A Moment Kept Forever (Armin x Reader)

Armin and (Name) had known each other for a long time since kindergarten. They live in the same neighborhood and therefore they enrolled in the same schools in the area. It was on one school day when they first officially met. After classes when (Name) was waiting for her mother to pick her up, an old man came to the playground where all the kindergarten students played while waiting for their guardians. The old man seemed to scan through the scattered children of the area, trying to find one particular boy among the many energetic bodies racing around him. Not being able to see where he is, he decided to ask a little girl who was sitting under the shade of a tree.

“Hello there. Have you seen my grandson, Armin? I can’t seem to find him around here at all.” The old man said politely.

(Name) shook her head. “No, but I can ask Ral-sensei where he is.”

“That is very nice of you. And also, could you please find him and tell him that his grandfather is waiting for him?”

(Name) nodded before going off to her teacher who was talking to another parent. (Name) pulled at her teacher’s skirt to get her attention.  “Ral-sensei, where’s Armin?”

“Oh hello, (Name)! Armin? I think he is still inside the school. He might probably be in the library since all the classrooms are locked. Why?” Ral-sensei said.

Before (Name) answered her teacher, she already ran off to find Armin. When she entered the library, she passed the librarian, Bozado-san, who was less than flattered by her unwelcomed arrival.

“Excuse me, miss, but did you forget something?” Bozado-san said rudely, obviously not meaning to help the little girl.

(Name) stopped on her tracks and turned to the man with a scowl on his face. “Umm, I don’t think so, Bozado-san.” she shifted uncomfortably.

“You forgot to greet me, you little brat. Didn’t I tell everyone to address me by saying ‘Hello, Bozado-san' before entering the library?” He sounded as if he was trying to restrain his voice from rising. It’s a wonder why he could still keep his job as librarian despite being a bad-influence to the children.

A sudden “Shh!” came from a visitor who was reading by himself. It was (Name)’s classmate, Armin. The boy was reading a book where the protagonist was seen on the cover as tall grotesque-looking black and white cat that wore a tall red and white striped hat and a red bowtie. He was so engaged in the story that he didn’t even look up to see the little girl approaching his side.

“Are you Armin?” (Name) asked.

The boy took a second before looking up at her.  “Yes. Who are you?”

“I’m (Name). I came to tell you that your grandfather is waiting for you.”

Armin looked back at the book, then to her. “But I wanna finish this book first. Could you tell him that, please?”

The two children didn’t notice the shadow of Bozado-san looming over them. “You brats, can’t you see that it’s closing time? If you want to read that book, you either have to come back tomorrow or borrow it.”

They both looked at each other before Armin decided to approach Bozado-san saying “I’d like to borrow it please.”

The children weren’t sure if they heard Bozado-san click his tongue, but nevertheless, he signed Armin’s library card to let him keep the book overnight.


In the first few days, it was a routine thing for (Name) to meet Armin’s grandfather after school and be asked to retrieve Armin from the library because the young boy always seemed to be missing from the crowd of students in the playground. (Name), after a while, decided to follow Armin to the library after class, so she wouldn’t have to be told to get him. Armin was a little bothered as to why she wanted to follow him.

“Why are you following me?” Armin asked. (Name) merely shrugged as a response. It didn’t convince Armin, but he didn’t want to pry either, so he let her follow him.

While (Name) was there with Armin, she decided to read a book to. Armin didn’t mind having her sit with him, so they read in silence. Coincidentally after they spent thirty minutes there, another little boy and a little girl came inside the library. (Name) came to know these two children as Eren and Mikasa whom she became close friends with as well with Armin.

Since they were very young, (Name) tends to play with Mikasa more than she does with Eren and Armin, but that doesn’t mean that she neglects any interaction with the other two. They began playing together in the playground, taking turn in the swings, playing tag, riding the see-saw and the like. Sometimes they visited the library after school and came over each other’s households, which is how (Name) found out that Eren and Mikasa were adoptive siblings and that they lived next to Armin’s house.

They’re friendship continued up to high school. They studied, ate lunch and walked to class together. And since high school was a time where teenagers thought more of relationships and dating, the subject usually turned up in their conversations.

Because of that, Armin became shyer when he was with someone he liked. And at that time, it happened to be (Name). But even if she was young, (Name) already had a crush on Armin since second grade. Things like sleeping in the same bed, holding hands or hugging were considered more intimate to them now, so moments when they were truly alone together meant something deeper to them.

Now that they were in high school, they have yet to confess they’re feelings for each other. Armin, however, decided to take action.

It was the second day of their second year as high school students when Armin came early to the class he shared with (Name) and ripped a piece of paper from his notepad and hid it under her desk. It wasn’t a solid plan, but Armin couldn’t think of any other way of confessing that doesn’t involve talking to her in person.

Class was finally in session when (Name) arrived. Unfortunately for Armin, (Name) was assigned to a seat farther behind him, so he couldn’t check if she found the note. But all that he could think of during class is how he could get the chance of kissing her, going on dates, embracing her…

WHAM!

A ruler was slammed against Armin’s desk, making him jump out of his daydreams. Armin looked up at the glaring, steely eyes of his history teacher. Armin wondered how someone inches shorter than him appear to be so menacing at the time.

“Stop daydreaming, Arlert. Or else I’ll have you clean all the stalls in this entire school after class.” The man said in such an undertone that it sounded like a real threat.

“Yes, sensei.” Armin said, blushing in embarrassment. Some of the students in the class snickered at this.


After the first periods of class, as some of the students went off to eat lunch elsewhere, Armin approached (Name) who was taking her lunch from her bag.

“Umm, (Name)?” Armin said rather nervously.

“Yes, Armin? What is it?” When (Name) looked into his eyes, Armin turned away to hid the blush growing on his face.

“D-did you get my note?” he asked.

“What note--”

Suddenly, Eren came to interrupt their conversation. “Hey Armin, can I talk to you for a sec?”

“Oh--uh, sure.” Armin said quickly.

Eren had this grin on his face, “Come with me.” He said as he led Armin out of class.

“So, what is it, Eren?” Armin asked.

Eren changed his expression from a grin to a smirk, a look of cockiness. “Could you explain what--” he pulled out a piece of folded paper from his pocket. “This is?”

Armin’s heart sank. “W-what? How’d you get that?”

“How else? I found it under my desk you dork! I can’t believe you--”

“Sh-shut up!” Armin abruptly covered Eren’s with one hand.

Eren pulled his hand away, laughing. “Hahaha! Y-you p-put that in the wrong desk! Hahaha!”

Armin’s face turned completely red as he waited for his friend to stop laughing. “But seriously, though. Why tell her this way? Man up and talk to her!”

“B-but I can’t! I’ll just freeze up and stop talking altogether! Can’t I just do it like this?”

“Believe me when I say that it’s better to tell her in person than to give her this crap.”

“How would you know? You don’t even have a girlfriend!”

“Whatever, dude. Just stop being a wimp and ask her! I’m sure she’ll say yes.” Eren gave him an assuring smiled.

Armin pouted, but once he thought over it, he nodded. “Okay, I’ll tell her after class.”

“That’s the spirit!”

“But first, could you please give me that note back?”


School was finally over, and Armin was beyond nervous. After he had his talk with Eren, he asked (Name) to meet him at the gate (which was difficult enough for him to do). Waiting for her was nerve-wrecking for him.

When (Name) finished her cleaning duty, she caught Eren smirking and winking at her before leaving. Was he foreshadowing something? While she was mulling over it, she noticed Armin standing patiently at the gate.

“Hi, Armin. Let me guess, is it about the note you were supposed to give me?” (Name) asked.

Armin nodded while he tried his best not to blush so hard. “A-actually, can we not talk about this here?”

“Hmm? Why not?”

He knew perfectly well “why not” for he was worried that Eren might be watching, which only made him more nervous. Armin took (Name) by the hand. “Let me walk you home first.”

(Name) blushed at his touch. “Y-you don’t need to--”

“I-I want to, (Name)! I-I mean, I can’t tell you here.” Armin stuttered.

(Name)’s blush took over her face. How could it not? Armin was holding her hand after all. She nodded slowly as she let Armin walk her.  As they were walking, (Name) couldn’t help but feel something enclosed between their hands. It felt like a piece of paper. Armin’s pace became slower and slower until he stopped half-away to her house. “Open it.” He whispered.

Somehow knowing what he meant, (Name) took the note from his hand and unfolded it. It read:

(Name), I love you. Will you go out with me?
                                                  -Armin

(Name)'s eyes widened at the words written on the paper.

“B-before you say anything.” Armin said. “I want to tell you that I-I’m sorry that it’s so lame. I-It’s just that I didn’t have the courage to tell you in person, so I put that note under your desk. I hope you can forgive me for how cowardly it is, but I just want to let you know that I really do love you, (Name).”

The last few seconds was spent in pure silence, and Armin was starting to doubt (Name)’s feelings for him. But before he turned around and walked away, (Name) threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. No open lips or tongues, it was a kiss as gentle as a caress and as innocent as childhood romance.

When they pulled away, (Name) said “I don’t care if you done it any other way. I love you too, and yes, I want to go out with you.”

Armin was still blown away from the kiss that his response still came out in stutters. “Y-you mean it?”

(Name) smiled as she leaned her forehead against his “Of course I do. I’ve loved you since forever.”

Time seemed to stop at that moment when they looked at each other with eyes half-lidded as Armin caressed her cheek and slowly leaned in, until a flash came from the bushes. They blinked back to reality when they heard leaves rustling from the yard beside them.

“Damn it! It wasn’t supposed to flash!”

“Shh! They’ll hear us!”

The whispers were loud enough to be recognizable, and they both knew who followed them when they left. “Eren? Mikasa? Is that you?” (Name) called.

The rustling stopped for a second before their two friends popped out from the bushes. “Hi guys!” Eren waved with a grin while Mikasa smiled.

“When did you guys get here?!” Armin exclaimed, embarrassed.

“Well, we figured that you guys would go on ahead of us, so we thought that we should catch up. But then we saw that little moment you had together and uh…” Eren shamelessly pulled out his phone. “I decided to take a few pictures. The darn flash set off though, but at least I took a good picture, see?” Eren showed off the picture he took with his phone, which was of the two lovebirds’ anticipating kiss.

“You’re not mad at us, are you?” Mikasa asked, feeling slightly guilty for ruining their moment.

But when the couple saw the picture, their initial anger faded away. (Name) shook her head. “No, I don’t think I am. In fact, could you send me that picture? I want to remember that moment forever.”