We have each other

Part 5

Eren grinned at Armin as the bell rang. He took a hold of his hand and led him through the halls and out the front of the building. Armin looked around nervously for any teachers that might notice what they were doing. They didn't.

They hurried down the street, waiting until they were a safe distance from the school before slowing down to a normal pace. "So what are we going to do then?" Armin asked, Eren had suggested they skip but hadn't actually mentioned why. "I don't know." Eren shrugged "I figured you could show me around town. I realized this morning I don't even know my own neighborhood yet." Armin shook his head "If we go walking around town people might get suspicious, I don't want my grandfather to find out." Eren nodded "Yeah, maybe that isn't a good idea. I'm already in trouble with my Dad." 

Eren looked down at the footpath, he hadn't thought much past actually leaving the school. "Hm, where could we go that no one would notice us?" He really didn't know this place well enough for this. "Well," Armin looked around "We are right on the edge of town, I know somewhere just out of town we could go." That piqued Eren's interest, he hadn't spent much time out in the country, aside from driving. "That sounds cool." 

Armin led him through a few streets, past a large "Welcome to Shinganshia" sign Eren recognized from when he arrived there a week earlier and then along a country road. The road ran across a particularly flat stretch of land with huge open paddocks either side. The hills that separated Armin's house from the rest of town sat to the far right. 

"Stay close to the fence and don't go near the road." Armin instructed, moving to walk close to the wire fencing. "Why?" Eren asked but did as he said and moved to walk beside him. "My mother used to say that when she would take me walking here." He replied, looking out across the paddocks. Eren looked at him for a moment. He wondered if Armin was taking him somewhere that held some kind of special meaning or memories to him.  

They followed the road for about ten or so minutes, neither said much until Armin pointed across a paddock at the hills. "We cut across here, I don't know how whoever owns this place will feel about it so we need to be quick." He took off his blanket and dropped it over the wire fence. He wasn't sure whether it would be electric or not but he figured it was better not to test. 

"Don't touch the wire." He stated, pressing the bottom wire to the ground with his boot, leaving enough room between it and the next for Eren to crawl through. Eren nodded and crouched down before carefully climbing through. He stood and replaced Armin's boot with his sneaker so he could do the same.

Once they were both safely on the other side, Armin grabbed his blanket and took off running across the shin-high grass. Eren took off after him a moment later, easily catching up. They raced across three paddocks before they were standing at the foot of the hills. Armin was visibly puffed, he cheeks were red and he was wheezing slightly but there was a smile on his face. Eren smiled as well, unlike Armin, he looked like he could easily do it again. 

"Come on." Armin said after taking a moment to catch his breath. "It's just up here." Eren nodded and they set off down an overgrown path along the base of the hills. "You know, I used to get really nervous about that part." Armin said vaguely gesturing at the paddocks "But it was kinda fun this time." an expression Eren couldn't quite pinpoint flashed across his face. "I guess I didn't have anyone constantly telling me how careful I have to be this time." He stared at the ground just ahead of his feet. 

"Well," Eren said "I think I knew you'd be capable enough." Armin blinked and looked over at him for a moment, His last sentence played a few times in his head. "So where are we going exactly?" Eren asked. "There," Armin pointed ahead of them to where the land and hills became covered in forest. 

"Oh," Eren said, sounding almost disappointed. He remembered looking out his window on the way to Shinganshia and thinking how boring the forest was. It just a bunch of trees. Armin didn't miss his tone of voice and suddenly became anxious. "Do you, um, not want to go?" Eren shrugged, he didn't want to make him feel bad so he lied. "Oh no, I do. I just wasn't expecting it." Armin wasn't fully convinced but pushed it aside. 

Eren noticed Armin's expression change as they walked through the trees. His eyes began to shine again like they had at the beach. He felt his heart speed up just looking at him. "Oh my gosh! Eren look!" He whispered enthusiastically and pointed up at the branches of a nearby tree. Eren looked where he was pointing, it took a few moments before he noticed a birds nest high up in the tree. He couldn't believe Armin had even noticed it, it was so small and so high up. Armin grinned wide staring up at it. "I wonder what kind of bird it is." he said quietly, leaning towards Eren. "Isn't it cool?" Armin smiled up at it. "Definitely," Eren said staring at Armin.

They continued on, Armin telling Eren about the time he and his grandfather had nursed a baby bird back to health. "I think birds are really amazing." Armin said "Imagine having the freedom to go wherever you wanted whenever you wanted. you could literally be like "I'm going to England now" and then just up and leave." Eren smiled and raised an eyebrow at him "Why England?" Armin shrugged "It just popped into my head." 

A few moments passed before Eren spoke again "Why do you want to fly away?" he asked. Armin pursed his lips "I don't know, I just," He looked up at the trees "I love it here most of the time but I already know Shinganshia so well, I want to go somewhere new. I wanna see the world and how amazing and different it all is." Eren felt something in himself shift. Armin seemed to find the world so beautiful and enticing, he wanted to see the world like that.  

Eventually, Armin led him up the side of the hill, stopping every now and then to point things out. They had been walking for around forty minutes when Eren's legs started to ache. "We're here!" Armin exclaimed racing forward, Eren wondered how he could have been that flustered after running across those paddocks but somehow still have energy after a hike like that. He trailed behind him and they came out in a small clearing sitting on a slight outcrop. They were a lot higher than Eren had thought. When he looked out between the trees, he could see Shinganshia sitting in the distance. It really was a tiny town.

Eren looked around the clearing, it was only a few meters across in a slightly oval shape. There was a small pond sitting in the middle and there were flowers growing all through the grass. It wasn't particularly impressive but Eren thought the view made it a little more worth the hike.

 Armin sat next to the pond, staring into it with a grin. Eren went and crouched beside him and looked into the water. "Are those mosquito babys?" Armin nodded "Wrigglers." he smiled. Eren nodded and sat back, he pulled his bag off and rummaged through it for his lunch. Armin did the same, both boys were quite hungry after the amount of exercise they had just done. They sat and ate quietly for a little while, Then when they'd finished Armin got Eren to move an old decaying log on the edge of the trees so he could tell him all about the bugs that scuttled out from under it. Eren listened intently even though he still thought they were pretty gross. 

After a while they found themselves lying side by side by the pond.  "You know," Armin said quietly "I usually get really nervous doing anything like this. I was when we first left school but since then, I feel fine. I've had a lot of fun actually." Eren smiled wide at him "I'm glad." he said "I'm glad to have an actual friend as well. It's nice to not be on my own all the time." Armin glanced at him "What about you're Dad?" Eren made a face "He's always at work and when he's not he's angry with me for something." Armin looked back up at the clouds "Oh." Eren shrugged "But I really like being around you, you make everything so interesting and cool." 

Armin went a little pink, he wasn't used to any kind of praise outside of his grandfather. "I like being around you too." Eren smiled and reached out and took ahold of Armin's hand. "That's good."