Chapter 6
Armin
The sharp ringing of his alarm clock pulled Armin from his slumber. He smacked at it blindly with his hand, the rest of him still buried under the covers of his soft blue duvet. Armin grumbled irritably as the clock fell from his night stand with a loud thump. With a stretch, Armin sat up slowly. He rubbed the sleep from eyes and sighed, kicking the blanket from his legs. A hot shower sounded wonderful to Armin right now.
Armin ambled his way to the bathroom and pulled off sleep shorts and boxers, then jumped into the shower. After he was done, he got himself dressed and headed downstairs to grab a bite to eat before heading out.
Eren surprisingly was already up and moving around. The smell of slightly burnt toast wafted through the kitchen as Eren cursed loudly, having burned his fingers retrieving said toast from the toaster. Armin rolled his eyes. This is the third time this week, and it’s only Tuesday!
By seven forty-five, the trio was on the road to be there by eight. They said their goodbyes for the day and parted ways. Eren headed up to Levi’s office, Mikasa to Erwin’s and Armin began his search for Hanji, since she could never stay in one place for long. After no such luck, Armin decided to ask Grandfather.
A soft knock announced his presence, and then Armin stepped in to see Grandpa working diligently at his desk.
“Do you know where Hanji is? I can’t find her anywhere.” He asked, gaining the older man’s attention.
“Why are you looking for Hanji? You’re with Erwin.” Grandpa softly smiles.
“What? I thought I was with Hanji for the entire duration of this job. Not that I’m complaining or anything.” The last part was said more quietly.
“I convinced Hanji to let you change. Figured it would be good for you to get some variety in. Is that alright?” He nodded.
“Oh, umm…. Yeah, that’s fine. I look forward to it!” Armin grinned.
“Good. Now off you go. I have work to do. Love you my boy.”
"I love you too. Bye Grandpa."
Armin was quite nervous as he made his way up to Erwin’s office. Though he couldn’t think of why. Armin held a lot of respect for the man.
“Good morning!” The receptionist cheered as Armin exited the elevator.
Armin gave her a polite smile and headed towards the boss’s office. He knocked lightly on the door before being invited in by a deep voice.
“Good morning, Sir!” Armin greeted. Erwin offered a charming smile. Kinda like a Captain America smile. He loved it.
“Ah, hello, Armin. How’s your morning going?” Erwin asked, gaze intense. He took a look at Erwin's clothing and it took his breath away. Erwin was beyond attractive.
“Oh, wonderfully Sir. Yours?”
“Likewise, though I could use some coffee.” The man hinted lips turned up slightly.
“Of course! How do you take it?” Armin crossed his hands.
“Black, please.”
“I’ll be just a moment!”
Erwin offered his thanks, and Armin ran off to the break room, hastily preparing a cup of coffee for the man.
When he returned, Erwin’s attention was directed back to his work so Armin quietly placed the cup on Erwin’s desk.
The morning was fairly slow, and the afternoon seemed to be following suit. Around one, however, Erwin asked Armin to deliver a stack of papers to Financial Management to be processed and imputed into the computers.
After what seemed like only a half an hour, one of the employees from management came rushing through the halls in search of Erwin. Armin caught her attention.
“What’s going on?” He asked, worried.
“There’s something going on with the computers, it’s messed all of the documents up! We cannot lose those documents!” She cried. She looked to be on the verge of tears.
“Oh, that’s terrible! Could I possibly take a look? I know quite a bit about computers.” Armin suggested.
“I suppose so, what harm could that do? I’m getting Erwin anyway, though. Just to be safe.” She looked around the office, looking for the door with Smith’s name on it. But Armin didn’t stay to see if she’d found it yet, he was already halfway to management.
He saw a bunch of people typing furiously at their computers and quickly found the empty spot where the girl must have been seated.
Armin plopped down into the rolling chair and looked around the screen, which was completely filled with dashes and lines. The patterns made no sense, and Armin felt nervous.
He clicked to open the scripts, looking over the various codes and commands. The first thing that stood out to him was a barely noticeable break in a line, almost as if something was taken out. The lines were out of order and jumbled. No wonder the computers weren’t working.
But one thing bothered Armin. These commands were foreign. A virus. And just based off the amount of damage done, a strong one. How it got there, Armin had no clue. Those computers had the most secure firewalls and anti-virus software in the city. They had to for something so important.
Armin had been so focused on examining the code that he didn’t even notice the people standing next to him. Two of which was Erwin, and the girl he’d talked to.
“It’s a virus, Sir. I think I might be able to crack it, but it might take a while.” Armin informed him.
“A virus? How?” Erwin led in slightly to examine the script. Armin felt lightheaded at the intoxicating smell of the man’s cologne.
“I’m not completely sure. It surprised me too.” Armin frowned.
Then Armin got to work. He was extremely thorough, not leaving even a block of text unfiltered through. It felt like twelve hours had passed, but soon Armin found the contaminated files and isolated them. Piece by piece, he removed the virus and commenced a system cleanse just to be sure.
“I think that’s it,” Armin said, wiping his forehead with the back of his sleeve. He startles slightly when the people behind him cheer.
“You did it, Armin! You’re a lifesaver.” The girl cheered.
Armin received a few pats on the back, and a handful of praises before heading back to his own area. His face was bright red and he felt giddy. But then he realized something. Erwin hadn’t been in that group when he had finished fixing the computers. Armin felt a little disappointed if he was being honest. He kinda wanted to impress the man.
When Armin walked by Erwin’s office, he glanced in. The man was at his desk, working.
Armin sighed.
He jumped slightly when his name was suddenly being called.
“Armin! Can you come here, please?” Erwin called.
Armin quickly walked into his superior’s office. “Yes, Sir?”
“Sit.” Armin did as he was told.
“That was a very impressive display back there with the virus problem. If I hadn’t known better, I’d have said you’d been working with computers for a long time.” Erwin began. Armin felt a little surprised. He hadn’t been expecting this.
“Things like that rarely happen here, so we don’t usually have specialists in to deal with issues like that. This was completely out of the blue. You prevented what could have been a serious crisis.”
“I..I…was just doing what I could to help… Sir.” Armin blushed at the praises he received from Erwin. They meant a lot.
“You did well, Armin. Thank you.” Erwin gave him a soft smile, and Armin felt his heart speed up.