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arminkirschtien · 5 years

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Good Old Fashioned Theatre Boy Chpt 3

YEET sorry this took so long my ass couldn’t write for shit this past month. Modern Au, Rated M (language). Inspired by @dapperbunns Jearmin Tangled Au that has literally given me an excuse to create and smile. Thank you~~~ Thank you @katiebug445 For looking this over for me and agreeing to be my beta-bae <3

Ao3

“Alright Armin, I’ll pick you up around 8:30, do you have everything you need?

“Yes Grandpa, you’ve asked like, twenty times.”

“List off what you have.”

“I have my leggings, I have my leotard, I have my hair bands, I have my dance socks, I have my dance shoes, my sweatshirt, a winter coat just in case, jeans to wear over my leggings at school and my spare shirt.”

I list off the items, picking them up to show off to my grandfather as proof of me having the items. He hums in approval as he wanders over to me, pausing before smiling. “Have a good time, call me if you need anything.” He quickly hugs me, patting my back a couple of times before pulling away. “Have a good day Armin, call me if you need anything. I will be having a meeting with Dr. Jaeger and see if I can get a job with his group.”

I nod, walking to the door, telling him good luck before walking out the door to get to class.

On the bus, I decided to sit down next to Marco, who was quite happy to see me today. “Hey, may I sit here with you?” I asked Marco before the bus shut the front doors, starting to move down the hill. Marco’s eyes lit up.

“Of course!” The brunette grinned before patting the seat beside him, “No need to ever ask, sit with me whenever! I enjoy your company.”

The compliment made my cheeks turn a rosy shade of pink. “Thanks,” I reply, sitting down and setting my backpack by my feet and my gym bag in my lap.

“You going to the gym after school? That’s new.” Marco asked me.

“Oh, no. Well, kind of I guess? Bertholdt after school is going to help me with my flexibility. Since I’m going to be using what is most likely a harness and I’m going to be dancing a lot, I asked him for some advice. He said he’d help me with flexibility, which is a great place to start and help me and some of the others like Jean.”

Marco’s eyes light up again. “Wow, that’s so sweet of him! He’s always been the one to go to for help. It always shocked me how tall he was and how he could do all of these flips and tricks, splits and bends. It’s insane!” Marco pointed out, sighing out loud while rubbing the back of his head nervously. “I can’t even touch my toes.” I chuckle. “It’s ok, being flexible is something everyone can achieve, it just takes time. Well, time and a tolerance for pain.”

“Which I have neither. Armin, I got stung by a bee and I had to call home. And being so busy with after-school classes and band, it’s hard to catch a breathe around here.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I got a papercut so bad once I used a hot glue gun to burn my leg so something hurt more than my finger.” I retort, pointing at my leg to show where the burn mark still shows to this day.

“So if you don’t mind me asking, did you ever talk with Jean?” Marco asked me, his eyebrow quirking up in question.

“We said hello and told each other congratulations on our roles, but we didn’t speak much after that. He seemed to want to go backstage quickly, and I let him leave after the outbreak my friends and I saw right before we got into the building.”

~~~

“Mom, I’ve said it twice, and I’ll say it again! I don’t care, he can die for all I’m concerned with, maybe when he does kick the bucket the life insurance we have for him can buy my childhood back!”

My head spun around, my eyes widened hearing those words that make my heart turn.

I don’t care.

“Don’t look at me like that Springer, you know how much I hate-” “I know, dude. Just- can we not talk right now?” The young teen beside the man snapped at him, his golden eyes barely visible to us, but he was getting emotional by the looks of it. The shorter man looked away from the tall brunette, watching us and sighing in embarrassment at his...friend? Brother? Boyfriend?. “Some other people seem to want to get in as well, let’s just go in before we attract attention, I’ll text Sasha that we’re inside.” He insisted, picking up his phone, locking eye contact with me. I open my mouth to talk but he starts looking away from my gaze. “Whatever, I’m going inside and going backstage, I don’t want to be here when my father’s on his way, I don’t want to look at his stupid face, I don’t want to see him anymore. Next time I see him I’ll shove my foot up his ass until he WISHED he pulled the trigger on himself back when I was 10!” He shoved the doors open, startling his friend. “H-Hey! Come back you dumbass!” He yelled, before stopping to look at us in a worrisome way, a look a mother would give after losing her child.

“S-Sir! You gotta help my friend, he’s not in the best mood but he tends to listen when adults ask him to tone it down, h-he’s not violent he’s just got a temper!” The small teen ran over to Eren’s dad, who smiled caringly. “Of course, my son is just like that as well, leave it to me.”

Eren was going to poke at his father for the comment, but Dr. Jaeger was already tracking inside, looking for the angry young man. We all turn to look over at the teen when he lets out a deep, embarrassed sigh.

“I’m so sorry you had to see that, he has a bad connection with his dad. Daddy issues are something you usually see at play around here anyway, am I right?” He laughed and surprisingly, I laughed with him, along with Eren, Levi, and Mikasa.

“We understand. Have we seen you around here before?” Eren asked before sticking out his hand. “I’m Eren Jaeger, and thi-”

“I’ve heard of you Jaeger, I’m Connie Springer. We had the same homeroom back in middle school, but our class was so big like anyone really knew each other. You were the loud one who always spouts about joining the military, I could never forget.” He chuckled, pulling out his phone and clicked a few things on his screen, ending up on a picture of their class graduation from middle school.

“I don’t know your friends though, who are these guys?” Connie asked, pointing at Mikasa, Levi and I. I smile and put my hand out next, Connie quickly shaking it and grinning from ear to ear. “I’m Armin Arlert, I’m Eren’s best friend since kindergarten,” I say.

“Hey...aren’t you the kid who today got sent-”

My body goes stiff and I’m sure Connie felt it since he was still holding my hand from shaking it. Connie quickly went from goofy to serious and guilty as quickly as a lightning flash in April.

“H-Hey whoa whoa I’m not here to tease you about it! I actually was super pissed I didn’t step in this morning, I was the one to go grab the teacher cause I couldn’t do anything on my own. Sorry all that happened, I always told Reiner he’s got to get better friends.”

“You got the teacher? That’s not being a coward, that probably kept things from getting worse. If Reiner went any further, people would have gotten hurt badly.” Mikasa chimed in, walking over to shake Connie’s hand. “For that I thank you, I’m Mikasa Jaeger, Eren’s adopted sister. Though most still call me by my birth name Mikasa Ackerman. It’s good to meet anyone who isn’t an asshole at school.”

“Awe well, wouldn’t go that far, I can be pretty stupid and ride sometimes,” Connie admits, rubbing the back of his head. He holds his hand out to Levi, who reluctantly takes it and shakes his hand.

“Levi Ackerman, third year. Before you ask... I’m not related to Mikasa. We simply have a common last name.”

Connie chuckled and placed his hands in his coat pockets. “I’ve met other Springer’s before, I understand having a common last name.”

Honestly, I completely forgot about Jean that day, his outbreak never crossed my mind again until I was asked what we talked about. Something inside me wants to know what happened to Jean’s father, why the bad blood between father and son? It hurt hearing him yell at his father like that, especially since I would kill to see my parents again.

~~~

“Ah, my apologies, I was only curious. Jean doesn’t talk to people out of the blue much, so I didn’t know if you two had a history. What was his outbreak about? He didn’t tell me much, he was too busy talking about how...nervous he was about having the main role.” Marco looks over at me, crossing his legs and sitting his arms in his lap, up and paying attention.

“He uh, was upset at someone over the phone, yelling about his father.” Was all I said, heck, all I wanted to say. It wasn’t my business to spout out Jean’s family issues without him here.

“Wow, his dad huh? It’s been a while since he’s spat at him, he rarely calls Jean anymore. They don’t get along very well as you can tell, but I feel like it’s been years, and they should talk over dinner sometime. Especially since his dad is trying to be different this time around.”

I nod at Marco's words, barely listening at this point. My parents were clouding into my mind, fogging my senses up so much it was hard to pay attention to much else. Jean is fucking lucky to have two parents who are willing to change for him so he’s happy, yet he’s unwilling to let one back in. I would love for my father to call me every week, tell me he’s changed and that he and mother want to talk it over dinner. I started to tear up, my parents’ words floating around in my head, pushing at my lips for me to say their words out loud as they did to me.

“I asked for a child, not...not this!”

“Armin? A-Armin! We’re here! C’mon get up!” Marco shook my body, waking me up from my thoughts.

*****

I was off all day today, my mind just really didn’t feel like functioning. Usually, I’m all over math and science and writing, but today I couldn’t move my pencil. I had to use the restroom twice just to splash water in my face to wake up, I wonder if I should call Bertholdt and cancel this meetup…

Though it would be rude to cancel something 5 minutes beforehand, might as well go.

“Armin! Hey, wait up!”

I turn around to see Eren running up to me, waving his hand in the air as if his first call didn’t deafen me. I would have told him not to yell at me again, my headache throbbing from his call, but I see that someone was walking with him.

Jean.

Fuck.

Jean was wearing a skin-tight black compressed shirt that showed off every curve and feature of the young man; his baggy sweatpants were fitting with his chill fitness theme. He had his backpack lazily slung over his shoulder, wearing a dog tag necklace and today he was wearing a few piercings on his ear and one on his lip. Fuck, I’m not going to be able to walk straight after looking at him.

“Hey sorry, ran into him on the way to class. You said you were going to meet up with Bert for practice, well Jean was going to help look over the script. Mind if I tag along while Mikasa is in martial arts with Annie?” Eren asks, wrapping his arm around my shoulders, pushing up my glasses in a playful intention. I blush, a little embarrassed by his actions, and that hopefully, he won’t see how red I was from just looking at the ash blonde behind us.

“I-I uh, I guess you can come along, as long as Bertl doesn’t mind-”

“I already asked him bud, no need to worry. He says he’s ok with Jean and I were there.” Eren interrupts me before I even have a chance to finish my sentence. Not much has changed between Eren and me, I begin to talk, and Eren stops me, repeats what I say and everything claps for Eren’s idea. Though I wouldn’t have it any other way with him.

It wasn’t a long walk, down the street of the schoolyard to the dance studio the cheerleader's practice in by the field. Today was the day were the cheerleaders were actually not practicing today, and since Bertholdt’s mom owns the building as the teacher he has the key to the building. I thought we were supposed to be alone and have it be just Bertholdt and me, but since Eren and Jean are here, I may have to leave early. My head was already aching from all the questions that everyone is going to ask if I’m ok or not.

I opened the door to the studio, the warm air of the heated building gave me the slight warmth of comfort that I needed after a day like this. Taking a deep breath I walked down the familiar hallway, following the faint beat of the music.

“You’ve been here? Do you know where you’re going?” Eren asked me, pausing his conversation with Jean.

“I know the area yeah, I also hear music which probably means Bertholdt is in that area. He’s the only one in here, as far as I know, it’s closed today.”

I knock on the door of the dance room the cheerleaders practiced in, hearing the music in the room quiet down and a quiet, “come in!”. I open the door slowly to see Bertholdt just getting up from stretching his legs out. He looks up at me and smiles, and when I smile back he can already see something’s wrong.

“Armin, is everything alright? You look...exhausted.” Bertholdt asks, setting up some chairs for Jean and Eren to sit down in, which they both gladly take and look at me.

“I’m just...tired I guess. Had a talk with Marco today and it got me thinking of some sorrow thoughts, they’ve been in my head all day and I almost went home early. It’s nothing that can’t go away, so I should be fine before setup today.” I say, opening my bag so I can put my school clothes in. I remove my shirt that covered up my leotard and quickly grabbed a hairband to put my hair up a bit better.

“I’m sorry man, you don’t have to tell me anything, but I may have something that can help if you would like?” Bertholdt offered to me. I nodded and the tall brunette rushed over to his backpack and rummaged around for a bit.

“Usually I save these for later every once and a while, but I think someone needs them more than me.” He said before tossing a plastic bag at me. I catch the bag, almost tripping over my clothes in the process. I gaze in what was in the bag, seeing what looks to be one of my favorite treats in the world.

“How did you know!?” I yell enthusiastically, opening the clear bag to color filled gummy worms. These are my absolute favorite candy, getting them from my grandfather every time I got a perfect score on a test. I look up at Bertholdt, already shoving a few of the gummy candies in my mouth, the flavors melting in my mouth feeling like heaven.

“Who doesn’t like gummy worms?” Bertholdt smiled, zipping his bag back up and jumping around before touching his toes in a stretch. “Also...Annie kinda has the world's biggest sweet tooth, and Reiner and I like to have a few things for her once and awhile. It’s what we do.”

“That’s so sweet! Wish Eren would do something like that for me.” I peer over at Eren, who shakes his head and chuckles. “Yeah, well we rarely ever see each other in school. Also whenever I get you gifts, you never take them.” Eren said, going over to me to push me lightly.

I finish taking off my school clothes and putting them in my bag, my dance clothes finally free. I walk over to Bertholdt and touch my toes with him, my knees already aching from the stretch, it’s been so long since I’ve properly stretched out. I stand up and grab the back of my knees, mumbling a few curse words while trying to sooth the pain. Bertholdt just looks over and laughs.

“It’s been a while I’m guessing?” He joked at me, looking over at Eren and Jean, who I could I already hear Eren’s laughter over the throbbing pain in my legs.

“Y-Yeah, that and I’ve been stressed so I’m a little tense already. I don’t know how you can do anything while stressed.” I say, Bertl just smiling brightly at me. “Well instead of trying to push away my stress when working, I make it apart of who I am. Then I just think of all the places it got me. Y’know, without having my panic attack and falling out of the tree during cub scouts, I would have never met Reiner? He was there in the infirmary with a total stranger, and yet he treated me like family. So I just...have a knack for making things positive.”

I stop and think about his words, trying to remember a time where my panic attacks got me somewhere while sitting down to stretch out my legs. “If...If I didn’t stay with my grandfather after my parents left, I-I never would have met Eren!” I grin, looking over at the tan brunette, who smiles back at me, probably reviewing the memory in his head all over again.

When my parents dropped me and my stuff off, my grandfather talked with Eren’s dad, saying his grandson just moved in with him and that he would get along great with him and Mikasa. We met up once my room was finished and it was one of the greatest days of my life to this day. They never found me odd for liking dancing and theatre or being not as masculine as most guys around us. Even for my birthday that year they both got me an oversized sweatshirt from the beach that I still wear to this day and weren’t ashamed to get a pink one for their best friend who was a guy. It always meant the world to me that they never went to change me...they not only loved me for me, but they never went to change who I was and even encouraged me to be different.

“If it wasn’t for my mom passing, my father wouldn’t be the amazing doctor is he is today. Her death inspired him to do more in the field of science and help thousands of others with cancer and other diseases. It also brought Mikasa, dad and I a bit closer. And Armin, without you, I don’t know how we would have made it through that time.”

Eren plays with the hem of his shirt, slowly looking up at me to show he was getting a little red in the face as if he was about to cry. I finally got myself into a middle split without too much pain before looking at the floor, recalling Eren calling me at 3 am to say his mother passed. It was a rough night for his family, and it took a week for Eren and Mikasa to come back to school and even longer for either of them to smile again.

“She was awesome Eren, still one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met to this day. Your father is working harder than ever before and you have your future leveled out and planned. Mikasa a home and a family to call her own and her cooking skills are definitely going to get her far. I’ll be first in line to her new cooking show when she’s famous.” I chuckled, trying to get Eren up and smiling again.

“Heh, good fucking luck buddy, I’m gonna beat you to first in line, she’s my family after all.” Eren fights back, the loving family fire already sparking back in his eyes. I smirk leaning over so I’m laying on my stomach while still in a split, my lower back starts to ache, but I’m too distracted by Eren’s claims than the pain.

“Are you kidding? I’ll be there before set-up is ready, helping her with her outfit and her hair. She trusts me with her looks way before she would even think of you helping. You’d be knocking stuff over and yelling at guys for getting too close to her, now who’s treating who like a snot-nosed toddler, huh Eren?”

“Oh you little- I’m technically her older brother! If she ever needed me first I’m first on her call list in her phone. You’re a sad third, right below a blonde, hot-headed Russian girl.” Eren retorts, sticking his tongue out at me in a teasing manner.”

Bertholdt kicks in with a cocky smile. “Well then Eren, what is she calls Annie first? You may be able to keep all the guys away from her backstage, but Annie is not only a girl, but she’s stronger than you by a million. What if she’s called first? Girl's are girl's, Mikasa can’t talk to her brother about everything.”

“What about you Jean, what do you say about all this,” I ask Jean, who’s been silently laughing at us this entire time, not even butting in once. The young man sighs and looks at all three of us, stopping his gaze on me.

“She’d call Armin first, sorry Jager.”

Eren turned to Jean and punched his shoulder in anger. “You-You betrayed me! You asshole! I’m her brother!” Eren yells, obviously not too hurt, but I guess he wasn’t too much expecting Jean to go on my side. “You just went for Armin cause he’s cute you sleaze!”

“Ey! Watch it, I didn’t!” Jean yelled back, his face turning a rosy shade of pink from being called out from Eren. I wasn’t too much farther behind Jean, my face a little pink as well, did he really think I was cute? It’s not the first time I’ve been called cute, but I’m usually called that because I’m mistaken for a girl.

“C’mon Bert, help me call out Jean here!” Eren asked Bert, who was walking over to Eren and laughing, going into their own little world of fighting back and forth. While Jean rolled his eyes and peered back over at me with a sly look.

“Can’t take Eren anywhere,” I mumble to Jean, who chuckles as he glances at Eren. He looks back at me and looks at me up and down, reminding me of the position I was in. I remembered what I was doing, kind of happy the pain went away while Eren and I were fighting, though I’m not sure I can feel my legs anymore. Though this also can explain why Jean was quiet the entire time, was he staring at me!?

That little-

I slowly pull my legs forward again, getting up from my stance to shake off the odd sore feeling in between my legs from stretching. I was obviously embarrassed by Jean’s eye on me, but I can’t complain too much because I would rather have him doing it than not, he was attractive, and the attention wasn’t bothering me too much today.

I got down on my hands and knees, letting my hands slide forward so my back could arch properly, reaching out as far as my arms would let me. The cold floor felt oddly nice against my hot cheeks, slightly gross, but relaxing at the same time. Not only did I need to stretch my back and torso a bit, but this was a position that I’m sure someone wouldn’t mind looking at. To check, I turn my cheek over to see that he is most certainly staring at me, his cheeks a tinted pink and his mouth slightly covered by his hand, his eye color barely visible from his pupil dilation. Fuck. Is this what it’s like to be looked at this way? Having someone attractive stare at you like a goddamn meal after a drought felt...rewarding almost. I was quickly starting to sweat staring at Jean’s reactions to my body, though I lost it when I saw him cross his legs over, hiding an obvious tent in his pants.

Fuck

Fuck fuck fuck.

I’m in leggings, shit this is bad.

“Alright Alright, sorry Ar, shall we get to-”

“H-Hey Bert, silly question, is there a bathroom in this building?” I don’t even look at Bertholdt, trying to hide my shame quickly from his or Eren’s view.

“Oh of course! Out here than just down the right hall.” Bert explains to me, getting out his phone to check the time.

“When you’re done I’ll have to go too,” Jean states, looking away from me and from everyone else, hoping that they don’t find anything suspicious. This is bad, really bad, I need to do something or it’s never going away, I can’t have anyone thinking anything gross of me, especially Bertl and Eren who know me for being innocent. Fucking Kirschtein! Why did I do that, why did I make it worse?! What kind of Idiot and I?

“Oh, it’s an open one so both of you can go, While you guys are gone let me look up to see when you guys get your script and what songs to listen to,” Bertholdt remarks, Eren also pulling out his phone to message someone.

Jean and I quickly look at each other and stand up, quickly walking out of the room while they were distracted.

We finally left the room and let out a long held in a sigh, that was fucking close, we could have never heard the end of it from those two.

“S-Sorry about that, I honestly couldn’t handle them bickering back and forth anymore, it was starting to-”

The room quickly went as silent as the dead, the sound of a slap echoing through the empty halls in a crude manner. Of course, It was my hand against Jean’s face, a slight red print already forming there.

“Hasn't your mother ever told you not to stare?!” I snap at him, crossing my arms. Obviously, it was still sort of my fault, but he didn’t have to feed the fire with his lusty gaze like a horny rabbit. I have things to do, dammit! We just met two days ago and he’s already treating me like eye candy.

“Well hasn’t your mother ever told you to tease a guy in public? We could have both gotten in some serious shit back there cause of you” He retorts back, rubbing his cheek in pain, giving me an angry glare. The mention of my mother caused my heart to curl, the feeling almost painful.

“Well, I guess we’re even then on the scale that our mothers taught us jackshit. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to use the restroom, go handle your issue somewhere else. I actually do need to use the restroom while your problem can be fixed by just going downtown, so piss off” I spat, turning on my heel towards the men’s restroom before being stopped by Jean’s voice again.

“Well I’m sorry princess but you could clearly go downtown as well and find a whore yet I bet the only way you’d get laid is if you crawl up a chickens ass and wait long enough!”

I open the handicap/family restroom where it’s for only one person, so I can slam the door and lock it shut, but before I do that, I stare Jean right in the eyes.

“Well, YOU’RE the one to talk! Call me back about my daddy issues when your father does, in fact, stick a gun in his mouth as you want him to!”

I slam the door shut, the rough and noisy bang ringing in my ears even after a minute of shutting the door.

Of course, when I’m behind the closed door, I panic.

“Why did I slap him? Why did I say anything!? I’m such an idiot! My day just got ten times worse and I don’t know how to fix it!” I whisper to myself while starting to sweat, turning on the faucet and splashing cold water in my face, the chilly droplets pouring down my face praying this is all just a really bad dream. My stupid side got in the way of my vision again and I lose my part for getting on the bad side of my partner. I have to pretend to fall in love with him for the play when behind the scenes I have a big crush on him and just did the biggest ‘wtf’ in history.

I begin to cry, this is what it’s like to quickly lose control and be so confident one minute... then lose it after realizing what you’ve done. My tear starts to mix with cold water still sticking to my face.

“If it makes you feel any better, I would have slapped me too.”

I turn to the bathroom door, seeing that no one was there, yet I heard Jean’s voice on the other side, meaning he was indeed talking to me. I sit down by the door, leaning against it just as I suspected Jean was doing.

“You’re not an idiot, I was kinda being a perv, I’m kinda having a rough day too. I just found out my dad moved back into state and is trying to be a better father after all that he’s done to me and my mother. It’s been taking me down a bit, and you took my mind off of it for a bit...and I honestly forgot that was you and your friends overhearing my fight with my mother.”

“I would kill to see my father again…so I guess I was just envious your father was willing to return home to see you, Hell, that he even remembered he was a parent.” I respond, curling up into a ball. My father would beat the shit out of me finding out about today and how I reacted, but I would be just fine because he would be here, remembering he has a son who misses him dearly. He's found a way to give me advice, and my mother would find a way to make me smile wide again.

“I guess that’s something we have in common, shitty childhood,” Jean says, his head banging against the door where mine was, probably just now relaxing his head against the door.

“Hey uh, Armin…”

“Yeah?”

“Can we start over?”

I was first a little confused at what he asked, before slowly standing up and unlocking the door, pulling it open to see that Jean was sitting down against the door. He turns around to see me standing up, then follows through standing up himself to face me. I take a deep breath and look up at him, his eyes showing guilt and depression, but I swear I can see a glimmer of shine here and there. He sticks his hand out.

“Hey, I’m Jean Kirschtein and I’m much more than a dumbass lying pervert, I’m also kinda an asshole.”

I couldn’t help but laugh a little at his reintroduction, holding my hand up to shake it while trying my hardest to hide my laugh, but obviously failing as he also starts to laugh.

“Hello Jean, I’m Armin Arlert and I can do way more than complain and stretch, I can also figure out a mystery murder movie in the first 10 minutes of the movie and probably fall asleep just about anywhere.”

We both let out one last chuckle and agree that nothing happened beforehand, that this was our first meet up.

We can at least agree on something.

#jearmin #jean kirschtien #jeanxarmin #armin arlert #arminxjean #aot #ao3feed #ao3fic #ao3 #ao3 update

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