My Best Friend Loves Me Back [SnK Armin x Male Reader]

1

"I want this building completely spotless, understood?"

"Yes Sir!"

The young voices spoke in unison and pressed a fist to their chests. Well, all but one, a young man who had unfortunately spaced out. Levi clicked his tongue and strode over to him, stopping directly in front of him and crossing his arms. He raised his voice a bit.

"Is that understood, (L/n)?"

"Hah? Ah y-yes Sir!"

"That's better. Now get to it."

(Y/n) heard several snickers behind him and turned sharply on his heel, giving the best glare he could. It failed to intimidate anyone, and some of the Scouts couldn't hold in their laughter.

"Spacing out again, midget?"

He grit his teeth and clenched his fists. He couldn't get into another fight, not again. Last time he sent someone to the infirmary and lost his dinner privileges for a month. Breakfast was next.

"Guys, come on, cut it out..."

"Or what, blondie?"

Blondie. That's what they called Armin. Poor guy gets bullied even within the military. Even so, he'd tell (Y/n) over and over not to get violent with the bullies, because that would put him on their level. Armin would always try to talk it out, even if his words feel on deaf ears. Sure he's smart, but not very socially apt.

"Uh um well ..."

"Oi! Leave 'em out of it!"

"(Y-Y/n) let's just go inside, before Corporal gets us for slacking off."

He pointed the last of his words toward the other boys while trying to nudge (Y/n) in the direction of the door. The shorter male turned with a huff. With his back to the rest, he marched himself toward the stone building, Armin not to far behind. The boys took a moment to process his words, and one of them decided he was feeling rather bold. He yelled out.

"Pussies!"

(Y/n) froze. His face contorted into one of rage. His eyes narrowed, eyebrows knitted. His lip curled up in a sneer, showing his teeth. He once again clenched his fists. The knuckles of his fingers turned white. His shoulders shook. (Y/n) took a breath, slowly walked back to the group of boys, and stood with his head down in front of a particularly tall kid. He recognized his voice, the voice of this kid. This bastard. He was going to see Hell. See the Devil himself upon his throne of skulls. See the damned endlessly burning in heat that he would feel. (Y/n) was going to show it all to him, because of one reason.

"I thought I told you to leave him out of it."

"Hah?"

"That was plural."

"What are you gettin' on abou-"

(Y/n) swept his leg under his feet, and the kid fell backward rather ungracefully. He landed on his back, sending up a cloud of dust. A foot was placed on his chest, firmly pressing down. He coughed and looked up. What he saw terrified him. (Y/n) stood, glaring down at him, dust swirling around him. He gasped. When he started to sputter out an apology, (Y/n) pushed his foot down harder.

"Shut up." He lowered himself to one knee, "I don't want to hear another word from you."

"(y/n)!"

He looked over his shoulder, a fearful looking Armin stood behind him. He murmured something about cleaning duties and breakfast while gesturing behind him. The (color) haired male scoffed and lifted himself up, foot still in place. He adjusted his uniform jacket, sent one final glare to the boys, and disappeared into headquarters. The boys liked to mess with the midget, but it was always contained to little insults, a bit of teasing. There was a line they knew shouldn't be crossed, and it had most definitely been crossed.

"Dammit Armin! Why don't you ever get angry!?"

"It's not worth my effort."

The two had started to clean a conference room the superiors used now and again. Armin, being the taller one, was cleaning the windows while (Y/n) was wiping down the large table.

"Defending yourself isn't worth your effort?"

"They're not the ones I need to prove myself to."

"What?" (Y/n) paused and looked up.

"Why should I waste my time with them when there are more important people to impress? I don't need to be liked by everyone, just the squad leaders, or the Lance Corporal. Maybe even the Commander. And you know better than anyone else that I graduated because of brains, not brawn. I'm not like Reiner. You should finish the table so you can do the chairs." He had moved on from the windows, and was dusting shelves.

"Ah right ..." (Y/n) shook his head and finished cleaning the table, "But I know you're not Reiner. You're Armin, and you should be respected for being you."

"Do you respect me, (Y/n)?"

Both had stopped cleaning all together. Armin stared expectantly at his friend, who was kneeling on the floor with a chair half cleaned. A bit of tense silence passed between them before he spoke up.

"Of course I do."

Armin smiled, "Then that's all I need."

(Y/n) suddenly felt embarrassed. He tilted his head down and let out a nervous cough. He could feel himself blushing, and he didn't like it. This wasn't the first time either. The blushing had started about two weeks ago. Armin had tripped and accidentally bumped into him. It didn't seem like a big deal. In fact, Armin had bumped into him before and everything was just fine. But in that particular moment, when he stuttered out a 'I-I'm sorry', (Y/n) became aware of just how cute his best friend was.

"(Y/n)? Are you alright?"

"U-uh yeah ..." He hastily finished cleaning the chair, "Lets just get this room done."

"Oh, um, okay."

The Scouts had finished their cleaning, and were now gathered in the mess hall for an evening meal. Armin sat across from Mikasa with Eren to his left, and an empty space to his right. It's where (Y/n) usually sat, but he'd disappeared as soon as his duties were finished. Just poof. Gone. Armin was worried he'd said something wrong. That he'd made him uncomfortable, or worse, angry. He thought so deeply about it that he had unintentionally tuned out Eren's irritated rant about something or other.

"Hey are you listening?"

Nope ...

"Hey Armin, where's (Y/n)?"

That got his attention.

"Oh, uh, I don't know."

He tuned out again. His thoughts ran rampid, they were messy and jumbled. Some he declared stupid. And after fighting a mini war in his head, he made a decision. He chugged his drink, grabbed his bread, and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Eren called out.

"To find (Y/n)!"