A/N This was originally written for the Winter Fun prompt for tumblr's Jearmin week. I meant to post it at the same time, but things were hectic so I never got around to it. Regardless, it suits the weather outside currently, at least where I live.
If you enjoyed, don't be shy to drop me a message/review on here or tumblr.
It was a rare occurrence when Armin Arlert, the member of Levi's squad that had received the lowest marks for 3DMG usage, outshone members of his own team in said skill - especially the labelled '3DMG specialist'; Jean Kirstein.
However, on this cold winter day up in the mountains, there wasn't a single person that wasn't outshining Jean.
"Is that seriously the best you can do, Kirstein?" Levi spoke with slightly less monotone than normal, an air of disappoint apparent through his voice and by the sigh that accompanied the remark.
The frustration on Jean's face was obvious to anyone within fifty metres of him. Actually, even those unable to see would know how frustrated he was by the grunt he gave every time his feet gave out from under him when he came in contact with the ice.
The male had been having troubles this entire training exercise. The icy conditions and the stinging wind held no affect against his usage of the 3DMG in the air; it was the landing that he was having trouble with. Not a single time since they had started training three hours ago had he managed to land his feet on the ground without his entire body going down with it. The ice was slippery in this area and landing required a lot of good balance, preparation, and strategy. While Levi had never directly told them the reason for training out here, Armin suspected that perfecting a technique for this situation was the reason. While he found it to be a practical lesson, considering their new surroundings, it appeared that he was one of the only ones appreciating it. Everyone had struggled with it at the start, but after a long day's work and lots of complaining, everyone seemed to have gotten the hang of it. That didn't stop them from grumbling whenever they got the chance, though.
Mikasa managed to make every landing with practiced ease after about fifteen minutes (her first attempts had been just as ridiculous as everyone else, a welcome reminder to Armin that she still started on the same level as everyone else). Even Sasha, who had failed landing on almost every attempt, had created her own unique method of landing. To everyone's surprise, Levi had deemed it acceptable. Connie had been the last besides Jean to perfect the technique, and now managed to pull it off better than Armin did. The rest of them - Eren, Historia, and himself- had all managed to perform it after dedicated practice.
"Damn it!" Armin turned his head as soon as he heard the cry, but before he could see what was happening he heard a loud thumpaccompanied by yet another swear.
Jean was lying, face up, in the middle of the snow. Skid marks were proof of how far he had travelled before he had finally collided with a snow pile - about five metres.
"That's it, we're done for today. Come on everybody, let's go." Levi muttered and started walking away. Without hesitation the majority of the 104th squad dashed off towards the cabin, giving shouts of who would be the first into the bath.
Armin walked over to where Jean lay in the snow, not having moved since his fall. He extended a hand outward. "You trying to become one with the snow?"
Jean groaned, grabbing the hand extended out to him. It wasn't often that he took help from others when his pride was hurt, so either he was taking this a lot better than Armin had thought, or a lot worse. Or it could be that the two were now in a relationship. It was a relatively new experience for both of them, and it came with a lot of flustered moments and stuttered words from both parties, but it also came with a lot of new feelings - including one of security; knowing you always had someone to rely on.
"Come on, let's go back to the cabin. I think Sasha said she was going to make some hot tea."
"No, I'm not going."
"Huh?"
"I need to stay here until I figure out how to do this properly."
If there was one thing that was unyielding about Jean, it was his dedication to his pride. When he had his mind made up about an issue it was near impossible to break it. Regardless, Armin could only hope that perhaps he would be able to reason with him. "Jean, we've been out here for hours. You're going to freeze if you don't go back soon."
"I need to learn this. In our class, I was rated the maneuver gear specialist. If I can't even do this, then what else do I have?"
"That's what this is about? You don't seriously think your only skill is with maneuver gear, do you?"
"Well, I'm not the 'flesh-cutting specialist' or the 'most-determined', now am I?"
Armin couldn't help but laugh inwardly. The density of this kid sometimes made him feel like he was the older one. "Well, I can tell you that you have a lot more good qualities going for you than your ability to fly." Jean sighed, and the blond wondered if his words had a negative affect.
"Armin, don't take this the wrong way… but even you have it down, and you weren't even in the top ten. I mean, I don't mean to say you're not good or anything, but you aren't really that good, I mean you're smart and cute but you kind of suck at using I MEAN-" Jean's words came out a stuttered mess, and his face easily looked just as dishelved in that moment.
"It's okay, Jean. I get it. I'm not offended." Not enough to make a big deal out of it, at least. Today had been rather damaging for the entire squad's pride, he wasn't going to rub it in. "Listen, I know I'm not that good at it, but if you want I could always try to teach you."
"…really?"
"Well, I mean, that is what we're supposed to do, right? Help each other out?"
"Um, yeah… right." Armin could see that Jean's face was growing probably as red as his own, which for some reason just made him more nervous. Was everything supposed to be this embarrassing? "Help each other in times of need, sickness and health. That's what my mom always says about my dad."
"I think that last part is talking about marriage…" Armin murmured.
"Oh, then, um, I didn't-"
"Don't worry about it." The blond said, as he tried to hide the curl of his lips. The way Jean still stumbled over almost every word when talking to him was hard to ignore. Armin had never thought it was possible for someone like him to stay so nervous for so long. Of course, Armin hadn't been perfect in their first week either. He had whispered almost everything that he had spoken to Jean. At least now though he had gotten past it; Jean… not as much. "Okay, so let's start simple. You go up into the air, and I'll instruct to you what to do, okay?"
Armin explained all the instructions that Captain Levi had given them earlier. He explained them as many ways as he could think to do so, but no matter what he did Jean just didn't get the grasp of it. Armin even demonstrated it two times, but they had now been here almost an extra hour, and Jean was showing no progress in even mastering the basics.
Finally, after Jean punched a tree in frustration, Armin realized it was probably time for a new approach. "Okay, so… what if we try something different."
"Different?"
"Well, Sasha made her own way of doing it…"
"You want me to try a method Potato Girl made?"
Jean hadn't stopped using that nickname since their squad had been formed well over a month ago. While Armin had expected others to tell him to knock it off within a few days, he had been surprised when the opposite happened and even more of the squad started using it. It was hard to blame them when Sasha kept on trying to sneak food away, regardless of who had told her to stop. Even Captain Levi had resorted to using it…
Armin snapped his mind back into attention. "Just give it a try. At the least it might give us some better insight on what not to do."
Jean muttered something barely audible about potatoes and flew into the air.
Armin shook his head. They barely seemed to be making any progress, and he couldn't help but feel a bit stressed. Spending time alone with Jean wasn't a common occurrence, especially since their group was large and their living quarters were small. Plus, he hadn't yet gotten around to telling Eren about themselves (or anybody, since word spreads fast in such a small space), so their time was even more restricted. He wanted to be able to appreciate the times that he did get alone, but this was beginning to feel less and less fun.
A yell came from the Armin's left, stealing him out of his thoughts. He could tell from the intensity of the scream that something was wrong. With a quick glance he could see what the problem was - one of the hooks was still stuck in the tree, causing Jean to vault off into a spinning course on the ice; one that was headed right for him.
Armin ducked just in time to narrowly avoid the wire that swung over his head. When he felt the rush of air and heard the humming of it go past his ear, he stood back up. His stance was short-lived though, as his own body was pummeled into the snow bank in front of him.
Armin wearily pulled his head out of the snow bank. He was cold, tired, hungry, and as much as he wanted to help Jean, he didn't think hehad the patience for it anymore either. He rolled over onto his back, and lied on top of the pile.
A tall shadow approached, and soon Jean's body towered above him. A massive, cocky smile graced his lips. "Guess who just landed it without falling over?"
Armin groaned openly, and he swore he saw Jean's smile get wider. "I don't think keeping your balance because you knocked me over counts as 'landing it'."
Jean extended a hand to help the blond up. "Why not? I can't help it if your legs get shaky when I'm around."
The boy grabbed onto the open palm and took the opportunity to pull the other male face-first into the bank beside him.
Jean rolled over, body now likewise covered in snow. The grin on his face had dwindled, and Armin couldn't help but laugh at the expression of annoyance that had so quickly plagued it.
Jean grabbed a handful of snow from beside himself and started packing it together with his hands. Armin could already tell what was coming, and as soon as he saw the brunette's hand move, he launched his 3DMG to pull himself up into the air, avoiding the snowball by a good metre or two.
"Hey, that's cheating!"
"Why? You can do it too!" Armin laughed. He grabbed onto a handful of snow from the overhead branch, letting his wires support him as he packed it into a snowball.
As soon as Jean got back up onto his feet, Armin fired. He aimed for the other's legs, and in turn the other jumped to avoid it. When his feet made contact again with the ice, they fell out from under him, and Jean Kirstein was lying in the snow for what seemed like the fiftieth time that day.
Armin laughed from the branch above, another snowball already in his hand. He threw it down at the male below him, but this time Jean didn't fall for it. In record time the male had disappeared from the area, and Armin looked to see latched onto another tree. This time, he was the one with the snowball in his hand. Armin launched himself to another tree as the snow came flying towards his face.
Soon the two of them were in a fierce battle as the snowballs flew through the air. The amount that had hit was miniscule compared to the amount that had been thrown, and the score rested at an even 4-4, with the promise that whoever got the last blow would be declared winner. The only prize offered was the right to keep their own pride, one thing that Armin knew Jean wanted greatly. While he had considered just letting him win, a small fire burned inside him that told him he shouldn't give in. After all, they were together now; they were equals. He was going to make sure Jean knew that.
Armin stared at his opposition that hung about five metres away from him. A moment of silence and a fierce stare was exchanged between the two of them. As soon as they broke it, it meant the final battle was on.
Armin made the first shot, throwing the snowball in his hand. Jean flew off towards a new target, dodging the shot entirely. With a quick flick of his arm he sent his own snowball flying in mid air.
The attack took Armin by surprise, and he was left with mere moments to avoid it. He launched himself off of the tree he was connected to, easily avoiding the projectile. What wasn't as easy was finding another suitable tree to latch onto. He found himself falling and with no other choice than to fire into a coniferous tree in the distance. He knew that pulling himself face-first into one of those would not be fun, so he was left with no choice than to implement the tactics that the captain had just taught them.
Armin disconnected his 3DMG as the tree rushed past him. The ground quickly approached and even from his current height he could tell that the ice below him was uneven. He bent his knees, preparing for the impact his body would receive. He extended one leg outward, ready to come in contact with the ground.
The first contact his foot made was bumpy. It skidded along the terrain, and he was unable to keep his balance. His feet flew out in front of him, and his head hit the ground with a heavy impact.
The cold surrounded his body, and he was fairly certain he was lying in the snow again.
"Armin!" A voice called out to him, and he looked up to see a tall figure slide into view.
"Are you okay? That looked painful."
"Yeah, I'm good."
"You sure? I heard your body hit the ground. You looked like you hit your head." Armin felt Jean's cold hands running through his hair as he searched for an injury. A pulsating ache came from the back of his head, but it didn't feel anymore painful than anything he had experience during training earlier. Regardless, he let the older male search anyway, as he knew that he wouldn't be content until he found the answer on his own. Jean never liked being given the answer, or being told what was true. He needed to see with his own eyes before he could make judgements, something Armin had learned from observing his actions with Eren, their superiors, and himself.
Either way, he didn't exactly mind the attention.
Jean pulled his hands away. "Alright, you look good. You feeling fine?"
"Yeah, just fine."
Jean stood up. "Good, otherwise I wouldn't be able to give you the good news. It seems like I've perfected the technique for landing on ice." A large grin plastered itself on his face. "You, however, look like you could use some practice. Perhaps I could help you out sometime?"
His grin was soon no longer visible as a large clump of snow took its place.
"I win."