Author's note: Prompt fill for Tumblr's Aruani week. Day 2 Bruises.

I really wanna see more cannon/fandom on Mikasa and Armin's relationship... but this is still an aruani so read on.

Lying on her bunk, Annie watched Armin reading aloud to the dormitory, just as entranced but alert as the rest of her dorm mates.

It wasn't unusual for Armin to be in the girl's dormitory after dinner, as he often came over to read to them. The first time he had asked if he could to read to Mikasa, and being an adorable little twelve year old, the older girls had allowed it, "just this once". At some point over the last three years though, Armin's stories had become regular entertainment for the whole room. He would read stories about the world outside, or tell them fairy tales from the time before the titans had appeared, and all the girls in the room would listen before bed.

Armin reading to them was nothing unusual, but it was Mikasa who everyone was focused on tonight.

Within a week of joining the training corps, the whole campus knew that Eren was Mikasa's, and this was never questioned. Every so often, however, Mummy-kasa decided that someone had been too rough with Armin, and felt the need to remind people that Armin was her little bunny. With Eren, her actions were always a violent defending of territory; with Armin, it was a somewhat more subtle reminder that she would not tolerate any damage to Armin. Somewhat more subtle...

The girls in the dormitory had identified four clear stages.

Stage one: cuddling. This stage was just a quiet warning, usually if Mummy-kasa felt a girl was flirting with Armin. The dormitory agreed that while it shouldn't be read as disapproval, the interested party should just remember to be nice.

When Armin had arrived with his book this evening, instead of having him sit at the foot of the bed, Mikasa had sat him with his back to her, placed her chin on his shoulder, and her arms around his waist. Annie's bunk was right next to Mikasa's, and was one of the first to notice, but soon all of the girls were looking around, trying to figure out who the warning was directed to.

Stage one usually only lasted until all the girls had gotten comfortable in either their own bunks, or if they were lucky, one closer to Mikasa's. Annie kept her bunk to herself. Some of the girls sat on the walkway between Annie and Mikasa's bed, but only Christa was allowed on Mikasa's bunk, while Ymir sat on Sasha's adjoining bed. When Armin was ready to begin, Mikasa allowed him to move forward a few inches. As he began reading, the whole dorm watched and waited to see whether Mummy-kasa would leave it at that, or move on to stage two.

Stage two: brushing Armin's hair. Stage two was a firmer reminder to the watching girls that Armin was Mummy-kasa's delicate little lamb. Most of the girls agreed that stage two wasn't quite a warning to back off, but a reminder that Mummy-kasa was watching.

As the dorm watched, Mikasa picked up her brush from her bedside table and began running it through Armin's blonde hair. The watching girls exchanged glances, still wondering who the warning was directed to. Feeling the brush in his hair, Armin stopped his story and turned around.

"Mikasa," he began slowly, "what are you doing?"

Before answering, Mikasa turned him back to the front by his shoulders. "Just brushing your hair."

"Yes, I realise that, but why?"

Annie heard Sasha giggle and whisper what sounded like "answer the question," to Mikasa. That made sense, Annie thought. Sasha was Mikasa's best friend among the female recruits; she probably knew exactly what and who this was all about.

"Because your hair is all knotted," Mikasa said, resuming her brushing.

"It is not!" Armin protested. Despite his embarrassment however, Annie noticed that Armin seemed to be enjoying the stroking sensation, his face relaxing, and eyes closing occasionally.

"Is too," Mikasa replied, despite how easily the brush moved through the small boy's hair. Armin sighed at the sensation, then blushed as he suddenly realised the entire dorm was watching them.

"W-well it's very distracting while I'm reading," he said moving his head out of Mummy-kasa's reach, which she allowed. As Armin resumed his story, Annie studied his face.

His blush had made a green and yellow tinged bruise across his cheek that Annie hadn't noticed, stand out. She was wondering when that had appeared, when the dormitory gasped as Mummy-kasa entered stage three.

Stage three: Braiding. Unlike the previous stages, the girls all agreed that this was open disapproval, a clear warning to back off from Mummy-kasa's precious flower. As Mikasa began dividing Armin's hair, some of the girls moved away from the bed, suddenly glad that their own bunks were far away. Christa discreetly moved closer to Ymir, while Sasha tried to smother her snorts of laughter.

Armin put his book down, and turned to look at Mikasa. Annie was surprised to notice his eyes were narrowed in irritation. For a moment Mikasa and Armin looked at each other before Armin finally spoke.

"Mikasa – drop it."

Annie raised an eyebrow in shock. That was more forceful than she ever expected from Armin, especially towards Mikasa.

"I can't drop your hair, the braid will unravel," Mikasa replied levelly.

"You know what I mean." Armin spoke in such a low voice that Annie was certain she and Mikasa were the only ones to hear it, especially as Sasha was now laughing openly. Really, Annie shouldn't have been surprised that the smartest recruit in their class had noticed the stages, but she was. Armin had just seemed too innocent to pick up on it.

"Armin, you're making everyone wait for the story, it's very rude," Mikasa said still holding Armin's hair. "Turn back around, I'm almost done."

Annie watched as Armin closed his eyes, and took a deep breath, apparently trying to calm himself down, though she had never seen him really be angry. He quickly turned back to his book and resumed his story, although the girls were more interested in his and Mikasa's discussion by this point. As he read the tension slowly left his voice, and Annie let the relaxing sound wash over her. She had just begun drifting off to sleep, when she was jolted awake by Armin's groaning shout.

"Oh, no Mikasa, please, not the flowers!"

At the word 'flowers' the sleepy dormitory was sent into a flurry of backwards motion, as the girls tried to put space between themselves and Mummy-kasa. Ymir grabbed Christa and carried her back to their bunks. Annie sat up and looked across to Mikasa's bed, where the very rare and feared stage four was taking place.

Stage four: flowers. Seen only once before, this stage was the final warning to leave Armin alone. The one other time it had occurred in the mess house. Mummy-kasa had heard rumours that Reiner had been a bit too cuddly with Armin so had brushed, braided and flower-crowned Armin in front of the boys, who had watched entranced, and failed to notice the girls' terror. Reiner had ignored Annie's warnings, and afterwards had spent a week in the infirmary. Annie couldn't think of a single girl in the dormitory who would be so stupid.

Armin was sitting slumped in defeat as Mikasa threaded flowers into the braids. She had pulled all his hair into two thick crowning braids around his head, which formed a bun where they met at the back. Sasha was practically crying tears of laughter as she handed Mikasa the small white daisies one at a time. Annie thought it was the dumbest thing Mikasa had ever done.

With his hair pulled back, and the flowers spread throughout, Annie thought Armin looked too much like the precious princess that Mummy-kasa saw him as. It was completely counter-productive to make him look completely delectable when her intention was to warn people away. With his hair away from his face, his delicate features were even more obvious, and his large blue eyes were no longer hidden by his fringe. Annie thought that whoever was after Armin would have a very hard time staying away from something so beautiful, Mikasa or no. Even from the terrified girls of the dormitory, Annie could hear murmurs of admiration.

Finally, Mikasa ran out of daisies and allowed Armin to stand. His face was bright red, making the yellow bruise stand out against his cheek again. Before Mikasa could get off the bunk to let him out of the dormitory, Armin shot her a defiant look and turned to Annie.

"Um, Annie, I was wondering if you would spar again with me tomorrow. I know I was pretty bad today," he paused touching his bruised cheek, "but I would really appreciate it if you would help me improve."

Annie was considering how to reply when she caught sight of Mikasa behind Armin, staring daggers of rage at Annie. Behind her, Sasha was biting her pillow in an attempt not to scream in laughter. Annie looked back to the bruise on Armin's cheek, and suddenly remembered how she had flipped him during training that afternoon. Ah.

So stages one through four were directed at her.

Looking at Mikasa, she realised the easiest solution was to refuse him; she didn't really like teaching anyway. But looking back at Armin, she found herself wanting to agree.

"I guess I can give you a hand, Armin."

Armin smiled down at her, and for a moment Annie thought the sun had risen early.

"Thank you! I swear I'll do my best," Armin said as he turned towards the dormitory exit. Annie barely heard him, too dazed from the sight, and struggling to maintain her neutral face.

She managed to smooth her face as Mikasa appeared at her bed side.

"What?"

Mikasa glared down at her. Annie watched for any sign she might be about to attack, but after a moment she just spoke.

"No more bruises on his face."

"Now why would I wanna bruise such a pretty face?" Annie goaded back, "maybe I wanna get him on his back this time." She blinked. Stirring up Mikasa was one of her favourite things to do, but why would she say that?

Annie could have sworn Mikasa's mouth twitched upwards, except that Mikasa never smiled. "That's between you and Armin – just don't be too rough the first time."

With that Mikasa returned to her bed, leaving Annie unsure who had won that round. The confusion kept Annie awake after everyone else had fallen asleep, and for some reason she kept imagining Armin looking up to her from his back as she leant above him, playing with the flowers in his hair.