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Armin Arlert had always been a very observant person. He had always been able to analyze emotions and facial expressions, had always been able to accurately guess a lot about a person based on the way they carried themselves and the way they spoke, had always been able to notice things that other people would miss easily, and had always been able to immediately tell when something was even the slightest bit amiss.
He was even better at reading people like a book when said people were very close to him, when he spent a lot of time with them and was familiar with their tone of voice and the way they expressed their emotions. This was why over the years he had practically become an expert at understanding the mess of a kid that was Eren Yeager. He had figured out a couple of things over time, some incredibly obvious that had taken him only a few days after first meeting him to understand, some incredibly complex that he wasn't even sure he knew the full capacity of them. He had realized that Eren loved his mother more than anything in the world, and would not tolerate anyone who insulted her. He learned that Eren valued freedom, valued being able to do as one pleased, and hated the Walls with a burning passion. He learned that whenever Eren was sad, or sick, or injured, he'd run to his mother and she'd hold him, and suddenly it was like all of his troubles would go away.
Armin studied that last fact a little bit more than any of the others. He hated seeing Eren sad, hated when tears of frustration would slip down his cheeks, hated when a scrape or a bruise would bring him down. He wanted to be able to make Eren happy again like that too, with just a few reassuring words and small loving acts. He watched intently as Erens' mother would take him in her arms and whisper unintelligible words in his ear, before kissing him on the nose and then suddenly Eren was smiling again, a smile so wide and bright that Armin just couldn't seem to get enough of.
Soon enough, Armin felt like he was ready to put his theory to the test, and he knew that he wouldn't have to wait long. Eren was a very emotional person, so it wouldn't take all that much time until he got upset. It wasn't that Armin wanted Eren to be sad, quite the opposite actually. He just wanted to check if he too could make Eren happy in the way that his mother would.
Just as expected, it didn't take long for Eren to have another one of his little outbursts. This time it wasn't due to frustration of being unable to exit the walls, and it wasn't due to a nasty fall during a game. This time, it was anger. Anger toward the kids that tormented Armin every single day, following him as he walked home and throwing rocks on him until he was scraped and scratched, small cuts making little red droplets of blood trickle down his arms and legs. He had tried to stop them that day, he had walked home with Armin and told the boys that followed that they could go and do something that earned a few gasps and stern looks from passing adults. He had fought back when they had started getting physical, and now Eren was sitting slumped against the wall of the nearest house, sporting a black eye and a bleeding nose.
"They really got you good didn't they?" Armin whispered sadly as he held a piece of cloth up to his nose.
"It's fine. I can handle it" Eren mumbled, pausing for a moment before continuing. "You really didn't have to ruin to your shirt you know. It's just a nosebleed".
"Don't worry about my shirt, I can fix it later" he replied, pulling the cloth back again only to sigh as he realized Eren was still bleeding. "My mom taught me how to sew. She said that it's not only for girls and that it's a useful thing to know"
"It's definitely useful now" Eren grumbled, not meeting Armins' eyes. He was slightly embarrassed - embarrassed that the other kids had obviously won their fight, embarrassed that he couldn't even protect Armin, embarrassed that Armin was currently patching him up, as though he was the one protecting him. "Why do you put up with it?" he asked softly. "Why don't you fight back when they throw things at you? Why don't you at least run so you don't get hurt?"
"I don't fight back because I don't want to sink to their level" Armin replied calmly, before his eyes widened a little as he realized that Eren might think that he had suggested that protecting him had also counted as sinking to their level. "I-I mean, not that fighting back is bad, it's just that exchanging in a petty fist fight when I know that I can't win is honestly demeaning and I think it's utterly useless and-"
"Jeez, Armin, calm down. I get what you mean" Eren cut off his frantic rambling.
"Oh... Well then, I suppose I don't run away because running shows that I'm scared, that I'm weak. I'm not scared and I'm not weak, I just have different strengths. If it were a battle of seeing who has the highest test scores instead of seeing who could win in a fight, I'd surely win" he continued, dabbing away the last of the blood.
"I guess that makes sense" Eren said, thanking Armin with his eyes as he discarded of the blood-soaked fabric. That was something Eren did often, he thanked people with his expression, showing them that he appreciated their actions instead of telling them.
"You're still upset" Armin frowned, scanning over Erens' face. He may have had a swollen black eye, but his facial expressions were still as clear to Armin as ever.
"Of course I'm still upset! I'll be upset until the day I can finally show them that they're horrible-" he started, cutting himself off as Armin suddenly flung himself forward and wrapped his small arms around him. "Armin?" he asked quietly. "Armin what are you doing?"
"I'm making you feel better" Armin responded cheerfully, as though he hadn't almost been bludgeoned by small, sharp stones. "I don't like seeing you upset" he continued, looking up at Eren and standing on his toes before pressing his lips to Erens' nose, just as he had seen his mother do. He froze for a moment, and Armin couldn't help the twinge of nervousness that went through him, because what if Eren wasn't comfortable with that? What if he didn't like it? What if it didn't make him feel better? But something in Armins' mind told him to do it again, and so he did, pressing his lips to Erens' face again and again until he saw a small smile making its' way onto his lips, and Armin swore he had never felt any happier because it had worked! He finally knew how to stop Eren from being sad, and now he'd never have to see him miserable ever again.
"Okay- Armin- You can stop now" Eren laughed, getting cut off by Armins' ambush of affection. Armin pulled back, giggling softly, and they both walked home, Armin sighing contentedly and Eren wondering how the hell this short blond boy could possibly make him go from so upset to so incredibly happy in a matter of seconds.
After he had confirmed his newfound discovery, Armin used it to his advantage. He'd wrap his arms around Eren whenever he cried, he'd help to bandage him up whenever he fell, and he'd sit close to him as he helped him review the newest test material, knowing exactly how to make him feel better each and every time.
One day, however, he wanted to try out a different approach, try and stop Eren from feeling upset with a different set of actions. They were lying under the shade of the large tree situated right in the center of the clearing. Mikasa had stayed behind today, seeing as how Erens' mother was away running some errands today and someone had to take care of doing the laundry. It was a bright spring day, the flowers blooming and scattering the green grass with little spots of all kinds of colors. The sky was a brilliant blue and birds flew across the sky, and Armin noticed how Eren watched them almost enviously. Armin knew that Eren wished to be free, wished to be able to see the world and go beyond the walls, just like a bird. He didn't want Eren to dwell on how he wasn't free for too long, didn't want any negative thoughts to occupy his mind, and so he sat up, meeting Erens' eyes as they followed him confusedly.
"My arms will fall asleep if we lay like this for too long... Do you wanna do something? Maybe get some flowers for your mom? She bought that vase around a month ago but we keep forgetting to collect something to put in it" he said, quickly making up a lie so Eren wouldn't know he was attempting to distract him from his thoughts.
"Yeah sure" Eren said, after considering it for a moment, sitting up as well. "Y'know Armin, I learned how to make something really cool a few days ago" he told him as he bent forward to pick some pink flowers that he vaguely remembered his mother fawning over.
"What is it?" Armin asked eagerly, straightening up so he could look at him.
"It's a circle of flowers with all their stems tied together, and you can put it on you head and it looks like a crown!" he exclaimed excitedly.
"That sounds cool" Armin smiled, loving how his friend became so excited about such small things. "How did you learn how to make them?"
"Remember a few days ago when we were pretending to be royalty or something and you said you didn't wanna play because you had things to do?" he asked, rolling his eyes mockingly at that last part. Eren always thought that Armin was a little too uptight, stressing far too much for someone his age. When Armin nodded, he continued. "Well, the girls insisted that we need crowns if we wanted to be royalty, and she taught us how to make them"
"I promise I'll join you guys next time" Armin laughed as he saw Erens' disapproving expression. He knew that Eren thought he was missing out on, knew that he thought that he was way too strict about what he did with his free time. He glared at him for a while longer, obviously not believing him, before bending down and continuing their earlier task of collecting flowers.
Minutes passed by in a comfortable silence, but there appeared to be a slight problem. "Armin..." Eren trailed off as he looked down at the plants he had collected. "Armin I think we picked too many flowers"
Armin looked upon his own gathering of flowers, and frowned as he realized he was right. "What do we do with them then?" he asked, looking up at Eren in question. They both paused for a moment, neither of them knowing what to do, before a realization suddenly dawned on Eren, and he smiled as he stepped closer.
"Say, Armin, do you want me to teach you how to make a flower crown?" he asked.
Armin considered it for a moment, before nodding eagerly. It really did sound nice, and it wasn't like they had anything better to do with them right?
And so, Eren seated himself on the soft grass and showed Armin how to intertwine the flower stems together, correcting him when he did it wrong and smiling as he finally got it right. Nimble fingers worked fast as the little circle started to form itself, both boys concentrating only on what was in front of them as the sun began to set behind the wall.
"Why do you only use the white ones Eren?" Armin asked, looking at the difference between his creation, bursting with color, and Erens', which was beautiful all the same, but contained one singular color, only one type of flower. Eren mumbled something that he couldn't understand even if he tried, and as he looked up into his best friends' face he realized that Eren was blushing furiously, his cheeks growing a wonderful shade of pink that the last rays of sun only made that much more obvious. "Eren?" he asked again, and Eren looked up at him almost angrily, as though he was upset with Armin for making him speak when he was obviously mortified.
"They're my favorite" he whispered softly, as though afraid Armin would hear, as though afraid he'd judge him. "The white ones. I think they're pretty"
Armin laughed as he realized that Eren was so incredibly embarrassed to admit such a thing. "Why are you so embarrassed Eren? It's just a flower, and honestly you're right. They really are pretty"
Eren frowned, thinking that Armin was making fun of his embarrassment, and that only made the blond laugh more, teasing him relentlessly for being so ashamed to tell him such a trivial, insignificant thing. The rest of the evening was spent laughing and joking, intertwining more and more stems together until they had finally finished.
"You look really nice with the white ones Eren. I see why you like them so much" Armin said as he placed the crown on Erens' head.
"Thank you" he mumbled, obviously not expecting the compliment. "You look nice too"
Armin smiled, before his eyes widened as he realized the sun had almost set. "Eren, we should probably head home now. Your mother will worry if we aren't back by sunset". Eren nodded in agreement, finally realizing how late it was, and they hurriedly set off back into the crammed streets of Shiganshina, Armin smiling as Erens' mother thanked them both for the flowers, saying that they looked absolutely wonderful wearing the crowns that they had made.
That day, Armin made one of his most treasured memories, one that he'd remember forever. He hadn't realized back then that he was slowly falling in love with his best friend, didn't realize how the way he wanted to hold hands with him and hold him close whenever he was upset and make him flower crowns just so he could see his flustered expression meant that he didn't want to be "just friends".
However, it didn't take long for Armin to realize that something was different about his relationship with Eren. And so, the next time they found themselves back at that sunny clearing, flowers in their hands and smiles on their faces, Armin hesitantly leaned over and kissed Eren on the cheek, and not because he wanted to cheer him up. He did it simply because he felt like it.
Erens' hands stilled for a moment, a confused expression taking over his face, and he looked over to meet shining blue eyes. "Armin?" he asked, clearly bewildered. "I'm not sad or hurt... So why did you kiss me?"
Armin frowned a little, fearing for a moment that Eren didn't like it, before deciding to simply own up to it and not try to excuse his way out of this one. "Dunno. I just felt like it" he mumbled, looking away.
"You don't have to be ashamed, Armin. I don't mind, I promise" Eren said softly, craning his neck so he could meet Armins' eyes again.
"Really?" Armin gasped in surprise. He had been absolutely sure that Eren would yell at him, would tell him that something was wrong with him. He had not expected this.
"Yeah... Um- Can I kiss you too?" he heard him ask, and his head suddenly shot up, unbelieving. "It's not fair that you get to do it and I don't" Eren tried to convince him once more, and Armin nodded, the widest smile suddenly making its' way onto his face.
However, to his surprise, Eren leaned over and pressed their lips together. It wasn't a simple act of affection, this was a real kiss. One like mothers and fathers shared, one like the older kids would exchange behind the schoolhouse, looking around as though afraid someone would see. It was slightly uncomfortable, and it was definitely new and unexpected and brief, but to Armin it was the most wonderful thing in the world. To Armin it wasn't awkward or weird or anything of the sort. To Armin, it felt wonderful and sweet, like he was floating. And he didn't know this at the time, but Eren felt the same.
Over the years they exchanged many many more of those sweet kisses, whether it was in an attempt to cheer each other up or yet another act of their strange relationship with each other that they couldn't quite figure out. They helped each other through the months that followed the titan attack, always finding comfort in the familiarity of each other. Armin would hold Eren close and kiss him softly, making sure he was okay before finally pulling back. Eren would sometimes do the same, pressing his lips to each one of Armins' tears and letting the droplets disappear as though they had vaporized into thin air. They shared soft, sweet acts of affection, something that trusted only each other with.
Once they finally reached the Scout Regiment, Armin mustered the courage to finally confess, finally realizing what this feeling had meant all along, and their acts of affection only grew more addicting, only grew warmer and sweeter and more loving.
And here they were now, sitting in Erens' dorm, Armin curled up right next to him on the bed as Eren rambled about something-or-other. He wasn't exactly sure what he was saying, didn't exactly know what he was talking about (something about some complicated experiment Hanji wanted to perform?), but he definitely knew that he loved listening to his voice more than anything in the world. He loved him more than anything in the world. And so, that night, when they were both almost asleep, he turned over to meet Erens' eyes and softly asked:
"Hey, Eren, do you remember what I used to do to cheer you up when we were kids?"
"Yeah" Eren mumbled, his voice hoarse from almost falling asleep. "You used to stand on your toes because you were really short" he teased, and then when Armin frowned he continued, "and then you'd kiss me so many times I lost track of whatever was making me upset"
"Mhmm" Armin hummed, happy he remembered, before leaning over and starting to press small kisses onto Erens' cheeks, watching intently as his boyfriend started laughing.
"Now, Armin? You wanna kiss me now? When we're about to go to sleep?"
"Fuck sleep. Kissing you is better"
"Right, says your sleep-deprived ass"
"Whatever. Just shush and let me kiss you"
Eren and Armin fell asleep that night, side by side, with the biggest smiles on both their faces. Out of everything he was grateful for, Armin was most grateful for Eren - as well as his great love for physical affection - because if Eren hadn't liked being kissed all that much Armin wouldn't get to enjoy moments like these. Calm moments, when nothing was around to bother him, and it was just him and Eren.
Just him and Eren.