Valedictorian | Armin Arlert

masquerade

"Arlert, this is the second time this month," was the first thing you heard as you entered the library, "You'll be an adult soon and I may not be so kind as to escort you out myself."

Armin's face heated up with embarrassment as Rico, the children's librarian scolded him once more. The two of them bickered at the entrance of the children's section.

"W- what do you mean?" Armin stuttered nervously.

"I'll call security," she affirmed plainly. It was understandable. For the most part, Armin was a rule follower, however, he had a bad habit of breaking them when it inconvenienced his obsessions.

You approached Armin. He didn't notice you at first because of the objection he scrambled to make, "But the aquarium upstairs doesn't have any Cardinal Tetra fish."

Rico looked exhausted. You internally nodded, being a librarian- a children's librarian, at that, must be difficult. Rico closed the glass doors to the children's section, but before she did she commented, "I don't know what that is, nor do I care. Please do not come back."

Armin sighed. He spun around, ready to make his way towards the stairs before halting to see you standing behind him. He brightly smiled, "(Y/N)! How much of that did you see?"

You took a deep breath and sighed. The shiny floor squeaked under your damp boots from the rain outside. You shrugged, "Enough to know you care too much about those fish that resemble actual toothpaste."

Armin looked offended but it quickly dissolved into wonder, "Wait- you know what a Cardinal Tetra is?"

You pinched the bridge of your nose. Regrettably, yes. But you wanted to make progress concerning your project, so you acted like it was a big deal, "Sure, I may or may not have brushed my teeth with one once."

Armin nervously smiled. You could tell he didn't find it very funny. Or at least he did but didn't want to admit it. The two of you sat beside the aquarium upstairs, in the same spot as before.

You and Armin had trouble making small talk. Of course, the two of you were so similar, small talk wasn't something that you did regularly. You and Armin preferred conversations. A meaningful exchange of ideas from one great mind to the other.

"Can we hurry and read these stories so we can start talking about it?" You asked. Without meaning to, a bit of irritation lingered in your tone.

"Hurry?" Armin scoffed, "That's not a good idea."

Your shoulders fell, "You know what I mean."

He stretched his arms out, yawning. His hair ruffled a bit, but it suited him. He shook his head, "We need to take it slow. That way we can get more out of a discussion."

"You're right, Armin." You said, not breaking eye contact. You smiled at him in a patronizing manner. He matched your smile, shaking his head and sitting comfortably in his seat.

Deep down you knew he was right. You took your precious time analyzing the story slowly. Even applying outside knowledge to details that corresponded in the story. You scribbled down notes, trying to understand the ins and outs of each sentence. Surely it pinched a few nerves of Armin's.

He sat on the opposite side of you, peacefully flipping through the pages. Curiosity stirred in your head, making you wonder how Armin interpreted Flatland. It was a mathematical book. The theme wasn't obvious, it was a subjective tale that proposed a theory of 2-dimensional creatures that were introduced to the third dimension.

How could that possibly link with a story about Country of The Blind? You had a feeling you may come to the same conclusion.

Nearly an hour passed and you were still reading Flatland. From the tapping of Armin's foot, you could sense he became anxious, "Hey (Y/N), you wanna take a break?"