It's lunch time for the trainees and everyone's settling down. Well, settling down might be a bit of an understatement when it comes the 104th trainee squad. Connie and Sasha are busy fighting over who get the last piece of bread. Marco's comforting Jean after his 16th failed attempt at conquering Mikasa. Ymir and Christa are getting along just fine, as usual. Bertolt and Reiner are at their usual table, but he notices Annie is missing. Eren,of course, is the loudest of them all. Him and Mikasa are arguing like a married couple.
"Eren, you need to eat more. You're starting to look pale…" Mikasa says, sounding concerned.
"Oh please, Mikasa! Just give it a rest. I already told you for the millionth time, I'm not your kid and I'm not your baby, so stop treating me like one!"
Mikasa shows a hint of a pained expression and pulls up her red scarf just enough to cover her face up to her eye level. She tugs at her scarf and looks down, trying to avoid looking into his bright green eyes. "I'm merely looking after you...Why do you always get so upset-"
"-Because I'm the one who's supposed to-!"
'Protect you'... That's what he wants to say anyways but his pride won't let him admit it. Ever since he saved her that day, he thought he'd be the one to look after her, but their roles quickly changed. She's so perfect at everything it makes him angry, even though he shouldn't be.
Mikasa becomes puzzled as to why Eren suddenly became so flustered. 'He's kind of cute when he gets like this..' she thinks. "Eren, aren't you going to finish your sentence?" she asks him eagerly, waiting for him to continue.
"Just forget about it ,alright?" He says, avoiding her gaze, still blushing.
"Geez, just screw each other already why don'tcha-? And while you're at it-ow!" Ymir was about to continue but Christa elbowed her in the gut. "Ymir! Don't say such indecent things!"
"Y-Yeah. Just shut it Ymir!" Eren replies nervously. Both him and Mikasa are blushing furiously and they're avoiding each others gazes now more than ever. Armin chuckles at this sight.
'Hah...Eren's so stubborn sometimes. I wonder when they'll start going out...'
Dead silence. Mikasa's slowly eating her food, looking away from her brunette counterpart. Said brunette is gobbling down his lunch, looking at everywhere else but his adoptive sister, occasionally shooting glares at Jean for even daring to look his way. Armin sighs, finishing up his food, and starts to get up from the table. Eren looks at him with pleading eyes.
'Please, don't leave me here,with her! Alone! Help me out here!'
Armin sends him back an apologetic look. 'Sorry, Eren. You're on your own here.'
"I'm going to the library today to research more about the outside world. You two have fun!" Armin says, walking away, with a grin on his face. Eren looks dejected and looks down at the floor. Armin winks at Mikasa, giving her a thumbs up. 'Go get'im Mikasa!' She nods thankfully, tugging on her scarf again, as a blush creeps back onto her pale, white skin.
Armin walks out of the mess hall and treads towards the library. When he gets to the entrance, he notices the door is slightly open. 'I wonder if she's here...'
He pushes the door open."Hello," he calls out ",is anyone in here?"
Silence. Armin peers around the corner. "Oh...It's just you." the miniature blonde replies. Her stare is a cold as ever. Armin had a hunch she'd be here. This is the only place she comes to when she's not with Bert or Reiner. Annie looks back down at her book and continues reading. He breathes in and out slowly. 'Make conversation Armin. Be smooth. It's not that hard. Don't be a Jean in this situation.
"Oh-uh-hey Annie. What're you up to?" he says, scratching the back of his head nervously. 'Crap. I'm being a Jean right now. She's obviously reading a book. Why do I turn into such a dimwit around her?'
"Nothing much. Just minding my own business. Reading." she says, sounding uninterested.
He walks closer to her and stares at the cover of the book, quizzically. "Oh..Sorry to bother you, but it's just that I was interested in that book you had. I've...never seen it before." he says, sounding intrigued. 'Lies, all lies! I've read each and every book in this library at least once!'
"It's just- it's nothing. Forget about it." Annie replies flustered, burying her face into the book. 'She's blushing...' Armin's mouth drops a bit. 'She never loses her cool.' He shuts his mouth and tries to regain his composure. He leans in close, to see her book. He's bent over, leaning against her shoulder. 'Her hair... it smells nice..'
"Oh c'mon. There's no book out there about nothing." he says, getting more relaxed. Armin extends his hand to flip to the front cover. "Sleeping Beauty?" he says aloud. He feels Annie stiffen. He looks down and sees that shes blushing again.
"I told you...it was nothing." she replies bashfully. "Can you go away now?"
"Oh but it looks wonderful! May I read it with you?" he says eagerly. "Everyone's doing extra training and I'm pretty uninterested." He leans in closer and whispers in her ear, almost seductively. "Please? I'll be quiet." She reddens.
"Why do want to read with me?" she asks shyly.
'Now she's questioning my intentions? Play it cool Armin, play it cool. ' .Jean.' "It's because you're my friend and-uh-you have a really neat book! But mostly because you're my friend." The 'really neat book' part came out really high pitched. 'Damn you puberty.' he thinks, cursing himself.
"Mm. Fine. Sit down. We'll start from the beginning. Just...be quiet." Annie finally agrees.
Armin sits down in the chair next to her. Leaning in close. Real close. She can feel
"Uh-There's a thing called personal space..." She looks at him, confused and flustered. "Not that anybody here's heard of it."
"Yeah, but the words are so tiny, I can't read! I have to be able to see." Armin says pleadingly. He stares into her crystal blue eyes and just thinks about how pretty they are. He looks down at her lips, soft and pink. 'Would it be okay to...'
Annie looks at him for while but eventually gives in. She can't say no to those puppy dog eyes. She sighs."Fine." Armin holds her hand and leans closer
Smooch.
"Thank you," Armin says, smiling.
Annie's caught by surprise. 'Did he just-?' It takes a few seconds for Annie to come back to him and as soon as the realization sets in, by this point, Annie's redder than Mikasa's precious scarf. "Uh-W-what was that for?"
"It's because you...make me happy." He looks her in the eyes and gives her a reassuring look.
"Well...y-you make me happy too." she manages to stammer out, looking away from his gaze for a bit. Annie smiles a bit.
"Apparently, I don't get to see you're smile enough. I guess I have to work harder." he replies.
"Ugh, don't be so cheesy." Annie grabs his jacket collar and pulls him in for another kiss. This one lasted a bit longer than the first though. They pull apart. "Let's just read." Annie's back to her usual calm self.
Armin feels his face heat up and he blushes in the same way she just did when he kissed her. "Uh..y-yeah...good plan..."
THE END