Attack on One-shots

Book buddies. Armin x Reader

EDITED
Modern

(Y/L/N) = Your last name

Books. That is basically your life. All you mainly do is read. Every day, you make a trip to the library to look at different books that you could take to your local café to enjoy a nice cup of hot cocoa while reading in a small booth by the window. It does get pretty lonely, but you don't mind since you are always caught up in a book anyways. You are peering at a shelf about to choose your new book when you realize that you can't reach it.

Damn you short legs, you think stretching your arm as far as you can stretch it.

An arm appears in your view and grabs the book handing it to you. You turn to the kind man-wait, no, boy-and take the book. You have to admit that he's cute. Blonde hair sits atop his head cut in the style of a bowl cut. It grazes his shoulders and compliments his blue eyes as blue as the ocean itself. He is a couple inches taller than you with the cutest pale, round face.

"Thank you," you say, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear as you hold the book to your chest.

"You're welcome. That's a great book," he responds sticking out his hand. "I'm Armin Arlert." You take his hand and shake it lightly.

"(Y/N) (Y/L/N)."

***

The next few weeks, you and Armin see each other at the library picking out books and occasionally see each other in the school hallways exchanging hello's. You trade numbers and talk on the phone for hours and have meet ups at the library to read books together. You two grow incredibly close as you realize how much you both have in common; you don't have many friends, you both love to read, and you share a favorite color of green.

You always chat over what books you recommend and what books you're currently reading. The comfort you both feel with each other releases all tension that built up throughout the day. However, one day, Armin seems nervous. "Are you okay?" You ask concerned for your friend.

"W-would you like t-to go to the c-café with me today?" He asks stuttering. You find it adorable.

"I'd love to," you answer, beaming. His mesmerizing eyes light up.

"Really?"

"Of course." You both check out your books and head down to the café ordering two mugs of hot cocoa. You scan the small café and decide to sit at a two person booth next to the window.

"So... how old are you?" You ask curiously as you blow on your hot mug.

"16. How about you?"

"16."

I'm so glad we're the same age.

"Hey cool! The only other people I'm friends with are my two best friends Mikasa and Eren. We've been friends since we were kids. Mikasa is super protective, mainly over Eren, Eren likes to get into trouble, and I'm the one that's usually always studying. I guess we make a good group. I get bullied a lot, and they always have to come help me which I hate. I wish I could deal with it myself." You lay your hand that isn't holding your mug on the table.

"I get bullied too, and yeah it sucks. I can't stand up to them either, but you know what? We're strong people. We can ignore them. What they say isn't true. What they do, it's just for fun. I bet if we ignore them or tell them that what they say about us isn't true, we can beat them." Armin smiles lightly and grabs your hand.

"You think so?"

"Totally. We can even stay with each other and fight them together."

"Thank you so much. You're such a good friend (Y/N)."

"You too Armin."

Both you and Armin talk for what feels like forever laughing and getting to know each other even more. Sadly, the time of day had to come where you had to part ways and head home.

"See you tomorrow?" You ask as you both walk out of the café.

"I'll be at the library like always. Right after school," he responds. He never let go of your hand after grabbing it at the table. You don't mind.

"Alright. I'll see you there then." You smile and peck his cheek then walked away. Your smile refuses to leave your lips as you hold the to go cup with both hands and take a sip of the chocolate liquid. Behind you, Armin puts his hand up to where your lips rested for a second.

"I'm falling deeper for you every second, (Y/N) (Y/L/N)."

***

The next day, school had been unusual for you. You say hello and talk to Armin in the halls, even getting to meet Mikasa and Eren, but your bullies never go near you once. You shrug off the thought as you walk to the library but as soon as the thought leaves your mind, your bullies pop up in front of you. "It's not very smart of you to walk alone," the leader of the group, Annie, snarls laughing. She pushes you against the wall. "How about we teach her a lesson for walking on the streets alone?"

"Yeah. Let's do it!" another bully, Reiner, agrees excitedly. Annie pushes you to the ground and kicks your stomach. You curl up into a small ball and whimper, powerless, as they kick you and shoot rude comments in between. The comments are easy for you to ignore. The pain? No, so much. They had never hurt you this much before.

"Hey! Leave her alone!" a familiar voice shouts.

Armin! No, I don't want you getting hurt!

"Armin! You'll get hurt!" you croak.

Reiner laughs. "And what're you going to do if we don't?"

"I-I'm going to hurt you!" he threatens stumbling over his words. All three of your bullies laugh like maniacs.

"Like a little scrawny boy could do anything to us!" Bertolt exclaims, howling with laughter. Armin punches him straight in the face receiving a blow to the lip from Reiner.

"Leave him alone!" you yell, getting up and running to Reiner. You push him against the wall and punch him in the nose hissing at the pain that blossoms on your knuckles. His hand flies to his nose, and he yelps. Bertolt holds his jaw, and Annie just stands there staring.

"Guys lets get out of here!" Bertolt yells clutching his bloody nose. They all run away, and you and Armin run to each other.

"Are you okay?" You ask, putting your hand against Armin's cheek and wiping off the blood on his top lip with your thumb.

"They hurt you," he says ignoring you and grazing his hand gently over your cheek. "They gave you a bruise, and they kicked you."

"Armin, I'm okay," you reassure.

"I don't like seeing you hurt." Tears form in his eyes.

"Hey, hey it's okay." You pull him into you and hug him, stroking his hair. He digs his head into the crook of your neck.

"I-I like you (Y/N). More than friends." You're surprised. You know you developed feelings for Armin over the past 7 weeks, but you never realized he felt the same way. You hug him tighter and dig your head into the crook of his neck. 

"I like you too, book buddy."

~*~*~
This one was pretty long. I just suddenly thought of this idea and thought it was adorable. It turned out longer than I had expected. I hope you enjoyed it!