Neighbors || Jearmin

The other face of the party boy

The deadline came and Armin's exam was as hard as he expected. Despite the circumstances, he prepared more than enough, and after finishing he met Eren with the proudest smile on his face. However, being as exhausted as he was, what his friend saw is those dark bags under his eyes and a few kilograms lost.

"Jeez the last time I saw you like this it was a 3-hour exam" Eren mumbled while eating a donut.

"I'm sure of the 70% of the answers."

"You're a genius, Armin Arlert."

"I just study hard." he chuckled, blushing a little. "These few days were a little hard to concentrate though..."

"Why? Ghosts hunting your place?" Eren smirked and pushed the rest of the donut in his mouth.

"A new neighbor. A noisy guy who apparently likes parties" Armin sighed. Despite not wanting to think about him, despite the effort he put into concentrating, every now and then Jean's smile would pop into his mind and shake him up a little bit. When he heard a chair move, a song play, a voice chatting unintelligibly, Armin's mind unfocused, wondering what Jean was doing. And that distraction drove him even crazier. But now, with the exam done and his worries lessened, maybe Armin could afford to daydream about a certain neighbor.

"Wait. There's a real person in your buildings who knows what parties are?"

"Yeah, he has been throwing some these days."

"It doesn't sound like he's bothering you, though" Eren raised an eyebrow at his friend who simply shrugged.

"He did. But it stopped after I complained."

"Try to get in one of his parties and get crazy." Eren waved his arms around, getting the attention of everyone around. Armin was used to it though, and the exhaustion helped, too. His eyelids were getting heavier by the second.

"You go. I will be sleeping for the next week or so."

"You're boring." Eren threw a napkin at Armin, who rested his head on his crossed arms over the table. Suddenly, what was left of his energy faded and Armin's need for sleep was overbearing. He barely slept in 30 hours, drinking coffee and eating nothing but sandwiches and miso soup. His body was literally out of gas.

"Eren... Can you take me home, please?" He mumbled.

It was not the first time he nearly collapsed around Eren. And even if every time Armin promised to take better care of himself, he would usually go back to the same spot. So, with Eren noticing his friend's state Armin could only lie there and wait for Mikasa to arrive with the car.

×÷×

Music was softly playing on the radio, low enough for it to be a murmur in Armin's ears. Sounds of voices and a laugh made his head bounce and Armin was suddenly conscious of his surroundings. He stood straight up, embarrassed after realizing he fainted in the café and his head was resting on Eren's tight.

"Welcome back." Eren smiled at him and patted his head lightly, more worried than sarcastic.

"I fainted?" Armin talked more to himself that the others, still not believed it himself.

"You did."

"Great..." He groaned, running his fingers through his hair pulling back the bangs. "Hi, Mikasa."

The girl waved from the driver seat and smiled at him through the mirror, one of those smiles that sent a wave of guilt through Armin's body. She always worried too much about him, but it's not like she had no reasons to, and Armin couldn't simply say everything was fine anymore.