*?? EREN JAEGER X READER
When you're paired with Eren Jaeger for a semester-long psych project on vulnerability, you expect awkward silences, not slow-burning tension and quiet moments that say more than words ever could. He's distant but not cruel...
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IT STARTED with a message.
Not anything dramatic. No urgent punctuation or cryptic tones, just Armin's name lighting up your phone between lectures, the faint echo of classroom chatter still buzzing behind you.
"Are you free tonight? Just... felt like a walk might be nice."
That was all he wrote. And somehow, that was enough.
You met just as the sun began to slip behind the trees, casting long shadows across the edges of campus. Now, the two of you walked side by side down a quiet trail near the edge of the lake, the sky bleeding slowly from amber to rose to a deepening, thoughtful blue. It was the kind of early evening that made everything feel suspended in time, like the world had tipped slightly off its axis, tilted toward stillness.
The gravel under your feet crunched softly with each step, a low rhythm that filled the spaces between your conversations, between your thoughts. The lake stretched wide beside you, smooth and glassy, reflecting the sky with delicate precision. Even the wind moved gently here, brushing across the surface in thin ripples, combing through the trees overhead.
Armin walked with his hood down, the collar of his jacket turned up against the breeze. His hands were buried deep in his pockets, shoulders slouched but not tense. Thoughtful. There was a quiet to him tonight, not heavy or moody, but like his mind was somewhere else: sorting, sifting, searching.
You let the silence live between you for a while. It wasn't uncomfortable. If anything, it felt like a conversation of its own.
But eventually, you glanced sideways at him, pulse quickening just a little.
"I think Eren almost kissed me last night," you said, barely louder than the breeze.
Armin blinked, turning to look at you with a gentleness that felt like permission.
"Yeah?"
You nodded, cheeks warming at the memory. "I mean... maybe. I'm not even sure. It wasn't dramatic. It just kind of happened. We were on the rooftop, and we were sort of teasing each other, and... I don't know. He looked at me, and I looked at him, and then we were both just leaning in."
You gave a small, breathy laugh. "And right before anything happened, he goes, 'you have something in your hair.'"
Armin smiled — not laughing at you, not even surprised. Just soft, and strangely full of something you couldn't name.
"That sounds like him," he said.
You laughed again, even as your skin still tingled from the memory.
"I already told Sasha," you admitted. "She screamed like she won the lottery."
Armin shook his head, smiling a little more. "I bet she did."
You paused beside a wooden overlook that jutted slightly out over the lake. The boards creaked softly as you both stepped onto it. There was moss growing along the rail, and something about the way the trees bowed toward the water made this spot feel quieter than anywhere else. Reverent, almost.
