Hey guys!

Thanks to *deep breath here* Blademon11, Brook Uchiha Daughter of Zues, Terra Bird, FlyingMintBunny579, DGraySun, Mostarda Productions for being wonderful people and writing in. And I love the people who read and follow and what not jsut as much.

I don't own SNK and Enjoy! ^_^

Seven: the Lines On Her Face

The first thing Armin woke up to was the light seeping in through his bedroom window.

The terrible, awful, cantankerous, goddamned light.

Wait, no. This wasn't his bedroom.

He winced, his hands fumbling to cover his eyes.

The senses in his body came crawling back with a sluggish slowness, first his sight, then his hearing, and his feeling shortly thereafter.

He was on a futon. How he had gotten there was beyond him. His jacket was gone, tossed over the back of some ratty arm chair, currently occupied by a snoring body. His dress shirt was missing a button, but otherwise remained intact and on his person. The covers that swathed him were warm. He felt pressure on his legs.

Armin mustered his strength. Squinting through the invading light, he raised his head slowly, only to find that his skull rang with a dull, throbbing pain.

There was a body on the hard mattress, curled up like a dog on top of his legs. The brunette hair was mussed beyond recognition. A leather jacket was being used as a blanket.

"Er...en?" Armin muttered. Rolling a bit, he could make out the body that slept stiffly on the chair. Mikasa, her face nuzzling the red scarf draped around her neck.

A familiar face laid on the ground, limbs sprawled out and face stuck to the carpet, one he most definitely didn't expect to see.

"Sasha." Armin's voice was barely louder than a whisper.

She snored loudly.

He curled back into his spot on the futon, panic flooding his body.

Why do I feel like I'm dead? And where am I? Oh, God. What's Grandpa going to say? I bet he's worried about me. I never called him to let him know where I was or-or anything. I need a phone... But I don't want to move. I feel like I'm going to be sick or something. What is this?

Something shifted to his left.

Armin rolled his head, through the pain of moving slightly.

A streak of blonde.

His heart burst from his chest. His muscles tightened to the point of breaking.

Annie.

If memory served correctly, yes, that was her name. Why was he having such a hard time recalling? Half of the night was a black screen, as if he was staring into a place the sunlight had never dared to touch.

Annie flit slowly out of a darkened room, a glass of water in her grasp. Her bare feet padded against the linoleum as she entered the kitchen. The fridge opened. Something fell. She cursed under her breath.

Armin rolled onto his elbow, gritting his teeth. Why the hell did it hurt so much?

Her feet carried her to the living room. She stopped, staring down at Armin, leaning against the threshold of the door.

He unscrewed his eyes. She was staring at him with indifference.

Dumbly the words fell from his mouth. "It hurts."

"I thought it might." She took a sip from her cup, doing nothing else to help. She didn't even move.

He cradled his head in his hand. "What happened?"

"Hm?"

"What happened...last night?"

"Oh." She took another sip, making her way over to the futon. She sat beside Armin, offering the glass to him.

He shimmied out from underneath Eren's body. The brunette grumbled a bit, but fell back into a steady sleep.

Armin drank greedily from her cup. The water was so refreshing. Sure, every move he made caused him pain, but it was worth it.

"Thanks," he huffed, handing the glass back.

She nodded. "How much do you remember?"

"I remember..." Armin trailed off. "I think...I remember getting there...and watching you preform. Um, I think I remember going somewhere else with Eren. And you. You were there. For a minute I think?" Armin laughed nervously. "I don't remember really."

"That's the farthest?"

"Y-yeah."

Annie nodded, taking a sip. "Good."

"G-good?"

She merely nodded, eyes fixated on the wall in front of them. "Good."

"Um...A-Annie?" Armin felt as if the word was sacred territory, her name something that should never have touched his tongue. Her eyes flicked up to him. He took it as a greenlight. "Where are we?"

"Rivialle's apartment," she answered. "North Street."

"Rivialle's?"

"Levi," she retorted. "Short guy, undercut, bags under his eyes."

"O-oh."

Silence.

He wasn't yet comfortable with the silence between them, though it seemed to be a common occurrence.

He shot her a look out of the corner of his eye. Tired, she seemed. Awake, but tired. She could use more sleep. Especially after a night of dirt and filth, of booze and blistered fingers. Annie had lines on her face, from sleeping deeply, her face pressed against rough, patterned fabric.

"You have lines on your face," he told her quietly.

She frowned. "Huh?"

"Lines," Armin repeated. He gestured to his own cheek. "Um...on your...face."

"Oh." She ran a hand over her skin, fingertips feeling the divots, the bumps. "I slept on the floor in there..."

"Carpet?"

"Yeah."

Armin laughed quietly into his palm. "I used to get them, too. My grandpa has carpet in his house. When I was a little kid, I u-used to fall asleep on the floor reading. And I always had those lines and squiggles on my face."

She stared at him blankly, her face softening a bit. "Yeah. You told me about your grandpa."

"I...I did?"

"Yes. You told me a lot last night."

"Oh." Armin blushed, chuckling nervously. "I...hope it wasn't anything too embarrassing."

"Not too bad," she shook her head. "I mean, it couldn't be as bad as some drunk bastard asking you if you were asexual."

"Someone...someone did that to you?" Armin asked, voice conveying innocent disbelief.

She merely stared.

"I-I mean!" He waved his hands defensively. "I mean that's fine if you are! I just...you seemed a-annoyed by it."

"It was you."

"Eh?"

"You're the bastard who asked me."

Armin twitched. "I did?"

"Yeah."

"...I..."

Silence. Stunned, mortified silence.

"I AM SO SORRY! I-I SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT? WH-WH-WHY WOULD I DO THAT? I CAN'T BE-I'M SORRY. I APOLOGIZE. WHY WOULD-?"

"You were drunk," Annie explained lightly, carelessly. "It happens."

"I'm still sorry."

"It's alright," she insisted. "You're not the first person to do something stupid when you were drunk, and you're certainly not the last."

"Ha-have you ever done something stupid?"

Annie's eyes flickered a moment. The wall that kept her everything- her emotions, her thoughts, her memories- broke for a moment. "Everyone has," she told him, pressing the glass to her lips. "I'm no exception."

Armin made a small noise. She didn't want to continue. He didn't want to press. "So...what did happen? L-last night?"

"You got into a fight," she told him.

"Eh! Really?"

"No."

Silence.

Annie shifted a bit uncomfortably. "It was a joke."

"O-oh," he smiled, mustering a tiny laugh.

"You just hit on me."

Armin nearly threw up.

She continued. "Well, 'hitting on' probably isn't the most accurate term. You were drunk and you asked if I was asexual and told me I..." Annie paused, her eyes narrowing. "No, that's it."

"I told you what?"

"Nothing."

"O-oh...kay..."

"Don't worry about it."

Armin nodded. She was so enigmatic. Such a closed book, a mystery. "Is that all?"

"Hm?"

"That's...that's all I did right?" Armin inquired.

Annie nodded slowly. "Yes. That's all."

Armin nodded with her.

It was a lie. He wasn't dumb; he knew a lie when he heard it.

Hey!

IM SO SORRY ABOUT THE DELAY. It's finals week at school so I got a little caught up. I'm going to be updating a little less frequently for the next week, but after that, I'm off for about a month, so I'll be updating more. ^_^ I apologize for the length, too. It's a crappy chapter, but we'll get into better things soon, I promise.

Peace, L.