"Have you ever kissed anyone before?"

Armin thought about it for a moment. He hasn't, but he wondered how she'd react if he said he did-would she be mad? Upset?

"No," Armin replied, refusing to risk upsetting her. "Have you?"

Christa looked away, blushing. "Well…define kissing."

Armin stopped in his tracks.

"…Armin?"

What if she had kissed someone else? Were they together? Why weren't they together? Did someone break her heart? Did Armin have to kill someone?

"…are you okay Armin?"

What if she's done more than kissing? What if she'd gone all the way? What if-?

"Armin!"

Armin blinked. "Huh? Sorry, lost in thought. You were saying?"

Christa twiddled her thumbs. "I never kissed anyone on the lips before, but I…may or may not have kissed Reiner on the cheek once…"

"Oh," Armin said, exhaling. Well that's not so bad. She was kind by nature-

"-Or twice…"

Well then.

"…or twenty five times…"

Now that Armin had a problem with.

"…why…?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.

Then he had a flashback to the time Christa saved his life along with Reiner's and Jean's by bringing back horses, and Reiner's comment.

I want to marry her.

"…did you and Reiner—?!"

"I-I-It was only for a week or two while we were cadets! B-besides, he didn't really like me! He broke things off and began pining after someone else."

Armin almost choked. He willingly left her!? Now he knew he needed to kill someone.

"…you're thinking again, aren't you?"

"W-what? O-oh…yeah…" Armin said, scratching his cheek with his forefinger, "sorry…"

"It's okay," Christa replied, smiling, "your thinking face is cute."

It felt weird to Armin to be gossiping like this—about who likes who or whatever. He's never really gotten into that kind of thing—he guessed having a girlfriend perked his interest. Before, he'd just go off alone and hide out in the library, but now he felt more…open.

Christa poked his face. "You're doing it again…you sure space out a lot, don't you?"

Armin decided not to comment. Instead, he opened the door to the kitchen—

—and it was completely empty.

"Huh," Armin said, cautiously stepping inside, "it's lunchtime, and even captain Levi isn't in here."

"Did something happen?" Christa asked quietly, "Because this is really weird…"

"Let's go see," Armin said, taking Christa's hand and cautiously stepped inside. When it became clear that not a soul was in the room, Armin scratched his head in bewilderment.

"Maybe they're having a meeting," Christa said, "and didn't tell us?"

Armin shrugged. "Well, let's just make some food for ourselves then."

"I like cooking," Christa agreed, "but what are we going to make?"

Another shrug. "Whatever the supplies we have let us, I guess."

After some more debate and raiding of the cabinets, they decided to just make a simple beef stew.

…which proved to be a lot more complex than they anticipated.

"Armin," Christa panted, "I can't reach the pepper…"

Armin turned from the broth he was stirring and saw her balancing precariously on her tip toes on a chair, reaching with all of her might—

"Christa—!" He cried, diving for her as she suddenly lost her footing.

There was a thump as Christa landed safely on Armin's stomach.

"O-ow…" Armin moaned, "You need to be more careful…"

"I-I'm sorry," she said, giving him a look that resembled a scolded puppy.

Armin felt something tug at his heart. "I-It's okay," he murmured, "How about you stir and I season it?"

Christa looked down at him, shifting so he was straddling him. "O-okay…but be gentle about it okay? I don't want you to overdo it."

"I won't, I promise."

"What the hell did I just walk into?!"

Armin turned and saw an extremely confused Eren. "Uh…we were cooking and—"

"You started having sex because that's normal," Eren muttered, "seriously. In the kitchen?"

Armin expected Christa to be embarrassed or abashed, but instead she was the exact opposite.

"Is someone upset that their best friend is losing their virginity before they are?" She asked, grinning deviously.

Armin's face suddenly felt like it caught fire. "C-C-C-CHRISTA—!"

"You know what? I wasn't that hungry in the first place," Eren said, looking rather green. "Have fun…"

"I-It wasn't—!"

"Sure it wasn't," Eren called back, briskly walking out of the room.

When he left, Armin turned on a laughing Christa. "W-w-w-why—?!"

"Oh come on it was a joke!" she giggled, "You can't tell me the look on his face wasn't hilarious!"

Armin sighed. "I guess not…" he said, finally allowing a smile.

"Okay!" Christa said, clapping her hands, "let's get back to cooking!"