Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Scouts was a little independent coffee shop that was about halfway between Annie’s apartment and the fitness centre where she taught, so it was the perfect location to dip in for a cup of obscenely sugary coffee before work. 

The tables inside were round light wood and each chair was mismatched and thrifted, and it was filled with plants – tucked in corners, on shelves, and hanging from ceilings. They always played relaxing music, usually foreign with warm voices and gentle guitars, and she’d found some unexpected favourites through it. The walls were a warm green, and there were notice boards stuffed with flyers for community events, with the most modern pride flag strung up right above the door. It was a cosy, homey place, and Annie liked it so much that she’d told some of her friends about it. She’d worried she’d associate it with work, but now, she sometimes came in on weekends, though she did try to take less sugar in her drinks. However, it was a little harder then, too, because her favourite barista didn’t work weekends, and he always made her drinks perfectly, like some sort of mind reader.

Hitch saw him the day they’d gone in together when she’d decided to work remotely from the place, frowning as Annie watched him make her drink with a soft look on her face.

“Do you have a crush on that guy?”

The comment was just a little too loud, but he seemed to be just out of earshot, so he mustn’t have heard.

Annie’s face went red. “No.”

Hitch smirked. “Just ask him out.”

She was being too loud. “Hitch.”

“What?” she said. Then, her face softened. “Oh, I get it. I can give him your number if you want.”

“Annie?” he called, and Annie elbowed Hitch in the side.

“Ouch,” she grumbled as Annie gave him a smile, taking her drink with a small “thank you.”

He smiled at her, making her heart flutter. “I hope it’s sweet enough for you.”

She scoffed, but she was smiling like an idiot. “You always get it right.”

“It’s hard to forget your order,” he said. “Anything with caffeine and a heart attack worth of sugar.”

She rolled her eyes, but she took a sip of her drink. It was perfect. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” he said. Then, he added, his voice taking on a gentle note she never heard him use with other customers, “Don’t stop ordering them, though. I like making them for you.”

Her cheeks warmed. “Noted.”

“Hitch?” called out his coworker, bringing her back to reality.

He smiled at her and stepped back. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” she said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

When Hitch collected her coffee, she gave her the most ridiculous look. Annie acted like she didn’t know what it meant.

“I’ll see you later,” she said.

Hitch narrowed her gaze. “I’ll see you later.”

Before Hitch could even dare to say anything more, especially within range of her barista, Annie was out of the door.

Chapter Text

“You know, you aren’t getting paid to flirt with customers like that.”

Armin’s face flushed, but he frowned when Eren grinned at him.

“It’s just one customer,” he said as he started working on another order.

Eren was still grinning. The others knew what he was doing – Hell, he was sure Hange had noticed the way he was flirting with one customer in particular – but Eren was the only one who had teased him so blatantly about it. His confidence had everything to do with his tall goth girlfriend – he really thought he was hot shit since they’d started dating. He’d grown his hair out, gotten tattoos and piercings, and overall became just a little too arrogant. Not that he acted like that with his girlfriend – Armin had seen first-hand how he acted like a fucking princess around her.

“Are you gonna ask her out?” he asked.

Armin called out the customer’s name – Thomas or something – and flashed them a smile before he turned to Eren with a frown. “No.”

“Why not?”

“She comes in here all of the time,” he said. “If she said no, she probably wouldn’t come back.”

Eren’s eyebrows furrowed. “Why would she fucking say no?”

Armin sighed, letting his hand run through his hair. He’d thought about it before; of course he had. They’d been flirting like this for a couple of months now, though, it hadn’t gone past that. He’d learned her last name only a week ago – Leonhart – and he’d gone to stalk her Instagram, only to find it private, which was about the time he realised how fucking weird he was being about the woman who just came in to get her caffeine and sugar fix before work.

But he couldn’t deny that he’d developed a little bit of a crush. Annie was pretty, really pretty, and she never wore makeup when he saw her in the morning, yet her eyelashes were so lush he’d found himself staring the first time he’d served her, turning red when she’d asked if he’d heard her order. Her hair was always held back messily in a bun and she was always wearing the same white hoodie and gym leggings, and yes, he’d definitely checked her out in those leggings – they were tight and she clearly had strong muscly legs. He was sure she’d caught him staring, but she hadn’t said anything, even when he’d gone red.

It wasn’t just that he found her attractive; she was also strangely sweet for someone clearly on their way to the gym in the morning. She was there later than the actual gym rats, which was what made him curious; he’d learned she taught martial arts at the Stohess fitness centre, and that had solidified her in his head as very, very hot. She had the nicest smile, even though she didn’t do it very much. Her laugh was really nice, too; she would snort or scoff usually, but sometimes he’d say something that actually would make her laugh, light and full, and it’d make him beam like an idiot. She was so dry, too; she would say things sometimes that would make him pause, that could fluster him, or sometimes start a conversation he desperately wanted to continue. Sometimes, they’d just pick it up the next day; once, it had lasted the full week.

“I’m probably not her type,” he said finally.

Eren looked at him blankly.

He frowned. “What?”

He pointed at him. “She’s been flirting with you for three months.” His eyes narrowed. “Aren’t you supposed to be smart?”

His face warmed. She had been flirting with him; he wouldn’t have continued hitting on her if it had been one-sided. But that wasn’t the point at all.

“Just because she thinks I’m physically attractive doesn’t mean she actually likes me,” he said, turning to wipe the benches down. “She doesn’t know me.”

“Uh, yeah,” said Eren. “That’s what the date’s for.”

Armin sighed. “Yeah, I know. It’s just …”

Annie didn’t look like the regular clientele. Everyone who came in here, frankly, looked gay as Hell. Dyed hair, piercings, alternative clothes, and far too many people reading Das Kapital. There were the other gym goers, obviously, but the ones who came in every day still looked queer. Annie didn’t give him those vibes at all.

“She’s straight,” said Armin finally.

Eren frowned. “Are straight women a turn-off for you? I don’t think you can really date lesbians.”

He sighed. “That’s not what I meant. I meant …”

Armin didn’t date straight girls. He’d tried, but they always reached the inevitable point where they found out his body didn’t quite align with what they’d envisioned.

Most of them had been polite. It wasn’t him, he just didn’t have the right parts. That was fine – it still stung like Hell, but it was fine. He could take rejection.

Now, though, with the way his little crush was headed, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to just take a rejection from Annie on his chin.

“How do you know she’s straight, anyway?” asked Eren.

He shook his head. “It’s just a vibe.”

Eren’s eyebrows furrowed. “You know, straight girls can date trans guys. This isn’t a new development. Are you not on Twitter?”

“I know that,” he said.

“Then what’s the problem?” he asked. Before Armin could answer, he added, “I think your gaydar is bullshit, anyway. No one straight has ever stepped through those doors. She’s at least bi.”

“You’re straight,” he said pointedly.

“That’s up for debate,” said Eren. With a straight face, he added, “I’m Mikasasexual right now, anyway. Hopefully forever.”

Armin’s nose crinkled. “Great to hear, Eren.”

Eren beamed. “Thanks.” Then, he added, “Just ask her out, man. If you don’t, I’ll do it for you.”

“That’s not –”

“Excuse me?”

Armin turned to the counter to see that woman from earlier, the one Annie had been talking to – Hitch or something strange like that. Were they friends? Their conversations weren’t long enough in the morning that he’d been able to find out her friends’ names, but they’d been talking like they were – or, more aptly, bickering like they were. He’d seen Annie frown, like she’d said something that had ticked her off, but it had been sweet; he’d missed each word, though he’d trying not to eavesdrop.

“Hey,” he said, offering her a smile and approaching the cash register. “Sorry about that. How can I help you?”

She pointed at the carrot cake in the display. “Can I get a slice of that?”

He nodded. “Sure.”

Eren moved to slice it up as Armin put it through the register. “Anything else?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Are you into women?”

His eyebrows rose. “Um … sorry?”

“My friend was wondering,” she said. “You know, the one you’ve been flirting with for … I don’t know how long.”

“Months,” said Eren as he plated up a slice of cake.

“Eren,” Armin hissed.

Eren frowned. “What?”

“So?” she asked.

“He’s into women,” said Eren, sliding the plate across the counter. “He’s pan.”

Hitch beamed. “Great.” Then, she added, “How do you feel about short blonde women specifically?”

His face went red. “Um …”

“Specifically, those who wear gym wear and come in here five days a week before work,” she said. “Those who have a great fucking ass, by the way. I’m sure you know that by now, though.”

He reached up to awkwardly rub the back of his neck. “Well, I …”

Hitch looked at him patiently.

“I … I really like them,” he said eventually.

She smiled. “Perfect!”

Armin opened his mouth to speak, but he jumped when he felt Eren’s hand on his back. “Can I ask something?”

His stomach dropped. “Eren.”

“Sure,” she said.

“Is this friend bisexual?” asked Eren. “Pansexual? Queer? Gay?”

“Eren, stop it,” said Armin. “You can’t ask customers –”

“She’s bi,” she said. Her eyebrows furrowed. “Is that relevant?”

“I fucking knew it!” said Eren. “Your gaydar is ass, man.”

Armin gave Hitch an apologetic look. “I’m really sorry about him.”

She waved him off. “That’s fine.” Then, she smiled and said, “Should I pay for my cake now?”

Armin came back to reality. “Oh, yeah. Sorry.”

“That’s okay,” she said. Then, after a pause, she said, “You should ask for her number. She’s too awkward to ask you.”

His face was warm, but he focused on putting her order through. “That’s $3.50.”

She smiled. “Thanks.”

Armin didn’t miss the way she gave him a big tip after that, though he didn’t comment on it. It wasn’t far shy of how much Annie tipped him.

Once Hitch had her plate of cake in her hands, she flashed him a smile and went to move back to her table. But before she could turn away, he said, “Thanks for letting me know.”

“No problem,” she said. Then, she turned around and moved back to her table where she’d left her laptop charging.

Armin jumped when Eren’s hands came down on his shoulders.

““She’s straight,” you say,” said Eren. “Are you fucking insane? In this place?”

His face went pink as he shrugged Eren’s hands off him. “Shut up.”

When he glanced over at him, Eren was grinning.

“So,” he said. “When are you asking for her number?”

Chapter Text

Hitch had started texting her before she’d even left Scouts that morning.

Hitch </3

Wtf was that

Are you fucking him or something

Me

Who

Hitch </3

Don’t play fucking dumb omg

You were eye-fucking

It’s not even 9am r u serious

Annie definitely shouldn’t have told Hitch about that place. She’d thought it was harmless, really, but she hadn’t imagined they’d end up going in there together before either of them started work. They’d gone on weekends, and that was fine because Armin didn’t work weekends. But Hitch worked remotely two days a week. Usually, she’d just set up in the kitchen at the breakfast bar and finish before Annie came home. Today, though, she said she might head out in the morning to Scouts; she’d been struggling to focus at home the past few weeks.

Me

I’m not fucking the barista

Hitch </3

You should be!!!

That’s why you go in all the time isn’t it

I thought you just liked the coffee

Me

I do like the coffee

Hitch </3

I think you like something else more than the coffee though!!!

Jesus Christ

How long have you been flirting with him like that???

It felt like I was watching the set-up to a coffee-shop porno

Annie flushed, trying her best to keep an eye on the street ahead of her as she responded.

Me

It’s just flirting

Is that not allowed

Hitch </3

How

Long

Me

3 months

Hitch </3

3 MONTHS

R U SERIOUS

THAT’S A FULL SEASON

A QUARTER OF THE YEAR

Me

He probably flirts with everyone

He’s a barista

Hitch </3

Oh, fuck off

He does not

I’m watching him rn

Me

Stop reading into it

I think he might be gay, anyway

Hitch </3

Are you actually brain-dead

Annie scowled at her phone, but she didn’t respond. She was nearly at the fitness centre, and her coffee had cooled down a lot on the walk there. Hitch had stopped her from taking the time to properly enjoy it.

She knew she was flirting with Armin. He was very good at it, too – which is why she felt even weirder about the fact that she might be developing feelings for a (potentially) gay man but, then again, it was just a crush on a barista she barely knew. It wasn’t like it should have gone anywhere, anyway.

She wasn’t lying to Hitch, either. She’d basically heard his coworker call him gay before, and that had dashed all of her hopes of … well, she wasn’t really sure what. It wasn’t like she’d seriously considered asking him out. That didn’t feel right in the first place – he was forced to see her, and if he said no, she would have felt like a creep coming in day after day. And she didn’t really want to find a new coffee shop; the coffee was really good and it was in the perfect place for her morning commute.

Then, there were all the pins on his apron; a lot of them had those, but his gave off a different … vibe. She couldn’t explain to Hitch that his little shark pins, coloured like different pride flags, made him seem particularly gay, but they did.

She drained her coffee and sighed right before she approached Stohess. Her eyes fell on the cup again – he had nice handwriting. He wrote her name in cursive, following the e with a connected heart. It was the same every time.

Annie tossed it in the trash.

Her classes quickly took her mind off the messages. It helped that her phone was locked in her locker, so by the time she reached lunch, she’d nearly forgotten about them entirely.

Hitch </3

CATEGORY 5 CUTE BARISTA ALERT

HE’S PANSEXUAL

So you’re basically on an even gay playing field

AND I kind of asked him if he’s into you and he said yes

Stop being so fucking weird and ask him out!!!

Annie’s stomach dropped.

Me

You didn’t seriously ask him that

Hitch </3

I fucking did

Well kind of

I asked him if he’s into short blonde women with great asses who come in there before work five days a week

In gym clothes

Me

That’s not seriously what you said

Hitch </3

IT WAS

He was BLUSHING ANNIE

He’s soooooooooo into you

God you’re so lucky to know me

Blushing? Well, she had seen him blush before, but she’d thought it was more out of nervousness than anything else. But then, she thought about it a little bit more – why would he be nervous? Maybe the first few times she’d gone in there, sure; she knew she had the tendency to come across as a little intimidating, which she didn’t really mind. Better that people think they can’t fuck with you than walk all over you. But she’d been going in there for months now – when had she last seen his face go red? It might have only been last week – he’d made some joke about his thick eyebrows, calling them caterpillars above his eyes, and she’d told him they were cute. He looked so pretty when his cheeks turned pink.

Had she really been making him blush all this time?

Hitch </3

I’ll never complain about your squeaky bed again if you bring him home

Her face flushed.

Me

Oh my God

Never fucking say that again

Hitch </3

It’s been so so so long since I’ve heard that thing creak

It misses creaking Annie

Take the cute barista home! Let him make your bed creak again! It misses it!

Me

I’m not answering that

I can get a new fucking bedframe

Hitch </3

Well, I guess it doesn’t have to creak

But the point still stands!

Annie locked her phone and shoved it back into her pocket. She was not going to dignify that with a response.

Chapter Text

Armin was glad to fall into his apartment that afternoon after his shift because Eren had not shut up about Annie the entire time.

He’d never really envisioned becoming a barista full-time, though he couldn’t say he particularly minded it. He’d picked up the gig in college part-time, but Scouts paid much better than most other places, and he got a lot of vacation hours, could work whatever hours he wanted, and Hange, the owner, was easy-going and kind. So, when he’d graduated, not quite sure of the direction of his career, he’d just stayed. He liked making coffee for people, anyway; it was nice to do something that felt useful, that contributed something, even if it was only in a small way.

It was nice, too, because he got to enjoy his life outside of work. He was never so worn down after a shift that he couldn’t do things when he got home. Though, now, that in itself was a bit of an issue – all he was thinking about was Annie.

Connie was on his Xbox on the couch when he pushed open the door. “Hey, man! Good shift today?”

Armin tossed his keys down on the counter. “Fine. Eren being Eren, though.”

“What was he saying today?” he said. “How’d Mikasa tie him up this time?”

Armin frowned. That was something else that Eren had started since he’d started dating Mikasa – he’d been really eager to overshare.

“Nothing like that,” said Armin.

“Then what was it?”

In spite of himself, he felt his face warm – he was thinking about Annie and the way she smiled at him that morning, the way she had the tendency to look up at him through her thick eyelashes, the way she made him want to melt into a puddle at her feet.

“Nothing,” he said finally.

“Nothing?” asked Connie, slipping his headphones off. He was playing Assassin’s Creed. “How could he be annoying then?”

Armin ran his hand through his hair before he reached for the fridge to get some orange juice. “It’s complicated.”

“Is he bullying you? You can report him for that. Modern workers’ rights.” Then, Connie added, “You do have rights, right?”

“I have rights,” he said, stretching up to get a glass from the cupboard for his juice. “He’s just being annoying about one of our regulars.”

“Oh,” he said. Then, he added, “Is it the one you have a crush on?”

Armin sighed as he poured his juice. “It’s not really a crush. She’s just attractive.”

“That’s not what you said last week,” said Connie. “The things you said about her were particularly unholy. And weirdly romantic at the same time, honestly.”

He flushed. He and Connie had been drinking and watching Jennifer’s Body on Friday night, and he had drunk just a little too much. When Connie asked for updates on his workplace crush, he might have been a little dramatic – and incredibly perverted, to be honest, which he wasn’t proud of now, but at the time, he’d been too drunk to realise how disgusting he must have sounded.

And now, she was on his mind again, because it was always so hard to get her off of his mind. But today was different.

Did she really want to go out with him?

They were flirting atrociously, so maybe it should have been obvious, but he’d written it off a while ago. He shouldn’t really ask a customer out, but now, it seemed like she wanted to be asked out. That was new. He would have thought that if she’d wanted to go out with him, she would have asked by now. Then again, maybe she didn’t want to since he worked there; he did have to see her all the time. Maybe she didn’t want to make him uncomfortable.

He took a sip of his orange juice and sighed. “I mean, okay. It’s definitely a crush. But …” He sighed again. “I think she likes me.”

“Well, no shit, dude,” he said. “She’s been flirting with you for literal months.”

His face was warm. Maybe he was being a little bit of an idiot about the whole situation. Still, all he could say was, “I guess.”

Connie frowned. “Why do you sound so upset about it?”

“I’m not,” he said. “I just don’t want to fuck up a good thing.”

Connie looked at him like he was stupid. “What’s the good thing?”

“The … thing,” said Armin. “The seeing her Monday to Friday. The flirting. That thing.”

Connie looked at him blankly for a moment. “Dude. You could be seeing her in your bed Monday to Friday. If she likes you, she’d probably prefer that.”

His face flushed. “Um, I mean –”

Connie interrupted him. “What changed your mind, anyway? Has three months of flirting finally convinced you that she might be into you?”

He paused for a second. “Her friend told me to ask her out.”

Connie laughed. “You’re kidding!”

Armin frowned. “What?”

Connie shook his head. “It’s like you’re in high school.” He unpaused his game of Assassin’s Creed and slipped his headphones back on. “Don’t be an idiot about this, Armin. It doesn’t suit you.”

Armin wanted to argue with him, but the sound playing in Connie’s headphones was so loud he could hear them from where he was standing. So, instead, he drained his orange juice and made for the bathroom so he could take a shower. He always came home smelling like coffee.

Chapter Text

Hitch wasn’t working remotely the next day, so she thankfully did not come to Scouts with her. Still, it was hard to convince herself to go inside knowing what Hitch had discussed with Armin the day before while she’d been at work.

She still couldn’t believe she’d fucking asked him if he liked short blonde women with nice asses.

When she’d confronted her about it in their apartment the night before, Hitch had frowned and said, “What? You have a nice ass! Are you really complaining about that?”

She’d tried to explain that that wasn’t the point at all, but Hitch was being deliberately obtuse, so she’d quickly given up on the endeavour.

She sighed as she pushed the door open to Scouts. Her face already felt flushed – she didn’t think she used to embarrass so easily, but then again, Hitch had been right. That bed had not creaked for a very long time. And the last people she dated, well … she’d liked them, but she’d never had a crush on them in the out-of-the-blue sense. They’d met through dating apps, tried to develop stronger feelings through sex and dates, and ultimately fizzled out. Her crush on her barista came completely out of left field.

Of course, he was there when she came in. She always oogled him a little before she joined the short queue, which she knew she shouldn’t, but she couldn’t help herself. He wore plain black T-shirts under his apron, and he had nice arms, toned, but not too much. And he had a tattoo of a conch shell stretching up the inside of his right forearm; she liked looking at it when he reached for cups and plates, as he pressed buttons on machines and foamed lattes. She liked his hair, too, and often thought about how soft it looked, how nice it would feel to run her fingers through it.

This time, he caught her staring.

Her face flushed and she dropped his gaze, making her way to the tiny queue. It was only him at the moment – his coworker, Eren, was doing something in the back, a delivery, she thought from the sounds – and she couldn’t decide if that was better or worse.

Still, once he’d served the person in front of her, and it was just them, he smiled at her so warmly she felt like she might just melt.

“Hey,” he said. “Same as yesterday?”

Her chest warmed. “Yeah. Thank you.”

She always tipped him generously when he turned the screen to her, but she appreciated that he acted like that wasn’t the case every time.

He smiled at her when he turned the screen around. “Thank you.”

Her face flushed. Then, after a moment, without thinking, she said, “Do you like the ocean?”

His eyebrows furrowed for a moment and she realised she must have sounded like an absolute idiot.

“I just meant,” she said, gesturing to his pins and the vague direction of his tattoo. “The pins and your shell.”

“Oh,” he said and smiled. “Uh, yeah. I’ve always been interested in sea life. I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was a kid.”

Her face softened. “Really?”

“Yeah,” he said. “It’s a little different from being a barista, I know.”

“Do you still want to do that?” she asked.

He shook his head. “No. I’m happy where I am right now. The pay’s decent for what it is.” Then, he smiled and added, “Very pretty girls keep giving me very nice tips, too.”

Her face flushed. Did he just call her pretty?

“You make really good coffee,” she managed. “You deserve the tips.”

“Thank you,” he said, and then the door went, signalling the entrance of another customer. He leaned away from the counter and added, “I’ll get that to you now. Sorry for making you wait.”

“I like waiting,” she said. Then, she frowned and added, “That’s … not what I meant.”

He let out a huff of laughter, his cute smile making his eyes sparkle. “I got what you meant.”

She smiled, ignoring the way her cheeks were warming again. But she moved out of the way so that the other customer could stand by the cash register, taking her place at the end of the counter where the baristas left the freshly made drinks.

She tried not to watch him too closely as he made her drink, glancing out of the window onto the street. It looked like it was going to be a nice day; summer was just around the corner, and she was looking forward to it. She didn’t really enjoy the cold.

“Annie?”

She glanced over and found Armin pushing her drink towards her with a smile. Still, there was something a little off about his expression. If she didn’t know any better, she thought he’d look a little … unsure. It made her eyebrows furrow, but she didn’t say anything – he didn’t give her time to.

“Your coffee,” he said.

She smiled and reached out for it. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he said. Then, he added, “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Her heart always fluttered when he said that. It was like she was a fucking schoolgirl. “Yeah. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

When she stepped into the cool morning air again, she sighed. She wasn’t sure what she’d been so worried about. It had just been a normal day, the same as any other had been when she walked into Scouts. But still, something about that was almost … disappointing. Hadn’t Hitch said he liked her? Shouldn’t something have been different?

She shook her head. What was she thinking? He was just a cute, flirty barista. He didn’t owe her anything more than that.

As she walked, she went to take a sip of her coffee, but as she did, something caught her eye on the cup. Her name was on it, written in the same way he always wrote it, but for the first time ever, there was more writing underneath it.

Stepping to the side, she lifted the cup up to inspect it. Her heart fluttered.

It was his phone number.

Underneath, he’d written his name and drawn a little smiley face, one almost as sweet as his own, and another heart. Her thumb absentmindedly traced its shape.

Chapter Text

Armin was shitting himself.

He’d gone all day feeling like an absolute idiot for giving her his number like that. He thought it might be better for her so he didn’t put her on the spot like that, especially not with other customers around. However, that just meant he spent the rest of his shift wondering a) if she’d even seen it or b) if it freaked her out.

Eren got the vibe that he didn’t want to talk about it, so, mercifully, he stayed quiet. That could only really last so long, though. He was sure he’d ask again tomorrow, though if he managed to see Annie in the morning, if she even came in again, he was sure he’d get his answer on how well any of that went.

By the time his shift ended that afternoon, he was elated to see his apartment. Connie was at work, which was a relief. He liked that it was easy to talk to Connie, but right now, he didn’t really want to talk to anyone. So, he would shower, have something to eat, and then maybe drink heavily in his room for a couple of hours and pretend he’d not just embarrassed the fuck out of himself that morning.

He spent too long in the shower, but he was doing his best to wash everything away: the smell of coffee and the embarrassment that had seeped into his skin. It didn’t really work – the coffee smell was mostly gone, although he always felt like it lingered. He wasn’t sure if it did, though, or if it was just all in his head at this point. He wished the sweetness of those drinks he made for Annie every morning would linger, but it was always just strong, black coffee, clinging to his clothes and hair.

After he’d pulled on some sweatpants, skipping the T-shirt – it was on the warmer side now, and he didn’t wear shirts at home too much these days (Connie called him a whore at least once a week, but it hadn’t stopped him yet) –, he moved back into the kitchen, forcing himself to think of something to make. Probably pasta. He was always struggle-mealing pasta when he didn’t want to think about what to eat. They had a few things in to make it a little nicer, a little more nutritious, as long as those tomatoes in the fridge hadn’t expired, but that would be it. At least he could pretend like he was trying to take care of himself.

He swiped his phone off the kitchen table, moving to shove it into his pocket, just as it buzzed. His eyebrows furrowed at the screen, but then his face softened.

???

Hey

Sorry for not texting you all day

It’s Annie

From the coffee shop

I order all the disgustingly sugary drinks

Armin had never answered a message so quickly in his life. It was a miracle he managed to spell anything correctly.

Me

Hey :)

That’s okay, I was at work anyway

I wasn’t sure you’d message me

Annie

Why wouldn’t I message you?

Me

I thought it might have weirded you out

Annie

I’m not weirded out

Also I’m sorry about Hitch

She told me she interrogated you

Me

That’s okay

She’s a bit intense though

Annie

Ha

You can say that again

Armin smiled at his phone. It was a good thing Connie wasn’t around – he would have torn him to shreds for the way he was looking doe-eyed at some text messages.

Me

She seemed nice, though

Guessing she’s a friend?

Annie

And roommate

She’s insufferable

Me

Don’t flatter her too much :)

Annie

I love her dearly

Unfortunately

Still, I’m sorry she was being weird about me

Me

That’s okay :)

His eyes lingered on the screen for a long moment. Screw it. He’d gotten this far. He let out a breath and typed out the message, clicking send before he could change his mind.

Me

Did she give you the answers you wanted?

Annie

Yeah

She did

Me

Did you like my answers?

Annie

Yeah

Me

I’m really glad :)

Annie

Yeah?

Me

Yeah :)

I hope this isn’t too forward, but are you free on Friday night?

Annie

I’m free

What do you have in mind?

Me

I’m covering Eren’s shift, so I’m locking up

If you want to come to Scouts at 8, you could sample the new drinks menu

Free of charge :)

There should be some cake too

Annie

I’d like that

Me

Cool :)

Armin tried to play it cool as he continued texting Annie, but he was not feeling cool at all. Since when had texting made him blush like this? Since when had a notification sent his heart fluttering? He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt like this. Had he ever?

He’d have to clear Annie stopping in with Hange first, but he was sure it’d be fine; Mikasa often came in when Eren was on the closing shift, anyway. Though, he doubted Hange knew what Armin knew about what they’d done on one of the tables – he always made sure to scrub that one down extra thoroughly, like it would get rid of what Eren and Mikasa had done to it. Good thing for them that no one ever checked the security footage.

Hange might have a problem with the fact Annie was a regular, but oh well. He was hoping things would go so well that she might come in more often, anyway.

Chapter Text

Annie had never been to Scouts so late, though that had everything to do with the fact that she didn’t ever come after work – the caffeine would disturb her sleep – and because it was already after eight, which was when it officially closed.

When she reached the place, the CLOSED sign was already turned to face the street, but the warm lights inside were still bright. And through the glass, she could see Armin, cleaning up behind the counter.

He’d had a really long shift; he’d been there since this morning when she’d picked up her fix for the day. She almost felt bad about making him stick around so late, but when he’d handed her order to her that morning, he’d smiled at her so sweetly and told her he was really excited to see her tonight; his voice had been so soft. She’d nearly melted into a puddle then and there.

She also wasn’t used to being so dressed up when she was heading into Scouts. Usually, she was just in casual sportswear, ideal for teaching her classes, but now, she’d made a bit more of an effort. Hitch had helped her, though they’d spent a good half an hour arguing over how sluttily she could dress for a coffee shop date (Annie had argued not at all while Hitch had been pushing for very, even suggesting going commando). In the end, they reached a compromise through the very short brown skirt she was wearing, without tights, which she was tugging down again because it kept riding up as she walked. The cream turtleneck she’d picked out had also brought severe dissent (“What are you, joining a convent?”) but Annie thought it was nice, and even Hitch admitted it was a cute outfit once she’d paired it with a big brown leather jacket and black lace-up boots.

It wasn’t too cold, but she was relieved to be sheltered from the evening air when she pushed open the door to Scouts. She made sure it shut behind her firmly. As she turned around, she was aware of the distant hum of music, the usual light vibes, and it made her relax, if only a little.

It was only a second before she caught Armin’s eyes and oh, God. How could he look at her like that? She hadn’t known someone could look at a person so softly, but he looked at her like that. It was like an embrace.

He smiled. “Hey.”

“Hey,” she said, slowly stepping toward the counter.

Armin didn’t say anything, though she suspected he could easily fill the quiet. No, he was just looking at her, definitely checking her out; but he still had that gentle look on his face and she felt herself flush.

His eyes came back to hers and his cheeks seemed to turn pink. She tried not to smile.

“Um, sorry,” he said, reaching up to rub the back of his neck, an awkward move she hadn’t known he was capable of. He settled after a moment and said, “You look beautiful.”

Her chest warmed and she couldn’t help the slight curve of her lips. “Thank you.”

“You always do,” he said. “I just mean … I’ve never seen you out of gym clothes.”

“I can’t really teach classes in this,” she said.

He smiled. “Yeah, I guess you couldn’t.”

After a slight pause, she said, “I dress more like this when I come in on weekends.”

His eyebrows lifted slightly before he smiled. “Maybe I’ll have to cover someone’s weekend shift.”

She let out a huff of laughter and his smile widened.

“I think you deserve to see me dressed normally outside of your working hours,” she said. Then, she added, “I’ve never seen you outside of what you wear for work.”

He smiled. “Sorry. Am I underdressed?”

She had to stop herself from saying overdressed because it was a little too early in their relationship to start acting like a fucking pervert. So, instead, she shook her head. “No. You’re perfect.”

His eyebrows rose before his expression softened into a smile. “Thank you.”

After a brief pause, she leaned forward on the counter. “So, what are you offering tonight?”

That stupid smile of his danced in his eyes. Fuck, he was so pretty. “You didn’t start coming in here until this year, did you?”

She shook her head.

“Well, good,” he said. “That means there’s more summer drinks for you to try. We only have a couple of new ones.” Then, he added, “And there’s some cake if you want that later?”

She levelled his gaze. “Who wouldn’t want cake?”

He smiled. “I never see you order any.”

“I can’t exactly eat it right before work,” she said.

“Fair point,” he said. Then, he added, “Are you cold?”

She still had her jacket on. “No.”

He smiled. “I can hang that up for you if you want to take a seat.”

She went to shrug it off her shoulders after she’d placed her handbag down – a small black over-the-shoulder thing – but Armin held his hand out and said, “Wait.”

She paused as he rounded the counter and came behind her, moving to rest his hands on her to help her shimmy out of her jacket. Her body reacted severely to his touch, even though it was through two layers of fabric – it made her feel warm all over.

When he’d helped her out of it, she commented, as nonchalantly as possible, “Chivalrous.”

He laughed before moving to the coat rack in the corner, which only had one coat hanging on it (his, she assumed). “I try.” Then, he added, “Take a seat wherever. I’ll get started on your first drink. They’ll only be small, though. You have a few to try.”

She moved to a high table near the counter where she could easily see him work. “That’s a shame. I was looking forward to pissing like a fountain all night.”

He laughed. “Different strokes for different folks, yeah?”

She rolled her eyes, but she was still smiling. She must have looked like a doe-eyed idiot, but Armin didn’t look at her strangely. No, instead, he gave her another one of his gentle smiles and it touched her skin just like a caress.

Fuck. She was so, so screwed.

She perched her head on her hands as she watched him work. He had his back turned to her briefly and she took the opportunity to openly stare. She liked his hair, the way the blonde strands were short at his undercut. She wondered what that felt like – she’d never dated anyone with an undercut before. And she liked his shoulders, the gentle broadness of them, and she wondered, briefly, what it be like to press her hands against the muscles of his back.

When he turned around, she did her best to look like she hadn’t been staring. It didn’t really work.

He smiled at her. “You doing okay over there?”

She hummed. “Perfect.”

He shook his head, but he was still smiling. He had two drinks ready – when had he finished those? Had she been staring so much she hadn’t noticed?

Armin made his way around the counter and placed two small glasses on the table. It was mostly a light brown with ice, but it was garnished with raspberries and she could make out the redness of some sort of sauce.

He pulled out the other chair and settled himself down; his knee nearly grazed hers, but she tried to ignore it. “What’s this then?”

He pushed the glass closer to her. “Raspberry and white chocolate cold brew mocha.”

Her eyebrows rose, but she picked up the cold glass. “Bit of a mouthful.”

He let out a huff of laughter. “That’s what happens when you start competing with Starbucks. The drinks get longer names.”

Her lips curled. She raised the glass to her lips and took a sip. There was an immediate sweetness and creaminess, and she could taste the tang of the raspberries at the same time the bitterness of the coffee came through. But altogether, it worked.

“That’s nice,” she said.

He smiled. “Sweet enough for you?”

She frowned. “Yes.”

He was still smiling. She wanted to kiss it off his face, but she managed to restrain herself. “I debated adding sweetener, but I thought I’d make it authentically first.”

She hummed and raised the glass back to her lips. “That’s very sweet of you.”

He raised his own glass to his lips and hummed. “Well, you deserve the experience.”

She levelled her gaze at him. “Do you think so?”

He placed the glass back down. “Well, you haven’t ever had any of the summer drinks. Might be nice for you to find out what you like beforehand.” He smiled. “Then I can have your order ready in advance.”

She rolled her eyes, but she felt it then – that stupid fluttering in her chest. How could he make her feel like that so easily?

“I don’t want my order ready in advance,” she said, taking another sip of her drink.

His eyebrows rose. “No?”

She shook her head. “I’d have less of an excuse to talk to you in the morning.”

He smiled. “I’d still talk to you.”

“Not for as long,” she said.

“Well, you’d still have to pay. I could find plenty to talk about during that time.” Then, he added, “And tip me, of course. I could find a lot to say while you do that.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” she said and fuck, fuck, fuck, he was so pretty when he looked at her like that. It was making her feel hot – was she blushing? Maybe her makeup was enough to cover it up.

He took another sip of his drink – he was nearly done. “Why’d you start coming here, anyway?”

Her eyebrows furrowed. “To Scouts?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Did you move? Get a new job?”

“No,” she said.

He tilted his head slightly – why was that so endearing? “Then what was it?”

Annie sighed. “Hitch called me an asshole for going to Starbucks.”

He laughed. “Seriously?”

“Yeah,” she said. “I mean, she’d done it a few times, but you know … I didn’t really know how evil they were, so … this was the first independent place I thought of that was on my way to work.”

His eyebrows furrowed. “You didn’t know billion-dollar corporation Starbucks was evil?”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, I recognised they were fucked up, but I didn’t know the details.”

He smiled. “Ignorance is bliss.”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “I only went once a week, anyway, on a Friday, so it wasn’t that hard to switch. The coffee’s a lot nicer here.”

“It’s cheaper, too,” he said.

“Not for me,” she said. “I tip a lot more here.”

Armin smiled. “Is there a particular reason for that?”

She scoffed but her cheeks warmed. Damn it. “Definitely not.”

His smile widened. When it softened a few moments later, he asked, “Did you really only go once a week?”

She nodded. “Yeah.” Her eyes narrowed. “Why?”

He shrugged. “You’re just very structured. You come in at 7:13 every morning you’re at work. I didn’t think that would be a new development.”

“Well, the coffee’s nicer here,” she said, but she dropped his gaze.

When she looked back up, he was looking at her quizzically.

“What?” she asked.

“The first day you came in was a Friday,” he said.

She frowned. “How do you remember that?”

He smiled. “I have a good memory. Barista, remember?”

She thought there might be a little more to it than that, but she didn’t say anything about it. Instead, she said, “What’s your point?”

“Nothing,” he said, but then he smiled sweetly it made her heart stutter. “Did something in particular happen to make you come back on Monday?”

Annie frowned, but her cheeks must have been visibly pink even under the warm lights overhead. “You make good coffee. I already told you that.”

“Yeah,” he said, but he was still smiling. “You did say that.”

She turned her attention to her drink and raised it to her lips again, hoping it would cool her down. By the time she’d finished it, only in a few more mouthfuls, she still felt warm.

His expression had softened, which made it a little more doable to look him in the eye.

“I’m really glad you did,” he said gently.

She hummed. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

He smiled. “I mean it. I’d have missed you if I only got to see you once a week.”

Her expression softened. “Is that so?”

“Yeah,” he said. After a moment, he smiled again and said, “Can I get you your next drink?”

She held his gaze for a moment, biting her bottom lip. He was so fucking cute. Was it too early to ask to kiss him?

What the fuck was she thinking? Yes, it was. Ten minutes of flirting every morning didn’t exactly cover what they should know about each other.

So, she said, “Please.”

He smiled again and took their glasses before disappearing behind the counter.

The rest of the night went like that, with Armin making them a drink and then coming to sit beside her to talk while they drank. She learned a lot about him – he’d studied oceanography, Toni Morrison was his favourite author, he still lived with his college roommate, his favourite colour was blue, Mother Mother was his favourite band, he actually preferred tea over coffee – and she did her best to share, too. His curiosity about her seemed a lot more casual, and he pried information out of her so easily; there was barely any sort of resistance – it was like water through a sieve.

When they’d polished off their last drink, he turned to her with a smile. “So,” he said. “Which one was your favourite?”

“I think the iced matcha and salted caramel latte,” she said.

He smiled. “That one had the most sugar.”

She frowned and his smile widened. “You asked.”

“I know,” he said.

She tilted her head. “What about yours then? What did you like?”

He looked at her thoughtfully for a moment. “I like the maple cinnamon cold brew.” Then, he added, “Feels more autumnal than summery, though. Think Hange just wanted to add more cold drinks.”

She let out a huff of air. “I mean, I don’t think I really want to be drinking iced anything in winter. Do you?”

He smiled. “Depends on the occasion.”

She cocked an eyebrow at him.

“Eggnog,” he said.

She scoffed. “Not quite the same as an iced coffee, is it?”

“You put ice in it.”

“The ice is negotiable,” she said. “I don’t have eggnog with ice.” Then, her eyes narrowed. “Are you having eggnog with ice?”

He shrugged. “Maybe I am.”

Her nose shrivelled. “Seriously? I thought you took drinks seriously.”

He smiled. “Very. Hence the ice.”

She shook her head. “I really disagree with that. You aren’t drinking that around me.”

He laughed. “Are you banning me from drinking eggnog with ice around you?”

“Yes,” she said. “I don’t think I could watch.”

He shook his head, but his expression was still so soft. “Well, it’s a good thing eggnog season is still about six months away, isn’t it?”

She hummed. “Still, I won’t forget.”

His eyes danced with laughter. “Is that you booking me in, then? Eggnog with no ice in December?”

Annie bit her lip. “Maybe I am.”

His smile was so warm this time that she almost felt its heat on her skin. “I look forward to it.”

She held his gaze for a long time. At some point in the night, he’d scooted his chair closer to hers. His knee really was brushed against hers now, and the slight pressure made her want to lean in even closer.

Eventually, she said, “Thank you for tonight.”

“No problem,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of fun.”

She let out a huff through her nose. “You’ve basically done a fourteen-hour shift then made more drinks for me afterwards.”

He shrugged. “No one could cover Eren, so …” He smiled. “It was paid double, anyway, so I won’t complain too much about that.”

She snorted. “Of course not.”

His gaze was so soft on her skin. “And …” he said, reaching forward to catch a stray strand from her hair, tucking it behind her ear; it took everything in her not to shiver. “I like making drinks for you. You know that.”

Annie bit her lip. “It’s nice to hear.”

He smiled. His hand was still on her face, resting on her cheek, and she could have melted into his touch.

His thumb moved, tracing its way over her cheek, down until it brushed her lower lip. She couldn’t help it – she moved and pressed a kiss against it, making his eyebrows raise.

He moved his hand back and she flushed.

“Sorry,” she said, eyebrows furrowing. “Um … I’m not sure why I –”

He let out a breath of laughter, his mouth spreading into the prettiest smile she’d ever seen. It made his eyes glisten.

“That’s fine,” he said, and now his hand was firmly cupping her jaw. “Can I kiss you?”

She nodded. “Please.”

His face softened, and she let her eyes move down to his lips just as he leaned forward.

It was just a gentle brush at first but it made her whole body tingle. Then, he pressed forward with a little more force, and his lips were so, so soft. She’d always wondered how soft they would feel, but this was different from what she’d imagined; this was heavenly. And when his tongue met hers, caressing her gently, like she was something so precious, she felt like she might just dissolve where she sat.

After a few moments, he seemed to ease off, almost like he was going to pull away, but that was the last fucking thing she wanted. So, she pressed firmer against him, kissing him more forcefully, and she didn’t miss the way his breath seemed to hitch. It was such a nice sound.

His hand dropped from her face as they kissed, but she was a little too focused on how nice his mouth felt against hers to think about it. But it made it easier for her to put her hand on his face, and she relished in the tiny noise that escaped him as she held him there.

His hand finally found her thigh and she tried not to literally fucking evaporate at the pressure. He wasn’t even doing anything, but his skin was warm and the press of his fingers was so nice that she was half-tempted to ask him to move them up further, under the hem of her short skirt, up to the sides below her hips where she liked to be held.

He gently squeezed her thigh then and she made a small, slightly embarrassing noise against his mouth. She immediately regretted it, though, because he pulled away.

His lips were plump now and his face was deliciously flushed. Why’d he stop kissing her? She could have done this all night.

But his eyebrows were furrowed. Then, after a moment, he squeezed her thigh again.

She bit her lip to stop herself from fucking moaning. Maybe Hitch had a point – it really had been a while.

“What?” she managed.

His face softened and he smiled, shaking his head. His hand moved then, down to the side of her thigh, and she did her best not to shiver when he squeezed again.

“Your thighs are pure muscle,” he said, squeezing again. 

Her brow furrowed. “Could you not see that before?”

“Well, no,” he said, and then his other hand moved to her right thigh so both of his hands were on her skin. He squeezed at the same time, clearly a curious move, but it made her whole body go warm. “You clearly have muscles, but your thighs always looked a bit softer.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Is that a problem?”

Armin’s face flushed and he retracted his hands. She should have kept her mouth shut – he might have shoved his hands under her skirt if she’d kept quiet.

“No,” he said and cleared his throat. “Sorry. That was weird. I don’t know … why –”

“It’s fine,” she said. “I liked it.”

His face softened. “Yeah?”

She nodded. “You have nice hands.”

His eyebrows rose. “You think so?”

“Yeah,” she said. Then, she reached forward and grabbed one, easily interlacing their fingers together. “You have big hands.”

He smiled, looking at their interlaced fingers. “I think yours might just be small.”

She frowned. “Is that a complaint?”

“No,” he said. “They’re cute.”

“Good,” she said and she tried to ignore how nice the compliment felt. “I’ve gotten quite good reviews about them.”

He smiled. “Oh, have you now?”

She matched his smile. “Uh-huh.”

She dropped his hand then and let her palms fall to his knees, leaning forward and pushing them up his thighs in a way that made his breath hitch.

Her mouth was only a few inches from his now. “Maybe I’ll have to show you sometime.”

He swallowed. “Yeah?”

She hummed and then she pushed her hands even further and squeezed – but her stomach sank when she realised she’d touched something she definitely shouldn’t have.

His face fell about the same time as hers did and she leaned back.

“Sorry!” she said. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he said but he didn’t look okay. His face was red and not in the way she wanted it to be, and overall, he looked like a deer caught in headlights.

“I was trying to be sexy,” she said. “I really wasn’t trying to grab your dick. I didn’t –”

“It’s fine,” he said. “Really.” Then, his face finally softened, and he added, “You were really sexy if that helps.”

Her face was on fire but she managed to let out a huff of laughter. “Fuck. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he said again, offering her a small smile.

His gaze was so soft then that she had to look away. She turned to the table, resting her elbows on it, and buried her head in her hands.

“Hey,” he said and she didn’t miss the slight laughter in his voice. “Annie, it’s okay.”

She didn’t answer for a long time. Then, she said, “I’m sorry.”

She felt his hand on her then, against her hair, and she finally raised her head.

He smiled. “It’s okay. I started it, anyway.”

She gave him a pointed look. “You weren’t being a pervert.”

He let out a slight huff of laughter. “You weren’t, either.” Then, he added, “And maybe I was, anyway. I was kind of fondling your thighs a little there, so …”

She held his gaze for a second. “I guess we’re even, then?”

Armin smiled. “I guess so.” Then, after a long pause, he said, “Do you want some cake?”

She couldn’t help it – she laughed. It made his smile widen.

“Yes,” she said. “What do you have?”

“There’s a few options still,” he said, moving to his feet. “If you like any, feel free to take some home. Eren usually takes all of it, but I don’t eat that much cake.”

Her eyebrows rose. “Are you sure?”

He smiled again. “Yeah.” Then, he added, “It’s about time I gave you some actual food after I made you come here so late.”

Her lips curled but only slightly. “That’s very considerate of you.”

He let out a huff of laughter. “Don’t flatter me too much. It’ll go straight to my head.”

She smiled properly this time. “That’s fine with me.”

He met her gaze over the counter, his smile soft as morning sunlight. She needed to kiss him again; maybe she could wait until after the cake.

“So,” he said. “Do you like coffee cake?”

Chapter Text

He was an absolute idiot.

Packing wasn’t exactly a new thing for him. It was something he’d started doing a while ago, long before he’d gotten top surgery; it made him feel more comfortable in himself. Though, after he’d gotten top surgery, he’d felt much better than he’d ever felt about himself. Eren had made some comment about how it seemed like he’d gotten a big weight off his chest, which, while ridiculous, was exactly what it’d felt like. He felt like a new man. He still packed, but it was rare these days, only when he felt like it would give him a bit of an extra confidence boost. And when he was seeing Annie, he really felt like he needed it.

Though, he should not have packed on Friday because she now clearly thought he had a penis, which he absolutely did not fucking have.

She’d been embarrassed, so embarrassed that he felt bad. Under any other circumstances, he would have thought it was sweet; he’d made her blush before and he really, really liked doing it, liked watching the way the pinkness flooded her fair skin. But at that moment, he’d wanted to disappear into the ground.

When she’d apologised, over and over, he’d really wanted to end her misery and just tell her. But the words had died on his tongue – he didn’t want to ruin the night like that. He was worried about her reaction and he knew dragging it out would only make it worse – though, that didn’t exactly light a fire under him to up and tell her.

And after that, the night had been so fucking perfect. They’d shared cake and he realised her sweet tooth wasn’t limited to just drinks – she’d practically inhaled it, crumbs sticking around her lips, and she’d flushed again when he’d pointed it out. He’d brushed them off and kissed her again and she tasted so fucking sweet. It made him wonder how the rest of her tasted.

He’d walked her home and kissed her by the door and when they’d separated briefly, she’d looked at him like she wanted to ravish him. It had almost made him forget himself, especially when she’d tangled her fingers in his hair and kissed him even more; he wanted her to do that when his head was in between her strong thighs.

But she’d pulled away, chest heaving, and said, “I can’t take you home on the first date. I need to show some restraint.”

He’d let out a huff of laughter and said, “That’s okay.”

But then, she’d bit her lip and said, “Maybe the second.” Then, she added quickly, “God, ignore that. I need to at least get to the third.”

He’d smiled. “So, is this you wanting a second date, then?” Then, he added, “And a third?”

She’d nodded. “If you want to.”

His smile had widened. “I’d really like that.”

Her lips had curled and she’d looked so fucking gorgeous. “I’ll think of something this time, okay?”

“Yeah,” he’d said. “That works for me.”

She’d kissed him once more but it was brief, before she bid him goodnight and told him to text her when he was back at his place.

He’d barely stopped thinking about her all night, and when he’d woken up, he still couldn’t get her out of his head. It didn’t help that she’d sent him a good morning message, telling him how much fun she’d had the night before. It’d been a long time since a text message had made his heart soar the way that one did, but it happened all the same.

He was so, so screwed.

“Hey man, you really need to grab that couch from the other side.”

Armin snapped back to reality, back to the couch with the controller in his hands beside Connie. “Shit, sorry.”

They were playing Moving Out, which he’d gotten quite good at the last few times they’d played, but Armin was clearly letting the team down. They might not even get bronze at this rate.

Connie usually got pretty intense about Moving Out, but for some reason, he didn’t say anything this time. Was he being so useless that it wasn’t worth criticising him?

“You seem really out of it,” he said once they finished the level. They just scraped bronze – Connie would make him redo it later, but for now, he didn’t say anything about it.

“Sorry,” he said, eyebrows furrowing. “Just distracted.”

“Is this about your date?” he asked. “You wouldn’t tell me about it earlier.” Then, tentatively, he added, “Was it that bad?”

Armin frowned. That’s why he wasn’t being mean about his Moving Out performance.

“It was really nice,” he said.

“Cool,” he said. “Then why are you so out of it? Or are you just pining?”

“I’m not pining,” he said but his face was flushed.

Connie grinned. “Oh my God, you are. Dude, I was worried about you!”

“You don’t need to worry about me,” said Armin.

“Uh, yeah. I do,” said Connie. “This is the first person you’ve gone on a date with in like a year. Maybe nearly two.”

Armin frowned. “I didn’t realise I always need to be seeing someone.”

“You don’t,” said Connie. “You just get into that big head of yours all the time.”

“I don’t,” he said.

“So,” said Connie slowly. “It was a nice date?”

“Yeah,” he said, but his face made it seem otherwise. “It was really nice.”

“Are you seeing her again?” he asked.

“Yeah,” he said. “Saturday.”

“Amazing,” said Connie. “Why do you still look like you’ve been shot?”

Armin winced. “No reason.”

“Armin,” said Connie firmly. “Come on, man.”

He sighed and ducked his head. “Something… happened.”

“Something?” asked Connie. “Like a good something? A bad something? A neutral something?”

“Just … something,” he said.

“Dude!” said Connie. “Just spit it out.”

Armin’s eyebrows furrowed. “She … sort of … accidentally… touched my packer.”

“Oh,” said Connie. “How’s that a big deal?” Then, his face fell. “Oh. She wasn’t like … trying to jerk it off, was she?”

“No!” said Armin. “How would that –”

“I don’t wear one!” said Connie.

Armin sighed. “No, she just … well, she was touching my leg, and she just went too high.”

“Oh,” said Connie. “And the problem …?”

“She thinks she touched my dick,” Armin clarified.

“Right,” said Connie slowly. “I mean, she kind of did. That’s your dick. I don’t think anyone else is wearing that thing.”

Armin flushed. “No, she really, actually thought she touched my dick.”

Connie’s eyebrows furrowed. “You don’t have an actual dick.”

Armin’s lips formed a thin line for a moment. “Yes, Connie. That’s the issue.”

Connie finally got it. “Oh, right.” Then, he added, “Did you clear that one up?”

“No,” said Armin weakly. “It didn’t seem like the time to bring it up.”

Connie looked at him for a long time before he said, “Dude.”

“What?” he said.

Connie shook his head. “Nothing. Just … you’re not really helping yourself, man.”

Armin frowned. “I don’t have to tell her I’m trans right off the bat.”

“You don’t,” said Connie. “That’s not about her, though. Are you just never going to have sex with her?”

His face flushed. “I wasn’t thinking about that right now.”

“Yes, you are,” said Connie. “Oh my God. Do you not remember what you said during Jennifer’s Body? You said you wanted to eat her out while she sucked on your strap. Like, that was graphic, dude.”

His face was hot. “Thinking about it and doing it are very different things.”

Connie rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure. You’re ignoring the point, though.”

His eyebrows furrowed. “What point?”

Connie nudged him. “The longer you leave it, the more you get hurt if she is an asshole. I’ve watched you do this before.”

It was a fair point, but that didn’t mean that Armin liked hearing it.

It had happened before. He didn’t tell people right off the bat; he supposed it might have been different if the other person was trans, but he’d only dated cis people before, which always complicated matters. With cis people, there were a wide range of reasons he didn’t want to tell them right away, mostly safety-related. He’d been lucky that all he’d ever really faced negatively was rejection, but worse things happened. And, on top of that, he didn’t feel the need to bring it up if there was nothing past the first date, anyway.

But there was so much with Annie, so much more he wanted past the first date. He wanted a second, a third, a hundred more. That in itself made it harder to talk about.

“I’ll tell her,” he said finally. “I just don’t…”

Connie sighed. “I think it’s better to find out she’s an asshole sooner than later, don’t you?”

Armin didn’t say anything; he’d started fiddling with the controller in his hands.

Connie nudged him again. “I get you really like her. I’m just looking out for you, man.”

He looked over at Connie and managed a slight smile. “I know. I appreciate it.”

“Good,” he said and drove the moving van on the map to the next house. “Now, can you lock in? We’ve got serious targets to meet here.”

Chapter Text

Annie was absolutely smitten, and it didn’t agree with her at all.

“You need to stop smiling so much,” Hitch said. “It’s freaking me out.”

That made her frown, which made a look of relief wash over Hitch’s face.

“Thank God,” she said. “Now you look more like yourself.”

Hitch might have had a point. She was smiling a lot; she nearly had a fucking spring in her step after Friday night, and it was borderline pathetic. If Hitch had been acting the way she was, she wouldn’t have survived the ridicule she’d have dished out. She’d had feelings before; of course she had. But this felt different. He was just so … sweet. She didn’t know how to describe it. She couldn’t stop thinking about him.

She’d really wanted to invite him into her apartment after their date. She’d known it was a bad idea, but she’d had so much fun. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had so much fun on a date. And the date – it’d been so different. He hadn’t just taken her to a bar or dinner, but he’d stayed at work late to make her private drinks. Who would have thought of that for the first date?

And it helped that he was really pretty. Fuck, he was so pretty. And his smile –

“You’re doing it again,” said Hitch.

Annie frowned. “What?”

Hitch smiled. “Nothing. When’s your little barista coming over, anyway?”

She glanced at the time on her phone. “In half an hour.”

Hitch tilted her head. “Where’s the slutty outfit?”

Annie scowled. “I told you. I’m not having sex with him yet.”

“Sure,” said Hitch. “Forget that you nearly fucked in the hallway on Friday, but –”

“We were just making out,” said Annie.

“For a while.”

“And?”

Hitch shook her head. “You maybe shouldn’t invite a guy you want to screw over to your empty apartment.”

“It won’t be empty,” said Annie. “You’re not leaving the country.”

“I’ll be out for an hour or so,” said Hitch. “That’s more than enough time for you to rock his world.”

Annie frowned. “It’s not happening.”

Hitch smiled. “Uh-huh. Does he know that?”

Her face flushed. “He isn’t like that.”

“He’s a guy,” said Hitch. “He was probably thinking about bending you over the counter the first time you placed an order.”

She frowned. “I’ll see you later, Hitch.”

“Have fun!” she said. “Just not on the couch, okay? I don’t want any weird stains.”

Annie turned away and didn’t say anything else as Hitch called out, “Bye!”

She sighed as the door clicked shut. She wasn’t going to have sex with him. Did she want to? Absolutely. She’d already thought about all of the ways she could ruin him and all the different places in her apartment she could do it. But she was trying to be logical. She was facing a significant dry spell – Hitch kept telling her that her hymen must have grown back by now – and she had severe feelings for him. She’d nearly forgotten what this felt like, for someone to be so nice it made her heart ache; what it was like to not be able to get someone out of your head. But here she was.

She wanted him badly, but she knew that was a terrible idea. She tended to rush into things, but Armin wasn’t the same as everyone else she’d dated. Not to mention she’d already vowed to stop having sex with people on the first date.

Well, she’d managed that, but she wanted to at least get to the third. She could do that. She had self-control.

Though, Hitch was probably right. Inviting him over, even for something normal – she’d asked him to come and bake cookies with her – was maybe a bit of a risky decision. She’d made sure Hitch would be around at some point, just in case. Though, that was still at least an hour.

Maybe she should have just taken him out for dinner.

And she was trying to be very unsexy. She was wearing sweatpants and a black tank top with a hoodie pulled on top. It was casual, really casual, underdressed even. She’d texted him the dress code and he’d sent one of those tiny smiley faces that somehow made her heart skip. She was ridiculous – how was she at the point that a fucking smiley face made her feel like that?

She jumped when she heard the knocking she’d been waiting for all day. The way she basically scrambled to the door was definitely not her proudest moment, but it quickly slipped out of her when she unlocked the door for him.

Oh, fuck.

He was just wearing black sweatpants and a comfortable blue sweater, but he looked so, so fucking cute. Maybe she should have asked him to wear a trash bag or something.

No. She’d want to have sex with him in that, too.

“Hey,” he said with a smile. “You look nice.”

She scoffed. “I’m just wearing sweats.”

“You still look nice,” he said.

“Thank you,” she said. “You look good, too.”

“Thanks,” he said.

She stepped aside. “Want to come in?”

His smile was intoxicating. “I’d love to.”

It was strange, him being in her apartment like this – he looked a little out of place, although, maybe that had come with the amount of time she’d spent thinking about bringing him back here. Now that he was here, looking at her with soft eyes, she felt almost flustered.

She cleared her throat. “Do you bake?”

He let out a huff of laughter. “Um, not personally. I don’t do the baked goods at work.” He smiled slightly. “I did once and I wasn’t allowed to do them again.”

Her lips twitched. “That bad?”

“It was years ago,” he said, but he was smiling. “Hange didn’t want to take any risks again.”

“Well, please try not to burn my kitchen down,” she said.

He smiled again. “I’ll do my best.”

When they stepped into the kitchen, she pointed toward the ingredients that she had already laid out.

“Think you can measure stuff?” she asked.

“There’s a chance,” he said and her lips curled.

“Well, that can be your responsibility,” she said. Then, she added, “Is that not part of what you do, anyway? Measure things?”

“I’m an expert with liquids,” he said. “Apparently.”

After he washed his hands, rolled up his sleeves, and put on the checkered blue apron she’d picked out for him, he got to work. There was only one set of scales, but she didn’t want to just bake and make him watch; maybe that’s what he might have wanted but, oh well. She liked watching him work – at this point, he probably knew that already.

“How was your week, anyway?” she asked as she put on her own apron – it was a green one, Hitch’s, with little embroidered flowers.

He smiled. “Long.”

“Yeah?” she said. “Bad customers?”

He shook his head. “No. I was just looking forward to seeing you.”

Her face warmed. Oh, damn it. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” he said gently. Then, he cleared his throat. “What about you? How was your week?”

She bit her lip. “I guess it was pretty similar.”

His eyebrows raised a little, so endearingly, and his cheeks turned pink. She didn’t miss the way he ducked his head a little as he weighed out the sugar.

“That’s nice to hear,” he said. Then, after a pause, he said, “Connie’s also making me grind through Moving Out, so that’s been exhausting.”

Her eyebrows furrowed. “What’s Moving Out?”

He groaned. “You don’t want to know.”

She smiled. “I really do.”

Armin shook his head. “It’s this multiplayer game where you’re the worst movers in the world. You move furniture in and out, depending on the level, but you have to work together to carry things and … well, Connie runs a really tight fucking ship.”

She snorted, but she was smiling. “Sounds fun.”

He shook his head. “It is fun. But he told me he wants to play Overcooked, too. He’ll kill me.”

“Overcooked?” she asked.

He looked at her for a long moment. “You’re so pure. You’re free of this knowledge.”

She scoffed. “Pure?”

He smiled. “In that sense, anyway. I can’t comment on anything else.”

She rolled her eyes. “What is it, anyway?”

“Same concept,” he said. “Teamwork, except you’re sort of cooking to save the world. It’s … complicated.”

Her eyebrows furrowed. “Right.”

He shook his head. “I came home once and he was playing it with Sasha and … honestly, I think some warzones might be more peaceful.”

She smiled. “Something for you to look forward to then, right?”

He groaned. “Yeah. Definitely.”

Annie leaned on the counter. “Could I watch?”

His eyebrows rose. “Watch what?”

“You play,” she said.

“I mean … sure.” His eyebrows furrowed. “I doubt it’d be that interesting, though.”

Her lips curled. “I’d be interested in seeing you be bossed around military-style by your roommate because of a cooking game.”

He smiled. “Ah, right. There wasn’t an innocent motive. Should have known.”

She let out a huff through her nose. “That’s a kind assessment of my character.”

Laughter shone in his eyes. “Was it incorrect?”

Annie paused for a moment. “No.”

Armin’s smile widened. “Thought so.”

She bit her lip for a moment. Then, she said, “I’d like to meet Connie, too. He sounds … interesting.”

Armin let out a laugh. “Yeah. That’s one way to put it.”

She smiled before her face softened. “It’s only fair, too, since you’ve met Hitch.”

“Yeah,” he said and flashed her a smile. “Thank God I did.”

Her face warmed, but it wasn’t out of embarrassment; rather, she felt warm, like his smile was sunlight on her skin.

“You might be the first person to say that,” she said flatly.

He let out a huff of laughter. “Well, at the time, I sort of wanted to melt into the floor.”

She snorted. “She has that sort of effect on people.”

He smiled. “Yeah. But I wouldn’t have given you my number if not, so …”

Annie looked at him for a moment. “Why didn’t you do it before then?”

He shrugged. “You came in all the time. I didn’t want to make it weird if you weren’t into me.”

She blinked. He was joking, right?

The words tumbled out of her mouth before she could even think to stop them. “I’m so disgustingly into you.”

His eyebrows rose. “Disgustingly?”

Her face flushed. “I meant … seriously.”

He smiled. “That was an interesting way to say it.”

She bit her lip. “Sorry.”

He shook his head. “It’s okay. I’m, um …” His smile was soft and maybe even a little shy. “I’m disgustingly into you too, so …”

Annie hummed, but she was very aware of the fact that she was practically looking at him with fucking heart eyes. Maybe it was a good thing Hitch was still out so she couldn’t get a chance to see the mess he turned her into.

Armin cleared his throat. “What about you, anyway?”

She blinked. “What about me?”

“You didn’t ask for my number,” he said. “Hitch said you were too awkward.”

Annie frowned. “She did?”

He smiled. “She did.”

She sighed. “I guess the same. It felt weird since you worked there … you were kind of forced to talk to me.”

“Maybe,” he said. “I really wasn’t forced to flirt with you the way I did, though.”

She bit her lip. “I didn’t know you weren’t flirting with other customers.”

He shook his head. “No. I saved all my charm for you.”

It was so stupid, but when he smiled, fuck, she wanted to just push him against the counter and kiss him. No, that wasn’t fair – she wanted to do much, much worse. The images flashed before her eyes before she could stop them; how fast she could take her sweatpants off and shove him to his knees, hooking a thigh over his shoulder and pressing his head between her legs, how nice his mouth could feel as she tightened her fingers in his hair and –

She cleared her throat and said, abruptly, “I also thought you were gay.”

His eyebrows furrowed, but he was still smiling. “Seriously?”

Her face flushed. “Well – I heard your coworker call you gay, and I thought …”

“Oh,” he said. “That’s why Hitch asked.”

“Yeah,” she said. “Sorry about that.”

He shook his head. “It’s okay.” He smiled. “I’m pansexual. Eren’s just … an overly enthusiastic ally.”

She cocked an eyebrow at him. “Really?”

“He means well,” he said and smiled again. “He misses the mark sometimes. He told me he was “Mikasasexual” the other day. Mikasa is his girlfriend.”

She snorted. “Wow.”

“Yeah. He wasn’t even joking,” said Armin. “It was a full chest kind of statement.”

She smiled. “Wish I could have been there to hear it.”

He smiled. “Oh, I’m sure.”

His gaze lingered on hers for a long time and it took everything in her to tear her eyes away from him.

“You winning with weighing those ingredients?” she said as she made sure she was looking at anything else.

His eyebrows rose and he glanced down. “Ah, sorry. Distracted.”

Her lips curled. “Got that.”

She did start helping him soon enough and, to be fair, he ended up being an enthusiastic participant. His skills must have improved since he’d last been trusted to bake at work because he seemed to follow her instructions fairly easily, though maybe that was because he was listening to her intently. And they were just chocolate chip cookies – maybe something more complicated, like chocolate chip and pistachio, might have thrown him off.

After they’d shoved the cookies in the oven, she settled herself down at the small breakfast bar, pushing out the other chair for him to sit next to her.

“Can I ask you something?” he said as he settled down.

“Depends on the question.”

He smiled. “How did you get into martial arts anyway?”

She raised an eyebrow. “That’s your question?”

“Yeah,” he said. “You never told me.”

Annie shrugged. “My dad put me in a shit ton of classes when I was a kid. Guess I didn’t have much of a choice.”

His face softened. “Oh. Sorry.”

Her lips curled. “It’s fine. You’ll be surprised to know I survived the trauma of my extracurricular activities.”

The dryness of her tone made him smile. “Yeah, I see that.” Then, after a moment, he asked, “Do you enjoy it?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I like that I have an excuse to stay in shape, too.”

Armin hummed. “Yeah. Where would we be without your thighs of steel?”

Her eyebrows rose and he smiled.

She scoffed but she felt a little too warm for just being sat in her kitchen with him. “A lot of people have complained about my thighs of steel, actually.”

His eyebrows furrowed. “You’re kidding, right?”

She shook her head. “No, I’m serious. I’ve had guys complain about me being too heavy.”

There was something comical in his expression. “Were they gay?”

She bit her lip to stop from smiling. “Not that I’m aware of.”

His face softened. “I hope you don’t feel bad about yourself because of that.”

She shook her head. “No. When I was younger, it stung a little, but that was just because I hadn’t dated a lot.” Then, she added, “My boyfriend in college made me get off of him because I was “crushing” him apparently. That fucked with me a little.”

She expected him to say something – after all, he always seemed to have something to say – but instead, he seemed to look at her fairly intensely, to the point it made her squirm.

“What?” she asked.

He blinked, face flushing. “Um, sorry. I just …” Armin cleared his throat. “Why would anyone say that?”

After a moment, she shrugged. “Well, I guess it was hard for him to breathe.”

“Yeah, sure. But he managed to talk,” said Armin. “He was clearly not being crushed.”

She shrugged again. “Maybe not.”

His face was soft – it made her heart flutter in her chest. “You’re gorgeous, Annie. You know that, right?”

Her face flushed at the praise. “I have an idea.”

He smiled. “Good.” Then, after a moment, he said, “And you have really, really nice legs.”

She snorted but she couldn’t help but smile. “Thanks.”

“I’m serious,” he said. She didn’t miss the devilish glint in his eyes. “People would pay good money to be crushed by those things.”

Her face felt hot. She swallowed and asked, “Is that a proposition?”

There was something rewarding about the way his smile slipped, the way pink bloomed over his cheeks. He let out a slight nervous laugh and ducked his head.

When he met her eyes again, he smiled, but his cheeks were still pink. “I wouldn’t have thought you’d want me to pay.”

She bit her bottom. “Is this you asking for it for free?”

“Maybe,” he said and smiled. “Friend discount.”

She looked at him for a long moment before she laughed. It must have been infectious because he laughed too.

“Wow,” she said.

He smiled again. “Sorry.”

She shook her head. “Don’t be.” After a moment, she smiled and said, “Play your cards right and you might just get what you want.”

The way his eyebrows rose was delightful. He didn’t say anything, but she could tell that he was thinking about it. It made her feel warm all over.

Fuck. Hitch really needed to come home soon.

Chapter Text

Armin was doing his very best to not stare at Annie’s legs through her sweatpants when she stood up again, but that was easier said than done.

I’m just wearing sweats, she’d said. Well, the thing was, her legs were so muscly that they still clung to her shape, especially her ass, which he was desperately trying not to stare at. He already felt like a huge fucking pervert – when she’d mentioned her ex complaining about her crushing him, he’d immediately thought about how much he’d like her to crush him like that, legs on either side of his head while he suffocated in the best way possible – and staring at her like this wasn’t helping his case at all.

She turned to him, and for a moment, he thought he’d been caught. But there seemed to be something else on her mind because her eyebrows were furrowed.

“I probably should show you around,” she said. “Sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”

Thank God she hadn’t noticed. He smiled. “Don’t worry about it. I was enjoying it in here, anyway.”

She let out a huff. “Still, I should have shown you around right away.”

He stood up. “Your kitchen’s really nice if it helps.”

Annie snorted. “It’s small. Hitch and I have to either eat together or cook at completely different times. We argue a lot.” Then, she added, “And all her plants don’t help either.”

He smiled. “Wouldn’t have expected you two to argue.”

When she frowned, it just made him smile even more.

“It’s cute, though,” he offered.

It was sage green and white with a million plants and lots of natural light. Even the little hallway outside had a nice big window, dotted with more plants and pretty minimalist prints, which he wouldn’t have expected to be Annie’s style.

As she led him back into the hallway, she said, “Most of everything is Hitch’s. She lived here before me.”

“It’s nice,” he said as she pushed open the door to the living room.

“Yeah. It’s not that bad,” she said and he smiled.

The living room was the same sort of design. There was a big green couch and an explosion of plants – who had the time to look after so many plants? There were pine bookshelves with an array of books, a cute oval coffee table in front of the couch, and a fluffy checkered rug underneath. The windows were just as big here, too, which was probably a bonus with all the plants.

“It’s a lot nicer than my place,” he said.

“Hitch is just really particular about interior design,” she said. “If I’d decorated, it wouldn’t have looked as nice.”

He smiled. “Are we skipping your room then?”

“No, but it is messy,” she said. “Oh, and I should probably show you the bathroom.”

Annie pointed that out to him first – it was mostly pink, even the tub, which Annie seemed to like a lot. Hitch had also managed to fit in a good few plants in there as well, even though it was lacking in natural light compared to the other rooms. It was still nice, though.

“Here,” she said, pushing open her bedroom door. “Just ignore the mess.”

It wasn’t messy; the bed was unmade and there were some clothes lying around, but that was about it. Though, he instantly realised why she liked the bathroom so much – a lot of her room was pink. The walls were classic landlord white, but her sheets and pillows were pink, she had a big pink armchair, the rug by her bed was a big round fluffy pink thing, and she had a big pink teddy bear, something he wouldn’t have guessed to see in here. On the walls hung a good few prints framed by golden wood, and a lot of the art had hints of pink in it. Her vanity had a large three-part mirror, foldable and golden framed too, and there was another collection of small golden photo frames hanging on the wall beside a thin bookshelf.

He stepped closer to the photos – one was of her and Hitch in pretty dresses, blue and green respectively, maybe at a bar; another was from a graduation, maybe college, with an older man he thought might be her dad, though there was no familial resemblance there; and a third with two guys, nearly twice her height, grinning widely, while Annie mustered a slight smile.

Armin pointed to the bottom one. “Who are these guys?”

“Idiots,” she said and his lips twitched. “Reiner and Bertholdt. We’ve been friends since we were kids.”

“They make you look tiny,” he said.

She frowned. “It’s not my fault they’re built like trees.”

He smiled. “Suppose not.” Then, he gestured to the photo above. “Is that your dad?”

“Yeah,” she said.

“I take it your mom’s genetics took over there,” he said.

Annie shrugged. “Wouldn’t know. I’m adopted.”

“Oh,” he said. “Guess that explains why you don’t look alike.”

She looked at him for a moment and he cringed.

“Uh, sorry,” he said. “That was a weird thing to say.”

She shook her head. “That’s fine.” Then, she added, “What about you?”

His eyebrows rose. “Me?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Did your mom’s genetics put up a fight or do you look like your dad?”

He smiled. “I hope they put up a fight. My dad had an awful hairline.”

Her lips twitched before her face softened. Then, after a moment, she asked, “Had?”

“My parents passed away when I was really young,” he said. Before she could ask, he said, “Car accident.”

“Oh,” she said, eyebrows pinching together. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he said. “It was a long time ago.” Then, he said, “I look a lot like my mom. I have my dad’s eyes, though. If you come to my place at some point, I can show you some photos.”

“That’d be nice,” she said. “If you’d like that, anyway.”

He offered her a smile. “Yeah, I’d like that.” Then, after a moment, he asked, “So, is pink your favourite colour, then?”

Annie shrugged, but she looked strangely shy about the question. “Sure.”

He smiled. “I’d have never guessed.”

She folded her arms over her chest. “What were you expecting?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know, honestly. I was thinking maybe black.”

Her lips twitched. “Of course you were.”

Armin opened his mouth to answer, but then a shrill sound cut through the air – it was an alarm on her phone going off.

“Cookies,” Annie explained as she swiped it off. “Hopefully they don’t taste like ass.”

He smiled, but he didn’t say anything; he just followed her out of the bedroom, making sure to pull the bedroom door shut behind him.

Seeing Annie with oven mitts on as she pulled the cookies out of the oven had a strange effect on him – it was such a weirdly mundane sight that it made his heart soften. He’d never thought he’d see her in oven mitts and an apron, but there she was in front of him. It was a nice sight.

The scent of warm cookies immediately flooded the kitchen and she smiled at him. “Well, they don’t look like ass.”

They didn’t; they were wide and soft-looking, and they looked delicious.

“I’ll just leave them to cool for a bit,” she said, tossing the oven mitts down on the counter. Then, she frowned and added, “I never offered you a drink. Shit.”

He smiled. “That’s fine.”

She shook her head, reaching to undo her apron. “I’m a shit host.”

He laughed. “No, you aren’t. I’m having a nice time.”

“While I dehydrate you,” she said, moving to the fridge. “Do you want water? Juice? We have apple juice.”

“Apple juice would be nice,” he said.

“Cool,” she said. “Just sit down.”

Armin pulled up a chair again and after a moment, Annie was there next to him, two glasses on the counter.

“Thanks,” he said – the juice was crisp and sweet. He let out a breath and added, “Do you bake a lot?”

“Not as much as I’d like to,” she said. “It’s just me and Hitch and she doesn’t have that much of a sweet tooth.” Then, she added, “I can’t really eat so much shit all of the time on my own.”

“Still,” he said. “It’s nice.”

She paused for a long time. “I used to bake a lot when I lived with my dad as a kid.”

His eyebrows rose. “Yeah?”

She nodded. “Yeah. He’s retired now, but he used to work awful shifts and a shit ton of overtime – I barely saw him, honestly. So, I used to cook and bake and everything so he had something nice to eat when he came in.”

His face softened. “That’s nice of you.”

She shrugged. “I guess. It helped for when I moved out – makes cooking after work feel less demoralising.” Then, she added, “Sometimes. I hate cooking on Thursdays.”

His eyebrows furrowed. “Why Thursdays?”

“Worst day of the week by far.”

He smiled. “Really? Thursday? Not Monday?”

“Monday’s bearable,” she said. “You’ve already talked yourself up to deal with it. Thursday? No one is ready for Thursday.”

His smile widened. “Wish you’d told me. I’d have put more sugar in your order.”

She shook her head. “It wouldn’t save me.” Then, she added, “But I appreciate the sentiment.”

He looked at her for a long moment. She was so pretty – he’d never seen eyes quite like hers before, a pale blue, almost like there were hints of grey in there; like glacial pools he could swim in. He loved that elegant curve of her nose and the way her light hair fell in her face; he’d wondered the first time he saw her if it was natural, but of course it was – her eyebrows and her eyelashes weren’t much darker. And her lips were pink and always looked so soft; he knew how soft they were now, how nice they felt against his own. He could have stared at her for days, but their little meetings before she started work didn’t really give his eyes a lot of time to linger. He drank her in now, and she didn’t look away.

“Mondays, then?” she said finally.

His eyebrows rose. “Huh?”

Her lips curled. “Is that your least favourite day?”

“Oh,” he said. “Um … I think it used to be. I stay up too late on Sundays.”

“Used to be?” she said. “What is it now?”

He felt his face warm a little, but he managed to smile. “Um … Fridays. Well, until very recently, anyway.”

Her eyebrows furrowed. “Why Fridays?”

“Well …” Armin reached up to rub the back of his neck. She could always fluster him so easily. “I guess it’s just … well …”

Annie was still looking at him.

“It’s stupid,” he said, looking down.

“I like stupid,” she said.

He let out a laugh. “Well, that’s a comfort.” His face softened and he swallowed. Damn it. “Well, I see you every day, and then, I don’t get to see you all weekend … I kind of miss you.”

When he met her eyes again in the quiet, he wasn’t sure what he expected to see. But her expression was soft and there was something so sweet about the way she was looking at him that it made his heart skip.

“It’s Saturday,” she said.

He let out a huff. “Um … yeah, it is.”

She let out a laugh. “No, I mean – I’m seeing you right now. On a Saturday. So … maybe you need to pick another least favourite day of the week.”

“Oh. Right,” he said. Then, after a moment, he smiled and said, “Sunday.”

She looked at him for a second before she laughed – it was such a nice sound that it made his heart ache.

“I think those cookies might be cool now,” she said.

He nodded. “Yeah.”

So, before he could protest, Annie stood up and went to retrieve them a cookie each. She had them on a little plate, one laid on top of the other.

When she sat down again, she was closer than before, their knees touching. He wanted to reach out and touch her thigh again, like he’d done at Scouts, but he wasn’t sure he could get away with it.

Annie picked up and held the cookie out to him, just in front of his mouth. “Here.”

Her lips twitched, and he couldn’t help but smile. “Thanks.”

He leaned forward and took a bite – it was just the right level of soft and so sweet, but not overwhelmingly so. Annie let him take the cookie from her hand, and then she took a bite out of her own.

He covered his mouth as he swallowed. “It’s really good.”

Annie hummed. When she swallowed hers, she smiled one of her small smiles. “Yeah. Compliments to the chef.”

He smiled. “Well, she did do a really good job.”

She snorted. “I’d like to thank the man who weighed out the ingredients.”

He let out a huff. “I’m sure it made all of the difference.”

Her lips curled again. “Well, he managed not to burn my kitchen down, so I really appreciate that.”

He smiled again. “Well, you’re very welcome.”

Annie took another bite out of her cookie, and he did the same. They were quiet for only a few moments as they chewed before she made a sound and gestured to his arm on the bench.

“What’s with that, anyway?” she said once she’d swallowed.

His eyebrows rose. “What?”

“The tattoo,” she said. “Is it just because you like sea life?”

“Oh,” he said, glancing down at his arm – his sleeves were still rolled up from earlier. “Um … yeah. I don’t know. I wanted something for a while, and I thought it was a nice idea.”

Annie hummed.

He smiled. “Sorry, it’s not very exciting.”

She shook her head. “No, that’s fine. I was just curious.” Then, she added, “Do you have any others?”

“No,” he said. “I was thinking of making it a sleeve, but I don’t know.”

“That’d be hot,” she said, and she said it so matter-of-factly that he felt his face warm.

“You think so?” he said.

She nodded and reached out, her thumb grazing over the outline of the shell on his inner arm. He tried not to shiver at her touch. “Yeah. You could get other sea life. You like sharks, right?”

His eyebrows rose. “Yeah, I do.” How had she – wait; it was the pins on his apron at work. “I might keep it more casual.”

“Yeah?” she said. “You could add simple things, then. More shells, seaweed, coral … things like that.”

“Yeah,” he said and smiled. “Do you like tattoos?”

“On other people,” she said.

“Ah,” he said, still smiling. “So, none for you, then?”

She hesitated. “Just one.”

His eyebrows rose. “Just one?”

Annie looked away. “Yes. It’s a sore subject.”

His face softened. “Oh. Sorry. We can talk about something else if you want.”

She shook her head and groaned. “No, it’s not like that. It’s just fucking stupid. I lost a bet and had to get it.”

“Oh.” Then, he smiled. “Is it bad, then?”

She nodded. “Tremendously.”

After a slight pause, he asked, “What is it?”

She didn’t say anything for a long moment. Then, finally, she said, “It’s a tramp stamp.”

His eyebrows furrowed. “Tramp stamps aren’t always bad. I think they’re cute.”

“Some of them are cute,” she said. “Mine is really not fucking cute.”

He smiled. “What bet did you lose?”

She shook her head. “It was in high school. It was so fucking stupid. One of those idiots – Reiner – was obsessed with this girl. He genuinely wanted to marry her. The important part is that she was literally a lesbian.”

“Right,” he said, nose shrivelling. “That’s a bit awkward.”

“Yeah,” she said. “He was convinced that wasn’t the case, though. He thought he could get her to go out with him. I told him no fucking chance in Hell, but he said he could get her to go on a date with him, and we made a bet – and guess what? She went on a fucking date with him.”

His eyebrows rose. “Seriously?”

She groaned. “It’s a really sore subject. She went on the date, but she didn’t know it was a date. She thought they were just hanging out. He thought it was a date, though. I tried to say it didn’t count, then, but Bertholdt was our tie-breaker and he took Reiner’s side. The bastard.”

He smiled. “Could you not have wagered anything else?”

“I didn’t think they were going to make me get a fucking tramp stamp,” she said. “He said he’d pick the forfeit – didn’t think he’d come up with that.” She sighed. “I’m unfortunately a woman of my word.”

His smile softened. “What is it, anyway?”

She frowned. “It’s really bad,” she said. “I can’t wear bikinis or low-rise jeans.”

His eyebrows furrowed. “That bad?”

“Yes,” she groaned. Then, after a moment, she put the rest of her cookie back on the plate and said, “I can show you.”

His face softened. “You don’t have to. Not if you’re not comfortable.”

She shook her head and slipped off the chair. “It’s easier than just explaining it.”

He put his own cookie back on the plate and turned to her. She was right about the kitchen being small – she only took a step or two away, and she was right in front of the other counter, pulling her hoodie and shirt up. He tried to ignore the rush of excitement that ran through him when she reached down to her waist to tug her sweatpants lower.

“There,” she said. “Come over here.”

Armin slipped off the chair and took a few steps towards her. She leaned a little over the counter so he could see more clearly, and he squinted at the ink on her lower back.

At first, he thought it looked fairly normal, just a little heart beside some wings with a banner over the heart. It might have been a little tacky, but it still looked cute. But when he looked closer, he noticed the text on the banner: YOU’RE LUCKY.

“Oh my God,” he said, unable to stop the laugh from slipping out of him.

She groaned. “Yeah. It’s bad.”

He shook his head, but he couldn’t stop himself from smiling. “Well … it isn’t great.”

She scoffed. “You can say that again.”

“It’s still cute, though,” he said.

“Oh, shut up,” she said. “It’s not. You know that. Stop trying to be nice about it.”

Tentatively, he reached out and ran his thumb over the ink. “I’m not. It’s cute. The text is … less cute, but it’s still not the worst tattoo in the world.”

She hummed, but she didn’t say anything. He was perhaps being a bit too bold now, but Annie didn’t say anything when he moved his fingers over her skin, his hand finding a light grip on her hip, letting his other hand trace over her skin, too.

“Are you thinking of getting one to match?” she asked.

He laughed. “I couldn’t pull it off.”

She snorted. “Like I can.”

“You can,” he said. “Not many people are hot enough to pull this off.”

She let out a small sound, a nice sigh – was it from his hands on her like this? “So, I’m hot, huh?”

He smiled. “Like you don’t know that.”

“It’s nice to hear you say it,” she said.

She straightened then, but his hands were still on her hips, stopping her shirt and hoodie from slipping down. She didn’t move and he tentatively squeezed her hips – he didn’t miss the way her breath hitched.

“Well, you’re hot as Hell,” he said.

She paused for a heartbeat and then said, “Uh-huh?”

“Yeah,” he said.

Her hands covered his and gently pulled them away, and he felt his heart sink – maybe he’d misread the situation entirely. But then, she turned around and put them back in place, looking up at him with very pretty eyes.

“I think you’re pretty hot, too,” she said.

Her words made him feel warm, and he couldn’t help the way he smiled. “Really?”

She scoffed. “Like you don’t know.”

He let out a breath of laughter. “I don’t know. Not many people tell me that.”

“No?” she said.

He shook his head.

“Well,” she said, and when did her hands reach his shoulders like that? “Maybe I need to tell you more often.”

He wasn’t sure which one of them leaned in first, though, that didn’t really matter. When their lips met, his heart fluttered. It was gentle, at least at first, and he let himself brush his thumbs over the flesh at her hips. She made a small contented sound against him and moved to deepen the kiss, and that was when it grew in intensity.

She was forceful – she took complete control and that was more than fine with him. She kissed him with a passion that made him feel weak, but gripping onto her hips kept him steady and she clearly liked that from the lovely sounds she made against his lips. When they finally separated, it was nice to see that she was just as affected as him – her breathing was just as straining and her face was so prettily flushed.

After a moment, she swallowed and said, “You’re really fucking hot.”

He let out a breath of laughter, but he still felt his face go hot. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” she said. She bit her lip for a long time, before she added, “Are you just going to stand there staring at me or are you going to kiss me again?”

He smiled briefly. “The second option.”

“Thought so,” she said, and he leaned forward to recapture her mouth.

He tried to match her earlier eagerness and that was clearly what she wanted. He sucked her bottom lip until she whined against him and he kissed her again, wet and messy, but that seemed to be how she liked it, at least then and there. Her fingers had found his hair at some point, but her grip was nice, and it nearly made his eyes roll when they tightened around the strands.

He popped off her mouth and peppered wet hot kisses over her jaw, all the way down to her neck, where he settled, kissing and licking and sucking, making her moan against him. Fuck.

“Shit,” she whispered.

He tried not to smile against her skin. How had he managed to get into this position with her? He really couldn’t believe his luck.

He continued his ministrations, sucking at her skin hard enough to leave a mark, and he thought he might get some sort of complaint. But no; if anything, she pressed him closer to her, a few small delicious sounds leaving her lips.

When it became too much for her, she nudged him away, back up to her mouth, and then she was kissing him like that again, in a way that made him feel needy and almost light-headed. She kissed him like she might just die if she didn’t and, holy shit, she was so, so hot.

He shouldn’t, knew he shouldn’t, but he wasn’t thinking all that clearly when she was kissing him like that. So, he let his hands move higher, further up to the dip of her sides, and she made such a lovely sound that he debated asking if they could take her hoodie and tube top off so that he could run his hands over more of her skin.

But his hands were only there for a few more moments before a loud slamming sound cut through the quiet, making them both jump.

“Hey!” came a voice from the hallway. “No one better be having sex in my living room!”

Annie’s face was flushed. “Kitchen!”

“You’re not having sex in the kitchen, are you?”

Before Annie could answer, the door opened – and there was Hitch, a grin on her face.

Armin stepped away from her as Annie folded her arms to give her a hard look. “You came in here far too quickly if you thought I was having sex in here.”

Hitch waved her off. “I’m a pervert with a pure heart, Annie. What can I say?”

Annie rolled her eyes. “Armin, this is Hitch. Officially.”

He smiled, trying not to look too awkward, and stepped forward to put his hand out. “Hey. It’s nice to meet you. Officially.”

She shook his hand. “She’s messed up your hair, by the way.”

His smile dropped and he moved to straighten it out.

She glanced over at Annie and frowned before a grin came over her face. “He’s messed up your neck. Holy shit.”

Annie reached up to her neck, her face going pink. Maybe he had gotten a little carried away, but she’d been enjoying it at the time. Still, her embarrassment didn’t help – he could feel his own face going warm and it was getting particularly difficult to look at Hitch.

Hitch smiled. “Good thing I came back when I did. I’d really rather you didn’t fuck in front of my plants. They’re sensitive.”

Annie rolled her eyes and said, “Shut up.” Then, after a long pause, she added, “Do you want a cookie? They’re freshly made.”

Hitch’s face lit up. “I thought you’d never ask!”

Chapter Text

“Why didn’t you tell me you’re seeing someone?”

Annie frowned as she leaned against her kitchen counter, phone pressed against her ear. She wasn’t the one who told Reiner, but rather Hitch, who tended to report her actions to both Reiner and Bertholdt (who she’d only met a handful of times, by the way) with the urgency of a person turning someone into the police for a cash reward.

“Two dates,” said Annie firmly, “is not necessarily seeing someone.”

“I think that’s exactly what it is.” Then, he added, “Hitch said he’s short. That’s good for you.”

She rolled her eyes. “He isn’t that short. He’s like 5’5”.”

“That’s really short. But that’s good. You don’t have to climb him. It freaks me out when you date tall people.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem.” Then, after a pause, he said, “Have you ended your dry spell yet?”

“Oh, fuck off.”

“I’m taking that as a no, then.”

Annie frowned. “I’m trying not to rush into things.”

“You always rush into things,” he said. “That’s kind of your style.”

“That hasn’t really worked out so far, has it?”

“Well, no. But that doesn’t mean you’re going to change any time soon.”

She rolled her eyes, but maybe he had a point. Annie tended to know what she wanted, or, at least, she thought she did. After the first date, if it had been fun, if she’d gotten a good vibe, well, yeah – she tended to have sex with them. She’d never not gotten a second date afterwards. And it wasn’t like she didn’t get the same vibes on the second or the third date, anyway, so she never saw the point in waiting. Physical intimacy was pretty important to her, and the first date usually allowed her to figure out if they were sexually compatible; there also wasn’t really a point in dragging things out if they couldn’t show her a good time.

But then, there was that issue – every time she did that, things fell apart. She didn’t necessarily think that was related, but something about Armin was different. She knew he was definitely interested in having sex with her – and she was very interested in ruining him – but he was just so sweet. She wasn’t sure why, but she didn’t want to rush in. She almost felt like it might scare him off, though, that was something she was trying to reason with as well. If that would scare him off, was he really right for her?

She was overthinking it, but she was finding it very difficult to think clearly when it came to him.

“He’s different,” she said after a pause.

Reiner whistled. “Oh, is he? When’s the wedding, then?”

She scowled. “Reiner. Shut up.”

“What? Okay, I’m joking about the wedding part. How’s he different? Does he actually have a personality?”

“Wow.”

“Annie, you date some fucking characters. You can’t even criticise me for that.”

She wanted to, but he had a point. Sexual chemistry wasn’t the only thing that mattered – rushing into things, as it turned out, meant that she often ended up missing what utter assholes she was dating for far too long.

And Armin was different. She’d obviously had feelings for people before, but there was something oddly unique about it. She couldn’t stop thinking about him and his sweet little face; it wasn’t even just sex (though, she wasn’t innocent there; she was thinking about that a lot, too). She was just thinking about being around him, listening to him talk, watching him smile … he was different, and he was making her act very differently, too.

She bit her lip for a second. “He’s really sweet. I don’t want to scare him off.”

Reiner laughed. “Annie, I think people like you because you’re scary.”

She frowned again. “I don’t think that’s true.”

“Fuck off. You know that’s true. At least with guys like that.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? You don’t even know what he’s like.”

“Sweet, you said. And Hitch said he looks at you like the sun shines out of your ass, apparently.”

“I wouldn’t trust a word Hitch says.”

“Said you look at him like that, too. That I don’t believe.”

“Thanks. You know, I usually don’t treat my partners like shit.”

“Did you just say partner?”

She gritted her teeth briefly before she said, “You’re missing the main point of that sentence.”

“I thought you said you weren’t seeing someone.”

“We’re not official. Again – two dates.”

“Have you arranged a third?”

“Yeah, but that’s not –”

Reiner cheered. “Look at you go. You made it to the third date without fucking someone!”

Annie frowned. “You’re making me sound like a real slut here.”

“Well, you are. I mean that as a compliment.”

Her frown deepened. “Thanks. You always know exactly what to say.”

“You’re welcome.” Then, he added, “You’re in the home stretch now, though. The third date is a really reasonable time to have sex with someone. I’m proud of you.”

Annie sighed, gripping the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. “I could fucking kill you sometimes, you know that?”

Reiner laughed. “Well, yeah – I’m not a complete idiot.” Then, he said, “What’s the third date, then?”

“I don’t know. He wants to take me to a cocktail bar.”

“Liquid confidence. Yeah, you’re getting railed.”

“I’ll talk to you later, Reiner.”

“Let me know what he thinks of your tramp stamp when he –”

Annie hung up the phone and dropped her head against the counter, groaning against the cool surface. Why the fuck did she have to be friends with such an idiot?

She didn’t even have time to wallow in the feeling, though, because before she could even stand up straight, the kitchen door flew open. She adjusted, turning to see Hitch standing in the doorway with a big smile. It dropped the moment she saw Annie’s expression.

“What have I done now?” she asked.

Annie pointed at her. “Stop telling Reiner about my love life.”

Hitch’s face softened. “We’re happy for you, Annie.” Then, she added, “You know, though, just be careful – breaking the hymen a second time at your age will not be pleasant.”

“Oh my God,” she said, moving to push past her, out of the kitchen. “Don’t fucking talk to me ever again.”

“You’d miss me too much!”

Chapter Text

The last time Armin had been to Sina, he’d been with Connie, who’d thrown up on the table and he had to clean it up before any of the waiters noticed so that they wouldn’t be permanently banned. It had not been pleasant, but the drinks were really nice, and they played nice music – he just hoped that they’d put him and Annie at a different table.

He was there a little early and trying not to feel too nervous. He felt a little overdressed in a blue button-up and nicely fitted black pants and loafers, but he’d never been on a date here before. He’d also not had much reason to wear button-ups; he never really went out for nice occasions, and he’d not dated seriously since before he had top surgery, which had been … a while. He’d never felt comfortable enough to wear shirts like this before, but now was different. Still, he was nervous about what she’d think. He’d been spending a lot of time thinking about what she thought of him.

When he came in before work for her coffee now, their flirting was disgustingly shameless. It had always been a little ridiculous, now that he thought over the past few months, but she was acting forward now. He debated kissing her over the counter when he’d last seen her, but that might have been too much – maybe the other customers might have expected the same treatment.

On Wednesday, the last shift of the week he and Eren worked together – Eren did the lates on Thursday and Friday – after Annie left, Eren had shaken his head at him while he was making another customer’s order.

“What?” he’d asked.

Eren had grinned. “Pansexual, my ass. You’re Anniesexual. And you’re a whore about it, too.”

His face went red, but he didn’t argue with him. Maybe he had a point, anyway.

He was thinking about her a lot. It was hard not to, not when she looked at him the way she did. Not when she fucking looked like that. He was having a wide range of fantasies about her, and it didn’t help that they texted constantly. Any time she had a break at work, she’d send a message and he’d answer almost immediately. He would have felt embarrassed about it if she wasn’t as excited about talking to him as he was. It was mutual and he almost didn’t get why. How had he managed to get anywhere with her?

That thought was only solidified when he saw her as he waited outside Sina. She had that same brown leather coat on she’d been wearing on their first date, and she was wearing a pretty little black dress that clung to her form. For a moment, he forgot how to think.

She smiled. “Hey.”

He blinked and managed to smile. “Hey.”

He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her cheek and she looked up at him rather shyly. She was absolutely adorable.

“You look gorgeous,” he said.

Her lips curled. “Thank you. You look really good.”

He smiled. “Thanks.”

She looked up at him for a moment before she leaned up and pressed her lips to his. It was brief, but the press of her mouth made his insides flutter.

“Sorry,” she said when she pulled away. “I just wanted to do that.”

His chest was warm. “Don’t say sorry. I’m not sorry about it.”

She let out a huff, but she still smiled. Then, it settled and she said, “Do we have a table booked?”

“Yeah,” he said, reaching out for her to guide her toward the door. “I already figured that out.”

“Thoughtful,” she said.

He smiled. “Well, you know me.”

Thankfully, they were seated far away from the table that Connie had ruined the last time they were in there. They were at a little table in a nook out of the way where their legs could cross over one another’s. He liked the press of her ankle against his beneath the table.

They were quick to order their first drinks and then he decided to get it out of the way.

“I need to tell you something about this place,” he said.

Her eyebrows furrowed. “You’re making this sound good.”

He smiled. “Well, it’s less about the place and more about what happened here.”

She leaned forward and smiled. It made him stop thinking for a second. “Enlighten me, then.”

So, he said, “The last time I was here was with Connie. I don’t even know how much we had to drink. It was Christmastime, so we were celebrating. Anyway, he just looked at me after a while and said, “You know, Armin. I don’t think that last drink agreed with me.” And then, he just threw up all over the table. And in my drink.”

Her eyebrows rose and she laughed. “Seriously?”

“Yeah,” he said, shaking his head. “I was hammered, but I really like this place, so I just had to clean it up with napkins. That’s near impossible, as it turns out.”

Her smile was wide. “I take it you managed since we’re not currently being kicked out of this place.”

“Only just,” he said. “I had to throw my drink out in the bathroom.”

“What about Connie, then?” she said. “Did he make it through the night?”

He smiled. “Yes. I basically had to carry him, though. And he isn’t the lightest.”

Her face softened. “Do you have a picture of him?”

“Yeah,” he said, reaching for his phone. He found the most recent one he’d taken – him passed out on the couch beside Sasha after they’d played an intense night of Super Smash Bros.

She scoffed. “I think you’re being dramatic. He can’t be that heavy.”

“For me, he is. He’s bigger than me,” he said, putting his phone away. He smiled. “Not all of us are as strong as you, you know.”

She hummed. “True. I could have picked him up easily.” Then, she smiled. “I can definitely carry you, then.”

He smiled. “Is that you asking?”

She shook her head. “Unfortunately for you, no, I’m not.”

“Unfortunately?” he laughed.

She smiled. “Yeah. You seem like you might like it.”

His face flushed. “What gives you that impression?”

She shrugged. “The way you keep looking at my arms is a bit of a giveaway.”

His face fell. Okay, so he was ogling her arms a little. Her dress was strappy and he could see her biceps. He’d never seen them before, and they were defined and very, very sexy. She probably could pick him up and, if he was honest with himself, he’d probably really like it.

He cleared his throat. “Sorry.”

She smiled. “Don’t worry. I like it.”

He met her gaze again. “Should I keep staring?”

She snorted but she was still smiling. She was so pretty, it nearly hurt. “You can.”

He didn’t miss the way she moved her foot to graze his leg again.

He smiled. “Okay.” Then, he lowered his voice and said, “You’re so pretty, Annie.”

The softness of his tone seemed to surprise her a little. “Yeah?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything as pretty as you.”

She dropped his gaze and she was blushing. How could he make her blush like that?

“Now, I think that might not be true,” she said.

“It is,” he said. “It’s really true.”

When she met his gaze again, his heart fluttered. It was true. It was really, really true.

“You’re really pretty, too, you know,” she said gently. “I love your eyebrows.”

He blinked, letting out a slight laugh. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” she said and let out a snort. “That sounded really stupid. I just … I like them.”

He smiled. “Is that what makes me pretty to you? The eyebrows?”

She looked away, clearly flustered. “Not just your eyebrows. Your eyes. I love your eyes. And I like your nose – the little redness you have there is really cute. And I like your lips a lot. And your dainty ears.” Then, she added, “Your jawline’s a little lethal, too.”

He let out a huff of laughter. “Lethal?”

She let out a breath, smiling. “Yeah. You have no idea.”

He really didn’t, but just as he went to ask, their first drinks had arrived. That was fine. He’d have time to ask her about it later.

As the night went on, he easily lost track of time and the amount of drinks they were having. He lost himself in her smile and her laugh, and he kept looking at her mouth, especially the more they drank. The hickeys he’d left on her last week were gone now, and he found that he wanted to make more marks on her skin – if she wanted him to. Not that he could get away with that at Sina, but maybe he could kiss her. They were out of the way; maybe he should suggest it.

He smiled when she winced at her drink – this was supposed to be their last. “Too much?”

“Bitter,” she said.

His smile widened. “Is that the one with bitters in it?”

“I was optimistic,” she said. “Last time I do that.”

He laughed and pushed his drink forward. “Want to trade?”

She shook her head. “No. You should get what you ordered.”

“It’s really sweet,” he said. “You’ll like it more. I like bitter things, anyway.”

She looked at him for a second. “Is that why you like me so much?”

He smiled. “Maybe. Aren’t you lucky?”

“Incredibly,” she said, and she swapped their drinks around. She sipped his – it was a fruity vodka concoction that tasted like straight raspberry syrup. “That’s nice.”

Hers was bitter, but that was fine – it complimented the orange in it really well, evening out the sweetness. And it helped to see her enjoying her own drink so much.

He was staring again, too. He was looking at her arms, so defined they made him feel hot. She could definitely pick him up – she could pin him down pretty easily, too. Now, that was certainly an exciting thought. Though, he really, really shouldn’t be thinking about that right now when they were out at a cocktail bar. Maybe she could pin his arms above his head and shove her hands in between his legs, or maybe she could just ride his face. That also sounded fucking amazing.

The alcohol was definitely not helping matters.

She was so, so pretty. How could anyone be so pretty? He couldn’t get over it. He didn’t want to – if anything, he wanted to get under her, but he was doing his very best to keep that inside, because he didn’t want to come across like that was what he was thinking about right now, especially since –

“Do you want to come home with me?” she said quietly.

He blinked and flushed.

It took her a second to realise what she’d said and then she added, “Not – I mean … I’m drunk,” she said. “So, not like … that. Just … I don’t want the night to end yet.”

To be honest, he would have gone home with her like that, anyway, though, maybe that conversation was much better sober.

He nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I’d really like that.”

She smiled so slightly, so softly, it made him ache. “That’s good.”

He wanted to kiss her in the back of the cab, but he wasn’t sure the time was right. Instead, he held her hand, squeezing every now and then, and she’d squeeze right back and give him a soft look that made him want to give her everything.

She started kissing him not long after she unlocked the door to her apartment. Not like that, she’d said, but she was kissing him like that. But they were drunk, both of them very drunk; he’d make sure it stopped before it went anywhere. He’d have to, anyway, so that he could talk to her, to make sure they were on the same page, that she was the person he needed her to be.

But they were on her couch before he knew it, her legs on either side of him, and she was gripping his hair at the back of his head so tightly, like he was all she could hang on to. He probably wasn’t much better either; her dress had ridden up, or had he pushed it up there? He wasn’t really sure, but his hands gripping onto her thighs so tightly, and holy shit, they were solid. He’d never felt such firm muscle under his touch before, but it was amazing. She was so, so sexy.

She pulled away from his mouth and started placing a line of wet kisses down his neck and it nearly made his eyes roll into the back of his head.

He cursed when she started nipping at the skin of his neck, and he wasn’t proud of the sound he let out when she started sucking at the sensitive skin there. That would definitely leave a mark, but he supposed it was fair considering he’d done it to her. It helped, too, that it felt amazing – it was making him feel hot and he never wanted her to stop.

“Fuck,” he groaned. “Annie.”

He bit his lips together to stay quiet when she made her way up to his ear, nipping gently at his lobe.

Her breath was hot against his ear. “Can I blow you?”

His body reacted in two ways at once – it made heat rush through him, making him feel hot; but then, at the same time was the harsh plummeting of his stomach, making bile rise in his throat.

“Annie,” he managed. “That’s – that’s not –”

“No?” she said, placing another kiss against his neck, making him shiver. “I really want to make you moan.”

“Fuck,” he breathed. “It’s not that. It’s just …”

“I can’t get you out of my fucking head,” she said, and her voice sounded almost desperate. “You drive me crazy.”

His heart softened. “I can’t stop thinking about you, either.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” he said.

“I’m glad,” she said, pressing another kiss against his skin. “I want to blow you so badly.”

He winced. Fuck. He needed to say it.

“Armin,” she practically moaned, and oh, God. He had really, really fucked up.

His words came out in a rush. “There’s nothing to blow.”

Annie froze so suddenly that it made him feel sick. “What do you mean?”

He swallowed. He could feel sweat beading down his back now and he was very aware of everything – how the couch felt beneath him, the alcohol in his system, and Annie, beautiful Annie, in his lap.

She leaned back and met his gaze, eyebrows furrowed. “If you have a micropenis, this is a weird way to go about it.” Then, she added, “I can work with that, anyway. You have a mouth.”

“No,” he said weakly. “That’s – that’s not what I was trying to say.”

Annie just looked at him. “What is it?” Then, she added, “Do you just not want me?”

His eyebrows furrowed. “Of course I want you. I want you more than I think I’ve ever wanted anything.”

She frowned. “Then, what is it?”

It took a lot to hold her gaze. “I’m trans.”

He hated the way her face fell. It made his stomach churn – why had Connie been right? Connie wasn’t supposed to be right about anything, except maybe how to orient the couch through a window in Moving Out.

“Oh,” she said, and then, slowly, she eased herself off him.

He was going to throw up. He was going to throw up on her carpet, or maybe the coffee table, or maybe just the couch itself. As long as he avoided her, maybe she wouldn’t kill him. Or maybe he needed to stand up and go so that he could throw up in the hallway or out on the street, or maybe back at his apartment where Connie could call him an idiot as he leaned over their toilet seat.

He opened his mouth to tell her he was going to leave just as her head fell onto his shoulder.

She groaned. “Oh my God.”

Her reaction confused him so much that the nausea he was feeling just seemed to pause. His eyebrows furrowed and he glanced over at her. “Annie?”

“Oh my God,” she said, leaning back. “Fuck.”

Never mind. He was back to feeling like he might throw up again. “I’m sorry. I can go now if –”

“I’m a fucking idiot,” she said. “Oh my God. Why did I say that to you?”

His face softened. “Sorry?”

She groaned again and dropped her head into her hands. “Fuck. What’s my problem?” She lifted her head again. “I invited you back here even though I’m drunk and then I just offered to blow you, and you have nothing to blow, so now I just look like the biggest tool in the world. No, I am the biggest tool in the world. Fuck.”

“You’re not a tool,” he said gently.

“I am,” she said. “Oh my God. I’m sorry. Jesus Christ.”

“Don’t apologise,” he said. “You didn’t know. That’s not your fault. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you until now.”

“No, don’t say sorry. Why are you saying sorry?” she said.

His eyebrows knitted together. “I should have told you by now.”

She shook her head. “No, you didn’t have to. I mean, it would have been nice to know, but … you didn’t have to tell me.”

He just looked at her then and she looked right back at him. She looked mortified – was that really all that was getting to her? Was she only embarrassed about what she’d said? The thought made him feel a little better about the whole situation.

She let out a breath. “I’m sorry I just came onto you like that.”

“It’s okay,” he said.

She shook her head. “It’s … it’s not.” She sighed. “I always rush into things. I was being really good with you and I still just … fuck, can I not keep it in my pants for five minutes?”

His face warmed. “I didn’t get that impression.”

She let out a breath of laughter. “Well, it’s clear that’s not the case now, isn’t it?” Then, after a pause, she said, “Can I ask something?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

She bit her lip for a moment before she said, “Why didn’t you mention it?”

His eyebrows furrowed. “I … I got scared.”

Her expression softened. “Scared?” Then, after a beat, she added, “Do I scare you?”

“No,” he said. “I don’t mean like that. I mean …”

Annie just looked at him, the same soft look on her face. It was so gentle he just wanted to lean into her, but he couldn’t do that right now.

Armin sighed. “I’ve had bad experiences in the past. People don’t … always take it well. I go on dates, and I don’t say it right away because I want to know that I can trust them, but then … well, I tell them about it and then … I’ve just gotten let down a lot. They do it gently, but … I still get let down.”

Her eyebrows drew together. “Armin …”

He closed his eyes. “And I like you so much. I think about you all the time. I’ve never felt like this before.” He let out a breath. “I just … I wanted to … keep feeling like that. I was scared you’d have an issue, so I just … I kept putting it off. And now …”

There was a brief pause. Then, she said, “Armin?”

“Yeah?”

“Look at me.”

He opened his eyes and met her soft gaze.

“You don’t think I have a problem with that, do you?” she asked gently.

He swallowed. “I … I don’t know.”

She looked almost hurt. “Armin. Of course I don’t.”

His face softened. “You … don’t?”

Annie shook her head. “No.” Her eyebrows furrowed. “I’m sorry if I ever gave you the impression that I do.”

“You … didn’t,” he said. “Not necessarily. I just …”

“Assumed?” she asked.

After a moment, he said, rather reluctantly, “Yeah.”

Annie scoffed. “Nice idea, after going on three dates with me.”

He winced. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” she said before she sighed. “I just wish I could have shown you that.” Her eyebrows drew together. “Have you been worried about my reaction this whole time?”

His eyebrows were drawn together. “Yeah.”

“Armin,” she said, and her voice was so soft. “You’re an idiot.”

He let out a huff. “Thanks.”

“Sorry,” she said. Then, she added, “If you don’t mind dating an idiot, too, then I think we’ll be fine.”

His heart softened. “I don’t mind. I’d really like that, actually.”

“Good,” she said. Then, after a moment, she said, “Do you want some water? I’m still pretty drunk, but I’d like to talk to you more.”

“Yeah,” he said and he managed a smile. “I could probably do with sobering up a little.”

“Okay,” she said and pushed herself off the couch. She shimmied her dress down her thighs and when she was satisfied, she put her hand out to him. “Come with me, then.”

He looked at her hand for a moment. She had such nice hands; they were small and surprisingly soft, given what she did for a living. He liked the way they felt in his.

He reached forward and took her hand. She pulled him to his feet and led him out of the living room and toward the kitchen; she didn’t drop his hand the whole time.

Chapter Text

Annie never particularly thought negatively of herself, but she thought that the label of idiot was pretty appropriate then.

What the fuck was her problem? In her head, she’d thought she sounded like hot shit. She’d dated a fair bit, and she knew guys – Armin was definitely going to want to hear about how much she wanted to blow him. He definitely was going to want that.

There’s nothing to blow.

He’d looked so fucking small when he told her he was trans. How had she managed to sound so awful that he had to feel that way? It had made her want to hold him and say sorry, over and over, but she hadn’t. Maybe she should have. She hadn’t really been sure what to do; she’d never dated anyone trans before, and she was acting like an ignorant idiot. That wasn’t fair to him at all.

Armin drained his glass of water before she could sit down, and he looked at her apologetically.

She smiled and took it off him. “Another?”

“Yeah, please.”

So, she filled it up again and passed it to him. She decided she should probably take the same approach and finished her water before topping it up and sitting down next to him at her and Hitch’s breakfast bar.

She hated that stupid breakfast bar. She liked everything about the apartment, except the size of the kitchen. She wished they had room for an actual table. Hitch suggested getting a fold-out table and chairs for the living room so they could bring them out if they wanted guests over, but she wasn’t sure where they’d be able to store all of that or if it was worth it. Though, it still might have been better than this thing.

Her eyes fell on his hand resting on the bench. Tentatively, she reached forward, the tips of his fingers brushing against hers. He got what she meant and spread his fingers so she could interlace them. It made her heart ache, just a little bit.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “For being an idiot. And making you feel weird.” She cringed. “And coming onto you in the weirdest way possible.”

He let out a huff of air. “It’s fine, Annie. Really.”

She nodded. “Can I ask something?”

He nodded. “Of course you can.”

Her gaze fell on their interlaced fingers. Her eyebrows furrowed. “Are you comfortable with sex?”

He was quiet for a second before he said, “Um … yeah.”

She winced. “Sorry. Was that ignorant?”

He shook his head. “No, that’s fine. It’s just …”

Her face softened. “We don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.” Then, she added, “Any more than I already have, anyway.”

He smiled. It was so soft that it made her heart ache. “It’s fine. I’m … fine with sex.” Then, he added, “I … I never could take my shirt off, but … um …”

“Can you now?” she asked.

His eyebrows rose. “Now?”

Her face flushed. “No, not right now. I just meant … in general.”

“Yeah,” he said and let out a nervous laugh. “It’s not that I can’t and more … I’ve not actually had sex since … before I got top surgery.” Then, he added, “I don’t wear a shirt that often at home. I’m more than comfortable with that.”

Her eyebrows furrowed. “When’d you get top surgery?”

He ducked his head. “Um … a while ago. Like … over a year now. Nearly two.”

“Huh,” she said.

“Um … yeah,” he said, offering her a smile. “I don’t really have much game.”

She let out a huff of laughter. “Well, we’re in a similar situation.”

His eyebrows rose. “Seriously?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Hitch keeps telling me my hymen must have grown back. It doesn’t get funnier any time she says it.”

He laughed. “Yeah, I can imagine it wouldn’t.” Then, he added, “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” she said.

“Well … why?” he asked.

Annie scoffed. “I don’t have any game, either.”

He looked at her blankly.

“What?” she asked.

“Annie, you’re gorgeous,” he said. “You don’t need game.”

She snorted. “I do. And I haven’t been looking for anything.” Then, after a moment, she sighed and said, “I have the tendency to … rush into things.”

His eyebrows rose. “You don’t seem like that.”

“It’s mostly sex,” she said. She sighed again. “I usually have sex on the first date.”

“Oh,” he said. “Um … okay.”

She winced. “This isn’t making me sound very classy.”

He shook his head. “Annie, it’s your life. You can do what you want.”

“I guess,” she said. “It’s just …” She sighed. “So, I get into these relationships because I’m sexually attracted to the person, and I tend to miss all of the red flags for a while. So, I thought I’d take a break from dating until I could get on top of that.”

He nodded. “That makes sense.” Then, he added, a little playfully, “Well, you made it to our third date, so that counts as progress.”

When he smiled, she let out a breath of laughter.

“Yeah,” she said. “And I sounded like an idiot.”

“You didn’t,” he said. “It was still hot.”

She scoffed. “You’re just saying that.”

“I’m not,” he said, eyebrows furrowing. “It was really weird. It turned me on, but I also just felt awful since … well, you know why.”

Annie bit her lip for a second. “Do you like hearing stuff like that?”

“Um … yeah,” he said. “I know it doesn’t really …” Armin cleared his throat. “I prefer that.”

“Okay,” she said. “I have another question. You don’t have to answer, though.”

“Go ahead,” he said gently.

Her eyebrows furrowed. “At Scouts, on our first date … when I … well, I thought I touched your dick –”

Armin winced. “Packer. It was a packer.”

Her face softened. “Oh. Right.”

He reached up to rub his neck. “I don’t really wear it anymore, I just … I was … nervous.” He cleared his throat. “Before I got top surgery, it made me feel a lot more secure. I don’t know. I don’t need that as much now. I just …”

Annie nodded. “That’s fine. I get it. I just … I wasn’t sure if I’d been imagining things.”

He let out a breath. “No, you weren’t. You definitely touched something.” He winced. “I’m sorry, I know you were really embarrassed about it. I just didn’t know how to …”

She shook her head. “That’s fine. I get it.” Then, after a pause, she added, “Can I ask more inappropriate questions?”

His expression was soft for a moment before she noticed the slight curl of his lips. “They haven’t been inappropriate so far.”

“Well, they’ll get inappropriate,” she said. “Okay?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Okay.”

Thank God for the alcohol. “Do you use a strap?”

His eyebrows rose, face flushing. “Um … yeah. I mean, obviously, only if the other person wants that.”

“Great,” she said, feeling her body go hot. She bit the inside of her lip to try and ignore the sensation. “I’m really into that.”

He swallowed. “Yeah?”

She nodded.

“Okay,” he said. “Um … good. I’m really into that, too.”

She smiled. “Perfect.” Then, she added, “I have another disgusting, inappropriate question.”

He let out a breath of laughter. “Okay. Go for it.”

“It’s filthy,” she warned.

He smiled. “That’s okay.”

That stupid, sweet smile of his was so pretty. It made her want to defile him.

Why did she take him back to her place? She should have asked to go back to his apartment – at least he’d have his strap there. They didn’t have to be talking about this right now – she could be bent over his bed right now, biting his pillows, moaning his name –

“Annie?” he asked.

She blinked, face flushing. “Sorry.”

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said. “Um … I was thinking about other filthy things.”

“Oh,” he said, and his face flushed. Fuck. He looked so delicious like that. What if she just –

She squeezed her eyes shut. No. She really needed to calm down.

“I’m drunk,” she said after a moment. “Sorry.”

He let out a laugh. “That’s okay. So am I.” Then, he added, “What was your question?”

“Oh, right,” she said. She let out a breath, almost in an attempt to cool herself down. Though, given what she was about to ask, it was a bit unnecessary. “Thoughts on me blowing your strap?”

His eyes widened, and he almost seemed to glitch. “Um … well, I mean … I –”

Her eyebrows furrowed. “Too filthy?”

“No,” he said firmly. “I … I’m … I’m into that.” He cleared his throat. “It’s not … I mean, are you fine with that?”

She smiled. “This isn’t my first rodeo, Armin.” Then, after a moment, she added, “You are my first cowboy, though.”

His eyebrows rose before he laughed. “Oh – okay. Um …” He cleared his throat. “Yeehaw?”

She levelled his gaze for a long moment before she laughed. His lips twitched, and he joined in, and his laugh was so, so nice. She could have listened to it forever.

When they both fell quiet, she felt a lot less riled than before – the water was clearly helping sober her up, and the sound of his laughter had made her relax.

After a moment, she said, “Sorry for sounding like such a pervert.”

“That’s okay,” he said, giving her a genuine soft smile. “It’s … honestly, it’s nice to hear those things from you. I’ve been thinking about you like that a lot.”

Her eyebrows rose. “Really?”

He let out a breath of laughter. “Yeah. You’re so hot. Are you serious?”

“I’m very serious,” she said.

“Well, yeah,” he said. His eyebrows furrowed. “Um … as long as that’s fine.”

She let out a huff of laughter. “I think we’re a bit past that point, don’t you?”

He smiled. God, he was so pretty. “Yeah. Maybe.”

She squeezed his hand. “Do you have anywhere to be tonight?”

“No,” he said with a small shake of his head. “Just here with you.”

“Do you want to watch a movie?” she asked. “We could order food – I’m kind of hungry, actually. And we could have a sleepover.” Then, she added, “I promise I’m not trying to make a move on you again tonight.”

He smiled. “I’d like that.” Then, he added, “I don’t have any clothes here, though, so …”

“I do,” she said. “Not sure if they’ll fit, but I have some of Reiner’s old college sweats. If that doesn’t bother you.”

He shook his head. “No, that’s fine.”

“Perfect,” she said and offered him a smile. “Do you like Thai food?”

Chapter Text

“Did you get lucky last night then?”

Armin was smiling like an idiot when he pushed open the door to his apartment, so he definitely must have looked like it. “No.”

Connie’s eyebrows furrowed. “Why do you look like that?”

“Nothing,” he said. “I just had a nice night. Is that fine?”

“I mean, yeah,” said Connie, narrowing his eyes. “You just look … well, you look like you had a really nice night.”

“I did,” he said, settling down on the couch next to him. “Want to play Moving Out?”

Connie’s eyebrows furrowed. “Who are you?” Then, his eyes fell to his neck, and he grinned. “Why are you lying? You’re covered in hickeys, dude.”

Armin’s face flushed, but he was still smiling. “We just kissed. A lot.”

Connie raised an eyebrow. “She’s that good of a kisser? Seriously?”

“It wasn’t just that,” he said. “I just had a nice time with her.” Then, he added, “I told her, by the way.”

“Oh, yeah?” he said. “I take it that you got a positive response, given the way you’re smiling like an idiot.” Then, he added, pointedly, “And all of the hickeys.”

“Yeah, I’d say so,” he said. Then, after a slight pause, he asked, “Are you going to be home next Saturday, by the way?”

Connie’s eyebrows furrowed. “Uh … not sure yet,” he said. “I’m not busy right now, so probably.”

Armin smiled. “You might want to wear headphones.”

Connie looked at him for a long time before he laughed. “Nice one, dude.”

Chapter Text

“Is today the lucky day?”

Annie wanted to scowl at Hitch, but she couldn’t stop smiling. When she’d seen Armin yesterday and he’d passed her order to her, an extra few hearts drawn on the cup, his coworker, Jean, had been dealing with the other customer there, and he’d leaned across the counter to give her a small kiss before work. She’d rolled her eyes, but it was so sweet that her heart nearly burst.

She’d not felt like this in a long, long time, and never before having sex with them. The simple press of his lips had kept her smiling all the way to work.

“God, I hope so,” she said.

Hitch basically cackled. “Four dates without fucking the guy. Honestly, I commend you.”

Annie rolled her eyes. “Thanks. Means a lot, Hitch.”

“No problem,” she said. “Call me if you need anything.”

“I will,” she said.

“And don’t be a size queen about the situation!” she said. “It’s been a while – if he’s got multiple strap options, don’t go for the huge one. I know you’ll be tempted.”

Now, she managed to frown. “I’ll see you later.”

“See you!”

The weather was supposed to be nice, so Armin had suggested they have a picnic at the local park. When she stepped onto the street, the sun was warm on her skin; she was wearing a light pink thing, flowy and short, that maybe made her look a lot more innocent than she was, but she thought Armin might like the way she looked in it. It showed off her arms and legs, anyway, even if it was on the cuter side. She had a hoodie in her big tote bag just in case it cooled down.

He was waiting for her not too far from the park’s main entrance. He looked cute in a simple blue T-shirt and jeans, and he had a backpack slung over his shoulder.

He smiled so warmly when he caught sight of her that she nearly fell apart then and there.

“Hey,” he said, and she pulled him into a hug that clearly surprised him.

“Hey,” she said, and when she pulled back, he pressed his lips to hers.

His smile was so soft that it nearly hurt. “You look beautiful.”

“Thank you,” she said. “Do you like the dress?”

“Yeah,” he said, and she liked the way his eyes trailed down her, checking out every inch of her that he could. “It’s really cute.”

She smiled. “You look really nice, too.”

He smiled. “Thank you.” Then, after a moment, he added, “You ready to go?”

“Yeah,” she said, reaching for his hand. “How’s your week been?”

“Much better now,” he said, and she rolled her eyes – she still smiled, though.

Armin told her all about it as they looked around for a nice spot to set up. It was a bit busier today, but they managed to find a quieter area to settle down, just up a slight hill beside a tree. The tree offered enough shade that they could duck under it if it got too hot, but they decided to set up just out of its reach. He’d brought a picnic blanket, red and checkered, and he laid it flat before they settled down on it.

“What’s for lunch, then?” she asked.

He smiled. “Hungry?”

“Starving,” she said.

“Good,” he said, pulling out a few paper packets. “I’ve got some croissants, pain au chocolats … oh, there’s some of these Portuguese custard things … and these are Danish pastries … and I brought some water and juice so you don’t get thirsty.”

Her eyebrows rose as she surveyed everything he’d pulled out of his bag. “That’s quite a haul.”

He reached up to rub the back of his neck. “Um, yeah. I think I might have overdone it.”

She shook her head. “That’s fine. We can have stuff later if we don’t finish it now.” Then, she added, “Unless you’re busy tonight?”

He shook his head. “No.” He smiled. “Today’s all for you.”

Her heart softened. “Okay, then.” Then, she added, “Is it orange juice?”

“Yeah,” he said.

Armin had brought a flask full of the stuff, one of the ones where the lid was a detachable cup, so he unscrewed that and poured her a cup full. She took it with a small “thanks.”

She was relieved about how warm it was. Spring so far had been surprisingly cold – the fault of climate change, she supposed – but today, the weather seemed to have caught up with the time of year.

“It’s really nice today,” she said.

“Yeah,” he said. “I was worried the forecast might be wrong, but it’s nice to see the weather held up.”

She hummed. “I’m glad it’s nearly summer. I hate the cold.”

“Yeah?” he said, picking up an almond croissant. “Not a fan of Christmastime, then?”

“I like Christmas,” she said. “But I don’t like the snow or the ice or anything. I hate getting colds.”

He smiled. “That’s fair. I like the snow, though.”

She scoffed. “I take it you weren’t ever the victim of being scrubbed with it in high school.”

Laughter danced in his eyes. “I guess I was lucky like that. Who’d do that to you?”

“Reiner and Bertholdt,” she said. “Well, mostly Reiner. He was fucking ruthless.”

Armin smiled. “I’m surprised you let him get away with that.”

She snorted. “I didn’t. But that didn’t stop him from doing it right back.” She shook her head. “He still tries to do it now. I hate seeing him in the winter. I actively avoid him.”

He laughed. “He sounds like an interesting guy.”

She frowned. “That’s one way to put it. I’ll have to apologise to you in advance when you meet him.”

“Yeah?” he said, smiling. “When is that going to happen?”

“For your sake, hopefully not for a while,” she said. Then, she added, “Let’s make it before winter so he doesn’t pull that shit with you.”

His smile was so soft. “Okay.”

After she’d finished her juice, she reached for a pain au chocolat and leaned back, taking a bite. The chocolate was rich and the pastry was perfectly cooked.

She covered her mouth. “This is really nice.”

“Yeah?” he said. “I’m glad you like it.”

She swallowed. “I take it these aren’t your handy work.”

He smiled. “No. Hange told me about this bakery – Rose’s. Said it was amazing and it’d be a nice place to pick up food for you.”

She hummed. “For me specifically?”

“Yeah,” he said, and she didn’t miss the way his lips twitched. “They know I’ve been taking one of our regulars on dates and they really don’t want me to fuck it up.”

Her lips twitched. “Am I that good for business?”

“Oh, yeah,” he said. “You also “boost morale” apparently.” He smiled. “At least mine.”

She rolled her eyes, but she smiled anyway. “Well, I’m glad I could help.”

His smile was so, so soft. “Me too.”

The rest of the pastries were just as nice. They passed the flask of orange juice between each other like it was something alcoholic, and it made her feel just as buzzed, though, she quickly realised that that was just the feeling that came with being around him.

She loved just looking at him – in the warm sunlight, his hair looked golden, and it made his skin look so warm, especially next to her fair skin. His eyes looked a lot more blue, too; he was so pretty in the sunlight.

Armin knew she was staring, clearly, because she wasn’t being discreet about it. If he minded, he didn’t say anything. Though, she supposed that wouldn’t be fair – he was staring too; she could feel his eyes trace her form, but it wasn’t quite ogling. No, it felt more like a caress, as soft as he always looked at her, but with a little more heat behind it. It made her tingle from head to toe.

“Hey,” he said, a strawberry jelly doughnut in hand. He leaned forward with a smile. “Want a bite?”

She rolled her eyes, but she absolutely did. He brought it to her mouth and she bit down, the jelly burst in her mouth and then dribbling down her chin. She reached up, but there was so much jelly – it had somehow ended up on his fingers, too. The doughnut was basically falling apart in his hand.

“Oh, sorry,” he said, reaching up to help wipe it off her face, spreading even more jelly.

She snorted, her face warming as she chewed, and when she met his gaze again, she couldn’t help it – she laughed. It nearly made her spit out the part of the doughnut she’d bit off, but it set him off as well until they were giggling like idiots. It wasn’t easy to eat a doughnut while laughing, especially whilst covered in jelly.

“Sorry,” he said finally. “I’ve got some napkins somewhere.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she said. Then, she said, “I haven’t finished that doughnut you’re holding, either.”

He smiled. “It’s barely a doughnut. It’s falling apart.”

“It was still nice,” she said, putting her hand out. “Give me.”

He didn’t put it in her hand like she thought he would, but he brought it back to her mouth, letting her take another messy bite, having a similar effect as before. A blob of jelly fell just above her knee and he quickly wiped it away, licking the jelly off his fingers.

By the time she’d finished the doughnut, she was smiling at him like an idiot – they were both covered in sugar and jelly.

She took hold of his wrist and sucked a blob of jelly off his finger, making him laugh.

“That tickles,” he said and she dropped his hand. He smiled at her all the same.

“Now you can pass the napkins,” she said.

He did, and he poured a little bit of the water from his other bottle to help with the stickiness. It helped a little, but she was still very aware that she’d been covered in sugar and jelly mere moments ago.

“Do you want a doughnut?” she asked.

He smiled. “Do you want to feed me a doughnut?”

Her lips twitched. “Well, someone’s got to show you how to do it considering the mess you just made.”

He let out a huff of laughter. “Okay, then. Show me.”

Annie ended up making even more of a mess than he did. It didn’t help that he was laughing at her while she was making such a mess – it just got more jelly everywhere.

It was all over his chin when he finished and she did her best to wipe it away, but he was still laughing at her. It made her face warm.

“Stop laughing,” she said.

“I’m not laughing,” he said, but he really was. “You’re really good at this.”

She met his gaze and now he was really holding himself back. He didn’t last long, though, before he started laughing. She couldn’t help it – she started laughing, too.

“You made a real mess of that,” he said.

“I know,” she said, but she still smiled. “I was trying to be charming. That didn’t fucking work.”

“It worked,” he said. “Consider me charmed.”

He smiled at her and she rolled her eyes. “Oh, please.”

He laughed again. “I’m serious.”

She scoffed. “I’m sure you are.”

His eyes were sparkling. “You always charm me.”

“Yeah,” she said. “I bet.”

He smiled. “I’m not lying.”

“I never said you were.”

He tilted his head. “You didn’t exactly sound convinced.”

Annie hummed and leaned forward. Their faces were only inches apart.

She smiled. “Convince me.”

He smiled at her again and leaned forward, pressing his mouth against hers. She did her best not to smile – he tasted like jelly and sugar. Then again, it probably lingered in her mouth, too.

She sighed when his hand came up to her jaw, and he kissed her so sweetly that her toes nearly curled.

When he pulled away, he smiled at her. “You’re so beautiful.”

She scoffed. “Laying it on thick now, aren’t you?”

He grinned. “You like hearing it.”

She hummed and leaned forward again. “I do.”

His lips were so soft and she kissed him a little more forcefully now, and he made the nicest sound against her mouth, one that made heat rush through her. Tentatively, she reached out and placed her hand on his chest; it was light, too light, but she didn’t want to push him too far, not just yet.

In the end, she was overthinking it because he put his hand over hers, pressing it closer to his chest. She let herself feel him, gently moving her hand over the firmness there. He was always talking about how strong she was, but he had some clear definition to him. She liked the feeling of it beneath her fingers.

She didn’t miss the way his hand found her thigh, pushing up maybe a little higher than it should, dipping beneath the fabric, but the last thing she was going to do was complain about that. His touch felt nice and she wanted even more of it, but she was very well aware of the fact that they were in a public park on a Saturday afternoon.

When they parted, their breathing was heavy; his lips were plump from the kiss, and it just made her want to kiss him even more. He was so beautiful – how could he be so beautiful?

“Armin?” she said quietly.

“Hmm?”

She bit her lip. Then, she said, “Can you take me home with you?”

His eyebrows rose. “Right now?”

“Yeah,” she breathed. “If you want to.”

He let out a breath, his lips forming a smile. “I’d love to.”

She swallowed and said, “That’s perfect.”

His smile widened and he laughed – it was such a pretty sound that it made her heart feel so light. Then, before she could think, he leaned forward and kissed her again, oh so gently.

Chapter Text

Armin hoped Annie hadn’t noticed the way his hands were trembling as he unlocked the door to his apartment, but if she did, she didn’t say anything about it.

It wasn’t that he was nervous, per se; it had just been … a while. And Annie was so gorgeous, and she’d made it very clear how much she wanted him. That in itself was beyond exciting, but he couldn’t shake that anxious edge as they stepped inside.

He dropped his backpack on the ground and toed off his shoes and Annie did the same with hers as he shut the door behind them. Connie was in the living room on his Xbox, headphones already in. He was playing Assassin’s Creed again.

“Hey, Connie!” he called out.

Connie took one headphone off. “Oh, hey, man.” Then, he noticed Annie and said, “Hey!”

“Hey,” she said.

Connie paused the game and took his headphones off, before rising to his feet to approach them. He stuck his hand out and smiled. “Annie, right? I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m Connie.”

She took his hand. “I hope you’ve heard nice things.”

Connie laughed. “God, he hasn’t shut up about you for weeks.”

She glanced at him, a smile tugging at her lips. “Weeks?”

His face flushed, but he put his hand on Annie’s back. “I think he’s exaggerating.”

“I’m not,” he said. “I’m glad you’re seeing each other now. All he did was pine. It was a lot.”

“Okay,” said Armin, nudging Annie along. “I’ll see you later, Connie.”

“What?” said Connie. “It’s true!”

“It was nice to meet you,” said Annie as he pushed her toward his bedroom.

Armin let out a sigh of relief when the bedroom door was shut behind them.

Annie was smiling at him. “Pining, huh?”

He reached up to rub the back of his neck. “Uh … I wouldn’t use that word, particularly.”

“No?” she said. “What word would you use instead?”

Armin paused for a long time. Then, he said, “You know, Annie, I just don’t think I can put into words how I feel about you.”

She rolled her eyes. “That’s one hell of a cop-out.”

He smiled as she turned around to look at his room. It wasn’t much; he had a good few bookshelves crammed with books, some more piled on the nightstand and by the shelves themselves. Then, there was his desk, which he didn’t really use too much, but couldn’t bear to part with; his wardrobe and stupid rug shaped like the Earth he’d seen on Marketplace that he’d thought was cool when he was in college. His sheets were blue, and he had his little Blåhaj on his bed with a nice little bowtie – Connie had gotten him it.

“Who’s this guy?” she said, pointing to him.

“Shane,” he said.

She glanced at him. “Shane the shark?”

“Not my most creative moment,” he said and she snorted.

“No,” she said. “He’s cute, though. Is this that IKEA shark?”

“Yeah,” he said.

She hummed. “I like the bear.”

His eyebrows rose. “Djungelskog?”

Her lips twitched. “I didn’t know its name. Nice to see you’re an expert.”

He felt his face flush. “Well, I wouldn’t go that far.”

She approached his bed and sat down on the edge. She’d never been in there before but something about her sitting there seemed so right. He wondered if he could just ask her to stay, or if that was a bit too much.

Annie leaned back and smiled. “Are you just going to stand there or do you want to come and join me?”

He smiled. “I want to come and join you.”

“Perfect,” she said, and he took a few steps to join her on the bed.

When he was beside her, he took a few moments to look at her. She’d looked so pretty in the sunlight outside, but he liked how she looked right now, her lips slightly curved as she looked at him.

“Hi,” she said.

He smiled again. “Hey.”

Her hand found his knee as she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. He sighed against her mouth – she still tasted like sugar and strawberries, but that was perfect. It wouldn’t have mattered what she tasted like, anyway; he’d have kissed her all the same.

He let his hands find her face, cupping her gently as he deepened the kiss. It didn’t take long before it grew in intensity, but that seemed to be how Annie liked things. Even then, she soon moved, straddling him so that her thighs were on either side of him as they kissed. He liked her like this, liked where he could hold onto her thighs, like the way her dress rode up when she did. He was greedy with the way he touched her legs, but Annie didn’t seem to mind. If anything, she seemed to be a very big fan of it, especially considering the noises she was making against him now.

When she pulled back, her breathing was heavy, and her face was perfectly flushed. Looking at her made his heart ache.

“You’re so pretty, Annie,” he said gently.

Her face softened. “Yeah?”

He smiled. “Yeah. You’re so pretty.”

Annie bit her lip. He liked it when she did that; she did it a lot, often when she was considering what she was going to say.

“Do you want to see more of me?” she asked.

Her words sent a rush of warmth through him. He nodded. “If that’s what you want.”

“Yeah,” she said, before leaning back, reaching for the hem of her dress. In a few movements, the dress was over her head and on the floor behind them.

His eyes took all of her in; the curve of her breasts, supported by soft pink lace, over the slightly defined abs at her stomach, the dips at her waist, and then the pretty pink lace underwear she had on to match her bra. For a few moments, he found it very hard to think.

His mind eventually caught up, though. “Annie,” he breathed, letting his hands drift to her hips. “You’re beautiful.”

She bit her lip and hummed, a questioning sound.

“Yeah,” he said. “So, so beautiful.”

Her hands found his shoulders. “Show me how beautiful you think I am.”

He ran his hands over her skin, leaning up to capture her lips. She made a small, sweet sound against him and he relished in it. But she kissed back a little more forcefully, and he matched her intensity, taking the chance to explore her body with his hands as he did.

He mapped every inch he could get away with. Over her hips, her thighs, her back, the curve of her ass, and then up to her breasts, gently palming her through the soft fabric. She made a delightful sound against his mouth, and he found her nipples through the lace, gently circling them, and she moaned.

She popped off him then and his hands fell.

“Is everything okay?” he asked.

“Perfect,” she said, reaching behind her to unclip her bra. She did it one-handed, and then that was gone behind her, too. She grabbed his wrists and guided them back to her chest.

“Don’t stop,” she breathed against his mouth before she kissed him again.

Well, who was he to argue with that? So, he squeezed her again, carefully, and she moaned. Her breasts were so soft, so different from the firmness of her muscles, and he relished in how sensitive she was. When he returned to play with her nipples, she whined, making him hot with want.

He left her mouth and moved down, letting his tongue trace her nipple as he palmed her other breast, and she cursed under her breath, her fingers tangling tightly in his hair. He loved it when she did that.

“Armin,” she breathed. “Shit.”

He pulled away, swapping breasts, and she basically shivered on top of him, letting out a string of delicious sounds as he caressed her. Fuck. She was so, so perfect.

When he pulled away, she whimpered.

“I told you not to stop,” she said.

He smiled. “I know.” His hands found the fabric at her hips, dipping his thumbs beneath it. “Do you want to take these off?”

She bit her lip and nodded.

She moved off of him, standing up, before shimmying her underwear to the ground. He noticed the way her wetness clung to the fabric and he felt hot – was she really that wet already?

“Fuck me,” he breathed as she climbed on top of him again.

She let out a huff of laughter. “I’m trying to do that.”

His lips twitched. “You’re doing a really good job.”

She hummed and leaned forward to press her lips back to his. He let one hand grip her hip while the other snaked between her legs, pressing through her folds to reach her clit.

She moaned against his lips as he started caressing her. She was so, so wet and so soft to the touch. He gently circled her, picking up his pace, and she moaned again, kissing him more forcefully, making heat rush through him.

Holy shit. Her kisses were growing wet and messy, and she was making some of the prettiest sounds he’d ever heard as he touched her. He’d had no idea she could make sounds so needy – it was pure heaven.

She whimpered and pulled away from him, her breathing coming out in pants already. Her eyebrows were furrowed and she seemed a little lost in the sensation, and she moaned again.

“You’re gorgeous,” he said quietly.

She bit her lips together and moaned, sending heat seeping through him. She dropped her head against his shoulder, her fingers digging into him as he circled her clit, and she let out such a pretty noise it made him ache with want.

“Armin,” she breathed. “Fuck.”

He smiled. “Uh-huh?”

She whimpered into his neck. “Fuck me.”

His abdomen felt tight. “Is that what you want?”

She hummed. “I need it.”

A wave of pleasure washed through him and he cursed. He was feeling pretty similarly to her right now.

He pulled his hand away from her, moving to her hips, and she groaned in complaint. He nearly smiled – she wanted everything, apparently.

Annie leaned back, and when she did, he took the chance to kiss her deeply. It seemed to take her a few moments to come to her senses, but when she did, she kissed him back with the same sort of fervour, her hands coming to the bottom of his shirt and tugging.

She popped off his mouth. “Can I take this off?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

He helped her shimmy it over his head, tossing it behind her, and he tried not to squirm under her gaze. He liked his chest these days, but he wasn’t used to taking it off in front of his partners. And Annie was staring a little, almost like she wanted to swallow him whole. He wasn’t sure anyone had ever looked at him like that before – it made him feel so needy.

Gently, she pressed her hands against his chest, slowly moving down, brushing his nipples and making him shiver. The scars on his chest had healed nicely, but they were still visible – he watched her trace their curve curiously, and he was surprised at how little the move bothered him. It just felt like a caress, and he’d let Annie caress all of him if she wanted.

“You’re so pretty,” she said.

The words were so genuine that they made his heart hurt. “You think so?”

“Yeah,” she said. “You have really nice nipples, too.”

Armin laughed. “Thanks. My doctor said the same thing.”

Her lips twitched. “Seriously?”

“Dead serious,” he said, still smiling.

“Well,” she said. “Great minds think alike.”

He laughed, but she swallowed it with her lips, suppressing his smile in a way he didn’t mind one bit. He liked the firm press of her hands on his bare chest to the point he almost wanted her to be more forceful, to grab him more firmly, but he didn’t want to stop kissing her then to tell her to do that.

But she moved away eventually, slipping off him, and he wanted to ask where she was going. But she just settled on the bed next to him, leaning back, her head knocking into something she didn’t expect and frowning – it was Shane.

Her lips twitched as she reached behind her. “Is it okay if he sits this one out?”

He laughed. “Yeah. Um, let me take him.”

She passed him the shark plushie with a sweet smile and he gently put him down on the ground by the bed. He was sure he’d understand.

“Sorry,” she said, leaning back properly now.

He smiled and moved so that he was kneeling beside her, face not too far from hers. “That’s okay.”

He kissed her again and pressed his hand to her inner thigh and was thrilled by the way she immediately spread her legs for him. God, she was perfect. He wanted to show her just how perfect she was.

He pulled away from her momentarily so he could watch her face as he slipped his finger inside her. She made a noise he hadn’t thought she’d be capable of, fragile and needy, and he smiled at her as he started steadily thrusting into her.

She groaned. “Stop smiling at me like that.”

He laughed. “Why?”

“It’s too sweet,” she said, breath catching. “What we’re doing isn’t sweet.”

He smiled, moving to press a second finger inside her. She whimpered. “I think it’s very sweet.”

She made a noise of complaint, but she didn’t argue with him. He pressed his lips to hers again, kissing her gently as he thrust his fingers inside her. When she spread her legs even further apart, he got the message and, gently, pushed a third finger inside her.

Annie moaned against his mouth, fingers lacing through his hair as he fucked her with his fingers. She was hot around him and her kisses had become messy again, but he really liked how unpolished his ministrations were making her. He could fluster her, sure, but it was amazing to see her like this, so wound up and needy, all for him.

He slipped out of her, maybe a little too suddenly, because she made a noise of complaint against his lips.

He pulled away from her and smiled. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” she breathed. She swallowed. “Can you fuck me now?”

He let out a huff, but he still smiled. “Patience isn’t one of your virtues, is it?”

“I made it to the fourth date,” she said. “I think I’m allowed to be impatient.”

His smile widened and he pushed himself up, and she followed him. She grabbed onto the front of his jeans before he could move anywhere else.

“Are these coming off?” she asked quietly.

“I’d hope so,” he said. “The strap looks pretty bad over jeans.”

To her credit, she looked embarrassed. “Shut up.”

He smiled and pressed a brief kiss to her lips. “Everything’s coming off. Don’t worry.”

“I wasn’t worried,” she said. “I just didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.” She winced. “I’m being weird again, aren’t I?”

He shook his head. “No, you’re being considerate.” Then, he smiled. “Though, that might be weird for you.”

Annie frowned. “Ouch.”

“I’m kidding,” he said, pressing his lips to her neck. She sighed. “Do you have a preference?”

“Preference?” she asked.

Armin rose to his feet and started unbuckling his pants. “Size.”

“Oh,” she said. “Can I see your options?”

“Sure,” he said, kicking his jeans off so he was just in his briefs. He had some nerve being surprised at how turned on she was; he’d soaked through his briefs, though, if Annie saw, she had the decency to not say anything about it.

He moved to the wardrobe and pulled open the doors, crouching down to take the small box out of the bottom. He heard the bed creak as she slid off it and made her way over to him.

He pulled the lid off and let her look inside. It was just a few dildos, and the actual harness for the strap; they were fairly natural in design, and pretty close to his skin tone, but they varied in length and size.

Annie reached in and picked the middle one; it was closest to average in size. “This work for you?”

He smiled. “That’s fine.”

She bit her lip. “No one’s ever asked me to pick the cock size before.”

His smile slipped. “Sorry. Is that weird for –”

“No,” she said with a shake of her head. “I appreciate having the choice.” But she was still smiling.

He frowned. “Is something up?”

“It’s stupid,” she said.

He looked at her for a moment before he said, gently, “I can do stupid.”

Annie snorted. “Hitch told me not to be a “size queen” if you gave me an option to pick.”

His eyebrows furrowed before his face softened, his lips curling into a smile. “Seriously?”

“Yeah,” she said and then let out a laugh. “Sorry, that just … came to mind.”

His smile widened. “That’s fine.” Then, he added, teasingly, “Would you consider yourself a size queen?”

Her face flushed. “No. I would not.”

Armin smiled. “Sorry. Thought I’d check.”

Annie rolled her eyes, but she was still so beautifully flushed. He loved the way the pinkness took over her fair skin. “Just hurry up so you can fuck me, okay?”

He smiled and grabbed the harness, taking the dildo from her hands. “Will do.” Then, his smile fell, and he added, “Is it okay if you just … look away for a second?”

Her face softened. “Oh. Yeah, sure.”

Armin winced. “Sorry. It’s just … it’s been a while since I’ve put this thing on. I don’t want to embarrass myself.”

Her lips twitched. “You’re not the first person I’ve seen put a strap on, Armin.”

His face warmed. “I know. It’s just –”

“I get it,” she said, and she turned around, moving her hands to cover her eyes in a deliberate motion so it was clear she wasn’t looking. “Let me know when you’re ready.”

His heart was racing a little as he started adjusting himself. He was glad she wasn’t watching; he was struggling a little bit, and the harness was a little tighter than he’d expected. Well, it had been a while; he’d gained some more muscle definition on his thighs since he’d last used the thing.

When he was happy that everything was in the right place, he cleared his throat. “Okay. I’m all good.”

Annie was still on the ground, and she dropped her hands and turned around to face him. His face warmed as she took all of him in, and he tried not to feel too self-conscious when her eyes lingered on the strap.

She moved over to him in a few movements, crawling across the ground in a way that made him feel hot all over. When her hands found his legs, his breath caught.

Annie pressed her mouth to his thigh and he shivered.

“You’re so sexy,” she said lightly.

His throat felt tight. “Yeah?”

Annie hummed and she pressed her mouth against the flesh of his leg again, and he sighed.

“Armin?” she breathed.

“Hmm?”

“Do you want me to suck your cock?” she said.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Tentatively, he nodded. “Yeah.”

Annie smiled up at him and oh, God, she was so fucking gorgeous. She knew she was pretty, but did she have any idea that she looked this fucking good? Could anyone really know that they looked this good? She was so, so beautiful, so pretty it hurt.

She held his gaze as she slipped her lips around the strap, moaning as she slowly took it into her mouth. She hit the base and made a small choking sound, making him feel hot with want.

“Holy shit, Annie,” he breathed, eyebrows furrowing. “You’re so pretty.”

Annie hummed, her voice turning into a small moan as she bobbed her head up and down the strap.

He bit down on his bottom lip hard as he watched her move. He was so turned on he thought he might just burst, but he tried to focus, letting his hands tangle through the strands of her hair as she moved her mouth over the strap.

She pulled off of it with a wet pop, looking up at him with pretty, fuck-me eyes and parted lips.

“Oh fuck,” he breathed.

She smiled. “You doing okay?”

He nodded. “That’s so hot.”

She hummed and then stuck her tongue out so he could watch the tip of the dildo slide over it and into her mouth again. She moaned against it again, taking it in deep, and looked up at him, eyebrows knitted together in pleasure.

She was going to be the death of him. He could barely think when she was doing that, but maybe that was what she wanted. And when she bobbed her head all the way down to the base again, his fucking knees felt weak – how could she do that?

“Annie,” he managed. “How do you want me to fuck you?”

Slowly, she pulled away from the strap, and he desperately tried to think clearly as a string of her spit followed her lips.

She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “I want to be on my knees.”

He let out a breath. “Yeah?”

Annie bit her lip. “Yeah. Is that okay with you?”

He smiled. “Yeah. I just want to be good for you.”

Her face softened. “I don’t think you have to worry about that.”

Her words made his heart feel warm in his chest. He swallowed and said, “Do you want to get on the bed?”

Annie nodded and pushed herself up. She quickly leaned up and pressed her mouth to his and he made a small contented noise against her.

“Don’t keep me waiting,” she said, and then she stepped away to climb onto the bed.

He didn’t need to be told twice. He moved to his nightstand and pulled out the fresh bottle of lube he bought a couple of days ago, clicking open the lid and slicking the strap generously. It was a bit overdone, really, given how wet she’d been, but it was better to be too comfortable than anything else.

When he turned to the bed, he found Annie already on the bed, her legs parted, back beautifully arched as she waited for him. For a second, he couldn’t think.

She turned to look at him. “What did I say about keeping me waiting?”

He blinked and moved. “Right. Sorry.”

She let out a huff of laughter, but it faded quickly when he settled behind her in between her legs. Well, it wasn’t really a laughing matter and he had kept her waiting – he couldn’t really judge her for her quiet anticipation.

As he gripped her left hip, making her breath hitch, he was met with YOU’RE LUCKY on her lower back and he smiled. God, didn’t he know it.

He lined himself up with her entrance and gently eased into her. Her breath seemed to catch again, and then he pushed forward, hilting inside her, and she made such a pretty noise as he filled her. He couldn’t help the way he smiled at the sound.

He gripped her hips lightly and asked, “You okay?”

“Yeah,” she said, her voice light. “You feel good.”

It sent a rush through him and he slowly pulled back, nearly out of her, before pressing all the way into her again. It was a teasing motion, far too slow, and her breath shuddered. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” she said. He repeated the motion, very slowly, and she whimpered. “Please fuck me.”

He hadn’t known that Annie could be capable of saying something so desperate, and it made him feel so turned on that he knew he couldn’t refuse her. Teasing her wasn’t as fun as it would be later, he was sure, not when he hadn’t had her yet, not when he could make her be much louder than this.

So, after a few more slow, teasing thrusts, he started moving faster and she moaned so deliciously it made him ache. He easily fell into a steady rhythm, one that she seemed to love, and he tried not to be too proud of the way her fingers tightened in his sheets.

He smiled and gripped her hips tighter, making her whine.

“Good?” he asked.

“Ah – fuck, yes,” she said. She made another delicious sound, so nice it sent a stab of pleasure through him. “Armin, that’s really nice.”

“Good,” he said. “Annie, you’re so fucking beautiful.”

“Fuck,” she moaned, her breath catching at a particularly deep thrust. “Armin.”

She sounded so pretty when she said his name like that. He picked up his pace just a little more, and that seemed to be exactly what she needed. It was a really good thing that Connie had his headphones because her moans quickly became desperate and loud – not that he was complaining. He could listen to her make those sorts of sounds forever if she’d let him.

She wasn’t quite on all fours anymore; her front had fallen forward and he could see her face a little better like this, although only just. He wanted to see her a bit more clearly, wanted to see pleasure wash over her expression, but he didn’t want to ask her, not when she seemed to be enjoying this so much. And he really wanted her to enjoy herself – he was starting to think that the noises she was making could have made him come on their own if they did it like this for long enough.

“Armin,” she said, her voice breathless. “Wait.”

He slowed to a stop, her breath hitching. “You okay?”

She hummed. “Can I ride you?”

His mouth went dry and he swallowed. “Definitely.”

He tried not to seem too eager as he slipped out of her, though he was settled down on his back before she’d even moved. She leaned backwards and he tried not to smile at the way she looked fucked; God, she was so beautiful.

She reached up to her hair and frowned. “Where’s my hair tie?”

His eyebrows furrowed. “You weren’t wearing one.”

“I know, I was just –” Annie cut herself off and raised her wrist where the hair tie was. “Never mind.”

Armin smiled. “Little disoriented there?”

She frowned as she tied her hair back. “Shut up.”

His smile widened. “Sorry, Annie.”

Her lips curled. “I don’t know if you are.”

She moved so her thighs were on either side of him, letting out a sigh as she slipped onto him. Annie started grinding on his strap, and he reached forward, pressing his thumb against her swollen clit, making her gasp.

“Shit,” she breathed.

“Good?” he said, caressing her clit in the same rhythm as her movements.

Annie bit her lip and nodded. “Mm-hmm.”

Armin didn’t need to be told anything else. Instead, he continued his ministrations, and Annie’s movements slowly became more desperate. He moved his thumb just a little faster against her and that seemed to be exactly what she wanted, because she started cursing, letting out a string of delicious noises as she moved.

“Armin,” she groaned. “Don’t stop.”

“I won’t,” he said and smiled. “You’re so pretty.”

“Fuck,” she breathed. “Oh my God.”

Armin hummed and watched as she rode him, caressing her exactly the way she wanted, and she was getting so close now. She was so, so beautiful like this, skin flushed and so close to orgasm. He really couldn’t believe his luck.

“Armin,” she gasped. “You’re perfect.”

His heart softened. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” she said.

He smiled. “I think you’re pretty perfect, too.”

She let out a breath of laughter, but it slipped into a moan and she cursed.

He kept his eyes on her face as he kept caressing her, pushing her further and further to her edge. It was pure bliss to watch her lose herself like this, to watch her become oh so desperate as she reached her peak as he touched her. And it was even better when she reached that peak.

She cried out, shuddering on his strap as she came, and she looked so, so beautiful as the waves of pleasure rocked through her. When she settled, whimpering at his gentle touches, making him drop his hand, her breathing was heavy. Then, she lifted herself up and collapsed beside him.

Her breathing started slowing, but it was still a little on the heavy side. He rolled over, reaching out to push her bangs out of her face, and her eyes fluttered open.

He smiled. “Hey. You okay?”

Annie nodded. Her voice was uncharacteristically light when she spoke. “That was nice.”

His smile widened. “Yeah? I’m glad you had a nice time.” Then, he added, “Let me know when you want to go again.”

Her eyebrows rose. “Again?”

“Do you not want to?” he asked.

She let out a huff. “Later. Much, much later.” Then, she said, “Don’t you want to come?”

His face flushed. “Maybe. But I’m not as urgent.”

Her lips twitched. “Well, I’m not sure either would be particularly urgent.”

In spite of himself, he smiled. “Yeah, I guess.”

She reached out, her hand resting on his face. “We don’t have to. Not if you aren’t comfortable.”

He sighed when she started rubbing small circles on his cheek. “I’m comfortable.”

“Yeah?”

He smiled slightly. “Yeah.”

She moved until she was on her knees beside him. She hooked her finger through the harness at his hip. “Can we take this off then, pretty boy?”

His face flushed at the praise. “Just a second. Can you …?”

Annie unhooked her finger and moved away so he could shuffle off the bed. He undid each strap maybe just a little too hastily, but fuck it – he was really turned on and he wanted her badly. He could be a little shameless now.

He kicked it off to the floor, ignoring the thud as it hit the ground; he could deal with that later. He turned back to the bed and climbed on and before he could think, Annie’s lips were on his.

He let himself relax into her for a moment, kissing her back just as sweetly as she kissed him. When she pulled away, her face was soft.

“Lie down for me,” she said gently.

He didn’t protest. He adjusted so that his head was flat against the pillows. As soon as he was settled, there she was, in between his legs, pressing wet kisses down his chest, making his eyes flutter shut. He felt them dip lower and lower, pressing against his stomach, and then the trail of hairs at his naval, before they moved lower again. He bit his lip.

“You okay?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m really good.”

He heard her huff of laughter. “That’s good.” Then, he felt her hands on his thighs, gentle but strong, and his breath hitched.

“You’re really pretty, Armin,” she said quietly.

His eyes opened, and he glanced down at her just as she pressed her mouth against him.

“Fuck,” he groaned, letting his eyes fall shut as his fingers gripped at his sheets.

Her mouth was so nice in between his thighs; he was biting down on his bottom lip not to moan, but small, pathetic sounds were still slipping past his lips. Each caress of her tongue was sending a shudder of pleasure through him, and when she sucked at him, he couldn’t help the way he moaned.

“Shit,” he breathed. “Annie.”

She made a lovely sound between his legs that nearly made his eyes roll into the back of his head. Holy shit. She really was perfect.

Her hands gripped harder on his thighs and he made a tiny, pathetic sound. Her lips pressed more firmly against him and his breath hitch, and she swirled her tongue against him, making him nearly shake.

He reached down for her then, threading his fingers through her hair like she did with him; it was so fucking soft. He didn’t mean to, but his grip gently nudged her more firmly against him, and she moaned. The sensation made him whimper, but the heat in him was building so steadily now that he didn’t feel embarrassed about it.

“Annie,” he breathed. “That’s really nice.”

She made another noise against him, and she seemed to pick up her pace, making his breath catch in his throat. He released the sheets and brought his other hand to his mouth to bite down on the knuckle of his middle finger, but it did little to stop him from moaning. Then again, that was probably the last thing she wanted; she’d said she’d wanted to make him moan last weekend, hadn’t she? Well, she was doing a really good job of that.

He dropped his hand from her head and tangled his fingers in the sheets again, glancing down at her, feeling heat rush through him at the sight of her head bobbing a little as she kissed his core. She must have felt his eyes on her, too, because her eyes fluttered open and she looked up at him through her pretty eyelashes, moaning against him again.

“Oh my God,” he groaned, tilting his head back. “Annie. You’re amazing.”

She made another one of those delicious sounds against him, and he trembled.

“Fuck,” he breathed.

Annie kept up a steady rhythm, and it wasn’t long before he felt his climax approaching. His grip on the sheets was knuckle-white-tight, and he was vaguely aware of the fact that he needed to be careful not to rip them. That was a distant thought, though. He was a lot more interested in Annie’s head between his thighs, the steady caress of her mouth, and the firey pressure building inside of him.

He lifted his hips slightly, almost like he was trying to find more friction, although from where he wasn’t sure. A wave of pleasure washed through him when she pushed him down again, her strong arms pinning him to the mattress, and he let out a desperate, pathetic noise that only seemed to spur her on. She gently moved her head, brushing against him from side to side, and he cried out.

“Oh my God,” he groaned. “Please don’t stop.”

Annie didn’t; he was so, so close, and when she did that little thing with her head, he felt like might explode. She caressed him and then she did it again, and he groaned desperately. She moaned against him and he shuddered, so close to his peak now that he felt light-headed.

But then, with a few more delicious movements of her tongue, he was there. He cried out, his hips shuddering as he came against her mouth, and she kissed him through the whole thing until his body fell limp on the bed, chest heaving.

He whimpered when her mouth left him and he managed to open his eyes just as she was wiping his wetness off her lips with the back of her hand.

She smiled. “You doing good?”

He nodded, letting his eyes fall shut again. “Perfect.”

She let out a small snort and he felt the bed shift as she lay down beside him. He sighed when he felt her hand on his face, rubbing gentle circles into his skin.

“Are you really okay?” she asked gently.

His eyes opened and his heart softened at the sight of her. Her expression was as soft as a caress, but her eyebrows were furrowed.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m really good.” Then, after a moment, he added, “Are you okay?”

She smiled. “I’m perfect.”

He smiled too. “That’s good.”

He placed his hand on top of hers, pulling it toward his mouth so he could kiss her fingers. He started with her knuckles, brushing lightly, before he straightened them and pressed a peck to each fingertip until she was smiling at him so widely he could feel his heart soar in his chest.

“You’re so sweet,” she said quietly.

His face softened. “Is that a bad thing?”

She shook her head. “No.” She smiled and added, “I’ve got a bit of a sweet tooth, actually.”

He smiled. “I figured.”

She let out a huff of air through her nose, but she didn’t say anything more. She just looked at him and he looked at her, and it felt so normal; he could easily lay there forever, just looking at her.

“Armin?”

“Yeah?”

Her voice was quiet. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way about anyone before.”

His heart softened. “Really?”

“Yeah,” she said.

He smiled. “I feel the same.” Then, he added, “You drive me crazy.”

She let out a laugh. “Is that a compliment or an insult?”

His smile widened. “A compliment.”

Her lips curled. “I’m glad.”

Armin reached out and ran his fingers through her hair, making her sigh. It was such a sweet sound.

Just looking at her made him feel so at peace. Was that what she meant? Was that what she was feeling, too?

He let his hand drift down to her jaw and smiled at her.

“You feel like home,” he said quietly.

Her face softened. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” he said.

Annie’s hand came up to rest on his. It was warm.

“You feel like home to me, too,” she said gently.

He smiled. Then, after a moment, he moved forward, pressing his lips against hers. He could taste himself on her mouth, but that was fine; just kissing her made his heart feel safe.

When he pulled away, she looked up at him through her eyelashes in a way that made him feel hot all over again.

“Armin?” she said.

“Yeah?”

She bit her lip. “I might be ready to go again.”

He smiled. “Uh-huh?”

She nodded.

He let his hands drift to her thigh as he pressed a kiss to her lips. She sighed so prettily against him, and then, he moved. She let him manoeuvre onto her back, spreading her legs for him so nicely – what had he done to deserve her?

When he pulled away, he smiled, letting his fingers snake in between her legs, making her gasp. “I’m really glad to hear that.”

Chapter Text

They didn’t get out of bed until very late on Sunday morning, though maybe that had been more Annie’s fault than his. They’d ended up falling asleep cuddling after Armin had made her come again, and when they woke up later that night, it was late and they were starving. He’d made them some dinner and afterwards, she’d started kissing him again, very eagerly, and he’d very easily given her everything she asked him for. So, they ended up staying up really late.

Not that she was going to complain about that. As it turned out, waiting four dates had been entirely worth it.

Connie was in the living room in a similar position to where they’d left him the day before, giving them a wave as they stepped into the room.

He slipped off his headphones and grinned. “You two look well-rested.”

She flushed but Armin’s hand found her lower back, immediately putting her at ease. How could his touch have that effect on her?

“Very,” said Armin with a smile. “Headphones all good?”

“Absolutely soundproof,” he said and waggled his eyebrows at him. “You really should have put a pillow behind your bed at around three, though. That woke me up.”

Her blush deepened and Armin said, “Um … sorry. I’ll remember next time.”

Connie scoffed. “Neither of you sounded particularly sorry. I’ve never moved so quickly for my headphones in my life.”

“I’ll buy you takeout later,” said Armin. “Deal?”

Connie looked at him for a long moment before he said, “Deal.”

“Great.” Then, Armin leaned down and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Breakfast?”

“Yeah, please,” she said, just as Connie scoffed.

“I already picked you some up,” he said. “I know you had pastries yesterday, but I got some croissants and stuff.”

Armin smiled. “Thanks, Connie. You didn’t have to.”

“I’m a Godsend, I know,” said Connie. Then, he said, “So, Annie – how do you feel about Moving Out?”

Armin groaned. “You’re not making her play Moving Out.”

Connie frowned. “Why? It’s more fun with more players!”

Armin raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you remember when you made me play with you and Sasha?”

Connie blew air through his lips. “Oh, come on. It wasn’t that bad.”

“The neighbours called the police.”

Connie gave him a pointed look. “That was Sasha’s fault.”

Armin rolled his eyes. “Sure.”

Annie smiled. “I’d like to play.”

Armin’s face fell. “Annie, really – it’s ruthless.”

Her lips curled. “I’m pretty ruthless too, you know.”

“Come on, Armin!” said Connie, and there was something comical about the panicked look on Armin’s face when he noticed he was loading Moving Out up. “It’ll be fun.”

Armin started saying something, but the words died in his throat when she gave him a very sweet smile. That seemed to do the trick.

“Fine,” he relented before he pointed at Connie. “You do not get to talk to my girlfriend the way you talk to me, though.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it!” said Connie. “I bet Annie knows how to follow instructions, anyway.”

When Armin turned around to face her, she smiled at him. “Girlfriend?” she asked teasingly.

His expression slipped, face flushing prettily. “Um …” He reached up to awkwardly rub the back of his neck. “Is that … is that not okay with you?”

Her heart warmed. She took a step forward and stretched up to press a soft kiss to his mouth. It was only brief, but when he pulled away, his face was soft.

She gave him a small smile. “It’s more than fine with me.”

After a moment, he smiled. It made her whole heart flutter. “That’s good.”

“Guys, come on,” said Connie from the living room. “Get something to eat – we’ve got a lot of furniture to move.”

She turned back to him. “Connie?”

“Yeah?”

“If I’m playing, you’ve got to be nice to my boyfriend, too,” she said. “At least while I’m around.”

“I will,” he said. Then, after a pause, he added, “If he can follow instructions.”

She scoffed, but she didn’t bother arguing with him. Instead, she turned back around to face Armin, who was in the process of plating up some croissants for the two of them. When she met his gaze, he gave her one of those soft, sweet smiles, and it was so nice that she thought her heart might burst.

He stepped toward her, hands coming to rest on her hips, and she sighed. “Boyfriend?” he teased.

She hummed and smiled. “As long as that’s okay with you.”

He smiled again, leaning forward to press a soft kiss against her lips. It was so sweet that it made her tingle from her head to her toes. “That’s perfect.”