I woke up at 5:30 A.M, did the morning routine, got ready, read for a while, then waved goodbye and hopped out of the house to wait for the bus. Eren wasn't coming to school today or coming over after I got home. His father considered it punishment. As I was reaching up to touch my sore nose as a reminder of what happened yesterday, the bus sped around the corner and stopped in front of me. I sighed and climbed on.

"Good morning, Armin." Came the same voice from yesterday.

"Good morning," Came the same voice that replied.

Sure, I was kinda sad that I couldn't see Eren today, but I was pretty happy when Mikasa had hopped on the bus, sitting right next to me. I nodded to her as a good morning, and she nodded back.

"Hi, Armin."

"Hey, Mikasa," I started. "No Eren today, huh?"

She shook her head and leaned in close.

"I know you have a thing for him, Armin." She whispered.

My heart started racing as I stared at her.

She had the most mischievous look I had ever seen. Well, on her anyway. I opened my mouth to speak it closed it immediately.

"What?" I struggled to keep my voice under my control.

"Please, Armin." She scoffed and put her hand on my chest and I could feel myself getting worked up. My heart was pounding and my mind was spinning. She knew. Of course she did. Mikasa is a genius, how could she not tell?

I groaned and face-planted into the back of the seat on the bus in front of me.

"Don't tell him, please." I begged.

"Don't worry," She chuckled. "It's our little secret."

I let out a breath of relief as I calmed down. I was a bit off for the rest of the day, though. I missed Eren. It wasn't normal at school without him. The bus pulled up into the school and the kids filed off again, Mikasa and I stepping off last.

Mikasa and I walked to my first class together and she took off after waving goodbye. I looked around, only to see Jean walk in and sit behind me. I closed my eyes tight and placed my head on the desk.

'Not today, please.' I silently begged.

Just a few more hours, I reminded myself. I should just take a nap, that will make time go by faster, right?

I started drifting off to sleep within minutes, awoken when Jean had pushed me out of my chair. I looked around for the teacher. She was gone.

Silently huffing, I got up and brushed my pants off, sitting back in my chair.

"What's wrong, Arlert? Jaeger not here to protect you today?"

I could feel Jean's hot breath burning a hole into my neck. Ignoring him wasn't working.

Jean reached up and pushed me off my chair again. This time, he kicked me while I was down, knocking the breath out of me. I wheezed and grasped at my throat for air. The foot came crashing down again, making contact with my skull. A white spark flashed across my eyes and I yelped. Why wasn't anyone helping? Why wasn't anyone stopping him? Why won't you people help me? What did I do? I screamed as he crushed my skull again with his foot, slamming it down, over and over. Tears were streaming down my face I reached up to grab my head, my fingers making contact with the liquid. Sweat? No, it's far too thick. Blood. Why was I not unconscious yet? Please just knock me out, I can't take this.

I yelped out as a pair of gentle hands shook me. I opened my eyes and looked up.

Ms. Petra.

I reached up to touch my hair and my head. No blood. It was just an awful nightmare.

"Armin," She shook me again. "Armin, are you okay, sweetie?"

"Y..yeah. Just tired is all." I managed to choke out

"It seemed like more than that, was it a nightmare?"

"Yes, miss. It's nothing. Just a little nightmare." Smile up at her, maybe she'll believe me if I do.

She seemed unconvinced but decided to let me go anyway.

The rest of the day was boring and useless.

The bus ride home was better, but only because Mikasa was there.

She was quiet.

I took a moment to observe her. She had very dark hair and the prettiest blue eyes I had ever seen. They were dark, almost seemed like they were brown. Around her neck was the scarf that Eren had given to her in the woods where they took Mikasa home. I'd hardly ever seen her without it on. Her hair was always neat, brushed and trimmed to where it angled and outlined her face. Mikasa is extremely attractive. I always wondered how I found these friends. Mikasa and Eren were both so beautiful and there I was. There was overwhelming jealously for the both of them locked up in my brain.

I looked out the window and realized it was almost time for me to get off. Mikasa waved goodbye and I gave her a slight nod as I climbed off the bus and went inside of the house.

"I'm home, Grandpa." I called out.

"Welcome home, Armin." He called back. "Eren is in your room, his father dropped him off earlier. Grisha changed his mind and wanted Eren out of the house so he's gonna stay with us today and tomorrow."

I couldn't help but smile as I darted to my room and opened the door, looking over at Eren. He was asleep on my bed. My cheeks flushed and I closed the door quietly, deciding to let him sleep. I grabbed a book off the bookcase and sat down with my back against the wall, reading silently until he woke up.

I almost chucked my book across the room when Eren yelled out, almost like he was in pain. I could see tears roll down his cheeks as his fists clenched and un-clenched, over and over. His eyebrows furrowed together and his eyes were squeezed shut. He was having a nightmare. Should I wake him up? Should I let him sleep through it? I jumped a bit as he yelled out again, his back arching.

He needed to wake up, now. So I ran over to his side and grabbed his hand, unsure whether it was the fact that I was holding his hand, or that I was petrified, with my heart pounding.

"Eren." I whispered softly.

No response.

"Eren, please wake up." I shook him gently. "Eren!"

He jolted awake and I let go of his hand instantly.

"Eren.."

He hunched over, holding his hand to his chest. He was breathing heavily.

"I.. I'll go get.." I rushed out the door before I could finish my sentence.

"Armin?" Grandfather looked up at me. "What was that noise? It sounded like yelling. I didn't want to interrupt anything. Everything okay?"

"Eren.. He had a nightmare and he's breathing heavily and he's not responding and I don't know what to do, Grandpa." My palms were sweaty as I spoke. "Please, you have to help."

Grandpa got up instantly, making his way to my room. I watched as he knelt by Eren and patted his back.

"Eren, are you okay, son?" He spoke softly.

Eren's breath hitched. A moment passed before he said anything as he tried to calm himself down.

"I'm.. I'm okay. Just a nightmare. Been having them a lot lately. I'm used to them. I just need a second to calm down." He breathed out.

"Can I get you anything, Eren? Something to help you calm down, maybe?" Grandfather asked.

"No.. no," He shook his head. "I'm fine, thanks."

Grandfather nodded and looked at me before leaving to go back to the living room.

"Armin.."

I jumped a little, his voice scared me.

"Y..yes, Eren?"

Eren scooted over on the bed a bit, patting the space next to him. My cheeks flushed and I took a deep breath before sitting near him. I kept my distance.

Eren reached over to grab my hand and this time I let him. He squeezed hard, it actually hurt my hand a bit but I didn't mind. I was a bit sad when he let go, but I could tell he felt better, and that's all I wanted.

"Armin," He began. "Can you read to me?"

"Read to you?"

"Yeah."

Confused, I asked, "Why though? I haven't read to you since we were little."

"Please?"

How could I say no?

"Fine, but I get to pick."

Eren grinned and sat up more, resting his cheeks in his palms with his elbows propped up on his knees, sitting with his legs folded and crossed.

I stood on the tip of my toes and grabbed 'The Wizard of Oz' off the top shelf of the bookcase. It was Mother's favorite book. Holding the book under my arm, I sat by Eren again. I read to him until he fell asleep, still resting his face in his palms. I stopped reading after I noticed he had fallen asleep and closed the book, tossing it to the side. I prayed he wouldn't have another nightmare.

I must have fallen asleep myself because when I woke up, Eren had gotten up to read the book I had tossed aside. Eren never read anything, unless I read it to him, of course. He didn't like to, so this came as a shock to me.

"Eren?"

"Oh, you're awake." He said, closing the book. "I tried reading this, but it's hard. I even tried using your voice in my head to read, Armin. It's so diffucult. How do you do it?!"

My heart sped up. He tried using my voice to read in his head?

I couldn't think of anything to say so I just gave a stifled laugh.

"Oi, Armin! It's not funny!" He yelled and furrowed his brows at me.

"Sorry, Eren." I hid a smile behind my hand.

He just grunted at me and threw my pillow at me. I smacked it back at him and laughed. He hit it back and we ended up just smacking the pillow at each other back and forth. It was the most fun I'd had in a while.

Soon, we had to sneak out during the night to get some chips because we both slept through dinner and Grandfather wanted to let us sleep. He knew that we would sneak out and steal some food throughout the night. Eren and I took the bag of chips and made a run for it, closing the door gently behind us. We shared the bag until it was empty and our fingers accidentally brushed and I was glad Eren didn't notice when I pulled away instantly, my face was burning hot.

We made a ton of plans. Most of them were just Eren coming over to my house because he didn't want to hear his dad yell at him anymore.

Grisha has been super stressed and lost since Carla's death and I feel so bad for him. I know he's trying to stay strong for Eren and Mikasa, but it's not easy being alone and raising hormonal teenagers. Grisha was usually away during the summers, so Mikasa and Eren were basically always over, but this summer, Grisha had taken time away from his Medical career to look after Eren and Mikasa.

"Hey, Armin?" Eren said after a while.

"Yes?"

"Do you ever..." He paused. "Do you ever think about your parents?"

My body froze.

"Of course. I miss them a whole lot, like you miss your mother, I'm sure."

Eren nodded. "Sorry for asking. Didn't mean to get too personal."

"It's fine. You know you can ask me anything."

Eren nodded again and reached out his hand, as if he was begging me to hold it. I took his hand in mine. I could never get used to this feeling, I loved it. I squeeze his hand and gave him a reassuring smile.

"Promise me we'll never change, Armin. That we'll always be close, being able to tell each other everything."

His words rang in my ears. Promise to not change. Promise. That we'll always be close. Telling each other everything. Everything. No lies. No keeping secrets. My gut clenched and I felt my grip on his hand grow tighter. Of course I didn't want to change. I didn't want to keep anything from him. I trusted him with my life. He means the world to me. I don't want to imagine a world without him. He's my best friend.

I nodded and tightened my grip again.

"I promise."