AN EXCITED GRIN was plastered on armin's pale complexion as he read and took in every word of the book he was currently reading. the thrill that ran in his veins was pleasurable, the pulse of his heart quickened and the small giggles that he tried to hide now left his lips.
ever since he received the books from you, he couldn't wait to read them. he was thankful and happy that he received such an amazing gift, from a human no less! he appreciates it more than anyone could think, especially when you would take time to read him stories and explain the things he couldn't understand. just the fact that you were so patient with him makes armin overjoyed. he swore he felt his stomach become light and warm when you gave him the book with a bright smile. even now, as he read the current page with a smile, the light feeling never disappeared.
the sudden knock on the door suddenly jolted armin out of his daydream state from reading the book he was given. he clicked his tongue in annoyance—right when it was getting good, too! he looked at the door with wide frantic eyes, standing up from his bed with the two books in his hand.
"w-wait a minute!" he called out nervously, the panic starting to settle in.
the blond looked around his small room, trying to find a place he could hide his books in. if his grandfather saw it, who knows what would happen? its colorful cover definitely doesn't belong in their world. his bed was not a choice since his grandpa was always the one who cleans his sheets and fixes up his bed.
finally, he settled on his desk. how lucky he was to have drawers where he could lock it, no one would find out about his deepest secrets. he grinned and pried it open, placing the books inside before shutting it with a slam and locking it with a small key, hiding it somewhere on the same desk afterward.
he rushed to the door and swung it open, almost having a mini-heart attack as soon as he saw his grandpa standing outside his room patiently.
"ah, there you are. eren and mikasa are waiting for you downstairs," he told the blond, ruffling his hair with a smile. armin grinned and closed the door of his room, following his father figure downstairs where the two were waiting.
"by the way, is something wrong? you immediately went back to your room after you ate your breakfast," his grandfather mentioned, "usually, you'd help me with doing the dishes." he joked, a laugh following after.
armin cringed as he remembered earlier, blushing lightly as he mumbled a small apology. it wasn't like his usual helpful self if he was being honest, but he immediately wanted to read the books he got that he rushed out. he couldn't help that he was excited!
it wasn't his first time reading because the books his kingdom had were usually about the history of their kind and armin already read almost all of it. these 'novels' or stories that the humans wrote were a change of pace and he wanted more of it.
once he got downstairs, he was immediately greeted by his two friends with a bright smile and a wave.
he left his abode after saying goodbye to his grandfather, following the two to the busy street. different mermaids whizzed past them, some were the garrison guards that greeted them, some were elders they knew with their frequent visit to the market. their kingdom wasn't small but it wasn't big either and despite growing up inside the safety of the walls for more than fifty years, armin wasn't familiar with every part of it, and every day when he finds something new, he would be amazed.
there were secret places waiting to be discovered, nooks and crannies by the walls they have yet to check out.
armin yawned quietly, falling back as he rubbed his eyes. he blinked multiple times to get rid of his tiredness but it was fruitless. he didn't get any sleep once he came back, he was too energized about his previous meeting with you and your gifts that he couldn't sit still and rest.
he squinted and looked up above, watching the sun rays dance freely on the rocky ceiling. he sighed to himself, wishing for the day to end quickly so he could swim past the gate and listen to your velvet-like voice as you tell him something about their world, again and again, something that could quench his thirst for knowledge.
he looked around the streets, starting to compare the mermaids from the humans. one thing he noticed the most was that you would wear clothing to protect yourself from the cold and that it was just inappropriate to do so while the merpeople aren't wearing anything, even the women (yes, their breasts are out).
he found your side weird but who was he to judge? perhaps there was more reason if anything.
the blond glanced at the two in front of him, only picking up bits of their conversation that he oddly didn't care about. he pursed his lips and looked around the familiar street, trying to find something that somehow changed that could distract him. however, his mind flew to the stories he heard from you.
they tackled almost all subjects like action, adventure (which is his favorite), sci-fi, romance, and many more. he learned so much in the span of two weeks and he wanted to repay you somehow! now you also gave him books to read when he gets bored, it felt like he needs to step up somehow. he wanted to wow you, to make you so happy to the point that they become close friends like he was with eren and mikasa! that's his goal. befriending a human was a big change in his life, why not make the most of it?
when it comes to the book genres, the one thing that caught his attention the most was romance. love was a weird thing. he knew what it was and what it meant to his kind but what caught his attention the most was how odd the humans describe it. you'd feel 'butterflies' fluttering inside your stomach when the person you like does something adorable, your heart would try breaking out of your chest (he thought, wouldn't that mean the person would die if it did get out?), and you'd feel excited at even the thought of them alone.
to be honest, armin wasn't sure if he had ever felt something remotely close to romantic love. he didn't have any 'crushes', considering that he was too shy and closed off when it doesn't come to his friends. the thought of even settling down and marrying someone didn't cross his mind.
maybe love wasn't for him?
that thought alone made him emotional, for some reason. sure, it wasn't his plan but he'd still like to experience it. he'd like to feel the eruption of butterflies in his stomach when he sees the person he likes, the blush on his cheeks when that person compliments him. every cheesy thing he read when it comes to love.
"armin! you there?"
armin snapped out of his thoughts, crying out in pain when he bumped onto his brown-haired friend who apparently stopped when they noticed their blue-eyed friend thinking out of the world.
"is something the matter? you look out of it," mikasa asked, her sweet voice laced with concern, "i think something's bothering you."
eren nodded, agreeing with the other mermaid. "yeah! and your grandfather asked us if you met with us during midnight since he saw you sneaking out." he explained, brows furrowed.
armin's body went frigid, fear and anxiousness starting to flood his thoughts with questions. the two friends noticed this, adding more to their suspicions about their blond childhood friend.
"we didn't know why you would be but well, we just lied and claimed to hang out because we didn't want you to get in trouble." eren continued, eyeing mikasa who shrugged. "now, can you tell where you exactly went?"
armin swallowed his saliva, his eyes moving from side to side and avoiding the hard gazes of the two. he tried to look for some kind of an explanation or a way out of their question but nothing came to his mind. eren moved closer, placing a gentle shoulder that startled armin out of his wits.
"are you... doing something illegal?"
"like drugs?" asked armin, a bit confused.
"what are... drugs?"
an awkward silence fell between the three of them when neither replied, allowing the confusion and stupidity to settle in. eren and mikasa glanced at each other, having a silent conversation as to what 'drugs' are. meanwhile, armin was trying his best not to break under pressure or yell at himself for being so stupid. of course his friends wouldn't know what drugs were, it didn't exist in their world! and now the new word might spread around until it reaches to the king where they probably would plot armin's death sentence if they found out that he'd been meeting with a sweet human girl.
"you know you can trust us, right?" mikasa bribed after a couple of moments of silence. armin nodded slowly, debating whether or not he should tell what has been happening since the past two weeks.
he found it unfair if he did tell them the truth. he asked (more like made a promise) you not to tell anyone, even your friends or family, about him or their meeting and you did so without any hesitation. it wasn't like you asked him to keep their secrets in a meeting too, only he chose it to be in fear of the royal family finding out that a mermaid was communicating with a human when they forbid them from doing so.
should he tell them the truth or keep it a secret, even if they're already catching on? he trusted them, a lot, but considering that the secret was big of a deal, well he's not so sure anymore.
"well?" eren dragged on, eyeing him impatiently. armin exhaled shakily, clutching his hands to a fist to keep himself from shaking too much. he had decided. he looked around the street and grabbed their hand, dragging them somewhere secluded where no merpeople were lounging around. he was lucky that the part of the street they were in was less busy, almost empty even.
somewhere in a corner, armin turned to look at the two with seriousness glinting in his eyes. "okay, i need you two to keep a secret." he whispered, "keep it until the day you die."
mikasa snorted and jabbed her thumb finger towards eren, "well, you need to get rid of eren. he can't keep a secret. remember the bread that sasha stole? he ended up telling the truth to the vendor the day after."
eren scowled, "hey! that's completely irrelevant!"
armin rolled his eyes, scowling as he called the attention of the two. "shut up! this isn't a normal secret, this is a matter of life or death!"
technically, it could be.
"if you want to know what has been happening, then shut your mouth tight and listen. everything i tell you cannot be known by others okay? even our other friends, your family, or someone else! this is important." he glowered, already annoyed at their bickering. they were like eren and jean in a normal afternoon, equally annoying and draining. miraculously, that shut them up. seeing armin serious and frustrated at the same time was a rare sight to see and both of them were left speechless.
armin took a deep breath, trying to relax his nerves while looking at the people he trusted the most.
this was it.
"i... i've been meeting with a human." armin paused and allowed them to take his words in, his heart quickening when he saw their eyes widen in realization. "i know it's bad and dangerous--"
"are you serious?! do you want to die?!" eren hissed quietly, grabbing both of armin's shoulders. "do you know what happens if the military police found out about you? about these meetings of yours?!"
concerned, mikasa stepped in to calm her brother. "eren--"
"shut up, mikasa!"
armin was scared, expecting their reaction to be like this, but he kept his stand and stared directly at the flaming green hues of eren's eyes. "that's why i'm asking you to keep it a secret!" armin retaliated, "if you just--"
"no, listen to me! you know what happened hundreds of years ago, armin. you know what happened to us, to our kind! do you want a repeat of that?" eren barked, trying to shake some sense into armin's head.
mikasa could only watch but she tried her best to calm eren down which turned to be useless. eren was in the right, considering their history, but she wanted to hear armin's explanation. he was smart and quick to think, surely he has a good reason. if eren continued his act, mikasa might use force and violence.
"i suggest you stop meeting--"
"no!" having enough of eren's ramblings, armin finally shoved off his friends and pointed a finger at eren which surprised him. a lot. "you listen to me, get that? i know what happened to us hundred years ago and trust me, i've never stopped thinking about our kind ever since i met the person. i was afraid that the whole world would know about it as soon as they saw me but nothing happened! that person was even afraid of me. they went back because their book was missing and i was the one who found it. it was a stupid idea of giving it back in the first place but that person has shown me kindness and gratitude. i think you forgot the fact that they forgot everything, even about us! the person i've been meeting with has shown to be trustworthy after i asked them not to tell anyone about me. they hadn't told anyone! they're very kind and they treated me nicely unlike the people from before. not all humans from our history are the same with the people now!" armin argued in one breath, his scowl from earlier slowly turning to a frown when the two took in his rant, surprised and shocked.
seeing a furious side of armin was truly a spectacle.
he nervously waited for their reaction, for something. seeing them so quiet and deep in thought really frightened armin. would they snitch to the guards or would they keep it as a secret as a true friend would?
mikasa sighed and broke the silence first, "armin... i have nothing to say but if what you're saying is true and that they won't be telling some shit about mermaids, i'm fine with it and will keep your secret until the day i die."
armin finally flashed a relieved smile and nodded in appreciation. finally, he turned to look at eren who kept his head down. he looked up, sighed, and crossed his arms, before nodding slowly. "i'll keep it a secret, too, since you're my friend and all. but be careful when sneaking out, okay? when the guards find out about this, i'll only say 'i told you so' when you're behind the bars." eren joked, a grin on his face as armin pulled him to a tight hug.
"i don't think that will happen, i've been doing it for the past two weeks."
"you'll never know-- wait, two weeks?!"
"we'll cover for you too if your grandpa notices you sneaking out again," mikasa added in a jeering manner, earning a laugh from the blond. eren snorted and rolled his eyes before leading the two away from the corner, the three of them leaving with no weight in their shoulder and as if no argument happened between them.
"seahorse and the others are probably looking for us. you know how impatient they can be, especially sasha and ymir."
armin sighed in relief and followed the two, glad that the problem that kept probing him from the back of his mind finally disappeared. he was jubilant at the fact that his friends took it better than he expected (he thought a fight would happen or worse, they'd tell it to the guards) and he doesn't have to carry a secret so big anymore on his shoulders. it was hard not to tell his friends of what was happening before then but now that they know, maybe he could share what he had learned. it would be fun! maybe they could even meet you, too!
armin suddenly turned to look behind, catching sight of a bright orange being hanging and moving carefully on the cave walls. he eyed it carefully before smiling and making a mental note to check it out later.
now he could repay you rather than a simple 'thank you'.