When Armin invited Annie out, she had assumed it was going to be just the two of them. After all, he didn't mention Eren or Mikasa, or at least she was pretty sure he hadn't. If she had known they were involved too, she would never have agreed; she didn't want to go anywhere with his friends.
"Yesterday Eren and Mikasa asked me to go to Winter Wonderland with them. I t-thought it would be nice to invite you, too. But I didn't have your cell phone number so that's why I came to your house. I'm sorry if it was unexpected, I didn't mean to wake you or anything…" Armin explained as they walked along together, Eren and Mikasa were just slightly ahead.
"Why would the thought to invite me even cross your mind?" Annie looked at him sceptically. She was truly curious to why Armin wanted to spend any time with her. She had treated him like shit in his own home, even after he had been so kind to her. She had also spent the last week flat out ignoring the guy. "I don't think your friends like me, either." she added.
"I like you." Armin said a bit too quickly and felt his face heat up, "I m-mean, as a friend of course…"
"Whatever." Annie felt butterflies flutter in her stomach, it must have been the third time now. All she could do was turn away from him. She would never admit how his words had affected her.
Armin stared at her for several moments, "Hey um…I'd like to make it clear that you're my friend, Annie. I gathered the reason you have been avoiding me for the past week is because you feel awkward about what happened at my house. I want to reassure you that it's okay. I forgive you for what you said. We all act rashly and hurt each other at times, it's only natural. Besides, it was my fault for asking personal stuff that you weren't comfortable talking about. Maybe you feel like you've been a bad person to me and think you shouldn't hang out with me anymore, but please don't feel that way. I really want to continue hanging out…"
"I wasn't avoiding you. I was busy, that's why I didn't turn up to lunch." Annie lied through her teeth. She felt so exposed. How was he able to analyse her like that!? Was she really that black and white? She didn't think she was. It seemed like Armin was able to read her mind or something.
"Well…okay" the blond smiled, knowing full well that he was right once again.
Armin caught up with Eren and Mikasa and Annie was left trailing awkwardly behind them as they spoke between themselves for the rest of the journey there. Armin tried hard to include Annie but it was obvious she didn't belong with them. Eren Jaeger had something against her for sure. Mikasa was indifferent but Annie knew she would side with Eren in a heartbeat.
What am I even doing here? The blonde thought over what Armin had said to her back there and looked down. When she looked up again her eyes fell upon the shortest of the trio and she found her answer, I'm here for him.
Winter Wonderland was set up in a park not too far away and when they arrived it came to Annie's attention that she had to pay a small fee for an entrance ticket. She didn't have any spare money because all the money she earned went towards food. Very rarely her father would give her cash since most of his went towards alcohol.
Well, fuck. That was short-lived.
Armin was nearing the ticket booth and just as she was about to tell him that she didn't have the money and therefore had to leave, he began to speak to the cashier.
"Can I have two tickets please." Armin handed over a few notes and was given two tickets in return. The blond then turned back to Annie, "Here you go" he was smiling at her as he handed her a ticket.
"You didn't have to…" Annie's eyes were wide in surprise, she took the ticket from his hand and couldn't help but feel happy.
"It's no problem." Armin had gathered that Annie was short on cash. He didn't want her to have to walk all the way back home, especially after he had woken her up to come in the first place. He felt obliged to buy her the ticket.
"So what do you want to do first?" Eren asked, though Annie knew the question was directed towards Armin and Mikasa and not her.
The blonde decided to just ignore Eren and looked around at her surroundings instead. The place was clearly all German themed and was highly festive. She could hear Christmas songs playing in the background and the amount of decorations that were put up was obnoxious. Fake snow scattered the ground but it wasn't like they even needed it since the real stuff would be around soon enough. There were stalls selling all kinds of seasonal gifts and food stalls selling German foods. Of course there were places where beer was available. Annie didn't want to go near those, she was sick of the sight of alcohol. Yeah, all thanks to him and his love for that filth. He chooses that shit over his own daughter…I should stop thinking about him. I should just try and have fun for one day. Even though I am supposed to work tonight, I could say I was sick, it wouldn't get me fired. I just hope I'll be okay money-wise. Annie observed the rides and stalls where people were able to play games to win prizes. To any kid, this was heaven. However, none of this really interested Annie much. It reminded her of her childhood, and quite frankly, she had outgrown all of this crap a long time ago.
"Annie is that okay with you?" Armin was suddenly beside her again.
"Huh?" she hadn't caught any of what was said. She felt like even more of an outsider than ever.
"We're going to the ice-rink first. Mikasa's idea." Armin smiled.
"What? No way. I can't ice-skate." Annie felt dread dawn on her. She had never once been ice-skating in her life, and there was no way in hell she was going to try it now.
"It's not that hard. You just don't know how to have any fun…" Eren rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, says you. You're probably some reckless asshole who wants to get yourself severely injured or killed." Annie snapped back. She wasn't at work now so she could say whatever she wanted. What did he have against her, anyway? He didn't know anything about her.
"Eren, Armin, and I can go ice-skating while you sit out. Problem solved." Mikasa gave Annie the evil eye. The tall girl was quick to protect Eren even though all Annie had done was simply defend herself and say it how it was. She wasn't here to put up with bullshit from this brat.
"Y-you get the hang of it after a while, I've been a few times but I'm no expert. It will be fun, trust me!" Armin quickly said in an attempt to ease the tension.
"No." Annie shook her head and looked down. She had not signed up for this.
"Please? I promise I won't let you fall."
Annie made the mistake of looking into Armin's large, pleading eyes. Manipulative little shit. There was a longish pause while the blonde tried to remain stubborn, but she eventually gave in. "…Fine" Annie mumbled almost inaudibly.
"Great!" Armin exclaimed and went to hug her but stopped when he realised what he was doing. Annie looked up at him confused, while Armin's face turned bright red. "Uh…I'm g-glad you're going to give it a try. It's really fun! One time I fell over, it hurt, haha…" Armin rambled in an attempt to cover up the fact that he was just about to do something stupid.
"Just make sure that this time, you don't fall over." Annie warned and Armin nodded.
"Alright then, let's go! We have to collect our boots and that takes forever so come on!" Eren was already on the move again.
The four of them queued up to exchange their shoes for ice-skating boots and after around fifteen minutes or so, they were all set to go onto the rink. Annie felt anxious, not that she showed it. She was already struggling to walk to the rink in those heavy ice-skates. It wasn't the weight so much that was the problem, it was the ridiculously thin blade that balanced her. God only knew how she was going to cope once she actually stepped onto the ice. She was probably going to wind up flat on her ass and acquire even more bruises than she already had. Then again, Armin had promised to make sure that wouldn't happen, had he not? It was very brave of him to promise something like that, and for some foolish reason, she trusted him.
Annie watched as Eren was the first out onto the ice, he stumbled and nearly fell over but once he caught his balance he was alright. Mikasa was quick to follow behind, and much to Annie's dismay, the taller girl was a natural. Mikasa did not even hold onto the railing as she stepped onto the rink and began to skate around gracefully. You've got to be kidding me.
"Annie, take my hand." Annie turned to Armin and couldn't hide the faint blush that crept onto her cheeks at his demand. She took his gloved hand and he wrapped his around hers tightly.
Armin stepped out first and held onto the railing with one hand. Annie hesitantly followed and she felt her legs wobble as she stood on the ice. Ice-skating had to be one of the most dangerous sports out there. Crap, I'm going to die, I know it. Annie grabbed hold of the railing with one hand, while the other was squeezing Armin's. "How do people even skate?" she muttered, the blond boy just chuckled.
"I'll show you." Armin smiled. Annie was not ready for this. "Come on" Armin let go of the railing. His movements were steady, because he was being extra careful, but this did little to put Annie's mind at rest.
"No, Armin, wait…" Annie panicked as she was pulled a long by the boy.
"Don't worry, I've got you" at that moment, Armin sounded so confident and Annie really couldn't hide the fact that she was blushing.
Her legs shook beneath her and in fear of falling she grabbed his entire arm and clung onto him. "Armin, don't let me fall." there was the hint of a threat in her tone but Annie didn't look threatening at all. In fact, she looked the complete opposite.
"I won't. I promised you, didn't I?" Armin's heart was pounding against his chest because Annie was literally all over him. Her grip was so tight on his arm that it hurt, not that he even cared. The pain was worth it.
"Annie you have to try and move your legs, I can't do all the work." the blond said softly, not wanting to annoy her but trying to get the point across. As it was, they were just standing in the middle of the rink.
"I'm trying!" she retorted. It didn't help that Mikasa had passed by them twice after having done two complete loops of the rink. "What is she…a figure skater or something?" Annie mumbled as the Asian girl passed by them for the third time.
Armin suppressed the urge to laugh, "It seems that way, doesn't it." Is Annie jealous? That's so cute.
After a while Annie got the hang of it, all thanks to Armin's help. Of course she was still clinging to him, not that he minded in the slightest; in fact he was thoroughly enjoying it.
After going around the full rink once, Armin smiled at Annie, "See, it's not so hard once you get the hang of it. It's fun isn't it?"
"Mhm" was Annie's reply, "…I wouldn't have been able to do it without your help though." she added quietly.
Annie didn't find the ice-skating itself fun at all, what she did enjoy was being attached to Armin's arm. She had to admit that being so close to the boy gave her feelings that she had never experienced before. Her heart was racing the entire time and she felt somewhat anxious. It wasn't only because of her fear of falling, either.
"I would have never have guessed that someone like you would be so scared of ice-skating." Armin had thought Annie was fearless, but he was wrong. She was just a normal girl with her own weaknesses after all.
"We're never speaking of this again, got it?" the last thing she wanted was for him to harp on about the fact that she was too much of a wimp to ice-skate by herself.
"Got it." Armin smiled hoping that she was enjoying herself as much as he was.
They skated around the rink together, never changing the position and little was said between them. It was never an uncomfortable silence, thankfully. Eventually Eren joined up with them and Annie was terrified he would try and steal Armin away from her. There was no way she could stand on her own, let alone skate. Either I look like a stupid loser, or we both look like some lovey-dovey couple going around like this.
"Armin, I'll race you from one end of the rink to the other." Eren requested.
Armin looked down at Annie who gave him a ludicrous look, "I can't" he said, he wouldn't leave Annie. He had promised to make sure she didn't fall.
Eren turned to the blonde who was clinging to Armin and frowned, "Can't you stand on your own for two minutes?"
"Can't you shut the hell up?" Annie retaliated. There was no way she was going to skate by herself. So what if she looked helpless and stupid? It wasn't going to happen. The sooner Eren Jaeger realised this, the better.
Suddenly Mikasa glided towards the three, "Forty minutes is almost up, we had better make our way off of the ice now."
Eren glared at the small blonde girl, who was already giving him evils, "Great, now I won't be able to have a race."
"That doesn't sound like a safe or sensible idea, so it's probably for the best that you didn't get to do it." Mikasa scolded.
"Are you going to cling to Armin like that for the rest of the day?" Eren addressed Annie again, while ignoring Mikasa, as they all made their way off the ice.
"Hey Eren, please don't be a jerk…" Armin interjected.
Annie didn't say anything. Why couldn't he just leave her alone? She was perfectly capable of kicking his ass off of the ice, so why did he feel the need to provoke her like that?
"Sorry." Eren mumbled quietly. He didn't really mean it, but he admitted that maybe he was being slightly unreasonable.
After returning their boots Annie started to feel cold. She was sensitive to the cold at the best of times and it was freezing. She had managed to stay warm on the ice simply from being so close to Armin, which had allowed her to benefit from his body heat. Unfortunately she didn't own a hat or scarf like the rest of them.
"Annie your nose is all red…do you feel cold?" Armin observed.
"Well yeah, it has to be one degree or less…" she said grumpily, she really despised the cold with a passion. She realised she must have looked ridiculous, too.
"Let's get something to eat then, it will warm you up. Guys, do you want to eat now?" Armin asked Eren and Mikasa who both nodded in agreement. Ice-skating had used up a lot of energy and they were hungry.
How about you just come closer to me again? Annie felt her face heat up at the thought. Did I honestly just think that? The things that were crossing her mind lately were really scaring her.
"I want wurst" Eren announced as they scanned the food stalls.
"What do you want, Annie?" Armin looked down at her as they walked. The blonde girl simply shrugged, it wasn't like she had the money for anything, even if she wanted it.
In the end, Eren ended up buying a wurst hotdog, Mikasa and Armin decided to get the same, instead of just one though, Armin bought two.
"Armin…you really didn't have to buy me anything" Annie said as they looked for a table.
"It's okay, I honestly don't mind." Armin's smile was so warm-hearted.
"Thank you…" Annie sat down at a table, feeling somewhat guilty that Armin was always doing such kind things for her.
To say it was awkward at the table would have been an understatement. Eren and Mikasa were pretty silent with Annie sitting beside Armin. It had been just the three of them for such a long time that they weren't used to having another person around. It didn't help that Annie was hostile and reluctant to talk to anyone. Surprisingly, the silence was broken when Armin managed to get tomato sauce on his face and Annie giggled quietly. Eren and Mikasa glanced at each other with surprised expressions. Just like Armin that day at lunch, they had never expected Annie Leonhardt to crack a smile, let alone laugh.
"What is it with you and getting food on your face?" the blonde stated while handing him a tissue. Armin was blushing like crazy again and quickly wiped it away.
Annie felt stupid afterwards. She really did not understand that ability of Armin's to make her laugh. It was at the silliest things, too. It was as if the blond was able to unlock something within her, something hidden deep inside that would have been almost impossible to unleash. Yet, he had somehow managed to do it. She was able to forget about her life and her father when she was with Armin, if only for just a few minutes. She was so thankful for that and he would never even know it.
After everyone had finished their food, the trio and Annie spent the rest of their time trailing around the stalls and playing games to try and win prizes. It would have been pretty intolerable for the petite blonde if not for Armin. Annie just watched, she wasn't into those games, and she didn't have the money to waste on them. She pretty much completely ignored Eren and Mikasa who seemed to be good at winning crappy prizes and instead focussed all of her attention on their shorter friend. It must have been blatantly obvious and most likely everyone noticed, including Armin himself, but Annie couldn't help but stare.
"D-do you want to give this game a shot?" Armin addressed her, it was a stupid game that involved shooting cans off of a shelf. Annie shook her head and continued to watch Armin as he proceeded to play and fail at it. She tried her best to ignore how absolutely freezing she felt. She knew that her nose was probably as red as that famous reindeer's by now. As the afternoon turned into evening, the cold really hit Annie hard and her teeth even began to chatter. She wasn't at awe with the beautiful Christmas lights that lit up the place, unlike everyone else.
The next stop was some sort of confectionery stall. Eren and Mikasa both bought seasonal treats while Armin stood back. The blond boy looked down to Annie who was visibly shaking by now. "You're really cold aren't you…?" there was concern in his voice, he didn't know what to do. Annie simply nodded. "Well, did you have fun today at least?" he decided to add.
"Yeah, I did." she was being honest, she really had had fun. It was the first time in a long time, too. Even if the place wasn't exactly what she would call entertaining and Eren was an asshole, being with Armin had made it worthwhile. Not that she was going to admit that.
"D-do you think we should hang out like this again sometime?" Armin paused trying to gather the courage to express himself. He took a deep breath and then exhaled, "I m-mean, just the two of us?" his question made her turn and look up at him directly. Her pale blue eyes blinked several times, processing what he had said.
"I…" she began, but Eren and Mikasa walked over and she immediately stopped whatever she was about to say.
"It's getting kind of late, we should head back now" Eren announced.
Armin wanted to scream. Annie was just about to answer him and his friend had ruined the moment! "Well you guys can go on ahead, I'm going to walk Annie home" he said quickly without even asking her if that was okay.
"Alright, man. Whatever floats your boat, see you on Monday." Eren got the hint. He thought he may as well leave Armin be; he had seen a slightly different side to Annie that made him feel a bit more at ease about the fiery girl. Mikasa gave Armin a wave goodbye and they made their way home ahead.
Annie remained silent. She didn't go back to whatever she was going to say in reply to Armin's question. Her mind was racing. Technically, Armin had just asked her out. She really wanted to, but at the same time it was the last thing she wanted or needed. Her life was already complicated enough. If she was going to go out with Armin, it would make it inevitable that he would find out about her abusive father. She had never felt so conflicted in her entire life, she wanted to push him away and at the same time she wanted to be closer to him than any other human on the planet.
Armin kept glancing at her, waiting and hoping for her to speak. He felt awkward when she just remained silent and didn't even bother to look at him as they walked. Both of them were in deep thought throughout the whole journey back to Annie's and when they neared the tall building, Armin was suddenly reminded of her father's angry voice earlier on that day. He wondered if she would receive the same treatment when she got back. The thought made him deeply sad and he had a horrible sickening feeling inside his stomach knowing that she probably would. The blond came to a stop just several metres from the door and Annie turned to him, looking confused. Why had he stopped there? Wasn't he going to walk her to the door and follow her upstairs?
"Annie…" he said quietly, "Can you please answer my question?"
The blonde was shaking from the cold and hesitated to speak. She stared at Armin intensely and wanted to say yes, she would like to go out. However, after several moments, the words that fell out of her mouth were ones she strongly regretted. At the same time, they were most likely the sensible ones, "Armin, I don't think—"
She was cut off when Armin suddenly embraced her. He wrapped his arms around her gently and her eyes widened in shock. It took a few moments for her brain to process what was going on. When it sunk in, she felt her heart begin to race and her face heat up. "What are you doing?" her voice was very quiet, Armin just about heard her.
"I-I'm trying to keep you warm. I can't bear to see you shake like that anymore." Armin was frightened. He had just interrupted Annie because he knew she was going to say something he really didn't want to hear. It was also true that he wanted to keep her warm. He wanted to always be there to keep her warm. He prayed she would start hugging him back before his heart gave out on him, he was almost certain she could hear it banging against his chest.
Annie could feel warmth radiating from him, his embrace felt so pleasurable. Slowly, without thinking straight, she raised her arms and wrapped them around his torso. Hugging was something very unfamiliar to Annie, it felt strange and she thought back to the last person she had shared the experience with. It was then that she realised the last person she had hugged had been her mother. At that thought, Annie buried her face into Armin's chest and inhaled his scent.
She changed her mind and decided she wouldn't do the sensible thing. She wouldn't reject him. If she hadn't felt so anxious and embarrassed, she would have loved to stay like that all night long.
