The action movie marathon lasted until midnight, which left Eren in the midst of a bizarre blending of infomercials, shopping, soft-core porn, and televangelists. It was the graveyard slot and he was wide awake. At 2 am, he ordered a pizza, reminding him of his teenage days when he, Armin and Mikasa would cram the nights before a test at school. He bustled around his apartment, cleaning the dishes that were growing 'friends' in the sink, sorting his laundry, scrubbing down the bathroom.

There, now the mess of the inactivity in his sleepless stupor was reversed.

Sure, he didn't need things spotless, but he did have the eye to know when things were going bad or down the road of no return. His mother had at least taught him that before he struck out on his own.

The day broke at 6:17 am on the nose. Somehow watching the sunrise made him feel a little tired, probably from all of the work he had been doing. The coffee shop down the street would have just opened, but if he was still having trouble with insomnia, perhaps caffeine would have to wait until he had more things sorted out. Eren changed out of his robe and into a pair of khakis and a sky blue button down.

Maybe if he took a walk he'd be a little more alert, Eren mused. A small but well manicured park was across the street from his apartment complex. He brought a book and read on a park bench for a while. Eren was grateful that the words made sense; that the sentences and sounds didn't blend into each other into some bizarre word salad. Though scientists may not know why humans need to sleep, the fact that they must was now clearer to Eren than it ever had been before. He'd been bonecrushingly tired from missing a night or even just sleeping poorly, but it was nothing like what he had experienced this week.

Eren checked his watch. He'd promised to meet Armin at the fake-snooty bistro that was about a block away. That was a good thing considering that he sacrificed his breakfast in honor of the early morning pizza, and he was now absolutely ravenous. Armin was already there when he arrived, standing and waving Eren over to his table.

"Eren! Over here!" Armin stood up at his table, waving a hand. Eren could see relief written all over his face.

Eren sat down at the table. Armin had already ordered him a drink, and he guzzled it down. Eren set the glass back down in front of him. "Have you been here long?" Eren asked.

Armin shook his head. "No, I'm just running a little early. I had to drop off my dry cleaning so I was in the area." He looked at Eren more closely, scrutinizing his face, his posture, his demeanor.

Eren smiled. "I slept for 24 hours straight. I still feel like I've been run over by a truck, but I'm not hallucinating or anything like that anymore."

"Everyone at work was worried about you," Armin chuckled. "After you complained to Christa about the voices coming out of your cash drawer, she kind of orchestrated the big push to make sure that you were sent home."

"Yeah, at that point, I was really starting to worry about what was happening to me," Eren agreed. "Thanks for making sure I actually got home okay."

"Not a problem," said Armin. "Annie's shift was over, so she picked me up from your place to go get my car since I drove you home in yours."

"Oh, I see…" said Eren.

Annie had a job as a security guard at the bank where both Eren and Armin worked. Eren had dated Annie for about six months after some of his more mischievous coworkers had set them up. She was certainly pretty, with a body most women kill for, and she and Eren had definitely hit it off physically. But try as Eren might, he never seemed to get any closer to her mentally; she always sidestepped questions about her past. Eventually he broke it off, citing the emotional distance as the catalyst. She had been fine with the decision, but he didn't recognize the expression she wore as they parted.

"I know Mikasa would have come and picked me up, but I didn't want her to run out of work, otherwise I'd have left Annie alone," said Armin.

"Nah, it's okay," said Eren. "Even when we were together, I think that you knew her better than I did. And she certainly knows where I live, so she could easily come and get you."

"She was certainly concerned about you," Armin offered. "The bank talks, you know."

"Yeah, I know," said Eren. "But, I think we're better off seeing other people. And besides, Mikasa didn't get along with her at all."

Armin laughed. "Mikasa never likes anyone you date. But she's your older sister, so you'll always be her little brother."

"She's only older by a couple months," Eren grumbled as he rubbed his forehead. "And I don't give her shit for dating you!"

Armin propped his head on his hands. "And what exactly would your brotherly instincts be triggered by?"

Now it was Eren's turn to laugh. "Yeah we both grew up to be pretty boring, didn't we? You going to school and becoming an auditor, me working full time as a teller…that's what the problem is. You're too stable."

"Don't worry," said Armin. "We're both going to see the world. We'll go hang gliding and bungee jumping and climb mountains and go snorkeling. Just like we planned when we were just kids."

"Yeah," said Eren happily. "Maybe we won't be so boring after all."

A waiter walked up to their table and Armin ordered their food, the same practiced order of one special and one oversized sandwich.

Eren spaced out as Armin spoke. He was no longer there, he felt white-hot hands against his skin, lips that tore at him. It was a lovely haze of passion and pleasure. In that moment he remembered…

Eren shook his head. He was certainly tired, but he was not going to drift off here in the middle of a restaurant. And especially not with that.

"Hey, are you okay?" Armin's hand was at Eren's shoulder.

"I'm just a little tired still, that's all," said Eren.

"But who's Levi?" asked Armin.

Eren jumped at the mention of the name and looked at Armin with a horrified expression on his face.

"Hey, calm down. It's okay," Armin reassured. "I didn't mean to freak you out. It was just something you said while you were out of it."

Eren buried his face in his hands. "You've been my best friend my whole life. But this, I don't even know if it's supposed to mean anything, and if you tell anyone…"

"Eren, you have nothing to worry about. And you don't even have to tell me if you don't want to," said Armin.

"Well, maybe if I talked about it with someone, it will leave me alone," said Eren, eyes shifty.

"Your secret is safe with me."

"I went to the doctor you suggested and he gave me a medication that has a possible side effect of vivid or abnormal dreams," Eren prefaced.

"Yeah, I've heard that some will even make you sleepwalk and do dangerous stuff." Armin sucked in a breath. "I've heard of people even driving in their sleep!"

"Thankfully I don't have that. But last night I had a dream. It was about a man."

"What was he like?"

"He was some sort of military commander. He was short, with dark hair and piercing grey eyes. And in it we…uh…"

Eren turned bright red and leaned a little closer to Armin. "We…we had sex."

Armin smiled disarmingly. "There's nothing wrong with that. It's just a dream."

Eren shook his head. "You don't understand. I'm not even gay." Eren lowered his voice. "He penetrated me."

Armin sighed. "Being the receiving partner doesn't make you gay. Heck, even if you hooked up with another guy in real life, it still wouldn't make you gay. Human sexuality is more fluid than a lot of people understand. Every straight person has that one exception that they'd do something with, even if it's just a kiss."

"Even you?" Asked Eren.

"Sure I've had some strange sex dreams, especially when I was a teenager. But fantasy and reality don't have much to do with each other," said Armin blithely.

Eren sighed.

"Yeah, I dunno. I was really attracted to him and everything that I dreamt felt better than anything I'd ever felt with anyone I've ever been with in real life." Eren looked down. "It keeps coming back to me. He's not even real but I can't get him out of my head."

The waiter came by and placed their meals in front of them, sashaying in and out like a friendly ghost.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but do you want to try dating a guy?" asked Armin. "I mean, just to see if it's really something that you're looking for? I mean, especially since things didn't go so hot with Annie."

Eren shook his head. "It's like you said, it was only him. If I run across somebody like that, then maybe I will give it a try. But it wasn't the fact that he was a guy, there was just something about him."

"There," said Armin. "Now don't you feel better?"

"Thanks Armin. This has been driving me crazy all day and it does feel better to unload." He raised an eyebrow. "If Mikasa finds out about any of this…"

Armin laughed. "It's just the side effects of a medicine. Nothing to trouble her about."

Side effects…

For the rest of the lunch Eren found his mind wandering, but his memories were now somehow faded. This was better, much better. If he kept this up for the rest of the day and slept well at night, he could return to work on Monday, easy.