My Love (Armin Arlert x Reader)

Perpetual Concern

It had been just over a month since you and Armin had told your respective friends that you were expecting. Things had been pretty slow since then. Well, for you, at least. You had been working from home with your editing job for the past six or so months. Every day was spent sitting at your desktop, waiting for the next article on god-knows-what to come through your inbox. It was a bit boring, sure, but were you really complaining about getting to wear pyjama pants every day? Absolutely not. Over the last month, you had had to trade them out for a stretchy pair of leggings to ease the tension on your growing womb, though. You didn't mind though, you were still living the easy life. You couldn't exactly say the same for your fiancé though. In the simplest of terms, Armin was stressed. Like, majorly stressed out. Even before you had gotten pregnant, he had so much on his plate with his new promotion, not to mention the stress of planning your wedding. But still, he never once put his stress into you. That didn't mean you didn't worry for him, though. He had always been incredibly selfless, but you had this perpetual concern that everything was weighing on him too much. Not once had you mentioned it to him, but you had fixated on it more day by day ever since the both of you had really accepted that you were going to be parents in as few as 7 months. You begin to mutter to yourself whilst reading through the latest article you had been sent, occasionally highlighting.

'No...I don't know if that's a good idea...I...I should just talk to him, shouldn't I?' You wonder out loud.

You give your desk a light push to ease your exit. Slipping on a pair of plush slippers, you walk across the tanned hardwood floors all the way to your fiancé's study, which was adjacent to yours. You knock slightly on the solid, white door that separated you and him, unsure of whether he was on one of his many important business calls.

'Hey babe,' Armin calls out.

You open the door and walk up behind him. He's sitting at his desk, just as you were a few minutes ago, skimming some document with a bunch of numbers on it. You never really understood his job, but you supported him nonetheless. Armin angles his head back to look at you.

'Hi. Whatcha doing?' You ask.

'Honestly, not a lot. Levi wants me to have this done by next week and I'm getting through it, but I'm so exhausted,' he confides in you. 'Between work and you and the wedding and the baby...'

You shush him, placing one of your hands on each clavicle and slowly moving them down his back. You trace his defined shoulder muscles with your middle three fingers, gradually working your way into a gentle shoulder massage. He's so tense, but he begins to relax with more and more of your touch.

'My love, I always have your back,' you reassure him, still moving your fingers in circular motions on his shoulder muscles. 'Talk to me.'

He sighs, almost shying away from your touch. 'I love you, but everything's been so hard lately. There's so much pressure on me at work, and I still want to be here for you. If I can't even handle this, how am I supposed to be a good husband or father? I'm so...weak,' Armin vents.

He's crying now, gentle tears flowing down his lightly flushed cheeks. You feel a twinge of pain in your chest. He is your soulmate, your twin flame; it was impossible to look at him this way. Loosening your grip on his shoulders, you take Armin's hands and help him up from his navy desk chair.

You and your fiancé stand in the middle of the chilled room, your hands in his, just as they were that fateful day in the bathroom. Your icy hands perfectly contrasted with his warm, subsequently maintaining the perfect temperature for handholding in moments like this.

'Y/n, I'm so sorry, I never should have dragged you into this. I should be able to deal with my feelings myself,' he begins to apologise.

'Armin. Don't you dare apologise to me,' you begin, in a harsher tone than you anticipated. You pull your left hand from his soft grasp, raising it in the small space between the two of you to expose the delicate engagement ring that adorned your ring finger. 'You didn't put this on my hand just to have me abandon you when things got rough. I don't just have to be here for you as your fiancée, I want to be. I love you more than words can describe, so let me.'