Hello! I'm so sorry this took so long, but thanks for being patient! From now on, I'll be writing in a first person mode!

Two months later.

We sat at my kitchen table, working on our homework. Jean and I had this kind of routine going on, where we'd either go to the coffee shop, his house, or my house after school. We usually just worked on homework, and then mess around; customarily just watching TV for a few hours or something. One time, we had watched a movie, and I fell asleep. I literally have no idea how I ended up leaning on his shoulder by the time I woke up, since I was on the other side of the couch before. When I did wake up, though, I yelped and had slid back over to my side of the couch, causing Jean to apologize abundantly. How embarrassing.

I peeked over at him. He looked so concentrated on his work, I couldn't help but admire that. I sighed, soft enough so that he couldn't notice. I realized that I had feelings for him a few weeks ago; and had just started to realize how attractive he really was. His face was quite long, but just enough to look quite handsome. He had a very finely shaped jaw, and oh so straight teeth. Not to mention, he was pretty pleasant to be around; seeing as he was one of the only people to not pick on me every time they saw me, and he had even defended me against some of those people.

My gaze dropped down back to my papers; bringing my pencil to where I left off, continuing my work.

Knock-knock.

I jumped, startled by the sudden noise. Jean must have heard it, too, for he looked up as well. He gave me a confused look, and an 'Are you okay?' as if wondering why such a thing would scare me.

"Sorry," I laughed, bringing a hand to the back of my neck, getting up "not many people visit besides you, so I'm not used to that sound, I guess." I saw him smile as he looked back down at his homework.

I walked out of the kitchen, and through the dining room, to my front door. I unlocked it, opened it, and gasped.

"Mom! Dad!"

I looked up at the sound of Armin's voice, and blinked. Weren't his parents on a trip? I thought for second more, frowning. Should I go out there? Or stay here? They don't know me, so he would have to introduce me. Shit, why do things like this have to be so difficult and awkward?

I decided to walk out there. Sort of. I stood in the doorway. I saw Armin, hugging his parents, laughing, and probably on the verge of crying, and my eyes widened. He looked so happy. I couldn't help noticing that he looked almost like a perfect mixture of both of his parents. He had his mother's nose and big eyes; and his father's blond hair and eye color.

Armin must have noticed me standing here, for he broke away from his parents, and decided to introduce me.

"This is Jean! He's the one I told you guys about in my letters. He usually comes over after school to work on homework with me." I flinched. He wrote about me in his letters?

Before I knew it, though, Mrs. Arlert was coming towards me, her arms outstretched, and tears in her eyes. As soon as she reached me, I stiffened, not exactly how to act in this situation.

"Um.." I managed, wondering what the hell was going on. Mr. Arlert just threw his head back and laughed heartily, as Armin tried to pull his mother off of me.

"I'm sorry," she chuckled as she wiped some tears from her eyes "I just want to thank you for being friends with Armin. He's always had some trouble with being picked o-"

"Mom.." Armin cut her off, frowning a bit.

I grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of my neck "It's no trouble, really! He's is really fun to be around."

Armin's eyes lit up at that, and- holy shit- is he blushing?

Mr. Arlert looked at his watch and announced "It's almost time for dinner! Jean, would you like to stay? We won't be having anything particularly fancy, since there is nothing particularly fancy in our house at the moment," he took a moment to laugh at that- was it supposed to be funny? "we'll probably only have sandwiches and chips."

I shook my head "It's fine, I can get something at home later."

"Are you sure? We don't mind at all."

"Well.." My gaze went back to Armin, and I shrugged, mouthing the words 'Can I?' to him.

He must have been a good lipreader, thank god, because he smiled and nodded.

"I guess I can stay for a while." I said, rocking on my heels.

Jean sat down next to me on the sofa. My mom said we could all just eat dinner out in the living room, since all of our school stuff was on the kitchen table.

I tried to ask my parents about their travels, but they just kept finding their way out of answering them, and asking about Jean instead. I guess I'll have to ask them later. Jean looked sort of uncomfortable after a while, and I felt bad for him; being bombarded question after question. By the time he finished his sandwich, I leaned over and asked if he wanted to go somewhere else. He replied almost immediately, nodding his head frantically. I chuckled, and lead him up to my room, much to the protest of my parents.

Once we were in my room, I immediately started cleaning up a bit, apologizing for the mess. I turned to look at him. He gaze was wandering around my room, mostly at all the maps pinned on the wall, and posters of famous locations. "A-ah, sorry about all that. It's borderline obsession.." I laughed weakly, continuing to tidy up.

He just shook his head "No.. It's pretty cool actually."

I glanced at him for a long moment, and smiled, relived. "I used to travel a lot when I was younger." I finished putting things away and leaned against my desk. "I can show you some pictures if you want."

"Sure."

I turned around and dug around in my desk drawer, looking for the small stack of photos; unaware that Jean found himself staring at my ass. I turned back around, having finally found the pictures; to see Jean had sat down on my bed, and was looking off to the side a bit, trying to hide a blush. I stood, confused for a moment, but then the realization hit me. I tried to act oblivious to it as I sat next to him, spreading the photos out on my lap.

"I looked kinda stupid when I was little." I laughed, looking over all the pictures of a younger me, smiling in front of various landmarks.

"I think you look kind of cute." Look. Present tense.

I refused to look up as I felt my cheeks heat up. We sat in silence, looking through the pictures, before Jean decided to break that silence

"Jesus, how many places have you been to?"

"Ah.. A lot, I guess. I lost count a while ago." I laughed a bit.

"How come you didn't go with your parents on their trip?"

I looked up at the ceiling and sighed wistfully, "My parents wanted me to get more decent education, since I was going into high school. They did a pretty decent job being my teachers when I would've been in elementary and middle school, but they just decided to have me stay here, I guess."

A few seconds passed. I saw Jean bring his hand to the back of his neck, out of the corner of my eye.

"It's... It's not much, but maybe.. We can go for a d-drive this weekend..? I-if you want to. We don't have to if you don't want to."

I peered over at him. He was turned away from me, his hands gripping the sheets of my bed. "Sure, we can." I reply, quietly, slowly. I saw him relax, and felt his hands unclench. Did.. Did he feel the same way that I felt about him? It sure as hell seemed like it. I looked downwards and smiled, some hellish idea finding it's way into my head.

"Hah, it's kinda like a date." I laughed. What the hell? Why am I saying this?

Jean whipped his head around so fast, I thought for a moment that his neck would break. His eyes were wide open, and his face flushed. "D-do you mean that?"

I squeaked, and faced him; I didn't think he would say that. He quickly looked away, "Sorry."

"N-no, it's fine." I replied. Of course it was fine. If anything, it was better than fine. He basically just confirmed the fact that he felt the same way about me that I felt about him. Well, I hope, anyways.

A few seconds more of uncomfortable silence later, two strong hands grasped my shoulders, and I was turned to face Jean. "C-can you please consider it as a date?" He half-shouted.

"Are you- Are you asking me out?" I stammered. I couldn't even believe this was happening.

"No! Ye- I don't know!" He hung his head low and sighed, not letting go of my shoulders. "I've.. I've had a crush on you for a long time," He hesitated before continuing "longer than we've been friends. I-if you don't feel the sa-"

"Yes." I cut him off, causing him to look up again. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a moment, before opening them again, staring Jean straight in the eyes. "I'll consider it as a date."

He stared at me, seemingly in disbelief of the situation; before smiling, pulling me into a hug. I stiffened. He's hugged me before; but this felt different. It was happier. I melted into the hug, wrapping my arms around him. A few moments later, a question popped into my head.

"So.. Are we like, going out..? Are we b-boyfriends..?" I asked quietly, pulling back from the hug.

Jean's eyes darted around, before asking "Um.. Can we be?"

My heart was thumping inside my chest. I smiled and nodded; speechless.

He breathed out, relieved, and grinned. "Great." was all he said, before embracing me again.

aahhHHH finally i've finished chap 3! i'm so so so SO sorry it took so long! thank you so much for being so patient! unfortunately, i will be going on another vacation tomorrow, but it's only for 3 days! so I'll work on chapter 4 once I get back from that! thank you so much for reading! and thank you so much for so many great reviews! they're greatly appreciated!