The Small Boy | Eremin Fanfic

Chapter Three

It's been eight years since then. In the space of eight years, I've killed two men, taken in a girl called Mikasa and lost my parents. Armin's whole family died on top of that, I think he developed depression.

We're thirteen now, we're in our first year of being cadets. Me and Armin couldn't be closer if we were brothers. "Hey Armin!" I yell from the other side of the boys dorm room.
"Yeah?" He yells back.
"You coming to take a shower or not?"
"Yeah, coming!"

We both go into the shower room. Armin was still getting used to showering with the other boys, I knew that eventually it wouldn't bother him anymore.

I was kind of surprised at the fact that we had a communal shower room, with no cubicles might I add. Even on our first day, before we met our fellow cadets, we'd already seen sixteen different penises.

Armin was almost sorted into the girls dorm which made me laugh, because of that mistake had been made then.... poor Armin.

The commandant didn't believe him when he said he was a guy so I had to act as a witness. I just said, 'I've seen proof.' Which is probably the best sentence I've said whilst laughing.

The little blond held a grudge against me for a couple days after that statement.

He grabbed his towels and soap and followed me into the shower room. We took off our clothes and got under the shower, the water was lukewarm and the shower heads were rusty but at least we didn't smell like pigs.

"How was training for you today? I didn't see you anywhere.." I asked him.
"It wasn't the best..." He replied. Armin didn't like burdening people with his problems but he'd never lie to me.
"What happened?"
"I fell behind again, and Shardis yelled at me. At this rate, I don't know if I'll graduate..."
"Hey, don't say that. You're so intelligent and level headed, once we start on academics he'll see your strengths."
"I suppose so..."

He washed his hair and played with it for a while, he was probably waiting for me to finish showering so we could go back together.

I finished and we went back into the dorm and dressed into our nightclothes before getting into bed. Luckily we were bunkmates, so Armin was sleeping right beside me and not next to some stranger.

"Night, Eren." He whispered.
"Night, Armin." I smiled back.

                          ___________

Before we knew it, it was five AM and we were being yelled at to get up. I'm pretty sure Armin woke up in the middle of the night because he looked exhausted. I smile at him and hand him his clothes.

We change into our uniforms and head to the training grounds.

"Today we'll be doing hand to hand combat training." Keith yelled as he practically raped our ears.

I was dreading it, not because I didn't like hand to hand combat, but because I knew Armin was going to get knocked on his ass.

And his set partner was Jean. Jean's a bit of a dick at times but he knows to be gentle with Armin.

Every time Jean knocked Armin down, he caught him before he hit the ground. He got yelled at for it. "Kirschtien! This is not a babysitting lesson!" Keith screamed so loud the whole class turned to face them.

"Yes, Sir!" Jean yelled back. And with that, I had to watch Armin fall and wince over and over.

Armin managed to attack Jean whilst he wasn't ready and knocked him down. I smiled and cheered for him which earned me a head-but from the commandant.

We got back to the dorms and I massaged his joints, he did the same for me afterwards.

"You okay?" I ask him whilst rubbing his shoulders.
"Yeah, just a couple bumps and bruises." He replies.
"Want me to have a look at it?"
"No, it's okay.." He looked a little down, I knew Armin was physically weak, but I'd never say it.
"You're Alright, you're going to ace those academics.."
"Heh, thanks.."

We have dinner with Mikasa and chat for a bit. I got a few strange looks from how close I was sitting to Armin. I'm pretty sure there were rumours about us.