Complexity- Armin x Reader

Chapter 20: In Retrograde

"Do you think any crabs will come?" Y/n asked hopefully as she hugged her legs close to her chest.

"Of course. Why wouldn't they when such a generous queen has opened up a nice castle for them?"

Y/n giggled and smacked her friend's arm lightly.

"Why have I become the queen? If anything, you'd make a better ruler, King Arlert."

Armin turned to look at his friend. His face flushed and he felt his heart skip a beat at the sound of his last name rolling so smoothly off of Y/n's tongue. He found it to be very attractive.

"W-Why do you say that?"

The girl spoke matter-of-factly.

"'Cause you're the one who's gonna be a marine biologist, silly! You probably know way more about crabs than I do."

Armin sat on the sand and took in the sight of his best friend's face so close to his own. For a split second, he looked down at Y/n's lips and briefly imagined what it would feel like to steal a kiss from the girl right then and there. His heart drummed against his chest and he suddenly became hyper aware of his thoughts. He snapped out of his trance and looked away, smiling nervously and praying to the universe that Y/n hadn't noticed his staring.

"Heh, I guess."

Pulling away from his shoulder, Y/n moved to face the boy and sat with her legs crossed.

"Tell me a crab fact, Min."

She waited patiently for the blue-eyed boy to shake off the fog in his eyes. She knew Armin could get so engrossed in his thoughts sometimes.

The boy focused his vision on Y/n and he tilted his head, grinning.

"Well, they taste real good."

"Oh my gosh!" Y/n gasped in shock and then moved back dramatically. "If a crab moves into our castle, you better not eat him!"

"That crab won't know what hit him." Armin teased, and Y/n chided the boy between laughs.

From afar, Eren and Jean had been watching like weirdos.

"Dammit! I thought Armin was gonna go in for a kiss or something."

Eren scowled over at his two friends, wanting the damn bet to be over already so that he could stuff his face with diner food. And of course because he wanted Y/n and Armin to be happy.

"Nah, he wouldn't. He's too scared," Jean noted as he also scowled over at the two sand-castle architects.

Eren stayed silent at that remark, not really wanting to agree but knowing that there was some truth to what Jean had said.

"For smart people, they're both dumbasses," Eren mused.

Jean chuckled a bit and nodded his head.

"For real."

"Reiner was telling me the other day how he was getting impatient. He said that if Armin didn't ask out Y/n eventually, he would."

Jean wrinkled his nose. "Oh my God, I'm gonna be sick."

He hunched over and felt like he was going to gag at the thought of Reiner taking Y/n out on a date. It was unnatural.

Eren glanced over at Jean and laughed boisterously.

"That's exactly what I thought!"

The brunette went back to observing Y/n and Armin's odd behavior, and how they seemed to tip-toe around one another when it came to subtle flirting and longing.