Better Than Advil (AOT college AU series)
art by pechaberriee on twitter
no warnings! just some light fluff
word count: 2.5k
established relationship with Eren + light fluff with Armin
mostly gender neutral
authors note at the end please read
I suggest you read the first 2 parts of the series first:
I think I like when it rains (part 1)
happy birthday Eren (part 2)
The sun is too bright. The air conditioning was too loud. Everything was too much. You reached over to the spot where your boyfriend was supposed to be but all you felt was an empty space and covers. you reached over for your phone, the clock showing that it was 8:54am, why was Eren up so early? You sat up and were about to get up to look for him when a sharp pain in your head stopped you.
Your hands immediately started rubbing your temples and you started regretting every decision you've ever made, how much did you drink last night at the party? The lack of sleep due to certain... nightly activities probably didn't help. While you sat there feeling like your head was gonna explode, Eren walked out of the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around his waist.
"Good morning" he walked over to the bed and leaned down to give you a kiss. You groan in response and fall back down in bed. "Hell of a hangover huh" he said while rummaging through his drawers for some underwear "Yeah no shit" you shot back, Eren put his hands up in defense "jeez ok I won't say anything anymore". You felt kinda bad for being rude "sorry" "don't worry, but I'm worried about who's gonna take care of you while I'm out" Where was he going? "Out where?" he didn't mention going anywhere, or at least you don't remember him doing that. "We were supposed to go visit my parents since they didn't get to see me on the day of my actual birthday, but I don't think you wanna go anywhere right now do you?" Oh crap you had forgotten about that, although Eren's family was particularly fond of you you don't think they would appreciate you being hungover at a family gathering. "Sorry I'm missing it" You felt bad for not going with him but there's no way you would be able to function at the state you were currently in. "Don't even think about that, focus on getting better" he said as he finished getting dressed.
While your head felt like it was going to explode and every bone in your body urged you to stay in bed, you still got up to go to the bathroom to take an Advil. When you looked in the bathroom mirror you realized, god you looked rough, Eren walked in and saw you staring in the mirror spaced out and made a face at you while grabbing his toothbrush, "why are you taking your toothbrush?" you thought it was just a day trip. "In case I end up sleeping over, you know how my family is they always insist we stay longer so I thought it was better to prepare." "oh ok" You felt a little sad you would spend the day and possibly the night alone but it wasn't the end of the world. You took an Advil, went back to bed and tried to sleep while Eren packed a bag to stay the night. After 20 or so minutes Eren woke you up, his face inches from yours. "I'm leaving, take care okay? I love you" He smelled so damn good. "I love you too." He smiled and gave you a kiss. You watched him leave and readjusted yourself in bed, listening to your boyfriend grab his keys and locking the door, leaving you alone for the day in your apartment.
The Advil kicked in fast pulling you into a deep sleep, after what it felt like seconds had passed you woke up again. Although you still felt slightly groggy from sleep you decided to get up and start the day, staying in bed all day wasn't gonna make you feel better. You got up and went to the bathroom to brush your teeth and wash your face, the cold water to the face woke you right up. Despite feeling slightly more awake the effects of the hangover were still prominent, so you decided to take it easy. After you were done washing your face you went to the kitchen for some breakfast, when you were done with breakfast you took a shower and started to tidy up the house, wanting to be able to snuggle back into bed with 0 responsibilities.
While cleaning you came across the flannel Armin had let you borrow yesterday after you accidentally spilled wine on your shirt while at Costco. You had left it in your bag and forgotten to give it back to him at the party. You picked up the flannel. “If I don’t return it now i’m gonna forget again and never give it back to him” you thought to yourself out loud. You put on some shoes and headed down the hall to armin’s dorm. You knocked and waited a couple seconds, silence, you knocked again and waited more, after a little while you realized he was probably not home and turned to leave, until you heard footsteps growing near. Armin swung the door open.
-“sorry, I was giving garlic bread a bath and he was being difficult” he said out of breath, water droplets all over his shirt.
-“oh don’t worry, I just came here to return your flannel” you handed him the flannel, feeling kinda awkward since you interrupted him while he was busy.
-“ohhh thank you I was wondering where I had left it”
-“sorry the rush of the party made me completely forget to return it” you said apologetically.
-“oh no don’t worry about it, do you wanna come in? you can watch while I try to get garlic bread to sit still in the bathtub." His golden hair tousled, his face flushed from probably chasing garlic bread around the house, his warm smile was inviting as always, you almost accepted his offer.
-"I would, but I'm still feeling kinda hungover from last night and some more sleep would do me good." With Eren out of town it would be nice to have some company, but your warm comfy bed called your name.
-"Oh I hope you feel better" he put his hand behind his head, you mistook it for him feeling embarrassed but it probably wasn't that.
"Thanks" silence fell between the two of you, you could hear the sound of the ventilation in the empty hallway. After 10 seconds of silence you opened your mouth to say you had to go but Armin spoke up first.
- "Hey Eren is out of town right? He definitely wouldn't want you to be alone while hungover so I'll come check up on you later.
-"Oh no don't worry I'll be fine, some more sleep should do the trick." You waved your hands in front of your body in an attempt to convey that he didn't need to worry about you. Armin laughed and ran his hand through his hair. "If you say so, take care y/n." you said bye and turned to walk back. While you walked back you couldn't help but wish he had insisted a little bit more.
Back in your apartment you dragged yourself around to finish some chores and then dragged yourself back to bed, the minute your head hit the pillow you were engulfed in a deep sleep once again.
knock knock
sounds coming from the living room woke you up, still groggy from sleep it took you a couple seconds to realize someone was at your door. What time was it? You looked for your phone and found it under one of the pillows on your bed. 7:56pm, you had slept for roughly 4 hours.
Knock knock
Shoot, you forgot someone was at the door. "Coming!" you called from your bedroom, hoping that whoever it was could hear you. You took one quick look in the mirror and headed over to open the door.
You opened the door to see Armin standing there with a bag of what you assumed was food guessing by the smell.
"Okay okay I know you said you would be fine by yourself but I couldn't leave you here alone and hungover so I ordered (favorite food) and thought we could have dinner together?"
Surprise turned to confusion which quickly turned to happiness, you laughed and let Armin come in.
- “You’re so sweet Armin I don’t even know what to say” you said while smiling.
- “Don’t say anything, grab a plate and come sit with me.” you headed over to your small kitchen to get plates, glasses and cutlery.
You and Armin sat across from each other on the floor at your coffee table. Although the coffee table wasn’t super small, it was still cramped enough that even cross legged your legs touched underneath. While Armin took the containers out of the bag and served you both. "I love the food from this place, I think about half of my salary goes just to them." You said, almost drooling over the smell alone. "I know it's your favorite so I figure you would appreciate it" He finished loading your plate with food and set it down in front of you ",fun fact, I had no idea this restaurant even existed, it was my first time going there." He started filling his own plate with food. You raised an eyebrow and smiled "How did you know it was my favorite?" He ate a spoonful of food, swallowed it and spoke, "oh y/n I know a lot of things about you, even if you don't know a whole lot about me" you laughed, both your legs shifted under the table, rubbing against each other.
"It's so weird that both you and Mikasa are Eren's best friends, I mean me and Mika are practically conjoined twins but I feel like you and me almost never hangout,." Armin laughed, you felt his leg rub against your again. "We can change that y/n" You smiled and took a bite of your food.
2 minutes later you asked the question that had been in the back of your mind since he got here. “Was Annie too busy to come too?” You saw Armin hesitate for a second before answering, “She’s gonna be at her dad’s until spring break ends, so it’s just me and garlic bread for another 2 weeks.” He finished serving you both.
You ate in silence for a couple minutes before Armin spoke up again. "How long is Eren gonna be out for anyway?" you took a moment to finish chewing your food and replied. "He said it would only be a day trip but his family is pretty pushy on staying the night, so he'll probably come back tomorrow afternoon." Armin took the last bite of his food, setting his utensils down and picking up his glass filled with juice, the ice cubes clinked against the glass. "So you're alone for the night too?" he asked before sipping his drink. You nodded and finished eating the last bit of food on your plate. You picked up your glass and drank.
Armin picked up both of your empty plates and brought them to the sink, "Thank you so much for bringing dinner, you didn't have to." you said from the living room while Armin set down the dirty plates in the sink. "Oh don't thank me yet, there's still dessert." He was so thoughtful. Armin came back with a pint of ice cream and two spoons. "How are you even real?" you asked jokingly, you noticed he didn't bring bowls. "If we eat directly from the carton it's less dirty dishes to wash later," He explained, "We should probably sit on the couch, sitting across from each other it gonna make it hard to eat." his logic made sense. You got up and sat on the couch with him, shoulders touching, you got a whiff of a citrussy scent that followed him around everywhere.
"Because I'm a very nice person I'll let you hold the carton." He handed you the carton. "Oh what a gentleman you are" you joked "Why of course." He agreed and you both laughed. You ate the ice cream and talked about a tv show you had been watching, until the topic of eye colors came up.
“you know, I like having blue eyes, I find them pretty nice, except when Connie likes to make sure I know that, to quote him ‘blue eyes are a product of incest so that means that your relatives fucked each other’ and he says that to me at least once a week” You burst out laughing, that sounded very much like connie. “I’ve never thought too much about my eyes, I think they’re okay.” you said while getting another spoonful of ice cream. “I find your eyes really pretty y/n” you laughed and looked down. “You’re saying that to be nice.” he laughed a little, “No no no I mean it, here, look at me” Armin lightly grabbed your face, his thumb lifting your chin, you could feel heat rushing to your face as his got closer to yours. Those bright blue eyes staring at you made you feel naked. Armin kept staring at you, mouth slightly agape, he took a deep breath and swallowed, then slowly pulled away. “See, told you, you have nice eyes y/n” “Thanks” was all you could muster.
After the ice cream carton was empty you got up to throw it away, Armin followed you into the kitchen. “Do you need help with the dishes?” How was he so polite? “No it’s fine I got it, I cant thank you enough for dinner and the company.” He ran his hand through his golden blond hair, “That’s what friends are for is it not?” You smiled, “Yeah, you’re right, i’ll still make it up for you some day.” It was his turn to smile “i’ll be waiting”. A few seconds passed in silence before Armin spoke again. “I should get going, garlic bread might have ripped off my curtains since I haven’t given him food for 2 hours.” You laughed, “Yeah you should probably go, thanks again Armin.” “You’re welcome y/n”. He turned and left your apartment, leaving you alone in the kitchen with a smile on your face. Your day started with a nasty hangover and ended with a peaceful dinner with a friend, today had been a good day.
OUTSIDE YOUR APARTMENT
Armin walked out of your apartment and down the hall to his as fast as he could without seeming weird or rude, not even bothering to put his shoes on right. As soon as he walked through the door he slammed it shut and leaned against it. All he saw in his mind was you, the way you laughed, the way your eyes lit up when you were happy. Lost in thoughts of you. he looked around his living room and spotted the flannel he had let you borrow. Armin walked over, picked it up and smelled it, the scent on it not his own. It was yours, the flannel smelled like your perfume. he set the flannel down and sat down on the couch. His hand made its way to his heart. “Oh you treacherous thing.”
a/n: HEYYYY GUYS, this college au series is close to my heart and I want it to make as enjoyable as possible for everyone, my plan to do that is by letting you, the reader, choose your ending. What I mean by that is that you will have the option to choose if you want to end up with, Armin, Mikasa, or stay with Eren. How it's gonna work: Each character will get a "preview", and as you can see this one was Armin's, the next one will be Mikasa's then followed by Eren's, after the next 2 previews are published you will get to choose who do you want your final bae to be. I'll try to update all 3 routes as frequent as possible but I can't make any promises, hopefully this made sense!!! Any questions feel free to send an ask or comment, love you guys.