At This Old Coffee Shop // Jearmin

18. Final Chapter

Jean made it home that night without any harm inflicted. When he opened the door Raven greeted him by jumping onto him. Soon after she peeked around Jean to welcome Armin but he wasn't in sight. Raven tilted her head in confusion and nudged Jean's leg with her snout, whimpering.

Then he snapped.

Choked tears ran down his flawless face and forced sobs escaped his throat. Frantically, he tried to wipe away these emotions but they kept at it. Jean maneuvered himself to the couch and assumed fetal position. Raven, being the compassionate, comforting dog she is, crawled up on top of Jean and positioned herself to where her head was on Jean's shoulder blade. He continued his roller coaster of emotions until he fell asleep curled up next to Raven with dried tears streaking his face.

~~~

The next morning Jean woke up to the pounding of their door. Regrettably, he managed to get up and answer the hellish sound. As soon as he opened the door, he was pulled into a group hug by four other people.

"Jean, you poor thing," Hanji said sympathetically, "we heard about what happened to Armin. You must be devastated."

The other three spoke as Hanji did trying to comfort him, but at the mentioning of Armin, Jean broke down again. He let out hellish sounds as he tried to choked down his emotions.

Hanji ran her hands in a circle pattern around Jean's back trying to comfort him, which only sent his despair into a deeper spiral of emotions. Finally he couldn't bare to hold it in anymore, Jean hiccuped as rivers of salty water ran from his dull eyes to Hanji's shirt.

The rest of the group tried calming him down more by repeating the brunette's actions and whispering words of hope by his ears. Soon after, Jean calmed down again and bid them all to come in. He sat on the ground as his fairly new friends sat around him and Raven, noticing Jean's depression, laid down next to him with her puppy face on his leg.

"You must really love them both," Marco spoke quietly. "Armin always talks about you and her at the shop."

Jean nodded as he tried to wipe away his already dried up tears from his earlier episode and failing miserably.

The group's conversation died down and Eren, being the great friend that he is, calmly approached Jean and placed his hand comfortingly on his back.

"It's going to be okay," he spoke confidently. "Armin may be an absolute cinnamon roll, but he's a strong person and he would never do anything to cause you harm."

Jean used his sleeve to clear the rest of the tears off his flushed face. "Thanks you guys," he smiled softly, "it really means a lot, to know that you guys care so much."

"Well obviously we care!" Levi blurted out. "We're not assholes! I mean some of us are...but we're not complete assholes!"

Jean let out a small half-assed laugh, "I know, I know. I just didn't expect to have so many people care about me. I spent basically all my life feeling hated until I met Armin. Which is why I can't bear to see him in this kind of pain. I wish it were me that got hit, yah know?"

Marco leaned closer to Jean and chopped at his head, "Stop being depressing. It's not good for your health."

"He's right, Jean," Hanji agreed. "Go ahead and visit Armin."

"But what about Rav-"

"We'll take care of her," Hanji offered. "Now go see your little blondie."

Jean nodded and scooted his feet towards the bathroom, where he tried to make himself at least look half descent. He hurried up, brushed his teeth, and tugged the wide-toothed comb against his wildly placed brunet locks.