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Jean had him pinned to the wall, hands on either side preventing escape. “Come on Armin, don’t be afraid.” He shot a toothy grin to the smaller man, who turned red and furrowed his brows in response.
“What if someone sees us?” Jean rolled his eyes and Armin frowned, his voice contained enough that he wouldn’t draw outside attention, but loud enough to let Jean know he wasn’t kidding. The bell for dinner had rung and they were supposed to have been making their way to the dining hall when Jean had abruptly grabbed his arm and pulled him aside into a dark spot between two buildings. Nobody had seen them yet, but how long would that last? “Eren and Mikasa will see we’re not there, and they’ll…!”
“Always going on about Eren,” Jean grumbled, moving forward and backing Armin further against the wall. There were only a few inches separating them now, and Armin could feel Jean’s warm breath blowing onto his face as he pleaded. “Just for a minute, alright?” Armin tried to look stern, but Jean’s expression was mixed between that of a kicked puppy and an attempt at being seductive gone awry, and in the end, Armin sighed and leaned up, meeting Jean’s eager lips as Jean leaned down and took another step forward, his body now flush against Armin’s and pressing the other boy against the wall. Armin let out a soft groan of approval as Jean’s tongue worked its way into his mouth, legs and arms tangling as they embraced each other in the dark.
An abrupt pull on the back of Jean’s collar separated the two, and before either could figure out what was happening, a fist collided with Jean’s face.
“Eren! W-Wait!”
The world spun wildly for a moment as Jean stumbled back, one hand going to his nose to try to soothe the pain. Blood smeared onto his hand as he tried to stop the bleeding. His nose hurt like a bitch, and he assumed that Eren finally got the better of him and broke it.
When everything finally came to a standstill and Jean could make out what was happening, it seemed Eren and Mikasa had found them in their hiding spot. Armin was trying to hold Eren back, Eren looked like he was out to kill, and Mikasa stood quietly in the back, staring on with scrutiny for all parties.
Jean took a swing at Eren’s face in hopes of returning the favor.
There was a crack as his fist collided with Eren’s jaw, and Armin made the mistake of letting go of Eren in shock. “Jean! No, you can’t—!” Armin was largely ignored as Eren made a grab for Jean’s jacket, taking a hold of it and slamming Jean against the opposing wall. Jean let out a grunt but wasn’t particularly phased, taking hold of Eren’s jacket in return.
“The fuck is your problem, Jaegar?” Jean could feel his eye twitching and the blood from his nose was dripping onto both of them.
Eren pressed his forehead against Jean’s, unyielding gazes colliding from both of the young men. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing to Armin?”
Armin tried to protest, tried to be diplomatic, tried to think of how to diffuse the situation—but Jean’s ego acted first, a cocky grin spreading across his face.
“Well, I was kissing him, but I was thinking of doing a lot of other things to him, too.”
Armin covered his face in despair and defeat with only pained laughter heard between what Armin could only guess were multiple blows to the face. He should have known this whole thing was a mistake from the beginning and he should have just ignored Jean and gone straight to dinner, but Jean was asking for it now, and Jean could deal with the consequences of that.
A hand on his shoulder caused him to jump, and when Armin uncovered his eyes, Mikasa was standing next to him, removing her hand. “Are you alright, Armin?”
“Alright?” He blinked, confused at first until he realized the implications. He quickly became indignant and enraged. “Alright?! I was completely fine until you snuck up on us and started beating up people I care about!”
Eren froze mid-punch, turning to look at Armin. “Are you serious? You can’t possibly—!”
“I can and I do,” Armin responded quickly, stomping over to Eren and pulling him away from Jean. He took a stand in front of Jean and glared at Mikasa and Eren before sighing and managing to look somewhat apologetic. “I know you guys are looking out for me, but I’m not a little kid anymore, alright? I can stand up for myself and make my own decisions.”
They stood in silence together for a moment, Eren and Mikasa unsure of how to respond. Armin smiled meekly as Jean wrapped an arm around him, resting his chin on Armin’s shoulder from behind. “Come on Eren, what’s the matter, upset that I’m better—oof!” Armin’s elbow jamming into his stomach cut him off, and a sharp look from the blond man caused Jean to groan and straighten up. He gave a sincere smile. “…I’ll take good care of him, Eren.”
Eren frowned, suspicious of the man’s words until Mikasa put her hand on his shoulder. With one look to Mikasa and one to Armin, Eren sighed and bowed his head. “I’m sorry, Armin. Jean.” Armin smiled and gave him a nod, and with that, Eren and Mikasa departed back to dinner.
‘We should get you cleaned up, your nose looks pretty—“ Armin turned to look to Jean and was cut off by the other’s lips. He indulged him for only a second before pulling away. “Jean! There’s blood everywhere! …Ah, it’s on my lips!”
Jean only chuckled and pressed his face against Armin’s, causing the smaller man even more distress. “You’re the best, you know that?”
Jean later blamed the broken nose on a maneuver gear malfunction, which was dubiously accepted by those that asked. Eren would still make faces at Jean when he came to sit by Armin during meals and could be found silently glaring in the background whenever they could be seen holding hands, but he refrained from causing any more bodily harm to Jean.
When Armin was looking, anyway. When marks on Armin’s neck started showing up, Eren had a much harder time restraining himself.