Short, fluffy aruhan fics for sightinadifferentlight
(canon verse, at some point in the future, where everyone made it, they\them pronouns for Hanji)
Armin and Hanji walked side by side, each carrying half of the food. Hanji had the blanket, and had draped it over their head to ward off the blistering sun. They both walked in silence, but it was not awkward or tense. It was the kind of comfortable, easy silence between two people who understand the need for silence sometimes, and who are at ease around each other.
The Survey Corps had reached the coast a few days earlier. None of them knew how, but they had done so with minimum casualties. They’d arrived at around midday, and would have thought that they’d reached a desert had it not been for the saltiness and humidity in the air, and the eventual crashing of the waves. For a good hour, the whole group was confused, never having seen, heard or smelt the coast before in their lives. But soon enough, a group of the 104th, Armin included, had chanced upon the beach. The humid air had rung with elated cries and laughter. They had raced each other to the sea, stopping short right where the sea licked the sand. There they teetered, until Jean, ever the embodiment of poise and level-headedness, had pushed Eren into the waves.
After that, everyone had quickly removed their boots and gear and jumped in. The rest of the day was spent splashing around or lying in the sun. In the afternoon, they’d split into groups to look for food. At night, they’d set up a huge bonfire and toasted to their fallen comrades. After that, and for a large chunk of the next day, a sombre mood had descended upon the Survey Corps.
But now, all morbidities were forgotten and done with and everyone was feeling a lot lighter. Amid some stutters, blushing, and encouragements from Levi and Erwin, Hanji had invited Armin out for a picnic. And so, they found themselves walking in the sweltering heat of midday.
After a while, and at an acceptable distance from the rest of the group, they stopped walking. Hanji set down the blanket and Armin set about setting out all the food.
Soon enough, they were eating. Hanji had managed to sneak some of the meat brought by the higher ups, and Armin had gotten Sasha to hand over the extra bread she’d sneaked into her rucksack. All in all, it was a pretty impressive spread of food.
Though they started out at a proper and respectful distance away from each other, they starting inching closer together as time and conversation wore on. They talked about everything: titans, books, their comrades, the sea… Soon enough, the midday sun had lowered itself into mid-afternoon and the two soldiers no longer had to squint so hard. By the time the afternoon wind started to cool the golden sand, Armin and Hanji were lying down, exhausted despite not having actually done anything, with the Armin’s head on the Squad Leader’s stomach. There they remained for some hours still, looking at the clouds and pointing out any interesting shapes among them.
Armin found himself smiling constantly. He’d never known that his superior and him were so alike. Maybe this was because, whenever they’d talked in the past, it had been about pressing matters: titan walls, Eren’s titan shifting, Eren’s rescue mission. The past months had been unbelievably stressful, and Armin was glad and thankful that Hanji was such good company. When they’d first started walking he’d been slightly stiff and apprehensive, but soon after they started talking he’d let his guard down completely, savouring the company of a similar mind to his. When the time came and he found himself lying on Hanji’s stomach, he’d somehow failed to even question it.
They must have dozed off at some point, because the next thing Armin knew, the Sun was almost touching the horizon and the wind had grown considerably colder. This did not discourage Hanji, however, who just draped the blanket over themselves and the blond. They sat there, snuggled close and cozy, until dusk turned the clouds blue and purple and the horizon was a fiery orange. Suddenly, Hanji stood up, pulling Armin up with them. They strode over to the shoreline until both their feet touched the waves lapping up at the sand. The water was cold, and Armin’s toes curled up when the wind blew past them.
But this was soon forgotten, because Hanji took his hand. They interlaced their fingers with his, and he felt his heart flutter, his head grow lighter, and all the blood in his body rush to his face. He couldn’t hold back a smile. They both looked out at the sinking sun, relishing the feeling of the cold water coating their feet, and the warmth of each other’s hands.
(Modern AU, Armin and Hanji are biological research partners working on a tough case together)
Hanji was hunched over their desk. They’d been hunched over their desk for the better part of the day, typing away furiously. They were in the middle of a long investigation into a DNA mutation that had arisen recently, and did not wish to be disturbed. This, however, did not stop Armin, their research partner, from slipping into the room.
“Why is it so dark?” he asked, making Hanji jump. They swivelled to face him, annoyed. He threw open the curtains and slid open the window, ignoring Hanji’s frown. “There, that’s better.” He turned to his research partner and grinned. “Guess what?”
Hanji gave a noncommittal grunt and swivelled back towards their desk, beginning to type again. Armin sighed. He made his way over to the desk and waved two slips of paper in front of his partner. This grabbed their attention, and they looked at Armin, curious. Armin just grinned.
“Come on, just tell me,” Hanji said, rolling their eyes. Armin handed them one of the slips. Their eyes widened in surprise. “A coupon? For a spa?!” Armin nodded. “But I’m so close to finishing I can’t-”
“No! You’re coming with me,” Armin cut Hanji off. “You and I have both been working hard, and yes, we are close to finishing this paper. But if you don’t take a break, you’re gonna burn yourself out. So, tomorrow, we’re having a spa day, and we’re gonna treat ourselves.”
They met at the spa, Hanji wearing their work clothes, clearly intending to go right back to the lab after they were done. Armin shook his head in mock disappointment and led them inside. An impeccably dressed receptionist took their coupons with a smile, typed rapidly, and let them know the massages available. She also handed them a small bundle that included a towel, a cloth hairnet, eye covers, and suspiciously large white underpants. Throughout all of this, her smile never faltered, never twitched. This unsettled Hanji to no end, and they partially moved behind Armin to use him as cover.
“Was she creepy or what?” they whispered to their partner once they were past the reception. Armin gave a noncommittal shrug. Hanji rolled their eyes and followed him to the first room they went in that day. It was dimly lit, fairly humid, and the smell of incense hung heavily in the air. There were two massage tables right in the middle, a stone fountain to the right, a table covered in flowers, incense and pebbles to the right. In the far left and right corners, two room dividers stood parallel. Armin went left, Hanji went right, and they both changed into their spa-issued underwear. They took up their places at the massage tables, and two masseuses appeared. They got to work, Hanji’s masseuse mumbling now and then how your back muscles are so tense, what have you been doing? Hanji relaxed gradually. At one point, while their masseuses were working on their sides, both their arms were outstretched, and their hands grazed. This set Hanji’s heart fluttering, and they felt themselves blushing. Soon enough, however, the lighting, the smell, and the relaxing pressure from the masseuse overcame them and they dozed off.
Armin had to shake them awake, and he led them to the next station: a sweltering, stuffy sauna where they remained longer than either of them could actually stand. They left the sauna panting, red in the face, and gasping for air.
“Let’s not do that ever again,” Hanji gasped, and Armin nodded furiously. They took a few minutes to recover from the experience, and moved on to the last station. A white room, neither too warm nor too cool, with two massage tables covered in saran wrap. They both sighed inwardly in relief. Once they were in position, lying at their tables, two masseuses came in and proceeded to cover them in a brown substance. Hanji’s first thought was that it was mud, but it was smoother and smelled far sweeter. Once they were fully covered, barely able to stifle their giggles, the two masseuses placed a slice of cucumber on their eyes and, for all the researchers knew, left them there to sit for a while.
At first, there was silence.
“Hey, Armin,” Hanji spoke barely above a whisper. She snickered. “What do we do now?”
“I don’t know,” Armin hissed back, starting to laugh as well. “I bet you look hideous right now.” Hanji let out a loud chuckle. “I bet you look like some sort of cucumber-eyed monster!” Armin’s hisses turned into hysterical giggles.
“Shut up, you probably look the same,” Hanji yelled. At this, they let their laughter loose, rising in pitch gradually. Eventually, one of their cucumbers slid off their face and fell to the floor with a wet splat. “Crap!”
“Look what you’ve done,” Armin cried, nearly breathless with laughter. Hanji opened their freed eye and turned their face toward their partner. They saw him, lying still, all but vibrating from their laughter. A wave of warmth washed over their body while they looked at him. They’d never seen Armin so carefree, so relaxed. They’d never had this much fun just laying still. No, they’d never had fun with a day of relaxing. Their definition of fun usually revolved around work, and research.
They sighed a happy sigh and smiled. “Thank you, Armin. I owe you one.”
The higher they went, the quieter the crowd got. Armin and Hanji looked out at the sprawling mass of lights and tents that was the Harvest Festival, savouring the newfound silence and each other’s company. As their Ferris wheel pod reached the summit, Hanji moved closer to Armin and snaked an arm around his back.
Just as they were beginning their descent, the wheel suddenly stopped, jerking all the pods. The previously quiet air grew busy with exclamations and cries of surprise from the rest of the riders. Hanji called out to the operator at the bottom, but he didn’t seem to hear. Armin sighed, resigned.
“Just our luck right, Armin?” Hanji grumbled. It was starting to get chilly and they’d only brought a light sweater, believing that they’d be returning home not long after dark. It had been a very fun day, going from attraction to attraction. Hanji had won a stuffed octopus for Armin at the ball tossing stall, and the stuffed animal now sat between the two.
“Yeah, and just when it was starting to get windy,” Armin said somewhat stiffly. “I hope we don’t start swinging around too much.” He looked at Hanji and laughed. It was a tense laugh, forced through his teeth. He was gripping the armrest to his side tightly with both hands, ignoring the cold wind biting at his fingers.
“Huh? Swing around?” Hanji gave Armin a mischievous grin. “Like this?” They gave their own armrest a firm thrust, causing the pod to sway backwards and Armin gave a stifled cry. He looked at Hanji with pleading eyes, his hands tightening on the armrest. Hanji just giggled and begun to wave their legs like they were on a playground swing. The pod swayed dangerously quickly now and Armin was openly yelling at Hanji to stop. He gripped at their arm, pulling frantically. In the confusion, the octopus was pushed forward and fell into the pod below them. Armin, however, did not notice and instead wrapped his arms around his date and continued to plead with them to stop.
He was vaguely aware of the other couples above and below them reacting. Some laughed, while others called for Hanji to stop. Hanji themselves paid no attention to their audience and continued to laugh boisterously, wrapping an arm around Armin and continuing to swing their pod. Eventually, Armin’s cries died down and turned into giggles as well. He became hyperaware of his arms around them, and their arm around him. He blushed deeply and buried his face into their side.
“What is it, Armin? Scared of heights?” Hanji laughed, a sweet, gentle laugh Armin hadn’t heard before. He blushed deeper still, feeling the affection from that laugh, relishing it. The pod stopped swaying so violently. “I wouldn’t let you fall or anything. You know that, right?” Again, the sweetness, the tender tone.
Armin looked up at Hanji, who was smiling. They leaned down and planted a kiss on his forehead. They stayed there, unmoving, for a few moments, minutes, hours. It may well have been an eternity, for all Armin knew. And yet, all too soon, the pod started moving again and their bubble was popped. Armin felt himself deflate as their pod neared the ground. They exited on shaky legs, and the operator handed them back the stuffed octopus they’d lost with all the swinging.
They did one more short tour of the festival, but the weather proved too cold for their day clothes. They hurried homeward, hugging and holding each other close for warmth and, well, because it felt good to do so
“I’m off to the store,” Hanji called out, grabbing their coat and gloves. It was early in the morning and Armin was probably still in bed. “Need anything?” Hearing Armin’s grunted reply of ‘no’, they moved to open the front door. Or at least tried to. The front door, which opened outwards, would not budge. Dammit, I really needed to buy Armin his Christmas present. Hanji cursed mentally as they took of their outerwear and shoes, and trudged back up the stairs.
Armin was just leaving his room, his hair a ruffled mess. He looked at Hanji questioningly, and she quickly explained that they’d been snowed in. Armin huffed a little in annoyance, but ultimately shrugged his indifference. He didn’t mind at all, since it meant he could spend more time with his roommate who he may or may not have the biggest crush on ever.
He showered while Hanji tried to find something to do. They’d been all ready to go out shopping, and the sudden turn of events was very disappointing. It wasn’t as if there was a whole lot to do at home anyways. They did the dishes, read a bit, dried and put the dishes away, made the beds, and read some more. When Armin came out, with his hair damp and his toes wrinkled up like raisins from the long shower, Hanji was collecting laundry. He stopped them with a gentle nudge on the shoulder.
“Have you had breakfast?” he asked, and they shook their head. “That’s no good, Hanji.” They gave him a half-hearted shrug, but Armin was not about to take that. He led his roommate to the kitchen and sat them down. He busied himself fixing them both up a proper breakfast, with eggs, toast and bacon. He noticed how the dishes were all clean and in the cupboards, a rare occurrence even in that home of fairly well-organised individuals.
Armin and Hanji sat facing each other at their small kitchen table, picking away at their meal. He found it hard to meet their eyes for extended periods, what with his furious blushing and general symptoms of his crush, so he kept his eyes on the food.
“So,” Hanji broke the silence. “What are we gonna do? Should we call for help?” Armin made a vague noise, neither accepting nor declining the suggestion. “What had you planned to do today?”
“I don’t know, rest, or do some homework, probably,” Armin answered through a mouthful of toast. “Yeah, homework’s about right.” The truth was, he had planned to go out and buy a Christmas present for Hanji as soon as they left for the day. He’d forgotten to do so before then, and Christmas was literally right around the corner. He was mentally kicking himself for his short-sightedness, unaware that Hanji was doing the same.
“Well, I can help you if you’d like, so you can finish quickly,” Hanji suggested, her voice carrying a lot more excitement and enthusiasm than homework really should have elicited. But Armin was elated, and so he nodded his agreement.
The homework took less than either one had expected, or planned for. An hour and a bit later, they were back to the slightly awkward silence and the drag of boredom. They tried reading for a while, but Armin couldn’t seem to get past a single page and Hanji seemed to plough through page after page of pure nonsense.
“I’m bored!” Hanji yelled, slamming their book shut.
“Tell me about it,” Armin yelled back. He thought for a moment. “Do you wanna build a pillow fort?”
Hanji peered through the doorway, a smile tugging at the corners of their mouth. And so they built a pillow fort, using all the pillows in the house, although it took a few attempts to get it to stay up. They sat in the fort, giggling like children. After a while, when the excitement died down, they found themselves getting restless again. But Hanji soon grabbed their book and started reading it out loud. They started out fairly level-headed, reading matter-of-factly. Soon, however, they started acting out all the scenes, using Armin as a prop and the fort as their stage.
The morning was spent like this. Armin and Hanji revisited their childhood with pillow forts, stories, role playing games, hide-and-seek… they even made a mess of the kitchen trying to bake some goodies. By the time lunchtime came around, they were exhausted. They had leftover pizza from the night before and returned to their fort, where they collapsed in a giggling heap. With their head on Armin’s lap, Hanji dozed off for a good hour.
Armin looked up from his book. It was quiet. Too quiet. It had been too quiet for a while now. Setting the book down, he got up from his recliner. He made a small tour of the apartment, checking every room. All of his flatmates were out except Hanji, or so he had thought.
He reached the kitchen door and a small sniffle stopped him in his tracks. He peered through the doorway and, sure enough, there was Hanji. They were leaning over the counter, with their back to Armin. To his shock, he saw as Hanji’s back shifted, and they continued to sniffle. Are they crying?
Armin was frozen, shocked, baffled. He’d seen a lot of bizarre things since moving in with his current flatmates, from practicing speeches in front of the bathroom mirror with no lights on to night owl wannabes who perched on top of the refrigerator after midnight, but a crying Hanji? Never.
He stood as if transfixed for a few moments longer, watching as Hanji repeatedly sniffled and rubbed at her face with the back of her hand. Finally, he moved forward up to his flatmate, and placed a hand tentatively on their back.
“Are you alright? Y-you can talk to me if you like,” he offered them a smile once they looked around, eyes puffy and nose runny.
“Oh, Armin,” Hanji rubbed her nose. “It’s alright, I was just-” they motioned to the cutting board behind them -“cutting some onions.” Armin blushed and, flustered, tried to excuse himself, but Hanji just giggled. “Don’t worry about it.” They punched him playfully on the arm. “It was very sweet of you to be so concerned.” With a final smile, they turned back to their cutting and Armin, cheeks still aflame, went back to his reading.
Every Wednesday night, the Gloria Pub saw itself filled nearly to capacity, filled by teachers in their midweek wind-down sessions. Numbers varied, but there was a group of six who showed up every week. It was due to these numbers that the owner gave them a very special deal: every week, the teachers would compete in some form or other, and the winner (or winning team) would receive two free rounds of beer and a serving of hot wings to boot. And so, the Wednesday Quizzes began for the Sina High School teachers.
Each week, a different teacher designed the quiz. Alliances were formed and broken, all in the name of free food. And that week was no different. It was during lunch break that Armin Arlert, who taught literature, was approached by Hanji Zoe, the biology teacher.
“Say, Armin,” Hanji said, sliding into the seat beside Armin. “Are you going to tonight’s quiz?” This was a pointless question: both Armin and Hanji were regulars, having missed only one quiz night each. Armin nodded, aware of his fellow staff member’s motive for approaching him. Hanji continued. “I have it on fairly good authority that tonight’s quiz is a very intellectual kind of quiz. I also have it on excellent authority that your expertise is far broader than just literature.” Hanji flashed him a grin, and Armin gave them a knowing look.
“Frankly, I’m flattered,” he replied, placing a hand on his chest. “So what are you getting at, Zoe? Wanna team up?” Nothing else was needed. They smiled at each other and said their goodbyes when the bell rang. They parted ways with a final conspiratorial glance at each other.
“Ew, are those teachers actually flirting?” one student hissed to her friend as they walked by. They rolled their eyes and giggled. “Who knew it was possible to sustain a love life in this dank hole of a school?”
Afternoon classes came and went. Hanji locked up the biology lab sand made their way to the staff car park. There, a group of teachers was already waiting. Among them were Eren Jaeger, History teacher, and Coaches Mike Zakarius and Reiner Brown, and Principal Erwin Smith, as well as Armin. Once a sizeable group had been formed, the teachers all made their way together to the pub.
Once there, everyone got into their teams and Erwin, that week’s quiz designer and moderator, stood up and called for attention.
“Today’s quiz will be a karaoke competition,” he announced. There were shocked noises and groans, he smiled. “Teams are still allowed, obviously, and there will be three judges to determine the winner. I will buy a round of beer and hot wings for the judges since they won’t be able to win them tonight.”
“I thought this was supposed to be an intellectual quiz?” Armin whispered at Hanji while Erwin picked names out of a hat to decide who the judges would be. They just shrugged. “Crap. I really can’t sing.”
The quiz began, with Petra Ral, school counsellor, Coach Ackerman and the Principal as judges. They scored contestants from 1 to 10, and often added a comment or two. There were some good singers, and some that were not so good. Thankfully the pub was mostly empty, or the general public or, God forbid, students’ parents, might have had to listen to Coach Reiner’s agonising cat noises. He did get an A for effort, though.
Armin and Hanji’s turn came, and they stepped up to the impromptu table stage. Armin was blushing, and Hanji would not admit it but their legs were a little shaky. The song was chosen at random and, as luck would have it, they got the cheesy but charming Can you feel the love tonight.
The music started, and Hanji wondered why they’d agreed to do this. Beer and hot wings weren’t really worth singing in public for. But they looked at Armin, and he gave them a reassuring smile. He didn’t know where the smile came from, but there it was, conveying a self-assuredness he certainly was not feeling.
The instrumental intro felt eternal, and Hanji feared that their voice would not come out when the time came. But it did, and it wasn’t terrible. In fact, they didn’t dislike it as much as they thought they would. Actually, they kind of had a lot of fun. It may or may not have had anything to do with the fact that Armin was their partner, and whenever he looked their way their heart fluttered and they found new strength for singing. The choice of song also helped. A lot. The audience, the pub, they fell away and faded to the background. All that mattered was that Hanji was singing a love ballad with Armin.
By the time they were done, they were both blushing but smiling. They returned to their senses as the teachers around them erupted into applause.
“Good emotion, harmonies could have been better,” Coach Ackerman had to raise her voice over the din of excited teachers chatting. “8 points and A for effort.”
“I’ll give you 8 points as well, surprisingly good!” Petra said, giving them a bright smile and a thumbs up.
“And I give you 9 points, your performance was very moving,” Erwin added. “Well, I hope you enjoy your rounds of beer and hot wings, because you deserve them. Blew away the competition by a long shot.”
Amid the encouragements and congratulations from their fellow teachers, Hanji and Armin made their way to the bar and took their seats. As they chatted and laughed, Hanji thought that perhaps it was possible to sustain a love life in that ‘dank hole’, as a student had once put it.
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