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Armin called her twice. She slept with her phone charging on the pillow next to her, and her phone didn’t show as on do not disturb. Something had to be off.
He knocked at the door, waiting for a response; at the least from Hitch. However, he found himself waiting at their dorm’s door once again. No response.
He barged into the dorm, set up like a mini-apartment. She and Hitch had a seperate bathroom and separate tiny bedroom, but shared a common space with a kitchen and a “living room” Armin immediately entered Annie’s bedroom. She was lying on her bed, curled up on her side like a baby. Okay, maybe she just slept in? No big deal.
Armin slowly walked to her bed to observe her. She was covered in her comforter, and she had 2 thick, fuzzy blankets atop of her. She slept in a large hoodie, which was common. Annie usually froze in her sleep, as her room was an icebox. He also noticed the long cord of her heating pad. Not that he hadn’t seen it before, but it was a very rare sight. Armin placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, rubbing it softly. “Annie…Annie.”
Annie bolted awake, to which Armin had no reaction too. He gave her a sympathetic look as he observed her face: her eyes were blood red and puffy, her face was paler than typical, and under her eyes were purple eye bags. While keeping her knees to the side, she maneuvered her shoulders to be parallel with the ceiling, looking up at Armin. Her breathing appeared to be heavy.
“Hey, it’s just me…” Armin reached a hand to her shoulder. Annie let out a cough, which turned into her sitting up and frantically pointing to the trashcan. Armin grabbed it with great speed, placing in infront of her and under her chin. He sat next to her on her bed, holding her hair back (it fell out of her bun.)
He waited patiently as she dry heaved into the trashcan, eventually vomiting a great amount into it. In the meantime, he redid her bun (sloppily, but it would hold). Annie then let out a deep breath, and lifted her head.
“I take it you’re sick,” Armin gently told her, before she could say anything “It’s alright, I don’t mind just staying here and taking care of you all day.”
A teary-eyed Annie finally caught her breath. Armin took the trashcan from her, and removed the bag from within it. “It’s fine…I just need an hour, don’t….” She coughed once again, to which Armin had already left the room. She could hear him in her bathroom, confused as to what he was doing.
“I think your body says otherwise.” Armin came back into the room with a thermometer. Annie actually complied with him, knowing a fight would not help her situation. She didn’t have the energy to put up a fight.
After a minute, the thermometer beeped. “101.3. Now that’s bad.” Armin told her, reading it back too her. She rolled her eyes, lying back down on the bed. Armin perched on the edge of the bed beside her, as she shifted to put the heating pad and the lion stuffed animal back on her stomach.
Annie rolled over onto her side in the direction of Armin as he spoke, “When did this start?”
“I felt horrible last night. I didn’t sleep until 4.” She moved her comforter to be against the wall, with just one throw blanket covering her. Armin nodded.
“So you got worse through the night?”
“Yea.”
“What all are your symptoms? I take it that you have chills, congestion, a cough, fever, and a nausea…and a stomach ache. Anything else?”
“That all and a headache.”
“I’ll be back.” Armin raised up from her bed, going back once again to the bathroom. Even with him out of the room, she felt herself drifting back to sleep.
Armin could have sworn up and down he was only gone for 60 seconds, and which he came back to a sleeping Annie. He caressed his hand on her back, shaking her gently as he held a bottle of Tylenol and a cool cloth.
“Hey, sorry to wake you again. You can sleep again once really soon…” Armin’s voice was calm and gentle as he placed the bottle of Tylenol on the nightstand. Annie’s eyes slowly opened, which was incredibly rare for her.
“I brought you some medicine for your pain and fever.” Annie propped herself up using her elbows, taking 2 pills and downing them with water. Armin moved the stray hairs from her face and put the cold cloth on her forehead after she lied back down.
Annie closed her eyes, resuming her previous position. “I’ll wake you up around 1 with soup. Sleep well.” He kissed her cheek and sat next to her on the edge of her bed. She fell asleep right after he said just that.
It was currently 11 AM, meaning he had two hours to make soup. Who knows what she could eat without puking it up immediately. Armin glanced over to see her sleeping form, in a semi-fetal position facing him.
In Armin’s bag, he always brought his laptop with him. For gaming, school work, entertainment, he used it for absolutely everything possible. He quietly slumped in a chair across from her bed (in her tiny little dorm room), and pulled out the laptop. Armin logged in and pulled up tetris, playing it as Annie peacefully slept on the other side of the room.
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Annie slept so peacefully, and Armin was so focused on his tetris game that he forgot to check the time; it was now 12:48. Quietly, he closed his laptop and hurried out of the dormitory. He hastily walked out to his car, and made a spedrun a trip to the grocery store. He purchased a few cartons of bone broth, along with celery and carrots, and a box of pastina (tiny star shaped pasta).
After making the soup, Armin had to shake her awake once again, as Annie in such a deep state of rest as if she had been crystalized for 4 years. He timidly placed the soup on the edge of her nightstand, bracing for if she were to hit it when waking up. He refilled her water, got a new cool cloth, got some more tea (placed next to the soup, not to be spilled), and retrived the thermometer.
He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, while she layed on her side snuggling the weighted stuffed animal. Armin shook her with extreme delicacy, making sure to limit her flight or fight responses.
“Annie…Annie..”
Annie’s eyes opened very slowly. Armin could swear she was glued to her bed, because she wouldn’t move at all.
Normally for Annie, being woken up could normally get one fined by being smacked by the pillow, or a punch. However, she just layed there, eyes wondering what was next in a dreadful way. She was covered in a cold sweat, even though she covered herself with a blanket.
“Let’s take your temperature again, just for good measure.” Armin told her, as she stared into nothing. Everything felt hazy for Annie. Every word, action, and thought blurred to one as if in a large vat of oil.
“100.9..” Not that much better, but it’s slow progression. I brought you something to eat as well.” He took the cold cloth off of her forehead and set it aside. Armin turned back to her, gently assisting her in sitting up. He put a firm pillow behind her back for support, unsure if she were able to support herself up fully.
He gingerly placed the soup in her hands, not spilling anything. Annie began to take a bite, eating slowly. Armin watched as she ate, observing for any sign of being nauseated.
Slowly but surely, Annie finished the bowl of pastina. He took the bowl from her, carefully placing it back down on the bedside table.
“Do you think you’re going to go back to sleep?” He questioned, to which she shook her head. Armin grabbed his laptop, smiling. “That’s great. We can spend some time together, then! Not that we already arn’t; but time somewhat how we prepared to spend it.”
Armin wasn’t worried at all about having to take care of her all day. He adored every second of it. His concerns were on Annie, and if she were to feel down on ‘ruining’ his day. She prefered to stay in, especially on days like this. It didn’t make a difference overall.
At the foot of their bed, Annie and Armin lied on their stomachs under a blanket. Armin’s laptop stood infront of them, as he scrolled YouTube for the video essay he was exited to show Annie.
“I’ve found a good video essay. We would have watched it today, regardless of what we did anyways. It’s about ‘The horrors on abandoned government websites’. Seems interesting enough.” Armin clicked on the video, putting the laptop a foot away from them.
Both watched the video as they sipped their tea. whole thing was 2 hours long, being perfect for the occasion. After 45 minutes, Annie began to get tired yet again.
She lied manuvered herself to put her head on her arms, still keeping her eyes on the video. Armin stayed locked in, as ever. She curled the blanket to be around her more, as her eyes got heaver and heavier…and she was back asleep. For the 3rd time today.
Once the video finished, Armin manuvered her so she was sleeping against her pillows; in the original position. He was unsure of how long she would sleep, so he sat on the edge of her bed, watching yet another video essay.
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The sun had begun to go down ever so slightly.
At some point, Annie had woken up again (Armin was too deep in his book to notice).
In her desk chair, Armin looked up too see Annie (slightly better, but still as bad as when she came out of her crystal). She stared into the floor, hanging over the edge of her bed. “Good evening, sleepyhead. How are you feeling?”
“Better.” Her voice held no energy within it.
“How did you sleep?”
“Mhm…”
Armin chuckled. She was still out of it, and probably needed to sleep. “Let’s have you eat now since you’re awake.” He closed his laptop and stood up, heading towards the door. “I’ll heat up some soup.”
And just as Armin walked out the door, Annie followed behind, hurrying to the bathroom. She immediately got on her knees over the toilet bowl and began to puke. As Armin heard her, he bolted from the kitchen to the bathroom, coming behind her.
He waited patiently at the door for her, helping her up after she was done. He lead her back into her bed, assisting her in sitting how down and making sure she was comfortable.
“I’ll be back. It’ll take no more than 5 minutes; I promise.” Her reassured, noticing that Annie was once staring back into nothing. Armin rushed back into the kitchen, pouring some of the leftover soup from earlier into a pot. He heated it up, because it overall would be easier on her stomach.
In the time it took him to heat up the soup, Annie settled herself back into bed. Overall, she felt disgusted with herself. Her skin was clammy from the amount of sweat overall, and her body felt cold overall.
Armin brought her the soup, once again sitting on the foot of her bed as she ate. “Are you feeling any better?”
Annie nodded. “Slightly.”
“That’s good.” He sat in thought for a second before going to grab some medicine for her. He placed the pills in her hand, along with a glass of water.”
“You need to take medicine.” He instructed as she swallowed the pills.
She gave no response, knowing that he at times could be thinking outloud. “After this, I’m showering and going to bed.” She told him, to which he gave a nod.
“Sounds good, do you want me to stay?”
“Please.” She slowly raised herself from her bed, as she plopped herself down onto the floor. A rush of dizziness came to her, she instantly felt as if she could fall at any second. Armin put a hand around her waist, supporting her incase of a fall.
After a second to regroup, she walked over to her dresser and picked out one of Armin’s hoodies, and a pair of sweat shorts. Armin smiled in admiration, but kept a watchful eye incase she were to pass out again.
Annie went into her bathroom, shutting the door and turning on the shower. Armin remembered that he had a few things to do at home, approaching the door and speaking from outside it.
“I need to go feed Titan and give him his medicine. I’ll be back in 5 minutes, I promise.”
“That’s fine.” Armin had a really old golden retriever named Titan. Titan was the sweetest dog ever, but he was also as old as an ancient civilzation.
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Annie decided she would take a bath instead. It was way too much effort to even try to stand for that long, and a bath would help her. She washed her hair in a shower, then later getting into the tub to relax.
Armin knocked at the door, noticing her disappearing from her bed. His knuckles pressed against her bathroom door.
“Annie? Are you in there?”
“Yea. You can come in if you want.”
He gently opened the door, as Annie sat in the tub. Her head rested on the side, only her eyes moving to watch Armin.
“I feel amazing.”
Armin raised an eyebrow. This was NOT the Annie Leonhart he knew. She was probably getting the most relief ever.
“I see.” Armin was at a genuine loss of words.
Armin perched across from her in the bathtub, as Annie slumped against the edge. They stayed like this for a pretty long time, with neither of them moving.
“I’m going to get out, you should do the same.” She made eye contact with Armin with the first time, who stood up.
She got out as well, changing into her pyjamas after drying off. When she was done, she lied back down on her bed, facing Armin.
Armin crawled up behind her on her bed. Her bed was on the right side of the room, so he layed to the side of the wall in the unlikely event that she would have to throw up again. He threw his arms around her torso, basically spooning her. In response, Annie turned over to face his body. She snugged her head into his chest, and curled up to him. Armin tightened his arms around her, ensuring that she was in his grip.
They layed in silence for a while. Nothing else going on: just the presence of eachother. “Armin.” She called.
“Hm?” His eyes showed concern, as he didn’t move from his head atop of hers. He prayed he wouldn’t have to deal with her puking yet again.
Annie thought for a moment. “Nothing. Just making sure you’re awake.”
“Oh. Well, I love you, and sleep well.”
“You as well.”
“We’re going to the doctor tomorrow too. You’re too sick.”
Annie picked her head up. “What?”
He layed his hand on her head, putting it back on his shoulder. “Shhh…you heard nothing.”
She rolled her eyes as she relaxed back into him. The pair layed in silence and darkness for a small amount of time; no lights, no talking, not much movement, just them together.