The Lost Soldier [Armin x Jean]

Part 5

When I woke up the next morning, I was expecting to see Jean laying in bed still, his arm wrapped around me like last night. But when I opened my eyes, I realized he was gone. Slowly sitting up, I looked around the room to see where he was, but he wasn't here. That's when I heard the voices outside. I swung the blankets off of me and gently tossed my leg over the edge of the bed. The talking stopped and the door opened. Jean walked in holding crutches, I guess those are for me.

"Armin, what are you doing?"

"I was just stretching out. Did the doctor stop by?"

He nodded and walked over to me, laying the crutches on the bed. "He had an emergency to take care of, so he dropped these off and told me to teach you. I think I can do that much," Jean smiled and offered me a hand. I gently took it and he pulled me up onto my leg. I haven't stood up in ages, it felt so wrong.

"Use me as a balancing post. You got it, just like that!"

"Jean, this feels wrong. I haven't stood up in days, more or less on one foot."

"It's new to you, but we will work it out together. Here, take this crutch." He handed one over to me and helped me lean against it, then handed the other over. "You use them just like that, yeah. That's right. Now to walk with them you just..."

He talked on and on while I listened until I felt comfortable enough to move around. Slowly, I did as he said and tried to move forward a step. It wasn't hard, but it definitely wasn't as easy as people made it look. I fell forward, only to have Jean catch me and help me straighten back up.

"Thank you," I mumbled. "Is everyone here?"

"A few of them are downstairs eating breakfast. I told them you were going to be busy today."

"Get the door for me please, I want to go and greet them."

"I can get them to come up here, it'd be easier."

"I know, but I need to practise on these, don't I?" I looked at him. The look in his eyes told me I got him exactly how I wanted. Jean sighed and walked over to the door, opening it for me. I slowly walked over using the crutches and wobbled out of the room and down the hall.

"Jean, I might need help on the stairs."

"Want me to carry you?"

"That'd be nice but no. Just spot me, I want them to know I can do this."

He nodded and walked in front of me, making sure to keep his guard up as we very slowly made our way downstairs. I could hear everyone talking just around the corner, my heart started to beat faster. I finally made it to the bottom of the stairs and wobbled over to the doorway that lead to where everyone was eating, then I tensed.

"Eren, isn't it weird not having Armin around?"

They were talking about me? I'm not surprised, but how was this going to turn out?

"I mean, I guess but not really. He's smart, but he's slow. We can all move around faster now."

"I'm surprised you said that." Was their Reiner's voice? It sounded like it. "You seemed so close."

"Just because we are close doesn't mean I like everything about him. Even I get annoyed with him sometimes."

I scooted over to the wall and listened in. Jean stood right beside me, watching to see what I would do.

"His scream is annoying, and he screams alot," Ymir's voice added on.

"He's more vocal than the rest of us, can you blame him though?" Reiner said.

"Come on, Reiner, surely there is something about him you dislike in someway." Eren, why are you encouraging this type of conversation? I'm right here, I mumbled in my mind.

"Nothing that I can think of. He's a nice kid, more on the small side but that's just genetics. From what I hear though, he has the brain of a dreamer like his parents."

"He convinced me to help him work on an airplane once. It's a device that helps you fly like a bird. His parents left it behind. His mentality was cute as a kid, but now it seems kind of annoying. He really needs to grow up," Eren mumbled. Ymir agreed with him. This is where I draw the line. I stepped into the door frame and looked at everyone in the room. As expected, it was just Ymir, Reiner, and Eren.

"Is that what you think of me?" I said, staring at Eren. He quickly turned to face me and looked shocked. Jean stayed in the hallway, just looking around the corner into the room.

"Armin you're standing!"

"Don't act like I didn't hear everything you just said! If you thought I was annoying, why didn't you say anything? I understand that coming from Ymir, but you of all people?"

"Armin I- I can explain."

"No, I don't want to hear it. Reiner, thank you for being nice enough to not say anything out loud. Eren, I'm disappointed in you. You were my first true friend, and now you just tossed that all away," I teared up, choking on my words. I turned around as fast as possible and wobbled down the hallway, getting as far away from the room as I could. Jean stayed behind for a litte, yelling something at the others. I didn't hear what he said exactly, but I could hear that he was pissed off. He chased after me down the hallway.

"Go away Jean! I'm not in the mood to have a bodyguard."

"I'm not going to let you run away."

I stopped once I walked into an empty room and turned around. "Just go ahead and do it! Tell me what you hate about me. That you find me annoying. Go ahead and tell me that I should have just died that day! It would've been easier for everyone if I did!" I sat on a desk and tossed the crutches on the floor. "They all hate me in one way or another, so why bother? I'm useless now anyway." I wiped my eyes as Jean stood there.

Slowly, he closed the door and locked it, then walked over and stood in front of me. He reached out and gently wiped my eyes. "I don't hate you Armin. If I did, I wouldn't ask to watch over you. I wouldn't have made us a thing. There are things that you do that may annoy me, but that is normal. I wouldn't ask you to ever change yourself. Do you understand?"

I looked at him and sighed, letting him wipe my eyes. "I'm sorry..."

"Don't be. If the same situation happened to me, I probably would've done the same thing too. Or at least thrown a punch."

I laughed gently and reached out, placing a hand gently on Jean's cheek. "Thank you... Should I go back and apologize?"

"Not yet, let what you said sink into Eren's head. Sooner or later he'll come back and genuinely apologize to you."

"Do you really think so?"

"You've been friends for years, of course he will."

I stared Jean in the eyes then leaned forward and hugged him. "Thank you... again."

He wrapped his arms around me and rubbed my back gently. "How do you feel?"

"I'm hurt from what he said, but screaming helped, oddly. My arms hurt though from the crutches."

He laughed and pulled away slightly, tucking hair behind my ears.

"Say, why did you lock the door behind you when you walked in?" I raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Because, I wanted to do this." He gently lifted my chin with his thumb and kissed me. My eyes widened in shock, but in a matter of seconds I melted into the kiss, returning the affection back. He broke the kiss and smirked gently, "Understand why now?"

I could feel that my face was bright red, yet I nodded. "Just don't pull away too fast."