THE OTHER SIDE. aa

sechs­und­zwanzig.

     THE NIGHT CAME and it was time to leave the walls. after making sure that armin's grandfather was sleeping soundly, he left his home and made his way to the the siblings' house where eren and mikasa would be waiting for him. the streets were dark and empty, a perfect combination for them to sneak out tonight. armin swam through the empty streets, looking around to make sure no one was watching him before finally arriving at their house.

     he waited patiently when no one was outside, leaning against the house's wall from behind. soon enough, he heard a creek of a door and armin moved to check out who it was. he smiled in relief upon seeing his two friends, escaping their house quietly and sneakily. they gave armin a thumbs up and the three of them headed to the gate.

     the gateway was dark and quiet, no merfolk in sight. armin looked around, sharpening his eyes and listening in really well to make sure no one was seeing them leave before giving the two a go signal.

     thus, the two went outside and armin followed soon after.

     they got to the surface after checking that no one was there or in the distance before climbing their way up to the shore. armin told the two that they had to wait for y/n first as the female had some important matters to attend to before she often visits the beach and well, eren wasn't on board with waiting. 

     however, armin 'kindly' told him to leave if he didn't want to wait and that somehow made the brown-haired boy shut up and wait. 

     considering that it was the siblings' second time in visiting the other side and they now had the time to glance at the human world, they were mostly gaping and gawking at the beautiful scenery. they'd often ask armin some questions about things they don't know of, which the blond answered with patience and a bit of pride for knowing it.

     after some time, the three laid on the sand to stargaze. the stars were the most wonderful thing that the two encountered and armin would tell them some constellations he learned from y/n. his time with his two friends out of their kingdom was something he'd cherish from now on. after years of fantasizing this moment and imagining things from a book he read, it was now happening and he couldn't be more happy to spend it with the mermaids he care for.

     the blond turned to his side and glanced at eren, who was too busy admiring the stars and how it twinkles every so often. "eren?" 

     the said friend only hummed as answer, never taking his eyes off of the sky.

     "what sort of questions are you going to ask y/n?"

     there was a silence that passed between them, making armin worry and overthink what the brown-haired would be asking later on. eren looked at armin with seriousness swimming in his emerald eyes, he was about to say his answer, when they heard a pair of footsteps approaching them.

     "armin!" y/n's soft voice calling out to the blond caused his heart to skip a beat. he whipped his head and smiled, waving at the h/c-haired who now glanced at the two figures sitting beside him. "oh! eren, mikasa. you guys are here too!" she exclaimed, really not expecting to see his two friends so soon.

     eren grinned and gestured the human to sit down which she followed so with a bit of confusion. to y/n, it was like meeting armin's 'parents' all over again. she was sitting beside armin and the two were positioned across them. eren and mikasa was glancing at her with unreadable eyes and y/n couldn't help but feel nervous and a bit scared under their gaze. eren seems harmless but mikasa... her eyes were cold, she knew that when she first met her, but it was more scary and intimidating now. it was as if she was glaring right through her soul because of the sins she committed and it was not a nice feeling.