Complexity- Armin x Reader

Chapter 16: Below Zero

"Nothing. I'm just sad because Armin gave me broccoli for Valentine's Day," she said in a strained, joking manner.

"What?"

And in a more serious manner

"That, and the fact that he gave me a broken heart."

Jean's mouth went agape as he stayed silent on the phone for a couple of seconds, taking in the uncomfortable silence after receiving such shocking news. He swallowed thickly before speaking up, asking Y/n a question that he thought he'd never have to ask the girl.

"Armin rejected you?"

There was a short-lived silence. And then a small sob.

"Indirectly. But yes."

"That's it. I'm coming over."

Before Y/n could protest, Jean hung up and started messily packing his bag, even heading over to his pantry to stuff snacks into it that he knew Y/n would like.

He was at Y/n's within 20 minutes, and once he haphazardly set his bike on the porch, he pounded on her door.

"Y/N! OPEN UP! THE ICE CREAM'S GONNA MELT!"

What Jean wasn't prepared for was for Y/n's frightened mother to open the door. She looked at the boy with wide eyes and Jean went slack-jawed.

"O-Oh my God, I'm so, so sorry. You must be Mrs. L/n."

"Yes, and you are?" She questioned cautiously.

Jean stuttered. He twiddled with his fingers like a kindergartner who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"I'm a friend of Y/n's and I came over because- well, because she's upset and I wanted to be here for her." With shifting eyes, he answered as honestly as he could and hoped that his nervous tone wasn't off putting for the stern woman in front of him.

Mrs. L/n scrunched her eyebrows at the boy and tilted her head. She rested her hand on the door's edge and she looked on in confusion at Jean.

"She's upset? Why?"

Jean felt his mouth go dry as he wracked his brain for an explanation to give. Something that wouldn't entirely reveal what Y/n was going through since he was pretty sure the girl wouldn't want her mother knowing.

He faltered under the woman's stare and was sure he would give in, until a soft voice came from inside the house.

"I'm upset," Y/n surprised her mother and emerged from the front hall's entrance, her bare feet padding lightly across the cold, tile floor, "because there's a show that Jean and I watch and it finally ended. I called Jean in tears and he came over to comfort me."

Y/n, with red eyes and a stuffy nose, looked at her mother right in the eye with a firmness that Mrs. L/n didn't usually see from the girl.

The woman frowned at her daughter and crossed her arms as she continued to stare at the disheveled girl standing meekly yet confidently in front of her. Of course, she didn't believe a word of what was being said, but she decided to let it slide for the time being, seeing as how Y/n apparently had a line of support to help her.

With a sigh and a disapproving grimace, Mrs. L/n opened the door wider before politely inviting Jean in. Right before leaving, she gave her daughter one last glance and a heads up.

"We'll talk soon. I gotta get to work." She disappeared in a rush, and within the next ten minutes, she was out the door leaving Y/n and Jean with an order to behave themselves during her absence.