THE OTHER SIDE. aa

drei­und­zwanzig.

     ARMIN'S FIGURE was the first thing you saw as you entered the beach, even from afar. you picked up your pace and rushed towards the awaiting blond, startling him as soon as you sat down beside him without any warning.

     "gah! you really have to stop scaring me like that!" armin complained after seeing you, clutching his chest with a frown. he lets out a shaky sigh and narrowed his eyes at you, "i keep thinking you were someone else! sooner or later, i'll die of heart attack!"

     "you sound like an oldie,"

     "i kinda am."

     you could only smile apologetically after snorting at his statement, ruffling his blond locks as you sat down properly in a criss-cross manner. there was passing tranquility between the two of you, and an awkward one at that. you scratched the side of your head and busied yourself looking through your bag, acting as if you were looking for something. you knew the only reason why it was so awkward was the fact that you left the blond hanging yesterday after his 'confession'.

     despite wanting to do something, like apologize, words can't seem to process in your brain and you absolutely have no idea what to do or say.

     taking a deep breath to settle your buzzing nerves, you forced yourself to be brave for once and glanced at the mermaid who was busy admiring the gentle waves of the ocean. "armin, about yesterday..." you started with a shaky voice, unable to meet his sapphire eyes that were now piercing holes on your soul.

     "ah... i'm sorry if i made you uncomfortable! i didn't mean to--"

     you quickly shook your head and brought your hands up, facing the blond to get your point across. "no, that's not it! i- i was just surprised but that doesn't mean i don't want to do it with you! i mean, i do, i really do but my brain stopped and that's because--"

     the blond's soft chuckles stopped your rambling and you were a bit thankful that he did so because you were about to spill your feelings just to save yourself. your cheeks were heating up, showing how embarrassed you were, and you couldn't look at armin's gentle eyes.

     "it's okay, i get it! i, uhm..."

     armin stopped and smiled instead to show that he understood what you meant, reaching over to pat your hand as a sign of reassurance. the tension in the air disappeared and you could breathe properly now without feeling choked up due to it. your stiff shoulders relaxed bit by bit and you grabbed the book you still weren't finished with, flipping to the next chapter after skipping the smut (although you didn't read it to armin, you read it secretly just for the sake of it). 

     you turned to armin to speak but paused, tilting your head once you saw armin focused on staring at the ocean again. the gentle breeze of the sea made the mermaid's hair swish softly in its direction. his sapphire eyes were sparkling as if his eyes were stars too, and it was filled with emotion you couldn't comprehend as he stared at the vast ocean. you whipped your head to gawk at whatever he was looking at but all you could see was the never-ending ocean stretched out on the horizon.

     suddenly, armin faced you with a broad smile, as if he just had an idea. "why don't we swim?"

     you almost choked on nothing at his seemingly normal question. "w-what? it's dark!"

     armin tilted his head as if he was telling you that that's not a problem, "it's calming to swim in the dark! don't tell me you're scared?" he laughed softly with a teasing smile. 

     you snorted and glared at the blond, your cheeks a light shade of red in embarrassment. "a-and what if i am?" you huffed out, "i mean look at it, armin! swimming at the ocean with no source of light, without knowing what's in there, is frightening!"