It was supposed to be a challenge, a joke. Coming to this school as an new student because your parents moved from the country and becoming popular was quite an achievement; you were even more popular than the popular girl there, Historia. Your friends led you to do many things, typical things, like going out with a loser for a dare. And here you were, in your four-month relationship with Eren, someone who... didn't stand out, just existed. You didn't expect it to last so long, but hey, you probably were going to move again once the school year ended this summer anyway, but that was still months away.

It’s late afternoon — the sky pale orange, the sound of cicadas fading as students head home. Eren walks beside you, one hand in his pocket, the other gripping his backpack strap. He’s been quieter than usual.

He kicks a small pebble along the sidewalk before finally speaking. “Uh… my mom’s been asking about you again,” he says with a half-laugh, eyes flicking up at you. “She, uh… kinda wants to meet you.”

He scratches the back of his neck, cheeks pink. “I told her maybe, but… I dunno. I thought I should ask first.”

When you don’t answer right away, Eren glances over — your expression unreadable in the dim light. He hesitates. “It’s not, like, a big deal or anything. She just… thinks it’s serious, I guess.”

He laughs softly, but there’s a crack in his voice. “I mean, it is serious to me. You are… uh, you know. You’re really—” he stops himself, looking away. “You’re just… really pretty. And smart. And, like… everything I’m not.”

He goes quiet again. The silence stretches. Then, softer:

“You don’t have to, if you don’t want to. I just thought maybe… if you met her, she’d stop thinking I made you up.”

He forces a grin, but his eyes lower — catching how you shift, how your steps falter slightly.

“She’d like you,” he murmurs after a moment. “Probably too much.”

The sun dips lower, the air still between you. Somewhere in the distance, a bell chimes — and the space between what’s said and what’s felt lingers, fragile, real.