The teacher announced that everyone could go to lunch now; so the class got up and funneled out the door. Jean knew that he and Armin had the same lunch hour, because he always saw him sitting alone; usually reading a book. As he got out of the lunch line, he walked over to the table Armin was sitting at. "Can I sit here?" Jean asked, waiting for a response.
Armin looked up at him, dazed for a minute, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. He seemed to become aware of that pretty quickly, so he soon blurted out "S-sure! You don't need to ask."
With that, Jean set his tray across from him, and sat down. Armin put his book, down and stared at the table, awkwardly, nibbling on some pieces of food, as if he didn't know what to say. Jean decided to break this silence. "So, what were you reading?" he asked, gesturing towards the closed book on the table.
"Oh.. It's not really anything you'd be interested in.." Armin replied, picking up the book and flipping through a few pages; but after looking up at Jean again and seeing he wasn't going to get a response, he continued, showing the cover to him. "It's a book about some cool places that nobody really talks about."
"That's kinda cool," Jean said, looking at the cover, "what are some of the places?"
Armin seemed to light up at the question. He showed Jean a lot of pictures from the book, and read out descriptions of some of them. Jean was enjoying it as well; seeing Armin this happy was almost like a blessing to him. "Oh, uh, by the way," he started, "do you mind if I stop by the coffee shop again after school?"
Armin stared at him for a moment. "Of course you can. You don't need to ask." He said, tilting his head a bit.
"O-okay, then!" Jean managed, rubbing the back of his neck, laughing a bit. "We can meet up there if you want, maybe? Of course we don't have to if you don't want to." he added quickly.
"Sure, we can do that." Armin nodded, smiling.
"I might take a while getting there though; my car broke down after I got home yesterday, so I have to walk there." The taller boy informed.
Armin blinked, and then offered "I can give you a ride, if you want."
Jean's heart skipped a beat. "You don't have to! I'll be fine."
"Oh, no, it's okay," the blond commented "really."
"Are you sure?"
"Yup!" Armin replied, grinning. "We can meet up near the school's entrance if you want. Is that okay?"
"That's okay with me." Jean responded, a smile forming on his face.
Armin stood outside the school's entrance, where he and Jean decided they would meet. Armin didn't know why Jean started hanging around him so much, but he didn't mind. It was nice to have a friend, for a change. His phone buzzed, so he opened it up to see he got a text from his boss. This was unusual.
Hello, Armin. I'm just letting you know you have a day off for today. Thanks for doing so much hard work.
Armin blinked; he didn't really need a day off, but he figured he wouldn't complain, anyways. He put his phone away, and looked up to see Jean a little ways away. He waved at him, since Jean couldn't seem to find him in the crowd of taller people. Jean must have seen him at last, because he came over a few seconds later.
"My boss just texted me, saying I have the day off." Armin said, looking up at Jean. "We could probably still go to the coffee place, though, if that's okay."
"Yeah, that's fine with me." Jean agreed, smiling. This meant he'd get to spend more time with Armin, now that he didn't have to work.
"Alright, I guess we can get going now. My car's this way." Armin grabbed onto Jean's wrist, leading him through the crowd of students. Jean's heartbeat quickened dramatically, and his face felt hot, but he said nothing. Armin let go once they were out of the crowd. Once they got to Armin's car, he turned around and said "You can put your stuff in the back seat if you wa- Are you okay?"
He raised an eyebrow "What?"
"Your face is all red. Are you sick?"
Jean stood, confused for a minute, and then realized his face must be as red as a beet right now. "Ah! It's nothing I'm just- I have this-" he couldn't think of anything to say "I'm fine." he finally managed to choke out.
Armin stared at him as if he'd grown another head. "Are you sure?" He spoke quite slowly.
Jean nodded, laughing nervously, getting into the passenger seat after Armin unlocked the door. He had to adjust his seat quite a bit, so his head didn't hit the roof of the vehicle.
"Ah, sorry about that." Armin said, smiling sheepishly.
"It's fine!" Jean dismissed the apology, fastening his seat belt, as Armin did the same.
As they pulled out of the parking lot and onto the street, an awkward silence fell apon them, once again. Unexpectedly, Armin broke that silence. "Hey, Jean?" the smaller boy asked, keeping his eyes on the road.
"Y-yeah?"
"Thanks for sitting with me at lunch today."
Jean looked over at Armin, and noticed his cheeks were tinted pink. "It's.. no problem." he said, a smile slowly stretching across his face.
"Also, I can pay for our stuff, once we get there."
"You don't have to do that! I can pay for my own. I mean, you gave me a ride, so it'd only be fair." Jean protested.
"No, it's fine really," Armin pushed on. "employees get discounts!"
"You sure?"
"Yup! It's fine." He smiled at Jean.
A few minutes later, they pulled into the shop's parking lot and went inside; Jean holding the door for Armin. They bought their drinks and sat down at a table.
"Thanks for paying for our stuff," Jean thanked Armin. "and giving me a ride here."
Armin beamed; he loved being able to be a dependable person, and he hated the contrary. "It's no problem! Also, if you need a ride home, I can give you one."
"Ah, I think I might take you up on that offer." He chuckled, taking a sip of his drink.
The two spend a few hours conversing, and finding more out about each other, their friendship growing ever stronger; making jokes and telling stories until late afternoon.
Armin looked outside, noticing the sun was just beginning to set. Jean does the same, and the two just sit there for a few long, quiet moments, gazing at the yellow-tinted sky. He glances over at Armin; a dreamy expression extremely noticeable on the blond's face.
"We should probably get going soon, before it gets dark. This place looks like it's about to close, anyway." Jean said, snapping Armin out of his daze.
"Oh, uh, sure." He agreed, taking out his phone, and checking the time.
They threw their garbage away, and went out to Armin's car. "Okay, you're going to have to point me in the direction of your house." Armin said, fastening his seat belt and starting up the car. And so, Jean did that.
By the time they arrived at his house, Jean sat for a moment- which confused Armin- before leaning over as far as he could, and he hugged him. Armin, who had no idea what was going on, decided to hug back, so it wouldn't get awkward. His heartbeat quickens and he can feel his face get red.
A couple moments pass.
"Jean..?"
Jean suddenly lets go. "S-sorry! Thank you for the ride!" he stutters and grabs his stuff and gets out of the car as quickly as he could, running up to his front door, but managing to trip over right in front of his front door in the process; landing right on his face.
Armin views this entire show, dumbfounded, until he sees Jean trip over, yelping a little as soon as he falls. He jumps out of his car and runs up to him. "Jean? Are you okay?" he asked, helping him sit up. Jean just blinked a few times and smiled sheepishly at Armin, before cursing at a bloody nose from the fall.
"I'll be fine, don't worry." He assured Armin as he gathered all his things, thanked Armin again, and apologized for getting him worried. "See you at school tomorrow!" he grinned as he disappeared behind the door.
Armin stood there for a minute, wondering how he could be so nervous one minute, and then really confident the next. As he was walking back to his car, he couldn't help thinking about that long hug a few moments before; and what that feeling was. It was a warm feeling; it made him feel like there were butterflies in his stomach. The strangest thing of all, though, was that all this occurred when he was thinking of Jean.
Ah ok! I hope chapter two was okay! I think I accidentally made both of them really OOC this time, so I apologize for that! Also I think I may be rushing things, so I apologize for that, too! Lastly, on Friday I will be going on vacation for a week, so I probably wont be able to publish any chapters for this, and I apologize for this! I will probably work on chapter 3 tomorrow, but I have no promises that it will be uploaded by tomorrow, either. Thank you for reading!