A YAWN LEFT your lips just as you sat down in your physics class. beside you was none other than your blond best friend, reiner, who walked with you the whole time. he eyed your slumped form suspiciously and with concern like you were hiding a dark secret, and you in return turned to look at him with tired glaring eyes.
"what?" you asked, tone sharp.
he shrugged and held up his hands in defense, "geez, no need to be rude. i was just wondering why you're tired."
you sighed and rubbed your eyes, laying your head on the table. other students were filing in but the professor was still nowhere to be seen. a little part of you hoped that he'd be absent or late for a few minutes so you could nap for the time being. it's been weeks since you started meeting up with armin and although you learned a lot about him and enjoyed your time together, it left you tired and sleepy, like a sloth in a cold morning. you had to get up around five in the morning when everyone was already buzzing about just to get to college in time.
and as soon as you step into the enormous campus, you would be whisked away with activities and noisy classmates with no chance to even rest. it didn't help that you had a job after classes to balance with your friends and college life.
"y/n... this is the fourth time you look fucked up." reiner dragged out your name, poking your cheek with a pout. his eyes were narrowed, but the concern was clear as day. "did you sleep late, hm? or did you visit the beach again even when we told you not to?" he asked with a pitiful sigh.
"eh." was all you said, too tired to reply properly. this didn't sit well with the blond and he poked your cheek once again, making you irritated.
"can't leave me alone for even a minute." you taunted, laughing slowly as you sat up straight. he flashed a grin and ruffled your hair, one of the things he usually does to you whenever he wanted to, making you pout at your now disheveled hair.
"just wondering why you're tired, idiot." he rolled his eyes after leaning on his desk, "seriously, you've been like a zombie since last week."
you stuck out your tongue before pulling out your phone from your pocket, checking the time to see that the professor was already five minutes late. you laid your phone on the table before going back to your original position; arms crossed on the table with your face hidden as you close your eyes.
luckily, reiner didn't pester you about your sleeping schedule anymore and you allowed yourself to succumb to the faint calling of sleep.
"hey, y/n... you have a boyfriend now?"
reiner's question piqued your interest and slowly, you looked up to see him looking at your phone with narrowed eyes. your eyes widened in realization once you figured who he might be referring to, causing your heart to plunge deep into your empty stomach. you sat up on your seat and grabbed your phone from his hand, looking at the screen to see a picture of armin smiling brightly at the camera.
"i, well--"
"who's that?"
you flinched at the tone of his voice. it was sharp and almost hostile, and you were perplexed. why would he be furious over something remotely innocent? was it because he thought you do have a boyfriend and you didn't tell him? or was it something else?
no matter what his reasons were, it didn't calm your thoughts that continued to run frantically. this was the first time reiner sounded truly mad and it frightened you because the giant teddy bear rarely gets mad. you ignored him and looked at the multiple pictures you took of armin every meeting (he asked you to) with a frazzled look in your eyes, sighing once you realized that his tail wasn't visible in every picture. yay for your cropping skills.
you let out a breathe you didn't know you were holding, relieved to know that his existence wasn't entirely exposed.
"is there something you're not telling me?" reiner sassed with a raised eyebrow, arms crossed as he looked down on you. you couldn't help but feel small under his gaze. his demeanor completely changed. his build and sharp face that you once thought intimidating completely matched with his emotion now, threatening you without even saying anything.
"i, what--"
he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, making your worry and fear rise up even more, "that guy. who is he?" he asked, calmly this time.
you looked down on your phone, finally registering in your brain who he was talking about.
"t-this is my cousin!" you lamely explained with a nervous smile, "he, uh, visited the beach last last week and just sent me this p-photo..."
you knew it was a seeable lie but you had to try! what other explanation could you possibly tell him without making it look like you were hiding something from him?
"you do know that i can see through you." reiner mumbled, shaking his head in what looked like to be a disappointment. "cousin? seriously? you have multiple pictures of him, topless."
"i-i'm serious! he is my cousin, he--"
"tell me the truth, y/n. i thought we're best friends!" he argued back, his voice rising at the last word. the other students inside the enormous room looked at the two of you, confused and startled. your cheeks heated up in embarrassment and you looked at your lap to avoid their questioning gaze while reiner mumbled a sorry to you and the others.
"i'm serious, y/n. we're best friends, i thought no secrets?" his voice sounded hurt now and you couldn't help but feel the pang of regret in your chest once you heard him.
you didn't want to lie at someone important to you. or keep a secret from him. he was the bucky to your steve, the luigi to your mario. he was your best friend! how could you possibly keep something so important and big from a person you love and trust? every fiber of your being wanted to tell him the whole truth. who the blond was, how you found him, and all that.
but at the same time, you couldn't break your new friend's trust. your meetings the past few weeks were amazing and fun, he was a sea creature waiting to be found and discovered by someone kind. and you were the lucky one to be able to do so. in that short time both of you spent together, you grew undeniably close. it was surprising on both of your parts when making friends was not your forte, same with him, and yet it only took you a few days before you could finally call him your friend.
as his friend, you promised not to tell someone, even your friends and family, about him because he wasn't supposed to be interacting with a human. the reason for that was unclear, but you decided to do what he says.
"it's obvious he's your boyfriend."
you raised your eyebrow at this and turned to look at him with a questionable look with cheeks flushed, "w-what makes you say that?"
he shrugged as he looked away, "i bet you met up with him during our movie night. plus, you've been tired these past few weeks and i often see your car near the beach." he explained nonchalantly.
"you've been meeting with him in secret, huh? and why is he topless? don't tell me you--"
before his mind could think of something inappropriate, you quickly intervened.
"t-that's not it! he just likes to swim during midnight!" you retorted, eyes narrowed as you stared up at the big guy. it was moments like these that you wished you were a bit taller, to look at least intimidating and make him back off from time to time. not that you had the guts to do so.
"then who is he?"
you groaned in annoyance, closing your eyes as you crossed your arms together. even if you continued telling him that armin's your 'cousin', he wouldn't believe it. he already noticed the countless pictures you have of armin (only because he found it fun and you couldn't delete it in fear of making him cry!) and the dates of the pictures that led up to yesterday.
you have no choice but to let him believe whatever he wanted to believe.
"fine. he's my boyfriend." you cringed to yourself, a light blush dusting your cheeks at the thought of dating the mermaid, "there. happy?"
"oh. i see." reiner glanced at you for a second before facing forward, shrugging his shoulders before letting the conversation drop.
you sighed internally and looked back at your lap, placing your phone back in your pocket. it was quiet between the two of you and it didn't settle well with your conscience that he might be mad; you felt sick to your stomach and it clawed on your throat. especially since you didn't tell the whole truth to your best friend.
now that reiner knew of your supposed 'boyfriend', what would he do? he'd probably tell it to the others and then they'd tease you for it. worse, they'd ask to meet him!
coming up with possible scenarios of your friends made you panic internally. the others shouldn't find out about it because if they do, they'd force you to make him meet them. especially pieck! that woman would do anything for something to go her way. armin wouldn't want to meet anyone else, he said so himself, if someone found out about him other than you then... you might not be able to see him again.
you turned to reiner and took a deep breath, "reiner, please don't tell the others and keep it a secret for now..." you mumbled loud enough for him to pick up, "i, uh, he doesn't like meeting new people. he's very shy."
surprisingly, he nodded despite the scowl on his face. "fine. but no more secrets between us, okay?" his eyes weren't looking at your own, but you were thankful that he was listening.
i don't know about that one, chief. you thought to yourself, lips pressed to a thin line.
nevertheless, you nodded and smiled gratefully. "thank you, reiner. i owe you one."
"it's fine, i guess. will i be meeting him, then?"
you froze in your place and you tried to look for any kind of excuses to use. "well, he lives in a different city... he stayed here for a couple of days and he went home yesterday so... we'll see." you shamefully laughed, mentally punching yourself for using such a sad of an excuse once again.
you really have to learn how to be more convincing when lying.
reiner raised a brow but didn't pester any further, dropping the subject. you sighed in relief when the professor finally arrived, and you settled back in your seat with a calm look on your face.
— ❂ —
"hello, armin!" you greeted the blond happily, a smile on your face as you sat down on the sand. the mermaid was already waiting for you on the shore, a bright grin on his face that bested the moonlight.
"hi, y/n. it's nice to see you." he said with the same charming smile, "what are we reading today?"
you both finished the lady's diaries yesterday and although armin was upset, you promised him to bring a new book for both of you to read.
you opened up your bag, with armin leaning in to take a peek. before you could pull out the book, you turned to look at armin with seriousness shining in your e/c eyes. "it's kind of different today, you see."
if the idea of reading didn't perk up armin's interest, what you said surely caught his attention. he inclined his head to the side, urging you to continue. grinning, you pulled out a book with the familiar smooth hardcover and simple font for its title.
"tada!"
the mermaid squinted his eyes to read the title out loud, "the book of every... marine?" he looked at you questioningly, wondering if his pronunciation was correct. he continued when he received a nod, "the book of every marine creature? what is this about?" he asked, tapping the book lightly.
you grinned and opened the book to a random page, placing it on the sand to show armin the colorful pictures of every sea animal with their informational notes at the side. "this, my friend, is a book that contains all of the animals in the sea!"
he gaped in childish wonder, taking in the sight of the bright pictures of the fishes on the random page. "w-wow! this has a lot of pictures! it's amazing!" he grinned as he skimmed the pages, brows furrowed in concentration to which you giggled at. despite the continuous days of meeting with the blond, his actions due to his natural curiosity never failed to amuse you.
"wait, i know this!" he suddenly exclaimed, looking at you with a grin and his striking blue eyes that swam with familiarity.
you arched a brow and looked at the picture he was pointing at. a picture of a deep blue fish taken around 1900s, a coelacanth. "i see them all the time outside our kingdom. they're very pretty and kinda slow when they swim!" he explained, stating a factual piece as if he was sharing something new to you proudly.
your eyes widened in surprise at what he said. leaning forward as you gasped, you took armin's soft hands on yours which startled the poor boy. "wait, there are coelacanths here?!" you questioned eagerly, paired with a big grin.
the blond glanced at his hands which were held by your own in a tight grip before looking back at you with his lips pursed. "y-yes! why?"
you awkwardly removed your hands from his after noticing his gaze, cursing yourself for doing something so brash that might've caused him to be uncomfortable. you shifted your attention to the book, pointing to the picture. "that's because they're very rare and not from here. so it's very surprising to know that you're seeing one!"
armin was about to say something when you squealed in delight, rummaging something in your bag. "this is a big discovery! tell me more about it, armin!"
you pulled out a piece of paper and a pen, looking at armin with a big stupid grin that may or may not creeped him out as you began to pamper him with various questions.
after half an hour or so, you divert your attention back to the book, listening to armin point out the animals he would often see in the ocean. to him, it was amazing to hear that humans already found out a bit of the animal deep in the ocean. he also learned most of the names of the common animals he often passed by, memorizing at least a hundred of their names already. now he could call them by something other than 'fishes' and whatnot.
truthfully, it was amusing to him to see you so excited and worked up when it comes to marine creatures. you had this gleam in your eyes whenever you asked him questions about a certain species or tell him your favorite type of fish. he had no idea you'd be so interested in the diversity of sea animals, but he was glad that he could help you and answer every single one of them.
"do you have another favorite sea animal?" armin asked once you calmed down from your 'high'. you looked up from the book and nodded, turning the pages to look for the picture and description of that one animal you had your eyes on since your childhood days.
"here it is!" you showed him the page with a smile, watching his face for any sign of reactions.
"sea anemones?" he mumbled to himself and you nodded eagerly with a smile and gleaming eyes. "i see them every day on our cave, they're very pretty and interesting."
you looked at the page dedicated to sea anemones, "i think so too! i always wanted to take care of one since i was a child but considering that i'm busy every day, i think it'd die in the span of a minute." you joked, "but eh, i always wanted to see one. it's one of my goals."
armin dozed off and shook his head in understanding, deep in thought as he stared at the colorful page with a passive look on his face.
"ah, i gotta go," you told him after checking the time, a frown on your face for having to cut your meeting short. you began to pack your belongings while armin disappointedly moved towards the water, ready to say his goodbyes with his own frown.
as you began to close your bag, you remembered something important. you opened it again and pulled out two different books for children.
is this rude? oh god, this is probably rude.
you cleared your throat and walked over to the mermaid who was playing with dried leaves and shells with the books in hand, "armin, i bought these for you." you kneeled beside him and showed the two books, their colorful cover attracting armin immediately.
"i thought that you might get bored during the daytime so i decided to give you something. like a gift," you explained softly, "it's a child's story and i promise it's not because you look like one! if i give you the usual novel we read, you'd get confused at the deep words they use and you won't be able to enjoy it."
the blond gingerly took the books from your hands, mouth agape with different emotions swimming in his ocean-colored eyes. you could tell that he was thankful and surprised, probably not expecting something from a human.
you quietly giggled to yourself when he ran his hands across the cover before continuing, "these books use words that you probably already know. it might be for a child but it's still amazing and it's not very short."
he clutched the books tightly, pulling them close to his chest as he looked down quietly. you started to panic at his lack of response especially when he sniffed; did he not like it? did it hurt his feelings? you were about to ask him what was wrong when he finally looked up and stared at your eyes.
tears were pricking his eyes which made you more anxious as they were threatening to fall and yet the big smile on his face calmed you down a bit, "thank you so much! n-no one has been kind enough to give me something like this!" he cried out, eyes shining with happiness.
you smiled wholeheartedly and laughed, "that's what friends are for, armin. you have fun reading it, okay?"
"c-can i hug you?" he questioned timidly, wiping the corner of his eyes with his arms. your cheeks heated up at his odd request but agreed nonetheless. the only male friends you've ever hugged were those in your group and although you and armin grew close, you couldn't help but still feel awkward and shy.
as you wrap your arms around his shoulders and his on your waist, you tried to ignore the fact that he was practically shirtless. you couldn't believe that for someone living under the sea, he's very warm and cozy. like a toasty fireplace on a cold winter morning, a place where you could spend your whole day if possible. his blond tresses tickled your nose and you could smell the faint sea salt, your favorite scent after spending enough time by the ocean. for someone thin and probably the same height as you, his hug felt like reiner's.
you felt safe and protected, oddly enough.
after a few more seconds, you pulled away with an awkward smile and a blush on your cheeks. it was quiet for a moment, both relieving the action that happened seconds ago. you were the first one to break out of your thoughts and slowly, you stood up from your kneeling position.
"well... i-i have to go," you babbled out.
armin nodded and avoided your eyes, staring ahead at the ocean with his own blush dusting his cheeks, "o-of course. thank you again, y/n. i appreciate it a lot!"
"y/n!" a deep sharp voice cut through the peaceful atmosphere, alarming both you and armin about a new presence.
"shit," you mumbled to yourself, turning around to see reiner's familiar silhouette not far from where you were standing. armin yelped in fear and quickly crawled back to the water in hopes of not being seen but not before looking back at you with a thankful smile.
"see you tomorrow, y/n."