Chapter Text
Three hours, it had been three hours since they agreed to meet. Yet, there Armin sat, alone. His leg bounced under the desk, as his eyes darted from the paper with doodles in front of him, to the hallway every other second. Maybe he forgot? He thought about it for a second, it was a very likely thing for him to do. Not that he knew Jean well enough to know that. It was more of a “by proxy” situation with them. Jean knew Marco, and Marco was in Armin's calligraphy club, and that was about the extent of it. Yet this proxy relationship was enough to tell him that Jean was a slacker and class skipper, through and through. Marco had often told him how Jean barely attends any of their mandatory seminars, let alone any lectures. That was of course, unless Marco threatened to tell his parents, earning him the nickname “narc” from Jean. Armin didn’t really know much about Jean's parents, or why that threat worked so well on him, but he kept it in the back of his mind for future reference. could be useful someday? He thought to himself.
A slight sigh escaped Armin's mouth as he slumped down into his chair, ready to give up. They could always start again tomorrow? Not that it really mattered to him, it wasn’t his grades that were in jeopardy, more his time being wasted than anything. Armin had practically been forced into volunteering in the university's tutoring program, much to his chagrin. He didn’t really care much for it. Seeing as good grades came to him almost naturally, he found it hard to understand how it didn’t click for other students like it did for him. Yet, he found himself assigned to Jean.
As the clock was nearing its 4th hour, a stack of books hit his desk; Jean had finally made it. “Right on time!” Armin snapped back onto his seat, his finger instinctively covering his own mouth as he shushed Jean for his loud entrance. “This is a library for Christ's sake" he said in a low yet stern tone as Jean sat down next to him. Not that Jean seemed to care, he just gave the students around them some fake apologetic looks, before turning his attention back to Armin. He didn’t really say anything, not even an apology for his lateness, just expected Armin to get on with the tutoring. This set up was as much of a pain to him as it was for Armin afterall.
“Well?” Armin looked at him with a raised eyebrow, almost like a disappointed parent, as he waited for Jean's excuse. “Well what?” Jean looked at him confused, shrugging his shoulders before he started digging through his book bag for a pen. Armin could’ve sworn he heard a scoff coming from Jean as he tried to play his tardiness off as nothing. “Well, why are you late?” Armin's tone sounded more strict this time, filled with annoyance. That didn’t seem to matter to Jean however, letting out a slight chuckle once he finally saw the time on the wall.
He hadn’t even realized how late he was till this moment, and he didn’t really care. To him, the day was young for as long as he needed it to be, no schedule was going to tie him down. So what if he started studying 4 hours later? Afterall, there's 24 hours in a day, and by god was he going to take advantage of all those 24 hours.
“Time slipped away from me I guess?” His tone was filled with so much arrogance, that it made Armin's skin crawl from annoyance, and his smug smile simply added salt to the wound. He took a deep breath, trying to keep as calm and professional as he could. As much as Armin didn’t care for tutoring Jean, his reputation trumped all of this, and he was not going to tarnish that over this arrogant snob. “I will let it slide this time, but if you’re late next time, I’m going to have to write it down as tardiness” He said matter of factly, trying to intimidate Jean. “So there’s more than one narc on this Campus?” Jean Chuckles. He didn’t even seem to care that Armin was serious, this was all some sort of joke to him. That was not the case for Armin however, three hours of his day was used up on doodling on some paper as he waited for the most annoying person Shiganshina University had to offer. Then when he finally shows up, he treats it as some sort of game. He thinks life’s a game, Armin thought to himself.
“Listen, I’m not about to argue with you on this, you were three hours late, that’s three hours of my day gone. Now let’s just start before you waste more of my time” He attempted to take charge of the situation, taking Jean's printed copy of his syllabus and reading through it. He didn't care to look up at Jean's eyeroll and annoyance, raising his hands in a mock surrender. “Jeez, time nazi” He whispered under his breath, readjusting himself as he awaited Armin's judgment for how this study session would be laid out. Resting his head on the palm of his hand, Jean let out a bored yawn as he watched Armin's eyes shift from his syllabus, to the books on Jean's desk. How could he possibly not find this incredibly boring? He thought to himself. There was absolutely nothing he could care less about in the world than sitting in the library and studying. He could be back at his dorm right now, hanging out with Connie, getting ready for some party. But instead he was here sitting with the biggest nerd Shiganshina University had to offer. God he thinks life's serious all the time, Jean thought to himself.
“Alright so, looking through this, how much of the syllabus reading would you say you’ve done, compared to what you haven’t?” Armin slid the paper back in front of Jean looking at him. “And what do you think is the most difficult part?” Jean looked down at the paper, scanning the list of course topics and assignments. A slight chuckle escaped his lips as he got himself ready to break to Armin that he hadn’t done any of the work. “Oh god…” Armin quietly said as he pieced together what that chuckled meant. Jean gave him a nod, affirming Armin's suspicions. “I think you already know I haven’t done any of it” the sentence was almost exhaled as he slouched back on his chair, sliding the paper back to Armin. He seemed almost proud of it, like his procrastination was something to brag about. It wasn’t. Not to Armin at least. He pinched the bridge of his nose, his glasses getting pushed up in the process.
“Alright, so” he exhaled and paused for a second, trying to collect his thoughts. Three months of Uni have passed, and this guy hasn’t opened one book? He’s a lost cause, he thought to himself. Jean's face still had that smug smirk on his face as he watched Armin trying to figure this out. “Listen I hate this as much as you do, so how about we make a deal?” Jean Suggested. Armin lifted his head from his hand, looking up at him in confusion. “You’re clearly into this stuff, so how about I just pay you to do it for me” He said crossing his arms, as if this was some fair quid pro quo exchange. The way he looked at Armin with that smug smile made it seem like he really thought this would work, or maybe this is how it's worked for him up until this moment?. “This is a tutoring program, not a charity program Jean.” Armin responded simply, looking at Jean like a kid begging his parents for candy at the store. Jean groans in response as he leans back into his chair. He really thought that would work?
“Okay, I don’t want to waste any more time of my day, so let’s compromise?” Armin said realizing that getting any work with Jean on this day would be impossible. “You do half the assignment by Friday, as best as you can, and I’ll assess what you need most help with from that” He suggested, guessing that Jean wanted to get out of this as bad as he did. Jean thought about it for a minute. He did want to leave, but that meant that he agreed to the conditions. I’ll just do a half assed job and somehow convince him to re-write it, he thought to himself, bringing up a hand for Armin to shake. “Alright, deal”.
“Deal” Armin shook his hand on it, before packing his bag. Jean got up and threw his bag over his shoulder. “I’ll try to be on time next time, but Hitch is throwing a party on Thursday so I can’t promise anything” he quickly said before flashing a smile and leaving, the books he had slammed on the table earlier still standing behind. Armin didn’t even have the time to respond before Jean was gone, his eyes landing on the books he left, realizing it was up to him to put them back into place. God this guy is annoying.
He sighed getting up from the desk, looking through the books left behind by Jean before picking them up to put them in place. Pay me to do his assignments, who does he even think I am? He mumbled quietly for only himself to hear as he angrily placed the books back. Gee how about, I don't know, maybe doing it yourself? He continued, going from bookshelf to bookshelf placing them back. He knew he didn't have to do this, he knew he didn't have to put the books back, but he also knew it would make the librarians day go by faster. Atleast, that's what his grandfather would tell him after a library visit when he was younger. "One person leaving their books scattered around, is one too many, and just wastes the workers time" He'd argue, and gosh darn it did Armin agree. In fact, he'd make it a point to all his friends to put everything back where they found it every time they'd have a study session together. Eren would always find a problem with this, always mumbling on about some "Freedom to decide where he wants to leave things", but after some back and forth Armin would always get his way.
Armin pushed his glasses back up again, giving the shelf one last glance of approval before getting ready to leave back to his dorm. Everything's in order, he thought to himself before leaving.