Chapter Text
Armin found himself at that tea shop again, the one he overheard Levi and Erwin talking about. The boy thought he may be able to become more like them if he had a better understanding of them. He felt silly sitting alone at the shop, only two people working and every table was full. Armin couldn't help but feel like he was just an extra nuisance for the people working. After a few minutes of waiting, and both workers apologizing on their passing of his table, the young girl working stepped up to him with a notepad.
"I'm so sorry again for the wait" she smiled sweetly, a glisten of sweat on her brow as she clicked her pen, "what can I get for you?"
"No need to apologize" Armin returned her smile, "I'll have the forest walk blend please" he didn't bother looking over the menu, he had known since the moment he walked in what tea he wanted. Levi sang its praises the last time he overheard the man telling Hange about the spot. To better understand his superiors in order to become more like them he wanted to start somewhere simple, such as enjoying the same tea.
"Oh?" She looked up from her notepad, tapping it softly on her chest, "where did you hear about that?" Armin's heart pumped against his chest violently, had he misheard the name of the tea or of the shop?
"My captain and late commander" he mumbled nervously, "they said they love this place and that blend" the blonde fiddled with the untouched menu on his table.
"You don't mean from the scouts do you?" She leaned down to speak quietly, Armin breathed in the perfume clinging to her clothing. A soft lavender that was barely present until she was hovering right over him.
"Ye-yes" he smiled weakly, her eyes becoming harder to meet as his gaze tried to move down her neck to her newly exposed cleavage. Before temptation won out she stood back up and gave him a heartwarming smile, one that made his whole body shiver.
"I can't believe they went blabbing about our secret" she giggled, "good thing you got me and not my dad" she pocketed the notepad without writing on it. Armin stared up at her as she giggled into her palm. She gave Armin a wink and walked off to the back to make his tea, he couldn't figure out why his heart was racing so fast.
He waited for a few moments, skimming the menu he had neglected earlier. If he had looked it over he would have seen that the blend he heard of was not listed anywhere. The girl returned and placed a tea set in front of him. The set had a forest theme, hand painted trees lined the sides of the pot and cups with a few little painted deer grazing along the bottom of the cups. Armin picked up one of the two cups and inspected it, the paintings were so small yet impeccably detailed.
"My mother painted them" the girl smiled softly as Armin set down the cup, she poured him some of the tea from the pot and Armin was met with a warm smell. The girl poured a second cup as well, the blonde raising a brow at her as she did so, "this tea blend was her favorite, but unfortunately she had been in Shiganshina when the titans attacked" the girl looked down into the cup solemnly, her smile still present but fading.
"I'm sorry to hear that" Armin swallowed, he felt his pulse picking up again and a lump forming in his throat.
"My father took this blend off the menu because he doesn't like serving her tea to anyone, but Erwin had been a patron for as long as I remember so I always snuck him and his captain some" she smiled brightly, the sad look in her eyes dissipating as she looked over Armin at the window beside him.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know" Armin looked down nervously, he couldn't figure out why he was getting so sweaty all of a sudden, "I just heard them talking about how good it was and I wanted to try it."
"Don't apologize, my mother loved sharing tea with new people" the girl set the tea cup down across from Armin, "I'm sorry if it's weird, but any time I make this blend I always pour a cup for her" she softly traced along the rim with one of her long thin fingers, Armin found his eyes following it despite how hard he tried to look away. A soft silence fell over them for a moment as he watched her finger slowly move along in circles, "well enjoy your tea sir" she bowed and walked away to serve another customer.
After that day Armin's mind started wandering to her, wondering what she was doing and if she was overwhelmed at work. Their encounter had been brief, she hadn't paid attention to him in a special kind of way. No, she had treated him the way she would have treated any customer. However, her sweet smile and the smell of lavender wouldn't leave his mind.
A week after his first visit to the tea shop he decided he needed to go back again, he had to see her. Unfortunately she wasn't working, instead the shop was being taken care of by her father and her brother. Armin, frustrated, ordered some tea and waited around hoping she would come in. By the time he finished his tea it had gone cold, bitter from over steeping. Not quite as bitter as Armin felt though, he started lurking around the shop after that. Unable to afford purchasing tea every time he visited, Armin began to make sure she was working before going in and ordering.
He didn't always get her as his server, but just watching her work was enough to make his day better. His interactions with her were never more than the ordering process and her checking in to make sure everything was to his liking, just the amount she needed to interact with him for her job. Unfortunately, as much as he would have loved to make visiting her a regular activity, he just couldn't afford it. Armin made sure to stop in at least once a month, and he of course walked by the shop fairly often to peer in at her.
Four months of this and what little he was getting was no longer enough. He sat at his table looking out the window, she was in the back out of his view leaving him to entertain himself elsewhere. Armin was starting to understand his feelings for her, he knew what was building inside him was romantic. Though he didn't know much about her, or even her name, he knew that he was falling in love with her. Armin needed to get more of her time, he needed her to fall in love with him. Something that wasn't going to happen if he was only ever a customer, one she didn't even seem to remember each visit. He'd listened to her tell a few stories multiple times, at this point he could tell the story of how her brother tricked her into thinking a titan lived in their basement when she was five better than she could.
"I accidently made too many strawberry pastries, would you like one?" Her voice ripped him away from the thoughts in his head, Armin looked over at her. She had walked up to him holding a small plate with a pastry sitting deintly in the center, "free of charge" she smiled. Armin felt like his heart might burst through his chest, how can someone be as cute and perfect as she is.
"Wow, thank you" he smiled back after a small pause, "it looks delicious, are you sure it's free?" He watched her set it down in front of him, her beautiful long fingers softly tracing the edge of the plate as she pulled her hand back.
"Don't worry about it" she winked as she picked up his untouched menu, "please let me know if you need anything else" after a small bow she walked off to another table, starting up small talk with a family who had ordered a lot of food. Armin swallowed nervously as he looked down at the desert.
'She made this just for me' his mind ran wild with thoughts just on the edge of irrational. Licking his lips, Armin picked up the small fork beside his plate and pressed into the still warm pastry, 'she was too nervous to stay and see me try it, she's so cute' he smiled as he pressed the fruit bread to his tongue. He had never had such a delicious treat, though she could have given him a live rat to eat and it would probably taste amazing since it came from her. He needed more.
A few days after that Armin decided to do something he knew was crossing the line, but he couldn't think of anything better or easier. He snuck off base and into town after curfew, nervously walking down the quiet streets of Trost toward the tea shop. Armin needed to see her outside of work, but he had no idea where he could conveniently bump into her. His plan was simple; follow her home from work then wait around near her house in the morning on the scouts next rest day. Armin knew it was a little immoral to follow her home, but if anything this made her safe from creeps. He could keep an eye on her to make sure no one tried to do anything to her.
He waited patiently in an alley across from the tea shop, her and her brother were closing together and it looked like they were getting ready to leave. Armin nervously pulled his hood over his head, just in case they noticed him following them; he didn't want to risk her or her brother recognizing him. He stayed far enough back that he was fairly confident they had no idea someone was following them, the siblings keeping up light conversation about customers they had that day.
Armin was pleased to find out she lived a ten minute walk away from the shop, and just as pleased when he realized she lived alone, not with her family. He decided to check out the area around her little house, a small backyard with a garden teeming with fruits and different plants she used for making teas, her windows were flimsy and looked easy to get in and out of, and he could even see inside the house pretty easily too. Nervously, Armin peered through a few of them trying to see which rooms he could see into. The window above her kitchen sink was easy to see through from the street, but he needed to get in her backyard to look into her bedroom. After pushing his luck as far as he felt was safe, Armin made his way back to his dorm with newfound excitement for his next off day.
Eren and Mikasa were both surprised when Armin said he was too busy to do extra training with them that Saturday, they were even more surprised when he mentioned meeting someone in town. They'd noticed he'd been spending more and more time in town without them, but this was the first time he'd mentioned a person being the cause. They didn't pry, unsure what kind of relationship Armin was building with the mystery person and not wanting to make him self conscious about it.
What they didn't know was Armin wasn't meeting anyone, he was instead stalking them. He was waiting across the street from her house for any sign of her leaving, when he noticed movement in her kitchen. Excitedly he busied himself with a newspaper, sitting on a bench and trying to keep an eye on her door. Once he saw her exit her house he watched her walk down the sidewalk, she was holding a few empty bags so Armin figured she was going shopping.
Giddy, he got up and followed a few feet behind her. Armin kept her in his sight at all times, the last thing he wanted was to lose her in the crowd of people in the busy shopping area. She walked into a shop selling candles and Armin decided it was safe to follow her in, besides his dorm room could use a few new candles. As he walked in he almost jumped with joy seeing that the two of them were the only customers inside, a perfect opportunity to share some small talk with her and hopefully get her name.
"Excuse me" Armin smiled politely as he walked up to her holding a candle, "I'm sorry to bother you" he gripped the candle tightly as she turned to him.
"No worries" she smiled back, she eyed him cautiously.
"It's a little embarrassing, but I figured a woman's opinion would be useful for my current issue" he held the candle up to her as she raised a brow at him, "I'm in the scouts and I share a dorm room with a pretty messy guy, lately he's been making the room kind of stinky and I wanted to get something that smelled nice to counteract it. Do you think this would be strong enough to make a whole room smell nice?" Her features softened at the mention of the scouts, Armin already knew that telling her he was a scout would make her less nervous about talking to him. Her family greatly respected Erwin, even naming a blend of tea after him when he passed.
"Oh lavender" she smiled as she sniffed the candle, a scent Armin was already positive she would enjoy, "you might want to get two just in case, but that should help with the smell" she giggled. Armin held back the urge to touch her with all his might, there was no table between them this time and it made her feel more accessible.
"I'm glad, I thought this one smells the nicest, but having a second opinion in helpful" he nervously swallowed trying to figure out the best way to trap her in conversation with him, "my name is Armin, by the way" he could tell he was blushing, but hoped she would think it was cute and not weird.
"It's nice to meet you Armin" she smiled that sickeningly sweet smile of hers as she finally told him her name. The most beautiful name he had ever heard, he already knew he'd spend his evening mumbling it as he touched himself.
"I don't mean to sound weird, but do you work at that tea shop?" He figured it would be best to get it out of the way now that he knew her already, but hoped asking in this way made it seem like they truly bumped into each other by coincidence.
"I do, have you been?" She smiled before turning her attention to the candles in front of her.
"Yes, the tea is always very nice when I've been there" Armin fiddled with the candle in his hands, he wanted to spend more time with her but couldn't figure out if he was coming off as creepy.
"Well thank you" she beamed, "hopefully I'll see you there some time then" it was clear she wasn't trying to keep up the conversation. Armin chewed at his bottom lip, he wanted to keep prying at her, but he needed to stay calm and casual.
"Yes, hopefully" he gave an awkward wave and headed to the cashier, a sleepy old man who was hardly paying attention. Honestly Armin could have just walked out without paying and the man would have never noticed.
Another month passed and Armin was starting to need even more. At this point she recognized him when he came into the tea shop, also smiling and greeting him. The way his name rolled off her tongue was enough to send shivers down his spine, he was desperate to hear her whimper his name in a breathy moan. He needed to see her outside of the shop more, he had found ways to bump into her on three of his five days off. She had even been the one to approach him one of those times, a soft smile as she recognized him in the crowd.
Now Armin was standing outside her house deep in the night, he was once again crossing lines he knew he shouldn't. Armin had been spending a lot of time in Hange's lab working on some serious sleeping medicine, with the excuse he was having difficulty sleeping because of nightmares. The final product was sitting snugly in his breast pocket, just a dash of it would be enough to knock a person out for hours. He tested it on Eren, who said it was the best sleep he'd ever had and even offered to pay Armin to make him more. The blonde, however, had much more of a dubious reason for wanting to make the sleeping medicine.
Jerking off to the thought of her having gotten old, he needed something more. Armin waited patiently in her backyard, hiding in a blind spot from her window as he waited for her to get ready to bath. Once she was out of her bedroom and in her bath he snuck into her room, tapping a bit of the medicine into her cup of water by her bedside. Armin had watched her fall asleep many times now, she always kept a glass of water with her and periodically sipped it as she settled into bed. After adding the medication to her drink, Armin slipped back outside and waited. Her yard wasn't visible to any of her neighbors, unless they were out in their own yards, and her window lock was broken. He felt a bit worried for her safety knowing how easy it was to sneak in, luckily he was there most nights to fend off anyone who may try to get inside.