THE LOUD CONTINUOUS rings of your annoying alarm sadly woke you up from your peaceful slumber, already giving you a bad sunday morning. you were planning to sleep in until afternoon but you forgot to turn the alarm off. as soon as you got home yesterday, you fell asleep almost immediately and forgot to do your nightly routine.
you laid in the comfort of your duvet, staring up at the ceiling groggily. you recalled the events that took place hours before you fell asleep and before you knew it, a crazy grin was spread across your face and you suddenly felt more energized than moments before.
"i really just talked to a mermaid!" you laughed heartily, standing up from your bed. you headed to the bathroom and started to wash your face, eyes closed as you remembered everything that happened while you were talking to the blond.
it's as if you didn't live the days where you forced yourself to believe it was an illusion of some sort, and yet... he is real. not imagination, shadows, or such. a real sea being living in the depths of the ocean, alive and prospering. you were giddy and excited upon meeting him until now, it felt like you made a new discovery like a new sea animal, and boy were you eager to learn more about him.
you sighed and shook out of your thoughts, shifting your attention to your morning for the time being. you grabbed your phone from the bedside table and headed to the kitchen to prepare yourself some breakfast. scrolling through the messages of your friends, you heated up water in the kettle to make yourself some tea. you were about to look for the loaf of bread when you felt your phone ring, a catchy ringtone slicing through the calm morning atmosphere.
grumbling, you looked at the caller id before answering it and placing your phone close to your ear to prepare yourself for the continuous nagging from none other than pieck.
"hey, pieck!" you greeted innocently, even smiling to somehow lighten up the woman (despite note being able to see it). but, any attempt to calm the furious woman was futile and it only added fuel to the fire.
you had to sit down and listen to pieck rant and nag at you for being an 'inconsiderate' friend (in a joking manner) and making them worry for your whereabouts because you weren't picking up. of course, she scolded you for not coming too but decided to let it go as you keep telling her of your excuses. you had to sit for another hour and listen to her explain the movie as your punishment, with additional sound effects and exaggerated dialogues that made your morning a bit better, despite waking up earlier than you intended to.
after that long phone call with the woman, you headed to your room to pack your stuff for your little trip to the beach later that night. you made sure to get the book you were reading to armin last night, as well as a few interesting novels for the boy to read or borrow. looking through your shelf, you eyed a certain book.
the book of every marine creature.
would it be weird if you asked him about the different creatures in the sea? and if there were any undiscovered ones? he is a mermaid, after all. he should know.
after a minute of contemplating, you shrugged and decided to grab it and put it inside your bag.
it was still morning, and you were beyond tired, but the thought of visiting the beach again to 'hang out' with the blond made you exhilarated. meeting a mermaid was almost too good to be true! it's been a week since you first saw him but the shock hasn't died yet, especially when you got the chance to talk to him. you wanted to tell your friends about him but you figured you should seek his permission first, betraying and hurting him would not be good.
sighing, you grabbed your mountains of homework to pass the time.
— ❂ —
the night was colder than usual and even reiner's thick jacket couldn't warm you up immediately. grumbling to yourself, you started to walk in silence.
it was around ten o'clock and the moon and stars were out, blanketing the night sky with beauty. the city was less busy whilst you walk on the lighted sidewalk, clutching to your bag tightly as you navigate through the streets. you see, you could've driven towards the beach but you'd be too early if you did so. plus, if reiner saw your car and you hanging around at the beach longer than you should be, he'd check up on you and your time with armin would be cut short.
and the night was beautiful scenery too, so why not?
the only downside of it was that you had to walk. at night. who knows what could happen? it was a stupid idea to begin with, but there's no turning back now.
you quietly cheered to yourself once you spotted the beach in the distance. a lovely smile was decorating the features that made you glow like an angel, you were relieved to make it to the place in one piece. the only disturbance you encountered was a stray dog looking at you furiously (which scared the shit out of you).
you dropped your bag on the sand, sitting down near the shore afterward and stretching your legs outward with a sigh. you closed your eyes, leaned back, and relaxed under the night sky, allowing the cold air to envelop you in a tight hug despite the shivering that followed after. you grabbed your phone from your pocket, checking the time only to see it just turned eleven o'clock. there were messages from your friends, just full of stupidity and nonsense from reiner and porco.
the sound of splashing water caught your attention. with a shy smile, you placed your phone back in your pocket to turn to the ocean. you saw the blond mermaid get out of the water and crawl to the shore, wiping his wet face with his arm. the droplets of water that slid down his face and exposed body shone under the moonlight and you had to remind yourself not to stare too much, it would be rude and... inappropriate.
"hello." armin greeted quietly, the same shy smile you had was also plastered on his face. he sat up next to you, making sure to keep distance between both of you, to not have a repeat of last time.
"hi, how are you?" you asked politely, digging through your bag to grab your book. his eyes immediately shined with amazement once he caught sight of the book you pulled out. you patiently waited for his response, opening the book to the previous chapter you stopped on.
realizing this, he quickly blurted out an answer sheepishly. "i-i'm fine!"
you smiled in return, looking back at the book to see that you had skipped past chapter four... and that you couldn't see in the dark than usual. you narrowed your eyes before looking up at the sky, armin following where you were looking at, only to see that the moon was being covered by clouds. clicking your tongue, you grabbed your phone from your pocket and turned on the flashlight to shine it at the current page.
armin gasped and leaned back as soon as the light flashed, it shocked yet intrigued him. it was from the same object he saw you using yesterday. he never really got to ask you about it, too.
"w-what is that thing?" he asked in amazement, staring at your phone with his usual wide doe eyes. you blinked and looked back at your phone to turn off the light before showcasing a grin.
"this, armin, is what people call a smartphone." you tapped on the screen and he whispered a small 'wow' when it lit up. he eyed your wallpaper and looked at you expectantly, waiting for you to explain furthermore. "it's a picture of the ocean when i first visited this place." you explained briefly, seeing as he was curious about the picture that shone brightly.
he nodded in what looks to be understanding but his next question made you chuckle awkwardly. "what's a picture?"
you thought long and hard on how to explain it but no normal or understandable words came to you. "it's uhm... look, i'll show you instead." you opened up your phone and tapped the camera app, clicking the flash button considering it was dark. you positioned your camera towards the ocean and snapped a picture, the light flashing brightly that startled the poor mermaid. you showed him the picture you took and he looked at it in wonder, gazing at the ocean then back to the picture.
"so it's like making a drawing of its surrounding environment then turns it to something similar and realistic?!" he asked in wonder, the childish excitement in his voice was very visible. you giggled quietly and nodded, allowing him to look at the picture for a few more seconds.
"that's so cool!"
"do you want me to take a picture of you?" you asked suddenly. you blushed once you realized this and covered your mouth, avoiding his striking blue eyes. "i-i mean, it's okay if you--"
"yes, please!"
even when excited, he was still polite.
you nodded shyly and swallowed the lump in your throat, "okay, i-it's going to flash some bright light. you can pose or smile."
he nodded and sat up properly, turning his whole body to face the camera. his tail was bent slightly and he was wearing the brightest smile you've ever seen. smiling to yourself, you adjusted the camera a bit so that his tail wouldn't show much in the picture, and in a matter of seconds, his picture was taken.
his face scrunched up as soon as the light flashed, he probably wasn't expecting it to be too bright but luckily the picture turned out fine. he didn't really care for all he wanted was to see the picture you took of him. with a chuckle, you showed him the picture with a flourish. the flash made his blue eyes pop and the childish grin on his face never faded, you had to stop yourself from squealing too much at how adorable he looked.
"wow, that's really me! this is amazing!" he gushed excitedly, turning to look at you with a bright smile. "what else does your 'smartphone' do?!"
you chuckled to yourself and started explaining some of its widgets and their uses, even showing him how to use some of them. he often compared some of it to the ones he had at his home. an example was the flashlight; their source of light was bright glowing stones. when darkness comes, it was a hassle to carry it in a built-in lantern because it was too heavy. judging by his expressions though, you could tell that he was very curious about the camera too. he told you that he never saw any kind of camera or 'pictures' in his home, only drawings that looked very realistic. he was amazed that the technology on the 'other side' was advancing every day, he wished it was the same for his kingdom. he wanted someone to develop a technology where all of their important things were in one place, just like your phone.
"oh wait!" you suddenly realized that both of you haven't read the book yet, it was weird to say that the cause of your distraction was your phone. "should we start reading this?" you asked, chuckling to yourself as you held the book up.
armin took his attention off the phone and nodded repeatedly with a smile. you opened the flashlight of your phone and shone on the current page, opening your mouth to read the first sentence. armin listened carefully, asking questions about things he didn't understand but apologizing afterward for disrupting your reading. you'd only laugh and wave it off, answering every question with certainty. it was a wonder how you managed to be comfortable with the mermaid, considering you first started talking yesterday. sure, there was still your shyness eating you up but only god knows why you weren't embarrassing yourself again and again unlike last time when you met someone.
maybe it was because the blond doesn't look like someone that judges a person at their first encounter, he looks kind enough and his past actions showed him to be so. or maybe it was because of how similar you two were. he was shy yet curious and filled with wonder, somehow like you. no matter what the reason was, it was unusual to see yourself already getting comfortable with the blond mermaid and it made you a bit giddy.
it was the first time it happened and you felt proud of it.
feeling a bit more confident, you continued telling and explaining the story to armin who looked like a little child listening to his mother telling him a bedtime story. plus he was laying on his stomach, arms propped up with his chin on both palms and his blue tail wagging like legs kicking back and forth.
he really did look like a child.
you grinned to yourself before continuing the story.
you both ended it at chapter seven since there was no more time, there were five more minutes before one o'clock (your curfew to yourself) and the chapters were very long so continuing it would be cut short anyways. you took it as a chance to relax for a few minutes, admiring the ocean just like you always did but this time, you were with a mermaid who shared the moment with you as he drew random figures on the sand.
"armin..." you paused and turned to your side to see him listening, "aren't you worried that your family sees that you're gone?" you wondered, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
the blond smiled and replied, "well, almost all the mermaids are asleep so i don't think they'll see me sneaking off to the land."
"why? are mermaids not allowed to go here?"
armin was about to answer when your alarm rang, which scared the crap out of him. you didn't miss the fear that passed his face and you had to bite your lip to stop yourself from laughing seeing as it would be rude.
"i have to go now, armin." you told the male after packing up your things, masking the hint of sadness with a smile. "we can do this again soon, okay? see you!"
before you could fully stand up, armin tugged at your wrist. "hey, y/n... thank you for today. and uhm, about our meetings, can you keep it a secret? i-i don't think i'd be okay if other people found out about m-me." he mumbled quietly to himself but luckily, you caught most of it.
you flashed a comforting smile and nodded, "don't worry, i'm good at keeping secrets." you told the blond and soon, his nervous expression faltered and he looked more relieved. with one last goodbye, both of you headed to different ways.
oh, i don't have my car with me...
sighing, you decided to take the bus instead and walked to the nearest terminal. suddenly, you remembered one of the books you brought with you.
i forgot to ask him about the sea animals... oh well, i can ask him later.
you took out your phone from your pocket and looked at your gallery, a calm smile passing your face as you swipe through dozens of blurry pictures of the ocean that armin took. the angles were awkward and you could almost see or feel that his hands were shaking a lot in fear of breaking it.
you still could see the frown on his face as he inspected the pictures afterward, clearly displeased on the outcome. as you swiped through more, you stopped at the picture you took.
a smiling armin was looking at you, childish and happy without any care in the world.
a/n: shameless promo; i made a hanji x reader au if y'all love that scientist just as much as i do uwu