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A Break	By : MinamiHakari Category: +. to F > Attack on Titan /Shingeki No Kyojin Views: 3268 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Attack on Titan and I do not profit or make money from this fanfic. That being said, this is in Mature for a reason and is an m/m pairing.

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Titans didn't take breaks and neither did they. While training in the winter, a particularly bad storm traps Eren and Armin out in the wilderness. They are forced to camp for the night. Rating is for swearing and content of later chapters. Please note in advance that while there are no spoilers in the first chapter, following chapters may follow the storyline of the manga/anime and may contain spoilers depending on where I wish to take this story.
I write but this is my first fic for AoT/SnK and first fic posted for the public to read. Thought I'd give this a try while I wait for new AoT manga/my much anticipated Destiny beta. Hope you like it and thanks in advance for reading and reviewing!
Disclaimer: Unfortunately I do not own Attack on Titan. If I did all the obvious sexual tension between the boys of AoT would be resolved. That being said, this is in Mature for a reason and is an m/m pairing so if that's not your cup of tea, go drink coffee. For the rest of you enjoy. I like my tea strong. ^_~
A Break: Blizzard
“Fucking Shadis,” Eren curses as his foot sinks into yet another snow mound. The commandant had insisted that titans didn't take breaks from hunting them so they didn't get snow days from training. He guessed if he was ever being chased by a titan in a blizzard he'd thank the bastard for this training but until then... “Fuck Shadis. Fuck this training. Fuck...”
“Eren, we should find some shelter. It's really starting to come down,” the boy beside him interrupts his rant.
Eren looks over to his right, where tips of blond bangs peaked out from under a hood as well as wary blue eyes. Armin was no longer of weak constitution like when they had started training camp but Eren could definitely tell that their grueling pace was still giving the boy trouble. But there was no way in hell he was letting Jean beat him in this challenge to brave the wilderness to find and bring back a rare winter flora near the peak of the mountain they were on. To tell the truth if he had wanted to win that badly it would have been more beneficial to partner with someone else but as soon as Jean had asked Armin to be his partner he had butted in that they were already partnered. What godforsaken reason did Jean have to wanna be Armin’s partner? He didn't know but it had pissed him off and his gut had twisted in a fit of unknown feelings at the proposition. Eren faces forward again as Armin continues.
“There’s some shelter over there that we can use until the worst passes… Or for the night,” the blond suggests, really hoping Eren would heed his words. Trainees had died in training missions before and he really didn’t want to freeze to death, though he guessed there were worst ways to die.
“Suck it up, Armin. You’re slowing me down,” Eren responds and picks up the pace, ignoring the thoughts of what spending a night huddled alone with Armin would yield. Absolutely nothing. What was he thinking? He trips in his haste and inattention and lands face first in the snow. Sputtering some more curses, he scrambles to his feet and ignores Armin’s inquiries as to if he was all right. “Fucking dandy,” he answers without a glance back and continues forward.
Armin hustles to catch up and takes one last glance at the shelter fading into the distance. Why was Eren so stubborn? This was a new drill and new territory as far as trainees were concerned. Did he really think it was wise to venture on without taking those facts into consideration? Who knew when they’d find shelter again…?
***
It was getting dark now. It was probably 6 or 7—though he couldn’t tell with the thick grey clouds above them and the heavily falling snow. They had been out since a little after dawn and he was exhausted. However, he hadn’t seen another cave that could pass for shelter since the one they passed around 2 hours ago, though they had probably passed many but couldn’t see them in the low visibility of the snow battering them. He was starting to worry.
“Eren, maybe we should go back to the cave we saw,” Armin tries as he looks down at his compass.
“We are not back tracking,” Eren snaps immediately. Though he stops and turns to face the blond for what seemed like the first time in hours. He had been silent which had left Eren to his thoughts and he would have been surprised the boy was still back there if it weren’t for the shuffling footsteps and labored breaths his ears had been graced with hearing the whole time. What he was surprised to find was a paler than usual face worriedly looking at their environment and not at him. He softens his tone as he strides back the couple paces between them. “I mean, I’m sure there will be some place up ahead where we can rest soon.” With that Eren turns away from Armin and resumes trudging through the snow. But after what felt like another hour, he knew his previous statement had been wrong. Shit. What had he gotten them into?
“Eren…” Armin tries.
“Armin,” the brunette cuts off. It annoyed him to admit that he was wrong but if Armin pointed it out too, he didn’t think he’d be able to take it. “We are not turning back,” Eren whips around and his chest collides into the blond’s head when he goes to walk back again. He has to steady Armin from falling backwards at the force of the collision and holds the boy’s shoulders in his gloved hands. He hadn’t realized the boy had been following so close behind him but at the feel of the heat radiating through his gloves, he realizes it wasn’t for any other purpose his mind had conjured than for survival. A scowl pulls at his lips. Not only was it frustrating to admit that he was wrong about stopping or turning back, but the feelings he’d been noticing lately were grating on his nerves. Feelings that were obviously not returned. Sure they were best friends but just holding Armin the way he was ignited a churning ball of fire in his belly but the boy before him was frozen in what looked like fear and had nothing to do with the freezing chill of the air. His words always had a bite to them whenever they spoke on things they didn’t agree on but he thought Armin was used to that by now. After all these years the blond should know that was just how he was. So it wasn't his words that caused the tense shoulders either. He releases Armin from his grasp and steps back to look at the boy. The downturned face stayed that way as he spoke.
“I know,” he whispers. “I was just going to suggest we build an igloo,” Armin continues.
“A what?” Eren questions. Had the cold frozen Armin’s brain?
Armin looks up at Eren. Had the storm killed off the rest of Eren’s brain cells? Or maybe his ears were frozen. He was certain he had said the word clearly enough. At the look he’s receiving he averts his eyes again and figures the brunette must have just forgotten. “An igloo,” he reiterates. “Remember. From the books of the outside world. There used to be people called Inuits, I think, who built structures called igloos for shelter when hunting on the lands of ice I told you about,” Armin reminds. He averts his gaze further, to stare at twiddling thumbs. “It would take a couple hours to build given our inexperience but I think we could do it.” Actually it could take closer to three or four hours but with Eren's strength and determination along with his direction he thought maybe they could get the task done quicker. “I mean it beats walking to find shelter that may not be there, right?” Armin didn't know if he was trying to convince Eren or himself. But Eren nodded his head quickly in agreement.
Eren puts his hands on his hips. “So where do we start?” Sure Armin wasn't built for this type of training but he would always trust the blond's judgment and he wouldn't let his stubborn pride get in the way again. Because of it they were both stranded in the middle of nowhere with torrents of snow billowing around them and would die soon of exposure if they didn't get shelter.
***
After about what had seemed like an hour it was completely dark and they had shaped thick blocks of densely packed snow with their knives and swords and stacked them on tiered levels until finally there was only a hole in the top of their dome left. Armin stayed inside the small structure while Eren took the last piece of the puzzle and squeezed the slightly too big cube into the space—the blond steadying it from beneath. A whistle signaled Eren to stop pushing and Eren waited for Armin to join him outside.
“Tell me now how snow is supposed to keep us warm,” Eren asks finally, unable to keep his curiosity at bay any longer since they seemed to be done.
“Well once we pack the cracks with snow, smooth the inside with our hands and dig out the inside and entrance to make a tunnel, the snow insulates the inside and traps our heat while the tunneled entrance blocks the wind,” Armin tries to summarize the best he can.
“You mean we're not done,” Eren slumps. He frowns when Armin holds out the small spade shovel all groups were given at the mission's start.
“No,” Armin responds as if that were obvious. By the look on Eren's face apparently it wasn't. “It's only been about an hour and a half or so. I told you it would at least take two hours,” Armin harps and waves the shovel to indicate Eren should take it. “Why don't you shovel out the inside while I pack some more snow blocks to cover the entrance-way?”
It wasn’t so much of a question as it was a command. So Eren takes the small shovel and starts the tedious task shoveling a path in front of the igloo and removing as much snow as he could from inside. He throws the extra snow towards Armin so the boy could use the wet, heavy snow to pack more blocks of ice but a clump catches Armin in the side of the head and he can’t help but laugh at the stunned look Armin dons. “Gah,” he gasps as a ball of snow nails him in the face. “God damn it that’s cold,” Eren gripes and grimaces as flecks of snow escape down the neck of his coat. Armin was now the one laughing but he couldn’t muster a comeback as he focused on shaking the snow out of his clothing. Lifting the hem of his tops and shaking, he didn’t know if leaving the snow in would have been better than exposing his stomach to the elements and he hisses as a blast of wind smacks the skin. “Fuck Armin,” he starts but he stops when he realizes Armin had stopped laughing at him to return abruptly to work and was busily packing snow into the creases of the igloo. With a huff he gives his shirt one last flap and returns to shoveling, missing the upturned blue eyes darting quickly in his direction.
Another half an hour and the igloo was finally shoveled out and Eren was helping him position the slabs of ice over the dug out entrance path. The outside was sealed with snow and now all that was left was smoothing the inside. He easily hops down into the little pit made before the entrance and crawls into the small snow tent they had built. His eyes strain through the darkness and he remembers the lantern in his gear. Eren had taken his—the one they were using to see to seal the cracks—with him to take a piss. So he struggles to light his too and when he does his eyes widen in awe at the beauty of the structure he and Eren had managed to make together. He leaves his gear by the doorway along with the lamp and begins smoothing over the walls of the igloo quickly with his now bare hands. Only a minute passes and he has to put his gloves back on but other than his hands his body could definitely tell the difference between being in the shelter of the igloo and being outside. With two bodies of heat he was sure it would be even warmer. He coughs and remembers something, not quite just coughing at the stray thought. Taking his knife, he shuffles to a wall he hasn’t smoothed yet and pokes a hole in the loose packing.
“What are you doing?” Eren enters the dome just in time to see Armin apparently destroying their handiwork. When Armin jumps at his voice he frowns. Why was Armin so edgy? I mean more than usual anyway, Eren thinks. He puts his extinguished lantern next to Armin’s and deposits his gear near the blond’s as well. Kneeling—as they didn’t have enough room to stand—he shuffles to the middle of the dome and sits on his heels to wait for an answer. Armin didn’t look at him.
“We need ventilation holes or else we won’t be able to breathe properly,” Armin explains as he makes another couple holes. He removes his gloves again and starts smoothing out the walls again but Eren practically lunges toward him, causing him a near heart attack when he grabs his hands.
“What are you doing?” Eren was starting to think himself a broken record. “Are you nuts,” he asks instead as he squeezes Armin’s hands. It doesn’t miss his attention that Armin was frozen again and he rethinks blowing on the hands in his grasp to warm them up. Instead he lets them go and asks rhetorically, “Do you want to get frost bite and lose your fingers?” He removes his own gloves. “Let me do this side. Your hands are all red.”
Eren more or less finishes smoothing out the walls of the igloo before taking a seat next to Armin, who had taken it upon himself to unfold their sleeping bags across the ground. He stretches for his pack and rummages in it until he finds some rations. They hadn’t eaten since before seeing the cave earlier and he was starving. Luckily, even though they tasted horrible, the rations were engineered to be filling while taking up little space in the pack so he had snuck extras. They could last for days on the 10 extra bars he had taken plus the 10 Armin and he had each been allotted, although the mission was only supposed to take two days at the most. The thought prompts death wishes at Shadis for underestimating the hazards of blizzard conditions. He hands one to Armin and though one bar equaled a meal, he took two for himself and wolfed down the first one as Armin gingerly ate his. Eren swallows a bite of his second bar with an audible gulp and watches as Armin takes another small bite of his food, eyes closed. Pink lips curling around the end of the blunt head of the bar, blissfully unaware of the thoughts they were eliciting. He shakes his head clear and looks away before stuffing the rest of his food in his mouth. “So,” Eren drawls as he leans back on an arm comfortably. “It’s safe to say we’ll skip the frozen plains when we venture outside the walls, right?” he jests; trying to make casual conversation he had never found a need to do with Armin before but insisted on doing now. He releases a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding when Armin chuckles warmly at his remark and answers affirmatively.
“Yeah, I’d say that’s a safe bet,” Armin says and yawns through the smile now plastered on his face. He was just glad to know Eren hadn’t forgotten that.
“All that work you not used to, tire you out, Armin?” Eren pokes but can’t hold back his own yawn coaxed out by the blond’s. He dodges a weak attempt to hit him and sniffs out a short laugh. “You ready for bed?” he asks seriously as he shuffles out of his heavy jacket. Armin does the same and he takes that for a yes. He removes his boots in order to take off the heavier pants they wore over their regular military issued slacks and returns his boots to his feet. It was definitely not warm enough to sleep without shoes even if the igloo was degrees above the temp outside. And apparently Armin agreed as he followed suit before diving into his sleeping bag hastily. Eren shakes his head. He didn’t think it was that cold in there. But seeing the huddled mass next to him still shivering although he was cocooned in the sleeping bag prompts him to act. He quickly blows out the lantern and feels his way back to his sleeping bag, which he throws atop Armin’s. The sound of rustling fabric and a confused mew tells Eren Armin had sit up in confusion which gave him leeway to peel back the top of Armin’s sleep sac and slide in. Warmth envelopes his side before a shriek assaults his ear and he has to fumble to hold Armin in place as the boy tangles them in the bag with his struggle to escape the space.
“What in heaven’s name!” Armin yelps as what felt like lava scorched his chilled skin through clothes he never realized were so thin before. They were both fully clothed but the heat that rolled off Eren in waves was too much. He tries to roll away but the boundary of his sleeping bag stops him and he scrambles to move up and out. But his boot-clad foot catches in the corner of the bag and feet, not his own, tangled with his. What was happening all of a sudden? The heat of the body to his side felt good and a fleeting thought told him Eren was only doing this for warmth for them both but the knot in his stomach convinced him otherwise. This was wrong. “Eren,” he puffs barely above a whisper as his struggles continue against the arms now enfolding him.
“Calm down, Armin,” Eren coos, regretting not warning the blond of his actions first. They were best friends. He couldn’t believe that Armin hated physical contact with him that much that he’d prefer freezing to this. Maybe it was the lack of explanation that had him wary. After all if another male randomly latched onto him he would start throwing punches. “I-it’s just to warm us up. Sharing body heat will keep us from being cold, right?” When Armin pauses his resistance with a simple ‘oh,’ Eren sighs. So that was it after all. What had Armin thought he was trying to do to provoke such a response? The answer his mind fabricates causes him to frown and he slowly straightens the sleeping bags around them before settling behind Armin, an arm loosely thrown around his side as he tries his best not to press flush against the body before him.
Armin sighs from exhaustion. That tussle had taken his remaining strength from him and the ensuing thoughts were even more draining. Eren really had only been looking out for their wellbeing and survival and as soon as he’d heard the verbal reassurance the knot in his stomach unwound. But only to wind into another. He had made a big commotion over nothing. What does he think of me now? Armin mulls. Eren was his best friend but he kept treating him so coldly and for no good reason except the paranoia in his head that was slowly driving him nuts and driving his friend away. It didn’t escape him that Eren was keeping a distance from him now even though the boy threw an arm around his waist casually. He does miss how the arm tightens ever so slightly though as he finally drifts off to sleep.
As the breaths in front of him even out to quiet nothings interspersed with occasional soft snorts, Eren finally knows Armin is soundly asleep. He shifts his hips forward ever so slightly and gently fits Armin’s ass against his crotch with a sigh. Holding back from doing anything more that would possibly wake the blond in his arms and ruin their friendship completely was hard, but he needed to at least give himself this one last thing before they went back to camp. Where, even though they slept next to each other on the shared bunks, he had never dared get this close to Armin, even with a valid excuse. They were never alone and judging eyes could always catch them or at least him. Maybe that was the one thing he could be thankful for on this mission. The one thing he could actually get out of this. So reluctantly he smiles and drifts off to sleep with one last thought. Thanks, Shadis.
***
A/N: I did some really quick internet research on building igloos so I apologize if it seems improbable or is inaccurate. But come on, this is a fan-fic based on a fiction story so I’m allowed a few liberties, right? Anyway, thank you all for reading and hopefully I’m struck with some inspiration and am able to continue even though this could really pass for a one-shot. But I promised you all some strong tea, right…
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A Break