Nest & Wings (Annie Leonhardt x Male Reader)

Chapter 07: Master & Student

"Oww... Aahh... F-Fuck! You really don't know how to be gentle, do you?" You say as Annie pops your shoulder back in its socket.

You're exhausted after sparring with her for four hours straight; if you could even call it sparring that is. It was so one sided that you may as well have been a glorified punching bag.

"Quit whining. You're the one who asked for this, remember?" Annie reminds you in response.

She's right, you got yourself into this. You convinced her to train you and now there's no going back. You've been training with Annie after lessons for a little over a month now and it was nothing short of hell as she was even tougher than instructor Keith.

"Was your dad this tough on you when he trained you?" You ask Annie while panting heavily as you attempted to catch your breath.

"Not even close. If you think this is tough, you'd wet your pants every ten minutes if I was even half as tough as he was." She answers.

Annie was usually a girl of few words and didn't talk much. In fact, she avoided socializing altogether most of the time. But when the topic was about her father and her combat skills, she always had something interesting to say. It was seemingly the only thing she was passionate about.

Once you could move your shoulder, Annie gets up and asks, "Is this really worth it for you?"

"Of course! I feel a lot stronger already. You're a really good teacher, Annie." You answer her with a compliment.

"No I mean... you can't use anti-personnel combat to fight titans and they don't give you any points for it in the exam so, why did you ask me to teach you in the first place?" She clarifies her question.

You explain, "I used to get beat up quite often by bullies and other people as a kid." You didn't specify that the 'other people' were the shop owners you stole bread from, as you were somewhat embarrassed about that part of your life.

You continue, "I was really impressed when I saw you take Reiner down like that and immediately I knew I wanted to learn. I get that it won't come in handy against titans, but after being abused a lot as a kid, it makes me feel better that I can defend myself from people as well."

That last line seems to have caught Annie's attention. It was as if she could relate to your experience. As you noted earlier, the two of you shared a sense of solitude that was likely the result of similar experiences growing up. It would've been a really good topic to bond over, but it didn't help that both of you were unnervingly self-conscious about your past.

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About a week later,

Annie was busy over the weekend, so it was your first training session in two days. You ask her if she could teach you how to take someone down using a leg sweep. She says okay and demonstrates it on you as usual.

Annie asks you to get in stance and charges towards you. As you attempt to doge her attack, she quickly tilts to the side and uses her right leg to sweep you off your feet. She had previously taught you how to maintain your balance and spring back up in a situation like this, but you botch the landing and sprain your ankle.

You fall down holding your leg in agony. It was no different from how you would normally react to pain, but rather uncharacteristically for her, Annie's eyes widen and her complexion goes pale as she nearly spirals into a nervous breakdown seeing that. You could feel the anxiety emanating from her as she helps you to the infirmary.

"I'm sorry... I- I didn't mean to do that." She apologizes while breathing heavily. "Does it still hurt?" She asks with her face still as pale as a ghost.