The second time it happened, it left him wondering.

So Armin's first experience with a novel ended with him slacking off the next day due to fatigue after he ended up staying awake much longer into the night than was a good idea and getting assigned laps that made him miss most of his free period and put him out of commission for the rest of the week. But in turn, he got to devour the first 53 pages of Tale of Allumia before he passed out, so was that really that steep a loss? His brain said no, every other part of his body begged him not to turn it into a habit. Armin wasn't sure if he could promise anything.

Eren had been too busy brawling with one of the loud trainees he'd sworn to throw out to notice that Armin had procured goods when he entered after returning from the library. He'd quickly stored it by his bed before telling Eren that it was alright, it really was, he didn't need to be so abrasive with the other cadets for him, and that he was just going to bed. Reading while the barracks were lit was entirely different from trying to sneak in a few more pages after lights out, but it wasn't the first time in his life that he had read in the dark. The only reason he'd stopped in the first place was because he'd simply passed out when his body decided that he'd pushed it far enough.

It wouldn't be until a late Thursday evening a week later that he finished his first novel. His free periods during the rest of the week were commonly spent socialising with the other boys, but whenever Armin could find a moment, he'd continue reading. Who'd have thought he'd enjoy this work of fiction this much? Stories were a pleasant escape into what could be. There was merit in knowing what was going on in the real world and speculating about that, but this book… It made him crave more of the other side of that coin.

Tale of Allumia detailed the journey of a Druid who lost a foot in the same disaster where the magic of all the land of Allumia was stolen and sealed away into a wooden box by a Devil who took advantage of the war currently raging through the country. She had initially stayed out of the war that led to this, but the loss of both her powers and her limb dragged her into the conflict. Accompanied by a young Squire who had lost his Knight in the battle to take down the Devil, the Druid aimed to bring the boy home before going on a quest to regain that which the disaster had cost her. But when she learned that the legions of demons that had poured into the world after the battle led to the destruction of his village and the death of his folks, she decided to take him along on her quest. While they were only at the start of their quest at the end of the novel, they did overcome the differences that led to plenty of disagreements between the two and decided that they made a decent team.

When he reached the final page, Armin was quite disappointed that this was it after he'd gotten so invested in these characters' lives. Everything about this ambiguous ending screamed that this book was part of a series, not merely a standalone story with an open ending. What were the chances that the little military library had the entire story? As soon as he was done, Armin knew he had to go back and search for any other works by this author: a certain Justin Huhn. Not now, though. Not when it was way past curfew and he'd made the admittedly unwise decision to stay up past midnight to read yet again in order to finish the final chapters. He would do a lot to sate his curiosity, but not sneak out of the barracks when he was already on the brink of passing out.

It was a miracle when he woke up the next morning feeling relatively well-rested and he made it through that day's training in one piece. After quickly shoveling down his dinner, he excused himself for a walk and sped to the barracks to retrieve Tale of Allumia — as much as he wanted to keep it, there might be other cadets who wanted to read it too and he didn't want to be accused of theft — and made his way back to the library. This time he took along a lantern with him, just in case he'd overestimated how much light could filter through those windows in the roof.

He found himself alone outside the building once more. Entering, it was the same inside the little room, and he couldn't be more relieved. Prying eyes might not understand why Armin was digging through these bookshelves so fervently and he'd prefer it if he could avoid drawing the attention of those who might pester him for his passion.

He placed his lantern on the desk by the entrance when the light levels were adequate at this time of day and proceeded, looking through the shelves to see if there was any system to order the books by. Obviously lacking a librarian, this place was a mess. Stacks of books on the floor everywhere, many thrown into the shelves haphazardly and stacked vertically instead of horizontally, some even discarded on top of the bookshelves. It was enough to drive Armin crazy how careless people were with such material. Some sections had been organised by other cadets, but most of the library was an unordered mess.

How was he supposed to find the rest of Justin Huhn's works in this chaos?

It looked like he'd have to go through every pile in the library and hope he could complete the collection. Tough job when he didn't even know how many entries the series had, but he was hooked and needed to know where else this story was going, so he supposed that he was willing to go as far. Starting with one of the central bookshelves, he squatted down and pulled out a random book to examine.

When the door to the library opened again – Armin couldn't even tell how long after he entered this was, he was that entranced – his original goal seemed lost. He found himself on his knees surrounded by a small pile of novels, each of which he'd quickly rifled through to find out the author only to find the title enticing and decide he wanted to read the first few pages to get an idea if this was something he'd want to read in the future. There were hundreds of books here. Even if he upped the amount he read to three per week, his time in the military would not be enough to exhaust everything in this library, so he'd have to carefully select what he'd spend his limited time reading. The quality levels might vary, so it was up to him to search and select well.

Armin poked out his head from behind the bookshelf to see if he knew the newcomer, and found that he did. Looked like this time, Armin had arrived earlier than Bertholdt, who held onto that same book Armin had seen him leave with a week ago. The other boy froze in his tracks, so Armin waved at him with a smile.

"Hey there, Bertholdt," he greeted, slightly cringing when he realised he still wasn't exactly sure that was the cadet's name. Not like they'd spoken since they first met or that Armin had heard anyone speak his name since.

"Ah, hello…" he mumbled with a crack, and Armin was sure that his voice sounded just a little deeper than when they had first met. Bertholdt turned his head and pointed behind him, back unnaturally straight. "I didn't know someone was… You know. I'll leave."

If Armin had called him the wrong name, the boy was too shy to correct him. The first time they met must've been an outlier, because Armin definitely remembered him as far more articulate than he was in his current avoidant state.

Before Bertholdt could make his way out, Armin scooted over a little further so that he didn't have to hurt his back leaning over too far, resting his hands on the wooden floorboards.

"Oh, that's alright! This place is big enough for both of us, you don't need to leave."

Bertholdt stopped again, then turned his head a few moments later to look over his shoulder. "I don't really want to disturb you."

"You won't disturb me! In fact, maybe we can read together?" Armin carefully suggested. He liked the idea of having someone to share this hobby with, and the taller cadet sounded like a good candidate, quiet and observant as he was.

"That's alright, actually," Bertholdt responded, scratching his neck. "But if you don't mind… I won't be here for long. Just a minute," he said before he made his way to the first lane, crouching down where he was no longer in Armin's line of sight.

That couldn't stop the blond cadet from trying to strike up a conversation. Small as he was, it would be awkward leaning over the low bookshelf, so instead he went around until he caught sight of the taller boy again. It seemed he really wasn't intending on staying long, because in the time to get to the other lane, he had already stood up, two new books in hand. He seemed surprised to see Armin had scooted around, now sitting on his knees against the side of the bookshelves with his head prominently poking out from behind them.

"What did you pick?" Armin asked.

"Huh?"

"The books. What are you reading?" Armin motioned over with his head, an expectant smile on his face.

"Oh," Bertholdt answered, holding both out a little as he looked down on them. One a thicker book with a red cover with golden decorations, the other thinner covered in blue with a tree inscribed on the back. "This one seemed interesting," he said as he tapped the blue book, "and that other one, I, uh… picked randomly hoping it would be good. I saw them last time but didn't know if I was allowed to take multiple with me, so I put them down in a spot where I'd remember them. I saw someone leave with three this week, so I figured I'd be fine."

Armin beamed. If he didn't have a good reason to improve his stamina before, now he definitely did — of course Bertholdt had time to read, he was usually off on his own and never really seemed tired or too involved in the going-ons of the other boys. If Armin weren't so beaten down from the training, he might reach two books a week just like him. Maybe even three.

"What do you have?" Bertholdt asked when Armin was yet again smiling at him without looking directly at him. It pulled Armin out of his extensive planning on how he'd get more reading time in for himself and returned his attention to the library.

"Nothing yet, I'm just browsing," Armin responded. "But last week, I read a book called Tale of Allumia. It's about magic and about a large war that plagues the land, and they go on a big journey together, and there are more books in the series that I'm looking for right now. Oh!" He crawled back into his own lane, then came back holding the book and extending it to Bertholdt. "Here! You should read it, it's really good."

With delay, Bertholdt took it, adding it to the short stack of books he already had with him. "Okay," he mumbled, not much conviction in the smile he momentarily returned to Armin before settling for something more neutral.

"If you've read it, maybe we can talk about it next time we see each other? Or… you can read it now and then tell me what you think after every chapter?"

Bertholdt smiled meekly at the suggestion, more genuinely this time, but Armin felt there was something uneasy about his composure. "I actually prefer to read in the barracks. Thank you for offering, though."

"Oh. Shame," Armin responded, dejected that he failed to make his first reading buddy. The barracks were loud and rowdy. It was sometimes fun to hang out at, but Armin already felt himself drawn to the silence of this forgotten library after only having been there twice. He couldn't quite understand why Bertholdt would prefer such a chaotic environment over the library. Maybe he knew that with Armin's excitement, he'd end up being stared at as he read and he would feel uneasy from the attention, whereas in the barracks he could go unseen and unheard, as Armin had seen him do many times before.

"Yeah," Bertholdt sighed, then stood awkwardly for a few moments as neither said a thing, just looking at each other. "Um… see you later, then," he finally said before he made his way towards the door.

Armin scooted back a little before the taller boy could trip over his knees, waving him off with a "See you!" before returning to his own lane.

Not many people seemed to enter the library, and Armin wondered how many were regulars. He craved a friend to gush about what he'd read to and the rejection just now did hurt, especially after they clicked so well the first time they'd met. Even though Bertholdt was from a quiet village, he still figured out people's reasons for joining the military on the first day. Armin perceived him as quiet and attentive, staying in the background to observe and think things through to come to such insightful conclusions. That mindset resonated so well with Armin's own, he hoped that the two would connect eventually.

But Bertholdt did promise to read his book, so they'd get to discuss it in due time. Armin's chest felt warm at the thought of sharing this story with someone else, especially after he failed to entice Eren and Mikasa into reading the book as well. They each had enough to focus on as it was, so Armin didn't pester them with his stories.

Soon, Armin was all alone in the library again, but he couldn't find it within himself to return his attention to the pile of books he was searching through. Standing up this time, he made his way back to the lane Bertholdt found himself in moments ago, to where he stood just then. It didn't take him long to find the book Bertholdt had returned, being of a smaller format than others, and was surprised to find it was a travel guide to Mitras: the capital of the walls all the way within the center of Wall Sina. He wiggled his legs at the revelation and it cemented in his head the idea that he had to befriend this boy, because just like Armin, he seemed to have his eyes set on travel and exploration, despite what he'd said weeks ago about being nothing but a coward who wanted to hole up in a city and secure a safe future for himself.

Armin put the book back onto its shelf and returned to his own lane, now satisfied. With that out of the way, he went back to finding other books written by Justin Huhn.

Dusk soon fell and that meant curfew would follow soon, so after a fruitless search, Armin was left with no other option but to pick something else instead. He chose a book titled Titan's Demise after deeming it the most engaging book in his pile, still captivated by all the possibilities fiction had to offer.

Cleaning up the mess he made and gathering his book choice, Armin decided to call it a night, leaving for the barracks again.