As much as Eren wished that he had been the one to discover the problem, that'd be a lie. In reality Armin had been the one to discover it, and while Eren loved his friend, He definitely wished that sometimes Armin would just keep his damn discoveries to himself.
As such was the case after a particularly rough 3DMG training session. Although standing for hours in the sun with uniforms that definitely aren't made to keep the wearer cool had lowered most trainees cleanliness standards when it came to clothes, no matter how tired one got, they still didn't want to sleep in a sweat soaked shirt.
Or at least that was Eren's thoughts on the matter as he peeled off his shirt and reached for the clean pair that had recently been washed.
'But not folded because Jean was on laundry duty and was an asshole' thought Eren.
"Woah." Said Armin, his fingers suddenly tracing Eren's back.
"What?" Exclaimed Eren, as he swiped his hands along the area that Armin had been touching. "Is there something on my back? One of the weird ass bugs that can spray chemicals out of its butt?"
Ee had encountered one earlier in the week, and it was an all around memorable experience for the entire camp.
Eren, for his part, was just glad that the trainee jacket was at least relatively stain proof.
Armin gave a half-hearted smile, "A bombardier beetle- and no, it's not a bug. It's not anything to be honest."
"Ok then..?" Eren muttered, confused. "Then what's the issue?"
"Well, that's just it. There's nothing there"
"So? It's not like there's supposed to be anything on my back is there?
Armin huffed, "Well, just, are you sure you're wearing your gear tight enough?"
"Armin, buddy, if I wear anything any tighter I'm gonna lose a few parts that are very important to me." Eren grimaced, flopping down on his bunk.
As much as he loved finally, FINALLY getting to work with 3DMG gear, as it meant that he was just one step closer to being able to join the Survey corps, he definitely could do without some of the chafing.
Armin turned back to his own bunk, neatly folding up his spare clothes. "It's just odd y'know," He mumbled, "everyone else has blisters and calluses, but you don't even look like you've done anything."
"Well MAYBE it's because I actually take good showers and take care of my skin." Eren retorted, a bit louder than necessary
"Yeah, yeah Jaeger, we all know that you gotta make sure your skin is absolutely pristine," Sneered Jean, "wouldn't want to make your daily application of make-up difficult."
"Oh, I'm sorry for actually caring about proper hygiene horseface", Hollered back Eren as he got up "but unfortunately I have no desire to smell like a fucking stable."
Eren sat back on his bunk as he leaned closer to Armin. "Sides' I've seen what it looks like when a person's skin gets fucked up. Shit's nasty"
Armin just gave a lopsided smile as he placed his newly folded clothes beneath his bunk. Despite all of their years of friendship, Armin had never really met Grisha outside of passing, but oh boy the stories of what Eren had seen could be down right horrific at times.
He personally thought that Eren should have kept most of them to himself, but in the end it may or may not have been his fault for asking.
"I understand, but I don't think that's how calluses work Eren. Even if it was, I know Mikasa has cleanliness standards just as high as yours, and she's got really bad blisters around here." Replied Armin as he traced a line across his chest just below his collarbone.
"Woah, woah, woah buddy," Teased Connie with a smirk "How do you know that Mikasa has blisters across her chest? You getting something we aren't?"
Armin flushed. "That's not-I didn't- I haven't-"
"Get your mind out of the gutter man," said Eren as he tossed his boots at Connie's head, "It's just because she asked us earlier if the chest strap was supposed to chafe so bad. She was wearing them way too tight."
"Heh, sure if you say so." laughed Connie as he scrambled up to the top bunk to avoid any more clothing being thrown at him.
Eren sighed as he got up again to grab his boots. He knew that others had been getting blisters, and the commander had talked about proper treatment for them, but he'd just thought that most of the people were being dramatic
Walls knows what some of these people would do to get out of training
"s' probably not that big a deal." said Eren as he walked back to his bunk. "Maybe I've just got real thick skin, I know my dad had something like that."
"Some of his doctor friends would always comment on how unfair it was that he never got any blisters from holding those scalpels and such y'know," He said as he waved his hands dismissively "I probably got the, uh, what do you call it?"
"A gene"
"Yeah I probably got the gene or some shit"
Armin looked unconvinced
"Look I mean it's not hurting anyone and if you're really that messed up over it, you can check to see if my gears' on properly tomorrow."
"Ok then." Exhaled Armin as he laid his blanket across his bunk.
The two laid across from each other in silence for a bit as the others climbed into their bunks, prepping for lights out.
"You know it's not because I don't believe you right?" Asked Armin
Eren placed his fingers on the bridge of his nose and slowly moved them across his cheeks. "Yes Armin. I know."
"I'm just concerned y'know"
"I can see that."
"I mean in the Survey Corps a strap too loose could lead to a flub in a maneuver."
"I understand Armin."
"And out there there's no room for error out there, if you mess up you could die-"
"Can both of you kindly shut the FUCK UP!" yelled Jean.
"Sorry!" squeaked Armin.
Eren huffed, torn between telling Jean that he could also kindy fuck off and simply staying silent. In the end silence won out as he really didn't want Armin to continue chiding him for his choice to join the Survey Corps.
It'd been like that even before joining as an official trainee.
Despite the fall of Wall Maria easily being the worst fucking day of his life, he'd at least thought that maybe, just fucking maybe, now everyone would see the importance of fighting back.
Everyone would see why they needed to see the outside world.
Why they were so fucking trapped.
Trapped within these walls made of stone and who knows what else, that yes they keep the titans out, but moreso they keep humanity in, that they blocked any kind of freedom, that they blocked people from their goddamn birthright-
Eren was jolted out of his thoughts by shifting above him, as Franz very obviously attempted to sneak out.
Probably to see Hannah again.
Eren released an angry sigh between his teeth as he ran his hands over his face.
Everything would be fine.
Everything had to be fine.
He would join the Survey corps and kill them all, and that was all there was to it.
That was all he had to do.
Despite Armin's insistence that Eren had to be wearing his straps too loose, when he checked the next day, the straps were just fine.
"See Armin, I told you that I'm not doing anything wrong." Said Eren, batting Armin's hands away from the side clasps on his ribs.
"I know, I know, but it doesn't make any sense!" Exclaimed Armin, "Everyone is getting blisters, except for you for some reason, but I don't understand what you're doing differently, and frankly I'm jealous because having blisters sucks!"
Armin began wringing his hands back and forth as he circled around Eren, searching for something, anything that would show the way to reduce the friction between his skin and the rough leather belt.
Eren smiled sympathetically, still pushing Armin away. "Maybe it's my shirt, maybe it's that weird thing my dad had, but at this point who gives a shit, and stop fidgeting you're gonna attract Mikasa!"
"What's he done this time, Armin?" asked Mikasa as she walked up from behind
"Why do you always gotta assume it's something I've done?!"
"Well, shockingly, this time it's something he hasn't done," answered Armin, electing to ignore Eren for the moment, "He doesn't get any blisters or anything from the gear, but I can't find the way he's wearing it wrong."
"I am not wearing it wrong"
Mikasa glanced at him suspiciously.
"None, like literally none?"
"Zip, zero, nada." replied Armin finally relenting after Eren batted his hands away for the nth time.
"Huh." Said Mikasa, looking thoughtful.
She turned to Eren, "I think Annie said she doesn't get any blisters or anything either."
"Thank you!" Exclaimed Eren throwing his hands into the air. He whipped around to face Armin as he gloated, "As you can see it's not just me, so I'm not doing anything wrong."
"Unless both of you are gearing up wrong.." Mumbled Armin.
"What was that? I'm sorry I can't hear you over the sound of being right."
"Both of you shut up." Said Mikasa, "We've got line up in ten in minutes, so both of you better be ready."
Eren glared at her, but turned on his heel to find his place on the barren field.
Armin sighed, "I know he means well, but would it kill him to listen to someone else for five minutes?"
"You know how he is," She said, adjusting her scarf "You'd sooner convince the titans to leave us alone than to get him to change his mind about something."
Armin let out a small laugh.
"I know, but that's not gonna stop me from trying y'know?"
"Hey are you two just gonna stand there, or are you actually gonna get to your damn spots?" Yelled Eren as the other trainees flowed into the field.
"Yeah, yeah we get it." Armin waved back.
And with that the issue had been dropped. Armin and Mikasa still continued to bring it up occasionally whenever Eren complained about chafing, but Eren, for his part, had largely forgotten the issue.
He'd just written it up as a quirk of biology.
Something with no answer, something he ultimately didn't need to be concerned about.
Something that would never matter.
That was, until, about five months later, he sent himself hurtling into an oncoming tree in an attempt to avoid the freshly pulled up titan cut out.