It was early afternoon and for the first time in the last year and a half Armin felt he was actually getting a day off from the endless training he'd had to endure. Not that he really had the right to complain, considering everyone else was going through the same thing. But it wasn't like he was as fit or well-built as them. Even the majority of the girls surpassed his scrawny, useless state. Physically, Armin was pretty much beyond hopeless. The theoretical courses were another story though, which to say the least he was rather proud of his current excelling pace with them.

But not to derive from the initial point, Armin was currently sprawled out under a rather large tree, relishing in the shade it provided from the sun with an arm position under his head in place of a pillow, the other laying across his stomach. His legs were bent at the knees and pulled upwards as his bright eyes focused on the sky showing through the breaks in the tree branches. It was a nice day, if not a tad on the hot side, but for obviously childish reasons Armin couldn't help but sulk. He missed the relatively carefree life he'd had previously before the wall around Shinganshina had gone down, where he was almost free to do whatever he pleased with his two friends. Speaking of which, both Mikasa and Eren had opted for extra training hence why they weren't spending their supposed "free day" with Armin – who clearly thought better of wasting his time with physical challenges he knew he couldn't complete.

A sigh left Armin's lips as he shifted the arm around his stomach to drape over his eyes which he promptly closed once cool flesh made contact with the bridge of his nose. He kind of had to admit he was being unreasonable and selfish, but he also couldn't help the twinge in his heart when he thought about how close they'd all been in the past compared to now. They just seemed to be drifting further and further away, Eren clinging to his impractical aspiration of 'annihilating all of the Titans'' and Mikasa following along full force along with the intention of getting stronger, strong enough to protect him. Although she most likely could already, that girl sure was something special. It was just different from them all being connected at the hip, and Armin knew he just had to get over himself and get used to the way things inevitably had to be. No matter how much he would have preferred a contrasting outcome to everything.

Having gotten caught up in thought, Armin hadn't realized how dark it'd been getting. Or at least, the light seemed to be lacking from what he could tell behind the shield of his arm. He moved the offending appendage upwards slightly so that his eyes were peeking out from under it, blue orbs widening once they realized what'd been blocking out the light – Or rather, who had been. Armin found himself swallowing nervously as a lop-sided smile spread across Eren's face, the gesture actually reaching his eyes for once.

"Talk about lazy"

There was a hint of playfulness in Eren's tone that honestly surprised Armin since he'd been so serious recently. Everything was always serious. If you dicked around during any of the training courses you'd be either screamed at, punished or kicked out though so it wasn't like Eren could have helped it. Although the small shreds of time they got alone he could have stood to be a little friendlier and a bit less uptight.

"Hey no, just because you're a masochistic lunatic doesn't mean everyone else has to be"

Armin pulled himself up into a sitting position, swivelling on the ground so that he was facing Eren, his legs already curling up towards his chest.

"Oh so wanting to get in some extra training makes me a masochist?"

Eren raised an eyebrow, seemingly questioning of Armin's implications.

"Yes"

Armin received an eye roll for his simple answer, which he hastily returned with a bit of a smile. The smile faded soon enough though as Eren lowered himself to the ground beside the blond, nudging at Armin's shoulder with his own softly.

A comfortable silence then passed between them, Eren occasionally pulling up flowers and doing something with them in his lap whilst Armin stared out at nothing in particular, letting the soft breeze tousle his hair. He'd occasionally lift a hand to push stray strands from his eyes when the wind blew them into an awkward position as well as cast secret glances over towards the brunette beside him. It wasn't that he was looking out of shear creepiness or anything like that; it was mainly admiration and affection. Unlike Armin, Eren had incredible abilities when it came to the physical side of their training. He was quick and strong, his potential seemingly endless. And to be completely honest Armin was envious of that. Even when they were younger Eren and Mikasa had been the ones to swoop in and save him. He'd thought he'd have grown out of it, but no. He still felt like the same burden he was years back, overly reliant on his only two friends. He was going to lose them because of it. In his head there was no way around that fact.

His expression had begun to look more than a little distraught, his eyebrows knitting together and forehead creasing as his lips pulled into a worried line. Eren had started to notice at this stage, although he hadn't said anything yet. He was planning on it though, he swore. Words just were never really his specialty. That was where Armin came in. The kid was extremely persuasive when it all came down to it. He'd always win a word battle. He could also throw paragraphs of comfort your way when it was required, and it never ceased to make things less awful. He really was an amazing person and Eren hoped one day Armin would come to understand that, because what Eren saw in him sure seemed a hell of a lot better than Armin's outlook.

That was about when Eren decided to pull himself out of his head and clear his throat to get his friends attention, still fiddling around with the flowers in his lap. Armin's head lolled to the side, attention slowly directing itself at Eren. The expression from before was still slightly visible on the blonde's face, though exceptionally less prominent than it had been.

"What'cha thinking about?"

Eren asked casually, offering a comforting smile, or what he at least thought was comforting. It probably looked a bit silly though.

"Stuff"

Armin blinked a few times, having not expected Eren to question him on this sort of thing. Usually he'd ramble on about how some of the idiots in their military courses didn't deserve to be there, or how various people and things pissed him off; like the Titan's for example, or how shitty some of the instructors were at doing their jobs. Half the time it was as if they didn't give a crap. And honestly, they probably didn't.

"What kind of stuff though Armin? Be specific"

Apparently Eren wasn't going to let up, and so Armin sighed heavily, closing his eyes for a short second before deciding upon how he was going to explain to his friend in simple terms that he felt like a useless piece of shit, and that he missed the time they'd used to spend together. That probably was the simplest form to put it. It was straight to the point, if not a bit rough around the edges. Alter it a tad and it'd mull over just fiiine.

Maybe.

"About how I seem like I'm just getting in the way, I'm useless and weak whereas you and Mikasa are exceptionally talented when it comes to all this physical stuff. I just feel like an annoyance to you both. You'd be better off without me"

Armin halted his speech for a moment, not having prepared himself to let loose more than a singular sentence. Ah well, it was too late to turn back now, once the engine had started it was left to burn itself out.

"And I miss you. I miss us. How we all used to be. How we could talk about anything and everything together. I miss the adventures and I miss the smiles. I miss what we had and I'm scared. I'm scared that I'm losing it completely, if I haven't lost it already"

Armin's eyes were downcast at this stage, his expression shameful as he sniffled quietly, his arms curling protectively around his knees as his head slowly lowered to rest upon them.

Eren appeared to be in shock, his lips parted slightly, eyebrows raised and eyes wide. He'd know Armin didn't think much of himself but he hadn't realized it was that bad. His self-worth was practically non-existent, and that made Eren want to rip his heart out and peg it against the concrete a good few times. Christ if Armin could just clamber his way into Eren's head and pluck out a few of his opinions on the blond things would be so much easier to get across.

He had to agree with the second parts though. They most certainly were not as close as before, and they definitely didn't spend enough time together outside of training. Heck, even during training Eren and Mikasa hadn't exactly paid much mind to Armin considering he was always so…far behind. Not that he meant that in a bad way or anything! His skills were just in a different place. And in the places they were, he did exceptionally well. Eren was really starting to wish speaking was one of his better traits because he was struggling to even get out a single word at this stage. God dammit.

"Look, Armin. Not once have we ever thought of you as a burden. In fact you're a hell of a lot more than anything of the sort. You're our friend and you're important to us, you're…important to me. There's been a bunch of times you've saved us, and I'm surprised you can't see that. You're one hell of a great person, okay?"

He paused to card his fingers through his hair, nervously chuckling to himself.

"I'd be lost without you. We'd be lost without you"

Eren spared a glance towards Armin, which turned out to be a horrible idea because he looked like he was about to cry. His pretty blue eyes were welling with salty tears and his pale cheeks and nose were flushed a pinkish red. Admittedly it was kind of cute, in a way.

Once again, Eren found himself clearing his throat, the same hand that was carding through his hair a moment ago now rubbing at the skin on the back of his neck. He wasn't sure what else he could say, though he manage to force out a quiet 'And I miss you too' before hushing himself completely.

Another silence past between them save for the quiet sniffles from Armin's side. He wasn't crying though, just sort of treading on a thin line between sobbing grossly and holding back the tears.

A minute or so later, Eren found himself hesitantly slinging an arm around the blonde's lithe shoulders and pulling him against his chest. It was awkward, and Eren refused to complete acknowledge his actions, but Armin was grateful, slowly leaning into the warmth offered up to him. He wanted to return the slight hug, but was a little afraid to do so, not quite certain how to even go about it. Thus he remained still, listening to Eren's slow breathing whilst trying to match his own to it.

Eren was the first to break the silence, starting off with a typical 'um' before attempting – and failing - to come up with something better to say. Armin actually chuckled at the attempt though, so it definitely counted for something.

The blonde then proceeded to look up to his friend, small smile lighting up his face for a brief moment. Eren's breath caught in his throat unexpectedly, his cheeks warming as he gazed down at that smile. It made his heart jump around in his chest and his stomach feel weird. What the hell was this shit? It made him want to just…Lean down and…and…

NO.

NOPE.

HOLD THE PHONE.

Eren Jaeger, you do not wish to kiss one of your best friends.

No sir.

Not at all.

Never.

Nope.

And then before he could stop himself, Eren was running on impulse and closing the small gap between them, leaning down and pressing his lips against Armin's in a very awkward kiss. First kiss, mind you.

Armin looked at least 50 shades of surprised, his eyes flying wide as a tiny squeak reverberated in his throat. This was the last thing he'd expected to come out of a talk like that. Shit it was more likely for Eren to have punched his lights out, and that was pretty damn unlikely. He didn't know what to do, or how to react. How the HELL do you react to this?!

Oh.

You're probably meant to return the gesture.

If you like it, that is.

Not that he was implying he liked being kissed by Eren or anything…

…

….

Okay so he might be implying exactly that but STILL.

Before Eren got too distressed over Armin not kissing back, the blond let his eyes slip closed and pressed back against the other's lips. Eren seemed to relax extensively once he felt Armin returning the kiss, and that made him feel all warm and jittery inside. The whole kiss thing was doing that too though, so it didn't make much difference really.

Upon realization that yes, Armin was in fact, kissing him back, Eren found himself growing a little more confident, his tongue flitting out past his lips only to trace over the soft flesh of Armin's bottom one. The gasp was enough compliance as Eren needed, pushing the wet appendage into the mouth before it, tickling at the inside of Armin's cheeks until the boy figured out what exactly was going on and nervously moved his tongue up to greet Eren's own, prodding at it gently.

A few minutes of inexperienced kissing later the two boys were pulling away from each other, short of breath and very brightly flushed. Neither were one-hundred percent sure what exactly had just happened, and they both had absolutely no clue what to say, or if to say anything at all.

Of course that was Eren's queue to lift up the flower crown in his lap and place it atop Armin's head with a slightly timid smile. Armin's eyes went wide again and his face got even redder as he tried to make himself function properly to no avail.

"Cute"

Eren mumbled under his breath with a quiet laugh, grinning enough to make his cheeks ache.

He really hoped Armin would let him kiss him again, because if anything they both needed the practise.