geek | armin arlert

worse than i thought

"finally...found you..."

the door abruptly slammed open, revealing a panting blonde mess. armin had been relentlessly going door to door ever since the mishap in order to locate you. regrettably in doing so he ended up walking in on a couple doing the deed in a guest room. an awkward situation, though nothing topped the time he'd shown up to marco's halloween party dressed as schmidt from 21 jump street; it was apparently not a costume party.

speaking of marco, after the showdown, armin pushed him to the side and ran in the direction of the runaway damsel in distress. luckily everybody was too busy gossiping and gawking at galliard to notice him follow the path, and would definitely owe marco an apology for running off. even if the guy completely understood, having known about this silly little crush since before armin even knew it himself.

blue ocean eyes widened at the sight of ruined mascara sliding down your cheeks in the shape of tear drops. the evident pain on your face was so aching he felt his own stance falter.

but once laying your eyes on his blurred face (due to steady tears falling), it was a habit to instantly hide your own with an arm, swiping the tears away but failing to do so as the makeup residue stuck like glue. curse that magical setting spray.

there was no doubting how unpleasant you must've looked but you hadn't actually expected anyone to chase after you. if anyone did, it would've been historia, but it seemed the wrong blonde pursued.

not to mention how it'd been his fault this night went south, if he'd just have sat still where you left him, that chaos in the house would've never struck. or maybe it would've, but at least much later once you'd settled things with reiner.

"you know, when a girl runs off it usually means she doesn't wanna talk." your tone wavered, weakness and vulnerability seeping through even while trying to seem snappy in an attempt to get him to rethink entering the room. there was never a time you'd allow yourself to be seen as defenseless, but never had you been disrespected so impenetrably.

even with your harsh words, and a forceful interpretation, armin steadily sat beside you on the firm mattress. you kept your head low in a way to conceal the unsightly makeup look a crying sesh had left you with. the boy snuck glances while precariously rubbing the back of his neck, not exactly knowing how to deal with a crying girl.

the only girl he'd ever seen cry (besides his mother) also happened to be his only female friend, mikasa ackerman. even then, the raven-haired female would often tear up over dumb things like eren taking a 3 second glance at another girl, even if it meant nothing.

so what was he to do with a sobbing female in shambles. hug you? that'd be way too personal, even if they had held hands earlier that evening — that was personal enough to him at least. a pat on the back? that'd be like a father tending to his misguided son!

you notice the hesitation, and how lost in thoughts he appeared to be, obviously incapable of catering to a woman, "you got punched armin, and you're checking on me?"

jumping at the sudden sound after the few seconds of silence, noticing your eyes raking over the bruised lip, still oozing a bit of fresh blood. his hairs still a little messy, glasses barely capable of hanging on, yet his eyes seemed steady on your less visible pain.

maybe he should've done the decency of fixing himself up before barging in to the rescue, but in his defense he was just brutally manhandled less than five minutes ago. so here he was, playing the hero card again like a lovesick puppy, "you got humiliated, i feel like we're even."

touché. even if that did come across a bit sassy, "why'd you even follow me?"

"you stood up for me, i didn't want you to be alone after all that."