Chapter One: An Accidental Rendezvous
I am not quite sure what made me decide to walk the two blocks to the convenient store, instead of just driving the jeep my grandpa bought me for my sixteenth birthday. I guess I should be more grateful for the stuff he buys me, but there was something in the back of my head that told me to walk, even if it was eleven at night and a scrawny boy like me had the chance of getting mugged.
Its just that I have this odd sense of intuition, you see? Its kind of funny, coming from the genius boy who is always ten steps ahead, but sometimes, I just like to go off my gut feeling. First of all, It is a relief. I do not have to think, and I can just do. Secondly, I believe that everything happens for a reason, and if my conscience is telling me to do something, than I do. Of course, I only go with my gut feeling when the sole person it will effect is myself. If anyone else were to experience pain due to my actions, I would go insane with self blame.
So I decided to walk the two blocks to the convenient store. It was quit a peaceful walk, too. Recently, I have been so caught up with school work that I have not gotten any "me time". What I mean by "me time", is time to think about myself and where I stand in the present. I never think about the present, only the future. I guess you could call it a flaw of mine.
I am just so caught up in becoming some great chemical engineer that I forget to enjoy my days as a teenager. I never go to parties, I do not fancy dances, and the one date I went on ended up being a total bore. I guess you could say I am lost, lost in the future.
It was a beautiful night, too. The full moon was out, and there were no clouds in the sky to alter my sight of it. It glowed a beautiful silvery white, and you could just make out the man on the moon. I picked out the different constellations one by one- Taurus, Orion, Aries, Perseus. For a while, I wanted to be an astronomer, and I memorized every little thing you might see in the night sky.
Street lamps lit up the sidewalk I walked along, but I did not have to walk on the side walk if I chose not to. Being that it was so late at night, not a car passed me by in the streets of my hometown, Shiganshina. The plastic bag holding the milk the Grandpa asked me to buy from the convenient store ruffled as it brushed my leg.
Our apartment should not be too far from here.
My mind is always subconsciously doing something. This time it happens to be noting the things I walk by. Trashcan, palm tree, fire hydrant, street lamp, bench, Annie Leonhardt. Annie Leonhardt? I never imagined that Annie Leonhardt would be the type of girl to sit all alone on a bench at night. I do not bother to talk to her however, and I keep moving. Me and Annie have never actually talked to each other before, even though we have gone to school together for years. Come to think of it, I do not think that Annie has talked to anyone, with the exception of her only two friends, Bertholdt and Reiner.
The little I know about her is that she is smart enough to rank fourth in our class three years in a row, and that she some how pissed Mikasa off. Looking back at her, I now know that she boxes. Or at least I assume she does, considering she is in sweats, has a duffel bag next to her on the bench, and a pair of boxing gloves hung over her shoulder.
So now that I think about it, I do not know if Annie Leonhardt is the type of girl to sit all alone on a bench at night.
"Shit!" I hear her say behind me. I glance back at her to make sure everything is all right, to see a cup of coffee spilled on the ground. And then for an instant, underneath the light of the streetlamp next to the bench she rests upon, I think I see the tiniest, crystal clear tear trickle down her face. Normally, I would not urn around and help a stranger because they spilled their coffee, but the fact that I just happened to see that one tear trickle down her pale face, made me turn around. Like I said, I have an odd sense of intuition.
I walked back over to the bench to find a coffee cup on the ground, surrounded by a puddle of black coffee. I awkwardly pick up the cup and throw it away in the garbage can I passed by earlier, and then sat next to Annie on the bench.
Her head was rested in her hands, and her blue eyes were focused on the ground. Neither of us said anything for a few minutes, but instead we just sat in silence. Eventually, I spoke up. "Are you alright?"
She does not answer.
We sit in silence for a few more minutes before I pipe up again. "How about I walk you home."
This time, she replies with a shake of her head. We both grab our things and begin walking through the streets of Shinaganshina. I allowed Annie to lead the way as we walked in silence.
I guess the reason I offered to walk her home was because I felt bad for her, or maybe it was because I was scared something bad might happen to her. Maybe that was why My grandpa asked me to get milk from the convenient store, and maybe that's why I felt like I should walk there, and maybe that's why she spilled her coffee and happened to shed a tear, and maybe that why I turned around. Maybe, just maybe, this all happened for a reason. Who knows, I might of just saved her life.
Eventually, we arrived at her house. I decided to stay at the end of the drive way, but I watched as she walked to the door. She made it into her house safe and sound, and that small fact kind of made me happy.
Due to my detour, I got little sleep. I sulked around, but my peers where used to that side of me. Often times, I was up until three in the morning writing papers and finishing projects. Maintaining the number one spot in my class is hard, but I know that it will all pay off next year when I graduate.
I saw Annie around a few times that day, and I assume that she saw me too, but neither of us acknowledged each other. We simply walked past each other without making eye contact, just like any other day.
It was around third period when I was standing by my locker, exchanging my physics book for my pre-calculus book like I did every day around third period. Like always, Eren sneaks up behind me wearing his baseball jacket, followed by Mikasa who intently watched his every move. The two were a strange pair, and they could be rather annoying sometimes, but they were by far the best friends I could ever ask for.
Me and Mikasa were both at the top of our class. We constantly studied, and worked to get the best grades we could. The difference between us, however, is that Mikasa is a hard worker. While she is very smart, she is no genius. She puts her heart and soul into everything she does, and that is what keeps her in the third spot in our class.
On the other hand, I do not have to work as hard as Mikasa because I will admit that I am a genius. I study because I choose to, not because I have to.
Then there was Eren. Eren was the first one of us to break out of the nerd zone. Mikasa is not considered a nerd anymore, but that is simply because when she hit puberty, an array of boys formed crushes on her. Up until the sixth grade, Eren was one of those weird kids who used to get in trouble a lot and enjoyed making mud pies topped with earthworms. It was not until he joined the baseball team that people began to change their perceptive on him. He made friends with the "cool guys" and ultimately became on himself.
He did not ditch me and Mikasa, though. We were still his best friends, even when he became so popular.
I was always a nerd. I always will be a nerd. Its just who I am.
After a quick conversation with Eren and Mikasa about how our day was going, the two of them hurried in the same direction to get to their next classes. Shortly after they left, Annie approached me. Part of me was surprised. I did not expect her to approach me after last night, especially since she basically ignored me before. I noticed something different about this time, however. She was not being followed by Reiner and Berthodlt. Maybe she was embarrassed to be talking to a nerd like me, or maybe did not want her two lackeys to know about our encounter last night.
"Thanks a lot for last night, Armin," She said. Annie's voice always intrigued me. While it was slightly monotone, it varied enough just to keep you engaged. It was also smooth and full. She had the type of voice that you wanted to read you bedtime stories at night.
"Don't worry about it," I told her with a shrug as I closed my locker. She looked down at her hands, almost as if she was uncertain about something. It was strange. I assumed not many people saw this side of Annie, considering she always seemed like a confident, uninterested, aloof, and slightly intimidating girl, but I was seeing a different side of her. This Annie was nervous, yet kind.
"No, that really meant a lot to me," She said as she looked down at her hands again, as if trying to come up with the right words to say. "How about I treat you to coffee after school?"
Inviting me out for coffee after school was actually the last thing that I expected her to do, but I decided that maybe we would have fun. "Sure, that sounds great."
"Cool- I know this great little coffee shop just a few blocks away. They have the best cappuccinos."
"Okay so, meet me in the courtyard?"
"Yeah. Meet you in the courtyard."
Seventh hour was English three with Mikasa. I tend not to talk in class, and instead focus on the material we are presented with, but I could not help but notice the constant glares I got Mikasa. She seemed fine earlier today, so I do not know why she decides to get all mad at me all of the sudden.
When the class ends, Mikasa pulls me aside outside of the class. "What were you doing talking to her?
Out of confusion I say, "I don't know what your talking about."
"Oh don't play dumb with me Armin. I saw you talking to Annie 'Nose' Leonhardt. Is she bullying you into doing her homework or something?"
I gape at Mikasa in shock. "Okay first of all, you should not judge someone based off of their appearance. That's extremely rude and I know you are above it. Secondly, we are studying for our AP American History exam tomorrow," I lie. Mikasa wants to be a politician, so she took AP Government instead of AP American History. This way, she will never know that me and Annie are friends now (I guess) and that we are going to get coffee.
"Fine. I should not make fun of her flawed face, but be careful, Armin. I don't like her."
"You never told me why you hate her so much."
Mikasa looked up as she was having a flash back. "We were ten years old and at a karate tournament. Our match was for first place. It didn't last long before I ended up on my ass, but the worst part was how uninterested she looked, as if beating me were a piece of cake."
"So you have had a grudge on her for seven years because she beat you at a karate tournament?"
"Precisely."
I sighed at my friend before saying my goodbyes and heading to the courtyard were I promised to meet Annie. When I arrived, I found her sitting on a bench and looking around. Like a normal person would do, I waved at her and she smiled back.
Its kind of odd seeing Annie in her school uniform. I have always imagined her being this badass MMA fighter who can kick anyone's butt, but she looks like a sweat girl in her uniform. The uniform consisted of a plaid skirt with a white button-up, along with black shoes, knee high white socks, and a green sweater. She wore her hair in a little twist thing that I had no idea the name of.
From what I can infer, Annie Leonhardt has multiple sides.
"Ready to go?" I ask her. She nods her head and we walk together out to the parking lot.
"Its only ten blocks away, so it should not take to long for us to get there," Annie states.
"Or I could just drive us there," I say to her laughing a bit.
She laughs at herself as well. "Oh yeah, I forget that most people have cars." The two us walk to my jeep, and then take off.
"What kind of music do you like to listen to?" I ask her, flipping through the radio. I am not really that into music, so I did not want to put on something that most people would not like.
"Well actually," she said as she changed the channel, "I usually listen to the Shiganshina University's radio. It plays a lot of indie and alternative, which some people consider a bit weird, but I like it." As we listened to the music, I grew rather fond of it too. I had never heard any of it, and some of it was a bit obscure, but I liked it.
"Hey, Armin?" She said randomly.
"Whats up?"
"Thanks a lot for yesterday. I was kind of having a bad day, and the fact that someone did something as nice as walking me home… well, I respect that. A lot." I did not realize that she appreciated me walking her home that much, especially since she did not say thank you, but it was nice to know that it made her day.
When we finally arrived at the cafe, the sweet scent of coffee beans flooded my nose. Coffee is not really my thing, so I do not go to cafes a lot, but when I do, I enjoy it.
The cafe was small, but cute. It only consisted of a few tables and an outside patio, but the walls were covered in paintings and posters along with shelves full of books. It definitely was no Starbucks.
The clatter of cups and the chatter of patrons left a lingering, yet comforting sound. It was kind of like how some people like to keep the TV in their house on, so that it gives them the comforting feeling that they are not alone.
Me and Annie walked to the counter and ordered out drinks. A cappuccino for Annie, and I got a vanilla latte. I actually did not know what most of the stuff on the menu was, so I choose something at random.
Once we got our coffee, me and Annie sat down and talked for a little while. Really, we just got to know each other. I learned that she has been training in hand-to-hand combat since she was little, her favorite color is blue, and that she talks in her sleep (Apparently it has gotten her into some pretty awkward situations).
It was around five when we decided to leave. She followed me out to my car, and I told her that I would drive her home. I remembered the directions to her house from last time, so we were able to just ride without having to focus on where I was going.
When we finally arrived at her house she said her final goodbyes before getting out of the car. "I had a really good time," She told me.
"Me too, it was fun."
"We should to it again sometime."
"We should."
With that, she left. As I backed out of her drive way, I thought to myself.
I am really enjoying getting to know Annie Leonhardt.
A/N:
Most of these will just be me rambling to myself, so don't feel an obligation to read them.
Annie and Armin is probably my favorite ship in SnK, so I thought I would write this fanfic. I'm not actually quite sure how long it will be, and I actually have not planned anything after chapter two, so I should probably be doing that now.
Its summer, so of course you can expect these to come out regularly (Probably two chapters a week). Also, please forgive me for any grammar or spelling mistakes. Its terrible, I know, but I usually don't go back and edit my stories before I post them.
Now about the story. Sorry if characters are a little ooc. I write them as I imagine them while read the manga/ watching the anime. For example, Mikasa has always seemed physco to me, so when I write her, she might seem a bit off her rocker.
I know that the first Annie and Armin scene seemed a bit awkward, but I hope it was not too cliche. I felt that with the combination of Armin's awkwardness and Annie's aloofness, that the two would not say much to each other.
Anyways, all reviews/follows/favorites are greatly appreciated, and constructive criticism is always needed.
Until next time,
Nudlezjr