Pining Over Potato Girl
Armin Arlert was nervous, and why wouldn't he be? He had joined his childhood friends, Eren Jaeger and Mikasa Ackerman, in the army, even though he was the weakest of the three and didn't much care for physical combat. Before Armin could continue dwelling in those nervous thoughts, his eyes focused on one of the other recruits, and not just because she was eating an entire steaming potato, but because she was drop-dead gorgeous.
Armin couldn't help but stare at the girl while she was chewing on the potato. Armin looked at the sparkling chocolate brown hair, his fingers curling as he wondered what it would be like to run his fingers through her hair. The girl was a lot taller than him, almost the height of Mikasa, but he didn't focus on her size for long, as he couldn't help but be lost in her eyes, which looked to be the same shade of brown as her long locks. Ignoring the bits and pieces of potato covering her mouth, Armin began paying attention to her lips, which looked plump and soft and perfectly kissable. But before he could dwell on the thoughts of kissing this girl he barely knew, Armin felt someone harshly grab his right shoulder.
"ARLERT!" Armin practically jumped out of his skin when he heard and saw his bald and raccoon-eyed commander, Commander Shadis, who was looking down at him with his eyebrows downcast in an annoyed glare.
"Uhh…Ahhhh…Yes!?"
"Would it be too much of a bother for you to stop staring at your fellow cadets while I'M SPEAKING!?" Commander Shadis yelled in Armin's face, as he felt the entire cadet class looking right at him. Armin, out of his peripheral vision, saw the brown-haired girl looking at him, occasionally gazing at the other cadets staring at him in confusion while also continuing to eat the potato in her hand. While Armin's face was busy turning red and the rest of the army hopefuls were either reacting with laughter or disinterest, Shadis had walked over to the girl after he realized that she was gorging on a potato. Armin couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief as he heard Shadis essentially read that girl the Riot Act.
'Poor girl, she really wasn't doing anything wrong. I wonder what her name is…,' Armin thought to himself as Sasha left the group and began running, with Shadis explaining that Sasha was going to 'run until she dropped' for eating during his seminar. Armin felt even worse, especially since he had basically brought attention to her by staring at her. Armin decided that after she finished running, he was going to apologize to the brown-haired girl of his dreams and learn her name.
Later that Night…
Armin walked out of the mess hall, everyone thankfully forgetting the whole 'love at first sight' moment he had thanks to Eren beginning to ramble on about how he was going to stop the Titans. Armin was on a mission of his own; find that potato-loving girl, apologize, and learn her name. It didn't take too long to find her, as a small blonde-haired girl was helping Sasha sit on a bench, and drink some water. Armin breathed in a sigh of relief that someone else was worried about her too before running over to the pair.
"Oh hi…Armin right?"
"Yeah, I'm…here to check on…her," Armin said awkwardly, pointing to the brown-haired girl, who was too busy biting into a piece of bread to even notice him.
"Oh, this is Sasha. Sasha Blouse. She introduced herself at the group seminar earlier," the blonde girl explained. Armin felt like kicking himself, feeling like an idiot for completely missing out on this Goddess' name because he was too nervous. Armin, looking at Sasha, who was now going back to drinking some water, took a deep breath and looked back at the blonde-haired girl.
"Ummm…if you want, I can look after her until dinner. It's only for a short while anyway, and I'm sure you have some other stuff to do," Armin offered, rambling on since he couldn't see the blonde-haired girl's warm smile as she got up off of her seat and patted him on the shoulder.
"Knock yourself out. Oh, and my name is Krista by the way," Krista explained before walking away, leaving Armin all alone with the girl he just learned was named Sasha. Armin took another deep breath before sitting down next to Sasha, who had just finished her bottle of water. Armin didn't know what to say to her; does he just apologize right out, does he introduce himself, does he ask questions about her life? What does he do?
"So…you're name's Armin right?" Armin nearly jumped as he saw Sasha looking right at him, with her eyes staring right at him. Armin's blush grew back on his face in full force as Sasha looked him up and down.
"Y…y..yeah."
"Why were you looking at me during the seminar?" Sasha asked. Armin almost choked on the air, completely shocked at Sasha asking that question so suddenly. Honestly, Armin was hoping that the question would come later, as he did not have an answer for her that wouldn't make him sound weird. Sasha continued looking at him with anticipation, wanting to hear the reason he was staring at her.
"Oh! Sorry about that, I didn't mean to stare."
"It's OK-"
"I didn't mean to get you in trouble either, especially so early into our military careers."
"Armin, it's OK-"
"I really hope you weren't too hurt by running for so long. Are you OK? Do you need anything else? Water? Bread? Something else-"
"Armin! It's OK, I'm not mad at you or anything. Honestly, I shouldn't have been eating during the seminar anyway. But, you still haven't answered my question," Sasha interrupted, putting both her hands on both of Armin's shoulders. Armin bounced back up once again, realizing that he had been rambling again, and decided to, despite his face burning from a red blush, give her the truth.
"Because…because I think you're beautiful," Armin mumbled, too nervous to even look Sasha in the eye. Sasha looked confused for a few seconds, and once she realized what Armin had said, her face exploded into a red blush, making her face almost as bright red as Armin's. Armin didn't notice this because he was still looking down, but Sasha tapped him on the shoulder, causing him to look back up.
"You…you really think I'm beautiful?" Sasha asked as if she didn't believe what Armin was saying.
"Of course I do! How could I not!?" Armin exclaimed, shocked that Sasha didn't think that she was beautiful. Sasha couldn't help but laugh before giving Armin a big hug, causing Armin's brain to almost turn off as Sasha's chest and cheek rubbed against his arm and cheek respectively.
"Thanks, Armin, that really means a lot. Do you…do you want to sit with me for dinner?" Sasha asked. Armin looked at Sasha with his eyes almost falling out of his head and his mouth agape. Armin didn't think that his relationship with Sasha would move forward so quickly, and while they weren't boyfriend and girlfriend yet, having dinner together was a huge step for a couple of teenagers who didn't even know each other until today. But then again, Armin wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth and nodded much quicker and more aggressively than he intended.
"I'd love to!" Armin exclaimed, again louder than he had wanted. However, Sasha found his reactions more endearing rather than weird, and chuckled before struggling back to her feet. Armin quickly got back to his feet, and held Sasha's hand, trying to give her something to lean on, since Armin could see that Sasha was being gingerly when it came to putting pressure on her feet. However, once Sasha was standing up straight, Armin realized that they were holding hands, and he once again exploded into a blush, steam practically coming out of his ears.
"Thanks for helping me up, Armin. I'm glad to know a really nice guy here," Sasha said. Armin looked over at Sasha and smiled the biggest smile he had since he decided to go into the army. As Armin and Sasha walked over to the dining area, Armin knew that he would probably be pining over Sasha for a while, knowing that the Titan attacks are not only deadly but unpredictable, so they would always have to be on their toes. However, there are two things that Armin didn't count on; first is that he and Sasha would have plenty more time to get to know each other and make their feelings clear, and second, this was the day that Sasha began pining for Armin as well.