Armin and I went for a long hike through some forest trails close to my house. I really think that Armin enjoyed getting out and away from society for a bit. People are stressful to interact with and to be around. I think he also liked how much the natural parts of my world reminded him of his world. As much as he loved my time and told me he wanted to stay, I could tell he missed a lot about his time. I wasn't sure he could really ever fully commit to staying with me in my time. Around 4:00 pm, we decided it was time to head back home. Once we got home, it was about 5:00 pm, since it took a while for us to find our way back. 

Armin ran down to my room and flopped down on the bed. He let out a sigh and said, "Ugh, I'm so tired. My legs hurt."

"Same."

I lay down beside him. "I wonder what's for dinner," he said. That's right, my family was going to cover dinner. I did tell them we'd be back for dinner, which inferred they were making it. "I'll go check." I got up and stood at my door. "Coming?" I asked. Armin shook his head. "No, I'm gonna lay here for a bit. I'm exhausted. I seriously shouldn't do that much physical activity," he exaggerated. I giggled, "Okay, whatever. I'll see you in like a minute."

I ran down the hall then up the stairs. My father was in the kitchen cooking. The second I entered the room, an amazing aroma hit my senses. "Wow, that smells so good," Armin hummed. "We're having pasta," my Dad said, "I'm assuming your friend is staying." "Yeah we're both staying and wow, I forgot how good pasta smelled. I didn't even know pasta could smell so good. It's been ages since I've had any," I replied. My Dad told us dinner would be ready within the next few minutes. I was about to go get Armin when my Dad stopped me with his voice. "Wait." I turned around. "We need to talk tonight," he stated. He seemed serious, which made me uncomfortable. 

"O-Okay, about what?"

"Our experiments and the crystal."

"What happened?" I asked. He responded, "I'll tell you later once everyone goes to bed. Come to my office then." The tone in his voice made me feel quite uneasy. What was wrong? I prayed it wasn't anything serious. I jogged back downstairs to my room and through my bedroom door. "It's dinner," I said to Armin. He sat up and got off the bed.

"I'm staying for dinner?"

"Yeah, of course." It seemed so obvious. "Okay," he started, "I was just wondering. I thought you might have wanted some alone time with your family. You haven't seen them in forever." "No, no it's fine. I want you to stay. This might be the only time you get to meet them because they're always out. Having you meet my parents is so important to me," I explained. 

"Oh okay, sorry."

I laughed, "You didn't do anything wrong. There's no need for an apology. Here." I grabbed his hand and yanked him down the hall with me. "Let's eat. I'm hungry."

Thankfully, dinner was filled with friendly chatter. My Dad seemed a bit off, but not enough for anyone else to notice. Seeing that made me even more anxious than I already was. At the end of dinner, everyone brought their plates to the counter, including Armin. Armin usually wouldn't have eaten as much as he did that night, but he figured it'd be rude to waste what was just made for him.

The night went by quickly and by now, it was around 10:00 pm. Armin was tired. I suddenly realized that we never went back to the beach to see the stars. I quickly sat up in my bed. "Wanna go to the beach? I forgot we planned on stargazing!" I yelled eagerly.

"Oh yeah, can we go?"

"Of course!"

Both of us got up and ran upstairs to the main floor. My Dad was reading the newspaper at the kitchen table. He looked up at us. I asked him, "Dad, can you take us to the beach?"

"It's late. Why?"

"Just, please. I promised I'd take him to stargaze."

"I thought you already went," Dad groaned. "Yeah but we wanna go now. We'll only be like ten minutes. Please." He sighed and got up. "Ten minutes on the dot," he demanded. I thanked him. 

|Time Skip A Bit Later|

My Dad took us to the beach. He waited in the car. The sky was beautiful. The water glistened in the moonlight. Armin hovered over the edge of the water. "Wow, it's so pretty," he cooed. We lucked out on the night. The sky was clear and we could see all of the stars and planets whose light reached Earth. Waved crashed up onto Armin's bare feet. "I'm so glad we came here, Y/N."

I stood beside him, amazed by the world's true beauty. I didn't know it could look so stunning. Maybe it was because I was seeing it from someone else's perspective. I was seeing the world from Armin's perspective. He wrapped his arms around my waist. "Thanks for taking me here," he whispered. I heard the car beep from far away, indicating that it was time to go, but I didn't want to leave. There was a slight breeze that skimmed my skin, sending shivers up and down my body. "We should go..."

"Wait-"

I turned to look at him. Armin firmly cupped my cheeks and pulled me in for a powerful kiss. It felt more meaningful than any other kiss we'd had before. His warm, plushy lips pressed on mine. I could feel his breath on my cupid's bow. Once he let go of the kiss, he watched me drearily. I could see the exhaustion on his face. He thanked me, "I've had an outstanding birthday Y/N, thankyou. I'm so grateful I have you." I smiled.

"You look tired."

"I am. Sorry..."

"It's okay. Come on, let's go home." We walked up the beach and back to the car. My Dad drove all of us back home. Everything was bright. Reds, yellows, and greens. Buildings. Everything was brighter at night than the day. Weird, right? It's supposed to be the time of darkness and yet everything appeared so much more luminous. "Is your friend staying the night?" Dad asked from the front of the car. Armin and I were sitting in the back seats together. I looked over at the sound, sleeping Armin resting on my shoulder.

"Yeah. He can stay in my room."

"Come to my office when he's asleep."

"O-Okay..."

The car pulled up into the driveway to my house. Everyone jolted forward as the car stopped. Armin's eyes fluttered open. "Are we home?" he muttered. "Yeah."