Eren stared at the screen, thumbs hovering above the keyboard. The typing bubble blinked into existence, then vanished. Blinked again. Vanished again.

He groaned, flopping back onto his bed with the phone still gripped in his hand like it’d personally offended him. “Bro, just say what you wanna say,” he muttered, even though no one was there to hear it.

The room was dark except for the blue glow of his phone and the soft swirl of his fan overhead. His hoodie—Armin’s hoodie, technically, since he’d stolen it last week and refused to give it back—smelled faintly like detergent and something warmer, softer. Something he was definitely not going to overthink at nearly one in the morning.

He rolled onto his side. Still no message. No snap, no ping. Just silence.

[12:43AM] Eren: you good? you’re like. typing with your whole soul rn

He watched the bubble appear again. Stay. Then—

Gone.

[12:45AM] Eren: dude if you say “nvm” i swear to god

He didn’t realize how hard he was staring at the screen until his eyes started to sting.

Armin had been weird all day. Not bad weird, just that kind of distant, distracted quiet that made Eren second-guess everything he’d said in the last twenty-four hours. Did he tease too much? Was he too clingy on stream again? Should he have said something when Armin curled up on his side of the couch and fell asleep with his head on Eren’s shoulder like it was normal?

Eren sat up, wiped a hand down his face, and squinted at the screen.

[12:47AM] Eren: ok now you’re scaring me just tell me what’s up

The typing bubble flickered once more.

Then, finally—

A message. (Start your lyric prank!!)