(12/1/15) So I believe an apology is due...

I promised a chapter a week later, and it's taken me over a year. My old laptop broke, and the drama and issues of real life overwhelmed me. I'm sorry, I truly am. And this is far from as long as it ought to be, but I only had an hour to type it up. Seeing over a hundred reviews though on a measly two chapters made me want to cry honestly. You guys are the best and I suck. This is for all of you.

I'm letting you know right now, I'm going to start on the next chapter tonight. I won't make any promises as to when I have it up, but I'm going to work on it right now. It won't be from Ed's perspective quite yet, but you should be happy with who it is!

This is going to be a slow story. Really, really slow. I need to a) get back in the flow of writing this stuff, and b) take the time to develop a nice plot. I love the ideas you guys have left and I do plan on incorporating them! Again, any ships are going to be the barest of mentions. This will have next to no romance, sorry if that bothers you. This will be dark. There will be angst and death and all the like.

This is Brotherhood Edward by the way, I can't remember if I clarified that. Attack on Titan will follow the anime as I'm not caught up on the manga at the moment.

Chapter 2: Suspicions

Armin watched the other blonde zip past him with a hiss of metal wires and a blast of power from his maneuver gear. He grit his teeth in frustration, though he held no animosity towards the other teen. No, any negative feelings Armin felt were directed toward himself; he couldn't help but compare himself to the small, quiet blonde and find himself falling short. While a recluse, what Edward did reveal of himself to the others was a sharp wit and surprising versatility and strength. Armin suspected that Mikasa only surpassed Edward in ranking because the blonde restrained himself, unwilling to draw too much attention.

Armin's pale blue gaze studied Edward's fluid movements, how he twisted his blades just so, shifting his weight to cut away the deepest portion of the faux titan's neck. With a grin, Armin launched himself forward, turning his wrists and leaning forward as his blades encountered the dense cloth on the target's neck. While the mark he cut out was shallower than Edward's, it was certainly more substantial than before, and he felt a faint thrill of success.

Armin considered himself a people watcher. Not in a creepy, voyeuristic way—no, Armin studied people, their behaviors and patterns. Eren had always jested that Arlert was alert, and he couldn't deny it had he even wanted to. His game was using his mind, taking in the clues and breaking down the puzzles. One would be amazed at how much people revealed about themselves in the little things they did, small habits and mannerisms. Armin paid attention to these things, and they in turn paid off with knowledge.

And Edward Elric was the greatest puzzle Armin had yet to crack.

In his usage of the three dimensional maneuver gear alone, Armin was left with a conundrum. He leaned to the side in a way none of the other cadets did, and when Armin had tried to mimic it in the past, he had found himself off-balance. To the sharp blonde, this made no sense; the human body should be symmetrical in its distribution of bone and muscle density, and to any small degrees this was different, only faint shifts in balance should be taken into account. Elric used his 3DMG as if he was compensating for a great weight that wasn't there, turning his body in a way that should throw him completely off to the side in a tangle of wires and tree-branches. Armin had confirmed this himself.

That wasn't the only abnormality Armin had discovered about Elric through training. The other blonde moved with the same practiced ease that Annie demonstrated, a fluid motion of lithe muscles in hand-to-hand combat. This was before any of the cadets had received instruction. Even then, comparing Edward and Annie wasn't quite right. Annie moved like a trained fighter. Edward moved like a veteran soldier.

He always had those gloves on too. No matter the heat, no matter the time, Elric always wore a pair of gloves. Much of the time they were far from pristine, and quite frequently they were crusted in mud and blood. Regardless of this, He refused to remove them.

Come to think of it, Edward was never seen in any state of undress. Armin furrowed his brow in confusion as he thought. He honestly couldn't remember seeing Elric in the communal showers, though the other blonde always had a dripping wet braid in the mornings. For a brief moment he considered the idea of Elric dunking his head in a stream, but dismissed the thought. He should smell more at that point.

Though….he did smell. No, not in the way sweaty teenage boys and hormones reeked, but there was a sharp distinct scent about him. It had an odd familiarity to it, almost like…

WHAP!

Armin winced as he veered too close to a tree, a branch lashing him on the cheek. The sharp pain brought him back from his musings, and he launched himself through the air to the next target. It wouldn't do focusing on others like that at the moment. He had a task to do, and with his head in the clouds like that, he would only be a burden.

He never noticed the molten gold gaze trailing after him.

Armin held the cool metal cup to his swollen cheek, letting it absorb the heat and pain. He laughed along with Eren, though his heart wasn't into the jesting. His thoughts dwelt elsewhere, mainly a few tables over where a quiet blond sat hunched over his food.

Armin couldn't suppress a slight grimace at the way Elric crammed food into his mouth, as if he were a feral beast with hunger clawing at his stomach. Armin couldn't tear away his pale blue gaze away from the other male as he shoveled in food at a disturbing rate. He blinked slightly as a flash of light caught him in the eye, the light from the flames caught at just the wrong angle on a piece of metal and reflected at him.

Wait.

Metal?

Armin narrowed his gaze, focused on Elric's movements. He watched the other teen eat in a nauseating way, and just as he was about to turn back to his friends, he saw it again—a flash of silver, a glint of metal, peeking out from Edward Elric's sleeve.

His motions concealed it once more as the other blonde stood, plate cleared. Armin watched him walk away with the remnants of his bread stuffed in his mouth, blonde braid swinging.

Another piece of the puzzle clicked into place.

So Armin is suspicious of Edward. A lot of you mentioned how automail would off-set Edward's balance on the 3D maneuver gear, but in this story I'm having him with the lighter one Winry made for him when he went up north (manga/Brotherhood) and he also compensates for it in his technique. I also think that the fact that it's his arm and leg on opposite sides of his body would help balance it out.

As for the smell thing, give it a guess!

This was way short and I'm sorry, and there's no dialogue, but a) I'm not used to writing Armin (I never have actually) and b) Armin is a thinker, you know? I don't want Ed's secrets out there just yet, so give it a bit until Armin and the squad confront him. Eren's friends with Edward (sort of) so he won't really be against him. Armin isn't against him either; he has a real respect for him. Edward Elric is an enigma though, and Armin is too intelligent to not jump at a puzzle. Hope you like it!