Annie's never been one for big celebrations, all the noise, having to act like you cared about all the guests, it wasn't for her. However, Mina had decided to completely ignore this and go right ahead and plan a huge surprise birthday party.
It had been such an obvious ploy. Reiner and Bertholdt were terrible liars, but Annie had just gone with the flow. She figured it had to do with her birthday, but she expected a small cake, not the entire fucking school crammed in her house.
"So do you like it?" Mina wore a smug grin. Annie just shrugged. Sure she hated parties like this, but Mina must have worked so hard to pull this off.
"But how are we going to explain this to my dad?" Annie's father was out of town for business (birthdays weren't big in the Leonhardt household) but, he'd notice the mess afterwards for sure.
"Oh don't worry," Mina chuckled, laughing at her own brilliance. "I hired the football team to clean up later. Relax, besides the best is yet to come." With that, she went off to mingle with the crowd.
Annie cursed under her breath. Mina just had to be cryptic and then abandon her like that. Annie wasn't one for socializing, she knew it, but she felt almost betrayed for being stranded in this sea of strangers.
Deciding to play it safe, she stuck to the snack table. Mina had gotten all her favorite foods, so Annie started to pig out a little. Suddenly, some asshat almost knocked in the punch bowl.
"Hey watch it you little shit-" Annie turned and saw it was a short, and this was coming from her, blond boy who had bumped her. He was were a top hat, cape, and mask that covered the top half off his face. And he was way cuter than he should be allowed.
"Ah, I've been looking everywhere for you!" Blue eyes sparkled behind the mask. Annie tried to scare this weirdo off with a glare but he just grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the center of the living room .
"Ladies and gentlemen," The crowd died down and looked towards the boy. "Today, with my lovely assistant Miss Leonhardt, I, the Astonishing Armin, shall show you sights you have never seen." Annie searched the crowd for her friends. Reiner, Berthodt, and Mina were standing in a corner, giving her thumbs ups. Annie made a mental to knock some sense back into those three later.
"Annie, are you prepared to be amazed?" Armin turned towards her, holding a hand out.
"Tch, I guess," She gave her stereotypical apathetic response.
"Then let's begin!" With a snap of his fingers, flowers popped out of his sleeve. "First, the lovely lady should have some flowers, agree?" Annie didn't respond, but she wanted to blush at the flirting. Silently, she took the flowers and placed them off to the side.
"Friends, that is only the tip of the iceberg," He seemed to be really getting into the act. "For my next trick, I shall pull a rabbit out of my hat. An Asian girl carried out a table to Armin.
"Thank you Mikasa. Now first, I'll show you my hat, empty you see." Annie had to keep from groaning at the cheesiness of it all. With a dramatic gesture, he placed the top hat on the table.
"Now Annie, will you say the magic words?"
"Bibbity Bobbity Boo," Annie gave the most deadpanned reply she could muster. As expected, Armin lifted the hat and revealed a bunny.
"Tada!" The room erupted in applause and Annie couldn't help but roll her eyes. You had to be an idiot to not see how he did it. For about an hour, Armin continued show cheap party tricks. It bored Annie to bits but that wasn't the main problem. For some reason, he kept sending flirtatious comments her way. Annie wasn't like some immature middle schooler who blushed and giggled, but it certainly was flustering. Annie tried to hide it though behind a blank stare and move on.
"You guys have been an amazing audience, but unfortunately we have come to my last trick." Annie's eyes lit up at this, finally this torturous event would be over with.
"I shall make Miss Leonhardt float!" Annie's eyes widen at this. Hell no, she did not want to be strapped to some freaky contraption. She looked for a way to escape, but the crowd surrounded her.
"What's the matter?" Armin looked confused at her worry. "Don't you trust me?"
"I have no idea what I'm supposed to do,"
"Oh that's not a problem!" He gave a gentle smile. "Just trust me." This was crazy, she hadn't even wanted to get dragged into this freak show. But the crowd was waiting, and for some reason Annie wanted to agree with Armin, even if it was a mistake. "
Fine," Dutifully she was led to the table and laid on it. Thinking it was a good idea to act along, she closed her eyes. Armin rambled on and Annie waited to feel a harness or something slide on. However nothing like that happened. Annie wanted to see what the fuck was going on, but she knew opening her eyes would ruin the trick.
Suddenly, Annie couldn't feel the table anymore. She tried not to panic, this was part of the show. However she didn't feel anything holding her up. It was as if she could just float for the rest of her life, til she just faded away.
Annie was dropped back on the table, and she shot up. Armin was taking a bow as the crowd cheered.
"Hey," He turned around to see Annie approaching him. "How the fuck did you do that?"Armin chuckled, probably trying to sound mysterious, but sounding more dorkish.
"A magician never reveals their secrets. However I do have a gift for the birthday girl." Quickly he bent down and pressed his lips to the corner of her mouth. Annie didn't even have time to decide what to do. On one hand she wanted to slap him for not even asking for permission; on the other hand, she wanted to shove this attractive person against the wall.
"You were a great assistant, call me if you ever want to do this again." With a flourish, he disappeared into the crowd.
"That son of a bitch," Annie muttered to herself. How the fuck was she even supposed to call him. She shoved her hands in her pocket. Suddenly she realized he had planted something on her. She pulled it out and saw it was a phone number.
"You sly bastard!" She couldn't suppress a small smile. She'd get him to show her how that last trick was done, maybe even show him a few of her own.
