flightless bird

thank you

I found this photo on Pinterest and searched everywhere for the artists link, please if anyone knows comment so I can properly give them credit above :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TW: Talks of Drug & Alcohol abuse, violence, physical abuse, medical illness
Please skip over or do not read if these topics trigger you. There will be a "⚠️" before any of these topics are discussed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Standing in front of you was Eren himself.

"Well that's one way to answer a text."

"Eren, what are you doing here?"

Space Song - Beach House
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Your eyebrows furrow as you analyze his expression. He looks like he hasn't slept in four days... he's panting which makes you wonder if he ran here or something, and his eyes are glued to yours once again.

Your mind begins to trace back to everything Armin had told you earlier. You feel your heart sink, "what do I say or do to calm him down? He's just standing there..."

You open your mouth to invite him inside, but before you could make a sound, Eren grabs your arm and pulls you into his tight embrace.

"He's hugging me... wait what? He's hugging me?!"

You feel his body slightly shake, his arms wrapped around your lower back tightly but not in a harmful way, and his head resting by your neck.

You're frozen in place. Not expecting him to show up, not expecting him to hug you.

Then you hear Armin's voice, "His dads home."

Remembering what Armin had told you, now you could move.
Just as you did earlier when talking to Armin about Eren. Instead of words this time, you act without thinking.

You bring your arms up and comfortingly wrap them around Eren's back. You could feel his body tense slightly as you touch him, but he relaxes shortly after. His back was muscular, and you had to fight yourself from feeling around.
Instead, you rubbed your hands back and forth a little bit in order to calm him down.

"he smells so good" you inhale his scent. Just like Eren himself, his scent is hard to explain... it's comforting yet dark. Ambery & lavender is the only way you'd be able to describe it.

You could tell he was in his head right now, and this is the only thing you could do to help him. Regardless of how many questions you had, you restrained from asking. That's the last thing Eren wants or needs right now.

Finally, after what seems like minutes, Eren softly speaks, "thank you."

"Hmm? Oh! Yeah of course." You assure him.

As you begin to pull away from his hug, he pulls you back in, "sorry, can we stay like this just a second longer? I need to calm down first. I promise I'll explain after." He rambles.

His voice had only been soft like this once before with you, and that was a month ago in the practice room.

"Eren, you don't have to explain. It's okay, I know you're in your head. You don't have to tell me what it's about if you don't want to."