Complexity- Armin x Reader

Chapter 11: The Backdrop

"I'm still not ready." She mumbled clearly.

Jean scrunched his face at her and let out a breath of a laugh.

"Y/n, you're weird."

"I-I know."

"Ok, well I didn't mean to sound mean. But...don't you find it strange that you two are getting weirdly closer and you're still not dating?"

Y/n stayed quiet for a bit, taking in the question and ultimately agreeing that it was weird to a certain extent. But she made Jean aware of something that left him completely perplexed.

"We've actually...um...been cuddling now," Y/n revealed to him with an apprehensive tone. Her face heated up as she spoke about it, not really being used to talking about this kind of stuff with anyone.

"What. The fuck. HOW AREN'T YOU DATING?" His voice obtruded loudly into the dry air as he questioned Y/n, and the girl quickly became nervous, darting her eyes around to see how far away Armin was from them.

"J-Jean, keep your voice down."

"Hold on, hold on, let me get this straight. So the cuddling is mutual, right?"

Y/n scoffed. "Yes, why the hell would I hug him if he felt uncomfortable?"

"So, you've both skipped a big step in your relationship and have speed run into one of the sappiest things a couple could possibly do? Man, for a pair of nerds, you two are clueless."

"Sh-Shut up." Y/n huffed. She and Jean looked up and were surprised to see Eren marching right up towards them, no Armin in sight, as if he had a mission to carry out.

"Alright, we'll talk later." Jean said quietly.

Eren waved at the two and threw Jean a knowing look.

"Horseface, we need to talk about..." he glanced quickly at Y/n before looking back at Jean, "the operation."

Y/n was confused.

"Operation?"

Jean sighed out heavily and shook his head at Eren.

"Could this dumbass be any more obvious?"

"Oookay, well, Y/n, it was nice talking to you, see you at lunch." Jean spoke hurriedly and grabbed a hold of the girl's shoulders, pushing her into the direction of the girl's locker room even as Y/n asked what was going on. With one last confused glance towards Jean, Y/n stepped through the doorway and disappeared into the building.

Jean exhaled a breath of relief. He then pivoted towards Eren and sent him a glare.

"Eren, what the fuck? Be more discreet, dumbass."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. But what were you doing with Y/n at a coffee shop over winter break?" Eren pointed his finger at Jean in an exaggerated manner, narrowing in on Jean's now stunned face.

"W-Wait, you saw that?"

"Yeah, Mikasa and I were walking back home and we happened to see you two 'studying'," he air quoted. "At least that's what Armin heard from Y/n."

Jean, feeling caught off guard, quickly wiped the surprised expression from his face and regained his composure. He crossed his arms and put on a neutral face, looking Eren right in the eyes.

"Yeah, well you heard right. We were studying."

"Bullshit. All you had was a tiny notebook on the table. You took her on a date, didn't you?" The green-eyed boy accused, and Jean was genuinely taken aback. He looked away from Eren, not quite believing what the hot-head had just asked him.