Hey, folks! I understand that some of you actually have been waiting for this..!? (That's how I understood it all)
I'm really sorry, but I'm pretty much inactive everywhere on the internet, I'm having a terrible art block, it's torture... ,=7=,
But here you go. I didn't go through to check for flaws, so it might be like a half-cooked thing. I hope it's enough to satisfy you all for now... (Even though nothing at all happens in this chapter, ooops)
I have way too much stuff I should be doing, so don't expect this to be updated too soon... *cries*
"C-c-c-captain Levi!"
Eren immediately got up and made a salute, closely followed by Reiner. A smaller man entered the stable door, with a mildly irritated face. When he saw Reiner standing beside Eren, he raised an eyebrow.
"Cadet Braun? What are you doing in the stables?" The question was to be expected, but Eren's face already had begun betraying him, as he felt the heat rising to his ears, and his mouth gaped open, but nothing came out.
"I-I was helping Jäger out with the stable chores, sir!" Reiner quickly said.
"Helping, huh?" Levi's already annoyed face became even more annoyed, as he shifted his sight from Reiner to Eren and back.
"You are both well aware that you shouldn't run around and 'help' with the punishment unless you are ordered to do just that, aren't you?" Reiner stuttered a yes, getting more and more nervous by every second that passed while he was being showered with evil eyes from the captain.
"Right... I guess that since you brats are so happy about helping each other out, you, Cadet Braun, are going to share the stable chores with Eren for the next three days."
"Y-yes, sir!"
Shortly after examining the stable boxes, the corporal left (see what I did there? "Shortly"? Haw haw, okay back to the story) with a threatening snarl and disappeared into the dark yard, heading towards the offices. As soon as the two teenagers were alone, Eren opened his mouth to say something, but all that came out was a weird whimper.
"Speak human language, Eren, I can't understand you." Reiner said. Eren blushed with an annoyed look on his face.
"I w-was going to s-say sorry! And I-I was also going to say th-thanks, uhh... for helping...!" Eren yelped.
Reiner sighed, and slapped Eren's back in a relaxed manner.
"What the hell, Eren, stuff like this happens everyday, we're soldiers! It's not like we aren't used to being ordered around." He laughed. He had hoped that it would have calmed Eren down, but the boy just looked even more distressed, and his big eyes looked the other way.
A quick silence hung in the air, before Reiner put his hand on Eren's shoulder.
"Hey, let's go back to the dorms now. I bet you're tired, after all the work, and... uh... stuff." The blond mumbled the last bit, unsure how Eren was feeling about that.
"Hrm." Eren hummed. He really wasn't feeling okay; all the embarrassing incidents that had happened today was taking its toll on his already low level of sanity that was left. He actually felt exhausted rather than just tired.
"Eren?"
The brunet snapped out of his thoughts, and looked over at the door where Reiner was already standing, waiting for Eren to move. Eren hesitated for a few moments, but followed the taller boy, though without looking at his direction a single second. He was afraid what was going to happen if he did.
"Oi, Jäger, Braun! Where the fuck have you two been?"
Of course, Jean Dickstein was right on the job of being the stupid horseface he was the very second Eren showed his face in the boy's dorms.
"Sew your fucking hole, pony." Eren growled, wandering over to the bunker he shared with Armin.
"Oh, yeah, you were in the stables again, weren't you, Jägerboy? Did you make any friends?" Jean thought he was sooooo funny. Really funny.
"No, I didn't make any friends, because everyone reminded me of you!" Connie began laughing in unison with Jean, as Eren climbed the ladder on the bed and dumped himself face first in the end farthest away from Kirschtein.
"Hi, Eren. You okay?" The boy tiredly turned his head towards the owner of the voice.
"Nnnnooooo..." He snarled, his eyebrows furrowing. Armin crawled closer to his friend.
"Hey, you'll be fine, the last chore is tomorrow, right?" Eren made a weird sound, but it certainly wasn't anywhere near an enthusiastic or motivated sound. Armin knew that sound; Eren made that sound when something was making his life hard. Other than titans.
"What is it that went wrong this time?" The blond sighed, gently poking Eren's cheek.
"Levi gave me another three days, Armin. He fucking said that I was gonna clean the stables, with..." Eren swallowed hard before he continued.
"With Reiner." He was happy that he was lying on his stomach. His loins gave a tug, but luckily, nothing more than that. Armin groaned silently.
"Well at least you have someone to help you now. Isn't that fine?" The strange look Eren suddenly sent him had him worried almost immediately. He was just about to ask what the problem was, but Eren sat up and stared at Armin.
"I'll tell you what the problem is." Eren whispered. Before Armin could answer, Eren had crawled over to the edge of the bed and looked out over the room, and crawled back again.
"But first when the others are asleep." Armin hesitated a second or two, but nodded.
"What are you two girls talking about?" Eren's eyebrows curled the moment Jean's taunting voice sounded from one of the other beds.
"The quality of horse meat, and how it'd be a perfect and nice substitute to ox meat!" Eren barked, before he laid himself down with a carpet over his head.
Armin carefully peeped down on the other soldiers. Systemically, he checked in the dark how every single person breathed and listened carefully to catch up whispering and movements. It only took him two minutes, because he concluded that he could hear everyone's snore; apart from Eren's. With that conclusion, he rolled back beside Eren, giving a thumbs up to signal that he could speak freely.
"Now, what's the problem?" He immediately asked.
"Okay, this is going to be fucking embarrassing, Armin..." Eren pinched the bridge of his nose, blushing harshly in the dark, and his heart was already skipping with nervousness. He knew he'd regret this later, but right now he felt like he was going to go insane if he didn't tell at least one person about all the things that had been torturing him constantly for weeks now.
"I dunno if you've noticed, but Mikasa kind of did. Today, at least." He said, and looked at Armin. Armin nodded.
"You've been pretty strange from time to time. Today you peaked it. What was that whole leaving-your-food-behind-for-Sasha-to-eat-maneuver for?" Eren glanced away.
"Yeah, um... that's a long explanation, actually. Or, not really. It's complicated, no, wait, uh..." Eren couldn't get himself to explain it bluntly, like he otherwise normally did. He knew that he could trust Armin with his deepest and most embarrassing secrets, and he knew that no matter how much anyone tortured Armin, he'd never say it. And yet, he had such trouble just telling him right there and right now, when he had the chance.
"Eren, take a deep breath, wait for a few secs and then tell me when you've calmed down." Armin patted Eren's forehead.
"Oh god, to hell with this, I'll just tell y-!"
"Ssh!" Armin violently hushed Eren. If Eren had just raised his voice a tiny bit more in volume, would have awakened the other sleeping people in the room.
"Jesus Christ, Eren. Weren't the secret supposed to be embarrassing?"
"It is, it's just..." Eren sighed.
"... It's new to you...?" Eren sighed a weak yes, confirming the question right away.
"Just tell me some other time, if you can't figure out how to now. There's no rush." Armin began to lay himself in a better position, before Eren sat up, grabbing his shoulders to stop him.
"No, you don't understand, it's really urgent, I don't know what to do and it's making me crazier than I normally am, Armin!"
"Sssh, Eren, I can hear you perfectly fine even when you whisper." Eren rolled his eyes, as Armin sat up.
"Okay then, tell me what it is." With some short moments of hesitation, Eren inhaled and began to whisper lowly.
"The whole reason I have been behaving like a fucking idiot recently, is because I have a crush on... on..." Eren tried to say the name, but he couldn't get it out. His throat was in a knot, his tongue felt like rubber, and his mouth was dry. Dammit! Why did he chicken out now!?
"Reiner."
Eren jumped the moment Armin suddenly finished the sentence.
"I thought so." Armin said, smiling gently.
Eren couldn't do anything else than staring at Armin while his mouth hung open.
"How did I know? Well, I kind of discreetly noticed how you were only a little bit weird when Reiner wasn't around, and how you actually spoke, until Reiner arrived. Then you behaved even weirder and you didn't say many words, and those you spoke were strangely pronounced. I convinced myself that it was my imagination, but it seems that my intuitions were right."
Judging from the look on Eren's face, Armin could feel that his best friend had forgotten how openly he read him. The two of them had been friends for years, even before Mikasa had been there. And also she could read Eren like an open book.
"Hey now, I haven't told this to anyone else, not even your sister, Eren. After all, it was just an intu-"
"Do you think anyone of the others have noticed?" Eren's face was soaked in fear. Armin raised a brow, while he gave it a thought.
"Besides from Mikasa, I doubt it... but I must add that Jean might have picked something up. You two are always after each other, so it would only be natural if he noticed something, too."
That comment didn't calm Eren down at all. Of all people that could have noticed...
"Eren, calm yourself. Jean is honest, but I don't think he is the type to gossip. Unless he is really angry." Armin added quietly.
Eren closed his eyes. Then he should not piss Jean off. He never thought he would ever have such a thought in his head. Ever. This situation was really extraordinary.
He was just about suggesting to go to sleep again, when he remembered why he was talking about this in the first place.
"A-Armin?"
"Yeah?"
"You know, uhh... that's not all... that thing with me having a crush, I mean..." Eren whispered, almost so low that Armin for once couldn't hear it.
"Oh? What now?" Armin sat himself closer, to pick up what Eren said.
A quick silence, with the only sounds coming from their fellow soldiers, hung in the room, as Eren gathered courage.
"Right... um... today, something in the stables happened." Eren started. He could already see Armin's curiosity rising, as his friend nodded as a signal that he should continue.
"Apparently, because I have been doing stable chores for almost everyday in several weeks now, Reiner came to help me, without any order to do so, though. S-so he came willingly, and by his own."
Armin nodded again, looking more eager by every moment of silence that passed.
"I told him not to at first, but he, um... insisted, and we did the chores."
"Yes, and?"
"So, I got some horse poop on my hands and clothes, and it was not that kind of normal, dry horse poop, it was that smelly, sticky, yucky stuff. And I tried to get it off with hay, but it only made it worse, and then... then..." Eren's voice cracked, cutting himself off from saying anymore.
"... And then...?"
Eren gulped. He was going to try let it all out in one go.
"Well, Reiner decided to help me out again and he... took a wet cloth and reached around me from behind to clean my hands. You know he likes to fuck around a lot, but because I'm such a retard, my mind didn't think of anything else than... eh... sexual things...? And I tripped and he tripped and we landed in hay, and he was on top of me and I lost my rationality and I kissed him... and it was awkward, and... and... then Levi came and we saluted and he told us to clean the stables the next three days."
When Eren was finally finished, he laid down and hid himself in the blanket. He didn't even dare looking at Armin of pure embarrassment.
Armin was still processing what Eren had just told him. They had kissed? Reiner and Eren? On a bunch of hay, even?
"E-Eren... what happened right after..?"
"He said it was fine and it was just a kiss and that nothing happened, but if that had been true I wouldn't have gotten a boner right then..." Eren's whisper was muffled by the fabric and strained by the extreme embarrassment.
Armin blinked, trying to get what Eren was saying.
"Boner...?"
"Yes, okay. I'm sexually attracted to Reiner, it's not just a schoolgirl crush, it's fucking hormones and sexual frustration. And I'm weird, and I'm gay, and it's Reiner that I'm gay for. I'm fucked up, and I'm fucked. Really fucked. There is going to be sexual, awkward tension, and he is going to find out if he hasn't already."
Eren buried his face into the mattress with a pillow over his head. Armin was silent, too silent, and Eren was 100% sure that his best friend was currently judging him. Of course he was, because Eren would have done the same. Who wouldn't judge someone for having such an embarrassing crush.
Eren jumped a little when Armin's hand placed itself on his shoulder through the blanket.
"Would it help to not be alone with him? I can try asking the Captain if I can get the stable chores too."
Eren peeped out from the depths of the fabric.
"I don't know if that would help, Armin." He answered.
"Well, it's just if you really need it."
With that, Armin laid down too, positioning himself to lie comfortably.
"Just give it some thought before you go to the stables tomorrow. Sleep for now."
Eren nodded, freeing his head from the pillow. It was silent for ten minutes, and Eren could already hear Armin's slow and soft snore. He wished that he himself could sleep, but thoughts tumbled around in his head, and he couldn't lie still for more than twenty seconds. He was so nervous for future events, and despite being tired and exhausted, his groin was warmer than normal, and he felt semi-hard, which was a problem. He was lying right beside his best friend, and he had a sexually frustrated boner. His day just kept getting better and better, huh?
Ignoring the incoming throbs, he lied belly down to prevent it from growing, which worked, somewhat. If he had these kind of problems now, when he couldn't even see Reiner, and he was sleeping right besides Armin, he really didn't want to know how the next three days were to go.
"Eren?" A soft whisper emerged from the stable door.
"Armin? Is that you?" Eren turned around while asking, but instead of his blond friend, he saw a black-haired girl.
"Eren, is Reiner here yet?"
"No, but why are you here." Eren didn't really say it as a question, he groaned it out with an irritated tint to it.
"I asked Armin where you were. And he told me, too. Um, the thing with Reiner." Eren widened his eyes in horror.
"What...?!" He barked.
"He told me before I left. Don't worry, I haven't told anyone. Not like I ever would."
"Oh my god..." Eren placed his shovel up against a wall and sat down on a bucket that was turned upside down. Mikasa carefully moved inside, looking at her brother with a worried face.
"It's okay, Eren. It's only natural." She said quietly. Eren groaned.
"Even if it was, Mikasa, it's still embarrassing. I don't know if anyone else than you two knows it, and I suspect Reiner knows, too."
Mikasa stood beside Eren, and she rubbed his back soothingly.
"Eren, I've known you for a long time, and I think I have the right to say that you really aren't yourself."
"No shit."
"No, I didn't mean it like that. Usually you are very brave. Or, reckless. That's one of your main traits. You barge through everything, without giving it a second thought."
Eren looked up from the floor and up at Mikasa's stoic face.
"It's not that I think that trait is always good, but it's how you are, and I really wouldn't want you in any other way. Less reckless, maybe. But that's a different thing."
Before Eren could answer back, Mikasa kneeled down to get on eye height with him.
"In the few latest days, you have been behaving weird and differently. Especially with Reiner around. And I can see that it's bothering you a lot. I think you should take it easy and calm down. I know that you always have really intense feelings, but don't let it get to you. It's going to be fine, as long as you keep calm, all right?" Mikasa's life-coaching made Eren slightly flustered, but it wasn't that she hadn't done stuff like that before. His sister was always really deep, deeper than he would ever be. Sometimes she confused him, but she somehow managed to get him less stressed.
"Right. But you should get out of here. If the corporal finds you here, he'll put you on chore too."
"...Really?" The light in Mikasa's eye that flashed look suspiciously much like hope, and Eren groaned.
"No, Mikasa. No. Don't even." The light disappeared quickly, but she smiled slightly, patting her brothers shoulder before she stood up.
"I will see you at training, right?"
"If I'm quick, I might make it to breakfast." Mikasa nodded, and turned to go outside, only to almost bump into a wall of muscles. She glanced up, locking eyes with a certain blond.
"Oh. Good morning, Reiner."
"Morning, Mikasa. Morning, Eren. What have you two been doing?"
Eren quickly stood up and grabbed his shovel to disappear into the nearest box.
"I just discussed an important matter with Eren. Later." Mikasa was gone like the wind, long before Reiner could say a word. He shrugged and picked up the nearest shovel to join Eren in the chores.
"You are out early today, huh?" He said, grinning at Eren. The other boy didn't answer with anything else than a nod. Reiner mentally shrugged. It didn't surprise him that Eren was behaving like that. After what had happened yesterday, Eren was without doubt feeling awkward.
Though, Reiner couldn't think of any other methods than just indirectly assuring the other teenager that it was all fine by acting like nothing ever happened. Hopefully, Eren would forget about it too.
"I can explain, Eren."
"You better get to it, it was fucking awkward and the silence was unbearable!"
Eren placed a hard finger in the middle of Armin's forehead.
"I went to ask the captain if I could have helped you out with the chores, but he didn't allow me, because I had to do the dishes with Connie and Ymir." Armin said. He held up a palm to stop Eren from saying anything.
"But he said that I could go help you two in the evening, so don't freak. I'll follow you there after dinner."
Eren let his hands fall, as he exhaled in relief. No more awkward silence. If Armin was there, nothing could possibly happen.
"It's only three more days, Eren. You'll be fine."
"Thank you for reminding me, Armin. 'S really great to know that this might be the only time you'll be able to help me with the stable chores. Really nice." The pure essence of sarcasm that started dripping from Eren's words made Armin scratch his own neck.
"Maybe Mikasa could...?"
"Stop right there. It would never end well."
"Ah... you're right..." Mikasa would probably be all over-protective of him, making it even more obvious what would be going on inside Eren's head...
"Then Jean, maybe?"
"Ugh. No. Why?"
"Jean always makes you look like your normal self; angry and annoyed. No matter the situation, you two always are on each other's neck."
"Well, maybe that's true, but he would never ever agree on helping me out in the stables."
"Oh... yeah..." Their conversation was abruptly cut off, when a certain Captain Levi turned around from a corner.
"Eren. Come with me. Now." Both Armin and Eren made a surprised salute, startled by Levi's sudden appearance. That man was probably walking on tip toes.
"U-umh, ye-yes, Sir!"
Oh my god, cliffhanger, what will happen in the next chapter I really don't know, I can't remember why I wrote this lmao I'm so fucked