Work Text:
It was simple things at first. Like forgetting to wash their dishes or even pick their own clothes off the floor. You didn’t mind. You never did, that was one of the things they loved about you. Although, you became annoyed once it got too repetitive. Them now forgetting to wash their clothes. Or clean up their part of the apartment. So, you became vocal about it.
“hey ‘ren you forgot to do the dishes last night.” you would say.
“oh my bad” he would respond.
“Mika can you please stop leaving your clothes in our room. It's hard to maneuver.”
“I already said yes. Stop asking I'm doing something y/n.” she would say not even looking up from her book.
With Armin though it wasn’t that hard to communicate. You had felt the most comfortable with him because of how calm and composed he was. He always knew your limits and when to pry the other two off you.
“Ar’, love, please stop leaving your plates all over the front room.” you would say.
He would just look at you and nod. That’s it. Normally you aren't vocal so you thought that maybe that would cause some type of improvement.
It didn’t
You felt like you were living with 3 grown children. They became worse. Even making it worse they would stay out all in differing locations. Youd check their social media and would see Eren with Armin and Connie out partying somewhere. Then you would see Mikasa with ‘her’. Her being some girl who she apparently met in college and has no knowledge of personal space.
You only met her in person twice. Mikasa said she couldn’t come around more because you intimidated her.
You would wait till they got home already knowing what happened and just to see if they would lie.
They did.
All of them. Armin was the worse. You could smell the weed off his clothes and Eren’s eyes were low. Well lower than usual. Mikasa would simply go straight to her personal room , ignoring when you called after her.
So, you stopped.
You stopped asking them to clean. You stopped asking them to pick up after themselves. And you stopped caring. You were going to treat them the same way they were treating you. Did you care if they noticed? No, no you didn’t. They needed to realize the problem before it was too late to fix.
They noticed.
Quickly at that.
“Hey y/n you said you would help me with this paper due in two days.” Armin would say.
“oh yea ill help later” then you would fall asleep before he got the chance to ask you again.
“n/n can you help me make dinner tonight?” Mikasa would ask.
“Nah, I'm doing something” you would say.
“Hey babe you mind braiding my hair up, I gotta conference and don’t want it to be in my face.” Eren would ask.
“Ask the other two to do it. I'm not the only person who knows how to braid.” you are.
They thought you were in a bad mood and would eventually get over it. Until it lasted for around 2 weeks. It was painfully obvious something was wrong.
You barely showed up to eat dinner with them, you would stay in your personal room and not even go into the shared room unless you needed some clothes. You would barely talk to them and they noticed how distant you became.
They were going to change that. Of Course, they missed the old you. Eren missed the way you would comb your fingers through his hair when he finished a stressful meeting. Mikasa misses the way you would always encourage her when she felt down or inferior to her colleagues. And Armin, he was most likely the most affected since prior he spent so much time with you.
You had put a lot of effort into Armin. You were the one who encouraged him to become a psychologist. You were the person who got him to apply to all the medical schools to get his degrees. Shit, you were the who made sure you 4 had book club meetings every Sunday at 2pm. Always having snacks and beverages even though you most likely just got up.
So, you acting distant hit him kind of hard. The other two were never really in the house to begin with so they had an extra amount of tolerance before they get to his point.
Armin knew something was off. He could sense the obvious tension between you and the rest of them. So, he knew you didn’t want to be bombarded by all three of them. So, he went to you himself.
You were in your own room simply reading the book you four had missed the past 2 book clubs on. You looked nearly finished with It. He knocked and you looked up from you spot on your bed.
“Can I help you” you asked. Eyes now focused back on your book.
“Oh,” he paused not surprised but it still hurt. “we got Chinese food, just thought you could come out and eat with us today. Nothing crazy we just miss you is all, " he said, timidly. He expected you to say no so when you nodded your head in approval he let a small smile show on his lips.
Your face, however, had stayed complete neutral. In all honesty, you were just hungry.
You walked out together to the dining room of the apartment. There you saw the food already placed on the table and your two other spouses sitting next to each other, but not eating. As soon as you stepped foot into the room the tension was built. Both Mikasa and Eren looked up at you waiting for you to say something. But you didn’t. Instead, you made your way to the fridge to make yourself a drink. Usually, at this time you would ask everyone what they wanted to drink. Shit, you already knew what they wanted to drink. Mikasa wanted strawberry lemonade. Eren wanted a ginger ale and Armin wanted water with lemon. But that topic never came up because all you did was grab a canned sprite and walk back to sit down in your chair next to Armin. The plates were already there so all you did was start eating. Each dish came in its own container since you all would most likely end up sharing. Another thing they had gotten used to was you offering them some of your food for tasting. Even though you got the same thing every time.
You didn’t. Armin and Mikasa understood why but Eren didn’t seem to take the hint. Being said he began to reach his chopstick over to your dish to try and grab some of your food. You hit it. You forced his chopstick away before it got near the actual food and you looked up at him with a glare. He looked surprised and the other two stayed silent.
“What was that for” Eren asked you.
“What do you mean you have your own food in front of you. Eat it.” you said without looking at him.
“I mean obviously I see that but why can't I have some of yours.” he asked scrunching his eyebrows.
“its no big deal Eren you can have some of mine we got similar things” Armin butted in trying to make sure things stayed subtle.
But Eren wanted an answer from you, he wanted your food. Not Armin's, not Mikasa's, but yours.
“No Armin I was asking for hers not yours.” he replied looking at you still.
You brought your eyes up to meet his and stopped eating.
“I already told you Eren you have your own food. So don’t try and take away mine when you have a full dish right in front of you. Don’t. Be . Greedy.” you said to him.
They all looked taken aback by your comment. Sure it was normal now for you to not act as you use to, but you would never speak to any of them like that. It just wasn’t you.
“y/n what's your problem.” asked Mikasa butting in. Armin was getting stressed. They promised they wouldn’t do anything. They promised they would try to keep things smooth so they could progress. They promised...
“no one has any sort of problem Mikasa. I just want to eat my food. And you should do the same you’ve been sitting there letting it get cold for the past few minutes anyways.” you said nonchalantly.
“y/n...” she said responding.
“Seriously we invite you to eat with us and you're acting selfish and mean towards us and we did nothing to you what's your problem.” Eren says putting your attention back on him.
“Eren I already told you nothing is wrong I just want to eat my food.” you responded. And the sad part was that you were serious. All you wanted to do was eat your food and go and finish up some papers. But Eren wasn’t having that still thinking otherwise.
“no, you do have an issue. Better yet you’ve been having issues for weeks now. And the funniest thing is we haven't done anything to you to cause this. And when we try to help, we get shut down. So, what the hell is your problem. First, you're not talking to anyone, then you stopped helping around, then you stopped showing us affection, and now you won't even let me have a piece of the food I bought for you.” he says raising his voice.
You looked at him. And shook your head. “ you see that’s the problem Eren. You make it seem like everything is my fault. I still clean on my days I just don’t clean on yours. You don’t need my affection because you have 2 other people who can provide it. You need my reassurance which is something I have that they don’t. You haven't tried to help me or even honestly check up on me in about 2 months now and I'm sick of it. You all need to realize that you are not the only people in the world. And being in a relationship means staying committed to one another.” you said.
Then you stood up and turned around but before you left you say. “ ya know, Armin was the only one to actually come and check on me in a while. But the two of you stayed away. I'm pretty sure one of you is cheating but, it's not important enough for me to care. At this point, I'm just a resident. Looking back on these past months or so I've been there for all three of you whenever or whatever the issue is. Yet I can't name 5 times you were there for me.” and you went to your room.
“y/n wait” Armin called out to you while following you back into your room. Once he got in here he saw you packing your bag. A book bag. He tried to stop but you would turn away and continue.
“Please y/n stop you don’t have to do this, we'll get better I promise we will just please you cant leave. please don’t leave.” he said and tears began to come from his eyes.
You stopped packing and looked up to see Armins teary face across from you. You got up and sat in front of him and used your shirt sleeve to wipe his tears. “you see that’s the problem ‘min. You’re the only person out of the three of you here trying to stop me. Meaning that maybe I really don’t matter as much as I thought I did. But that’s ok.” you said.
“but where are you gonna go you live with us.” Armin said now worried even more.
“i have family who I can stay with, just till I can clear my mind and come up with what I want to do. Honestly I'm trying to push myself away from just breaking up with you all.” you said.
“WHAT please no y/n we need you. Fuck that I need you.” armin said grabbing your hands.
“i know and that’s why you all need to know how it truly feels without me.” you said letting go of his hands. You picked up your bag and keys and walked out. He didn’t stop you thing time. Not wanting to risk you just breaking things off completely.
Eren and Mikasa saw you walking to the door and stood up now walking after you. “w-wait where are you going I thougt-” Mikasa started.
“out” you responded opening the door.
“well when are you coming back?” Eren says now worried also.
“when I feel like it.” you said. Closing the door without letting them get another word in you left, and as you walked to your car, considered if this would be the end.