ArminxReaderx? - To My Wings - Valentine's Day Fic

    Your eyes flickered open.  You yawned, sitting up in your bed.  You  rubbed the sleep out of your eyes and glanced at your clock.  It was 8:30 am, you had time to get ready.  You hopped up, stretched a little, then slipped on your uniform.  Fiddling with your jacket, you marched over to your calendar and marked off today, then paused, some stuff was written there.

    Valentine’s Day: Remember to give Armin gift, group gift too.

    A large grin plopped on your face, how could you have forgotten?  It was Valentine’s Day!  And your first holiday in the Survey Corps.  Your first holiday since you left your universe…

    “No time to for self-pity,” you thought.  Opening your closet, you grabbed your two gifts.  You couldn’t just carry them around, so you grabbed a cloth old bag from the closet, and stuck your presents in there.  Man, you were excited.

♥ ❤ ♥

    Rushing downstairs, you eagerly sat down at the breakfast table: Armin, Eren, Mikasa, Jean, Krista, Connie, and Sasha were already there.

    “Geez, you’re all up early!” you said sitting down next to Armin.  He left a seat open for you, he always did.

    “We don’t all sleep as much as you do,” Jean commented.  You kicked him under the table.  Idiot.

    “I have a present for all of you,” you announced.  Everyone turned to you, “I drew this myself.  And Jean, I couldn’t get a horse to stand still for me to draw, so I just did you instead, same difference.”

    Eren smirked and Jean sulked, but both kept their eyes on you as you reached into your bag, and pulled up a sheet of paper placed on a flat piece of wood.  It was an illustration of Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Jean, Krista, Connie, Sasha, you, and Levi.  Each was in a pose and expression that reflected them.

    A few “oohs” and “ahs” came from the people around you.  You smiled, a well received artwork, that was always nice.

    “Wow, that looks just like us, but the style is a little weird…” Connie noted.

    “Uh, yeah, this style is, um,” you murmured looking at the clearly anime renditions of the soldiers around you, “A bit unique.”

    “So, what do you want us to do with it?” Krista wondered, “Should we put it up somewhere?”

    “I thought we could all sign it, then give it to Levi to hang up,” you explained, “I left room on the border for our names.  I already signed, see?” you pointed to your name written in nice print, “We all do that.”

    After some rummaging, a pen was found and everyone wrote their names.  Mikasa had the best handwriting (like Calligraphy) and Jean had the worst chicken scratch you had ever seen.  Everyone else was in-between.

    “Let’s go give it to Levi right now!” you exclaimed.  Grunts of agreement followed as you snatched up your art and stuck it back in your bag.  The eight of you walked along in the hall, and an uplifting feeling was in the air.  You knocked on Levi’s door, tapping a little pattern: knock, knock, then two fast knocks, and another regular knock.

    “Yes?” Levi’s voice asked exasperated from behind the door.  You popped your head in the door, opening it slightly.  Levi sat at his desk, with some paperwork in front of him.  He looked like he was annoyed, or didn’t care, as usual,

    “Capt’n Levi?” you politely questioned, “Can we come in?”

    “Who is ‘we’”? Levi demanded blandly.  You grinned,

    “Armin, Eren, Mikasa, Jean, Krista, Connie, and Sasha.  Oh, and there’s me!” you replied.

    “Why?”

    “We come bearing a gift!” you told him.  Levi’s face was emotionless, then he sighed,

    “Fine.”

    “Great!” you swung open the door, letting your group pour in.  You took the picture out of the bag, the back of the wood it was placed on facing Levi,

    “We made this for you,” you continued, flipping it so Levi could see and placed it on the desk in front of him, “I actually drew it for   everybody, but you know, I thought since you’re our Captain, you should keep it.  We all signed our names on the border.  Do you like it?”

    Levi looked at the picture for a long time.  At least twenty seconds, but it felt longer.  You fidgeted, was that a good or bad sign?  You glanced to your friends behind you.  Armin shrugged, Eren shook his head confused, no one else showed signs of having a clue as to what Levi was doing.

    Levi finally looked up, he surveyed everyone, ending on you,

    “It’s nice.  You’re a good artist.  And everyone signing their names was a fine touch,” Levi nodded to the others standing behind you.  He stood up, opened a drawer, took out a sponge and a cup of water.  He herded everyone to the side of the room while he scrubbed his door.  Eren opened his mouth to make a comment, but stopped and watched as “humanity’s greatest soldier” cleaned his door obsessively.

    After at least ten minutes of door scrubbing, he put the sponge in the cup, placed it in his drawer, and picked a piece of string out of a different drawer.  Levi picked up the picture and somehow connected the string to the wood, tying it around imperfect splinter or two most likely.  He hung the picture on a nail on his door (which he shined thoroughly when he was in ultra-clean mode).  The captain sat at his desk, staring at the picture.  It was directly in his line of vision when he sat at the desk.  He then straightened the picture and stepped back admiring his handiwork.  He then returned, sitting at his desk, and began work on papers again.

    Without looking up from his work he said, “Dismissed.  Happy Valentine’s day.”

    The entire ordeal had taken about twenty minutes.  The eight of you walked back towards the mess hall,

    “That was very-,” Jean said, pausing looking for a word.

    “Paranormal?” Eren suggested.

    “Levi like,” Armin thought out loud.

    “Interesting…” you answered.

    “The cleaning thing was like Levi, but he actually liked it, he didn’t give us the cold shoulder!” Krista yelped.

    “Love loosens everybody up,” you stated, “Everyone’s a little more relaxed today, it’s the spirit of Valentine’ day.”

    “Alright, Sasha and I have stable duty, later,” Connie said, Sasha pouted and followed him begrudgingly.

    “Hey, ______,” Armin said, “I have some presents for you, want to meet at our place?”

    Your place, well, neither you or Armin owned it, but it was yours just the same: it was a little hill, with a view of the corps castle and the lake.  You could make out Wall Sina form that hill.  It meant a lot to you.  In fact, you and Armin had held hands there, bonded there.  It was yours.

    “Yes, I have a gift too,” you replied, “I’ll start walking, you can meet me there.”

♥ ❤ ♥

    You sat nicely legs criss-crossed, smiling, waiting for Armin.  You had your gift for him with you, while he had ran to get his.  You sat on your hill, taking in the beauty of the view.  How much you loved that view was hard to put into words.  It was so calm, and peaceful, and it made the world seem utterly vast.

    Back home, you’d never left your state, and this inside the walls was smaller than where you lived for sure, but the view…  It made the world look like it would go on forever, and never end.

    “Hey,” Armin’s voice said.  You saw him walk up to you and plop down next to you with a fairly nicely wrapped package underneath his arm.

    “Nice wrapping, mine’s just in this old bag,” you smiled.

    “It’s not the outside of the gift that counts!” Armin told you, nudging you, “It’s the thought of the gift…”

    “Yeah, yeah, I know.  It’s a plus if it does look nice,” you conceded.

    “Well, instead of admiring the wrapping paper, would you actually like to see your present?”

    “Yes!  Yes!  Yes!” you yelped.

    “Okay, open it!” Armin ordered handing you the package.  You paused before opening it, you wanted to open the nice way so you could save the paper…

    “Just rip it, it doesn’t matter,” Armin smiled at you.

    “But--.”

    “Come on!”

    “Fine,” you mumbled, ripping the paper to reveal the glossy cover of a book.  It read: The Outside Legends.

    You flipped through the pages, there were illustrations of oceans, and volcanoes, and other natural beauties.  You, being from the universe where Attack on Titan was a television show, had seen all of these, but to anyone from this universe, these were spectacles never seen.

    “Armin, this is so cool!” you thanked him, “It’s fascinating!  Thank you!”

    “I thought you’d like it, my grandfather had this book, I found a copy of it and thought you’d like it.”

    “Thanks,” you said, it was a lovely edition, glossy pages, colorful pictures.  Yo shut the book and leaned over to Armin, giving him a hug.  He hugged back, and you spend just a little longer than needed like that.  You pulled back and gave him a grin,

    “My turn.”

    You reached into your bag pulling your gift out and handed it to Armin.

    He stared.  You’d drawn the hill you both sat on in that moment, with you and Armin laying there, holding hands, and looking at the stars.  You’d spent a long time on it, and were proud.  It was even in color.

    “This is beautiful, ______,” Armin didn’t look away from it.

    “Yeah, well, I tried,” you said, and you thought, “And spent hours on it.”

    “Thank you so much, I’ll hang this in my room, I won’t even have to go to the hill to be there with you,” Armin smiled and turned to you, giving you the hug that time.

    As you sat there in each others arms, he whispered in your ear,

    “I have another gift for you actually.”

    “Okay,” you whispered back and pulled back, “What is it?”

    “Close your eyes and you’ll see it.”

    You squeezed your eyes shut.  All you heard was the wind blowing and Armin breathing.

    Oh.  That was a little creepy.

    “Armin?” you asked.  Was it big or something?  You’d only seen him carry the package.  He had no reply.

    Well, perhaps that wasn’t true.

    You didn’t even understand it at first, it was hesitant.  His lips brushed yours and were gone.  Your eyes relaxed, going from squeezed shut to just closed.  Then his lips met yours.  He kissed you.  It was the thing you knew shouldn’t happen.  If Armin and you got too close, and then you got transported back…

    Well, screw it.

    You kissed back, and your arms wrapped around his neck, his rested on your waist.  Your eyes were still closed, and you were so happy.

    You never kissed a guy.  Never.  You weren’t exactly a boy magnet in your own universe, but Armin didn’t really mind your looks, he found you beautiful inside and out.  You had never kissed a guy, until that moment, and you were liking it.

    You couldn’t tell how long you were kissing, it felt extensive.

    Then Armin stopped kissing but his arms didn’t move.  Yours didn’t either.  Your eyes opened and bore into his,

    “I love you, ______,” he whispered.  Your heart beat a little faster,

    “I love you too,” you replied quietly.  You rested your head on his shoulders, loosening your arms wrapped around his neck, “Thank you.”

    “Thank me?  For what?” Armin told you.  You moved back just enough to see his face.  He was so beautiful.  So kind.  So lovely,

    “For everything.”

    Yeah…

    He kissed you again.

♥ ❤ ♥

    You sat on your bed, smiling.  Talk about an amazing Valentine’s Day.

    Armin kissed you, you had a nice book to read, and you had seen Connie kiss Sasha when you passed the stables on your way back to the room.  It was true, love was in the air.  But it was late, and you were tired.  You took the book you had placed next to you and hopped over to your desk.  You placed it down when you noticed a small box.  It was plain white and had not been there in the morning.  You carefully opened it, inside was a necklace with one pendant on it, and two laying next to it in the box.  It was a black cord, with the survey corps' wings of freedom on it.  On either side were the other two symbols of the legions made into pendants, two roses, and a unicorn.  They were beautiful, well made.  Did Armin get these?  No, probably not…

    His gift was the book, and the kiss…  Well, kisses…

    Just thinking about it made you blush!

    “Ach, I’m so lame…” you thought, but you were smiling nonetheless.

    There was also a note, all that was on it was: to my wings...  Who's wings were you?  You paused, you probably had a secret admirer.  A very poetic one at that.

    You carefully put the wings of freedom necklace on, and looked in the small mirror you had hanging on the wall.  It looked nice, a little tacky, but nice.  Maybe the roses would look more normal.  You took the necklace off and put it back in the box.  Perhaps tomorrow you’d wear it, see if Armin liked it.

    You laid in your bed, it was a good day.

♥ ❤ ♥

    He sat at his desk, looking at some papers.  He thought about the gift.  Had she gotten it?  Had she even noticed it?  Probably.  Even if it was anonymous, it felt good to make her a little happy.  Hopefully it made her happy.

    He hadn’t remembered starting to like her.  Not really.  She was just another person, but she started to grow on him.  She was pretty, smart…  And in love with Armin.

    While his face remained expressionless, he felt slightly disappointed inside.  How could he be though?  She was happy with Armin.  Armin was good for her too.  But he had that fantasy of her smiling at him and then kissing him on the cheek, that perfect dream of him and her together.  Unfortunately, fantasies aren’t real.

    She was oblivious to him, however, he wasn’t being obvious.  What good would being obvious do?  She was enamored with Armin, him with her.  Happily ever after.  For them.

    He sighed at his desk, it was pointless to think about.  Yet the thought still arose in his mind, the thought of her walking around with his gift on her neck, smiling and being her beautiful self…  It made him smile.

    There was a knock at the door, the smile vanished,

    “Come in,” he said.  Eren popped in.

    “Sir,” Eren said, “Hanji would like to speak with you.”

    “Fine,” he said standing and left.  He was halfway down the hall when he heard something,

    “Oh!  Hey Levi!” Eren shouted as he was about to turn down a passage.  Levi didn’t turn,

    “What?”

    “Happy Valentine’s Day!”

    Levi nodded,

    “You too Eren…”  He continued to walk down the hallway, and thought to himself,

    “Happy Valentine’s Day to you, ______.  Happy Valentine’s Day to you…”