((Hey, guys, it's me, Historia-IAmTheGoddess-Reiss! I hope you guys like my little collection of Armin x Christa One Shots!))
DISCLAIMER! I OWN NOTHING!
~Checkmate~
The day was long and tiring, and the sun outside was halfway out of sight; giving the walls and towns a golden light. The air was peaceful and cool. It was as if the titans didn't exist at all that day, though, of course, they definitely did. You could just forget that they were there for that time of the day.
Christa was still awake; kicking back after training. Ymir finally flopped down onto her bed out of exhaustion, a light snoring coming from her. Christa and Sasha shared a small giggle at the sight; their friend looked so precious—or as precious as Ymir deemed physically possible with her drooling into her pillow. She was out cold. Christa wanted to stop in the library for some new reading material, so she started to head over there.
Small rays of the tired gold light shone in from the windows as she walked on, making her way to the library. She could hear small occasional taps inside. 'Is there someone in there?' She thought, gripping the doorknob.
She opened slowly to see her friend Armin hovering over… a three-way chess board. He held a small cone shaped red piece from one of the three teams. Red, black, and white. He turned at the sound of the creaking door. He smiled to see his friend. The room was dark; only the small rays of gold from high up windows and a small lit candle to give the room light nest to the chess board. "Hey, Armin." Christa greeted, waving to him. After returning the greeting with another smile, he turned back to the board with a wistful look on his face, from what she could tell in this light.
"Good Evening, Christa…" He almost whispered. He still kept his gaze on the board, still carrying a smile.
"I didn't know you played chess." Christa said, coming over to examine the board. He wasn't playing with anyone else; he was taking all three turns, spinning the board around as he played. "Practicing alone?"
"Yeah…" he breathed. It kind of sounded like a sigh. "Do you?" He asked, tilting his eyes off the board and over to her, his chin on one hand and both elbows to the table.
"I used to," she replied. "Back before the fall… I sucked at it, so I didn't play all that much."
"Ah, I see…" he breathed again. His voice was soft. He turned the board around again and contemplated a move for the white army of cones. He finally plucked out a spot for one, making a triumphantly loud tap on the cones way onto the board. He started to put away the red pieces.
"Checkmate for the reds, I assume," Christa chuckled, with a nod from Armin as a response.
He sighed out a little.
"You alright?"
"Yeah, I've just had some things on my mind lately…"
"Like what?" She walked up to him to see him better. His expression was somewhat wistful and somewhat sad.
"Care to listen? It's just over stuff from before the fall…"
"I-I'm sorry…" Christa was hit with a pang of guilt.
"Why are you apologizing?" Armin asked.
"I brought it up, didn't I…? You were in Shiganshina, so I should have paid more attention to that…"
"You're alright… The game is a nice way to forget about it for as short a time it is."
Christa nodded. "If you say so."
"The game is fair now. Only one piece was taken out from each side, and the odds look fair enough to play one on one. Play me?" He offered a seat on the opposite side of him. Christa happily obliged as she sat down across from him. "I'm used to this version. They're basically all pawns like this, right?" Christa pointed to the identical many cones of black and white.
"Yep. It is an odd way to play, but in my opinion it's more fun—especially when you have three-way games going on."
Armin chatted, offering the first move for Christa. "Do you want me to go easy, or are you like me, thinking that going easy in strategy games is a form of disrespect?"
"In a way it is a very condescending gesture, but then again it depends on who is doing it. If you're teaching them, that's one thing. But if you mean it the wrong way, it's obviously another…" Christa explained, examining and feeling the small black cone piece in her hand. She took a look at the board. She put the piece down where it originally was, picked it up again, and stepped it forward.
"One would think that you'd be reading the day away, but no, you wanted to play chess by yourself. That's too lonely for me." Christa teased lightly.
"Yeah, but I was playing earlier with Jean and Eren. Those two were a riot—they kept trying to accuse one another of them cheating over this. I tried not to laugh at them right there."
Christa giggled. "Oh, wow, that must have been funny." She agreed.
"Yeah. Since then, the mood never left, so I decided to keep honing my skills."
"Let me guess—you beat them both since they were too busy fighting?"
Armin snickered. "You deserve a cookie—you're spot on."
The two kept playing until Armin finally won. "I knew I screwed up with that one." She laughed.
"Nah, for your first time in a long while, you were pretty good—exactly why I didn't go easy in you."
"Why thank you, my little friend." She thanked him.
"Well, technically, you are my little friend. I'm a lot taller than you are."
"Shut up…" She giggled, getting up to go noogie him.
He started to stand up, making her stop noogying him, and they both realized how close they were to each other. Armin blushed and backed up, tripping over a chair in the process. "Agh, crap." He laughed, leaning back up.
"Well… That was awkward!" Christa joined him in the laughter. "You want to play again? Just one-on-one?" Christa asked, helping him up.
He looked at her for a second, his face still heated a little. "Y-yeah, let's go again!"
The two bounced back into the game.
Armin won again, by hardly a surprise, and Christa shook his hand. "Good game." She said.
"Good game to you, too." He mimicked.
"Now… As a little reward…" Christa piped up out of her chair and strolled to Armin's side.
"W-what are you doing?!" He asked, suddenly growing flustered as she leaned down to him. She moved his hair out of the way and gave him a small peck on the cheek.
"Hehe, just a little treat for you." She giggled at his reaction.
Armin blushed scarlet, which was still easy to see in this lighting. "T-thanks…"
"No problem~!" Christa bounced back up. He grabbed her sleeve as he got up as well.
"Here…" He blushed again, returning the favor to her. He kissed her forehead and wrapped one of his arms around her waist. Then it was her turn to blush. Many shades of pink colored her cheeks.
"Thank you~!" Her expression was the cutest thing—she flashed her huge sapphire eyes with a sweet smile which made Armin blush even further.
He looked at her and breathed. Their gazes met—big blue eyes meeting another deep set. Armin lightly grabbed her chin and gave her a small kiss on her lips. Christa gave a tiny yelp of surprise, but they both melted into each other with the sweet gesture. When they departed, Armin's met hers again. "Checkmate." Was all he said as his lips curled into an amused smile as he started to laugh.
Christa laughed as well. "That was pretty smooth until you broke out laughing. Good pun, by the way." She complimented, giggling.
"Thank you." He then kissed her on the forehead again. "So… Are we…?" he started bashfully.
"Yeah, I think we are." Christa answered, remnants of blush still visible.
"I-I love you Christa," he stumbled on his words.
"I love you too." She cooed.
The golden light was fading out by the minute and second, and the two realized just how late it was starting to get. "Well… I guess I'll see you." Armin thought out loud.
"Mhm, see you, then. Oh, wait! The reason I came here in the first place was to get more reading material." She giggled again.
"Oooh, what'cha looking for? I got a few good ones with me now." Armin began to shuffle under the table to pull out a few books. "I also have a chess strategy book That you might need~." He said teasingly.
"You say that like I'm bad at it." Christa stuck her tongue out at him.
"You aren't… But I have some other stuff. These are my favorites." He explained, handing three decently big books to her. She shifted to get used to the weight.
"You good?"
"Yeah, I'm good."
Armin opened the door for her. "Do you mind if I tag along on the way back to your room?" he asked shyly.
She looked at him with a hint of blush. "Not a problem." She finally answered with a smile.
He nodded. They were on their way.
"I knew that a day of playing chess leads to great things…"
I hope you guys enjoyed~!
~Historia-IAmTheGoddess-Reiss~