Admin: Oh boy...
-The next morning-
The sun shined brightly high up in the air awakening everyone with its rays. As birds sang outside happily, Armin stayed sleeping in his bed peacefully knowing that he would not have to wake up early for another two days. Snuggling up to one of his pillows, the blond buried his face into the bag of feathers assuring no sun light would wake him up. Feeling as though he was floating on a cloud, the blond smiled hoping that he could sleep forever. Stuck in his dream world, Armin saw himself in a garden. The atmosphere was so calming that he closed his eyes and inhaled a breath of fresh air to take it all in. Looking down at his attire, Armin noticed that he was dressed in a white dress shirt and pants.
Hearing a soft melody, Armin decided to follow it to see where it had taken him. As he walked statues of the greek gods passed him and long with gentle gust of wind. As he got closer and closer Armin noticed that there was a person in the center of the garden near a fountain playing with the water. Walking closer Armin squinted his eyes trying to see who it was that was at the fountain waiting patiently.
"Armin Cho Hee Arlert." The person said to Armin softly who now noticed that his outfit had changed to a white dress and heels.
"W-Who are you?" Armin asked cautiously standing where he was. However something about this person drew him in with his soft voice that Armin found the courage to walk closer. Observing as the person in front of him extends a hand towards Armin.
"I'm your soul mate." The figure says to Armin, as he gets up and takes Armin's hand and brings it up to his own chest.
"S-Soul mate?" Armin replies back unsure of what else to say until he saw that once his hand connected with the other's chest a red string showed from his pinky that connected to the other's. "Who are you?"
"I can't say."
"Why?"
"Because I don't marry you, I will forever only be your soul mate. Your husband will be another."
"W-what? That's impossible, that happened in Boys Over Flowers. I-It can't really happen can it?"
"Yes it can, you and me were mean to be at first. But I left and your fate became tied to another. Your husband will be your other half?"
"M-My other half?"
"Someone who will make you better, someone who will love you and help you realize things you never have."
"B-But why isn't that you?"
"I've already told you the reason. But you'll soon see that only I can understand your heart, but only he can make you love only you can teach him the emotion of love that he is lacking in."
"Why is this all so complicated?"
"Life is unexpected Armin, and nothing you ever plan for will always happen 100%.Now I must go, it's time for you to wake up." The person tells before starting to walk backwards and fade into the back ground. Armin called out to him but he would not budge. Soon enough the garden he had walked through started to disappear as well leaving only a single beam of light to wake Armin up from his dream. Now conscious Armin refused to open his eyes and gripped the pillow in his arms tighter turning his head so the light wouldn't be in his eyes.
Hoping that he would continue with his dream, Armin squeezed his eyes shit , unaware of the loud footsteps of someone in the house running towards his wing. Within a few seconds Armin's door was kicked open at an alarming speed, the door hitting the wall with a loud bang waking up Armin.
"Ahhhhh!" Armin screams as he sits up from bed, looking straight at Eren who was wearing normal people's clothing instead of designer.
"Wake up, we're going camping." Eren announces confidently with a toothy smile and a powerful stance.
"Why? And why the hell did you have to wake me up like that you jerk!?"
"Because I think it would be a great bonding thing for us to do."
"Why so you can get into my pants again? No thank you, I'd rather stay home..."
"No you're going, and you're going to like it."
"You can't make me!"
"Yes I can!" Eren comes over to the side of the bed grabbing Armin's ankle's dragging him out of the bed and into Sina, Maria, and Rose's grasp where they took the blond to get ready. Minutes later an angry blond was presented to Eren in matching clothing except his clothes were a light blue instead of a forest green.
"Good you're done. See that wasn't that bad was it, you're even dressed in regular clothes instead of girls clothes." Eren comments.
"Yeah, but that still doesn't mean I want to go with you camping. I don't trust you...Plus why should I go with you?"
"Because I'm going to take you somewhere you'll actually like."
"Pssh, and what leave right after I get a taste of it just like Japan. You ruined my dream trip, and now you want me to go on another one with you."
"Armin stop being defensive okay. I promise that if I do anything bad to you on this trip I'll let you out of this deal."
"R-Really..."
"Yes really, that's how confident I am. I really want to make up for what happened on New Years and possibly what has happened between us even before that. Just come on, it's only one day."
"Just one day."
"One day, just the two of us. I'll be on my best behavior just please let me do this for you. I-I want us to finally say good bye to the bitter feelings we have towards each other and start a new."
"And you won't turn back into that jerk you were earlier."
"On my dad's grave."
"Your dad's not dead."
"Someday he will be."
"Fine then, I'll go."
"Great now let's get in the car." Eren moves aside for the grumpy blond to pass by and walk past him so that he was in the car. It was a two hour drive into the wilderness so, Armin and Eren remained in their car quietly as the driver drove on. When they got there, Eren was the first one to step out and examine the area. In front of him was a simple log cabin, out house, and endless threes that ran miles away. Taking a deep breath in Eren smiled and turned to Armin trying to make the atmosphere around them less awkward.
"Isn't this place great?" Eren ask the other who was just getting out of the car and looking around to the scenery.
"Y-Yeah, it's so beautiful. It reminds me of home actually."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I use to go camping with my grandpa all the time."
"Must be nice."
"Yeah it was, I always loved camping."
"Good thing, we have our own spot to camp."
"Yup, and before we start we have to unpack the stuff from the car. Help me will you?"
"Yeah sure I'll carry all the heavy things, you can just wait in the cabin."
"Hey don't treat me like I'm made out of glass. I can do this."
"No no, just stay there I'll do it." Eren says as he pushed Armin aside to open to the trunk and get things out. Watching Eren boiling in anger, Armin tried to grab a bag only to have his hand be smacked away by Eren. After what seemed like forever, Eren had finished unloading and made his way back to Armin. The driver by this time was long gone, and wouldn't come back for them until tomorrow morning.
"What are you so angry about, I did you a favor." Eren tells Armin who still was two seconds away from smacking that grin off of his face.
"Let's just do this okay. Anyways have you ever been camping before?"
"No actually, but I don't need to I have google to help me." Eren holds up his phone displaying the google screen to Armin only to get it snatched away from him.
"Ah ah, no that's not how you camp. I'll take this until tomorrow morning."
"What no way! That's unfair how am I suppose to survive without it?"
"Like everyone else,now let's start putting our things in the cabin." Armin says with a smirk on his lips knowing that Eren wouldn't last a minute in the wilderness. Taking a few bags before Eren could stop him, Armin rushed to the cabin where he opened he door to see that there was only one bed. Knowing that this would be an issue, Armin placed the bags in his hands down and stared at the bed trying to come up with a solution. Soon after Eren followed with the rest of their bags wondering what Armin was up to.
"What are you standing there for?" Eren ask innocently.
"There's only one bed." Armin replies.
"Oh shit...Those people who gave this place to me must have seen our names and thought we needed only one..."
"Sounds about right, but still I don't want to sleep in the same bed as you."
"Well I want the bed."
"No I want it!"
"Well I'm a model my body is my work."
"But you said you would make me happy and would stop being a jerk. Not letting me have the bed is a jerk thing to do along with making me watch you take the 'heavy' bags out of the car."
"How about a wager?"
"Wager?"
"Whoever can survive without the help of technology wins."
"You serious, you've never camped in your life. This is an easy win for me."
"Ha, what if I just said that so you would be caught off guard."
"You're lying, and I know it. You can't fool someone who can see right through your mask."
"Well, you would be surprised when a man's manhood is question. I have to assert my dominance."
"Now you know how I feel, may the best man win."
"Like wise." Eren says as he shakes Armin's hand. Once he lets go Armin is already rushing to the door ready to get a head start. Following him, Eren prayed he would have some clue as where to start with his first camping experience. Though the voice in the back of his head told him it was a bad idea, he still was determined to win against the blond.
"Hey why are you copying me, you can't do that." Armin complains as he crouches down to pick up some sticks for a fire.
"I am not! I'm going to go to find fire wood somewhere else calm down!" Eren yells back making an immediate left avoiding where Armin was. Looking up to the bright sky, he saw that the day was still young. With a long sigh Eren looked forwards down the road until he came into a fork in the trial. Choosing to turn right, Eren saw endless sticks along that path. Not knowing how much he would need for a fire, Eren collected as much as he could hold, and eventually making it back to camp. So he spent most of his time wondering around thinking about many things only to have time fly by to the late once he got back, he was stunned to see the scene before him.
Armin was humming happily to himself, a fireplace ready along with a tent that said 'Eren's Loser Dog House' on it. Walking even closer, Eren then saw freshly caught fish from a river he had no clue was around.
"Eren you okay, your mouth is wide open." Armin asked the brunette who didn't know what he was doing. Dropping his sticks, Eren huffed out in frustration wondering how Armin was able to collect so many things.
"How the heck did you do all of that? I was only gone for a few minutes."
"More like hours. It's three o'clock I think."
"How do you know that?"
"I actually had time to make a sun dial, so yeah."
"Exactly how smart are you?"
"Let's just say,I have GPA higher than a 4.0."
"Nerds can't be this good."
"Anyone can be good if they put their mind to it, and looks like you have your mind on other things huh?" Armin points at the piles of sticks Eren had.
"W-Well I kind of got lost okay!I'm going to win just you watch me!"
"Eren please call this off, and just give me the bed. I already have a place for you to sleep, and it's getting late. I don't want you to go out this late, and if you were to get lost Mikasa would go crazy looking for not a lot of people can get camping on their first time, well all except Jean..."
"I can do whatever I want I'm a grown man!And I can prove to you I can provide the necessary things to survive in the wild. Just you watch me. I was just distracted, I'll be back by six o'clock with food and I'll be twice as better as Jean ever was!"
"Eren please don't."
"I can and I will, you're not stopping me!" Eren exclaims as he marches down the path once more ignoring Armin's pleas for him to come back. However Eren knew he couldn't go back unless he proved himself. And for sure Eren was going to beat Jean. There was no way he was going to lose to Jean even if he wasn't there at that moment. With fiery passion, Eren walked all the way until he somehow found the river. Glad to have finally found the body of water, Eren searched for another stick so that he could find some fish.
After an hour of searching and making the stick sharp enough to puncture through the flesh of a fish, Eren began hitting fish left and right. In no time he had a good amount of fish stacked onto his stick. Holding up the stick to the sky Eren looked at it with pride before he noticed that the sky had turned into black. Looking back and fourth Eren saw that it was night time and panicked.
Trying to remember the way back, Eren took multiple rights and lefts, but he couldn't find the path. Hearing the howl of wolves in the night, Eren began to panic. He ran and ran until he could find something familiar to get back, but he couldn't find anything.
Armin waited for Eren for hours. Pacing back and fourth in the cabin, Armin pondered why the brunette had to be so impulsive. With each minute Armin now waited, the more worried Armin grew. What if something had happened to him? What if he was injured? What if he was killed by a bear? So many things ran through Armin's head that he couldn't take it anymore. Getting a bag filled with a blanket, some food, lantern,clothes and first aid kit Armin decided he would set out to find his 'husband'.
Beginning the same way he saw Eren leave, Armin clutched the lantern in his hand and tried to imagine if he were Eren. Taking in all of the nature around him, Armin opened crouched down to the floor to see shoe marks. Taking note that they may be Eren's Armin hurried down the road his heart beating faster than ever before. Willing himself to calm down before anything bad happened to himself while looking for Eren, the blond noticed the shoe tracks stopped at a fork in the road.
Holding up the lantern up to the two passages, the singer saw that one path held more leaves to the side than the other. Deciding that Eren must have been dragging his feet , Armin chose the path with the leaves pushed to the side knowing that would most likely be the way Eren had went. Huffing into his hot air into his hands, Armin continued his walk until he heard the sound of a wolf howling. Realizing that his worst dreams may have come true, Armin began a mad dash through the woods trying to find out where Eren was.
Keeping Eren's personality in mind, he continued to take different lefts and rights until he made it to the river.
"Eren!EREN PLEASE IT'S ME ARMIN PLEASE BE OKAY!" Armin screams as loud as he could with as much breath as he could give. Gasping far too much, Armin needed to take a breather. However he needed to find Eren, because if he didn't the public would go crazy and it would be his fault. Fighting through the pain and burning of his sore muscles Armin ran following a trail of water until he found a cave and the figure of someone inside of it.
"E-Eren!" Armin exclaims once more to see that the figure had moved a bit.
"Armin?" Eren's voice questions.
"A-Are you okay!?" Armin gasp out trying not to faint in that moment.
"F-For the m-most part." Eren replies revealing himself in the moon light. Looking at him, Armin could see streaks of tears running down his face. Going down on his knees and crawling closer to Eren, Armin let his hand touch the other's cheek as he inspected him.
"I'm so sorry Eren...I-I'm sorry for all of this, w-where does it hurt?" Armin inquires with worry in his voice.
"W-whoa, I-I'm fine how about you? Can you breathe? You're all sweaty."
"Of course I am, I've been going crazy trying to find you."
"Why would you do that."
"I-It's because I'm your friend, and this is what friends do."
"W-wow."
"Now where does it hurt."
"What do you mean?"
"You're crying, so that must mean something hurts."
"N-No actually I'm fine."
"Then why are you crying?"
"I-I was actually scared..."
"Scared of what?"
"W-Wolves...I heard them when I was out and started to freak out, I was glad I found this cave."
"O-Oh, well don't worry they won't come near us I'm sure. After all most camping places would probably caution you of chances of encounters with wolves. This one doesn't say wolves come t visit these grounds often, they just like to howl." Armin assures with a tired out smile.
"How did you know that?"
"I-I googled it..."
"When?"
"Earlier..."
"Ha you cheated, I win!"
"Not really, but just for now I'll say you win. Not that it matters anymore..."
"Why?"
"We can't go back, at least not this late. I'm not the best at seeing at night."
"But you found me."
"That's because it was lighter outside, now that it's a bit darker, I can only make out shapes."
"Sorry..."
"It's fine as long as you're okay, that's all that matters."
"Why is that?"
"You're a very important person to the world and Mikasa. If you were gone a lot of people would miss you."
"I guess..."
"Anyways, are you hungry?"
"Y-Yeah kinda, but we don't have anything to start a fire."
"I brought some of the food I made."
"B-But that's your's."
"It's fine, I've lived for days with little to eat. So today won't be any different." Armin says as he takes out a box of cooked fish he made earlier only enough for one person to eat.
"I'm not going to eat it unless you eat some." Eren protest, feeling guilty that Armin went through so much to find him.
"No I won't, it's all for you. Besides I at earlier."
"So doesn't matter, you're eating or else I'm not eating."
"Quit being such a baby."
"I'm not being a baby you're not being reasonable."
"Fine if I eat a bite will you eat the rest."
"No you have to eat half, besides you're too skinny you should eat more."
"Gee thanks, as if I wasn't self conscious about my body already."
"I'm sorry, but come on just eat it."
"Fine." Armin gives up takin a few fast spoonfuls of the meat before handing Eren over his share.
"See that wasn't so bad now was it?" Eren teases, only to get an eye roll as his reply. Eating the food that was given to him Eren, eyed Armin who stared outside the cave. Finishing up quickly, Eren scoots closer to the other, and stars at the sky with him watching at the stars twinkles brightly.
"Star that shines in the sky, star that shines far away from me, seems like you've come down to my heart..." Eren begins to sing noticing that Armin turned to him recognizing what he was singing.
"M-My mother's lullaby." Armin says in a quiet voice.
"Yup, care to sing it with me?After all the song wasn't meant for me to sing alone now was it?" Eren replies only to get a grin from Armin. Beginning the song once again. The two swayed back and fourth as they sang until they were so close to each other that they leaned against each other. When the song came to an end, Armin sat up on his own and hugged his legs together. Another howl from a wolf sounded around them and Eren began to tremble a bit. Turning around Armin placed his hand on the other's shoulder in reassurance.
"Don't worry,it's fine Eren Woof!" Armin adds a woof at the end to freak Eren out even more only earning him a light hit to the head.
"Ow."
"That's for trying to scare me."
"Some way you talk to your savior."
"Yeah yeah, whatever. I'm sorry this day had to suck, I was really hoping that I would be able to redeem myself for what I've done to you."
"It's fine."
"No it's not."
"Eren it really is, I've realized now that I've been very keep trying to apologize to me and I have yet to accept your apologies, so I accept it. There is nothing to worry about anymore."
"Really?"
"Yes really, I mean after all what happened New Years was an accident. It's not like we both planned it."
"True."
"Good."
"Then does this mean we're officially officially friends now?"
"I would say it does."
"Sweet!"
"Make sure to keep your promise though, don't go back to being a total jerk."
"Promise I won't."
"Good, now we really should be getting to sleep...I only have one blanket so we'll have to share I guess...Not the ideal situation but we have to bare with what we have." Armin grabs his bag taking out a thick blue blanket, spreading it out between them. Laying down carefully, Armin lays on his side curling up into a ball dismissing the blanket's presence and pushing it towards Eren more.
However, like with the food it seemed Eren wouldn't take it unless Armin had a share as well. Scooting in closer, Eren made sure there was an appropriate amount of space between the before settling down himself. Now facing Armin's back, Eren pondered on how long it would take the other to sleep.
"Armin..." Eren test the waters to see if the other was up for some pillow talk.
"Yeah Eren."
"Before you met me, what were you planning on doing?"
"Not much actually, I was just going to live my life how I planned it."
"And what was that?"
"Live as a normal student, graduate, get a job, and live with a cat."
"To be honest that sounds boring."
"It does, but hey I like to have things planned out."
"What about now?"
"Well, I have to say I'm still trying to get use to since I met you the drama factor of my life has went up."
"Sorry about that."
"That's fine, after all someone told me nothing I plan will always happen 100% through."
"Who was that."
"Someone, I don't know who though. How about you, how has your life changed after me?"
"Eh, same really drama factor all the way up. Is it really true you and Historia made up."
"Yeah kinda."
"Kinda?"
"It's a long story, I'll save that for another time."
"Well we only have seven more months together."
"A lot can happen in seven months so I think there is a lot of time for you to wait."
"Aww but I hate waiting."
"Sorry you just have to."
"Damn."
"Whatever."
"Hey after this is all over will you still attend Star High?"
"No why?"
"W-Well I could still give you a scholarship..."
"True, but the star life isn't for me much. I can't stand the lime light, I'm not use to it yet."
"I guess, but will that mean I will never see you again."
"Yes..." Armin answers seriously clenching his hands into fist as he felt a dull pain in his heart for a split second.
"How come, you don't want to stay?"
"There's a whole different reason for why I can't stay in contact with you."
"Why is that?"
"I'm tired Eren, can I sleep?"
"Y-Yeah..." Eren replies still wondering what Armin meant by his reason not to stay. Turning to lay on his back, the brunette watched looked at the empty cave wall wondering what could have been going through Armin's head. However within a few seconds a light snore was heard. Looking to his side, Eren saw that Armin had fallen asleep so quickly. Leaning over to put more of the blanket on the other, Eren also helped brush away the stray hairs from his eyes. Smiling at the other's sleeping face, Eren went back to his original so often he would look towards Armin's side to see if he had stirred awake. Taking a chance, Eren scooted in closer to the other placing an arm around him. Feeling Armin move bit Eren froze, and allowed the other to turn around and snuggle into his warmth.
Deciding the coast was clear, Eren fully embraced Armin feeling his heart his eyes, Eren could picture the many faces Armin had shown him over the past few months. Smiling to himself Eren then remembered the past few seconds of worry Armin had for Eren when he was found. The blond was the only one that wasn't Mikasa to care for him, the only one to ask him what was wrong and listen. When he embraced him, he felt his heart flutter just like they said it would in the movies he's seen. Everything he learned about love in the movies seemed to have manifested itself in him when he was around Armin.
He now knew why he was so hard on Armin at first seeing as most boys with crushes acted that way. And he now knew why he wanted to beat Jean, Armin was his and only longer was that thought a possessive one where he wanted to take what was someone's special person: no. It was the thought of someone who couldn't bare to see the person they loved be taken away from him. Opening his eyes once more, Eren leaned into Armin's ear knowing it was safe to say the words that were to come out of his mouth.
"I think I love you..." The words rolled off of his lips for the first time, and if felt so good to say. The feeling that everyone said was the most wonderful feeling in the world he finally could experience. For the first time ever, Eren had fallen in love with someone and he wasn't ashamed of it and it wasn't forced at the beginning. At that moment all of Eren wanted to scream to the world how much he loved Armin Arlert, but he couldn't so he kept it to himself. His moment of realization however ended with the sound of a vibration coming out of Armin's bag.
Getting up and bringing the bag into his lap, Eren searched the contents for the phone. Finding the device, Eren took note that it was only his phone that was present inside of the bag. Examining the screen's contents, Eren saw that he had one bar of reception and in that one bar came millions of messages that caused the phone to buzz like crazy. Waiting until all the buzzing stopped, Eren wondered what could have happened while he was lost. Sliding his finger across the screen, Eren looked at every messaging forum he had noting that all the messages came from Mikasa.
Taking his chances, Eren called Mikasa back to figure out what was so the drone of the phone ringing, Eren waited until he heard theother line to pick up.
"Eren!" Mikasa shouts into the phone."
"Ah, Mikasa shh, you're too loud."
"Sorry but something really bad happened." Mikasa explains with a sniffle heard after every few seconds.
"What happened Mikasa?"
"I-It's Armin's grandfather."
"W-What happened!" Eren whispers a bit louder now fully awake and back into reality.
"H-He p-passed away this afternoon..."
"W-What?N-No that can't be right, he was fine at the wedding what happened!?"
"I don't know, I just walked into Armin's room because I heard his phone ringing. Then I picked it up and they told me that he passed away, they are still doing an autopsy."
"Oh my gosh...What are we going to tell Armin?" Eren stresses as he runs his fingers through his hair looking at Armin's sleeping body.
"Tell him, this is important he needs to know."
"But that's the only family he has, I can't tell him he's all alone now..."
"You're going to have to Eren. And if you have to, remind him that you two are married so he does have family and let him know that we will always be there for him."
"I-I guess, but I still don't know a light hearted way to put this..."
"There is no way to tell someone their family has passed. The only thing we can do is be there for him Eren, he's going to need you more than ever."
"B-But I'm not even his real boyfriend yet!"
"Eren please just be nice to him, and act like a caring husband or even a tell him what happened."
"B-But...How come you can't do it?"
"I'm going out of the country for a job in Australia, I can't do it."
"Ahhh, what am I going to do!?"
"Eren please now is not the time to be selfish."
"O-Okay I-I will...J-Just give me some time, I-I'll tell him..." Eren hangs up the phone and lets out a huff. "What am I going to do?"
Admin: Why did I do this?