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Student flat 104a didn’t even have enough couches or chairs to seat the five people that lived there. That wasn’t normally a problem, as Reiner, Eren, Jean, Armin and Connie were rarely in at the same time, but on movie night when all of their friends were over, they had to get creative.
Tonight, eleven people were all crowded into the small room to try and watch Alien, but they were having a hard time fitting everyone in. Eren, Mikasa, Connie and Sasha had managed to squeeze onto the three-person sofa, while Reiner and Bertholdt lay out on the floor atop blankets, their legs taking up most of the room. Ymir, Historia, and Marco had taken the only two dining chairs the flatmates owned, Historia atop her girlfriend’s lap. Jean watched them all bicker about how much of the screen was visible, trying to figure out where to fit himself, when Armin came into the room looking proud of himself, dragging the armchair he had in his room behind him.
“Trust Armin to be the only one that comes up with a good idea,” Eren said as Armin sat down and curled his legs up onto the chair, grinning. “Jean, can you please sit the fuck down so we can start?”
“Maybe if you hadn’t hogged all the room on the sofa, I’d have somewhere to sit,” Jean retorted.
“There’s room on Armin’s seat,” Sasha grinned coyly, raising an eyebrow at Jean. She knew how Jean felt about Armin - the only person who did , besides Marco, and she was winding him up about it on purpose.
“No, there isn’t,” Jean said, giving her a look and trying to spot a place on the floor away from Reiner and Bertholdt’s legs. “If these two sat up instead of taking up all the room, I could-”
“I, uh, I don’t mind,” Armin said quietly, shuffling over a bit so Jean could fit in the armchair next to him. “We can probably fit.”
Jean blinked as Sasha whistled. A few of the others snickered at them. Jean stared at the tiny amount of room on the chair, realising that for the next two hours or so, he was going to be pressed right up against Armin.
“Sure, if you say so,” Jean said, trying not to give away how nervous the idea of that made him. He sat down, murmuring an uncharacteristic apology and not looking at anyone, just staring at the screen as the film started to play and pointedly ignoring the face Sasha was pulling. Armin pulled a blanket over the two of them and turned his attention to the screen.
Their thighs were touching. And their hips, and shoulders. Jean was so tense he couldn’t relax. He had a good view from where he was, and he didn’t have to sit on the floor, but he couldn’t focus on the movie at all, not when he was so close to Armin. He was blushing so much he could feel his ears getting hot and his mouth was completely dry. Normally, Jean was the type to talk all the way through a film about what was going on, but he was completely silent now.
About an hour in, Jean heard Sasha laughing at him and doing a bad job to contain herself. As he turned to glare at her, Armin’s head fell to rest on his shoulder, and Jean froze.
Armin had fallen asleep? In his effort not to move, Jean hadn’t even noticed. Armin’s breathing was slow and deep, and when he shifted Jean felt his hair brush gently across his cheek.
Holy shit. He hadn’t expected this. Of all the times they’d watched movies together, Armin had never fallen asleep. He wasn’t the type - he loved films. Was he just really tired today?
“Armin,” Jean muttered, shaking him a little, his face bright red. He was surprised the hammering of his heart in his chest hadn’t woken him up already. “Oi. Wake up, you’re missing the film.”
Armin just groaned and shifted again, resting his face in the crook of Jean’s neck. Eren made a gagging sound but was instantly shushed by Mikasa.
“Don’t care,” Armin murmured back, pulling the blanket up a little and holding Jean’s hand underneath it.
Jean thought he must have been some kind of saint in his previous life to deserve this. He turned to Marco, who gave him a reassuring smile and a thumbs up. Armin squeezed his hand. Jean squeezed back and smiled. He didn’t want to worry about what this meant right now. He was getting tired himself, and this felt too good to question - they could talk later.
In the end, Jean thought, as he started to drift off, he was glad their flat was so small.