1 Chapter 1

You sat on your balcony as the summer finally started to wind down for the year. The back of your hand wiped off sweat from your forehead and you closed your eyes for one moment.

  Stuck in this town everyday for 15 years has gotten the better of you. It had made you a forever homebody, meaning you rarely went out and you rarely had fun. Instead of going out you relaxed and and worked a lot of hours at the local grocery store.

  College is expensive and you're paying it completely on your own (plus two scholarships from the college). It wasn't the "college experience" everyone talks about. That included getting drunk, getting high and getting laid. Which only two of those things sounded good to you but sadly you couldn't get laid all by yourself like you could roll a blunt.

You opened your eyes and saw the clouds rolling slowly over the sky. You stood up from your foldable chair and walked into your apartment. The cool air hit your face and made the sweat on your skin get cold, it felt so refreshing to feel cooled off from the heat.

After closing the door your phone buzzed in your hand. You unlocked it seeing that Sasha, a friend from college that you'd met through your advanced english class, messaged the group chat between you and a couple more friends.

Sasha: Hey @Y/N guess who is coming down a week before we start back....:)

Your heart pounded and you suddenly felt warm all over again. It had been almost three months since you'd seen any of them.

You: No way! Just you or...?

Conny: listen why would just Sasha just come? You can count me in on it too ;)

Miksa: Three!

Eren: Four and five... ;)))

You raised your eyebrows in confusion on who would be five..maybe Ymir had decided she wanted to come see you before she had to go back to her own life a couple of hours away.

You: Five..?

Eren: I guess you won't know till we get there..

Sasha: which will be in two days..so make some room in that boring apartment of yours :P

You widened your eyes and closed your phone.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck...

You instantly started rushing around in your one bedroom apartment. It had been a while since you cleaned the bathroom and don't even get yourself started on eating off paper plate because you didn't want to clean any dishes.

Fuck

Sitting down on your couch criss-cross you had a pen and paper in front of you to write down a list of things that would need to be done before they showed up. You started to write...

-clean bathroom

-vacuum

-make sure the air bed still works

-wash the throws that haven't been used recently

-stock up on some food (specially for Sasha)

-toilet paper maybe?

You kept writing small things down and then deciding when to do the, which meant breaking them down into four things in the next two days. Biting your lip you pulled your hair up into a small messy bun and leaned back onto your couch.

Having a small plan made your stomach settle down and the nerves left your body for the most part. The only thing keeping you uneasy was not knowing the fifth person. Do they have allergies? Any special foods you'd need to grab for them? Or would they even like you? Your mind raced as your eyes were closed and your head still leaned back on the couch.

Life had been going by so quickly that you rarely had time to just think to yourself. School and work always over powered any plans you'd tried to make. Then when the moment came to commit to taking some time off or just trying to relax you'd feel knots of guilt in your belly. Guilt of not pushing yourself harder and for going easy on yourself. Your mom always called you weak growing up, saying that your looks weren't going to get you anywhere so your drive needed to be higher than the heavens.

Fuck the heavens and fuck playing the role she wanted out of me

She didn't even stay around so why should you care about the words she'd spoken to you so many years ago? Was it because she was gone and out of your life?

She had gotten knocked up by some boyfriend of hers while you were  in your second year of college. Then one day, a long-hard-shitty day at that, You had came home to them packing boxes and putting them in a Uhal. Blindsided, completely out of nowhere. You had no options to turn to, thankfully your aunt from my dads side was a landlord of the apartment complex in town. That's how you ended up here.

A shower would make me feel a million times better...

You thought to yourself and tried to search for the drive to get up off the couch. It was so comforting and it sank in just right. The couch was okay carrying you and your thoughts you had been having. It was one of the only things you could count on to always make you feel somewhat relaxed.

You sighed heavily and slowly got up from your comfort. You had to remind yourself that you only had two whole days to get your shit together so there isn't time for sinking into the couch.

——————— Two days Day Later

   The throws were now all dry smelling fresh and warm, the carpet and tile floors were also clean. The air mattress was still in good shape, thankfully, and the dishes were all nicely put away so they could easily be found.

  It honestly made you feel better realizing that you hadn't had any motivation like this in a long time. Your heart had been in your stomach as soon as you'd woken up. Finally to have someone to hang out with and laugh with, to even look at. At least a human that didn't involve work or school functions.

A buzz from your pocket shook you out of your head

Eren: hey we are walking up now

You felt light. As if you were made of helium, just floating around your apartment in your short pj shorts and shirt getting last minute things together.

Then a knock and a twist of the door knob.

You see Sasha and Mikasa rush in dropping this bags so they could hug you.

Y/n, I missed you!!" Sasha basically shouted in your ear as you stumbled back from both of them hitting you almost full force.

"Have you gotten taller..?" Mikasa teased and pat you on the top of your head.

"Ha ha, I missed you guys too." You pulled back to look at them. Just the two of them made your heart full and happy. It had been too long since you'd seen them.

"Hey, hey make way." Conny shoved Sasha some and she huffed. Mikasa stepped back as Conny wrapped his arms around you.

"Hmm maybe you have gotten taller.."

"Shut it." You snap back at Conny trying to step on his toes to get back at him.

"Don't make me vomit." A darker voice rang through your apartment as your heard the door shut. I smiled knowing Eren was being sarcastic and maybe lightly jealous.

Conny stepped back from me standing beside Sasha. Beside Eren there was a blonde boy with big blue eyes. Sparkling blue eyes. Your hands get sweaty and you feel your chest tighten.

"Y/N, this is Armin." Eren winked at me and threw daggers at him with my eyes.

Why didn't he say he was trying to set me up? Ugh, I swear to god if-

"I've heard a lot about you. I'm transferring here to finish out my last year of college." Armin lightly smiled at you and pushed some of his blonde hair away from his eyes.

Your heart pounded inside your chest. You thought for a couple of seconds that your heart would push through and make an exit wound out your back.

"It's nice to meet you.." you quietly said and looked up at him. He looked completely unfazed by the situation and for a moment we locked eyes.

The heat on your face was growing and the need to know him was starting to become uncontrollable.

"Thank you for letting me stay here, I hope I make an amazing first impression." Armins voice was smoother than it was before.

You could felt everyone else's eyes burning holes into you. They were watching you closely as if this was a soap-opera. Your cheeks grew red and you could feel the tips of your ears becoming hot.

"M-me too." You could barley get the words out.

"Oh I'm sure you two will get very..acquainted." Sasha said as she put her arm around me neck and wiggled her eyebrows.

Wow that's not obvious at all..

"Well, good thing we are finally here! I brought a couple of movies!" Conny finally said something breaking the silence. You were silently   thanking Conny  in your head as you head to the couch to sit down.

Then without warning Armin sits beside you laughing at something Eren had said to him, which also made him turn a light shade of pink.

All you could think about was how he smelt. Like coconut and shea butter.

I bet his hair is soft...I'd love to run my hands through it..

You felt the electricity go through your body and you squeezed your legs together. No one had made you feel this way. Ever. You never had time, or made time, for someone else. But the way Armin smelt and how neatly his hair was done made you swoon.

"So I guess it's settled? Scary movie it is." Mikasa rubbed her hands together and got up from the couch.

"It's in the small blue bag!" Conny told her as he leaned back on the couch.

"A scary movie? Which one?" I asked and felt the weight beside me shift into my section of the couch.

"We hadn't decided on which one. Conny brought like six different movies." Eren said as he moved to put his arm on the arm rest. I looked at him and saw his hair half way pulled up into a small bun. He cheekily smiled at me and clenched my jaw.

Holy fuck, holy fuck...

After a while of debating on which movie we all decide that (insert movie here) would be the best choice. It had everything everyone liked in a horror film.

"Hey I got snacks for you guys too." You told them as you felt yourself leaning against the couch. "But we do need to order real food." Your eyes landed on Sasha who had already gotten up to explore your pantry.

"Hey! I'll still eat whatever we order. Swears it!" She crosses her heart and right after caressed a bag of chips to her face. "It's the only thing stable I have." Sasha put on the puppy dog eyes and proceeded to squish the chip bag against her cheek.

"Hey! What about me?!" Conny yapped back at her. You all started laughing as Sasha flipped Conny off and opened the bag of chips.

"Okay but what do we have to choose from? Burgers? Pizza?" Mikasa asked and looked at you.

"Pizzaaaa!" Sasha and Conny yelled together looking as happy as ever.

You smiled at them and giggled.

"Pizza it is." You said and the two celebrated. Then you  turned to Eren to get his approval and he nodded his head agreeing. Then your eyes caught a glimpse of Armin looking at you.

"Oh Armin, are you allergic to anything?" You asked him trying to seem cooler than earlier but not looking him in the eye. Then as you breathed in you smelt his smell.

God why now..?

Your hands got sweaty and you half way smiled trying to look him in his eyes.

Blue. Light blue, but the type that had depth to it. The color was like the sea. How you could see through the colored water and how even though it was light at the top the darkness under it glistened. The pale blues would make waves and crash into the underbelly of the dark navy below.

Something about it shook you to your core.

"Uhm, no uh..I'm not allergic to anything." Armin stuttered and you could see his pale skin turning red.

"You sure pal? You look red, you feeling okay?" Sasha asked him actually concerned.

"Hey bud, is something the matter?" Eren muttered obviously teasing him.

"I think I just need some air."

"I have a balcony, it's that door right there." You said hastily and pointed to the wall across from you.

Armin nodded and walked over and stepped outside. The door closed behind him and instantly everyone went back to their own conversations.

You couldn't get your head right. Armin was clearly flustered but was it something you'd said? You wondered if you crossed a boundary for him, maybe he just wasn't comfortable yet?

"Go talk to him." Eren nudged your side and you looked at him. His eyes scanned your body as you kept looking at him,

"I don't want to-"

"Go." Eren commanded you this time and raised his eyebrow. You sighed heavily and rolled your eyes at him as you got up.

You made your way to the door and opened it sticking most of your body out.

"Uh.. hey can I join?" You asked timidly smiling at Armin.

He was sitting on the concrete floor just looking out into the sky. He finally felt relaxed enough to be able to feel normal.

Armin looked at you and smiled back.

"Of course."