She rested her head on her elbows, facing towards him, listening intently as he 'helped' her with the statistics homework. Oh quit lying to yourself Leonhardt you will literally make any excuse to see him at this point, she thought to herself. "So, once again we have to find the z-score and from that we get our underlying probability from the z-table. The key is to make the numbers feel relevant to everyday life; say the likelihood of passing a test or-", he turned towards her "Hey are you okay?"

Annie looked up at him, her face solemn but her eyes burning with the same intensity he always saw in them "Sure, why wouldn't I be?"

Why does she always have to answer a question with a question, he thought to himself, "Well, I uh...nothing, forget I asked."

She sat up "No seriously, what's up?"

"Well I've been thinking."

"When are you ever not?", she said in her signature deadpan.

Armin chuckled lightly, partly out of nervousness but he still appreciated her humour "It's just that you're friends with Reiner and Bertholdt, right?"

"Guess so, go on."

"So I was wondering, you know with the study-week party Reiner has organised-"

"You're wondering if I'm going?", she cocked an eyebrow at him.

Neither said anything for nearly two minutes of awkward silence, but from Armin' point of view it felt like a lifetime until Annie said something "I might go if you are going too."

She noticed his azure blue eyes light up "Annie you don't have to go if you don't want to."

She stood up from her chair, crossing her arms and placing all of her weight on one foot, "What's that supposed to mean, because I'm an unsociable, resting bitch-face, heartless, ice queen?", the anger beginning to manifest in her tone, and a scary look to match on her face.

"I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean anything of the sort it's just-", despite his fears he managed to look her right in the eye "I mean it will be a load of college jocks getting drunk in the countryside outside the city."

"Then why are you going?", her expression had softened back to its usual uninterested look.

"I promised Eren and Reiner I would go", he said while looking down at his feet.

She stood there, still looking at him while she focused on her thoughts;, what are you doing?, you might finally be alone with him outside of doing homework for once, Goddammit why can't I let myself be happy? Armin stood up and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder "It's okay Annie, I'm not a huge fan of large social gatherings either, I was practically dragged along to parties by Eren and Mikasa and never enjoyed them", he looked into her ice blue eyes "But that might change if you're there too."

Annie looked away "Why me, though?"

"Because you're a good person Annie, you may not believe it, but you are to me."

"Armin, I'm not I-", her voice began to break and she fought back a lump in her throat "Even when people try to be nice to me, or see me as something other than cold and heartless, I end up pushing them away, how does that make me a good person?", a single tear began roll down her cheek and then she heard her father's voice again. "Toughen up Annie, big girls don't cry, no wonder your mother is no longer with us, having to rear a pathetic brat like you."

Annie turned her head around, "GO AWAY!" she screamed at the voice.

Armin look confused, "Annie there's no one else here?"

She looked around, he was right, the library was completely empty apart from the two of them. She wiped away the tears on the sleeve of her hoodie "I'm so sorry Armin."

He suddenly hugged her "You've nothing to be sorry for."

Her first instinct was to push him away, she wasn't the hugging type, but the warmth of his embrace was so soothing that she let him. She returned his hug and buried her face in his chest. "I think we're done for the day", he said after about a minute. Now is not the time to tell her, he thought to himself, soon though. They both collected their things and he escorted her back to her dorm.

Some two hours later Armin was working his shift at the campus Starbucks, Historia was on the same shift with him as well. Sunday was typically very slow for the shop, especially this early in the day with most students either still sleeping off their hangovers or having just gone to bed after finishing assignments all night.

Ymir however, usually came in to torture her girlfriend, much to Historia's annoyance.

"Make it quick darling, I hope I won't have to report you to the manager", the biggest smirk was on the tall brunette's face.

Historia gave her a warm smile "Double espresso please, Armin."

"Coming right up", he began working the machine.

"For here or to go, Ymir?"

"Well as much as I'd like to stay and play with you chicken, I need to get to work too, drunks wait for no one, trust me to get a job working in a bar in the one state that sells alcohol before 12 p.m, so to go please."

Armin handed her the coffee, "Now, double espresso."

"Thanks sweetheart", she placed a few quarters in the cup labelled 'tips', "Say hi to Annie for me", she smirked as she saw Armin's face turn bright red. "See ya later babe", giving a kiss on the cheek to Historia, she made her way out of the shop.

Armin rubbed his now sweaty palms on his top and went to the stockroom to get a bag of coffee beans for the machine. The shop became quiet once more as Armin took to emptying the bag of beans into the machine. Historia leaned against the counter, planting an elbow on top to rest her head in her hand, "So I hear you've a thing for Annie."

He dropped the bag and beans scattered all over the floor "Oh, crap", he began scooping them up into his hands before placing them in a bag used to carry pastries. Historia may have been sweet but she was not one to miss out on gossip, she fluttered her eyelashes at him expecting an answer.

"Well, uh, w-we just study together", he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Oh, not from what Ymir told me."

He regained a bit of his composure "I don't know what you're insinuating, we're just friends."

"Can I offer some advice?", she gave him her signature warm smile that always caught people's attention.

"Hmm."

"Don't ever play poker."

"How does Ymir know?"

"A mutual friend she has with Reiner."

Armin simply looked down at his feet arms folded, Historia now felt guilty about making him feel so uncomfortable, "I'm very sorry, it's no business of mine, and I had no right to intrude, but you definitely have a fine taste in girls, is she coming to the party next week?"

"Yeah, she is."

"I'd say make your move then, there should be plenty of spots for the both of you to be alone."

"Look Historia", he brought his head up, "I appreciate the advice and all, but I'm not sure she feels the same way, and I don't want her to think I became friends with her just because I've feelings for her."

"Hmm, from what I've heard both your feelings are mutual."

"Let me guess, Ymir again?"

"Nope, Bertholdt told us."

Armin cursed his look; damn, that colossal lug knew far more than he let on, like the neighbour who peers over the garden wall.

"Look let's just drop it, it's not fair of me to air your innermost feelings so publicly, I enjoy far too much gossip for my own good."

"It's okay, really, I appreciate your advice all the same, thank you."

Bertholdt was busy putting groceries away when he noticed something on the table, a black A4 sketching pad, it was Annie's, she must've forgotten it when she stopped by earlier. Picking it up he flipped through the pages of the pad. Bertholdt had known Annie since kindergarten, and she was adopted by his family after she ran away from home five years ago, but she had always kept this side of her secret.

He was amazed at the scope of her talent. Beautiful landscapes of lush green valleys, sprawling cityscapes and expansive ocean views, filled with colour. He recognized them as landmarks from back at home, including where the Hoover family do their weekly hike. He flipped through many sketches of popular TV show characters; Homer Simpson, Tony Soprano, Jon Snow, Walter White. She seemed to have a particular liking to anime characters as he recognized many characters from Dragon Ball Z that they used to watch together when they were much younger. There were also several others that he didn't recognise.

As he continued flipping through the pages, he nearly dropped the sketch-pad when he saw Armin Arlert's face staring at him from the page. He double-checked to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him; no he was right, Annie had drawn a perfect likeness of his football teammate, from the blonde coconut of his hair to his deep, blue, expressive eyes and his button nose. He took his phone out, took a picture of the sketch and then sent it to Reiner; "WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THIS...IN PERSON...BRING EREN TOO."

Some ten minutes later, Reiner, Eren and Mikasa had arrived at the dorm. After a brief introduction between Bertholdt and Mikasa the three of them sat at the table while Bertholdt stood by the window, his back to them. All three studied the sketch for five minutes in absolute silence.

Eren finally spoke up, "Well, there's no doubt that it's Armin, does he know about this?"

"Can't say, I know they study together but that's all I know", Mikasa said in a neutral tone but she was clearly holding back some anger and she remembered her exchange with Annie last week, neither of them had spoken to each other since.

Reiner clapped his hands, "Okay, have either of you noticed Armin acting differently lately?"

"Don't think so", Eren shrugged his shoulders.

Mikasa wasn't sure what to say, she had noticed a chemistry between the two blondes, but the last thing she wanted was to see her close friend, and her rival, become an item. She swallowed her pride and spoke up "About four weeks ago, when we went to lunch together, he did everything in his power to hide his face when Annie walked by the window where we were sitting", she then told them about their awkward introduction to each other in her dorm.

Bertholdt finally spoke up "The first time I met him he practically ran out of the same lecture as Annie's and bumped into me, after I helped him pick up his books, he sprinted away from me when he noticed she was standing right behind him."

"Has Annie acted any differently either?", Eren asked Reiner.

"Not necessarily, no, but we were aware that they were study mates, we were just happy she was making an effort in making new friends."

"But that sketch shows there's something deeper going on", Bertholdt said, rubbing his arm up and down.

"Should we tell them?", Eren asked.

"Bad idea, I can't speak for Armin, but Annie bottles up her emotions, when she's prompted to tell us how she feels, it's as if she feels threatened and hides behind her crystal."

"Crystal?"

"We call it that, when she decides to isolate herself, we can see something's bothering her but there's nothing we can do to break her out of it, excuse the metaphor."

Mikasa spoke again "Has she ever had a relationship with anyone?"

"Not one that we were aware of, no, I'm not sure she's ever been kissed either", Reiner rested his head in his hand, "And what about Armin?"

"He has kissed at least one person, though he's never had a girlfriend."

"Reiner, should we really be pushing them together like this?"

"You'll need to excuse Bert, she's like a sister to both of us, but more so to him, since she is his adopted sister."

"Look, Annie's had it rough, she doesn't mean to be cold, she just has difficulty becoming close with others, without revealing too much here, her father treated her horribly, hence why my family adopted her", he then sighed deeply "I don't want to see her get hurt."

Mikasa felt a pang of guilt hit her in the stomach, how could she have been so cruel, she had no right to treat Annie the way she had. Sure she had been protective of both Eren and Armin, but that was no excuse. "Armin is one of the most kind-hearted people there is, like you with Annie, I don't want to see him get hurt either, but clearly there's more than a spark between them, and it appears neither of them are aware that their feelings for each other are mutual."

"But how do we go about this?", said Eren, his eyes still focused on the sketch of his best friend.

"The party, this week, we get them alone together outside of a study session, for once", Reiner stood up.

"I have an idea", Eren's eyes lit up, "Can you forge Annie's handwriting?"

Bertholdt shrugged "I guess, why?"

"We write forged notes, asking both of them to meet the other, Armin's very observant I've no doubt he'll recognise her handwriting when he sees it, and typing it up would look far too dodgy."

"I'll write Armin's one, handwriting has never been you strength Eren."

He raised both of his hands concedingly "No argument there, Raven."

"So it's settled then", Bertholdt turned to Reiner "Reiner, right here, now, we're doing this?"

"Yes, right here, right now, we settle this once and for all", a smile formed on his face "They're meant to be together, I've noticed her eyes whenever I mention Armin's name, by this time next week, Annie will have finally found someone who she isn't afraid to get close too, she deserves happiness Bert, after all she's been through."

Eren felt butterflies in his stomach, he remembered how Armin's crush on Mina during their high-school years had tortured his best friend, he didn't want to see him go through that again. But what if Armin didn't have feelings for Annie? This plan of theirs could not only crush one person's feelings but also end a budding friendship, did they really have any right to interfere in things such as this?

Mikasa had noticed the trepidation appearing on her boyfriend's face and placed a reassuring hand in his. "Eren", he looked up at her "Have faith, Armin won't get hurt, he's matured exponentially since his crush on Mina."

Eren squeezed her hand tightly "I hope you are right."

Their plan was now in motion.