Pathway [Eremin AU]

Chapter Seventeen//Armin

(A/N: Love you guys, please don't hate me. :)
-Pitch)

"Okay, girls, we've gotta get our act together. We head out in thirty minutes. Make sure you have all of the stuff you need. We will do makeup when we get there, but go ahead and put on your outfits," Reiner says as Jean hands out the outfits.
"Sorry they just came in today. We can't do much about that. If they don't fit, let me know. We order some extras," Jean says. He hands me mine and I quickly go to the back of the room.
"Girls, go to the changing room down stairs and change real quick. Guy, you change up here," Bertold says. Everyone nods and goes to where they were told to change. I quickly slip off my casual clothes and slip on my dress pants. I put on the black collared shirt and the nice black jacket to go along with it.
"How come the theme had to be blackout this year. It was freaking pirate and fairy when I was in school," Eren says. He pops his collar and ties his black tie.
"I think it stupid. You could run into someone and not know it," I say. I make sure my outfit looks nice and I grab my dress shoes. I quickly slip them on and I hear a knock at the club door.
"Come in," Eren says as he manages to button his pants while unlocking the door. Historia and Ymir walk in and we look at them. They're dressed in black dresses and flats and nice black cardigans. They grab their earrings out of a bag and put the black hoops on. The guys with piercings wore all black ones.
  "I completely forgot you had gages," I say to Eren as I slip my hair into a pony tail.
  "Yeah, I don't have big ones, but when I don't have them it, it's easy to forget," He chuckles.
  "And how long has it been since you wore that eyebrow piercing?" I say and raise an eyebrow.
  "Who the heck knows," He shrugs.
  "Hey, some gay men find piercings and tattoos attractive," Jean says.
  "How would you know that?" Eren smirks.
  "Marco has a large black flower printed on his back, and it's pretty dang hot," He says and wraps an arm around Marcos neck and Marco flushes crimson.
  "Ok, we should test out our outfits real quick. Everyone please get in your spots," Jean says and gets the music ready.
  He plays it and we go through the motions. Everything went well, so we went ahead and started making out way to my school.

"A twenty minute walk isn't bad," Marco says as we approach where we are supposed to go in.
  "Hey boys, and ladies," The principal says as we approach him. He nod and smile.
  "Hello Armin," He says and smiles at me. I nod and give a small wave.
  "You will enter through here. Make your way around the stage and go around to the front. Don't get in stage though. I have a few students helping out with making you guys some room on the floor. When you go in, wait three songs, then your song will come on and the students will make the area on the floor for you all," He says, "Have fun." He opens the door and students have already filled the gym. We make our way to where we were supposed to go, with my guidance. I don't greet anyone, but Jean pulls out black face paint.
  "We need to do makeup," He says. Everyone nods and we go to the side of the stage we came in from. Everyone quickly puts the black paint around their eyes, but Jean does my makeup different. He does my make up as if I was a skeleton. I smile and he chuckles.
  "Looks great," Marco says and peaks over his shoulder. We walk back to our spot and we notice that this is the last song before it's our go. We get in our spots and the floor starts to clear a bit at the end of the song. As the beginning of Uptown Funk comes out, the floor is mostly cleared. I stand in the back till it's my queue.
"Armin, get ready," Bertold says from in front of me, but not to loud for anyone else to hear. I take a deep breath, then I make my way to the front and start my part. I hear some gasps and whispers, my name being mentioned a few times. I smile and just keep going. I can feel sweat making it's way down my face, but I just ignore it. As it gets to one of my main parts. I freeze in my spot and throw my jacket off onto the ground and push nup my sleeves. As the lyrics, "I'm too hot, hot damn," come on, Eren, Jean, and Reiner start to surround me. Freezing with certain lyrics. I mouth lightly to some of the lyrics and smile as I do so. The end of the song comes along and we all freeze in our spots. Eren smiles up at me from his position. I smile back and everyone starts to clap. I look up and the clapping gets louder. Eren stands up, and so does Jean and Reiner. We grab each others hands like we were in a drama class, and bow. Eren tightens his grip on my hand and I look up at him.
  "I can't believe I was able to do that," He whispers and looks over at me. I smile and squeeze his hand back. We let go of each other and everyone looks at each other. Jean goes around giving high fives and Bertold is patting everyone on the back.
  "I'll help Armin get his makeup off," Eren says and starts to drag me to the exit of the gym. I stumble a little, but he stops when we get to the outside of the gym.

A few people standing outside, having a heated make out session or smoking. Eren leans against the wall and looks down.
  "Are you okay?" I ask, the sound of worry in my voice. He nods and pulls out a box of cigarettes. He puts one in between in lips then takes out a lighter as he puts the box of Kool cigarettes away. He lights it and breathes it in. I sigh.
  "Smoking on school ground," I chuckle.
  "Yup, did this my senior year," He chuckles, "Never got caught."
  "Are you stressed or something? Worried?" I ask.
  "Yeah, I'm a little worried, and that's just for the clubs' safety because of my family at the moment," He shrugs.
  "The club will be fine. You can still preform. Your mom will be fine and will be able to run the club again soon. Stop worrying. It won't do you any good," I say sitting by his feet.
  "Not just with us. You're leaving in a few months for college, so we won't have one of our best dancers with us for much longer. We've got to make this last performance with you the best we can," He says, but he sounds like he wants to say more. He slides down next to me, and hangs his arms over his knees.
  "I'm sorry."
  "For what?"
  "For coming to the club. I'm not that talented compared to you guys. I-I want to be able to be there for you guys. I'm leaving for two years. Leaving my friends isn't easy."
  As I look over I feel his arms wrap around my shoulders. My eyes widen a little and she just sighs.
  "What day are you leaving?" He asks, and I can feel his cigarette bounce on my shoulder.
  "I'm leaving on the fifth of July. I have the rest of this month and next month, then I'm leaving. I have to get a flight to Cali, then we are staying there for a two or three weeks," I say, resting my chin on his shoulder.
  "Would it be a bad time to say that I like you?" He says and moves his head to look at me. I freeze with my mouth hanging open like I was about to say something. I slightly shake my head.
  "A-as a friend?"
  "No."
  "Best friend?"
  "No."
  "Dance partner?"
  "No. You're so dense."
  "B-boyfriend?"
  I feel my chest starting to hurt.
  "Yes."