Complexity- Armin x Reader

Chapter 22: By Chance

"She asked you to hang out with her?"

Armin nodded.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"What the heck! That's so..." Y/n brought her hand up to her forehead as she scrambled to properly voice her confusion. "So random!"

And Armin wholeheartedly agreed, nodding profusely.

"I know! That's exactly what I thought. I still don't know why or what happened or what I even did to make Hitch wanna hang out with me."

Y/n thought about it for a moment, wanting to delve deeper into the machinations of Hitch Dreyse's mindset. A proper line of questioning was called for.

"What did she sound like when she asked you?"

Armin frowned slightly.

"What do you mean?"

"Like, did she give off any signs of joking around or something?"

Armin dismissed the possibility.

"No. I don't think she'd go as far as getting my number if she were just joking around."

Y/n choked.

"She asked for your number?!"

"Y-Yeah? Why, what's wrong?"

That fact alone set off alarms in Y/n's mind.

"Oh my God, what was she doing when she was talking to you?"

"Umm...besides talking to me?"

"Yes, Armin! Like body language!"

"O-Oh...well, she was smiling at me the whole time, more than someone usually would, which was a bit weird...and she kept messing around with her hair. Twirling it around her finger and flipping it back—"

"Armin."

"Yes?"

"She's totally crushing on you!" Y/n exclaimed as she doubled over and laughed. "You're so oblivious!"

Armin went scarlet red and clammed up.

"W-What? N-No! That's not true!"

"Yes! She was flirting with you!" Y/n proclaimed proudly, feeling as if she had solved the world's biggest mystery. But then the weight of this revelation fell on the girl, and Y/n stopped smiling.

"She has a crush on you..." Y/n said, a bit more somberly.

"That's real funny. Thanks for the laugh, Y/n." Armin said this in a monotone voice, not really believing the girl. He got up from his bed and turned over to his desk to grab his Nintendo Switch so that they could game.

"Bitch, listen! It makes sense. What were you wearing when she saw you?"

Armin looked at his friend incredulously.

"Hmm...I dunno, Y/n, I'm a lifeguard. Take a guess?"

"Ugh, you're so annoying."

Armin chuckled and sat back down on the bed, playing around on the Switch.

"Ok, so you were— ah, shirtless?" Y/n blushed, knowing full well that she should have just assumed that.

"Ding, ding, ding, you got it." Armin replied offhandedly as he focused on choosing a game. He didn't notice the wild shade of red currently blossoming on his friend's face as the girl shook the image of his beach bod out of her head.

"Yup. Then she was definitely flirting with you."

Armin's brows furrowed. "Because I was shirtless?"

"Definitely because you were...shirtless." Y/n looked away to the side and closed her eyes. She felt a warmth radiating off her face and she needed to breathe in to calm down her fast heart.

"I can't say that I see the correlation here."

"Armin, you dummy!"

Y/n bonked the boy on the noggin firmly and the boy protested.

"She saw your abs, dude! No girl in Paradis wouldn't not look at them and--my God, I'm going to stop talking."

Y/n covered her face and laid down on the bed, curling in on herself. She groaned softly as she felt Armin's wide eyes on her.

"What was that?" He asked, laughing out of disbelief.

"Nothing, forget about it."

The blonde, flushed, put the switch down. And he leaned in closer to Y/n until he was a couple inches away from her shielded face.

"No, Y/n, repeat that last part. I didn't quite catch it."

"You asshole, you did hear it but you're being a jerk now. I'm not saying it again."

Armin chuckled and delicately removed Y/n's hands from her face. The girl looked anywhere but his eyes, and she refused to look at him.

"How come you're shy all of a sudden? You're always fine with giving me compliments. What's different now, hm?" Armin questioned in a feather soft voice that made the girl's heart leap out of her chest. He was still holding onto her hands, and Y/n couldn't escape. She laid there quietly, feeling awkward about answering.

"Because this is different. It's...um..."

Because I'm talking about how hot you look!

"What?"

Frustrated, Y/n groaned and retracted her hands from Armin.

"Bro, stop bullying me."

Armin laughed as Y/n sat up and rubbed the side of her arms.

"How was that bullying you?" He questioned and poked Y/n's red cheek. The girl glared affectionately at him.

"Just play your damn games."

Armin lifted his hands up in surrender, grinning widely before turning the switch back on.

It was peaceful between the two for a while, with the two taking turns at trying to defeat a boss in a game of Legend of Zelda.

Y/n would have called it smooth sailing from there had Armin not spoken up once again.

"So, my abs, huh?"

He lost once again to the boss and handed Y/n the control. Only the girl didn't move to grab it. She sighed and held her face in her hands.

"Armin..."

"You know, Y/n," Armin started, a bit hesitant as he wondered if he should really say what he was about to. He thought back to what Eren had told him a while ago.

"Armin, you're so up in the clouds that you don't even realize that Y/n is crushing on you," the brunette had said. He looked at Armin intently. "She's always flirting with you, subtly, but you're never gonna pick up on that if you're always so quick to write it off."

The blonde's heart hammered, and he challenged just how bold he could be.

"If you keep saying things like that, I'm gonna start to think that you're flirting with me."

The boy heard an audible gasp, and then Y/n stammered.

"Armin--!"

She flushed tenfold, and she was scared that Armin had figured her out.

She punched the boy on the shoulder, and Armin laughed it off.

"Aight, imma head out." Y/n said suddenly as she grabbed her bag and scurried out of Armin's room, throwing the boy a rushed peace sign. She needed to get out of there before she exposed herself.

Armin gaped for a moment and his eyes went wide. He clambered up from his bed and tossed his switch down onto it, following after Y/n.

"Wait! I was just kidding!" 

Where are you going, shawty!