“I can’t wait to wipe out all the titans!” Eren said as he sat down on his bed after a hard day of training.
“Yeah, we know” Reiner said, and Armin felt like the guy was trying not to roll his eyes “So, what happens after you’ve wiped them out?”
Eren paused, exchanging glances with Armin. Should they tell Reiner? Armin didn’t take him for the kind of guy who’d rat them out for talking about the outside world, but he might very well laugh about what he heard, and that was something Armin wasn’t too keen on listening about. Maybe they shouldn’t say anything, at least in detail.
“You guys are hiding something, no question about that” Reiner grinned, a dangerous glint in his eyes “Spill it. Now.”
“No harm in telling him, right Armin?” Eren was the one to decide “This is Reiner we’re talking about.”
Well, Armin supposed it’d be okay. Bertolt was there too, sitting quietly next to Reiner, but he was definitely not the type to boldly laugh at others. In fact, he might even scold Reiner if he laughed.
“I guess so” the small blond finally said, confessing: “Eren and I want to go and see the world outside the walls.”
“So, you guys want to go sightseeing, eh?” Reiner asks “Anything in particular?”
Armin hesitates, and because of that Bertolt manages to cut in: “Should we really be having this conversation? Talking about the outside world is- “
“Live a little, Bert!” Reiner cuts his timid friend off “No one’s paying attention to what we’re saying, and even if they did and tattled on us, we wouldn’t get in that big trouble for just talking.”
Reiner was right, Armin knew. When he was a child, he often got bullied for speaking of the outside world, but there was never any legal trouble for him, not even when the soldiers heard.
“Then again, the soldiers were usually drunk” he reminded himself.
“…I suppose so” Bertolt said, glancing around nervously, but no longer protesting.
“When we were kids, Armin told me about something called the ocean” Eren answered Reiner’s earlier question, nudging Armin with his elbow “Right?”
“Ye-yeah” Armin said “I definitely want to see the ocean. According to my book, there are also icy plains, seemingly endless fields of sand- “
“Wouldn’t a book like that be illegal?” Reiner suddenly cut him off, his face serious. Armin froze, looking at Reiner with wide eyes. After a few seconds of silence, Reiner chuckled “I’m just messing with you; I won’t tell. Go on.”
“You know Reiner, sometimes you can be such an ass” Eren said with a laugh, also having fallen for the guy’s act for a second.
“Umm… so what is this “ocean” you speak of?” Bertolt asked. Reiner gave him a weird look, Armin noted, and the pointed look the tallest boy gave him back was equally odd and out of place. Sometimes Armin couldn’t help but think that these two had something that only they understood between them. He was curious to know if there really was something, but it wasn’t really any of his business, so he never asked.
“It’s this huge amount of water that most of the world is covered in” Armin told, trying hard not to let his voice rise in excitement, talking about the ocean often doing that to him “Salt water!”
“Salt water, you say?” Reiner said “That’s… not something I’ve heard of before.”
“Most people haven’t” Eren pointed out “I wouldn’t know either had Armin not told me about it.”
“Then… seeing the ocean is what you guys want to do? After defeating the titans” Bertolt asked “Like a life goal?”
“Yes!” Armin confirmed with a firm nod “Well, not just the ocean, many other things too, but the ocean is what I want to see the most!”
“Sounds interesting. Maybe we should tag along, eh Bert?”
“What about you guys?” Eren asks them “Anything you two really want?”
“I’ll go home, no matter what” Reiner replied “Not that I’m sure what comes after that… but one thing at a time. Right Bert?”
“That’s right” Bertolt agreed “That takes priority, and after that- “
Bertolt went silent suddenly, and Armin found himself curious to know what the guy had been about to say. Judging from the looks on their faces, Eren and Reiner were curious as well.
“…And after that?” Reiner pressed when his friend didn’t continue.
“N-nothing” Bertolt stammered, blushing. Armin raised an eyebrow at that. Looking at Reiner, he realized that the taller blond noticed too and that he seemed to know something that Armin didn’t.
“Maybe you have some dreams in the long run that you want fulfilled?” Reiner suggested, grinning “Maybe those dreams include a certain someone?”
Armin caught on. It was not rare to catch Bertolt stealing glances at Annie; she must be the one Reiner meant.
“Somehow… I don’t feel too happy about that” he realized with a frown.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about!” Bertolt denied, his face red. Reiner and Armin laughed, Armin even more so when he noticed that Eren hadn’t caught on. Well, he was dense when it came to these things.
“Maybe, by the time we see the ocean, we too have some other people by our sides that we want to share the sight with.”
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