A Tricky Romance

Jean watched as the small blond closed his locker door then turned to exit the school building. He wasn't creeping on the blond per se, but instead, he liked to see it as observing the blond from behind a trashcan a few feet away; he was rather impressed with his ability to squeeze behind the trashcan, making himself hidden from the blond- not, he assured himself, that he was hiding. Because, hiding sounded too suspicious.

As soon as the blond walked through the double doors, Jean hopped up, knocking the trashcan over which caused multiple heads to turn. "S-sorry," he laughed as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Damn thing got in the way," he mumbled to the witnesses as he gave the trashcan a light kick before maneuvering around the garbage now littering the floor.

He raced towards the school exit, skidding to a stop right before it to smooth down his shirt and comb his fingers through his hair. Taking in a deep breath to compose himself, Jean carefully placed his hand on the door, slowly pushing it open and stepping outside into the warm, afternoon air.

Blinking a few times to adjust his eyes to the blaring sun, Jean walked to the edge of the school steps, desperately searching for the blond. "Found you," he said, unaware of his fellow classmates stopping to watch him. He hopped down the steps then took a sharp right, eyes locked onto the back of the blond's head.

Minutes passed and Jean was feeling on top of the world. He had successfully managed to track the blond down and was now "discreetly" following him a safe distance away. He felt a smile tugging at his lips as he looked up at the sky, creating scenarios of how he would ask the blond out in his head.

Seemingly too distracted with his own thoughts, Jean was unaware that the blond had stopped walking until he bumped into his back. "A-Armin!" Jean placed his hands on the blond's shoulders to steady him before taking a few steps back as he noticed the blond turning to face him.

"Why are you following me? Did you need me for something?" Armin pushed his black, framed glasses up then eyed the brunet gaping at him.

"N-no! I was just… Uh…" Jean rubbed the back of his neck, desperately trying to come with any reason that wouldn't make him sound like a freak. "I need help with math!" He blurted out after a few awkward seconds of silence.

"Well," Armin began, pushing up on his toes to pull a sticky candy wrapper off of Jean's shirt. "You didn't have to hide behind a trashcan just to ask me this." The blond bit his bottom lip, trying to hold back a laugh as he watched Jean's horrified expression.

"Y-you saw that?!" Jean could feel his face heating up from embarrassment, or maybe, he realized, from the adorable giggles escaping the small blond's lips- lips that looked so soft that Jean had to clench his hands into fists in an attempt to control himself.

"It was really noticeable," Armin brought his hand up to cover his mouth as his shoulders began to shake from laughter. "Eren texted me about it as well," he noted, regaining his composure.

Jean huffed as his shoulders sagged in defeat. He was so sure that no one had noticed him, but he had forgotten how observant Armin was. Of course he couldn't sneak around the smartest boy in his class. The…cutest boy in his class.

The brunet felt his mind slipping back to the scenarios he was crafting before he felt a small tug on his arm.

"Jean?" Armin studied Jean's face with a worried expression.

"Huh?" Jean shook his head to clear his thoughts, mentally pointing out that he no longer needed to come up with obscure scenarios because the boy he liked was standing right before him.

"I asked if you wanted to come over to my house to work on the math homework." Armin smiled as he watched Jean's eyes widen.

"Is that okay? I mean… I don't want to just barge into your house…" Again, Jean moved his hand to the back of his neck.

"It's not barging in because I invited you," Armin pointed out as he turned on his heel and started walking again.

"Right!" Jean nodded before running to catch up with the blond.

"It's a problem we went over in class, Jean," Armin sighed as he watched the brunet struggling with the fifth math question. "You are supposed to multiply those two numbers, not add them," Armin used the tip of his pencil to point at Jean's paper.

"I got it!" Jean nudged Armin's pencil away then picked up the calculator lying beside him. After a few moments of punching buttons, Jean smirked and lifted his head to make eye contact with the blond. "The answer is fifty-two."

Armin glanced down at his own answer then let out a noisy sigh. "You are supposed to get a fraction for the answer." That being said, the blond scooted closer to the brunet, whose cheeks were getting redder by the second. "Look, you multiply these two numbers then… Jean?"

Jean was watching the blond, studying his features. He watched how the ends of Armin's blond locks curled inward, grazing his cheeks. He noted how Armin's nose would scrunch up slightly when he was deep in thought or how he would tap the end of his pencil against his chin when solving a problem.

"Jean?" Armin rested his hand on the taller boy's shoulder.

"What?" Jean brought his attention back to reality, waving away the worried look plastered onto Armin's face. "Sorry, I just zoned out."

"That's the second time today. Is everything okay?" Armin huffed as Jean ruffled his hair.

"Yea, everything's perfect." Jean sighed and clasped his hands behind his head before falling back against the floor. "Can we take a break from homework?"

"Sure." Armin drew his knees to his chest. "Um, Jean?"

"Hmm?" Jean rolled his head to the side to get a better view of the blond sitting beside him, and he was glad he did because Armin looked so damn good sitting there in the falling sunlight streaming in from the window.

"I may be mistaken, but… Didn't you do exceptionally well on your last math test? I believe top three in the class?" Armin turned to look down at the brunet lying on the floor beside him, paying close attention to Jean's changing facial expression.

"I… Uh…" Jean sighed, pushing himself into a sitting position.

"Was there another reason why you were following me?" Armin stared at the brunet curiously. "One you didn't want to say?"

Jean rubbed the back of his neck as he glanced around the room, refusing to meet the blue eyes watching him. He mentally told himself to man up and tell the blond the truth, but what if Armin rejected him? He didn't even know if Armin was in to guys. He rubbed his hands onto his pants, wiping away the sweat that accumulated on his palms.

He didn't understand why he was so nervous. He was Jean freaking Kirschtein. He was the coolest guy in his class- in his opinion at least. He had good grades and was captain of the baseball team. So why, he asked himself, why did Armin get him so worked up? Why can't he just be casual about this? The worst thing to happen would be Armin rejecting him, but the thought of that happening scared Jean. He really wanted things to work with them, and he planned to make it happen no matter what.

"So," Jean began, pushing his nerves aside. "I…I like you, Armin!" The silence that followed put Jean on edge, but he didn't dare look at the blond for fear of what he might see. "If you don't like guys, that's cool," he began. "But, I think if you gave us a shot that you would see how awesome it would be for us to be together and…" His words trailed off as he felt a pair of soft lips press lightly against his cheek.

"Um… Could you do that again, only this time right here?" Jean asked as he tapped his finger against his lips. "If you don't want to, that's cool…"

Armin removed his glasses, setting them a safe distance away before shifting around until he was resting on his knees in front of Jean. "I'm probably not very good at this, but…" He leaned forward and carefully pressed his lips against Jean's, applying more pressure when he felt Jean's hand slide down his back.

Jean urged Armin to part his lips, smiling against the boy's mouth when he finally obliged. He took his free hand and combed his fingers through Armin's blond locks, latching onto a tuft and tugging playfully.

Armin could feel his legs beginning to cramp so he pushed his body against Jean's chest until Jean tightened his arm around Armin's waist and fell back onto the floor. He moved to put one hand on Jean's shoulder to support himself then groaned, pulling his hand back then leaning up to look at the stain on the shoulder of Jean's shirt. "That sticky spot is from the candy wrapper," he pointed out before sitting up.

"Ah, shit. I forgot about that. I'll just take it off, if that's okay?" Jean watched the blond nod and allowed him to help slip his shirt off.

Armin tossed the shirt across the room then leaned back down, meeting Jean's lips once again. He smoothed his hands down the brunet's exceptionally toned chest before sliding them back up to brush against his neck.

Jean opened his eyes to see Armin's flushed face and decided that it would be best to end this for now so he moved his lips away from Armin's and began nipping lightly down Armin's neck as he pushed himself and the blond atop him up into a sitting position.

"Are we stopping?" Armin pulled away and studied Jean's face. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No," Jean laughed as he brushed a strand of hair away from Armin's eyes. "Your face is really red so…"

Armin brought one hand up to his burning cheek. "Oh, it is kind of warm in here," he mumbled before standing up. Unsure of what to do, he walked over to his bed and plopped down. "So, I like you too."

Jean smirked and mumbled "I can see that" which resulted in a pillow being tossed at his head.

"We should go out on a date sometime," Armin suggested. "Maybe to the movies or dinner or…"

"Let me teach you how to play baseball," Jean said, interrupting the blond. He grabbed Armin's glasses then stood up, making his way over to the smaller boy sitting on the bed. Sliding the glasses over Armin's blue orbs, Jean whispered, "It will be fun, and I think you will look really cute in a baseball uniform." He gently pressed his lips against Armin's forehead before turning away and grabbing his shirt that was balled up in a corner of the room.

"I can wash that," Armin motioned towards the shirt in Jean's hands.

"Thanks. I'll get a clean shirt and more time spent with you. I couldn't ask for more!" Jean fell into a fit of laughter as Armin slapped him with the shirt.

"Come on," Armin finally muttered after recovering from his own laughing fit. He turned on his heel and began making his way down the stairs with Jean close behind.

A/N- So, here's another Jean/Armin because it's an awesome ship, and I like writing them!

I should mention that I'm really not good with titles, which sucks because they are really important, but what I have will have to do.

Sorry In advanced for grammar errors!

And, I hope everyone enjoys!