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"Eren and Armin i'm so glad you're here!" Jean approached them, moving awkwardly.
Armin looked at Eren nervously, it was obvious that his friend was already under the influence of alcohol.
"Happy birthday Jean" Eren told him as soon as they had him in front. Armin handed him a red gift box with a small black bow.
"You guys!" Jean told them as he took it, "come in, you are already late to the party!"
They both entered and looked around, they could see many people, some of those classmates, others neither of them knew. Obviously most of the people were clearly drunk already but it was no surprise that something like that would happen at Jean's birthday party.
They got to the kitchen where Jean offered them two plastic cups.
“take! I'll see you in a while, remember you can go wherever you want but don't break anything" Armin and Eren nodded "well I have to see how the others are".
Both boys waited for their friend to leave and Eren start laughing.
"I can't believe you convinced me to come," Armin said as he leaned on Eren.
"Hey, Jean is your friend too," he replied as he took a sip from his plastic cup.
"Yes, but you know I'm not good at this party thing." Armin brought the liquid in his cup up to his nose and was surprised not to smell anything.
"At least try to have fun this time, we came together for a reason, I don't want you to sit on a sofa all night without doing anything" Eren took a garter from his wrist and tied his long hair "obviously you don't have to drink if you don't want to".
"It's not that I don't want to, it's just that the little alcohol I've had has tasted horrible to me." Armin watched his friend take another sip from his cup as if it was water.
"Look, this is vodka so it doesn't taste like anything but Jean mixed it with soda" Eren knew Armin and knew when he really wanted to do something but fear stopped him and this was one of those occasions, Armin has drink but only with his parents and usually it was a sip of wine or beer which Armin didn't like. Armin looked at Eren and then at his cup "okay, if I vomit just make sure it's in the bathroom and not in a pot or something" with that Armin took a good sip of his drink.
It didn't taste like anything, it just felt like drinking soda even though it burned his throat a bit.
"and how was it?" Eren asked him after finishing drinking his own drink. Before he could answer, a familiar voice was heard in the distance.
"Boys!" Connie and Sasha appeared in the distance with wide smiles and running towards them "we need two more players, are you in?"
"Let's go with them" Armin said taking Eren's hand to start walking.
"I thought you weren't good at parties," Eren joked letting himself be carried away by Armin.
"You're the one who wanted me to have fun, so we'll do that," Armin replied.
"Okay, okay, you're the boss," was Eren's only response.
Upon reaching another room in the house, they saw a ping pong table with cups lined up on it, each of which had a little vodka on it.
"the game is simple" Sasha began to explain "you just have to line up, drink the vodka from your cup, then put it on the edge and try to turn the cup, if you don't succeed your cup will be refilled and you will have to drink again until you achieve it, when you achieve it, the next player passes and the row that finishes first wins".
"It sounds simple" Eren said and looked at Armin with a smile "Do you think you can handle this Min?".
"it's worth a try, isn't it?" He said as he smiled back at Eren.
And with that the game start.
(...)
The music had already started to get louder and with it the spirit of the party, there were people dancing and singing, some others were just drinking like crazy and a few were already asleep on the floor. They kept playing, they had already played a few rounds and though at first Armin had no problem flipping the glass the more he drank the more difficult it became. Her arms felt heavy and the cup moving when he put it on the edge of the table, he had already failed five times in a row and he could see how Eren was laughing behind him.
Obviously his friend was just as drunk as he was, so when he laughed a few strands of hair fell into his face.
"Erennnn!" Armin turned to see his friend "shhh I need to concentrate" He said as he put his hand on his mouth.
Eren quickly removed his hand and kissed it, Armin blushed a little. Everyone around him laughed at the scene.
"Minnn let me help you" Eren crouched down, facing the blond "j-just try not to put so much force when turning the glass".
"And if I don't make it, you take my drink?" He said as he pulled Eren's cheek.
"I swear," he replied putting his arm around the blonde's shoulders. Armin put his cup on the edge and while he tried not to make his head feel dizzy, when he managed to focus he did what Eren told him and put less force. The cup spun through the air and landed on the table perfectly upside down. His team celebrated loudly and he turned to see Eren out of excitement.
"it worked!" Armin yelled at him as if he wasn't next to him, Eren laughed again as he unconsciously brought their faces closer. Armin watched as Eren laughed and felt his face turn red and in an impulse of courage took Eren's face with both hands and brought him closer to him, leaving a soft kiss on his friend's lips.
"WOOO!" Connie yelled as Sasha took pictures with her phone.
Eren put his hands on Armin's waist, drawing the blonde closer, Armin ran his hands through Eren's hair removing his garter. When they separated, both boys laughed without letting go of the other.
"I always knew that kissing you would be wonderful" Eren whispered in his ear "I've dreamed of this moment since I was fifteen".
Armin smiled and whispered back, "Follow me."
They both ran away from there, and went up the stairs while trying not to fall until they reached an empty room far enough away that the music was no longer so loud.
Eren lay down on the bed looking at the ceiling, Armin settled next to him while caressing his profile with his hand, he bent down and kissed Eren's cheek.
"Do you like me Armin?" Eren asked, his voice sounding calm as he turned to look the blonde in the eyes.
"Of course Eren, I've been in love with you since I was twelve," Armin confessed, arranging a lock of Eren's hair behind his ear.
"wait really?" Eren got up sitting well on the bed and Armin did the same.
"well at first I didn't know that I liked you, I thought that everyone felt the way I felt about their best friend but over time I realized that wanting to be with your best friend all your life and live Together is not normal" he said.
No one had ever told Armin for most of his childhood that a boy could fall in love with another boy, for a good portion of his life he simply said that he didn't like anyone for fear of getting a bad response by saying he liked Eren.
"Since when do you like me?" Armin asked.
"Probably since the junior high school prom" he said getting closer to Armin.
"ah, so it was my incredible dance steps that that enchanted you?" He joked leaning his head on Eren's shoulder.
"Obviously," Eren replied and Armin laughed again, he was laughing a lot that night, maybe it was the alcohol.
"but seriously" Armin intertwined his hand with Eren's "how did you know you liked me?"
Eren was thinking for a moment, he had so many memories together and Eren remembers all of them with great affection but there was one in particular.
"Do you remember the camp they took us to a week before graduation?" Armin nodded silently "well on our last night there Jean spilled his water on my bed and you invited me to sleep with you, I obviously refused at first but when it was time to go to sleep I went to your bed and you made me a space, we talked for a while, I told a lot of bad jokes that night because I loved seeing you laugh and I remember being super nervous, I felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest or that you were going to realize that I didn't stopped looking at you".
Eren caressed the back of Armin's hand with his thumb affectionately
"at some point you fell asleep and then out of nowhere you hugged me, maybe you forgot I was there and it was unconsciously but I remember that at that moment I wanted to kiss you so much but I didn't, all I did was hug you back".
Armin was speechless, he felt happy and moved but he didn't know what to say so he just kissed Eren's cheek again and then they both remained silent for a moment but not an awkward silence, rather the kind of silence that only comes when two people understand each other perfectly.
"Tell me you'll remember this," Armin spoke and leaned towards Eren, close enough to kiss him again but he didin't "tell me that tomorrow you're not going to ignore me or pretend this never happened."
"hey look at me" Eren lifted Armin's chin with his hand making their eyes meet "I love you Armin in a way I've never loved anyone".
Armin couldn't help himself and smalls tears roll down his cheeks.
"I love you too Eren" he said and with that he got closer kissing Eren on the lips.
Eren returned the kiss without hesitation.
(...)
Armin woke up with a horrible headache, he was in Jean's guest room, apparently he never left the house, when he tried to get up he felt Eren next to him, he had the same clothes as yesterday and his hair was a mess but he was seen sleeping peacefully. Armin remembered what happened last night, he got drunk and played a game and then he kissed Eren...He kissed Eren and Eren kissed him back.
A part of him wanted to start running around the room and another part wanted to cuddle with Eren, he turned to see Eren but something caught his attention, it was a clock that said it was two in the afternoon, Armin shook Eren a little to wake him up since they should definitely leave Jean's house.
"Eren" Armin got up from the bed and stood in front of Eren to try to wake him up "we have to go Eren".
Eren opened his eyes a little but instantly closed them.
"Eren! It's really late!" He told him and all Eren did was hug him to throw him back to the bed "Eren! we have to go!".
"Let's sleep a little bit longer," answered Eren, still sleepy.
"I'd love to Eren but we're at Jean's house" Armin let go of Eren's arms and started trying to pull him out of bed.
"Ahhhh please," Eren asked and held on to the covers.
"Look, let's get out of here and go to my house, there we can lie down for the rest of the day, I promise."
Eren began to get up slowly and when he was seated he pulled Armin closer to him.
"Won't you kiss me good morning?" Eren ask.
Armin let out a soft laugh. "My God, Eren."
"that's a no?".
"Since when do friends kiss?" Armin joking.
"since ever," said Eren following the joke.
"I don't think so," he answered, still smiling.
"Then let's be boyfriends" Eren let out surprising the blond "Armin?"
"seriously?" Armin asked excitedly.
"Of course Min, so what do you say?" Eren smiled when he saw Armin's face which had that beautiful smile that he loved so much.
"yes Eren" before Eren could say something Armin kissed him, and he kiss Armin back and they kiss again and again and again.
Both of them were too focused on each other to notice that someone opened the door.
"Hey, Mikasa is looking for you two, you two can make out later" Jean's voice was heard behind them.
"aghhh Jean" eren complained but then he said "let's go Min" he left a kiss on Armin's forehead, "we're going to my house and we'll continue there".
Armin smile as they both left the room hand in hand to reach the livingroom where Mikasa was already waiting for them.