MCL pet day pictures! ♡ The cutie on the left is my baby Grace. She's a stray Pit Bull we adopted about 5 years ago, when she was about 3-5 months old. She'll be celebrating her 6th birthday in May. The fluffy mass on the right is Dartanyon who's been with us for over a decade (no one can remember how old he is...). He's a macho kitty because even though he adores being pet and snuggled, after about 5 seconds of being in your arms he freezes and then starts flailing, like he just realized "crap...snuggles....NOT MANRY!!!".
Bright blue eyes drift slowly from the colorful panels of a comic to your face, which you scrunch up perplexedly. “Why not?”
“Well, it’s just…you really don’t know half the stuff he talks about, for one.”
“Pfft. So?” She lowers the flimsy book in her hands and digs into her pocket, pulling out a phone and waving it in your face. “That’s what Gooble is for!”
“But—I mean—what if you agree to something you regret later?”
At this Lucy lets out a short giggle. “Oh, Candy, Candy, Candy…” Shaking her head playfully, she opens her mouth to further her response, only to grin instead as the front door chimes and the target saunters into the store. Without wasting a second she plonks the comic book back on its stand and grabs your wrist, tugging you closer so she could whisper in your ear. “Really, take a look at ‘im, girl. You think I’d regret doing anything with that?”
You can barely offer more than a glance in the boy’s direction before you’re harshly tugged towards him by her boy-loving friend, trying not to wince at the shrill cry of, “Armin? Is that you?”
Sometimes you really regretted befriending Lucy. Right now was one of those times.
You loved her like an estranged older cousin thrice removed, but sometimes her schemes drove you insane. If it wasn’t for her, you would most likely be…alright, you would most likely be in the comic book store anyways, but at least then you would be free to peruse the aisles at your leisure instead of stalking your buddy Armin in an attempt to help your friend hook up with him.
Honestly. The things you did for Lucy and the free lunch you were promised.
While you recount the sequence of events that led you to your current position, Armin turns and faces the two of you, offering a smile. “Hey…” his voice trails off slightly the longer he looks at Lucy, only to pop back the moment he lays eyes on you. “Candy. Should’ve figured I’d see you here.”
”You know me.” you respond lightly, giving a tight-lipped smile as Lucy impatiently elbows you in the side. “Uh, Armin, you remember Lucy, right?”
”Yeah. You’re the Nekomimi cosplayer, right?”
”Yup, that’s me!” Lucy chirps, grinning brightly. “I did the Gurren Lapman cosplay too, remember?”
“Lagann.”
”…Huh?”
”It’s Gurren Lagann, not Gurren Lapman.” the boy corrects, raising an eyebrow. You catch the telltale twitching of his nose and immediately smother your giggles, picturing the struggle between Armin’s fanboy nature and an attempt to be somewhat polite. If that was you, he’d probably be ranting at the mistake for another good minute.
Your friend gives a nervous little laugh. “R-Right, sorry, I’m not so good with names.”
She glances at you for moment. You’re not sure if she’s silently asking for your help or trying to burn holes through your head, but you decide to go with the first idea and leap to her rescue. “What brings you here, Armin? The new Smash trophy?”
For a moment, you label that move as a fail, considering Lucy gives you a look that’s both quizzical and accusatory. ‘Right. Not a gamer.’ Today would have probably been more productive if you’d insisted on educating her on the nuances of geekdom. Maybe then she wouldn’t be so lost in this conversation and batting zero with her chosen flavor of the week.
Armin, however, widens his eyes at you. “What? That’s out already? I thought that was next week!”
”Nope. Zero Suit Samus came out yesterday.” Despite yourself, you hold up a small box you’d been carrying under one arm and display it proudly. Inside is a small figurine of a blonde, well-proportioned woman in a bodysuit brandishing a gun, posed so it seems as if she’s shooting at the person who dares peek into her little shelter of plastic. “Next time we game, you are so going down.”
”You wish. You have yet to beat me at Smash Brothers. I doubt even having someone as bad ass as Samus is going to help you there.”
”Oh it is so on now.”
”A-hem.”
Slowly, as if choreographed, you and Armin freeze and turn your heads towards the girl who has most likely been lost this entire conversation. Sheepishly, you tuck the box back under your arm and give her an apologetic smile. What can you say? Armin and you could talk for literally hours over some of the most pointless subjects. It was hard not to fall into that same routine whenever you were around him, regardless of your reason for speaking with him in the first place or who was around.
”So if you’re not here for, uh, a trophy, what were you here to get?” Lucy cuts in neatly, showing off her brilliant wide teeth in a perfect little smile. You had to hand it to her; you would have probably walked out right about now instead of hanging around. Kudos to her for having the guts to stick around and try her luck again despite the little blunder earlier. Then again, you suppose Lucy never really learned when to give up…
The black-haired boy jerks a thumb behind him at a shelf full of cards, manuals, action figures, dice, and various depictions of magic and warriors and scantily-clad elves. “DnD stuff. Alexy used my dice in one of his creations, so until I get some more, the campaign I’m running is kind of at a stand-still.”
You nod slowly. “Yeah, that’d kind of bring everything to a halt.” A moment later, a frown crosses your face. Tapping a finger against your chin, you ask, “Couldn’t you use virtual dice in the meantime? They have D-10s and D-20s in some of the generators.”
”It’s just not the same.” he insists, to which you laugh lightly and shake your head. “I take it you play?”
”My mom used to.” You admit. “Dad made her stop since it got in the way of…well, you know, everything. But she taught me a lot before that happened.”
Armin’s face lights up and he looks between the two of you with a peculiar gleam in his eyes. “So you know the rules pretty well then, right?”
”Yeah!” Lucy chimes before you can reply. “We used to play together all the time, right Candy?” Her eager gaze and tight-lipped smile are enough to clue you in that agreeing with her is in your best interests, so you merely nod.
”Oh, good! Nathaniel said he wanted to learn how to play today, but I can’t really guide and teach while I’m DMing. Y’know, conflict of interests and all that. Would you mind doing that? Teaching him, I mean. So I can focus on killing him.”
To her credit, Lucy doesn’t even bat an eye at the statement. “Sure! Sounds like fun, right Candy?”
”Loads.” Your voice is a little more deadpan than usual, if only to balance out the other girl’s entirely too eager tone. Truth be told, it did sound like fun. But you could definitely see one campaign completely obliterating and and all hope Lucy had of snagging Armin. “Hey, Armin, we’ll meet you later, alright? I need to pick up a few things before we head over.”
The boy gives a shrug and grabs a packet of dice off the shelf. “Sure. Is an hour okay?” He takes in your short nod before giving the two of you a brief wave. “Cool. See you at my place later, yeah?” He then walks off towards the register to purchase his dice, leaving you alone with Lucy who is tugging at your arm impatiently.
”We’re going to his house! We’re going to his house!” she gushes. “We. Are going. To. His. HOUSE!” her sentence is punctuated with a hushed squeal of unadulterated joy and rapidly shaking your arm back and forth.
”Yes, yes, super exciting.” you mumble. Armin’s house was nice, you had to admit. You had no idea what his parents did for a living, but whatever it is, it sure brought in the money needed for a huge house plus tasteful furnishings. The consoles, vast array of gaming paraphernalia, and two of your best friends in the same place just made it even better. First things first, though: saving Lucy from total embarrassment.
You carefully put your prized Zero Suit Samus figurine on the shelf and disentangle your arm from Lucy’s grasp before picking up about seven thick Dungeons and Dragons tomes and plunking them in Lucy’s hands. She immediately gasps at the weight, her legs wobbling as she attempts to keep a grip on the heavy objects. “W-What are these?” her voice is littered with gasps and a strained edge.
“Homework.” You smile at Armin as he dashes past and out of the store before your expression sobers and you stride to the front counter, grabbing your figurine on the way. “You’ve got one hour. I suggest you get started.”
(I also posted a copy of this on my side blog mclsweettreats in response to an Armin x reader request. Big thank you to Armin-ask-mcl for the prompt that got me out of my writer’s block slump. ^^)
