whatcha listening to? -armin arlert

eighteen

c/w

alcohol use

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I follow Sasha and Mikasa as they trot down the stairs, our footsteps echoing throughout the building. We had previously decided on sneakers, but after trying on our costumes, we acknowledged that sneakers took away from the effect.

Sasha ended up in black fishnets paired with black wedged boots- making me nervous about her habit of falling when she's drunk. Mikasa wore sheer black tights under her costume, paired with tight, knee high boots with a chunky heel. Not trusting myself drunk in heels, I decided to keep my legs bare with my old beat up Doc Marten lace ups.

We took our costumes from perfectly matching, to giving ourselves a pop of individuality between shoes, jewelry and makeup. Mikasa stops at the bottom of the stairs before turning the corner to the glass door entrance, and turns to me and Sasha standing on the stairs above her.

"The boys aren't gonna know what to say or how to act, just a heads up." Mikasa says, and I remember their reactions in the groupchat.

"They'll get over it." I say, smiling as I imagine Armin's reaction.

"I'm so excited! I don't think they know we can dress up like this!" Sasha says as she bounces up and down on the stairs.

"Okay, let's go!" Mikasa says before turning the corner and pushing open the glass door. As soon as we step out, the faces of Spiderman, Batman, and three cowboys go searingly red. Connie and Jean are the only ones who don't turn away.

I glance at Armin, to find his whole body turned away with his hand covering his face. I find it hard to not do the same, unable to figure out if the lean muscles of his back really do look that good, or if it's the design of the print of his costume. I look him up and down, smiling when I find black converse paired with his costume.

"Wow, you guys look great." Jean is the first to speak, as the blush fades from his face.

"Thank you." Sasha, Mikasa, and I say together as we walk over to them. Slowly, the others turn around to fully look at us, and they mumble similar sentiments to Jean. Mikasa did warn us, but I'm still a bit taken aback at their reactions.

"Alright! Let's go boys, stop looking at the girls like that." Connie says, fully knowing that he's a culprit as well. He takes a few steps forward and grabs my arm, leaving the rest of the group behind to follow.

"They're a bunch of suckers." He says quietly in my ear. "You really do look good, I think Armin just about pissed himself."

"I nearly did too. Like, look at him!" I whisper back, and Connie turns around to look at the group.

"I guess I get what you see in him now. I'm glad he ditched the mask, he still has it with him though." Connie says when he turns back around.

"Bro, I'm going feral." I whisper again, and Connie laughs.

"How much did you have to drink tonight?" He asks when he catches his breath.

"Just one very strong vodka cran, but I don't feel guilty about him anymore." I say, satisfied that I can openly talk about my crush on Armin now.

"Good for you, and honestly, I think he's going feral too." Connie says, and now it's my turn to look back at the group. The boys have all regained their composure from the costume reveal, and I quickly find Armin's eyes trained on me before he looks away. Eren notices me looking back and waves me over to walk with him and Armin.

"I've been summoned." I say to Connie, before slowing my pace to fall back into line between Eren and Armin.

"You two look fantastic." I say to them entirely truthfully. I had never realized how muscular Eren is, and he fills out the Batman costume fantastically. I spot Mikasa eying Eren repeatedly, and tilt my head to her with a smile on my face. She shakes her head and I roll my eyes. It's so funny how we're the only ones that notice each other's crushes.