CHAPTER 9

Author's Note

For anyone that wants ambient music for this chapter, I wrote it listening to this : (youtube . com ) - watch?v=dUudCz02bb4

~Gum

The last hour had been a blur for Eren. Just a while ago he had met up with the blond boy so they could head to the party together. Much to the brunet's delight, a beer had been placed in his hand almost immediately by some random dude in a Hawaiian shirt. However, things hadn't gone so well for poor little Armin. Jean had greeted them upon their arrival but much to the blond's disappointment the tall boy only chit-chatted for a while before leaving to talk to some other friends.

Ever since, Armin had been busy sulking in a little picnic table farthest away from all the movement. Surprisingly, Eren had decided to keep him some company though it wasn't so much so the green-eyed boy having empathy for the poor soul rather Eren just wanting a nice place where he could get drunk in peace.

And so, they had been sitting there for ten or fifteen minutes in total silence, watching everyone else have a good time. The party was situated in what Eren could only assume to be Jean's backyard. The two boys had arrived just as the sun had set so the place was illuminated by orange lights with a couple of colorful blue, purple and green bulbs here and there. Backed up against the tall wooden fence was a set of tables mostly with beer but a couple of bowls with chips as well. Closer to the center there were four speakers that formed a square, where girls and boys alike swayed to the club music blasting through the air.

Eren had been content with just that until he tipped the metallic can onto his lips only to find that no more beverage came out.

Fuck.

He stared at the can angrily, mentally cursing the innocent container for being empty. His eyes wandered about, not really knowing what to do. He found himself staring at Armin who was slightly pouting all the while looking in Jean's direction. Eren couldn't help but notice the way Armin's lower lip seemed to glisten. Was he wearing lipgloss? Now that he took a closer look, he had put on some mascara and blush as well. If Eren hadn't known Armin beforehand, he would've never believed that Armin was actually a boy. Not only did his long eyelashes and rosy cheeks resemble that of a schoolgirl but his outfit didn't help him look any more masculine either.

Armin wore a sky blue shirt alongside some skinny jeans that ended right above his ankles. His shoes were a snowy white, as spotless as the open cardigan he sported. The oversized cardigan made him look even smaller than he was, giving off the impression that you were looking at a petite girl.

Even his hairstyle was different that night. Armin had two clips in his hair, one white and one black that made it so his bangs were swept to the side and not straight over his forehead like always. In the back of his head, Eren thought about how he preferred that hairstyle to his usual one. There was something about the way the side swept bangs combined with Armin's delicate face that the green eyed boy liked. But he would rather die where he sat than ever admit it to the blond or anyone for that matter.

Eren frowned, shaking his head to get rid of the strange thought that had entered his mind. Armin must have noticed as he turned his attention onto the brunet.

"What's the matter?" He said in a concerned voice.

It made Eren sick. Why did this guy always have to put up a sweet and innocent act?

"No beer." he muttered.

Armin chuckled, pushing the beer that was given to him towards the green-eyed boy, "Here, take mine."

Eren examined the can. He realized it hadn't even been open yet. He lifted an eyebrow, "You sure?"

Armin nodded, "I don't drink. Don't really get the point of it."

Don't really get the point of it?

There were plenty of points to it. To drown the millions of thoughts screaming in your head. To forget you were sad. To forget you were mad. To feel more relaxed. To get a good night's sleep or to lose total inhibition and have fun.

However, Eren kept his mouth shut. He didn't want Armin changing his mind. He gladly took the beer, smiling at the blond as he did so, "Thanks!"

Armin put his elbow on the table and rested his head on his hand, smiling back at the brunet, "You're welcome."

Eren's face quickly dropped, shifting his attention to opening the beverage. Sometimes Armin would stare at him in a way that would make him feel uneasy.

"So... shouldn't you be wooing Jean... er... or the other way around? I dunno." Eren fidgeted with the tab of the tin can.

Armin sighed, "Well, I could ask you the same thing."

Eren gave the boy a puzzled expression, "What do you mean?"

"Shouldn't you be flirting with some cute girl right now? There's plenty around."

Eren looked around, "Eh, none are really my type."

"Not your type? What are you talking about? There are plenty of pretty girls around!"

The brunet sipped on his beer, "No offense, but how would you know? You've got other tastes..."

Armin exhaled, "I mean I don't own a car but I can still tell a good-looking one from an ugly one."

Eren shrugged, "I guess."

Armin playfully slapped the other boy's shoulder, "Come on now, tell me, what's your type? Surely we can find a girl for you."

The teen ran the thought through his head. Looking back at his love life, he couldn't discern a pattern in the girls he had dated. When he was in the last year of middle school he had a girlfriend that was very shy, with a couple of big brown eyes as sweet as a cup of hot cocoa. The relationship only lasted that year since Eren didn't go to the high school she attended next year. Other than that he could only think of one other person that he had been involved with romantically.

"Well, I used to really be into this girl. She had blonde hair- it was so soft all the time I don't know how she did it," Eren furrowed his eyebrows as he lost himself in his memories,"and she had these really pretty blue eyes you know, sort of likes yours." Eren's stomach sank. What in the hell had he just said? "Ahhh... don't... don't take that in the weird way. I was just trying to say that she had blue eyes and you have blue eyes... you know a lot of people have blue eyes." He rambled on.

The boy chuckled, seemingly unfazed by Eren's comment, "Tell you what Eren, I don't take anything you say in a 'weird way' and in exchange you act more relaxed when you talk to me."

The brunet was flabbergasted. What had Armin meant by that? He was suddenly hyperaware of how on edge he always felt when talking to the blond. Eren wasn't the type to think before he spoke- as if it weren't obvious -but he was always worried about Armin taking what Eren said as some kind of flirtatious invite. If it hadn't been for keeping his bodyguard happy and the promise of free beer he would've just kept his distance from the blond boy since the first day they met.

Eren didn't understand why he was always so high strung around Armin and since he couldn't understand why he felt that way he just got angry. He would've frowned all night if it weren't because something in the corner of his eye caught his attention.

"Wait, what about her? She's cute." Eren pointed at a beautiful girl with long blonde hair and baby blue eyes just like those of someone he used to love except this girl's eyes glistened with innocence and happiness, something he had always wished to see in the eyes of his beloved but never did.

Armin winced, "Oh, um, not her."

Eren raised an eyebrow and looked back at her. Another girl, much taller and with tan skin approached and wrapped an arm around the smaller girls waist, promptly kissing her on the lips.

Eren threw his arms in the air, utterly exasperated, "Seriously?!"

Armin bursted out in laughter, hiding his smile behind a hand. Despite his own misery, Eren joined in on the laughter still not believing how unlucky he was. However, the feeling of someone staring at him crept up on him but when he turned to look at who it was he only found Jean talking to Hawaiian Shirt guy. Eren shrugged it off, he must've imagined it.

"Ahhh, fuck my life man." Eren chuckled to himself, taking a chug of his beer.

"Don't worry," Armin wiped the tears from his eyes, "the night is still young. Who knows what'll happen?"

Armin subconsciously turned to Jean's direction who was now cheering for a friend to drink two beers at the same time.

Eren slumped a bit into his chair. Seeing Armin look at the tall boy like a lost puppy was bumming him out.

"So, you ever gonna talk to him? Or are you just gonna watch me get drunk all night?"

The blond quickly turned away, blushing a bit as he did so, "W-What?"

Eren gestured at Jean. Armin's blush only deepened.

"Well," he started playing with his hair nervously, "if he wanted to talk to me he would've done so already." He shrugged.

The brunet eyed Armin. He really was just like a girl, mannerisms and all, "Well if you aren't going to talk to him you might as well have some fun while you're here."

Armin perked up, "Oh yeah? Like by doing what?"

The green eyed boy shrugged and scanned the crowded backyard, "I dunno, how bout dancing? Dancings fun."

"Alone? No way! I'll look like a total loser. Not to mention that I'm not even good at dancing."

"How can you not be good at dancing? All you have to do is, like, sway with the music."

Armin laughed, "Oh really? Are you good at dancing?"

Eren huffed, "I can move to a beat or two."

Armin's blue eyes brightened up, "Excellent! Then come dance with me!" He said as he clapped his hands together.

The brunet's brain stopped working for a second, "Wow, wow, wait a minute. I said I can dance, I never said I'd dance with you."

The other boy pouted, "Why not? You were the one with the idea. Plus, it's not like we'd be dancing together, we'd just be dancing in close proximity," The blond crossed his arms, "And if you're as good at dancing as you say, you'll be able to swoon a lady nearby no problem."

Was that a little bit of sass he detected in Armin's voice?

If there was anything Eren could never do it was to back down from a challenge. In that moment he realized just how black the sky was and how sober his mind was so he guzzled down the rest of his beer and slammed it against the little picnic table, wiping his mouth with his hand, "Alright. You wanna go dance? Let's fucking go dancing." He muttered.

Despite Eren's attitude, Armin was brimming with joy, "That worked?! Alright! Let's go!"

The shorter male practically bounced to the unofficial dance floor with Eren trudging not too far behind. When they were in a spot close enough to blend in with the moving and grooving bodied but not too close as to be swimming in people, Armin turned to Eren with that same spark in his eye albeit more nervous than before.

Eren had naturally started bopping to the beat as soon as the vibrations of the speakers reached his body. Armin however stood there awkwardly.

"Alright," Armin looked around like a lost pet, "show me how to dance!" He made something akin to a welcoming gesture to the green-eyed boy.

The brunet quickly examined his surroundings to make sure no one was looking at them. Luckily for him, everyone seemed to be wrapped up in their own business.

"It's really not that hard. All you have to do is-you're too close to me."

Though somewhat mean, Eren's bluntness caused Armin to laugh. He respectfully took a step back though he did so with a mocking look on his face.

The teen rolled his eyes, though a small smirk formed on his lips. The shorter boys laughter was quite contagious, "Look, for beginners all you have to do is just sway from side to side," Eren shuffled his feet just like he had described, each step synchronizing with the beat, "You can literally do this all night and no one will bat an eye. If it were like techno music or something you'd jump but its not so you can just do this and then you let the music take over and tell you what to do with your arms."

He demonstrated by first moving his arms side to side like his feet, then putting an arm up, pointing to the sky while moving it slightly. Then, he stood in place while pounding a foot into the floor and pumping a fist into the air. Finally he stopped and simply swayed with the beat.

"See, you don't need to fucking breakdance or anything-"

"What?!" Armin pointed at his ear, the song had changed into a much louder one.

In response, the green eyed boy tilted his body closer to him, "You don't need to breakdance or break into a fully rehearsed choreography or anything!" He basically screamed, "Just do what I just did and eventually your body will naturally know what to do."

Armin nodded sheepishly.

"Well," Eren still spoke in that louder tone, "What are you waiting for? Do it."

The boy timidly began moving his body around though the shyness of his movements didn't match the energy of the song.

"Move your shoulders more. You're too stiff."

"What?!"

"Move your-" Eren took a step closer to Armin, raising his tone once again, "Move your shoulders more! And the torso, you gotta move the torso! Like this!"

As Eren tried showing Armin a few ways to move his upper body with the beat, the song changed once again to one that he was quite familiar with.

"FUCK! I fucking love this song!" Eren screamed.

In a matter of minutes, Eren went from basic dancing to him doing pop and locks and bodyrolls to the sticky rhythm that blasted into his ears. All the while, the blond boy studied the teen, mimicking a couple of the more basic movements here and there until after a while he found his own, much more reserved, style of dancing.

In the middle of the song, Eren found himself making eye contact with Armin who giggled at the way the brunet had lost himself in the music. Eren laughed as well, a bubbly feeling that he hadn't felt in a long time spread through his stomach.

"Hey! You're Jean's little friend right?"

The two boys turned to look at Hawaiian Shirt guy. The way he sloppily moved with the beat indicated he had drunk his fair share of alcohol. Armin raised an eyebrow.

"Ummm... I guess?"

"Yeah! Jean's told me about you!" He yelled cheerily, "Hi, I'm Marco! You want one of these?" The boy raised one of the two red cups in his hand.

Armin absentmindedly accepted the cup handed to him, "Really? What has he said?"

Eren however, couldn't help but interrupt, "What's that?!"

The cup held a bright orange liquid with a couple of ice cubes floating on top.

"Orange juice!" The dark haired boy said brightly, "Oh yeah mixed in with a little bit of tequila."

Armin pouted, handing the drink over to Eren almost immediately, "Sorry, I'm not a big drinker."

The green eyed boy took a quick sip, his eyes widening at the fruity flavour, "Oh damn, that's some good shit."

Hawaiian shirt guy laughed, "Yeah? I could get you more of those if you wanna get shitfaced tonight!"

Eren chuckled, "Why else would I be here? I'm not leaving till I'm crawling on the floor."

The other boy cackled, "You're gonna need to finish that one first though if you want another one. Come on, CHUG, CHUG, CHUG, CHUG!"

The boys whoops caught the attention of the others close by, causing them to join in on the clamor. Eren shrugged, doing as the audience asked and gulping down the alcoholic beverage without hesitation. He finished with a refreshing "ahhh" which caused the people around him to cheer and laugh excitedly before returning to whatever it was they were doing.

Marco was exhilarated, "Hell yeah dude! H-Hold on! Hold on!"

The boy drank the remains of the other cup he had held onto only to stumble away. He disappeared for a moment, a moment that Armin took to give Eren a teasing look. It didn't take long for the boy to appear before them once again, this time with a new set of cups.

"Here man, you earned it! And another one for you Armin, I know you said you didn't drink but you should at least try it." Marco winked.

"Yeah, if you don't like it you can just give it to me." Eren remarked, looking at his new drink with excitement.

"Marco! Floch is puking all over the place! Kick him out already before I do. He's grossing me out." The tall tan girl Eren had seen before looked at the boy with little patience.

"Oh. Well fuck." He said carelessly.

The girl's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, "Fuck. Seriously? You're drunk too!"

"Whaaaat? No I'm not. I'm as sober as a... very sober person. Look!" The boy formed a very wobbly four with his legs.

The girl rolled her eyes, "Whatever, drunk or not you're dealing with him!"

"Wait! But I was gonna tell Armin that-!"

"I said you're DEALING WITH IT!" And with that she grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him away. The sudden movement caused Marco to trip with his own feet and stumble himself out of the dance floor, hitting a lot of people on the way.

Eren watched them leave until they could no longer be seen. It wasn't until Armin spoke up that he realized he was just standing there.

"Eren? You okay?"

The green eyed boy whipped his head to face Armin. A big mistake, he found out as it caused his surroundings to whip around as well. He blinked a few times to get rid of his confusion. How much tequila were in these drinks again? Oh well, time would tell. He drank from the cool cup once again. There couldn't be too much alcohol in them as the overall taste was sweet. While the orange flavor was definitely present, there was something else in it that enriched it. Maybe a bit of lime with a hint of something else. The bitterness of the alcohol gave it a nice touch so that the sugary taste wouldn't be overpowering.

Eren started dancing once again. "You should try the drink. Its pretty good. You don't have to finish it if you don't want to."

Armin, who also resumed swaying side to side, examined the cup with curious eyes, "Well, one sip can't hurt can it?"

Eren shook his head, "No way!"

The blond boy hesitantly took the cup to his pink lips. After a moment of savouring the flavor, Armin looked up at the taller male with enthusiasm, "Oh wow! You're right! It's pretty good!"

The green eyed boy chuckled. He nodded with the rhythm of the beat, "Told you, now let's dance!"

"UGH! In a moment. There's too many people there and I'm so hot!"

"Huh?" Eren looked around bewildered. They were no longer at the dance floor. They were sitting on a new picnic table that was a couple of feet away.

Armin rested his head on said table with half-lidded eyes and a flushed face.

"Are you okay? You look a little red." The green eyed boy was astounded to hear his own voice slurring a bit.

"I'm okay," the blond made a waving motion, "...probably shouldn't have drank that thing Marco gave me. I think it made me a little sick..."

Eren chuckled, "Sick? You're probably just tipsy."

He looked at the half empty cup in his hand. He had sworn he had already finished his drink. Had he gotten another one at some point? He couldn't remember. The brunet left said cup on the table and changed his position to where he was no longer facing the table, rather looking outward to the people dancing not too far ahead. However, his limbs felt light and his body tingled which caused his movements to have very little grace.

"You're one to talk, you can barely stay still!"

"I'm fiiineee, I'm fiineee. I'm just, just..." Eren flailed his arms around, trying to find the word he was looking for, then slumping completely against the table, "...relaxed."

The shorter male giggled, "Ok. Mr. Relaxed, well I'm tired, I-I'm Mr. Tired so just like- give me a moment before we go dancing again."

The brunet rolled his eyes, "Fiiine, whatever. But what are we supposed to do meanwhile? Just sit here looking at all the people?"

Eren scanned the place. He hadn't even realized more people had arrived and it sounded like the speakers were blasting music even louder than before. Not to mention the place was starting to look like a mess. He saw cute blonde girl making out with tall brunet chick in a corner and Hawaiian Shirt guy screaming the lyrics of the rap song playing from the top of his lungs all the while holding an empty bottle of tequila in his right hand. In an instant, the teen remembered why they were there in the first place.

"Oh yeah," he blurted out, "when are you gonna fuck that guy? What was his name? Jacob? Jason?"

Armin slapped his shoulder, "First of all his name is Jean! Second of all..." he crossed his arms on the table and buried his chin in them, leaving only his nose and eyes exposed, "I just wanted to spend some time with him..."

Eren stared at the boy. Armin's disheartened eyes left the brunet feeling sad as well, and frankly a little pissed. He looked back at the crowd of drunken teens.

"You should do something to capture his attention. It's like you said, the night is still young, you still got a chance."

"Oh yeah, how am I supposed to do that?" His tone was pessimistic but he still rose his head to look at Eren at eye level.

Eren thought about it for a bit, though his ideas were so jumbled up he could barely decipher what they were, "Do something crazy like streaking! Or beat a guy up! No, no, kiss one of his best friends! Yeah, that'll drive him nuts."

Armin huffed, "I am NOT kissing one of his friends."

"Why not? Think of it this way, this guy flirts with you non-stop, invites you to a party. Suddenly, he's too much of a cool guy for you. Oh yeah? Too cool for me? Well, BAM! I'm making out with your friend, serves you right for ignoring me." The teen nodded to himself, quite pleasant with his own plan.

The blond plopped his head back onto his arms, "Sounds like something a toxic girlfriend would do."

"But-!" Eren raised a single finger, "they get results."

Armin giggled, "That's dumb."

The clamorous sound of glass shattering against the floor rang. The green-eyed boy lazily rolled his head to see what had happened. Hawaiian Shirt guy was cackling, hands holding his belly and all, all the while Jean supported the other boy to keep him from falling over, "Dude, the hell has gotten into you?!"

Eren elbowed his coworker who groaned in response, "Owwwww... what was that for?"

The brunet sluggishly raised a finger, pointing it towards Marco, "There's your answer. Kiss him."

Armin grabbed Eren's arm and lowered it in an irritated fashion, "Didn't your mom teach you that its rude to point at people?"

Eren hiccuped, his head spinning with all the alcohol, "I dunno. My mom's dead." He muttered without much thought.

Armin's eyes widened in surprise, his body now being fully erect, "What? Oh Eren... I'm so sorry, I totally forgot..." His eyes watered.

The brunet waved him off, "It's ok I don't really- are you crying? What the hell? Why are you crying?"

Armin's eyes only watered more.

"Because I'm a bad person!" Armin covered his eyes with his hands, "I'm so sorry," he blubbered, "I was so insensitive to say that!..."

He was not sober enough for this.

What were you supposed to do when someone was crying?

Eren threw an arm over Armin and dragged the blond's head to his chest. Armin immediately stopped crying, too busy being utterly perplexed to continue. Since his head was buried in Eren's chest, he couldn't see Eren's face to try and decipher what the hell the taller boy was thinking. So instead, he awkwardly pat Eren's arm with the hand that wasn't being totally crushed against Eren's body. He couldn't help but ask, "Uhhh... what are you doing?"

The green-eyed boy closed his eyes for a moment before answering, hoping that it would help the place stop spinning so much, "Hugging you. So you stop crying."

Armin was silent. He appreciated the gesture but it was also just... so ... weird?

"Uhhmmm... thanks. You can let go of me now. I feel better."

However, Eren didn't budge.

"Are you sure? 'Cause you say that but I got a feeling that you-you're just gonna burst into tears again the moment I let you go."

"No, no, I'm sure!" His voice was a bit muffled due to how plastered he was against Eren's jacket.

Opening his eyes, they roamed to where Marco and Jean had been standing not too long ago. Instead, Marco was now sitting down on the grass, further away this time. He was as vulnerable as a rat was to a cat.

"Bingo." Eren hiccuped. He let go of Armin's head only to grab his hand instead. With his free hand, he snatched the red cup he had left on the table earlier and swallowed the remaining contents in one swift gulp.

Before the blond boy could protest, the brunet dragged him off in Marco's direction.

The sound of glass slamming against the marble counter made Eren's consciousness crash back into his body. He stood in a kitchen with dark blue walls and white counters. Marco yelled out a small victory scream, having just drunk a shot like Eren and slamming the shot glass as well.

"Amiright or amiright?"

"Saywhatnow?" Eren held onto the counter to keep himself from swaying so much.

"I saaaid amiright or amiright? This 's quality tequila." Marco's words slurred so much, Eren could barely understand.

Oh. So that's what he drank.

"Armin! Duntthink I furgot about you." He shuffled to the fridge where he clumsily took out a large pitcher holding a red beverage. He grabbed a plastic cup from where there was a pile wrapped in a plastic bag and filled it to the brim with said liquid.

"Here, try this! 'S really good. Strawberry flavoured instead of orange. Came out so delicious 'sat wewere keeping -hicc- keeping it to arselves but you're prutty cool."

Eren hadn't even noticed the blond boy standing next to him. His cheeks were still flushed and his eyes a bit droopy but all around in a much better state than the other two.

"Oh I don't know... I already drank half of the other one-"

"Only half?!" Marco questioned.

Armin held his hands behind his back, "Yeah... Eren drank the last half for me..."

He had?

"Then there's nothing to worry about! Here yuhknow what? Les do something."

He reached for another plastic cup and only filled it halfway. The boy then added a bit of water and mixed it with a spoon he had retrieved from one of the several drawers.

Handing it to Armin he said, "Juss try it! If yuh dunt like it yuhcan give it tah me er Eren."

Even though the short teen vacillated, curiosity gleamed in his eyes, "Well, ok. I'll taste it at least."

The moment the taste hit his tongue, a gasp escaped Armin's lips, "Wow! This is really good! It's even better than the orange flavoured one."

Marco closed his eyes and nodded, not opening them for another while. Eren wondered if the tall boy was going to fall asleep right then and there.

"Eren, taste it!" Armin insisted.

The beverage was shoved into his hands before he could say anything, so out of pure habit he raised the cup to his lips. It was definitely tasty. The strawberry flavour was powerful and it was much sweeter than the orange version. However, the green eyed boy couldn't imagine drinking too much of that without getting sick of so much sugar.

Eren returned the drink to its rightful owner, "Yeah, its pretty good."

Marco's eyes snapped open and in a crystal clear voice said, "I'll be right back."

Eren didn't know if it was because of his drunken state or if Marco had indeed been that quick but the tall boy practically disappeared from the room without a second warning.

"What was that all about?" He muttered, trying his best to not slur his words.

Armin shrugged and sipped from his drink.

"And where are we?" Eren questioned.

Armin raised an eyebrow, "What? Are you joking or do you really not know?"

All it took was for Eren to look at Armin's eyes for the shorter boy to know that he wasn't kidding.

"You know maybe you should lay off the drinking a bit. I know we said we were gonna get you drunk but we don't want you getting alcohol poisoning either." He laid a soft hand on Eren's forearm.

Eren shivered.

"Yeah... I-I think I've had enuff."

Armin nodded, "Good. Well basically, after we had taken a break from dancing you decided it was a genius idea to drag me to Marco to try to convince him that I was cute and that we should totally kiss- he's not gay by the way. Lucky for me, Marco's so drunk right now that he just laughed it off- to be honest I don't even think he really understood what you were saying.

"Anyway, Marco said he needed to pee and you said you needed to pee so we all went inside the house to pee. Then Marco offered you a shot of tequila and you accepted. So now," Armin pressed his lips together and gestured at the room, "we're in Jean's kitchen."

Eren scratched the back of his neck, "I furgot all that?"

The blond giggled, "Yeah. I only wish I could forget," He facepalmed, "and I pray to the GODS that Marco forgets."

"Ha! 'hat guy's worse off than me. Trust me he won't be ruhmembering any of this."

"Yeah well I just hope you don't end up the same."

The brunet shook his head. "No, no. I'm done. That's 'nuff drinking for me. Just hope that shot doesn't hit me too hard." He laughed nervously.

Spoiler alert. It did.

Next thing he knew, they were at the backyard again, dancing their little hearts out. Eren could barely move an inch without bumping into someone else but he didn't care and neither did Armin. The smaller boy had loosened up considerably and was now bouncing to the beat without any awkwardness or stiffness in sight. The two boys made eye contact which incited Armin to laugh. The lipgloss had long disappeared from his lips and the mascara had spread with the sweat which left behind a tinge of black around Armin's eyes. It made them pop out more. Blond strips of hair clung to the side of his cheeks and hairs that had escaped from the clips Armin had worn on his hair stuck to his forehead. At some point, Armin had lost his white cardigan.

"You having fun?" Armin asked sweetly.

"Who knows. There's a lot things I don't know lately." Eren said.

The stars twinkled up above, swimming in an ocean of blackness. What time was it?

Armin chuckled sadly, "I get it. For a long time a lot of people hurt me too but I wasn't like you. I was stupid enough to stick around. I let them make me feel like shit. It took me way too long to realize that I didn't deserve that. My mom and dad hadn't taken the time to raise me, take care of me, love me, build me up to the maximum just so some random person would knock me down. I try not to make the same mistake you know? But it's hard. I don't wanna be one of those people that are apathetic to everything. I wanna help people grow and learn but there are some really evil people out there that will take advantage of that- that'll take advantage of you. And that's scary..."

Eren was sprawled out on the ground. The grass felt fresh against his hot skin. He found Armin on his left. He too was on the ground, still sweaty from all the dancing.

What was Armin talking about? What had Eren said? What the hell was going on?

Even though he was laying down, he felt like the world was moving like a hammock and it caused him to feel a mixture of tranquility and nausea.

"You know Eren..." Armin broke the moment of silence, "I think there's more to you than meets the eye." Armin turned to rest on his side, looking at Eren head on, "Whatever you're scared of showing, you can tell me. I'm good at keeping secrets."

Eren looked at him dumbfounded. The smaller boy giggled, "But you gotta put in some work too, you know? I have an inkling that we could be really good friends but it depends on your willingness to open up."

The brunet still looked at him like a deer in the headlights. A lot of feelings and thoughts surged through him but he couldn't make out any of them.

Armin examined him like a sample under a microscope, "Do you wanna be friends?"

Dance for the money, girl, show me what you got

Move it all around, yuh, show me what you got

Everyone's looking at you, you're a star baby,

Keep on shaking that thing yuh, all eyes on you

Even though he was absolutely exhausted, Eren couldn't stop dancing. He wanted to dance until the world around him fell apart. Now that the place was considerably less crowded than before, he had more space to express himself. And he would've danced till his feet fell off if Armin hadn't tugged on his shirt. He too had lost his jacket at some point.

"Eren..." he panted, "Eren I'm exhausted."

The brunet stopped dancing. It was in that moment that he realized he had double vision. Eren rested a hand on Armin's shoulder to anchor himself to reality.

"Me too..." he breathed out.

Armin looked up at him with those big blue eyes that made his stomach lurch, "Maybe we should go home... I think that's been enough fun for one night."

The small boy pushed Eren away from all the people and the taller male let it be as he was too drunk to put up any resistance. The blond stopped when they were close to one of the many picnic tables where Armin's cardigan and Eren's jacket laid in wait of their owner.

Just as Armin was about to turn to grab his sweater, Eren instinctively grabbed the blond's wrist. He hadn't known why so he just made up an excuse.

"W-Wait... we leaving a'ready? W-What 'bout Jean?" His voice was wobbly much like his whole body.

Armin shook his head, "Let's just go home..."

Eren looked around for the tall boy. The place was absolutely trashed. All kinds of garbage was scattered around on the grass and the once neatly organized tables were now covered in chip crumbs and a variety of liquids. Ten or fifteen people still stayed though Eren couldn't recognize any familiar faces like Marco's or the couple of girls they had noticed earlier. However, just when Armin was retrieving his arm from the brunets grip, his eyes landed on the person he had just been looking for.

Jean was nearby a group of three people. Though said group was sitting down, Jean was standing tall with his arms crossed and an irritated look on his face, all but ignoring the conversation his friends were having. His eyes struck through Eren like lightning.

"Armin, Armin..." Eren whispered.

Said boy had finished putting on his cardigan and hadn't even noticed the tense stare off between the two boys, "What's up?"

Eren turned to look at the blond, "Don't -hicc- don't look know b-but Jean's s-staring aht us."

"What?" He whispered in a panicked tone, "Really? Does he look like he wants to say goodbye or something? Should I go to him or should we just leave?"

Armin shuffled closer as he asked for advice. He was so close in fact that Eren found himself drowning in the boy's charm. Armin was truly beautiful, handsome yes, but also beautiful. Golden hair, eyes that held the vastness of the ocean and the sky, lips and cheeks a lovely shade of purity and pink.

He was reminded of how he had felt when Levi Ackerman had gotten up close to treat his wound. Nervous, confused yet unequivocally enthralled.

"You gotta..." he said in a tone so soft, even with how close Armin was he couldn't make out the words.

"What was that?" The boy tilted his head like a puppy.

Eren's lips went dry.

"You gotta... you gotta catch his attention..." His eyes began closing on their own accord.

Just as the words slipped through, Eren's mind shut down and his body took over, closing the gap and pressing his lips against Armin's. The moment they made contact, electricity shot through his body, exciting every cell in his body. The emotions awakening inside of him made him feel elated, but as Armin quickly jerked back in shock, Eren felt his spirit plummeting, violently crashing back onto Earth.

His eyes shot back open, the reality of the situation dawning on him. Armin was just as confused as he was to the point where he was struggling to come up with words.

"Eren! I- uh- what- I'm not- I'm... what?"

"I- I- I didn't mean too... I don't-"

Jean all but teleported behind of Eren, aggressively grabbing onto his shoulder and pushing him away from Armin, "Leave him alone! He's not interested buddy." His teeth clenched with that last word.

Jean's scream had garnered unwanted attention from a couple of the remaining guests which only amplified the humiliation Eren felt rising in his stomach. Not knowing what to do, Eren retaliated in an even more aggressive manner.

"Don't fucking touch me!" He shoved the other boy as hard as he could.

Jean tumbled backwards. The moment he regained his balance, fury burned in his eyes.

"Okay! Asshole! You wanna go? Let's fucking go!"

Armin, who had been too stunned to do or say anything other than hold a hand to his lips, quickly interjected, "W-Wait! Let's all just calm down! We don't want any of this getting out of hand."

"Out of hand, out of hand?! This got out of hand when this asswipe decided to kiss you without your permission!"

Eren felt the stares incinerating his body. Though everybody confused his deep blush as a symptom of his rage, in reality it was the result of a bruised ego.

Now everyone was probably looking at Eren thinking, oh, this guy kissed that person? Isn't that person a guy too? They must be gay. A homo. A goddamn monster.

They didn't know the truth. They didn't know that Armin acted all cutesy and in his drunken stupor, Eren had fallen in the blond boys trap. They didn't know anything.

Eren shook with anger. All he wanted to do was to destroy Jean, pulverize him to dust for having humiliated him this way. Just as he was about to let all his wrath explode, Armin shoved Eren's jacket in his arms and in a shaky voice pleaded, "Please Eren, let's just go!"

Jean wasn't having it though.

"No! No way!" Jean stepped in between the two boys, "You're not going anywhere with this creep!"

Armin was opening him mouth to refute when Eren couldn't take it anymore. He was suffocating with all the attention.

Throwing his arms violently into the air he yelled, "Fine! Good even! I'm fucking leaving your shitty ass party. I'm not taking any shit from a pussy like you! Spend the whole night looking our way but too afraid to do anything about it. Pussy. You're a fucking coward!" Eren spat in the most venomous tone he could concoct.

He stomped away, giving zero shits about anything. He didn't turn back to look at Jean or Armin, he didn't even care about how Armin would get home that night. Eren was absolutely seething. All he wanted was for everyone in that backyard to drop dead.

The moment he was far enough from the house, his stomping became more of a brisk walk. He didn't want anyone to see the angry tears that begun streaming down his face. The last thing he remembered was just wanting to go home and sleep till his body would rot.

From that night to the day he would die, Eren never knew what happened after that. He never knew of how he had terrified a young man walking home that had confused Eren for an insane person, Eren never knew of the homeless man that was about to rob him until a certain bodyguard silently intervened. And most of all, Eren never knew of how his fury was so massive that it collapsed onto him to the point where it mixed with the alcohol and made him sick. He would never have a memory of how his knees gave in only to throw up in the middle of the sidewalk, creating a puddle that the passerby would have to step over the next day. And most importantly, Eren would never know of how after vomiting, he passed out on the middle of the street, alone and vulnerable until Levi Ackerman came to clean him up a bit, pick him up and safely take him home.