Chapter Text
"Excuse me."
Behind him, Armin could hear the sounds that were generally associated with a busy hospital; people talking in the waiting room, announcing things over the intercom, and phones ringing were but a few of what made the makeshift symphony. He tried to ignore all of it as he stood at the receptionist's desk, hoping to get some room info.
The nurse on shift didn't notice him; perhaps Armin was too quiet, or his winter gear muffled his voice too much. He tried again, this time a little louder.
"Excuse me!" This time, the nurse jolted to attention to face him. It took her a moment to calm herself down to ask what he needed of her.
"Do you know where Eren Jaeger's room is? I'm here to see him...?" She still waited to see if he gave her any more information. "He was in a work-related incident the other day. Is he here?" The nurse, with sufficient info now, told him all he needed to know, and pointed him in the right direction.
Armin made sure to give a quick thank you before going off to reach his destination.
...
Given that he hadn't been to see Eren since before the accident, Armin felt really bad. He tried not to let his negative emotions get the better of him as he got to Eren's room. He knew he got the right one when he saw "Jaeger, E." tacked up under the room's number. There was another name under his, but Armin didn't recognize it.
Contrary to what he had said about his current state, Eren looked perfectly fine (if somewhat beat up) as he sat up in bed, with Mikasa sitting at his bedside. The both of them had their eyes practically glued to the hospital TV, which was playing that old Bond movie featuring George Lazenby.
They at least muted it when they saw Armin coming in.
"You look better than I thought, Eren," he said when he seated himself on the side Mikasa wasn't on. "I guess the incident at work hadn't been that bad?"
"No, it was bad," Eren responded. "It's just that if it were a little bit worse, I'd be dead."
The corner of Mikasa's mouth twitched a bit in a brief flash of humor, before turning serious again. "And thank goodness it didn't come to that." All three of them then proceeded to talk about what Armin had been doing in the time before he was able to come visit. While they all did, Armin's eyes kept straying over to the other bed in the room.
In that bed, a young man with spiky brown hair lay motionless, his skin looking a bit pale. He was hooked up to a ventilator, as well as numerous other wires and machines. If Armin had to guess how long he'd been in that state, he'd probably say about a year or so.
"Hey Eren," he said while pointing to him. "Who's that?"
Eren looked over at the comatose patient, and then shrugged. "Beats me. He was like that when I got here. Personally, I think he looks like a horse." Armin decided not to further pursue that line of questioning. He did end up looking at the other name later when visiting hours were over.
"Kirstein, J.," he whispered to himself. Somehow, that name compelled him to do something. What exactly, he wasn't entirely sure. But he had the feeling he was going to see this Kirstein man again.