Chapter Summary: "I've seen Eren in many conditions – angry, excited, happy, sad, annoyed, shy, tired, scared. But this – this heartbroken and pained kid – this is something I never thought I'd see."

A/N: Hey! I'm back!

I'm really sorry the update got delayed. I was ready with the new chapter when suddenly my laptop crashed! And then I had to wait till I got it fixed up. But the wait is finally over! XD

This one's from Armin's POV. And like I said before, the story's gonna have Multiple POV now. I think it will be a great experience for me personally as a writer, to be able to write different characters. And also, exploring the different minds will help explain the story better too!

So... Enjoy! ^_^

~~Armin Arlert~~

When I woke up this morning, what I hadn't expected at all was to find an unknown man sitting in the living room of the Jaeger Residence.

Yet here I am. Standing in the space between the living room and the stairs and staring at the stranger.

My morning was pretty much usual. I woke up, brushed my teeth, had breakfast (peanut butter sandwich, if you must know). Grandpa was nowhere to be seen, probably gone for a morning walk. So I'd sneaked into his studies and was looking for a book to read – the ones I hide in here so he won't find out I read these stuff (you know, stuffs about hacking and everything) – when I suddenly remembered last night's phone call.

"Armin."

"Mikasa? What's up?"

"Tomorrow morning. At Eren's."

"Huh?!"

– Hang up –

Well, that's Mikasa for you. More action, less word.

I guess I should've expected it. Eren had been all over the place since yesterday. It was only a matter of time before she noticed. And there was that Levi guy. It's obvious that there's some hidden story behind his kinship with Mikasa. Otherwise, why would you behave like that with your relative?

But, there had to be more. What if these two incidents were connected somehow? Eren being unusual and the showing up of this Levi Ackerman – these two things happened during the same time, right? So perhaps, Eren's behavior was in some way related to Levi's coming here. That's got to be it! And now that I thought about it, I should've had this figured out way sooner. After all, Eren's not the least bit subtle in any way. We all saw how he was eyeing the raven the whole time.

I couldn't help smirking while I pushed my glasses up.

So you got yourself a crush, huh! And a hot one too! Nice going buddy!

But then, another thought made my eyebrows scrunch. Levi Ackerman – he didn't seem particularly interested in Eren. In fact, it actually looked like he was trying to avoid him. So, was it the classic case of unrequited love? Eren was heartbroken because Levi didn't return his feelings?

I started pacing in my bedroom absent-mindedly.

Then where did Mikasa fit in? Maybe her relationship with Levi also had a part in it. Maybe she knew things about him that's making her concerned about Eren? Or was it just her motherly nature that wanted to protect Eren? Maybe Eren told her about his one-sided love and now she was trying to cheer him up?

Mikasa… cheering someone up…

My mind flooded with the images of Sasha Braus – the potato girl of our class. Tall, brown hair and brown eyes. She's the kind of person who eats their feelings, you know. If she's happy, she eats. If she's depressed, she eats. If she's scared, she eats. Simply put, she eats all the time, regardless of any other factor! And her favorite food is potato – anything and everything potato. Hence, potato girl.

So one day, she was sitting alone in the class. The short bald boy she usually hangs out with, Connie Springer, was absent for some reason. We saw her sulking and asked what's wrong. And she said the cafeteria was out of baked potatoes by the time she came in. Eren and I looked at Mikasa, because we knew she'd bought one a while ago. Now, in that situation, what do you do? You offer her the one you'd bought for yourself, right? You be nice and talk to her softly as you hand it over.

But what did Mikasa do?

She walked over to Sasha, unwrapped the baked potato and shoved it inside her mouth!

I mean, who the hell does that?! Thankfully Sasha was too happy with the potato to notice anything else; otherwise we would've had a serious problem there.

Later when we asked her, she simply said that she was trying to cheer her up. And since Sasha looked so sad, giving her the potato in the fastest way was the right choice.

Ugh! The memory still gives me nightmares!

Anyway, so that's how I decided to go along with Mikasa's plan and show up at the Jaeger residence. If she's there to cheer Eren up, I can at least try to make sure she does it right and not traumatize him further.

I'd expected to hear loud noises, maybe Eren arguing and Mikasa trying to calm him down. I was even prepared to see Hange and Levi, probably dragged in here by the impulsive idiot himself.

So when I find a nice quiet house, with no sign of fight or argument, or either of my friends, I'm a little concerned. I'm even more concerned because like I told you before, currently I'm standing in the hallway just by the stair and watching a completely unfamiliar man sitting in the living room couch. To make matters worse, I'd howled "Agent Arlert reporting! Mission: Rescue Princess Eren is a go!" while walking through the front door. And now, this guy is eyeing me like I've grown another head over my shoulder.

By the way, I'm Agent Arlert from the 'EMA (Eren-Mikasa-Armin) Detective Agency' that we built when we were in Junior High. Kinda lame, I know. But Eren refuses to change the name!

And yes, Mrs. Jaeger knows.

"Armin! You're here!" I'm saved from further humiliation by Mrs. Jaeger. "They've been waiting for you."

"Oh", I turn my eyes away from the man and focus on her. "Hi, Mrs. Jaeger."

She notices me taking a peek at the guy again and smiles. "That's Moblit Berner." The guy nods once, smiling. "He's our new neighbor."

"Hello", I smile, embarrassed. "I'm Armin, Eren's friend."

He laughs. "Yeah, I kind of guessed that. So you're friends with Hange too?"

Hange?! He knows Hange?

I look at Mrs. Jaeger hesitantly.

"Moblit's going to stay at Hange's while they're gone", she explains. "They're old friends."

Oh!

Now it makes sense.

This Moblit guy being here means Hange's left by now. Which means – Levi has left too. And judging by the fact that Eren and Mikasa are already here and not making a ruckus, I'd say things are far worse than I'd anticipated.

Suddenly the peaceful silence starts to feel kind of ominous.

"Mikasa is upstairs with Eren", Mrs. Jaeger's voice brings me back to reality.

"Huh?! Oh yeah, right!" I nod in acknowledgement and proceed to climb the stairs. "I'll see you later then."

Clothes scattered on the bed. Books piled up on one side. Windows blinded and lights off.

That's all I'm able to see as I open the door to Eren's room. I squint my eyes and make out a silhouette on the bed. And some kind of a huge lump next to them. The lump moves a little and I hear a groan. It's Eren's voice. So that means the silhouette is Mikasa.

I close the door and let the room submerge in darkness again. The only source of light inside is the tiny sunrays seeping through the gaps between the blinds. And to be honest, they're actually making the darkness more evident.

I look around and try to make out my surroundings, only to be surprised after a moment of inspection. For the first time, Eren's room has enough space to walk without tripping over things. What in the world motivated him to clean up anyway?

That's not important right now Armin!

Right. I should focus on more urgent matters.

I walk over to the bed. I was right. It's Mikasa, sitting cross-legged on the bed. I can't exactly make out her expression, but I have a feeling it's glummer than usual.

"Hey", I greet her as I sit down facing her.

The lump moves again.

I look closely. It's a bundle of blankets. I'm pretty sure who is underneath these layers of clothes, but I choose to remain silent for now. Rather, I raise an eyebrow at Mikasa, silently inquiring about the current situation.

She sighs and shakes her head. "He's been like this ever since I came."

I look at the heap of blankets again with a worried expression. It's very rare for Eren to shield himself from his problems like this. Usually, you'd see him very upfront and stubborn about facing any difficulties head-on. But on rare occasions like this, when he curls within his own safe zone to protect himself, it's very hard to pull him back out.

I get up and walk over to the window near the bed. Sunlight floods the room as soon as I pull the blinds up. And for a moment, everything goes white. I cover my eyes to protect them from the sudden brightness, barely noticing as Mikasa does the same. When my eyes are finally able to adjust, I open them, hoping to see some movement, or at least some kind of response from my cocooned friend.

There's none.

The hard way then. I think while walking back to the bed.

I settle for trying out different triggers. To solve a problem, you must first identify the cause. And to solve a problem for Eren Jaeger at his current state, you must make him come out of his shell and admit that there is one.

"Mikasa", I start. "Did you see that man downstairs?"

"Yeah", she replies uncertainly. She's trying to figure out my game-plan. Well, she'll soon see for herself as long as she keeps going with it.

"Mrs. Jaeger told me he's Hange's friend", I keep my eyes on Eren. No reaction whatsoever.

"I heard too." Good, Mikasa's starting to catch up. "He'll be taking care of the Zoe household."

"So does that mean they left already?" Go slow Armin.

"Hmm…" Mikasa smirks. She's got it. "I think they left this morning."

The blankets move a little. But nothing else.

We're almost there.

"That guy… what was his name? Yeah, Levi."

Sheets rustle, we hear a muffled whimper.

"What about him?" Mikasa prods.

"You said he was your relative", I continue. "Didn't he tell you before leaving?"

Mikasa stiffens a little. "He's a distant relative. We're not that close."

Okay, bad move!

I eye her apologetically. Then gesture towards Eren and mouth 'Just go with it'.

Thankfully, she relaxes. And nods.

"But surely he said goodbye to Eren, right?" My eyes glimmer. It's the final blow. "With bittersweet parting words and promises of reunion?"

And it works.

The blankets are flung away and a very messy looking Eren Jaeger sits upright on the bed. His hair is disarrayed, eyes bloodshot (has he been crying?!), face puffed up. The white jacket he's wearing is crumpled at different places, probably due to the 'curling-up-inside-the-blankets' thing he was doing.

I watch him with wary eyes. There's no telling what's going on inside his head right now. This is one of those moments when he's the most unpredictable.

Come to think of it, something similar happened last year. After arguing and discussing with us for months, Eren had finally gathered enough courage to come out with his sexuality. Mrs. Jaeger had been unexpectedly supportive when he told her. If you ask me, I think she'd already known for quite some time and was waiting for Eren to be ready to tell her.

But Mr. Jaeger was another story. As you already know, he has to stay away from home for long periods of time due to his work. And when this event was taking place, he'd just returned home after six months and was planning on spending the next month with his family before leaving again. Eren had become more confident about himself after getting his mother's support. So one day at dinner, when Mr. Jaeger was teasing him about going on dates and having a girlfriend, he decided to open up to him as well.

The result? Catastrophic.

Mr. Jaeger was furious, calling him abnormal and that he was a disgrace. I can't even imagine the amount of emotional trauma he had to go through at that moment. Later when Mrs. Jaeger called us, we heard that Eren had locked himself inside his room and refused to communicate. We rushed there. And if I remember correctly, Mikasa and I had to stand outside his room till after midnight and keep talking to him one-sidedly before he finally let us in.

The inside had been a mess. He'd torn down all the posters from the walls and there were broken pieces of glass – which most likely belonged to the Disney mug his father had gotten him when he was a kid – scattered over one corner. The sheets had been pulled down and Eren had a nasty looking cut on his palm. We hurried over to him. We fixed the bed and sat him down. Mikasa held him close while I disinfected and patched up his wound. And while we were taking care of Eren, Mrs. Jaeger had a serious talk with her husband downstairs.

We spent the night together, huddled in the bed side by side and talking about this and that. Well, at first it was just Mikasa and I talking. Eren was still recovering and we were willing to wait as long as he needed. Later, he also joined in and by dawn the room was again filled with our laughter like usual.

The stress of the previous night had finally caught up and we spent the morning sleeping. It was already past school time, but none of us bothered. Then finally, Mrs. Jaeger woke us up when it was time for lunch. She invited us to stay for lunch of course. But we knew Eren needed a moment with his parents alone and also, my grandpa and Mikasa's uncle might worry too. So after a little talk with Eren about keeping his cool and having a proper discussion with his father, we left.

Later we heard that Mr. Jaeger had decided to respect Eren's choice in life, most likely because Mrs. Jaeger somehow persuaded him. But of course, he still wasn't happy about it. The relationship between those two has been tense since then. Eren doesn't like to talk about it, but it's kinda obvious.

So –

Unpredictable. Irrational. Destructive.

That's what we're waiting for now.

But to our surprise, he neither shouts nor lashes out. He just sits there staring at nothing with a blank expression.

"Eren…" I call his name softly.

He looks at me. And I can literally see as the teardrops gather in the corner of his eyes and start trailing down his cheeks, leaving behind colorless wet lines.

What is this? I've never seen him like this.

He jerks forward into my arms and wraps his hands around my chest, face buried in my shoulder and creating muffled noises. I'm at a loss what to do. I've seen Eren in many conditions – angry, excited, happy, sad, annoyed, shy, tired, scared. But this – this heartbroken and pained kid – this is something I never thought I'd see. And then I realize –

This is something I never want to see.

Sensing my shock, Mikasa takes matters into her own hand. She scoots over to my side and starts caressing Eren's back soothingly. He just whimpers and tightens his arms around me. Me? I just watch the two of them silently.

Snap out of it Armin! Stop being so useless.

Right!

I finally get a hold of myself and look at the broken boy in my arms. My friend. Yes, I need to be there for him. I don't know the whole situation yet, but that doesn't matter. Because right now, more than anything, Eren needs us.

With my mind made up, I move forward a little and wrap my arms around him. "Shh… we're here", I whisper gently. "It's okay." Mikasa follows suit and hugs both of us. She doesn't say anything, just holds us with warmth and offers her comfort silently. Eren moves a little so he can hug us both, face buried in our shoulders.

Mikasa Ackerman is a person with very few words, but there are times when her actions prove more effective than my words. This seems to be one of those times. Because the tension in Eren's body slowly begins to subside. Eventually, I feel him relax against my body. I look at Mikasa. And we smile.

Three way hug successful!

Eren says something. But his voice is barely audible as he's still keeping his face hidden.

"We can't hear you if you hide like that", Mikasa tells him quietly.

He makes another muffled sound, but finally raises his head a little. "Thank you", he says clearly this time.

I take a look at his disoriented state and decide that he needs to cheer up a bit.

"Man, you look horrible", I chuckle.

He looks at me and hits my forehead with his own.

"Ouch! What was that for?!" I feign getting hurt, but seeing the gleam in his eyes, I know I've succeeded.

"For being the smart-ass that you are", he pouts.

I laugh.

A/N: I know, I know. A chapter without Levi! Don't worry though. Next chapter is gonna be Levi and Mikasa's backstory. Look forward to it! ;)

I really wanted to explore the trio's friendship more. And since Eren's in such a vulnerable position, it's obvious that Armin and Mikasa will be there for him. To me, Mikasa seems like a person genuinely devoted to Eren. So of course she'd be comforting him. And since we know she's less talk and more action (it's an Ackerman thing, I guess), her way of comforting him would be less verbal and more physical. As for Armin, he's always the calculative type, and yet, he gets flustered in situations that are uncommon to him. I tried to capture that here. Hope I could do him justice!

Thanks for reading! ^_^

MANGA SPOILERS: (DON'T READ FURTHER IF YOU'RE NOT UP TO DATE WITH THE LATEST MANGA CHAPTER)

I'm devastated with Sasha's death! Like, how could Isayama do this?! But I guess it was inevitable. I mean, every big operation in SnK has seen losses. We lost Levi squad in Female Titan Arc, Ymir in Clash of the Titans Arc, Bertholdt, Moblit and Erwin in Return to Shiganshina Arc. So it was only a matter of time before someone died in the Marley Arc. I was actually afraid that it might be Jean, and that would've left me heartbroken because he's my second most favorite character in SnK after Levi! But still... why my dear sweet potato girl have to die! T_T

I wrote this chapter before the new SnK chapter was released. And then, when I was reviewing it for editing, I noticed Armin's little memory with Sasha and fuck! That messed me up again! :(