A/N: One-shot fics that I'm going to vomit out here in a giant cluster of nothingness because I'm that obsessed and I feel sick and I can't focus on other major stories at the moment. Stories range from fluff to angst and unfortunately tragedy. This first one starts off as a Highschool AU.
Disclaimer: I don't own Attack on Titan/Shingeki no Kyojin.
#1. He is Fearless.
"Annie!"
The short, blonde girl known as Annie Leonhardt barely raised her head at the sound of her name being called. Her eyes narrowed and her brows scrunched together making it seem like she was annoyed. And she was, to an extent.
Trotting up to her with an arm full of snacks was none other than Armin Arlert, Eren Jaeger and Mikasa Ackerman's beloved childhood friend. One whom many, including her, wondered why he would ocassionally hang out with the infamous "Lone Wolf".
She scoffed, closing her eyes and lowered her head back down to the table's smooth and boring surface as the boy quickly joined her, sliding in at her side and dumping the snacks out in front of them.
"Jaeger and his girl ditch again?" she asked with a bored tone.
Armin only smiled and picked out a bag of chips from the pile.
"Eren's father finally got a break from work and they've been dying to go out as a family for a while. They couldn't possibly pass up an opportunity."
Annie only hummed as she grabbed a small candy bar and silently began to rip away the wrappings.
"So how come you didn't go?" she asked as she bit off a piece knowing full well that the trio always went everywhere together.
"Exams are coming up!" he chirped as if the answer was obvious.
She scoffed at him."Whatever."
She suddenly heard an annoyingly loud crinkle of paper come up close to her face. Her eyes snapped open in a murderous glare and those within the table's vicinity flinched at the animosity of it. Except, of course for Armin.
"Want some?"
There was a moment where even the chatter of other students quieted and almost everyone was staring at the interactions between the two, waiting with baited breath.
Armin, however, never seemed to feel the heavy atmosphere weigh down on him. He just looked at her, met her icy glare with his own eyes reflecting nothing but childish warmth.
Annie stared at him for a moment longer, her glare never leaving her, the tense air never lifting as she slowly raised her hand and shoved it down the opening of the bag of chips, grabbing a fistful with a force that screamed hostility.
Boys in neighboring tables gulped nervously and girls whispered fearful concerns for the oblivious blond male.
The two, however, continued on unbothered. Annie grunted and Armin's smile widened even more, taking the gruff sound as a small "Thank you".
Many assumed that the boy was being Blackmailed into getting snacks for her, many also thought that he was being bullied and that his cheerful appearance was nothing more than a facade to keep his two close friends from catching wind of their seemingly rigid encounters.
Annie Leonhardt was not a friendly sort. She kept to herself and had her own group of "friends" she would often go to. Reiner Braun and Bertholdt Hoover were the more common ones she's hang out with.
Obviously, the trio were not a group one would want to mess with, but the two had their fair share of popularity. Reiner was an easygoing guy, easy to talk to and befriend and Bertholdt was friendly as well, if not a little skittish at first. But Annie was nowhere near as approachable, if there was no reason for her to talk, then she wouldn't talk. Idle chit chat was not something she'd like to indulge in when there was no point, even if her knuckleheaded friends insisted she try.
Which was why they were very grateful for Armin's ocassional visits.
"Hello, Annie." he chirped one morning as he jogged on over to where she leaned against the wall right beside the girl's locker room area.
Her quiet morning of dozing was broken far too early and she all but scowled at the boy.
Armin didn't seem to notice as he stood beside her with a small, friendly smile. "How are you?" he asked genuinely.
"Sleepy." she huffed, her blazing eyes trying to convey her obvious annoyance. Something that Armin failed to notice and if he had, he didn't think anything of it and continued the conversation.
"Really? What time did you go to bed?"
"None of your business." she growled, but he only chuckled lightly, his eyes closing in humorous delight.
"I guess so, huh?" Annie only scoffed at him again.
"Did you eat breakfast?"
She shook her head. "School's food sucks."
"That's true, but it's still pretty early. The pancakes aren't really that bad." He leaned forward, his head dipping to try and meet her eyes. "They're really good once you give them a try." he insisted, his inquisitive gaze finally connecting with her glare.
"You wanna bet?"
"Sure!" he beamed.
She shot him a hard glare. She hated the school's breakfast ever since she last tried their weird concoction known as an omelet. And dear merciful heavens above of culinary arts was it the most foul tasting omelet to ever spill over her tastebuds.
Their eyes held onto each other, hers an adamant challenge and his nothing more than sincere eagerness. His smile never wavered and there was an odd dust of pink lightly flushing his cheeks. His eyes did not betray an ounce of fear or hesitance, rather they held a playful tinge to their normal ocean blues making them appear bright and gentle like the slow laps at a shore's edge.
"Twenty bucks it tastes like sweaty pits worse than when Reiner works out. Fifty if it tastes like Bertholdt's sweat."
Armin only laughed and jumped from his spot, excitedly grabbing her hand. The motion made her jerk her head up in shock but was quickly erased once they started moving towards the cafeteria..
"How do you know how someone else's sweat tastes like?" he asked, laughing loud when she punched him hard on the shoulder.
"We don't speak of it." she ground out and Armin only giggled, already knowing how such a thing occurred.
Needless to say, Armin owed Annie a hefty eighty bucks. She spat out the pancakes faster than it takes a lightning bolt to strike and immediately criticized that it tasted worse than either of her bets and added ten bucks extra for her horrible experience. It was also the last time she ever ate school food. Armin didn't mind paying up the next day.
The two were an odd pair of friends. Their conversations were hushed and quiet save for the rare occasion that others would join at their table such as Armin's close friends or Annie's.
Eren and Mikasa were hesitant at first and it didn't help that Annie didn't exactly make a good impression of herself either, but Armin insisted that she was really a good person.
They never became convinced after an argument broke out and they would often warn him not to associate with her, but little Armin Arlert never listened. He promised that he could prove to them she was really nice.
But Annie didn't cooperate with him either.
On more than one occurence, she would often butt heads with Mikasa in competitive matches in gym leaving both girls sore and edgy towards each other.
In a game of dodgeball Annie had aimed directly at the Asian's head, but having reflexes of a feline, she dodged. Instead the cruel object had hit Armin, knocking him straight down and giving him a bruising bloody nose. When everyone looked at her with expectant looks searching for an apology, she only gave them an indifferent scoff with matching cold eyes.
An action that Ackerman didn't miss.
Other times she would fight with Eren and usually they were completely irrational and mostly just the boy's aggressive outbursts. Conflicts like that were harmless at best.
Despite it all, Armin didn't give up. He still met up with her, went out of his way to accompany her when Reiner and Bertholdt could not and was generally being her friend all around.
It was starting to get to her, she didn't know what he saw in her that made him want to approach her, but he still did. He walked up to her, spoke with her, tried to play around with her and eat with her at lunch. All smiles and nice and being the gentle boy that he was. He never got too close into her space, never pushed her buttons for information he knew he was not privy to and always got her snacks.
And what did she do?
Constantly glare at him, question him, criticize him of his weaknesses and so on and so forth. She never understood how he had just taken it all with a smile, but she was beginning to accept him had it not been for one small incident that truly wasn't the blond boy's fault.
The day had not been going well, she had gotten in a fight with her father just before school. She ended up being late to her first period class and got viciously chewed out by Shadis for it, running laps constantly until the end of the period. Piles of homework built up from one class after another, she felt she'd drown from it all and now, now she was running late and she had to go to her locker for a much needed textbook.
Her combination lock simply would not open for her.
Armin had been with her, tagging along after bumping into her when going to his next class, completely unperturbed by the prospect of being late.
"It's only one tardy, I'm sure Ms. Hange won't mind this once." he reasoned and she had brushed him off and continued on her way.
"Um, Annie?" he poked her shoulder to which she irritably shoved off.
"What?"
"I can help you, if you want." he offered.
"No." she snapped, messing up her numbers once more. She cursed and tried again. Students running on by or lazily prolonging their walk, were growing smaller and smaller and yet, Armin still stayed.
"Are you sure?" he asked, uncertain.
She could feel his eyes look at her, no doubt filled with concern she did not need at the moment.
"Your class is with Levi, right? I'm sure I can help you get your book in time before the tardy bell." he tried again, inching closer to her.
He didn't seem to notice her growing irritation or see the warning signals she was giving with her silence. Of course Levi would have her head if she came tardy or without a book. The man was strict with his rules; they were practically absolute and if one failed to realize this, he'd punish him with an hour of detention and another hour of them cleaning the classroom. Both were neither of what she wanted to do. To top it all off, her head was boiling hot with anger and Armin was not helping at all.
She huffed heavily when once again, her lock didn't budge. She angrily yanked it before trying once more.
"Annie-"
She broke.
Annie quickly turned on her heel and banged her forehead against the boy's, holding herself there and glaring daggers into his shocked and tearing eyes.
"Listen you little twerp, I said I didn't need your help. I can do it just fine by myself!" she barked, shoving her head further against him before shoving him away from her with a push of her arms, knocking him to the ground. He let out a surprised cry and hit his head hard against the concrete.
But Annie continued with her outburst, disregarding his pained yelp. "Why do you insist on helping me anyway? It's not like I've done anything to deserve it. Why follow me around, huh? Did it ever occur in that large head of yours that I don't want to be bothered by anyone much less by someone who won't shut up?"
At this point, Reiner and Bertholdt were walking down the hall fully intent on ditching their class when they heard the commotion.
"Get this into your thick skull, nerd. Leave me alone, Arlert!"
They watched as Annie slammed her fist hard against her locker and stomped off, leaving the boy and her book.
The two larger teens quickly reached Armin, their eyes warily watching the angry female stomp off with the screaming bell announcing their tardiness.
"Hey man, you okay?"
Armin was quiet for a moment, his hand gingerly touching his forehead as he stared in the direction Annie had left.
"A-Armin?"
He snapped out of it when he heard Bertholdt.
"Oh, y-yeah I'm fine. It doesn't hurt."
The two friends glanced at each other worriedly when they saw patches of red and purple mingle on the boy's forehead.
"We should take you to the nurse, just to make sure you're really okay." Reiner suggested, pulling Armin up gently.
"N-no really, it's okay. I should probably just go."
Before he could leave, Bertholdt grabbed his wrist. "H-hey... um... Please don't take it too personally. Annie's... Annie's just stressed, I'm sure she didn't mean it. I mean... well..."
Armin smiled at them and pulled away. "I understand, I just overstepped my boundaries. I'm sorry for troubling you guys as well."
The two could only watch as Armin quickly walked away to get to his next class.
"He really should get that checked out though, Annie's a beast."
"Reiner..."
"What? It's true!"
Safe to say, Annie felt horrible afterwards. Steam was still fuming out of her ears as she suffered through the lectures and the detention. Going home after the day didn't make her feel any better. While punching a boxing bag did relieve some stress, she knew what she had done was wrong. Armin didn't deserve that, but she couldn't take back her actions. She had hit his head rather hard too. There was probably a really nasty bruise already ruining his face and people pointing it out and whispering things.
'I shouldn't have head butted him.' she grumbled to herself.
The following day, Annie felt someone bump up gently against her shoulder as they sat beside her at lunch. She sighed, Reiner and Bertholdt had been bugging her nonstop about her snap against Armin.
"Bertholdt what the hell-" she stopped herself as a familiar pair of blue eyes met hers. "You." Her voice was icy, were it anyone else they would've flinched, but Armin just smiled tentatively.
"H-hi." he greeted quietly. Annie looked past him to the table he usually sat with his friends. Eren and Mikasa were watching, sending her dirty looks to which she equally retaliated.
"Do you want some?" he asked, bringing her attention back at him with the snacks he usually brought.
She looked at his face and found a large white patch covering the bruise she had left him. She could see small hints of purple and green peek over the edges and she felt a stab of guilt sink into her. Her frown deepened at his offer, but she didn't say anything only letting her chin rest at her palm with her eyes defiantly looking away from him.
Armin frowned and looked down at the junk food. He picked out a small bag of chips and quietly opened it.
"Am I bugging you?" he suddenly asked.
Blue eyes widened and she twisted her head around to stare at him.
"Right now, I mean. Am I bugging you?"
She grunted and turned away from him again, leaving his question unanswered.
Armin sighed and turned away, eating his chips slowly.
She glanced at him and noticed his eyes staring down at the table with a hurt expression. That easy going smile he usually wore around her was absent. His welcoming eyes had dimmed to a lonely gaze and she found herself thinking that the look just didn't suit him. His once energetic movements had dulled to a sluggish pace and the warm atmosphere that he always seemed to radiate had dissipated into something dark, gloomy and sad. It wasn't heavy, just a bit depressing considering the boy was always happy around her.
She sighed and banged her hands loud against the table as she lifted herself up, muttered something under her breath and left soon after, leaving a stunned and confused Armin behind.
He watched her leave and let out his own saddened sigh of his own. He was about to pick himself up and depart as well, but he stopped once he noticed her bag still sitting where she had left it. Confused, Armin sat himself back down and continued munching on his chips, taking it upon himself to watch her personal belongings while she was away.
When Annie came back Armin was about to ask her where she had gone, but before he could make a sound, he stopped himself.
'She's probably still upset.' he thought as he turned his head away and continued eating. He didn't want to anger her anymore, so he kept to himself.
Annie quirked a curious brow up obviously expecting the boy to question her, but when he said nothing she felt an odd weight of disappointment fill her. She shook it off and went on with her plan.
"Here." she mumbled, thrusting something to the boy's face and nicking it at his nose.
He flinched at the sudden coldness and looked at her with wide eyes.
She presented him with a single ice cream cone.
"I'm..." she started, but struggled with the words. She looked away from him as she continued to hold onto the cone. "I'm sorry for snapping at you like that... And for head butting you." Her voice had lowered as she went and she chanced glancing up at him. He still looked confused. "I'm sorry for hurting you..." she mumbled lowly, her cheeks growing warm.
She then felt warm hands gently take her apology and she looked up warily. Armin wore the widest grin as he took the treat from her and laughed in relief. Releif because she wasn't mad at him anymore.
"Thank you, Annie!" His smile grew, but he didn't look away just yet. "But where's yours?" he asked curiously as he tried to look over at her other hand to see if she was hiding it.
She huffed at him impatiently. "I only had enough for one."
The playful smile didn't leave him. "Really? After all that money I got you from that bet?"
"Walking on thin ice, Arlert." she warned as she turned away from him again to rest on her palm.
Annie flinched when she felt something incredibly cold touch her cheek. When she turned to berate the culprit, her lips and nose crashed into the frozen treat, getting vanilla all over her face.
"Do you want some of mine?" he offered playfully.
She let out an annoyed "Hmph" before taking a generous bite out of the sweet. Armin just smiled and scooted closer to her, pulling out a napkin and wiping the ice cream from her face.
From the students point of view, it looked as if Annie might bite off his hand for touching her so intimately and it looked as if her flushed face was out of incontrollable fury.
However, from their seats far from the two blondes table, Eren only looked confused while Mikasa huffed at the obvious display of affection.
"Armin's pretty brave to go after Annie of all people." Eren mused as he bit into his sandwich. "It looks like she's gonna murder him at any moment now."
"That, or Annie's just thinking of ways to corner him into being her special slave."
Eren and everyone else at their table grew quiet and stared at the Asian girl as she calmly continued eating her lunch.
"You're playing around, right?" Connie asked after a moment, him and everyone else looking up to glance at the blonde pair. "She's seriously joking, right? Reiner?"
The burly male only held his hands up in surrender.
"Bertholdt?"
"Uh, um... Annie's... probably just shy with him?" he guessed with a nervous smile.
"Armin is such a brave soul!" Sasha silently saluted her friend with false tears bubbling up from her eyes with Connie closely following her actions.
-X-X-X-
A/N: Can you tell how horrible I am at this? Yes? Alright, making sure. Ugh, my head is throbbing... Anyway hope you enjoyed this... thing. I'm probably going to write more poorly made One-shots after posting this to follow after it, so until then I guess...