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cafedanslanuit · 3 years

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♡ — pairing: eren x reader

♡ — tags/warnings: mentions of cheating and alcohol. side aruani and yumihisu. honestly just a feel-good fic, with humour and fluff <3

♡ — a/n: honestly, this is the most “romantic comedy” fic i’ve ever written and i love it <3 shout out to @ofoceansandtombstones that beta read this one mwah thank u

♡ �� — masterlist

There was an ill taste in your mouth that wouldn’t go away, no matter how many drinks you had. And you already had more than a few. From your spot on the table, you could see your friends dancing and having the time of their lives. You really wished you could join them. Nevertheless, you had wasted all your energy forcing a smile and clapping along during the ceremony. Once you had arrived at the hotel reception with the rest of the guests, you had slid a bill to a kind waitress and told her to keep the drinks coming.

Ymir and Historia were dancing in front of you. Stoic, sour-faced Ymir couldn’t help but smile as her sweet girlfriend twirled and giggled, her cheeks red and eyes just the tiniest bit unfocused. Next to them, Sasha, Jean and Connie were owning the dance floor, moving in sync to the happy music. A grin formed on your face as you saw Connie lifting Sasha up and her almost falling to the floor. Jean was holding his stomach as he laughed loudly.

On a nearby table, Mikasa looked over at them, a small smile on his lips. She was sitting next to her girlfriend, who was holding her hand as they watched their friends dance. You saw her girlfriend leaning over to her and whispering something in her ear, to which she chuckled. It was so strange -and so beautiful- to see Mikasa laugh that it took you aback. And apparently, also the girl she was with, because her lips slightly parted as she watched her in awe.

“How’s the party animal doing?”

You looked up and saw Eren staring down at you with a funny expression. He was wearing black dress pants and a white shirt. The first two buttons were undone, and he was carrying his suit jacket over his shoulder and a beer on his other hand.

“Someone’s gotta keep an eye out for everyone,” you replied with a shrug. Eren scoffed and took the seat next to you on the empty table, leaving his jacket on the nearest chair.

“I mean, I know attending your ex’s wedding isn’t bound to be a good time, but you’d think you would try to put on a happy face.”

You rolled your eyes. “Hey, at least I’m here.”

“After Mikasa tried her best to convince you during a whole week,” he said. You turned your head to Eren, eyes wide open. “What? Of course she told me.”

“That little… That’s it, I’m going to tell her girlfriend about that one time Mikasa got drunk with us,” you muttered angrily, standing up. Eren was quicker and pulled you back to your seat.

“You and Armin broke up a year ago. Why are you so upset he’s moving on?”

Before you could answer, the music stopped and the dance floor erupted in applause. Eren and you watched as Armin and Annie walked in between their guests, greeting everyone as they made their way to the bride and groom table, covered with a pearl cloth and decorated with the finest flowers. Every detail screamed elegance and you knew Armin had been the one to decide most of it. It had his taste written in every napkin and strategically placed flower.

Armin’s smile was almost too big for his face and if you had to guess, those small red marks on the external corner of his eyes meant he had been crying just a few minutes ago. You rolled your eyes. So sentimental. On the other hand, Annie’s smile was far less noticeable, but for someone who always repressed her public displays of emotions as much, that little smile must have felt heavenly to her new husband.

Husband. You took a big gulp of your drink.

“I’m telling you this because I care for you,” Eren said, redirecting your attention to him. “You’re looking like a petty ex.”

“Rather be petty than a cheater,” you shrugged, finishing your drink. You gestured to the waitress and she immediately walked to you, handing you a full glass. Thanking her, you wasted no time in taking a sip.

Eren’s eyebrows were deeply furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Armin never told you why we broke up, right?”

Eren scooted his chair closer to you and you bit back a laugh.

“He said you just weren’t good together,” he said, trying to remember his friend’s words. “And you said something similar when I asked you back then. Where does this ‘cheating’ thing come from?”

You let out a long sigh. “Maybe it wasn’t cheating. Not by definition, at least. But when your boyfriend starts dating someone else a week after you broke up a two-year-long relationship and he gets engaged four months later… you draw your own conclusions,” you explained, taking another sip of your drink and making a grimace. “Fuck, this one’s strong.”

After not getting a response from Eren for a long moment, you finally turned to look for his emerald eyes. You could almost see the numbers flying around his mind, trying to make sense of everything you had just told him. It was endearing.

“Wait, no-- wait,” Eren gestured at you with his hand. He stopped himself again and took a sip of his beer. “The first time Armin told me about Annie was in February. I remember it clearly. We were shopping for Mikasa’s birthday gift and then he went to pick something for Annie. And you guys broke up around Halloween, that’s the time I found you crying-- in Jean's backyard during our costume party.”

“We had a big fight at that party. We hadn’t broken up,” you clarified with a smirk. “He broke up with me after Mikasa’s birthday party. The same party he convinced me not to attend.”

Eren’s face dropped once all the pieces clicked together. He turned his body to look at the bride and groom table, where Armin and Annie were taking a sip of their champagne glasses and talking to each other enthusiastically, while the rest of their guests kept dancing.

“That son of a bitch,” he breathed out. You burst out laughing at his reaction. “No, I mean it! I really thought you had broken up during that Halloween party! You didn’t upload any more photos together, I don’t even remember even seeing you together--”

“I told you, we were fighting and… not in the mood for photos or public dates. Most of those months were spent at his apartment, fighting over really, really stupid things or just not texting each other for days,” you explained. “Honestly, when he broke up with me he made the decision I was too afraid to take. He was right, we weren’t good for each other anymore. But... fuck,” you chuckled icily. “I wish he would have broken up with me before getting with Annie.”

Eren listened in silence, his eyes still on his friend. You gave him time as you kept drinking, your gaze drifting to your friends again. You really wished you could have the energy to join them and forget Armin and Annie. It was true you didn’t love him anymore, yet seeing them together only made you remember how you had been fooled by someone you thought loved you the most.

You had had many dates ever since, but no one ever stuck. It was fun, getting someone’s attention for a couple of weeks, but then you couldn’t help but ghost them, putting up shitty excuses like wanting to focus on yourself and not having enough time to spare with them. You had lost so many amazing opportunities with both boys and girls that a couple of months ago you had decided to stop dating at all. It was lonely for sure, but at least you didn’t find yourself feeling guilty for not being able to open yourself up emotionally for someone else.

“Want to get back at him?”

You turned to Eren so fast you almost hurt your neck.

“What?”

“I have an idea. Just play along,” he explained, standing up.

“Eren, hey, what are you--”

“Everybody! If you could give me a minute please!”

You watched horrified as your friends started turning to you and Eren, confused at the commotion. Eren kept waving his hand, gathering more and more people’s attention, Armin and Annie included. He even gestured to the DJ to lower the music and she complied. In a few seconds, all the guests of the party were looking at you, who was still sitting down with a confused expression, a drink in your hand. Once he deemed enough people were looking at him, you saw him fumbling with his hands nervously.

“Eren,” you called for him again in a whisper, but all he did was take the drink you had in your hands and put it on the table.

“Sorry for interrupting, I know a lot of you were having a lot of fun dancing. But all I’m asking is one minute of your time. I hope that’s okay with you guys,” he grinned back to the bride and groom table, where they were as confused as all the guests around. “I have something really important to say.”

“Eren, no, you can’t tell them about--”

“No, no, give me a moment,” he hushed you again. The DJ walked to both of you and handed an inalambric microphone to Eren.

You didn’t like how devilish his smile turned.

“Great, thanks, this is much better,” he told the DJ, who just kindly smiled at him. “Anyway, I don’t want to take much of the bride and groom’s time, so I’ll try to be concise. The thing is…” he said, turning to face you. “I love you.”

Your mouth flew open as you heard multiple gasps coming from the guests. Yet, you couldn’t bother with looking anywhere but Eren’s eyes. What was he doing? Since when did he have feelings for you? If he wanted to say something, he could have easily said something a few minutes ago, when--

Just play along.

Oh.

Your questioning glare turned into a big smile and you noticed Eren softly nodding at you.

“You already know how much I love you. Honestly, I never get tired of telling you so. And hiding our love from our friends has probably been the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Sorry about that, Mikasa,” he said, gesturing to the woman.

You could imagine your friend’s dumbfounded face, but you knew better than to turn and check for yourself. You knew you wouldn’t be able to hold in your laughter.

“So I’m here in front of all our friends and some other guests I don’t know to ask a simple question.”

In a swift movement, Eren got down on one knee. Your hand flew to cover your mouth, trying your best to hide any trace of laughing on your face. The flash of the cameras startled you for a moment, but that only meant Eren’s plan was working. The excited murmurs and squeals only fueled Eren, as he pulled up a ring and showed it to you. You immediately recognized it as one of the rings he had been wearing a few moments ago.

“Would you marry me?”

A huge, honest grin made its way to your face and you nodded quickly. You grabbed the microphone Eren was holding and spoke right into it.

“Yes, I’ll marry you!”

You hadn’t listened to a crowd erupting in applause and cheers as loud as the guests at Armin’s wedding when Eren slid his ring on your finger. Once again, the flash of the cameras were right into the both of you as you leaped into his arms. He stood up while holding your body close to him, even giving you a small spin and you buried your face in the crook of his neck.

When he finally put you down, the music resumed and all your friends began running to the both of you.

“You’re fucking crazy,” you whispered to Eren, holding his face between your hands. He laughed.

“Kinda ruined the reception, huh?”

“When the fuck did this happen?” Jean inquired as soon as he reached you.

“Dude, why didn’t you tell us?” Sasha whined, with a small pout. “But congratulations!” she quickly followed, hugging you tightly. As you hugged her back, you felt someone taking the hand that was now wearing Eren’s ring.

“This is one of your rings,” she noted, shooting Eren a dirty glance. He lifted his hands in surrender.

“Hey, I didn’t plan this! But I will get her a prettier one soon,” he said, winking at you. You laughed and shook your head.

“Nah, I like this one,” you replied. You shared a knowing grin and soon it was Connie’s turn to hug you.

While you were hugging your friend back, you saw in the corner of your eye Armin getting up from the table and starting to walk to both of you. Your smile immediately vanished from your face and once Eren caught it and followed your eye trail, he understood the reason why. You heard him mutter a curse before he pulled you from Connie’s embrace.

“Well, we’d love to stay, but my fiancée and I want some time alone.”

“C’mon, you haven’t told us yet how you got together!” Sasha complained.

“Next time, we promise,” you hurriedly assured her.

Eren picked his suit jacket from the table and before Armin could reach your group, you quickly walked away, exiting the hotel. Eren whistled to a taxi and you jumped inside, telling the man behind the wheel to drive. Loud laughter filled the vehicle as soon as it began moving.

“How-- how did you even have this idea?” you asked him, holding your stomach as you laughed. “Dude, Armin looked so upset, we totally stole his thunder.”

“That was the plan,” Eren shrugged, a winning smirk on his lips. “Knowing the gang, everybody’s going to be talking about us and the engagement for the rest of the party.”

“Remind me to never have you as an enemy,” you chuckled, leaning back on the car seat. Letting out a long sigh, you took off Eren’s ring and handed it to him.

He shook his head. “Nah, keep it. As a souvenir of today,” he winked.

“Thank you,” you smiled. You put the ring on your thumb this time, since it was too big for your ring finger anyway. “You didn’t have to do this at all, and yet--”

“It’s okay,” he assured you.

“No, really. It’s just-- I’ve been having a tough time since the breakup,” you admitted. “To have you doing this for me means a lot. Makes me feel someone really cares for me. I never said anything to anyone back then because Annie is also a part of the group and I thought…”

Eren leaned his head towards you.

“You thought…?”

“I thought you would pick her too. It’s stupid, I know,” you shrugged, turning your head to Eren. “But Armin had just broken up with me and a week later he was already in public with Annie. Back then, I thought everyone knew we had just broken up and if no one had said anything was because they didn’t care. So I just… stopped hanging out with all of you as much as I did before.”

“Yeah, I noticed that,” he muttered.

“You did?”

Eren nodded. “That’s why I asked Mikasa to pressure you into coming to the wedding. I hadn’t seen you in a while.”

“You could have just asked me to hang out, you know,” you teased him. Eren chuckled, pushing some of his loose hairs behind his ear.

“I think we know by now I don’t take the conventional route.”

“Yeah, all of the guests know that too,” you quipped, making both of you laugh.

This time, when the laughter came to an end, you realized how close your faces were. Your noses were almost brushing as you both were lying your heads on the back of the car seat. You looked into Eren’s emerald eyes and noticed he wasn’t looking away from yours either. Was it the alcohol that made his cheeks turn a lovely shade of pink? If it was, then you could say the warmth crawling up your face was its fault too. It had to be the alcohol, or else, you would have to also ponder about the reason your heart was beating out of your chest at having your friend so close to you. He was handsome, he had always been and you knew this. But why were you losing all your composure just now?

A brief look at Eren's lips gave your thoughts away and, in less than two seconds, he was pressing his lips against yours.

For a spur-of-the-moment kiss, as you thought this one was, it was rather soft. Eren kissed you as if he thought you were the most expensive and fragile thing he had ever seen. But of course, this was just a product of the adrenaline and the fact that -as far as you knew- he hadn’t been dating anyone as well, right?

Your small theory crashed and burnt when you felt his hand softly cradling the side of your face. No. This wasn’t an adrenaline kiss, neither one that you gave without a thought. Maybe it had been unprompted and maybe you hadn’t seen it coming, but it sure as hell seemed he did. Eren’s lips gilded against your with ease, revealing a soft tenderness you didn’t know he possessed. You kissed him back, matching his rhythm as you softly pressed your hand against his chest.

Eren pulled away from you softly, and if his longing eyes were any indicator, a bit reluctantly.

“Hi,” he breathed out, making you grin widely.

“Hi,” you replied. You gently caressed his cheek with the knuckles of the hand that was previously resting on his chest. Eren took it and kissed your palm, making your heart flutter.

“Sorry to interrupt kids, but where are we heading?”

The voice of the taxi driver startled you, making you pull away from Eren. He chuckled at your reaction and then looked back at the man.

“Take us to that pizza place near the central park. Gotta have a celebratory dinner with my fiancée,” he said cheekily, taking your hand into his. You squeezed his hand back, his ring digging a little on your skin.

“So young and engaged already? Congrats!” the driver said, turning left and heading towards the direction Eren had given him.

“Thank you!” you smiled brightly at Eren while he took your joint hands to his mouth and placed a kiss on your knuckles.

A part of you knew you weren’t taking that ring off anytime soon.

#snk x reader #aot x reader #eren x reader #eren jaeger x reader #eren yaeger x reader #eren jaeger #eren yaeger #eren fluff

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toukatan · 4 years

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if aruani not canon then why—

check hoodie and spare life?

why visit and talk to miss crystal girl for years? + why wanna touch miss annie’s face despite crystal being in the way?

why #%*{¥~£{ panic when hitch tease?

why sparkly eyes when learning annie might possibly be back?

why defensive and ‘cut it out, connie!’ when connie laughs at the way annie eats? agajhsbsn

why ‘for years. you came to talk to me. thank you’ + ‘why did you bother talking to a rock that couldn’t so much as grunt a response back to you? there must have been more fun and cheerful girls out there, right?’

why ‘i did it because i wanted to see you, annie’ + why aruani so — chingureul mannaneura shy shy shy?

why look at armin and say ‘at least give me my final moments to live in peace’ + why panic when miss mikasa ackerman looked at you and asked you ‘when’d this start? it’s not like she said ‘SIS YOU GOT A CRUSH HIM? MAMS YOU LIKEY?’ aghdhwjdn

why longing eyes and sad goodbyes?

why living in brain rent free?

if not canon why aruani friends-enemies-friends-crushes-lovers-married-one rescuing squad while flying on titan while one missing in or on titan-lovers then?

#my brain rent free for them #😌🤚🏻#aruani

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pickalilywrites · 3 years

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Requests are open. Can you write one where Levi has two lives he in. One where he is the lead singer of No Name where no one knows his true identify (aside bandmates, their manager Erwin and Hange's childhood buddy Moblit) and his other life is he's a college student working part time at a nearby popular cafe where Special Ops works at as well who are huge fans of No Name, especially Petra. 104th are customers as well. Rivetra fic with some Mobuhan, Eremika, Aruani. Concert in the end be nice!

i hope you like it :)

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

Hidden Track

Rivetra. College AU.

9997 words.

Read on Ao3!

“Ask her out.”

Levi blinks at Hanji. He thinks he must have misheard, but his childhood friend doesn’t bat an eyelash as they tune their guitar. He sits up from where he’s lounging on the couch and asks slowly, “Did you not hear my problem?”

“You did. You told us this girl in your music composition class has been bothering you for weeks because she wants to collaborate with you on the final and you don’t want to sing for her,” Hanji answers, not looking away from the tuning pegs as they strum at the strings. They frown when the open-string chord doesn’t sound quite right. It’s because their B string is just a little too flat, but Levi isn’t about to tell them that.

“...Right,” Levi says. He waits for Hanji to explain the connection between his problem and their solution, but it never comes. He purses his lips and then asks, “How is asking her out supposed to solve my problem?”

“Because she’s obviously into you,” the guitarist explains with a roll of their eyes. They turn the peg a little bit and smile when the chord is finally in tune. They set the guitar down gently on the guitar stand beside them and face Levi. They’re leaning rather dangerously on the stool they’re sitting on, their fingers steepled. “Nobody would want to work with a stranger that badly on a final project if they weren’t interested in them, especially if they’ve pretty much displayed zero talent in that class to begin with.”

Levi begins to huff but Hanji raises a hand.

“Right, I know you’re just keeping a low profile because we all want this band to remain anonymous, but you have to think about it, Levi,” Hanji continues. “You haven’t sung a peep for that class and this girl wants you to sing for her final composition? That project is fifty percent of her final grade. There’s no way she’d risk her grade and collaborate with a total stranger whose talent is completely unknown.”

Levi raises an eyebrow. “So you think she’d put her entire grade in jeopardy because she’s interested in me?”

Hanji nods. “Love makes you stupid,” they say with a dreamy smile and a wave of their hand. Beside them, the quiet drummer of the band nods.

Levi sighs. Hanji is right most of the time. There’s a reason why they’re still in the running as a valedictorian for their school despite being a STEM major, but they’re not right about everything. Levi is pretty certain this is one of those things that Hanji isn’t going to be right about. They might know everything there is to know about organic chemistry and chemical bonding, but it doesn’t mean they know anything about matters of the heart.

“Okay, let’s entertain the very ridiculous idea that the girl in my music composition class is interested in me romantically,” Levi says. He tries to speak casually, but the notion is so unimaginable to him that the words fall out of his mouth awkwardly. He ignores the strange look from their drummer Mike. “Why should I date her just because she might like me?”

“Why? Do you not like her?” Hanji asks. “Is she ugly?”

“She’s not -” Levi shakes his head furiously. He hardly knows what the girl looks like because the only time he’s paying attention to her is when he’s saying no. Ginger hair, amber eyes? That’s all he can really remember. Even if he could conjure up an image of her, what she looks like isn’t the point. “I don’t even know her.”

“You could just tell her you’re not interested in her,” Mike says quietly. He’s tapping gently right above his drums and cymbals. He never really likes to practice on his own unless he has his drum pads out. He thinks it’s strange making so much noise on his own. “You can say you’re not interested in her or being part of her final project.”

“Ugh.” Neither option sounds appealing to Levi. He doesn’t want to go on a date with a girl he doesn’t know and he doesn’t want to reject her on the off chance that she really is just interested in him for her project and not romantically. He has to do something, unfortunately, and right now Mike is presenting the best option. “I’ll just reject her then. It seems like the most reasonable thing to do. Sometimes, Hanji, I think Mike should be the one in the running for valedictorian and not you.”

“Hey, I’m working hard for my GPA,” Hanji sniffs, but they smile sweetly at Mike. “I wouldn’t mind sharing the stage with you though, Mike. Good thing we do that every weekend, eh?”

Mike smiles but he keeps his head down as he’s apt to do when he’s complimented.

Levi fiddles with an invisible piece of lint on his sweater and frowns. “I hope you both know that if it goes terribly, I still have five weeks left of this course with this girl.”

“Not just the five weeks,” Mike says. “She works with you at the cafe you started working at, remember?”

Levi grimaces at the unpleasant reminder. “Fuck.”

“Well, you’ve already made up your mind to do it, so stop complaining,” Hanji says. They pick up their guitar again and let their fingers dance across it, low notes reverberating off the strings and around their manager’s basement. “What’s this girl’s name, by the way? If you’re going to reject her, you should at least be polite and know her name.”

“Petra Ral,” Levi says automatically. It’s not as if he wanted to remember it. He couldn’t forget it if he tried. It’s the first thing she says to him whenever she approaches, her hand outstretched as if this time will be the time he reaches out and accepts her offer. He’s never shaken her hand once, always walking past her with a hasty “no” whenever she does come by. It’s a wonder why she hasn’t given up yet.

“Ah, she’s cute,” Hanji comments. At Levi’s puzzled look, they say, “She was in a few of my music classes, too.”

“She was in my music theory class last quarter,” Mike says from behind his drum set. “She’s majoring in music production. She takes her courses pretty seriously.”

“Ah.”

“She’s got a good ear for it if she can pick out a good vocalist without even hearing Levi sing,” Hanji comments with a lopsided grin.

“This ‘good vocalist’ is never going to sing if we keep talking about this,” Levi grumbles. He really doesn’t want to talk about this anymore. He isn’t looking forward to seeing Petra Ral tomorrow and rejecting her, so he’s going to avoid thinking about it for as long as possible.

“Alright, alright,” Hanji says, hopping off the stool and slipping their guitar strap around their shoulder. “Ah, fuck. I forgot my guitar pick again. Or I dropped it in the lab. Fuck!”

The basement door opens just then and Hanji’s childhood friend Moblit pops his head in. “Ah, Hanji,” he says as he hurries down the stairs. He fumbles for something in his pocket and then offers a guitar pick to Hanji. “I found this in the passenger seat of my car. It must have fallen out of your pocket when I dropped you off for lab this morning.”

“Mobit, you absolutely perfect human being,” Hanji gushes as they reach for the pick, making sure to lean in and give Moblit a quick peck on the lips as they do so. The two of them have been dating for a while, but even the briefest displays of affection still make Moblit turn a violent shade of red.

Levi rolls his eyes and signals for Mike to start. He closes his eyes as he listens to the beat of the drum. He lets it clear his mind of his problems: academia, part-time work, and the ginger-haired girl in his music composition class. All of his problems fade away and he opens his mouth and sings.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

Levi is hoping that today is the day Petra stops asking him to be her final project partner. He hopes the same hope every day, but it’s always useless. She’s the most stubborn person he’s ever had the misfortune of knowing. As soon as he steps foot in the cafe, Petra is in his face, his green apron in her hand and a bright smile on her face. He always wonders how she can smile at him so brightly when he’s rejected her dozens of times already.

“Hi, Levi,” Petra says, handing him his apron which he gingerly takes. She follows him to the counter, walking with a little bit of a skip of her step. As he slips into his position behind the register, she leans over, her head almost resting on his shoulder. “It’s me, Petra, from your music composition class.”

“I know. You’ve introduced yourself to me almost every day since that class started. My answer is still no,” Levi says. He doesn’t even offer her a side glance and chooses instead to keep his head facing forward for customers who won’t be coming in until brunch hour starts.

Petra’s head retreats and Levi thinks she’s given up, but he couldn’t be more wrong. She’s leaning across the counter now, her head tilting up towards him as she pouts. “Come on. You don’t want me to fail this class, do you? There’s only a few more weeks until the final project is due,” she tells him.

“We don’t have to collaborate with anyone in the class for this final project. You could sing for your final project,” Levi points out. He glances back at the kitchen where their other coworkers are bickering about how long the pastries have been in the oven. (Too long, if you ask Levi. There’s just the faintest smell of something burning.) “Or why don’t you ask one of your friends?”

“If I ask one of them, I’ll really fail. None of them have any musical background,” Petra sniffs with a wrinkle of her nose. She goes back to pouting at Levi, reaching out to tug childishly on his sleeve. “I’m majoring in music, but it’s not like I’m a singer. You’re really the only person that can help me with my final project.”

Levi shakes his head. “You’ve never even heard me sing,” he says. He tries to keep his tone calm, but inside he’s shaking. There’s a reason why his band has remained anonymous, and he’s determined to keep it that way. Life is complicated enough without people knowing he’s one of the hidden faces of No Name. “Maybe I’m tone deaf. Maybe I can’t keep rhythm. Maybe I can’t read notes. You don’t know enough about me to plan your entire final project around me.”

Petra smirks and there’s something about it that makes Levi think she knows more than she’ll say out loud. It makes him want to shake her, to demand what she actually knows about him, to ask her why she’s so sure his voice is the perfect one for her project.

“I just have a feeling about you,” Petra says, eyes studying him a little too closely. She waves a hand around, circling it like she’s drawing an outline of Levi’s face. “You’re in a music class but you’re not a music major…”

“It’s for my elective credit,” Levi lies, but he makes the mistake of speaking a little too quickly. He can see the smile on Petra’s face grow a little bit wider and he curses himself inwardly.

“Most people would take an easier class for their elective credit. You’re a junior, too, so it would have been easier for you to get one of the easy-A courses, but let’s just entertain the idea that you’re doing this purely to fulfill your elective credit,” Petra says. She taps her cheek with a knowing smile. “That doesn’t explain why you’re taking private vocal lessons.”

Levi opens his mouth and then quickly closes it. It’s a little known secret that students taking music courses are allowed to take free private music lessons for the quarter they’re enrolled in regardless of whether or not they’re majoring in music. Levi had thought he had been a little more discreet when sneaking into his private lessons, but it seems he hasn’t been careful enough.

He should probably regain his composure, but he’s spluttering too hard. Before he can even think straight, he spits, “Aren’t you a little too interested in me, Ral?”

Petra’s smile freezes and she blinks once. Her smile widens once more but it’s less relaxed than it was before. “I hope you’re not implying what I think you’re implying, Ackerman,” she says. He’s never heard her voice so cold before. “Other than your voice, I’m not interested in you at all. To put it bluntly, I find everything else about you unappealing. It’s been a pain in the ass trying to ask you to collaborate with me on my project, but I’ve only been doing it because I’m a perfectionist. Don’t flatter yourself by thinking it’s for any other reason.”

Too startled to say anything else, Levi stammers, “I-I won’t.” He can only stare after Petra as she walks into the kitchen, the rest of their coworkers staring at her and wondering why the perpetually smiling ginger is in such a sour mood today.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

Levi usually doesn’t pay much attention to people. He doesn’t know if people like him or hate him, and he doesn’t hang around them enough to care. Aside from his bandmates, he’s not really sure who likes him and he’s never cared enough to find out. Now that he knows that Petra dislikes him, it really bothers him. Maybe it’s because they spend so much time together between class and shifts at Cafe Paradis. Then again, it’s probably because he’s so painfully aware that Petra dislikes him.

As much as he hates to admit it, he’s become accustomed to Petra’s existence. He has gotten used to her constantly popping up in front of him whenever he stepped foot in class or in the cafe and hearing her voice call after him whenever he left for the day. Now, it seems stranger to not hear her speaking to him. She’s a lot quieter than he remembers her and she smiles a lot less, at least that what he sees from the few glimpses of her face he can catch. She becomes so distant and disinterested in him that Levi finds it even worse than when she had been constantly chasing him down for her final project.

To make matters worse, Levi can’t stop thinking about Petra’s final project. He’s not even worried about his own final project which he hasn’t even started yet. Whenever he sits down to play some notes on the keyboard, his mind keeps wandering to Petra and if she ever found someone to replace his voice. He tells himself it’s not his problem. Any reasonable person would have just found someone else or just went without a vocalist. Having a vocalist in your music composition isn’t a requirement anyway. Unless you’re a perfectionist. An unreasonable perfectionist who would rather chase down the same person who rejected them for weeks because said perfectionist is convinced that person is the one who will propel their final music composition into some new genre that will redefine music.

Levi doesn’t even know when he had put himself between Petra and the door, preventing her from exiting the cafe. It just happens.

“I’ll be in your dumb music composition,” he says to her.

Petra looks at him, amber eyes wide in surprise. When she finally takes in what he’s said, she can’t help the smile that spreads across her face. Levi had thought he’d be more relieved when Petra left him alone, but for some reason it’s far better to see that smile back on her face.

“Oh, thank god. I was worried I’d have to go without a vocalist,” she tells him.

“You could have just rewritten it,” Levi mumbles.

“No way, the part I wrote is perfect for you,” Petra says with a shake of her head. Levi wonders how she can say this when she’s never heard him sing. “I mean, I could have, but I was holding out for you just in case you changed your mind. Otherwise I would have rewritten it a half hour before the deadline to turn it in.”

“Were you really that deadset on having me sing for you?” Levi sighs. He never knew someone could be this stubborn, but he has to admit that such a level of obstinance is worthy of some admiration.

“Yep,” Petra says without the slightest hint of shame in her voice.

“Okay, well, just let me know when you want to record. I have my other final projects to prepare for and you probably do too -” Levi begins, but he finds a messy stack of papers being thrust at him. He’s so surprised that they nearly fall to the floor. When he takes a look at them (many of them crumpled, he notices), he sees an itinerary, a bunch of lyrics with notes hastily scribbled in, and some music scores that have been written and rewritten at least a dozen times. He looks up, an eyebrow raised at Petra. “Did you just have all of these ready for me even if you didn’t know I was going to say yes? What if I never said yes, Petra?”

“It never would have happened because I knew you were going to say yes,” Petra says cheekily. She brushes a lock of ginger hair behind her ear and leans over to point a finger at the itinerary. “Let’s start recording tomorrow. Ideally, you would have agreed to work with me at the end of the first week when I started asking, so we’re already behind. I have a few notes about the lyrics scribbled in and you can look at my score if you’re curious about the composition or want to play out the melody before we hit the recording studio.”

Levi frowns as he flips through the papers. They’re horribly unkempt. There are still eraser shavings sticking to some of these papers and notes written in different color pens, but he does find that Petra is incredibly detailed with her work. “I have a thing on weekends,” he starts to mumble, but Petra waves a hand.

“No worries. Just text me. My phone number is on a sticky note somewhere in there,” she tells him as she hoists her backpack back onto her shoulder. She’s smiling at him more brightly than she ever had before. “See you later, Levi. I’m looking forward to working with you.”

Levi’s ginger-haired coworker slips past him and he watches as she walks away. He’s still staring after her even though she’s turned the corner and disappeared from his view. When he looks back at her notes and the many scribbles written in between the lines, he wonders if he’s done the right thing or made the wrong choice.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

Levi meets Petra at the music building two hours before their shift at Cafe Paradis. She’s listening to something on her phone but quickly pockets her earbuds after seeing Levi arrive.

“You know,” she says after opening the door to the music building for Levi, “I kind of didn’t expect you to show up.”

“What kind of asshole do you think I am?” Levi scoffs, slightly miffed. She doesn’t know anything about him but has enough of an opinion of him to think he’s an asshole that probably sings well. He doesn’t know if he should be flattered or insulted. “What were you going to do if I didn’t show up?”

“Sob loudly about how I waited all night for you during our shift at Paradis tomorrow morning so that everyone would know how much of an asshole you were,” Petra says with a grin.

She leads him around the music building, crossing the lobby and heading towards the back where the staircase is. Levi has only ever been upstairs. The higher levels are where the classes are usually located as well as the practice rooms for vocal lessons. He’s never bothered to go downstairs. As they walk through the hallway, Levi looks through the windows at what looks like recording booths. They’re a lot simpler than the ones he’s been to when recording albums for No Name, but he probably shouldn’t expect much from the university.

Petra sees him from the corner of her eye. “They’re not really anything to write home about,” she says with a wrinkle of her nose. “They get the job done, though, and they’re impressively soundproof both inside and out.”

They end up at a room at the end of the hall. Petra takes a key out from her bag and inserts the key but makes a funny face when she turns it. She turns back to Levi with a bright smile on her face.

“I’ll be right back. Can you wait here a sec?” She walks into the room and lets the door slam shut behind her.

Levi can only watch from the little glass pane in the door. He sees Petra walk over to the booth where all the little knobs and buttons are. She leans over and presses a big red one on the side, speaking quite firmly in the mic although he can’t hear a word she’s saying. When she’s finished speaking, she leans back slightly, her fingers tapping impatiently. After a minute or two, a pair of sheepish-looking freshmen shuffle out of the booth. They look surprised when they exit the room and bump into Levi, bowing their heads quickly and mumbling unintelligible apologies before they scamper off.

Petra motions for Levi to enter, her smile a little more tired. She’s running a hand through her hair as Levi slips into the room, shutting the door softly behind him.

“I’ve caught them in here more than a few times,” Petra sighs. She sits at a table at the back of the room, waving Levi over. “You know Eren isn’t even supposed to be here? He’s just part of a radio show and the studios for those are down the hall. Mikasa isn’t even a music student.”

Levi sits down across from her. She’s already pulling out a copy of the papers she had given to him the other day. He notices that there are a few notes in different colors that aren’t on his papers. “Uh, what were they doing?” Levi asks. He’s not sure if he’s actually curious or just trying to make conversation.

“Stupid freshmen couple things,” Petra replies without even blinking. Her eyes are scanning the papers. Levi doesn’t even see her blink once. “Not anything we’ll be doing. We’re strictly here for business and I’m not interested in you that way anyway.”

Levi realizes just what the freshmen were doing and his cheeks color. He’s embarrassed, although he’s not sure why. For a second, he wonders if Petra had ever brought anyone back here for … other reasons other than “business.”

“What’s your vocal range?” Petra asks, eyes flickering up from the papers in her hands. She sifts around in her backpack for a pencil as she waits for Levi’s answer. “I have a general idea of where you might lie, somewhere in the baritone vocal range judging by how deep your speaking voice is. If you don’t know, that’s alright too.”

“It’s … Eb2 to C6,” Levi says hesitantly. He feels strange talking about singing and music to someone who isn’t his manager or part of No Name, but he wouldn’t feel right lying and saying he doesn’t know.

Petra’s voice widens a little bit and she immediately scribbles something down on her paper. “Alright then. That’s … a lot,” she says. She’s writing something in her notes again, modifying a few notes here and there. Her lips purse, but she doesn’t look displeased. “That’s good. Let’s go with what you have so far and go from there. I may or may not want to make changes to this later, so be warned.”

“I thought you would try to have as few recording sessions as possible,” Levi says, “considering you don’t care for me at all.”

“Are you offended?” Petra asks with a smirk. She pushes her chair out and walks over to the minifridge on the counter, taking out a bottle of water which she throws unexpectedly to Levi. He’s so surprised that he nearly drops it. “It’s not like I hate you. I also need you for my project, so I have to care about you a little bit, right?”

“Right … thanks,” Levi says awkwardly. He tosses the cool water bottle from one hand to the other. “Do you want me to …?” He points a finger towards the recording booth.

“Whenever you’re ready,” Petra says with a nod. “Take your notes. You can have mine if you forgot them, but I’d rather have my own copy to write on in case I have changes I’d like to make while listening to you.”

“Er, no, I have mine,” Levi mumbles. He pulls a folder he got just for her papers and walks into the booth. It’s much smaller than the one in his company building, but he can’t complain. At least it’s well padded and has all the necessary equipment: mics, headphones, a music stand.

He slips on the headphones and watches as Petra leans over and presses the button on the side of the dashboard.

“Let me know when you’re ready,” she tells him.

Levi nods and then realizes he’s never been this nervous about singing for someone. He’s not sure he’s ever sang for anyone, actually. Previously, he had just been singing for the sake of it. It was just for fun, his band of friends decided one day, and then exploded into a well-known rock group that held concerts and sold merch and had fans. Somehow, singing a simple song for someone’s final project feels more nerve-wracking, and he’s sung for audiences much larger than a crowd of one before.

“Do you mind if I … do some vocal exercises first?” he asks.

“Go ahead,” Petra replies. She walks away from the dashboard and sits back down at the table from before, going over her notes and looking completely engrossed in them. It makes Levi wonder how many people she’s brought into this studio and how many times she’s been with nervous vocalists.

Levi turns slightly to the side so he can no longer see her in his vision. He sings to the wall, vocal exercises he usually does before shows and vocal exercises he hasn’t done in such a long time. There’s a trilling exercise he used to do when he was just beginning as a vocalist of No Name, one he did all the time before gigs he was nervous about. When he’s finally done calming the beating of his heart, he leans towards the mic.

“I’m ready now,” he tells Petra.

Petra looks up from where she’s sitting and grins. She walks back over to the dashboard and pushes the button. “Great. Let’s start.”

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

It’s unofficial No Name hour at the cafe. Nobody had ever requested they play music at the cafe, but people did notice when they started playing No Name. The cafe workers are allowed to play whatever music they want as long as it’s not too explicit, and someone had left their No Name playlist on one evening. It was music that all the baristas (save for Levi, who pretended he had never heard of the band) enjoyed and it was quite popular to customers too judging from the reviews that poured in. Eventually, the baristas took to queuing up a No Name playlist to play every night at 5 PM. Levi doesn’t know if it’s just a coincidence that the cafe seems to get a lot busier at 5 PM.

Everyone has a different preferred order when it comes to their No Name playlist. Eld likes to start with No Name’s softer songs, building up to a large climax until it eventually ends with “XL-TT,” a large operatic song the band had written and recorded just because they could even though it didn’t fall under the type of rock music they typically performed. Auruo liked to start off with a bang. Most of the No Name songs were on the harder, rougher side although he did have a few of the band’s quieter songs on his playlist every now and again. Gunther didn’t seem to have any discernible order to his playlist, the mood of it changing every song or two. He had claimed it was because No Name had so much range that it would be a crime to just stick to one type of feeling when it came to a No Name playlist. As for Petra, she put her No Name playlist in a very specific order. It wasn’t an order that anybody else understood though, but everyone could agree that it was good.

“Petra, you’re into music production,” Levi says.

Neither of them have shifts at the cafe tonight, but Petra decided on working there rather than the studio. It’s good to get away from the studio every now and again, she told Levi.

Petra looks up with an amused smile. “Did you just notice?” she asks.

Levi rolls his eyes. “What about this music appeals to you guys so much?” he asks because he genuinely wants to know. In all of his years in No Name, he still doesn’t know how a trio of friends fucking around with a bunch of band instruments had managed to appeal to the masses. Their manager Erwin had always mentioned things like timing and talent and trends, but Levi could never really understand anything. Most of the time, he just attributes the band’s success to pure luck.

Petra looks at Levi and tilts her head thoughtfully. “The mystery, maybe?” she says. She fiddles with her purple pen, twisting the pen cap on and off as she thinks. “Well, I guess if a band of faceless people came up on stage, it would be enough to catch anyone’s attention but it wouldn’t necessarily mean they were talented. But they are talented. Their drummer, their guitarist, their vocalist …”

Levi tries not to look away when her amber eyes flicker over him. For a moment, he thinks she’s connecting the dots between him and the No Name vocalist. It would be impossible for her not to notice the similarities between him and No Name’s singer. He’s spent far too many hours with Petra in the recording studio for her not to notice, but her eyes quickly scan back to the papers in front of her and she just shrugs.

“I think their music is interesting,” Petra says. She’s back to fiddling with her pen, twisting it back and forth. “They stick mostly with EDM and rock, but they’re not afraid to experiment with things like opera or orchestral elements. The first time I listened to their music, that blew my mind. I listened to their album on repeat for probably a month.”

“You liked it that much?” Levi asks. He can’t imagine listening to the same thing for an entire month. Honestly, hearing his music for an entire hour every day is kind of grating, but nobody else seems to mind.

“What’s not to like about good music?” Petra asks with a smile.

Levi watches as Petra returns to her work, scribbling away at sheet music for another class. Composition, she told him, but she still has a few things she wants to tweak here and there. He’s never really thought about music production as a career, which is ironic considering his side profession. He’s always viewed music as a hobby, and ended up pursuing a computer science and mathematics minor because it just seemed more practical. Hanji went the same route as he did, although choosing to major in chemistry rather than computer science, but Mike ended up in the music department. He never felt the need to ask the drummer why he decided to pursue an education in music, but something about Petra makes him want to ask her everything about her desire to go into music.

“What do you like about music so much that you’d want to be a music producer?” Levi asks her.

Petra doesn’t look up from her sheet music. She’s writing little notes here and there about dynamics and styles. “I think with music … I’d be able to write stories in different styles and genres that I would never otherwise be able to say out loud,” she says. She puts her pen down for a moment and rests her chin on her hand. “Maybe that’s why I feel such a connection to No Name. They perform on stage and make their own music, but a part of them still remains hidden. Music producers are like that, too.”

“Are you afraid of people knowing too much about you through your music?” Levi asks.

She smiles at him lopsidedly. “Maybe … but maybe I just like the mystery,” she laughs.

Out of the two of them, Levi thinks Petra’s the more mysterious one, but he’s undeniably intrigued by her.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

“How are you getting along with Petra? I notice you haven’t been complaining about her recently,” Hanji says one night during band practice. They feign a gasp, their hands flying to their face and their mouth shaped in a perfect O-shape. “Don’t tell me you might actually be … fond of her?”

They’re in the basement of their manager’s house again. It’s much more comfortable practicing there than the stuffy practice rooms provided by their management in the company building. It also reminds them a lot of their old days when they first started as high school students just fucking around in a garage. Erwin’s basement is much nicer, though. It’s a lot like a normal basement except it’s been soundproofed. The band manager also doesn’t mind if friends come to crash occasionally, which explains the sleeping Moblit on the couch. Levi has always wondered how Moblit can sleep through their practice sessions, but he figures spending a whole day with Hanji would really wear someone out.

“Just because I’m not complaining about her doesn’t mean that I like her,” Levi scowls. It’s true that he’s become more fond of the ginger-haired girl in his class, but it’s not something he’s willing to admit out loud. Hanji and Mike are already teasing him enough for going to Petra’s many recording sessions. He would have brushed her off if she were anyone else, but she wasn’t lying when she said she was a perfectionist and her work ethic intrigues him. “I just tolerate her just like I barely tolerate you.”

Hanji’s lower lip sticks out in a pout, but Levi knows that they’ve been friends for too long for Hanji to truly be hurt by his words. As Hanji whimpers and runs to Mike’s side for comfort, Levi can only roll his eyes.

“That’s a shame,” the drummer says as he pets Hanji’s head affectionately. “Petra mentioned you to me. It seems like she’s quite fond of you.”

Levi turns his head so quickly that his neck almost snaps. “She talked about me?” he asks without thinking, and it’s only when he sees the sly smile on Mike’s face that the No Name vocalist realizes he’s been had. He scowls and quickly turns his face, he’s not quick enough to hide the red burning at the tip of his ears.

“She did talk about you a little bit, but just that you had a project together. She says your voice is godly,” Mike says as Hanji giggles at his side. The sound of Hanji’s laughter makes Moblit stir in his sleep. “I could ask her if her opinion of you has gotten better if you’d like.”

“Don’t bother,” Levi snaps, although he very much would like to know what Petra thinks of him now and he doesn’t just want her opinion of his voice. “It really doesn’t matter what she thinks of me anyway. It’s just a class project and we’ll just be coworkers after.”

“Boo!” Hanji calls out from behind Mike. They emerge from behind Mike’s shoulder with a thumb outstretched and pointed downward. They’re still pouting, but it’s for a different reason this time. “Boo! Ask her out!”

“I’m not going to ask her out. There’s no reason to,” Levi says with another roll of his eyes. He gestures for Hanji to take up their guitar again so that they can actually get started with practice. Erwin doesn’t mind if they spend time fooling around, but he does expect them to get some practice done when they have a band session.

“You’re no fun,” Hanij mumbles, but they hop off Mike’s stool and grab their guitar.

Levi is usually good at clearing his head and focusing on the music, but it’s nearly impossible to ignore Hanji and Mike’s eyes on him as they practice. He doesn’t know why the two of them are so interested in his (non-existent) relationship with Petra, but there isn’t any point in being invested when nothing will come of it. It’s not like he can change their minds, though, and it’s apparent that Hanji still thinks he’s making a mistake in not asking Petra out by the way they’re staring daggers at him as they drag their half-asleep boyfriend out of the practice room at the end of the session.

It surprises Levi that Mike is invested at all, but he notices the blond drummer looking at him observantly as he helps clean up the music equipment that Hanji had forgotten to put away. Mike tends not to get involved in anyone’s personal life if he can help it, and Levi has always appreciated that. For some reason, this non-issue of Levi’s interests Mike enough that the drummer is staring at Levi somewhat judgmentally just because Levi won’t take Hanji’s nonsensical advice of asking Petra out.

“I’m not going to ask her out just because Hanji suggested it,” Levi says firmly even though Mike hasn’t said anything. “You know how insane Hanji’s suggestions can get. Remember when they asked Erwin if we could have a waterfall and pyrotechnics on stage at the same time? And a light show like at Disneyland?”

“Incorporating incredibly fanciful stage displays during a performance and asking out a girl you like are two very different things, though,” Mike points out.

“I don’t like her,” Levi insists, but he hates how much he sounds like a teenaged boy in denial of his own crush. He takes a deep breath and says more firmly, “I don’t like her, at least not like that. She’s interesting to work with and she’s a reliable coworker, but I’m not interested in pursuing anything with her.”

Mike shrugs and doesn’t reply. For a moment, Levi thinks that’s the end of the conversation until Mike speaks again. “You know, we called ourselves No Name so that people wouldn’t find out who we were and it gave us some privacy but … it’s okay to let people in every now and again.”

Levi is about to snap back and say that he’s not trying to hide anything and that keeping people at a distance was never his intention, but he bites his tongue. Aside from his family and Erwin, nobody knows that he’s a part of No Name. Mike has his girlfriend Nanaba. Hanji has their other half Moblit. Levi …

He shakes his head. He doesn’t need anyone. He’s been fine without people before and nobody needs to know he’s the vocalist of No Name, not even strange music producing barista that he doesn’t mind singing for.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

“What are you going to do after all this?” Levi asks as Petra listens to the latest recording.

It takes her a while to respond sometimes when she’s working on her music. It’s like she puts the entire world on pause while she listens to one last segment. Levi never really minds. At least it gives him a few more seconds to stare at her while he waits for a response.

“After all what?” Petra asks. She takes her headphones off from one ear so she’s wearing the headset lopsidedly on her head. It’s endearing. She gestures to the recording studio with a pen in her hand. “After the final?”

Levi realizes that it’s stupid to ask. What else is there to do after the final except go on with their lives? Petra will go off to another music class writing music and chasing down vocalists she hardly knows. Levi will sneak around campus for his vocal lessons while moonlighting as No Name’s singer. They’ll both be civil to each other at work as they juggle ridiculously sweet coffee orders mixed topped with whipped cream, chocolate shavings, and a dusting of mocha powder. Everything will be as it should be.

“Just normal stuff, I guess,” Petra says. She doesn’t even do him the kindness of describing all the mundane things she’ll be doing. Then again, it’s probably only something people do between friends. Their relationship is, as Petra described early on, strictly business.

Levi purses his lips. He shouldn’t have asked. There’s a reason why he never bothers to engage in conversations. He’s accidentally made the mistake of trying to start one and he regrets it already.

There’s a tap at the tip of his foot. It’s like a bolt of lightning travels from the tip of his toe and shocks his system. When he looks up at Petra, she looks completely unaffected. She’s still staring down at her paper, scribbling whatever musical nonsense in the margins in words that only make sense to her. For a moment, Levi thinks he imagined the brush of her foot against his, but Petra lifts her head ever so slightly and looks at him.

“What about you?” she asks, and he realizes he must have missed the question the first time. “What are you going to do after we finish this project? Go back to your cute, little computer science department and sneak in here for your vocal lessons when you think nobody’s watching?”

Levi frowns. She knows him a little too well for someone who’s only begun talking to him this quarter. His reluctance to confirm her answer only makes Petra grin wider.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to answer me. We both know I’m right,” she says. She puts her pen down and takes her headphones off completely, putting them around her neck. “You shouldn’t have to sneak around, though. Your voice is wonderful, and it’s not like people will think it’s weird that a computer science major can sing.”

“It’s not that…,” Levi says, but he’s not even sure what the reason is anymore. He used to think it was to preserve his privacy, but it feels more and more like he’s a criminal with the way he’s hiding his identity.

“I’m just teasing you about it. It’s really none of my business what you choose to do,” Petra says. He knows she’s being honest, but he wishes she weren’t. He wants her to be slightly bothered by him, for her to ask him why he’s bothering with computer science when he has a clear musical talent, for her to openly wonder why he always pretends not to hear when No Name starts playing in the cafe. But she doesn’t. “I just stated that the vocalist was anonymous in the credits of my final project, by the way. I thought you would appreciate it.”

It’s not something that they had discussed before, although Levi had intended to bring it up at some point when he had first agreed to contribute to Petra’s project. It just slipped his mind until now. It’s incredibly thoughtful. It only makes Levi want to tell her more.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

“You look awfully down,” Hanji says to Levi as they watch him glare angrily at the cash register as if the machine had done something to offend him.

“I’m working,” Levi growls, still glowering at the cash register in front of him. He has a rule about his bandmates not talking to him when they’re out in public. It’s to prevent people from making any possible connection between them and their alternate personas as No Name, although Hanji has never adhered to the rule since they thought it was overkill.

“Sorry. I didn’t realize that staring daggers at the register could help boost your productivity,” Hanji snorts before going back to their drink. It’s a bright pink beet latte, their regular order. Levi doesn’t know if Hanji actually likes the taste or if the drink just amuses them. After a few more sips, Hanji whispers, “Are you going to ask her?”

“I’m not, so stop bringing it up,” Levi hisses. His eyes flit to where Petra is working in the back whipping up an order for a caramel iced coffee. He glares at Hanji and hopes that it will be enough to shut the talkative guitarist up. Unfortunately, Hanji has known Levi so long that they’ve become immune to his glares.

“No, not out. I know you’re too much of a coward to ask her out. You’ve made that plenty clear,” Hanji says. They continue before Levi can argue. “Just ask her to come to our little gig next week. I know you miss her. You’ve been absolutely miserable since she turned in her final project.”

Levi winces. It’s true that he’s been in a foul mood now that he no longer has an excuse to spend time with Petra, but he hadn’t realized that it was apparent to the people around him too.

It’s not that she cut him off after she had turned it in. It’s just that their time together has diminished significantly. Now that finals are over and people are on break before the next quarter starts, the only time Levi ever sees Petra is during their shifts at Cafe Paradis. Before, he was satisfied with simply seeing the top of her ginger head in the kitchen as she made drinks, but now he misses sitting with her alone in the studio, watching as she nibbled at the end of her pen while thinking of little changes that could propel her composition to perfection.

He’s thought about walking down to the basement of the music building and walking the halls. He’s imagined casually turning his head to look through the windows of each room and, if he saw Petra, popping his head in and mentioning that he had just happened to pass by. Then maybe they would catch up and talk about her latest project: something large and grand with a full orchestra, maybe, and a light and airy soprano to sing out the melody. He’s never stepped further than the first step downstairs, though. She’s always been able to see through him just a little too much, and there’s no doubt that she’d point out the fact that there would be no reason for him to pass through the basement floor when classrooms and practice rooms are upstairs. Even just thinking about how she’d tease him is turning the tips of his ears red.

“Don’t be stupid,” Levi says. He pretends to wipe down the counter even though it’s perfectly clean. He just wants to have a reason to look down so that his coworkers don’t notice the way the tips of his ears are turning a bright red. “I can’t ask her to our gig. She’s going to know something’s wrong when I don’t show up.”

“Well, you could tell her,” Hanji suggests.

“Telling her is off the table,” Levi snaps, his tone coming out harsher than he intended. He runs a hand through his hair tiredly. “Look, anonymity works well for us. We’ve found success without people knowing who we really are, and I don’t want to ruin our private, personal lives by letting someone in.”

Hanji frowns as they stir their glorified beet juice. “It’s not like the world is going to cave in if you tell her. I told Moblit and it worked out well for me, didn’t it?” Hanji points out.

It’s true that Moblit hasn’t let any information leak despite being in the know, but Levi considers him an exception to his “no outsiders allowed” rule when it comes to the band.

“That’s different, though. We’ve all known Moblit forever.”

“Well, what about Nanaba?” Hanji asks, referring to Mike’s girlfriend.

Unlike Moblit, Nanaba hadn’t known everyone in No Name “forever.” In fact, she hadn’t met Mike until freshman year of college. Mike had asked her out a few months after they had known each other because they were in the same percussion class and he thought the way she could memorize rhythms so quickly was “really neat.” Although Levi was initially reluctant to Nanaba’s inclusion, Hanji was all for it and Levi gave in after Mike had gone out with Nanaba for a year. Nanaba turned out to be trustworthy and still hasn’t told anyone that she’s been dating the drummer of No Name.

“We got lucky with Nanaba,” Levi says and Hanji just rolls their eyes.

“Personally, I think having someone to share my secrets with is kind of nice. It takes a weight off your shoulders,” Hanji says. They hold up a hand when Levi starts to open his mouth. “I mean someone other than the rest of us in the band. Our manager doesn’t count.”

Levi scowls.

Hanji sips the rest of the foam off the top of their latte and then hops off their stool. “I’ll see you later, Levi. Let me know if you change your mind about you-know-what. Getting an extra ticket last minute wouldn’t be too hard,” they tell him before strutting out of the cafe with their bright pink latte in hand.

Levi had told himself that he wouldn’t think about it, won’t even entertain the thought of telling Petra anything at all, but his mind keeps wandering to what-ifs. What if he does tell her? Would she be surprised at all or would she just smile and tell him that it all makes sense now: his vocal lessons, his voice, his music courses despite being a computer science major? Would she look at him differently after finding out he’s the vocalist of a popular rock band? Would she swear to keep it a secret or text the first person she could once he was out of sight? The thought of being able to tell someone something so intimate is thrilling but terrifying at the same time.

By the time the end of their shift rolls around, Levi is seriously considering it. He hangs back, taking longer than usual to wipe down the tables and counters. Before Petra can leave with the rest of their coworkers, Levi grabs her arm and pulls her back.

“O-o-oh!” Petra says, startled. Her eyebrows are raised in surprise, but she relaxes when she sees it’s just Levi. The coworkers she usually leaves with, Eld and Auruo, look back, but she waves them away and signals that she’ll catch up with them later. When they’ve left, she looks back at Levi, “You’re a little clingier than I remember.”

Levi feels himself flush and quickly lets go of her arm. She has the decency not to tease him further, but her expression is amused. Before she can say anything else, Levi asks, “I was wondering … what are you doing next week?”

“Next week?” Petra repeats. She looks upwards, thinking. “Well, I guess it depends on the day. Why do you ask?”

Because my band is playing at a bar next week and I want to invite you. You’d like it. It’s No Name. You know, like the band that we play here every day for an hour? The words are right there at the tip of his tongue. All he has to do is spit them out, but something holds him back.

Levi balls his hands into fists and blurts out, “I was just wondering … about your music projects. I was wondering if you were working on anything else.”

“You wanted to collaborate again?” Petra asks, but she says so in a light-hearted manner. She shrugs, fixing the strap of her bag. “I’m tinkering with a few sounds in the studio, but I don’t have anything I’m too crazy about yet. If I have something to work on that needs a good vocalist, I’ll give you a call. If you’re open to it, of course.”

“I … I’ll think about it,” Levi says stupidly even though he knows he wouldn’t hesitate to say yes. Without anything more to say, he’s ready to shuffle lamely away, but Petra’s looking at him strangely, head tilted ever so slightly.

“I really meant it when I said you have a wonderful voice,” Petra says, and he can feel the tips of his ears start to burn again. He’s never going to get used to compliments no matter how often she gives them to him. “You should sing softer, acoustic songs every now and then. It suits you a lot.”

“Th-thanks,” he stammers.

Petra waits for a beat, but it’s clear that Levi isn’t going to say anything more. She smiles kindly at him. “My friends are waiting for me outside. I’ll see you later, Levi,” she says. She gives him a wave before she heads out, jogging out the door to catch up to her friends.

When she’s completely disappeared from view, Levi lets out a sigh. Even though he tells himself that it’s probably better that he wasn’t able to tell her anything, another part of him feels as if he’s missed his chance.

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰

“I’d tell you not to look so glum, but most people can’t tell your grumpy face apart from your normal one,” Hanji says backstage before their last set. They nudge Levi with their shoulder and give him an encouraging smile. “It’s not like it was your only chance to ask her out. We’re going to have plenty more concerts after this. Maybe you’ll muster up the courage next term.”

“Nothing to muster up courage for. I don’t want to ask her anything,” Levi mumbles before getting up from his stool with a sigh. He takes a swig of water to quench his thirst before going up on stage, fiddling with his earpiece as he takes his spot under the spotlight. He knows he shouldn’t but his eyes scan the audience for a face he knows won’t be there.

He’s hardly paying attention when his other bandmates join him onstage. Hanji announces their next song. It’s something upbeat, something with a lot of pounding bass and drums. It’s not something Levi’s in the mood for, but he sings it as easily as he did in rehearsal. Most of these songs he can sing without thinking because they’ve practiced them so often that the melody comes effortlessly. Usually, it’s a blessing because his mind can go on autopilot but right now it’s a curse because all Levi can think about is how he’s missed his chance.

“Please don’t comfort me,” he tells his friends as soon as they’ve left the stage. “I don’t want your sympathy and I don’t need it.”

“I’ll tell Moblit to bake us a cake tomorrow,” Hanji says as they collect their pay from the bar manager. They inspect the money from the envelope and flip through the bills to make sure everything’s there. “It’s purely to celebrate another successful performance. It’s not to make you feel better about whatever personal problems you’re having at all.”

Levi just scowls in response.

“Can you get us a few drinks from the bar, Levi?” Mike asks.

“Sure. Fine,” Levi grumbles. He knows that Mike is only asking so that Levi has a chance to get away and clear his head. The blond drummer doesn’t have much of a palate for alcohol, but he doest have tactful ways for dealing with Levi when the vocalist is unhappy.

Levi shuffles off, grabbing a black baseball cap that he had left backstage and donning it so that he doesn’t risk the chance of people recognizing him when he walks through the bar.

Levi tries to keep his head down and his gaze on the floor, but he can’t help glancing up every now and again as he tries to make out the faces of the patrons in the bar tonight. He doesn’t know why he does it. Maybe he just likes to set himself up for disappointment. He certainly doesn’t expect to see anyone ginger in the crowd or to make eye contact with an amber gaze, but when he does he immediately walks into the same booth the ginger is sitting and ask oh-so-eloquently, “What the fuck are you doing here?”

Petra looks just as surprised to see him here, which doesn’t make any sense because if she’s been here for at least the five minutes she’d have known he was on stage. Checking hurriedly to see if anyone else is paying attention to them, she pulls Levi into the booth next to her. “Um, so I heard you, er, No Name had a gig at this bar tonight and I decided to come because I really like your, er, the band’s music. You, ah, probably know that though since you’ve heard my playlist and listened to me talk about you guys. The band, I mean. You hear me talk about the band all the time.”

It’s clear that Petra already knows the connection between him and No Name, so Levi doesn’t know why she’s pretending she doesn’t.

“Okay, I get it. You know I’m a part of No Name,” Levi says. There’s no use hiding it anymore, so he’ll just be frank with her. “How long have you known? Did you know even before you asked me to help you with your final composition?”

“Ah.” She’s flustered but she tries to answer his answers as promptly as possible. “I didn’t know you were part of No Name the whole time. I just thought you were aloof and had an interest in music. Pretty much everything I said about you being strangely interested in music was the sole reason I asked you to be part of my project, but I didn’t realize who you were until you sang that first note in the studio.”

Levi rubs his face as he recalls that day. He does remember having his back turned to her when he was doing her vocal exercises. When he had turned around, Petra didn’t look at him any differently than she had before. Slowly, he asks, “And you didn’t say anything this whole time?”

“Well, you didn’t seem to want anyone to know, so I didn’t say anything. After all, who am I to keep you from living your best Hannah Montana life? … Oh! Are you okay?” Petra asks, startled when Levi collapses onto the table with his arms covering his face. She places her hand gently on his back, unsure of what to do.

It’s strange knowing that someone other than his bandmates knows his secret … but it’s not unpleasant. In fact, it’s kind of nice. It’s like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders.

Levi looks over at Petra from a crack between his arm and the table. He can see her looking at him worriedly. Maybe it’s as Mike said. Maybe it’s not so bad letting people in and he should stop letting the fear of the unknown from going after what he wants.

After a moment, Levi raises his head and asks, “Do you want to go out with me?”

Petra looks taken aback, but she smiles and says, “Sure.”

#rivetra #petra ral #levi ackerman #college au #band au #asks #answered #anon #anonymous #requests #snk

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aspoonofsugar · 4 years

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How do our four romantic couples--Aruani, Eremika, Yumihisu, and Galco--foil each other?

Hello anon!

In general, I would say that all four ships explore in different ways two main topics.

1) Selfishness and selflessness

2) How war shapes relationships

1) In all the ships, there is a person who is too selfish, in the sense of self-centered, and one who is too selfless. Here, selflessness means a lack of self and the character who is too selfless usually hates him/herself, is too passive or too dependent.

This opposition creates unbalanced dynamics and conflicts the characters must overcome to end up together.

In Eremika, Mikasa is too selfless and focused on Eren to the point that she has tied her sense of self to him. Eren is instead too self-centered. He is the one who will destroy the titans. He is humanity’s hope. If they fail it is all his fault. He must be special in order to have value as a person. Until he arrogates the right to end humanity by himself in the current arc.

In their dynamic, Eren is the one who is always running ahead, while Mikasa is the one running after him. She wants for him to stop and to stay close to her, but he never does.

In Aruani, Annie is too selfish, while Armin is so selfless that he despises himself and always tries to sacrifice for others. This is why even if they love each other, Annie has chosen not to go with Armin to fight Eren, while Armin is currently hating on himself for having failed. Moreover, he has tried to sacrifice himself many times by this point and one even after having confessed Annie his feelings.

In order for their relationship to work, Annie must be more selfless and be ready to fight for others, while Armin needs to start valuing his life more.

In Yumikuri’s case, the lines are more blurried because they dynamic was about exploring and deconstructing what it means to be selfless and to be selfish. Anyway, when it comes to their dynamic, I would say that Historia is the selfish one since she is initially assorbed by her own idea of dying as a martyr. Ymir is instead always there for her and acts selflessly in order to protect Historia.

Finally, when it comes to Galco, Gabi is selfish, while Falco acts selflessly to protect her. This has been highlighted many times throughout the series. Falco ends up as a prisoner and as a titan because every time he tries to protect Gabi. Gabi runs in the battle selfishly without thinking about how she is affecting others, both enemies and allies.

In short, in all four ships either too much selfishness or too much selflessness or both are an obstacle.

In particular, Ymir died out of her selflessness. She felt responsible for Bertholdt and Reiner and sacrificed herself for them, leaving Historia behind in the process.

Eren will instead probably die because of his inability to escape a self-centered vision of the world.

Moreover, both when it comes to Eremika and to Aruani we are seeing Annie and Mikasa slowly moving toward respectively developing a sense of self and acting more selflessly.

Mikasa is becoming more and more independent from Eren to the point that she is fighting against him. Annis has instead accepted to fight for the world even if her home is already destroyed.

Armin and Eren are instead stalling. I think Armin will overcome his flaw in the end though, while Eren, even if he might won’t get the chance to live.

In Gabi and Falco’s case they have been developing in each other’s direction. Falco has become more proactive and more ready to fight for what he wants. Gabi has become more empathic and less iimpulsive.

The trajectory of their arcs reminds me a little of Yumikuri too. After all, Yumikuri started with Ymir trying to protect Historia, while Historia tried finding heroic ways to die. This is similar to the initial dynamic between Gabi and Falci. When she attacks the SC, Gabi is ready to die as a martyr and has suicidal tendencies. She even tells Falco to stop following her because she does not really want him to die. Falco, however, just like Ymir, is able to see through Gabi’s pain and does his best to protect her.

This leads to him becoming a titan (the same titan Ymir had), just like Ymir revealed hers to save Historia. Moreover, after their transformation both Falco and Ymir are kidnapped and respectively Gabi and Historia run after them in an inversion of their usual dynamic. It is important that both Gabi and Historia do so just after they have faced their flaw and have made steps to overcome it.

In short, in both ships the characters move toward each other. However, in the end Ymir dies. Why is that so? This is tied to the second point of this analysis.

2) All four ships have been shaped by the major conflict the characters are in. If the unbalance between selfishness and selflessness has fueled the most individual aspect of the couples’ conflict, the war between Eldian and Marleyans has ifnluenced the dynamics as well.

This is especially obvious when it comes to Yumikuri and Aruani. As a matter of fact in both ships the two people come from opposite countries.

Annie and Armin care about each other, but they face each other as enemies because their loyalty is for their homes.

Ymir and Historia are both victims of their respective countries, but in the end they both choose not to switch side. Ymir in the end goes back to Marley and dies because of this, while Historia becomes Queen of Paradis.

Gabi and Falco and Mikasa and Eren are instead on the same side. However, both Gabi and Eren are too focused and involved in war to notice the person beside them. Moreover, they both exhibit a white and black vision of the world.

Gabi and Eren both divide people in bad and good. They are either humans or monsters. Both their arcs deal with this dychotomy and challenge it.

It is not by chance that Gabi’s response to Falco’s confession is to take away his armband, just like he did to hers.

Falco took away Gabi’s armband and challenged her black and white vision. Symbolically he was telling her that dividing humans in devils and good people was wrong. And the moment he does, Kaya appears and the Braus’s subplot kicks in.

Gabi takes away Falco’s armband to refuse his death. She is telling Falco he will survive and that his life is important. Moreover, it is meaningful that Falco is finally able to confess the moment Gabi admits there were no devils, but only people. She has finally overcome her flaw and is finally ready to listen to Falco. She sees the world not in black and white anymore and can finally listen to others and understand their feelings. She realizes both Reiner and Falco’s feelings when she finally empathizes with her enemies (hence she becomes less self-centered).

Eren has so far refused to do so. He clearly feels for the people he is killing, but he is refusing said feelings. He is not letting go of the monsters/humans dychotomy. It is just that this time he has decided to be the monster and monsters do not really have feelings nor relationships. This is why he has been trying to push away his closest connections.

When it comes to this, Eren’s mentality is the opposite of Armin’s:

Armin has always known that there are no “good people” and this is why he could keep loving Annie despite her betrayal.

In a sense, Aruani is a mirror and an inversion of Eremika. Mikasa’s problem is her dependence on Eren, while Annie’s one is her closing off to others. Moreover, Eremika started as family and are currently fighting each other. Aruani started as enemies, but are currently fighting on the same side. Annie started her arc by sparing Armin’s life, while Mikasa will probably end hers by killing Eren.

In conclusion, all these four relationships are interesting because they are conflictual. The characters are all each other’s opposite and the war has influenced their dynamics in different ways. They must both overcome the major conflict and develop in their partner’s direction if they want to survive and to end up together. Yumikuri could not, I personally think Galco and probably Aruani will, but Eremika won’t (apparently).

Thank you for the ask!

#snk #eremika #aruani #yumihisu #galco #anonymous #asksfullofsugar #snk meta

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drunk-for-aruani · 5 years

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D-do you have fanfic recomendations?? I need it for........ reasons

ARMIN/ANNIE FANFICS

(As we’d like to think) by magicites

Summary: Four times Armin attempts to get closer to Annie, and the one time that it works perfectly.

In Another Life, We’d be Good for Each Other by RosaTonta

Summary: For so long, he lived under the notion that she had been a good person. He had been wrong. She was a good person for someone else. So good that she would imprison herself to avoid compromising them.Was this envy that made his fingers grip the pen a little harder?

XX by theowlinsomniac

Summary: [1920’s AU] Armin Arlert, a student at a local NYC college studying to be an author, encounters a big city girl by the name of Annie Leonhardt that will change his life forever. Although her wealth may be a mystery to him, her affiliations with an infamous gang become increasingly apparent, and the pair must choose between the love they’ve built and the lives they once had.

The Fourth, The Fifth by macrauchenia

Summary: He snaps open the cylinder again and fishes a small, lead bullet from his pocket. “One bullet?” Annie ventures.“One bullet,” Armin confirms, dropping the tiny oblong ball of metal into the first chamber.“In a perfect game,” he begins slowly, “there would be eight shots. Four for me and four for you.” The young man hesitates for a moment before continuing. “Although, I have a feeling we may not get to all eight. We’ll go in turns,” he says, pressing the gun into Annie’s hands.

[One of the Hallelujah Trilogy] [Dark!AruAni]

Ice Queen by Aespren

Summary: Usually, on Halloween, Annie Leonhart locks herself in the basement with a good book and a pair of headphones so that she can avoid the noise of any trick-or-treaters that come to the door. But after Armin offers to come over and help with the shelling out, she may just have to change her tradition.

I Won’t Let You Fall by angeltrumpets

Summary: Annie is quite skilled at iceskating, but Armin hasn’t skated before.

Save the Last Dance by tentsubasa

Summary: When Armin Arlert gets paired with the harsh and technically perfect Annie Leonhart to put on the dance show of a lifetime, he knows he’s in way over his head. But with his career on the line, he’s determined to make things work one way or another. Who knows? Maybe it won’t be so bad…provided she doesn’t kill him. Mentions of BeruYumi and EreMika.

Folie a Deux by AryanCoconut

Summary: Armin Arlert is a regular freshman at a college in New York. Annie Leonhart is the terrifying woman he falls madly in love with. They’re both fucked up in their own way, but they each might be just the thing the other needs.

Ada Lovelace by orphan_account

Summary: He finds her behind a dumpster. [Established Aruani college AU where Armin finds a cat]

The Marriage of True Minds by Jelly

Summary: Today is the beginning of the rest of her life. A life planned for her by her father and mother, with no room for error or speculation. She will go to Diagon Alley in the morning to buy her wand, her books, and her robes; she will go to Hogwarts and be sorted into Slytherin like the rest of her family; she will do magnificently in all her classes; and she will gain a seat in Ministry of Magic. She will marry a Braun or a Hoover to keep her bloodline pure, and her children will rinse and repeat.“You’re lucky to be a Leonhardt,” they tell her. “You are lucky you were born to a family with such prestige.”Lucky, they say. Annie doesn’t quite think it’s the same word she would use.

[Hogwarts AU for Aruani Week 2016.]

Crossdresser by macrauchenia

Summary: “You’re wearing…a skirt?” Annie ventured again. She had always thought herself a fairly shock-proof soldier, only shaken by the strangest or most grotesque of things. However, the periodical oddity still managed to catch her off guard. Such as the sight of Armin Arlert in a skirt. Mikasa’s skirt, no less. [AruAni fluff]

Paranoid by Flailingkittylover

Summary: She’s been told hell lives across the sea, been told how something so simple as the inhabitant’s breathing is a sinful crime. Annie wonders if the island dwellers will soon think the same of them.

Wir Werden Uns Wiedersehen by lionhart

Summary: Childhood sweethearts Armin Arlert & Annie Leonhart are separated after Armin’s family are forced to flee from Nazi Germany to England. Before Armin departs, both swear that they will one day be reunited. By 1944, Armin is left with nothing but his best friend, Eren, and the two make a trip across war-torn Europe to find Annie. WWII AU setting. AruAni, EreMika, YumiKuri.

Memories of Her by SerphenySlayer

Summary: After Armin acquires Bertolt’s memories, thoughts of Annie are constantly felt to the point where he begins to feel her differently than before.

All you need is… dance? by shinyarmin

Summary: Annie dreams of becoming a professional ballerina as far back as she can remember. A change of events forces her to drop off her Professional Dancing School, and attending a local dancing academy instead. Not everything happened as she had thought.

College/Ballet AU.

Paint Me an Ocean by 3DMG Shenanigans (Lightningpelt)

Summary: Armin Arlert’s world is turned upside-down when he meets a deterministic young beauty: Annie Leonheart, a girl engaged- and resolved -to be married to a dear childhood friend that she claims to have no romantic feelings for. Armin, a firm believer in the existence of free-will, is all too ready to argue that she should follow her heart instead. He may, however, be a bit biased, considering her heart would most certainly lead her straight into his waiting arms.

AruAni with a side of ReiBert; Modern AU inspired by “The Painter” (Pierce the Veil)

Trust by mimi-writes2000

Summary: A one shot about Armin and Annie finally having a moment after they met in chapter 126

Play with me by Takiiraa

Summary: As an FBI agent, Armin Arlert's mission is to arrest a serial killer named Annie Leonhart. But this talented policeman and talented psychopath will start to get obsessed with each other.

feel free to add your fav fics to this list ^^

#aruani #Annie Leonhardt #armin arlert #i hope you enjoy it

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seirei-bh · 4 years

Text

Yes, I still love Eren

Ok, I didn't want to write this whole post because I don't like to discuss with other people and I always try to be patient, be quiet and just ignore this kind of stuff and keep moving foward with my life, but this is getting on my nerves.

Sometimes I wonder if some people on this fandom are a bunch of kids or teenagers who never have read/watch cruel and complex fiction stories before, like Berserk, Game of thrones, Evangelion, The last of us, etc, or just people so dumb they can't differ ficction from reality...

Repeat with me: people can love villains, people can love drama and horror in ficction and that doesn't mean those people are bad :)

It's frustating being an Eren's fan, because some people just can't understand that you can love villains and characters who are assasins or a bad person IN FICTION without being pro genocide in real life. Seriously, people SHOULD know the difference between fiction and reallity.

I love Eren Jaeger, because he's complex, well written and one of the most interesting MC I've seen in my life. I love the "hero-to-villain" arcs (like Anakin Skywalker). I love a lot of characters who are not good people because of their complex backstories, personnality or conflicted development. Ex: Joel of TLOU murdered a lot of innocent people at the ending only to save ONE person, but you can understand why he's doing that, despite you don't like his actions.

Besides, you know what? "White and perfect" heroes are boring.

A lot of people is saying now "I hate Eren, uuuhhh, you're a bad person if you love him uhhhh, Eren is the worst, he's the baddest of all the characters, the members of Alliance are the only good ones, Eren must die" only because in the last chapter we've seen the collosals trampling babies... seriously?? Yeah, I was shocked too and I feel sick and sad the first time I read it, but I can deal with it because SnK was ALWAYS cruel.

I guess people just conveniently decided to forget a lot of details of the first arcs and seasons.

Heeey, remember when Annie killed a lot of soldiers, all the Levi's squad and a lot of innocent people in the Central district while she was fighting agains Eren and the Survey Corps? She even played to yo-yo with one the the soldiers hahah :D Do you remember that Eren DIDN'T want to fight agains her and only did it because his comrades Armin Mikasa, Jean, Connie, Levi and others FORCED HIM to fight? oh, and innocent children suffered and died too in the middle of that fight. But of course, people just don't talk about it, because now Annie is now one of the cute wifeys of the "group of good heroes" :) (I love Annie and aruani, btw, but I just hate when some people are so hypocrytes to love Annie, Reiner and Bert, and also the members of Alliance and just sentence Eren for do something he was obligated to do to save his people, same as the Warriors tried to do to before to save people of Marley)

Eren tried to find a pacific way to resolves the problems during 4 years. He infiltrated in Marley alone, cutted his leg and hurt his eye, and talked with Reiner, only to try to understand his actions. But while he was forgiving his enemy and old comrade, he was listening a lot of people of the world clapping and smiling when Willy Tybur declared the war and extermination of Paradis. And in that moment Eren got a sad expression on his face, because he understood the entire world was their enemy so he was forced to become in a mass murdered and the devil of the world to save his people.

People of this fandom no longer talk about all the innocent people who were eaten by the titans that Marley dumped on the island. They don't talk of the number of Eldians that nations elsewhere have locked up in concentration camps, who are tortured and humiliated every day, simply for being Eldians, just like Jews in WWII, as we saw in Zeke's and Grisha's flashbacks. People forget Erwin, Carla, Armin's granpa, thousands of innocent people who lived inside wall Maria, and hundreds of soldiers died without even know the real reason why.

People in this fandom don't talk enough about Armin was the one who told Eren "to defeat your enemies, you have to become a monster", that Levi was the one who told Eren that he will have to take difficult choices if he wanted to survive, and that other people might die but he should be prepared to deal with it. That it was Mikasa who fought without hesitation against Annie and urged Eren to fight vs their enemies, along with Armin, Jean and Connie. That Hange and Levi tortured, killed and manipulated other soldiers in season three to archieve their purposes, that Reiner admitted in front of Eren that he destroyed the wall not because they forced him, but because he wanted to be a hero, so his parents could be together and be proud of him.

No. Because it's much easy only to throw shit at Eren because he's killing babies of background characters who were totally fine with the idea to exterminate the eldians of Paradise, and yes, that includes inocent eldian children, Historia's baby and all the kids she saved at the orphanage. But I guess people is not ready to talk about this.

People don't talk about the fact Armin, Jean, Connie and the rest of the cast admited in ch 133 that they are sinners too. That they forced Eren to do this, that despite they wanted to stop him, they couldn't give him a realistic and a good alternative solution. That the Alliance killed their own comrades and ignored Eren's depression for four years. Now they regret ir but it's too late.

Btw, Armin is my favourite character of snk, and I LOVE Jean with all my heart and I like the rest of the cast. But all these things are true. Eren is the one who is commiting a global genocide, but the rest of the cast are not heroes, they're guilty about this as well. So stop picture them as heroes and Eren as the only villain of the world. This story is much more complex than that.

If you can't deal with characters with complex moratily and cruel actions, perhaps you should go to read Fairy Tail, Bleach or Naruto, where things are solved because the perfect and heroic main character is a saint who can solves all the problems of the world with the power of friendship and/or is able to change the mind of everybody just using the "talk-no-jutsu". And I'm not saying this like a bad thing, Naruto is one of my faves mangas and I like B and FT too.

and about the ending, I see a lot of people expecting some kind of cliché and easy ending, like the typicals about heroes-vs-villains stories of most Marvel's movies and mainstream animes, despite of Isayama himself has said in lot of interviews he wanted to hurt his readers and he loves controversial stories of murderers and monsters.

I don't know how Isayama will finish this. I wish it could be a peaceafull ending where eldians and humans can solve all their problems, but snk was never so positive. If Alliance wins and kills Eren and Isayama still is able to do a realistic and logical ending, giving the world convincent reasons to forgive the eldians of Paradis after that, I will be satisficed. But if Eren wins and kill all the people of the world because that's really the only way to save eldians... I won't blame Isayama. I love bittersweet, different and controversial endings.

I don't want the Alliance to die, specially my babies Armin and Jean, I love them too much, but whatever if is either Eren who wins or either the Alliance, I would like to see an ending where Eren's survives, because I think that would be very interesting, to see him dealing with the guilt of his crimes during the rest of his life, with some kind of PTSD and trying to keep moving foward with his life despite of that. That would be a million times more interesting than "just kill him because he's bad". No, he deserves to suffers the burden of his actions, same as Reiner did after he back to Marley. The scene when Reiner tried to suicided but didn't it because Falco and Gabi were his reasons to keep living made me felt a lot of emotions, I know a lot of people considered that scene like a meme now, but the emotional impact was amazing. So, if I could choose, I prefer to see a scene of Eren like that, instead ot just being murdered.

#eren jaeger #snk #snk 134 #shingeki no kyojin #attack on titan

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nakahara-umi · 4 years

Text

Please be polite, let´s make of this a comfortable comunity. I´ll write for a lot of fandoms so I hope you´re okay with this.

Do not request stuff like (If i see a request like this I´ll stop receiving anon request or proceed to block):

Pedophilia.

Fetish.

Rape.

Incest.

Hurting people or living beings.

I´m into:

SFW and NSFW.

Fluff.

Angst.

Guidelines:

Please specify gender of the character, it must be female or gender neutral (sorry but I feel a lot more comfortable with these since I am a woman).

Only one-shots and headcanons.

I won´t write long stories like fanfics, unless it is a one I´ve started myself and you want me to continue it.

No O/C, only “x reader”.

Characters and fandoms I write for:

Attack on titan:

Eren Jaeger (post timeskip / season 4)

Armin Arlert (post timeskip / season 4)

Levi Ackerman

Erwin Smith

Porco Galliard

If you want a female character please specify it in a special request.

Shipping: Aruani and Levihan

Bungo Stray Dogs:

Dazai Osamu

Chuuya Nakahara

Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Ango Sakaguchi

If you want a female character please specify it in a special request.

One Punch Man:

Garou

Genos

Saitama

Sonic

Sweet mask

If you want a female character please specify it in a special request.

Kimetsu no Yaiba:

Kyojuro Rengoku

Tomioka Giyuu

Sanemi Shinazugawa

If you want a female character please specify it in a special request.

The arcana game:

Im okay with the main six.

#The Arcana Game #attack on titan #shingeki no kyojin #bungou stray dogs #one punch man #Kimetsu no Yaiba #demon slayer

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hamliet · 6 years

Note

What do you think your fave pairings would do for each other for Valentine's day? (A little late for Valentine's but whatever ;D)

Ahhhh I’m so sorry Anon; headcanons are particularly hard for me to think of (I’ve never been going at, er, being concise; my college professor told me I was incapable of writing less than a novel), and I’m unfortunately not in a great mental headspace right now so my mental energy is... lower than normal (every anon ask I’ve ignored over the past week, I’m truly sorry, I appreciate your asks, I’m just struggling right now. I’m working on getting better though, but apologies). Thank you for the ask though; it genuinely made me smile.

All that to say I don’t think I can give a great in-depth answer, but I will say that I just hope... Asheiji Uihai Mutsurie Ayahina Reylo Aruani Yukinora Banlin Kurokura Hisoillu and Wangxian all felt loved and appreciated by their partners, and that Blanca contemplated calling me. :P Oh, and chocolate must place a role. It must.

Maybe Hiyori planned a brunch for Kazubisha Yatori and Yukinora, and Nora felt warm and welcomed? That would be super cute.

Yuesing and Asheiji totally tried to outbuy each other in special gifts.

No one slept in the GusuLan sect all night because WangJi and WuXian were too loud but oh the bright side that’s why no one noticed SiZhui and Jin Ling’s red eyes as anything unusual it totally wast’t because they snuck out together to have their own romantic moment

Hisoka paid Mito Freecss to take Illumi’s siblings away for the night so they could be together

Chrollo proposed to Kurapika and Hisoka was the first person they texted.

Banba and Lin went shopping and now Banba’s broke.

Urie moved to the countryside to be with Mutsuki; it was supposed to be a random one time visit and it turned into “oh no I live here now”

Ui and Hairu made melon pan for their son

Ayato took Hinami to the library and they got locked in after dark and thank goodness there aren’t security cameras

Annie woke up and kissed Armin

Rey told Kylo that he owed her more than just a box of chocolates the size of the Millennium Falcon and he had Finn and Rose help plan a whole day for Rey.

#ask hamliet #shipping #Anonymous

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staying-home-is-killing-me · 5 years

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Aruani week au

Prom night Part 1

With the girls of Maria High,

Annie stepped out of the bathroom freshly wet and clean, she took a deep inhale of the warm and moist steam from the shower. There she was off to her big day. Annie's first prom. She was going with her friends as a group. Annie was also excited for her date, she kept her feelings hidden for a while and surprisingly she was the one to ask him out. Annie actually didn't know why he agreed to take her to prom. That was one of her fears, love.

She fasened her gaze upon her roommate, Hitch Dryse. "Hitch you can shower now." Hitch was the teasing type of friend. She made jokes and she was also very popular with boys. Annie herself, was also popular with boys too. But she only had eyes for one, and she was furious when she discovered her feelings. Annie was emotionless most of the time and she was shocked when he had a crush. She tried to hide it sayin that it was her brain tricking her but eventually it was her heart that caved in and admitted to her feelings.

The stone cold, bad girl,and half jock, Annie Leonhard. Had actual feelings rather than mad and annoyed, who knew. Especially with Armin, Armin Arlert wasn't the type of person she expected to fall for. He was fairly tall but he was far from tall compared to the other boys, he had darker blonde hair, and he was very smart and very very kind hearted. He was. He was different from the other guys. He was a nice change of pace for everyone. Annie couldn't hide her feelings any more. But why would a strong badie fall for a weak nerd.

Even though he was in the soccer team. He never acted like a meat head and he was always level headed. He is a very good sport and he is always "Mr.Modest" when ever someone is complementing him. Compared to all of the standards for men. Armin is the perfect guy. But many judge him for his smaller shape and smaller stature but, Annie sees past that. Even Armin sees past Annie's facade he knows deep inside she cares and she is a big softy. She just likes to hide behind something, like being afraid to let your guard down. She acts as if she is surrounded my the enime all the time. But with Armin she is different.

Annie was pacing around her room. She was having second thoughts about going with Armin. She wanted to call and cancel with him. But she knew how much she wanted this. And Armin was her first and only love she had. Of course she would want to spend the best night of thier lives together. But what if they weren't meant to be. what if Armin didn't like her that much. What if armi-

A sudden knock on the door jolted her back to reality. "Hello. Hey Annie it's us". Annie opened the apartment door to see Mina,Mikasa,Krista,and Yimr. "Guys what are you doing here". Annie carefully examined their outfits. Mikasa wore a tall black dress with a diamond bracelet and she had black gloves on. Of course she still wore Erens red scarf. Mina wore a blue dress with a diamond tiara that her boyfriend bought her she also had het hair in a bun. Krista wore a small orange dress with a cute pink bag and and a small orange bow in her hair. Yimr wore a romper instead of a dress but it had black and white polka dots on it and black stripes on the sides with her hair in a small braid.

"We came to help you. And Hitch told us you have a hot date tonight". Mina blurted out. "And obviously we want to find out who is making the rock hard Annie blush and be a mess". Said Yimr. "We also came to make you embarrassed you in front of him". Mikasa added. "You guys suck." "Ohh. You'll just adore him." Hitch said walking out of the shower. "Hey". Annie walked over and gave her a hard nudge with her elbow. "Well it just slipped out. Now get out of that robe and get into your dress"...

Hey guys. Im a bit late to Aruani week. ( the story was too long for just one post so ill make a part 2 or more if i have too) I worked very hard. And i really want you to like it.

By,

am-da-brown-bear Tumblr

#High school.#mina #hitch #mikasa #krista #armin #aruani must live

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annieleonhardt · 6 years

Note

We finally have seen Annie after so many tears (years too I guess). How do you feel about all of this now that we see Armin and Annie "together" for the first time? Is this proof that Aruani is some sort of canon? *holds microphone to her face*

Here we are, aruani shippers after all these years of waiting and suffering, finally able to laugh at the face of the people who mocked us for so long! We stand alive, bitches! 😎😂

Deep inside Armin must be praying and hoping that Annie's still alive thats why when he had recurring dream of Sasha's death, he kept calling her name in it. Annie looks dead in reality afterall and it reminded him of it but Armin didn't want to lose her. Not yet. Not ever. So he met her. Asking why he had been having all these dreams of calling her name upon seeing their other friend's passing. What does it mean to him, to both of them....or that's how I want it to be. God I want to cry...

Listen,,,I have been an Annie stan and aruani stan since 2013. That’s 5 years. Five whole years. Almost 6. I started this godforsaken series right before my junior year of high school and I just graduated from college. And throughout that all Annie Leonhardt has been in goddamn limbo. Yet here we are. Is she still in the crystal? Yes, but she’s ALIVE OKAY and Armin is SITTING IN FRONT OF HER CONFIDING IN HER LIKE DO U KNOW HOW MANY FICS WE HAVE WRITTEN ABOUT THAT SCENARIO AND NOW IT’S CANON I...This is all so much to process in one day y’all. I’m emotionally compromised. Annie Leonhardt....my girl, my love, a character I relate to so much it hurts, sh e live....

#asks yay #snk spoilers #annie leonhardt #aruani #and honestly the I have gotten a lot of anon hate over those years #in regards to both Annie and aruani because people be rude and salty #and man is this cathartic af #Anonymous

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sunshinearmin · 7 years

Text

I Want Something Just Like This

I didn’t have anything planned for the theme of the day, so I’ll just post an Aruani fic I have in my notebook.

AO3

Cover photo by feramis (which is also what inspired this fic

Word Count: 1172

She remembered a conversation in class once, when they’d been given free time. The class had begun to talk about what they looked for in a lover. She didn’t remember how the conversation had started. But they all talked about all sorts of things. Big and strong. Lithe and charming. Tall. Smart. Pretty. Handsome. Bertolt had leaned over to her. “What do YOU want, Annie?”

Annie had just shrugged. It wasn’t that she didn’t know, it was just that she didn’t know how to put it into words. She didn’t want some super hero or fairytale. She wanted something real. She wanted to be with someone who listened to her. Who she could be herself with. Everything else was superficial. She figured she’d know it if she ever found it.

“Where are we going, Armin?” He was pulling her along a dark path on one of the nearby hiking trails, the only light coming from his flashlight.

“We’re almost there.” Was his only answer.

“Why do I feel like I’m going to get murdered?”

“I couldn’t overpower you if you were sleeping.”

He had her there. “I can’t fight a bullet though.”

“Where would I get a gun?” Shit. He had her again. “Here we are.” They stepped through the brush out onto one of the rocky overlooks.

“Holy shit.” Annie gasped, staring up at the sky. There were so many stars.

“The light pollution that we get from town isn’t visible with here.” Armin said, sitting down and pulling off his backpack.

“It’s amazing.” Annie didn’t think she’d ever seen so many stars in her whole life.

“Careful of the edge. That’s a long way down the gorge if you fall.”

She looked down, and with the light of the moon, she could just see the sparkle of the river. “How did you find this place?”

“Uh, it’s sort of a long story.”

“I think we’ve got time.” Annie backed away from the edge, and sat down a couple feet from Armin.

He let out a sigh as he pulled out a sketchbook. “I don’t really talk about it.”

“Oh.” Annie got the hint. She pulled her legs up to her chest and hugged them. “Sorry.” There were a lot of things Armin didn’t talk about.

Armin was sitting crosslegged, his sketchbook of his lap. He was drawing the constellations. Annie watched him out of the corner of her eye. He was good.

She had started hanging out with him over Christmas break, months ago. She’d never really talked to him before, hadn’t really noticed him before. He was a quiet kid with long blonde hair that he used to hide his face, and wore baggy sweaters to hide the rest of him. He hardly talked to anyone and mostly kept to himself.

It had been an accident that she had started talking to him. She’d almost run over him with her bike one Saturday outside the mini mart. Instead of getting angry, he’d just apologized, and then smiled at her. Annie had felt her heart melt. She was instantly addicted to that smile. She craved it. Needed it. From that day on, she started to spend time with him.

He was a quiet kid. Unlike most of the kids at school, he rarely talked about himself. She didn’t even know where he lived, though he’d been to her house countless times. She suspected that he was abused. It would explain a lot, from the mysterious bruises to his demeanor to his incessant need to apologize if he got any inkling that the other person was upset. It broke her heart to think that anyone would hurt this angel. How could anyone want to do anything besides hug him close and bring out that smile? His smile was like the sun. And his eyes, those deep blue pools were like the ocean. And his laugh…that was like heaven itself.

“How long have you been drawing?” She asked after a long while.

“Since I was little.” He said, glancing at her. “I’m not super great at it.”

“You’re better than me.”

“I practice. I bet it wouldn’t take long for you to pass me. You can pick up anything.”

Annie felt herself blush. “You flatter me.” She said, looking down.

“I’m telling the truth.”

It was too bad he was so skiddish around other people, because he was a great friend. Always complimenting her and helping her. Well, too bad for everyone else. It meant she got him all to herself. If anyone else gave him a chance, she was sure they would love him as much as she did. Hell, even Dad liked him and Dad didn’t like anyone. Annie didn’t want to share her angel, so she was grateful that everyone else was stupid. Her gaze flicked back up to the stars. “I wanted to be an astronaut when I was younger.” She said, crossing her arms and resting them on her knees.

“I wished I could be a star.” Armin said, looking up at the sky. “Just a great big ball of burning gas. A star has no worries. No one can hurt a star.”

Annie looked at him again. He had this sad, wistful look on his face. “Must be awfully lonely to be a star though. Never interacting with anyone.”

“Yeah, but if you never talked to anyone ever, would you have any semblance of loneliness? If all you’ve ever known is solitude, you wouldn’t even know there was another way.” He finally looked at her.

“You may not be able to out a name to it, but I think you’d still feel it.” She stared into his eyes.

“Maybe.” He shrugged his shoulders.

Annie was quiet for a while. “What do you want to do now?”

“Hmmm?”

“With your life. Once you graduate.”

“Oh. Get far away from here. There’s nothing keeping me here.”

“Oh.” Annie didn’t know why she felt so upset. It wasn’t like they were dating…were they?”

Armin clearly saw the look on her face. “Wait, Annie I didn’t mean-“

“It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not. I didn’t mean it like that. I didn’t mean you.”

“Armin, it’s really fine-“

“Annie.” He dropped his sketchbook and pencil, and knelt in front of her. “You are the best thing – the only good thing that has ever happened to me.” She glanced up and gasped. His face was right in front of her’s. “You make me want to think about tomorrow, and how I’ll get to spend it with you.” He put a hand on her chin and tilted it up. “Run away with me.” His voice had dropped to a whisper.

“Okay.” She whispered back. He smiled, before closing the distance and kissing her softly.

This. This was what she wanted. Something just like this. She couldn’t believe she’d found it with this soft, warm, kind-hearted boy. Slowly, she lifted a hand and buried it in his hair. Her heart felt so full. If he always made her feel so happy, she’d follow him anywhere.

#aruani #aruani week #aruani week 2017 #armin arlert #annie leonhardt #my writing

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eremikadefensesquad · 8 years

Note

You're asexual? I'm think I might be too but i'm not sure... how did you come to terms with identifying as ace?

To start, we must go back to the ungodly years of my youth.

I had been an odd child - unconventional living arrangements with my family, a home environment that could be described as dysfunctional as its best and emotionally and physically abusive at its worst, interests and hobbies that spat in the face of what was expected of a girl in the 90s (I had an entire toy box of Barbies that my entire family insisted on buying me, where I ignored them and allowed them to gather dust while I played with my brother’s Hot Wheels instead). I would learn some fifteen years later that my mother questioned my sexuality from a very young age. I was overweight, autistic, and relentlessly bullied by my peers in the lovely public school system.

Needless to say, there were a lot of things not quite “right” with me while I was growing up. And when I got into middle and high school, and suddenly the only thing my classmates cared about was who was dating who, and who was sleeping with who, and who could “get some” and who couldn’t, and who was a “slut” and who wasn’t. While all this happened around me, and I felt absolutely no desire whatsoever to date either gender, and a physical repulsion to the idea of me ever having sex, I inevitably blamed my inability to relate to my classmates on what always caused me to be outcast from social groups in school: my autism. And as I moved from teenager to adult, and still never felt that spark, I came to the conclusion that I was just broken. Again, I blamed the fact that I was autistic, because that was the root of every other social problem I had growing up.

When I joined Tumblr around age nineteen, it was my first exposure to numerous sexual orientations: pan, demi, gray, ace - they were all new to me. And I knew within five minutes of looking into the concept of asexually and aroromanticism, that was me. Or so I thought. Becuase the more I thought about it, the more I thought it was possible I might lean toward demi, because I had at that point experienced feeling for very close friends.

Those doubts were obliterated by nuclear bombs at Colossalcon 2016.

I was sharing a hotel room with four close friends from tumblr: @aruani , @someboredloser , @askladarmin , and @annieleonhardt. One night, as we were innocently settling down after a long day of weebing, one of the friends suddenly let out an exclamation of surprise that caught everyone’s attention. As everyone watched him, he pulled a packer penis out of the boot of his Armin cosplay. So, we’re all sitting around, talking about Eremika and Aruani, having a grand old time, and this motherfucker holds a giant silicone dick up for all to see.

Various reactions follow the reveal of the glistening white stretchable penis. Shock. Disgust. Indescribable laughter. Then, we start to pass it around. One of us throws it to the ground after touching it for barely a second. Others express feeling weirded out by the texture. Myself? I studied the dick. I ran the veiny, silicone appendage through my hands like I would pet my own dog.

By the time I passed the dick back to its owner, I had decided something.

To hell with demi - that was the closest I was ever getting to touching a dick.

#sexuality #ace #asexual #aromantic #Anonymous

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sunshinearmin · 7 years

Text

Falling Into Those Ocean Eyes

Leading off for AruAni week, here is my first contribution, Day One: Eyes

AO3

Word Count: 2131

Cover photo by me

Annie could tell anyone the first thing she fell in love with. His eyes. Deep pools of blue. He had been rather unnoticeable before. A background piece. An accessory in the life of Eren Jaeger. His name wasn’t even worth learning, he was so insignificant to her. Then one day, he looked at her with those eyes, and she was gone.

Armin Arlert. She had to learn everything about him after that. So, she began to watch him. He was small, and weak. During PT, he lagged behind most of the squadron. He was average with the 3DM gear. He was always last to finish their laps. His friends didn’t even seem to notice that they were leaving him in the dust. Why did he even want to be a soldier? He was certain to be titan food. And yet he kept going. Kept surviving. She had to admire his persistence, his commitment.

He had something the rest of these idiots didn’t. He knew what he was getting into. He had seen titans before. He knew what they were capable of. In comparison to Eren and Mikasa, everyone seemed to forget that he was in Shiganshina that day too. Had watched his home and people he knew wiped out. And yet he kept plowing on through training. He was braver than most of these people gave him credit for. He had something he believed in, something he was willing to fight for. Something he was willing to die for. As a warrior, she could respect that. She had something too. But he didn’t seem to have any discernable skills. Ideals would only get you so far.

Then, she started sitting behind him in the classroom. The little guy was a genius, and she wasn’t exaggerating. He had a strategic mind, and an ability to think outside the box. He was receiving top marks. He was miles beyond Jaeger and Ackerman in this area. He was probably the smartest kid in the squadron. The one they SHOULD look to when out on the battfield. They wouldn’t, of course, with so many other louder personalities. Eren Jaeger, Jean Kirschstein, hell, even Reiner.

But Armin was a quiet boy, and often overlooked. He seemed shy, and lacked confidence in himself. That might get him killed. The first few months of training, he hardly spoke to anyone. And he was always with Jaeger and Ackerman. Annie appreciated his more reserved personality. Most of them were loud, and boisterous, and grated on her nerves. But she often overheard Eren talking about things Armin said. Apparently, he was quite talkative, but only around certain people. Sort of like Bertolt then.

But after a long while, she knew she had to stop. He was the enemy. All of these people were. They stood between her and her ability to go home. But the people of Paradis Island were different than she had been lead to believe. They didn’t know anything about the world outside of their walls. They didn’t know how they or the titans got there. They didn’t even know what was in the walls. These people even had a religion dedicated to the walls, and keeping them intact. Most of the people wanted to remain within their walls. There were arguments to seal up the walls entirely. They weren’t the devils Marley had told her they were. She wasn’t sure they deserved to die. Certainly not by titans. Then again, she had never been devoted to the cause like Reiner was. This was merely her way to get home. To get back to a semi normal life. All she had to do was find the original titan, and maybe the attack titan, and bring it back to Marley. It wouldn’t hurt to find the jaw titan either.

But avoiding attachments was proving to be harder than she thought. In Marley, she’d been so focused on being selected as a warrior, she hadn’t paid any attention to the other candidates, even after being selected. It just became a habit, especially since most of them had personalities that she didn’t gel with. Porco, Reiner, Zeke. Bertolt was okay, mostly, as was Pieck. Marcel had been alright, but he was dead now. She kept telling herself that these people would be too, and she shouldn’t let them in. But it was hard.

There was Mina Carolina. A sweet girl with dark hair she always wore in pigtails. Mina was Annie’s bunkmate. Annie didn’t mean to get close to her, but it seemed inevitable. There was Eren Jaeger, who was actually interested in learning how to fight from her. Marco Bott was a sweet boy with freckles who was encouraging to everyone. Christa, Ymir, Sasha, all fairly bearable girls.

And then there was HIM. She had tried her best to avoid him, but one day, they were paired together on the stable duty. She ignored him at first, and thankfully he seemed to get the hint. He was on the other side of the stable, cleaning out those stalls. All of the horses had been turned out in the paddock, so it was quiet, except for the scraping of their shoulders.

Annie wondered what the hell she was doing. He was insignificant. He meant nothing to her. So, why was she acting like he did? She was acting stupid. People were bound to notice her avoidance of him and be more suspicious of that than if she’d just talk to him. Treat him like she treated everyone else. Suddenly, there was a cough behind her, and she spun around.

He was standing right behind her. “Sorry.” He said, looking down at the ground. His long blonde hair hung over his face. She could see why everyone said he looked like Christa. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“How long have you been standing there?”

“About ten seconds.”

“What do you want?” She realized she sounded pissy.

He didn’t seem perturbed by her tone. “Nothing. I didn’t come over here to talk to you.” Well, little Armin had a bit of a backbone after all. She guessed that came from being friends with Eren and Mikasa. She had to admit, it was interesting to see what his personality was like without his constant companions around.

“Then what are you doing over here?”

“I finished my stalls.”

“Already?” Annie gaze shot over to the stalls he had and sure enough, his were all emptied out.

“Yeah. I was going to get hay for mine, but I can help you finish your’s, if you’d like.”

She was going to tell him no, but then she thought about it. He was much faster than her, so they’d get done twice as fast. “Sure.” She finally said.

“Okay.” He turned and walked into the stall across from the one she was in.

Annie realized he hadn’t looked up the entire time they were talking. She liked his voice. It was light and melodic, so unlike most of the other guys’ voices. “Thank you.”

“It’s no problem.” Annie was sure it wasn’t. He came across as the kind of person who liked to help people, however he could.

Annie finished the stall she was working in, and paused to watch him for a moment. He really worked at a breakneck speed. She hadn’t expected it out of the kid who lagged behind everyone else. She turned away quickly as he finished and hurried into her next stall. After a few more minutes, she asked, “So, how long have you known Eren?”

He looked up at her then, and she fell into those eyes all over again. How could one pair of eyes hold so much emotion? Annie’s own hardly ever showed emotion. She’d been told she looked rather dead eyed. His currently showed surprise and confusion. Annie was not the kind of person who came across as liking small talk, or was interested in other people’s lives. “Since I was little.” He finally answered. “Actually, I knew his parents before he even did.” He smiled at her, and she felt the last of her resistance towards him melt away.

“How does that work?” She asked.

“His dad delivered me.” Armin replied. “And then, four months later, he was born.”

“Wait, you’re older than Eren?”

“Mikasa too. People think because I’m smaller, I must be younger, but actually, Eren is the youngest.

Annie stared at him. “Wow. So you guys were friends since birth?”

“No. Eren’s dad was my doctor, but we didn’t really become friends until we were about six. And we met Mikasa when we were nine.” She could see how Eren was constantly repeating stuff Armin said. He was quite the chatterbox. You just had to get him going. She wanted to hear more of his voice.

“So, how did you guys become friends then?”

He paused for a moment, looking at her skeptically. “Why are you so interested all of a sudden?”

She had to think fast to get out of this one. It wasn’t like she had a rational answer, after all. She couldn’t just tell him that she wanted to hear his voice. That was weird. “Because…because I never had a friendship like you guys, and I’m curious, is all. I’ve always been a loner.” It wasn’t even technically a lie.

He seemed to accept her answer as his posture relaxed and his face regained an easy going expression. “Oh, well that’s sort of a long story.”

Annie looked over the other stalls they still had to do. “I think we have time.”

“Well, okay…” Annie wasn’t actually listening to his words anymore. She was more listening to the cadence of his words, like a melody. As they finished the stalls, she kept glancing over at him. He was animated, and there was just something about him. A presence or an aura or something. She could feel his joy radiating off him as he spoke about his best friend. It was such a pure thing. Too pure. Annie almost felt too dirty to be around something so pure.

She propped her elbow on the door of the last stall and just watched him. He was very pretty, now that she looked at him closely. Prettier than her. Prettier than most of the girls here. He had a nice round face, a little button nose, sunny yellow hair. But his most enticing feature was his eyes. A bright, crystalline blue that shone with emotion. It was like he held the world in those eyes. He caught her gaze and stopped talking. “What?”

“What? Nothing.” She answered, straightening up.

“Um…okay. We should get some fresh hay for the stalls.” He said, walking down the center aisle towards where they hay was kept.

“Yeah, right.” She quickly hurried after him.

As she lay in her bed that night, listening to the sounds of the other girls sleeping, all she could think about were those damn eyes. It wasn’t fair. Of all the things that should be on her mind, why was it him? What was it about those eyes that had drawn her in?

Oceans. That’s what they were like. His eyes reminded her of the ocean she had crossed to get here. Fathomlessly deep and mysterious. Teeming with life, and danger, and beauty. She realized she had fallen into those ocean eyes, and she was drowning in them. But she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be saved. Instead, in that moment as she lay in the dark, she decided she wanted those eyes in her life, no matter what the cost was.

That decision, mostly forgotten, was probably the reason why, years later, she didn’t crush him. In her chase to get Eren, she’d taken out much of the Survey Corps. Her hands were irreparably stained with blood, and she didn’t even care. But then, she lifted that hood and looked into those eyes, and she let him go. She couldn’t see those eyes lifeless, and certainly would not be the one to take the life from those eyes.

But the stubborn little bastard didn’t learn, and came back. She felt her temper flare. How could someone so smart behave so stupidly? She’d spared his life once, she wouldn’t do it again. But as Annie crouched over his bloody body, he looked up at her, and she couldn’t do it. That ocean stared into her soul, and she stopped her hand.

And even later, after everything, she knew she should regret staying her hand, but she just couldn’t. Locked in a prison of her own making, unable to keep her promise to her father, unable to go home, all she had were those eyes. Full of promise and expectations. The oceans had swallowed her whole, and they were all she had left.

#aruani week #aruani #annie leonhardt #armin arlert #aruani week 2017 #my writing

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