Chapter Fourteen

Mikasa ended up missing the next day of school. He felt bad. She must be pretty sick to miss school. Armin smiled at Ymir as she walked into Chemistry. She nodded her head at him. He was standing by his desk, looking at Mikasa's empty one when suddenly arms around him, and his back was pressed into someone's barrel chest. "What is happening?" He asked.

"Sasha said I was supposed to hug you." Reiner's voice came from above him. "She's right. You ARE like a teddy bear."

"This is not happening."

"How were you talking to Sasha?" Ymir asked.

"Group chat." Reiner answered, letting go of Armin.

"What group chat?" Armin asked, turning around to look at Reiner.

"Oh my god. You guys have a group chat without Armin?" Ymir guffawed.

"I can add you." Reiner said quickly.

"It's fine." Armn said, sitting down.

"No, really."

"I don't see you offering to add me." Ymir said in a mock offended tone.

"Do you WANT me to add you?"

"Who's in it?"

"Me, Sasha, Connie, Bertolt, Jean, and Eren."

"Wait, wait, wait. Jaeger is in a group chat…with Kirschstein…that Armin is not in? Am I hearing this right?"

"I think I'd prefer to stay out of it, actually." Armin said, looking at them. He knew, given the people in it, that they would blow up his phone if he joined, and it would be a bunch of stupid crap. Ymir laughed.

Before anyone could say anything else, the teacher walked in and started class. The day passed like any other, though three more people came up and hugged him, all exclaiming that he was indeed extremely huggable. He'd honestly expected it from Connie, though he was a little surprised when Bertolt did it. The truly surprising one was when Historia hugged him at the end of Economics. "Seriously? How do you even know about this?"

"Ymir told me." She giggled.

"Of course she did." Armin shot Ymir a dirty look around Historia. Ymir just grinned at him. He felt oddly lonely at lunch, because Eren actually decided to go to his music class.

"I told you Jaeger was only here for Ackerman. Look, she's not here and neither is he." Annie said.

"Shut up, Annie." Reiner said, shooting a glare at her around Bertolt.

"It does seem a little harsh." Bertolt said.

"That's not what I meant." Reiner replied. "I don't care about her insulting Eren."

Armin was staring down at the table. He looked up and gave Annie a half hearted smile. "I don't know what you do with all the space, Annie. A whole bench to yourself seems like too much."

"You're welcome to come sit with me if you're lonely." Annie replied.

The table grew quiet for a few moments as Armin blushed and looked down again. "Armin, did you really say you're an equal opportunity kisser?" Historia asked.

He looked over at her. "Um, yes. It just sort of came out."

"I'm more surprised you offered to kiss Jean. What did his face look like?" Reiner asked.

"Like he was going to melt." Ymir laughed.

"You should have seen his face when Armin hugged him." Annie said without looking up from her food.

"Oh my god, they hugged?" Historia giggled.

Armin could feel his face flushing again. He looked back down at the table. He wasn't even sure why he was blushing. "You know, Ymir, you're like the only one who hasn't hugged me in the past two days."

Ymir stared at him. "Do you want me to hug you, Armin?"

"I don't know, but it feels like there's this tension between us because it hasn't happened yet." He was fighting to hide his smile.

Ymir stood up. "Ymir, what are you doing?" Historia asked, her voice concerned.

"I'll do you one better than a hug, Mr. Equal-Opportunity-Kisser." She smirked, standing over him. Armin felt like something bad was about to happen. Sure enough, Ymir leaned down, grabbed his chin and pressed her lips to his. He glanced across the table and saw wide eyed looks of shock. Reiner and Bertolt had their mouths open. Annie looked like she was grinding her teeth. Meanwhile, Historia had facepalmed.

Armin recoiled violently when he felt Ymir's tongue on his lips. He fell backwards and banged his head on the bench. Ymir laughed and straightened up. "What is wrong with you?" Historia huffed.

"Are you okay, Armin?" Annie asked.

"That sounded like it hurt." Bertolt commented.

"I think I've been violated. I need an adult." Armin said quietly.

That made Ymir laugh even more. "Come on, lover boy. It's time for gym."

Gym class ended up being Armin's worst nightmare. They were playing dodgeball. "I'm going to die." Armin said quietly as the captains were picked.

"Haven't you played this game before?" Jean asked.

"Yeah, but I always just hid behind Mikasa. She was always a captain and she always picked me." Not surprisingly, Armin was one of the last kids picked. He didn't blame them. He wouldn't pick himself either. He ended up on the same team as Jean, Annie, and Historia. Ymir was on the other team. It wasn't long into the first game before Armin dove behind Annie. "Annie, save me!"

"Armin, be a man!" Jean called to him.

"I am comfortable enough with my masculinity to hide behind a strong woman!" He watched Ymir get Historia out.

"I'll protect you on one condition." Annie said.

"What the condition?"

Annie looked at him as she stepped out from in front of him. "You tell me who you're dating."

She could be so mean. But he knew he had to act as he saw a ball coming for his head. So, he blurted out the first name that came to mind as he dove behind Annie. "Jean! I'm dating Jean!"

"WHAT?!" Armin looked over to see Jean's jaw drop open. He also got to witness the moment Jean got nailed in the face with a ball Armin suspected was thrown by Ymir, given her reaction, which was to double over while laughing hysterically. The ball hit Jean hard enough to knock him to the ground.

"Holy shit!" Armin exclaimed.

"Ow! Fuck!" Jean yelled, his hands over his face.

"Please don't let that happen to me." Armin said to Annie.

"You're lucky you're cute and I want to keep it that way." She patted his cheek. "Fine, I'll protect you."

Armin came out on the other side of gym class alright, which was more than could be said for Jean. Jean's nose was already showing a bruise. "I cannot believe you just hid behind Annie the whole damn time. Or that she let you."

"You see, Jean, I am small and adorable. I have a baby face and big blue eyes. People think I look like a baby animal and have a strong desire to protect me, especially girls. I've accepted it. You gotta learn to work with what you got."

"You're unbelievable."

"And yet I'm not the one who got nailed in the face." Armin grinned as they headed out of the locker room.

"That seriously hurt." Jean moaned.

"I wasn't watching but I'm about 95% sure it was Ymir who threw it."

"Of course she did, wicked bitch."

"Do you ever consider that it's because you call her names that she does things like cream you in dodgeball?"

"She's a chaos harpy who likes to watch the world burn. It wouldn't matter if I didn't call her names. She would still pull this shit."

Armin shrugged as he stopped outside his study hall. "Look, I'm not saying there's a correlation, but I don't call her names and she's never attempted to take my head off."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll talk to you later."

"Have fun in trig." Armin turned and walked into the classroom, where he was immediately cornered by Eren.

"Is it true that Ymir kissed you at lunch?"

"Jesus, Eren! Give a guy a second to get his bearings." Armin stepped around him and walked to his desk.

Eren followed him. "Well? Is it?"

"Yes, Ymir kissed me at lunch. I'm thoroughly traumatized. How do you know about this?"

"Bertolt told me in chemistry. Why did she do it?"

"Because, and I'm quoting Jean here, she's a chaos harpy who likes to watch the world burn. Also I may have slightly egged her on, though that was not the end result I was after."

"I can't see that being an end result anyone would be after." Eren said sympathetically.

"Historia." Armin commented, making Eren nod his head in agreement. "So, how's Mikasa?"

"She was texting me earlier. Still feels like crap."

"That's too bad."

"I missed her in trig." Sasha said, having just walked into the room. "Tell her I hope she feels better."

"I will." Eren said.

"Hey, speaking of telling people things, Sasha. Could you stop telling people to hug me?"

"Do you not like hugs, Armin?"

"It's not that I don't like them. It's that I prefer to consent to them instead of being randomly grabbed. It's a personal space thing."

"You've never had an issue with me." Eren said.

"I've known you since I was six. You're family at this point."

That made Eren smile. "Do you need me to be your bodyguard? Protect you from all forms of unsolicited PDA?"

"How are you going to be my bodyguard when we never see each other?"

"I'll just skip all my classes. Follow you around all day."

"Can't possibly see how that might go wrong."

"No, no, but think about it. It won't be like I'm missing any of the core classes. I just started taking them at a different time. This is genius."

"This is a terrible idea." Clearly they had a laid back proctor today. So, Armin decided to sit on his desk. Eren and Sasha followed his example.

"I think your plan has merit, Eren." Sasha said.

"Don't encourage him, Sasha." Armin shook his head. "You don't have to deal with the fall out from when he tried his little plan, which will only get him as far as 2nd period before Mikasa drags him off to his scheduled class."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I have 2nd period with Mikasa, and so that's how far he will make it before she drags him off to their third period history class."

"Shit, you're right. Dammit." Eren sighed. "Well, it was a good dream while it lasted."

"I'm sorry to have to rain on your parade. But it's better it happens now than when Mikasa has a hold of you by the ear."

"Mikasa pulls you around by the ear?" Sasha asked.

"She learned it from Mom." Eren huffed.

"Ouch." Sasha winced sympathetically.

"It is rather painful."

"Hey, Eren, want to hear something funny?" Armin asked.

"Do you even have to ask?"

"In gym class, Jean took a dodgeball to the face."

"What? Why are you just telling me now? Tell me everything!" Eren looked absolutely delighted. He had a weird relationship with Jean. Sometimes, it was like they were good friends. Other times, it was like they hated each other, which they had when they first met. Armin could never figure out what their relationship was and just operated under the guise that they were begrudgingly friends for the sake of all their mutual friends.

"Okay, so I was hiding behind Annie."

"Understandable. Mikasa's not in your gym class."

"Thank you for not judging me like Jean did."

"Like you said, I've known you since we were six. Also, I'm better than old Horse Face. Please continue."

"Okay, well Jean was yelling at me, and I just got to watch this ball come sailing through the air and it just nailed him in the face. He went flying through the air and hit the ground. And he swore a lot."

Eren had his eyes closed and a wicked smile on his face. Armin knew he was picturing what Armin was describing. "I want you to know that this has cleared my skin and watered my crops."

Armin shook his head. "Jean's going to have a bruised face."

"Even better." Eren opened his eyes. "Do you know who threw it?"

"I wasn't looking, but I'm pretty sure it was Ymir."

"Oh, that beautiful girl. I could kiss her."

"I already did, and I don't recommend it."

Sasha's eyes had been flicking back and forth between them like she was watching a tennis match. "Seriously, you two are friendship goals." She finally said.

"We try." Eren said. "I am seriously going to fall asleep tonight to the sweet vision of Horse Face getting creamed."

"You're terrible, you know." Armin said, shaking his head.

"And yet you're the one told me, so what does that make you?"

"An enabler.' Armin answered simply.
"Armin?" A voice behind him said.

He spun around and saw two of their classmates, Mina Carolina and Hanna Diamont. "Hey guys. What's up?"

"Well, we heard it was your birthday over the weekend." Mina started.

"And we got you a present." Hanna finished.

The two girls held out a small wrapped box. "You girls didn't have to do that." He smiled, reaching out and taking it.

"We wanted to." You're always so sweet to everyone, helping everyone when they need it, and always remembering everyone's birthday." Hanna said.

"We just wanted to repay a little bit of that kindness." Mina smiled.

"Go ahead and open it." Hanna giggled.

"Okay." Armin glanced back at Eren before unwrapping the present.

"Thomas and Franz also chipped in." Mina added.

Armin opened up the box to see a mug inside. He pulled it out and saw it had their class photo on it, with all of his friends. And it said, 'we love you oodles, Armin.' He thought he might cry as he looked up at the girls. "Thank you so much. I love it."

"Awe, we're glad." Hanna looked like she might cry too.

Armin set the mug down and pulled Hanna into a hug. "Make sure you tell Franz I said thank you." He whispered.

"I will." She whispered back before pulling away.

"Can I have a hug?" Mina asked.

"Of course." Armin hugged her as well.

"Oh my god, Sasha! You were right." Mina gasped.

"I told you." Sasha giggled.

Armin hung his head. "I swear to God, Sasha."

"Uh oh. He sounds mad." Mina giggled, pulling away.

Armin spun around and shot Sasha a glare. "How many people did you tell?"

"Um…everyone I know."

"Ha! You're so fucked dude!" Eren grinned.

"Thanks for your support. I swear, if this turns into a whole thing and I just keep getting hugged by random people, I'm going to kill-no. I'm going to sic Mikasa on you!"

Sasha gasped loudly. "You wouldn't!"

"I would!" He hissed. "And YOU!" he turned his attention to Eren.

"What did I do?' Eren asked indignantly.

"This is all your fault. You're the one who told Sasha."

"Oh shit, I did. Would it help if I said I love you?"

Armin considered it for a moment. "It might."

Eren hopped off his desk and stood in front of Armin. "Armin, you're my oldest friend and I love you more than I love my father."

Armin shook his head and looked down at the mug again. He wasn't used to feeling this loved. He could feel the tears in his eyes. Ugh, he didn't want to cry at school. But Eren really showed he was Armin's best friend. He wrapped his arms around Armin, hugging him close so that Armin's face was hidden. "Hey, you all better back off!" Eren exclaimed to the classroom. "Armin is MY teddy bear! And Mikasa's. Not your's. We found him first. So, you all need to stop stepping in our territory, or we'll start kicking asses."

Armin took the time to wipe his eyes. "Eren, you can't threaten to kick people's asses at school." He whispered.

"Okay, my teddy bear says I can't threaten people, so pretend I never said that last bit." The class laughed. "But my threat still stands."

The final bell rang. "Alright, get off." He gently pushed Eren off and grabbed his stuff. He carefully put the mug back in the box and put the whole thing in his backpack.

"Come on!" Eren said, seizing Armin's hand. "Let's go see Mikasa!" Armin let himself get towed from the room by Eren, with Sasha trailing behind giggling.