Academy of the Artists

Bertolt The Awkward Giant

You already know who's point of view it is in, if you don't I don't even know what to do with you

Armin and the others had kept their promise of coming to find me so they could go eat after getting settled in. I felt a little bad about leaving Reiner behind, but he said it was fine since he needed to finish his work anyways.

We went to a small diner type place that wasn't very far from the school. It has really good food we had been told, so we decided to check it out. It was pretty good.

When we were all pretty much done, the lady asked us if we needed anything else. Most everyone said they were too full to put anything bite in, and I was too, but I asked for a sandwich and chips to go. She nodded and went off to get that for me. Jean slapped my back.

"Hungry there buddy? You didn't even eat half of what you ordered." He said. Everyone's attention was now turned to us two and I was already beginning to flush and sweat.

"It's for my roommate. H-he was working on something so h-he probably wouldn't get anything to eat anytime soon. And I kind of uh got scared when I um walked in." I said the last bit quietly but they all heard it and started laughing.

"Armin, wherever did you find this guy?" Marco asked with his Belgium accent, still laughing with everyone else. The answer to the question made them all laugh again.

"He was lost and couldn't find it on the map." Yeah, they were laughing pretty hard after that one. Surprisingly, I didn't mind them laughing. I knew they weren't making fun of me or anything so I just smiled shyly. "But I'm glad he did get lost. He's a really nice guy, even though he doesn't talk much." Armin added and everyone agreed without hesitation.

The lady finally brought me my bag of food to go, and told us that since we were about to start our first year at the academy, we got our food free. All new students eat their first meal free, is what she said. We all left her a healthy tip though.

We began to walk back to the dorms, all tired from traveling. They had offered to walk to my building first so I wouldn't be walking alone but I told them I would be fine. We said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.

I walked to the end of the hallway where our room was and I heard loud music being played. It sounded a lot like a saxophone. It was being played beautifully, so of course I had to see just who was in our room playing such a beautiful tune. When I opened the door though, the only person in there was Reiner.

His back was facing the door so he continued to play, since he didn't know I had walked in. He was standing in front of a music stand that was holding the sheet music I presumed he had been working on before. I set the bag of food on his night stand and sat on the edge of his bed to listen to him. It was beautiful, and we had pretty good instrumentalists back where we came from but this?

This was the best thing I had ever heard. I was honestly speechless, frozen in awe of the sound. I had always had a fascination with beautiful music. If I heard any instrument being played well, it would take all of my attention and I would just think of different moves that would go with that particular tune. Right then as I listened to the smooth sound of the alto saxophone, I could choreograph an entire recital dance.

Eventually though, he stopped playing to fix something on that paper. "What's wrong with me? I can't play anything today!" Reiner beat himself down, did he really think it was bad?

"I thought it sounded pretty damn good." I spoke without thinking, not remembering that he didn't know I had walked in. He jumped at my voice and turned to face me. I smiled at him as he calmed down from his heart attack. "What's it called?" I asked. He didn't seem to know what it was because he just glanced over at the music. He scratched the back of his head.

"Well it's actually supposed to be piano music for a recital they dance class will be having in a couple of months, but I thought it would sound good on the sax." I hummed in acknowledgment. Then I thought about it. The dance class was having a recital? "What's in the bag? I will not tolerate drugs in this room unless I get some." He told me with a smirk before turning back to his music.

I picked the bag up and opened it up. "One sandwich with a side of chips for Reiner." I said as I held it out for him. He turned around and seemed to be shocked that I had gotten him something. "It's an apology for me um... Running out when I seen you because I thought you were gonna mug me and stuff like that." I blushed as he laughed. He accepted the bag and put his instrument down. That's when I realized I was still sitting on his bed.

I got up quickly, and that was the first time that I actually realized the height difference between us two. He had to look up to be able to see my face clearly. I thought it quite humorous at how he gawked at my height. "What do they feed you guys back where you're from?" He asked, which made it my turn to chuckle at him.

"I should be asking you the same thing." I replied, glancing at his muscles. He smirked at my response and walked by me. I went and sat down on my bed in the other side of the room. "I'm actually the tallest one from my town. Well, was. I don't technically live there anymore." I said awkwardly. He looked at me while he ate a chip, that was actually a fry but who cares.

"Pal I'm pretty sure you're the tallest one in this country." He said and I blushed again, sweating a little. It felt like it was getting really hot in there so I took my hoodie off, my t-shirt coming off with it before I noticed it. "Do you tan shirtless or are you just naturally dark skinned?" He asked and I hurried to put my shirt back on.

"I-I I'm just naturally tan. I don't go, like outside." I said, not realizing just how stupid my words were. He laughed at me again, causing me to blush harder and fumble with putting my shirt on. I was dying to get the subject off of myself. "So, what other instruments can you play?" I asked him as he ate the sandwich I brought him.

"Everything. I've got a talent for playing everything really well, so that's why I'm here. What about you pal, how did the awkward giant get in here?" He asked. I didn't want anyone else to know that I was a dancer, I didn't even tell the rest of the group that I ate dinner with. I had just shrugged them off and they continued with their other conversations.

"I don't really know. They didn't really tell me a lot about it, I just got a letter asking me to come attend." I said and his eyes grew wide as he stopped eating and everything.

"They asked you? They never do that! Most people here have to apply for years just to get accepted. There are like, maybe ten out of two thousand that got asked to attend. I was the only one I had known of that they asked. You must be pretty damn good at something pal!" I nodded and we dropped the subject. I told him that I was going to take a shower and he told me that everything in there was free to be used.

At least the toilet was in a water closet.