Armin sunk back into the couch finally finished telling his best friends about Annie's kiss out of nowhere. He'd been so confounded, with the exception of his first couple days of classes, he'd hidden in his room for almost a week until Eren and Mikasa had dragged him out. "So that's what happened. What do you think I should do?"

Eren and Mikasa exchanged a glance before Eren fixed him with a serious look. "Armin…did you ever stop loving her?"

"What are you saying?" he asked sharply, jolting upright. This was not at all where he expected this conversation to go. "Maybe I haven't had a steady girlfriend since Annie, but it's not like I haven't dated in the meantime."

"You kissed your homecoming and prom dates because they practically asked you to," Mikasa muttered under her breath, remembering just how unbelievably awkward it was watching those exchanges senior year.

Armin's glare was the only indication he gave that he'd heard her. "And it's not like I'm always the one who's been asked out. I've asked people out as well. I asked Nina to go to the movies with me a couple months ago."

"Isn't that the girl who started going out with Myllius last week?" Eren challenged.

"Maybe," Armin sulked.

"You kiss her?"

"No, but I've kissed others."

"Got any names?" Eren goaded at the same time Mikasa retorted, "Probably because you thought they were expecting it."

"Is there a point to this?" Armin snapped. "Maybe I haven't been that involved with anyone romantically, but so what? I don't need to be in a relationship to have value. I want to focus on school and on spending time with my friends. If romance comes along for me, then great, but I'm not hunting for it. Do you have a problem with that?"

"Of course we don't," Eren snorted, "but that's not what we're getting at."

"Then what is?!"

"Do you love Annie?" Mikasa asked simply. "Yes or no?"

"I…" Armin hesitated and avoided their gazes, "no…."

"Okay," she whispered, "then go tell her that."

"What?!"

Mikasa's eyes were unwavering. "Go tell Annie that you don't love her. Break it to her gently, and give her the chance to get over you just like she gave you the chance to get over her back in high school."

Eren nodded. "You owe her that much."

"But boys aren't allowed in that dorm," Armin protested weakly.

"Then catch her after class."

"I don't know her new schedule…."

"I can go to her room and talk to her, so she'll come out," Mikasa offered.

"At that point, you might as well just say everything for me."

"Man up, Armin!" Eren yelled at him. "If you keep avoiding this, you're just going to lose her again. Is that what you want?"

"Of course not! She's one of my closest friends."

"Then go tell her that you can't return her feelings. You two were able to be friends after she did the same to you. There's no reason it can't work out this time."

"It took four years last—"

"And it'll get fixed never if you keep this up! The longer you put this off, the more awkward you're going to feel, and do you really think Annie'll come to you? You were never able to pluck up the courage to face her back in high school. What makes you think she'll want to go through that kind of uncomfortable to reach out to you? If you want to be friends with her, for a while, all the load's gonna be on you."

Armin and Mikasa were in shock. Eren, of all people, giving good relationship advice? Who'd have thought?

"Hey, Mikasa…" Eren shifted a little uncomfortably.

"Yes?"

"I know the timing sucks, but would it be weird if I said I loved you as more than a sister?"

Armin's mouth fell open as Mikasa's face froze in shock.

Eren shrugged in embarrassment. "Sorry, Armin, I know this is supposed to be about you, but after saying all that stuff, I realized if I didn't do something, I was making myself a hypocrite."

Armin chuckled. He thought they'd be at least thirty before he saw this day. "Eren, why don't you walk Mikasa home, so you can talk privately. As for me...I'll talk to Annie," Armin promised. "But not tonight. I want to think first."

Mikasa nodded and gave him a chaste peck on the cheek before quickly following Eren out of the apartment.

Armin thought back on the kiss as he sank onto his bed. It had tasted so familiar and yet completely different. Underneath the shock, it felt…it felt like home. When he'd kissed Annie in the past, it had been giddy and overflowing with affection and the happiness of young, first love. This kiss had been filled with the warmth of something that ran more deeply and securely than the fluttering of emotions that would come and go. Not that they hadn't genuinely cared about each other when they were in middle and high school, but the connection felt stronger and deeper. …It sounded a lot like love, and that scared him stiff.

Being in love with Annie was dangerous and stupid. It meant he might not have truly moved on, that he was dumb enough to bare his heart for another round of being dumped for reasons he'd never know. Being in love with Annie would force him to think about a million things he didn't want to. So he'd never let himself be in love with Annie. He'd never let his eyes fall below the upper half of her face, never let himself commit anything but the most innocent of touches, never let himself be alone with her anywhere that wasn't a public space, never sat closely enough for their bodies to touch. He felt comfortable joking and laughing with her, teasing her, eating with her, arguing and debating with her, but with the exception of a handful of times, he'd never let himself be truly vulnerable while she was in the room. He'd unconsciously done so many things to try and protect himself, and now she'd kissed him and brought all his insecurities to light.

And…where did that leave him? Despite his best intentions, had he fallen in love with her again or perhaps as Eren seemed to think, more deeply in love with her? Or was she truly just a friend and he could let go of his fears? As usual when it came to Annie, he always felt like he was left with more questions than answers, but Eren was right. If he still wanted her as a friend, he'd have to see this through in one way or another.

By morning, he'd decided on a course of action. A well-placed text to Mina was all it took for Armin to get Annie's updated schedule, and another to Hitch got him a meeting with Annie in one of the empty classrooms nearby her French class that afternoon. It was time to face the music.

Annie frowned at her phone as she waited for Hitch. What was so important that she needed to meet up so suddenly? She closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. She'd kill for a nap about now.

She heard a chair scrape the floor briefly before the most unwelcome sound ever known hit her ears: "Hi, Annie."

Her chair slammed to the floor, her eyes wide, all thoughts of sleep long gone. "A-Armin," she croaked in mortification. "I, uh, I'll get out of your way. I'm was waiting for Hitch, but I can just ask her to meet elsewhe—"

"Hitch isn't coming," he swiftly cut off her rambling.

"N-N-Not..." she stammered, the turn of events annihilating her usual composure. Her head spun with the implications of his statement. She was so stunned, she couldn't even find it in her to be mad.

"Annie."

She stiffened when she met his gaze. There was something about it that gave her chills and made her hair prickle on the back of her neck. He felt…dangerous.

"Why did you kiss me?"

"I already told y—"

"You told me doing so was a mistake," he cut her off swiftly, "but you didn't say why you did it in the first place."

"I…." She fell silent, her fingers gripping and releasing her jeans at a loss. What could she say?

After about twenty minutes, Armin stood. "Annie," he waited until he had her full attention. "This is your last chance. If you're going to tell me why, you're going to have to do it before I go through that door. After that, I won't listen to anything you have to say on the subject ever again." Her eyes widened, and his smile took on a bitter edge. "Once I go through that door, I'm going to forget that kiss ever happened. But I'm still willing to be your friend if you'll let me. It can be like none of this ever happened if you want." Then, with a nod, he turned to leave.

Annie sat frozen to her chair. He'd be willing to forget what had happened? They could go back to the way things were? She had to be dreaming. He was offering her everything she'd wanted for the past week. This was too good to be true. All she had to do was let him walk out that door, and tomorrow, she could meet up with him in the library and everything would be just as it should be. It was perfect.

But despite this, just as his hand touched the doorknob, she found herself yanking him back and shoving him against the door. Her lips collided roughly with his as she stretched on her toes to reach him. What was she doing? Why couldn't she let it go? Why was she so greedy? What kind of masochistic idiot had she turned into? She was insane; this was wrong. She shouldn't be kissing him, in love with him, asking without words for him to take her back. She'd given up that right long ago, so why was she trying so hard?

He pulled slowly away, licking salt from his lips. She was crying. Her shoulders shook as she buried her head in his chest, wet wretched gasps the only sounds she could make. His heart twisted. He'd only ever seen her cry twice before, and once again, he was the cause. He'd never meant to make her cry.

Lost in his own thoughts, he almost didn't catch that she'd mumbled something into his chest. "Sorry, could you say that again? I wasn't paying attention."

The grip on his shirt got tighter. "I…I like you," she whispered, her voice fading to almost nothing. "I really, really like you, Armin…as-as more than a friend." A couple more tears slipped out. "I know I shouldn't. I've ruined everything, haven't I?"

"Why do you think that?" he murmured. He kept his hands firmly at his sides, resisting the urge to soothe her.

"I should've let you leave. Your friendship is all I want," she answered half to herself.

"Then let me leave." He gazed steadily at the top of her head. "The offer's still good. If all you want is friendship, you have it already. Just let me go."

If possible, she clung to him even more tightly. He hated himself. He was deliberately hurting her. He knew Annie didn't like talking about her feelings; she never had and probably never would, but he was forcing her to anyway. After another long stretch of silence, he took her wrists and tugged her hands firmly away from his body. She stepped away from him, flinching as if burned. "I'm sorry, Annie, but I don't have time to listen to you not talk to me." He turned back to the door.

"It scares me."

He paused and looked back. She seemed so frail as she stared hard at the floor, tears falling intermittently to the ground as she clutched the hem of her hoodie tightly.

"I broke up with you because I was scared."

He raised an eyebrow and leaned back. He hadn't expected this to come up.

"You loved me so much, and I couldn't return it. I cared about you, but love…I was fourteen. What did I know about love? And every time you said you loved me, I felt more and more guilty for not being able to say it back. I was everything to you, and that terrified me. We were kids, but you were practically ready to marry me, and it freaked me out. I tried to convince myself I loved you, but I couldn't, and eventually, it just became too much. I just didn't like you as much as you liked me."

Armin's eyes were wide as he thought back on that time. Had he really been as overbearing as she'd said? He felt ill when he realized he had. He'd been so caught up in being in love that he hadn't noticed her discomfort. Since she kissed him whenever he said he loved her, he'd tricked himself into believing that was just her way of saying it back. But now that he was looking back on it, he could see the uncertainty and guilt in her eyes. He'd been so focused on his desires, his feelings, his needs, that he hadn't taken the time to really see her. He'd wanted so badly for her to say those words back; he'd told her he loved her over and over. And in the end, he'd chased her away. He almost laughed. To think he'd prided himself so much back then on his ability to read her. He was such a child.

"And now, here I am scared again, terrified, even. I dumped you and crushed your heart because I couldn't love you, and you still offered me friendship. And that means so much to me. Sometimes I still can't quite believe you've forgiven me. When we were assigned as project partners, I never expected you'd be willing to become my friend again. And here I am jeopardizing it because I want to give you what I couldn't six years ago. Like an idiot. I know you can't love me back, but even then, I find myself willing to ruin what we've built to grasp for what I can't have, and that scares me more than anything. I'm in love with you, but the only thing these feelings are good for is pushing you away, and I hate it."

He was at her side in an instant. "Don't you think I should be the one to decide if I can love you?"

Her eyes blew wide. "What?"

"You really are an idiot." He brushed her hair out of her eyes. "Honestly, after hearing what you said, I'm a little scared to say it myself, but…I'm in love with you, too."

She shook her head vigorously. "You shouldn't be."

"Why?"

"I hurt you."

"You didn't want to." He rested his forehead against hers. "I'm sorry for back then. I didn't realize I was putting so much pressure on you. Honestly…I really, really liked you, but I wonder if I might have been more in love with the idea of being in love than I was with you. I don't think I was a particularly bad boyfriend or anything, but I can see now that you'd given plenty of signs that I was making you uncomfortable; I just chose not to see them."

"Why are you apologizing? I'm the one who dumped you. I'm the one who broke your heart."

"And I'm the one who pushed you into it. I said those words without thinking about all the implications and failed to notice how they were affecting you."

"But I—" she huffed with a negative gesture, "no, forget it. This is a stupid conversation."

Armin laughed. "Agreed." His eyes were complicated as his lips turned up into a shy smile. "So…would you like to try again? I can't promise that I'll be a better boyfriend this time around, but I'll do my best."

Annie nodded slowly. "I'd…like that. I'll try to communicate better as well. There may have been signs, but sometimes you're a blockhead."

"Hey!"

"I'm kidding…" her lips twitched, "maybe."

They stared at each other for a long moment before breaking into quiet laughter.

"So…."

"Yeah…."

He ran a hand nervously through his hair. "What do you want to do about our class schedules? We're still in the add/drop period, so do you want to move your International Trade Theory and Policies class or should I move Advanced Cryptology? Or we could leave our schedules alone and just plan to study together."

"Since I'm the one who changed my schedule to avoid you, I'll make the switch back; I'd like to be in the same class. Comparative Criminal Justice Systems isn't huge like the CS lectures, so if there're projects, I can make sure I don't get stuck with a stupid partner."

"That the only reason?" he teased

She nodded with a completely serious face. "Pretty much. I need to keep up my grades."

"Hmm," he looked at her speculatively, "in that case, I think I might have to invoke a study fee."

"Oh?"

Armin smiled back, the picture of innocence. "Yup, one kiss per session."

Annie could feel heat creeping into her cheeks. It was kind of weird to think of Armin being this smooth. "Do I have to make back payments?" Somehow she managed to keep her voice cool and even.

He cleared his throat and bit the corner of his lip. He wanted this, really, really wanted this, but the impending crossing of that daunting line between friendship and more left him reeling, and he couldn't quite keep the breathless catch out of his voice. "That does seem fair, don't you think? I've rendered quite a lot of study services over the last couple years after all."

He let her pull him down by his shirt collar, both their hearts pounding wildly in anticipation. "In that case," she murmured, her breath ghosting over his lips, her trembling fingers the only indication of her nervousness, "I guess I'd better get started. I hate being in debt."

And that's the end. Yay! They're together again and in a much better position to last this time! I hope you liked it!