A/N: I hope you enjoy, reviews are much appreciated, and thank you to anyone for checking out this story! You're all amazing! :D


"Would you stop it!" Armin whispered to the boy, trying his hardest not to giggle. "Someone could walk in and see us at any moment! What happened to keeping this secret?!"

Jean just continued assaulting his neck with fervent kisses, smiling the entire time. "We're in the back of the library. No one's gonna notice us."

"And if Eren and Mikasa show up unannounced?" The blonde dared.

The teen hummed against his neck. "I'll say I was cleaning a spot off of your skin."

"With your lips?" Armin asked sarcastically.

Jean's smile only widened. "It was a piece of food from lunch."

Armin sighed at this and continued reading his book. If jean wanted to get caught by the others then so be it. It was getting challenging hiding this from everyone now anyways. Especially with Eren growing suspicious over the way Jean glanced at him or sent him small little smiles when he thought no one was looking. Mikasa had been the first to point it out, drawing Eren's attention almost right away, but Armin insisted Jean was looking at Mikasa herself instead of him. This worked for a little while until Eren caught the teen whispering into the blonde's ear and making him giggle. Only then did things start to become bothersome and the two separated themselves to keep from others finding out. Thus the reason they were in the back of the library instead of in the front of the room with the rest of the cadets.

The two of them suddenly heard footsteps approaching and Jean immediately disconnected himself from the blonde. To their relief, it wasn't Eren or Mikasa. It'd been Reiner, Bertolt, and Marco to join them at their table. All of them had been talking about some kind of event that was going on in Trost to celebrate the harvest. It was an annual thing that most people behind the wall celebrated, but Armin wasn't too informed about the topic since they didn't really have a harvest day in Shiganshina. There were celebrations, yes, but none like the harvest day festival.

"I heard Shadis is giving the cadets the day off on the harvest festival." Marco said happily. "I'm thinking I'll go into town and spend the day with my family. What about you guys?"

Reiner huffed a loud laugh. "I'm going into town and gettin' me some of those pastries for snacking on later in training. Maybe I'll bring someone with me." He directed over to Armin.

Of course Armin noticed this right away, but acted as if he'd still been reading and hadn't been paying attention to the older man. Not that Reiner had a real crush on him or anything, but he had mistook him for a female on the very first day of their training, and so he tried his luck. Of course, he immediately apologized for having mistook him for a girl, but it became a running joke nowadays that the two were a couple or crushing on one another.

But Reiner only thought of it as a friendly little game. Teasing Armin, hitting on him, even giving him weird looks. It was all just a joke to him, and the shorter blonde knew he'd never actually like him as anything more than a friend.

Reiner noticed his aloofness and huffed. "Fine then… I'm sure Krista won't break my heart like you, Arlert."

"No, but Ymir will break your legs." The shorter blonde reminded him, making the rest of the table laugh.

Bertolt patted the man on the back. "I was just thinking about heading to the bookstore and grabbing some new material to read, so I'd be happy to be your date!"

Reiner smacked the hand away with a gruff sigh. "So what about you, Kirstein?" The taller blonde asked, nudging the teen's shoulder. "Gonna ask Mikasa to the Harvest festival? Or do you got another dame in mind?"

Jean scoffed at this. "If you could get her alone for even a moment for me I'd be happy to ask. But let's face it, she could kick your ass, mine, Bertolt's, and anyone else willing to join in if we got in the way of her protecting Eren's perfectly coiffed head." He then glanced down at Armin for a split second before resisting the urge to pull him in for a hug. "Besides… I uh… I got someone better in mind."

Armin forced down the smile at this and tried his hardest to keep his eyes focussed while keeping his ears at the ready.

"Oh-ho! The boy's got a dame of his own! So who is she?" Reiner asked a bit too excitedly.

"Yes, and why haven't I met her!?" Marco asked in pure shock. "I see you every day, and never once was there a girl with your arm around her!"

Jean paled a bit at this and thought up a way to dodge the questions without actually dodging them. "Well… I've been keeping it under wraps. I'm kind of… err… embarrassed about the situation."

'Embarrassed?' Armin questioned to himself. What did Jean have to be embarrassed about? Sure, they were both guys, and it wasn't looked too highly upon to be with the same sex… but Ymir didn't care that Krista was female. She wasn't embarrassed. Why should Jean be embarrassed?

"What, is she ugly?" Reiner asked bluntly.

"No, absolutely not!" Jean defended a little too eagerly. "They're stunning! Gorgeous even!"

Armin felt the slight heat rise to his face. 'Is he still talking about me?'

"Well… is she brash? Mean? Uncoordinated?" Bertolt asked.

Jean shook his head. "No. They're quiet and calm, and they always say something to make me cool down after getting angry. They're nice and sweet, and they happen to have the face of an angel. Even if they are a bit… clumsy… they still walk with a grace and loveliness that's beyond human comparison. They're a walking angel in my eyes."

Armin had to turn away a bit more to hide his flushed and reddened cheeks. Even more was that he was noticing that Jean never used the word 'she' but called his secret little affair a 'they'. Keeping the mystique and telling the truth. Jean was a lot smarter than Armin had given him credit for.

Marco hummed. "So then… what's the problem? Why are you embarrassed?"

Now that was a very good question. If Jean had all these wonderful things to say about him, then why were they sneaking kisses and short hours together behind everyone else? Did he not find personal displays of affection to his liking? Was Armin not good enough to be seen with him? Or was it because he just wasn't on his level? That he was small and weak, looking to being nothing more than the next dead soldier, while Jean was going to happily be part of the MPs, free from titan influence and safer than anyone else?

Jean took a breath before shrugging. "I just… I don't want people finding out. Not yet at least."

"Come on, not even us?!" Reiner urged on. "We already know you're with someone, so you might as well tell us her name!"

He shook his head. "You guys can guess for yourselves. I'd rather say nothing and leave it at that."

"Fine then, but one question remains…" Marco brought up, "…do you love her?"

At this Armin was unsure he'd wanted to hear. But then… wasn't it better if he knew the truth? To know if Jean really did want to be with him and love him for all that he was worth?

Jean only hummed and sat back in his chair. "Well…"

"Armin!" Called a familiar voice, making the blonde mentally groan in response.

He looked up and saw Eren with Mikasa trailing behind walking towards him, a large grin on his face. He seemed rather happy for once while he was here.

Armin grinned back. "What's got you in such a good mood?"

His grin widened. "Turns out our troop is heading out for a training exercise starting next week. We'll be getting out of the confines for a while, and I can't wait to stretch out my legs and get some fresh air!"

I couldn't help the small chuckle. "Just like you to get excited over more work. Oh well, it can't be helped. Anything we should be studying for before heading out?"

"Plant life and other edible substances. It's supposed to be a crash course in survival. Teams of two."

"And I suppose you're here to ask me to team up with you?" The blonde thought ahead.

"No," Mikasa said bluntly, "I will be his partner."

The brunette growled. "Sorry… she made me her partner after hearing the whole 'survival' part of this training. You know you're my first choice though."

"Ouch," Jean practically snickered out. "And right in front of Mikasa. How rude, Yeager."

Eren growled a bit louder now. "Like you're any better. Sneaking off after dinner to hang out with that whore of yours."

Armin practically choked on his own spit after hearing this and tried not to sound out his utter astonishment over hearing Eren call him a whore. Albeit he didn't know he was with Jean… but the fact that he picked up on anything at all was amazing all the same.

Jean took offence to this right away and slammed his hand onto the table, standing up to glare daggers at the shorter teen.

"You take that back." He seethed out.

Eren only smirked. "So there is someone in your life! I thought your sneaking about looked suspicious."

Armin stood up then and got between the two before a fight could begin.

"Eren, take back what you said about Jean's… love interest, we'll call them. It was uncalled for to call them such a thing when you don't even know who it is. Please take it back and respect someone else's choices. Your mother didn't raise you to be a bigot."

That was the word to make the boy back off slightly. Armin knew full well his mother wouldn't approve of his behaviour if she saw him act this way, and Eren knew it as well. It was wrong of him to assume disgusting evidences over someone he knew nothing about, and who Jean took to his heart. Even if Armin wasn't the object of the teen's affections, he'd still stand up to this kind of bullying that Eren was willing to dish out. He didn't like it…

Not in the slightest.

Eren bit his lip slightly before looking up at Jean. "Sorry. It was indeed uncalled for."

The teen sat down and growled. When he looked up to see Armin's eyes watching him for a proper response, he looked back over to Yeager and nodded.

"Whatever… it's all good."

Armin grinned lovingly between the two and looked over to Mikasa. "See! I can handle situations!"

Mikasa, on her rarest of moments, smiled at the boy gently. "I suppose. But if another fist fight breaks out between the two of them, you know who to come running to."

"Of course! Annie would throw Eren to the ground in moments and you could just stand there for Jean to ogle!"

The teen looked over the blonde's shoulder and waved his hands in defence. "I have never ogled you, Mikasa! Don't listen to a word he says!"

Mikasa didn't really pay too much attention to the teen and grabbed Eren's arm. "Come on, we have to do some reading for the survival exercise."

And like that, the two were off. Leaving Jean and Armin on their own.

Jean flicked the blonde's nose once he sat down, making the boy scrunch up his face in the cutest way possible.

"Thanks for completely dishing out my secret, blondie!"

Armin only giggled. "It's not really a secret when she's been aware that you've liked her for some time!"

"Oh bull shit! And you didn't tell me! I could have asked her out by now!"

"That doesn't mean she'd agree." Armin grinned out, earning another flick to the tip of his nose and making Jean smile in response to his adorable face.

They both heard Reiner laugh at this as he strode up behind the two and pat each of them on the back with his strong hands. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you two were an old married couple!"

The two glanced at each other before looking away. Each of them blushing a deep shade of red.

Armin bit his lip before standing up once again. "I'm going to… err… g-go grab a new book. Um… anything you need, Jean?"

He shook his head. "No, I'm alright. But uh… since it looks like you don't have a partner for the survival exercise… maybe we could be… you know…"

The blonde nodded at this. "Sure thing. You're a better choice than Connie, that's for sure. Last time we had a survival challenge he got caught in one of the traps. It'll be nice to have someone slightly more competent this time around."

With that, the blonde left to grab the correct books. Leaving Jean to their other companions.

Marco seemed a bit hurt by the brunette's request but grinned anyway. "Why not ask me? I'm not good enough?" He joked.

A moment of silence passed between all of them before Jean replied with, "Yes."

Marco glared at the teen. "Oh, that's nice!"

"No, not about that!" Jean said as he looked down at the table. "What I meant was… yes, I'm in love with them. With…"

He couldn't say it. He just glanced over in his general direction, feeling lonesome without his presence close to him. Any time Armin left his side he felt was cold and unfeeling, like he was seeping back into that angry and resentful state he had before fully coming to the conclusion that he'd fallen for someone. His mother always made snide comments about him needing a girl in his life to take away all the anger and rage in his heart, but he always thought she was just full of it. But… maybe it was what he needed. Someone who was opposite of him, to calm him down and say sweet words in an even sweeter voice. He even noticed how much he'd forgotten about Mikasa and how her presence had made him feel before. She was so cold compared to Armin that she just froze over in his mind and broke off weeks ago.

Armin was warm, comforting, and he always thought about his friends and companions during the times he should have been more focussed on himself. He remembered a time when Armin volunteered to help look after Thomas when he got sick with the flu. He truly was selfless in his endeavours…

…and here he was trying to get into the MPs to save himself.

If Jean was being truthful with himself… Armin didn't deserve him at all. He deserved someone more like the blonde himself. Loving and caring, always kind no matter what the circumstances may be.

Reiner noticed the slight change in Jean's demeanor and followed his eyes towards the path that Armin had taken. A sudden realization hitting him.

"Jean… are you and Armin…?"

Marco and Bertolt both realized what Reiner was implying, but immediately took it back hen Jean slammed his hand on the table once more.

"Say nothing…" he growled out. "The last thing I need is this reaching Yeager's ear. Or for that matter anyone else's. I trust you three to keep your mouths shut about this."

"But why?!" Marco said happily. "I mean… sure, a guy wasn't what we had in mind for you, but Armin's an awesome choice!"

"Yeah!" Bertolt said happily. "Why would you be embarrassed about that!? I'd kill for someone like Armin! Maybe not a guy… but still…!"

"Just don't say anything!" Jean demanded. "Like I said, Yeager is the last person I want knowing about this, and I know he'll flip shit if he finds out Armin and I started something! And don't you let Armin know that you know either! I just want things to be slow for now, okay!"

"Fine, we won't say a thing!" Reiner promised. "But I doubt you'll keep this hidden for much longer. Especially if Eren gets too suspicious."

"Well I'm going to have to try. I don't want to announce anything until I tell Armin how I feel. That alone is going to be difficult."

"Well… you'll be all alone in the survival challenge." Marco implied. "Why not tell him then?"

"Yeah! That would work!" Bertolt said enthusiastically. "Tell him by the fire, or by the shore of a lakeside. Just make it memorable!"

"We'll make sure you two are given the utmost privacy!" Reiner swore to the teen, patting him on the back. "Just make sure not to leave anything out! Just go for it! And if Eren finds out, we'll keep him at bay. We're not promising anything for Mikasa though. She's crazier than she looks, you know."

Jean grinned at this and nodded. "Okay then… I'll tell him during the exercise!"

The larger blonde patted his back once more before all of them noticed Armin's return to the group and immediately acted as if nothing had just been said about their relationship. For the rest of that day, each of the boys plotted in secret to help this plan go off without a hitch.

Nothing could go wrong!