Rose Colored Glasses All Distorted

Sasha POV

Sasha was literally bouncing up and down when the familiar beige car pulled into the parking lot. She beamed as Armin gave her a small wave through the windshield. She'd never gone costume shopping with anyone besides Papa before, but she just adored spending time with Armin. He was barely out of the car before Sasha had seized his hand and pulled him into the store. "Come on!"

"Slow down, Sasha." Papa chided, following behind and holding open the door for Klara. "Don't break the boy."

"He's tougher than he looks!" Sasha called back over her shoulder.

"Hi. I'm Klara Arlert."

"David Braus. It's nice to meet you, Klara. Thank you so much for looking after my Sasha."

"Oh, it's not a problem. She's such a sweetheart. And it's nice that Armin has such an understanding friend, who knows what he's going through."

It made Sasha happy to hear Klara talk so nicely about her. But Armin flushed red. "Let's go over here." He tugged her to the corner of the store farthest from their parents.

Sasha could tell something was bothering him, but pushing him never seemed to work. He would tell her if he wanted to. Until then, she would have to find something else to talk about. "So, do you have any idea what you want to dress up as?"

"Not really. I just figured I would look around until something caught my attention."

"Hey, that's what I do." Sasha grinned. "Papa doesn't plan anything else for this day because he knows how long it takes me. The first Saturday of October is sacred to us."

"Well, now I feel special, to be brought along on your sacred day." Armin smiled.

"That's because you are special." Sasha replied. That made Armin flush an even deeper red, and he turned and began flipping through a rack of costumes. Sasha decided to look too. It took her about a minute to spy something she thought would be perfect for Armin. "Oh my gosh! You have to try this one on!" she seized the Peter Pan costume off the rack and held it up.

To her surprise, Armin wrinkled his face in discontent. "No, thank you." He said, turning away.

"But you would be a great Peter Pan!"

"You more have the hair for it." He said, without looking at her. "I look more like Tinkerbell."

Sasha pondered what he said for a moment. "I bet we could find you a Tinkerbell costume here."

"No." Armin said flatly.

Sasha let out a sigh. "Can't you at least try it? You don't have to get it."

"Sasha, I don't want it." He turned to look at her.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't." He sounded irritated now and Sasha couldn't understand why.

"I don't understand. It's just a silly costume. What is it hurting just to try it on?"

"And I don't understand why you're so insistent on me trying it on if it's just a silly costume?" He snapped at her. Sasha blinked in confusion.

"But-"

Armin let out a huff and snatched the costume out of her hand. "Fine. If it will shut you up, I'll put the stupid thing on." He stormed into the dressing room. Sasha was taken aback. He had never snapped at her before. She jumped slightly as he banged the dressing room door shut.

"Oh, is he trying something on?" Klara asked, walking over.

"Um…yeah." Sasha said. Papa was behind Klara. He knew something was up and raised an eyebrow. She very subtly shook her head.

"How does it look, honey?" Klara called through the door.

"I'm not coming out!" Armin called back.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not!"

"I would like to see you, Armin."

"No!"

"What's wrong?" Clearly, Klara didn't see this as normal behavior for Armin. She sounded concerned.

The door swung open and Armin stood there angrily. "You can see my port." He snapped at his mother. Sasha felt her eyes widen as she looked at Armin's chest. The shirt was low cut, and off to the side, near his shoulder under his skin was a raised-up disk, and what looked like a tube moving up the top.

"Sasha, come help me look at something over here." Papa said, motioning her over. Sasha knew a command when she heard one, and she dutifully followed her father away from Armin and Klara.

As she walked away, she heard Klara say, "You could have just said that instead of being so dramatic." She didn't hear Armin's reply, but she definitely heard the changing room door slam again.

"What was that?" She whispered to Papa. "His skin was all raised up."

"I assume it's some sort of medical device." Papa whispered back.

"I'm sorry about that." They both turned to see Klara standing behind them. "I forgot he's self-conscious about the port."

"What is it?" Sasha blurted out without thinking.

"Sasha." Papa chided.

"No, it's fine. There's nothing wrong with being curious." Klara said. "It's like an IV. It's a more permanent solution for when he goes to the hospital. Instead of having to hunt and use up his veins in his arms with regular IVs, they can just hook up to that."

"Oh." Sasha grew quiet for a moment. "I'm sorry. This is my fault. I shouldn't have pushed him to try on the costume."

"No, sweetheart. Don't blame yourself. This is how Armin is sometimes. He's under a lot of stress. He doesn't mean to snap, and I'm sure he's sorry."

The door to the changing room banged open and Armin emerged. He sure didn't look sorry. He slammed the costume back on the rack and stalked off to the other side of the store. "I know you know him better than we do, Klara, but he doesn't look sorry." Papa said.

"Well, now he's self-isolating. I'll go talk to him." She walked off in the direction of her son.

Sasha looked down at the floor. She felt like she ruined the day and just felt awful. "Don't be sad, Nugget." Papa said softly. "Come on, let's find a costume for me."

As they looked, they could tell Armin was in trouble, as Klara's voice raised. "You knew this was a special day for her and you act like this? Are you kidding me?" She couldn't hear Armin's reply but clearly it only made Klara angrier. "I'm not the one you should be apologizing to. So, you get your sorry ass over there and apologize to Sasha…and her father. And don't think this is the end of this conversation. I have had more than enough of this attitude of yours and we will continue this at home."

Sasha felt uncomfortable as the conversation between mother and son continued. She felt bad because she felt like it was partially her fault that he was in trouble. But at the same time, she had never seen him act this way before, and was surprised. Something about his behavior seemed familiar, but not on Armin. It wasn't until Armin raised HIS voice that she placed it. "But why can't we just go home? I'm clearly making everyone miserable." Eren. Armin was behaving like Eren did sometimes. Sasha could actually picture Eren standing in place of Armin. She hadn't really thought Armin had ever behaved like Eren, but they had been friends since infancy, so she guessed they would rub off on each other. Sasha wondered in what ways was Eren like Armin. But maybe it wasn't an exchanging of personalities but rather mutually growing ones. She didn't have time to ponder anymore as Armin walked over to her.

"Armin, I'm-"

"No, Sasha. It's my fault. I should have just told you what was wrong instead of getting all bitchy. I'm sorry."

Sasha looked at his face. He did look sorry now. "I accept your apology." Armin just nodded his head. "Alright, let's keep looking, shall we? Obviously, Peter Pan is out." She froze, realizing what she had said. But surprisingly, it made Armin smile.

"Yeah, but maybe you could be. You have the hair for it."

"What? You said that earlier."

"Peter Pan had red hair." He shrugged. "Like I said, I look more like Tinkerbell."

The gears in Sasha's brain started whirling. "You really could be Tinkerbell. We could find a costume here."

"I'm not wearing a slutty outfit." Armin crossed his arms.

"But think about it. "I could be Petra Pan! And you could be Tinker…"

"Tinker Beau I guess." Armin shrugged.

Sasha let out a giggle. "Papa! I know what I want to be!"