it was friday afternoon and you were sat with sasha on the couch in the living room area of your dorm. the girl had insisted you join her on a shrek movie marathon since they were on netflix and you agreed since you really had nothing better to do. after monday, you hid in your dorm and only left when it was to get food or go to class or work. wednesday, you had skipped hange's class, not wanting to deal with all the heavy tension once more.

further more, mikasa had texted the group chat consisting of you, her, annie and sasha to inform you all that her and annie would be heading home to paradis for the weekend. you didn't know why but in a way you were grateful that you could roam freely around the dorm without suffocation.

sasha was leaned against you with her head on your shoulder as she was entranced by the film. your eyes began to feel a bit heavy but you knew you wouldn't be able to fully fall asleep. sasha's phone rang suddenly causing the both of you to jump. the girl groaned as she sat up right and reached for it where it lay on the coffee table.

"it's connie." she stated as you paused the movie. sasha answered, putting the boy on speaker. "yo, what do you want?"

connie scoffed on the other end. "rude. and here i was about to invite you and y/n to the arcade."

"you're not inviting them, you're telling them to be ready in 10 because they're going." jean muttered but was still audible to the both of you.

"oh right. be ready in 10. bye!" connie hung up leaving you and sasha to look at one another.

you frowned as you got up to head into your room to change. "goodbye comfy sweats."

"just change into some leggings and a hoodie or t-shirt. that's what i'm gonna wear." sasha told you.

you shrugged as you mulled the idea over your head. it was only connie and jean so there was no need to impress anyone. the both of you quickly stumbled into your rooms to get ready, the living room area a mess with blankets and snacks that you had laid out for your movie marathon. hopefully the arcade trip wouldn't be too long so you could continue it.

a knock at the door was heard as you brushed your hair and placed your glasses back on. you've come to wear them more as your contacts only further dried your tired eyes.

"i'll get it!" sasha shouted. the sounds of footsteps and greetings entered the dorm. you chuckled a bit at connie's comment of the messy living room as you finished lacing up your shoes.

after spraying yourself with some perfume, you stepped out of the your room and were met with four guys instead of the two who you believed you were hanging out with. armin smiled and waved at you while eren just stared.

"i thought it was just connie and jean?" you voiced.

"well, eren invited us and suggested we invite you two as well. saying something about you guys being lonely since annie and mikasa were gone." connie explained. "ow!"

the short haired boy glared at eren who had elbowed him in the side. his cheeks redden a bit but you didn't notice as you played with the strings on your hoodie. jean was currently lecturing on sasha on how to behave at the arcade. the last time they went didn't end up so pretty. sasha ate way too much pizza and ended up puking on the dance dance revolution machine. jean and connie had to drag her out as the workers yelled complaints at them.

"if everyone is ready, let's head out." jean announced, twirling his car keys around his fingers.

"shotgun." eren called.

"no fair! you had it on the way here."

"connie, i believe you're forgetting how short you and armin are compared to jean and i. therefore it makes it easier for the four of you to squish together in the back seat of the jeep without us getting pulled over."

connie wanted to argue with eren's reasoning but decided against. he mumbled under his breath something along of the lines of "not being that short". you chuckled softly and patted his shoulder as you all headed out.

the group piled into the car, the backseat being quite cramped with four of you back there. connie and sasha kept arguing about them being too close to one another. jean told them to shut up since the drive to round one arcade shouldn't be much longer. the two fought like siblings; connie pulling sasha's hair and her pinching his cheek. you sighed and looked to armin who was gazing at the window. how he tuned out their arguing was a wonder to you.

you poked his cheek and he turned to look at you. "how can you tune them out like nothing?"

armin leaned forward a bit to glance at the bickering duo. he let out a soft chuckle, shaking his head a bit. "years of practice. i'm sure once we're out of the car, they'll be conjoined at the hip throughout the arcade."

you hummed in response as a flicker of amusement joins your face as you watch the two detach themselves excitedly as jean pulls into the parking lot. by the looks of the parking lot, it seemed that it was a busy friday night. as you exited the car and headed inside, you looked around in awe. round one was complete with a bowling alley, arcade, a snack bar and even karaoke rooms. you'd never been or encountered a place like this back home.

you followed everyone over to purchase cards for credits for the games. after everyone had their own cards, connie and sasha bolted for the dance dance revolution machines, leaving the four of you.

jean shook his head with a chuckle as he watched the two maniacs. he then turned to face the rest of your group. "skee ball? loser buys drinks."

"we're underage, jean." you remind him.

he raises an eyebrow at you. "what if i wanted a milkshake or something? are you insinuating i'm an alcohol?"

it was your turn to scoff. "of course not. i'll probably beat you anyways."

eren snorted, shoving his hands into his pockets. you turn your attention to him. "what's funny?"

"nothing. let's just see who wins."

armin just watched the encounter between the three of you, clearly amused. he smiled a bit to himself before jean led the four of you over to the skee ball area. you had to wait for a few kids to finish their game before claiming an aisle for each of you.

"loser is the one with the lowest points." jean announced. you all gave a stiff nod before swiping your cards. the small screen informed you of your remaining credits and the sound of the balls clacking against one another was heard as they were freed for you to throw. the sound of the balls rolling down the alley and up into the point chutes was all that was heard. after a few minutes, the game ended and jean hollered in victory as he saw that he had scored the most points. armin was second which surprised you if you were being honest and you and eren tied.

"guess we lost, huh?" eren muttered as he playfully knocked against your shoulder.

you sigh in defeat as jean comes over and gives you his drink order. armin does the same but with sympathy before the two of you head over to the concession stand. a kind worker greets the two of you before eren relays jean, armin and his order. he then looks over to you. "what would you like?"

your eyes quickly scan the menu and you decide on a simple vanilla shake. the worker nods, informing you of the total to which eren is quick to hand him his card before you can get yours out. as you both turn to wait for your drinks you give him a look.

"we both lost, shouldn't we have split the cost?"

eren shrugs. "don't worry about it. nice to know you actually want to talk to me though."

"i wasn't ignoring you." you mumble.

"oh really? you skipped class yesterday and have barely uttered a word to me since."

before you can retort, the worker calls out your order number and eren walks away to retrieve the drinks. you did feel guilty about cluelessly ignoring him but you needed space. you both gather the drinks and walk back over to where jean and armin were waiting, not saying anything. jean gives you a smug grin as he takes his shake from your hands and takes a gleeful sip.

"what are we playing now?" armin asks.

"eren and i are probably gonna see who is better at hoops. why don't you go play those smart trivia games?"

"just because i read a lot doesn't mean i know that much trivia." armin rolls his eyes at jean's assumption.

your eyes travel around the crowded arcade, looking for anything that caught your interest. your eyes landed upon the small section where what looked like claw machines lived. your face beamed in delight as you knew that this is where you'd go next. you grasp armin's arm. "armin, let's try those."

armin looks over to where you are excitedly pointing. he grins and nods. "i'm not very good at those but it would be fun to try!"

"you two have fun. i'm gonna go beat eren's ass at hoops." jean says, throwing his arm around eren's shoulders. eren just rolls his eyes but reluctantly follows after jean. luckily, the game they were aiming for was in the opposite direction. you and armin head over to the machines, noticing that there were different plushies to be won in the machines and each machine had a different method of winning. one had you knocking down the plush, another had you drop a ball into the marked spot and another had you hook onto the ring of a small box. in other words, each machine was difficult to win.

you and armin tried a few and were unsuccessful each time. you were currently trying a machine that housed a hello kitty plushie that you were determined to win. armin had excused himself to use the restroom, ridding of both your finished drinks on his way. you had managed to pick up a ball and watched as the machine dropped it. the ball bounced, making you anxious as it rolled, almost landing in the spot indicated that you would win. the keyword is almost and it rolled in the unmarked spot. you groaned in irritation, realizing you had spent a majority of your game credits on the machine and were still unsuccessful.

"let me try." eren spoke as he came up from behind you. you jumped at his sudden appearance, making him chuckle a bit.

"good luck." you grumble, moving out of the way.

"how much you wanna bet that i'll get it on the first try?" he smirks after swiping his own game card on the machine.

you watch as he maneuvers the machine over to where the basket of balls to grab one, once the machine does, it goes over to where the the ball is to be dropped. before it falls, you speak. "if you win on the first try, i will literally kiss you...r cheek."

you're left in complete shock as the ball falls perfectly into the marked spot. eren's smirk grows as he gestures a worker over to help retrieve his price. after he gets the prize he holds it up with a proud grin. "you were saying?"

"how did you do that? i was on the eighth try and i still couldn't get it!"

"guess i just got the magic touch." he shrug nonchalantly. eren hugs the hello kitty to his chest as armin rejoins you.

"of course eren managed to win something." he chuckles, looking at the hello kitty. "where's jean?"

"he got all pouty because he lost twice in a row and went to look for sasha and connie. i came over to see if one of you wanted to play air hockey with me."

"down but if i win, i want her." you challenged, pointing to the plushie he still held close to his chest.

eren raised an eyebrow. "but i won her. she's mine."

"which is why i'm saying that if i beat you in air hockey, i get her."

"damn, eren. it seems like everyone gets competitive with you. " armin notes with a small whistle.

"you're telling me."

"well, you guys go play air hockey. i think i'm gonna go find the other three and make sure their not causing too much of ruckus. have fun!" armin sends a sly wink to eren that you didn't notice. eren rolls his eyes at his friend before leading you over to an unoccupied air hockey table.

he sits the hello kitty down by him as he swipes his card. you both grab your paddles as he reaches to retrieve the puck. after setting it down on the table. he lightly chucks it towards your goal, making it in right off the bat. you look at him stunned before grabbing the puck and doing the same.

that's how the game continued for the next few minutes. the both of you competitively chucked the puck back and forth, having it ricochet off the table bumpers and your paddles. the score was 6-6 and the first one to reach 7 was to be the winner. you were suddenly struck with an idea and smirked to yourself. eren had just hit the puck and you pretended to go for it but instead, you cried out in pain as it hit your paddle, making it seem as though the puck had hit your finger instead. eren looked at you worriedly, straightening himself up and beginning to walk over to you. you took this opportunity to chute the puck into his unguarded goal and grinned in triumphant as the machine announced your win.

"you little cheater." eren breathed. "i really thought you were injured."

"sometimes, you just gotta play dirty." you shrug, quickly grabbing the hello kitty. "she's mine now."

you stuck your tongue out at him. he just shook his head in disbelief before throwing his arm around your shoulders. "yeah, whatever."

"there you guys are! we were gonna rent a karaoke room and get some food!" sasha says, weaving through the crowd. she eyes you and eren upon seeing his arm around you. she gives you a knowing look and you roll your eyes, shoving his arm off.

"karaoke you said? and food? lead the way."

the rest of the night consisted of you guys ordering way too much food, sasha and connie competing to see who could be the next american idol, and emi blowing up your phone once she saw you were out on your instagram story and not replying to her. you had to admit, a part of you felt guilty for ignoring her for the past week but you were a sulking mess after your break up with kris and having her gloat about this mysterious boyfriend she got was just not what you needed. it was around midnight when you all gathered back in jean's jeep and you realized that this night out was exactly the distraction you needed from all the events that had happened in just a short amount of time. connie had volunteered to lay in the trunk, claiming it would help his pounding headache. armin sat up front with jean leaving you sandwiched between sasha and eren.

sasha was too busy scrolling through her phone and texting niccolo to really engage in a conversation with you and eren and jean had his music blasting as him and armin sang along. you felt absolutely exhausted and there was something about having eren so close to you that made you feel more relaxed than ever. without even realizing it, you had laid your head on his shoulder. of course, eren didn't mind as he was already dozing off himself. instead, he lay his head upon yours and closed his eyes, arms secured around the hello kitty plush you had him hold.

although it was short, you did manage to fall asleep. sasha shook your leg once you got back to the dorm. you quickly removed your head from eren's shoulder which cause his head to fall before you laid it back on the head rest.

"i'm gonna get connie to move up here from the trunk." sasha told you as you rubbed the slumber from your eyes. you simply nodded and gathered your belongings. jean and armin were still singing along to the music, though not as loud as before.

"don't forget your prize." eren mumbles, handing you the hello kitty.

"i didn't forget yours either." as you grabbed the plush from his hands, you leaned over and placed a light kiss upon his cheek.

eren's eyes widened in surprise and you quickly scrambled out of the vehicle, throwing a goodbye over your shoulder to jean and armin. connie, walking like a zombie to the front of the car, gave you a weak wave as you ran to meet up with sasha.

"i totally saw that." sasha grinned.

"i don't know what you're talking about."

"oh, but your flushed face gives it all away." she laughs when you have nothing more to say. instead, you hug the hello kitty to your chest and bury your face into it. that's when you realized that she smelled like eren, and that was something that comforted you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

author here

well here is the long awaited update. i hope you all enjoy. sorry ive been so busy lately and finals are coming up but i really wanted to get this out there haha

im hoping to write and publish new stories during summer when i dont have school to worry. i have ideas for another eren story and for some bts ones so hopefully if you like this, you'll enjoy those too 😭

thank you all for reading and the feedback. i was afraid no one liked this story or anything :( so it means a lot!!