The Time You Were Gone | Eremin Story

Tell the world I'm back

~Part one~

Summary
Armin sees his old friends after he moves back

"Hey! You're finally here!" He hit his arm playfully as the others from the group surrounded them. "It's been so long, hasn't it?"

The sun had just moved in the middle of the sky, shining above them like the big star it was. Yes, they've spent half of the day driving.

"A few years maybe?" The blonde smiled kindly even though his arm was now hurting, damn Jean, never complies with the difference between their strengths.

"A year and you're still this short little girl, huh? Look, even Conny has grown taller now!" He laughed, but the other didn't think of it as an insult. He kind of liked it the way he was.

He turned at Connie and blinked rapidly. Maybe Jean was actually right, now he was looking at him from above like he himself used to do just several Septembers before. His eyes moved to the brunette girl next to him, luckily at least she wasn't any taller.

"Long time no see, Sasha. "
She nodded and handed him a box that was probably supposed to be full of cupcakes, but as he peered inside he noticed there's been left just one. He looked back at her with confusion.

The girl looked back like nothing was wrong. "What? You took so long, I was getting hungry!"She started explaining with her hands crossed as the rest of the group began to laugh except Jean, who now was mumbling in annoyance how bad was the idea to give the box to Sasha.

After that everyone fell silent, not so comfortable one. Connie broke the silence first.

"I guess we won't avoid the question," everyone stared at him now. "are you okay, Armin?"

This question caught him by surprise. He awkwardly smiled "Oh, yeah, it's been rough the last few months, but I think it's getting better. "

"Wait, what has happened?" Sasha glanced at the boys and then at the shortest one confused.

The boys groaned. "Man, do you EVER listen to what we are telling you?" Connie rolled eyes at her.

"Only when it's something interesting. So, what's the matter?" She said and wiped some pieces left on her face from the cupcakes away.

Connie was to continue scolding the girl when Armin interrupted him. "Hey, it's alright, really. Don't worry about it." He focused on the small wooden houses behind them. The town wasn't so big. The buildings were small and practically everyone knew each other. The boy had forgotten this feeling for the time he stayed in the big city he and his family had just moved out of.

He opened his mouth to speak again. "I already called Jean to tell him I'm coming back, maybe I should have called you all. So it's not her fault." He tried to keep his smile, but it was still hard. It still felt like none of this was real.

"A few months ago, while none of us except my mom." This word brought pain to his heart. "was home, a fire broke out. We have no idea how, but I guess she forgot the oven on. We didn't know. I didn't know until I came back to.. to.. " he slightly jumped when someone put his arm on his shoulder.

He looked at Jean, who had a worried look on his face. A one that was saying "you don't need to say it". He nodded and noticed the other's expressions weren't much different.

He waved his hands around the air nervously "No, it's okay now, really! We shouldn't ruin the moment, would you maybe walk me around?" He tried to change the subject. "Things might be different from the last time I was here."

This seemed to work. "Nah, everything is staying the same, boring as always!" Connie rested his hand around Armins shoulders and looked at him with a smirk "More importantly, how's your sister?"

He chuckled. "Historia? Eh, she's been sad because we had to leave our old house, especially Ymir, but I'm sure she'll be fine. Is probably exploring our new one now." Connie looked away in annoyance. Armin knew why and couldn't blame him, his sister was really cute. But maybe Connie wasn't much of her taste.

"That reminds me, maybe I should go too, I promised to help them clean." He opened his backpack that until now stayed on his back and put the almost empty box Sasha handed him. "But I will see you on Monday, right?"

The girl first connected the dots. She approached him excited. "Wait, you're coming to our school?!"

He gave her a big grin, one that you could see in a toothpaste ad. "Well, duh. Thought I'd miss the chance?"

"That's great! It's going to be like old times, eh??"
They all nodded in sync. Before the whole thing Armin used to live here and go to this school, now it felt like everything was the same, almost.

They spoke for a few minutes more, until the blonde's phone rang and he finally decided to head to the house that was supposed to be his and his family's now.

On his walk he realized that Connie was right, everything was like it used to be, same green gardens in front of every house, same white houses, same blue sky. The nostalgia hit him when he saw one of the buildings. It was painfully familiar.

The walls which where light yellow painted by the time he was living there were now gray and white, and the red roof - very dark blue. Even though it looked differently, the house still brought him memories. The time when he and his sister ran around the yard or collected flowers from the garden to give to their mother. It was kind of sad they couldn't take this one again, but it wasn't far from the new one. He could come and look at it from time to time.

5 minutes later he was facing the door that lead him to his new home. It definitely was bigger, with one more floor. When he opened it a large staircase appeared in front of him, leading to the bedrooms and the bathroom. Left the stairs were the door for the kitchen, and in the opposite direction there was a big living room.

He looked around amazed. Good thing it came with furniture. It was silent for a few seconds, then he heard footsteps from the floor above and deliberately glanced at the staircase.

Not much later a blonde, pretty short girl came down running. She stopped on the last step and leaned forward, holding on the handrail. "Welcome! You won't believe what I just found out!"

Her sky blue eyes where shining while looking at his blue eyes and her smile was so wide it seemed like her face could split in two, she wasn't frowning anymore. The girl didn't even wait for the boy to ask. "We have SEPARATE rooms! Like we always wished to have! Isn't that amazing?"

Now the boy also got excited. "Really?!" It was a dream for both of them to have their own rooms, but their previous house couldn't afford it. Neither the one in the bigger town.

She nodded "Yeah! Come up, I'll show you!"

The rest of the day they spend cleaning because, god it was all dusty, and around six, when their dad finally came home, they decided to rest, making a dinner and watching TV like a normal family would do.

He didn't remember when he collapsed on the bed but was tired enough to fall asleep immediately, not even bothering to change his clothes nor brush his teeth. It was a pretty exhausting day and after all, tomorrow was going to be an even more exhausting day.

He didn't have time to think what might happen and what he might see, or who.