Nerdmin - Nerd Armin FanFiction

Chapter 7 (Extra)

Ymir was still talking shit when Armin leaned into your side a little more, just enough for your shoulder to touch his chest, his arm resting on the back of the bench behind you. Not quite possessive. Just grounding. Like he wanted you to know he was still there.

You leaned into him in turn, the warmth between you quiet and steady, like a private frequency in the middle of all the chaos.

"You're disgusting," Sasha was saying, pointing a fry at the two of you. "You're gonna start doing that thing where you share one drink even though there are, like, ten straws on the table."

"I'm not sharing my drink with anyone," you said, reaching to steal one of Armin's fries anyway. "Except maybe him. Maybe."

He nudged you with his knee, smirking. "Thief."

"Don't leave food unattended," you muttered through a mouthful of potato.

Jean rolled his eyes. "God, you're already finishing each other's sentences. Kill me now."

"You're just bitter because you lost the bet," Armin said, eyes still on you.

Jean scoffed. "Please. I lost the bet, but I gained peace of mind. You have no idea how exhausting it was watching you two orbit each other like emotionally constipated planets."

You didn't deny it. Mostly because he wasn't wrong.

Armin's fingers brushed your arm, slow and deliberate, like he was drawing little shapes there without thinking. You glanced at him. He wasn't even looking at you this time. Just watching Sasha try to flick a straw wrapper at Connie's head with laser focus.

But the touch stayed. Constant. A reminder.

You let your fingers graze his thigh under the table. Light. Barely there. But he looked at you then, mouth twitching like he was holding back a grin. Like that was all it took.

Historia caught the look and leaned over to you, stage-whispering, "God, it's like watching a teen drama but with more eye contact."

Ymir scoffed beside her. "And less plot."

"Shut up," you muttered, but your hand didn't move.

Eren, finally tired of pretending not to care, leaned across the table with a half-eaten protein bar. "So does this mean we get to do double dates now? Like, real ones? No more weird avoidant bullshit?"

"Define weird," Armin said dryly.

"All of it was weird!" Eren said. "You two would be in the same room, not touching, not talking, but making weird eye contact like one of you was about to burst into poetry or start sobbing."

"That never happened," you said, a little too fast.

Connie nodded solemnly. "It happened."

Jean leaned in. "Remember the Halloween party? When you both got drunk and danced but refused to make eye contact the entire time?"

"I was dressed as a ghost," you protested.

"Exactly," Sasha said, triumphant. "Symbolic."

You groaned into your hands, cheeks warm. Armin chuckled beside you, and you felt him shift closer, his arm dropping from the back of the bench to rest lightly around your shoulders. The space between you disappeared entirely.

You glanced up. "What?"

He shrugged, like it was the simplest thing in the world. "You're cute when you're embarrassed."

You made a noise like you might die on the spot.

"Gross," Jean muttered. "Genuinely foul."

Mikasa, without even looking up from her phone, added, "I think it's sweet."