Neighbors || Jearmin

Holding on OR Letting go

"I told you I don't need more help, Armin."

"Yeah, and you also said you needed a truck to get all your things to Tokyo"

"Yimir will-

"She won't drive to Tokyo and back ten times and you know it."

"But-

"No buts, Jean. You need the truck. He can get one."

"But why does it have to be him? I don't want to owe that dumbass anything."

"Oh, just forget about your pride already and accept the help, will you?"

"Gosh... It's not about my pride. It's because he is..."

"My friend. Believe me, I had to convince him too."

"Arlert, you can get anyone to do whatever you ask, don't you?"

"If I try hard enough, maybe."

You probably guessed by now, but that one friend Armin is talking about isn't other than Eren. In the middle of moving, Jean found out he needed someone to drive him and his things to his new place, and there was no one with a car big enough for that. So, Armin found a solution Jean clearly didn't agree with. But there was no use in arguing with Armin about it, especially when Armin was right this time and Jean was just his stubborn self.

Armin had been helping Jean pack his things after the boy contacted the company, everything was already planned, and the only detail left to scratch off the list was moving. Jean already met up with them and signed the contract (trip Jean used to show Armin a little bit more of the city); also, there was a spare room in one of the company's apartments for their staff, and since technically Jean wasn't new in the company, they offered it to him right away, so he had a place to move. They gave him a week to settle in before actually starting work, enough time to properly resign from the waiter job and also meet all his friends to "celebrate" his dream job. And to say goodbye to that place, and Armin.

Jean felt strange for moving after a month of living there. Looking back, it seemed like half a year passed by, where a bunch of things happened that changed his life and himself. Seeing the apartment as messy as it was when he moved in brought back some memories, like how hard it was to convince his friends to help him carry the things up the stairs, or how nervous he was the first night when the place filled up by a bunch of people that ate his food, brought as many friends as they pleased and had the time of their lives while Jean was worried about being kicked out of the building in his first night. It was quite a day, and then... Armin.

He didn't think much about the boy at his door, scolding him for the noise. Jean was happy there was someone young in the building, but by how they met Jean was afraid Armin would get the wrong idea of him, but the worry didn't even get to bother him. However, when he found Armin on the stairs, half dead, Jean grew worried about the boy's health. Jean would easily worry about people, but now he felt partially responsible for the boy's condition, and decided to keep an eye on him until he felt better, just to make sure he would recover. That's why Jean gave his phone number to Armin back then.

Jean had his job, the friends that would never let him rest, strange and awkward conversations with his mother, a boring everyday life he was getting used to, and he was... OK. Not great, not bad, and even though he improved now he felt like stuck in a limbo of routine and emotionless days.

However, Armin showed up at his door, ate a little (too little) of his food, got sick on his couch, asked him random questions, explained him his delicate situation, opened himself up to Jean and waited patiently until Jean finally opened up to him. And Armin turned out to be the easiest person to talk to, that one that made hours fly by, the one that kept Jean awake at night smiling alone like an idiot at little things they did, said, planned... Jean didn't notice just how close they became until that trip to Tokyo, and then Krista said something that Jean couldn't understand at first until after that party. She said: "I haven't seen you smile like that to anyone beside Marco". It was scary, for a reason Jean didn't seem to completely recognize yet, he was slowly feeling uneasy.