As soon as Armin enters the school, he approaches someone who may be of great help. "Marco! You're gay, right?"
The freckled boy looks over from transferring his books to his locker. "Um.. Yes.."
"So then you must have a pretty strong 'gaydar', yeah?"
The brunet raises an eyebrow. "I can't tell if you're being serious or not."
Armin sighs, but he doesn't lose hope. "I know, it's a ridiculous thing to ask, just.. answer the question."
"Considering the fact that I have a huge crush on my very straight best friend, I'd say not really. Though some people would argue that that has nothing to do with anything. Why?"
Another sigh leaves Armin's lips. "Eren told me that Levi is dating Erwin, and I'm really confused because it doesn't seem like they are indeed together, but it also seems really obvious that they are indeed together. I chose to ask you because you're the only for-sure gay person I know. Other than Ymir, but she'd make fun of me if I asked her something like that."
"Girls' gaydars are usually pretty strong, though, dude. And you shouldn't invade other people's personal love lives. It's disrespectful."
Armin just stares at him.
"Okay, Jean doesn't count."
In homeroom, after the teacher has finished taking attendance, Armin decides to ask Mikasa. Surely she'd know about her older brother's relationship status, right?
"Hey, Mikasa?"
She looks over at him from the sketchbook in front of her, softness outlining her usually intimidating eyes. "Yes, Armin?"
"Is Levi dating anybody? Or, Erwin, more specifically?"
"Asking for Eren?"
"Of course."
A soft smile appears on the girl's lips. "I don't think so, no. And I truthfully don't really care. They could be for all I know. Levi is really good at keeping secrets. But I don't think it's much of my business since he hasn't said anything about it. Either way, I still don't think Eren should dip his feet in that water."
Armin nods. He's about to return to editing his memoir for English, but another question comes to mind and he's asking it before he can properly process it. "Oh, and do you know if Reiner and Bertholdt are a thing, too? I was talking to Marco about it earlier and I've been thinking about it ever since."
Armin picks at his lunch, taking an elbow of cheese-drenched macaroni on the spork and letting it fall back into the pile, as he stares at the table. He's only kind of paying attention to Eren, Connie, and Marco's conversation about the newest game in the Half-Life franchise. The other part of him is lost in thought about Levi and Erwin.
There are two reasons this is bothering him so much. Reason number one is, of course, Eren. The other reason is that he likes knowing things, especially about his friends. It's a bit selfish, but it's true. He may not be close with either of the two, but he does consider Erwin and Levi his friends. Or, at least relatively good acquaintances.
He looks from the light blue plastic stuff of the table to where the two are seated. Similarly to the previous day, their chairs are quite close to each other's. Except this time, Levi's chair is turned more towards the side rather than forward and he has his elbow casually rested on Erwin's shoulder. The way the noiret interacts with the blond definitely makes it seem like they're a thing, considering the fact that Levi is really cold and bitter with everyone else, even the other people he's close with.
But it just doesn't make sense. He sounds like a broken record at this point, but there's really a lack of romantic connection between the two. Plus Levi seems like the possessive kind of guy who'd want everyone to know who belongs to him. And, well, he's yet to see Levi rip someone's head off over Erwin.
Maybe they're in one of those fake relationships where they're only dating to try and make someone jealous?
As if he's reading Armin's mind, Levi turns his head ever so slightly to face Armin's direction. His eyes just so happen to be directly on the blond, and it looks a lot like he's glaring. Armin's heartbeat speeds up and he quickly looks down at his food.
He glances back up at Levi about a minute later to see that the boy is no longer looking at him, and everyone at his table is either smiling or laughing. Sans Levi, who is scowling at all of them very harshly.
Of course Armin wonders what they're laughing about.
"Armin!" Eren's voice says seconds before Armin is engulfed in a hug. "Guess what, guess what!"
He doesn't know why he's excited, but with the pure enthusiasm in Eren's voice, he can't seem to help it. "What, what?"
"Guess who actually aced their history exam!"
"Eren, that's great!" Armin smiles proudly. "I told you studying would actually pay off."
Eren's hug tightens, and Armin is too happy for the guy to complain about the near-crushing feeling his bones get. "Yeah, I should do it more often. How about after practice, you, Mikasa, and I get ice cream? My treat."
Armin is about to accept the offer, but the sound of something slamming against metal stops him from doing so.
When he looks over at the source, along with every other student in the hallway, he sees that Levi has his fist against a locker, his muscles tense and his enraged eyes glued to the floor.
Everyone is quiet, probably (hopefully) just as afraid for their lives as Armin is, and staring at the boy in pure shock. Everyone except head cheerleader and relatively close friend of Levi's, Petra Ral.
"Levi, dude! What the hell is your deal?"
He looks back at her, causing her to straighten her posture and shut her mouth. Then Levi slowly lowers his arm, both fists still very clenched, before looking forward and angrily storming off, people nervously scrambling to get out of his way as he walks.
Armin feels the weird sinking and speeding up thing Eren's heart does as Levi passes them.