Neighbors || Jearmin

Here for you

"Bert? Yes- Oh, no, everything's fine. But I need your car. I mean, we need it. Armin has to be somewhere and needs a drive and- No, it'd be till tomorrow, probably. I promise tomorrow I'll bring it back. Tank full. Sure! Yeah, thanks bro! See you in an hour or so. Bye."

×÷×

When Saturday came, Armin was a nervous mess. Jean was supposed to come by the apartment because he missed it, so Armin had been cleaning all morning. Not because he needed to, the place being already clean enough for Jean to call him a freak, but because he had to do something not to go crazy.

After nearly a month, meeting Jean face to face was something he truly needed. However, as happy as he was, Armin was still wondering how he should act around his friend- or... whatever. The last time they saw each other was the most awkward and depressive situation he had got into lately, then the weeks of silence and not that much talking about the important stuff put Armin into a situation when he couldn't say what was OK to do or not.

Not that Jean had it any easier, not trusting himself or his inner stability to stay calm around Armin and act normal. It seemed as if he forgot the fact that before they were extremely comfortable invading each other's personal space, so why would it be different now? Specially because they confessed everything they had been holding back, so it should be even easier to just be himself without fearing he'd do something inappropriate that'd scare Armin away. Being rational didn't make any change, though, and Jean ended up frustrated at himself even on his way to meet the boy.

Yimir tried to help... It didn't work. Saying "The bar's already low, you don't need to be perfect" only made Jean feel worse. But she told Jean that "What Armin needs is for you to show him that you mean it, then he'll support you through everithing", and the boy set a goal on those words: make sure the blonde understood everything Jean felt for him.

He had no time to build a plan, though, 10 minutes later his friend dropped him at the apartment complex and left with a wave and a sadistic grin.

Damn... This is weird. He didn't lie about missing that place, maybe because of all the memories inside, but it still felt like a piece of him was created due to that place. First time he got to live alone, having his own space... He missed that, too. Actually, he grew so used to the place Jean nearly forgot he needed to ring the bell, that he didn't have keys anymore.

"It's Jean" He answered when a rushed voice asked at the other side.

"O-oh! Sorry- I-" And the door opened with a buzz. Jean could tell Armin was nervous by how fast he hung up, imagining the boy running to do whatever he needed to before Jean got there. Did he oversleep?

Up, Armin's apartment door was open, and Jean bit back a smile while entering the neat place. Everything was just the same as the last time he had been there, it smelled the same, felt the same. Yet... Armin was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey!" he spoke and crossed the room.

"Just a second!" Armin yelled back from... The bathroom?

"Are you OK?"

"Yes!"

He didn't sound fine to Jean, the boy growing worried as he approached the door. He knocked once, no answer, so he tried again.

"Armin? What's wrong?" And the door clicked open. Jean pushed it slowly wondering what could have happened for Armin to be secretive, but then he saw the blonde and the frown grew deeper but out of confusion. "What-

"A gum- It's in my hair."

Armin's blue eyes stared back at Jean wide and sad, hitting him right in the chest. He was even pouting, hands holding at his hair in the right side. And Jean wanted to die, because that look in his eyes was too adorable for him to bare the weight of it. However, Jean reacted quite quickly -for his own surprise-, and, clearing his throat to release some tension, he broke the eye contact and concentrated on said gum stuck to the golden locks of Armin's.