For the next several days, Annie wouldn't let Armin out of her sight, to which Armin completely understood (he wouldn't let her out of his sight either, after not seeing her at all in such a long time). So when they both woke up the following afternoon and Armin had asked her if she wanted to wash up, she nodded her head but tangled herself further into his embrace.
He found it extremely cute and ended up carrying her to the bathroom anyway.
After thirty minutes of Annie sitting patiently in the full bathtub, observing the somewhat healing scars on her wrists, while Armin kneeled beside the tub and washed Annie's hair, sometimes getting lost in the feel of it, he then dressed her up in some of his clothes, which fit her surprisingly well.
With a small hint of irritation deep in his chest, he quickly decided that he was going to start working out.
He also put fresh bandages and band-aids on Annie's neck and wrists, lightly kissing them afterwards. He then smiled widely and laughed and pecked her nose when he saw Annie blush heavily at his actions.
"How did you know to treat my wounds?" Annie questioned him later on when he brought over their brunch to the living room couch where Annie sat with the big, white comforter from Armin's bed folded around her shoulders.
He handed her plate to her (filled with buttered toast, scrambled eggs, and cubed fruit along with a tall glass of orange juice) and sat down next to her. "My grandfather was a short-time doctor during World War II. He taught me some things."
"Why short-time?" She chewed on her toast.
Armin sipped his orange juice. "He didn't like the things he saw, all the hatred and bloodshed that humanity caused. He talks about it a lot though; I think he wants people to know what mankind did, no matter how terrible it all is." He glanced at her, grinning. "To remember how strong and barbaric we once were."
Annie smirked back. "Now I know where you get your wisdom from."
He chuckled. "And where, may I ask, do you get your shyness from?"
She narrowed her eyes. "I'm not shy."
"Yes you are."
"I just don't like talking."
"That means you're shy."
"No it fucking doesn't."
"Don't worry; I think it's cute."
"Shut up, coconut head."
That's how the first few days went. They mainly stayed in Armin's apartment during the freezing snowstorms that raged on for a week. The two bickered, ate, slept, kissed, talked, and read together—and it was perfect.
However, Annie did little strange things from time to time.
He would often catch her staring intensely into nothing as if someone were talking to her or her eyes would flicker wildly around the room as if hundreds of birds were flying about the apartment. Sometimes she responded to this invisible being, mumbling something inaudible to Armin's ears. On rare occasions she would do this in the middle of her sentence. Her head would turn sharply to the side and she'd whisper something harsh to nothing. And then she'd attempt to harm herself in some way like pitching the skin on her thumb or chop down on her bottom lip.
That's when Armin came into play.
His job was to stop her self-harm (hold her hand or softly kiss her lips) and ask her what's wrong. She never answered though. She would only interlace their fingers or deepen the kiss.
He also had woken her up many times throughout the night because he either heard her talking or crying in her sleep. Her cries were heartbreaking and her exclaims always resembled a nightmare: "no", "stop", "don't". He also heard "Dad" and "home" and even his own name at times. The noises always scared him (for Annie's sake) so he'd carefully run a hand through her unkempt hair and tell her gentle promises: "Shh, everything's okay", "you're okay, I'm right here", "it's just a nightmare, it'll be over soon".
She'd eventually stop and sleep peacefully for the rest of the night.
The time came when Armin asked her if it would be okay to schedule an appointment with Professor Hanji at the Psych Ward at Rose Hospital.
After a very long period of silence, Annie slowly nodded her head.
Hanji, therefore, was the first to learn of Annie's return. Armin actually had to pull the phone away from his ear her squeals were much too high and chaotic. Annie heard Hanji's delighted cries from across the room and, by the way her face twisted in confusion and worry, Armin was forced to conjure up some sort of smile that read "I-promise-she's-a-scientist-and-not-a-mental-patient".
He arranged an appointment for next week and then went to update his friends and grandfather on the found girl's arrival. Eren and Mikasa were pleased at the news (Eren more so than Mikasa) and requested to be updated often. Connie and Sasha were very excited; Sasha promised Annie all the free coffee in the world and Connie complained that he never actually saw the small blonde. Marco and Jean had different views on the matter—Marco was glad to hear that Armin was happy again but Jean took it as proof that he "really wasn't gay after all".
Armin's face must've warped into something of pure disappointment or displeasure because then he heard Annie giggling from the kitchen counter. He turned just in time to see her cover her mouth and look away. Because he was distracted by the rare and charming sound, he unknowingly left Jean hanging on the phone, asking if he was still there or not.
"Armin? Hello? Did you seriously just hang up on me?" A frustrated huff blew through the speaker.
"Yes, sorry. I'm still here." He grinned mischievously over at Annie. "I was just telling Annie how much of a horse-face you have."
"I DO NOT, DAMMIT!"
Armin shielded his phone so Jean couldn't hear his and Annie's laughter.
And, of course, Armin's grandfather said that he was proud of both Armin and Annie, adding that a visit from them was to be required in the future. The dreamer smiled into the phone and told him something of the sort could be arranged soon.
On the night before Annie's appointment with Professor (or Doctor) Hanji, he felt something poke his shoulder and Annie's voice whisper, "Armin?" Concern was the first emotion he felt as he turned over while rubbing his eyes furiously, trying to wake himself up.
"Huh? What? What is it?" He peeked at Annie's wide blue eyes, practically glowing in the dark like cat's eyes. She looked as though she wanted to say something but didn't know how to.
"Annie, honey? Are you okay?" He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
She stared at him a while longer before her mouth slowly opened and murmured, "I think I love you."
Butterflies rose to his chest at those words and he felt his heartbeat pick up rapidly. His eyes widened and, for a moment, he had forgotten how to breathe. A million thoughts ran through his mind at once and he couldn't make anything out until he noticed Annie's face heat up in embarrassment and her glowing eyes crinkle in worry. "Say something already."
"No, I, um—" Blood rushed quickly to his face, but despite the shock and nervousness he felt, he knew he was sure of one thing. He leaned forward, placed his hands on either side of her burning face, and then softly kissed her lips, tasting her longer than usual. When he retracted his lips a bit, he stared yearningly at Annie with a slight smile.
"I love you too," he said as he wrapped his arms around her waist and dragged her on top of him, their lips never parting.
Several hours later, the blond duo found themselves sitting in the bright waiting room of the Psych Ward at Rose Hospital. When Armin checked in at the reception desk, the nurse behind the counter said that it would take Doctor Hanji another minute because she was finishing up with a couple other patients. Armin thanked her and went to sit down next to Annie in a spare chair.
That was forty-five minutes ago.
Annie's head was now resting on Armin's shoulder, her eyelids drooping heavily. Armin's were about to close too, when he heard a door creak open and a low voice call out, "Annie Leonhart?"
Armin gently nudged Annie awake and offered his hand to her, which she hesitantly took, and helped her stand up. They followed the tall, sandy blond doctor through the backdoor and down a long corridor until he stopped to open a door on the right, letting Annie and Armin inside first before telling them that Hanji would be right with them.
"So another hour then?" Annie muttered under her breath as she plopped onto another chair, Armin laughing at her displeasure with the situation. But this time, they only waited about five minutes when Hanji burst through the door with the same blond doctor from before.
"Whew! Sorry I'm late!" Hanji exclaimed, walking into the room. "Sonny and Bean just refused to stay in their rooms, which is why I'm covered in slobber." She wiped something dripping from her glasses and then turned to Annie with an overly excited expression. "So you're the one and only Miss Annie Leonhart! I've heard so much about you and your wonderful brain! I can't wait to run some tests on you!"
"Doctor!" the blond nurse called, yanking Hanji back from Annie's personal space.
Hanji laughed loudly. "Oh, Moblit, so young and innocent. That'll change soon enough." She cracked her knuckles. "Let's get started, shall we?"
For the next hour, Hanji poked and prodded at Annie, checking and asking for basic health information, which Annie gave without managing to snap Hanji's neck in half (Armin was very thankful for that). The four-eyed scientist rambled on about all sorts of mental diseases and Armin could clearly tell that Annie was quickly losing her patience so whenever Hanji's back was turned, he'd gently squeeze her hand, restoring life into her.
They eventually went on to CAT scans.
This was the scariest part, for Armin at least. He didn't like seeing Annie dressed up in a hospital gown, wires sticking into her, as she allowed herself to be swallowed up by beeping machines and high-functioning devices. Annie, however, looked extremely tired and hollow, like she didn't care anymore. Once Hanji had finished scanning her body and brain, she told her that she could change back into her regular clothes. She started heading in the direction of the bathroom, but instead turned to Armin at the last second and faceplanted into his chest, grumbling about how she wanted to go home now. He sighed and put his arms around her, rubbing her back. "I know, sweetheart. It'll be over soon."
He peeked over at Hanji and her assistant, Moblit, who peeked back at them with curiosity. Hanji bit on her bottom lip with a tight smile, her eyes glued to them as her arms flailed behind her, grasped Moblit's arm, and squeezed hard, shrieking in glee. Moblit tried to pry his limb away as his boss whispered loudly to him, "They're so freakin' cute!"
The last part of the appointment required Hanji speaking to Armin and Annie—separately.
Armin said that he'd go first; he gave Annie a quick smile and followed Hanji into her office. It didn't take too long—he told Hanji everything that Annie told him and all the strange things she'd done in the past week: he mentioned the voice in her head (the "Female Titan" as Annie tend to call it), the unspeakable things she'd supposedly did in her past, and what she did to herself when she came back home.
"Professor Hanji, can I ask you something?"
Hanji looked up from her notes. "Of course, Armin."
He swallowed, unsure of how to say this. "W-Will she be okay? Please, it's just, she's been through so much and I don't know how much more she can take before she does something reckless again." He sighed heavily. "I just want her to be happy."
For the first time that day, Hanji expressed a serious look, very sure of herself. "Well, I won't get the final results for a few days, so I can't tell you if she'll be accepted into society or not. If worse comes to worse, I'll have to keep her here at the ward until she's ready to go out in public."
Armin knew she was going to say that, but that didn't stop the powerful feeling of dread striking his chest. He lowered his head into his hands and felt his shoulders tense up. He only looked back up when Hanji called his name and placed her hand upon his head. Hanji had sympathy in her eyes, but also plenty of determination. "Look, we both know that something is seriously wrong with Annie—I don't need a picture of her brain to know that she's not normal. All day she's been mumbling to herself and constantly looking over her shoulder like someone's there. And don't get me started on the cuts on her wrists and neck. I'm actually surprised you didn't call an ambulance."
Hanji's expression softened a bit, ruffling his golden hair. "But then again if you're always there for her, how bad could her life get?"
Armin smiled at her words, but nervously glanced up at her hand, which was still tangled up in his blond locks. Hanji removed her hand, laughing. "Sorry! Levi always ruffles my hair whenever I'm sad."