geek | armin arlert

ignorance is bliss

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since when had the place become such a dump, there were smashed red cups and unfinished pizza crusts everywhere along the hallways, creating a tunnel of horrible stench. there must've been vomit mixed in too. in an attempt to lessen the smell, you covered your nose quickly, paying close attention not to get any tomato sauce or liquor on the cute flats.

due to the lack of attention, your face was instantaneously smashed against a toned chest. see, this was more like your little fantasy dream. faced pressed against man boobs.

if not for the firm grip upon your lower shoulder, you surely would've fallen back onto the filthy ground, "woah there..."

reiner.

that's right, being sad about armin wasn't written in your fate, this tall handsome man was! like hell would you let some skank and geek charming ruin a perfectly happy night. like, so happy, such an amazing night.

so your eyes met his softly, taking in the height difference and gigantic veiny hand that'd been grabbing onto you protectively. okay so the guy was dookie at conversations, in fact if his mouth stayed glued shut then he'd be way more sexy, but it was nothing a bit of tuning out couldnt fix. whatever it took to have the schools hottest guy labeled yours and staring at this face all day long wouldn't hurt.

"geez thank you, what's up?"

"was just coming to ask," reiners voice came out a bit hesitant, but still firm, that usual confidence shining, "wanna go out?"

to put things plainly: his time was running out on the bet.

you two were friends, and although undeniably attractive, he'd been too in love with historia reiss. it was what it was, there was no changing that.

so as much as it slightly did hurt to lead you on, he had a bet to win, and considering the lack of attentiveness shown from you throughout this whole evening, it didn't seem like this would be the end of the world for neither parties. you two would probably go out once then realize it wouldn't work, no hard feelings and he'd win the bet with bertholdt.

on the contrary, you were in a trance.

this was it. the moment you'd been waiting for ever since freshman's first day. ever since he transferred, joining the cheer squad to see him warm up in that skimpy football uniform. ever since slowly becoming who you'd forever craved to become. but he didn't know all that.

and yet it felt so...wrong. as if there were so many other pinnacles in just less than a week that were far greater than this strongly anticipated moment. there certainly was, this half-assed excuse of a confession was not hard to top. even galliard had been more romantic. cut the cameras, seriously, ew.

in a hallway full of trash, pepperoni, and spilled alcohol? around several couples clumsily pda'ing? was this what all those hopeful months led up to, to be grouped in with the hopeless horny teenagers who leaped at the chance to up their body count in a filth-ridden hallway of all places.

at this point, it felt almost degrading, this was not good enough and you rightfully deserved to say so. after waiting so long for something so lackluster, it was honestly aggravating. there were no perfect ways to go about asking someone out, except this was one of the most wrong ways to do it.

your face turned into one of disgust, making reiner confused. sure he was oblivious to your so-called 'feelings' but didn't exactly expect to be shot down nonetheless. after all thee reiner braun was vital to the school's football team, could play one hell of a harmony on guitar, and could bench press 280. so yeah, this wasn't expected.

"sorry, but no."

what the hell are you doing, go back and claim that man before the next girl does!

that's what the devil on your left shoulder had been screaming while carelessly walking past, bumping into his shoulder with a force of annoyance, and for a second you almost were hypnotized into actually listening like always. her voice was painstakingly loud compared to the angels whose advice you'd rarely take.

but in that instant, the angel was winning this fight, if you'd listened to her reasoning from the beginning this mess would've never happened. she was total team geek, which was absolutely antagonizing before, but suddenly you were joining that same club.

go apologize to armin, she said, make things right. ugh, it was like oprah winfrey was living in your head. you weren't schizo or anything, but these voices were becoming way too loud and powerful.

reiner stood frozen still in shock, unable to believe that'd just happened, but nothing was gonna bring you down, not even the sad reality of what your childhood dream you'd planned as a middle schooler was really like.

so you'd thought for sure the night couldn't have done more damage other than ruining the last bit of dreams you had left, but that was just your luck apparently. it seemed as though parties were just rude awakenings this week.

with the actions that just occurred, the real reason you'd been all worked up was completely forgotten. you wished it would've stayed that way, but sadly that was not what happened.

because there stood annie leonheart kissing armin arlert in the fluorescent lights.

It'd been a clear shot, head-on from the hallway as if the world had just wanted you to see it for yourself instead of hearing it from a third party. perhaps you would've never found out if it hadn't been for this moment, and you couldn't tell if you would've preferred that more.

ignorance is bliss after all.

they weren't deep inside the crowd or towards the front, they were in the back where couples went to get away from the hectic essence.

the rage and alcohol seemed to have joined hands together in unity, creating a sorrowful mix of anger, resentment, frustration, and anything sour. a scream wanted to be released, a shrieking gut-wrenching murder scene screech, but it caught itself within the depths of your throat feeling as if a firework had just been popped internally.

you wanted to throw a fit of anger, plunge into the girl with whatever you could grab, sob and yell until there were no rapid breaths left. a simple three-second kiss led you to the edge of psychoticness.

as soon as their lips detached, her grip on his arm was released, but she smiled. you couldn't help but thank god his back was turned towards you, if you'd seen the smile he most likely returned it would've surely sent you to a mental constitution.

thing after thing after thing was going wrong, there was no time for you to get a breather between. the world came crashing down, folding in as if to engulf and imprison you in an unbreakable box of anguish. it made your chest feel claustrophobic, like there wasn't enough air to breath in. 

in spite of that, there was absolutely nobody to blame besides yourself, but the stinging agitation all throughout your body felt like one of the greatest betrayals in history, right alongside scar killing mufasa.

armin's liked you since before the dawn of time, everybody knew that, even you. but that'd been when he was a complete nobody! how were you supposed to reciprocate off of just that? if you'd known sooner that he'd have every possible quality you'd yearned to find in a guy then he wouldn't be lip pressed against another girl right now!

you liked armin arlert, but it was too late.

and unknowingly to you, bertholdt stood closely as well, similarly witnessing the heartbreaking scene, the time was too late.