The Country Boy: Annie X Reader

Chapter 2: Fiery fist

Credits:  emeraudolupus on Deviantart

"Its all my fault. If only I had enough money to send you guys to school or hire some workers to help around the place." Grandpa was the first to speak amidst the silence. At that moment, the sourness of everyone's faces vanished instantly. I felt horrible for the words that came out of your mouth a minute ago. I clenched my fists tightly on my lap as I bit on my upper lip with the force of a shark. I was not about to let myself breath another word. My mind was filled with the words ungrateful brat. As the atmosphere loosened up by grandpa's words, everyone began to regain their composure. "So...I heard there's someone who's using our farm for training tomorrow." Armin said as specks of food came flying out of his mouth. "Oh yes...I forgot to tell you. There's a group of people who will be coming tomorrow during lunch so Y/N, Armin and Gabi you can take the day off." Immediately, everyone started punching the air in excitement. 

Gabi's POV: 

After clearing the plates and washing the dishes, I could feel my chest getting tighter. I glanced at the clock that flashed 8pm. 'Ok let's do this.' After drying my hands on my skirt, I began making my way to Falco's room. The door was left slightly ajar and the room was dark. "Can I come in?" I murmured for fear of upsetting him further. He didn't respond. 

Thinking he was fast asleep, I tiptoed into his room to check up on him. Upon entering, a huge wave of smoky and earthy smell hit me square in my face. Although dimly lit, I could see a whole mountain of books that stacked almost to the ceiling. While threading cautiously through the room, I couldn't help but feel a sense of remorse building up in my throat. As I made my way through the last pile of books, my toe collided into something and I was thrown forward. "Watch out!" A voice echoed in the room before I felt a pair of hands grabbing onto my shoulders. 

Falco gave me a look of concern before retracting his hands awkwardly. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that." He mumbled while rubbing his palms together. Next thing I knew, my arms were wrapped tightly around him. I gave him a gentle squeeze before patting his head. "It's ok. I'm sorry too." I said apologetically. "I can see how hard you're trying to improve your writing and reading." 

"Yea it's been hard for me. I don't understand how you guys can pick that up so fast. I'm probably never going to make it though. Every time I look at the words on the books, it looks as though they are like dancing on the pages. "Mom had dyslexia too." I whispered as I held him in my arms. 

Y/N POV: 

Afternoon quickly came around after watching television for the entire morning. I gave my limbs a good stretch before hopping out of the couch. 'Wow how long have I been sitting here?'  I thought to myself when I saw the deeply etched butt print left behind. Just then I heard some footsteps outside the door followed by a knock. "Hey, is anyone home?" Someone called out. Thinking it was the guest that was coming to our farm, I sprinted excitedly towards the door. "Coming!" I replied. 

Behind the door stood two of the fiercest looking women that I have ever seen. They were all dressed lightly in a black tank top with grey sweat pants. Their hair was also tied up in a pony tail. If looks could kill, I would have been dead a thousand times over at that moment. "Hi...wel..come you wanna...come in?" 'Excellent first impression'  I thought to myself. I have always hated how squeaky my voice sounds when I'm scared. 

"It's alright." A girl with the blonde hair responded. "By the way, I am Annie and this is Mikasa" She said as she pointed to the dark hair girl . "I'm Y/N, nice to meet you," I replied after calming yourself down. 

"Do you know where the owner keeps the spare tires?" Annie inquired. 

"It's at the store room near the cows and sheep's, come I'll bring you there" 

While walking to the store room, I could hear giggles coming from behind me along with the occasional grunts and groans. "Um...can I ask what you are using tires for?" I asked curiously. "Oh we're just using that for training. You see...tires are durable. They are not so hard that they will break your knuckles and not so soft that you fists will sink in." After seeing my puzzled face, Mikasa elbowed Annie. "You're confusing him." She muttered before going on to explain that they were using it for boxing practices. They needed a strong and durable punching bag because they have destroyed the ones that they bought. But since it was expensive to get a new one, they decided to use spare tires as an alternative. 

After firmly tying the tire around a sturdy tree with some ropes, they then began to work on their practice. Annie was the first to demonstrate her prowess. She stood with her left foot forward and her right foot back and raised her hands to her face before landing a couple sharp hits on the tire. The sound was deafening. It felt as though the sound could split the world in half. "Hey you want to try it out?" Mikasa asked while taking off her red ragged scarf. I immediately gave a firm nod. 

"Ok so you watch my stance. Your non-dominant foot forward and your dominant foot back. " "You need to keep your guard up as well" Annie explained before holding my hands in front of my face. "Like this and always keep your guard up to be ready to block a hit to your face." I wasn't sure why but I felt my entire body tense up every time she spoke into my ear. I could feel jolts of electricity rushing from my ears to my feet. "Hey, you're scaring him. He's face turning red." Mikasa taunted from behind the tree. 'Why's my face red all of a sudden? What's up with me?' A million thoughts raced through my mind at that instant. 

All of a sudden, "Boom!" an earsplitting noise reverberated throughout the farm. When I had woken up from my daze, I saw that my right fist made a connection with the tire.