The Library (Armin Arlert x Reader)

Chapter 24

((tysm for all your support on the last chapter, I mean it:) also I'm tired of the palace arc I didn't mean to drag it out like I did so I decided it's over because I can.))

"Oh man, I am soooo going to miss this place..." I sighed, picking up my suitcase. I had packed everything up the night before and took a quick shower last night as well.

"Me too." Armin rested an elbow on my shoulder, looking out at the castle. "We just have to get married here."

"Armin, we just started dating like...literally a week ago!" I smiled over at him. He returned the smile.

"Hey, that give us plenty of time to plan, now doesn't it? Oh, I got you something, by the way!"

~~~~

Armin went straight back to work when we got back, his shift is now wrapping up, so I decided I should just go pay him a visit and talk about some...things.

We didn't get the chance to discuss what we know know of our past lives because I wasn't ready at the time, but, I feel a lot better about it now.

I took the elevator down, not really feeling like walking down 4 flights of stairs- plus, it leads right to the mail room and I wanna check and see if my moms had sent me anything.

Inside, there was a plastic rose with my favorite scent sprayed onto it, and a letter.

'Miss you:)' it read, and it was adorable. Armin is so cute, oh my goodness-

I put the stuff in my bag so I could thank him later, I had no mail from my moms yet, which was a little upsetting but we usually have one hour calls every other day so...it's fine.

I walked the few blocks it took to get there and the lady at the front desk welcomed me. I learned her name is Luna, she's 57, and has five kids. I mean, I'm starting to come here so often to talk to her co-worker so us talking was bound to happen.

I waved to Luna and she waved back with her usual smile, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. She had told me they're fake and she wears them just to make her feel like a 'real librarian'.

Armin was wrapping up his shift and took his lanyard off, putting it away in the box by the front desk. He did a double take at me and smiled, opening his arms and hugging me.

"Let's head to our little area, yeah? I wanna talk about my gift!"

I thought it was odd he'd want to talk about it, it's literally a rose- oh maybe he knows like...flower meanings? Seems like something he'd do.

I nodded and we headed back to his hidden room, and he motioned for me to sit on his sofa.

"Thank you for the gift, by the way." I pulled the rose out of the bag and raised it up so he could see. He turned around and had a ring in his hand. He squinted at the flower and card, shaking his head slowly.

"...that isn't from me." He quickly rushed to my side and took the rose and card with a  tissue to not get his prints all over it, inspecting it with great detail. My stomach sank and I had gotten a gut feeling about who it was. He looked at me and raised a brow, and I nodded. We both know who it is.

"My stupid ex." I groaned, putting the card back into my bag and the rose as well to keep it as evidence. "Fucker doesn't know how to leave me alone. Anyway..." I sighed looking back over to Armin. "What's the real gift you wanted to give me? I saw a ring and just wanna say it's say too early for us to marry. Give me another two days."

I laughed and Armin did as well, shaking his head and holding it out to me. "I had it custom made to be like the one from our past life. I was actually supposed to give you this after the mission where you, yknow..."

"Oh."

"Yeah..." Armin glanced to the ring, playing with it. "I was hoping we could talk about the- yknow- past lives thing."

"I mean, that's what I came here for, so why the hell not?" I slipped the ring onto my left pinky finger and it was almost a perfect fit. A bit too lose, but nothing I won't grow into. Plus, I don't want to ruin the moment.

"I mentioned a week and a half ago that I had been getting these memories since I was small, and I thought it was just me. Eren and Mikasa didn't have the 'dreams' and told me I just watched too many action movies." He sighed out, looking at the ring in my finger. "When I saw you I just thought you were my dream girl- you brought in such a sense of familiarity, I was comfortable with showing some 'stranger' my secret room. I mean, the only others that knew were Mikasa and Eren."

"I relied a bit too much on that familiarity though so I had assumed you already knew my name. Stupid, I know." He chuckled at himself. "Sorry about that part, should've said it sooner. Would've caused a lot less stress on the both of us, probably."

"Probably?" I laughed. "No, you sortof made me feel better that I didn't know your name. All I did was talk about you to Sasha and if I had known your name she probably would've told the whole group about it way before! I wouldn't be able to live it down!"

"Yeah." He smiled at me."We should go on a date. A real date." He picked up his bag and threw it on, motioning for me to follow him out the room. "This Friday night, what'cha say?"

"I mean I sure as hell don't have anything else to do, so yeah. Sure. At Hannes'?"

"Hell yeah!" Armin beamed at me, blowing his bangs out of his face. "Free discounts!"

"You're so right! Oh, and great food!" I had only been there once but it really had left a great first impression on me.

That night Armin got on his bike and I stood on the back pegs, my arms wrapped around his waist and snuggled in close. He still smelled like bread, I think he may have mentioned his parents are bakers. He was so warm, too...

He took me to the police station and we dropped off the gifts my ex had left for me, they said they would test it for samples but won't treat it as a priority case. Armin and I were dissapointed, but I wasn't surprised.

The police treat cases like this as if they have no threat, even though he attempted to murder me and then kill me again. I don't trust the police at this point, they wouldn't even care if he killed me. Probably label me as a runaway like they do to other young women.

Armin took us back to our dorms and dropped me off at mine, pecking me on the lips when we got to my door.

"Goodnight, (N/N)."

"Ooh, (N/N), huh? I like hearing it from you."

He giggled, kissing my hand before he turned to walk away. "See you tomorrow morning."

"Night!!" I waved until he was put of sight, and opened the door to my dorm.

"Oh, so you're (N/N) now, eh?" Sasha winked and said it in a suggestive tone.

"Have...have you been there the whole time?"

"Maybe..."

I looked past her and saw Niccolo sat on the couch. He waved to me with a smile, saying my nickname in a mocking tone and laughing.

"Whatever, losers."