Eren dashed out of his room, alert as ever in the morning. He was by far the earliest riser of the group, which was strange considering his near-constant energy. Regardless, he was already in the kitchen and prepping a light breakfast when Armin emerged, followed by Mikasa not long after. "Morning!" he called to the two, smile as bright as ever.

Armin gave a weak grin, the bags under his eyes all too obvious. He skipped the kitchen and flopped onto the couch, facing the ceiling as his eyelids flickered open and closed. Mikasa looked over to Eren, attempting to give a small frown as explanation, but Eren didn't really understand. Armin wasn't typically one to be so openly mopey, and seeing him like this was almost uncanny.

Eren turned back to the kitchen, scooped up the plate of eggs and fruit he had just prepared for himself, and walked it over to the blond corpse on the couch. He placed it on the coffee table and peered over Armin, waving a hand to check his consciousness.

"What is it, Eren?" the groggy voice answered.

"Food," Eren said simply, pointing to the small plate on the table.

Armin's eyes opened wider at the word, and he sat up. While he was certainly more alert, it didn't change the fact that he still looked terrible. "Did you not sleep?" Eren asked.

"Barely," Armin said through a mouthful of eggs. He quickly scarfed down the rest of the food before collapsing back on the couch.

"What's up?"

"Surf competition. You know. The usual."

If there was one thing Eren hated most in this world, it was surf competitions. For one, they did this to his best friend. Armin was wrecked without fail before each and every one, and the stress was virally contagious. Not to mention that for those who weren't active participants, the day of the competition meant a whole lot of standing around in the heat and far too little Armin for it to be worth it.

"Ugh," Eren groaned, not bothering to hide his feelings on the event. He sat himself next to Armin and absentmindedly flipped through the channels.

Eren was still looking for something remotely interesting when Mikasa appeared behind the two, in her hands two cups of coffee. "One of you looked like they needed it," she joked as she handed the cups to her friends.

"Thanks!" Eren exclaimed as he took quick swig from the mug. However, he instantly recoiled when the liquid touched his lips, his face contorted in disgust. "Black? Who drinks black coffee?"

"I do."

Eren rolled his eyes dramatically. "Real shocker."

Armin smiled at the exchange and took a sip as well, before placing the mug on the coffee table and attempting (very unsuccessfully) to hide the displeasure on his face. "Thanks for the coffee, Mikasa… but I think I'm going to need some sugar, or cream. Or both."

Mikasa smirked as she took a comically long sip from her own mug, relishing in the others' astonishment.

"Crazy genes," Eren said under his breath.

"Huh?"

"Nothing!"

Armin finally rose from the couch, and proceeded to shovel spoonfuls of sugar into his drink when he assumed no one was looking. But, Eren's poorly-hid giggles quickly let him know he wasn't so discreet.

"What should we do today?" Eren asked after Armin had returned, coffee sufficiently sweetened.

"I've got to study today," Mikasa responded, drawing a groan from Eren. "I really shouldn't have even skipped yesterday, but now I have to make up for lost time."

"I should probably go practice, or something," Armin said as he rubbed his face with his free hand.

"I'm gonna be honest, Armin, you don't look like you're fit for the water today," Eren replied, examining the dark bags under his friend's eyes. "Wouldn't it be nice to have a day off?"

"It would," Armin affirmed. With how hard he worked 99% of the year, what would one day be? And besides, he wasn't going to lie to himself; he looked and felt terrible, and anything he did today would only be inefficient and downright counterproductive. "Yeah, you're right. I'm taking the day off!"

"Yeah!" Eren exclaimed, high-fiving Armin. "So… what are we going to do today?"

"Sleep."

After sleeping the rest of the morning away (the coffee didn't do much), Armin made his way into the living room once again. Only this time, it was empty. No Eren bustling around, no Mikasa scribbling away in the corner. Nothing. It was the perfect time to get some phone calls out of the way. While they were pleasant enough people, the management team at Triple S always seemed to need something.

He selected the contact he needed, and waited as the phone rang for quite some time. Despite being so well acquainted with it, the man's smooth voice instinctively straightened his back and corrected his posture. Levi's frequent snide comments tended to do that.

"Hi. What is it?"

"Hey, Levi. Erwin actually wanted me to call? He said there was some something about the tournament we needed to fix?"

"Of course there's something to fix. That blond oaf always finds something to fix," Levi spat. Armin was never really sure if the man was joking or not, but he limited himself to a vague chuckle just in case. "What'd he say?"

"Nothing yet. He just wanted me to call."

"You called me with no information?"

"Yeah. Erwin told me to—"

"Call him. This doesn't sound like my problem," Levi finished as the phone hung up.

Despite how frustrating the man was to deal with sometimes, there was something about him that never failed to amuse Armin. More than likely it was his bluntness, which was exaggerated to the point of comedy. A faint smile curved Armin's lips as he tapped Erwin's contact. It rang only twice before Erwin picked up.

"Hi, Armin. I think it's safe to assume why you're calling?"

"If the assumption has to do with Levi, then yes."

Erwin chuckled on the other end of the line, before returning to the conversation. "So, what I needed to talk to you about. Regarding the tournament."

"Right."

"Unfortunately, there's been some issues on a more bureaucratic level with enrollment, and you're one of the victims. I'm not sure where exactly everything went wrong, but some of our team members aren't entered."

Armin frowned. "Why can't we just add them back if we know who's not entered?"

"We tried, but it's far past the deadline for registration. The heats and competition times are already decided, and we can't exactly shoehorn in new competitors. Not to mention, the other teams complained about it when we proposed our fix, saying it was unfair that we could enter competitors after the deadline."

"So what's the next step then? Just as he asked the question, Armin's phone began ringing, bringing up Levi's profile picture. "Uh… Levi's calling again, Erwin."

"Answer it. He's probably found something."

Armin clicked the green phone icon, and Levi's voice once again started to speak.

"Some nerd setting up the tournament forgot to enter the sheet with your name on it, Arlert. But we can't enter you back into the tournament because the other teams won't stop their bitching, as usual. Wonderful."

"Yeah, Erwin told me." Albeit much more professionally.

"So we've got two options. I can go beat the shit out of the other teams' managers until they accept you, or you can just not participate. I don't care."

Armin was a bit stunned. "You don't care if I don't participate?"

"No. Even I'm not enough of an asshole to make you put up with this mess. I wouldn't blame you if you just chose to sit this one."

"But is—"

"Yes, Erwin is okay with it. Same with the rest of the team," Levi cut Armin off. "Nobody cares."

With this confirmation, Armin didn't have to give the matter much thought. Perhaps he was overanalyzing last night. Maybe it really wasn't such a big deal. "Then, yeah. I think I'm going to just sit this one."

"Good. You know I don't say this lightly, Arlert, but," Levi sighed exasperatedly, "I think you deserve a break. Good afternoon." And the phone went silent.

Honestly, Armin was a bit dumbfounded by it all. The tournament he had been stressing about not twenty-four hours prior had just been cancelled, and there seemed to be somewhat of a hole left by it. He had devoted so much time and energy to thinking about it that when it was suddenly removed, he felt a strange kind of emptiness. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized it was a good kind of emptiness.

Armin slid his phone back into his pocket and took a deep, contented breath, not sure the last time he had felt this good. Even despite getting virtually no sleep, he felt as if the news revitalized him. He made his way over to Eren's room, excited to share the news with his friend. As he approached the door, however, he picked up the growing sounds of a struggle. Puzzled, he called out to Eren. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" a strained voice answered. After speaking, another set of crashes could be heard, along with a disgruntled groan.

Inside, Eren was hurriedly pulling on his pants, while simultaneously attempting to fasten his name tag to the front of his shirt. It wasn't going well, and he had taken more than one fall during all the commotion. His phone had buzzed with a reminder notifying him of his shift at SeaGanshina Pizza today, something he had entirely forgot about until five minutes ago, and triggered the frantic preparation.

"Uh, right. Well, I'm out of the tournament! Levi said there was some mistake at the lower levels, and I wasn't entered correctly," Armin continued. "And now I don't have to go!"

As Armin finished speaking, the door swung open, and he was greeted with Eren's frazzled figure. "That's great! I wanted to do something, but, uh," he spoke as he motioned up and down with his hands. "I kind of forgot about work."

Armin suppressed a laugh. "It's fine. It'll be kind of nice to just relax, anyways. I feel so… light!" He spoke with a blissful smile plastered across his face.

"I'll be back at, like, seven? I don't even remember when the shift ends. But it'll be tonight!" Eren called as he raced towards the door, fiddling with his belt as he ran.

"Don't you need a ride?" Armin spoke as he followed Eren onto the raised deck.

Eren stared for a moment. "Oh. Right." He paused, before asking meekly, "Would you mind?"

"Not at all."

Eren sighed in relief as he looked at the time on his phone. "Thanks. I know I usually walk, but I got a little, uh, distracted earlier."

After thudding down the stairs as fast as humanly possible, the two entered Armin's BMW in the driveway. The engine purred to life as Armin pushed the button to start the car, and after he quickly checked his mirrors, they were soon gliding across the narrow streets towards the pier.

They were almost to their destination when a bike shot out in front of them, causing Armin to slam on the brakes. The pair jolted forwards, before hitting their heads against the backs of their seats. Armin jabbed his fist at the horn as the bike scurried away to the other side of the street, the rider's middle finger on prominent display.

"You asshole!" Eren yelled, offering both of his middle fingers in return.

"Eren, stop it," Armin said as they continued on their path.

"How do idiots like that not piss you off?" Eren asked, fuming from the small confrontation.

"They do. I just try not to let emotions get the better of me while I'm driving."

Eren huffed in annoyance just as the car stopped against the side of a curb. He grabbed his hat from the center console and opened the door, stepping out onto the street. "Thank you!" he called as he ran off into the small restaurant, waving to Armin as he did so.

Armin returned the wave, and began his drive back home. It was times like these when his friend worried him. His disorganization could be detrimental, and his rage was like an uncontrollable grease fire. Eren had his flaws, undoubtedly, but the constant presence of both himself and Mikasa seemed to be enough to keep him out of harm's way.

But that wasn't to say that Eren's traits were always negative. Armin could recall more than once when his aggression and willingness to act had gotten him out of a tough position, or scared off a particularly unpleasant group of people. Bullies were unfortunately plentiful in Armin's youth, but Eren hadn't batted an eye when it came to defending his friends. And for that, Armin would always be grateful.

Armin pulled into the driveway and entered the house, his thoughts resetting as he walked into the living room. Mikasa was nowhere to be found, but Armin could guess she was doing something for her online classes while holed up in her room.

In a way, Armin envied Mikasa. She was attending college online, and there was a part of himself that wanted to do the same thing. Eren was in a gap year, and while there was nothing wrong with it, Armin needed something to provide him guidance and direction. This happened to come in the form of his surfing career, but that didn't mean he overlooked the benefits of a traditional post-high school education.

Armin grabbed his laptop and flipped it open, clicking on his favorite bookmark. He was brought to a plethora of live beach cams, but decided to watch the Shiganshina pier, still too tired to actually go there himself. He was alone, but he was happy.

Eren punched in the customer's order, handing them the receipt after they paid. "I'll call your number when it's ready!" he said peppily. They nodded and walked off to find a table outside. Once alone, Eren's smile faded into a scowl. Connie emerged from the kitchen, holding a pizza in each hand.

"What's wrong?" he asked, noticing Eren's face.

"Nothing. Just bored," Eren replied. "I could eat here every day, but working's a different story."

Connie laughed in response. "Tell me about it. Order fifty-two!" he yelled, passing Eren and walking outside. Eren remained at the register, fiddling with the tablet in front of him. His job wasn't the worst, but it tended to get pretty boring, especially on slower days when school was in session.

As he was milling about the shop due to minimal business, Eren finally checked his phone and felt a wave of relief when it read six forty-five. His shift ended at seven, and he was responsible for closing the store with Connie. It really wasn't too difficult of a task, given the size of the place, but it was still one more thing in the way of freedom.

Mopping the floors, cleaning the grills, and washing the dishes were light work when the people doing them were highly motivated. Highly motivated to go home, in Eren's case. He took one more look around the kitchen as he placed the mop and broom back in their cabinet, and decided it was satisfactory. Connie was just about finished cleaning the tables, and once he returned, the two exited the shop and locked it for the night.

"Nice work today," Connie said as the two walked back together.

"Thanks. We've had harder, though," Eren responded.

"True. I'm kind of dreading summer. Those crowds are nightmare fuel!"

Eren laughed as his friend turned onto a different street. "See you later, Connie!"

Connie waved in response, and set off on his own route home.

Eren continued home by himself, the sun just beginning to set as he reached the stairs to the house. He hesitated a moment on the deck, admiring the fiery shades of red, orange and purple, before entering the house. "I'm back!" he called as he opened the door.

"How was work?" Armin asked from the table. In front of him sat a newly made grilled cheese, and he picked up a slice before taking a bite. "I'm assuming you are while you were there?"

"Yup," Eren replied, moving to the kitchen to grab something to drink. He opened the refrigerator and examined their meager supply of sodas. Eren was really the only one who drank them in the house, and as such was responsible for buying them. He cracked open the last can of Coke and took a seat at the island. He removed his hat and ruffled his hair, relishing in the feeling of freedom. "I hate work."

"I know the feeling," Armin replied, still munching on half of his sandwich. "Are you free tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I think so," Eren responded. He still checked his phone in order to make sure.

"Well, then let's do something. I won't need to practice, and Mikasa's classes end early."

"You know that's always good with me," Eren said after a swig from his Coke.

Armin examined the drink for a moment, before commenting, "Caffeine? Now? Really?"

"Please, I hardly feel it!"

Armin rolled his eyes, but eventually returned to the conversation. "What do you want to do, though? It's a Friday, so pretty much everything should be open, and pretty late too."

Eren considered the question. Their town wasn't huge, so the amount of things to do locally wasn't too expansive. However, there were definitely still activities they could have fun with. "Want to go to the mall? The outdoor one, you know, here."

"Sure! Anything specific you wanted there?" Armin inquired.

"Not really. It's just fun to walk around."

"True. Well, that sounds good to me. Let's plan on it for tomorrow, then."

Eren downed the rest of his drink, shaking it above his mouth in order to catch the last few dribbles. "Sweet."

Armin opened the door and slid himself into the driver's seat. His leather wheel was always satisfying to touch, and his engine? It was an absolute joy to drive.

And drive he did. Every time the group traveled anywhere, Armin was the one to take them. His car was the nicest, so there was that, but he also enjoyed driving the most out of all three. Mikasa was a fine driver, but she didn't necessarily like it, while Eren's driving was… not for the faint of heart.

Armin backed out of the driveway and onto the street, weaving through the neighborhood until they reached the freeway. The mall was fairly close to their house, so the drive should only take around ten minutes. However, it was livened by Eren and Mikasa's playful bickering over the AUX cord (which was actually a lightning cable, but everyone still calls it an AUX).

"I'm not listening to this garbage!" Eren exclaimed as he tore the cable from the bottom of Mikasa's phone.

"What do you want to listen to then? I hear enough generic rock blasting from your room already."

Offended, Eren jammed the cable into his phone and scrolled through Spotify, looking for the most obscure, strange, and experimental music he could find in order to spite Mikasa. He finally clicked on one, and promptly clasped a hand over his face when Mikasa smiled in recognition.

"I love Aphex Twin," she said, lightly bobbing her head to the music.

"It's literally just noise. This is garbage," Eren said through his hand.

"Isn't all music just noise?" Armin proposed from the driver's seat.

"He has a point. All sounds could be considered music, Eren. I think you're just too closed-minded."

Eren stared at Mikasa with a straight face and hit the pause button on his phone, stopping the music. "If that's what open-minded sounds like, then I'm good," Eren said, the car's speakers returning to playing his generic rock. Mikasa rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless.

They pulled into the parking lot, scanning for a good place to park. It was another beautiful day, and thankfully too, since the mall was almost entirely outdoors. Rain or cold weather would have all but spoiled the outing. There weren't too many other cars in the lot, so they easily found a nice spot, and exited the car.

Palm trees lined the roads around the mall, as well as the walkways within it. The tan buildings were topped with red tile roofs, and despite the large structure being located in a fairly small town, felt as if it fit seamlessly in with the rest of Shiganshina's architecture and theme.

"Where to first?" Armin asked, the car honking as he locked it.

"Let's just walk around first, maybe get something to eat?" Eren said, now aware of his stomach's needs. "The pretzels here are always good!"

"Sure, I could go for one of those too," Armin concurred.

They continued along the walkway between stores, stopping every now and then to examine a particularly interesting window display. Upon reaching the pretzel store, Eren was already in line and ready to order, his debit card in hand.

"What can I get you?" the cashier asked, although it was a bit hard to understand her given her stuffed mouth.

"Can I get a pepperoni pretzel with cheese sauce, please?" Eren asked, eyeing the display case through the glass.

"Sure thing," she replied, finally swallowing. "You know what, you can take it!"

"Seriously? Thanks, Sasha!"

Sasha giggled. "My manager is out, so this is the only time I can give away free food." As she continued, her voice lowered to a whisper. "But I always take some throughout the day!"

Eren snorted. "I would've never known."

Sasha picked up the pretzel and sauce, and handed them to Eren. He took them with a hefty amount of thanks, and moved on so his friends could order. They, too, were given free "samples": Armin cinnamon bites and Mikasa a lemonade slushy.

"Thanks, Sasha!" all three called as they left the store in search of tables. The mall wasn't very crowded, so they found a seat without any real trouble. The group cast their assortment of carbs on the table and began eating, Eren already tearing open his small container of cheese sauce.

"Ok, for real now, what stores should we go in?" Armin asked after swallowing a cinnamon bite.

"Why don't we go to Triple S? I know it's your favorite," Eren said teasingly.

"Unlike you, I can actually get tired of where I work. Unless, you know, you count the ocean."

"Yeah, yeah. But you get free stuff there, right?"

Armin rolled his eyes at Eren's comment, choosing not to reply.

"Then why don't we go to Marley?" Eren said through a devilish grin.

Armin looked repulsed. Marley was Triple S's biggest rival, and one of their flagship stores was located in the mall. "If I ever see any of you wearing Marley," Armin routinely told Eren and Mikasa, "I'm going to drown you."

"Careful Eren," Mikasa said, smirking.

"Kidding, kidding. But I do want to look in some surf stores. I need clothes pretty badly." That was the truth. Unfortunately, Marley was one of the biggest stores in the mall, and Eren's wardrobe consisted almost exclusively of Triple S clothing. Diversifying tended to be more difficult when such a large manufacturer was taken out of the picture.

After finishing their snack, they continued walking to nowhere in particular. With the nice weather, just walking around was pleasant, even if nothing really jumped out at any of them in the stores.

There was one, however, that Eren just had to pay a visit to, every time they visited the mall. In the corner of one of the larger buildings, in a rather small room, was Gucci. The store was really intended more as a showroom, but that didn't deter Eren. He strut into the store, sporting his shorts and T-shirt, attempting to act as if he belonged there. Armin couldn't bring himself to enter the store; his hysterical laughing was too hard to bring under control.

"Excuse me madame, may I try on this coat?" Eren asked with a pompous, fake accent.

She looked taken aback at his request, but found her composure and agreed. Eren, still strutting, made his way to the dressing room, despite the overcoat being just that. An overcoat.

Eren threw open the doors of the dressing room, donning the ridiculous fluffy tan coat. "What do you think, Mikasa?" He said in his accent, drawing out the last syllable of her name.

Mikasa covered her mouth with her hand, her laughter barely stifled. The employee just watched on in amazement, honestly not sure if Eren was real or not. After sufficiently eyeing Eren's incredibly fashionable outfit, Mikasa took a deep breath and gathered herself. "Eren, I think we should move on," she said, barely stopping a laugh towards the end of her sentence.

Eren almost lost the act, too, but just barely saved face by retreating back into the dressing room, before promptly emerging with the coat in hand. "Thank you, but it just doesn't hug my figure the way a coat should," he told the employee as he handed her the coat. He hurried out of the store before he could burst into laughter, only to find Armin doubled over on a bench, barely able to breathe.

"I… watched… the whole… thing," he said through uncontrollable wheezes and fits of laughter, before giving up. Eren joined in the laughter as they walked away from the store, and Mikasa let loose a few chuckles as well. "Don't ever stop doing that," Armin said after calming down a bit and once again becoming capable of English speech.

"Don't worry. Monsieur Jaeger is here to stay," Eren responded in his posh accent, drawing more laughs from the two. "But seriously, can we go to Triple S? I need some clothes."

"Sure. It's your reward for that outstanding performance," Armin said, more in control of himself than before.

Eren chuckled, and led the group towards the surf shop near the center of the mall. Its location was medium-sized, but packed with clothes and surf supplies of all types. Boards, wax, grips, leashes, fins; anything you could think of, Triple S had it. And, in each department, what it offered was some of the best. Or at least, in his completely unbiased opinion totally not influenced by any outside factors, Armin thought so.

"Hey Mike!" Armin waved to the man working the counter of the store. Mike Zacharias was the manager of this Triple S location, and seeing as it was the closest to Armin's house, they had grown to know each other over the years of Armin's sponsorship.

Mike turned from the man he was talking to and waved a hand in greeting. "How's it going, Armin?" he asked friendlily.

The other, much shorter man, turned as well, his narrow eyes seeming to cut into Armin's soul. "Arlert," he spoke in his characteristically silky voice.

"Hey Levi." Armin offered a small wave, but knew the man didn't want or expect anything more.

Eren stood slightly behind Armin, preferring to let him do the introductions for Triple S matters. He wasn't usually one to be awkward around people, but when it came to Triple S, he was undoubtedly an odd man out. They all shared a common line of work, and because of it, would discuss things that Eren had no relation to. This lack of shared experiences was something that made interactions stiff and unnatural, which Eren never normally had a problem with.

"Hey," Eren said, waving to Levi and Mike. Mike returned the wave, while Levi looked unimpressed.

"Brought your friends?" he asked Armin.

"Yeah. Eren said he needed some new clothes, so, you know, this was our first choice."

Levi looked behind Armin to Mikasa, before nodding his head in acknowledgement. "Mikasa."

"Levi," she said, nodding her head back.

No wonder those two get along so well, Eren thought. It's like there's some connection between them. They're practically the same person!

Armin looked between Levi and Mikasa a few times, before clearing his throat and speaking. "Anyways, let's go pick some stuff out." Eren was more than happy to follow him to the back of the store, where the men's clothing was kept.

After sorting through rack after rack of clothing, Eren's arms began to look like hangers. He brought the pile of clothes to the front, where Mike was waiting behind the counter, and thankfully Levi was nowhere to be seen. As Eren dumped the clothes onto the counter, Mike began rapidly scanning their tags, the total on the screen steadily increasing. After the last item was scanned, though, he entered a code into his keyboard, and the price was slashed some eighty percent. Eren swiped his card and gratefully took his bags, carrying a new wardrobe in his arms. "Thanks!" Eren said, turning to leave the store.

Armin, however, stayed next to the counter. "What was Levi here for?" he asked Mike.

"He was just clarifying some stuff for the tournament. This store's providing some of the gear, so he wanted to make sure it was all in order," Mike responded. "I think he wants to make sure what happened to you won't happen anywhere else, you know how he is. Couldn't care less on the outside, but is a stress wreck on the inside."

Armin nodded. "Makes sense. Alright, Mike, I'll see you later!" Armin said as he exited the store, exchanging goodbye waves with the manager.

"I'm ready to head back, you?" Eren asked his friends.

"Good with me," Armin said.

"Same here," Mikasa responded.

The group started back to the car, following along the mall's winding walkways. As they passed a certain store, however, Armin's attention was caught by a particular group of people exiting. Or rather, by their clothing.

Plastered across the back, as well as in the corner of their shirts, was Marley's signature "M" logo. Which, coming from people leaving a Marley store, shouldn't have been too noteworthy. However, Armin was aware of this logo's specific rendition, and the only people who wore it: Marley's surf team.

They must have recruited a new team, Armin thought. Marley had taken some harsh losses to Triple S in recent years, and it wouldn't be surprising if they had scrapped the old team and started over. Besides, Armin had competed against Marley plenty of times, and he had never seen these three before.

As Armin was looking them over, one of the guys in the group caught sight of his staring. He returned the glance, his eyes narrowing a bit as they met Armin's. Armin quickly diverted his gaze, before it shot to the only girl out of the three.

Short, blonde, and… no. She was not pretty. She was an enemy.