A/N: Just some notes so you understand the workings of the WKF competitions:
1. Kata is what forms are called. Kumite is the actual fighiting but there are lots of rules and you can't (or shouldn't) actually hit anyone, though the older the category, the harder you can hit before getting a penalisation and ultimately disqualification. Also, you have to wear uncomfortable, counter-productive and pointless protective gear for everything, because olympics.
2. The competitors are put into a draw so in each round you fight only against one person and work your way up to the finals.
3. For kata, there are usually 5 referees who have red and blue flags, each colour representing one of the competitiors in the fight. They rise the colour of the competitor they liked better. For kumite it's more complicated, but basically you can get 1, 2 or 3 points, depending on the technique you did. Throws are really difficult to get points from so almost no one even botheres to try. The fight ends when the time-limit is reached, one of the fighters is disqualified/is unable to continue due to injury, or the point difference is over 8 points.
4. Suparinpei is the most boring kata ever created but for some reason is regarded highly. I hate performiing it and most referees hate watching it.
5. I think Mikasa and Levi would be the type of competitors others hate because they are so good in both kata and kumite, while most people have to focus on only one to be any good. It's extra annoying because it gives a huge advantage for nomination for international championships. (One less person you have to pay for if they can do both.)
Hope this clears some things up and you don't get lost in the fic this way. If you still don't understand something, don't hesitate to ask :)
Armin jumped in surprise as his phone vibrated, startling him from the trance he was in while writing his essay. He picked the device up, looking at the text. "10 mins," was all it said and he sighed in relief.
Looking up, he searched the bleachers for a familiar face, hoping he wouldn't have to be the messenger himself as that task would mean cleaning up all the books he had spread around him. Seeing no one, he almost resigned himself to his fate when a familiar name being said in an idle conversation above him caught his attention.
"God I hope I won't have to go up against Ackerman," a girl's voice said. "I went against her last time and she almost broke my nose!"
"I know!" another voice agreed. "I heard once in the junior category she broke someone's arm with a kick!"
Armin had to stifle a snort at that. He remembered that incident, though it went quite differently than how the rumors depicted it years later. It was more along the lines of how when Mikasa went for a kick, the girl she was up against made to dodge but the tatami mats were unfortunately uneven and she tripped, falling on her hand and spraining her wrist as a result. He wasn't about to correct anyone though, as Mikasa seemed to enjoy the reputation of a girl capable of killing with a single punch. At the very least it kept the boys from shamelessly and stupidly flirting with her.
"Oh shit, now I'm scared of her even more! How is that even possible?"
You don't even know the half of it, thought Armin bitterly, having witnessed firsthand just how ruthless the girl in question could be when she wanted so. Let's just say the bullies stopped coming for Armin a single month after befriending Eren and his step-sister. And that was just elementary school.
A third voice joined in, "But you know what, Leonhart isn't any better! I went against her, like, two months ago and it was terrible! She had me 9 to 0 under a minute and I didn't even know what was happening half the time. Just that suddenly I found myself on the floor."
"I know, right? How does she even do that; she's so tiny! I mean, who even can do a throw and score every. Damn. Time? How? I can't do it even at the dojo with kids smaller than me." Towards the end the sentence sounded muffled and Armin dared to take a peek behind him, curious. He could see three girls, each from a different team but around the same age, probably a few years younger than him, one of whom had her head in her hands as if torn between crying and frustration. The other two were patting her back sympathetically.
"Right? Like, I see her do it all the time but I still can't believe it! I want to say the refs are biased but I'd be lying to myself," one of the other girls added.
"Yeah, and that's what makes it so infuriating," the hiding-from-the-world-one growled back.
There was silence for a bit before one of them sighed, "You know, sometimes I wonder why I even try anymore. It's not like I have a chance with those two around. Might as well quit, at least competing."
"I know what you mean. Though you still have more of a chance than I do."
"How I miss the younger categories, when they were just idols far away I wanted to one day be like. Now that I actually have to fight them..." the girl didn't finish her sentence as she shuddered and Armin shook his head and focused back on his task with a small, slightly bitter smile on his face. Yeah, being in the shadow of someone bright was hard.
The blond went to start putting his books away but as he was bookmarking the first one, a call of his name interrupted him. Confused, he looked around, and only a second, more urgent call brought his attention towards the competition grounds, where the first kata categories were about to start, and sure enough, there his best friend was, waving at him frantically.
"What is it, Eren?" Armin called back, head cocked to the side.
Eren gave him a sheepish grin, scratching at his head. "Could you throw me my water bottle? I forgot it in my bag."
Armin blinked, first at Eren, then at the mountain of the team's sports bags he was "watching". After a second he located Eren's bag, of course, it was at the very bottom of the pile. He groaned at the prospect of having to dig through all the sweaty equipment and clothing but deposited his laptop on the empty seat next to him anyway. He tried to yank the bag out without much result. Obviously it was tangled up with some other bags. He tried cramming his hand trough to the zipper but didn't get far, managing to get only a small opening. He paused to think of his next step but had to jump in surprise yet again, when a very familiar voice right behind him noted, "You realize it would be easier to just push the other bags off?"
The boy squeaked before turning around to see Annie Leonhart in all her glory, sports bag over her shoulder, quirked eyebrow, and a tiny smirk on her lips.
It took Armin a few seconds to recover from the shock, but then he frowned. "Well that's too much effort. There's a reason why I went to geography club while you all were busy beating each other up."
Annie's smirk widened before she let her bag fall to the ground unceremoniously and she slipped by the boy to easily shove the mountain of bags away from her, making Eren's bag that much more accessible.
She looked back at Armin with a challenging look in her eyes but Armin ignored her, going for the bottle of water to toss to his idiot of a best friend who was now nervously tapping his fingers on the railing.
"Thanks!" Eren said, after taking several gulps from the bottle he barely managed to catch – Armin's aim was about as good as his ability to throw people to the ground, despite Mikasa's – and Annie's – efforts.
"You should go tell Erwin you're here. He's been shitting himself worried you won't make it." Armin didn't even notice when Levi appeared at Eren's side but now he was there giving Eren disgusted looks over being offered a drink from the same bottle Eren drank from and addressing the girl who'd just arrived.
The girl in question rolled her eyes. "There's still two hours left till registration for kumite closes." She then looked at Armin, "Didn't you tell him I'd be here soon when I texted?"
Armin smiled sheepishly, looking away. "I got distracted. And you're here sooner than you said." He shrugged, looking at his watch to confirm that yes, it hadn't been 10 minutes since Annie's text yet.
"Well excuse me for being here sooner."
If one didn't know Annie, they might feel like she was being cold and unfriendly but Armin could see the spark of amusement in her eyes and couldn't help but smile. "Apology accepted," he said cheekily, earning an eyeroll from the girl.
"Get a room!" Eren called and Annie flipped him off in response.
Armin chuckled at their antics, the sound interrupted by the speakers coming to life, announcing the start of the competition. Armin saw Levi say something to Eren, inaudible from their position on the bleachers before they exchanged a kiss and Levi left, leaving Eren by himself.
"And now who needs a room?" Annie wondered out loud and Armin laughed, even more when he noticed the suspicious look on Eren's face. Eren couldn't have heard Annie but he just knew Armin was laughing at his expense and that just made it more funny to Armin.
"It wasn't that funny," Annie said in deadpan, staring at him, but Armin could only shake his head and laugh some more as he saw Eren throw his hands up and walk away in a huff. "Anyway," Annie started again when Armin calmed down. "I'll go tell Erwin I'm here; wouldn't want to have to clean up after him if he does shit his pants."
Armin scrunched up his nose. "Annie, no."
Annie smirked as she leaned down for a long over-due kiss which Armin gladly returned.
"Go back to your essay; I'll be back soon." And she was gone.
Armin smiled after his girlfriend and only picked his laptop back up when she disappeared from his sight.
The kata competition finished according to expectations with Mikasa and Levi dominating their respective categories, though Eren did put up a fight as opposed to the others Levi was facing during the day – meaning he had lost only 4 to 1 and not 5 to 0 during the final match.
Armin and Annie spent the time cheering on their friends together while being used as the general place where everyone deposited their things so they knew where they left them. At one point Armin had seven belts hanging around his neck and Annie had nine different bottles at her feet. They weren't even sure whose those were.
Before the senior male finals started, the couch of the team joined them, appearing out of nowhere next to them just as Eren and Levi made to step on the tatami to begin the match.
"Eren looks like he's gonna burst out laughing," Armin noted, watching his best friend bow to the referees with his lips twitching.
"If he does, I'm going to make him practice Suparinpei for a month," Erwin said, earning a rare laugh from Annie.
"He's going to cry if you do that," she said in between chuckles.
The coach nodded, "That's the point." They were quiet for a bit, watching Levi begin his kata. But after the fist few steps, while he carefully observed his pupil-slash-friend, and taking mental notes of the mistakes in technique or timing they needed to fix, Erwin asked, "Why aren't you changed yet, Annie?"
Annie rolled her eyes, responding in a bored voice, "There's still time coach. You don't need to stress so much all the time."
"Well, maybe if you weren't constantly giving me reasons to stress..." he let the sentence fade away and Armin could swear there was a faint smile on his lips.
Annie didn't say anything, knowing full well he was right. She did tend to arrive last minute to competitions and they had to hold up the start of her category more than once because she liked to go warm-up somewhere away from all the people, making her miss them calling her up constantly. And so, she only crossed her arms, leaning back to rest against Armin's chest in a huff.
Her boyfriend could only smile fondly, snaking his arms around her waist loosely as he leaned down to kiss her temple. He heard Annie huff in slight annoyance but she didn't move away either. Armin knew it irritated her to be reminded how much taller than her Armin was now. When they started dating, he was barely taller than her, after all. But as years went and puberty hit him full force, he grew up all the way to be able to rest his head on top of hers comfortably even when she wore heels. The fact she was just as small as back in middle school was funny, really – as was Armin's hairstyle back then, as Annie liked to remind him.
Now there was definitely a smile on Erwin's lips as his eyes flickered to the pair before settling back on Levi as he prepared for the jump, which he landed flawlessly. No surprise there.
They continued watching in silence, their little group of three being joined by their other friends and teammates gradually until they created a huge support group for the two, giving Levi a huge applause when he finished and an even bigger one to Eren a few minutes later. And when the referees raised their flags, announcing the result, and the two boys went for the obligatory handshake but instead kissed each other, Eren mock-pouting the whole time, they laughed and gave cat-calls, making Levi flip them all off. An action that only made them laugh harder.
The finish of the kata part of the competition was a signal for Annie to go get changed and for Armin to go gather all her protective gear, five minutes later meeting up with Eren, Levi and Mikasa to go warm up and prepare for the second part of the day, the kumite competition. Together they went on a hunt for some secluded hallway that was quiet and preferably cooler than the competition grounds. They settled in a far away corridor, Eren and Armin sitting on the floor by the wall to watch the other three as they jumped around and stretched.
Not for the first time Armin was amazed by the speed and power packed in the small body of his girlfriend and as he felt a wave of affection and fear wash over him, which was immediately followed by mortifying embarrassment when Eren, being the blunt idiot he was, noted, "Wow, I've never noticed but Annie's almost as flexible as Levi. You need to take advantage of that in bed."
Luckily, Armin was spared of giving an audible reaction as a red foot protector came flying at Eren's head instead. Who the culprit was remained a mystery, however, as all three of them wore their customary poker-faces, only giving Eren disgusted and/or murderous glares. Armin was inclined to think it was Mikasa, though.
At some point Hanji managed to find them, telling them how the categories were progressing and reminding them to come back soon so they didn't miss the start of their categories again or Erwin will go bald, to which Levi only snorted.
Eren took the opportunity of their assistant coach's presence, to ask her, "Hanji, when will I be allowed to compete in kumite again? Doing just kata is boring as hell."
Hanji grinned, "When you learn to control your anger and stop getting disqualified after half a minute for being too aggressive."
"Yeah, do you know how annoying it was?" Mikasa added.
Annie nodded solemnly as she took the bottle Armin offered her. "Yeah, if you wanted to be beating people up, you should've gone to kickboxing or MMA or something."
"Not to mention," Armin added, "it would be just a question of time until someone wanted to sue over you breaking someone's nose for the fifth time or something."
"Why are you ganging up on me?" Eren shouted, offended.
Armin shrugged, taking the bottle back from Annie, but it was Levi who answered, "You asked."
"Levi, not you too!"
Everyone laughed as Eren stormed off, absolutely pissed. "This is exactly what we're talking about!" Annie called after him.
"Fuck you all!" Eren called back and they laughed harder.
Nevertheless, Eren came back soon enough as if nothing happened, with the information that the draws for their categories were finally up so they really should start heading back.
Levi and Mikasa gathered their things after that and left, leaving only Armin and Annie behind with a reminder to not linger for long. Again.
Annie wrestled her team jacket over her kimono so she wouldn't cool down too much and as soon as the three were gone, she sat down next to Armin, resting her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes.
"Nervous?" Armin asked softly.
Annie scoffed. "Never."
"Right; of course How stupid of me," Armin replied with an amused smile.
They sat there in silence for a few minutes, hands interwind and resting on Armin's knee as Annie soaked up the peace and quiet of the hallway, calming her - non-existent, naturally - nerves. Armin loved this little ritual they had before Annie needed to go out there again. It was nice, calm and soothing for the both of them and he knew sometimes Annie needed it more than she wanted him to know. Today being one of those days.
For once, Annie's father was there, watching his daughter with critical eyes while the girl tried her hardest to make him proud. It was not easy having a father like Annie's, who had expectations too high for anyone to meet and it was taking its toll on the girl who was in reality much more fragile than she looked and than people assumed.
He hated to interrupt this moment but he finally looked at his watch to see they've been sitting there for ten minutes already. "We should go," he murmured quietly, nuzzling Annie's hair lovingly.
Annie groaned, but sat up straight so Armin could get up and start throwing his girlfriend's things to the small sac she had for carrying them around. By the time he was done, Annie was back on her feet and he grabbed her hand to lead her back towards the mass of people. Right before reaching the giant doors leading to the main area of the arena, Armin stopped to swoop down and steal a quick kiss. "I know you'll do great today," he whispered with a reassuring smile.
Annie stared at him in surprise for a second before shaking her head, stealing one more kiss, and entering the hall, dragging Armin behind her. She didn't say anything but there was a small smile playing on her lips as she squeezed Armin's hand in thanks.
God, Armin loved this girl.
A/N: Hope you liked it? ^^;;
(I want it to be known these 2951 words are the greatest accomplishent I've had with this goddamned sport since I started it in 2001.)