"Fresh rations today!" Sasha exclaimed in a singsong voice as she and the other trainees made their way to the mess hall.

"Guys! We even have fresh fruit!"

"Yeah, apparently there was a good haul this season."

Everyone began to queue up excitedly for their lunch as Armin, who had been lagging behind due to the run they had just returned from, took his place at the end of the line. Right behind Annie Leonhardt.

Armin's already heaving chest shook with anxiety. In all honesty, Annie intimidated him. Her demeanor was always standoffish and her eyes were so piercing that anyone she looked at was immediately under their scrutiny. He found her much more relaxed when Mina was in her company, helping to smooth some of the jaded edges that lined her character.

The line shuffled a few inches forward but still was out the door of the building. Annie leaned against the wall; arms crossed, with the usual bored, if not slightly annoyed, face she always wore. Still out of breath from the previous exercise, Armin mimicked her stance, hoping to cool down.

"It's better to have your arms above your head," Annie said, "Makes it easier to breathe."

Slightly taken aback from her unsolicited words, Armin moved to follow her advice and replied, "Thank you Annie."

Her eyes never moved from the spot she was so intent on watching, but offered a small nod in return.

Recovering from the run faster than he expected, Armin decided to try to strike up a conversation with Annie, figuring that she was in a more talkative mood than most days. "So…" he began awkwardly, "how did you do out there?"

Annie's eyes moved to look at him, gripping him like a vice. She shrugged, "We were ordered to run. It wasn't for a grade or anything so I took it easy and stayed in the middle. Nothing too special."

"I see," Armin said. Her eyes were clear and light, contrasting their normal, stormy haze. He thought about her words for a moment then looked at her with a smirk, "You seem a little chatty today Annie."

She pushed herself off the wall and turned to him. "I guess just chalk it up too runners' high," she said sarcastically.

Armin laughed at her unexpected joke and upon seeing this Annie returned a soft chuckle.

"That was a good one, I liked that," he said as they finally moved inside of the mess hall. "But man, I wish I was good enough to 'take it easy'. I've never really bee that athletic and I struggled during the entire run." Armin caught himself before he could wallow in self-pity. "But then again, what's new?" he added in an attempt to pass it off as a joke.

"That's not true," Annie said simply. "You were alright in the beginning."

Confused, Armin scrunched his eyebrows as they approached the buffet line. "What do you mean?"

"When we first began you weren't at the back. You started out well and were ahead of me for a little while, but once you got tired, you started to fall behind. You've got enough speed, but you need to build up your endurance more," she explained, pulling two trays off the stack.

Oddly flattered by her words, Armin replied with an embarrassed, "Thank you."

"It wasn't really a compliment," she said bluntly.

"Oh… Well, I still appreciate you thinking that I can get better."

Annie inspected the small loaves of bread at the bottom of their basket. "Don't sell yourself short Armin. You may be weaker than the other soldiers here, but you've got your own strengths. You're… you're still a person." Annie stared pointedly at her tray. "You shouldn't have to do what others tell you or cling to some stupid ideal just to be recognized others. You don't need to prove anything to them."

Armin noticed Annie's knuckles had gone white. Her voice grew lower and angrier. Her cool eyes had become icy daggers directed at the plate in front of her.

"Annie," he asked quietly, "are you alright?"

After a moment, Annie exhaled through her nose, her body relaxing as she did so. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Armin continued to look at her warily, unconvinced. They shuffled in silence toward the barrel of fruit that book-ended the buffet line. Armin paused to grab the last part of his lunch out of the sparse barrel. Having to reach to the bottom, he eventually pulled out a small, orange and pink peach.

Placing on his tray, he smiled softly to himself, "This looks like a good one."

Annie looked up from her own search and squinted at the tiny fruit. "It's bruised," she said frankly, then returned to her attention to the barrel.

Armin picked up his peach and examined it in his hand. Sure enough, a large brown blotch marred the fruit near the pit of the stem. His gaze moved to Annie who had just placed a red apple on her tray.

"Yeah," he agreed, "it is bruised."

Annie then started off to the table near the front door where Mina sat. "It was good talking to you today Armin," she said over her shoulder.

"You too," he replied, almost wistfully, "I'll see you later." Again, she gave him a slight nod, and then was lost amongst the sea of eating trainees.

Armin's eyes returned to the peach he held in his hand and ran his thumb over the discoloration. He wondered how such perfect fruit could come by such an injury, but despite the mark or how deep it ran, he knew the sweetness of the peach would still be worth its bruise.

You know, there was supposed to be symbolism and stuff but my writing skill was like "lol no."

Anyway, this is technically for Aruani Week on tumblr. Day two's theme is bruises. I started this when it was day two, so it kinda counts.

Doesn't it?