"ACHOO!"

Armin rubbed his red nose, earning suspicious glares from his childhood friends. They had all decided to do training all by themselves, doing all sorts of little exercises to improve their soldier's skills. However, it had started pouring halfway through it, making them stop and find a shelter. One of them proposed to cancel it, but Armin had ardently wanted to continue, arguing that a little rain shouldn't stop them from improving.

They hesitated, but did continue. Well, except Ymir and Christa, the former refusing to let her train during such an intense rain.

At the end, they were all drenched with rain, and one of their superiors found them. After being lectured for a good moment for what they had done, they had to change and go to sleep. But Armin had already fallen asleep before he could have changed his wet clothes, and had assured his friends that he didn't need to change and that felt fine, but he had probably caught a cold…

"Are you okay, Armin?" Asked Mikasa worriedly.

"Looks like someone got sick, huh? We told you!" Laughed Sasha.

"Yeah, I-"ACHOO" I probably got sick yesterday…" Admitted Armin sheepishly.

"I told you not to push yourself too hard, Armin. You should rest for now." Reprimanded Eren.

"Yeah… I'm going to sleep then. ACHOO! G-Good night."

Everybody wished him good night, and Armin feebly replied them before going to sleep. Eren looked silently at his friend leaving and sighed. He always had a tendency to overdo things, even when he knew he wasn't able to. But he wasn't too worried about him. After some rest, he should probably be better tomorrow. Hopefully.

"Um… excuse me, do you know where I could find Armin-chan?"

Eren and Mikasa both turned towards the man who had spoken. He was bald, old, and wearing a costume: a sign that he was pretty rich. His head was almost entirely covered in bandages, except his left eye and his mouth which weren't. He was blushing violently while playing with his fingers; his behavior was more than suspicious to them. He looked shy, and this shyness was clearly suspicious to them.

Eren took a glass of water while Mikasa answered the old man. "Why… would you see him?"

"Why… to… um… have fun with him, of course..."

Eren took the glass of water off his lips and glared at him angrily. He feared the answer he would receive, judging by the old man's tone. "What do you mean by fun?"

"Isn't that obvious? I have to see him. To play with him. To hear him. Did you know that little boy had… unique moans and little tears. They are so cute... I saw them w-when we-"

Eren's voice was as cold as death. He was now sure about it. "When you what?! What did you do to him, you perverted and sick-"

The man's patience seemed to have reached its limits as he exploded. He put a hand on his heart as he declared passionately. "I'm not perverted! You must believe me! It's him: he is... he is special! The first time I saw him, the first time I tasted him… It was special! We both loved it: it was obvious! I need him: I NEED TO SEE HIM RIGHT NOW! LET ME-"

A straight punch to the man's jaw made him shut up and fall painfully on the floor. All the soldier's eyes were turned towards the two arguing men now. He held his cheek painfully and cried towards Eren. "What-"

"Silence. I don't want to hear anything more leaving your ugly mouth. Leave this place, right now. And don't you dare come anywhere near Armin or you will regret it." Warned Mikasa.

"B-B-B-But… W-Wait…! I really need to see him!"

Not wanting to hear any more of this, Eren and Mikasa left, ignoring the old man's pleas behind him. Never… They had never suspected that Armin had been through all this. Not a trace of it could ever be seen on his face.

Plus, Armin was only fifteen years old. When had it happened? Well, whenever it happened, this was still wrong… And why didn't he ever tell them about it?

They needed to see him safe right now, so they headed for his bedroom. As they had expected, Armin was in a deep sleep on his bed. They both sat on his bed silently and looked at the sleeping body. His expression was relaxed and calm, and he didn't look sick like he was before.

Looking at his sleeping frame and felt like he might start do cry. Why did he have to undergo this? To think this brilliant and adorable little boy was tainted with such a dark experience was really making them feeling sick just to think about it. Mikasa brushed a few strands of hair out of his face and patted silently his head.

When her parents had been murdered, if Eren had not come to save her… She would have suffered the exact same thing he did. It was terrifying just to think of what could have happened, and she felt guilty to have let the same thing she feared actually happen to one of her first and dearest friend.

However, he had always been a light sleeper, and awoke a few seconds Mikasa touched his head. "Mmh… Eren? Mikasa…? What's wrong?"

Eren opened his mouth, but then closed it. He turned his eyes away. It was not something he felt like talking about right now… "No… nothing."

We just wanted to see if you were alright.

Armin rubbed his eyes tiredly and yawned. "No… you look angry, Eren. And Mikasa too… What's wrong? Why are you so upset?"

"…"

"ARMIN-CHAN! I-It's you!"

The old man irrupted suddenly in his room, tears of euphoria in his eyes. Eren and Mikasa's heads snapped immediately towards the intruder. He was panting, showing he fast he had run to reach him. He blushed while looking directly at him. "You… You are even more beautiful than last time! Hee hee…"

Armin's heart tightened at the voice. It seemed familiar, but he couldn't remember where he heard it at all. He sat up and looked at the man, with furrowed brows. "W-Who are you?"

The man answered, ignoring Eren's growl and Mikasa's death glare. "Don't you remember? We had so much fun last time, though… Together…"

"I don't remember at all mister…" His heart was beating louder and louder in his chest, contrasting with the fact that he didn't know him at all. He was sure he didn't ever meet him before.

…Did he?

"Hmm… I must have drugged you too much, I guess. It was just to keep you calm: you didn't stop strugg-"

"Get. Out. Of. There. Right now." Declared Mikasa, in a furious voice. She stretched one of her arms in front of her sleepy friend in a protecting way, as did Eren. They didn't want to fight in front of Armin, so the only thing she could do except to make this lowlife disappear was to explain him in her words that something especially tragic would happen if he didn't leave. Immediately.

"B-But… Armin-chan… Don't you remember me?! I'm Ahiko!"

"…! Y-You are…!"

Eren and Mikasa's gazes turned towards their childhood friend, and their eyes widened at his state. He seemed to be remembering something especially traumatizing, his eyes were all dark and tears were starting to form.

"Come on… I know you want it as much as I do. You'll see, we will have fun."

"N-N-No… Th-That's not possible…"

"Oh my dear, I love to hear you scream… Let me hear your adorable voice. I want to hear more. MORE!"

"Hey, Armin! ARMIN! HEY!"

"AH!... It felt so good. We will do it again, okay?"

"You see, he is remembering all the good times we had together!"

"My kitten, you seem distraught… Take this, you will feel better. See?"

Reiner irrupted in the room. "What's going on? I heard- Wait, are you okay Armin?!"

"Are you sick, Armin-chan…? You keep throwing up…"

Armin started to panic seriously when the man took a single step towards him. His expression of fear was intense, breaking his friend's' heart unvoluntarily. "No... NO… NO! NOOOOO! D-D-D-D-DON'T COME ANY CLOS-"

In a swift motion, Reiner hit the old man behind his neck, making him collapse immediately with a loud thump. Eren and Mikasa were giving him a look between thankfulness for what he did and confusion because they didn't understand why he did this, so Reiner hurried to explain himself. "I don't know what's happening, but you seemed to be the problem, old man. Don't take it personally."

All the gazes turned back towards Armin, whose state had, although they didn't think it as possible, worsened so much that he had started hyperventilating. His hand was on his heart, as he was uselessly trying to control his panicked breathing. Sweat could already be seen on his temple, and tears slowly rolled down his cheeks. It was clear that he couldn't breathe at all. Eren and Mikasa patted his shoulder and tried to call his name, but knew that it wasn't helping him.

Suddenly he lost consciousness, falling on Mikasa's shoulder. Eren quickly put one of his arms around him too while Reiner rushed towards his bed. Before he could start asking the most obvious question, Mikasa spoke. "Don't worry, he is fine. He just fainted."

Both Eren and Reiner let out a sigh. The latter crossed his arms. "But... What happened here? I came when I hear someone cry not to far from me and Eren shouting... What this old man ever did to make Armin act like that?"

He thought that maybe he wouldn't receive any answer, since he wasn't particularly close to the boy, but Mikasa answered him. He had saved him, after all. He deserved to know. "He… abused him. Once. And he wanted to do this again."

"…! Armin had already been-!" Reiner offered a sad look to his unconscious friend. "I see… I'm sorry. I never knew."

"Say, Eren, Mikasa… W-What are you going to tell him when he wakes up?"

They both looked at each other, before looking at the sleeping Armin. The answer was obvious.

Armin woke up, feeling more tired than usual. He mustn't have slept well last night, he guessed. He couldn't remember what happened last evening at all, and decided to go see Eren and Mikasa to have more information. They probably knew. Or if he couldn't find them, he would search Reiner, and ask him what happened last evening. He didn't know why, but he thought that his foggy mind recorded that he had seen him yesterday.

He walked in the silent corridors, and spotted them in the lunchroom more quickly than usual, before smiling a little and rejoining them. "Hello, both of you…"

"Hello, Armin."

"Yo."

"Um... Do you think I could I ask you something?"

Despite knowing exactly what he would ask, Eren took a bite of his bread and answered nonchalantly. "What's wrong?"

"Well… Do you know if something happened last night?"

Mikasa put gently her hand on his shoulder. "Nothing you need to worry about, Armin. It's fine now."

"…?"

"Eren, Mikasa… W-What are you going to tell him?"

"Well, I don't feel like telling him at all. He already has enough to do with war and deaths with everything. It's probably wrong to do this, but we shouldn't tell him now. Nothing had triggered his trauma until now: we just have to keep this man out of his life until we tell him."

"Let's wait… Until the right time comes."