High Tide~ Armin x Mermaid! Reader

Chapter 5

(Y/N) P.O.V

   I run from Armin in a laughing fit as he chases and calls out to me. Wow, having legs is so much fun! I can run so fast. I feel myself getting tired so I slow down and Armin finally catches up to me. "What took ya so long," I say with a giggle. "Are you sure you've never been on land before? Because you run pretty fast for a beginner," he replies. "Yup," I say popping the "p," "first time on land, first time with legs." "Well come with me then, we've got a lot to take care of."

   Armin gently grab my wrist and lightly pulls me to follow him. He leads me to some weird blue thing with wheels that's tied to a metal pole. "What's that," I ask. "Oh, this is my bike," Armin says as he swings his leg over it to sit in the little seat, "c'mon, you can fit too." He scoots over to make some room, looks at me, and pats the open spot on the seat. I climb on and Armin pushes forward. I wrap my arms around his waist to hold on as I close my eyes, a bit scared of the new experience. I open my eyes and take a deep breath as I gaze at the amazing world around me. The bright sunshine, the trees, birds, and the gentle wind blowing through my hair. Everything was beautiful, I still couldn't believe it.

   After a few minutes, Armin turns his bike and pulls into what I'm guessing was his home. "Armin, that was amazing! I had so much fun," I say excitedly as I hop off his bike. "I'm glad you enjoyed it," he giggles, but then, looks around cautiously. "Follow me, I don't think my grandfather is home, so I think we're safe for now," he says as he leads me to the door and allows me to enter. I step inside. "So, this is where you live?" I asked, and he nodded. Armin begins to walk. I follow.

   He leads me up the stairs, opens a door and takes me inside. "This is my bedroom," he says as I look around. "Your 'bedroom'?" "Yeah, it's where sleep, read, do all sorts of things." "Oh. See, where I come from, we don't have houses or bedrooms. The ocean is my home, and all we ever do is swim." "What about sleep?" "Well, mermaids don't need to sleep, but we could if we wanted to."

   I walk to the large rectangular platform and sit on its soft surface. "Is this your bed," I ask. "Yep," he replies, "oh, I almost forgot! These are for you," Armin says as he hands me a bag of the candy worms from last night. "Thank you!" I say with a gasp. As I chew on the tasty little snacks, I notice about Armin's bed. I stand on top of it and begin jumping. "W-whoa! (Y/N), be careful!" Armin exclaims. "I don't understand how you can sleep on this thing when it's so jumpy!" I reply. "Come on, you really should get down." "You worry too much." I say with a giggle. I kick my legs up in the air to allow myself to fall and land on the bed. I continued giggling until Armin grabbed my attention.

"So, the storm from two days ago happened because you did something, right?" He asks.

"Yes." I reply.
"Why?"
"I've been banished from the ocean- well, actually my clan probably thinks I'm dead, but either way I'm still banished."
"What did you do to get banished?"
"I refused to be set up in an arranged marriage."
"Arranged marriage? Are you royalty?"
"No, I'm not royalty, it's just a law for a mermaid or merman to be married to whomever their parents chooses from another clan."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"Don't be. I'm glad that I'll never get to see that barnacle again."

Armin looks at the floor. "But that's awful," he says, "being forced to marry someone you barely know. Don't they know anything about love?"

"Love?" I tilt my head in confusion.

"(Y/N)...don't tell me," Armin's eyes widen in complete and utter shock, "you don't know what love is?" "No. I've heard of it once, a long time ago. I never knew it was actually real." I said. Armin looks down and shakes his head. "Of course it's real." "Then, what is it?" I ask now curious.

Armin P.O.V

"Love is a strong feeling when you care deeply for someone and will do anything to protect them and make them happy." I explain to (Y/N). "That's beautiful." She's says. "Love is a very powerful emotion between two people that should never be toyed with, because even though it can bring joy, it can also bring sadness and destroy people from within."

(Y/N) looks at me completely mesmerized by what I just told her. "How would you know if you were in love with someone?" She asks me. "Oh, you'd know just by instinct so it's easy to find out." I reply. (Y/N) sighs. "Wow."

~Time skip~

For the rest of the day, we stayed at my house. My grandfather still wasn't home from fishing yet, since he comes back usually late at night, so that makes (Y/N) being here easier.

(Y/N) looks out the window and jumps up all of a sudden. "Are you okay? Is something wrong?" I asked her concerned. "It's sunset." She says. "What about it?" "I need to be in water at least before the sun goes down completely." "What happens when the sun goes down?" "My legs will turn back into a tail."

I stand up with her, trying to think of a way to get her into water. Come on, think, Armin, think! Where can (Y/N) go? Bathtub? No, Grandpa would find out about her. Ocean? Are you crazy!? If her clan finds out she's alive, she'll be taken away and be forced to marry. Then where can she- "I got it!" I say as I come up with the best solution I could think of. "Hurry, follow me."

(Y/N) and I run quickly downstairs and I take her to the sliding glass door that leads to the backyard. "I-is that a pool?" (Y/N) asks me. "Yeah. But don't worry, no one ever uses it. Just go ahead and jump right in." "Umm, alright." She says. (Y/N) then walks over to the edge of the pool and dives into the water. A soft blue glow arises from the water and I see (Y/N) pop her head out. She lifts her tail and I walk closer to the pool. "Are you sure it's okay for me to be in here?" She asks. I nod assuringly. "I'm positive. My grandfather almost never comes out here, and I can't swim so-" "You can't swim!?" (Y/N) cuts me off. "W-why not!?" "It's...a long story," I state, hesitating a little, "I'll tell you tomorrow."

(Y/N) simply nods and goes underwater. I stand up and begin walking to the door to go back inside. "Goodnight, Armin." I hear her say as I was about to open the door. I turn around to see (Y/N)'s head poking out of the water again with a soft smile on her face. I smile back.

"Goodnight, (Y/N)."