THE OTHER SIDE. aa

sechs­und­dreißig.

     ARMIN WAS STUTTERING upon hearing the brunette's question, her eyes lighting up like a mermaid catching sight of another new kind of fish. she was bouncing on her spot, her grip on the bars tightening while she waited for his answer with a shaking grin. his mind shut down and he went quiet, cheeks red while staring at nothing in particular.

     hanji frowned and pouted, "armin! come on, tell me, please?" she pleaded, her hazel eyes practically shining while shaking the bars. "i'm so curious! levi didn't even explain what you meant yesterday!" she cried out, getting desperate as each minute pass by.

     snapping out of his dream-like trance, he turned to the brunette and shakily smiled. "i-i'm sorry... can you repeat your question?" he asked, his voice above a whisper.

     hanji frowned but followed, "this person you met... you said she means a lot to you." the brunette said in a softest tone possible, "what is she to you?"

     just like before, armin felt himself froze. his stomach was starting to hurt and he felt the need to throw up his breakfast at how nervous he suddenly felt. trying to control himself, he faced the brunette and took a deep breath.

     he really was hoping to keep it a secret, but that one fateful conversation with levi and he accidentally let it slip out. he tried to save face but it was no use, the ebony-haired mermaid had already left to probably tattle to hanji or erwin. it would've been nice if he told the commander, he probably wouldn't question him so much unlike the brunette.

     "she..." he paused and slowly moved back to his cell until he accidentally hit the wall, "she's y/n... the first human i met, and the first human that showed me kindness. she was patient and nice, she showed me the ropes of her world and read stories to me like a mother would."

     the crazy look in hanji's eyes slowly dissipated and she stared at the blond with gentleness, quietly listening in. "i don't know how or why, but i just woke up one day and felt that i like her. luckily..." a hint of smile appeared on his face, "she felt the same. i never felt so happy. y/n never cared about me being a mermaid, all she did was love me for who i am. she's the one who worries more about me more than i do."

     armin was about to continue but he stopped, his cheeks heating up as he cleared his throat before looking away from the brunette. he anxiously played with his fingers, waiting for hanji to say something else. he didn't want to ramble on about the h/c-haired like it was nothing, there would be a huge chance someone else was listening or hanji might get tired of listening to his love to y/n (she shouldn't, though, as armin suffered long hours of listening to her so-called experiments with dead human bodies).

     the brunette hummed and smiled, "you really do love her, huh?"

     "o-of course! it was unexpected and i never saw myself falling for a human but i just did--"

     suddenly, hanji squealed and she did a little dance from outside his cell. "a human-mermaid relationship... how fascinating! you never would've expected one, even after a hundred years when every mermaid hates them!" then, she cleared her throat and stopped, turning to the blond with pursed lips and seriousness swimming in her eyes. "but... are you sure you can trust her?"

     with furrowed brows and a confident smile, armin turned to hanji. "i do." he answered, "more than you know."

     hanji turned silent at his answer and she used it to ponder for a moment, her eyes reading the blond carefully. she then beamed and gripped the door handle, about to leave, "i'll trust what you say armin."

     talking about the h/c-haired he dearly loves without seeing her since that night really made him 'homesick'. only now did he realize how he truly misses her, he was so preoccupied with the survey corps questioning him that he forgot about their meeting. tomorrow... tomorrow would be the time where they'd have to meet. what would y/n feel when she doesn't see him at their usual spot? would she be worried? would she wait?