Pathway [Eremin AU]

Chapter Twelve//Armin

"Hang on," Eren says as we take a sharp turn.
"Why didn't you tell me? And why won't you show me your face?" I ask.
"Tell you what?" He asks.
"About this. I worry about you and your family every single day! Bruises, cuts, even Mikasa had a broken nose!" I say, raising my voice a bit too much. I push my face into the back of his shirt and tears pour down my face.
"I'm sorry," He says, and turns. I look up and see a bruise on his closed eye and a cut across it as well.
"Oh my God!" I say and bring one of my hands to his face. I run my fingers over the cut.
He winces and turns away. "I can't see out of this eye anymore."
"Drive to the hospital right now!" I yell as tears come down faster.
"I can't," He says.
"Yes you can! Do it darn it!" I say and slap the back of his neck lightly.
"I will tomorrow. As soon as my mom gets to your house," He says.
"Wait, where's Mikasa? Is she still at the house?!" I ask, panicked.
"No, she's at her friends right now," He says.
"Does this happen a lot?" I ask.
"How many times have you seen us in a bad state?" He asks.
"Too many for my liking," I say.
"Well, I hope that will change soon," He says and we slow down a little. I notice we're pulling into my driveway.
"It better change before I leave for Japan," I say as he stops his bike.
"Me too."

"Mom, I'm sorry," I say as my mom opens the door to our house.
"No reason to be. Carla called me and told me what happened. You guys get inside and I'll go and grab your mom," My mom says, resting a hand on Eren's shoulder. I nod. We walk in and my mom grabs her keys.
"I'll be back in a bit," She says. I nod and close the door.
"Just head up to my room, I'll be up there in a second with some rags and a first aid," I say and he nods. He walks towards my room and I walk towards the bathroom. I grab the first aid kit, a bowl of room temperature water, and a few rags. I walk to my room and open the door. I see Eren sitting on my bed with his hand over his bad eye.
"Take your hand away," I says and sit on the ground in front of him. I dip one of the rags in the water and bring it up to his eye. I lightly dab it and the rag gets soaked in blood quickly.
"Ow," He winces.
"Sorry," I say. I dip the rag in the water again and ring it out. The water starts to get a little pink from the blood.
"Hold this on your eye," I say and grab his hand. I place it where mine was on the rag on his eye. I go through the first aid kit and pull out some gauze from it and medical tape. I then move his hand and rag away. I put the rag in the bowl and I grab a dry one. I dry his eye and I can see how deep the cut is.
"We'll go to the hospital soon, but I'm going to cover it till then," I say. I put the gauze over it and tape it down.
"Thanks," He says. I nod and grab all of my stuff. I set everything on my desk now and I walk over to him.
"Shirt, off. I'm gonna patch you up," I say and grab two rags. A wet and a dry. I grab some disinfecting wipes and some medical tape with some gauze. He lifts up the back of his shirt first and takes it half off. I then sit next to him again and I start to wash up his cuts that cover his tattoos.
  "I really hate seeing you in this state," I say.
  "I wish I wasn't in this state," He says and sighs. I nod and finish up his back. He turns around and fully take off his shirt. I clean the cuts on his chest and torso. There was a large gash over the left side of his chest and several bruises around it.
  "I'll go and grab some ice packs," I say. I put the bloody rags in the bowl and I quickly wipe my hands on my pants. I walk out and to the kitchen. I grab some ice packs and since I don't have enough, I put ice in some zip locks. I carry all of the bags up along with a cooling pad.
I see Eren laying on his back with his eyes closed. I walk over towards him with an evil grin. I drop all the ice packs on him.
"Oh, shiz!" He tells and starts to jump around.
"Sorry," I chuckle.
"That was cold!" He says and sits back down.
"Lay on your back for a few minutes I'm going to put a few ice packs on your bruises," I say. He nods.
"I hope you don't do it like last time," He sighs. He lays on his back and I start to put some of the flat ice packs on his chest.
"In a few I'll take them off," I say. He nods and closes his eyes again. I sigh and sit on the ground. I look at my hands that are stained in his blood. I brush my figures through my hair and I feel something wet run down my cheek. I wipe the tear away, but more and more keep coming. I hug my knees and silently cry into my arms.
"Armin, I'll be fine, stop worrying about me. I've been through worse with my father. Way worse. Compared to what happened a while back, this is nothing, it's just like a scratch," Eren says, and I can feel his hand on my head. I look up at him. His eyes are teary too, but he throws me a smile anyway.
"I'm sorry," I say, "I'm sorry..." I keep saying it and more and more tears come. He pulls me into a hug and I feel weak and helpless, and I'm supposed to be the strong one right now.
"Please stop crying. I don't like seeing you cry. And hey, you don't have to be strong all the time," He says. I nod. He throws the ice packs off his back and hooks his arm around my waist. He pulls me up and over on his other side on my bed.
"We might as well get some sleep before they get back," He says.
"I'm slightly afraid to let you sleep," I say.
"Hey, I won't give up a fight of life or death. It's not worth it," He says and smiles at me. I smile back and close my eyes.
"Fine, goodnight."

(A/N: finished this up on the bus this morning. Sorry it's a little sucky. I don't know if I'll be updating much for a while though. I've been having a slightly rough time this weekend and there's someone I would rather not see at school because of it. But oh well, just wand you guys to know. Till next update, bye!
-CT.)