Chapter 10: Strange Feelings

Armin and Tori jogged down the dirt path that circled the training base side by side. This was about the fifth time they had jogged the track together, and though Armin was still having trouble keeping pace with Tori, who was much faster than he was, he knew he was improving. The two friends had been jogging and training with the 3DMG every chance they could get in order to keep up with their peers. Tori was impressively better at using the 3DMG. She could completely let herself go and her motions were fluid and instinctual based on the situation. Armin didn't even think she really needed extra help any more, but he never told her that outright because he was worried he wouldn't see her as often if he did.

Today they were continuing with their routine, a mile jog in the morning and 3DMG training after that. Tori still hadn't really talked much with Armin other than the usual day to day conversations. She hadn't told him what had really happened to make her want to join the Military Police, and he hadn't quite figured out a way to get her to open up. Every time he tried to start that conversation she would change the subject.

Armin watched her as she ran beside him; her lean muscles that had started to develop over the weeks of training were visible and working hard. Her hair, pulled back in a pony tail, bounced with every step and her eyes were set straight ahead with determination. He was so intent on studying her at the moment, that he didn't see the pot hole in his path before he stepped in it and fell flat on his face.

"Armin! Are you alright?" Tori asked, skidding to a halt and rushing to his aide.

"I'm okay," he replied with a mouthful of dirt.

Armin picked himself up out of the dirt and tested the ankle that had stepped painfully into the hole. It hurt a little but he didn't think there was anything seriously wrong with it. He was much more concerned with the fact that he had tripped over the hole like an idiot right in front of Tori. He was currently covered in dirt and the small amount of pride he had accumulated was hurting more than the ankle ever could.

Tori crouched down in the dirt beside him and immediately inspected his ankle for herself. She held it in her hand and tried moving it in different directions to make sure it wasn't broken.

"Ow, it's alright, Tori. I don't think it's broken," Armin said with a red face.

"Alright, let's stand you up, then," Tori said, offering him a hand.

He took her hand and she helped him get to his feet, letting him lean his weight on her a little as he tested the amount of pain he felt in his ankle. It seemed alright, and he let go of her hand, embarrassed to have needed her help like that. Wasn't he supposed to be the one picking her up?

"So what happened there?" she asked him with an amused look on her face.

"I tripped on that pot hole back there. I must not have been watching the ground," he said. There was no way he was going to tell her it was because he had been watching her run that he tripped.

"It's alright, it could happen to anyone," she laughed.

"Right," he said, brushing off the dirt that still stained his white shirt.

"Do you still think you can train with the 3DMG today?"

"Yeah it should be okay by the time we get there, it's just a little sore," Armin replied.

"We were almost done with the track anyways, we can stop early," Tori suggested.

The two of them made their way to go pick up their gear. Armin limped along beside Tori, and she couldn't help but tease her friend. "Sure you don't need me to carry you?"

Armin gave her an annoyed look, but then what looked like a sad expression crossed his face and he said, "You know, you don't have to run with me if you don't want to. I know you slow yourself down so I can keep up. If you want to go faster you can leave me behind."

"Come on, Armin, do you seriously think I mind that much? I really like the company and you're really not all that much slower."

"I just don't want you to feel like you have to do this to be nice to me or anything. I don't want to drag you down," Armin said. Her words had made him feel better but he was still embarrassed.

"I really mean it, Armin. I want to run with you. It's much nicer than running alone and it makes me feel better to know I'm helping you for all the help you gave me with the gear."

Armin nodded at that and he felt the flush in his cheeks die down a little; he could also walk easier on his ankle. They collected their gear and walked out onto the training course. Armin had an idea he wanted to try that had been floating around in the back of his mind for some time now. He thought Tori was good enough now to be able to handle it.

"So instead of taking turns running the course, I thought we could try doing it together…if you'd like," he suggested. "Shadis will have you working in teams soon enough anyways as part of the training."

"Oh, you don't think that could be dangerous? We'll probably get awfully close to one another, the course isn't that big, we might crash," the girl said with concern.

"Trust me, Tori, I think you can handle it," Armin replied.

Armin and Tori stood side by side at the start of the course, their gear strapped on tight and their operating devices gripped in their hands. Armin looked excited, but Tori still had her doubts. Standing here next to him and looking down the narrow course made it even more apparent to her how tight the quarters were going to be. She still didn't feel completely confident with her gear, no matter how much Armin praised her, and she didn't want to cause him any more pain today by losing control and crashing into him.

"Hey, so what are the rules here? I've never done this before with someone else. How do you usually proceed?" she asked.

"No rules, just go for it," Armin said, his blue eyes shining on her face. Without another word the boy took off into the sky, leaving Tori behind to try and come up with enough courage to follow him.

What was wrong with her? She was usually more adventurous than this! Just follow Armin, just give it a try. What's the worst that could happen? Stop being so stiff and loosen up! She shook her head to clear it and finally just pulled the triggers on her grips without letting herself think too much more about it. With a woosh she was propelled forward, and she twisted with the gear, letting herself go once again, and maneuvering with speed and skill. She was so focused on what she was doing that she never noticed Armin come up from behind her, send the steel cables from his gear flying forward to contact the same building she had sent hers, and start gliding through the air right beside her.

"Tori!" she heard him say much too close to her ear. "Great job!"

She snapped her head in his direction and suddenly found herself almost nose to nose with him. His face was literally inches away from hers, they were that close! Her eyes widened with shock and she gasped at how dangerous this was. Every nerve inside was screaming at her to back off, one wrong move and they'd crash. But the expression on Armin's face and the confidence in his eyes kept her from dropping below him. Her eyes locked with his and he smiled as they remained parallel with each other. Trust me, he had said. She held her position until the two of them landed with a thud on the nearest building.

Out of breath he met her eyes again, such joy and excitement was in them as he laughed. "That was the most fun I've had with the gear in a long while! Did you see how close we were! It was exciting feeling like we could collide at any second, but we didn't! You stayed right on course, Tori!"

She couldn't help but smile back, his face was so alive…he was adorable. "You do realize I was in panic mode the whole time," she giggled. "I was sure something bad was going to happen."

"But it didn't and look how well we did," he said. "Want to go try some more moves like that?"

"Okay," Tori said with a deep breath. She suddenly wanted to let go and trust him. She wanted to feel that ecstatic joy he was radiating and she didn't want to be afraid anymore. She didn't want the world to disappoint her and take away her happiness like it seemed to do almost every day. Armin could help keep the disappointment and bad situations at bay; she didn't think there wasn't anything he couldn't do with that smile of his. "Let's do this!"

They took off again, this time Tori let the gear take her wherever it wanted and Armin followed close behind. They swooshed through the air, flipping in all directions and moving around each other with fluidity and teamwork. Armin zipped up from underneath her as she catapulted down and for a few seconds they were right in front of each other, a nose length apart, before they parted with the momentum of the gear. Tori laughed and whipped back around, sending herself twirling around Armin and kicking off of a building with her foot to give herself more air time. Her muscles strained and burned with the complex motions she was making, but she hardly noticed the pain, her eyes were trained on Armin's figure as the two of them tested just how many close calls they could get themselves into.

Armin never thought he could have so much fun with the 3DMG. He had always seen it as an instrument of destruction, its one purpose was to kill Titans and keep its operator out of harm's way. That's how everyone in the regiment saw it. They always used it with such straight and concentrated faces, never once smiling or feeling the joy of zipping through the air. It was all about ranking up and being the best in order to make it into the top ten so they could join the Military Police. Mikasa used it as naturally as breathing and there was nothing new and exciting about it for her. It was just a tool to keep Eren safe. Eren, on the other hand, may be one of the only other people who Armin had actually seen enjoy using the gear. Of course, he was just excited to finally have a way to murder Titans. Then there was Sasha, she made a game out of everything and would whoop with joy when flying through the air…but Tori was completely different from all of them. Armin could see it in her face every time they got close. She was trying new moves and taking more and more risks with each pass, she was laughing out loud and yelling with excitement, she was radiant and beautiful, moving through the air like she was born to fly. Her honey hair whipped freely across her face with each turn and her sky blue eyes sparkled with delight. This was the Tori he remembered, with her little collection of objects in her room and her fascination with the stories and books in the library. He remembered how she had loved to talk about her adventures looking for items to collect and exploring her world with her loyal dog. He was happy to have her back, if only for this brief moment before she let the darkness in her heart take back over.

It wasn't long until the two of them started to get a little too risky with their moves. Tori came around for another pass with Armin. She closed her eyes briefly, feeling the wind brush against her face as she sped through the air…and suddenly had the wind knocked out of her. She gasped in surprise and her eyes snapped back open to see that she had collided with one of Armin's cables. She didn't have time to catch herself as she struggled to take a breath, and was soon falling straight down.

"Tori!" Armin yelled and swooped down to catch her, but his cable missed its mark after the collision and he soon found himself falling as well. He tried desperately to catch himself, but the best he could do was slow his fall before landing with an audible 'oof' right on top of something soft.

It was a good thing they had pillows down here in case people fell during training…wait, pillows? Armin immediately opened his eyes and found that he had landed, not on pillows, but on top of Tori who had fallen right underneath him. His eyes widened in shock and she stared back at him, a little dazed.

"Oh God! Tori, are you alright? I didn't hurt you did I?" he panicked.

"Huh? Armin? Um…I'm alright. I didn't fall that far and I think you slowed yourself down well enough to prevent too much damage," she replied, still trying to breathe a little easier after she had the wind knocked out of her.

"You're sure? I'd hate to think I'd hurt you, I'm sorry."

"Armin, it's fine," she finally smiled. "That was really fun, though, wasn't it? Sorry I wasn't watching where I was going and got all tangled up. "

"It was my fault too, I thought I could get away with getting that close to you and I wasn't watching what you were doing," he returned sheepishly.

She looked up at him with the same genuine smile on her face and a laugh in her sparkling eyes. Her face was flushed and she was still breathing heavily, and he could feel her chest rise and fall against him. He gazed back at her, admiring her excitement and enjoying being so close to the joy she was radiating. Wow…she's perfect, he thought.

"Uh, Armin? Is there a reason you're still laying on top of me?"

Armin's eyes widened instantly and his face turned the darkest shade of red it had ever been. He had been so enraptured by her that he had forgot how much of a compromising situation they were in. His face was inches above hers and he could feel her breath and her warmth against his cheeks. Her eyes searched his, trying to figure out what was wrong with him and why he had frozen up.

"Uh, sorry!" he nearly yelped and shot up in a sitting position, rolling off of her and trying to hide his heated face.

"It's alright, Armin, you couldn't control the way you landed," she said, sitting up and blushing as well.

"Thanks…you're sure you're okay?"

"Yes. I'm fine."

"Alright, maybe we should call it a day?"

"Yeah, we probably should."

Armin stood up and offered Tori his hand, which she took, and he helped pull her to her feet. She wobbled slightly, but seemed okay otherwise, and he quickly dropped her hand, trying desperately to keep his embarrassment under control. They gathered up their gear and started walking back to camp while an awkward silence slowly drifted between them.

"So, did you like my moves out there?" Tori asked, trying to lighten the tense air that had somehow developed.

Armin caught on real quick and replied, "They were pretty sweet, but not as good as mine."

"No way, you're nowhere near as fast as me," she laughed.

Armin laughed as well, thankful for the relaxation he was starting to feel after all that awkwardness earlier. He brushed the disturbing new feelings he had experienced aside and focused on their new conversation. This was how they usually got along, friendly chatter and easy going discussions. It felt more normal and natural than how close they had been before.

When they came to the point where they had to part ways, each going to their own quarters for the night, Tori stopped and thanked him for the fun they had. "It was really great, Armin, I haven't felt that happy in years," she said.

"No problem, I had a great time too…but maybe you could tell me why you haven't been happy for so long?" he asked, taking a chance while her mood was so high.

Unfortunately, his comment seemed to bring back old memories, and her cheerful face darkened a little. "Yeah, maybe I'm ready to tell you…just not tonight."

"No problem. I'll…um…I'll see you later, and sorry again for landing on you and…yeah," he muttered nervously.

"It's already forgiven and forgotten. 'Night," she said with a smile and then turned away from him and made her way to her quarters.

Armin let out a deep breath and watched her walk slowly away. Forgotten? What had she meant by that? Didn't she feel any of the strange things he had felt when they had been so close to each other? How could she just forget them like that? They were eating him up inside as he tried to forget how soft and warm she had felt underneath him and how her chest had pushed up against his…and her eyes…the sky wasn't even that blue. He shook his head, trying to clear it, telling himself that it was just an infatuation because she was a girl and he had never really been that close to a girl before. He wasn't going to screw up the friendship he had worked so hard to slowly build back up. She was so close to fully trusting him and telling him about her past and what was troubling her. He couldn't throw this awkward situation into the mix as well.

Disgruntled and confused, Armin walked back to his quarters and put up his gear. He made his way to his bunk and flopped into it, glad there was no one around to see his flushed face, and tried desperately to think of anything other than the way Tori had smiled at him and the new warmth he had felt.

"Listen up, pansies!" Shadis yelled at the 105th regiment as he paced back and forth in front of them. "Now that you've all passed the gear initiation we are going to start to get more intense with your training."

Tori smiled, thinking about the shocked look on the commandant's face when she had, not only passed the 3DMG test, but did it faster and with more skill than her entire regiment. In fact, the whole regiment had stared at her with opened jaws as she sauntered confidently off the course when she had finished it. They wouldn't be making fun of her anymore!

The cadets now stood in front of their commander, soaking in sweat from the hot day but all ready to take on the next challenge. Tori felt disgusting. She wasn't used to being so sweaty and dirty all the time. Back home she had access to water whenever she wanted it, and it was important to the people of Wall Sina to keep clean. Here they were dirty and smelled bad most of the time, and what was even worse was the shower situation. It was communal, which wasn't a problem for any of the girls except for her. No privacy at all. Just standing in a giant room filled with shower heads, butt naked in front of all the other girls on the training grounds. Tori still wasn't used to it; everything at home had been hers and had been private, especially since she had been an only child for so long. She wasn't used to sharing, and she certainly wasn't used to being around rambunctious naked girls who made games out of splashing water around and tackling each other in the shower. She had actually started waiting until everyone was done before taking her turn in the water, and she was certainly miffed by the fact they usually didn't get to clean themselves until the end of the day and had to walk around dirty and sweaty until then.

The other cadets teased her about her strange habits, calling her "princess" even more often and constantly making cracks about her embarrassment in the shower. They made fun of her during training too, because she was so soft from years of easy work and had never performed hard labor tasks. She hurt herself often and her delicate skin would give way much more easily than the tougher skinned cadets who had worked their entire lives. There were other little things too. The way she ate her food with the upper-class manners her parents had taught her, and how she was constantly irritated with the few choices of food they actually had. How she was nervous and unsure around the large crowds of cadets in the mess hall and how she would usually sit by herself in a corner unless Sheila forced herself upon her. She tried to be nice and friendly, but it was really hard shaking the image that so many people already had about her in their minds.

Tori sighed, Armin was the only one who didn't give her strange looks or make fun of her or talk about her behind her back. When she was with him she never felt judged or ridiculed. She felt like she could be herself…the self she had been back when she had first met him. She smiled, thinking of the fun she had the other day when they had trained on the course together. When they had crashed she hadn't gotten that feeling of fear she had felt when she crashed on her own the first time. Because she was with him, it had been alright.

She felt a blush start to rise in her cheeks as she remembered how close they had been; his eyes had shimmered in the light above her and his pretty golden hair had fallen forward around his face. She had to resist the urge to reach up and feel the softness of it in her fingers, that wouldn't have been right…they were just friends and she couldn't let those strange stirrings in her chest take control just because they had gotten close.

"Hand to hand combat!" Shadis yelled.

Tori snapped her head up at the loud words her commandant had just yelled to the regiment, pushing daydreams of Armin from her mind before someone noticed and she got in trouble. There were audible moans from the rest of her regiment at his words and she glanced around, confused at what was going on and hopeful that she could catch Sheila's attention in order to find out.

"Sorry, what's everyone so upset about?" she asked the auburn haired girl.

"We were all hoping to start learning how to use the blades with the 3DMG gear today, not some useless hand to hand combat! Like I'm going to go up against a Titan with only me fists!" Sheila whispered.

Hand to hand combat? Oh, great, just another thing for her to suck at. She wondered if Armin was any good at it.

"At first, I will be pairing you cadets up into a four person team and you will practice the moves we teach you with that team until you have learned how to effectively defeat your opponents. After that I will team you with some cadets from the 104th regiment so you can test yourselves against opponents with more skill than you," Shadis explained. "We will continue daily runs, exercises, and 3DMG training as well, but for today I want to see you punks out there hitting each other! Now listen up as I call your names for your teams, I do not want to have to repeat myself!"

Tori listened as he called off four cadets at a time and indicated they would be in a team for practice. Finally he got around to her name, and she blinked in shock when she heard who she had been paired with. "Haize, Henson, Quinn, Morres!" Shadis shouted.

Tori glanced quickly at Sheila and she did the same at Tori. Rose Quinn and Erika Morres were their partners?! Rose basically hated everyone's guts and Erika never really said much to anyone. Rose was the one who had said the most insulting and vicious things to Tori, like she resented her for something. This was going to be a lot harder than Tori had even dreamed. Rose was going to tear her apart, physically and mentally, and even with Sheila there to support her she wasn't sure if she was going to be able to handle it.

Rose stood farther down the line from Tori and Sheila, but when she heard her named called, she immediately turned her dark gaze on Tori and gave her a smirk. Oh shit.

Armin sat in class listening to the instructor, and was once again paying absolutely no attention to what the man had to say. His mind wandered to Tori, wondering what she was doing right now and wondering if she thought about the moment they had shared as much as he did. Probably not, but it couldn't hurt to wonder. His eyes flickered out the window and he thought he could see the 105th regiment lined up in the training field far off in the distance. Today was the day of the 3DMG test for the 105th, and he knew she would pass with flying colors. He imagined what she would look like, zipping through the air, hair swirling and eyes sparkling like they did, as she surprised everybody with how good she had become.

He walked back to quarters when the class was over; sighing because he'd have to look up what the lecture had been about in his borrowed library books since he hadn't been paying much attention. Oh well, he'd be able to figure it out well enough on his own. The sun was hot and the air was muggy, causing the cadets to sweat more profusely than normal, but Armin hardly noticed the sweltering heat, he had too much on his mind. He also didn't notice the approaching footsteps until he was grabbed from behind by a very large broad framed blonde.

"Aaah! Reiner! Let go of me!" Armin struggled and gasped, but the large arms held him still and the rest of the group soon formed around him. Connie stood in front of him, a mischievous grin gracing his face, while Bertolt and Marco stood nearby.

"Not until you explain what's been going on between you and that cute little blonde from the 105th regiment," Connie teased.

Armin blushed and tried to get away again, but Reiner held his arms tightly behind his back and there was no escaping the muscled grasp. "Wh-what makes you think there's anything going on?"

"Um let me think…the fact that you're blushing redder than a tomato and avoiding the question…oh and Annie told us she saw you two together on the training course," Connie continued.

"Annie said that?" Armin wondered. Since when was Annie a gossiper? She usually acted like she didn't care about anyone or anything.

"Yeah, but that doesn't matter, what matters is you answering the question," Reiner added in.

"Guys, you can probably let him go, you don't have to hurt him," Marco said.

"Oh, yeah, sorry Armin," Reiner replied, releasing him.

Armin rubbed his bruised arms but didn't try to make a run for it. The boys had him circled and he didn't want Reiner to grab him again. He'd better just tell them the truth, there wasn't any harm in it, and it would get them off of his back. "I'm sure you know by now that she's an old friend of mine. She needed help training and I was helping her out."

"Is that all?" Connie pressed. "You sure there's not something else going on between you?"

"I swear, that's all. Besides, what would I have to gain by lying to you now? It's obvious you know about me spending time with her, and if there was something going on between us don't you think I'd have bragged about it by now?"

"I guess," Connie shrugged. "But I know you, Armin, you're not really one to brag."

"What about when he starts talking about all that science and technical stuff like he knows more than we do?" Reiner asked.

"That's not Armin bragging, that's Armin just being his weird smartass self," Connie explained to Reiner.

"Hey! What are you guys doing to Armin?" Sasha yelled from across the compound. She walked up to the group of boys, two loaves of bread in her hands.

"Yeah, can't you heartless bastards pick on someone your own size? He's just too cute to harass like this," Mina Carolina winked as she followed behind Sasha.

Armin couldn't believe this. Here he was, cornered by some of the biggest blabber mouths in the camp, and they knew about him and Tori. Thanks a lot, Annie! If he just remained cool and played it off like he was just helping a younger cadet, then maybe they'd let it go and wouldn't drag Tori into this. He couldn't imagine what she think if these buffoons from his regiment started harassing her about spending time with him.

"It's just weird, you know…Armin spending time with a girl. The only girl he ever has long conversations with is Mikasa! That's why we had to know," Connie explained to the two girls who had just arrived.

"Wait, what?! Armin's got a girlfriend?" Mina exclaimed. Sasha suddenly squealed with excitement at her words and nearly dropped her precious bread.

"No! It's not like that, I've been trying to tell you, we're old friends and I'm helping her out. She's helped me a lot too," Armin tried explaining, but his friends weren't listening.

"I wonder what she's like?" Mina crooned.

"Probably just as smart and nerdy as he is," Connie added.

"I've seen her too, she's pretty cute," Reiner told them.

"Maybe we should go introduce ourselves?" Bertholt finally contributed.

Armin didn't know what to do; he couldn't get them to stop! He was afraid they might spontaneously saunter on over to the training field right now to go talk to Tori. No telling what they may do with Connie and Sasha in the mix. Thankfully he was saved my Eren and Mikasa as the two friends he always had to count on came to save his butt again.

"Didn't you hear Armin? She's not his girlfriend. I met her and she seemed liked the kind of girl who wouldn't really want to be in any kind of relationship, so quit your gossiping," Eren growled after seeing the distraught look on his blonde friend's face. Mikasa stood in the background with a stern look.

Though Eren had said it to deter his friends from picking on Armin and Tori, for some reason his words hurt Armin a little and made him wonder if Eren was right, Tori probably wasn't looking to be in any kind of relationship. But why should that matter? They were just friends anyways, right? Why did he have this strange feeling down deep that he wanted to perhaps be closer than friends with her? They hadn't been training for very long, but Armin already looked forward to every little moment he had the chance to spend with her and he thought about her constantly when she was away. Was that normal? He didn't know, he had never been this interested in a girl before.

"Calm down, Eren," Mina said. "You're always so over dramatic."

"We were just having a little fun, man," Connie added.

"It doesn't matter if she's his girlfriend or not, it would still be nice to meet her," Marco said. "Especially if she's Armin's old friend."

"Yes! I bet she's sooo nice!" Sasha exclaimed.

"I'm sure Shadis will team us up with the 105th regiment soon enough. He likes to challenge them with tougher opponents and give us the opportunity to practice leadership skills," Armin assured them. "You can meet her then, but I think it wouldn't be appropriate to just walk over there now and barge in on their training session just to meet a friend of mine."

"Armin's right," Bertholt said. "Come on, we better go before someone sees us slacking off and makes us run some laps or something."

Some in the group groaned and others nodded at his words of wisdom and hurried back to the barracks. Armin walked with Eren and Mikasa and the green eyed boy asked him, "You okay Armin? Looked like they were bothering you pretty bad."

"Yeah, I'm fine Eren. You really didn't have to do that; I could have found a way to handle it."

"It's alright to ask for help, Armin," Mikasa said.

Armin looked away, still bothered that they always had to be there to pull him out of sticky situations. Then something came back to mind and he asked, "Hey, Eren, did you really mean what you said to them, about Tori and relationships?"

"I kind of just made that up, I don't know that much about her, but she looks like she may have gone through some rough spots in her life and she probably just needs some time away from her old life to get back into gear," Eren said thoughtfully, then he smiled at Armin and said, "But hey! If she ever did decide to get serious about someone, I'm sure it would be you!"

"Me?!" Armin exclaimed, blushing again.

"Aha! So you do like her?"

"I really meant what I said, Eren, we're just friends."

"But you might be starting to feel something a little more than friendship hmm?"

Armin looked away, too confused and embarrassed to answer. Is that why he had been daydreaming about her and why he had reacted the way he did when he had fell on top of her?

"There's one thing that's for sure, Armin, she does like you, even if it's only as a friend. But that's how it all starts isn't it?" Eren winked. "What do you think, Mikasa?"

Mikasa shrugged, "I think Armin needs to figure this out on his own. It's what he's good at; thinking things through and coming up with answers."

Armin turned his head again so his friend wouldn't see too much of his heated face. "Maybe we should talk about something else? Um…how about the lecture today? Did you understand well enough, Eren?" he said trying to desperately change the subject. He wasn't sure how he felt and he didn't really want to discuss it right now, it was all too new to him and Mikasa was right, he felt like he needed to roll it around in his head a little before actively talking about it.

Eren's mood immediately soured and he started ranting about how dumb it was they had to do book work when they should be out learning how to kill Titans. Armin chuckled at his friend's exasperation and focused on listening to him in order to get Tori out of his head.

A petite, light blonde figure with a unique curved nose watched the three friends walking and chatting together on their way back to the barracks. After they had disappeared from view, Annie made her own way back to her barracks alone.

Hey there Readers! I apologize for any typos there may have been, my sister was distracting me while I was trying to proof read this. Anyways, thank you all for the great reviews! Cookie Ninja: Thanks for reviewing my chapters! MaybeAYoutuber: No problem, glad you're still around! Armin is absolutely adorable isn't he :). Mr. Icecream03: Thanks for reviewing; I'm excited you enjoy the story!

As always, read, review, lemme know what you think! See you next time!