’s odd. 

You hummed, biting your bottom lip and looking off to the side. The question was stupid, but you didn’t even feel like ridiculing him for it. 

“Because… I try hard in college.” That was the best way you could put it for now.

Eren nodded, glancing up for a second. “Yeah, but like, why ?” 

You frowned, moving onto your side and propping yourself up on one elbow. Now he was confusing you. “Why do I try hard?” 

“Why do you feel like you have to?” 

“I don’t feel like I have to, it’s just something I do.” 

Eren rolled his eyes. “Nobody actually wants to try hard in college, most people just get through it the best way they can. But you said you were a teacher's pet.” 

You narrowed your eyes. “So?” 

Eren bucked his eyes at you. “So, that means you’ve always been a goody two-shoes, and nobody's that for no reason.” 

You stared at him in confusion. 

Eren sighed, shaking his head and laughing to himself a little. 

“Nobody tries hard in school just because they want to, and it's rare for people to think that way if they do. It’s usually either to get a better education or to… fuck, I don’t know, get your dream job? However you smart people think.” He throws one of his hands up in defeat. 

You hummed. 

The only reason you tried was because… 

You never thought about it. 

Why do you try so hard when it comes to your education? 

Study so much, lose sleep over good grades and sleep good when you have amazing grades? 

You bit your bottom lip in thought. 

One reason you knew was because you were scared of being a failure. 

Scared of being someone that wouldn’t do anything in life. 

Scared you’d end up like… 

Hmmm. 

Like your dad. 

“I guess I just…” How were you gonna put this? “...don’t wanna be a failure.” 

Now that you were saying it, you realized how offensive it’d probably sound to Eren, considering you two were, from what you knew, polar opposites when it came to college, or anything really. 

“Sorry if that sounds offensive.” You quickly apologized. 

Eren raised a brow. “It’s fine, but…” He trailed off, looking down at the sheets. “...not to project, but don't you wanna have fun?” 

You cocked a brow. “I have fun.” 

No you don’t. 

Eren sucked in air through his teeth, “Yeah, but like, don’t you wanna have more fun? I never really understood those people that try really hard to do things and shit. We’re all gonna graduate at the same pace, so if you're not doing something after college, why does it really matter?” he paused. "Unless you are?"

You don’t know if you wanna be offended or not. 

Maybe it was just a genuine question. 

“Well…” You cleared your throat. “I guess…" You thought about it. “I guess it’s too late to end everything now. I started working hard, people have expectations for me. I don’t wanna disappoint myself and the people around me.” 

As sad as it probably sounded, it was true. 

You started being the way you were at an early age, and since those expectations have been set, not only by you, but by the people around you, you just had to live up to ‘em. 

“But you don’t care what people think, right?” Eren questioned, leaning more into his palm as he scanned your expression. 

You shrugged, “No.” 

“So why work so hard? You say you don’t care what people think, but then you work hard for other people's expectations. And I’m only saying this because I'm assuming working hard isn’t fun for you,” 

You stayed quiet. 

Eren spoke again, “if it's something you wanna do, though, I won't judge. And like I said, if you're doing something after college, that's reasonable too.” 

You swallowed.

He was reading you like a damn book. 

Nothing was fun about what you were doing. 

I mean, it wasn’t just a huge problem, but gosh was it a big responsibility. 

It didn’t make you happy though. 

You liked accomplishing things, and you wanted to be good in every academic way, but the road leading to all of that was a bumpy one, even for you. 

You’d say your smarts helped, which they did, but it was such a big weight on your shoulders that you hadn’t really thought about removing ever since elementary. 

Honestly. You don’t do anything you wanna do. 

Things you’d like to do, you push them aside and eventually out of your mind because you’re so focused on climbing to the top. 

And the top of what? 

College? 

For a, again, piece of paper? 

Everyone would receive it, all you’d get was extra cords and a little extra attention, but after that, there’s reality.

The reality that… you thought about Eren's words... you don’t even know what you wanna do after college. 

You focus so much on the moment, on being smart, and being known for being smart, that you’ve never thought about what your life would be like after that. 

And when you realized it, it pained you. 

Kind of stressed you out. 

And no, it wasn’t something you wanted to do.

It was something you just did . 

“I do what I can. That’s it.” You finally spoke. 

Eren blinked. “But is it fun?” 

You stayed quiet. You didn’t wanna lie. He already pointed out everything you were hiding, so what was the point? 

Plus, it wasn’t like you were giving advice or anything. 

“Not really.” you finally answered the longing question, and Eren nodded like he’d already known what the answer would be in the end. 

“Listen,” he sighed, turning over on his back again. “I'm probably not the one to talk, and I’m not saying just give up what you do, even if you don’t wanna do it, like you said, you already started it so what's the point in backing down now? But,” 

He points at you. 

“If you have the smarts and academic level to do all the shit you do, all the hard work and shit, then I'm sure you have the smarts and academic level to balance that shit out. Do what you think is fun, not just what other people want. That’ll ruin the little bit of college years you have left.” he shrugs. “Or that’s just how I feel. That’s what my mom told me.” 

You sat up straight, crossing your legs and facing him. Now you were interested. 

Everything he said was true, and trust, you’d probably forget about it, but it’d come back to you whenever, you hoped.

Maybe he was right. 

Maybe you needed to take some time off a couple times. 

“Was your mom like you when she was in college?” 

Eren scoffed, “Hell no.” he slowly shook his head before laughing a little. “ Hell no. She was just like you.” 

Wow. 

That’s surprising. 

“Really?” you squint, leaning an elbow on your knee and resting your head in your palm. 

Eren nodded. “That’s what she told me. She was a real goody goody. Real smart, teacher's pet.” Eren let out a laugh. 

You cocked a brow. 

“So… if she told you what you’re telling me, why aren’t you taking her advice?” 

Eren toot his lips up, blinking at the ceiling. 

He shrugged. 

“I don’t know. I never did.” 

“You never knew?” 

“I never tried to balance anything out. I do what I wanna do, and I've been like that since I was a tod’.” 

You tilt your head into your palm. 

A small smirk creeped onto your lips. 

Eren looked at you, caught it, and playfully rolled his eyes. 

You spoke, “So I'm guessing we were total opposites in high school. You were the bully.” You point at him. 

Eren chuckled, putting his arms behind his head again. “I wasn’t a bully, I was just rude-ish. A playboy if that’s what you’d wanna call me.” 

An amused expression played on your face, "I'm not calling you that.” 

Eren shrugged. “Well it’s what I was.” 

You only shook your head, not sure what to ask or say anymore. 

Eren took that as a chance to keep explaining. 

“I was actually pretty dumb.” 

A loud laugh slipped out of your throat and you quickly covered your mouth, eyes wide. I mean, you called him dumb a couple times, but you didn’t actually think he’d be it. 

“Wait, really?” You questioned. 

Eren laughed at your reaction and nodded, “Hell yeah. I don’t know how I didn’t repeat a grade, but I'd ask people to do my work for me, cheat on like– every single test. Don’t know how I passed finals, but…” He shrugged. 

You uncovered your mouth and leaned back on your hands. 

“So were you like, actually dumb? Like genuinely, you didn’t know anything? ‘Cause I doubt they’d let you pass if you were like that. Teachers notice everything.” 

Eren scoffed. 

Of course you’d know that. 

“I wasn’t a damn idiot if that’s what you think.” Eren corrected you. “I just didn’t try. Too focused on trying to be popular and shit. And it worked.” He shrugged with a nod. “But at the cost of me not putting any effort into my work,” he explained. 

You hummed, blinking slowly in interest.

Eren cleared his throat, looking forward at the black TV screen. 

“I was a smart kid. I was just too worried about having fun to try and do… anything smart.” 

You pursed your lips together. “Made any dumb decisions?" 

“Many.”

You hummed. “So, like you said, your mom said to balance things out. Did she know how you were in school when she said that?” 

Eren nodded, “That’s the only reason she told me that.” 

You frowned a little. As smart as you were, Eren confused you a lot. Why would she tell him he should have more fun if– 

“I mixed around what she said.”

“What?” 

“The thing she said to me was that I should balance out having fun with being smart. Even though having fun was my thing, I should put effort into being smart too.” He explained. “Im just telling you what she said, but the other way around. Get it?” 

You had it. 

“Ohhhh…” You dragged out. 

Eren nodded, smirking a little. 

“So why don’t you do what she said?”

His smirk disappeared and he looked at you again. “You know, I believe you were a teacher's pet. Your questions are straight forward as hell.” 

You waved him off, causing him to chuckle. 

“But,” he continued. “Like I said a couple days ago, I don’t believe in that shit. We’re all gonna make it out of college the same way, no matter how hard we try.” 

As uneducated as Eren may have been, he was surely open minded. You could tell. 

You were more book-smart, and he was more street-smart. 

That was another difference about the two of you, it was probably the main reason you two were so different to begin with. It made you wonder what the hell you would have in common. 

“You’re right…” you trailed off. “But don’t you wanna… I don’t know, do at least something?” You questioned him. “I’m sure you do your work, but don’t you wanna do something more… serious?” 

Eren pursed his lips together. 

He nodded. “I tried to be like my mom. But it didn’t really… work out, as you can see. So I just don’t give a damn anymore.” he shrugs. 

But you’re so smart , you think to yourself. 

It genuinely confuses you how someone can waste their potential like that. 

You’d hate to push your ways into his life (if he even listened to a word you were about to say), but he just had too much potential to waste. 

You rub at your thumb, looking down. “You ever think that you should like… not do that?”

Eren looked at you, “Do what?” 

“Y’know, fail on purpose.” 

Eren twitched a frown and looked away. “I don’t fail on purpose. I just don’t feel like doing that shit.” 

You tilted your head forward, “That shit, being college?” 

“That shit, being doing things because people expect me to. No offense, but working hard just to please other people? I'm not like that.” 

Okay, you did take a little offense to that, but you couldn’t say much, because it was true. 

So you exhaled. “Y’know what's crazy?” 

Eren looked at you again. 

“You’re just like how my mom was in high school and college. Carefree, pissing off teachers, rude as hell, all of that.” 

Eren stared at you for a couple seconds, waiting for more of an explanation before you spoke again. 

“But she told me not to be like that. To be… something. To try, even if it was hard, to at least try. Because when she graduated high school and passed college, she knew she could’ve did more with her life.” 

You chewed your cheek. “I know it may not mean anything to you, and I wouldn’t wish the pressure I have on myself onto anybody, but she told me not to end up like her. And since you gave me your moms advice, I'm giving you mines.” 

Eren’s gaze rested upon you. 

He clenched his jaw, tearing his eyes away and looking back up to the ceiling. 

Never did he think he’d be taking advice and getting it, all at the same time. 

And never did he think it’d hit so hard. 

“Feels like you’re asking me to be like you.” 

“I wouldn’t hope for you to be a little bit like me, I'm asking you to be a little serious about your education.” 

Eren pursed his lips together, deciding to shut up and listen to you. 

“You’re really smart. I can see that with my own eyes.” 

He raised his brows, “Oh yeah?” 

You nodded, a ‘duh’ type of look on your face. 

You never thought you’d be giving Eren advice either. 

But again, you were book-smart. If he gave you ‘street-smart’ advice, it wouldn’t hurt for you to return the favor. 

“Duh. You know more than me, that’s for sure. Maybe not academically, but you know a lot I don’t know, and that’s obvious from the little time we’ve been stuck in this house together.” You spoke. “I don’t want you to be some kind of… magically amazing student. But if your mom told you what she told you, and you have the guts to repeat it back to me, then I'm sure it meant something to you.” 

Eren chewed his cheek, blinking. “Your mom told you to work hard,” He looked at you. “You’re working so hard, you’re stressing yourself out. And that’s her advice. What makes you think I won’t end up like you?” 

Okay, that was offensive too. 

He was straightforward with his statements and you were straightforward with the questions, got it.

“We’re not the same person. I just took her advice too far ‘cause I didn’t wanna end up like my dad.” 

Eh, the whole dad thing slipped out, honestly, but it was true enough. 

Eren narrowed his eyes on you. 

“And I'm not taking my mom’s advice ‘cause I don’t wanna end up like my dad.” 

You frowned. 

Damn, you two really are opposites. 

But you narrowed your eyes. 

You didn’t care about Eren, but if you saw someone with potential, and they helped you out… 

You were damn sure gonna return the favor.

Chapter Text

When Eren said what he said, you crossed your arms. 

Right now, all you wanted was to help him out. When you see potential in people, you encourage them. That’s just who you are. 

And who the hell ever listened, really? 

But it was worth a try. 

You knew Eren probably wouldn’t listen. But you were tired of listening. Someone had to hear what you had to say. 

“You don’t have to be however he is. You can be better than that, hell, better than me.” you shrugged. 

Eren scoffed. “Nobody can be better than you.” 

You frowned, tilting your head. “What?” 

Eren sat up on his elbows. “I mean, look at you,” he gestured to you. “You’re as smart as they come.” 

Did he not just hear a single word you said? 

“Because I practically force myself to be smart.” You frowned. 

Eren sat up all the way now, leaning back against the headboard and tossing the pillow somewhere to the side. 

He pointed at you. “You’re still smart. Like you said, and like I see it, you’re the best at everything. You can’t give advice like that and then expect it to be easy for someone that never tries.” He then pointed at himself. 

You narrowed your eyes. 

Was he putting all of this back on you? 

You shifted, uncrossing your arms. 

“All I'm saying is that I see potential in you, and I don’t want you to waste it. When I see someone who I know for a fact can be good, why the hell would I let them throw their life away?”

Eren scoffed, throwing his hands up a little. “Now I'm throwing my life away because I don’t care to be perfect.”

Honestly, this whole conversation-argument thing was getting to your head now. 

Because there's no way he went from agreeing with you, to completely turning the whole thing around. 

And that's what you feared. 

To come off as someone who thought they knew everything, and tried to live their lives through somebody else's. 

You chewed your cheek, staring at Eren for a moment. 

He kept speaking. “I mean, you think you know everything, but you don’t. You don’t know anything about me.” He shrugged. 

You slowly nodded, narrowing your eyes. “Y’know, you’re acting fucking bipolar right now. I just wanna help you.” 

Eren turned to face you a little, his brows raising. “You can’t help someone if you don’t know shit about them.” 

“Then why the fuck are you helping me, Eren?” 

“Because you just told me everything about you!” Eren put his hands on his head, as if your part of the argument was unbelievable. As if he wasn’t the one that switched up when you turned the conversation around on him. 

You point at him, your voice calming. “You…” You jut your finger towards him. “You just told me the same…shit…about yourself…that I told you about me. So what the fuck sense does that make?”

Eren barked out a laugh, scratching in his head. 

“I didn’t tell you anything other than the fact that I don’t try in school and I told you the reason I don’t. You told me way more than that. You can’t name a single thing that has something to do with me, that i’ve told you, other than the fact that I’m a fucking failure.” he pressed his index finger against his chest with almost every word he spoke. 

You went quiet.

“I feel like you just hate talking about yourself.” You shrugged. 

“Uh, hah, no, I hate people telling me what to do with my life.” He shrugged back. 

“I’m not telling you what to do.” You shake your head with a frown. “I’m telling you what I think you should do, just like you told me.” You looked at him. “And I didn’t have any complaints about you telling me anything, because quite frankly, you’re still a stranger–I don’t have to listen to shit you say.” 

Eren bit his upper lip as you spoke. 

“You’re a perfect A plus college student who only gives a damn about her grades, and you think it’ll be easy for a guy who doesn’t give a fuck about his to do what you do? Hey–all I told you was to have fun. Didn’t tell you how.” 

And he was right. 

He wasn’t going into detail like you were, but even so, you expected this to be a moment to get to know more about each other. 

Not that you cared about his personal life, because honestly, you didn’t. If he was anybody else having this conversation with you, you’d be saying the same things. 

But there's no way anybody else would switch it around this quickly. 

“You make it seem like you have to listen to what I say.” You couldn’t believe him right now. Who goes from being so interesting and understanding to so goddamn rude? 

“Yeah, well, you have a lot more privileges than you see.” Eren looked towards the open window. His voice was low, you almost didn’t hear it. 

But words like that–when someone says something that deep, you have no choice but to hear it.

You squint. “What the hell are you talking about? Privilege?” You spat, moving a little closer to Eren. “ Privilege ?” He finally faced you, staring at you as you spoke. “I busted my ass every single to day to even be able to afford this airbnb, earned every little thing i got from the penny to the fucking grade, and you wanna call me privileged?” 

Oh, and don’t forget the fact that all the hard work you mentioned to him, yeah, from what you were seeing, all that shit went over his head. 

In one ear and out of the other. 

But when it came to your roots and what you’ve been through, you had no problem repeating yourself. 

Especially if the first and only person you’ve told about it spoke of it like it was some kind of joke.

But Eren only made a ‘pshh’ sound and waved you off dismissively. 

“Come on, dude. The path was paved, you didn’t place the fuckin’ yellow bricks on the road too. They were already there. The supportive parents, and when you got used to being the best, the grades too.” he shrugged, staring right into your eyes. “I’m not like you, like you said. I’m not lucky like you.”

You could slap him in the fucking face. 

“ Lucky ?” You almost screamed. You could’ve screamed. “So because you don’t have what I have, you’re gonna write me off as some spoiled brat who got everything handed to her?” 

Because that's exactly how the hell it seemed. 

I mean, after a long ass conversation, he was acting like you didn’t tell him a single damn thing about yourself. 

And it was pissing you off more than you thought it would. 

Eren huffed, “I know you worked hard for all the shit you got, but you’re making it seem like I don’t try.” 

“You literally just said you don’t.” 

“And before that, I said I did. I said I tried to be like my mom and it didn’t work out. But you’re so,” he put up both of his hands to form quotations. “ educated… you won’t take that part into consideration.”

You scoffed. “I take and took every fucking thing i learn and learned about you into consideration.” 

Eren crossed his arms, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. “Well right now it feels like you’re judging me. Like you’re saying, ‘be like I am because I see something in you and I don’t care if you don’t see it.’” 

You chewed your cheek. “Like I said, you don’t have to listen to me.”

Eren bit his lip. “It’s the fucking principle.” 

“Shut the fuck up.” 

You shifted to sit at the edge of the bed, facing away from him. 

You were pissed. 

You weren’t gonna show how mad, or at least try not to, but you were pissed. 

Not only because Eren disregarded almost everything you’d fucking told him, but because he didn’t listen to what you said.

But what pissed you off more than ever–no–what fucking hurt, was the fact that he accused you of being privileged. 

Privileged. Lucky. You hated those words. 

That’s what everyone called you. 

Everyone who didn’t know what the hell you went through to get to that point, and why you were pushing yourself so hard to stay at it. 

But to hear it from Eren, you never thought you’d feel more bad. 

Not because he said it, but because you thought you found someone, despite how much you disliked him, that would understand how you felt. 

The first and only person you’ve opened up to about the way you’ve been your whole life, and he threw everything away. 

Eren opened his eyes just the slightest to peek at you. 

He was looking at the back of your head. His head moved a little to get a better view of you, but it didn’t work. 

He sighed, dropping his arms and pushing himself up a little. 

He leaned over off of the bed to grab his pillows, assuming you were done speaking for the night. 

He had a lot to say, don’t get him wrong. 

And you did too. 

If this had to be the last thing you’d say to him in this stupid ass airbnb, it would be, because you’d rather fail than let him spend the rest of his life thinking (if he even thought about it after tonight) about how privileged and lucky you were. 

And you tried not to care. 

He told you himself not to care what people thought. 

You’ve told yourself that multiple times. 

But you weren’t only speaking for yourself. You were speaking for the same misunderstood people that worked their asses off just like you, and are seen as privileged. 

Then again, you’re speaking for yourself when you say, 

“My dad was someone who didn’t give a damn about anything and so was my mom. My mom changed her ways when she passed college and my dad never went. She told me not to be like him.” 

You chewed your cheek. 

“He’s a fucking deadbeat, never checks on me, and is probably somewhere dead for all I care.” You finally looked back at Eren, moving back on the bed a little. “My dad was just like you and my mom, except he never changed his ways. He stayed that same way.” 

Eren didn’t look at you. 

Only fixed his pillows behind his back so that he’d be more comfortable against that headboard. 

But he listened. 

“I don’t want you to end up like my dad. I don't want anyone to end up like my dad. Someone who didn’t give a fuck, and even when it was too late, never did. And I don’t wanna end up like him either.” You swallowed. “That’s why I do the shit I do, work so hard,” 

Yes. That's why. 

Because you don’t wanna be like your father. 

“I do it so I can be what he and my mom could’ve been. So don’t sit there…” your voice cracked a little. “...don’t sit there and tell me that I'm lucky. Because in my eyes, im the unluckiest fucking person i know.” 

Eren swallowed, staring at the dark floor. His eyes moved up to the window again, low while he stared at the flashing buildings outside of it. 

You kept going though. 

You didn’t think he was listening, but if you had the chance to say it, you were gonna fucking say it. 

“I’d give my whole college career to live life like you. Carefree, drinking, smoking, all that. I wonder what it’s like all the damn time. But I don’t. Because one slip up to me is a hundred fucking steps towards the road my dad went down, and i’d rather die than go down that road.” 

You stared at Eren a few seconds more before pursing your lips together. 

“But you’re not even listening so–” 

“My dad was just like you, too.” He spoke before you could even lay down. 

You looked at him. 

He wasn't looking at you, he was looking down at his hands now, fidgeting with them. 

Eren sniffed. “That whole smart thing? Telling me to be like that? He did the same thing, and he’s probably no better than your dad.” 

You crossed your legs again, deciding to listen at least one last time, or for however long this conversation was gonna go on. 

“My old man, he wasn’t just smart, he thought he was smarter than everybody else. Smarter than my mom, smarter than me, and I guess that gave him the right to decide what my life should look like.”

Eren took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a second before looking towards you. Not at you, towards you. 

“I know I'm smart, like you said. And I'm not a damn idiot, like I said. I know I can do… probably more than half of the shit people try to push me to do, but every time I try, I hear his voice in my head, telling me to do shit. So instead of trying, I just… don't. If it means being a failure to everyone, I'll die in that spot, ‘cause I'd rather disappoint the world than make him proud.” 

You listened closely to Eren. 

His reasoning was valid. 

Everything he said was valid, hell, you’d be a fool to dismiss it. If that’s how he felt, then what could you change? 

“I hate my dad,” he shook his head, leaning back again. “And I've spent my whole life trying not to end up like him but you–” he finally looked at you, eyes low like he was saying a bunch of nothing. “You’ve got that same sharpness as him. Thinking you’ve got it figured out. And maybe you do, I know for a fact that he didn't." 

He chuckled to himself a little but his expression went back to normal as quick as it came. 

“But if you start thinking that’s the way to live, which… you’re already on that borderline… you’re gonna end up just like him…”

He bit his top lip, going silent for a second, like he was lost in space.  

“...and I don’t want you to turn into that. Just like you don’t want me to turn into your dad.”

You stared at Eren. 

You understood him. 

He was just like you, in a way. 

Both of you are so different because your fathers are exactly like one another and you’re both the definitions of what each of you don’t wanna be. 

Eren doesn’t wanna be like you. 

And you don’t wanna be like him. 

You were working extra hard because your father never did, and he wasn’t working at all because that’s all his father ever did. 

And you didn’t blame him, because what could you blame? 

That’s the only similar thing about the two of you. 

But what you still didn’t appreciate was Eren calling you privileged and lucky. 

You weren’t gonna raise hell about it anymore, even though you barely did, but you saw him. 

Maybe you saw yourself in him, and as stupid as that sounded when you told yourself that, it was probably the truest thing you’d told yourself after that small altercation you had. 

You didn’t wanna worry about that anymore. 

So you just slipped back under the covers and turned, your back facing him. 

You didn’t hear him move, so he was still sitting up. 

You thought about something. 

“I understand what you’re saying,” you mumbled. “But if you even care to apologize, I only forgive you to a certain extent.” 

For the first time, you knew Eren was looking at you now.

Probably with that same dumb face he always made when he knew he was wrong for something and didn’t wanna admit it. 

“Why?” he questioned you, making you scoff. 

“Because what you said about me wasn’t fair. You painted me like I was… favored, and I don’t like that.” 

There was silence. 

Even more silence. 

By now, the silence was aching, and you were just gonna try to sleep.

“I hate apologizing.” Eren mumbled, and it made you roll your eyes. 

Due to all the opening up you did, you forgot how much of a dick he was. Excluding the whole ‘lucky’ thing. 

“Of course you do.” You muttered. 

When you heard movement behind you, you were pretty sure he was turned towards you now.

“What’s that supposed to mean? You said you forgive me, why’re you giving me shit like I don’t care or something?” 

You kept your eyes closed, bringing the sheets closer to your chin. “If you apologized genuinely, it’d mean you recognized you were wrong. I don’t care about the whole caring thing. I don’t care if you care, but you need to take accountability.” 

“Accountability for expressing my opinion?”

“Accountablility for being inconsiderate of how that… shit you said would make me feel.” you paused. “When I took your feelings into deep consideration.” 

Now it may have been childish, but you needed to hear a sorry. 

You needed to know that Eren knew he was wrong for what he said because honestly, his words hurt. 

Eren scoffed, shaking his head. “You don’t care that much about what I said. Especially since it’s coming from someone like me.” 

You shook your head. 

“I care, and it hurts.” You corrected. “Because I thought I found someone that understood how I felt, and I thought I found someone I could open up to and not be judged by, but I was wrong, I guess.” 

You hated to admit it. He’d probably use it against you. But it did hurt. 

Not to the point of a tear shedding or heartbreak, but it was disappointing. 

Eren didn’t say anything for a couple seconds. 

“I–” he cut himself off. He didn’t know what to say. 

You sighed. “If you’re not gonna apologize then just leave it alone.” 

Quietness again. 

“You’re not going to sleep mad at me.” Eren spoke, but you stayed quiet.

You were mad. 

Mad because everything you expressed about yourself was ignored, and it didn't make a lick of sense how fast it happened. 

“Whatever Eren.” was all you said. 

“I’m not letting you go to sleep mad, you’re just gonna mope around in the morning.” Eren mumbled. 

“Well apologize.” You opened your eyes again. 

And again, nothing. 

You closed your eyes. 

You were tired, and it was probably late anyways. You didn’t have time to beg for an apology, and sure you’d mope around in the morning, maybe, but you didn’t blame yourself for that. 

You were mature enough to know that there were limits to things you should say, and Eren just crossed it. 

And if he wasn’t going to apologize, you’d be off to sleep. 

Chapter Text

1:37AM

Same night. 

Nothing but silence, so nothing could fill the ringing sound in Eren’s ears. 

And it was pissing him off. 

All he could think about for whatever reason, was what he said to you. 

Even though he’d said it, like, three or four hours ago, even when he slept, it was the only thing on his mind. 

And it didn’t help that you were facing away from him. 

For some reason, that made him feel even worse. 

Eren wasn’t an empath. He didn’t feel bad for anything he said or did, usually, and it was a rare occasion that he would because… well… whatever he says, he says with a purpose. Why would he feel bad or go back on it?

And whatever he didn’t say to a person, why would he feel sorry for them if he wasn’t the one that said it?

Something like your mother, as said. 

But everyone has their times where things aren’t aligned how they usually are.

He was laying on his back, staring up at the ceiling, the slight blue light appearing every now and then from the blowing curtains being the only thing emitting light in the room. 

He chewed at the skin on his bottom lip. 

His stomach growled a little. He was hungry. 

He exhaled, tossing the sheets off of his body and pushing himself off of the bed. 

He made his way to the kitchen, making sure to stay silent. Making sure not to wake you. 

He opened the fridge. Nothing. He opened the pantry. 

“Why the hell wouldn’t they have snacks for their guests?” He mumbled to himself, shaking his head and huffing. 

He was tired, but he was more hungry than that. 

He made his way to the bedroom again, slowly opened the door and walked over to his suitcase. He grabbed the hoodie that was draped across it, tossing it lazily over his shirtless torso. 

He walked over to his shoes, slipping them on as he tied his hair up, sighing. 

He looked back at his keys. 

He didn’t feel like driving.

But who’d walk in the middle of the night? 

Not like someone would do something to him, with the confidence he had, he was untouchable, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have some fears. 

…

Yeah, whatever. 

There’s streetlights for a reason, he told himself. He grabbed his phone and stuffed it in his pocket.

Just when the door creaked open again, he heard the bed.

He stopped in his steps, eyes going wide as he slowly turned around. 

Your eyes fluttered open, and you raised up a little, rubbing at them. 

“Where’re you going?” You questioned, voice low and slightly drowsy. 

To be frank, you were still half asleep, so you didn’t really know what or why you were asking him, but when you fully opened your eyes, squinting a little, you tilted your head at Eren. 

He let go of the doorknob, pinching the ends of his hair. “Walking to the store.” 

That answer woke you up a little. 

“At…” You tapped your phone. “One in the morning?” 

Of course it was none of your business, but you doubt he’d lie to you about going to the store, especially walking. 

Eren shrugged. “There’s no snacks in there.” He pointed back with his thumb. “I’m just going there and back. Didn’t mean to wake you.” 

You exhaled, rubbing your eyes once more before taking the sheets off of your legs and sitting at the edge of the bed. 

Eren took a step to the side, letting the light from outside of the room in on you a little. 

“What’re you doing?” he asked, voice still low. 

You slipped on your slippers and pushed yourself out of bed. “I like walking.” 

Eren frowned a little, glancing back like someone other than him could convince you not to. 

“Seriously, you don’t have to come. If I woke you, I didn’t mean to.” He held his hands up, trying to stop you. But you were no better than him, he supposed. 

You shrugged. “It’s fine…” You yawned, stretching your arms out. “I like walking anyways, like I said.” 

Eren opened his mouth to protest, but sighed, shaking his head and shifting his weight to one leg. “Well it’s cold outside.” 

You moved him aside a little. “It’s fine. I was sweating anyways.” 

Eren stared at you as you slowly made your way past the kitchen and living room, and to the front door. He sighed, following quickly behind you. “You’re so damn stubborn.” he mumbled, opening the door for you. “Do you have the key?” 

You pursed your lips together, looking up at him. Both of you had small bags under your eyes. You shook your head. 

Eren stared at you like you’d just disappointed him, but right now he couldn’t speak on disappointment. 

“Okay– fuck, just don't worry about it.” he mumbled, shaking his head and closing the door behind the two of you.

It was quiet outside, only a few crickets to fill the atmosphere. 

You looked up to the night sky, squinting to see the stars. They were dim, but they were there. 

The light sounds of you and Eren’s steps against the concrete, from the driveway to the sidewalk, went almost unnoticed by you until you looked down at the ground. 

Your eyes were low. 

You watched your legs as you walked, glancing over at Eren’s for a second. 

You looked up at him, your arms crossed and his hands stuffed in the pocket of his hoodie. 

You could tell he was tired. 

Eren stared forward, glancing over at you as soon as you looked away. 

You stuffed your arms under your shirt, blowing a long breath out as you stared forward. 

He looked down at your arms, then back up at you. “I told you it would be cold.” He mumbled, quietly.

You tucked your lips between your teeth, blinking slowly. “I still don’t need one.” 

Eren took his eyes off of you and stared forward. “You’re stupid.” 

You quirked a frown. “ You’re stupid.” 

Your voices were so low, like you were both trying not to wake mother nature herself. Eren hummed and slowly nodded before reaching up to scratch at the corner of one of his eyes. “I knew that.” 

You didn’t say anything. 

You moved away from him a little. 

He didn’t notice it at first, not until you moved further away. 

He noticed how the sounds beneath your footsteps didn’t match up anymore, and you went from walking on the sidewalk to the side of the road. 

Luckily, there weren’t any cars coming or going.

He looked over at you, blinking before letting out an inaudible breath and looking forward again. 

“Why’re you over there?” 

You didn’t reply immediately. Just kicked a pebble–every pebble you saw. 

You stopped walking when you missed it, taking a small step back to retrieve it. 

Eren stopped in his steps, a little ahead of you now, and he turned to look at you. 

You kept kicking your pebble. “I don’t wanna talk to you.” 

When you got a little ahead of him, he started walking again. “Why?” 

You shrugged. “You’re mean.” 

Eren frowned a little, “I’m not mean.” 

You scoffed, shaking your head. “That’s what you think.” 

He narrowed his eyes at you. “You’re meaner than me, if you haven’t noticed that already.” he corrected, and you let out a loud sigh. 

You stopped in your steps and bent down to pick up your pebble, putting it in your pocket before walking over to the other side of the sidewalk. 

Eren stood there, staring at everything you did with a face full of ‘why?’ 

When you made it across the street, you kept walking the same way he did. 

He sighed, clearing his throat to speak louder. 

“Why’re you all the way over there?” he glanced at you as he kept going in the direction. 

You kept walking, looking ahead. “Because I don’t wanna talk to you.” 

“You don’t have to be so far away from me.” he glanced at you again. 

You shrugged, hands still under your shirt. “You’re interrupting my walk.” 

Eren stared at you for a couple seconds. He was interrupting your walk. How funny. 

He didn’t reply though, just kept walking until you finally made it to the gas station. He sighed, stopping in his steps and looking over at you, who already looked at him, waiting for what he’d say. 

“Come over here.” Eren waved you over. 

You rolled your eyes lazily and made your way over to Eren before he continued to walk towards the store. 

He reached to open the door, letting you in first before he followed behind you. 

The cool air hit your face and you stepped to the side, looking around. 

Eren looked back at you before he continued walking. “You stopped.” 

You nodded silently. 

He narrowed his eyes, turning to you now. “Why?” 

You motioned to the small aisles in front of the two of you. “You came here to get snacks. I came to walk.” 

Eren stared at you for a couple seconds before chewing his cheek. He gestured to the aisles with his head. “Get something.” 

You raised a brow, looking up at him. He stared back at you with a bored expression. 

“I don’t want anything.” 

Eren frowned at you, just the slightest. “Do you always act like this?” 

You looked away. “Like what?” 

“Stupid.”

You frowned a little, rolling your eyes at him and leaning against the wall beside the door. 

Eren didn’t budge, though. Just sat there and waited. 

You huffed, pushing yourself off of the wall and softly moving him aside to go towards the snacks. 

Eren silently watched you, shaking his head with his hands still in his pockets before going over to the drinks.

You walked the aisles, grabbing what you liked the most. 

You then walked over to the drinks, looking around to see what you wanted. 

You hummed to yourself, opening one of the doors and grabbing a drink. 

You closed the door with your body, holding your items close to your chest as you slowly walked over to the counter, where Eren leaned against it, scrolling on his phone. 

The cashier looked as sleepy as the two of you. 

You bumped your hip into Eren, moving him aside a little to place your things on the counter. 

He didn’t even spare a glance before pulling his phone case off of his phone to take his card out.

You stepped back, going back to the spot you were at before he bothered you. 

You didn’t see, but he glanced at you just once, inserting his card into the card reader. 

“Doing good tonight?” The cashier asked. 

Eren only nodded, turning his caseless phone to the back to look at it. 

“She mad at you?” the cashier asked again. 

Eren put his pin in as the man bagged the snacks you both got.

Eren put his card back into the back of his phone and glanced at the man. “Who?” 

The man glanced at you before motioning to you. “Your girl.” 

Eren frowned, his head jerking back a little. He let out a small breath, glancing over at you. “That’s not my girl.” 

The cashier raised his brows, grabbing the receipt and putting it into the bag before pushing it over to Eren. “For real? Your sister?” 

Eren shook his head, putting his phone in his hoodie pocket and grabbing the bag. “We don’t know each other.” He said, starting to walk away from the counter. “Thank you, good night.” He waved at the guy before opening the door.

You walked outside, instantly hugging yourself. 

It was the summer, why the hell were nights still this cold? 

You walked with Eren back to the sidewalk. 

You looked to the other side of the road, the one you were on once before, and just as you started to make your way across the road, Eren grabbed your arm, pulling you to the other side of him. “Stop doing that.” 

You weren’t even gonna try to resist, even when he let you go. “Doing what?” you asked in a low tone. 

Eren sighed. “Being mad at me.” 

You shrugged. “It’s not like you care anyways.” 

His gaze remained forward, moving off to the side a little at your words. You really don’t get over anything do you? 

Well, you do. 

Or you acted like you did. 

Or maybe you didn’t and he just lied to himself like you were over the whole thing so that he could feel better about making you feel bad. 

His gaze moved down to the pavement, then to your legs. 

He chewed his cheek for a second. 

“Sorry.” He pushed it out, honestly. But if you were gonna be moping around this late at night, who knew how you’d be acting when you went back to sleep and woke up with energy? More energy to mope around. He wouldn’t be able to handle it. “Sorry for what I said. I didn’t mean it.” He mumbled. 

But you heard every word. 

You rubbed your thumbs along the goosebumps on your arms, clearing your throat and staring at the ground. 

“Do you mean that, or are you just tired of me acting like this?”

“Both.” he answered quicker than you expected. It almost made you laugh. 

You hummed. 

There was a long beat of silence between the two of you, nothing but the steps of your feet and the bag slinging slightly in Eren’s grasp. 

He honestly thought you weren’t gonna reply, and he was gonna do with that as he would. 

“I forgive you.” You finally spoke. 

He barely reacted. “Fully this time?” 

You nodded. 

He let out a breath. Mostly a breath of a weight being pulled off of his shoulders but a hint of relief. 

There was silence again. 

The walk back felt somehow longer than the walk there, and you didn’t dread it, really. It was peaceful, you almost didn’t want it to be over. 

You don’t know the last time you took a walk somewhere that wasn’t on the campus of your college, but you tried not to think about that in the moment. 

You shivered, a cool breeze passing you. 

Eren glanced at you. 

“You still mad?” 

“No.” 

“Then why’re your arms crossed?” 

“They’re not.” 

Eren looked down at you again, looking at your arms, and then at your face. 

You scoffed, shaking your head. “You think I cross my arms like a toddler?” you got quiet for a second. “...I’m just cold.” 

Eren looked forward again. 

He’d give you his hoodie, but he was shirtless, and there's no way he was about to be ten times colder than you just for your pleasure. 

He clicked his tongue. 

“I told you it’d be cold.” 

You didn’t respond, which earned you a half glare, half glance. 

Eren pinched the bridge of his nose, switching the bag to his right hand and moving closer to you. 

He wrapped his arm around you, pulling you a little closer to him.

Rubbing your arms, just for friction and warmth, he licked the inside of his cheek. 

“If you weren’t so stubborn, you wouldn’t be cold right now.” He mumbled. 

You had to admit, he was warm. You don’t know why it surprised you either. I mean, he was wearing a hoodie and you were wearing a simple t-shirt a size too big. 

Plus, both of you were wearing shorts right now, so it didn’t make anything better. 

You were just tired.

Or tired of walking. You don’t know. 

You felt like pushing Eren off of you, telling him not to touch you and that you can handle the cold on your own. 

But you didn’t have enough energy to do that. 

You leaned into the hoodie, your head resting against the side of his chest a little. 

As awkward as this would’ve felt if it was a regular day (not that you’d even let it happen), it only felt nice right now because you were shivering and he had just the right amount of warmth. 

Eren’s grip around your arms loosened a little as you two approached the house. 

He let you walk up the steps first, following behind you and removing his arm from around yours as you opened the door. 

The house wasn’t any warmer than outside, but it was definitely less cold. 

You exhaled, rubbing your face and glancing back at Eren. To your surprise, he was still outside, facing away from the front door and sitting down on the steps. 

You stood, taking small steps back towards the door and grabbing the side of it. 

“You aren’t coming in?” 

Eren looked back at you, digging in his pocket and taking out a small box. Your face scrunched up when you saw that it was a cigarette box and you watched as he pulled one out, along with a lighter. 

“Nah, you can go in.” 

You pursed your lips together. The whole cigarette thing had woken you up a bit. 

You stepped outside along with him, closing the front door behind you and sitting down beside him on the steps. 

You kept your distance, leaning against the railing as you stared ahead. 

There really wasn’t much to see, along with it being dark. The only thing that illuminated the night was a couple streetlights along with the night sky and the porch light beside the door. 

It had an orange-ish hue. You looked at the street, seeing two cats walking alongside each other. 

“You’re cold, why’re you staying out here?” he mumbled, checking his phone. “Plus it’s late.” 

You hugged yourself. He was right. It was cold and late. 

“I’m bored.” you mumbled.

Eren glanced at you before inhaling from the cigarette and exhaling a different way, but that didn’t work because the cool winds blew the smoke towards you anyways. 

Your nose scrunched. “That’s nasty.” You mumbled, looking over to him. “You keep a pack on you like that?” 

Eren nodded slowly, holding the cigarette in between his middle and index finger. “Mostly, but I rarely smoke ‘em.”

You cocked a brow. “Why?”

Eren inspected the cigarette he held like he didn’t know what he was smoking. 

“Because…” He started. “...for stress.” 

You didn’t wanna pry, but you were curious. “What’re you stressed about?” You shivered after that sentence, your goosebumps coming back. 

You really should’ve stayed in the house. 

Eren took another puff. 

“Don’t worry about it.” 

You sat up a little, raising your brows. “Y’know, talking about your feelings is way better than bottling them up.” 

Eren chuckled at that statement, glancing at you with low eyes and a small grin. “If this is a stress reliever, why would I talk?” 

You grabbed the cigarette from his hands, pinching it between two fingers. 

“Stress reliever, not a feeling reliever.” You pushed it into the concrete steps before passing it back to him. “I don’t know why you’d do that anyways. We’re so young. You shouldn’t be smoking cigarettes.” 

Eren dropped his head, sighing and shaking it. “You really just did that?” 

“I did. Plus, it’s payback for talking to me like that.” 

His head turned to you. “Like what?” 

You tilt your head towards him a little, signaling a ‘oh, you know what.’ which made Eren sigh and drag his hands down his face. 

“Little do you know, that’s what I was smoking for in the first place.” 

Bullshit. 

You scoffed. “Yeah, right. You’re smoking because you feel bad, if you even do, for something you said to a stranger? You can’t be that stressed.” 

But when Eren stayed silent with his hands over his mouth and his eyes closed, you raised a brow. “Right?” 

A small laugh escaped his lips and it made you roll your eyes. 

Eren then leaned over onto the other railing of the steps, turning towards you a little. “First thing you’ve been right about.” 

“You aren’t stressing over me that much.” 

Eren shook his head. “It’s not stressing. It’s more like… feeling bad. And I rarely feel bad so,” he shot a finger towards you. “You should feel special.” 

You scoffed. “Feel special for a bare minimum human reaction? You’re an idiot.” 

That finger turned into a middle finger in which you shoved it away. 

Eren looked down at the concrete, flicking small pebbles and chewing his cheek. 

There was silence, and he hated it. 

Not only because he thought, deep down, you didn’t really, truly, honestly forgive him, but because he couldn’t go two seconds without speaking or making some type of noise in general. 

Especially when he didn’t have anything better to do.

But when you were quiet, which you almost always were, unless he spoke to you, it was different. 

Like, weird. 

He felt like a guilty child with an angry mom when you were quiet, even when he didn’t do anything. 

You were so… intimidating? But it was also like you were bait to annoy all the time, and he found humor out of it.

“ You’re an idiot.” Eren glanced at you, the corner of his lips twitching into a small smirk. 

You scoffed. 

There was silence again. Eren threw his head back onto the railing and closed his eyes with a groan. “Can you stop getting quiet? It’s lame.” 

You frowned, looking off into the small distance that you could. “If I weren't here right now it would be quiet. So what’s the problem?” 

Eren picked up the pebble and tossed it at your arm, causing you to look at your arm and then him. 

“If you weren’t here, do you know the amount of girls that would’ve been in that bed by now?”

You gagged, pointing at your mouth before rolling your eyes. “You’re actually disgusting." 

Eren shrugged, flicking another pebble towards the driveway. “I’ll be that.” 

You crossed your arms. “That’s not a flex. That’s actually nasty.” 

Eren toot his lips up, glancing at you before looking down at the concrete again. “You can say that ‘cause you’re a virgin, but you wouldn’t know.” he mumbled. “No offense.”

You swallowed looking off to the side. “I’m not a virgin, remember?” 

“Oh yeah, forgot.” Eren’s brows raised and he shifted on the steps. “But,” he huffed. “you still only have one body. So you still wouldn’t understand.” 

“Sorry I'm not giving my body up to everyone in a million meter range.” You shrugged.

Eren stopped plucking pebbles and looked at you. 

His eyebrows quirked for a second and he crossed his arms. “Hell’s that ‘posed to mean?” 

You looked at him. “It means that fucking everyone everywhere isn’t the flex you think it is. I know people that only gave it up to one or three people, and they’re happy with just that. But you,” you point at Eren. “you talk about it like it’s a lifestyle. And I’m,” you point at yourself. “I’m telling you that it's disgusting.” 

He chuckled a little, twirling a piece of hair that hung from his bun. “Well, I guess I'm disgusting.” 

Your judgemental face turned into an amused one and you shook your head. 

“I guess I can’t judge.” You finally admitted, and Eren hummed. 

“A million meter range is crazy, though.” he shook his head. 

You shrugged, smiling a little. “That’s what you make it seem like.”

He dismissed you with a wave. “I don’t just go around giving my dick up to random girls, now that’s disgusting. It’s usually the same girls… sometimes.” 

You tilt your head. “So you just tell them you want sex?” 

Eren frowned a little. “Not sex.” he corrected. “...not sex.” 

You turned towards him a little. Now you were facing each other. “So… have you ever actually had sex? Like, where it meant something and not just some ingenuine thing?” 

Eren looked up to the sky, cracking his knuckles as he started to think. 

“No.” 

Your eyes widened. “So you’ve never had a girlfriend and… y’know, had sex with her?” 

He shook his head. “I thought I told you I don’t do that whole girlfriend thing.” 

You shrugged. “You seem like the type to have a lot of girlfriends. 

When you saw Eren’s lips curl into a small smirk, you sighed, rolling your eyes. 

“Calling me cute?” 

You gagged. “Hell no. But if you fuck around with a lot of girls i’d expect you to have a girlfriend at least once.” 

He scratched the corner of his nose, looking at the concrete again. “I mean, I've had girlfriends, yeah. But I was young… and just fucking around. I didn’t… y’know, take it seriously. Especially in high school and college, I don’t fuck with new girls now, and girlfriends aren’t an option.” 

You cocked a brow. “An option?” 

He nodded. “I don’t have the option to have a girlfriend. I…” He paused. It seemed like he backtracked on his words or something, which you noticed. “I just don’t want em.” 

You hummed. 

Eren stared at you for a couple seconds before flicking another pebble. “You?” 

You looked at him. “What?” 

“You ever had a boyfriend?” 

You let out a breathy laugh. “I… yeah.” 

He raised his brows. “If i would’ve known that then i would’ve asked you when we had that talk, why’d you never lose your virginity to them?”

You awkwardly scratched in your head and let out a long hum. This was truly something else. 

How were you gonna tell him your relationships never lasted long enough for something like that?

“I’ve never been ready… like, they wanted things more than I did, and when i didn’t wanna do something, they either cheated, or broke it off.” 

Eren sucked in air through his teeth and shook his head. “Damn, that must’ve been painful.” 

You nodded slowly. “You have no idea.” 

There was silence, both of you trying to find something to say. 

“I don’t care about it anymore.”
“I hope you don't care anymore.” 

You said it at the same time, which caused the both of you to laugh and nod at each other. You then spoke. “Yeah, it’s nothing now. I’m not… a virgin anymore.” 

Eren shifted, leaning over on the porch. “So your next relationship, you won’t care about it? Not to mention, but it sounds like you’ve dated some shitty guys.” 

“Yeah, no, I’m still gonna wait.” 

Eren frowned in confusion. “Wait, why? You’re not a virgin.” 

You shook your head. “That shit hurts. And it feels… odd. I don’t wanna do it again. I don’t think I was fully prepared when I did it.” 

Eren nodded, humming. “Yeah, like I said, the first times gonna hurt for girls.” he paused. “But at least you got it over with.” he held his arms out. “Joined the gang.” 

You scoffed, standing up. “Yeah, right. I’m never doing what you do.” 

Eren frowned, looking at you as you walked towards the front door. “Waitttt, where you headed?” 

You looked back at him. “In the house, it’s cold out here.”

Of course he wouldn’t understand because well… he was wearing a hoodie. 

Eren exhaled. “You coming back out?” 

You stared back at him for a couple seconds. “It’s late–” you started, but looking into the distance, you sighed. 

“Yeah, whatever. Let me grab a jacket.” 

Chapter Text

Friday, 11:57PM

Eren huffed, tossing his phone to the other end of the couch he sat on. 

You were on your usual couch, watching TV while nibbling at your lips. 

Eren’s been back and forth in and out all day, while you were mostly in the room or living room, finding things to entertain yourself with on TV. 

He bit the nail of his thumb, staring up at the TV before looking at you. 

You shifted, slightly tilting your head at the show you watched. 

Eren looked away. “So.” 

You looked at him after a couple of seconds, blinking. “So?” 

He looked at you again. “What made you let me stay here?” 

You stared at him, confusion washing over you before you finally thought about it. “Like, at the Airbnb?” 

Eren nodded. 

You hummed, pulling your knees to your chest. “I don’t know how to answer that.” 

Eren let out a laugh, sitting up. “It doesn’t have to be some life-changing answer; it’s just a question.” 

You cocked a brow. “You were wondering that just now?” 

He nodded again. 

You pursed your lips together, resting your chin on your knees. “I guess you just… I don’t know, you seemed nice.” 

Now, you didn’t think that when Eren had first shown up, but as you thought about it now, it was all coming to you. 

Eren scoffed. “Yeah, right. You threatened me with a knife. I don’t think you thought I was nice.” 

Read your damn mind. 

You slowly smiled, embarrassment flowing through you. “Yeah, sure, that was kind of shitty. But if you saw a stranger in a place you booked for yourself, wouldn’t you be concerned?” 

Eren looked up at the ceiling before slowly nodding. “Yeah, sure.” 

You nodded, “Okay then.” 

He sighed, shifting. “Okay, yeah, but like… that’s not the most… safe thing to do. Letting a stranger stay because you think they’re nice.” 

You frowned a little, squinting. “You’re scaring me. Are you not actually nice?”

Eren rolled his eyes. “Of course I’m nice,” he looked back at you. “But you’re not gonna let a stranger stay with you because you think that.” 

You tilt your head side to side while humming before finally nodding. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” 

“So,” Eren leaned on the armrest. “Why’d you let me stay?” 

You huffed, looking up at the ceiling to think. 

Honestly, you didn’t even know. 

You never actually thought about it. 

Yeah, there’d be times where you’d think to yourself, ‘how’d I even end up in this situation with this guy?’, but there was never a time when you actually thought deeply about it. 

You’d been so distracted these past days, you never had time to think about it. 

But now, you were actually wondering, why did you let him stay? 

You did remember that you were too tired to be bothered with the guy, plus he seemed pretty convincing when he told you he booked the place too. 

But that was still really different for you. 

I mean, it was totally beneath you to let something like that slide so easily. You wouldn’t dare risk temporarily living with a stranger. 

“I honestly don’t know,” you shrugged, finally looking at Eren. “I guess you just didn’t… feel dangerous.” 

Eren barked a laugh, shaking his head. “That’s like the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. You didn’t know me. I could’ve been anybody.” 

You let out a long sigh. “I was just too sleepy to argue, honestly. I know it’s not the smartest thing in the world, but I can’t think when I’m sleepy.”

Eren hummed. “Ehh, no. I think you would’ve woken up completely if you actually cared about your safety.” 

You rolled your eyes. “Are you gonna kill me?” 

Eren paused, glancing off to the side. “I mean… I wasn’t planning on it. I– I fucking hope I don’t plan on it-” 

“Exactly. All’s well. If you were any different from how you were, then I wouldn’t have stayed here.” 

Eren slowly smirked. “So you like me.” 

Your face scrunched. “No.” 

“You tolerate me?” 

You gave a slow shrug. “Barely.” 

“Barely?” he raised a little. “I haven’t been anything but charming to you.” 

You scoffed. “If by charming you mean loud, rude, and in my business, then yeah–sure.” 

He pointed at you like he had won something. “See? You notice me. That’s practically the same as liking me.” 

Your eyes bore on the TV. “That’s almost literally the opposite.” 

“Nah,” he shook his head with a small smile. “Hating someone takes energy; you wouldn’t waste that much on me unless I mattered.” 

You rolled your eyes, sighing softly and glancing at him. “You sound like you’re trying to convince yourself more than me.” You then frowned a little.
“Why’re you so worried about me liking you anyway?” 

Eren went quiet, pointing at himself. “Me?” 

Your eyes lowered. “No, Casper. Yes , you. Why do you care if I like you?” 

Eren shrugged, rubbing his chin as he leaned back. “I mean, you’d care if someone liked you, right?” 

You tilt your head, the corner of your mouth twitching a little. “Didn’t you tell me not to care what others thought?” 

Eren opened his mouth to say something, but stopped himself. He slowly started to smile. “I did… but you know what I mean.” 

“I don’t know what you mean.” 

Eren sighed, throwing his head back and adjusting on the couch. “You do know. You don’t want someone thinking negatively about you, whether you care or not.” 

You hummed, slowly nodding. “Yeah, but you already know I think negatively of you.” 

“Not seriously.”

You cocked a brow. “You don’t know that.” 

Eren scoffed, propping one of his legs up on the couch. “I’d know. You’d make it way more obvious if you hated me.”

Your eyes narrowed. “How would you know?” 

“'Cause I watch you.” He bit the tip of his nail, smirking for a second like he knew what your reaction would be to that. 

Your brows furrowed. “That’s creepy.” 

He laughed, waving his hands and shaking his head. “Not like that. I mean, I know how you are.” He corrected, and that made you frown into a smile. 

“You say that like you’ve known me your whole life.” 

He shrugged. “You make a lot of faces. It’s easy to read you.” 

Okay, true. Very true. 

“Yeah, that's true. But you still didn’t answer my question.” 

“What question?” 

”Why you care if I like you.” 

Eren picked at the couch cushion before holding a hand up. “Uh, actually-”

“No,” you shook your head, raising up a little. “No, you didn’t. You were using me as an example, but you didn’t give me an exact answer.” 

Eren scoffed at the fact that you already knew what he was gonna say.

Which wasn’t hard; he liked to disagree with you anyway.

So he sighed, shrugging. “I don’t wanna be around someone who hates me for the rest of this week.” He lazily moved his head in your direction. “We could at least be friends for the time being.” 

Your brows raised before you let out a laugh. “Friends?” 

Eren clicked his tongue. “Y’know, like those people on cruises that date for however long they’re on there, and then when it ends, they part ways.” 

You blinked.

He paused.

“Actually, no— forget the dating part. But if you don’t wanna be friends, we could be cool.” 

You tilt your head, rubbing your legs. “What makes you think we’re not cool?” 

Eren shrugged, “I don’t know, you act like you don’t like me.” 

You tucked your lips between your teeth and hummed, looking at the carpet. 

You didn’t not like Eren.

He was an asshole sometimes, but you told yourself you wouldn’t judge him for that. 

There was nothing to dislike about him, really. Sure, he has some annoying qualities and a smug, irritating personality, but that’s nothing to completely dislike. 

Not to you, anyway. 

He made up for it with his humor, honestly. You’d never tell him that, though. 

“I don’t not like you… you’re just odd sometimes.”

He sighed, rolling his eyes at you. “So do you like me or not?” 

You shook your head, holding back a laugh. “Don’t say it like we’re middle schoolers figuring out our one-week relationship.” 

“Well, put it in a way where it doesn’t sound like that.” 

You closed your eyes for a few seconds to think. 

Tapping your knee with every new thought.

“Okay,” you opened your eyes. “Like I said, I tolerate you.” 

Eren smacked his lips. “Okay, but you can tolerate everyone. Like that’s the average thing to do is tolerate someone, and that’s mostly for strangers.” 

You tilt your head at the boy. “And we aren’t strangers?” 

“We’ve only been together six days–basically a week–and you know more about me than more than half the people I hang with. So yes, I’d say we're not strangers.” 

You cocked a brow. “So what are we?”

Eren looked away, drumming his fingers on his knees. “I… think we’re friends…” He said slowly, like he was being cautious about his words. 

You rolled your eyes playfully. “Eren, we are not friends.” 

Eren pointed at you, just like last time. “See? You even call me Eren now; you don’t call me stranger anymore.” 

You suddenly burst into a fit of laughter, one you were trying so hard to hold back, holding your finger up and shaking your head. “Wait– wait, my stomach hurts!” you yelled out, leaning back against the armrest of the couch.

Eren’s eyes went wide, like he was amused. He slowly started to smile, laughing softly. “What? What’d I say?” He then clicked his tongue. “Was it stupid?” 

You quickly shook your head, waving him off before letting out a long breath and wiping a tear from the corner of your eye. 

“No, no, it’s not stupid. It’s just funny that you’re trying so hard.” You finally looked at him. 

He had a dumb, confused, and amused look on his face. 

He tilted his head, “So was I right?” 

You let out another laugh, sitting up and sighing. “I don’t think we’re friends. But we’re something close to it.” 

He slumped into the couch, playing with the hem of his shorts. “But friends tell each other things. We’ve been telling each other things.” 

You nodded, “Yeah, but I’ve only told you things because I don’t know you. Don’t you think it’d ruin the whole point if I… knew you?” 

Eren shrugged. “No, we’re gonna part ways anyway, like you said, so we should just… stop treating each other like strangers and make peace.” 

You pursed your lips together. 

It wouldn’t really change anything. You knew you two were closer to being friends than strangers in just the span of a few days, which was weird in a way, but also funny-ish. 

Having so much in common and getting so close with someone you never met in your life. 

Never would you have imagined it. 

But…

“Okay.” 

Eren’s face lit up. “Okay?” 

You scoffed. “You sound like an excited kid whose mom just said yes.” 

He smiled, glancing away. “Eh…” 

“But we can be friends, or whatever.” It honestly sounded weird–the whole declaring friendship thing. 

Two college students both deciding they wanna be friends with each other. 

Verbally. 

Eren held his hands up like he’d accomplished something. “What’d I say? I knew you wanted to be friends.” 

You rolled your eyes, pulling your knees to your chest again. “Yeah, right.” You looked back at the TV. 

You two spent a few minutes watching it, a few chuckles and giggles here and there from the show. You’d say it wasn’t awkward for once, but it hadn’t been awkward for a while. 

Being around him–I mean. 

You were honestly more surprised that you didn’t get pissed off or annoyed at the boy. 

Like, at all. 

“Hey,” Eren looked at you. 

You kept your eyes on the TV. “Hm?” 

“You know you’re way nicer than you were at the beginning of the week?” Eren questioned. 

You pursed your lips together. “I never realized that.”

He nodded, “Yeah.” He looked at the TV. “You were a lot meaner, more irritable.” 

You hummed. “Or maybe you’re less annoying than you were,” you glanced at him. “Y’know, at the beginning of the week.” 

Eren shrugged with a nod. “I’m not always like that, y’know. I just wanted to piss you off.” 

“What changed?” 

Eren looked up, tucking his hand under his shirt. “I don’t flirt with people I’d consider my friends.” He looked at you. “Not saying I considered you my friend, but when it gets to a certain point, I stop.” 

You looked at him. “So, what? Am I not pretty anymore?” You mocked him, dragging your finger from the corner of your eye to your cheek. 

Eren frowned, quickly shaking his head. “No, no, you’re still pretty. I told you, I wasn’t lying when I said that.” 

You awkwardly smiled, furrowing your brows a little. “Okay… if I ask you about it, you aren’t gonna make it weird, right? Like… make it seem like I like you or anything, right?” 

Eren shook his head, curiosity planted on his face. “You ask a lot of questions anyway, so go ahead.” 

“Okay,” You shifted, letting your feet hang off the couch. “So what makes me pretty?” 

Now, you weren’t blind to your looks. You knew you looked good, but like, an average good. 

A good that was like, ‘I’m not ugly, but I’m not a model’. 

There was nothing visibly bad that you didn’t like about yourself; you were good-looking. 

But that’s all you figured. Good looking. You never thought about being pretty . 

Sure, sometimes. You got compliments, but you never knew if you should believe them. 

You kind of hated how everything felt so different coming from Eren, though. 

It felt like you took everything into deeper thought, and you didn’t know if it was because you both shared deep thoughts or the fact that you’d rather believe a random guy you met days ago over someone you knew your whole life. 

“What makes you pretty?” Eren repeated your question and crossed his arms when you nodded. 

“Since we’re friends and everything, you can tell me without being a flirt.” You shrugged.

You expected Eren to take a while to think about his answer, but he answered almost before you finished talking. 

“Your expressions.” 

Your brows raised, and before you could ask a question, Eren quickly spoke again. “See? That.” 

You frowned, and he cut you off again. “That too.” 

You held your hands up, waving them. “Okay, what’re you talking about?” 

He motioned to you. “The faces you make. They’re unique, especially on your face, and that’s what makes you prettier. Your face is obviously pretty, but your expressions just…” he shrugged. “Level it up.”

You blinked. “So my expressions are… good looking?” 

Eren nodded slowly, scanning your face. “To me, yeah. That’s another reason why I liked to piss you off so much, the weird faces you’d make were nice to look at.” 

You quirked a brow. “So, what now? I doubt I’ll be making any anytime soon.” 

He rested his arms across the backrest of the couch and stretched his legs. “Yeah, you still make faces. But I’d say the prettiest thing about you is your face in general. You could ask anyone that. The whole expression thing was just my opinion.” 

You slowly nodded, looking down at the ground and exhaling. 

Eren rested his head back, staring up at the ceiling with a loud sigh. “I’m so fucking bored right now.” 

You didn’t say anything. 

You liked not doing anything; it was peaceful. 

His gaze moved to you. “You wanna get out tomorrow?”

You looked at him. “Like, out of the house?” 

He nodded. 

You furrowed your brows. “What?” 

Eren laughed. “Not actually get out, but go somewhere. Do something. I’m bored, and I can’t be cooped up in this house all next week.” 

“You can easily go to more parties,” you advised, but Eren shook his head. 

“I don’t wanna get to know another stranger. I wanna go somewhere with you.”

You tilt your head. “What happened to bringing girls over?” 

He looked at the ceiling again. “You looked like a corpse when you walked into the kitchen after I brought them, so I’d rather not do that again.” 

“How generous.” You deadpanned, half serious and half joking. “But…” you thought about it. Hell, you’d made it this far. If he kidnapped you, then it must’ve been your unlucky week. “Where?” 

Eren checked his phone for the date before sitting up. “Uh… there's this fair tomorrow. It’s gonna be open from ten in the morning to twelve at night.” 

You frowned. “Fair’s stay open for that long?” 

Eren shrugged, scrolling on his phone. “Yeah, down here they do. Tomorrow's Saturday, which means it’ll be more people.” He looked at you for confirmation. 

You narrowed your eyes. “It’s Friday.” 

Eren glanced at his phone. “It’s after twelve.” 

You scoffed. “It’s not tomorrow until I wake up.” 

“You haven’t even agreed whether you wanted to go or not.” Eren tilted his head toward you. 

You held your arms out. “I don’t have any money right now, not enough for a fair anyway.”

Eren pursed his lips together, dropping his phone and looking at you like you’d just made a mistake. “You know how much of a dick move that’d be if I asked you to go somewhere with me because I’m lonely, just to make you pay?” 

You slowly shook your head, mouthing a ‘no’. 

Eren scoffed. “I’m gonna pay. All you need to do is be ready.” 

Your heart thumped a little harder. 

Only lord knows how long it’s been since you’ve been to a fair. The excitement was something else, though. 

But after tomorrow, the last week of being at the Airbnb, and what good would it be to waste it? 

“Wait, so you aren’t inviting anyone else? Like, your real friends?” 

Eren pursed his lips together, shaking his head. “Just me and you. They’ll be alright.” 

“Morning or night?” You tried to hide your excitement, but the taps of your foot on the floor didn’t help. 

Eren glanced at your foot before looking back at you and cocking a brow. “Your choice.”

Oh, this was so stupid.

You slowly started to smile. 

“Fine.”

Chapter Text

Saturday, 7:04PM

“Oh my gosh…” You gawked at the bright lights, loud music, and fast rides that surrounded you. 

You were so focused on having fun, you forgot about how beautiful fairs really were. You faced away from Eren, lips parted and eyes wide. 

“Two–” Eren turned to look at you. He frowned, seeing you weren’t even beside him anymore. He looked behind him, seeing you looking around with your hands on your hips.

He let out a small laugh, turning back towards the table and pulling his wallet out. “Two wristbands.” 

The lady looked up at him, cocking a brow. “That’ll be sixty… Who’s the second one for?” She asked with a confused face. 

Eren pursed his lips together, stepping over to reveal you, who still faced away from everyone. 

The lady giggled and tapped the woman beside her. “Two wristbands.” 

She nodded, pulling out two wristbands. Eren reached to tap your back, motioning to the wristbands when you turned with a surprised face. “C’mon.” 

You stepped beside him, holding your arm out for the woman. 

This was the most excitement you’d felt in a while. Sure, big crowds weren’t exactly your thing, but when it was somewhere where you could be yourself, you had no problem with it. 

When your wristbands were on, you quickly walked off, almost leaving Eren behind. 

“Hold on, don’t get too excited. I’m not getting on any big or fast rides.” Eren put his hands in his pockets as he followed you further into the fair. 

“Don’t be a pussy.” You grinned. His eyes went wide, and he looked away. 

“Okay, rude.” He muttered before a loud gasp came from your mouth. You whipped your head around at him and pointed to the trash. 

“Can we have funnel cakes?” 

Eren frowned, tilting his head. “From… the trash?” 

You clicked your tongue, a smile plastered on your face. “No! From the food court.” 

Eren quickly shook his head, lips pursed together. “It’s either get on rides and then get food, or get food and wait insanely long to get on the rides. You’re not about to throw up in my face–” 

“The rollercoaster!” You pointed, grabbing Eren’s shirt and dragging him along. 

“The–” He followed quickly, nearly tripping over his own feet before his eyes traveled to what was in front of him. He swallowed, eyes trailing slowly up the big ride. “The what?” 

You let his shirt go and grinned, looking at him. “What? You’re scared?”

Eren’s eyes widened, and he looked down at you. “Uh, yes? I’ve never ridden a rollercoaster.” 

You laughed, tapping his arm and pointing to the line. “Cmon, let's get in line while it's still short.” You walked over to the line. Eren followed closely behind you, staring at the people with wide eyes and terrified faces stepping out of the rollercoaster. 

“I really don’t wanna do this.” He tapped your shoulder as you both got behind two people. “C’mon, I really don’t wanna do this. I mean, can’t we get used to smaller rides or something?” 

He tried his best to keep his eyes off the huge ride in front of him. 

You looked at him, hands on your hips. “Don’t be lame, you wanted to come to the fair, remember?” 

Eren scoffed, “Yeah, to eat and play games. I don’t ride anything when I come to fairs.” 

“I’m so excited.” You whispered to yourself, wiggling a little as you stepped up. “We’re getting closer.” 

Eren rolled his eyes, looking off to the side. “I’d rather not.” 

You looked at him again. “Then I’ll ride by myself if you really don’t want to.” You shrugged. 

Eren shrugged, stepping out of the line. 

…

….

……

“Why the fuck did I agree to this?” Eren closed his eyes as the ride operator made sure everyone was properly buckled in. “Fuck, fuck, fuck , why’d I agree to this shit?” 

He peeled his eyes open to look over at you, who had a huge smile on your face. Your heart was pumping with adrenaline, and Eren only slumped into the seat. “And you’re just smiling like this is exciting.” 

“It is!” You giggled, wiggling a little in the seat. 

“Y/n, we are at the very front of a roller coaster, I’m shitting myself as we speak,” Eren mumbled, closing his eyes again. 

You let out a laugh, nodding. “This is where all the fun happens!” 

As the operator closed the entrance gate and sat in his seat, the small rumble of the roller coaster made Eren groan, and made you smile even further. 

“Fuck.” He whispered. 

“Are you ready?” You looked over at him, grinning. 

Eren gripped his seat, chest rising and falling quickly. He shook his head quickly. 

“Cmon, we haven’t even made it to the top yet! It’s still going slow!” You laughed. 

Eren huffed, glancing at you. “This better be fucking fun.” When he heard your laugh, his brows furrowed. “I’m serious!” 

You quickly nodded. “Just keep your eyes open! It’s gonna be amazing!” 

You lied. 

Well, in Eren’s mind, you lied. 

The whole ride was excruciating for him and amazing for you . 

Eren screamed like a girl the whole time, almost unable to tell your screams and his screams apart. He gripped the seat like he’d fall out of it, and you threw your hands up. 

Oh, and he was ready to blame you for the fact that “You didn't tell me we’d go upside fucking down!” He frowned, holding his chest as he stepped down the steps. 

You laughed, both hands on your chest. “It was fun!” you yelled with excitement before quickly looking around for another one. 

You practically dragged Eren around in search of another ride, pointing at multiple ones, and before he could even accept or decline, finding something else that piqued your interest.

You pointed at another one, “That one! Look at how it swings and rotates!” 

Eren’s eyes went wide, and he scoffed. “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me– no. Hell no.” 

You turned to him and your brows furrowed. “Eren, cmon! It’ll be fun.” 

Eren stared at you for a second before huffing and looking around. He pointed at a stand. “Look, I can win something for you.” 

Your brows raised as your eyes trailed to where he pointed. “The basketball hoops?” 

Eren nodded quickly, internally praying that you’d agree. 

You narrowed your eyes at him. “And then we can ride something else?” 

He sighed, slowly nodding. “Yes, we can ride something else–” 

“Great!” You cheesed, grabbing his wrist and dragging him to the basketball stand. 

When you two finally made it, Eren stepped up to the stand. 

“Wait,” You looked at Eren. “How’re we gonna ride another ride with a prize?” 

Eren looked at you and shrugged before the game operator came over to you two. 

“Girlfriend and boyfriend?” He asked. Both of your faces scrunched, and you quickly shook your heads. 

“Friends.” You corrected, earning an almost proud glance from Eren. 

The operator eyed both of you for a second before humming and pressing a button to let all the basketballs roll down. “If you get five in a row, you can earn one of those prizes.”

He pointed at small trinkets and toys at the bottom of the stand. “But if you get ten in a row, you get to choose from one of those.” He pointed up. 

Your eyes moved to the top of the stand where medium and big stuffies hung. 

“And if you make it to fifteen, one of those.” He pointed again, and your eyes wandered over to the huge stuffed animals.

You looked at Eren, and he looked down at you. 

You tilt your head. “You think you can make them?” 

He shrugged. “I don’t know, which one do you want?” 

You toot your lips up and hummed, eyes trailing the stuffies. You pointed, a small smirk playing on your lips. “See that giraffe right there?” 

It was one of the biggest stuffed animals. 

Eren chuckled, nodding like he’d accepted your challenge. “Okay.” 

The opterator hit the bottom to start a one-minute timer, and Eren grabbed a basketball. “These games are rigged anyway.” He mumbled, shooting one. 

It went straight in, which surprised you.

Then another one. You crossed your arms. 

And another one. You slowly reached over and poked his waist. 

Eren jerked to the side and laughed a little. “Stop,” He let out a breath, shooting another ball. 

You smiled. “I bet you won’t make em all.” You looked at the score after a few seconds, and he already had eight in a row. 

“I’m doing this for you. Not me.” He let out another laugh, shooting another ball. 

“What? You think you’re good?” You watched him shoot the tenth one before poking his armpit.

He jerked away from you, laughing harder. “Stop!” He said in between laughs. 

You clicked your tongue, moving to the other side of him. “I didn’t know Eren was ticklish.” 

Eren moved away from you a little, glancing at the score. Thirteen. “It’s literally too late to torment me.” 

You put your hands on your hips as he made the last two like it was nothing. 

You looked at him as the timer buzzed and the operator stepped over to the stuffed animals. 

Eren pointed, “That ugly giraffe.” He glanced at you with a small smirk as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. 

You shifted your weight to one hip with an impressed expression, glancing at Eren. “I thought you said the games were rigged.” 

He shrugged. “I have my ways, y’know?” 

You shook your head, and Eren rolled his eyes, motioning to the giraffe that the operator walked over to you two with. “Your rabid animals coming.” 

The operator held out the stuffed animal to you, looking at Eren. “And this is your friend, you say?” He cocked a brow. 

Eren nodded. 

The operator let a small chuckle slip out, and he nodded as you grabbed the giraffe from his hands. “You two have a good night.” He nodded at both of you. 

Eren stared at the guy for a second before his gaze moved to you. You held the giraffe close. 

Well, you had no choice but to. That’s how big it was. 

“This is nice.” You whispered, looking up at Eren. He smiled and nodded towards where all the rides were.

“Cmon,” he mumbled, and you quickly followed behind him as he started to walk. 

He sighed, stopping in the middle of the path and looking around. “Now what ride did you say you wanted to get on?” 

Your face flushed with excitement, and you looked around. “I don’t... that one!” You pointed. 

Eren frowned, following your eyes. He quickly shook his head, “You didn’t say that one–” 

“Of course I did, come on!” You grabbed his arm and dragged him to the ride. Eren was damn near out of breath when you both made it, leaning over and panting. “Wait-” 

“It’s called…” You looked at the ride name. “Zero Gravity.” 

Eren’s head flew up, and he squinted at the sign, then looked at the ride and the people coming off of it. His brows furrowed. “Do you know how extreme that sounds?” 

You smiled and shook your head. “Nope.” You stepped into the line. 

“How do we always manage to make it to rides right when they’re ending…” He mumbled before looking down at you. “You can’t take that stuffed animal on the ride, you know that, right?”

Your face lit up. “You’re riding too?” 

Eren looked away. “Only ‘cause if I don’t, I’ll feel bad later,” he looked at you again. “But you can’t take that stupid giraffe.” 

You hummed, looking around. 

You reached over the railing to tap a random guy, who gave you a confused look. 

“Do you have a daughter or son on here?” You questioned. 

The guy shook his head. “I’m just watching.” 

You held out your giraffe. “Can you hold my stuffed animal? I’ll get it when I get off, I promise.” 

The man frowned and shook his head.

You exhaled, biting your cheek and turning around. “I don’t think I can ride it then. I don’t wanna sit him on the ground.”  

Before you could get out of line, Eren grabbed your forearm, pulled you toward him, and looked at the man, tapping his shoulder. “Why not?” 

The man frowned harder, ready to say something to you, but was met with Eren instead. “What?” he squinted. 

“You heard me. You said you’re just here to watch, so why can’t you hold– uh–” He nudged you. “What’s the thing's name?” 

You stammered, looking at the stuffed animal. “I-I don’t know, uh-” You glanced at Eren, and he glanced at the man. “Raff…ie?” 

Eren blinked, frowning a little. “Raffie?” 

You nodded, slowly glancing at the man. 

Eren huffed, grabbing the stuffed animal from your hands and holding it out to the man. “Hold our giraffe. His names Raffie.” He shoved it into the man's chest and moved up in the line with you. 

You looked at the man. “Please, don’t let it touch the ground.”

Eren moved with you again and looked back at the man. 

“If I see a speck of dirt on that thing, I swear.” He mumbled, glancing at you to make sure you didn’t hear him. He looked back at the man, who quickly nodded.

As you both got your wristbands scanned, Eren followed you into the ride. 

“This is so stupid.” He sighed, dragging a hand down his face. 

You rubbed your hands together excitedly. “This is one of the best rides! It basically pins you to the wall, and you go round and round.” You grinned, walking to one of the slots and putting your back against it. 

“It doesn’t do any crazy shit, right?” Eren’s brows furrowed as he grabbed the buckle and clipped it to the other side. “Is this thing even secure?” 

You nodded. 

He frowned. “Which part are you answering?” 

“It does crazy things.” You held the sides. 

Eren scoffed, regretting his decision already. “Crazy things like what?” 

“When you start spinning around,” The large door shut when the operator finished checking everyone's buckles. “You go up.” 

Eren’s eyes widened. “Up?!”

You nodded quickly, looking at Eren. “It goes up and you lean over, like you’re about to fall off!” 

Eren’s jaw dropped, and he shook his head. “No, wait–” 

Too late. 

The ride started as soon as he tried to protest. He shut his eyes, groaning. “Why the hell are we doing this?” He mumbled, slowly shaking his head as the ride started to spin. 

You laughed, glancing at Eren as it started spinning faster, and he muttered things about wanting to get off and wishing he’d never done it. 

As the ride sped up, you felt the pressure against your body, your head pinning against the wall. 

Everyone's laughs and screams filled your ears, and you giggled, glancing over at Eren, whose brows furrowed and eyes shot open. “What the fuck is happening?” He muttered. 

“Zero gravity!” You giggled, feeling more pressure against your body. 

Eren could barely shake his head as the ride started spinning faster. He panted, slamming his hand down against the wall beside his body. 

You laughed even louder as the ride started to rise and tilt. 

“Oh fuck no!” Eren yelled, shaking his head even more. 

“Yeah!” You yelled, looking at the lights that quickly entered and left your view. 

“Shit, shit, shit!” Eren gripped the handle. 

You laughed, trying your best to look at him as everyone around you screamed. 

Eren’s eyes opened for a split second before he quickly looked at you and closed them again. “Why the fuck are you so excited?!” He yelled over the screams. 

You laughed. “It’s fun!” 

His eyes opened again and instantly went wide. He looked at you again before looking down at your hand that had been forcefully, literally, pinned by your side.

He used the little strength he had to reach down and grab your hand, which made you laugh even harder. “You’re such a big baby!” 

“Just grab it, I’m fucking terrified!” He yelled as you intertwined your fingers with each other. 

Tears nearly started spilling from your eyes from laughter, and there was one that slipped from his as he closed them. “Eww! You’re sweating!” You said through laughs as you looked over at Eren. 

Your eyes went wide as you saw one tear flowing across his face. “You’re crying!” 

“No I’m not!” Eren yelled back, refusing to open his eyes as he gripped your hand tighter. 

When the ride finally went back to its original position and slowed down, the pressure on everyone's bodies came to a release, and it stopped with a rumble. 

When the operating door opened, everyone unbuckled their belts, and you did the same, giggling as you looked over at Eren, who was huffing.

“Come on, you big baby, the ride stopped.” You let go of his hand and undid his buckle. 

Eren let out a loud huff and shook his head, stumbling out of his spot. “We’re never doing this shit again.” 

You laughed, holding onto the railing as you followed everyone out of the ride. 

You stepped carefully down the steps and looked around for the man holding your giraffe, and to your surprise, he was still there. 

You quickly made your way over to him and grabbed your stuffed animal. “Thank you, sir.” You gave him a small smile before walking back over to Eren, who had a frown planted on his face. You grinned. “What’s wrong?”

Eren shook his head. “I’m never doing anything with you again, you know that?” 

You laughed, looking around before pointing to a darts game. “Look! I can win something!” 

That caught Eren’s attention, and he followed your eyes. “What? You’re gonna do darts?” 

You nodded, passing him your stuffed animal. “They’re easier than you think.” 

He scoffed, following behind you as you made your way over to the darts. “Yeah, right.” 

As you stepped up to the stand, the operator handed you five darts. 

“Hit five small balloons, you win a big stuffed animal. Hit three small ones, and you win a medium-sized one. Less than three or just a couple big ones, and you can win one of the smaller animals.” 

You scoffed. “This is easy.” 

So, yeah. It wasn’t as easy as you thought it’d be. 

“So which one do you want?” The operator pointed at the small plushies. 

You looked at Eren, who held back a laugh and swallowed. “The uh, the small giraffe.” He nodded toward the plushies. “One for our buddy here.” 

You looked at the operator, and she nodded, turning to grab the giraffe and passing it to you. “Congratulations.” 

You pursed your lips together and slowly nodded, handing it to Eren. 

He cocked a brow. “You’re gonna give both of your children to me?” 

You put a hand on your hip. “No, I won that for you.” 

Eren stared at you for a few seconds before blinking and grabbing the small plushie from you. “Well... thanks.” He twisted it in his hands as you both started to walk again. “Thought you said it was easy.”

You clicked your tongue, embarrassment flushed over your face. “You said it yourself, those games are rigged.” 

Eren grinned, nodding slowly. “Yeah, if you say so.” 

You looked around again, rubbing your stomach. ”I’m getting hungry.” You mumbled. 

Eren looked at you. “Then you aren’t planning on getting on any more rides, right?” 

You shook your head. 

He hummed, looking around as you walked through the crowd. “There should be a place with funnel cakes around here. They’re everywhere.” 

You pointed, “Over there! They have drinks too.” You started to walk over to the food truck. 

As Eren followed behind you, you leaned against the small counter. “Are you getting something?” You asked. 

Eren shook his head. “You get whatever you want.”

Your brows furrowed, and you tilted your head, turning around to look at the menu. “I don’t wanna feel like I’m the only one getting things.” You mumbled. 

“We literally almost died together on two rides, and won things for each other. It’s nothing.” He nudged your arm. “Look, they even have funnel cakes.” 

You smiled as the vendor walked over to you two. “I’d like a funnel cake and…” You trailed off. “A strawberry lemonade.” 

The woman nodded, “That’ll be twenty-five.” She looked back and forth between you and Eren. 

You looked back at Eren, and he stepped closer to you. “My pocket.” His hands were so occupied, he couldn’t even get the money himself. 

You smiled, reaching into his pocket and taking out loose bills. “Uh…” You counted twenty-five and handed it to the lady. “Here you go.” 

She took the money and stepped away. 

You stepped back and waited with your hands behind your back. 

You looked around the fair, and Eren looked at you. 

The woman stepped back into view and handed you your plate and slushy over the counter. “Funnel cake and strawberry lemonade.” She said as you grabbed both items. 

You mouthed a ‘thank you’ and you and Eren started to walk again. 

“Now what?” You asked, looking up at Eren. He shrugged. 

“I guess we can find somewhere to sit. Until you’re finished with your funnel cake.” 

You hummed. “But I don’t wanna sit down, I wanna walk around.” 

Eren shrugged again. “We can do that.” 

You held your drink up to him. “Then can you hold this for me?”

He looked down at his arms and hummed, tucking your giraffe under his arm and stuffing his in his pocket with just the upper part peeking out. 

He reached out for your drink, and you handed it to him. “Now,” You both started to walk again, and you grabbed a piece of funnel cake, taking a bite. You wiggled a little, nodding. “This is amazing.” 

Eren scoffed. “Funnel cakes sound disgusting.”

You frowned, looking up at him as you walked through the crowd. “How can you even say that? Have you ever tried one?” 

He shook his head proudly. “Nope.”

You gasped, taking another bite. “What?” 

Eren glanced down at you, the corner of his mouth curling a little. “I don’t like liking what everyone else likes.” 

You rolled your eyes, breaking off another piece of funnel cake. “Here. Try this.” 

Eren furrowed his brows and shook his head. “No way.” 

You held it out to him. “Seriously, it’s good.” 

He sighed. “Even if I wanted to, I can't.” He wiggled your drink in his hand. 

“Well, open your mouth! And let me get a sip of my drink.” You held the funnel cake to his lips.

“I am not eating that–”

“Hereeee!” You wiggled the funnel cake as Eren held out your drink to you. 

You took small sips from the straw as Eren rolled his eyes and ate the piece from your fingers. 

You backed away and waited for his expression. When you saw the tiniest glint in his eyes, you grinned. “See? It’s good,” you both started back walking. 

“Not as good as you make it seem, but whatever.” He mumbled, glancing at the funnel cake again. 

You mocked him as you looked around at all the other rides.

After a long pause, Eren cleared his throat. “Let me, uh, get another piece of that.” 

You laughed, breaking off a piece and holding it up to Eren without looking at him. 

You gasped, pointing at a Ferris wheel you two approached. It was far enough to keep walking and finish more of the funnel cake. “Look!” 

Eren nudged your arm with a hum, and when you looked over at him, you muttered an ‘oops’, pushing the rest of the hanging funnel cake into his mouth. 

As he chewed, he swallowed and looked where you were looking. “What? The Ferris wheel?” 

You nodded, taking another big bite of the funnel cake. 

He tilted his head. “You wanna ride?” 

You nodded again, trying your best to finish the rest of the cake before tossing the empty plate in the nearby trash. 

As you licked your fingers, you reached over to grab your cup from Eren’s arms. 

You paused, shaking it with a frown. “Why’s my lemonade…” You took another sip, and it was practically empty. You slowly pulled the cup from your lips and looked at Eren, who quickly turned his head away. 

You stopped in your tracks and frowned. “Were you drinking my drink?” 

Eren raised his brows and stopped walking, looking back at you. “Hm?” 

Your mouth opened, and you slapped Eren’s stomach, causing him to lean over a little and laugh. “What? That funnel cake made my throat dry.” 

You tried to be mad, but you laughed. “You’re disgusting! And I just put my lips on the straw–oh my gosh.” You shook the empty cup, tossing it in a nearby trash can. “You’re disgusting.” You point at him. 

Eren shrugged as you both neared the Ferris wheel. “You’ll get over it. Cmon, while the lines still short.” 

As you pestered him about drinking from your drink, you both made your way into the line, eventually stepping up and into your seats. 

As the operator closed the door, Eren sighed. “I can put this thing down, right?” 

You shook your head, taking your giraffe from Eren’s hands. “No, give him here,” you set the giraffe beside you with a small smile as the Ferris wheel slowly started. 

Eren tucked one of his hands in his pocket and rested the other arm across the back of the seat. 

You looked around, waiting for the Ferris wheel to reach the top, though it was taking a while, of course.

You tucked your hands between your thighs and pursed your lips together, looking around before your eyes landed on Eren, whose eyes were on the floor of the cart. 

You tilt your head, waving to him. “What’s wrong? You’re not excited?” 

His head moved up towards you, and he slowly started to smile. “No, I’m just scared of these things.” 

You giggled, nodding and looking over. You could just barely see above some trees now. You looked back at Eren. “It’s common to be scared of Ferris wheels.” 

He let out a small laugh, quickly glancing over. “You’re not scared of anything, I assume.” 

You shrugged. “Not really.” 

His eyes widened in an ‘I obviously see that’ type of way. 

You shifted in your seat as you neared the top of the wheel. “Look,” You pointed. “It’s the whole city.” You said in awe. 

Eren had to peel his eyes off the ground to see what you were talking about, and when he did, they widened a little. “It is, isn’t it?” He glanced at you as you stared at the lights. 

“You can even see the beach from here!” You jumped a little. 

“Heyyyy, don’t do that.” Eren chuckled nervously, looking at where you were looking. 

You quickly pulled out your phone and tossed it to Eren. “Take a picture of me.” You sat back, tossing your arm around your giraffe and posing for the camera. 

Eren held up your phone, snapping pictures as you smiled. 

“Ugly, ugly, and hideous.” He muttered, making you both burst into laughter. 

“Shut up!”  You held your hand out for your phone. “Wait, we should take some of the view.” 

You turned your camera around and leaned over a little. 

Eren hummed, pulling out his phone and swiping to his camera. 

He leaned over, holding his phone up, but just as it loaded in, he accidentally snapped a picture. 

“Wait…” He frowned, pressing the small photo in the corner. You looked at his phone and laughed. 

It was a blurry picture of both of you. You, giggling and smiling, and Eren with his lips pursed into a smile. 

Despite it being blurry, your faces and expressions were clear as day. 

“Oh my gosh, that’s funny!” You said in between laughs, and Eren clicked his tongue, a small smile plastered on his face. 

He pressed off of the photo and went back to the camera, which faced you two again. 

You looked into his camera and fixed a few spots in your hair. Eren looked at you through the camera, resting an elbow on his knee and his cheek in his palm. 

“You know you’re gonna look the same no matter how you fix your hair, right?” He mumbled, staring at the camera. 

You scrunched your face up at him. 

He grinned, snapping another picture of you. “Oops.” 

You gasped and backed away from him. 

You looked over at the view away and slumped a little. “See what you did? I didn’t even get to take a bunch of pictures of the view.” 

Eren laughed again, shrugging. “You’ll get to see it again someday. Don’t know when, but I’m sure of it.” 

You rolled your eyes as the ride came to your stop, and you both stepped off. 

You held your giraffe close and looked up at Eren as you both continued walking. “I saw a cluster of gazebos.” 

He looked down at you. “Lemme guess, you wanna go there too?” 

You tried to hide a smile, and Eren playfully rolled his eyes. “Cmon then.” 

The rest of the walk was quiet. Well, not exactly because of the faint songs that faded out as you two left from around the fair itself, plus the chatter. You followed a trail, eventually approaching a park filled with gazebos. 

You gawked at the string lights that hung over your heads, even Eren’s lips parted a little at the sight. 

And to make it even better, the beach wasn’t too far to be in view. 

You both walked quietly to one of the empty gazebos, and you set your giraffe down on one of the seats before walking over to the wooden railing. 

“Look at the beach, it looks so bright.” You muttered, nearly inaudible, but Eren nodded, leaning against the railing. 

“And pretty, too.” He mumbled, his gaze moving to you as you stared in awe at the ocean's waves. 

People were walking, sitting, running, and lying in the sand. You saw what you would assume was a couple, easing into the cold water. 

You giggled, pointing. “They’re scared to get in the water.” 

Eren looked away from you and at the beach, tilting his head slightly. “You think it’s cold?” 

You hummed, nodding. “Oceans get cold at night.”

He shifted a little, “How do you know?” 

You shrugged. “They’re cold in the morning, even with the sun out. Imagine how cold they are at night.” 

Eren looked at you. “But you’ve never been to a beach at night, right?” 

You shook your head, looking up at him. “I wish. You?” 

His eyes softened a little before he looked away. “I wish, too.” 

You hummed, tooting your lips up. 

There was a long silence, the distant chatters of other people in other gazebos, faint laughters, things of that sort, being the only things to fill it. 

You looked over, double-taking before you tapped Eren. “Look.” You pointed. 

There was a man on one knee proposing to a beautifully dressed woman. 

Eren looked to where you were looking, and his brows raised. “They’re getting engaged.” 

You nodded, smiling a little at the couple just a few meters away from the two of you. “This is a pretty place to do things like that.” 

Eren nodded. “It is.” 

You hummed, turning and looking back to where you were before. 

Eren kept his eyes on the couple. “You think we’ll end up like that?” 

You frowned a little, looking at him. “Uh, what?” 

He caught himself, laughing a little as he shook his head. “No, not us. Obviously not us. But I mean, you think we’ll get into successful relationships?” He finally looked at you. “Y’know, with the way our love life is right now?”

You scoffed a little, shaking your head. “Probably not me.” 

He quirked a brow. “You think so?” 

You nodded. “My relationships never work out.” You looked back over to the hugging couple. “Not good enough to end up like them, anyway.” 

Eren looked back over to the couple, humming softly. “Well, if you say that about yourself, then that’s for sure not gonna happen for me.” 

You frowned. “Don’t say that, you never know.” 

Eren looked back at the beach. “Oh, I know. None of my relationships work out either, but that's ‘cause of me.” 

You tilt your head a little. “Why do you say that?” 

Eren shrugged. “I’m an asshole. I hate to admit it, but it’s true. Focusing on one girl gets me bored. It’s not fun.” 

You hummed. “That’s the mindset of the boyfriends I’ve had.” 

Eren laughed a little. “Then we’re definitely not making it in relationships, are we?”

You smiled, shaking your head slowly. “Hell no.” 

He hummed, letting out a small chuckle and sighing. 

“I can live with that.”

You pursed your lips together, slowly nodding.

“Me too.” 

Chapter Text

Sunday, 3:01PM

The second day of your last week at the Airbnb. 

Since Eren had decided that you two should make the most of it, and you agreed, you both decided that every day until the end of the week, you’d go out and do something. 

Y’know, since the only time you’d gone out was the time you went to that party. 

Which you still didn’t remember. 

I mean, not that anything triggered that memory. 

You were too focused on what was happening in the moment to worry about anything outside of it anyway. 

“Do I look weird in this, or no?” You tilt your head at Eren, crossing your arms over your stomach. 

Eren reached behind his hair to untie his hair tie and put it around his wrist. “Uh,” He opened his eyes and looked at you. “I can’t even see the bikini.”

You rolled your eyes, looking down at the purple and orange towel that covered your body. “I know, but y’know.” 

He pursed his lips together, leaning against the trunk of his car. “I don’t know. Because I can’t see.” 

“I just think it looks weird.” You looked back at him. 

Eren tilted his head. “Let me see.” 

You frowned. “No.” 

He crossed his arms. “Well, you can’t get in the water if you’re just gonna leave a towel wrapped around you.” 

Valid point… 

You nodded slowly. “I’ll just take it off when we get the sunscreen.” 

“Welp,” Eren opened his trunk all the way, putting his hands on his hips. “We have…” 

You looked in the trunk. 

The only thing in it was a new sandcastle kit, two towels, shades, and sunscreen. 

Eren hummed, reaching and grabbing his shades. He slid them on his face and pushed them up above his forehead. “At least I have these.” 

You put your hands on your hips. “This is seriously all you have.” You spoke, almost to yourself, before looking up at Eren. “And you didn’t want me to come with you to the store.” 

Eren put his hands up in defense. “Hey, you could’ve told me what we needed.” 

Your eyes bore on him for a couple of seconds before you sighed, shaking your head and pointing at the kit. “You got that , but no drinks? Or snacks?” 

Eren tilted his head. “You said bring beach things. I brought beach things.” 

“Eren,” you frowned. “That is sunscreen, two towels, and a sandcastle kit.” You looked at him again. 

Eren bit his bottom lip, humming and slowly nodding. “Maybe I should’ve gotten a bigger kit?” 

You narrowed your eyes before sighing and grabbing the sunscreen. “Come on before we get skin cancer.” 

Eren shivered and looked at the sunscreen, then at you. “I don’t know how to put sunscreen on.” 

You scoffed. “You’re kidding. It’s literally like putting lotion on.” 

He shrugged. “My mom always did it for me. I’d either put too much or too little.” 

You put a hand on your hip and shifted your weight to one side. “Well do you want me to do it, Eren?” 

Eren blinked before nodding slowly. 

You sighed, shaking your head. “It’s too hot out here,” you mumbled, opening the sunscreen and squeezing some on your hand. Eren watched you as you rubbed it in and held your hands out. 

“Turn around.” You said, and he did exactly that. You rubbed the sunscreen from the top to the bottom of his back. “You’re like a little kid.” 

Eren clicked his tongue, turning a little as you moved to his arms. “Say’s the one who dragged me around last night for a stupid fair.” 

You laughed a little. “Don’t act like you didn’t have fun.”

Eren turned more as you squeezed more sunscreen on your hand. “Those rides were horrifying. I’m never doing that again.” 

You shrugged. “Hey, you never have to worry about doing it with me , at least.” 

He frowned a little, looking down at your hands rubbing across his chest. “Why do you say that?” 

You flashed him an obvious look. “Because, genius, this is our last week together, remember?” 

Eren went quiet for a second before muttering an “Oh, I forgot.” 

You nodded, moving your hands up to his neck. “And then we’ll go our separate ways and never have to worry about each other's antics ever again.” 

He hummed, moving his head up a little to give you space to rub the sunscreen in. “Good.” 

You rolled your eyes, moving to his other arm and sighing. “You really should do this yourself.” 

“I told you, my mom always did it for me.” He quirked a grin, and you glanced at him. 

“She must be a strong woman then.” 

Eren chuckled, backing away as you finished his arm. 

You tilt your head. “What’re you doing?” 

He paused. “You’re finished, right?”

You blinked. “Yeah, if you want your face to be redder than the rest of your body.” 

Eren groaned, stepping closer to you as you rubbed sunscreen onto his face. 

It was surprisingly soft, not that you thought any different, but it's not like you’d touched the guy this closely before. 

“You have the skin of a baby.” You rubbed your thumbs across his forehead and under his eyes, late to realizing the fact that he was looking right into yours. “Don’t look at me, it’s making this awkward.” 

“I can’t look anywhere else, it’ll seem weird.” He chuckled, looking at your forehead instead. 

“Well,” You backed away. “I’m done now.”

Eren pursed his lips together, looking you up and down. 

You exhaled. “Right,” You passed him the sunscreen. “Do it right, please .” 

Eren let out a low whistle as you held your arms out. 

The long, awkward silence caused both of you to laugh as he moved to your collarbones. 

He looked down at the towel that was wrapped around you, and then back up at you. “Uh, the towel?” 

You pursed your lips. “Right…” You mumbled, grabbing the towel and removing it from your body. As you looked off to where the beach was, Eren hovered his hands over the top of your chest, biting his lip. 

He moved closer, then away, then closer, then away. “I don’t think I can do this.” 

You looked at him. “Hm?” 

He motioned to your torso. “This part. It’ll feel weird.” 

You looked down and then let out a long “ohhhh” before grabbing the sunscreen and turning away from him. “You can do the back, I can do the front.” 

Eren nodded, rubbing his hands across your back. You rubbed the sunscreen onto your stomach, and as he moved down to your hips (cautiously), your hands accidentally grazed. 

“Oops.” You both muttered. 

You rubbed the sunscreen in on your chest and eventually your legs before turning around.

Eren stared at you in confusion before tilting his head. “Your face?” 

When you nodded, he hummed, rubbing sunscreen on your face. 

You looked around. He was right, it was awkward.

You were quiet until you realized he was squishing your cheeks together. 

You slapped his hand away, causing him to bark out a laugh. 

“You’re so stupid.” You mumbled, holding back a laugh as you grabbed your towel from the trunk. 

“You’re funny.” Eren grinned, pointing at you and grabbing his sandcastle kit. 

You couldn’t help but laugh. “Are you seriously taking that?” 

He shrugged. “Hey, I need entertainment.” He closed the trunk and stretched as you both started walking toward the beach. 

You slipped off your sandals before you stepped into the sand, smiling a little at the sensation. “It’s so cold.” You mumbled, walking further into the beach. 

Eren smiled. “Isn’t it? It feels weird.” 

You glanced at him, finding an empty spot to lay your towel. “You think so?” 

He nodded, standing as you spread your towel out and laid your sandals on top of it. “I haven’t been to a beach in… I don’t even know how long.” 

You chuckled. “Me neither.” You stood back up, making your way towards the water. “You glad you came?” 

Eren followed behind you, tooting his lips up. “I don’t know yet. It’s been boring, so far.” He smirked at you, and you rolled your eyes playfully. 

“Well, the beach for me is for relaxing.” You sat down by the waves, just close enough so that they could wash over your feet. 

Eren waved you off, walking further into the waves to gather wet sand for his bucket. “Well,” He scooped some up, glancing back at you. “The beach for me is for whimsical adventures and fun.” 

You cocked a brow and hummed, leaning up to brush your hands against the wet sand. “Well, that explains our differences.” 

“Uh-huh, watch me build this castle.” Eren snapped his fingers at you and moved back into the sand. 

He planted the bucket upside down and tapped the top of it. 

You couldn’t help but smile at how kid-ish he looked. You leaned on your hands as Eren glanced at you again, raising his eyebrows. “Ready?” 

You nodded, tucking your lips between your teeth to suppress a smile. 

Eren slowly raised the bucket to reveal a perfectly molded castle. You clapped as Eren backed away with his hands on his hips like a proud kid. “Amazing, right?” 

You nodded, clamping your fingers together. “It is amazing.” 

He tilted his head, frowning a little with a smile. “You think so? That’s like the first compliment you’ve given me.” He moved back towards the water.

You clicked your tongue, resting your hands in the sand again. “I’m pretty sure I’ve given you more compliments than that.” 

Eren looked back at you with an unsure look before nodding. “Whatever you say.” 

You spent a few more minutes, looking off into the water, and at the same time watching Eren (something he practically begged you to do) until he was finished making his sand castle. 

And honestly… 

You stood in front of it, hands on your hips as you tilted your head. “It actually looks good.” You looked up at him. “Besides the four that collapsed, it looks good.” 

Eren glanced at you before humming. “I think it looks nice too.” 

You pursed your lips together. 

You were staring at one molded castle and a smaller one on top of it. 

Not to mention the cluster of sand that was scattered around it from the fallen ones. 

Eren let out a breath, glancing back at the water before looking at you. “Wanna get in the water?” 

You did the same, looking at him. “Do you?” 

A smirk played on his face. “Beat you to it.”

You squinted. “Count down.” 

“Three…” He turned just the slightest. “Two…” 

Suddenly, you felt yourself get pushed into the sand, straight on your ass. 

Thank goodness for the sand. 

“Hey–!” You looked over to see Eren running over to the water. You gasped and jumped up, slipping on the sand as you ran behind him. “You cheated!” 

He threw himself back into the water, cackling as he pointed at you. 

You huffed, plopping down into the water as you caught your breath. “You’re such a cheater.” 

Eren laughed harder, waving his hands. “I’m sorry, I had to!”

You grinned, splashing water his way. “Whatever, and this water's cold as hell, I can’t believe you just threw yourself into it.” You quickly stood up, wiggling your hands. 

Eren stood up, easing towards you. “How’d I do it?” 

You threw your hands up. “Literally, you just flew back like it was nothing! I’d go into shock.” You looked down at the waves that lightly pushed you. 

Eren tilted his head. “Wanna test that theory?”

You paused, stepping away from him. “What’re you doing…?”

Eren smiled, shrugging. “Nothing.” 

“Eren.” 

“Hm?”

“If I run, you’re gonna chase me.”

Eren shrugged like he was confused. “Why would you run?” 

You laughed nervously, stepping away from him again. “'Cause you’re planning something!” 

Eren took another step towards you. “I just wanna admire the view with you, look.” He pointed behind you. 

As soon as you turned around, you took off running through the water. 

Which was incredibly hard. 

“Stop! Stop!” You yelled, stumbling over before Eren caught you and wrapped his arms tightly around your waist. 

You gasped as you realized what was about to happen and suddenly– boom . 

He threw you backwards–with himself–before you shot out of the water with a loud gasp. 

“Eren!” You yelled, hearing muffled and vision blurry as you saw the boy come out of the water with you. “My hair!” 

Eren snorted in laughter, stumbling over into the water as he held his stomach. “Hell– that’s gold!” He shook his head, tears prickling at his eyes. 

You rolled yours, standing up and making your way to the shore. “You’re so stupid! I told you I wasn’t getting all the way in.” You held a middle finger up at him as he quickly got up to follow you.

“Wait- wait-” He said in between laughs. “You can’t admit that wasn’t hilarious.” 

You shot him a playful glare and waved him off again. “I’m going to the sand to lie down and reflect on why I decided to come here with you.” You point at him. 

Eren grinned as you carefully sat on the beach towel, and he plopped down beside you in the sand. “Gosh, you’re hilarious, you know that?” 

You laid back, crossing your legs at your ankles and resting your arms behind your head. “Why’re you even still here?” You looked over at him. 

Eren shrugged, “You’re the only one I can bother.” 

You cocked a brow, facing back towards the sky. “I see.” 

Eren leaned back on his hands, pushing a few wet strands of hair out of his face with a sigh. “It’s warm as fuck out here. I’m so glad it's summer.” 

You hummed. 

You had to admit, it was warm and comfortable. 

When you got out of the water, you expected it to be cold, but the sun honestly felt amazing. 

The silence fell over you two, as it always did, and you opened your eyes a little, frowning to find Eren gone. 

You just shook your head, closing your eyes again. 

After a few seconds, there was shuffling beside you, which made you look over. 

Eren laid on his stomach, free of sand, with the towel he’d forgotten to grab earlier. 

“Did you wash yourself off in the ocean that quickly?” You questioned, and he nodded. 

“Yup.” Eren looked at you, propping his chin in his palm. 

You scoffed, looking back at the sky. 

There were a couple of clouds, seemingly unmoving. The breeze was surprisingly softer than usual. 

“Y’know,” Eren cleared his throat, pushing himself off his stomach and sitting down. He rested his arms on his knees and looked down at you. “I don’t know why you were so iffy about that bikini. You seem comfortable in it.” 

You pursed your lips.

“I haven’t been to the beach in a while, and showing my body isn’t something I do daily.” 

Eren tilted his head, pushing his hair back. “You didn’t have a problem with that dress you wore.” 

You looked around for a second, trying to remember what he was talking about before you breathed out an ‘oh’. “That was different. The dress wasn’t… a bikini.” You shrugged. 

Eren crossed his arms over his knees and rested his head on them. “It’s a beach. You’re gonna look regular to everyone here.” 

You nodded. “Yeah, true. But it’s all a mental thing, I know that much.” 

Eren blinked, eyes flickering to your bikini. “Do you like it?” 

You glanced at him. “What?” 

He motioned to your body, and you cocked a brow. “The bikini? Oh. Yeah, it’s cute.” 

“So,” He trailed off. “Don’t you think your body would look the exact same?” 

You chuckled a little. “That’s not how it works.”

He shrugged. “It’s something like that. It looks regular, like I said.”

You looked down at your body and then back at Eren. “My body, or the bikini?” 

Eren cleared his throat, looking away for a second. “Both, I guess.” 

You sat up on your elbows. “You think so?” 

He frowned a little. “What’s with you thinking you’re just… average looking?”

“Am I not average looking?”

Eren cocked a brow. “Do you have a lick of confidence?” 

You gasped dramatically, hand over your chest. “How could you think that?” You pushed yourself up, crossing your legs at your ankles and pulling one to your chest. 

“Because every time I compliment you, you question me about it. Like you don’t believe it or something.” 

You frowned, “That is not true.” 

It absolutely was, and you realized that when Eren gave you that look. 

“Well–” You stammered. “Not all the time.” 

Eren scoffed. “Yeah, right.” He looked forward, toward the ocean.

You did the same, resting your chin on your knee. 

It was actually peaceful–being at the beach. 

It felt like something you’d been needing to do for a long time. Not to mention the nostalgia you experienced, because to be frank, you hadn’t been to the beach since you were young. 

Like, really young. 

But the memories were definitely there, despite the distance from now, you’d gone so many times, how could you forget anything? 

“That, uh,” 

Eren’s voice cut into your thoughts, and you looked at him. 

His eyes were still on the horizon.

“That bikini looks nice on you. Y’know, in case you feel bad about it.” He shrugged a shoulder. “Don’t.” 

You looked at him for a while more before looking back at the ocean. “That does make me feel better.” 

Your eyes landed on two children running across your view.

Eren nudged your shoulder. “Hey, wanna go back in the water?” 

You pushed his arm away. “So you can suplex me again? No.” 

Eren clicked his tongue, grinning. “Oh, come on , I won’t do it again.” 

“And you expect me to believe that?” You tilt your head, looking at him as he stood up.

Eren nodded, “Of course. But if you’re not gonna join the fun, you can watch me build my second sand castle.” He said before starting to jog towards the water. He turned, running backwards as he cupped his hands around his mouth. “From scratch!” He yelled before tripping backwards and into an incoming wave. 

You laughed, pointing at him and shaking your head. 

From that moment on, you entertained yourself by watching Eren attempt to build a sand castle. From scratch, like he said. 

Minutes and minutes of him walking up to you to rub a wet, sandy hand on your arm, you fussing at him for it, and him running back to finish the castle he was building. 

You were lying on your back again, eyes closed, with the shades that Eren took from his forehead to give to you. 

You were enjoying the small minutes of peace that you could before he came running up to you again. 

“Hey.” 

You pulled the shades from your eyes to your forehead with a sigh, watching Eren crouch down beside you. “What now?” 

Eren gasped, hand on his chest like he was offended. “Sorry for being excited.” He dramatically said, brows furrowed. 

“Eren, this is the third time you’ve come up to me within…” You tapped your phone. “...three minutes.” 

He grinned. “You really need to come out of that shell.” 

He tapped your arm. “Get it, shell?” 

You squint, laying your head back on your hands again. “You really don’t know how to leave me alone, do you?”

Eren hummed, looking up and pretending to think about that answer. 

“I’ve been around you for longer than I should be, so even if I wanted to, I don’t think I could.”

Your brows furrowed. “That’s a choice you can make.” 

“I mean, yeah,” he breathed out, leaning back on his hands. “But I choose to be around you.”

You were sure that was the nicest thing someone had said to you in a while. 

“You’re really nice.” You mumbled, looking at the sky. 

Eren raised his brows. “Me? You know how much you’ve been sparing me for?” 

You clicked your tongue. “No, seriously. You’re nicer than you seemed at first. Not that you were mean or anything, you’re just… way nicer than I expected.” 

Eren nodded. “Yeah, but you? You’re way different from when we met. I don’t even know which you is the real you. This one, or the one that rolled her eyes at me every second.” 

You pursed your lips at his words, picking at small parts of your beach towel. 

“I’m sorry.” 

Eren looked at you. “Sorry? For what?” 

You glanced at him, a sad smile on your face. “For being so mean to you at first.” 

Eren stared at you for a moment. 

It was true that you felt bad for him. 

Well, for the way you treated him. 

Seeing how nice he was made you feel like you wasted so much time you could’ve spent getting to know each other better by being rude or annoyed. 

Which, in the moment, could’ve been valid, but now, it just felt worthless. 

And you silently cursed yourself for realizing so late, but later's better than never, right? 

“I said some fucked up things to you too, y’know.” Eren nudged your arm. 

“I know, but I didn’t apologize for it like you did. Even if it wasn’t as extreme, I’m not a bitch, and I don’t wanna seem like one.” You gently rubbed the spot on your arm that he nudged. 

“You’re not a bitch. I knew that already. There’s nothing wrong with keeping your guard up.” He shrugged, but you shook your head. 

“Keeping your guard up and being rude isn’t the same thing. I was rude.” You tilt your head towards him. “Why can’t you just accept my apology?” 

Eren shrugged, laughing a little. “'Cause there’s nothing to apologize for.” 

“Eren.” You were nearly pleading, and the boy sighed, tossing his head back. 

“I accept… your apology.” 

You smiled, poking his arm. “Thank you.” 

Eren flicked your hand away. “Yeah, yeah. How long do you wanna stay here?”

You frowned a little. “You ready to go?” 

Eren shook his head. “It’s not that, it’s just,” He looked at the ocean. “I kinda wanna stay until nighttime.” 

He looked at you again. “To see how cold the water can get.” 

You looked towards the ocean and tapped your phone. 

Surprisingly, it was already six o'clock. 

You looked at Eren again. “The sun sets at eight. Are you sure?”

He slowly started to smile. “If you’re sure.” 

And you were. 

You stayed at the beach for a couple of hours longer, Eren focusing on making his sand castle, and you watching him and the waves. 

It was peaceful. 

Maybe it was the most peaceful you’d been. 

And thinking about it as you watched the sunset, you probably would’ve never gone to the beach if it wasn’t for meeting this stranger whom you called a friend. 

Well, he was your friend. Temporarily. 

As you watched the last person leave the beach, you looked around for Eren. 

It definitely looked brighter from the fair than from now, but you weren’t complaining. 

It was a nice shade of blue–the sand–and the waves weren’t as harsh as they were earlier. 

“Eren?” You stood off your towel, stepping into the cool sand.

“Yeah?” Eren called back. 

You turned to see him with a handful of sand, slowly letting it seep through his fingers. 

“Cmon, we gotta see how cold the water really is.” You waved him along, and he quickly caught up to you as you walked. 

You giggled as you eased towards the quiet waves. 

“You go first.” You looked at Eren, and he scoffed. 

“You’re kidding.” 

“You already threw me into the water; this is literally the nicest form of payback.” 

Eren gave you a look before grinning and stepping towards the waves. As one washed over his foot, he sucked in air through his teeth. “Fuck, you weren’t kidding.” 

You laughed. “Is it cold?” 

Eren eased more into the water with small steps. “It’s not horrible, but enough to surprise you. Come see.” He waved you along, and you groaned, stepping slowly towards the water. 

Eren watched you walk excruciatingly slow and barked out a laugh. “You’re so scary! Come on.” He held out a hand for you. 

“If you pull me into this water, I swear–”

“I’m not, I promise. Just follow me.” He wiggled his fingers, and you glanced at his hand, hesitantly grabbing it. 

Eren held your hand firmly, slowly pulling you into the water. 

You yelped as the cold water met your feet, “It is freezing!”

Eren smiled, furrowing his brows. “You think so?” He looked down at your submerged feet. 

You scoffed. “I know so.” 

“There could be a jellyfish right in front of us, and we wouldn’t know.” Eren glanced at you. 

You gasped. “Don’t!” 

He burst into laughter, pulling you a little closer to him. “Look at the moon. It’s full.” He pointed. 

You followed his hand and, of course, you were met with the moon. 

It looked even more beautiful tonight than it did any other night. 

“It is.” You smiled a little, tilting your head. 

“It’s like it’s glowing.” Eren looked at you, and your brows raised. 

“It really does look like it’s glowing, doesn’t it?” 

His eyes traveled your face. 

“It really does.” 

Your eyes left the moon and went to the ocean. Eren’s eyes left your face and went in the same direction. 

“What two lovely youngins.” 

You and Eren frowned at the unfamiliar voice behind you. 

Your heads whipped around to see a woman, looking to be in her 70s, and a man who looked to be around the same age beside her. 

“Uh,” Eren blinked, “What?” 

The woman smiled. “You two are quite lovely, aren’t you? A young couple, just–just like me and my husband used to be, except we’re old as fossils now.” 

The man nodded, pointing to you and Eren. “We come here every anniversary together, and we never see anyone. But we found you two.” 

“No, wait– we-” you stammered, shaking your head.

“We aren’t dating.” Eren laughed nervously. “We don’t like each other like that.” 

“Oh, nonsense!” The woman laughed, shaking her head. “That’s what the lovers say.”

Eren frowned a little. “No, seriously. We aren’t. We just met a few days ago, we’re just here for fun.” 

The older man crossed his arms, a weak smirk appearing on his face. “Then why’re you two connected like vines?” 

You were confused as to what the man was referring to before you quickly realized–you and Eren were still holding hands. 

You quickly snatched your hand away and clamped it with the other. “It’s really flattering, but we truly did just meet.” You nodded, trying your best to smile at the couple. 

The old woman hummed, looking back and forth between you two. 

She then pointed at both of you. 

“You two would do nicely as a couple, don’t you think?” 

Her husband nodded. 

You and Eren slowly shook your heads. 

“He’s still a random guy.”

“She’s not really my type.” 

You both gave each other awkward smiles before looking back at the couple. 

The woman hummed, taking her husband's hand into her own and patting it, walking alongside the waves. “Just remember, you never know what the future may hold.” 

As you and Eren watched the couple walk away, you looked at each other. 

“You don’t like me, right?” 

You frowned. “No. You don’t like me either, right?” 

Eren shook his head, crossing his arms and glancing at the couple. “I thought they were ghosts.” 

You looked back, slowly nodding. “They did spook me.” You looked at Eren. “But you heard what she said, you never know what the future holds.” 

“She said may hold.” He corrected.

You rolled your eyes. “Same thing.” 

He chuckled. “What’s your point?” 

You tilt your head. “We have to plan for tomorrow.” 

Eren groaned, rolling his eyes playfully. 

“Anything for you, I guess.” 

Chapter Text

Monday, 7:08PM

“Two pairs of roller skates, please.” Eren held up two fingers with low, disapproving eyes. 

Now, it’s not that he didn’t wanna do what you’d chosen for the day's activity, it was that he didn’t fucking know how to. 

Skating? 

Yeah, he hadn’t been roller skating since… forever. And even then, he didn’t know how to. 

He took a long glance down at you, who leaned on the counter, cheesing like this was something you actually wanted to do (it was, he’s just salty). 

“Can you stop smiling so hard? You’re just doing this to embarrass me.” 

You gasped, looking up at Eren. “How am I trying to embarrass you by smiling?”

“You know I can’t skate.” 

You paused, squinting at Eren. “You can’t skate? Like, at all?”

He shook his head. “Not on roller skates. That shit’s hard. Only… weirdos know how to do that.” 

You laughed as the man at the counter returned with you and Eren’s roller skates. Eren grabbed them both and walked over to a small bench, sitting down with a huff. 

“So, let me guess. You know how to skate on a skateboard?” 

He nodded, passing you your shoes. “That’s the only thing. And I haven’t even done that in a while.” 

Your face flushed with surprise, and you slipped off your shoes. “You’re definitely gonna have to tell me about that.” 

Eren rolled his eyes playfully. “Yeah, if I don’t die in this rink.” He slipped off his shoes and took a look behind him. He clicked his tongue. “Look, everyone's a fuckin pro.” He looked back at you.

“They’re gonna laugh at me.” 

You laughed and tied up one of your roller skates. “Eren, no one's gonna laugh at you. There’s people who don’t know how to skate here.” 

Eren looked at you, putting his skates on. “Yeah? Point one out to me.” 

You paused at putting on your skates and hummed, looking around. “Uh… It’s kind of hard to see with the lights flashing, but I promise, there’s some people who can’t.”

Eren put on his second skate and tied it up. “Whatever.” 

You looked at him and smiled at the small pout on his lips. “What’s up with you being so embarrassed? Scared you’ll fall?” 

Eren let a laugh slip from his lips and leaned back, waiting for you to finish tying your laces. 

“Not even that, I just don’t wanna be a guy having a girl teach him something so simple like this.” 

You cocked a brow. “You told me not to care what other people thought, so why’re you caring about that right now?” 

He slumped on the bench. “Why’re you always rephrasing that to me?”

You pointed at him, rolling your skates on the carpet. “Because,” You pushed yourself off the bench and moved around a little to adjust to the skates. “You need to practice what you preach.” 

Eren scoffed, mumbling what you said under his breath. 

But before he could fully announce a remark, his eyes widened to see you already rolling away from him. 

He sat up, planning to stand, but he stayed seated, glancing down at his skates. 

“Wait, wait, you’re gonna leave me here?” He reached out to you. 

You looked back at him with a small laugh and rolled back over to him. “How’re you gonna learn if you don’t do it yourself?”

Eren narrowed his eyes at you. “How do you expect me to learn if you don’t tell me the steps and tricks and shit?”

You laughed, moving to stand in front of him. 

You put your hands on your hips. 

“Okay, first, get up.” You moved back a little. 

Eren looked around and then back at you. “You serious?” 

You tilt your head. 

He sighed, hesitantly pushing himself off the bench. His legs shook underneath him, and he gulped, holding his arms out a little. “Okay, now what?” 

“Now,” You turned to face towards the rink. “You bend your knees a little.” 

Eren looked down at his knees and then back up at you. “I’m already doing that.” 

You looked down at his shaky knees and giggled, putting your hand over your mouth. “Okay, now,” 

You rolled forward once. “Just lean side to side, that’s the best way I can describe it. But move your feet forward as you do it. So like…”

You leaned dramatically side to side and pushed yourself forward on your skates. “...this.” 

You were now a few feet away from Eren, and he stood there, shaking his head. 

“I’m gonna bust my ass, you know that, right?” He nodded at you for assurance. 

You laughed and stepped aside for someone to skate by. “Eren, I promise, when you get the hang of it, you’re gonna be like ‘wow I was really dramatic about this, wasn’t I?’ and you’re gonna do it with ease.”                                     

Eren threw his head back, hands on his hips. “Did it take a while for you to learn, too?” 

You shrugged with a nod. “Yeah, of course. Everyone starts somewhere.” 

Eren swallowed, looking at your skates. “Do the little leaning thing again, and then I’ll do it after you.” 

You nodded, skating slowly away from Eren. 

He breathed out, moving his feet just the slightest. “Okay…” He whispered under his breath. He slowly, and when I say slowly, I mean very slowly, rolled towards you.

You moved back towards him, your brows knitting together a little. You point at his skates. 

“You’re pressing flatly on your skates. You’re supposed to roll with it. Now, like walking, but like… just sliding on your feet.” 

Eren flashed you a confused look. 

You looked up to think. “Okay,” You moved towards him. “Like, when you’re sliding on your socks on a soft floor? Exactly like that.” 

Eren groaned, running his hands down his face. “You’re gonna be the death of me.” 

You smiled, shrugging. “Not if you take my advice. It’s way easier on the floor.” You pointed inside the skating rink. 

Eren’s eyes softened, and he looked at you. “I’m scared.” 

Your brows raised. Your puzzled face turned into a smiling one, and you held your hand out. “Okay, just follow in my steps.” 

Eren looked down at your hand and hesitantly grabbed it, holding it tightly. “If I go down, you’re going down with me.” He warned, and you laughed. 

“That’s fine. As long as you learn by the end of this, I’m willing.” 

Eren stared at you for a few seconds before looking down at his feet. “Okay, what do we do?” 

You looked down at his feet. “Okay, lean a little to one side and glide your foot, and then lean to the other side, and glide the other.” 

Eren slowly did as you said, staying quiet the entire time to focus. 

He breathed heavily, squinting in concentration. 

You inched closer and closer to the rink floor, and he frowned. “I look like a penguin right now.” 

You smiled, feeling Eren’s hand tighten around yours the closer you two got to the floor. “It’s fine, everyone does in reality.” 

Eren grabbed onto the small edge and stopped rolling, stepping cautiously onto the floor. 

“Oh, hell no.” He shook his head quickly. “This place is slippery as fuck.” 

You laughed, slowly starting to move quicker. “Just keep up, do as I said. And make sure to keep your balance or you’ll fall.” 

“Hey, hey, hey, what’re you doing? Stop–” Eren quickly let go of your hand and grabbed onto the edge of the rink. 

You laughed, slowing down and looking back at him. “Cmon, you just had it!” 

Eren took a deep breath, slowly moving his feet with one hand on the edge of the rink and the other reaching out for you. “I’m gonna fall, I’m gonna fall.” He whispered, shaking his head. 

You grinned, waiting for him to catch up to you. 

You grabbed his hand, pulling him away from the edge. “Alrighty, let’s go.” 

Eren went completely silent, holding his breath as you dragged (pulled) him along. 

You looked down at his skates before bursting into laughter. “Eren, you aren’t even moving your feet!” 

“I’m gonna fucking fall.” He looked at you with a concerned face, and you laughed more. 

“Just glide your feet like mine, you’re not gonna learn if you don’t fall!” 

Eren gripped your hand tighter as he started to glide his skates shakily across the floor. “Oh fuck…” 

He tried to copy your actions by moving his feet with yours. 

“Yeah, you’ve got it.” You smiled a little. 

Eren shook his head, huffing. “This is so damn embarrassing.” 

You shook yours along with his, looking around. “Look,” You pointed at a girl and a guy in front of you. “She’s teaching him how to skate.” 

Eren quickly glanced up, waving the two off. “Yeah, well, I feel like everyone's watching me .” 

You rolled your eyes playfully, “You ready for me to pick up the pace?” 

Eren looked at you with furrowed brows. “You’re not gonna go too fast?”

“I’m gonna go at the pace you want me to.” 

He bit his lip, slowly nodding. “Okay, but don’t drag me. Seriously.” 

You chuckled, “You’re literally right beside me. And you don’t have to bend your knees that much; you’re hunched over. That’s gonna make it harder.” 

Eren waved you off with his free hand, taking everything you told him and working with it. Horribly, but he was doing the best he could.

“Sorry, I’m not D1 at this.” He mocked you, and you giggled. 

As Eren tried to raise himself a little, he suddenly jolted back. 

You felt his grip tighten around your hand and, of course, he dragged you down with him. 

You both hit the ground with two loud thumps.

“Fuck!” You both yelled. 

Eren frowned, hissing as you burst into laughter, rubbing at your knees. 

You pushed yourself off the ground, holding both of your hands out for Eren. “Okay, come on. We got the next one.” You said in between laughs as Eren frowned, grabbing both of your hands. 

When he stood, he jolted towards you, knocking you backwards and straight on your ass. 

“Eren!” You groaned, turning on the ground and rubbing your butt. 

Eren hovered over you on his hands and knees, choking out laughs and snorts. “Wait, I’m sorry!” He pushed himself off of you and stood up. 

Despite how wobbly he was, he held his hands out for you, and you grabbed them, standing up. 

“Okay,” You said in a humorous breath. “We can do this.” 

Eren grinned, holding your hands tight as you looked behind you to make sure no one was there. “This is horrible, man.” 

You laughed, nodding quickly. “But it's fine, you’re gonna get it soon. I’m just gonna skate backwards and you’re gonna follow me from the front.”

Eren nodded, focusing on your feet and slowly moving. 

His brows slowly knit together as he looked back up at your face. “You’re skating backwards.” 

You tilt your head, smiling. “I just said I’d do that, Eren.” 

Eren breathed out, impressed. “I wasn’t paying attention to what you were saying.” He then squint at you. “You’re such a show off.” 

You gasped before laughing. “I’m not! This isn’t something I’d show off.” 

He slowly moved with you, your movements matching up as he slowly got the hang of it. “You’re having fun with this.” 

You grinned. “Of course, especially seeing you fall. 

Eren flashed you a frown. “You’re not gonna leave me alone about that, are you?”

You toot your lips up, letting go of one of his hands. “I’ll let it slide since you didn’t try to show off. But it’s definitely something I’ll remember.” 

Eren clicked his tongue, holding his free hand out at his side a little. “You’re such a bully.” 

“Of course not!” You looked behind you again. “Oh, here comes the curve.” 

Eren looked behind you and started to blink, lips parting. “What– what do I do?” 

You pointed at his skates. “Keep your feet planted and move that foot,” You pointed to his right foot. “Outwards and inwards until you’re finally turned.” 

Eren’s eyes widened as he did what you said. Of course, like before, he was wobbly, but surprisingly, it worked. 

He frowned into a grin. “Damn, this is getting easier by the second.”

You laughed, slowly making your way back beside him. “Now I can let your hand go?” 

Eren looked down at your locked hands and then up at you. “...Sure.” He said casually.

He looked forward, but his grip on your hand didn’t loosen one bit. 

You kept your eyes on him, frowning just the slightest. 

“You don’t have to hold on any longer. You’re getting the hang of it.” Your hand loosened from around his. 

Eren’s brows raised like he’d forgotten what he just agreed to. “Oh, I know.” He glanced down at your hands. “But what if I fall?” 

His hand loosened from around yours, and just as they were about to part, you felt his pinky hook with yours. 

You looked down at your hands. “Pinkies?” 

“Balance...” He muttered, frowning a little. “Just for balance.” 

Your eyes stayed on him for a beat longer before you tightened your p`inky around his and looked forward. 

Eren looked down at his feet, glancing over at yours every now and then. 

“You’re doing really good.” You spoke over the long beat of silence. 

The music was low, chatters all around you, and the sounds of skates gliding across the floor. 

“What?” Eren looked at you. 

“Skating. You’re basically a pro already.”

Eren scoffed. “Yeah, right. I’m still too scared to let you go.” 

You hummed, shrugging. “You look better holding someone's hand than holding onto one of the walls.” 

Eren put his hand on his chest. “Me?” 

You shook your head, looking around you. “Just generally. Everyone looks better skating with someone or alone than hanging onto the wall or something. Makes you look better at it than you actually are.” 

Eren blinked. “Oh.” 

You and Eren went a few more laps around the rink, him stumbling a couple times, but refusing to fall. 

The whole thing was fun, to say the least. 

From teaching him to just going with the flow, you had more fun than you expected to have. 

Then again, these days have been fun lately, so you sort of expected no less today. 

Eh, well, tonight.

You bopped down on the bench, huffing and shaking your head. “This always has me so sore in the morning.” 

Eren glanced at you as he untied his laces. “Rollerskating? You’re telling me this now?” 

You waved him off. “You’ll be fine, you’re always up and about anyway.” 

Eren kicked off one of his skates, leaning over to grab his shoes from under the bench. “Because I’m not some clam that doesn’t like people.” 

You put your hands on your hips and kicked off your skates. “After all this time, that’s how you still see me?” 

“Nope,” Eren smirked. “I’m kidding.” 

You scoffed, chuckling softly as you slipped on your regular shoes with a long sigh. “Gosh, I’m hungry.” 

Eren stood up, picking up his skates and waiting for you. “Wanna eat something on the way back?” 

You pursed your lips together. “Only if you’re getting something.” 

He narrowed his eyes in confusion. “This is your second time doing that.” 

You tilt your head, standing and starting to walk back towards the counter. “Doing what?” 

“Doing that thing where you don’t wanna get something if I don’t get it with you.” 

“When did I do that?” You frowned, setting your skates on the counter with Eren. 

You both thanked the man before walking towards the exit. 

“You did it at the fair when you were getting a funnel cake. Said you didn’t wanna be the only one getting something or something like that.” He opened the door, letting you out first. 

“I just–” You and Eren paused at the exit with wide eyes. 

It was pouring down. 

Hard. 

And neither of you had a jacket. 

No, let me correct that. 

You didn’t have a jacket, Eren had a hoodie. 

Not to mention, almost the whole time you two were skating, you were complaining about how cold it was, and he was pestering you about not having a jacket. 

Your mouth opened, ready to spew complaints, but nothing came out. 

You eventually let out a long groan. “I should’ve brought a jacket.” 

Eren stuffed his hands in his hoodie pocket and stepped to the side for someone else to leave the building. 

Thankfully, the roof covered both of you. 

“What’s up with you and not wanting to wear jackets?” He looked down at you, a sly smirk playing on his lips. 

You rolled your eyes. “What’s up with you remembering things about me?” 

Eren shrugged, looking at the raindrops hitting the concrete. “I’m literally parked right there, it’s not gonna be bad.” 

“Easy for you to say, you have a hoodie and I don’t.” 

He glanced at you, eyes low. “And whose fault is that?” 

You narrowed your eyes, looking away from him and crossing your arms to think about what you would do.

Nothing but the sound of pouring rain filled the silence between you two, and eventually, Eren huffed. 

You heard him shuffling beside you, and when you looked over, his hoodie was off. 

“What’re you doing?” You frowned a little. 

“If you’re so embarrassed to get wet, I’ll just get wet with you.” 

You clicked your tongue, looking away. “I’m not embarrassed. I just don’t want my hair to mess up.” 

“That’s all you care about is your hair, your hair's fine.” 

You point at the distance. “If I step into that, it won’t be.” 

Eren chuckled. “You’re such a girl.” 

Before you could question his words, he started to walk, his hoodie tucked at his side. 

You grabbed his arm and frowned. “Put your hoodie on, what’re you doing?” 

Eren looked back at you, stopping in his steps. He sized you up before holding the hoodie out to you. “Do you want the hoodie?” 

You looked at his hoodie and then back up at him. “Well, no. I’d just feel bad for taking your hoodie and leaving you to get wet.” 

Stupid decision, but nice thinking, I guess. 

Eren tilted his head at you, crossing his arms. “Y’know, I really don’t get you.” He then turned to face you. “You’re either gonna take this hoodie, or we’re gonna go in that rain, and both of our hair will be ruined.” 

You opened your mouth to protest, but you closed it just as quickly. 

“Fine.” You shrugged. “We can both get wet and be equal.” 

Eren scoffed, nodding his head over to the car and starting to walk. 

As you both walked into the rain, you held your hands over your foreheads. 

The more you walked, the quicker both of your paces got, and eventually, you were half-walking, half-running. 

When you made it to Eren’s car, you pulled at the door handle. 

“What– why isn’t your car unlocked?!” You burst into laughter, and Eren grinned.

“Dude, I didn’t know it was gonna be locked!” He fumbled for his keys in his pocket. 

As soon as the headlights flashed, you both quickly opened the doors and got into the car, closing the doors just as quickly behind you. 

You were nearly out of breath from the speed walking. 

You looked at him. “You’re such a setup.” 

Eren snorted. “Me? You could’ve taken the hoodie!” 

You pointed at him. “You could’ve kept it on!”

You both stared at each other for a few seconds before slumping back in the seats. 

Eren reached into the backseat and tossed you a towel. “My towel from the beach. And before you complain, no, it’s not used. I forgot about it.” 

You raised the towel and glanced at him. “You did use a towel at the beach.”

He nodded, starting the car. “Yeah, you used your’s and I used mine. I had a third one in here–don’t know why, but I did.” 

You pursed your lips, patting your body and clothes. 

As Eren backed out of the parking space, you handed him the towel, and he did the same as you. 

“Fuck, we should’ve checked the weather.” 

You sighed, nodding and slipping one of your feet out of your shoes to prop your leg up. “I know, right? How’re we gonna get food now?” 

Eren shrugged, “I don’t mind driving in the rain.” 

You looked at him. “But it’s pouring down.” 

He glanced at you, one hand on the wheel and another resting on the door. “Yeah, I see that.” 

You sat back in the passenger seat and hummed, looking out of the window. 

Despite the weather at the moment, it was quite peaceful.

You hadn’t really been around the town, not at night anyway, other than the first time you’d gone, and that was from Marley, so it wasn’t exactly much to explore anyways. 

And not only that, you didn’t even have a car, so your only planned form of transportation was an Uber. 

Though it’s not like you were planning to go out anyway, so you didn’t worry about that.

The billboards and tall buildings from the window made your eyes go wide, just the slightest. 

“Wow…” You whispered, earning a glance from Eren. 

“What, never seen lights before?” 

You didn’t even clap back at his words; you just leaned onto the door, resting your cheek in your palm. “Not like this.” 

“Wherever you’re from, don’t have this?” He glanced at you again, twisting a small loc of his hair. 

You hummed, shrugging. 

“Kind of. It has buildings and things, but it isn’t this… like… cool.” 

“Really,” Eren took a turn. “So how far do you live from here?” 

You hummed. “Like…” You paused. “Why’re you asking me that?” 

Eren laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna murder you or something. I’m just curious.” 

You narrowed your eyes, humming. “Only about an hour and a half. You?” 

Eren frowned a little. “An hour and a half…” He pulled into a drive-thru, stopping his car behind another and resting his arms. “Creepy question, but where do you live?” 

“Marley.” You said without thinking. 

Eren blinked. 

“Marley, as in the Marley?”

You crossed your arms. “What, you know my family or something?” 

He chuckled, shaking his head and looking out of the window. “I can’t believe you can say you haven’t seen buildings like this. Marley’s literally the city.” 

You scoffed. “I wish. The part I live in is… well, I guess you could say it's the city.” You looked at Eren again. “But you seem so familiar with this place, I’d expect you to be from around here.” 

Eren scoffed, resting his hands behind the seat and humming. “I fuckin wish, too. I’m from Paradis.” 

You cocked a brow. “Oh, so we’re really never gonna see each other again.” 

Eren twitched a smirk. “Three hours isn’t that much.” 

You shrugged. “Yeah, but nobody from Marley is going to Paradis that often. Or the other way around. Since the two are... basically rivals.” You said with air quotations.

Eren frowned a little, moving the car forward. “I can’t believe you. All this time I thought you were from around here, and you’re not.”

You chuckled. “That’s not the first thing I’d tell someone. But I’m totally unfamiliar with this place.” 

Eren nodded. “Yeah, I get it. That’s how I was before I got used to it.” 

Before your conversation could continue, Eren got to the menu and ordered food for you and him. 

Honestly, you thought Eren would’ve been from intown. Considering how familiar he was with the places, finding everything so easily and driving around like he’d lived here his whole life, it kind of shocked you that he wasn’t. 

When you both got your food, Eren started to drive again.

“So,” You took two fries from the bag before rolling it up. “If you’re from Paradis, what’re you doing all the way down here?” 

Even though the area you two were in was smack dab in the middle of Paradis and Marley, it still interested you. 

Those places weren’t small. 

“To get away from Paradis.” 

You looked at him. “You don’t like it there?” 

Eren hummed. “No, I like it. It’s cool. It’s just, there’s so much more shit near Marley. But I’d never go to Marley, so I just go in the middle of the two places, and boom.” He shrugged. “Just like Marley but better.” 

You nodded. “Understandable. It’s a little funny how the middle of the two towns has more buildings than the towns themselves.” 

Eren nodded with you. “It is, isn’t it?”

When he stopped the car, you looked around. “Wait, where are we?” 

Eren put the car in park and moved his seat back a little, sighing and grabbing his bag of food. “Parking lot.” 

You looked out of the windshield to see a scenic view of glowing buildings, billboards, and the glowing lights of cars passing on the highway. 

Your face lit up at the view, and you slowly sat back into the seat. “This is a really pretty place,” you mumbled, grabbing your bag of food. 

Eren took a bite of his burger, nodding at not only the taste of the burger, but also your words. 

He swallowed, propping one of his legs up on the seat. “This is where I come to clear my mind. But I guess someone decided to join me.” He motioned to you, and you smiled a little, taking a bite of your burger. 

Although it was still pouring down outside, you couldn’t lie like you weren’t enjoying the moment. 

You don’t think you’ve ever had a moment like this. 

Then again, what moment have you ever had with Eren that you’ve already had before? Everything with him was brand new, and it really made you consider making more friends. 

Then again , not everyones like Eren. 

You knew that from the moment you two got closer. 

“So,” you licked a little ketchup from the corner of your mouth. “You think you’ll ever go skating again? Like, soon?” 

Eren hummed, staring at the windshield wipers and the water that trailed from them. 

His gaze then made its way over to you. 

“Honestly, no.” 

Your eyes widened, and you turned towards him. “No? I busted my ass for you, twice, and you’re never gonna skate again?” 

Eren laughed at your reaction, taking a sip of his drink. 

“I didn’t say I wasn’t gonna skate ever again, I’m just saying if I do, it probably won’t be soon.” He shrugged. 

You took a bite of two fries and tilted your head. “Why’s that?” 

Eren looked at his burger. “I don’t get this chance a lot.” 

You frowned. “Skating?” 

He snorted at your reply and shook his head. “Going out in general.” 

You shifted in your seat, and your frown remained. “But you always go out, right? Not to assume, but you were going to parties and stuff a lot last week.” 

Eren nodded, shrugging. “True, but I mean, actually going out to something other than parties. Skating, fairs, hell– beaches? I haven’t been to that shit since forever. It’s basically all new to me.” 

So he isn’t the only one who got introduced to new things out of the two of you. 

Interesting. 

“That’s good to know.” You said, taking a sip of your drink. 

Eren took two more of his fries and ate them, glancing at you. “How come?” 

“I’m not the only one who’s new to things.” You said, continuing to eat your food. 

“Surprisingly, you aren’t new to anything. I would’ve thought you were the homey type, but I guess not. You're more of a pro at this than me.” He cocked a brow, making you laugh. 

“What makes you say that?” You giggled. 

Eren smiled, motioning to you. “I mean, look at you. You’re so familiar with everything we’ve been doing when just last week you were cooped up, and I’ve been roaming behind you like a damsel in distress. It’s kind of embarrassing.” 

You shrugged. “Like I said, everyone starts somewhere, and it doesn’t matter where they’re starting.” 

Eren playfully rolled his eyes. “Yeah, don’t even quote that. My ass is still sore from falling on it.” 

You laughed, thinking back on that moment at the skating rink. 

“You did fall pretty hard.” You grinned at Eren.

 He clicked his tongue. “Okay, you fell too, don’t throw me under the bus like that. You said you’d let it slide.” 

You laughed even harder this time, Eren trying to look offended, but it didn’t work because of a small smirk inching on his face. 

“True, but you fell first.” You point at him. 

Eren pursed his lips together, sitting back in the driver's seat and looking out of the window as you giggled once more at his pouty reaction. 

When you finally continued to eat your food, Eren took a final bite of his burger, looking at you as he crumpled the paper in his hands.

You both stared at each other, you waiting for him to admit that you were right, and he refusing to give you that satisfaction. 

His gaze remained on you for a couple of seconds as he stuffed the crumpled-up paper into his bag. 

You took another bite of your burger, brows raised. 

Eren’s eyes travelled your face. “Yeah,” He nodded slowly. “I fell first.”

You finished your burger and nodded, stuffing your empty wrapper in the bag. “Thought so. But hey, I won’t mention it again, so don’t feel embarrassed.” 

Eren tilted his head, gaze still lingering on you as he rested his cheek on his fist. “I’m not embarrassed about it, I don’t think.”

You finished the rest of your fries and glanced at him. “You were at the rink.”

His eyes lowered. “I wasn’t.” 

“Were too.” You protested. 

His eyes narrowed. “Were not.” 

You chuckled, grabbing your drink. “You’re such a kid.” 

He bit his bottom lip a bit before looking forward. “The rain slowed.” 

You looked out of the window. “Hm. You’re right.” You then looked at him. “What makes you come here? Like, how’d you find this place?” 

Eren’s eyes made their way back to you. “What, this parking lot?” 

You nodded. 

He pursed his lips. “It was really an accident when I found it, but I thought the spot was cool as hell, so whenever I get stressed, I come here.” 

You tilt your head, leaning back on the door. “Surely not all the way from Paradis?” 

Eren chuckled, shaking his head. “‘Course not. I come here whenever I feel a certain way here. I usually smoke in this spot, but” he shrugged. “I have no reason to right now.” 

You tapped one of your thighs, exhaling at the fullness you felt. 

“So, when you come here, do you always get that Airbnb?” 

Eren shook his head, pinching the ends of his hair. “Crazy, isn’t it? I usually get the same Airbnb, but the moment I decide on a change of plans…” He poked your arm. “...I meet you.” 

He then shifted in his seat, sitting up a little. “What about you? You get that one a lot?” 

You quickly shook your head, softly rubbing your arm. 

“That was my first time booking an Airbnb. I really didn’t know how any of that stuff worked, so my friend had to help me book.” 

“Well, whoever was the reason we met for this little time, they’re damn helpful.” 

You chuckled. “You think so?” 

Eren nodded. “I know so. It’s nice meeting new people who’re actually interesting.” 

You smiled, looking away at his compliment.

This is probably one of the first compliments of Eren that’s made you blush. 

Not because of any feelings, but that compliment is a rare one to get in your world. Hence why you’ve never gotten it until now.

“That’s really nice.” You looked out of the passenger side window.

A smirk played on Eren’s lip, and he chuckled, leaning up to get a better view of your face. “You blushing?”

You frowned, laughing and waving him off. “What? Don’t make it seem like it’s something it’s not. That’s just a unique compliment.” 

Eren laughed, pulling your shoulder a little to see your face. “Cmon, let me see your face.” 

You swatted his hand away and groaned. “You’re so annoying.” You laughed, turning to face him.

Eren’s face nearly lit up at your’s and he pursed his lips to stop himself from smiling too hard, but it barely worked. “You’re smiling that hard at something I said. Makes me feel like I achieved something in life.” 

You scoffed, crossing your arms. “I’m not some statue you have to worship. You don’t have to say it like that, y’know.” 

Eren shrugged, cracking his knuckles. “Maybe not, but you’re not someone I can meet twice.” 

You cocked a brow. “So you’re saying I’m special.”

He hummed, tilting his head side to side. “I’m saying you’re unique. And cool.” 

You nearly gasped at his words. 

Now, you said you’d never admit this to him, but–

“You’re way cooler than me.” 

Eren put his hand to his chest like you’d just blessed him with your words. “You think I’m cool?”

You nodded shamelessly. “When I first thought it, it wasn’t the best moment to be thinking like that, but as we got to know each other, I realized it.” 

Eren stared at you before chuckling softly, his ears turning a shade of pink. “You’re so weird.” 

You gasped. “Me?” 

“You.” Eren pointed at you. “But I’ll accept the compliment.”

You tilt your head. “Okay then, I’ll accept yours too.” 

Chapter Text

Tuesday, 10:00PM

“I’m leaving Friday.” 

You laid in bed, facing away from Eren. 

Yeah, you two are closer or whatever, but the bed rules still stand. 

He watched his phone boredly, blinking slowly. Though he wasn’t sleepy. 

He didn’t reply to your words immediately, no, he let them sit in the air, but they hovered over his head like there was no ventilation, and he was exposed to poison. 

“What?” He spoke in a tone lower than intended. 

“I leave Friday.” You repeated, curling up a little more than you were as you scrolled on your phone, too. 

“Where?” 

“Here.” You tried to hide a small laugh at the odd question. 

“Where you going?” Eren put his phone face down and lifted the hand that was once on it to his hair to twirl at some strands. 

“Home.” You looked to the side, but your body and head remained still. 

Eren blinked, looking over at the curtains that blew from the air conditioning. “To Marley?” 

You nodded at first, but then spoke a “Yeah.”

Eren blinked again, frowning a little and raising himself on his arm. 

He turned onto his back, propping himself up on his elbows. “I thought you were leaving Saturday.” He looked at the back of your head. 

You turned to look at him. Despite the darkness, you could see the puzzled look on his face. 

It made you laugh. “I never told you when I was leaving.” 

Eren shrugged, a crooked smile on his face. “Yeah, but I thought you were staying for the full two weeks.” 

“You are?” You questioned, frowning a little. 

He nodded, and you hummed, resting on your back now. 

“I mean,” You toot your lips up. “A day doesn’t really make a difference.” You tried to ease up tension that you didn’t even know was there. 

Eren didn’t reply to that. 

“Friday…” He squinted, plopping back down on the pillow and staring up at the ceiling. 

You two hadn’t done anything for the whole day, mainly due to the weather that hadn’t calmed down since yesterday.

Now Eren was wishing you had done something, anything, to spend the whole day together like you’d been doing for the past three days. 

And sure, you could’ve done something in the Airbnb. 

That’s if Eren wasn’t out all day. 

Yes, despite the weather, he went out, and you didn’t. 

Eh, you weren’t complaining, though. 

But Eren? He definitely was. 

“That means I’m gonna have to spend a whole day alone.” He mumbled, his face scunching up at the thought of his words. 

You looked over at Eren. “I mean, you’ve been alone before. It’s not like it’s something new.” 

Eren nodded. “Yeah, but…” He looked over to you. “I guess I just got used to you being here.” 

Your gazes lingered on one another before you chuckled and looked away, turning back to the side you were facing before. 

“We still have time to spend together if that’s what you’re worried about.” 

Eren looked at the back of your head. “Who said I’m worried?” 

You hummed. “Sorry, just seemed like you were.” 

“Yeah, I’m not.” He shook his head.

But he was, and he was trying to convince himself that he wasn’t. 

But at the same time, why was he lying to himself like he didn’t care that you were leaving? 

Better yet, why did he care? 

Eren doesn’t have feelings for you or anything, and he’s pretty sure it's the same the other way around. 

But there was something about you that rubbed him the right way. 

Whether it be your personality or just the time you two had spent together, he’d grown fond of you. Especially being together for such a while that you’d gotten used to each other. 

Or, he’d gotten used to you. 

He frowned at himself a little. Of course, he considered you his friend, but that was temporary, and he was just now realizing that. 

It wasn’t like you two would be friends forever. 

I mean, obviously, you’d part ways eventually. You have the rest of your summers ahead of you, and it wouldn’t be exactly regular to spend them with each other.

Those were all the things he told himself whilst looking at the back of your head. 

“So, you ever coming back?” 

His question caught you off guard, and you curled up a little more. “Uh, to the Airbnb?”

“Yeah,” Eren answered.

He then looked away, frowning. What a dumb question, he thought to himself . 

Why the hell would you return to the same Airbnb you met a stranger at if you would risk meeting another? And there were obviously strangers worse than Eren in many ways.

You pursed your lips together. “Probably not.” 

Just as he thought.

Eren hummed, closing his eyes for some seconds. 

He didn’t even know why he asked that. 

“So what’re you doing for the rest of the summer?” He questioned you again.

You rolled over onto your back, looking up at the ceiling and exhaling. “Honestly, I don’t know. This was the most productive thing I’ve done since it started, and it wasn’t even planned. I really just wanted to rest.” 

Eren tucked his hands behind his head and blinked. “So you’re just gonna… chill for the rest of it?” 

You nodded. 

He hummed. “Sounds boring.” 

You looked over at him. “I believe it. You’re way more rebellious than me.” 

Eren smirked just the slightest at your words. “Of course. I like to think I brought… whatever energy you have when we do things… out of you.” 

You cocked a brow, looking over at Eren. “So you pay attention to that? That’s considerate of you.”

Due to the darkness, you couldn’t see them, but Eren’s ears turned a soft shade of pink, and he turned his face to the other side. “No, it’s just a thought.” He mumbled. 

You chuckled, sitting up and looking down at Eren. “Are you blushing?” 

Eren made a ‘psh’ sound and rolled his eyes. “No.” 

You reached over to turn one of the lamps on and looked back over to Eren, who tucked his lips between his teeth with wide eyes. 

You frowned, pointing. “Your ears.” 

“My ears?” Eren reached up to brush his ears. 

“Your ears turn pink when you blush, and your face doesn’t. Or am I just seeing things?” 

Eren went silent to think about your words before his brows raised, and he rubbed the shell of his ears softly. “Yeah, they do that when I lie, too. Apparently .” 

You frowned, chuckling. “How’d you even find something like that out?” 

“My mom told me when I was younger, and she wouldn’t leave me alone about it since then.” 

You exhaled. “I should’ve paid attention to that sooner.” 

Eren shrugged. “Well, you didn’t even wanna pay attention to me before any of this, so I wouldn’t expect you to.”

You waved Eren off. “Cmon, I already apologized for that.” 

“And I forgave you because you forced me to.”

You rolled your eyes playfully and rested your elbows on your knees. “What’re you doing for the rest of the summer?” 

Eren blew out a low whistle and shook his head. “Got me there, cause I have no idea.”

You cocked a brow. “You don’t have any friends to hang with or anything?” 

“Well, yeah. I’ve been with them my whole life, though, so it wouldn’t hurt to not be around them for just a summer. Then again, I do wanna see them again.” 

You tilt your head. “I’ve known my friends my whole life, too.” 

Eren chuckled, his gaze moving to you. “Think we have the same friends?” 

You scoffed. “You probably wouldn’t even wanna be around mine.” 

Eren slowly nodded. “Yeah,” He looked back up at the ceiling. “You wouldn’t wanna be around mine either.” 

He paused, frowning just the slightest. 

“Well, maybe one of em. He’s all nerdy like you.” 

You laughed at his description of you and the mystery friend. Then again, you couldn’t deny it. 

“So you think we’d make good friends with each other?” You questioned Eren, and he shrugged with a nod. 

“I mean, you two have that in common. Then again, he’s more of an extrovert than you are.” He pointed at you. “You’re antisocial in my eyes.”

You scoffed. “Yeah, right. I’m in between the two, honestly.” 

Eren pushed himself off his back and sat back against the headboard. “If you say so, but what makes you think I wouldn’t get along with your friends?” 

You shrugged, tucking your hands between your thighs. “You’re just more outgoing than they are. Not that they’re boring or anything.” 

Eren picked at the sheets. “So, how long have you been friends?” 

You looked up at the ceiling, gasping a little at the question. “Wow, since like…” You thought back. “Early Elementary? 

Eren raised a brow, tilting his head. “We’re similar through everything, aren’t we?”

You chuckled with a nod. “I guess so. But…” You fidgeted with your hands without thinking. “Why would I only get along with one of your friends? What about the other?” 

Eren’s expression faded just a little, and he leaned his head against the headboard. “Honestly, she’s just…” He squints. “She doesn’t like people. But like, way more than you.” 

Your eyes widened in interest. “She sounds cool.” 

Eren scoffed. “Yeah, she is. She’s just protective.” 

Your head tilts. “Protective like how? Like she’d be rude to me?” 

Eren rubbed his knuckles with his thumb. “More like she just doesn’t like anyone getting too close to me.”

You blinked, caught off guard. “Why?” 

Eren let out a breathy laugh, brows raising. “That’s a good question.”

“Wait,” You held a hand up. “So she just automatically wouldn’t like me? Without even meeting me?”

Eren’s jaw clenched, and he gave you a slow nod, looking at you with cautious eyes. 

You chuckled. “Wow, that’s harsh.” 

“Yeah, well,” Eren raised his arms above his head to stretch. “It’s not you, that’s just how she is.” 

You frowned a little. “She sounds jealous. Not to talk about her or anything. I know some people can be really overprotective.” You quickly waved your hands. 

Eren’s brows knit together, and he shook his head. “She’s not jealous.” He said, a bit too quickly, but you didn’t notice. 

“Ah,” You let out a nervous breath. “Well, however she is, you don’t mind her being like that?” 

Eren shook his head. “No, not anymore.” 

“Interesting…” You mumbled, adjusting in your spot. “So, is she someone you dated?”

Eren’s eyes flickered to you instantly. 

Your mouth opened, and you stammered. “I mean– y’know, if she's protective like that, my first assumption would be that you two were like… a failed relationship.” 

Eren’s eyes widened at your words. 

So you never lost that straightforward spark, and it wasn’t only in your questions. 

Eren’s mouth moved like he was saying inaudible words, but eventually croaked out a “No.” 

You searched his expression. “No?” 

He shook his head, pinching at the ends of his hair. “We’re not dating. Never have.” 

Your gaze lingered on him for a second longer before you huffed, throwing yourself onto your back. “Well, that's great ‘cause I’d hate to be some kind of homewrecker or something.” 

Eren gave you a puzzled expression. “How would you be a homewrecker if we aren’t… doing things?” 

You pursed your lips for a moment. 

“Well, you don’t have to be romantic or sexual to be a homewrecker. But I doubt a girlfriend would want her boyfriend temporarily living or sleeping in the same bed as another girl.” 

Eren frowned, rubbing his fingers together. “But me and her aren’t girlfriend and boyfriend.” 

You point at him with a nod. “Exactly, so that saves me the pain of being a homewrecker.” 

Eren hummed, thinking about your words.

He never thought about things the way you did. 

Never cared to anyway. 

“But… I was flirting with you when I first came, and you saw me complimenting other girls at that party.”

You hummed. “Well, I rejected your flirting, and those other girls aren’t me. I wouldn’t have thought you had a girlfriend until you mentioned your friend anyway, so that wasn’t really something I thought about before.” 

Eren’s brows furrowed at your words. “You’re so smart.” 

You chuckled, waving him off. “It’s honestly common sense. Maybe not something you just up and think about, but it’s more of something you realize.” 

Eren blinked, staring at you like a curious kid. 

“So are you naturally this smart? Underneath all the pressure and things?” 

You frowned, thinking about it. “I don’t know. I’ve been doing this for so long, I’m not sure if I’m naturally smart or just practiced doing this so much that I’m used to it.” 

Before you could continue your explanation, you saw a small smile creeping onto Eren’s lips. 

You covered your mouth. “Did I say something stupid?” 

Eren scoffed. “Not like I’d know. It’s just…” He shifted, turning a little more towards you. “You talk a lot sometimes.” 

You frowned, slumping a little. “Is that bad?”

Eren quickly shook his head. “No, no, of course not. It’s interesting–seeing you ramble about these kinds of things.” His eyes traveled your face. “You must be passionate about it, despite not liking it, right?” 

You shrugged, “I didn’t work this hard for nothing.”

Eren blinked, humming. “So… if you’re doing all this, how do you see your future?”

As Eren raised one of his legs to lean on his knee, you thought about his words.  

Your future.

You said a long time ago that you didn’t know what you were gonna do after college. 

It’s not like you wanted to do something specific, like be a lawyer or nurse or scientist. You just wanted to get through it. 

Which took you back to your other conversation about college that you’d had with Eren. 

You realized from there that you didn’t know what the hell you wanted to do with your life . 

Not just after college. 

“Like… my life after college?” You questioned, and Eren nodded.

Yep, you were stumped. 

You had no damn idea what you wanted to do. 

Or what you were gonna do. 

Force yourself to do a big job that you aren't passionate about?

Stay in the same house as your mom and not have to worry about anything remotely adulterous until she met her final days? 

No, she wouldn’t let that happen. That’s what your dad did. 

You wouldn’t let that happen. 

“I don’t know.” This was the first time you were this unsure about something. Seriously. 

You hadn’t been this unsure since choosing which college you wanted to go to (because, quite frankly, you had many, many offers). 

“You don’t know?” Eren repeated your question, and you nodded with a disappointed hum. More disappointed in your lack of thought. 

I mean, it’s not like it was Eren’s fault that he was curious about what you wanted to do in the far future. 

It was your fault for not knowing how to answer that question.

See, your problem was, you felt like you had to know everything about yourself and whatever was around you. 

You felt like if you didn’t know one important thing that almost everyone knew or eventually figured out (that part, you didn’t take into much consideration right now), you might as well have not known anything, and all of the knowledge you’d gained over the years was for nothing. 

Ridiculous, isn’t it? 

Well, that’s what roamed through your mind every time you faced a thought like this. 

It was worse when you were younger, yes. 

Don’t know why a flower is red or pink? Why the hell did you even pass the fifth grade?

Don’t know how babies are made? The fuck are you a middle schooler for? 

Don’t know the exact amount of fucking hairs King Henry VIII had on his left leg? Drop out of high school. 

Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration. But you get the point. 

The point is, you hated not knowing something. Because you felt like you’d gone through too many years of pain and suffering to not know something that someone who wasn’t as smart as you probably knew.

But that was in your lower years of school. 

Now you’re in college. You’ve matured. And now you don’t care what anyone else knows. 

It’s what you don’t know. 

And you know exactly what you don’t know. 

“You don’t know what you wanna do after you graduate from college?” Eren tilted his head towards you. 

You kind of felt humiliated, but you shook your head anyway. “No.”

Eren blinked. “You seem down about that.”

“Who wouldn’t be?”

“A lot of people don’t know what they wanna do after college. College is like the end point for people who aren’t doing big things like being doctors or engineers or something.” 

You listened to his words. 

“But that doesn’t mean you can’t figure it out along the way. You wouldn’t wanna continuously think about stressful things all the time, would you?”

No. You shook your head. 

“No.” 

“Exactly. So why do you seem so down about not knowing that?” 

You never expected these words to leave your mouth, but “I feel like I’m behind.” 

Ironic, isn’t it? 

The smartest fucking girl on her campus felt like she was behind. 

And you could tell your words shocked Eren too, because his lips parted, but he didn’t say anything for a good few seconds. 

“Y–” He pointed at you. “You feel behind?” 

Here we go. 

Another scene of your feelings being disregarded just because you were seen as the smartest, and apparently, being the smartest equaled being above all, and being above all equaled not being human. 

And guess what, if you’re not human, what problems do you truly have?

Therefore, being the smartest technically meant that you didn't have problems.

“I do,” you breathed out, ready for Eren to ask how you felt that way if you were technically the best.

“What, you think that just because you push yourself in school means that you have to do the same outside of it?” 

Your eyes widened at his words. 

That was unexpected. 

“What?” You blinked. 

Eren chuckled. “You don’t wanna be like your dad, I get that, he’s a deadbeat. But you don’t have to be the best just to not be like him.” 

Eren leaned back on his hands. 

“You know how low your father has to be in the dirt? You could be exactly like him, with the only exception being that you have a job. Did your dad have a job?”

You cringed, slowly shaking your head. 

Eren motioned an ‘exactly’. “So basically, no matter what you do, you're fine. But that doesn’t mean you have to be a hundred times better. Did he go to college?”

You shook your head again, slouching over into your knees even more. 

“ Exactlyyyy . You could literally go to being homeless when you graduate college, and either way, that’d be better than whatever the hell he was doing. You know why? Because you tried.” 

“I do. I try a lot.” You mumbled, more to yourself than to Eren. 

He nodded. 

“So, whether you do something good or bad with your life after you graduate doesn’t matter. You’re going to school, you’re trying, you have sense. You already won.” 

You swallowed, Eren’s words going in one ear and refusing to go out of the other. 

“So I’m gonna ask you this again,” 

You looked at Eren, and his gaze remained on you. 

“How do you see your future?” 

Your gaze remained on him, just like his. 

You saw your future as peaceful and calm. 

Stress-free and fun. 

No worries about academics or professors. 

Something you liked.

Something you yearned for. 

“I wanna get married.” You blurted out quietly. 

Eren’s face flushed with surprise. 

“Married?”

You nodded. “I wanna get married, and live a happy life. A nice home, or something.” You chuckled at your own words. “Sorry if it sounds stupid.” 

Eren pushed off his arms and turned over to his side, his eyes never leaving you. “Keep going.” 

You huffed. 

“I don’t wanna have to worry anymore. Only about good things. I know that’s unrealistic, but it’s true. It’s something I haven’t had the heart to say, ‘cause I know people won’t take me seriously.” 

Eren blinked, scanning your face. 

You continued. “I wanna live like those happy wives and those happy families–in the white picket fences and things. I yearn for things like that… I just wanna be stable.”

Eren looked down at his pillow, softly picking at it. “That’s…” He shook his head, barely a centimeter. “That’s not stupid. It’s pretty.”

You let out a small laugh, but it was shaky. “You think that’s pretty? The picket fence part?” 

Eren’s mouth twitched. “Not just that part, but the fact that you want that. It’s real. Most people just wanna… chase money or do big things, or maybe even do fuck all.” 

You rested your chin on your knee. “So you think that’s realistic enough for me to pursue?” 

Eren nodded. “Of course. You’re–” he cut himself off, looking at you. “Yeah, that’s what I see in you.” 

Your gaze shifted away from Eren’s, and you hummed. “That’s nice, then. But it takes two for my dream.” 

He bit his lip. “The whole marriage thing?” 

You nodded. 

Eren smiled a little before chuckling. “Yeah, it does take two.” He nodded, moving his hand from the side of his face to fidget with the other.
“You don’t wanna be with someone that’s gonna ruin all that. Especially after marriage.” 

You almost gagged at the thought of that. “I’d hate that. Some people aren’t genuine with what they want, even through the whole engagement-marriage-pregnancy thing.” 

Eren nodded. “Damn right.” 

You sucked your teeth before looking at him. “But what about you? You know we can’t finish the conversation off with just my opinion on things.” 

Eren groaned, rolling over on his back and rubbing his eyelids. 

“Honestly,” He yawned. “I don’t know.” 

“You don’t know?” 

He shook his head. 

Well, he was more sure about that than you were. 

“How come?” You asked. 

Eren licked his lips, running a hand through his hair. “I don’t see my future past college. I don’t even see myself living past twenty-three.” 

Your face scrunched at his words. “You shouldn’t say that.” 

He shrugged like his words meant nothing. “It’s the truth. My truth. I could live further than that, but to me, there’s no way I am.” 

You frowned. “So you’re serious?” 

Eren nodded, his eyes never meeting yours. 

You squint. “Why do you think that? That’s like, right after college ends.” 

“Because I’m a damn sellout? I don’t know. I know I’m basically nothing on purpose, but that’s half because I’m not gonna be anything other than that anyway.” 

You shook your head. “But you said it yourself that you were smart as a kid.” 

“Yeah, but that’s when I was a kid. Just like you, I don’t know if that’s traveled with me or if I just pretended to be dumb for so long that I have no smarts left. Either way, I don’t care to find out.” 

You pursed your lips together. 

Honestly, to avoid another argument, there wasn’t much you could tell him. 

It was like he always gave you the best advice, but he never thought to use that advice for himself. 

And that’s what baffled you. 

You knew Eren didn’t try simply because of the fact that his dad always pressured him to–that you wouldn’t forget. 

But there’s no reason he can’t try at all. 

Then again, it would be different from your situation, because if he tried even just the slightest, he’d be doing what his dad had always wanted him to do. 

And obviously, he tried, because if he didn’t, he probably wouldn’t be in college right now. 

But he didn’t try hard. 

And what would you say? What could you say that wouldn’t wrap back around to that moment?

“That’s understandable.” You muttered, lowering your legs to cross them. 

Eren looked at you. 

He looked at you like he wanted to say something more, or perhaps wanted you to say something more.

Perhaps, he wanted you to convince him, and he wouldn’t react the same way he did last time. 

He’d actually listen this time and hear you out. 

But there was a doubt in his mind that you’d ever try to convince him to be better than he was again. 

Now, he started to feel worse for ever saying what he said to you. 

Yeah, you forgave him. But how would he know you really didn’t mind the things he said anymore if his actions didn’t match up to his words? 

What could he do to make you understand the ‘yes, I care about what you said, and I was just being immature and sensitive when I called you privileged’ thought that was brewing in his mind?

He could change. 

But how the hell could he change if you didn’t mention it again? 

Whatever, it doesn’t matter. 

You won't see each other after the week ends anyway.

When you figured that the conversation was over, and started to tuck your legs under the sheets, Eren huffed, pushing himself to the side and to the edge of the bed. 

“I’m going outside.” He mumbled, standing up and stretching. 

You looked at him in confusion, but you nodded and turned to the other side. 

Eren’s eyes lingered on your backside until you reached over to turn the lamp off, and he finally grabbed his phone and a hoodie that hung across his suitcase. 

He pat the pockets of his hoodie, and alas, his cigarettes.

Chapter Text

“You don’t have to push yourself, Eren.” 

Eren sat on a stool, hands clamped together on his lap. He stared at the counter of the kitchen where his mother was currently cooking. 

“Hm?” he hummed, his eyes trailing to the side like that’d help him hear his mother's words. 

“I said, you don’t have to push yourself.” Her voice was soft, gentle, and sweet. 

She rarely fussed at Eren; she was always on the calmer side of things.

Carla Yeager. 

His scalp tingled as she ran her fingers through it after every slow brush. 

“You don’t have to be the smartest student in the world. You can have fun,” she said. “But you can have fun and learn at the same time.” 

Eren stayed quiet. He never really replied to his mother’s words. He liked hearing her speak. 

He knew he couldn’t take it for granted, because when his father spoke, he would be forced to say something back–to provide an explanation for every statement and question. 

So he stayed silent. 

“Your teacher told me you have potential, and even I know that. You’re a smart child, Eren. Just like your mom and dad. But if you don’t use that knowledge you have in your big head for something,” Carla poked his head softly, causing her and her son to giggle. 

“You’d be wasting it. You shouldn’t let anything go to waste.” 

She smiled, brushing through his hair again. 

“You have soft hair. Letting your knowledge go because you never learned its lengths would be like cutting your hair off because you never learned how to brush it.” 

Wednesday, 4:54PM

Eren frowned at himself in the mirror, ripping the brush from his hair. 

Yanking at tangled ends and squeezing one eye shut every time he got frustrated with himself. 

His scalp was practically aching now, and he bit his cheek with a force so hard, it could probably draw blood. 

He could never brush his fucking hair. 

He was so resistant to smacking himself in the head with the brush whenever it didn’t go through, like he used to do as a child. 

His hair was damp and tangled. He thought washing it would make it better, but it honestly just made things worse. 

“Fuck–” he slammed the brush down on the bathroom counter and jammed his fingers through the tangled bits of his hair, pulling with painful amounts of force. “Un-fucking-tangle.” he whispered to himself, tugging harshly. 

The pain in his scalp was damn near excruciating now, but he didn’t care.

Not really. 

Not until he heard your knock on the bathroom door did he snap out of the mini episode he was having and turn his attention to you, who stood cautiously outside the door.

“Are you okay in there? I heard something loud.” You frowned a little. 

Eren went silent and blinked before walking towards the bathroom door and opening it. 

By now, the steam from the shower was gone. 

From the amount of time he’d spent in his head, he’d almost forgotten you were even there.

“What?” he blinked, removing his hand from his hair and dropping it beside him. 

His fingers were turning red where the strands of hair pushed harshly against his skin while he pulled. 

You looked at him, then his hair, then him. “I heard something loud, wanted to make sure you didn’t die or something.” You mumbled loud enough for Eren to hear.

There was an awkward silence for a couple of seconds before Eren looked back in the bathroom, and then at you again. 

“I was brushing my hair,” he mumbled, rubbing his fingers together to soothe the ache coursing through them.

You tilt your head. “With that much noise?” 

He swallowed, not scared or embarrassed, but debating on whether he should say the next bits of what he had to say. 

“It wasn’t working.” He motioned over to the sink. “I can’t brush my hair.”

Your eyes narrowed a little, confusion washing over your face. “You can’t… brush your hair?” 

Eren chewed his cheek, waiting for you to pester or make fun of him. 

I mean, how could he not do something so simple, just as brushing his hair? 

But when he saw your expression remaining the way it was, he shifted his weight to one hip. 

You scratched the corner of your nose awkwardly. “Ah… you need help?” 

No. 

“Yeah.” 

Fuck. 

You walked into the bathroom and over to the sink, grabbing the brush and waving Eren over to you. 

He was hesitant at first, but he walked over to you and faced the mirror, looking down at the sink. 

“So…” you started, reaching up slowly to grab a thick part of his hair. You started to brush the ends softly, untangling any tangles you could only assume he caused. “You start from the bottom and work your way up.” 

Your voice was soft. Softer than usual. It made him feel weird. 

Not in a romantic way, or a sad way, more like a way where he felt like he was hearing a part of you he’d never heard before.

His eyes remained on the sink faucet. He tapped the counter.

Why the hell couldn’t he brush his hair like you brushed it? 

“It always hurts when I do that.” He mumbled, already frustrated with himself from his previous attempts to untangle the hidden jungle of tangles he’d had in his hair. 

His scalp was still aching, but with your hands in his head, it seemed like it had never ached before. 

Maybe women were just better at doing these things. That’s what he told himself. 

“If you start from the roots and work your way down, it’s gonna hurt. Especially since your hair’s wet.” You mumbled, almost to yourself. But Eren listened.

There was silence for a while. 

Only the sounds of tangles untangling and feelings of cold drops of water on Eren’s neck and your hand. 

Eren chewed his cheek, frowning a little. 

You caught his expression quickly, “That hurts?” 

He shook his head softly, careful not to interrupt the way you were brushing his hair. 

Like if he moved just once, your whole ‘soft’ and ‘careful’ demeanor would break, and he’d be met with the annoyed and complaining girl he teased and joked with for his own pleasure. 

But that doesn’t change the fact that he was frustrated. 

And you, 

You didn’t wanna make fun of him.

You could sense his frustration–hell, it was radiating off of him. Heaven knows you’ve gotten frustrated with your hair before, beating yourself with the brush when it didn't go through. 

And you’d hate to be laughed at in a moment like that, as silly as it sounds. 

You finally dragged the brush from Eren’s roots to the end of his hair, and it slid through like a hot knife through butter. “See,” you stepped over a little, moving to another section. “It’s not hard once you learn.” 

Eren hummed, barely acknowledging your words and glancing up at the mirror. 

God, he loved not doing things, but he hated not knowing how to do things.

Made him feel more useless than he wanted to present himself as. 

“So why’d you never learn? You have long hair. And from the picture, your mom does too. She never taught you?” You were curious, careful not to accidentally insult him or something.

Eren let the questions linger for a couple of seconds before tapping the counter again. 

“My mom always brushed my hair. I never felt like doing it. She tried to teach me, but I just didn’t care.” 

He closed his eyes as he felt your nails brush through his tender scalp. They sent tingles throughout his skull, just like when his mother did it. 

His eyes flinched closed at the familiar feeling, and he exhaled. 

“The whole ‘it’s better when my mom does it’ thing?” You questioned, and Eren nodded softly. 

You hummed. “I understand. I never wanted to learn how to make my own food for that same reason. Not until I got into college.” 

You moved your hand up his hair, starting to brush higher up. 

There was more silence. 

“Did you learn how to brush your hair from your mom?” Eren suddenly spoke. 

The question kind of caught you off guard. 

You pursed your lips together, a small smile creeping through as you nodded. “Yeah… she was a very… daughter mom. A really girly woman, so it was really bound.” 

Eren hummed, closing his eyes again at the feeling of your nails on his scalp.

You moved to another section of his hair and let out a small sigh. Not of exhaustion or anything, you were just glad you could help him, even if it was something small like this. 

“So, yeah. Start at the ends and then work your way up. You’ll rip your hair out if you tug through it with your fingers.” 

Eren huffed, his shoulders resting a little. 

“Makes me feel stupid.” 

You cocked a brow. “What?” 

He threw a hand up, motioning to you. “This whole… thing. Makes me feel like a useless kid.” 

Your brows raised. 

Eren was saying this right now? 

You glanced at the mirror, and he was pouting like a little kid, of course. 

There was a pang in your heart. You felt bad. 

You didn’t even know why. 

Maybe because of the reference he made to feeling useless, or because of the look on his face that you’d never seen before. 

The look of vulnerability and sorrow? 

Maybe. 

“You’re not useless. No one just… knows how to do things.” You tried your best to reassure him, but you honestly weren’t sure what to say. You didn’t know enough about his situation to know the exact words to comfort him with.

All you knew was that if something like him not being able to brush his hair made him feel like this, it had to be deeper than what you saw.  

Hell, you were surprised he was even opening up to you. 

Yeah, Eren had opened up to you… you think? 

Yes, he has. He told you about his life whenever you asked… if you could call that opening up. 

But he never looked like this.

You’d expect this to be the look on his face when he was talking about how much of an asshole his dad was, not when he was talking about not knowing how to brush his hair. 

“But you–” Eren paused. “You know how to do everything. You’re smart, you can cook, you can do… things.” he frowned more. “I can’t do shit, even if I try.” 

Your brushing slowed, and you looked at Eren through the mirror. 

He didn’t look back, but you could still see his face. That sad look on his face. 

“I’m not some goddess, y’know.” You mumbled, starting back to brush his hair. “I’m not perfect, like some pretty princess who just knows everything. Don’t forget, there’s things you know that I don’t–” 

“Yeah, but the things you don’t know aren’t just basic things. I don’t know how to do basic things like you. Like… things I should’ve been taught as a child.” 

The brush snagged a knot, and you paused, gently working it free. 

“No kid just teaches themselves things. They’re supposed to be taught.” 

Eren’s eyes flickered up to you through the mirror, and he softly rubbed his fingers together. “I know. It just feels like I'm behind or something.” 

His words reminded you of your own last night, and you blinked.

You looked into the mirror. “Behind who? There’s no timeline for this.” 

Eren scratched in his head a little, frustrated all over again. Not at you, but at his mind. “That’s easy for you to say, though. You’ve got it… together. You know how to do things, and- and exist like a normal person.” He held his arms out as he explained everything. 

“And here I am, standing at–” he paused, frustration lingering in his voice as he took a deep breath. “Standing here, not knowing how to brush my own hair.” 

Your eyes softened. 

You chewed your cheek. 

“You think I just woke up knowing how to do everything?” 

His brows furrowed, but he didn’t answer. He couldn’t. 

“I didn’t,” you continued. “I don’t know why you think you just have to know things right now, even if they’re basic things. You know how many people struggle to even pick up a brush? The fact that you’re even attempting this is amazing, Eren. It’s not the end of the world.” 

You paused, hesitating to say the rest. 

“Just like I told you last night, it’s been times when I felt like I was behind too.” You assured. “Fuck all the academic and future things, I’ve felt just like you, life-wise. Behind, like I was too late for certain things? I’ve felt that.” 

Eren licked his lips, glancing up at you like he was scared to look. Like if he looked at you the wrong way, you’d change your mind on everything you said, and tell him the complete opposite of what you were telling him right now. 

But you didn’t. 

“It isn’t your fault that you didn’t learn how to do things like this. And I won’t blame you or your mom either, ‘cause you’re right, some things are better when your mom does it.” You nodded, slowly. “But you’re learning right now.” 

You couldn’t believe you were giving him a whole pep talk from a hair-brushing moment. But it didn’t bother you. 

You hated seeing people down. 

You were sympathetic. And you hated feeling down. So seeing other people that way made you feel horrible. And you’d do anything to bring someone up. 

No matter how nerdy you thought you sounded, you didn’t want anyone to feel bad. 

You didn’t want Eren to feel bad. 

It was nothing personal. 

You’d been that way since you were a kid, hugging crying kids on the playgrounds because they hurt their knee when all the other kids would either stare or giggle.

Behind the whole annoyed demeano and the irritated looks from when you first met, that’s who you were.

And Eren was finally seeing that

He might’ve seen that version a while ago. 

But this time, he was taking it all in.

Actually, he may have seen this version of you when you two went out those days, but he was too damn energetic or occupied to acknowledge it.

But he was acknowledging it now.

And he wasn’t gonna say a word about it. 

Because he knew he’d kill for someone to talk to him the way you did.

The way his mom did. 

He almost felt lucky to be seeing you be this careful and nice to him.

That wasn’t the point, though. 

“Oh,” Eren mumbled, circling his index finger on the counter. 

And there was silence again. 

You weren’t sure if Eren acknowledged or listened to anything you said, but you were glad to speak anyway. 

When you made it to the last part of his hair, where you were now on the other side of him, he cleared his throat. “You’re doing this how my mom does it.” 

The corner of your lip twitched a little, and you hummed. “Really?” 

Eren nodded, lips thin like he was scared to speak any further. 

“She does the thing where she starts from the bottom, and-” He pointed to your hands. “And the things with her nails. She keeps her nails done so she can massage my scalp with them.” 

That’s adorable, you thought. 

“That’s such a sweet thing to do,” you said in a low tone, in which Eren nodded, like he was proud of telling you the routine of his mom. 

When you finished, you brushed through his hair in different spots multiple times before stepping back and putting your hands on your hips. “Done.” 

By now, his hair was dry, and it definitely looked better than you’d seen it the times you did. 

Eren looked back up into the mirror, slowly brushing his fingers through his hair. He expected a knot to send a sharp pain through his scalp, but there was nothing. No pain. No tenderness. 

Well, maybe a little tenderness from the previous meltdown he had, but not from you.

He exhaled, awe taking over his whole expression. “It’s soft.” He mumbled. 

You nodded, grinning like a child, proudly at your ‘creation’. “I know, right?” You then looked into the mirror, setting the brush down. “Y’know, this whole time, I thought your hair was black.” 

Eren looked at you, still brushing his hands through his head. “Really?” 

You nodded. “Yeah. Haven’t really paid attention to it unless it was wet, so I always thought it was either black or really dark brown.” You looked back into the mirror. “But looking at it now… It’s browner than ever.” 

Eren chuckled, reaching for the hair tie and raising his hands behind his head, pulling some strands. But then he paused. 

He looked at you with curious eyes. “Can you tie it up, too?” 

You blinked. “I don’t know how you tie your hair up.” 

Eren clicked his tongue, passing you the hair tie. “Of course you do, you’ve seen it. Just pull some strands back, and some strands will fall out by themselves.”

You hummed, moving behind him and grabbing two pieces of his hair.

The last thing you remembered when he had his hair up, which was almost every day, was a normal bun. 

But what you mostly remembered was that half-up, half-down style. 

You tied the strands together with the hair tie and peeked around his shoulder to check the style. 

You narrowed your eyes before letting it go and stepping away. “Does that even look like the style you had when you first came?” 

Eren hummed, twirling a stand of hair between his fingers and slowly nodding. 

“Looks more… neat.” 

You nodded, stepping aside and looking at him before looking back into the mirror. “You should wear it like that more. It looks… regular? I can’t explain it.” 

Eren looked at you. “Like, good?” 

You hummed, shrugging and nodding. “Yeah, you could say that.” You then point at him. “But you have to remember to brush your hair. If you brush it enough, you won’t have to worry about tangles.” 

Eren stared at you for a while before looking in the mirror.

“You think it looks good?” 

You squinted. “What?” 

“This style,” he pointed to his head. “Does it look good to you?”

You pursed your lips together, slowly nodding. “I mean… yeah?”

Eren hummed, playing with his hair in the mirror before nodding. “Okay.” 

He picked at his hair one more time before walking over to the door and exiting the bathroom. 

You stood there with a slight frown, blinking before quickly following behind Eren. “Hey, where’re you going?” 

Eren looked back at you as he entered the bedroom. “Me?” 

You shot him a face, standing in the doorway. 

He grinned, grabbing his hoodie and inspecting it before tossing it over his head. 

When he pulled it down, he huffed. “Walking.” He walked over to his shoes and sat down on the edge of the bed to put them on. 

You tilt your head. “Can I come?” 

“I mean,” He looked back at you. “Weren’t you gonna do that anyway?”

You narrowed your eyes and walked over to the end of the bed to grab your shoes. “What’s that s’posed to mean?” 

“It means I expect you to do that anyway.” 

You pursed your lips. “Now it seems bad that I wanna go.” 

Eren stood up and stretched with a loud groan. “Y’know,” he walked over to your side of the bed. “You act like a kid.” 

You cocked a brow, looking up at Eren. “You act like a kid.”

He glanced down. “You can’t even put your shoe on.” 

You rolled your eyes, stomping your feet into your shoe, because you indeed could not put it on. 

When you stood up, you grabbed your phone from the nightstand. “Okay. I’m ready.”

“No you’re not.” 

You frowned, cocking your head back a little. “Yes I am.” 

Eren stuffed his hands in the pockets of his sweats. “Get a jacket.” 

Your brows furrowed, and you shook your head, preparing to walk past Eren. “I don’t need one.” 

He stepped in front of you and nodded over to your suitcase. “You have a jacket in your suitcase, just get it.” 

“I–” 

“I- I- Just get the jacket.” Eren motioned to your suitcase, and you crossed your arms, glancing back at it. 

“Well…” You leaned side to side. “I didn’t exactly pack a jacket.” 

Eren blinked. “You didn’t pack a jacket.” He repeated your words, and you sheepishly nodded. 

You slowly shook your head and scratched under your ear. 

“No… and I’m just realizing that.”

Eren’s brows furrowed and he tilt his head. “You serious?” 

You nodded, brows raised. “I swear.” 

​Eren sighed. 

── ⟢ ・⸝⸝

“This things swallowing me.” You held your arms out while walking beside Eren.

His hands were stuffed in his pockets just like earlier, and you two were walking towards the gas station nearby.

You were currently wearing one of the hoodies he’d dug from his suitcase.

“You’re so annoying,” Eren mumbled.

You looked up at him, tucking your hands underneath his hoodie. “Seriously?” 

“Stop, no. You know I don’t think that.” He squint at you, making you chuckle and wave your hands. 

“Sorry, sorry.” 

You both got silent, Eren staring at the pavement, and you staring at the gas station you two were passing.

“We’re not stopping by the gas station?” You asked, glancing over at Eren. 

He stopped, looking over at it. “You want to?” 

You shook your head, ‘no’, and Eren continued walking. “Then no.” 

And there came the silence once again. 

It wasn’t awkward. 

It hadn’t been for a long time, not to you anyway. Every silence that washed over the two of you was either peaceful or simply held no meaning. 

The scent of last night's rain was the only thing you could smell, along with the view of murky puddles and the weak crushing of wet leaves.

Despite the Summer, it felt like Fall. 

“Hey,” Eren called out.

Your eyes stayed on the ground as you answered. “Hm?” 

“I noticed…” His words caught your attention, and you looked up at him. “…ever since that party?” 

You tilt your head. “Ever since the party…” You trailed off. 

“You’ve been… like…. Different.” 

You blinked, looking back down at the pavement with a soft chuckle. “Is that a bad thing?” 

Eren kicked a pebble. “No, it’s better than you insulting me every second, but it’s definitely weird.” 

“I’m weird?” You frowned. 

“The situation's weird. Remember when you came up to me wanting to leave?”

You twirled your fingers around the strings of the hoodie. “I mean… I don’t know, I was drunk, but I think so.” You then glanced at Eren. “Thought you’d be too wasted to remember anything about it, too.” 

Eren shook his head, eyes still on the sidewalk. “No… no, I wouldn’t want you to be drunk with nobody to watch you. But you do remember, right?” 

You slowly nodded. “Yes…”

“What was that about?” Eren looked at you. 

Your eyes flickered off to random trees beside you. What was that about? It was all a blur; how would you know? 

You hesitated a shrug. “I don’t know.” 

“You don’t know anything about what happened? Did you throw up or something?” 

Well, at that moment, you wanted to. 

But that’s not what you were thinking right now. 

“I don’t think I did.” 

Eren frowned a little. “Then what happened? To make you so… soft? Minus from when we argued and you were being stubborn, everything after that party’s been nothing but… peaceful.” 

“Well…” you tilt your head, still looking around you. “Can’t we keep it that way?” 

What’re you saying? 

Why were you saying this?

“I mean…” You tried to backtrack on your words. “I just don’t understand what you’re getting at here.”

“Did someone say something to you?” Eren stopped in his tracks and looked at you. 

You were only a few feet in front of him before you turned around, returning his stare. “What?” 

“Did someone say something to you? A girl, or something?” He repeated. 

You blinked slowly, trying to remember. 

Did someone say something? 

You shook your head. “No.” 

“You swear?”

“I think.” 

Eren hummed before slowly starting to walk again, and you followed closely beside him. 

Honestly, you didn’t know where he was going with this. 

“Well,” he started again. “Since we’ve done everything we thought of…” Eren chuckled. “... there's nothing else for us to do tomorrow.”

You hummed. “I guess so.” 

Suddenly, Eren frowned. “Wait, did you ever send that picture to your mom?” 

“Picture…?” You squint, looking off to the side before gasping and looking at Eren. “I actually forgot about it.” 

Eren burst into laughter as he watched you frantically pull out your phone. “Gosh, my mom’s probably furious right now.” 

“Wouldn’t she have texted you?” 

“She doesn’t call me when she's mad, she texts me. And I haven’t thought to check my messages in a while.” 

You swiped to your mom’s messages and, lo and behold, there were endless messages. 

Well, she wasn’t mad. 

She spammed you daily, reminding you that she needed that picture. 

And her last message was her saying, ‘If I don’t get a picture or hear anything from you by the end of today, I’m calling the police, dear.’ 

And that was…. 

“Oh gosh, that was the day before yesterday.” 

Eren leaned over to look at your phone, ready to question you, before his eyes widened. “Damn. You think she did?” 

You looked up at him with furrowed brows before pressing the call button under your mom's contact. 

“She’s gonna be so mad at me.” You whispered, putting the phone on speaker. 

You barely got your words out before she picked up. 

“I was worried for you! Do you know how many days it's been since I asked for a picture from you, and you waited this long to contact me? I would’ve been happier with you just telling me to mind my business than to ghost me!” 

You groaned, shaking your head. “Yeah, Mom. I know, I’ve just been… like… busy? These past days I’ve been busy.” 

You heard her gasp over the phone. “Busy doing what, young lady?!” 

Now, how do you even explain that the ‘strange man’ you met a week ago has been taking you random places for both of your entertainment? 

“Uh–” 

“Doesn’t matter! Let me see the guy.” 

“Mom, come on–”

“You know I’m not kidding about the police.”

You frowned. “You actually called them?” 

“No, I forgot. But I won’t hesitate to tell them that my one and only daughter’s kidnapped and the guy she’s kidnapped by is only letting her talk to me so that I won’t call them.” 

Eren stepped a few feet away to sneak a cackle, and you sighed, shaking your head. 

“Mom–” 

“I’m facetimeing you right now to make sure you’re okay.” 

Before you could reply, your own face popped up on your screen with the buttons Answer or Decline. 

And oh, you wish you could decline. 

“This is so embarrassing…” You muttered to yourself before pressing accept. 

Your mom’s full body appeared on your phone. 

Her arms were crossed over her chest, like she knew for a fact you’d answer, and she was punishing you over the screen with her demeanor. 

She suddenly frowned, tilting her head at the camera. “Are you outside?” 

You nodded silently, holding the phone up a little more so that you could see yourself. 

She narrowed her eyes. “With, or without the man?” 

You chuckled nervously. “You don’t have to say man like he's just… old or something.” 

You glanced up at Eren, and his hand was on his chest, a fake offended expression on his face as he mouthed a ‘wow’.  

“So you are with him?” Your mom's expression switched into a confused one, and you slowly nodded. 

She frowned, dropping her hands down to her hips. “Let me see the boy.” 

You sighed, throwing your head back as Eren walked over to you, tilting his head. 

“What’d she say?” He whispered with a slight frown. 

“She wants to see you.” You mumbled, glancing down at the phone. 

Eren grinned, walking over beside you and easing his face into the camera. 

You tilt the camera more in his direction, staring at your mom's expression to try and predict what she would say (and honestly, you never could). 

The silence fell, nothing but your mom and Eren blinking, as if they were trying to find the right words for each other. 

“That’s him?” She finally spoke. You looked into the camera and nodded.

Eren held up his hand to wave. “Hi.”

Your mother’s confused expression turned into interest, and she slowly waved. 

“You look way younger than I expected you to look. What’s your name?” She asked, moving closer to the camera to get a better look at Eren’s face. 

Eren smiled. “Eren, it’s nice to meet you. Well, kind of meet you.” 

You handed him the phone and slowly started to walk, him following beside you as your mother continued to talk. 

“Well, you’re not as creepy as I thought you were… I don’t think. What’re you doing walking with my daughter?” She questioned, crossing her arms back over her chest. 

“Uh… she came with me. She kind of forced me to let her walk with me.” Eren chuckled, glancing down at you, who flipped him off. 

Your mother hummed. “Sounds like her. So,” She picked up the phone. “You’ve been staying together for two weeks? Did she tell you that I wanted to see your face?” 

Eren nodded, scratching his head nervously. “She did, but I’m the one who reminded her. Like, just now.” 

Your mom gasped, shaking her head. “Wow, isn’t that something?” She frowned, and Eren nodded, looking at you. 

“It is.” He poked your shoulder, and you slapped his hand away. 

“Stop trying to embarrass me, Eren.” You laughed, stepping away from him. 

“So you two are quite acquainted, aren’t you?” Your mom smiled at hearing your voice. She then narrowed her eyes. “You’re not just making her do this because you kidnapped her, right?”
“Mom, he didn’t kidnap me.” You mumbled, dragging your hands down your face. 

Eren cringed a little at the thought. “Ma’am, I don’t think you have to worry about anyone kidnapping your daughter. She’s quite… fiesty.” 

Gosh, they’re both just embarrassing. 

You rolled your eyes. 

“Well,” 

Your mom cleared her throat. 

“You don’t wanna have sex with my daughter, right?” 

Eren’s eyes went wide. 

You gasped, stopping in your tracks and crouching to the ground. 

You covered your face and shook your head. “Oh my fucking gosh…” You whined. 

Well, along with your mother not being much of an empath, she was straightforward. 

Though you may have noticed that earlier on. 

Eren looked down at you before looking back towards the camera. 

While you were busy mumbling things about how your mom was insufferable and begging her (inaudibly) to hang up, Eren scratched at the back of his head. 

“Well, that’s a question, isn’t it?” He breathed out, brows raising.

Your mom cocked a brow, tapping a finger on her crossed arm. “Well… Eren. Make sure you’re nice to my daughter, or else.”