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When Jean had asked Armin to go to the training course with him today, he’d thought twice about it. He hates to admit it, even to himself, but he knows he’s still not as good as the rest of the 104th, even after all these years. He needs the practice, he can’t deny it, though he’d rather be spending time with Jean doing something that allowed them to actually talk to one another. So much of their lives are fighting, he likes having downtime with the rest of the Scouts where they can just relax together better than going out to practice maneuvering. Apparently, Jean didn’t have the same idea.
So, reluctantly, he went to meet the other man at the training course. Jean was a little bit late, as he always seems to be, but not long enough for Armin to think he wasn’t coming at all, and even though Jean is late, Armin still smiles from ear to ear when he sees him.
“You actually showed up? I halfway expected you to make up an excuse why you couldn’t come,” Jean says with a smug smile painted on his face. He looks good in his gear, he always has, the straps hugging his body just right…but Armin doesn’t want to think about it right now. He needs to focus on what they’d actually come here for.
“I wouldn’t have bailed on you. Plus, I know you invited me because I need the practice.” Armin is still smiling, happy to see Jean, but Jean frowns at what Armin has to say.
“I invited you because I wanna spend time with you. And because I like that glazed-over look your eyes get when you look at me dressed in my gear.” Jean chuckles and walks toward the training area, just a patch of woods, the same one they’d used when they were cadets. Armin is sure Jean knows it now like the back of his hand, he’s seen the other man out here on several occasions perfecting his maneuvering skills. It was something that Armin admired but could never really bring himself to do, until today.
“W-what?! My eyes don’t glaze over!” Armin exclaims, following after Jean. It didn’t matter that what Jean had said was completely true, he would never admit to it.
“Yeah, okay. You look good in your gear too, ya know.”
Armin can’t even think of a response. No matter how much time he spends with Jean, he can never get used to how forward and flirty the other man is. Not that he minds it at all, but it does sometimes make him annoyingly flustered and blushy. Much like right now. To try and distract from it all, he decides to change the subject.
“So, are we running the whole course?” Armin asks as he looks straight forward into the forest. He wonders if he’ll even be able to keep up with Jean so that he can find his way through the course. He doesn’t completely remember the way through, it’s been years at this point since he ran it last.
“I planned on it. See how fast we can get through it. It’ll only be maneuvering practice, I couldn’t get anyone to puppet the titan targets this time.”
“I’m not exactly sure I remember my way through.” It’s just a simple sentence, but he hopes Jean understands his concerns. He doesn’t want to rain on Jean’s parade, but he also doesn’t want to go through the embarrassment of getting lost and waiting somewhere for Jean to come and find him.
“Then I’ll let you lead. I’ll stay right behind you to help if you get confused, but I want you to push yourself to see how fast we can make it through the course. Deal?” Jean holds his hand out to shake as if this is some official negotiation, and Armin can’t help but concede. As much as he hates it, he does have a want to prove that he’s as good as the other members of the Scouts sometimes. He’s been seen as physically weak for so long, but the fact that he’s a shifter along with how often he uses ODM gear has built his muscles over the years. He knows he’s better than he used to be, and he wants to make sure others know it too.
“Fine, I’ll push myself as hard as I can,” he agrees, looking Jean dead in the eyes. He knows that the other man understands how serious he is when he smirks.
“Lead the way, then. I’m right behind you.”
Hesitantly, Armin shoots his hooks and takes off into the canopy of trees in the training course. He can hear the hiss of Jean’s gear, meaning he’s right behind him, just like he’d said. He tries not to focus on knowing that Jean is right behind him though, and instead focuses on where he’s going. Jean had urged him to complete the course as quickly as possible, so that’s exactly what he planned to do.
Even though the sun had been brightly shining when they started the course, inside the forest it was dark, only a few beams of sunlight shining down through the thick canopy to illuminate the path ahead of him. Not that there was much of a path at all. Armin was used to the titan puppets being used on this course. Without them in their spots, it’s hard for him to navigate his way through the thick forest. Still, he knows if he keeps going he’ll eventually find the end, and so he pushes forward.
It seems like it only keeps getting darker inside the forest, but Armin doesn’t allow himself to get scared. He’s moved past the time when he used to be scared of every little thing, or at least that’s what he likes to tell himself. He’d gotten a lot braver since he’d gained the colossal titan, but it also came with a lot of downsides. Namely, the expiration date on his life.
He and Jean don’t talk about it, it’s too painful for both of them to know that Armin will be gone in just a few short years. Jean always avoids the topic, anyway, not wanting to think of a time without his boyfriend, and Armin can’t blame him. He doesn’t like to think about leaving Jean all alone, either. Especially since he’d already lost one of the loves of his life far too soon. It’s just not fair.
He tries to push his negative thoughts aside and focus on what he’s doing, though he can’t ignore the fact that it seems that the forest has gotten even darker . He can still hear the whir of Jean’s gear behind him, so he knows he doesn’t have much to be afraid of, but the sudden crack of deafening thunder that rings through the training course still startles him.
It had happened just when Armin had shot another hook, trying to grapple onto a tree so that he could continue swinging through the course. However, when the thunder rolled, he flinched, causing him to miss his hook entirely. He gasps, trying to correct his mistake, but in his panic to right himself his other hook slips from its anchoring point as well. He’s so high up in the canopy, he needs to regain an anchor point or he’s going to fall to the ground. He scrambles, shooting both hooks in a desperate attempt to catch something , but it doesn’t happen. Vaguely, he can hear Jean’s voice behind him. He’d shouted…something, but Armin couldn’t make it out. He’s too panicked, too terrified at how badly it’s going to hurt when he hits the ground.
He makes one last attempt to shoot a hook, but as he’s shooting, he collides with a large branch on a nearby tree, throwing his hook off course yet again and knocking the air out of his lungs. His vision goes black for a moment from the pain and he knows it’s too late for him to do anything else. His only hope is that Jean can act fast enough to keep him from falling all the way to the ground. He gasps for air as he continues to fall, unable to make his body react and save himself. He hits another branch, and then another, and then the hard ground rushes up underneath him and everything goes black.
“...’Min…Armin! Fuck fuck fuck…I shouldn’t have pushed him so hard…” Armin faintly hears Jean’s voice as his eyes crack open. Everything is fuzzy and distorted. Shit…had he hit his head on his way down to the floor of the forest?
“Jean…” Armin croaks, his voice rough and quiet.
“‘Min! I’m here, fuck…are you okay? Of course, you’re not okay…where does it hurt?” Jean’s voice is panicked and frantic as Armin adjusts his vision and realizes that Jean is leaning over him.
“I…it doesn’t…” Armin starts, but as soon as the words leave his lips he’s hit with the intense pain. Just like when he’d hit the branch on his fall, all of the air is sucked out of his lungs as the mind-numbing pain racks his body. He’s got several broken bones, he has to, there’s no other explanation for just how much pain he’s in at the moment. Shifter or not, this is something that’s going to take some time to heal.
Armin cries out, tears stinging his eyes as he tries to answer Jean’s question.
“M-my back…my head…fuck…Jean, it hurts…”
“I know, I know…I’m so sorry, Armin. I never should have made you push yourself like that…Are you able to move at all?”
Armin tries out his limbs, hoping that nothing is hurt as much as he suspects, but he’s quickly proven correct in his assumptions.
“I…can’t move my legs…Jean…it hurts so much…” Armin’s tears are freely flowing down his face now. He knows he’ll heal, but the pain right now is so intense, he’s not sure how he’s going to stay conscious during the process.
“Okay, okay…I’ll go get some help and…” Jean starts, but no sooner do his words leave his lips than another loud crack of thunder rings through the forest, followed by the unmistakable sound of a downpour starting. It only takes seconds for the torrential rain to cascade over them. “Shit…I can’t leave you. We need to find shelter until this storm blows over. I’m sorry, ‘Min, I’m gonna have to pick you up. I know it’s gonna hurt…just try to bear it, alright?”
Armin nods and tries to steel himself for what’s about to happen, but nothing can prepare him for the extreme amount of pain that rips through his body as soon as Jean tries to pick him up. He tries his best not to scream, but it’s impossible. He can feel the broken pieces of his bones inside his body grinding against each other as he’s moved and gathered up into Jean’s arms. He tries, but he just can’t keep himself from blacking out again from the pain.
When Armin wakes up again he’s shivering and laying on something cold and hard. He can’t move much, his bones still trying to heal themselves due to his shifter powers, but he can at least turn his head to try and see where Jean is. It looks like his boyfriend had found a cave to take shelter in. It’s cold and damp, but not nearly as bad as being stuck outside in the torrential rain, which is still relentlessly falling.
“Jean…” Armin says. His voice sounds somehow weaker and more fragile than it had before, a slight tremor in it from just how hard he’s shivering. Still, Armin hasn’t been able to find Jean inside the cave, and he’s not sure if that’s just because it’s dark or because the other man isn’t there. Not long after he speaks, though, Armin hears footsteps deeper inside the cave, and when he turns his head toward the sound, he can see Jean quickly making his way toward him.
“Armin…how are you feeling?” Jean’s voice is low, and he sounds exhausted. Not that Armin can blame him. Working ODM gear with just your own body weight can be taxing, but doing it while carrying someone else is exhausting.
“It still hurts, but I think it’s a little better. How long have we been here?”
“Not long…I’m just waiting for the storm to pass and then we can go back and get you some help. I’m sorry, ‘Min…this is all my fault.” Jean’s voice cracks a bit at the end as if he’s getting too emotional to continue speaking, and Armin’s heart breaks at the sound of it.
“Jean…it isn’t your fault that I suck at using the ODM,” Armin answers, trying to make light of the situation, but it seems Jean won’t be playing along.
“No…I told you to push yourself too hard, and now you’re hurt really bad.”
“I’ll be alright, you know that I heal faster than others. This isn’t a problem for me.” He hates to see Jean beating himself up, especially over something that isn’t really his fault, but it doesn’t seem that his boyfriend is going to cut himself any slack.
“I know, but you’re in a lot of pain and I can’t do anything to help you.” Jean looks away, ashamed of the situation he feels like he got them into.
“Yes, you can. I’m cold, so come and warm me up. That’s how you can help me.” Armin says, and Jean turns to look at him again almost immediately.
“You’re sure I won’t hurt you if I do that?” Jean asks, and Armin chuckles.
“You won’t hurt me, I promise. Please come over here, I’m really cold.” Armin urges, putting on a bit of a pouty face as he looks at Jean now, and just like always, his boyfriend quickly complies. Jean walks over and sits down beside him before gingerly positioning himself to wrap around him.
“Walls, Armin…you’re shivering. You really are cold.” Jean agrees, wrapping his arms around Armin’s torso and gently pulling him against his chest. It does hurt a little, but Armin isn’t going to tell Jean that. He’d much rather have the comfort of his boyfriend holding onto him than worry him more by telling him that he’s in pain.
“It’s cold in here and I’m soaked. I need your extra body heat.” Armin teases, trying to keep the pain out of his voice as he speaks.
“You’re the shifter, usually you have plenty of body heat for both of us,” Jean jokes back, a slight chuckle leaving his lips. It seems that this has made him feel a little better about the situation, even if it still sucks.
“I’m starting to warm up already. Just don’t leave. We can ride out the storm here for now. I won’t be able to move for a while still anyway, and I don’t want you to have to carry me again. You didn’t get hurt getting me here, did you?”
“You’re in this condition and you’re asking if I’m okay. Armin, I’m fine, alright? Please don’t worry about me.” Jean’s grip on Armin tightens just a tiny bit, not enough to bother his injuries, but enough to provide a little bit of comfort.
“I always worry about you.” Armin answers, his voice quiet now not because it’s difficult to talk, but because he’s a tiny bit shy about what he’s saying.
“Then how do you think I feel?”
Armin blinks a few times, taken aback by the fact that Jean would worry about him. He’s thought of himself as a little bit invincible since becoming a shifter, but Jean still seems to think of him as fragile. As human .
“I know you’re a shifter, but you can still die, Armin. I get that this fall had no chance of killing you because of your healing abilities, it might have killed someone else though. And, I’m sorry, but the first thing I think of when I see you in danger isn’t the fact that you’re a shifter. It’s that I could lose you, and…I can’t go through that again.”
He’s not sure if Jean is talking about their return to Shiganshina or if he’s referring to Marco. He’d lost Marco before they even really got to explore their relationship, and then when he and Armin had gotten together, Jean thought that he’d lost Armin to the Colossal titan. In a way, Armin still thinks of it like that. Jean will eventually lose Armin to the colossal, just in a different way.
“I’m not going anywhere, babe.” It’s a little painful, but Armin moves his hand to grip one of Jean’s, squeezing it as hard as he can at the moment to try and reassure his boyfriend. “Especially not because of a fall during a training run. At most we’ll have to stay here overnight until I can use my gear again.”
He pauses for a moment, realizing his gear isn’t on him anymore.
“Uh, about that,” Jean pipes up again, his voice not quite as sad now. “It got broken in the fall. You’re not gonna be able to use it. I can carry you out of here once it doesn’t hurt you anymore or we can wait until you heal enough to walk. Either way, the gear is a no-go.”
“Oh…” he hadn’t thought about his gear being broken during the fall, but it makes so much sense to him once he thinks about it. Maybe he has a mild concussion as well as some broken bones. “I guess overnight it is. We don’t have any weapons and with the condition I’m in, it isn’t a good idea to travel through the forest at night. We don’t see them while we’re practicing, but I’m sure there are wolves here that might consider me a nice snack.”
Jean’s brow furrows at Armin’s words, likely not particularly enjoying the mental image that his words just brought on.
“I can’t even tell what time of day it is right now. The rain’s too heavy. How do you know it won’t stop before nightfall?” Jean asks and Armin shakes his head.
“We came out here in the late afternoon, we lost, what…an hour while I was unconscious, and the rain doesn’t look like it’s letting up any time soon. I’m almost sure that it won’t stop until nightfall.”
“Shit…I guess we’re spending the night in a wet cave then. Fantastic.” Jean mumbles to himself and although Armin can’t see his face, he can practically hear the eye roll in his boyfriend’s voice.
Armin sighs. It isn’t exactly ideal, but it’s better than spending the night out in the elements. The cave looks closed off not far from where they’re laying and they’re able to watch the mouth of it to make sure no animals make their way inside. This is about as good of a shelter as they could have hoped for in this situation.
He whines as pain shoots through his body again when he rolls over so that he’s facing Jean. He can already tell a difference in his injuries from when it first happened, so he knows he’ll be 100% by morning. Right now, he’s just determined to make the best out of their shitty situation.
“Hey, don’t move like that! You’re gonna make your injuries worse.” Jean says frantically, trying his best to help Armin roll over, and as soon as he does, Armin buries his face against Jean’s chest. He inhales his boyfriend’s scent, and even though he’s still in a lot of pain, it still comforts him.
“Relax, Jean. I just wanna be closer to you. I’m still really cold.”
At Armin’s words, Jean gently pulls him in closer, careful hands rub up and down Armin’s arms to try and warm him up more quickly.
“As soon as we get back home we’re taking a long, hot bath. With bubbles and everything.” Jean speaks softly, then kisses the crown of Armin’s head while he holds him, and suddenly Armin feels like the night in the cave won’t actually be that bad.
“Mm, that sounds nice. I like taking baths with you. I could definitely use one right now.” Armin chuckles. “We can take a bath when we get home, and we’re staying in it until the water turns cold.”
“Fine by me. That just means I get to be close to you for longer.” Another kiss to the top of Armin’s head, and then Jean is cuddling up closer to him. “You warming up yet?”
“Maybe a little. It helps to have you this close to me. I am still in some pain, though. I think the fall fractured my back.”
“You fell a long way, I wouldn’t be surprised if it did. That would explain why you can’t feel your legs. Is that still happening?”
Armin takes a deep breath and tries his best to move his legs again. It’s not much, but he manages to at least move one a tiny bit, and he can hear the sigh of relief that Jean exhales as soon as he does it.
“It hurts, but I can feel them now. I think I liked it better when I couldn’t. It’s a lot more pain than before.”
“I wish I could do something…I don’t like to see you in pain like this. At least if we were back at HQ you could go to the medical wing and probably get some kind of medicine to help the pain. Are you absolutely sure you don’t want me to carry you back?” Jean asks again, worry lacing his words.
“I think it would only hurt worse if you tried to do that. I’ll be okay, let’s just try not to focus on it. The more I think about it, the worse it gets.”
Jean huffs, it seems he didn’t like that answer at all, and Armin can’t help but laugh.
“I don’t see what’s so funny about you being in so much pain.” He retorts, that classic offended tone to his voice.
“It’s not funny. You’re just cute. I love how much you worry about me, Jean, but you don’t have to worry. I can take the pain, I’ve endured much worse than this before. Besides, it’ll only get better as time goes on and everything heals up.”
“Well…you’re cute too. Cuddling up to me like this. This is like one of those books you like to read, about two people being stranded somewhere and having to huddle together for warmth. Maybe you planned all this.” Jean teases and Armin barks a laugh this time, which sends pain shooting through his body.
“Yeah, I definitely planned that fall and all of my bones getting broken just so I could do something with you that we literally do every night,” Armin answers through a fit of laughter.
“Okay, well when you say it like that…” Jean trails off, likely feeling a bit embarrassed.
Despite his injuries, Armin is actually enjoying this time with his boyfriend. So rarely do they get time where they aren’t interrupted by their duties or other soldiers needing them for something. Right now they have time to just relax and be together, and in a way that makes Armin happy that the events of the day happened. He yawns as he cuddles just a little bit closer to Jean and the other man rubs a hand up and down his back soothingly.
“Tired?” He asks, and Armin only nods. “Sleep, then. I’ll stay awake for a little while and make sure no wild animals sneak up on us. You’ve got me spooked talking about wolves.”
“Mm…you should sleep too, though. Don’t stay up all night.” Armin mumbles, already feeling himself slipping off.
“It’s not even dark yet. Get some rest so you can heal. I’ll be okay.” Jean answers and kisses the top of Armin’s head one more time. After that, Armin drifts off to sleep.
When Armin wakes up again he feels like a completely new person. It’s almost scary how fast he can heal major injuries like what happened to him the previous day, but he’s thankful for it in this case.
As his eyes crack open he realizes all at once that Jean isn’t laying beside him like he had been when Armin had fallen asleep. He wrenches himself up to a sitting position and flinches in anticipation of the pain before he realizes there won’t be any. All of his injuries had completely healed.
“Jean,” He shouts, and his voice echoes through the cave, but there’s no reply from his boyfriend. He pushes himself up to his feet and takes a few steps toward the mouth of the cave before he hears footsteps coming closer.
“Armin, you’re finally awake.” Jean’s voice sounds happy and a lot less stressed than it had the night before. Armin has the feeling he knows exactly why.
“Yeah, I’m feeling a lot better. I guess I needed that sleep after all. Are you ready to head back to HQ? I’m not looking forward to explaining to Hange and Levi why my gear needs to be repaired. I hope Levi doesn’t make me run laps.” He deflates even thinking about having to run laps as punishment. He’d almost rather get cleaning duty.
“I’m sure you’ll be fine regardless. Yeah, I’m ready. More than ready. Sleeping on the floor of that cave wasn’t the most comfortable thing.” Jean reaches out to take Armin’s hand before they start to walk, firmly holding on to it and intertwining their fingers.
“We should go for walks together in the forest more often. It’s nice.” Armin starts, but Jean shakes his head.
“After that ordeal, I’m not sure I wanna see this training course or any other forest for a long time.”
Armin only laughs at Jean’s reluctance as they walk, but he can’t say he blames the taller man for having those feelings. If it had been Jean who had been hurt, Armin wouldn’t have handled it nearly as well.
“Thanks, by the way, for keeping me safe while I healed.”
“You don’t have to thank me for that ‘Min. I’m happy to protect you and keep you safe. You’ve done it for me enough times up until now.” Jean chuckles. “Let’s just both try not to get hurt so badly anymore. Deal?”
“Yeah, deal,” Armin answers with a smile, and the two of them walk back to HQ hand in hand.