As a kid, Armin got picked on a lot. The other kids made fun of his small build and his curiosity about the world outside wall Maria and most of all because he would not stand up for himself. Armin was no good in fist fights, he knew that, and though it was the cowardly thing to do, and ultimately not the better thing to do, he would just curl up in on himself and take the insults and pray it did not lead to a beating.

But that was then, and Armin had not thought it to be far-fetched to believe that now, at the age of fifteen, that the bullying would stop. He had thought that his fellow classmates in the academy would be too worried about their training then to harass him. Admittedly, it was not as bad as when he was younger. The comments now were less straight forward, just the occasional remark about his frail build and fair skin, more joking if anything and definitely more light-hearted. He was used to it though, and so he chose to ignore it – it was what he did best. As long as the other boys weren't hitting on him, it was fine.

He was naïve to think that it would not happen, however when it did, it was not the kind of "hitting on" he had been prepared for.

Armin didn't even know the name of the first guy who had done it, only vaguely remembered his face, and the blond had to wonder if the bigger boy had realized that he was a boy too. It was at dinner, he was in line getting his rations when the boy in front of him accidentally bumped into him, effectively knocking his tray to the ground. The other guy immediately turned around to apologize, "Hey sorry – didn't see… you there" Armin blinked up at the dark haired boy from his kneeled position from the floor, thanking the heavens he hadn't gotten any food yet, "It's alright" he responded, before waving a hand in front of the other boys face, who was still frozen in place.

"Eh… are you okay?" he ventured helpfully and that seemed to do the trick, as the bigger boy snapped out of whatever trance he had been in and instead offered Armin a lecherous smile before winding his arm around the blond's waist.

"I'm alright now, thanks for asking. I just didn't know there was such a cutie standing next to me this whole time"

Armin was shocked to say the least; he coughed lightly in his hand, unable to stop the blush that rose to his cheeks as the brunet's hand at his waist slipped lower and lightly grazed his ass.

"Ah yeah, okay, well, if you'd let go of me now, that would be fantastic" he said the words with as little of a grimace as possible while trying to wiggle his way out of the guy's grip – hadn't he ever heard of personal space?

Apparently not, or maybe this guy just had no respect for personal boundaries in general as he was leering even closer, despite Armin's futile efforts to put some space between them, "But you look so pretty wrapped in my arms like this" was his response and Armin had to wonder how no one had noticed them yet – he wished someone would look over and-

"Bread! I want bread! Why did the line stop?!" Armin had never been so happy to hear Sasha's voice before, he swore he could hear the angel's choir singing. Sasha's loud outburst had been his opening, and when the guy loosened his grip slightly so he could look at the owner of the booming voice, Armin quickly tore himself out of the boy's arms and booked it to his usual table – he'd just get food once the line had died down some, he wasn't too hungry anymore anyway.

That had been the first of many awkward encounters, or maybe the incident had just awoken Armin to the true intentions of his fellow comrades. Guys would slap him on the back roughly as he passed, call him names like "blondie" and ultimately made the next few weeks miserable for Armin. Sure, he wasn't getting beat up, but this was degrading! He was a boy – he deserved some respect!

Finally, enough was enough, and the next time someone decided it would be a good idea to tell him he was girly or anything along those lines, Armin decided he would put his foot down and stop these advances.

Next time ended up being as he was eating dinner later than night. He was sitting at his usual table waiting for Eren and Mikasa to join him while absently nibbling on a piece of bread when some guy, easily double his size strolled up to him, snatched the bread from his mouth and then ate it in one swell swoop, "Those are some pretty lips you got there, lemme show you how to use them".

Armin gaped up at the hulking teen in shock, mouth agape, had this guy seriously just? The comment was completely degrading and not only that but he stole his food! Armin grit his teeth in anger, intent on speaking his mind when suddenly a hand was roughly falling on his head and Armin directed his attention to Jean, who was now standing behind him and apparently using him for an armrest, his other arm holding a tray of food, "Hey what the hell man? That's not cool."

The other boy sneered, "Don't just cut into our conversation like that!"

"I'd hardly call it a conversation. Look man, why don't you just back off – Armin here clearly doesn't want to talk to you" Armin stiffed a bit at being addressed, before nodding his head frantically, seemingly remembering his plan to tell this guy off, "Yeah, I don't appreciate guys who just steal from others and then make blatantly rude innuendos." It wasn't even much of an insult, but it definitely took more courage than Armin had thought it would.

"See," Jean said, shaking Armin's head slightly, "He's not interested so go away".

The guy eyeballed Jean, seemingly gauging if he should start a fist fight or not before scoffing and walking away, "Whatever – he ain't that cute".

Armin flushed, before swatting Jean's hand from his hair, "Uhm… thanks" he really hadn't expected the other boy to come out of nowhere and help him, but he was relieved nonetheless, the guy had been so intimidating that Armin feared he would have just sat there until Eren or Mikasa came to his aid.

Jean only laughed, ruffling his hair slightly, before releasing him and plopping onto the bench and dropping the tray he had been holding in his other hand onto the table.

"Don't worry about it – that kind've thing happens to you a lot doesn't it?"

"Ah… Yes, unfortunately" Armin absently grabbed a lock of his hair and twirled it, "It's because I'm small for my age and," Armin hesitated, "And people seem to think I am feminine" he wondered if cutting his hair would help.

Jean stared at him blankly, and Armin felt small beneath his gaze as the taller boy examined him, "Huh, guess I never really noticed."

"Seriously?" the blond asked, accidentally slamming his hand on the table and rattling their trays in the process, he couldn't help his excitement though! He had started losing faith in finding someone who didn't see him as cute and petite and for Jean to not share the sentiment – it was great!

"Hey no need to get so excited" was Jean's response, his gaze flicking to the line of people getting food as he took a bite of his own dinner – some type of chunky potato soup, skin and all.

Armin flushed, "Right, sorry" before turning back to his own food. The two sat in silence for a moment longer, before Eren approached and Jean took it as his cue to head back to his usual table, but not before patting Armin on the shoulder, "Take care of yourself."

The blond nodded frantically, " You too!"

Armin bit his lip, watching Jean's back as he left, unable to contain his smile – finally, someone other than his close friends that actually saw past his appearance!

Of course, the teasing did not stop, and Armin gave it his all into actually standing up for himself, but it really didn't work as most of the time whoever was bugging him would just laugh or ignore him completely. It was a bit disheartening really.

'Why can't I be more like Jean?' he wondered, was it really so hard to just tell someone to back off? His problem was, he was too polite and not nearly assertive enough and yet despite his best efforts he just couldn't do it.

He hated asking for help, but by now the name calling and the teasing were really getting on his nerves and was it really too much to ask for a day of reprieve? He hated that he couldn't stand up for himself, but he hated the degrading treatment even more – which is why he was currently in Jean's bedroom, practically begging for help.

"Let me get this straight… You want me, to pretend to be your boyfriend?"

Armin nodded frantically, "Yes. I thought about it a lot and I think it will be the most efficient way to get these guys to leave me alone. I've tried ignoring them and I've tried telling them to leave me alone but they keep bugging me and I thought about that time you helped me and well, no one has ever left me alone as quickly as that guy did."

"Yeah but why me? Can't you ask Eren, you're all over him anyway" Jean asked, clearly skeptical about all this.

Armin blushed, "I am not! And besides, he and Mikasa help me out too much as it is. I don't want to burden them even more. And you are one of the only guys that don't find me attractive – even Reiner gives me looks and he's one of our friends!"

Jean scratched the back of his head, hesitating, "Does it really have to be me?"

Armin nodded, "Yes."

"… I guess it can't be helped then," he reluctantly agreed, "but no kissing."

Armin nearly choked on his spit, "Of course not! As if I'd even want to!"

They had agreed on it, and yet the next day, Armin found himself in a lip lock with the taller boy – Armin had sputtered in indignation after it was over, face redder than it had ever been, "What was that for?!"

"Well the dude wasn't leaving any time soon – it worked didn't it?" Jean, for being the one who had suggested the no kissing rule, sure was a lot calmer than Armin currently was.

"Yeah well just… Just give me a little warning next time!" before scurrying to his quarters, leaving Jean standing on the mess hall's porch, who, once Armin's back was turned buried his face into his hands, unable to stop the flush on his cheeks as he remembered the feel of Armin's lips and how cute the boy had looked all flustered, "Fuck."

The next morning found Armin sitting at breakfast, he was relieved to see that no one had come to hit on him, but the occasional glance his way and whispers were putting him on edge. Did he have something on his face? Absently, he swiped at his cheek with his sleeve, not even a crumb.

It was Mikasa who joined him first, she sat across from him before reaching across the table and grabbing his cheeks, eyes boring into him, "He didn't force himself on you did he?"

"What?" Armin asked, Mikasa's seriousness a bit scary, "Jean. People are saying his kissed you and I'm asking, 'Did he force himself on you?' because if he did you can tell. I'll kick his ass right now."

"Ah! No – it's not like that!"

Mikasa raised a brow at Armin's red face, before releasing him and relaxing back into her seat, "I see. I had not known you and him were a couple."

Armin poked at his oatmeal, "It is… a sort of recent development" he admitted, he figured he'd tell her about the plan later, there were too many people around and he didn't want to risk anyone hearing.

Mikasa stared at him a little longer, before diverting her gaze across the room, where Eren was fast approaching an oblivious Jean. She smiled and reminded herself to ask the other boy how the interrogation had gone. After all, they had to make sure Jean was as serious about their relationship as their little Armin was.

"Any particular reason why you're making passes at my boyfriend?" Jean asked as he sidled up to Armin's side, who looked up at him with grateful eyes, 'Tch don't look at me like that – it's too cute.'

"Boyfriend?!" the brown-haired kid asked, he was a bit shorter than Jean and it was obvious he found that intimidating by the way he shrunk back, "I didn't – I uh, bye!"

"I think I might have been able to handle him," Armin confessed once the boy had run out of sight, not bothering to step away from Jean, who had his arm draped over his shoulder.

"Sure didn't look like it" was the taller's grumbled response as he began steering Armin towards the bunkers, "So that bastard Eren came up to me today. You didn't tell your friends about this did you?"

"No, I'm aware now I should have, as Mikasa already threatened to kick your ass in the event that you had forced yourself onto me last night."

Jean flinched. There had been a time he had thought the abrasive girl was pretty, and well, he still thought so, but he would be naïve to think he ever stood a chance with her – even if she were to find him appealing Jean knew she would never truly be his, she was too damn obsessed with Eren.

But enough about that, yesterday's "incident" as Jean had taken to calling their chaste yesterday was beginning to cause way too much inner turmoil for the brunet. Wasn't it he who had specifically told Armin no kissing? And yet he broke that rule at his earliest convenience. It would be a lie to say he hadn't wanted to kiss the boy – he had been curious is all. All these guys seemed to think the blond was the cutest thing here (and even he could admit that Armin's polite way of speaking was a nice change compared to some of the girls here who could be more masculine than Jean could ever hope to be). He had just wanted to try it, just once, under the pretense of warding guys off. He hadn't really planned on liking it, but he did, a bit too much if you asked him. It had not been his first kiss, but Armin's lips had been soft and warm and it was a good thing he had self-control because for a scary moment he wondered how soft the rest of Armin was.

Jean wondered if Armin would be angry at him for thinking this way. He looked down at Armin, still clasped to his chest by his arm, but in a friendly way. It was just a measly kiss though, so what if he liked it? He was a growing boy, you couldn't really blame him for liking it, it was a natural reaction.

"You know… We are going to have to kiss more now" Armin said, snapping Jean from his thoughts to stare down at the blond incredulously, and a bit more excited at the prospect of kissing then he should be.

"Why is that?"

Armin hesitated, "It's kind of… well everyone is talking about it and it would probably raise warning flags if we suddenly stopped. Not to mention, it would be awfully suspicious if the only time you kissed me was when a guy was hitting on me – people will think you're a terrible boyfriend with territorial issues."

"What?!"

"And for that matter maybe you should hang out with me a bit more – this is the most we've been together since we started this arrangement – I think if you're only near me when other guys are, someone will eventually catch on that this isn't real."

Jean frowned, "I guess you're right."

From that point forward, the two boys made it a point to at least interact with each other throughout the day. It was… awkward to say the least. Armin was not used to greeting Jean first thing in the morning and Jean certainly wasn't comfortable sitting across from Eren at breakfast. When they parted, Jean would pat Armin on the shoulder or ruffle his hair and his hand shook and it really shouldn't have – he'd touched the blond like that before – it was purely friendly and strictly consensual and yet he couldn't help thinking about how soft Armin's hair was.

And Armin, who did not like his hair being touched, found himself leaning into the touch – it was actually kind of comforting the more he got used to it. It was just pleasant is all, and definitely not because Jean was the one doing it.

"This is pretend, this is pretend, this is pretend" at some point or another, it had become Armin's mental chant and he would psych himself up with every morning, what he and Jean had, or rather, what they were pretending they had, was solely to keep creeps away and that was the only upside to this situation – soft touches and light kisses be damned.

On the other hand, Jean had adopted the saying, "Armin is not cute" and made a point to think it before he saw the boy, before he touched the boy, and definitely after he kissed him. There was no way he could believe a blushing Armin, lips red from kissing him, was cute. Nope, not at all.

And yet the kisses grew longer, and the touches more natural and sometimes they would kiss each other good night in front of the bunkers and then keep sharing kisses long after everyone else had gone to bed. And whenever that happened, neither boy would bring up the blunder (because what was the point of pretend kissing if no one was around to see?) because bringing it up might alert the other to how this plan was quickly spiraling out of control. Armin would just drop his gaze to the floor and march stiffly to his bedroom, pretending he didn't notice everyone else had already gone to bed and Jean would just laugh it off, making excuses in his head that there probably was someone watching, they just didn't notice him.

It was after a few days more of sneaking kisses (why were they sneaking? This was supposed to be a public thing) and Jean littering kisses along his neck that Armin mustered up the courage to say something. He hadn't wanted to bring it up, because bringing it up would mean admitting that at some point over these crazy few weeks he may have started liking Jean as an actual boyfriend rather than a friend helping him out. And that was a scary thought, because he didn't want to freak the taller boy out and then lose what they had going. Again, another scary thought, 'What we have going?' Armin shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts, 'This isn't a relationship even if I want it to be. Jean already said it himself, I'm not cute, and it isn't like I have anything else going for me.'

So now he was standing in front of Jean in his bedroom, his roommates at lunch, and wow maybe this was the wrong place to meet because Armin's nerves were on fire and his knees were shaking and he really shouldn't be this nervous in front of the guy he'd been practically making out with for the past couple weeks!

"So I've been thinking about our agreement recently," Armin started, chancing a glance at Jean, who was leaning against the door frame , arms crossed, and face blank, "And after mulling it over a bit I've come to the conclusion that you should tone down your acting a bit."

In Jean's defense, he tried to remain passive and straight faced but he couldn't help pushing himself away from the wall a bit and un-folding his arms, "Wait, what?"

Armin nodded stiffly, "Yes. If you remember, I had said I wanted this to be believable, so as to successfully keep the other guys off of me. However recently I've decided that you're acting is… too believable."

Jean's eyes narrowed in on the red blush creeping up Armin's neck, "Too believable? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Ah, now Armin's whole face was red, Jean definitely didn't miss that.

The blond hesitated; did Jean know how scary he could look sometimes?

"It means that your affectionate actions are so believable that at times, even I think we're really dating."

Oh shit. Was Jean pale right now? Because he could swear he just felt all of the blood drain from his face. Shit, shit, shit. He had let himself get carried away and now Armin probably thought he actually liked kissing him. Which he did, but there was no way he was admitting that without knowing Armin's feelings first; best to tread cautiously.

"So basically you're saying that I'm too convincing?"

Armin nodded.

"I don't see the problem then."

Armin sputtered despite himself, "Of course it's a problem! If you keep it up then I won't be able to help myself. We agreed on the terms that this would be fake and yet I find that I cannot help myself around you and sometimes I wish it…"

And now Jean was blushing too and it was probably unhealthy how quick he went from being scared lifeless to his heart thumping so hard in his chest, he was afraid Armin would hear it. He swallowed thickly, "You wish it what?"

Well this was it, because of his foolishness he had ruined their plan and now he was faced with the consequences. If he had thought this was hard before, then this was ten times worse because now he was actually confessing and Armin wondered if Jean would be mad. Would he feel betrayed? Because Armin felt like he had been taking advantage of Jean for a while now and was it unrealistic to hope that Jean would not feel used?

He took a deep shuddering breath, he would do this, he could do this, he had to do this.

"Jean I think I love you!" … Not what he had been planning on saying, definitely not. Armin blinked up at Jean in shock, eyes wide and jaw slack and Jean might have thought it was funny if he wasn't a hundred percent sure he was making the same face.

"You-you-you-" eloquent.

Armin wasn't faring much better, still flabbergasted that what was meant to be more of an apology ended up being more of school girl confession – he could feel his right to be a man slipping away.

The two stood, staring at each other, Armin still silent and Jean stuttering for a moment longer before he was grabbing his hair and mentally yelling at himself to calm down, that it was just Armin confessing to him and it was no big deal, except it was. It really was. Because here Jean had thought he had been found out and Armin was going to be mad for thinking he was cute and that he wanted to kiss him more often. When really, Armin thought Jean was some like professional actor and he had this ability to woo anyone – if that was the case, he would have tried to snatch up Mikasa ages ago. Except it wasn't. And what he had been feeling all this time had been real and he had wished it was real for Armin too and now suddenly it was and it was embarrassing and Jean couldn't help it when he started laughing into his hands.

Armin shook, "It's not funny!" and really it wasn't, because he'd come to think of Jean as a friend (though he wanted to be more) and he didn't want to be mocked by someone he thought so highly of.

Jean only smiled, doing his best to stop laughing, before striding across the room so he was standing directly in front of the smaller boy, "You're right, it's not. I have a confession too actually."

Armin squeaked when suddenly Jean swooped down, wrapping his arms around his waist and back before dropping his chin onto his shoulder and whispering into his ear, "I'm a terrible actor."

It took about three seconds for Armin to decipher the meaning behind Jean's words before he was smiling like an idiot, "Really?"

Jean nodded, before pulling away slightly, "Can I kiss you? As official boyfriends that is?"

Armin hoped he wasn't crying because his heart was soaring and there was no describing how happy he suddenly was and he really didn't want Jean to tease him, "Yes."

"Good because I was going to anyway," Jean said before leaning forward to claim Armin's lips once more. They were as soft as always and Armin tasted sweet and it was wonderful because now he didn't have to feel guilty about thinking it and now Armin could stand on the tip of his toes and kiss back with as much passion as he wanted and bring his arms up to rest them around Jean's shoulders and not have to worry about crossing any lines.

And it was perfect and it was real, and neither of them would want it any other way.