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“Truth,” Sasha answered confidently, straightening her back on Jean’s bed for their third round of Truth or Dare.
Connie, Jean, and Sasha were all huddled in his room for their Friday night slumber party gathering. Usually, when they played this game, their dares would last much longer than their truths, but right now it seemed that Connie couldn’t make up his mind about what to ask her.
He was rocking back and forth on the bed as if this required him to use all his brain power.
“Did you or have you—no—what’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?” he finally asked, looking very proud of himself.
Besides how vicious she got over her snacks, Jean considered Sasha one of his nicer friends. Maybe not to Jean or Connie, but to most people, she was pleasant to be around.
Sasha giggled, “Oh god, well, back in seventh grade, do you remember that elevator that only kids who were injured and teachers could use? One day, they were serving hot dogs for lunch, and I had to be first in line. So I took the elevator, and I guess I jammed the open button. And the next person to use it was Mr. Smith and he got stuck in there for like an hour!”
“Oh, yeah I remember this, but wasn’t it—?”
“Wait, wait! Let me finish! As you both have realized by now, I never got caught. Armin had sprained his ankle, and Eren was helping him around so they had been using the elevator all week! They got blamed for it, and I wasn’t even suspected for a second!”
“Wow Sash’, you’re the fucking worst,” Conne said, amusement in his voice.
Jean’s mind had drifted away from the elevator. He remembered the aftermath of this event. He had also been in detention that day, and when Eren and Armin trudged in, Eren scowled at the sight of him and sat as far from Jean as possible.
Eren didn’t look at him like that anymore. Not that Sasha or Connie knew about that. They didn't know how Eren would smile at him and hold his hand, and how that was sometimes the only thing Jean could ever think about.
He felt someone hit his arm, interrupting his thought.
“Dude, answer!”
“Answer what?”
“What else? Truth or dare?” Sasha grumbled.
“Oh. Dare.”
“Finally!” she exclaimed, a twinkle in her eye.
“Yeah, I’m not a chicken like you Sash’.”
Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to piss off the person who was going to give you a dare.
“Hmm…I don’t know. Got any ideas?” She turned to face Connie, who again looked like he was putting all his brain power into this.
“What the hell? That’s not allowed!”
“Shut up.”
“Nevermind! Nevermind! I got the perfect idea!” Sasha held her hands up and turned to Jean with a troublesome smirk. “I dare you to prank text Eren that you’re in love with him!”
Uh oh.
Connie eagerly started bouncing on the bed, “Oo, do that, do that!”
“Guys c’mon, that’s so dumb. He’ll—he’ll never fall for that.” Jean protested.
It wasn’t a lie. If they were rivals (and/or frenemies) as his two friends believed, Eren wouldn’t have fallen for it. He probably would’ve told Jean to eat shit. But now? All he knew was that Eren’s response would immediately give away that they were dating.
Meanwhile, Sasha was giving him an intense look. “It’s a dare . You have to do it,” she demanded.
“Why the fuck does that matter if it’s not gonna be worth it?”
“When the fuck did you care?” Connie shot back.
Jean turned to glare at him as Connie leaned back on a pillow.
“Also, it’s Eren. It doesn’t matter if he knows, his reaction is still gonna be hilarious.”
Eren was a pretty reactive person, but Jean liked that about him.
“Yeah, and in what world would you not be jumping at the idea to prank him?”
Jean hoped that in another world he had better friends.
Both of them were looking at Jean suspiciously as if something had changed. If he didn’t do this stupid dare, they would definitely dig more, and eventually, the secret that they had kept so well hidden would be out in the open.
Deep down, a small part of him wanted that. Originally the secret had been pretty simple. They had made out once and didn’t want anybody to know. Slowly, Eren realized he liked Jean more than that, and they had gone on a date. They hadn’t told anyone this because if it failed miserably, they would never be able to live it down. Then, it just seemed they didn’t want to deal with their friends’ relentless teasing, and that’s what led up to now. They had been dating for four and a half months.
“Fine.” Jean accepted, his only hope being that Eren just wouldn’t respond.
But then, another problem came up. Sasha and Connie had leaned over to look at Jean’s phone. He picked it up, keeping it close to his face, pretending like he just didn’t want them to see his password.
The problem was that Eren’s contact in Jean’s phone was “ eren <33 ”. Yes, it was cheesy, as Eren had told him when he had shown him. He had doubled over in laughter and called Jean a “corny piece of shit”. Jean remembered being flushed and telling him that would just change it if it was that bad, but Eren had reassured him that it was fine, even if it was through giggles.
Jean’s fingers flew across his keyboard changing the contact name as quickly as he could.
You changed eren <33 to dickwad eren
Just for a little less familiarity, he added a last addition.
dickwad eren j.
The contact picture could be changed later. It was a picture from when he and Eren had been to the movie theater, and Jean had gotten his hand stuck in the vending machine trying to steal a bag of chips. Eren had taken his phone, pressing his face next to Jean, and with the most delighted smile on his face, took a selfie (that asshole). It was just a zoom of that picture, but hopefully, it couldn’t be seen too clearly in the texts.
Connie raised an eyebrow at him, “You know any other dickwads named Eren?”
“Huh?”
He snorted, “‘Eren J’ , do you know any other dickwads named Eren?”
“Yup—yeah I do.” Jean stammered out.
“Okay, I’m getting impatient, would you send him the text already?”
Quickly one last thing before he started the dare, he deleted the most recent text Eren had sent him. Their conversation previously was okay, talking about Mr. Zacharius’s ridiculously hard assignment. But the last message was a dead giveaway.
dickwad eren j.: okay i gtg ily
Jean deleted the message, it was similar to the ones that they had sent before, always ily and never i love you . Because Jean didn’t know if he was ready to say that, or if he was ready for Eren to say that to him.
You: hey eren
You: i have something to tell you
Jean put his phone down and shrugged.
“Guess we have to wait for him to respond.”
His phone let out a loud buzz, showing that they in fact did not need to wait for him to respond.
Fuck Eren and how fast he responded.
dickwad eren j.: hey
dickwad eren j.: what hpanned
dickwad eren j.: hapend*
dickwad eren j.: HAPPENED*******
dickwad eren j.: fast typin g adn big finger lolllll
Already, Jean had to quickly wipe the smile on his face, showing how endearing he found the texts.
“So Sasha, what do you want me to text back?”
Before he could think, Sasha grabbed his phone. He lunged to grab it, but Connie used his body as a barrier in front of him. Those fucking morons were teaming up against him! “Give me my phone.”
“Chill out, I’ll just type the response for you. You’re a slow—ass typer,” she responded calmly.
Jean realized he probably should chill out. Or at least be moderately defensive, if he showed too much emotion, they might start suspecting something.
You: ever since we were kids
You: i’ve felt so drawn to u
You: even though we’re like two north pole magnets
You: i’d be willing to defy newton’s laws for u bb
Jean wanted to die. He grabbed his phone back. “‘I’d be willing to defy Newton’s laws for you?’ That’s about motion, you idiot!”
Sasha and Connie were gleefully laughing their asses off.
“Why are you taking this so seriously?” Connie asked through wheezes.
“I’m not, I’m not . I just wanna make this believable.”
At least he could try to make one thing believable, because this whole facade was certainly not.
“Whatever, just tell us when he responds.”
dickwad eren j.: u knwo u suck ass at pickup lines right
dickwad eren.: its cute tho dw
dickwad eren j.: keep trying <3
Jean absolutely couldn’t show them this for obvious reasons. He could try and get to the bathroom and quickly text Eren the whole situation, which he probably should’ve done in the beginning.
“Uh, I gotta go to the bathroom,” he said slowly shifting to the edge of the bed.
“Okay, we’ll text back if he answers.” Sasha held her hand out expectantly for his phone.
“No thanks, ha, I wanna see how he responds too.” He took it as he scooted away from them.
“You’re gonna take your phone with you to the bathroom?”
“Well now I am, don’t want you guys, y’know, having fun without me.”
And as if Jean’s luck couldn’t improve, his phone buzzed again.
Four times.
Four fucking times.
dickwad eren j.: hello?
dickwad eren j.:arnt u w sash and con rn????
dickwad eren j.: kidna risk
dickwad eren j.: y
Sasha sat up like she was about to pounce.
“Let me see! What’d he say?!”
“Oh, it’s actually my mom.” Jean said, quickly pulling it out of her reach.
“Really?”
“She’s just checkin’ in.”
“Aww Jean boy, you—” Buzz.
dickwad eren j.: ?
dickwad eren j.: fucker dont ignroe me
Jean pleaded that Eren would not send another text because this was perfect. He had the idea, he just needed to show them carefully. He let out a fake gasp and turned the phone to the two, showing them the last two texts.
“Only a question mark? I thought he would’ve been cursing you out by now.” Connie said sounding disappointed.
As they talked, Jean took the time to discreetly delete the earlier texts that Eren had sent. As he started to type out a “this is a dare” message, something Sasha said caught his attention.
“Maybe he’s actually into you.”
Shit.
“Guys, please, let’s not be ridiculous and throw out idiotic accusations.”
Connie’s smile faded from his face, “You’re acting so different. Where’s the Jean that would gloat at the idea of Eren liking him?”
“Maybe this Jean doesn’t like making up untrue rumors about people,” he spat.
Connie ignored him and reached out to snatch it. “Let me answer!”
But Jean refused to loosen his grip, resulting in a tussle with Connie where they both rolled on the bed. He was only focused on his phone, trying to erase the message or power it off. Connie was only focused on biting Jean.
You: this iswfsujfskjgndskjfhlghsjksd
You: sssssssssssssssssssssssss
You: hjskgsbukjg ndsjkfhm
dickwad eren j.: are u on drugs
dickwad eren j.:urhigh w/o me?????
dickwad eren j.:m so heartbroken kirstein :( </3
You: awupru510weioewyt
dickwad eren j.:jk but seruosiyl
dickwad eren j.:are you sleeptexting
Still wrestling, neither boy noticed Eren’s message still pinging on Jean’s phone.
Jean finally pinned him, one hand on his mouth to prevent him from biting again. His other hand holding his phone up high above his head.
“I am done with this dumb fucking dare!” he exclaimed angrily. He forgot that Sasha was still in the room, and right behind him.
“But you didn’t even do the main part yet!” she noted while kicking him in the back, and yanking his phone.
Jean fell into the bed, freeing Connie, who was quick to bounce back up. But that was the least of his worries. Sasha had brought up “the main part” of the dare which he was pretty sure meant the actual dare. And he knew exactly what Sasha was about to text him.
You: I love you eren
Everyone on the bed had frozen as Sasha typed away. Connie was peering over her shoulder while Jean remained lying on the bed defeated. He heard their laughs, but then they stopped.
Had Eren responded? Was it so devastating that even they couldn’t laugh?
Jean sprung up, “What’d he say?”
Both of them turned to him, utterly confused.
“He hasn’t responded. But… what about these texts from earlier?”
The cat was out of the bag, and Jean couldn’t give less of a shit. Instead, he flopped back on the bed, lying on his stomach. His mind was completely focused on how Eren was probably reacting. Maybe they’d break up because things were going too fast. The idea of that made him much more upset than he thought it would. His head was just slightly spinning, and he couldn’t process what his two friends were saying.
“‘See you later, babe ’?” Connie snickered while reading off the phone.
Sasha looked up, eyes widened, “Are you dating Er—?”
She was cut off by a sudden ring from Jean’s phone.
dickwad eren j. is calling
Jean shot up and lunged at Sasha. She shrieked, holding the phone up for him to take. He grabbed it, and continued to roll off the bed and onto the floor. He stared at the call for a good three seconds before finally answering. He hesitantly press the phone to his ear, ignoring that Sasha and Connie had leaned over the bed, trying their best to listen.
He didn’t know what Eren was going to say, but he did know that he was ready to tell him he loved him, even if Sasha had been the one to do it.
“You love me?” was the only thing Eren asked.
“Yeah, I love you,” Jean responded breathlessly. He had been sitting on the floor, and yet his heart was thumping, and he was out of breath. He had finally told him, and it felt like the best thing ever.
“I love you too.”
Jean’s heart jumped from his chest. He could only sit speechless for a couple of seconds. His stomach was tingling, but the weight was off his shoulders. It was like being on a rollercoaster, he was nauseous in the best way possible.
“Really?” he finally asked.
“Yeah, I love you. Anyways, what the hell was up with you earlier? Why were you texting all that weird shit?”
Jean really couldn’t believe he had just moved on from that so fast, but his boyfriend was an idiot.
“It’s a long story, just blame Connie and Sasha.”
Eren loves him.
“Noted.”
Eren loves him.
“Also, they know about us.”
Eren loves him.
“What? How?!” he questioned.
“You could say that we stumbled upon it,” Connie remarked from the bed.
“Also I texted Armin, and Mikasa. Armin already knew.” Sasha added.
Eren gasped, “How the fuck did he find out?”
“Uh, he said your contact name for Jean was followed by a bunch of hearts,” Sasha replied, reading off her phone.
“You hypocrite! I can’t—” Jean was about to continue before a sudden victorious feeling overcame him.
“You have my name in hearts, you love me soo much , it’s gross!” he teased.
“Oh my god, shut up!” He could hear Eren’s embarrassment through the phone. “Telling you that I love you made you cocky, you prick.”
“But—cha you’re not gonna do anything about it, 'cause you love me!” Jean turned to look at Connie and Sasha, who were no longer shocked, instead making throw up motions at him. There was silence for a bit more time before Eren spoke up again.
“Hey, should I—? Nah, you’re with those two right now.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Jean replied, assuming that he could only mean come over. He hung up the phone, and got off the floor, returning to his spot next to Sasha and Connie, who both gave him a look of disbelief.
“And we’re the supposed idiots, okay, sure,” Connie commented.
“Uh, yeah, you guys didn’t know about us for months.”
“Not that ! “ Sasha shrieked, hitting Jean with a pillow several times. “He told you he loves you, and you didn’t invite him because of a dumbass reason!”
Wow, it seemed she was actually making sense for once. Jean buried his head in his hand. “Shit! Now what?”
She sighed, giving him a very disappointed but also pissed look (the same one Mr. Smith had given Eren and Armin when he had gotten out of the elevator). “Do I have to text that for you too? Just tell him to come over and that we don’t give a fuck.”
Jean opened his phone once more and started to type out a message, before quickly backspacing and doing one last thing first.
You changed dickwad eren j. to eren <3333