THURSDAY: Express Yourself

It'd been a tense two days on the lowside of their suite-style dorm. The events of Tuesday had torn a hole in the fabric of Eren and Armin's friendship, threatening to rip wider if it wasn't fixed soon. They'd been humiliated jointly, true, but in their attempts to satisfy their friends had said a few unwise things, ones better left wrapped up, and hands burned.

Eren had fled as soon as the attention from outside Armin's room had been diverted, and hadn't said a word to him since, locking his door for the first time all year.

He couldn't live trapped in a bedroom with no food or water, no matter how deep-rooted his shame, though. He emerged after midnight on Thursday to brush his teeth and take out his contacts, because Armin always went to sleep early. Almost always.

Armin's door swung open when he had his toothbrush hanging by his teeth and hand fishing for his left contact. "We need to talk."

Eren's mouth fell open, toothbrush and contact falling into the sink. "God damn it all."

Armin ignored his curse and leant against the sink counter, staring at him and waiting. Armin was really good at the disappointed staring and waiting. Eren rescued his toothbrush and scrubbed at his molars, not even bothering with the contact. He scrubbed his tongue, the roof of his mouth. He was stalling.

His shoulders slumped, and he gave up – on self-preservation, this desperate avoidance maneuver, having clean teeth. He spat, rinsed, and put on his glasses, then slid to the floor and snarled his hands in his hair, staring at his feet. Armin sighed and sat cross-legged in front of him. And waited.

Eren could never decide if Armin's patience was a flaw or a virtue.

He exhaled. It didn't release any of the tension curled around his spine. "I can't do the whole sex thing, Ar." Staring at his feet was a bad idea; he really needed to cut his toenails. "I thought I could, just, y'know, when the right person came along or whatever, but you're totally the right person, because-" He choked. "But I just. I can't. I'm sorry."

It took Armin a while to react, at least as far as Eren's limited field of vision could tell. Eventually, he let out a rackety sigh.

"Well, that's a bummer." Eren barked a laugh, and then they were both laughing, light-hearted friend giggles from their decades of living near each other. Eren's forehead found a resting place on his knees, glasses askew, as he laughed the last two days away.

When the laughter was gone, he lifted his head enough to prop his chin instead of his forehead on his knees and found Armin staring at him through his bangs. He still had a curve to his mouth, but he asked, "So, does this mean you wanna go back to the way it was before? Because that's gonna be hard."

Eren jerked. "God. I don't… Ar, I didn't lie or anything, I like the shit out of you, but, I mean…" Armin just blinked as he wet his dry lips. "It wouldn't be… fair."

"And it wouldn't be fair to you if I turned you down just 'cause you don't want to sleep with me." Eren chewed his bottom lip, and Armin shuddered. "Yeah, it'd be hard, but it'd be worth it, right?"

"Right." Armin smiled and reached forward to straighten Eren's glasses on his nose, hand trailing down his cheek. "We couldn't go back, anyway."

"No." Armin sat back. "We'll figure it out together, eh? It can be our adventure."

Eren smiled, shook his head. "This is crazy."

Armin shrugged and stood, hauling Eren to his feet by his hands. "Whatever."

Now that Eren looked at Armin's face up close, there were dark hollows around his eyes, dark and purple. Eren's eyebrows furrowed. "Are you okay, Ar?"

Armin smiled and ducked his head. "Can't sleep." He laced their fingers together – he'd never dropped his hands. "Come to bed with me? I won't use my wicked ways to take advantage of you, but… it'll help?"

Eren snorted. "Sure thing."