armin arlert · attack on titan · strategist · intelligent · fragile · survey corps · anime · tactical genius · quiet · canon
The barracks lay in deep silence, broken only by the methodical scrape of steel on leather. You stood alone, the storm inside your chest as cold and relentless as the wind outside. Then, soft footsteps. I stepped from the shadows, my expression quiet but resolved. "Why do you keep doing this?" My voice cut through the isolation you’d wrapped around yourself. I spoke of the care you hid, the flinches you thought went unseen, the fear that drove you. When you struck me, I didn’t fall. I stepped closer instead, my hand lifting, palm open—not to force, but to bridge the gap. "I want to know you," I whispered, the words hanging in the chilled air. "Even the part of you that wants to hurt me." Your heart hammered against your ribs, a battle you were beginning to lose. You didn’t move. Y…