I walk out of the Starbucks near the studio with a simple coffee in hand. Boy, do I need one right now.

We've been recording basically all day, not to mention the intense 3DMG training. I don't like abs on girls in particular, much less on myself, but seems like I have to get used to getting them from now on.

Everything hurts. My legs, my belly, my arms. Though mostly my head.

I sigh when I see the blond boy approaching. The blond douchebag more like it.

"Trying to look hipster, are we?" he asks, removing his hands from his pockets.

"Trying to look thug, are we?" I shoot back. I cringe when I see him actually laugh about my retort.

"No, not really, Annie," the intonation is without a doubt on my name. He looks at my hair. "You should wear it up more often. Shows your face more."

"Aren't you a real player?" The sarcasm is basically dripping off of my voice. I'm usually not that much of a sarcastic person, I'm actually quite cheery - not like Annie in the show at all - but around Armin, I'm every bit of the cynic, sarcastic bitch I can be.

Probably because you have a major crush on him, I tell myself, but then tell myself to shut the fuck up just as fast.

It is, in fact, true. I've had a crush on this douche since the first week of shooting. Mainly because I've learned that this scrawny-looking dude is not only good at my favourite sports, but he can also be a lot like the shy, kind boy he portrays in the show. When I first saw how he behaved in real life, I was stunned. His acting skills are way up there, no doubt.

"That coming from our very own Ice Queen," he jokes.

"Why do you always have to be a jerk?" I ask him. No, seriously. I saw you be nice once, be kind and not this wannabe-thug or jock or whatever the hell you're trying to be.

"Ouch." he grabs his chest and pretends to stumble back. I have to admit, begrudgingly so, his pathetic act does succeed in making me smile.

"That's a lot better," he comments, also smiling himself. I say smiling, because what he's been doing for the past two minutes can only be described as a self-satisfactory grin. One that makes me want to hurl.

"Whatever, Sasha is waiting for me in the parking lot." I try to walk past him, but he stops me, grabbing me by my arm.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" He doesn't let go of my arm. I'm just hoping he doesn't feel the heat rising to my hand and arm. "Reiner said he got a new basketball and wanted to try it out. We're planning on playing on the little field near his house this Saturday, but we weren't with enough people for a good match. You wanna come?"

I wanted to make a comment on his short stature and that it's best he doesn't even try to compete, does he not wants his dignity crushed, but I shut my mouth since I'm not really one to talk at 5 feet. Let alone the fact that I've seen him play and he's very good at basketball. And soccer. And skating. At any sport, basically.

"Cool. I'm in. Can you let me go now? People are starting to look at us as if you're going to kidnap me and throw me in the trunk of your car."

He immediately releases me. "My bad," he says, apologetically. "Two o'clock okay for you?"

I shrug. "Sure." I turn around and walk towards the parking lot.

"What took you so long?" Sasha asks as I get in the faded red Camaro. She's texting, but puts her phone away as soon as I close the door.

"Our little jock wants me to join his basketball club this Saturday," I state, taking a sip of my coffee. It's not gone completely cold, but it's not exactly warm anymore either. I blame Armin.

"Well, are you going?"

"Yeah."

She looks surprised. "Wait. Hold the phone. Really? I thought you kinda had a love-hate relationship, so I figured you'd turn him down immediately, being the stubborn bitch that you are."

"Wow, love you too."

She snorts. "You know I don't mean it like that. Why're you so down all of a sudden, too? He try to assault you or what?"

"Dude!" I push her, and the car swings around a bit.

"There you go! It's weird seeing you so calm and down, is all."

I sigh. "Nothing's wrong. Doesn't matter. Let's go."

I step out the door, dressed in a dark blue sweater and matching shorts that reach just above the knee. Wearing my worn-out sneakers, I try to avoid the puddles of last night's storm, afraid of my socks getting wet.

Arriving at the field near Reiner's house, I spot Armin, Reiner, Bertholdt, Christa - which I have honestly no idea what she's doing here from, her being 4 foot something and everything but a sports type - and Levi.

I laugh at the assortment of people gathered. They're either really tall or really small, no inbetween. I fit in perfectly.

"Honestly I didn't expect you to actually come," Armin laughs, rubbing the nape of his neck.

"Well, I'm here now, ain't I?" I'm not even in that bad of a mood, much to Armin's delight.

"Good to see you've lightened up. Now, teams are.." He looks around for a bit. "Reiner, Bertholdt, Christa. You, me and Levi. Should make it interesting."

I don't even comment on the fact that the two tallest people are in a team together. "Great. Let's go."

Half an hour into the game, it starts pouring again. I don't mind, we were behind like twelve points anyway.

We run for cover and mostly shiver. "Aw, fuck," Christa swears. I try to hold back a chuckle. I'll never get used to this frail, little girl with the high-pitch voice swear like it's nobodies business.

"You could certainly say that, yeah," Armin says.

"We should go home. Doesn't look like it'll clear up anytime soon," Levi sighs. He looks like a drowned puppy with his soaked undercut. He doesn't look fazed by it, though. He's told me he hates the haircut before, but he got used to it, I guess.

"I walked here, though," I comment.

"I'll drive you home," Armin says.

I'm torn by doubt. Do I want this asshole to drive me home? Really? "Okay," I reply. God fucking dammit, Annie.

So, here I am, in the passenger seat of Armin's car.

Neither of us says a word during the ride, but it's a comfortable silence nonetheless. The man on the radio does the talking for us. Apparently, it's not letting up until tonight.

I look at him, and can't help but feel just a little bit sorry. Because of me he has to drive to my house and then all the way to his in soaking wet clothes. Not to mention you can barely see anything thanks to the rain.

"You can stay at my house 'til the rain lets up," I say, hesitation and possible regret in my voice almost tangible.

He looks at me, surprised, but quickly looks back at the road. "You serious?"

"Do you want to drive through this mess and possibly kill yourself?" Surprisingly, I do worry about him, yes.

"Well, no."

We both take that as an agreement and remain silent for the rest of the road to my house. I have to give him directions for the last part, though.

Once inside my house, I throw him a towel and tell him I'm going to take a shower.

When I walk into my room, wearing my pajamas and a towel around my neck, I grunt when I see Armin, sitting on my bed, without a care in the world.

"Why the fuck are you in my room?" I ask, trying not to get too angry, since I tend to get kind of violent when I do.

"You were taking too long and the livingroom was boring."

I sigh. He's in my room, for god knows how long has he been now. Whatever. I don't care anymore. I sit beside him on the bed and shove his feet from my pillows. "Were you raised in a fucking jungle?"

"Maybe," he taunts me. This guy, I swear to god.

I groan and unconciously lean on his shoulder. I'm tired. Everything hurts again. I'm probably getting sick. "You should shower too. You're soaking. You'll catch a cold. Not to mention that my bed it wet because of you now."

He stand up. We both didn't question the fact that I just leaned on him for no real reason. "As long as you're not gonna peek on me or anything."

"Don't flatter yourself." I try to sound hostile, but probably fail. I'm in my own house, I was caught off guard and I'm just really tired. I can't bring up the effort to be mean at the moment.

When I hear the shower turn on I take a good look around my room. Did he look at or move any stuff? Doesn't look like it.

When I'm done checking my room for moved or even stolen stuff, I turn around to a bathtowel-clad Armin. "You afraid I stole something or what?"

"Dude, can you not," I try to tell him, doing my best to look at his face.

That shit-eating grin appears on his face again, and my expression hardens.

That seems to amuse him even more, though, as he walks my way and sits down on the bed like he owns the damn place.

"I can't believe you." I really can't think of anything else to say.

"Do you ever relax?"

"Not when you're around, no." That's not even a lie, honestly.

"Why not?"

The sound I make is something inbetween a groan and a sigh. "You're always so carefree and don't give two fucks about others. I try not to worry about stuff but I just can't help it. How can you act so cool about everything?" There's a lot more I want to say, but decide that's a story for another time.

The grin disappears and makes way for a softer expression, one I didn't expect, and it surprises me.

"I didn't know that." Genuine regret is showing on his face, and it kind of disturbs me.

"Well, now you do." I lean against the bedpost. I start to doubt myself. Is it actually smart to tell him all this? God knows he'll blackmail me.

I can hear him shifting position on the bed. Though he might not be as annoying as two seconds before, he's still acting as if he's at home instead of in my room wearing a bathtowel.

"Your face is red," he states in a flat voice.

I didn't even realize until now. My hand reaches my face and he's right, it feels pretty warm. Shit.

I look at Armin, trying to regain my senses, and am confronted with a grin even bigger than before.

"What the hell is so funny to you?" I ask.

"It's okay, you can tell me."

"Tell what?"

"You can tell me you like me already."

I thought I felt my embarassment go away. Apparently not, because I can feel my face heating right back up. "Why this subject all of a sudden? Afraid the attention wasn't directed towards you enough?"

Laughter fills the room. Usually I'd laugh with dumb stuff like this, but today, I'm having none of it.

"Avoiding the topic, I see."

"Aren't we sassy today."

"See, there you go again."

I huffed and stubbornly looked the other way. He was right, and I didn't like that. At all. "'Cause I don't like the topic one bit. Now get the hell out of my room and put some clothes on. I don't want you prancing around butt-naked in my house."

"I'm not naked, though," he said as he walked towards the door, obviously happy, since he'd just won the argument.

"A towel doesn't count, smartass."

Armin threw his hands up in the air as a sign of submission and walked out of the room.

Sasha walked to the dressing rooms with Mikasa by her side. "Armin seems awfully chipper," she commented.

Mikasa shrugged. "I didn't see him enter his appartment yesterday or whatever, god knows where he was."

Sasha noticed Annie was walking with them, though she was not quite catching up to the two. "Annie? Something wrong?"

That seemed to snap Annie out of her thoughts. She smiled wistfully and shook her head. "It's nothing, really."

I am so sorry it took me this long. But no, I'm not dead. I'll try to update faster next time, but no promises.

Yeahhh I kinda promised an eremika chapter but that didn't really work out, and you just have to let go of drafts sometimes, you know?

I hope it didn't bother you too much, since most of the people shipping eremika also ship aruannie.

I'm not sure what to write next. Ereri, maybe. Or Springles? Yumikuri? Mikaannie? I have no idea. We'll see, I guess.