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Prom, flashing lights, loud music, spiked drinks and a last goodbye to their childhood.
Armin was sat on Jean's bed while Jean played his Nintendo on the floor. "Hey Jean?" Armin said, breaking the silence. Jean hummed in response, still beating the buttons on his controller. Armin sighed and rolled his eyes. He got off the bed and made his way over to Jean, he sat behind him, pulling Jean's back into his chest. He then placed a soft kiss onto Jean's exposed neck. Jean smiled, pausing the game he turned his head and met his lips with Armins, a quick peck before he ended up turning completely now facing the shorter boy. "Hey," Jean whispered onto Armin's lips, kissing him again and again.
Armin pulled back, Jean grunted in protest; Armin had something to say and Jean was going to listen dammit! "I want to talk." Armin said. Jean's playful smile immediately disappeared, he was always assuming the worst. "Oh.." Jean trailed off. "It's nothing bad, idiot!" Armin said, playfully shoving Jean's shoulder. "Just wanted to know if um," Armin was nervous, he was going to ask Jean to prom, he didn't even know if Jean wanted to go to prom, let alone with him. Armin wasn't sure what they were, they'd never really talked about it. I mean they'd been fucking around a bit, but this was way too personal to just be a "friends with benefits" kind of thing.
"Just spit it out, dork," Jean interrupted.
"Hey don't call me that! … and it was dumb, don't worry about it." Armin said. Jean wasn't going to give up that easily though, Armin couldn't just leave him hanging. "C'mon Armin, you can tell me anything, you know that." Jean said, placing his hand on Armin's cheek. God he could melt into that embrace. Armin let out a long huff of air. fine. He got out of Jean's embrace and sat on the bed, Jean joined him. "Doyouwanttogotopromwithmeitsokayifyoudon'tIcompletleyunderstand-" Armin spit out, talking even faster than usual if that was even possible. Jean looked at Armin dumbfounded, Clearly confused as to what Armin was trying to say.
"Speak up Armin, I don't understand gibberish," Jean teased.
"Do you want to go to Prom together?" Armin finally said, avoiding all eye contact as humanly possible. A long moment passed, no reply, abso-fucking-lutely nothing. tears caught Armin's eyes. "That was stupid I-I should go," Armin said, getting up and grabbing his things. Jean stopped Armin before he could leave, grabbing onto his hand. Armin tried to let go, but Jean's grip was tight. "Armin, look at me." Jean said, some sadness in his voice. Armin looked up at the taller boy , surprised to see tears in Jean's eyes. "You'd actually want to go with me?" Jean asked, no one has ever wanted him like this before. Armin scoffed, Jean could be so daft sometimes. "Yes Jean, I like you okay! I really like you and I don't want to be just friends or fuck buddies or whatever you want to call it, I just- Will you go to prom with me?"
Jean just smiled, that bastard, Armin thought, always so smug. Jean pulled Armin close and pulled him into a kiss, he didn't have words. Armin smiled into the kiss tangling his fingers in Jean's brown hair. Fuck, this was it, this is everything Jean wanted. Jean pulled Armin even closer, one hand gripping Armin's waist the other cupping his face. Jean pulled away with a breathless smile. "Fuck yes I'll go to prom with you." Armin smiled at that, "I'll have to cancel my plans with your mom though," Jean Joked.
"Fuck you," Armin bit back.
•••
Tonight was prom, a night to remember,
Mikasa was going with Eren, Connie had no date and took a lot of convincing to tag along, Annie wasn't going to the party and Sasha, well, she was third-wheeling Mikasa and Eren.
Armin was at Jean's place getting ready. It was a hassle to convince his grandad to let him go to prom. It was an even bigger hassle to convince him hat he would be fine getting ready at Jean's place.
Jean pushed Armin down on his bed, kissing him into the mattress, Armin was tangling his fingers in Jean's wet hair with one hand and Pulling Jean down by the hoodie with the other. Their chests were pressed together, legs intertwined and sheets messed (not that Jean ever made his bed anyway.) They kissed until they were breathless, lips swollen and hair messy. After a while Armin made his way on top of Jean, laying on his chest, playing with Jean's hoodie strings listening to his heartbeat. Meanwhile Jean's fingers combed through Armin's hair, studying Armins beauty. "This is so nice." Jean said, breaking the soft silence. Armin let out a muffled content sound into Jean's Hoodie, he was almost falling asleep.
It was three hours until prom started but they seemed to be quite content to just stay there and bask in each other's presence. The evening glow poured in the window, the sun was going to set. Armin had fallen asleep on Jean's chest. Jean just let him sleep, he always seemed tired these days. Jean admired the boy on his chest, God he never thought he would have this, he smiled to himself, planting a kiss on the top of Armins head.
•••
It had been an hour, Armin was still fast asleep, Jean's arm was getting numb, it was time to wake the boy up. "Arminnnn," Jean said, pushing on Armin's shoulder, nothing. "Armin, dude, wake up." Jean called again, earning a grunt from Armin. "Armin if you don't wake up right now, I swear to god, I'll sack you"
"Shut up." Armin grumbled, he lifted his head so that he could look up at Jean.
"We have to get ready, or we're gonna be late."Jean said to a now grumpy Armin. Armin slowly sat up wiping the drool off his mouth, Jean looked down to see a spot of drool on his hoodie. "C'mon now I'm gonna get scabies," Jean joked pointing at the spot. Armin just rolled his eyes and got off the bed. Armin tugged off his shirt and grabbed his white dress shirt, he was unsure still, not only about partying, but about the whole gay-prom-date sort of thing.
"What do you think they're going to say? Y'know seeing you and me at prom together," Armin asked buttoning up his shirt. Jean just smiled, he wasn't so worried. " I think that they'll say: Wow! Armin's boyfriend is hot."
"Boyfriend?" Armin asked, were they boyfriends now? Jean walked over to Armin, fitting their hand together. Armin looked down at their hands, his breath hitched. "Well I mean, If you want too." Jean looked down at Armin, "I'd love that." Armin confessed, tilting his head up asking for a kiss, which Jean happily returned. "Y'know," Jean started, pulling away from the kiss. "If you don't want to be called my boyfriend, I could always call you my bang buddy."
Armin rolled his eyes, “shut up," He teased back. "We have to get ready."
Jean and Armin were both sporting a classic black and white tuxedo with matching corsages. Armin took a step back from the mirror, adjusting his tie. "What do you think Jean?"
"You look hot." Jean said walking up to Armin, placing his hands on either side of the smaller boys hips. Armin was blushing but he wasn't going to give Jean that kind of satisfaction. "You are a man of such beautiful words, Jean," he teased. Jean sighed, " I was just stating facts," Armin shook his head lovingly, Jean never knew when to shut up and Armin loved him for that...sometimes. "Whatever we should be leaving now."
•••
Jean and Armin met up with the others outside of the venue. "Where are your dates?" Eren asked the pair. fuck. Had they really forgotten to come out to their best friends? "Uhh" Jean looked at Armin, who looked just as surprised. Armin just laughed really loud, it was awful. "Really dude?" Jean whispered to Armin, Armin replied with a 'I don't fucking know!?' kind of look. Jean sighed loudly, looking at all his confused friends. "Okay well you see uhm, me and Armin," Jean started, "Are y'know," Jean started gesturing, waving his hands around, trying to fill in the blanks, hoping that he somehow could get out of this terrible situation. "Jean and I are dating. That's what this dumb ass was trying to say." Armin interrupted, quite loudly. "Y-yeah what he said!" Jean said, crossing his arms.
"I knew it! I fucking knew it! Eren you owe me Five bucks!" Connie said breaking the silence, Eren then grunted, pulling out his wallet, handing a five to Connie.
"Come again?" Jean shook his head blinking slowly a couple times, not quite understanding the whole situation, nonetheless he was relieved that his friends didn't seem too confused. Everything would be okay.
"You fuckers couldn't make it anymore obvious, I mean you guys are practically glued together," Sasha said, the others agreed."O-okay then let's party!" Armin exclaimed, grabbing Jean's hand, The other’s just laughed and joined the couple inside.
Jean and Armin sat down at one of the tables, sitting quietly and periodically sipping punch from tacky plastic cups; meanwhile the others were dancing, all flailing arms and laughing, except for Eren, he was shuffling awkwardly to the music. Armin and Jean just stared at each other, they should be dancing, and laughing. The nerves were too much, to be the only gay couple at the dance was a lot of pressure.
The music stopped, the Disc Jockey was putting a new record on. God this is awkward, Jean thought. Head over heals by Tears for Fears started playing, Jean started to smile, he fucking loved this song. "Armin!!" he said over the loud music, "come dance." Jean got up offering Armin his hand, Armin took it, oh the things he does for Jean. Jean dragged Armin onto the dance floor, never letting go of his hand.
They were terrible dancers, shuffling back and forth to the beat of the song, jumping and many breathless laughs. They felt careless in that moment and Jean was enamored, he loved the way Armin bopped his head to the beat, his hair flopped around he would close his eyes, it was lovely. The music began to fade, Jean and Armin were both red cheeked and out of breath. Jean stepped closer to Armin so that he could hear him. "Much gratitude for the dance Sir Arlert." he said in that God-awful posh British accent. "shut up." Armin said.
He was so incredibly smitten.
Then a slow song started playing, Jean raised his eyebrows, "shall we?" he asked. Armin seemed unsure but this kind of thing only happened once in a lifetime. Armin nodded, Jean pulled Armin close. Armin brought his hands around neck, and Jean placed his hands on either side of his boyfriend's hips. They tried their best to ignore all the looks that they were getting.
In this moment it was just them, swaying back and forth, foreheads pressed together, soft smiles and a few stolen kisses.
"Jean"
"Yeah?"
"I don't want this to end." Armin confessed, looking into Jean's eyes.
"Me neither," Jean spoke on to Armin's lips
Armin and Jean kissed, strobe lights illuminating the moment, in this moment nothing else mattered, they were just two boys in love, loving out loud.
Everything was so great, Armin finally felt like he could be himself, he didn’t feel ashamed or like he didn’t fit in. He moved his head from Jean’s shoulder. It was such a perfect moment for those three words.
“Jean, I have to-”
Armin was interrupted by a loud group of guys who looked like no good.
TW!!!!!: Homophobic slur
"What are you faggots doing here huh? this isn't a place for people like you!" Some guy intervened. "Wha-," Jean said before getting decked in the face. "Jean!" Armin screamed, being held back by two others
The guy pushed Jean to the ground, kicking him in the stomach, another guy kicked his head, Jean didn't even bother to fight back, is this what I deserve? Jean thought to himself. the last thing that Jean heard was Armin's screams, then everything went black.
•••
"He probably has a concussion or-or maybe internal bleeding! we should take him to the hospital! why hasn't he woken up yet?" Armin was freaking out.
"It'll be fine, Armin we'll figure this out." Mikasa said.
When Jean opened his eyes, he was no longer lying on the cold hard floor, he was at Eren's place. Jean grunted, trying to sit up. a sharp pain came and he clutched his side, it hurt.
"Don't try to move." Armin said, tears in his eyes, he had Jean's head on his lap, he didn't want to leave his side. Mikasa quietly left the room and joined the others.
"Armin?" Jean sniffled, he was letting his guard down, he never cried, ever. This should've never happened. "yes?" Armin was crying, he was so glad that Jean was okay. "I'm so sorry, Armin." Jean said blankly as tears streamed down his bruised cheeks.
"This is all my f-fault," Jean said. Jean forced himself up, he sat on the sofa facing a crying Armin who was sporting a black eye.
"Jean," Armin whimpered, "It's not your fault, okay?" He gently placed his hand on Jean's cheek. Jean pulled away like a kid who just touched a hot iron. "I-I should've never asked you to dance, I-I should've been more careful."
A sad "No." sounded from Armin, "Hey, look at me," Armin said. Jean looked up, it was hard to look, I caused this. Jean thought. "You didn't do anything wrong, we didn't do anything wrong, those were just some homophobic assholes, we're not the problem, they are." Armin slowly placed his hand atop of Jean's, he didn't pull away this time.
"Your eye," was all Jean could say,
"It'll heal." Armin replied.
"We'll be okay Jean." Armin pulled Jean into a hug, Jean sobbed on Armins shoulder, they just sat there for a while, Armin rubbed circles on Jean's back, trying to reassure him, it would be okay, maybe not now, but soon.
"we will heal." Armin whispered to Jean.