The next few days were hard for Armin and I. We decided to stay at my place for a while so that Armin could compose himself. After all, he'd likely be seeing Eren again soon and he needed to be in a better mindset. There was a lot of crying. Armin woke up a lot from his reoccurring night terrors and they seemed to had gotten a lot worse. He looked about as miserable as he felt. Over the past several months, with everything that'd gone on in his life, he'd started to eat less. I began to notice him thinning, his skin essentially draping over his bones. I basically had to force-feed food to him. It had been about 3 days since the incident occurred. At the moment, Armin was sleeping on the couch, experiencing another one of his night terrors. I was sitting beside him, holding his hand.

I knew we needed to go back. People were probably starting to wonder about us, about him. I ran my fingers through his hair. "Please go to sleep. Don't think about whatever you're thinking," I whispered to his unconscious body. I looked at the digital clock in the room. It read: 3:30 pm. It was likely free period, in his time. I wanted to wake him but I didn't know what will happen. I'd never woken him up from a night terror before and I heard you weren't supposed to do that. I debated on it in my head for the next few minutes, eventually coming to the conclusion that I would try to wake him. I grabbed his shoulders and shook him gently.

"Armin, wake up. It's me, Y/N..." I whispered this about three or four times. He stopped trembling and lay still for a minute. He opened his eyes slightly, then all at once. "Get away from me!" he yelled as he kicked me in the stomach. It was a lot harder than you had thought he could do, it knocked the wind out of me. I sat on the ground wheezing as an attempt to catch my breath. Armin got up on the couch and grabbed a lamp. "Stay away!" he screamed angrily. I regretted my decision. I regained my breath and got up, putting my hands up in defense. "Armin, it's me, Y/N," I said calmly. I began walking forward and he swung the lamp at me, thankfully missing. "I said get back!" he shouted. "Armin, you're imagining things. It's me, Y/N. I'm not going to hurt you. Please put down the lamp," I pleaded. 

"Shut up that's bullshit!"

He swung the lamp again, hitting me in the arm. It hurt like hell but I was distracted by something else. I never thought I'd hear Armin swear. Even he'd be surprised that he did. "Calm down and put it down before I use force!" I demanded, beginning to lose my temper. He continued to yell at me, swinging the lamp. He refused to put the lamp down. 

"That's it."

I ran at him and grabbed his ankles, ranking them forward and receiving a hard hit in the back by the lamp. "Get the hell off of me! Don't touch me!" he yelled as he fell back, dropping the lamp on the ground. I could hear the bulb shattering as the lamp crashed into the hardwood floor. Armin writhed and kicked trying to escape, but he was too weak. I pinned him down and sat on his stomach, holding his hands above his head. "What's wrong with you!? Wake up!" I screamed in his face. Armin looked up at me with anger in his usually kind, pretty blue eyes. "Fuck you," he hissed, utterly shocking me. It clearly wasn't him, well, it clearly wasn't his normal, conscious self. I came to the conclusion that he may not have woken up yet. I hoisted him over my shoulder and made way for my room. He kicked and hit me with full force, trying to escape.

I had calmed down and accepted whatever he did or said to me. Once we reached my room, I threw him on the floor and closed the door. He was quick to run up to the door and start banging on it. He demanded I let him out. I held the door closed with a chair, that I got from the hallway, under the doorknob. Armin hit the door and yelled for another half an hour or so before quieting down to crying. "I don't know why you do this to me. I never did anything to you. Why do you hate me so much? All I ever did was try to be a good son," he sobbed, sprawled out on the ground. "I don't hate you, in fact, I love you more than the world," I cooed. 

"No, if you did love me then you wouldn't have been so cruel towards me."

He was still dreaming. I wondered when he would wake up. I desperately wanted the boy I knew and loved back, not that impulsive, aggressive version of him. I let out a loud sigh. "Armin, try to sleep," I asked kindly. "You'll just end up hurting me!" he cried. I assured him, "I won't. I'll go upstairs if you want. I want you to sleep though."

"No..."

"What if I take the chair away from the door and go upstairs, will you sleep then?" I asked. I sat on the other side of the door, listening to him breathing heavily.

"M-Maybe..."

"I need a yes or a no, not a maybe. And you can't run away, you have to stay there and sleep."

He whined crawling around for a minute, mumbling. Finally, he agreed. I interrogated, "you promise to stay there and try to sleep?" "Yes, just take the damn chair away," he growled. I got up from the ground and removed the chair. I told him I removed it. I opened the door and looked in. He was sprawled out in the corner of the room. His hair was completely messed up, clothes ripped, and eyes were dull. He was a disaster. Armin looked at me with pure hatred in his eyes. I so badly wanted to just run into his arms and move past everything, but I knew I couldn't, so I closed the door. I walked upstairs and relaxed in the family room. The lamp was shattered all over the ground, so I figured I should clean it up.

Around three and a half hours later, I decided I should check up on Armin. I flicked off the TV and headed back downstairs to my bedroom. Armin had been pretty quiet for a while, I hoped he was okay. I walked down the hall and opened the door to my bedroom. "Armin, it's me..." I whispered as I walked in, leaving the door fully open. He was asleep laying peacefully in my bed. I sat down beside him and caressed his cheek. He was so warm. I felt his scolding hot forehead with the back of my hand. A fever, which probably wasn't making things any better for him. I kissed his sweaty forehead and lay down beside him. I guess we were staying another night. Maybe we'd go back tomorrow.