catalyst ⋆˙⟡ nerd!armin arlert x reader

chapter 18 - a ˚. ᵎᵎˎˊ˗

"Where the fuck have you been?" Eren asked from the couch, legs propped up on the coffee table, his phone in his hand as he peered over at the door, watching as Armin locked the door behind him, tossing his backpack over the back of a kitchen chair.

Armin sighed, grateful to have the weight off his bad shoulder. He rolled his neck and shrugged. "Busy."

Eren sat up, raising an eyebrow as he looked around the apartment, as though he were looking for cameras. "You missed afternoon practice, man."

Fuck.

Armin had forgotten about the last-minute rescheduled practice the team had for that evening, in the middle of his study session with you. Well, mostly forgotten. Part of him knew he was missing critical play time while he was trying not to stare at you, watching as you chewed at the inside of your lip, resting your head in one of your hands while you scanned the question he had written out for you.

The other part was wrapped up in the fact that you were actually talking to him, and not just doodling in your notebook beside him.

It was kind of hard not to get overly distracted when you were around. It was a miracle he locked in for the labs, because most of the time, he just wanted to study you.

Embarassingly enough, he found himself thinking about you most of the day, even when you weren't around, and against his best efforts. He tried everything, running extra drills, starting new shows, rearranging his entire room to stop stressing about whether or not you'd noticed how he was looking at you during class, his wits' end was seconds away.

Especially since Reiner showed up seconds before he was going to ask you to go to dinner, just as friends, probably to the campus cafe or the revolving sushi place just outside of campus, but by the time he worked up the nerve Reiner's grating voice was filling the quad, and he was jogging over.

"Hey," Reiner called out, his voice ringing in Armin's ears and shutting his mouth instantly, all agency lost. As he drew closer, the expression on your face switched from one of neutrality to something closer to fear or dread, and Armin got the unrecognizable urge to grab you and put himself in front of you, or grab your hand, intertwine his fingers and yours, just to make a point.

To prove that you weren't off-limits, and that Reiner's word meant nothing.

"Y/N, can we talk?" Reiner asked when he reached the two of you, giving Armin a confused look up and down before looking back at you. He had on his soccer uniform, and sweat was on his upper brow. If he told Coach Smith about this interaction, Armin's imitation doctor's note would be of no use.

You let out a breath, and Armin swore you looked over at him before turning back to Reiner. "Yeah, sure."

Armin had hoped you'd say no, but knew it was unlikely. You liked Reiner, he had learned as much the other night when he had talked to Bertolt.

Bertolt had been talking to Eren, who was plastered and had no recollection of the conversation in the morning, when Armin asked if he had dreamed it, despite only being tipsy and knowing he didn't dream it at all.

"Hey," Armin had said, extending a wet hand to Bertolt, who grabbed it, dabbing up his moist hand uncomfortably. "What are you guys talking about?"

He was still buzzing from the adrenaline high following having a conversation with you, which had sobered him up immediately.

Eren drunkenly smirked and put an arm around Armin. "Y/N. Did you know Bertolt used to date her?"

No. He did not know that, and now that he did, he felt the inexplicable urge to punch Bertolt in the nose. Since when did he care about such stupid shit?