7 Days Till [Armin x Jean]

1 Day Till the Invasion

When I woke up, my body felt sore. Sleeping like that was definitely not the most comfortable decision of my life, but I can't say I regretted anything. Jean looked as if he was still out cold, snoring softly as he slept. I gently pushed a bit of hair out of his face and crawled out of bed to stretch my back out. His bag was still in front of the sundial, so it was hard to tell the time.

"Armin?" He mumbled as if noticing I had gotten up. He sat up in bed and yawned, looking over in my direction. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just sore."

He rubbed his eyes and stood up, pulling me into a tired hug. "I can imagine... tonight we should just push the beds together so that you don't have to bend in such awkward angles."

I chuckled, hugging him back. "I'm not against that."

Jean pulled away and ruffled my hair before he went and grabbed his clothes for the day, more awake after the hug. "Your titan is already slow due to size, I can't imagine how slow you'd be if you were also sore," he laughed.

My titan.

"That's... tomorrow, isn't it?" I asked, sitting down on the bed.

"Yeah, today is the last day till chaos. One day till the invasion of Marley."

I sat there quietly, locking my hands together and placing the fist on my lap. Tomorrow was the day I'd be required to shift for the first time in a few weeks. Tomorrow was the day I'd have to branch off from the safety of my friends and do my own thing while they all work together. Tomorrow was the day I'd cause a bad reminder to the people who lived in Marley. Tomorrow was-

"Armin!" Jean put a hand on my shoulder, shaking me from my thoughts. He looked worried, just like Hanji and Levi did yesterday. "You're crying-"

I unlocked one of my hands and brought it up to my face, feeling the wetness of tears on my cheek. "Oh, I'm sorry," I mumbled, quickly whipping them away.

"Don't apologize for crying. What's wrong? If you want to talk about it, I'm here to listen." He gently put a hand on my knee, looking at me with eyes full of concern yet comfort.

I looked down, wondering how to mention everything without sounding like a cry baby, or like I wasn't ready for tomorrow. I didn't want to bring Jean down either, especially since I knew he was trying to be strong. I knew deep down that he was just as scared as me for tomorrow.

I was broken from my thoughts again when someone knocked or more like kicked, on the door.

"Come back later!" Jean snapped at whoever was outside.

"Calm your balls, Kirstein, I just brought you two food," Connie's voice spoke on the other side of the door.

I quickly wiped at my eyes again before standing up and opening the door. Sure enough, Connie was outside holding two plates with a smile. "Why did you-"

"Mikasa came to my room this morning and asked if I could bring you two lunch, saying she hasn't seen either of you all day and it's already noon. She mentioned how it's likely you'd be a hot mess today and wouldn't even leave to eat, so I told her I'd bring you two lunch if she does dinner."

"Damn Connie, you actually have a soft spot in you," Jean teased as he stood up and walked over beside me, gently wrapping an arm around my waist. "Sorry for snapping at you then."

"I would snap too if I were having a mental breakdown and didn't want to be bothered, no worries," he handed each of us a plate and turned around. "I gotta head back now since I got some stuff to work on for tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll see you two at dinner, but if not, I'll see you two in the morning!" He headed off down the hall, disappearing from sight when he turned the corner.