His wet bangs covered his twisted expression. He wasn't having any fun. He was sure Ymir would tease him for this, just because she would be jealous of him. He sighed deeply, feeling small drops of water falling on his cheeks. The girls kept gossiping about almost anyone, although Armin wasn't interested at all.
He felt three pairs of hands starting to braid his hair, which felt actually nice as they weren't pulling too much. Armin had to admit that he liked his hair being stroked.
Some footsteps were heard approaching the room. Annie Leonhardt showed up at the door, first don't paying attention to the whole scenario, but noticing later. She had her eyes wide open, poker-faced, as usual.
"What is happening in here?" asked with a monotonous tone. She seemed not interested, despite she asked. Christa repeated her sentence from fifteen minutes before.
"We're styling Armin's hair, it's really smooth. Do you want too, Annie?" said Christa while looking at her with a smile. Annie raised an eyebrow.
"Umm, I think I'll pass," Annie answered nonchalantly. She passed past Armin, looking at him. She actually didn't feel compassion, but rather amusement. She grabbed her silver ring, which forgot to wear that morning.
Once the braid was done, Mina offered a small mirror to Armin, which he looked himself in. He didn't look any bad, but he wasn't used to have his hair off his face.
"Armin, thank you so much! We had so much fun. I hope we can repeat some day!" said Christa in the most angelic voice. Armin's anger disappeared magically, that girl really had super powers! He nodded and left the room.
Some days passed by before the girl gang showed up again at his dining table. He wanted to run away, they were like small mosquitos biting on him. Unexpectedly, Jean and Mikasa encouraged him to accept once more, while Eren had a vein popping out in his neck. Armin guessed they wouldn't go away until he agreed, they were stubborn as a mule.
The second hairstyling session was less traumatic, as they didn't insist on washing his hair. He did it himself to avoid bizarre adventures in the tub.
This time he felt on the mood and opened his book. It talked about female prayer mantis' behaviour around males. It would be scary that actual human women acted like that, thought Armin. He felt the small hands run all over his scalp. He was rather permissive that day.
Annie arrived to her bedroom. She was really tired, and she couldn't get any sleep that night. She yawned as she opened the door, finding the same weird situation again. She rolled her eyes.
"Hi Annie," greeted Armin with a happy tone, not lifting his eyes from the book. The rest of the girls greeted her afterwards. She was puzzled.
"For God's sake, I just want to take a nap. Go make your stupid hair salon in other place,"
"It's okay, we won't make any sound. You wouldn't think it's stupid if you tried it! It's really soothing," added Hannah, grabbing some golden locks. Armin giggled. He was relaxed too.
Annie just laid on her bed, facing the wall. She could hear the muffled whispers of the girls before she fell asleep.
Annie was on her nerves when she found out the same gang on her bedroom later that week. Armin seemed really happy and focused on his heavy-looking book, and the girls hummed some annoying song. She was so exhausted! This time she didn't even bother to speak up.
The sun shone really bright for being October, so the training felt harder than usual. Sasha jumped with joy when the lunch time arrived. They all took their respective seats. They were not fixed, but everyone just was used to have one.
Armin and Eren chatted over various topics before a tree-tall lean boy coughed at their backs. They looked up to find a sweaty Bertholdt, handing a folded paper to Armin. The blond looked first at the piece of paper, and then at the nervous brunet. He asked with his eyes.
"It's for you Armin, someone… Someone told me to give it to you! Only you can read it, okay?" spat Bertholdt.
"Who was it?" asked an inquiring Armin. Eren just looked at him in awe.
"I-I can't say it! You'll see… soon, I guess," declared the tallest of them all. He just excused himself and left, Armin looking with curiosity to the piece of paper. Eren sure wanted to peek at it too, but respected Bertholdt's indications. Armin just shrugged at his friend, before turning back to keep eating.
Only when Armin had left his tray in order to be washed, he went to a tranquil hall and opened the small letter. It said:
"Hey Armin. Meet me at 4 pm at the girls' bedroom number 5. Don't make me wait for you. See you there, xx."
Armin felt a slight shiver running down his spine. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he knew something was wrong about that note. It wasn't even signed with the remittent name! In spite of that, his curiosity was now wide awake, so he did not follow his instinct and obeyed the note.
He was cautious as ever when knocked the well-known bedroom's door. Nobody answered, so he repeated his action, receiving no sound in response again. He grabbed the knob and turned it hesitantly, peering through the door. He was all alone, so he came in and sat patiently in the stool.
He thought about that letter, and the meaning of that mysterious meeting. His fingers twitched together, in an attempt of remaining calm. Five minutes had passed, when he felt the door crack as it opened.
Annie walked in, and closed the door again leaning on it with her back. Armin felt as confused as flustered, from all the people he knew, the least he could expect was Annie Leonhardt. She placed her bangs behind her ear. She looked really pretty like that, thought Armin, before coming back down on earth again.
"Annie?" he said in a strangulated voice. "You know, I'm waiting for someone here, I hope you don't mind," he said, hoping it wasn't her his mysterious remittent. She let out a tiny grin.
"Oh, yes, I'm your waited someone," answered an unconcerned Annie. Armin started feeling more and more distressed. You could cut the atmosphere with a knife. Nevertheless, she looked really calm and collected, as she was there to take a nap. That wasn't her actual intention, sadly.
"O-Oh really? I didn't think it was… well, you," Armin really tried to look as cool as her, but failed miserably. "So, Annie, what can I do for you?" asked as he stood up, swinging his arms loosely at his sides. A nervous smile appeared on his lips, when he realized Annie had been all this time with her arms at her back. Was she hiding something?
"Well, the question is more likely to be, what can I do for you?" she said as she brought her arms to the front. She had some silver small scissors on her right hand. Armin didn't really understand. That girl was weird, although he liked that in a person. "Look Armin," she continued, "I have near to zero patience, and your little hairstyling games won't let me relax in this room," Armin listened cautiously, "I believe you don't feel really comfortable having a group of girls following you everywhere,"
"Well, it's kinda flattering, actually," he said blushing, scratching his cheek with his index finger. He felt Annie scowl.
"Shut it! Listen, I need to cut your hair," she said abruptly, opening and closing her scissors. Armin felt his mouth open.
"What? No, listen Annie…" he grabbed his loved mane.
"If you don't have that silky hair they say you have, then there won't be more salon sessions!" she was starting to lose her temper.
"Oh, but hey, have you touched it? It's really smooth, trust me!" said Armin nervously, in an attempt of saving his hair. He came closer and offered her a long lock. Annie raised an eyebrow. That boy was really weird, in a good way she would admit. Instead of stroking the lock, she went for his golden hair. It was as smooth as a puppy's fur, it was true. Her expression softened.
"Okay, you are right. Now I feel shame, but I'm cutting your hair anyways. I don't stand all the noise in my room!" said an impatient Annie. Armin almost let out a giggle, she was really cute when angry. Of course, he would never say it. He could gain a good slap.
"We can go somewhere else, I can talk with them, I'll convince them. How about that?" Armin said stepping back, as Annie started coming closer with her scissors. She really seemed amused, for the first time.
Armin found the stairs of a bunk bed with his back, meaning he had no more space left to recoil.