AruMika

AruMika is the het ship between Armin Arlert and Mikasa Ackerman from the Attack on Titan fandom.

Canon
Mikasa and Armin have been friends ever since before joining the 104th Cadet Corps and before that day. Armin would often get teased and bullied by older boys, Mikasa would usually defend Armin by beating the older boys which made them afraid of her when she would always come and aid Armin. Armin admired Mikasa's strength because of this and felt like he wasn't good enough, later Mikasa is responsible for Armin's character development which made him much more confident in himself.

In the Battle of Trost District, Armin is left a sole survivor as the rest of his team got eaten by Titans, this includes Eren as well. Mikasa finds Armin who begins to burst into tears informing Mikasa the deaths of his team and Eren, as regretful he is Mikasa comforts and informs Armin it wasn't the perfect time to get emotional so suddenly. They both head to headquarters with the other trainees in order to refill their equipment as they were low on gas, Mikasa runs very low on fuel until Armin offers his fuel and gives his blades to Mikasa but asks to spare one which Mikasa doesn't allow Armin to stay behind. She unknowingly uses all her gas and falls in the middle in Trost due to her grieving over Eren's death, as a titan approaches her an unknown titan comes and attacks the other titan which gave Armin enough time to rescue Mikasa. Soon the mysterious titan collapses, and it's revealed to be Eren.

Chapters later, Eren is kidnapped by Reiner and Bertolt which Armin informs Mikasa about it, she gets emotional and asks Armin why must Eren run away from them which Armin responds by trying to comfort her. During the Uprising Arc, Jean and Armin play out as Eren and Historia in disguised and get 'kidnapped' by robbers, Armin is shown to be harassed by one of the robbers as he's groped and told by the robber he wanted to hear Armin's voice, in which Mikasa breaks in to save them, later she is shown comforting Armin from getting harassed.

In the Return to Wall Shiganshina Arc, Mikasa finds Armin who's in a critical condition as his body was badly burnt from the Colossal Titan. Mikasa shoots a flare as Hange commanded her to shoot one in order to kill Reiner as Armin was to eat Bertolt instead. Suddenly, a sole survivor from Erwin's suicidal charge named Floch is shown to be carrying Erwin for in demand to give the titan serum to him instead, as Erwin was in a critical condition as his organs were demolished from boulders thrown from the Beast Titan. Levi who held the titan serum advices Eren, Mikasa, and Floch that he'll use it on Erwin instead which Mikasa gets angry as Levi punches Eren in the face, she charges towards Levi and thinks how he's much weaker and might be able to steal the serum from him in order to use it on Armin. Floch informs Mikasa that Erwin is far more important and approaches her and Mikasa gets ready in order to attack him before getting stopped by Hange. Mikasa gets angry and begins to harm Hange's hand before they tell Mikasa about how they wished how their comrades were alive, eventually Mikasa gave up and thought about Armin and Eren as they were happier before that day. Armin is instead given the serum and becomes the new Colossal user, after he emerges from his pure titan form (after eating Bertolt) Mikasa is shown to be sobbing happily that Armin was chosen and as well is alive. After the battle, Mikasa and Armin are given medals as well are part of the only nine survivors from the battle. A year later after the Battle of Trost District they both head to the ocean with the rest of scouts which is at the edge of Paradis Island. They can both seen to be happy, as well Armin talks about the size of the ocean to Mikasa and Eren.

There is a four-year time skip which brings them to the Raid on Liberio. After being victorious, Mikasa and Eren head to the airship where Armin is seen waiting, as Eren walks in Levi kicks Eren which upsets Mikasa until Armin calms her down. Suddenly two children are brought to the room where Mikasa and Armin were located due to intruding onto the ship, Jean informs them that one of the children shot Sasha and she might not make it. They both hurry to Sasha, in which moments later Sasha is pronounced deceased by Connie, Armin and Mikasa are seen crying on top of Sasha trying to wake her up.

After the death of Sasha, Eren is arrested which a group of Survey Corps recruits leak out which imprisons them, they both go see Darius Zackly as he agreed to see them. During the meeting Zackly refuses the two to see Eren in cell (most likely due to his behavior), Mikasa and Armin both leave Zackly's office and notice Military Police entering his office, which Mikasa decides to eavesdrop in their conversation. Armin advices her to not which Mikasa tells him it's best to know where will the Survey Corps be in the future. Suddenly, Mikasa grabs Armin just in time as Zackly's office explodes, they hurry outside and find Zackly's body dismembered, meanwhile the citizens cheer seeing his body. Not long afterwards, news spread that Eren escaped his cell, which they respond with a shock expression. Mikasa, Armin, and the rest of the scouts went to a restaurant where Niccolo was working at due to suspension. During their visit Eren and Floch with the rest of the Yeagerist detain the other scouts meanwhile Armin and Mikasa were in another room with a girl named Gabi, who (Sasha's killer) happened to be visiting the restaurant before the detainment. Eren sits with the three and informs them he wanted to talk to them about Eldia's problems with no conflicts. They talked until Eren mentioned Armin was being controlled by Bertolt and proceeds to tell Mikasa about her Ackerman blood and compares her to a slave. Armin yells at Eren to stop which he doesn't listen and continues to tell Mikasa he's always hated her ever since they were children. Armin gets furious and goes on top of the table to punch Eren for saying such things to Mikasa before getting slammed against the table by Mikasa. Eren continues to tell Mikasa about her Ackerman blood until he gets punched by Armin. A fight between Armin and Eren breaks out and Mikasa who sobbingly begs them to stop. As Armin was injured from the fight he tells Eren if the freedom he expresses to have was to hurt Mikasa and eventually tells him "Who's the real slave to a piece of shit", as a way to come in Mikasa's defense as Mikasa is holding onto Armin while she cries.

In the final chapter of the manga, the two are seen mourning Eren's death by holding onto Eren's decapitated head. A group of Marleyan soldiers head to the alliance and Armin lies to them telling them he's the one who killed Eren, in order prevent any distractions for Mikasa as she'll properly give Eren a grave.

Fanon
The duo are more seen as a friendship rather than a romantic pairing due to Mikasa's crush on Eren, and Armin's crush on Annie. This ship currently rivals AruAni and EreMika, which are both popular ships and include their main love interest. There has been a slight increase in popularity for the ship since Season 4 came out, as Mikasa and Armin's relationships with Eren are both damaged, and the audience is shown more Armin/Mikasa interactions. There are 280 works for the pairing on AO3.

There are controversies surrounding this ship, due to Mikasa having mentioned how she "raised him" in a way. This has led fans to see them as a more family-like relationship.

Fandom
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