the rose. (armin)

11 desperation

━━ Plopping down on the couch in front of her, Y/n closed her eyes as she thought over the events of her day. Now that summer drifted away, the early days of fall were kicking in. Light sweaters and crunchy orange leaves were now apart of everyone's day.

Fall meant that Halloween was approaching. As children, the four friends always planned months ahead for what they would do for such a day. They would sit at the kitchen table with a crayon colored map of their neighborhood, usually drawn by Eren or Y/n, and mark down the houses that always gave away the best sweets.

Their maps were always forgotten by the time the 31st came around, since they were always too busy with getting dressed up. They went to every house they could go to instead of their original plans.

After a long night of hustling for candy, they would play a game of UNO where each of them gave some of their candy to the winner. Armin won most of the time.

Once Carla came home, she would find the children sleeping on the floor of her living room. As a tradition, she would call Armin's parents and let them know that he would be staying the night, but over the years she didn't need to call anymore since they already expected it.

Now that they were older, dressing up was something that was hardly ever brought up. Although Y/n missed those Halloween days with her friends, she had to let go of the past and focus on her future days. Reality was always something she tried to run away from until she was out of breath and gulping for air, yet it always caught up like a punch in the gut.

A few weeks ago for this upcoming Halloween, Carla gave the teenagers permission to throw a small party if they wanted. The kids thanked her at the time, but never brought it up again. They all seemed to forget about Halloween once school assignments were placed in front of them.

Shaking her head to release the venom of thoughts about Halloween and all things related to it, she reminded herself of Hange.

Did I really see Hange again?

She was still in disbelief. Hange, the policeman she met when she was a child, was out shopping coincidentally at the same time as her. She hasn't thought about Hange in so long, but she would never forget the kind person she met that faithful day.

Eren stumbled over to the couch after putting away the belongings he bought. He sat next to the tired girl while silence passed them. It was only them today, Carla took Mikasa out to buy the supplies she would need for her upcoming soccer tryouts.

Y/n thought about the things Hange had told her before they split up for the day, since both pairs had to get going.

"You should definitely come to the party we're having next weekend." Hange put an arm around both of the teenagers. "We're throwing a surprise birthday party for one of our close friends, so don't tell him!" Hange laughed. "Just kidding, it's not like you know him or anything. Or do you?"

Hange giggled at the joke they had made.

Moblit rolled his eyes before cowering down in fear once the sentence they said kicked in. "Is this really a good idea? I think Levi would actually kick us if he found out that you invited some kids!"

Hange shook their head and sent Moblit a wink, which caused the man's cheeks to slightly turn a pink color. "Why not? It's not like they're doing anything illegal. Right?"