operation: arlert is a go! // a. arlert

20: What am I to you?

"aren't you going to eat you burger, y/n?" mikasa snapped you out of your thoughts.

"h-huh?" "your burger..?" "oh yeah, uhm i'll take it home for mom. i don't feel like eating." "why didn't you say that you're having a takeout?" eren asked. "...shut up." you took the burger and fries as you went to the counter for a takeout. "what's her deal?" "might be on her period i guess." mikasa shrugged her arms as she began to eat again while armin was just looking at you, feeling a bit worried.

"i'm done eating. hey armin, where do you wanna go next?" eren asked him while he was thinking of a place. "is the carnival near here still open?" "i don't know. well, we can check it out." 

"i should've just went home." you crossed your arms. "oh shut it, i know you like coming here." "...yeah but not now." "come on." she smiled as she pulls your hand going inside. Sad to say that it was a 24 hour open carnival so you just gave in, plus you like carnivals and that this was your fifth time coming here ever since you were a kid.

There wasn't that many people but there's people roaming around the place at this time, it was mostly friends and couples that are going out and that seeing the couples walking around just makes you want to barf. "this is hell." you thought. "let's ride that one! eren said, pointing at the roller coaster that was still open. "how can be the roller coaster and ferris wheel still open?" you felt depressed, you wanted to ride the coaster with the two of them but not with armin. "cool! let's go!".

you four walked to the ticket booth to buy some tickets as you stood there waiting for them to ride it. "i bought four tickets y/n! what do you mean you aren't riding it?" eren asked. "stop pouting, it looks so bad." she cupped your cheeks. "fine! you're sitting next to me mikasa-" "sorry, she's sitting next to me." eren gave you the last ticket in your hand as he took her by the arm while they walked over to the cart. "damn you." you cursed under your breath as you gripped to it. you just sighed in defeat as you gave the ticket to the worker as you went over to the cart and sat beside him.

"...it seems like you don't wanna sit next to me." he said, sounding a bit sad. "that's not the point." you looked away as it began to start moving slowly going upwards.

"so why don't you wanna sit next to me?" he asked. "it's not like that." "it looks like it is." "it's not." "really?" "why don't you believe me?" "cause it's obvious that you were hesitating to ride the coaster with me." "can you just stop-".

"AH!" you screamed, you didn't notice it went down so suddenly as you gripped tightly onto the safety bars right where your currently sitting as you heard him laugh. "WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING AT?!" "nothing!" "STOP LAUGHING- AHHH!!" you screamed again while he laughed at the same time.

"we are never riding that ever again." "you liked it." mikasa smiled. "that was one hella good ride, seemed that you liked it since you kept on screaming." eren utters. "i was screaming because- because i-" "you liked it? yeah, understandable." "i didn't like it! well- a bit." mikasa giggled as she took a picture of you.

"hey!" "i'll post this when your birthday comes, you look like you just got nuked in the face." she laughed. "not funny." you crossed your arms as you glanced at armin who was smiling. "...i'm gonna go to the restroom." you walked away from them as you try to find a restroom.

after 10 minutes, you still couldn't find the restroom. you didn't want to pee at all, you wanted to just fix your hair cause if someone might see you they might just scream in horror and run away. you held your phone, opening it, trying to call mikasa but she didn't answer. you tried calling eren but he didn't answer as well. you thought that if you called armin he would answer, right? well, he's the last chance.

you pressed his number at the contacts as it started to ring. "pick up." you were waiting for a few seconds, stepping your foot up and down as he answered. "y/n?" "where are you guys?" "oh, the other two went to buy some food and never came back. they might be playing some mini games somewhere. how about you? where are you?" "i can't find you guys." "let's meet up then?" "n-no... i still haven't found the restroom." "really? i'm literally outside of the women's restroom." "w-wait- were you following me?" "h-huh? n-no! it's not like that! i just- well- mikasa told me to keep you company and so i went." "whatever you say. anyways, i'm lost." "there are literally signs everywhere." "my fault then." "can you tell me where you are?" he asked as you looked around.

"i'm near at the pendulum ride." "alright. wait for me." "ugh, okay." you ended the very quickly as you stared at your phone, feeling that you're having mixed feelings again.

"no, i don't have feelings for him anymore, right? stop catching feelings." you sighed as you try to fix your hair and trying to find a nearby bench.

after a few minutes of staring at the sky, you heard a voice from far away yelling for your name. "y/n!" he waved. while you just stood. "i texted mikasa and said that they were at the ferris wheel, riding." "obviously, they're both going on a date that's why they left us."

"isn't this a double date?" he mumbled.

"did you say something?" "h-huh? no, n-nothing." he looked away as you chuckled. you remembered how you first interacted at his part time job, stuttering a lot. "shall we go to them?" "i mean, yeah obviously, if we didn't meet up with them then we're going to get both lost." "haven't you been here for like five times already?" "excuse me, this is only the fifth time that i've gone here and no, i don't memorize where the rides or places are." "jeez, i was just asking nicely." "keep it up, we're almost there."

then mikasa texted you, saying that they were at another ride. "these two are irritating me." "why?" "they're not here!" "well... maybe instead of waiting for them, why don't we just ride the ferris wheel?" "we don't have tickets-" "i bought two." "oh." "so?" "....just this once." you rolled your eyes as you both went to the ticket booth.

while you guys were already riding it, it began to start, slowly seeing the whole place. "never knew the view's that nice." "haven't you ridden this one?" "no, well- i only rode this once but i forgot how the scenery looks." you looked outside, feeling the fresh air hit your face as the moos is showing brightly at the sky while stars appear.

"so cool..." you mesmerized it for a little bit as armin started another conversation. "so... uhm.." "hm?" you looked over to him as he begins to internally panic. "i'm really... sorry." "for what? you didn't do anything wrong?" "no- about what happened at the prom night-" "armin." "uh y-yes? wait- wasn't my apology too sincere? what do i have to do to make it up to you?"

"i've already told you earlier, it's fine. you don't have to worry about it anymore. plus it's in the past, you can't change it but you can change the future instead, that's what my mom said to me." you say as you stared outside again watching the scenery once again.

"you know, when someone makes mistakes, we can forgive them once, twice, thrice or maybe you can forgive them as many times as you want. having a grudge on someone can make themselves have a disappointing life ahead of them and i don't want that and that i don't care about it anymore."

"s-so that means-" "i forgive you, armin. like a really long time ago." you looked at him as you smiled to reassure him that everything is fine and there are no hard feelings.

"but-" "hey...it's alright."you held his hand as you both stared into each others eyes.

"...t-thank you." he got flustered as he scratched his neck. "for what?" "f-for thinking about my feelings. i thought that you weren't serious about me saying sorry and that i still feel bad about it." you chuckled. "it's fine." 

"uhm- i wanted to ask you something." "what is it?" "w-well, since we're both okay now...." "...hm...?"

"w-what am i to you, y/n?"