Chapter Text
It’s dark in the warehouse where the MP left them. In the quiet greyness, Armin can hear Jean’s breathing coming out a little louder than usual, a little less steady than usual, and it makes Armin’s heart chug nervously. He can see well enough to notice the knit of Jean’s brows and the lock of his jaw. This isn’t an uncommon look, Armin has seen it nearly every day for the past few months whenever Jean has to do something that makes him nervous, especially if it’s a result of something related to Eren Jeagar. But today the look is even more pronounced than usual—and for good reason. Armin and Jean are sitting in wooden chairs that face each other, about ten feet apart, their wrists bound behind them to the poles on either side. And Armin has long blonde extensions knotted up in his hair.
They don’t say anything for several minutes. Armin just sits and listens to Jean breathe. Jean tests the ropes that hold him to the chair and finds he can’t break them. And if he can’t break them then Armin most certainly can’t, so his worry doubles.
“Test the ropes,” he says anyway. Maybe, by some miracle, Armin’s are looser. But they’re not. A few seconds later Armin shakes his head. They’re trapped.
But that was the whole point, wasn’t it? Jean thinks, fighting the bitterness that he’s been holding back ever since the order was first given. Not quite willing to accept the idea of complete helplessness, Jean asks again, “You’re sure you can’t wriggle your wrists out? You’re skinny.”
Armin tries again. He tries until it burns. He glances up to see Jean staring at him from under a creased brow, so he tries once more until it burns too much and he knows the outer layer of skin on his wrists has curled up. Then he shakes his head no. Definitely no. The long blonde hair swishes around his shoulders and makes Jean feel unsettled.
“Damn,” Jean mutters, dropping his head slightly.
“It’s alright, Jean.”
He raises his head again to look across at Armin. They’ve become good friends over the past few months. They’ve gone on dangerous missions together, they’ve made plans together, strategized and grown as soldiers. Somehow, sitting here tied to chairs, staring at Armin wearing a dress, seems entirely backward.
“It’ll be fine,” Armin says again. “Someone will come soon. They just need us to stall until they can hide Eren and Krista someplace safe.”
Jean knows this, he’s heard it over and over again, first from Commander Erwin and then in his own head for the entirety of the carriage ride to the warehouse while the MP tied him down and prodded him with their rifles, calling him “Eren Jaegar.”
“Don’t try anything, Jaegar,” the squad leader growled at Jean when they first pulled him and Armin off of the street. They tossed him down in the corner of the carriage and jammed their guns in his face. He couldn’t even see Armin, there were too many soldiers blocking the line of sight. They stared down at him with fear and disgust written across their faces, like they were looking down at an animal.
This is how Eren must feel all the time, Jean had thought as his heart started to pound. Before long the carriage stopped and the soldiers grabbed him by the shirt and yanked him out of the carriage. He tumbled to his knees and when the blinding pain subsided the first thing he did was look for Armin. When he finally caught sight of him, Jean saw that they were dragging him off by the fake blonde ponytail. All thoughts of pain or anger had immediately vanished and all he could think about was that ponytail staying in place. What if it came off? What if they discovered that Armin was actually a boy? What if the MP figured out that they were Jean Kirstein and Armin Arlert instead of Eren Jaegar and Krista Lenz?
And now, with the realization that they were completely helpless until someone came to rescue them, those questions carry even more weight.
The sounds of footsteps drawing near cuts into their thoughts. Armin casts one quick look in Jean’s direction. There is nervousness in those blue eyes. When they flick away, Jean feels like he’s lost something.
There is only one pair of feet. Clip clop, clip cop. They round the corner. Armin hangs his head, trying to hide his face from the approaching figure. Jean considers doing the same but then he changes his mind. Better to draw attention away from Armin. If the soldiers notice that he’s a boy, then the whole operation will be jeopardized.
“There’s my favorite prisoners!” comes the voice of one soldier. Jean turns his head to the right and sees the man walking around him. He stands in between them, blocking his view of Armin once again. He is a large man in his fifties, an old soldier whose jacket hardly fits. There is a look about him that makes Jean feel uncomfortable. His head is too small. His top is too fat. He nearly jiggles when he walks.
“The brass have been after you two for a long time now, you know that?” the man says almost happily. He’s look at Jean. “It feels nice to finally have you here.”
Jean stares back at him, trying to maintain an expressionless face. Who the hell is this bozo? He looks like an old geezer not a squad leader…not even a soldier.
He stops looking at Jean and turns to face Armin. Something changes in his posture. “My, my!” he practically cries. Armin’s head pops up. His brows knit up in surprise when he sees the large man. This is not what he was expecting. “Such a pretty face!” the man gasps, and Armin instantly regrets looking up.
He walks around the back of Armin’s chair. Jean watches, feeling his stomach sink when the man reaches out and pets Armin’s long blonde hair. “So beautiful,” the man goes on, stroking the blonde lengths and running the tips of his fingers through the soft fringes surrounding the boy’s face. Armin’s eyes are wide. The sausage-like fingers brush against his temples.
What the hell is he doing? Jean wonders, starting to feel anger prick at the edges of his mind. He looks away from the man’s hands wandering over Armin’s head and watches his friend’s face instead. But that’s even worse.
Armin is looking down, his eyes cast to the right—away from the man leaning over his left shoulder, exhaling foul breath against his neck, stroking his cheek. His big, blue orbs shiver in fear, newly forming tears making his eyes glimmer as the man snakes an arm around the front of his thin body and coos into his ear, “Come on, sweet thing. I want to hear your voice, since you’re such a beauty.”
Armin’s jaw starts to quiver and he tries to control it. “Come on, now,” the man half-whispers. He leans in closer and Jean sees his lips scrape over Armin’s jaw. He tilts his neck to the side, trying to escape the unnerving contact, but the man’s other hand holds his head in place. Jean sees sparks of panic flicking through Armin’s eyes as they dart around, looking anywhere but at the man, anywhere but at Jean. “Say something, darling,” the man practically begs.
Armin’s mind is working like an old clock, ticking with furious effort. How can he talk? He may be dressed like a girl but he still has the voice of a young man. It’ll give them away. When the man asks him to speak up again, Armin mutters, “Umm…” He tries to make his voice higher. He tries to figure out how to sound natural. He tries not to think about how humiliating all of this is.
But when the man’s hands wander away from his head, down onto his shoulders, his throat, his chest…Armin’s eyes stop evading contact and his gaze slams into Jean’s. He’s scared, now. Jean feels his heart drop. He’ll notice how flat Armin’s chest is!
We should have put padding in his shirt like Levi said, Jean thinks, biting his bottom lip. He sees silent, frightened tears start to fall from Armin’s wide eyes and he looks away.
“Do you understand the mission?”
Erwin’s question hung heavy in between them, like a weight. Like a big heavy joke. A mission? Don’t make me laugh, Jean thought, still too surprised to be angry yet. This wasn’t a mission, it seemed more like a punishment.
“According to our intel, the MP is going to try to take Eren and Krista into custody sometime in the next few days. They will not hesitate to use force to get them away from the Recon Corps. As you are well aware, Eren Jaegar and Krista Lenz are instrumental to our plans to retake Wall Maria. Without their powers, we can kiss our chances of victory goodbye. After much deliberation, we’ve come to the conclusion that our best option is to have the two of you offer yourselves up in their place. Arlert, you’ll disguise yourself as Krista. Jean, you’ll be Jaegar.”
The words of Commander Erwin’s briefing stuck in Armin’s head, especially the part addressed at him. Arlert, you’ll disguise yourself as Krista…
He nodded his acceptance when Erwin asked for it. He said, “Yes, sir!” when the nod seemed unsatisfactory. The next thing he knew, Erwin was gone and Levi’s new team were fitting him in a long, baby blue dress.
“That works well,” he heard Levi saying. There was an amused quality to his voice, as if the simplicity with which Armin eased into women’s clothes was something to snicker at. Only he didn’t ease into them. He shrank deeper into himself with every button the Recon Squad fasted down the front of his body. “No wait.” Levi raised a hand to his lips and the other soldiers paused to look at their commanding officer. “Shouldn’t we give him a little something? He’s so scrawny his chest practically caves in. What do you think, Arlert? Some padding would do you some good.”
Armin’s face fell a bit. Why? Were they trying to humiliate him? He looked up from the blue dress draping over his body and met Levi’s gaze evenly. “Is that completely necessary, sir?”
Levi shrugged. “Ehh…well I suppose not. Let’s put a cloak on him. And on Kirstein, too. The hoods will help. I want Arlert’s hair long. Someone find something.”
Jean didn’t have to dress up in anything special to pose as Eren. He stood by watching, looking agitated while Armin was transformed into a woman. He could see the smaller boy’s discomfort carefully hidden under an impassive expression.
Soon they had cloaks thrown over their shoulders and Levi stood before them, no longer joking around, saying, “I don’t know when they’ll come for you. It could be two weeks from now, it could be the second I send you out those doors. Your orders are to maintain these appearances until you are captured, and continue to do so until we come to rescue you.” He paused to look each boy in the eye in turn. “It may not seem like it, but this is an important thing that you’re doing. Your cooperation is very much appreciated. Good luck, both of you.” They all saluted one another and then the boys turned to leave.
As he walked out of HQ, Armin heard Levi call after him, “Hey, Arlert! Don’t run your mouth too much. They’ll know you’re not her.”
The MP did not come for them right away. It took over 26 hours.
“Let’s go to the market. I want some food,” Jean said at hour 3. They’d been wandering around in public for that time, literally presenting themselves as bait for any passerby’s. If the MP came looking for them, it would save everyone time and aggravation if they were easily found out in the open.
“And don’t struggle too much,” Levi had said during the final instructional encounter. “We don’t want you getting injured if you don’t have to.”
Jean’s suggestion to go into an even more heavily populated area did not sit well with Armin. He didn’t want to be out in public like this. Walking around as Jean’s female companion was embarrassing enough, but the starry-eyed stares he got from other men were even worse.
“Let’s eat somewhere private,” Armin returned.
“Private?” Jean laughed suggestively. “Geez, Armin! I mean, Krista. You’re pretty forward for a young lady.” He’d only meant it as a joke, something to lighten the tense mood, but Armin frowned angrily. Jean raised his eyebrows in surprise. “What’s the matter? Can’t wait til later?”
“Stop it, Jean!” Armin snapped, turning red.
“Eren, you mean. How could you forget my name, Krista? I’m hurt.” His tone is sticky sweat and mocking, not to be cruel—just to keep his mind off of his own anger over this ridiculously demeaning assignment.
But Armin was upset. “Cut it out, Eren,” he muttered, wrapping his arms around himself and clutching his elbows tightly. He wanted to disappear.
Jean paused long enough to notice that Armin was genuinely uncomfortable and he felt a little bad. “Just kidding. No need to be a wuss about it. Orders are orders,” he said. Armin didn’t reply.
And now Jean feels terrible about those words. Nausea has already started pooling in center of his chest and every little noise Armin barely makes as he tries to figure out how to get out of this makes the pool throb threateningly.
The man’s hands are wandering all over the top of him, touching his ears as he talks directly into them, rubbing his shoulders, stroking his angel fine blonde hair. “What’s the matter?” the voice has darkened a bit and Jean senses the escalation before he hears Armin’s sharp intake of breath. The man has snatched up a fistful of Armin’s hair—his real hair on the back of his scalp. “What’s wrong, darling? Cat’s got your tongue?”
The man leans in even closer and, to Jean’s horror, he stretches out his neck and nibbles on Armin’s lips. As soon as Armin feels what’s happening, he scrunches up his face in disgust. His eyes fall closed, beyond mortified.
“Hey!” Jean says, but his voice comes out too weak for the others to hear. The man doesn’t stop, even as Armin pinches his thin lips together and tries to pull them out of his reach, distorting his face into something that is most definitely male.
“Oh, she’s a feisty one!” the man exclaims, finally pulling back. Armin bends his neck down as far as he can and his face vanishes under his hair. The man turns his neck to look at Jean. He’s smiling, a sick, gleaming smirk. Jean glares at him and realizes for the first time that his own face is beat red, almost as red as Armin’s. “That’s alright,” the man’s voice lowers into a frightening, seductive snarl, “I like feisty little angels.”
Jean’s eyes widen and his mind stops working for a split second. Armin…
A/N: Helloooo everyone~ This is my first attempt at an Armin/Jean fic. I tried to keep this chapter very "within the bounds" of the cannon. Please comments and let me know what you think. The next chapter will be uploaded in a few days.