[Another snippet of sweetness, then—nothing bitter about it. Not in the moment, and not where it matters. It’d be easy to think, on a default, that it’s a sad memory because softness like that can’t happen again—but it can, as insisted then and as Eren’s insisting now. Did they not hold hands in chains?

[Aubrey turns it over for a while. It’s hard to linger on anything less than loving, basking in the memory still; not at all unlike what she saw of Mikasa. Maybe Aubrey will risk asking about her next, but first…]

I think you should say this to Armin. [It’s a thought out loud, not a judgment. Forget business; Eren is trying to explain.] That you still— I mean, he knows you love him. But I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt to hear.

[It usually doesn’t, to her. Not when it’s truly warm.]