Break Your Wall

Stare

The sunlight peaked through the window of Annie's apartment, shining in her eyes causing the young blonde to stir. She blinked a few times to clear her vision as she looked over at her clock.

Her eyes widened as she saw that she was going to be late again, "Shit." She jumped out of bed, quickly got dressed and brushed her teeth before grabbing her bag and running out the front door. This was the second time her alarm failed to work. She couldn't be late again, she just couldn't.

Finally arriving at the front gates of the school she rushed through the the front doors and down the hallway towards home room. Slowing down as the door came into sight, catching her breath. As soon as she did, the bell rung and she stepped in.

Annie looked around, luckily nobody was paying attention to her as she scanned the room for a seat. Her eyes fell upon to the open spot beside the blonde boy.

She sighed. Knowing she would have to talk to him sooner or later, wanting to get it over with already.

Walking to the seat and sitting down, stealing a quick glance in his direction. Come on Annie, he's not that bad. Pull yourself together.

"Hi."

The boy beside her turned his head to her quickly in surprise. She was..talking to him?
"Hello Annie." He replied, trying to cover his shock with a gentle smile. "How are you?"

She looked anywhere in the room besides at him. "Fine." Feeling his gaze burning at the side of her face was killing her, though she didn't understand why. This was just too awkward. "..how are you?" The lighter blonde asked as well.

The smile on Armin's face grew, she was the one talking to him now, and it made him ecstatic. "I'm good." He wanted to say more but he didn't know if that would be pushing it.

There was a moment of silence before he spoke up again. "Well I'm looking forward to working with you later." He encouraged, studying her face for any signs of annoyance, and he found none.

This time she did turn her head to the side to look at him, keeping her blank facade so he couldn't see how uncomfortable she was. "Right." He looked happy, it was weird. Remembering the times where he would talk to her, she would always do something to try to get rid of him. But why did he keep trying? It's not like i'm special or anything.

They took a moment and looked into each other's eyes without even realizing it. Armin felt mesmerized looking into her blue orbs and Annie was trying to read his expression to attempt to understand what he was thinking about. For what felt like forever to them but only being a minute, Annie felt her stomach flutter when a calm smile grazed his lips, snapping her out of her thoughts.

The girl quickly turned away so he couldn't see her face, cursing at herself as she felt her face heat up. What the hell was that about? She shook her head slightly, trying to ignore the feeling she had.

Armin tilted his head to the side, confused and concerned. Did I do something wrong? However once he leaned forward he saw her cheeks tinged pink. Wait, is she blushing?! Armin couldn't help but think to himself, left to simply stare at her. He wanted to be able to understand her better, but now he's even more confused.

The bell rung ending home room and Annie got her bag and stood up, exiting the room quickly while leaving a clueless Armin behind. Shrugging his shoulders as he gathered his own belongings before exiting the room to Algebra.

As he entered, he saw Annie glaring down at her desk. He bit his lip, wanting to go over and reassure her that she didn't do anything wrong. He knew better though, it would only make things worse and that glare she held would be aimed at him in the end. Sighing in defeat he sat down in his seat and told himself not to look back. But of course, he peeked over his should anyways to find her looking right at him instead. The boy expected her to turn away, but she kept her eyes piercing through his. Her expression would make other think she was annoyed, but he saw through it. Her eyes held curiosity as if she was searching for something from him. Armin was too caught off guard to react until the bell rung and Annie broke their stare to look out the window as she always did.

Armin couldn't remove his eyes from her until his teacher called him out to pay attention. Normally he would've been embarrassed but at the moment he couldn't care less.

He went on with his classes with his thoughts captivated by Annie until he got to lunch to see that she wasn't there. His first reaction was to wonder if wasn't feeling well or if even he was the reason for her disappearance. Searching the cafeteria in case she happened to sit somewhere else, only to be left with the disappointment of her absence. Armin sat down in his seat next to Eren and the brunet was quick to notice his glum mood.

"Hey man are you alright?" Eren asked putting a hand on his shoulder, causing Mikasa to look over in concern for their blonde friend.

"Huh? Oh I'm fine..." Armin gave a fake smile so they wouldn't worry about him. However of course Mikasa saw past it yet knew he liked to handle situations on his own. So she let it go for now, knowing it was the best for him.

Armin's behavior didn't change until he entered the science classroom and saw Annie sitting in her seat looking bored out of her mind. His eyes widened as he quickly went over to her and spoke up.

"Annie! Where were you?" He said, excitement raining over him as all the negative thoughts got swept away.

Annie raised a brow as she turned in her seat to face him. "Hm?" She was confused, its not like she skipped out on something with him.

"I-I mean, how come you weren't at lunch? I thought something was wrong.." He admitted slightly embarrassed. Good going.. Now she'll think I'm some creep.

"I was in the library." She answered as if it was obvious. "What's it to you?"

"Sorry I just-" he looked away, already nervous under her icy stare, "Just thought you were mad at me for earlier." He felt guilty for making her uncomfortable this morning and couldn't help but blame himself.

Annie stared at him in deep thought. A different feeling in her stomach rose as she saw the pain in his eyes. She realized she felt a little guilty for making him upset, only to confuse herself further. He's been nothing but nice to her, he didn't deserve this treatment.

The smaller blonde let out a sigh. "Sorry." She muttered quietly as she turned back in her seat to look away from him.

Armin didn't know exactly what she was apologizing for but he wouldn't question it. Class was about to start so Armin nodded to her and began to head back to his seat. Annie's guilt grew as he walked away with his head down.

"Hey, uh, Armin?" The boy stopped and looked back at her. "It would be better if you sat over here since we're partners for this crap." She felt her cheeks burning slightly, not knowing why she was inviting him to sit next to her. "..If you want."

Armin's eyes lit up and a joyful grin was plastered on his face. "Alright." He agreed, stepping back and claiming the seat beside her.

Ms. Zoe began to explain more of the topic as Annie rested her chin on her hand, some of her hand covering her mouth as she let out a tiny smile. Maybe this won't be so bad.

A/N: Sorry that this is moving pretty slow and that this chapter's kinda dull. What I wanted to put into this would've made it really long so that's just gonna make up the next chapter! Hope you've enjoyed reading so far and everything will start picking up soon!