Carousel of Affection [Attack on Titan/Black Lagoon Crossover] [Complete]

Armin

Armin's Perspective

It's 7:49pm now. I can feel my lack of sleep catching up to me, very heavily. My eyelids won't stay open, I'm on my fifth cup of hot chocolate, and I've been to the bathroom seven times. Unfortunately, this is my norm; I'm used to these habits, strictly due to my chronic lack of sleep.

I finished proofreading both of the earlier pieces and gave copies of them to the other editors and stored the originals in my file cabinet. Currently, I'm reading through a very long one that was in the email as a submission. A piece by "Shape Shifter"—who'd been sending us at least three documents a week for the past months or so—had finally been approved. And now that I'm reading it, I see why it hadn't been approved before: it is overly extensive, some of the sentences don't make sense, and I can barely grasp what the author is trying to say. To be reading this for a second time and still being unable to catch the gist of what's trying to be said is unusual of me.

I decided to print out the piece and seek help from my fellow coworkers, namely Connie. "Hey, Connie," I approached his desk, handing him a second copy, "Could you help me with this one when you get a chance? I can't quite understand what's going on here."

He nodded, taking the four pages and looking not too fond of how much he'd have to read, "Why is it so long?" He asked, gazing wide eyed at me. I shrugged. "Well, I'll look over it but when I'm done with this other piece I'm reading."

The computer screen presented one of my forwards. It was "Invisible", the one I read earlier by Actor Man. I noticed some new markings covering various spots of the page. "Oh, this one? This may be my new favorite one by this author, you know."

"You too? This one's definitely getting framed after pressing, for sure!" Connie cheered with a glisten of excitement shimmering about his face.

I chuckled, standing and heading back to my area of the building. A yawn stopped my walking, bringing me to stretch as well. I glanced at my watch to see 7:54 on it. The day's still not over? It feels like it drags on the more time passes.

I continued to stride over to my desk, and then my phone began to vibrate in my pocket. Just as I was reading the text message, my phone escaped my grasp when I bumped into someone. "Sorry!" A woman quickly said.

I looked up to see a pair deep grey eyes and dark magenta hair. Rebecca, our day guard. "It's okay, I wasn't paying attention anyways." I must not have heard when she offered to pick up my item for me, as we both went to grab it and bumped heads. And, boy, did it hurt! I stood with my eyes closed, rubbing my forehead and inhaling through gritted teeth.

"Ow..." She said, sounding a little uneasy. When I opened my eyes, there was a light blush tainting her cheeks. "Sorry, again. Me and my klutziness..."

I smiled, "You're not the only klutz in this situation." I comforted, taking my phone as she handed it to me.

"I hope you two are conversing about something over a paper that needs to be deciphered." Mr. Ackerman spoke sarcastically from the side of us.

"Uh, no sir, we just had a little trouble, klutzy trouble." I stammered out.

"Pfft, my job's as a day guard..." Rebecca snapped back, "Don't get prissy, hun."

No physical response from Mr. Ackerman. As matter of fact, no response at all, not immediately at least. "So you say, but as far as I've seen, you just sleep in your hole you call an office." Then, he turned and walked away. Rebecca murmured something insulting under her breath before walking the opposite direction.

I didn't know what to do. What just happened in front of me? Is this what my tiresome and complacent actions cause? I looked at my phone again. The text message was still open. Mikasa texted me: "Want us to meet you at your place?" -7:56pm. I had completely forgotten I had a date with her and Eren, I already thought about staying late. I sighed, walking back to my office, flopping in the chair.

A part of me wanted to stay behind and try more with Shape Shifter's piece. The other part of me that didn't want to shove my friends aside was tugging a little harshly, however. "Yea, I'll show in a little." -7:59pm. My computer was in screensaver mode. A bunch of transparent bubbles, rimmed with different colors distorted the underlying image below. I watched them bounce around the screen, much like my own thoughts bouncing around my head. It's a little disturbing, how similar my head and the screensaver was at the time, actually. However, the only difference was color; my bubbly, unrestrained mind was blander than a Nickelodeon movie, even one with excitement.

"Knock, knock?" A familiar voice I presumed to be Mr. Ackerman called with a knock from the door. I hadn't bothered to look from the pathless orbs floating about my computer screen. "Mr. Arlert?"

"Hmm?" I responded, spaced yet focused.

"Connie had to leave early. He said he had family matters to deal with but he read the Shape Shifter thingy." A pile of papers were plopped onto my desk, finally catching my attention from the monitor.

"Okay, thanks." A yawn caught me as I picked up the pile of papers. "God, I'm tired..."

"So I see. You should pack up and head home instead of staying late like you usually do." He said flatly.

"I know but I feel odd not..." Another yawn interrupted my sentence.

Mr. Ackerman smirked, "Armin, your work will be here tomorrow for you."

"But Mr. Ackerman..." My eyes were closed with my head leaned back against  the headrest of my chair.

I heard footsteps move closer to me, followed by a cold feeling on my ear. Then I heard someone's voice but it wasn't Mr. Ackerman's. "Armin, we're here waiting for you, okay? Try not to stay late today."

"Mikasa?" I said drowsily, "Uhm..." A sigh. My mind was ablank.

The phone was removed from my ear and Mr. Ackerman began to speak. "Mikasa, is it? Yea, hi. This is Armin's coworker and he seems to be a little sluggish at the moment." Mr. Ackerman is talking into my phone? If I was more awake than now, awake enough to open both eyes and move my head, I'd be able to hold a conversation with Mikasa but somehow my phone rang without me knowing and... "Alright. I'll see to it that he makes his way home." And now he's handing my my phone? "Looks like I'm driving you home, Armin. Or do you prefer Mr. Arlert?"

I sat up, rubbing my face, "Armin's fine. But Mr Ackerman, you really-"

"Levi."

What? "Excuse me?"

"You can call me by my first name in a less formal manor, such as just the two of us." He said, a hint of friendliness to his tone but not showing on his face.

I managed to smile. "Okay, uh, Levi you don't really have to drive me home. What about my car?"

"We're taking your car. There's nothing worth taking or that I care about other than twenty dollars in mine. But that's nothing more than gas money that'll be in next pay." He went and picked up the few things I gathered in the corner, beside my fridge. "Besides, I didn't ask. I stated: 'I'm driving you home' and that's final."

Well, looks like I haven't much say in this. I put my computer into hibernate and organized my desk a little before dragging myself to my feet. Mr. Ackerman-... Er, Levi stood in the doorway with my bags as I put my coat and scarf (and other winter wrappings) on before turning off the lights.

I noticed we were the only two here, outside of the custodians and two night guards. Levi bode them a goodnight while all I could do was wave.