Verena Yeager used to think love came with the condition of doing well in things. She learned to disappear since she was child. Not the missing kid disappearing but to make herself small when needed to make the yelling stop.

She learned it early between her mother and fathers in differences. When Dina Fritz's voice was loud, Verena would still still at the kitchen table, waiting for it to pass. When Grisha Yaeger came home distracted with too many thoughts, she smiled brightly, eager to talk and small enough to make him feel important at home inside the second family he built for himself.

She became good at being good.

Good grades, good posture, good intentions.

Every version of herself existed for someone else.
Her mother's version: disciplined, elegant, controlled.
Her father's: clever, compliant, never too loud.
Her little brother's: patient, understanding, and fun enough to be around.

Zeke was the only one who ever asked her who she actually wanted to be.

He'd catch her in the middle of their parents' shouting matches, sneak her out to the garage, and turn up the radio until it drowned the noise. He'd pass her a candy bar, lean back in his chair, and tell her stories about the world beyond their house—dorm rooms and road trips, people who didn't care about last names or reputations.

"You just gotta tune it out, kid," he'd say. "Their mess isn't your fault."

And for a while, she believed him.

But Zeke left for college when she was ten, and by the time he came back, he was someone's fiancé. Someone's husband. Someone's soon-to-be father. She was proud of him, of course—how could she not be? But sometimes, when she called and his voice was tired and warm in that adult way, she'd feel like a relic of a different life.

He'd ask, "You okay, Vee?"

She'd answer, "Yeah. I'm fine."

And they'd both know she wasn't, but it was easier to leave it at that.

Now, in the quiet of her own apartment, Verena poured herself a glass of wine and tried to believe she was past her parents. Past, her fathers indifference and blatant favoritism when it came to her younger brother. Or her mother's preference for her older brother. That she was Verena with a life that began and started the same way, with friends who were kind and reassuring. With a life that gave her meaning. With her new teaching gig with Professor Ackerman for Calculus III, and with her research with Professor Berner that would elevate her thesis.

On her desk sat a stack of essays she needed to grade, a worn planner filled with color-coded deadlines for the upcoming school year, and a framed photo of her and Zeke at his wedding. He was smiling wide, hand at her shoulder, his wife's bouquet blurring in the corner of the frame. She looked younger there—hopeful in a way she couldn't quite remember feeling anymore.

She took another sip of wine and stared at the photo. Zeke was going to be a father soon. She'd found out through a text: We're having a baby, Vee. Due in the spring. She was happy for her brother. A life away from the chaos that was Dina and Grisha. From the step mother and half brother that tried to worm their way into her life.

The clock on the wall ticked softly and Verena picked up her planner, looking at the class schedule for TAing and meeting with her thermodynamic classes she was taking and leading labs for. She liked knowing. Being prepared for what was to come is how she was able to get through in life.

Her mother would say Verena got that fear from her father. Grisha would say she got it from Dina. The truth was, neither of them had ever really looked close enough to know.

The phone on the counter buzzed.
A text.

bby bro: guess who's transferring over to you!!!!!! 🤪🤪

Verena blinked, confused.

sissy: Transferring?
bby bro: my school went BROKE. see u at the start of semester

Her heart gave a small, startled kick. Eren. It had been so long since she'd seen him in person—years, maybe. The occasional video call didn't count. She pictured him as he'd been last: messy-haired and loud, so much so that hearing him near in person would make her want to hide. Not from embarrassment, but from what attention then got put onto her. Okay, maybe embarrassment too.

sissy: Wow. That's soon.
bby bro: yuh. armin and a few others are coming too. dw you'll like them. rmbr kore? she will too!

She frowned slightly. Armin. The name tugged faintly at memory, but not enough to bring up a face. One of Eren's childhood friends, maybe. There'd been a handful—boys who used to come around on weekends when she still visited their father's house. Back when she was still part of that version of the Yeager family.

Her lips curved faintly at the corners. You and your friends better behave.

bby bro: 😜

By morning, she'd convinced herself it didn't matter. Another semester. Another list of things to do. She'd see him eventually, smile, make small talk, and then keep moving.

She always kept moving.

Verena crossed the quad with a coffee in one hand and her bag slung across her shoulder. The campus buzzed with motion: laughter, skateboards, first-year students still wide-eyed with optimism. She watched them pass in waves, every face new, every one of them so sure they were starting something big.

Beside her, Pieck Finger and Yara Alden matched her stride, both holding iced drinks. One running a little sleep and another a ball of energy.

"Why is everyone so happy? It's the first day of the semester. It's August and ugly hot out right now." Pieck groaned, eyes squinting against the sun.

"Don't look up like that, first of all." Yara murmured, taking a sip of her coffee. "Also, you're the one who decided Professor Zoe is the best go to for soil science so, that's on you for staying up all night on the phone."

Verena giggled at Piecks expense, a dirty look being sent her way as she grinned over her cup.

"So," she said, "Eren texted you last week, didn't he? The transfer?"

Verena hesitated mid-step, then nodded. "Yeah. He starts today."

Pieck tilted her head. "You sound thrilled."

"I am," Verena said, automatically, even though her chest felt tight. "Just surprised. It's been a while."

"How many years?" Pieck asked. "You two were close before..."

Before, Verena thought. Before courtrooms and custody and weekends were divided until they weren't. Three years since she last saw Eren and about four more since she lived in the same house as him.

"Yeah," she said instead. "We were."

Pieck gave her a sympathetic smile but didn't push. Yara filled the silence with another complaint about her parking ticket, and the moment passed.

They were halfway across the quad when Verena heard it.

"Vee!"

She turned toward the sound before she could think, heart skipping once—then there he was.

Eren Yeager, hair tied back in a low ponytail, waving both tattooed arms over his head as if she might somehow miss him. His grin was huge, boyish, completely unbothered by the attention he was drawing.

"Oh my god," Verena muttered, mortified.

Pieck followed her gaze and smiled. "That him?"

"Unfortunately," Verena said, already feeling her face warm.

"Your family resemblance is strong," Yara added.

Eren's voice carried across the lawn. "Vee! Over here!"

People were starting to look. Verena considered pretending she didn't hear him, but it was too late—he was already jogging over, the August sun catching the ink on his forearms, smile wide and wild as ever.

He stopped a few feet away, still catching his breath. "You look exactly the same!" he said, pulling her into a hug before she could protest. "Same serious face, same perfect hair—"

"And you still have the same inability to use an indoor voice," she muttered into his shoulder, but she was laughing when she pulled back.

Eren stepped aside, gesturing toward someone behind him. "Vee, you remember Armin, right?"

Verena blinked, and her mind scrambled to catch up with what she was seeing. The boy she remembered had been small and scrawny, a head shorter than Eren with blond hair that flopped over his eyes and a nervousness to him that made him stutter too much when talking to her.

This wasn't that boy.

Armin's glasses still perched on his face, the sunlight glinting off the edges. Instead of a mop of hair, it was cropped much shorter, his blue eyes staring directly at her. He wasn't taller than Eren still, but his confidence has definitely grown since the last time they saw each other.

For a second, Verena just stared.

She remembered him sitting on the back porch of her father's house, always tucked in the corner with a book that looked too big for his hands. Carla would bring out a pitcher of lemonade and a tray of sandwiches, scolding Eren for running barefoot through the grass while Verena pretended not to smile.

Back then, Armin barely said a word. He was small, almost fragile-looking, and his voice so soft she had to lean in to hear him. He followed Eren everywhere, though—through the yard, into the kitchen, up the stairs. Always a few steps behind, but never left out. Eren made sure of it.

There'd been another boy too, red-haired and loud, always trying to tag along. Verena remembered that Eren tolerated him—but he chose Armin. Always Armin. Birthday parties, dinners, family weekends—if Eren was allowed to invite one friend, it was him.

She used to think it was because Eren liked having someone quieter around to balance him out. Now, watching them together again, she realized it was more than that. Armin had always seen Eren, really seen him, in a way most people couldn't.

And the boy who used to look like a gust of wind might knock him over had grown into someone entirely different. The awkward limbs had filled out; the nervous fidgeting was gone.

Eren was saying something but his voice blurred around the edges. Her focus stayed on Armin, on the shape of him now, on the ease in his face when he glanced at her.

He caught her looking. Not in a smug way—Armin never had that in him—but with soft eyes and a sort of look like he knew she didn't remember him well and didn't mind.

And that, somehow, made it worse.

Verena tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and forced herself to smile.

"Hi," he said finally, his voice lower than she expected. "It's really good to see you again, Verena."

Her breath hitched just slightly. "Yeah," she said, managing a small laugh. "You too."

Verena Yeager | M.S Mechanical Engineer . 23
You know that I'm no good.

Armin Arlert | B.S Marine Biology . 21
There will come a poet ...

Armin + Verena // Arena
All along there was some invisible string

FEATURING ...!

Zeke Yeager // 31
Eren Yeager // 21
Bertolt Hoover // 23
Mikasa Ackermann // 22
Reiner Braun // 23
Porco Galliard // 23
Pieck Finger // 24
.... and other Attack on Titan characters!

Special guest starring:
Yara Alden
Kore Byrne
Maarte Jurg
Silke Reiss

Authors Note:

11.2025 Welp, welcome BACK to Pretty Thoughts. I didn't think I'd come back to finish this but I have spent way too much money on commissioned art to at least give him another go. Especially considering Verena and her debut with Bertolt Hoover in a Celeb-esk AU is on my page. 

Happy birthday to my favorite blonde! ARMEEN YOU WILL GET THE GIRL I SWEAR TO IT

Insane how my favorite blonde twinks bday is right before my second (first place lbfr) blonde, HATTIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. CONSIDER THIS AN EARLY BDAY GIFT BUT FRET NOT, A LEOPOLD ONE SHOT IS COMING YOUR WAY. 

This new revamp comes with a lot of love and dedication since it was first posted. I hope you all enjoy this one because it's not coming down again. If I hate it, I hate it. And if not well then, good luck vee. 

3.2025 I am once again making a college universe and finally (held at gun point by thena and hattie) making my AOT debut.

IN ALL HONESTY THOUGH — THANK YOU SO MUCH TO THENA FOR HELPING ME WITH THIS! Appreciate your help IMMENSELY for helping me with a faceclaim and especially the relationship she holds with Eren. This one is for you lovely!! More dedications for always being so supportive 🫶🏼 fatalfIaw , silentsuns, gryzons , silkblade💘 Immensely grateful for Thena, Hattie, Doha and Ali for letting me use their ocs in this book as well. Thank you!

Verena and Armin Moodboards: silentsuns
Arena Moodboard: maenadscult

Please read this fic with caution. Triggers for this include: depictions of violence, alcohol abuse/addiction, minor references to drug use, emotional abuse, and other references that align with these behaviors.

I hope you enjoy!!