7 Days Till [Armin x Jean]

4 Days Till the Invasion

When I woke up the next day, Jean was already gone. I assumed he went downstairs to help his mom with something and didn't want to have me awake to her yelling at him to come downstairs. It happened nearly every time I stayed the night at his house, it was a common routine it felt like. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, yawning in the process. Looking around the room, I realized Jean didn't have a sundial, not that it would have done much anyway. In the towns, it was hard to tell exactly what time it was because the buildings would bend the shadows to fit their grid lines.

Getting out of bed, I quickly changed into the clean clothes I brought for the ride back and headed downstairs. The smell of fresh bread overwhelmed my senses, I had to stop for a minute before walking into the kitchen. Jean was at the sink cleaning the dishes that were used in the process while his mom checked on whatever they were making.

She saw me out of the corner of her eye and smiled. "Someone has a bit of bedhead."

I blushed and quickly ran my fingers through my hair. "Good morning, what are you making?"

"I had Jean wake up early to help me with some bread for breakfast and lunch. It's always better fresh."

"I didn't hear you call him down," I said, gently taking a seat at the table.

"That's because she came up quietly and whacked me in the head with some paper," Jean mumbled as he dried off the last dish. "Wasn't hard or anything, just enough to wake up. I'd take that over yelling up the stairs any day though."

"How do you wake up with the scouts then?" His mom looked over at him as Jean sat down next to me at the table.

"When the sun shines in your eyes, you know it's morning. That or when Armin comes into your room and jumps on your gut," he glanced over at me.

I winced, remembering that time. It was a summer day, and I had been up for hours beforehand working on something. I don't remember exactly what I read, but there was something extremely interesting that I learned from the book that I just had to tell Jean about. So I had rushed to his room and peeked my head in to see if he or Connie were awake. Connie was sitting at the desk and turned his head when he heard the door open. He nodded in Jean's direction, and I looked at him, asleep on the bed. The excitement of the information was too much for me to hold in, so I quickly rushed in and jumped onto the bed, aiming for a bit of mattress Jean didn't occupy. I had poorly estimated his size though and landed with a knee straight on his crotch. Jean had woken up with a muffled sound that was similar to an animal when shot, and Connie had fallen off his chair laughing. The memory was burned into my mind like it was yesterday, even though it was a year or so ago by now.

"I said I was sorry-"

Jean ruffled my hair with a smile. "I know, I know. Regardless though, you're in routine at the scout's headquarters. If you sleep in on a day you're not supposed to, it's lights out from Levi."

"Does he knock you out!?" His mom asked, shocked.

"Oh no, he locks you in the cellar and gives you the "Yeager treatment" as he likes to call it," Jean told her, leaning back in his chair.

"Basically you stay in the cellar for a few days and try your best to figure out the time based on when you get the meals and when Hanji comes down and yells at you to wake up. Usually, that helps people fall into a sleeping routine," I added on after I noticed her confused look.

She nodded slightly and pulled the bread out from the oven and placed it out on the counter. "You know... When you told me you joined the scouts and not the military police, Jean, I was terrified and thought you were an idiot. Not many kids made it past their first mission, and many parents never saw their kids again," She sighed, staring out the kitchen window. "But you told me you survived and made a lifelong friend in the letter you sent after that mission. "A small boy with blonde hair, pretty sure he's an orphan." Is what you wrote."