Eren might not allow himself to dream of forever just yet. He has the photographs, though, the possibility of a future where they can just be what they choose. Is that, at last, his cherished freedom? Maybe. Eren's freedom is destructive and punishing, like so many things about him.

This doesn't have to be. It's a heady sort of realisation, that they can just choose.

Ellipsa is its own sort of cage, the darkness outside threatening. Eren will still go to any lengths to save what they have here. There is nothing he would not do to hold on to this. It's just that this now includes Reiner, as close as possible for as long as possible.

He's right there to catch Reiner's kiss in return, arms winding around him without thought. Will they really still have this a year from now?

He decides that they will. Against all odds, they will do this because they said they would. It's that easy for this moment in Eren's mind.

"I'll still love you with wrinkles," he says against Reiner's mouth — a throwback to last year, Reiner's anxiety about his face in the mirror.