Wow. This chapter took longer than I expected. I had an initial draft awhile ago, but after giving it another read, I realized that it was pretty boring, so I tweaked, expanded, and came up with this. Hopefully it works. The timeline jumps around a little bit, but hopefully it won't be confusing.

I forgot to mention this earlier, but there's some slight BeruYumi and EreMika in this story.

Anonymous Reviews:

SymphonyofDeath: I'm so flattered you think so! I hope this next chapter won't be too boring. It's kind of a foundation-laying chapter, but if all goes according to plan, it should be the only one of its kind. =)

Since their next individual practice a couple days later went more smoothly than any previous, they decided to spend more time together outside the studio in hopes that their partner dynamic would improve as they got to know each other better. Annie introduced Armin to more restaurants where he puppy-dog-eyed her into sharing food with him and she ate in veiled bemusement while he called her a restaurant genius and regaled how tasty and cheap everything was. They quickly found that eating out all the time was rather damaging to their wallets and not particularly good for their health, though, so they took to bringing food to eat in the hallway and went out only when they'd both neglected to bring food or Annie really needed to break out her DEFCON system. During a discussion about coping mechanisms, Armin revealed that he used binge reading to get through his really foul moods. The subject matter of the books would change depending on how bad the mood was and what had caused it, but it wasn't anywhere near as well defined as Annie's system. Then again, it was also more complicated. He'd tried explaining it once, but for some reason, his usual eloquence had decided to desert him and he'd only managed to confuse them both so thoroughly that they'd mutually agreed to never bring it up again.

Whenever they met, they steered clear of talking shop as if by unspoken agreement and instead filled their time with other subjects. To Annie's surprise, they never ran out of things to talk about. Armin, she discovered, was highly intelligent and held a wealth of knowledge on just about every subject under the sun. But when she'd asked him why he hadn't become a lawyer, engineer, doctor, oceanographer, etc., he'd simply said that nothing had ever excited him as much as dance, so he became a dancer and dabbled in those other things as hobbies. She supposed it worked, though it was pretty unusual.

At first, Armin had been concerned that he was boring or annoying her since Annie never responded much to his questions, but after about a week, he realized that she just wasn't a talker. With that revelation, mealtime conversation became much more enjoyable on both sides. Even if she didn't look it, Armin found that Annie would always listen to whatever caught his fancy that day, which gave him a safe space to nerd out about anything and everything. And whenever Annie did choose to provide input or happened to want some quiet, Armin was always respectful, so this arrangement where he snuck in bites of food between his prattling or immersed himself in a book while she ate suited her just fine. It was strange though. Even if he rambled about subjects she usually couldn't care less about, he made them interesting enough that she always found herself paying at least some attention. A lot of that probably had to do with the way he chattered as opposed to the content, now that she thought about it. His eyes would light right up and his voice would rise and fall in a peculiar kind of joyful cadence that warmed the surrounding area. She couldn't remember the last time she'd shown emotion so freely on her own face. What was it like to be so unguarded?

Even though he knew she'd refuse for at least a good five minutes, Armin always insisted on walking Annie home after practice. He always won by asserting that he was only walking her as long as it was on the way to his own place, but since she didn't know where he lived, she never knew at what point of her trip home it stopped being "on the way." Truth was, it was in the opposite direction, but he intended to keep that his little secret. It was kind of fun seeing how far he could go before she'd actually begin to get fed up with his chivalry. He'd gotten her address from Reiner, so he knew the closest he'd ever gotten was a block away. And being somewhat competitive, he was always itching to beat his high score.

However, despite how well they'd started getting along in private, when they were with the others, she was still the same frostily aloof Annie, and that troubled him. There was only so far their familiarity—and by extension, their partner dynamic—could improve if they kept all progress limited to situations that only involved the two of them. He had a feeling she wouldn't be up for just jumping into the fray, though, so it would be up to him to initiate. It took a little doing, but a few weeks after that first dinner, he got up the courage to put his plan to bring their familiarity to the next level into effect.

The instant Hange dismissed them for lunch Armin turned to his dance partner and tried to make himself heard over the din. "Hey, Annie."

She paused for a moment and arched a graceful eyebrow. He'd never stopped her when they broke for a break before. Did he need to ask her something about the routine just now?

"Eren, Mikasa, and I are going to grab some sandwiches and meet Connie and Sasha outside. Would you like t—?"

"No," she cut him off swiftly without a second glance and strode away to her dance bag.

"Oh, uh, o-okay. S-see you later."

Not many had heard him that time, and those who did simply wrote it off as Armin's failed attempt to be nice. But as time went on, more and more eyebrows rose at his dogged insistence in asking her to eat with him and whomever else he was with that day. Armin and Annie had avoided each other like the plague for the group lunch breaks up until now, so why was he suddenly going out of his way to invite her every time? But then one day, the unthinkable happened: she actually accepted.

"Anyone tell you too much persistence can get stupid?" she grumbled at him after two straight weeks of this.

He laughed a little and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Constantly." He smiled invitingly. "Does that mean you'll come?"

She heaved a great sigh not unlike the one at their first dinner and answered, "Yes…."

"Eeech! Ymir!" a high-pitched shriek wailed from nearby as Sasha wiped off the water the taller girl had accidentally spat all over her. "What's the big idea?!"

"Sorry, potato, it was an accident," Ymir apologized between hacking.

"Why is it just potato?! At least add the girl," Sasha screeched indignantly.

While everyone watched the commotion as the two girls got into it, Annie stated with a jerk of her head, "But I'm not sitting anywhere near them."

He just laughed. "Okay, I can arrange that."

After that, while Annie often continued to turn him down, it wasn't uncommon to see her eating her lunch silently next to him as everyone else talked around her at least a couple times every couple of weeks. She'd even reluctantly share food with him when he asked/begged, much to everyone's shock. While Annie was nowhere near as into food as Sasha, it was well known how territorial she was about her meals. Thankfully, everyone except for Sasha chose not to say anything about this break in character, and Annie was quick to shut down the brunette's aspirations of extra food. She'd been weak to Armin's puppy eyes, but giving into Sasha was an entirely different matter.

However, the thing that made people take notice the most was that over time, Annie stopped practicing alone. When Armin had started dropping out of weekend group practices for the latter half, no one thought much of it. It was pretty common for people to come and go depending on how much one-on-one time they thought they needed, and it wasn't like he disappeared completely. But then, one by one, people began to notice Annie practicing in the back with him as well. And while no one was exactly sure when it happened, it came to pass that whether it be in their own individual studio or in the larger rehearsal rooms with the others, the sight of her warming up and rehearsing with only the mirror and her music player as her companions was replaced with images of her dancing with Armin, arguing with Armin, eating with Armin, brainstorming with Armin, scowling at Armin, listening to Armin, waltzing with Armin, and talking with Armin. Where once there was one, there now were two.

So all things considered, it was really no surprise that after Armin and Annie had started hanging out together, rumors began to fly about their relationship. The only reason this was unbeknownst to the two of them was because no one was willing to actually ask. While Armin had been growing more assertive and was starting to actually believe he was as good of a dancer as everyone knew he was, his balance of self-confidence was still unusually delicate. And now that he and Annie seemed to have started making some real progress, no one wanted to accidentally make things awkward for him. It wasn't that people thought he was incapable of working through the awkwardness, it was just that Annie would be pissed off all the time until he did. And that would just be bad all around. As for asking Annie about their relationship…well, that was self-explanatory. It didn't stop Bertolt from mildly probing when Armin asked him if Mexican was Annie's DEFCON 2 comfort food near the end of month five though.

The extremely tall, dark-haired male scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. "DEFCON 2 comfort food?"

"Yeah," Armin nodded as he pulled on his dress shirt and started working on the buttons. "That's how Reiner described it anyway. He called Chinese DEFCON 3 and mac & cheese, smothered mashed potatoes, and loaded nachos DEFCON 1."

"Ah," Bertholt murmured in understanding. "I guess it is. Why do you ask?"

Armin shrugged and began pulling on his cardigan. "When she came in this morning, she looked majorly pissed off and told me I better have cash on me because we were getting Mexican tonight."

The words flew out before he could stop them. "You two go out to eat? I knew you'd eat lunch together in the hallways often, but I didn't realize you'd have dinner together too."

Armin blinked in the middle of slipping his arms into his winter jacket. "Is that unusual? Don't you and Ymir eat out sometimes?"

Bertolt flushed and looked away. "Well, yes, but…" he couldn't bring himself to state the obvious difference that he and Ymir were actually dating, so instead he continued with, "I suppose it isn't unusual, actually. Annie just hasn't really hung out with her dance partners outside of practice before."

"Mmm," Armin nodded absently as he laced up his boots. "Lone wolf type. Reiner told me about that a little." He shrugged. "Our dancing has been getting better as a result, so we figure, why stop progress?"

"So…you two are friends…?"

Armin looked confused for a moment before the light bulb came on. "Yeah, I think we'd call ourselves friends." His lips titled up fondly. "At least, I consider her one. It took some adjustment to get used to her intimidating stares and generally stand-offish attitude, but once you realize that she's just intensely focused and quiet, she's pretty cool." He laughed. "She's kind of an enigma, which makes it even more fun to get to know her better, and she knows the best restaurants." Noting the time, he swung his bag over his shoulder. "I'd better get going, though. She was still kind of irritated by the end of practice, so it's my civic duty to get her to some Mexican before she begins biting off the heads of innocent bystanders. See you Monday if not before!" he waved.

As Bertolt waved in response, he watched the shorter dancer race out of the locker room. There was a nervous haste in the hunch of Armin's shoulders and a subtle spring in his step that he recognized. There was something about the fidgety way Armin would straighten and re-straighten his cap that was all too familiar. It reminded him of when he'd first started to see Ymir as more than just a dancer whose style matched well with his, when he'd begun to see past her coarse, flippant exterior to the strong, loyal woman underneath. He wondered if Armin was aware how his voice warmed and his eyes brightened when he talked about Annie, how he'd get an absent kind of smile whenever he thought about her. He mulled over the prospect with a slight frown. He doubted it.

Should he try to help? While he himself had never had any romantic interest in Annie, she and Reiner were like siblings to him, so of course he held vested interest in any possible romance that came her way. He liked Armin, and from what he could see, they seemed to complement each other, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. As far as he could see, Annie hadn't shown any indication that she thought of Armin as anything more than a dance partner that she was on decent terms with. He shook his head and zipped up his coat. It was probably best to just wait and see.

Ymir raised an eyebrow at her boyfriend when he finally emerged from the changing room. "Whad'ya do? Get lost in your shirt?" the lanky girl drawled while idly spinning her cellphone by its strap.

"Talking to Armin…about Annie…."

Her ears perked. "Oh?" She slung a toned arm around his shoulder and brought her freckled face close to his conspiratorially. "So yes or no?"

"No." She grunted and muttered something about idiots. "But maybe soon. At the very least, I don't think Armin's figured it out yet."

She rolled her eyes. "And the ice queen?"

"Nothing as far as I'm aware." Bertolt shrugged.

She made a rude noise. "They're no fun."

"Who's no fun?" a muffled voice piped up.

"Good grief, woman, stop talkin' with your mouth full," Ymir complained loudly when Sasha and Connie came into view. "It's already bad enough that you eat all the time. Do we have t' see everything in your mouth too?"

Chuckling a little, Bertolt cut off Sasha's squawk of protest. "We were talking about Armin and Annie, Sasha."

"So they're not together?" Connie asked.

"Nope," Ymir popped the p. She smirked and dug her elbow into Bertolt's side affectionately. "Bertl-san thinks Armin might subconsciously have a thing for 'er though."

Sasha swallowed her potato chips. "Should we try to get them together?"

"Absolutely not!" Everyone jumped a little when Hange abruptly joined their little group. Where in the world had she come from? There wasn't exactly anywhere to hide in the bare hallway. "They're doing fabulously on their own and I won't have you accidentally messing anything up."

"But—!"

"No buts," she stated firmly. "I want to see what they can accomplish by themselves." She eyed them sharply. "Understood?"

The four regulars nodded with varying degrees of reluctance. They could sort of see her point.

Sorry if this seems like kind of quick relationship development, but I am unfortunately not creative enough to write an interesting, detailed multiple-chapter-long friendship-building period. I figure that after about three months of spending copious amounts of time with someone just about every single day with the intent of becoming friends, you're bound to get there and the specifics aren't really all that important. I just kind of wanted to show that they're getting closer and slowly shaping one another into better people. If I didn't manage to get that across, then this chapter was a complete and total failure. (x . x)