A/N: The next chapter! >~< This one will focus on Eren and Armin's friendship and it has some little Jearmin moments, too! *^*

Prepare for some amount of angst as well :')

Oh, and this chapter is long. XD

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Eren's POV

Sleep was the best and most effective way to forget everything for a while. Sadly, one cannot sleep forever.

I woke up after what felt like days to me, disorientated at first because the room I woke up in was unfamiliar to me.

After some time of concentration and a row of blinking my eyes, I eventually figured out that this was most certainly one of Jean and Armin's room.

Oh, yeah. I remember now.

I remember everything.

So it really had happened, huh?

I really broke up with him...

My face frowned as I shifted my body to the side, cuddling the blanket tight to my body. With my eyes closed, all the imagines from the last thing that had happened passed my mind.

My announcement towards him saying that I wanted to end our fuck buddy thing, his indifference towards my decision, the emotional struggle I had to endure while the last words between us were shared, his farewell, and my way of saying goodbye and calling everything between us over by throwing his key away. Not that the key had any significance- at least I didn't know any, but that was because he had given me the key without anything to say about it. Though I had that weird feeling that it held a special meaning. But then again why would he endow me with such a meaningful item if I didn't mean anything to him?

I was probably overanalyzing things, and the key was for sure just some random thing he didn't want to keep anymore. That was all.

I didn't need to think of those things anymore. After all, it was all over now. There was no need to waste time over irrelevant things that belonged to the past now. Not only things but also certain persons.

Taking a deep breath, I opened my eyes again, attempting to think of something else. The time has come in which I had to rearrange my life. Now, I had to overcome a part of my life that had held precious moments, but which (as I had come to realize by now) were nothing more than emptiness. Emptiness of emotions, emptiness of life. I had to leave this part of my life behind and move on by starting anew; since there was no way that someone or something would ever drag me back to the life I used to live with him, there was no one who wouldn't want me to forget and move on.

I was pretty sure that Armin was thinking like that, too.

He had never approved of the relationship I had with him, but he still accepted it more or less. He had to bear with the fact that this was my decision, and as my best friend he did his best to support me. I appreciated it really much and to be honest, I didn't know how to pay him back because he had already done so much for me.

Whenever I was at my lowest point, there was always Armin who would help me to stand up again. It was as if I could entrust my life to him, and he would protect it with his own precious life. People may come and go... but I'll never allow that our friendship will break apart. Of all the things, this was the worst thing that could happen and I would do everything to have my precious blond friend by my side and in my life.

Thinking of it... If Jean and him had really decided to move to their own little island after their wedding, I wouldn't have endured that. Back then when Armin had told me that they had considered it, I wasn't aware of how much it would have hurt and break me if he really were to leave me.

As egoistic as it sounded now, but I was sure that I wouldn't have let him leave.

No way. Not the person who was my friend for the longest time now, and I loved him like I loved my family. In fact, he was somehow my own personal family. My dearest friend and family.

Speaking of which, I had to get up now. I had already wasted enough time laying in bed and being carried away by thoughts. Armin was probably already worrying about me.

Getting up, I draped a pullover over my T-shirt before I made my way to the door. The days had gotten colder and one of the things I hated the most was the cold. When I had the door opened halfway, I realized how Jean and Armin were talking to each other, and what it was they conversed about made me freeze ib my place and shudder unbelievably.

"See? See, I c-couldn't do anything against that!" I heard Armin cry out, his voice weak and cracky.

"But there wasn't more you could do, Armin!" Jean retorted, his voice having a calming touch.

"Eren ended up crying, and I couldn't prevent that from happening! I'm the worst. I-I wasn't even able to be a good friend to him. I shouldn't even let it come that far that my best friend had to experience such a tragic thing that it made him c-cry! It's my fault!" His voice broke off, and now Armin started crying loudly.

"Hey, don't blame yourself for what has happened! It isn't your fault at all!" Whatever Jean said, it didn't stop Armin's sobs.

I could see both of them standing in the living room, but they couldn't see me. I still hadn't left my room entirely and actually I didn't want to go any farther. What was happening here was so upsetting. Armin...

"I'm so useless." Armin whispered in between his sobs, his hands covering his eyes as his bottom lip quivered in utter despair. "Useless. I'm such a useless friend." he went on, crying even more now. Seeing him like that made my heart shatter excruciangly, I was literally feeling the ache in my chest.

"Stop saying that!" Jean intervened, grabbing his husband by his arms. "You aren't useless at all! And you aren't at fault either!"

"H-How am I not useless if I couldn't even help my best friend?" Armin sounded convinced by himself. He really thought that he had failed at being my best friend.

Oh god, how could he think like that?

"Listen to me, Armin. I don't exactly know what it is that happened to Eren and I'm not really intrigued in knowing that in the first place, but what I do know is that you've helped Eren a lot! As his friend, you did well. You gave him advice and talked about everything. It isn't your fault if Eren experiences a loss in his life, so quit blaming yourself for it!"

"But Eren is sad now a-and I couldn't do anything against that." The blond's cries became less, but it was obvious that there were still tears streaming down his face and sobs leaving his mouth.

I should do something now. I should go to him and embrace him and tell him that he didn't do anything wrong. But why couldn't I move forward? Why was I glued to my spot, motionlessly, even though right in front of my eyes my best friend was crying because of me?

I couldn't do anything.

"Armin, you can't demand what he has to do and what not from Eren. You can't decide over his life because it's his life and his decisions. The most you are able to do is to give him advice. If he makes the wrong decision, then you have to accept that. Because he wanted it like that and thus he has to live with the consequences. Armin..." Jean placed the blond's hands in his own, squeezing them fondly. "I don't want to admit it and even less am I eager to say it out loud, but..." His one hand wandered up to Armin's cheek, caressing it ever so lightly as if Armin's face was fragile. And somehow it seemed as if there was a bit of truth in him being fragile now. "Eren can consider himself really lucky to have you as his best friend. And since you're his best friend, now it is your job to comfort him. After all, that idiot is in a really shitty emotional state right now, he won't feel any better without your help. I'm sure!"

Armin chuckled lightly, his tears had finally faded away. "Don't call him like that! It's rude."

"Oh, I beg of you. As if he doesn't call me horseface all the time. It's just fair to insult him back." Luckily, the tension had loosened up and Armin didn't feel as broken as before.

"Nothing is fair here! You two really have to get along some day in the future." The blond pushed his husband away playfully, but the next second Jean approached Armin again, hugging him tight now. Armin hugged him back and it was as if Jean was whispering things to his ear occasionally.

I retreated back to my room, closing the door behind me. What I saw just now was so damn heartbreaking.

It may be that Jean had succeeded in bringing Armin's self-esteem back, but still...

Feeling like a total wreck, I threw myself on the bed, wrapping my whole body in the blanket, guilt overcoming me.

Armin had cried. And it was my fault. I made Armin cry.

~~~

-ren... Eren... Eren.

"Eren." My eyes dashed open and I realized that it was Armin, who was standing next to the bed, who called my name the whole time just now. "Eren."

I moved my head and looked up to him, blond locks partly covering his face, and a bright smile attached to his facial expression. He was holding a tray; diverse food and a cup on top of it. "Eren, breakfast is ready."

Letting out a low groan, I freed myself from the blanket, sitting up. My blond friend placed the tablet on the nightstand, sitting on the edge of the bed then. The whole time his smile hadn't altered, which made me feel uneasy.

How was he able to put on such a bright smile when a few hours ago he had cried?

Until now I didn't know how capable Armin was to cover up his honest emotions and pretend that he was alright. To be quite frank, if I hadn't caught him crying, right now I would have never guessed that something like that happened. It was dumb of me to think that Armin never had problems; that he was all the time content and happy. In fact, he wasn't, and I was a fool for not having realized that up until now.

"You're probably hungry, aren't you?" he asked, grabbing my hand and squeezing it lightly. He had tried to encourage me at least a bit for the first, he knew that I wasn't a person who gets over things and persons easily.

But right now there was no time for comforting me. Things between me and Armin needed to be cleared out.

Before I had thought thoroughly of what I was saying next, the words were already out of my mouth, not realizing early enough that what I was doing now was one of the biggest mistakes I could do. "Why aren't you saying it? When are you going to say it?" The blond looked at me with a perplexed face, not grasping what I meant with those questions. And for some reason I couldn't shut my mouth. "'I was right.' or 'Told it.' Don't you want to say that to me? After all you were right. That between him and me really didn't work out forever. Just as you guessed from the start. You had doubted that from the beginning, so go on. Say that it is my fault for where I am at now. That I brought myself into this situation! I ended it with him and this is what you expected all the time-"

"Stop!" Armin shouted, his tone loud but also weak. His blue eyes were widened and I could spot little tears forming in the corner of his eyes.

Fuck, I was making him cry again. Why did I have to make everything worse? This is the first time that I'm talking properly to Armin since my break-up and all I did was making the situation worse than it already was.

It was me who was a bad friend, not him!

Sighing loudly, I bit my bottom lip as I lowered my head. I didn't want to see his crying face. Armin was such a nice and pure and happy human being, he didn't deserve to cry.

He let go of my hand. "E-Eren..." There it was. I didn't need to look at him to know that he had started crying. His cracky voice was already revealing it. "Do you really think I waited for you to break up with him? So that I could tell you that I was right?!"

"What I meant was-"

"The whole time..." He took a deep breath, attempting to calm his shaky voice. "The whole time I was hoping that you two would work it out somehow. I had really hoped that my worries and assumptions would never come true! I didn't want this to happen! And yet..."

His voice broke off and Armin started to let his tears fall from his eyes unrestrainedly. Shit, what did I do? "Armin..."

His head fell on my laps, his arms wrapping around my waist. "You're my best friend, Eren. I don't want to see you being an emotional wreck. It hurts me seeing you cry."

Now had come the moment when guilt overwhelmed me completely. "Armin, what I wanted to say..." I touched him by his cheeks and raised his body until we were on eye level. As I wiped some tears off his face, I edged closer to him, shushing him quiet. After a short silence, I spoke again. "Armin, I heard you and Jean talking to each other before."

This made his eyes widen again, his body tensing up. "You heard?"

I nodded weakly, not taking my eyes off of him. "Yes, and it really tore me inwardly apart to hear how you claimed that it was your fault and how you called yourself a useless friend." My blond best friend tried to lower his head and hide behind his locks, but I didn't let him. My hands on his cheeks held his head in his place.

A sad smile played around my lips when I said the next thing. "You aren't at fault, Armin. Not at all! Everything was my fault. It was me alone who was at fault. I decided to do it the way I thought was the right way. I fucked up and have to deal with the consequences of it now. You were trying to help me, but I thought that your help wouldn't help me the way I wanted and needed it because we held two different views regarding my relationship to him. Don't blame yourself for that every again, okay?"

It was now Armin who bit his lips, shyly nodding then. Luckily, there weren't any tears floating anymore. "Oh, and please," I looked him deep into the eyes, my own orbs filled with concern and my voice as serious as possible, "Please, never ever believe again that you are a useless friend. I don't want you to say that ever again. You aren't useless at all and you never used to be. You're my precious friend and you're really important to me! I can't think of a life without you in it, and I don't want to imagine that. I want you to be my best friend for the rest of my life."

Relief took over me when I saw how Armin's face brightened up a bit, nodding eagerly as a big smile crept on his face. His eyes were wet again, but his time those were tears of joy. He then embraced me, snickering lightly as I hugged him back. I was so glad that everything was alright between us again, even though I had started this conversation in the worst way ever. In the end we were able to straighten up things, and only that mattered.

When we released from the embrace, the blond rubbed his eyes. "I'm sorry for crying. Actually, it shouldn't be me doing that. You have it worse."

"Hey. Don't apologize for crying. It's totally okay." I caressed one of his cheeks as he nodded again.

We had almost talked everything through. Almost. There was one thing left. One thing that made me worry as well.

"Armin... How many times did you cry and pretended after that that you didn't?"

He looked at me silently for quite a few seconds, cocking his head as a blush of embarrassment tainted his cheeks and a sad, little smile appeared on his face. "Oh, you mean because of just now..." He pressed his lips together before answering. "I behaved liked that because I wanted to be strong for you. You were already an emotional mess, it wouldn't have done any good if I was the same. You needed someone by your side now and I wanted to be that someone. But for that I had to pull myself together." My friend let out an insecure laugh to play everything down, but it didn't work on me.

"It doesn't matter how much of a wreck I am. I simply don't want anyone -and the least my best friend- to pretend that everything is alright when nothing is alright. Your self-confidence was affected, this isn't something irrelevant."

Now it was Armin who was plagued with guilt. "We're best friends, Armin. We can talk about everything, okay?"

"I'm sorry. I won't do that again."

I still hadn't my answer.

"But you still haven't answered my question." I said. "How many times did you pretend? Most importantly, how many times did you do that in front of me?"

Armin scratched the back of his head and shrugged. "In front of you, I hadn't done that before, but... Well, I once behaved like that in front of Jean. Heh, he saw through it right away."

Hearing that made my brows furrow. "Was it recently? Do you two have problems?" I swear if Jean was hurting Armin in any way, I would go and hurt him twice as much back and without any hesitation!

Armin shook his head vigorously. "No, no, no, no! It was a long time ago and the reason behind it was half as bad as you think."

I narrowed my eyes, but accepted his explanation. "Tell me if that fucking horseface is hurting you and I'm gonna-"

"Eren." The blond placed his hands on his hips, tilting his head again as one brow was raised and his face held a scolding expression.

I huffed defeatedly. "Just saying." I murmured lowly, with my eyes averted. Although it was because of something else that he was scolding me.

He responded with a chuckle. "Oh, and in case you ask yourself that question... Jean doesn't know much about all this. Just that something bad happened. Nothing more."

As always I was grateful to him that he cared for me in all ways.

"I see."

~~~

Most of the time I spent the next few days in my bed, being all gloomy and depressed. During that time I never talked about him with Armin and since he noticed that, he deduced that I didn't want to think of him. That was why he didn't mention him either and instead he had tried to distract me with other things. Though his attempts failed every time. My friend never had succeeded in getting me out of bed, the most he had reached once was to tug me away from the mattress, but it only resulted in my body laying hard on the floor, not moving an inch. And thus Armin gave up and let me be.

There would come the time when I was ready to live normally again, but that time wasn't now. It was an exception that on my first day here I had managed to get out of bed and make my way out of my room- though we all knew that I didn't even get that far with this; but for other reasons and not because of my depressed state of mind.

I just didn't feel like participating in life. At this time, I preferred it to move between my blankets and get all moody. Just because my mind couldn't get rid of him. At least not yet, and I hated myself for that. I didn't eat much either, which made Armin worry and in the process of him attempting to convince me to eat something we would always end up talking about everything- except him. Armin would always sit on the edge and I would always be wrapped in my blanket, my back facing my friend. I took some days off of work, and Armin did the same, although I had tried to make him clear that he didn't need to. The answer was a smack on my forehead and a 'Of course I'll stay with you, screw work!'. So I spent my days meditating in sorrow and Armin was my audience.

It was on the fifth or sixth day that I pulled myself together and left the room. It felt as if standing on my feet and walking on them was something new I discovered, even though I had headed the bathroom once in a while, but this right now was something else.

With my blanket around my shoulders, covering my whole body tightly, I entered the living room. There I wasn't met with Armin, but with someone else.

Jean was sitting on the couch, his head propped on one side on his hand as his elbow was rested on the couch rest. He looked at me and I looked back. There was a long silence in which only death glares were exchanged. At some point, the two-toned guy stopped doing it, rolling his eyes instead as he sighed annoyingly.

"I offer a truce for the time being." he then said.

I clenched my teeth, causing with that my jaw to tighten. "Deal."

Moving with my blanket, I sat down on the couch, the farest away from him, which was in this case the other end of the couch. I crossed my legs in a sitting position, cuddling myself in my sheets.

"Zap to another channel. This movie is lame." he commented. At first I didn't understand why he was asking me to do that, but soon I noticed that the remote was on the coffee table in front of me. I freed one arm of mine from my warm and cosy cover to grab the device. I then zapped through the channels, not realizing that I wasn't halting but instead zapped without any particular destination on what to watch.

"Decide for one already!" I heard Jean yell, making me wake up from my daze as I stopped at some random channel. It was a documentary about animals in nature, but I didn't really pay attention to it. After he clicked his tongue, I saw Jean next to me from the corner of my eyes, snatching the remote away from my hands with a growl and moving back to his seat before changing the channel. "Who the fuck wants to watch a documentary about animals?!"

I let him watch whatever he wanted to watch and watched it with him, since I just didn't want to be in my room the whole time anymore.

A few minutes later, Jean turned off the TV, total silence filling the room. He just crossed his arms, chewing on his bottom lip. I didn't ask him why he did that, but somehow I could already sense that there was something horseface wanted to say.

"You want to know what happened." I started after some time, even though there was no hint that this was what was gnawing at his mind.

"Not necessarily, but-"

"Relationship problems." I couldn't explain to myself why exactly these words came out of my mouth. How could I call it a 'relationship' that I used to have? It wasn't a romantic relationship, Jean didn't know what it really was. "No, wait. This was put wrongly. It's rather unrequited love."

Why was I telling him all that?! It was Jean (Jean!!) whom I was talking to.

"Is she married?" Jean asked.

"No."

"Is she in love with another one?"

"No." If I could, I would have laughed at this question.

"Is she imaginary?!"

"What- No! What the fuck! He's of flesh and blood, and the case is something your little brain can never ever imagine!"

I didn't notice the mistake I did just now until Jean pointed it out. "Wait... HE?!"

Oh my fucking god! Of all people... Of all people, Jean should have been the last one to know that I used to have something from the same sex.

"You're gay?!"

"Am not! Well... N-Not really. Fuck, I don't really know." I admitted, feeling how my cheeks heated up a bit. Blushing while Jean could witness it was one of the shittiest things that could happen. This was the most fitting situation for horseface to make fun of me.

But he didn't.

"Want any advice?" he asked, surprising me with that.

Wait, was he taking our truce seriously or was Jean actually really a nice person? Nah, it was the first, for sure!

I scoffed. "Why should I take advice from you?" I gave accent to the last word as I turned my head away.

"Pfft! Excuse me? Just tell me quickly, who is the married one of us both, huuuh?" He did the same as me, stressing his last word. I didn't reply to this, which made it obvious for him that he got a point. "Right... Me. Hence I can't do everything wrong in my relationship with Armin, otherwise he wouldn't have married me and I wouldn't be where I was at now."

With an audible sigh and a roll of my eyes, I then said, "Spit it out already."

"Fight for it."

Those words came out of his mouth all of a sudden and they even left me speechless for the first few seconds.

"Fight for the love, and fight for him. I'm speaking from my own experience."

I knew what he was talking about. This experience of his. It was when he had wooed Armin. It was quite impressive that Jean didn't give up winning Armin's heart, even though Armin used to be really resistant and repellent. If Jean weren't my foe, I would have showed my respect to him. After all he had done well back in the past, he deserved Armin. And my best friend was happy with horseface, so I couldn't reject and disapprove of their relationship. Not when Armin was happy with him.

Fight for it, huh? This was fucking pointless!

There was no use in fighting for his love because that person was sheer unable to love, and it make me sick to remember that.

I was close to crying, but regained my composure when Armin joined in on us.

"Oh?" he sounded surprised, "You two? In one room? Without any yells?"

"Our rivalry is on ice for a while." Jean responded.

"Why not forever?" Armin asked casually to which Jean just snorted.

"How do you feel, Eren?" I looked up to the blond, shrugging my shoulders then. He placed his hands on my shoulders, giving them a soothing stroke. "Everything will be better soon. Alright? Oh, it's good that this comes to my mind now. You haven't eaten properly for the last few days. Shall I go and make you someth-"

"No."

This made the blond speechless for a short time. "A-Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Well then... But just so you know, you can go the kitchen whenever you want to and eat whatever you want."

"Hm."

Part of me felt guilty for treating him like that, but seriously food was the last thing I wanted to deal with at the moment.

"Just let him be." Jean suggested.

For once I agreed to what he was saying.

Armin sighed and looked at both of us, his head flipping from left, to Jean, to right, to me. "Why are you two sitting as far as possible on the couch? Is that really necessary?"

"Who cares," Jean replied, patting the spot next to him on the left side, "Come, sit here."

The blond wasn't sure at first, but when I signalled him via eye contact that it was totally okay for him not to sit next to me, he hesitantly sat down beside his husband. The two-toned guy slung an arm around his shoulder, scooting Armin's upper body and head closer to him.

But of course my best friend couldn't leave it like that. I fucking knew it.

"Eren, don't sit there on the other end of the couch. Here, sit next to me." Just as Jean did moments ago, Armin patted the seat next to him as well, looking at me with a hopeful gaze.

I didn't mind sitting here all by myself, but something in particular -it was rather someone in particular- made me change my mind. I noticed how Jean was watching me from the corner of his eyes, sending me death glares as in telling me that I should back the fuck off from Armin. If eyes could kill, I would have died now. I could spot the dangerous jealousy in Jean's orbs, but this was what amused me to be honest. Because of his threatening stare not to approach Armin and cuddle next to him, I decided to exactly do it.

With a little smirk plastered on my face, I crawled to the seat next to the blond. "Okay, Armin. I will sit next to you. Thanks for the offer." I glanced quickly at Jean, seeing how he had to control himself in order to not punch me. It was rather that he couldn't; once because Armin wouldn't like him doing that and the other thing was our truce. And I shall mention that I enjoyed teasing him because horseface was defenseless against me right now. This felt so good.

And I continued my tease.

As Armin turned on the TV and sat back, laying his head on Jean's chest, I decided to do the same. So I cuddled into my best friend's side and luckily Armin didn't mind me doing that. In contrary, he ruffled my hair, smiling silently, and rested his arm on my back then.

I could hear how Jean was grunting and growling and cursing lowly as his body tensed and his hand that was over Armin's shoulder moved to my head, his fingers spread and ready to tear at my hair.

It didn't go unnoticed by Armin. "Jean, calm down. He's just cuddling with me."

"That's the problem! He's cuddling with you." he protested, though his hand went limp.

"Don't get jealous for no reason. It's fine."

"But-"

"It's fine." The bossy tone in his voice made Jean shut silent, pouting in annoyance.

Why not stir horseface's jealousy a bit more up?

"Here, have some of my blanket, Armin." I said as I placed a part of the cover over the blond's body.

"Oh. Thank you, Eren."

A sly smile crept onto my face when I heard Jean sucking in his breath, his hands clenched to fists.

Oh god, this was so entertaining.

I tried to muffle my laughter and most likely succeeded. Some time after, Jean's hand was hovering above my head again. He spelled something with his fingers: 'I W-I-L-L K-I-L-L Y-O-U' while he pointed at me when he was at the word 'you'.

Smirking slightly, I shooed his hand away. The two-toned man gnarled at me, but covered it up with a cough.

"Are you alright?" Armin asked, being suspicious.

"I'm alright." Jean answered.

My friend furrowed his brows, examining his husband's expression before looking at me. I put on the most innocent face I could manage.

Armin let go of both of us all of a sudden, sitting straight. "Eren, why are you doing that? And Jean stop being jealous for no reason!"

Both of us watched him disappointedly and innocently as we shouted simultaneously, "It's his fault!" pointing at the other.

It would have ended in a big quarrel soon if it weren't for Jean's phone that rang now.

Jean stood up, picking up the call. "What's up, Reiner?"

While he was talking to Reiner, Armin half-lay on the couch, his head propped on his palm as I rested my head on his torso. Jean noticed that and pushed my head away angrily, even though Armin had attempted to stop him from doing that. Scowling and growling at him, I rubbed the spot on my face from which he had shoved me off from my friend, muttering curses.

I sat up straight and cuddled back into my blanket right when Jean ended his call.

"Gotta go and meet with Reiner and Bertholdt." he announced, while putting on his jacket.

"You three don't see each other as often as before." Armin stated.

"Yeah. That's why each and every meet of us is all the more important to me. I'm so close to making them a couple." he said proudly.

"Why are you trying to hook them up? Perhaps they don't want that." I said, frowning.

Jean retorted with a snort. "Reiner is gay as fuck, and Bertholdt is either too blind or too dumb, or maybe even both, to realize how thirsty Reiner is for him." Flicking his head to me, he continued, "I'm just helping them. Otherwise they won't manage to get together after even 100 years!" He threw his hands in a dramatic way when he uttered the last sentence, and soon he went back to normal as he glared at me then.

I didn't really know why he did that, but I glared back.

Suddenly, his attention was directed to Armin. "Armin..." Jean said in a soft voice, taking bis husband's hand into his own hands as he went down on one knee.

When this happened, Armin straightened up from is laying position, fidgeting as to why this was happening, and from one second to the other I felt like I was out of place now.

Armin looked at his two-toned husband, with utter confusion written all over his face. "J-Jean? W-What you doing there? We are already married."

Jean rolled his face as he sighed inaudibly. "I know that. Listen. I'm sorry that I was jealous just now and that I lost my temper."

"It's okay! I'll forgive you." The blond was still irritated, not following Jean's actual intentions.

Oh my god, I wished I wasn't here witnessing this!

"It may be right that I told you to comfort Eren," he went on, "but not like in having as much physical contact as possible. This little shit doesn't need more than an encouraging slap on the back." He pointed at me.

He was going too far now.

"The fuck! I thought we called it a pause between our rivalry!"

"I thought that too, idiot! Until you decided to make me jealous on purpose by clinging onto Armin!"

We were so close to fighting each other, but Armin didn't let it come so far. "Stop it you two. Jean just go and meet with Reiner. We'll talk about that later, okay?"

The blond accompanied Jean to the door. Before they reached it horseface told me one last thing. "Don't touch Armin or I'll break your fingers."

I just huffed in annoyance, shaking my head as I sat down again and wrapped the blanket around my body one more time.

After Jean kissed him goodbye, Armin came back, sat down, and sighed in exhaustion. "Once the time has come, you two will have to get along."

I snorted. "Pfft. Maybe in another life, but not in our current lives."

There was a little pause.

"I really thought he was going to propose to you a second time."

My best friend held his head in his hands. "I thought that, too!"

There was silence for a second time before I spoke up again.

"Why doesn't Bertholdt notice?"

"I seriously don't know."

All of a sudden there was another phone ringing.

"It's your phone, Eren."

I grabbed my phone from my back pocket, staring at the display. "Isabel?" I wondered. Why was she calling me?

Oh, fuck. I remember. The birthday party. Fuck, I totally forgot about it.

"Why aren't you answering?" Armin asked, "Do you want me to leave?"

"No, not! It's okay. You can stay here. It's just... It's Levi's sister calling. She and her brother have the same birthday and will throw a big party. They invited me, too. After all back then, we were still... you know... "together". But now that things have changed..."

"You don't want to go there anymore." Armin completed the sentence for me.

I bit my bottom lip, still not answering the phone. "Is that bad?"

Armin shook his head. "No, not at all! It's understandable that you don't want to attend the party. You don't want to see him. That's totally okay. Don't force yourself to something you know you can't handle just because you want to be nice and follow the invitation. Eren, I can see it on your face that you don't want to see him." Armin caressed my cheek, and I gave in to that soft touch. "But you have to tell them that you won't come."

I nodded slightly, raising the phone on my hand, which was still ringing. Isabel didn't give up that easily, huh?

I picked up the call. "Hey, Isabel."

"Finally! What were you doing the whole time, Eren? Taking a shit, but it wasn't coming out?!"

She laughed at her own joke while I stayed silent.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. You can guess why I am calling?"

"Yes. And I want to talk to you about tha-"

"So! The party will be on the upcoming saturday ."

"Isabel, I-"

"And it will start..."

Why was she interrupting me the whole time. Slowly but certainly I was losing my patience.

"Isabel, I won't come to your party." I said in one breath, hoping that she listened.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Wait- What?! You aren't coming?? "

"I'm sorry, but I won't.

"Why?!"

It made me feel guilty hearing her disappointed voice.

"Eren, this isn't true, right? You're just joking , right?"

There was still hope in her voice and it made my heart ache. I felt so bad for making her sad, even though it wasn't even her fault for me not coming. She can go and thank her brother for that.

"I'm sorry, Isabel. There... I can't come because I have an appointment. It's for work and important."

"On a saturday ?"

"Yes."

"Don't do that to me, Eren. I really want you to come to our party."

"I'm sorry."

" Please, come, Eren. It's already bad enough that Levi won't come, but I want at least you to be there because you are our new friend!"

That one little information gained my attention and I straightend my body in mere seconds.

"Wait, did you just say that Levi won't come?"

I looked at Armin with a confused face, he looking back at me the same way.

"Yes. He told us a few days ago. I wondered why he doesn't want to attend the party because he always celebrated with us the years before. I really don't know why he's said that. Do you know why he won't come, Eren?"

"No, I don't know."

It couldn't be that he didn't want to go to the party because of my break-up, could it? There was no way that Levi was upset because we parted... or was he?

No, this couldn't be. For that I knew him well enough. But then why...?

I heard how Isabel was saying something to someone standing close to her.

"No, Farlan. I won't accept that. I want him to come! Levi won't be there! Isn't that already the worst?! I want Eren to be at our party! I will convince him!"

Hearing her saying that made me reconsider my decision. There was only one reason why I didn't want to go, but now that that reason wasn't a reason anymore... Technically speaking, there wasn't a reason anymore not to attend the party, right?

I made eye contact with Armin, my eyes helpless and pleading for his help. He just shrugged his shoulders as he mouthed 'Your decision'.

After some time deep in thought, I made a decision.

"Eren, are you still there? Did you hang up?!"

Isabel was literally screaming into my ears.

"No, I didn't. I'm still here. And I have good news for you."

"There can't be any good news for me anymore." she whined.

"I decided that I will attend your party."

"Really?! You will come?!"

Her mood changed from upset to crazily happy within one second. I didn't know how something like that what was possible, but she was proof that it was.

"Yes. I will postpone my appointment or ask a co-worker to stand in for me."

" Yaaasssssssss ! Wohooo ! That's great. I'm so happy right now. Thank you, Eren. Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Yeah, yeah. It's no biggie."

By now I was smiling as well. Hearing how happy I made her brightened my mood as well.

"Okay! So the party will start at 9 PM. Feel free to come earlier if you want to. Oh, yeah. Right, the location. Do you know the West End District of Shiganshina ?"

"Yeah, I know that district."

"Wall Maria Road III. On that street you have to search for the house number 5. There aren't actually many houses located, that's why it's good to celebrate there. It's a mansion that we used to always visit during summer break, but we don't do that anymore. Do you think you can find that place?"

"I already have a guess which house you mean. You don't have to worry about me."

"Okay, great! Then, until saturday , right? And this isn't a joke of you, right? You'll come to the party, right?!"

I chuckled lowly.

"Yes, I will come. Unless I die for whatever reason."

I felt how Armin jabbed my side hard, making me wince. He glared at me as I rubbed the hurt spot.

"Don't you dare die!"

And then Isabel ended the call.

"Don't say that, Eren."

"I'm sorry... mom." I said, rolling my eyes jokingly.

"So you really want to go?" he then asked.

"Yes. I mean, he won't be there, so I'll be fine."

"But you will be surrounded by people who might know him and there is a high chance that at least his siblings will mention him at least once. I'm sure of that."

"I think I can handle that. Hearing of and seeing him are two different things."

My friend nodded slowly. "But should there be a time when you think that you can't deal with it anymore... You can call me. I can pick you up. No matter what time we have."

"Thank you, Armin. I really appreciate that." I sent him a genuine smile.

"What shall we do now?" I asked after some time.

Armin stood up and faced me with a huge smile on his face. "You know what? Let us go out for a while as well."

~~~

"Did you tell your family what has happened?" Armin asked.

We were sitting on a bench after we had bought warm drinks for ourselves. Armin was leaning against my shoulder and I was leaning against his head.

"No. My parents didn't know about my fuck-buddy relationship- and they shall never know!"

"Don't worry. I never intended to tell them if that's what you fear. It's your business. I won't tell, it doesn't matter how close I am to them."

"Okay. And well, Mikasa... If I had called here -even if it was on phone- she would have noticed right away that there was something wrong with me. I know what would come next. She would drag me to her and my parents' home, lock me up in her room and force me to tell everything that has happened. Lying would be useless. On top, this would mean that she was going to skip university in order to take care of me 24/7, and I don't want her to do that."

"You mean a lot to her." Armin stated.

"I know. But she can't help me right now."

I took a sip from my coffee, taking a deep breath. "It's getting colder."

My blond friend chuckled. "Of course it's getting colder. It's October after all."

I narrowed my eyes because Armin reminded me of something.

"Yeah, that's right. October. Reminds me of something that has to do with you, Armin. It was your birthday on the third... but you weren't home." I said in a reproaching tone, waiting for an explanation.

"Well..." Armin looked at me now, sheepishly, scratching his head.

"I had visited you on that day, but you weren't home. And you didn't answer your phone either."

"I wanted to explain it to you when giving you the thing back you forgot at my house, but..."

I knew exactly why he didn't tell me back then. It was because of me.

"You can explain it to me now." I just said.

"Jean and I went to our island." he revealed quickly. "Actually this was his surprise, I didn't know that before. We spent three days there."

Jean, that sly shithead. Going with Armin to their own island to have the blond for himself and knowing that there was no way that other people would disturb them... Sly but clever.

"I'm sorry." Armin said, pouting cutely. Oh god, no one could not forgive such a cute face.

"It's fine. It was your birthday after all." I ruffled his hair, and he leant against me again. "How does it feel like to be 24?

"The same as being 23." Of course he would answer like that.

"Wait, was the weather even pleasant there?"

"It indeed was. Really sunny and a blue sky the whole day and night. Jean was close to staying there a little while longer."

I took a little pause before saying the next thing. "Jean really does you good, huh?"

I could literally hear Armin smile and blush. "Yeah."

I smiled a little as well. "Sometimes it's still so unreal to me. You two together, even married. When I remember how Jean started to like you in highschool..."

"Hm. Back then I thought it was his puberty and hormones that made him have those feelings towards me. I rejected him time and again because I was sure that this was just a phase of his."

"And then, when we all attended the same university, his love for you grew bigger."

"But I still didn't accept his love. I still had some doubts, but most importantly I just wanted to concentrate on my studies."

"Whatever you did or said to Jean... he never gave up."

"And then after graduation, I accepted his love. Sometimes I still feel guilty for having him wait for so many years. That he not once had thought of giving up until the end..."

I hummed approvingly. "The fact that during all those years he didn't get into a relationship with another person just proves how much you meant to him and still do. That damn horseface loves you really much."

"Eren." Armin said in a stern voice.

"What? His face is longer than everyone else's, that's why it looks like-"

"Eren." The serious tone was still there.

I sighed, rolling my eyes. "Fine."

We sat in silence for a while, watching passersby, birds and leaves passing by. I was about to drink from my coffee when a thought came to my mind.

"Presents..."

"What?" Armin questioned.

"Presents. I still don't have any gifts for Isabel and Farlan." I realized only now, freezing in light shock.

"Well then..." Armin stood up, grinning at me, "Let us go to the shopping mall and buy them presents."

~~~

"I seriously don't know what to buy them. I'm bad at choosing gifts."

My best friend and I were in some random shop, viewing various things with the hope that one of them was suitable as a gift.

"Hm, what do you know about them?" asked Armin as he examined a package in his hand, while a finger was placed on his chin.

"Um, Farlan is the eldest and works in a IT company. Oh, and I think he wants to develop his own video games one day. Isabel is majoring in Arts. She likes video games, I guess."

"Art student and nerd, huh?" he murmured, loud enough for me to hear.

"Trust me, Armin. Farlan doesn't look like a nerd. Not at all."

"Oh, really? Already fallen for him?" he joked, wiggling his brows.

"N-No!" God, why did I have to blush now? "I-It's not like I'm looking for something serious at the moment. At the moment, I'm sick of being with someone- it doesn't matter if it's only physical or with feelings."

"I see. How does he look like?"

I regarded my friend suspiciously as I approached him, throwing an arm around his shoulders. With a low and seductive voice I said, "He looks hot."

"Eren, I'm married."

"That-"

"By the way, do you even know if he likes guys?"

I mouthed an 'oh' since I hadn't thought of that yet. "You're right. I don't even know. That aside, I didn't know you were so judgemental, Armin, hmmm?"

"Me calling him a nerd was a joke. Don't take it seriously and don't tell him that."

I patted his head as I leant my own head against it.

"Here! What about this? I'm sure they will like it!" Armin said excited, his eyes glistening as he held up a thing I didn't really pay attention to.

I glanced quickly at it then looked into his eyes, smiling softly.

Out of the blue I decided to hug him. He was surprised by that, but I didn't say a word. I hugged him tighter as my smile grew bigger.

"Eren, what..."

"Thank you, Armin. Thank you for everything. Thank you for always being there for me, for encouraging me when I'm uncertain about a thing, for brightening my mood when I'm upset, for... Thank you for being the best friend I could ever have." I kissed his temple, caressing that spot.

He hugged me back and let out muffled and incoherent words, due to his face buried in my jacket.

We stayed like that for a while.

"Aw, this is cute." Both of us heard someone saying that.

Turning around, we spotted Bertholdt to our surprise.

"Hey, Armin. Hey, Eren." he greeted us.

"H-Hi." We greeted back simultaneously.

"Wait..." I remarked, "If Bertholdt is here, then Reiner is also here. And if Reiner is here, then..."

"Jean." Armin spoke my thought out loud, although it was nothing more than a whisper.

Soon, we heard a familiar voice yelling.

"Let go of me, Reiner! Release my arm! I'm going to kill him! I'm going to kill that shithead of Yeager!"

Jean was a bit far away from us, held back by Reiner, but he didn't care. Horseface still tried to get away from Reiner's grip, although it was obvious that he didn't stand any chance against Reiner's muscular arms.

Just now, Jean saw Armin and me embracing each other.

"Calm down, Jean. There is no reason for you to be in rage." Reiner said.

"Shut up! Let me go! Fuck off! I saw it! I saw it with my own eyes! He fucking kissed my Armin on the head. I swear, Yeager! I will kill you with my own bare hands!"

I stuck out my tongue at him indifferently as Armin walked over to him, trying to calm him down.

It was funny to see Jean like that and even more hilarious was how he was held back by Reiner. No matter how much he strained himself to free himself from the grip, it was no use.

It took Armin literally half an hour to calm down his husband and then we could continue with our shopping.

I must say that today was really eventful, but I couldn't complain. Not once did I thought about him. It was good like that.

I was on my way to forget him.

------

A/N: Now I have the urge to write the Jearmin backstory ;-;

But it isn't relevant to this story ;--; T^T

I hope you liked this chapter!