I don't think anything relaxes Eren more than watching Armin read. It was the only thing that could get him to sit still when they were little kids, watching Armin sound out the words to a chapter book way outside their age range. And without pictures!
In middle school and high school, Eren would get lost in the rhythm of Armin flipping the pages of encyclopedias and the methodical scratching of his pencil. They spent hours in the library going over notes at least three times because the first time Eren legitimately didn't get it and the second time he was too busy blissfully zoning out to Armin's melodious voice.
When they moved in together, their house practically became a library with how many bookshelves they were. And now Eren had dozens of opportunities to watch Armin read. At the kitchen table over breakfast. On the porch while the birds chirped. On the couch with Armin resting his head on Eren's lap or stretched out across it like a lanky cat.
But the best was when they were in bed together, side by side with Armin cuddled up against his chest, bright ocean-blue eyes leisurely scanning the pages, honey-sweet voice sharing some juicy plot details with Eren. Sometimes Eren would pick up his own book (yes, he liked reading too even if he could never be as much of a bookworm as Armin) and they would read together in companionable silence, broken intermittently by the desire to share or know what was happening in the other's tale. Until their eyelids droop and they slowly drift off in each other's arms.
because i'm feeling a little too fruity after drawing my boys... most of this is based off of my modern! portrayal of eren.
as kids, they're inseparable. just like eren and mikasa, eren and armin are a whole other set, glued to the hip. somehow, armin inspires eren's interest in books. he enjoys fiction. eren's a big dreamer, with a huge imagination, always boasting about slaying a dragon, or destroying the villain. meanwhile armin's head is drowned in the world of facts, discovering more and more about the world around him, learning things one wouldn't normally be too keen to know around his age.
at the end of the day, if they're ever together, little eren swings right into armin's room, or vice versa. the two crawl under their little fort that they spent an entire day building with the help of zeke, eren's lego man torch glowing to assist illuminating the words on their pages. they exchange ideas. what they've read. armin shows eren the variety of photographs in a picture book, all the landscapes of different locations around the world. in specific, the ocean. meanwhile eren, he's telling him all about the gorey details of how the knight gutted the evil king, or the nasty dragon, going on and on about the sword gliding inches deep into it's thick neck and drowning the hero in it's gooey blood. armin is most definitely grossed out, but he somewhat enjoys the twinkling sparkle of ambition and fascination in eren's evergreen eyes.
i had this little hc where eren drags armin to a pond in attempt to recreate the ocean. hiding away his sight with his hands as a surprise. "don't look yet!" eren just shouts out behind him, armin probably tells him off for yelling in his ears and when they get there, eren has this huge smile plastered to his face, all of pride at his little surprise.
"eren, what is this?"
"a small ocean!" he'll chirp ecstatically, and bring out this little paper boat they made one night and place it on top of the water's surface, in hopes that it floats.
in highschool, eren spends most of his time basking in armin's sweet company. his ambitions reach out even in his teenage years, though he takes it out on sports, i'd say either football or basketball. he'd encourage armin to join in with him, praising him and applauding him for his attempts, but doesn't push too hard if it doesn't stick with the blonde.
eren struggles an awful lot with his academics. he's good at history, he enjoys learning about previous wars and political conflicts. i feel as though armin may enjoy the political aspect as well. math is alright as well, zeke helps him a lot. as for english, that's where eren blanks. he doesn't understand the need to over-analyse poems, books, discuss and pick out themes resonating in characters. it's too much work for him, too much thinking. that's where eremin comes in, the two staying behind at school while armin continues to explain the themes in their study book and how to nail essays properly.
i reckon the library would be armin's comfort spot where eren would occasionally pop in to find him after having searched the entire school for the first few times. they're just crouched down, eren laying his head on armin's shoulder and resting after a tiring day whilst armin buries his head in the books or his homework.
eren always sleeps. for some reason, anywhere he goes, he has a habit of falling asleep. in the most weirdest places too. whether it may be on the bus, waiting at a bus-stop, on his desk, during recess or lunch time, standing against the wall, he might just snooze off. i have no explanation for this, but it just happens and he favors using armin as his pillow.
the two have always had baths together as children. after a day's adventure bathing in mud and rain outside, mama carla will dump eren and armin into a bubbly bath and the two will just play around together with the soap and the toys. eren has this G.I. JOE ( i think that's what they're called ) doll that he uses all the damn time, and he makes little shooting noises at the toy boat that armin has. it's catastrophic. but as they're older now, their baths get quieter. they're grown boys and they have to wear boxers now and hide their bare chests with the bubbles and the soap, along with their flustered faces.
i think eren might confide in armin, especially regarding his sexuality. he may come out when he's in his teen years. he's awful at directly flirting with armin ( his flirting skills haven't developed yet... ) so he merely hints at liking him. "armin, i think i might like someone."
"really? who is it?"
"a boy, actually. is that normal?"
( i can't muse armin for shit, idk why my brain just dies thinking of responses from armin, such an intellectual )
i don't think their romantic connection would be accomplished in their teen days. eren gets a little too shy to admit his feelings, and well...perhaps armin never finds out. the two are pulled into the chaos of college / university.
i hc that eren grows an obsession with homicide investigation, studying criminal justice as a way to cope with his parents' murder ( refer back to my portrayal of the jaeger family ) and gets too tangled up in his obsession to solve it and find the perpetrators to reignite the connection between him and armin.
along with the overwhelming stress of figuring it out, eren dives into a messy lifestyle. staying at home, skipping classes, lacking in socialising with his friends, diving into brief sexual encounters to pass the time. it's where his decline starts.
this was lengthy, so i'll post a part two when i've explained my portrayal for eren, that way it makes more sense.
yknow how when eren was training his titan abilities and armin was the most supportive babe around? au where eren is a good friend & gives armin the same treatment after he becomes the colossal
○Eren loves it when Armin sits on his lap, he’d play with his hair and gives him gentle neck kisses while telling him how much he treasures him
○after Armin almost died Eren would most definitely hold onto him more, he’d hold his hand whenever they walked anywhere and hug him whenever he could. Sometimes he’d make sure Levi saw just to show him how much he loves Armin and that he made the right choice saving him
○growing up they used to give each other little childish kisses and hold hands and fall asleep leaning on each other and thought it normal till they got to the training camp and everyone (Jean) told them otherwise
○they hold hands or pinkies under the table when they eat dinner with everyone
○if one of them couldn’t sleep they’d both go outside to stargaze and talk about nothing till they felt sleepy (one time Levi found them sleeping outside and kicked them to wake them up, Armin cried after he left and Eren had to calm him down while saying he would kick Levi back for making Armin cry. Armin knew he never could or would but he appreciated the sentiment)
○Eren has a lot of nightmares/night terrors and Armin is a light sleeper, so when he wakes up to Eren having a nightmare, he climbs into Eren’s bunk to calm him down so that Eren can sleep even if it keeps Armin up at night
○Eren absolutely loves Armin’s laugh, it’s like this little snicker that he tries to hold in as much as possible but when he finally lets go and does laugh without a care in the world, Eren thinks it’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever heard
○before a mission Eren would make sure that he has as much time with Armin and tells him that he loves him ‘just in case’
○Eren would try as much as possible to train with Armin because he knows how much force Armin can take and would help him to improve as much as possible. They’d even do some extra training when everyone else was asleep if Armin really wanted
On the topic of eremin what's like uh yo favorite headcannon for the ship dude?
that’s a great question anon! this is one of the many headcanons that i’ve came up with, but this one is probably my favourite one. it does take place when they’re kids, around the ages 9-12, before they joined the cadet corps. i hope you enjoy!
i like to think that eremin had sleepovers when they were kids. and they’d always have play dates or they’d go out exploring together and eren would say “hey! you should sleep over mine tonight!” and for the remainder of the time they have outside they’d come up with a list of reasons as to why armin should sleep over. and carla always says yes and they don’t even need the reasons but carla always finds it amusing.
and around six o’clock when it’s time for armin to go home, they’d sit carla down and would beg carla to let armin stay.
“reasons why armin should stay; number one, we’re both very tired, too tired for armin to go home!”
“mrs. carla please, going home would make me feel so lonely, i love staying here!”
“we’ll be quiet! we’ll be in bed by 9:00!”
and they promise to be asleep by 9:00 but there they are, playing tag in the kitchen at 10:30 because they have too much energy and couldn’t possibly sleep. and carla finishes up washing dishes from dinner while they laugh and scream and run under the table, racing and thundering up the stairs. grisha always comes home late, around 11:00, say 11:30, and eren and armin are always up late. and grisha always says “i assume that armin is staying the night?”
and when they come home from playing outside all day, they’re always covered in dirt so carla has to run them a bath and they sit in the crate together and play in the bubbles and splash and get water everywhere. and they’ve just gotten used to taking baths together because they started doing it at such a young age, and they’ll still do it in the cadet corps/survey corps.
jean: where are you two going?
armin: for a bath :)
jean: what- like- together?
eren: yeah? what’s wrong with that?
sasha: it’s just that people don’t randomly take baths together
eren: we’ve been doing it since we were like nine
everyone:
eren: is- is that normal?
but as they got older, bath time became more quieter. less energetic, and more mature and relaxing. they’d sit opposite each other and lay their arms on the side of the tub and interlock fingers, tell each other how lucky they are that they’re both still alive.
eren would of course dry armin’s hair. he’d ruffle it up with a towel and rub aggressively but gentle at the same time.
they often reminisce back to when they were kids, and bring up the memories.
“eren, remember when we went out and i fell in the brook a few years ago?”
“remember those rolls you and my mother would bake?”
“remember that time that we went to the library? we should go again some time!”
so overall, their relationship started when they were kids, thank you goodbye. and they never like, officially started dating, i think they just mutually decided that they were boyfriends and went from there. i hope you enjoyed this anon :)
Eren convinced Carla and Grisha to buy a bunk bed for when Armin stays the night
This proved to be pointless since the boys would fall asleep on the bottom bunk together with tangled limbs
When it was hot out they’d wake up with bruises because they’d move around so much and accidentally hit each other
Armin had a Wii when he was younger
one of his favorite games was the hula hooping on Wii Fit
Eren would watch him and laugh
It would make Armin laugh too and he’d end up getting less than 5 spins because of it
For Armin’s birthday he bought him Smash Bros and it was probably the closest thing to a “violent game” that Armin owned for years
Their middle school graduation was so cute
Eren lost his mind when Armin was called on stage to get his certificate
Armin had the biggest smile on his face when Eren received his
“All of our studying paid off.”
High school was rough but that’s okay, they were there for eachother
Eren constantly worried and he coddled Armin Armin was definitely on the path to be Valedictorian for their graduating class
However he held himself to a very high standard and would often stay up super late studying
He'd make himself sick
A lot of the time it was at Eren’s house, because Eren would be up late on his Playstation or PC
His noise would stop Armin from falling asleep
It’s the Friday before finals and Eren and Armin are hanging out downstairs. Eren realizes something is wrong with Armin after the boy makes a noise that sounds utterly pained.
“Damn it!” Eren shrieked his voice sounding like it went through puberty within two seconds. Armin jumped hard, accidentally spilling his pencil pouch off of the bed. The clattering couldn’t be heard over the thudding and clacking of Eren’s desk and keyboard. “Christ, can’t do shit that actually matters! Useless..” Armin’s mind dwelled on the words that were clearly aimed towards Eren's online friends. His mind took those words and ran with them and before long an agonized hiccup was slipping past his lips. “Armin?” Eren takes his headset completely off and looks over at the boy on the bed. Armin’s face is red and there’s tears streaming from his eyes. “Hey..” Eren got up from his chair and stepped over to the bed. He grabbed the textbook from the blonde’s hands and set it on the ground. Armin immediately laid on Eren’s lap. “I keep overthinking everything and I’ve studied all of my material more than two times this week.” Eren winced, ‘that makes one of us’. Contrary to his previous fit, Eren’s hands were gentle as they ran through Armin’s hair, he was trying to get the boy to sleep. “Armin, bud you gotta stop worrying about the stuff you already know. You’ve aced every final so far. These are no different. You’re going to make yourself sick, take a break.” Armin hummed, already half asleep with his face buried into Eren’s abdomen. Eren shook his head, the faintest blush on his face.
Armin is constantly saving Eren from getting in trouble
He has such a way with words that it borders concerning
Eren calls Armin his lucky charm because of his ability to get Eren out of the most complicated situations
The end of senior year Eren made it a big deal to ask Armin to prom
Their suits were definitely red and blue and Eren wouldn’t shut up about how they were like players 1 and 2
The end of Senior year prom night was their first kiss and when they started dating.
They definitely went out and got fast food and crashed with Mikasa on the couch in the basement with some stupid movie playing on the TV
I have so many more headcanons for this pair. They've been a comfort of mine for so long.
Eren is 100% That Boyfriend who, whenever Armin expresses his love for something mundane like food or constellations (e.g. "God, I love it when you manage to drive all the way to your destination without having to stop.") is lightning quick to respond with: "God, I love you."
Why is there such a lack of respect in the eremin fandom? Just fandoms in general?
I have to mention this because it’s becoming an issue apparently.
Our ship is not a harmful ship. We usually don’t like abusive or hurtful tropes. With that said, there are too many authoritarians in this damn fandom.
Headcanons and interpretations are harmless.
Headcanons and interpretations are harmless.
Headcanons and interpretations are harmless.
Headcanons with Armin/Eren being trans.
Headcanons with Eren being a POC. (the backlash over this was so disgusting)
Headcanons about Eren/Armin sexuality or lack thereof.
Headcanons about genderswapping.
Headcanons about feminity and masculinity.
Headcanons of mental illness, disabilities, etc.
Headcanons about the styles of dress. Etc.
These are headcanons that people use to feel included.
People don’t realize that people are headcanoning these to see themselves in the character. A lack of representation in official media is the REASON that shippers want to express themselves through fanworks. ERASURE of disenfranchised groups in media is real. And who is anyone to tell someone because it’s “not canonical/doesn’t fit into canon” that they shouldn’t write it?
It looks really bad when you are making a big deal over someone’s underrepresented headcanon? Are you trying to tell us something? Like that you’re racist, prejudice, transphobic, ableist, or sexist? No? If not, then mind your business.
Did you die and become Isayama in the last 5 years?
Didn’t think so.
This is what SHOULDN’T be policed in a fandom.
Respect other people’s form of expression in this aspect when it comes to shipping. It makes the difference in how people feel included and accepted in a fandom. Thanks.
