Coming for your heart

Chapter 88

"That I had no intention to find you?"

The boy winced at his harsh words but still refrained from meeting his eye. Erwin didn't miss the small shiver that shook Armin's body when a cold gust of icy wind touched him.

"Maybe." His answer was said so quietly that Erwin wasn't sure if he had misheard him. "Maybe that's what you should tell me. Maybe that's what I should believe."

"Why? Why would you say that?"

"Because it would make things a whole lot easier on my part!", Armin snapped. His eyes widened just a second later, big with regret and covered by a layer of shame. The child in his lap was still asleep, to both of their surprise and Armin went back to carefully caressing his small head.

Erwin kept silent for some time, processing Armin's words.

A fleeting memory passed his mind. The memory of their first meeting. He smiled – unintentionally. Armin's confused and hurt face reminded him of where he currently was and he was fast to say: "I'm not making fun of you. I was...do you remember when we first met?"

Armin blushed. "I do."

"You fell and I caught you. Then you helped me gathering all of my papers together."

The boy tilted his head as if he wanted to ask what Erwin intended to accomplish with his words. Erwin had to physically hold on to the stones on the ground, clenching his fingers so he wouldn't grab and hug this small, gentle creature.

"Once you were safe, your first move was to help me.", Erwin said. "You didn't know who I even was. You didn't do it out of greed or the hope to gain a higher position. And this is a favor I had yet to return."

He wanted to reach out for him. Wanted to have some form of contact to him but right now he felt as if Armin was a shy animal. Not trusting enough to stay once he broke the tension between them.

Erwin inhaled and trained his eyes on Armin who returned the gesture for once, with all kinds of feelings dancing over his delicate face.

"I don't have anything to gain from going after you. Getting you back to safety is what I can do to-"

"To return the favor?" Armin ended the sentence for him but instead of anything akin to gratefulness, there was only the look of a kicked puppy. His eyes were heavy with disappointment and his mouth only a thin line. He drew his legs further towards himself, carefully nuzzling the child's head against his stomach. "That's all it was to you?"

Erwin frowned, not sure what the boy was implying. But suddenly a guarded expression appeared on the servant's face, hiding away all the feelings that had been so obvious a second ago.

"You wanted to know how I come to be out here in the first place, right?" His voice was awfully calm, emotionless. When their gazes locked, Erwin felt as if he was staring at a beautiful doll. Something was amiss in Armin's face and Erwin didn't like it one bit.

Erwin nodded, not liking the change in the boy's behavior.

Armin was staring right through him.

"Fine. I will tell you."

- - -

Eren POV

It might have been a crazy idea but Eren couldn't test his theory during the day with all those eyes watching behind every corner – waiting for a servant to slip up so they could punish him.

Eren had been their punching back for so many weeks now. It was time to even their scores.

"How do we even know this is going to work?", Sasha meekly asked, hanging on to Connie's arm. Both of them followed him with Mikasa strolling behind them like a guard. They had hauled them out of their beds in the middle of the night, their eyes blinking against the warm light of the torches in Eren's and Mikasa's hands.