Armin had begged Eren not to take him to the party. Being the introvert he was, he would much prefer to spend the night at home with Eren, but not here in public with their moronic peers. It only added to his anxiety to have to pretend like he and Eren meant nothing to each other more than friends. He wanted to hold Eren's hand as they walked through the front door; Eren's warm skin always offered him comfort and safety but he felt so cut off and distanced as they entered.
All around them were teenagers, drunk, tripping, making out. He was desperate to turn around and run, but Eren had been so eager to come after they had been invited. Armin knew full well if he hadn't been right next to Eren when he was invited he would have been completely left out. Eren was outgoing, a football player, toned and beautiful. Armin looked down at himself. He was small and short, he found happiness in solitude and books. He was never the talkative person Eren was, nobody was attracted to him or desired to be around him besides Eren.
"Hey, Eren," a slurred voice greeted. It came from a tall blonde girl. Her breasts hung out from her shirt and she was smiling happily at the sight of his brunette boyfriend, "Uh, hey," she added, noticing the small boy at Eren's side.
"Hi," Eren replied warmly, "Nice party," he gestured around them at the buzzing and sexy atmosphere.
She nodded, "Lots of alcohol," she winked, "I think people are swimming in the backyard if you wanna check it out. Maybe we could."
It was the girl who had invited Eren, her name was Jessica or something of the sort. She constantly flirted with Eren in front of him, making it as obvious as possible that she was eager to hook up. Armin looked down at his feet, embarrassed by being the awkward third wheel. He vaguely wondered what Eren thought of the sexy girl.
"We'll head out later. Armin and I are gonna grab something to drink," he replied, grabbing Armin by the wrist and leading him through the crowd of loud horny teenagers.
They reached the kitchen which was occupied by a few kids. Eren grabbed a beer and began to inhale it. Armin watched him curiously. He had never seen Eren drink before, he preferred to pretend he didn't.
Eren removed the drink from his lips, "You want some?"
Armin shook his head quietly, "It's really stuffy in here," they both became aware of the smokiness in the room. The other teens were smoking weed.
Eren wrinkled his nose, "Let's go," he volunteered. Armin perked up, thinking Eren meant to leave the party but as he followed the boy it became apparent they were heading outside to escape the crowd. They found themselves in the backyard. There was a gigantic pool and tables, Tiki torches lit the area. Eren stretched his neck and arms, then grinned at Armin, "Nice, right?"
Armin nodded. Although he hated the party he wanted Eren to enjoy himself. There was a cooler nearby Eren spotted and moved towards, reaching his hand inside he withdrew a bottle. Armin peered into the chest and saw a wrapper of what appeared to be ice cream. He grabbed it and inspected the wrapper. It was ice cream! He smiled, then blushed embarrassed realizing he was the only kid at this party who wasn't drunk and was instead eating ice cream.
Eren smiled at him lovingly, then moved towards the pool. Armin followed and as Eren sat down on the edge, letting his legs dangle in the water, he began to follow suit. As he made to sit down, he felt himself being pushed to the side and fell, hitting his butt hard on the cement. He looked up, seeing that the girl from earlier had pushed herself in between himself and Eren. He frowned angrily and pretended to not care but he couldn't help but sneak a look. The girl was laughing with Eren, reaching her hands up and running her fingers through his hair. He was smiling and making smooth conversation.
Armin looked back down and unwrapped his ice cream, beginning to lick it. It had been warmer than he expected because of the cooler having been left open. It dripped down his fingers and arm and onto the bare part of his leg. He sighed, defeatedly, peering once again at Eren.
Eren was still talking to the girl but he didn't seem as cool as before. His face was red and he didn't seem as able to make conversation. Armin felt a tightness on his chest. Maybe Eren really did like this girl. He should have known that he could never have Eren. He was so much better than him, so much handsomer with tons of girls willing to put out for him. Armin felt tears stinging his eyes and quickly turned back, continuing to work at his ice cream.
There was a strong hand on his back and before he had a moment to react, Armin was being shoved forward. He fell into the pool, cold water filling the crevices of his body. Goddammit he thought as he pushed himself to the surface, spluttering a bit as water had gotten into his lungs. His clothes clung tightly to him. He swam back to the edge, not caring that he was getting the girl wet and she looked extremely annoyed. He pulled himself out of the water, shivering and upset. He wrapped his arms around himself, embarrassed and humiliated. He turned to Eren, ready to demand that they go home but noticed two things. The first was that Jessica's top seemed to have dipped down further than he could have imagined possible without completely exposing her breasts. The second - Eren had a boner that was pushing against his pants.
A crushing pain fell down on Armin, compressing his heart and his eyes filled with salty tears. He looked at the two for a second more before taking off into the house without looking behind him.
"Armin!" Eren called after him, but he had no interest in stopping to see the boy who he thought had loved him. He was ashamed to even have thought Eren would love him.
Eren found the closest door and swung it open. Fortunately, it was a bathroom that was strangely empty. He would have imagined someone would be hanging over the toilet or passed out in the shower.
He moved to the sink, turning the handle and running his fingers under the water as the cold liquid began to fall. Tears passed openly down his cheeks and he didn't bother to push them away. Nobody could see him now.
For the first time it occurred to him how cold he was. Shivers ran down his body and he desperately wanted to find warmth. He eyed the shower for a second and finally gave up and moved towards it. He turned it on, and as he waited for the water fall to become warm, he removed his shirt that clung tightly to his body.
He sat down on the floor, pulling of his shoes and socks then stood up and placed them on the towel rail. He was about to remove his jean shorts when the door to the bathroom slammed open and a tall brown-haired figure entered.
"Armin!" he shouted, seeing the boy. Upon noticing the partial nudity, his face burned brightly. He shut the door behind him for Armin's sake, "I'm so sorry."
Armin turned around, covering his naked chest with his arms, "It doesn't matter," he said quietly.
"No, he shouldn't have pushed you in! I'll beat the shit out of him!" Eren growled, eyes becoming wide with anger.
"I don't care about that," Armin screeched, "Why don't you just go bone your girlfriend."
Eren's mouth fell open, surprised by Armin's vulgar language then becoming aware of what Armin was referring to. He flushed, "No, I- it's not like that Armin."
"I saw," Armin said quietly, embarrassed to acknowledge Eren's hard on, "It doesn't matter. I should have known."
"There's nothing going on!" Eren protested furiously.
"You can't fucking deny that, Eren!" Armin yelled reeling around and glaring. His eyes couldn't help but glance downward and noticed that Eren had a large bulge in his pants still.
"For fuck's sake," he cried, turning back around, avoiding Eren's eyes.
There were hands on his shoulders, grabbing onto him and dragging him back around. Eren held on to him tightly, blushing madly, "Armin, it wasn't- it wasn't her," he said, trying to make eye contact but unable to maintain and looking away from Armin's delicate face.
"It's kind of obvious," Armin began.
"No! I just- it was you, okay?"
Armin gazed back at Eren in surprise. "What?"
"Fuck. It's just, when you were... licking the ice cream. And it got on your face and.. on you," He relinquished his grasp on Armin and backed away a bit, face redder than Armin thought was humanly possible.
"But. You and her," Armin said slowly, not sure how to respond.
"For God's sakes, Armin, don't make me say it," he groaned. Armin was silent and Eren acquiesced, "And then, when you were in the pool, and you could see everything," his words were choppy and broken, unable to speak in one fluid sentence, "F... fuck," he muttered.
Armin just stared at Eren in shock, "Really?"
"Christ!" Eren glared, "Armin, you gave me a boner, okay? Do you just want me to fucking say it," he shouted.
His eyes bore into the floor, unable to face the innocent boy he had just violated. He closed his eyes, breathing out slowly, feeling his heart hitting hard against his chest. All he wanted was for Armin to respond, but no words came from the other.
There was a sudden sound from in front of him, like something hitting the floor. He looked up and realized that Armin had pushed open the curtain to the shower and dropped not just his shorts...
Eren rushed backwards and reached for the door handle.
"Where are you going?" Armin questioned.
"I- I should go."
Armin let out a soft giggle, "No, but you should lock the door."