The day that Joaquin was finally discharged from the hospital (which was quite some time later; him being premature at birth caused some other potential serious problems to be investigated) was no doubt one of the happiest days in Jean and Armin's life.
Both of them were all smiles as Jean carried their little boy to Armin's friends' car. As always, Eren was scowling and gripping the steering wheel, while Mikasa looked away indifferently from all of them. Jean and Armin paid them no mind, choosing to instead focus on Joaquin glancing about everything.
Armin simply couldn't stop cooing over his child. Were Eren not the one driving the car, he'd take this opportunity to do his usual gagging routine.
...
It was after that, some weeks later, that Jean finally kept his word from over a year ago.
Early one morning, Armin came outside to watch him setting up a hammock, holding their little boy in his arms.
"So when'll it be ready for public use?" Armin inquired, hoping he sounded facetious enough for Jean to realize he was joking.
Jean glanced over at them as he tied up the loose ends of one end of the hammock. He then smirked before patting the center of it, as if enticing the both of them.
"Funny you should ask," he said. As if he'd been waiting for permission, Armin strode over and handed Joaquin over to Jean. Then he sat down and made himself comfortable in the center.
Going by the expression he was making as he began gently swinging, Jean suspected he was going to spend a good amount of time there. Carefully, Jean then took his own spot on the other side of the hammock, setting Joaquin in between him and Armin.
All three were quickly beginning to doze off. As they were, Jean stared off into the horizon.
Had things gone differently in life Jean would have been a star quarterback by now. He at least assumed, anyway. At first, he was upset that his dream had been replaced by impending fatherhood. Now, he couldn't really care less.
This was fine. It hadn't been what he initially planned for, but he was content with this. Him, with his little family.
Things were still tough, but they had the help of their friends and family. For that, they were grateful.
Jean adjusted himself to be comfortable in their hammock, and now drifted off properly to sleep.
It was hard to say what the future held, but for now, things were fine.
Hopefully they'd stay that way too, at least for a little while.