The Gift of Memory (Armin Arlert x Reader|Modern AU)

10•Girls' Night Out, I Suppose

"Hey, Armin, what's Y/N's number?" Mikasa asked as everyone packed their bags. The shorty furrowed his eyebrows, wondering. Was Mikasa going to befriend Y/N? She pretty much did already when she mothered her at the amusement park. Let's guess this is simply a formality.

"Why?" He asked.

Mikasa was about to answer, only to be interrupted by the teacher slamming a ruler onto the desk, making the poor petite boy jump back. Mikasa just glared at him.

"Aren't kids supposed to leave when the bell rings?" He spoke in a low voice, nearly growling.

Most students were intimidated by him, the home economics teacher, Mister Ackerman. Some of the students, mostly girls but some guys who also swing that way, actually had a crush on him. However, with Mikasa, she was, well...

...his distant cousin.

Though they had only met once at a family gathering, a long time before her parents passed away. She hadn't even started school yet, only preschool.

But she was still very far from intimidated. She was annoyed, if anything.

"Go easy on them, the others barely left." The teacher's assistant, Miss Ral, smiled sympathetically as she gathered papers for the male teacher. She knew how much he hated a disorganized classroom.

"Gather up your crap and get out so I can clean whatever messes you kids have left behind." He said, walking to the front of the room.

Armin let out a breath he has been holding. He was terrified that he accidentally left a mess and that Levi-ah, no, Mister Ackerman was going to punish him for it.

Once, at the start of the school year, a kid spilled juice from the cafeteria on his freshly clean classroom floors.

The kid had to spend his free time scrubbing the fuck out of the floor.

Armin and Mikasa did as told, gathered their 'crap' and left the classroom.

"You were saying?" Armin asked.

"Right. Some of us girls were gonna go ice skating this weekend. I wanted to see if she wants to come." She explained, a bit nonchalantly.

"Okay, I'll text it to you later." Armin said as they parted ways to head to their individual lockers.

-

"Hey, Y/N your shoe size?" A petite blonde girl politely asked. She was the one who was paying for the event, and you could supposedly say 'hosting' it, too.

"Um... I actually don't know." The H/C-ette frowned.

"Who doesn't know their own shoe size?" Her girlfriend, Ymir, asked in a kind of bitchy tone.

"Well, I've only ever gotten hand-me-downs from my mother or brother. I have never actually bought my own shoes." She shamefully looked to the side with her eyes.

"It's no problem, you can just get sized here." Christa, the blonde, reassured. She's such an angel.

Her real name is actually Historia. However, Christa is a nickname she came up with for herself because of the many times she would get odd looks or mispronunciations.

Plus, have you ever seen the name 'Historia' on a keychain?

Once they sized her feet, and got the ice skates, they headed to the rink.

Y/N has quite a bit of trouble once she got onto the ice. She stayed close to the wall.

Very close to the wall.

...

.....

Okay, she never left the wall.

While Sasha was over at the pizza bar, and Christa and Ymir were doing 'couple's things'-or whatever, Y/N was stuck up against the wall and unable to move because she kept tripping. She couldn't balance on her feet, the blades were too thin. She couldn't even roller skate, why did she agree to do this?

'Mikasa sounded nice and convincing...' She thought to herself, just wanting to leave.

"What's wrong?" Mikasa asked, skating up to her and stopping just next to her.

Y/N sheepishly smiled and looked to the floor.

"You can't skate, can you?" She asked, her nonchalant face slowly disintegrated as her eyebrows were raised.

"I truly do wonder what gave it away." She sarcastically mumbled.

"Why didn't you say so?" She asked, tilting her head. She suddenly pulled the other girl's wrists, slowly skating backwards.

"Uhm," The (short/tall/average) girl said as Mikasa pulled her to the middle of the rink. Suddenly, their touch parted and Y/N fumbled.

Mikasa was quick to act, catching her before she could fall.

"I told you I can't skate, what the hell are you doing?" She said in that same low, calmly hollow voice, but it was obvious by the usage of words that she was agitated.

"Trust me." Mikasa said in a similar low and calm voice. "Try to focus on standing in the middle of your feet, where the blades are."

Y/N felt like sighing, but kept it in. She balanced herself on the middle of her feet, which successfully stopped the wobbling.

"Now follow me." The average height-ed teenager said as she grabbed Y/N's hands before skating backwards. The other teen did as she was told, much to her mental protests.

'She's so nice, I didn't expect this. I thought she was so hung up over her stepbrother to pay attention to anyone else.'

"I'm going to ask you something." She started, "Why are you so nice to me? A stranger?"

Mikasa slightly furrowed her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

Y/N didn't know how to answer. So she quickly came up with something.

"The way Armin described you, sometimes it can be a bit...exaggerated." She shrugged. "He made it seem like you were cold and only cared for Eren, sometimes."

Mikasa let out a single laugh. Y/N raised an eyebrow.

"Eren is the most important person to me, and I guess I can be kinda cold to strangers. But I dunno. You remind me of someone." She answered. "And, not to mention, Armin really likes you."

Y/N felt her cheeks become heated up. Mikasa even noticed the teeny-tiny pink tint on them.

"Does he?" She asked, voice slightly cracking. Her calm voice squeaked.

"Definitely!" Sasha said, skating by. How much of the conversation had she heard? "Whenever someone mentions you, he jumps for joy to talk about you!"

Her chest suddenly hurt. Did her heart stopped? She questioned it as she smiled.

One more genuine, sad smile.