Respectfully, an Absolute Mess

Blonde Devil

October 17, 2021

"Eren! I'm back, could you help me bring the groceries inside?" Armin opened the door, calling out to his roommate. But of course Eren didn't respond, as moments prior he had left to run an errand.

You chose not to speak up since your name wasn't Eren.

"Eren c'mon there's a lot of- oh." Armin, with a wandering gaze, finally peered into the living room. "Sorry." His free hand went to the nape of his neck as he noticed you were on the couch. "I was so focused on bringing in these I didn't even notice you, sorry." He continued his apology, saying sorry once more. 

"It's okay." You smiled back at him, meeting his eyes with your own. "I can help you." Your fingers grasped the edge of the blanket off that was draped over your body, you began to pull it off.

"Oh, you don't have to help!" He tried to stop you, but you just shushed him instead. The blanket fell to the floor, so there was no going back now.

You walked over to kitchen standing by the countertop. "What needs to be put away first?"

Armin succumbed a smile, appreciating your offer. Animated in nature, he responded to your question pointing at the bags he brought in - telling you where the contents go.

"You got it." Your body was now hovering over the groceries, hand reaching down to the first bag to hoist it up onto the countertop. The reusable bag was quite heavy. 

"You're the best." Armin pretended like he didn't see you struggle with its weight, praising you for your actions . "I'll be right back with more!" He called out, his body already halfway out the door.

By the time you were halfway through putting the second bag away, Armin came back in with the rest hanging from his arms. He dropped them harshly on the ground, inhaling with his entire body. He sounded like a fish that was in desperate need of water.

You gave him confused glance as you put the last item away. He held his hands on his knees, taking a few moments to compose himself. "You good?"

"Yeah, never been better." He shot up, taking another huge breath of air. "Totally just got my workout in for the day though. That winded me." He let out a shaky laugh.

"You could have just split the trips." You pointed out, now grabbing one of the new bags he carried in.

"I know I just..." his voice drifted off.

"Just what?" You cocked your head at him.

"I'm not sure why you're here. I felt bad that you're all alone so I wanted to come back quickly." He explained his reasons, eyes glancing over at the couch where you had been lounging before the blonde walked in.

You snorted, "Armin, I've been alone for like 5 minutes. You literally just missed Eren. He ran out to get us ice cream."

"Oh." Armin turned to look at the front door, wondering to himself how he didn't bump into Eren on his way into the complex. If Eren had just gone to the corner store- "Wait." He paused his own thoughts, expressing the word he was just thinking. "Did you say ice cream?" He turned back to look at you once more."We're eating dinner at your house in two hours!" He panicked.

You began to erupt in a fit of laughter, finding Armin's concern amusing.

"Don't laugh at me! Eren always does this and then when we go out he's never hungry." He complained. "Last week he ate a whole pizza before we got ramen, and when we got there he wasn't hungry anymore!" 

"You sound like a concerned mother." Armin actually always sounded like one, acted like one too. A single mom, who worked two jobs- the first being a student, the second dealing with Eren's consistent bullshit. It must be an exhausting life for the blonde haired babysitter.