𝙿𝚞𝚣𝚣𝚕𝚎𝚜

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟷𝟹

You found yourself snuggly settled into the back seat of Eren's car the following afternoon. You rested your shoulder against the door with your cheek squished against the hard plastic. Though it wasn't comfortable in the slightest, you still couldn't resist shutting your painfully drowsy eyes.

Just as you said you would, you spent your entire morning with Sasha, and she wasn't willing to let you oversleep for even five minutes.

Mikasa sat beside you, facing the opposite direction. She was just as lost in her own world, watching the large droplets of rain that pelted into the window. The pattering sound was rhythmic, carrying you off into a distant, dreamlike state.

"You better not be falling asleep back there."

Your eyes strained open, and your wandering mind was jerked back into reality. You used the arm that wasn't against the door to bolster yourself into an upright position. You found Eren's eyes reflecting back at you in the rearview mirror. While you could only see from the bridge of his nose upward, you could imagine the smirk he wore.

"I'm not," you said. Your voice wasn't far from a yawn.

"We're still fifteen minutes away," Armin said from the passenger's seat. He shifted his gaze to you, a pitiful expression filling his eyes. He looked back to Eren and suggested, "Maybe a quick nap would do her well."

"I'm fine." You stretched your neck to the right and then to the left, shaking the sleep from your body.

"Sasha wear you out or something?" Eren jokingly asked.

"Something like that," you said.

Your statement was only half true. It wasn't a lie that spending time with Sasha wore you out – mainly because she woke you up at the crack of dawn – but there was more to it than just that.

Eren stayed over at your apartment later than he typically did. The two of you finished more than half the brownies you made, sporadic crunches of eggshell and all, while you watched some silly movie that you could barely remember now.

You couldn't recall when it was that you fell asleep. All you knew was that when you woke up, Eren was gone, and the blanket you shared was neatly tucked around you.

And even that wasn't the whole truth. When you first realized Eren had left, you reached for your phone to check the time. Your searingly-bright phone screen blinded you before you noticed it was a little after 4 o'clock in the morning. You ambled to your bedroom and tossed yourself into the comfort of your bed. But just as you started to doze off, your eyes quickly snapped open with the thought of none other than Eren.

Was it not obvious enough?

The explosion of emotions that erupted from Eren consumed your thoughts. As you thought over the memory, you could still hear the panicked, almost pained tone in his voice. He practically fell apart in front of you.

That moment was on repeat in your mind all morning, and every time it played, it hit you with different emotions. You were only yanked from your spiraling mind when Sasha called to see if you were awake. You must have slept for only an hour, if that.

Now, you were quietly seated in the back of his car, the soggy sound of rain thrumming in your ears. Eren finally followed through on his promise to bring you, Armin, and Mikasa to his parents' house for dinner.

Eren picked you up from your apartment about ten minutes ago. When his car pulled up, he briefly rolled down the window to tell you to hurry before you were soaked in the downpour. There was a longing in his eyes. It was the same expression that you surely mirrored back to him. As Armin and Mikasa excitedly waved at you, you were once again reminded of the night before.