I know I said I would write a requested prompt but this idea was just too insisting.

I wrote this story for the "Red Flag" campaign which focuses on awareness for damaging relationships. I was going to post it separately but decided to just add it to this little group of prompts.

Armin gave a content sigh as he walked through the campus to his first class of the new semester. He let himself smile to the people walking by him and give occasional waves. It had been a month since he had broken off his relationship with Reiner and he was finally starting to regain some self worth. The taller blonde had been very… possessive to say the least. It had started so sweet and loving but it became twisted. Somehow Reiner had convinced him that everyone else looked down on him and would mistreat him and hurt him and only he would treat him right. Everyday he would whisper in his ear how he had no friends and how they all thought he was too weak and useless. He kept him away from everyone and made him feel like he was worthless.

Armin wanted to end it but in some cruel way he had become dependent of the taller blonde. After hearing those things for so long it was hard to not believe them. Soon he truly thought that everyone hated him and was too afraid to leave the other boy's side.

"Armin! Wait up!" The blue eyed boy blinked and looked towards the source of the voice. Eren, his childhood friend, ran up to him.

Eren had been there since the start. He saw how the relationship took a dark turn and he was the one who pulled Armin out. It was one day where Eren had confronted the blonde about how he had been avoiding him for so long and how unhealthy he looked that Armin broke down crying and told him everything. After that, Eren made sure that Armin got the attention he needed and slowly but surely he was able to get back on his feet.

Armin laughed and began to talk to Eren. Their friendship had been back to its usual fullness almost immediately, but he had struggled in general. After a month he was finally staring to feel more confident about himself and feel like he was deserving of other people's company. It still scared him to open up to people. He could almost hear a whisper in the back of his mind telling him that they would hurt him but he pushed it away. They wouldn't hurt him. The whisper would hurt him.

But the whisper had once been a person. People can be cruel and he really did have to be careful.

Making friends was hard for Armin, to say the least, but he was getting the hang of it again. He could talk to people now without trembling and his smiles were no longer fake. He finally felt like this pressure over his shoulders had been lifted and he was truly free.

They stopped in front of a building.

"Well I gotta go all the way over there," Eren pointed to another building. "See you in lunch!" Armin waved goodbye before entering and heading to his classroom.

He had set as a goal for himself that he would be more outgoing. The therapist had told him that there was nothing wrong with wanting to stick to himself after something like that, but the blonde knew he had to open himself up now before he found himself incapable of doing so. There was still the constant fear, but he had to fight it.

As he entered the classroom for his first class, which was literature, he looked at the empty seats. He was about to take one at the front like he always did (Armin usually did very well in his studies but when the Reiner thing was at its climax he had been failing almost all tests due to stress). He stopped when he caught side of a new student sitting at a desk by the window. He was looking out with a bored expression on his face. No one seemed to be paying much attention to him. Armin knew he had just been thinking about making new friends, but now that the opportunity was there the fear had increased quite a lot. He forced himself to get a grip as he walked to the desk behind the new boy.

There. He sat down.

But now he truly felt stuck. He looked at the boy's back for a second then down at his desk. What could he say? Should he even say anything? Maybe he would just bother him.

Who would want to talk to you?

Armin felt a stab in his chest. He forced the whispers to go away.

He really should be saying something. That is the reason why he took that seat in the first place. He had been so excited about the idea just a moment ago! Don't back down now! It would probably-

"Are you alright?" Armin blinked, startled. He looked up. The new guy was turned around facing him. He stuttered a bit. "Sorry, it's just that… you had a troubled expression."

Oh if only he knew he was thinking about whether or not he should talk to him! Looks like that doesn't matter anymore. Armin reproached himself over how stupid he was for not being able to speak to the guy first, when the guy in question looked down. "Sorry, I'll just…. Yeah." He began to turn away. The blonde panicked a bit.

"I'm Armin!" The guy gave a small jump before turning back to the blonde. His nervousness seemed to suddenly go away as he grinned.

"I'm Jean." The blonde smiled and he let out a small and relieved breath. Mission accomplished, well, if that could even be called making friends. The brunette looked at the blonde's desk. He raised an eyebrow at the book that was on it.

"That's a big piece of literature you got there. Impressive." Armin looked at it and felt a bit self conscious. "Are you much of a bookworm?"

"I guess you could say that. I read all the time." The boy's smile was still bright and Armin wondered how he could still be interested in him.

"Cool. I've never been one for reading. Not that good at math either. I suck actually."

"I could help you!" Armin found himself saying. He wanted to look away and force himself to stop talking but for some reason he couldn't. It was probably the nerves that seemed to be eating him alive. Did normal people feel like this when they talked to strangers or was it just because of his situation? "I-I'm in advanced placement."

Jean's eyes widened.

"Really? Thanks! It would just be really horrible to start the year on the wrong foot in my worst subject." Armin couldn't believe what he had just offered but he didn't regret it. It made him happy to see Jean so glad. Maybe he really would get a new friend.

The teacher cleared her throat, signifying the beginning of the class.

"There's a break after another period right? Want to get some coffee?"

Armin felt his heart clench with something similar to excitement.

"Sure." He let himself say. Jean sent him one last grin before turning to the teacher. Armin couldn't really pay attention. All he could think about was what he had just done.

He looked out the window and felt happier than he had in a very long time.

"I'm really moving forward. Everything is going to be fine now."

The bell rang for the next class. Jean walked by his side to the door. Armin lead him to his next class and waved goodbye before going to his own. Advance placement calculus. He tried to focus, he really did, but all he could think about was the new guy.

He couldn't say he was proud of himself for taking the risk and talking to him considering Jean was the one who spoke first and who thought of getting coffee, but it had been Armin who had offered to tutor him. That in itself was huge. It meant possible future compromise and maybe even friendship.

He looked around and realized that he didn't really know any of the people in his class that well. Should he try to talk to them?

The blonde shook his head and looked down, rubbing his arm comfortingly. One new friend is more than enough really.

A shiver went down his spine as the memory of a whisper flew past his ear

You think you have friends? They are just there to tease you. I bet they make fun of you behind your back. They think you are weak and stupid with your big eyes and girly face. I would never say that to you. I will always be here for you.

"Stop it." Armin said forcefully. He fought the impulse to cover his ears, for he knew those whispers weren't something that could be silenced that way. They were rooted much deeper and they were much harder to get rid of.

After that class, Armin made his way to the coffee shop that was in the school grounds. He jokingly wondered if Jean would even be able to find it, considering he was new and all. He forced away the whispers saying that the guy had just been playing with him and he wasn't going to show up.

"Armin!" The blonde looked towards the source of the voice. Jean made his way around the other students until he was at the shorter boy's side. As he got there, Armin wondered how Jean had been able to remember his name… then he realized he remembered Jean's perfectly (but he had also been thinking about him all last period and that thought on its own was embarrassing enough. He really needed to level up on this 'self confidence' thing).

"I was wondering if you got lost." Armin commented.

"I did a few times but I got my way around." He seemed pretty proud and Armin couldn't help laugh a little.

"Come on, let's order something."

The line was pretty long; everyone needed their morning coffee. Armin and Jean chatted as they waited.

The blonde was glad to notice that he wasn't trembling anymore. He also noticed that, as he laughed at one of Jean's jokes, the tension his shoulders always had when he spoke to anyone went away.

"That'll be 5 dollars for each."

"I got it!" Jean took out his wallet.

"Don't be stupid, Jean. I'll pay for my own."

"Armin, you don't seem to understand what tutoring me is going to be like. Even a saint like you wont be able to stand it for very long. This is the least I can do."

Armin hadn't felt this at ease in a long time. Even being with Eren kind of put him on edge cause he was a bit crazy and intense.

He is only with you cause it's for his best interest. He isn't your friend.

They sat down at one of the tables available. Jean took out the mock quiz they had taken to see what they knew. There were easy, medium, and hard questions. In theory you should get all the easy ones right, most of the medium ones right, and some of the hard ones right. Armin stared at Jean's quiz in shock. It wasn't a mean sort of shock just a surprised "I didn't expect it to be this bad" sort of shock. He had half of the easy ones right, most of the medium wrong, and all the hard wrong.

Jean winced at Armin's expression and groaned.

"I suck. I know." Armin stuttered and tried to laugh it off.

"It's not that bad!" Jean let his head fall against the table with a loud thud that made Armin jump and look at the brunette with concern.

"Admit it. I'm hopeless." It a fit of bravery Armin let his hand rise and he patted Jean's head.

"There, there." He said jokingly, then went to a more serious tone. "If you are motivated enough, you can do it. I promise to help you as much as I can but you have to assure me that you'll give it all you've got." Jean raised his head and something akin to hope shined in his eyes.

"I will!" Armin smiled and nodded. He opened his backpack and took out his math notebook.

"This one is from last semester but there was a problem that introduces this concept very well. I think If I can successfully explain that to you then we will have a good solid base to start from."

They spent the rest of their break doing that problem. Jean got frustrated with himself but always kept trying. Armin patiently repeated himself whenever he needed to and always made his explanations as thorough as necessary. Jean was really impressed to say the least.

"Thanks for doing this, by the way." He said suddenly. "At my old school the tutors were the teachers that had nothing else to do and they were all ugly and old." He suddenly blushed and stuttered. "Not that I'm saying that you are- which you are, but- I mean-." Armin blinked, confused. Jean looked like a deer in the headlights. He looked away and sighed. A forced change of demeanor took place. He tried to give a confident grin but it really didn't work and Armin gave a small laugh. That sound on its own seemed to calm Jean down. "You're cute." He finally said. It was Armin's turn to blush. His chest tightened.

When was the last time someone called him that? He would fear to say Reiner, but the truth was that the taller boy had called him nothing but weak and useless for a very long time. He hadn't complimented him since they first started dating.

It felt… nice.

"I think the math is starting to fry your brain." The blonde joked.

"Probably," Jean agreed and Armin felt a sting of disappointment "but I've been thinking that since I saw you in literature." Well, there goes his heart.

"You said I looked troubled. How is that cute?" The blonde pouted.

"Well I thought if someone could look that well when being so sad then imagine with a smile on their face." Jean took a dab of whipped cream and poked Armin's nose. The blonde squealed. He gave Jean an angry look before he began to laugh.

The bell rang and people began to move faster around them.

"Time's up." Said the blonde. He reached for a napkin. They were closer to Jean.

"Hehe, I'll get it. It was my fault after all." Armin leaned forward and he suddenly had a flashback of him leaning in to kiss Reiner. There was a violent pain in his chest. Not the kind of pain that comes with missing something. It was the pain of regret and disgust.

But the feeling of Jean's fingers as they dabbed at his nose suddenly made him forget all about the taller blonde.

"Done." He said. They stood up and moved to the trashcan to throw away their drinks.

"Oh! You missed a spot." The blonde said. Jean tilted his head.

"Where?" Armin quickly took some whipped cream from Jean's cup and poked the boy on the cheek.

"There!"

The next few days Armin fell into a comfortable schedule. He would go to school, spend break with Jean, spend lunch with Eren (cause apparently those two hated each other so there was no chance of all of them hanging out together) then tutored Jean in the library afterschool. Jean really did give it his all and Armin was very proud of his best (and only) student. There were days though were Jean just didn't feel like working and would just be poking around Armin and trying to make him laugh.

"Let's have lunch after this."

"You haven't answered this question, Jean."

"You didn't answer mine!"

"But this is why we are here."

"Come on! I'm hungry. I'll put more attention if I know I get a prize in the end."

"Are passing grades not prize enough?"

"Armiiiin!"

"Fine!"

And that is how they ended up at a pizza restaurant near the school.

Whenever they were hanging out Jean would give one or two obvious hints that he was hitting on Armin and the blonde would pretend not to notice. He would pretend that those words didn't make his heart beat faster. He would ignore how close they were next to each other as they sat in the library. He would pretend that it made sense that the only reason they were holding hands was because it was so cold outside.

He would pretend because he wasn't ready. His last relationship had left him more than broken and he didn't know if he would be able to survive something like that again. The fear was always there, but as he walked down the hallway laughing by Jean's side he thought that maybe, just maybe, he would be able to let go of the past.

A tall silhouette watched them as they walked away. He clenched his fists.

"Armin. I love you." The two boys were lying on the floor of Armin's living room. Jean was staying over after studying all day. They had set up some blankets on the floor before the television where they had curled up to have their deserved rest. The blonde had soon found himself in a comfortable position in Jean's arms. His head rested against the brunette's chest and he could hear his steady heart beat. When Jean said those words Armin didn't feel surprised. He knew this day would come sooner or later. The two boys were pretty much aware of each other's feelings but knew that there was something in the way. It was time to talk it out.

"I know." The blonde muttered.

"Then tell me…" Jean rubbed Armin's arm comfortingly. The blonde was quiet for a while but Jean gave him time. He would give him all the time he needed.

Armin wanted to tell Jean. He trusted him enough to know that he wouldn't hurt him with this information and that Jean truly cared about him.

"A month ago…" he began. Jean tensed, paying attention to every word. "I broke up with my boyfriend. Our relationship was… bad. So bad. Now that I think about it all of the signs were there. It was so dysfunctional and damaging but… at that time I felt like there was nothing I could do about it. He convinced me that everybody hated me and I left all my friends. My grades suffered a lot and my psychology as well. I lost every ounce of self confidence I ever had. I even started cutting…" Armin let himself look into Jean's eyes. The brunette had an understanding look, which turned to horror at the last bit. He tightened his hold on the blonde.

"Armin…" The blonde sighed. It felt so good to get that off his chest. He let his head rest against Jean's chest once again. He closed his eyes.

"It's hard for me to open up to people now. I'm scared. Not of you but of being in that situation again. It has been so hard to get back on my feet but I'm doing it. You're helping me. Thanks to you I'm letting go of those bad memories. I thought I was done with love. That I would never feel this way again…" He felt Jean take his chin. Armin opened his eyes to find the brunette's caring gaze.

"I understand. I don't want you to feel pressured in any way. Just know that I love you and I will always be here for you in whatever way you need me. Friend? Boyfriend? It's fine. I love you. That's what matters." Armin felt his eyes become watery.

"I know. Thank you." Jean let him go and just held him for a long time. Eventually, Armin spoke. "I think I'm ready." Jean's eyes widened.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I want to be your boyfriend."

Armin knew he had made the right choice. The whispers had never been as quiet. It sounded so silly but Jean was the sun of his life. He made him feel happy and worthwhile again. Sometimes he could even forget about the past and just think of the future. Eren had come to accept Jean when he saw the effect it had on his best friend. Apparently the two had had a long talk and had already declared their intentions of protecting the blonde so a sort of truce had been reached. Armin was glad because that meant they could al hang out together.

Everything was going so wonderfully great that Armin was afraid it wouldn't last. One day that fear seemed to stick out it's ugly head.

Armin and Jean had been walking through the hallway holding hands and talking to each other when the blonde froze. Standing before them was Reiner. His eyes stared at the intertwined fingers of the two boys before him. His entire body was shaking. Armin had gone pale and Jean immediately knew who this was.

"Hey! Get out of the way!" He called out angrily. That seemed to snap the taller blonde out of his trance. His eyes went to Jean and the two stared intensely at each other. Armin felt a sudden need to protect the brunette.

"Reiner." He found himself calling out. His voice sounded dead to him but at least there was no fear in it. The taller blonde's eyes moved to the figure of his infatuation. "You should not be here. You were expelled." Armin stated. He could tell the boy before him was not in his right mind.

"Armin…" Reiner seemed to choke. Jean's hold on the boy's hand tightened. The way Reiner said Armin's name made shivers go down his spine.

"Leave. It's over." His voice was emotionless but stern. He held his breath as Reiner finally looked away and ran off. He felt his knees buckle but Jean caught him.

"Are you alright?" Jean asked concerned. Armin nodded and began to laugh.

"I'm more than alright Jean. It's over… it's finally over…" He hugged him and began to cry.

"Thank you so much, Armin! That was the best dinner ever!"

"I just knew you were going to love that restaurant." Armin and Sasha walked out of the building laughing and talking together. One of Armin's goals had also been to reconnect with all of the friends he had lost because of what happened. Sasha and him had been quite close but had drifted apart. He had started to hang out with them again and it truly made him happy. Jean encouraged him to do so and kept telling him how proud he was of him. That warmed Armin more than even getting his friends back did.

They had made their way to the parking lot when a tall figure appeared before them. This person had a maniac look in their eyes and seemed to almost be sobbing. Their entire body was shaking violently and they seemed to be holding a gun. Armin and Sasha froze when they noticed this. Armin's heart beat like crazy. He made eye contact with the person before them. Without looking away, the blonde lightly touched Sasha's shoulder.

"Go back to the restaurant. Lock or barricade the door. Call the police…" Something in his eyes changed. "No… call an ambulance."

Sasha's eyes were wide with fear. She didn't seem to be understanding what the blonde was saying.

"B-but-"

"Do as I say." His tone left no room for argument. Sasha whimpered before quickly making her way to the building. It caught the attention of the person standing before them and he began to raise his hand.

"Reiner!" The blonde called back his attention. The boy's wild eyes found the blue ones once again. "Reiner. I need you to calm down. Everything is going to be fine." For a moment Armin wondered if he was talking to himself.

The taller boy seemed to break. He gave a cry and raised his arm. His gun was pointed at Armin. The blonde felt cold fear grip his heart.

"Reiner. You need to stop this. It's over between us. You need to let me go." Tears began to roll down the taller boy's cheeks. The gun trembled in his grip.

"I can't…"

Sasha had never been more terrified in her entire life. The moment she entered the restaurant she yelled that there was an armed man outside and that they needed to lock the door. The people in charge did that while everyone took cover under tables. The brown haired girl ran to a window and saw the man point his gun at Armin. With trembling hands, Sasha took out her phone and dialed.

"911 what's your emergency?"

"Help! Please! My friend! There's an armed man outside and he's… he's with him. Please send help!"

"Calm down, ma'am. Is anyone hurt?"

"No, no, but please ju-" Suddenly a gunshot was heard and Sasha screamed as she watched Armin's body crumble to the ground. "NO! ARMIN!" She covered her mouth trying to muffle her cries of horror.

"Ma'am! Was someone just shot? Ma'am!" She couldn't hear him. She was too focused on how the man cried and moved foreword as if he wanted to reach for the fallen boy. He stopped himself and suddenly moved the gun to his own head. Sasha screamed again.

Jean had never driven so fast in his entire life.

This is a nightmare. This is nothing but a terrible nightmare.

He could still hear Sasha's cries on the phone in the back of his mind but the meaning of her words had not truly registered yet.

The fear inside him was eating him alive. He couldn't deal with it anymore. The moment he arrived at the hospital he ran into the emergency room and to the first nurse he could find.

"E-excuse me. They brought someone in. Someone who… got s-shot. B-blonde boy…" He couldn't muster the words properly but the nurse seemed to understand.

"They brought in two boys with gunshots around 20 minutes ago. One arrived dead but the other is in surgery. That is all I know." Jean felt his heart go cold.

Dead…

Jean stared at the ground feeling nothing but pain echoing inside him.

He can't be… that's not true… maybe that wasn't him…

But it could be. Jean gasped for breath. He suddenly felt like was drowning. He leaned against the wall and tried to keep himself standing. A nurse stopped what she was doing and helped him to the waiting room. There he saw Sasha, Eren, and Mikasa sitting. They stood up when they saw him and gave him a group hug. He held on to them tightly. His eyes wide in fear.

"A-armin…" He begged for some explanation. Mikasa answered.

"He's in surgery." Jean looked at her before giving a relieved laugh and rubbing his face.

He's alive.

"I-I heard someone died. I thought…" Surprisingly it was Eren who set a hand on his shoulder.

"It was Reiner. He shot Armin then himself." His voice sounded dead and Jean would have actually been concerned if it wasn't for the information he had just received. He felt sudden anger fill him.

That guy hadn't had enough with ruining Armin's life?! He just had to take it away too!?

But the anger went away as fast as it came.

He's dead now. He killed himself. In some way he is a victim too.

They all sat down and waited. It was the most torturous and awful moment of Jean's life. All he saw was the image of Armin smiling in his mind and thinking that if that was taken away from him he wouldn't know how to cope. Eren and Mikasa didn't seem to be handling this any better. Eren had the air of someone who had already grieved for days and Mikasa was obviously fighting tears.

After what felt like a lifetime a doctor came out.

"Armin Arlert?" The 4 of them stood up and made their way to the man. They all watched him expectantly. "He was very fortunate. The bullet didn't hit any vital organs, there was just a lot of bleeding but he got here right on time. He will be fine."

The relief that filled everyone was so tangible it could be cut with a knife. Mikasa finally let her tears fall and Eren seemed to regain the light in his eyes. Sasha looked like she could faint. Jean pressed a hand over his chest tightly and laughed because that was what he had almost lost: his very heart.

Even though Armin was still under anesthesia they insisted they wanted to see him. Covered by those white sheets and connected to all those beeping machines the blonde looked so small and fragile, but he was there. He was alive. Jean reached him first. He caressed his face and hair before planting a loving kiss on his forehead.

"You're ok. I'm so glad you're ok." He buried his face against the blonde's neck.

When Armin awoke he felt someone holding his hand. He opened his eyes tiredly and saw a lot of white.

"Armin!" The blonde blinked and looked at the source of the voice. He smiled weakly.

"Jean." Armin was happy to see him but his mind hadn't really registered what was happening. Then he remembered. His eyes widened and the tell tale machine showed his increasing heart rate. Jean cupped his cheek.

"Hey, hey it's ok. Everything's fine." The blonde took deep breaths trying to ignore the pain in his torso.

"R-reiner?" He asked. Jean shook his head.

"He's gone." The blonde's eyes widened before nodding.

"I thought… he might do that…" Jean passed his fingers through Armin's hair comfortingly.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Armin looked into Jean's eyes. He nodded.

I thought I would never see you again…

"The last thing he told me was that this was the only way we could be together." Jean felt pained by his words. "For a moment I thought he was just going to threaten me into getting back together with him. Then I realized…" The brunette pressed his forehead against Armin's own. The blonde gave a sad laugh. Tears began to roll down his cheeks. "I really thought I was going to die. My biggest regret was not being able to say goodbye to you."

Jean pulled back and took hold of Armin's shoulders.

"Now you don't have to. We have the rest of our lives ahead of us." Armin smiled.

"What happened… was horrible, but in some way… it's closure." The blonde looked to the side and smiled when he saw Eren and Mikasa asleep on the couch. He turned back to Jean and kissed him.

He finally felt at peace.

This is based on a real story. I changed the ending because If I would have kept what really happened then Armin would be dead. Dysfunctional relationships can be very dangerous so everyone look out for the signs and be careful.