#eren.c

⥅ very protective of you, you’re both his strength and weakness. he doesn’t say it but it becomes obvious with the way he acts around you: always making sure you’re out of harms’ way, constantly looking for you if you’re in a crowded place, making sure you’ve eaten and drank water. but there are those nights where you are so close to falling asleep and he’ll whisper how much you mean to him before squeezing you in his arms.

⥅ his mom is your number one supporter, she’s there for you whenever you have relationship problems (talks some sense into eren) and has told you a few times how happy she is that you two met. confesses that she had never seen his son that open and comfortable, romantically speaking, with someone and she treats you like part of the family. the perfect mother-in-law, i have no doubts

⥅ when it comes to pda he’s a bit shy around others, but when it’s just you two he’s like a puppy trailing after you. if you’re chilling on the couch with your phone, he’s sitting next to you and kissing your shoulder or playing with your free hand. if he finds you in the bathroom doing your makeup or brushing your teeth, he stays and watches so he can steal a few kisses and just admire you.

⥅ very soft and needy when he’s sleepy. please hug him and give him a thousand kisses on his forehead and he’ll sigh happily <3

JEAN

⥅ doodles random stuff in your arms. sometimes it’s his name surrounded by tiny hearts, sometimes it’s a huge heart with your initials in it. your notebooks have a few notes from him, mostly from before you two dated

⥅ at the beginning, he used to bribe you to let him draw you. but then you got so used to it that you let him do it whenever he pleased. it’s probably his favourite hobby and usually does it when you’re doing everyday things like folding the clean laundry or watering a plant.  

⥅ tells you the cheesiest pick-up lines because he enjoys making you laugh. however, he becomes a mess if you are the one flirting with him—no matter how long you’ve been together—blushes and starts to stutter until he groans when he sees you laugh at his flustered reaction

⥅ always says he wants a very calm life with you when the topic of your future is brought up. “a two-story house with a big garden where we can relax while we watch the kids play.” 

⥅ he’s also the typical boyfriend that gives you his hoodies. you end up with more than half of them but he doesn’t mind, he actually does it on purpose since it’s his way of ‘showing off’ you’re together.

⥅ teases you with his stubble and when you try to stop him you just have to call him horse face, “ah?! that’s mean!” he’d start whining and telling you to call him babe. obviously blames eren and says he’s a bad influence on you.

⥅ religiously takes a nap at noon and makes you join him. he falls asleep easier when you’re around so he gives you his best puppy eyes until you give in. he also snores but it’s the soft, more like a sigh type pf snore.   

ARMIN

⥅ has a book of poems and always shows you the ones that remind him of you. because of this, whenever you happen to read a quote or poem, you write it down so you can show it to him later. the first time you did it he almost teared up

⥅ blushy baby! tell him he’s so pretty and he’ll smile so big and kiss you with all his might T^T 

⥅ sees you as his equal but there are times where he sits back and reflects on your relationship, seeing how far you’ve made it and how you’re basically one of his pillars. forever grateful to have you in his life and even if he’s a bit shy when it comes to saying that out loud, he tries to show it through acts of service

⥅ definitely more outgoing when he’s around you since he feels very comfortable with you. sometimes he gets so excited about something or starts geeking out about a book and apologizes as soon as he realizes what he’s doing. but give him a kiss and reassure him he’s fine and he’ll go back to excited puppy mode

⥅ picnics and dates by the beach! he says it comforts him and would walk by the shore with you. you got him a necklace with seashells the first time you went to the beach together and hasn’t taken it off ever since

⥅ has a journal where he writes his thoughts, quotes, or random words. he also likes to glue polaroids of you and add little notes around the picture. he panicked when you discovered it but you thought it was very cute 

“are you hurt?” tears gathered at the corners of your eyes while you helped armin up on his feet, you didn’t have to turn around to know eren had received a punch, his pained wail making you flinch.

armin took your hand and together faced the scene before your eyes, holding onto each other's hands while tears dampened your cheeks.

“leave him alone!” the tremble in your voice was obvious, even after multiple fights with those kids it always ended up the same way. armin and you crying in fear for eren and mikasa's safety.

only this time mikasa was nowhere to be seen.

“shut up!” 

“don’t talk to them like that!” with a kick on the shin, eren managed to keep the bully out of commission for a few seconds. but that was enough for your saviour to arrive.

“leave before i call the garrison.”

relief began to relax your tense stance, you all knew that it wasn’t the moment to be wasting their time in a kid’s fight, the shortage of food seemed to worsen each day and keeping the people on a tight leash became harder as the days went by.

the kid seemed to finally realize he wouldn't win this time, so with a scoff he took a couple of steps back, "this isn't over," his annoyed gaze traveled from eren to you, "and try not to piss your pants next time."

the three of you watched him run away while the rush of adrenaline began to wear out on your bodies and gave in to the tiredness. had mikasa not intervened, the outcome would've been way worse.

"hey," eren was the first one to break the silence, turning towards you and landing a hand on your shoulder. unfortunately, the softness in his voice was your catalyst and soon you allowed the distress to overcome you, "oh no, don't cry!"

it was useless to try to get your tears to stop, falling one after another as your chest racked with broken sobs, "i-i'm sorry i couldn't be o-of help!"

armin watched in worry as eren tried and failed to get you to calm down. he could tell you were scared when you confronted the bully, your hold on his hand so tight he feared you would end up hurting yourselves. but even so, you had pulled through your fear and stood your ground, something he admired from you.

with a tug on your shirt, mikasa signaled you to start walking, her impassive yet reassuring gaze letting you know she was there for you.

"let's go home."

—

the warm steam that blew onto your blotchy face felt soothing, the taste of mrs. yeager's freshly brewed tea successfully relaxing the tightness in your chest as it ran down your throat.

you could already feel the tiredness hitting you all at once, begging you to lie down and close your eyes so you could rest your mind after the afternoon's occurrences. but with eren's eyes observing you, you knew you weren't off the hook yet.

"better?"

not trusting your voice, you hummed and smiled behind the cup resting on your lips, sniffling slightly when a flashback of eren being punched on the face appeared on your mind.

however, he didn't seem to be done with the topic.

"why did you stand up to him if you were so scared? you were lucky he didn't go for you." 

"'cause i didn't want him to keep punching you."

"i don't need your help," his tone gave you the wrong impression. were you bothering him? a frown pulled your lips in a wobbly pout but he was quick to realize his error, "i mean, we should focus on armin, right? he's the one always in trouble."

you rocked your feet back and forth, watching them dangle from the chair as you mulled over his words. he wasn't lying, it was armin who often ended up as the victim of those bullies. at least when neither of you were around to aid him.

"i have a plan!" eren suddenly perked up, eyes brimming with excitement and pride as he obviously found his plan a good one, "dad always says that it's his duty to protect mom because they're married. so, if we get married, i can protect you and we can protect armin—together!"

you couldn't help but gasp, "married?! but we are too little!"

"not now, dummy. when we grow up!"

"what if i cry again and can't protect armin?" you voiced out your biggest worry as you pushed the cup away and made room on the table for your arm, resting your chin on top of it after yawning.

"i'll protect all of us," he didn't even hesitate, “and we have mikasa too.”

the silly promise made so much sense to your 10-year-old brain, which is why you held onto the hope and safety it gave you and agreed.

carla yeager squealed the news to her husband once eren and you had fallen asleep.

—

850.

there wasn't a day where you didn't regret not going with them.

the lively days soon became dull without eren and armin’s excited voices as they discussed the fire and icy lands in armin’s book, mikasa’s reassuring presence gone as well. but you knew you wouldn’t make it through the strenuous military training—or at least that was what you had told yourself.

truthfully, you wondered how were they not scared of continuing with their suicide mission of joining the legion, all those sacrifices just to see what was outside the walls. why couldn’t they be happy with what you already had? it wasn’t much, but you had each other, which was more than what most people could say.

with shiganshina gone, you became one of the refugees that lurked in the streets of trost. the conditions to live growing harsher, food and shelter becoming escarse and a luxury, but eren’s promise gave you enough strength to go on with your days until you landed a job as a waitress at a pub. 

you missed them, all of them.

their names flew from the mouths of the military police and other higher ups that passed by, making you wonder what they were up to. however, when news spread about eren’s abilities to shift into one of those creatures, that old sense of worry shook you to your very core.

was he hurt? mikasa wouldn't let anyone lay a finger on him, but what if they separated them?

multiple scenarios ran through your head, many of them not so pleasing and only worsening your nerves. but if their names kept coming up in the authorities’ conversations after each and every mission, then it meant they were still alive.

unfortunately, all you could do was pray for their well-being and silently beg them to return.

—

854.

after years of not hearing his voice, it took you several seconds to recognize it.

“where– where are we? why–”

“you’ve changed,” his tone was soft yet hints of curiosity sept through as he marveled at you, “you look older..." prettier, he wanted to say.

having spent so many years without the intensity of his gaze, you realized you had grown unused to it, “you’ve changed too.”

it seemed like everyone had disappeared, except for you and him. dunes of fine sand slithered under your feet and a bright light illuminated the starry sky, converging by the horizon and causing his green eyes to shine in a way you had never seen before.

“eren… what’s all this?”

one moment you were surrounded by chaos, people screaming while an army of colossal titans walked south and eren declared war against the rest of the world; and the next it all had gone quiet, a man—eren—standing next to you while holding your hand.

"they will pay, and then we will be free," his thumb rubbed the skin on the back of your hand gently.

you caught the way his gaze hardened for a second, rage clear in his features but what confused you the most was the amount of hurt swirling in his eyes.

​​what did he mean by 'they'? you were aware of marley's feelings towards the eldians but was it truly that bad? there were so many questions you wanted to ask, but something told you that you didn’t have enough time so you chose to stick to the most important ones. 

“how's mikasa? armin... is it true? he’s the colossal now?”

eren pulled you closer to him by tugging on your hand, cradling the side of your face with his free hand as a smile took over his lips.

"mikasa's busy kicking everyone's asses," he joked and you couldn't help but laugh, relieved at the sudden lightness in his voice. your eyes closed briefly when he leaned forward and rested his forehead against yours, licking his lips before continuing, "armin... yeah, he's the colossal. looks like i need to find another excuse to marry you, hm?” 

you found it unfair how after almost a decade, he could still hold such a power over your heart, the butterflies in your stomach feeling worse than what you recalled.

“you remember?”

he didn't miss the hope in your tone, his own heart aching at the thought of you assuming he had forgotten about your existence. there wasn't a day where he hadn't wondered about your well-being, were you safe? had a titan stole your life just like they had done with his mom? it was armin and mikasa who consoled him whenever the intrusive thoughts became too much to his already stressed mind.

“i never forgot.”

it was subtle, the way that kids promise evolved into a lifetime vow—but neither of you minded.

“i need you to promise me one more thing," he murmured, his breath fanning over your lips while your own faltered at his proximity.

“you’re leaving again,” it wasn't a question.

“i have to.”

it pained him to no end, but it had to be done. the warmth of his lips touched your forehead, your cheeks, and lips; staying longer on the latter while your hearts synchronized for a moment, sharing years worth of affection.

"stay here, on the island. find somewhere safe to stay until it all ends.”

a mere murmur on your lips, that was all it took to harm your hopeful soul.

"and don't wait for me."