The next day, Armin was finally able to return to school.
He hoped that none of the other students would comment on his long absence, or how he already looked to be gaining weight from the baby inside him. All he really wanted to do was get his late homework and try to get through the rest of the day without much incident. Eren and Mikasa, of course, kept nearby to make sure he wasn't harassed.
For most of the day, it was rather normal, at least until Armin was on his way to his last class. Then he could feel a definite sense of dread lurking by. As he went down the hall with the multitude of other students, he could see Jean coming towards him on the other side of the hallway. Jean looked none too happy, with an incredibly dark look on his face. One of the other students didn't realize this, and tried initiating conversation.
"Heeeey, Jean!" One of their friends, Connie, called out to him when he was getting closer. "Me and the other football players were all gonna splurge our asses off after the next big game! We'd love to have our star quarterback there-"
Jean didn't let him finish. As soon as he was close enough, he flattened his palm against Connie's face, and roughly pushed him away. He didn't even bother to look and see whether or not Connie was all right.
All the other students watched him continue down the hallway, one of his hands clenched into a fist. When he was gone, the whispering and gossiping began.
...
Upon arriving back home after school, Jean made a beeline for his room, not acknowledging his mother sitting in the kitchen when she greeted him. He made certain that he didn't want to be bothered by her by slamming his bedroom door.
Once he was inside his room, Jean strode over to his bed and flopped onto it, letting his face hit the pillow.
Then came the tears, and sobbing. It hurt him immensely knowing he would soon be a father, and had his offer of marital security rejected. But he didn't know how else to take responsibility for an unplanned pregnancy. He had been so caught up in his emotions, that when his phone rang, it caught him completely off guard. Grabbing it, Jean took a good look at who was calling him:
Marco.
"Hello?" Although Marco went to a different high school than Jean did, the both of them were still quite close; they had been since they were kids.
"Jean! Hi." The way he was talking confirmed what Jean was dreading.
"You already know, don't you?"
There was a pause before Marco answered. "Yeah. Kind of a sticky situation you got caught up in."
Jean could feel his tears well up again. He had to keep wiping his face with the back of his hand as the both of them talked about Jean's predicament.
...
Later that afternoon, the two met up at the mall in town to continue discussing the best course of action.
It wasn't too hard to find Marco; not many other young men wore their school uniform long after the school day was done. He also had the common sense to gesture where he was.
"Yoohoo! Jean! Over here!" From the look of things, Marco already planned ahead in regards to their visit. The amount of food court purchases seemed a bit much.
It was over barbecued pulled pork sandwiches and large Orange Julius drinks that the both of them further discussed the current situation. The whole time, Jean looked absolutely miserable.
"I'm a fuckin' idiot, aren't I, Marco?" His sudden question got Marco to change the direction of his current planning.
"I wouldn't go that far, but I will say that marriage usually isn't the first thing seventeen year old fathers to be bringing up. Normally they suggest abortion first.
"Did you tell your mother yet, at least?"
Jean shook his head while resting it on one of his raised hands. "Dunno what to say to her. I can't exactly go up to her and say 'Hey Mom, you're gonna be a grandma in a few months! What's for dinner?'."
Now he just slumped over onto the table and hid his face in his arms.
...
Armin was noticing that his clothes were already starting to get a bit tight around the waist. This made the whole situation a touch more real. He supposed that since he was carrying this child, that'd make him the mother or something to that effect.
"None of this is your fault, ok?" He whispered to his flat stomach. "You may not have been planned, but I in no way consider you a mistake."
He didn't know how Eren and Mikasa themselves felt about it (probably none too pleased), but he himself didn't hate this transforming bundle of cells. It wasn't at fault for being conceived at the time it had been. He could never hate it.
Putting away the shirt he'd been trying on, Armin checked to see if he had his wallet. When he found it, he grabbed any money in it and shoved it into his back pocket.
Maybe it was time to go and check out some new clothes in case he needed them.
...
Upon arriving, Armin could feel a sense of foreboding come upon him the moment he walked through the doors.
A quick glance around the food court showed him why: at a table on the far side of the court showed Jean talking it up with his friend Marco. He looked exhausted and in pain.
Against his better judgment, Armin gradually made his way over to them. Right away, Marco noticed him, but Jean wasn't quite aware just yet.
"Jean?" Saying his name when he got close enough, Armin watched Jean beginning to look up. When it occurred to him who it was, he suddenly jumped out of the chair he had been sitting in, and quickly got to his feet.
Neither Armin nor Marco could stop him from sprinting off.
...
Once Jean ran into the changing room of a sporting goods store, he slid down the surprisingly dingy wall and began to have an emotional breakdown.
It was already bad enough that Armin rejected his proposal. Now he was bothering him in public. He must've been trying to rub in his face the fact that he'd rejected him over something.
Jean didn't answer when he heard Marco's voice on the other side of the door. He simply buried his face into his knees, hoping that if he waited long enough, Marco would leave him alone.
...
"Jean! Jean, are you in here?" Marco was trying not to knock too hard against the door, out of fear that he might break through it. Behind him, Armin stood in an oddly stiff manner, chewing his bottom lip between his teeth.
Both of them waited for a response. When there wasn't one, Marco tried again.
"Come on, Jean! Get out of there and we can discuss all of this-"
"No! Go away!" Jean certainly sounded quite irate right now. "I'm not coming back out until you're both gone!"
Marco turned back to look at Armin, who in turn approached himself and gently rapped on the door to give it a try.
"Jean-" But he didn't get any farther than saying his name before he got a similar reaction.
"Get lost! I don't need you making everything worse!"
Armin pursed his lips together in frustration. "Jean, please. Quit acting like a child about this."
This just seemed to infuriate Jean even more. "Well, according to you, that's precisely what I am! I'm just a big stupid child who can't be allowed to take responsibility for a baby I helped make!"
He wasn't done with his self-deprecating tirade. "That's all I am! I'm a stupid seventeen year old kid! Apparently I'm not fit to care for myself, let alone my own kid! I-I...I..."
Now he faltered, going silent besides a few choked sobs. Marco and Armin glanced at each other, trying to figure out what to say or do next. Then Marco stepped forward again to talk to Jean some more.
"Jean?" He was much calmer this time. "Jean, please. If you'd just come out of there, we can discuss all this and try to get it all worked out. Can you at least do that for us?"
At first there was no answer. Then, the dressing room door slowly creaked open, revealing Jean shaking with emotion.
"It's okay, come on," Marco whispered to him, as though coaxing a frightened puppy out from under a porch.
...
Jean and Armin, at their request, were left alone now, having left the mall to go to Jean's house. Marco still remained close in case anything went awry.
Neither of them said anything; they were quiet on the way back, and they were quiet now. It seemed they couldn't think of anything to say, or they just couldn't put any of it into words.
Jean was looking down at his feet, maybe being ashamed of how petulant he'd been acting earlier. Armin wished he could try and make him feel better about that; extreme as his reaction had been, it was somewhat understandable.
Then, without warning, Jean reached over to place a hand over Armin's still flat belly. He gently rubbed it up and down, before pressing his fingertips against it. While doing that, he also leaned in and pressed his lips against it. Not knowing what to say to that, Armin leaned back and let him lavish attention.
"If you don't want to marry me," Jean said as he then pressed an ear to where he thought the baby was growing, "then fine. But I'm not gonna leave you to raise this kid alone. I don't trust Jaeger, and Mikasa actually kind of scares me.
"Let me just...be there for the two of you, okay? I helped make it, so I should help raise it."
Armin didn't answer right away. Instead, he lifted a hand to smooth through Jean's short hair. Then he looked down at him, glancing at his sides briefly before looking at him again.
"...Yes."
Jean glanced up at him. "Yes? Yes what?"
"Yes, I will marry you. If you're serious about being there for the two of us, then I'll be serious about your request. So...yes."
His answer got Jean's eyes to sparkle, as he pushed himself up to be eye level with Armin. A grin slowly unraveled itself across his face.
Then, he just wrapped his arms around him, holding him close (while also trying not to squish the baby, tiny as it was right now). He pressed a few quick kisses to his cheek, before pulling away.
"I'm gonna take good care of both of you," he said when moving forward again to resume hugging. "I'm gonna do my best to be a good husband and dad. I promise."
...
It was done so quickly and informally, it couldn't really be considered a proper 'wedding'. The vows were said, witnesses were present, and after all the legal business in regards to age, the papers were signed.
Although Eren and Mikasa were quite displeased over the arrangement (Eren had even tried to stab Jean), in the end there wasn't really anything they could do about it.
Now the two of them were outside the courthouse, with Jean on his phone. Armin sat on the steps to the entrance, carefully tracing a finger through the bouquet of lilies that they'd gotten from some weird gas station right before the ceremony.
He tried not to be too worried over the conversation Jean was having with his mother; from the sound of things, she was even more upset with all this.
Armin tried not to flinch when he heard her refer to him as 'some floozy', which infuriated Jean into shouting over the phone at her.
When he'd finally hung up after saying goodbye, Jean huffed angrily and rubbed his temples with his fingers. Seeing his distress, Armin stood up and walked over to him; to try and comfort him, he patted a hand on his shoulder.
"It'll be all right," he whispered to him.