"E-Eren, are you sure we should be doing this?" Armin asked timidly, lingering in the doorway to Eren's living room.

"Of course!" came Eren's voice, sure and certain, as the boy himself attempted to pull his sofa away from the wall and into the centre of the room.

"But your mummy said not to make a mess..." His friend still wasn't convinced.

"We're not making a mess, Armin, we're making a fort! They're very different things!"

Armin wasn't convinced the two were very different things, especially considering the fact that Eren was pulling cushions from the sofa and throwing them on the floor. He fidgeted in the doorway for a few moments longer, before Eren snapped, "Are you gonna help or what?"

"I still don't think it's a good idea," Armin admitted quietly. Eren sighed and rolled his eyes, something he was always getting into trouble for doing. He inhaled deeply, then raised his voice in a yell which made his friend jump slightly.

"MUM!" he called. "ME AND ARMIN ARE MAKING A FORT IN THE LIVING ROOM!"

A muffled, "That's nice dear. Be careful," came back to them, and Eren made his best "I-told-you-so" face at Armin, which was strange, since Armin tended to be the one who was right most of the time. However, even though Eren had proved to him they had every right to build a fort, the boy still hesitated.

"If you're not going to help, you won't be able to come in," Eren warned him.

"I'll help!" Armin promised, not one for being left out of anything, even if he didn't really want to join in. "What do you want me to do?"

Eren looked around the room for a while, scratching the back of his neck. "You could go get all the bedding from my room and bringing it down here. My pillows and quilt and everything."

Armin nodded quickly before scurrying upstairs. Eren could hear his footsteps, lighter than his and Mikasa's, but still a heavy thud from above. It wasn't long before the blond was back, his arms full with various items he'd rescued from Eren's bed.

The initial plan Eren had made was to push the two sofas in his living room together in an "L" shape, and then drape his duvet across, but it wasn't anywhere near long enough. Armin suggested that they pushed the two sofas together instead, so hey were next to each other, effectively becoming one giant sofa. After some debate, the two decided this plan was a good one, and tried their best to follow it. However, the sofas proved to be far too much of a challenge for them, and Eren ended up asking his mother for help moving them.

The boys shoved a closed umbrella in the crack between the two sofas, in order to keep the duvet up when they threw it over the top. They filled the crack with pillows before tossing the duvet over their heads. A few stray pillows and a blanket that was never used lay discarded on the sofa. Eren flicked on the torch he'd asked his mother if he could borrow, and said, "Our fort needs a name."

"A name?" Armin repeated. "What sort of name?"

Eren shrugged. "I dunno. I'll think of one in a bit."

Armin nodded. "Is Mikasa coming round today? Maybe she could help us name it!"

"No," Eren stated blankly. "No girls are allowed in our fort. Wanna make a flag?"

Armin's eyebrows creased. "We... We don't even have a name yet."

"Maria." Eren snapped the first name that came to mind. It seemed to amused Armin, and his lips curled upwards.

"So no girls are allowed in the fort, but the fort has a girl's name?" he chuckled.

"Yes," Armin was making Eren feel like an idiot. Eren didn't like feeling like an idiot. "Are we gonna make a flag or not?"

They set up a fan just outside Fort Maria, because lying under a duvet in the middle of summer isn't the best idea when it's actually hot for once. Eren's mother didn't really want them drawing in the fort, but she couldn't stop them. Eren worked diligently, breaking out his finest pencils. He wanted to outshine Armin for once. Armin always did the best drawing and the best writing but this time, this time, it would be Eren's flag that flew outside Fort Maria.

And, in the end, it was Eren's flag that they stuck to his duvet. Late nights up reading and a comfy fort made from blankets and pillows caught up with Armin, and he fell asleep before he could finish his own design.

Author's Note: I AM SO BEHIND IM SO MAD ITS BECAUSE OF SNK MAFIA GODDAMMIT
i am literally going to be writing all of tomorrow jfc because i dont feel like writing anymore its nearly midnight
thank you for your support im gonna overcome my addiction with snk mafia and focus on getting this story done woot