Chapter Text
|| Ice Cream 🍦||
Oneshot Warnings: Panic attack, Overstimulation
The Friday afternoon sun flickers gently through the classroom windows, the silhouettes of trees gently rippling the light on the tiled floor. Soft spring breezes whisper even through the glass, their susurrus almost playful. It really is a beautiful day. But unfortunately for Ms. Zoë's last-period science class, they get to enjoy a 40-point, half open-response test instead. Wonderful.
As time ticks by, Armin works carefully through his test with precision, sticking out his tongue like he always does when he concentrates. He scribbles into the choice boxes neatly, making sure to read through every question twice, sometimes even three times. I-It never hurts to check, so—... Another screech of a chair behind him makes Armin flinch, his pencil jerking and leaving a stray mark on the otherwise immaculate paper. He bites his chapped lip, trying to get ahold of himself. He should have known it was a terrible decision to stay up studying... Usually he always makes sure to get big amounts of sleep, since healthy habits are key to having a good work ethic and balanced lifestyle... And also he's a big sleepyhead. But alas, at 9 or so o'clock last night, Armin found himself riddled with anxiety. W-What if he didn't know the material as well as he thought he did? What if he was being a slacker, or he forgot to review one thing, or he mixed up the vocabulary terms?! It wouldn't hurt to just check really quick... Before he knew it, he had stayed up all the way till eleven o'clock. Eleven!!!! It's a disaster alright.
Meanwhile, Eren's bored out of his mind. He slumps over the desk with his arms sprawled out, looking like some lazy starfish. The cool metal is sticky to his cheek, condensation blooming where his skin meets the surface. What he wouldn't give to just be outside right now... God, this sucks. He didn't even study this shit either, except for the flash cards that Armin made for him. Armin's always trying to help him, which is sweet, but Eren doesn't know why he even bothers at this point. At least Eren went to bed at a reasonable time though; 1:30 am. As Eren looks through all the useless questions, he sighs and at least tries to remember what they had learned. But honestly, it's really just hard to concentrate. He would rather be eating ice cream outside right now, with one of those big waffle cones that has chocolate coating it.
Fluorescent lights buzz. Pencils tap. Papers rustle. Shoes squeak. The clock tick, tick, ticks... Time becomes a scramble illusion, the combination of silent white noise creating the perfect oil to fry someone's brain. It bubbles up that familiar knot of stress and tension, pulsing uncomfortably like a stitch in their sides.
Perhaps if Eren was more motivated to do well on the test, the tension would be more unbearable. At the moment, it's more frustrating than anything.
Armin, however...
Armin chews his lip and clenches his sweaty fingers. His heartbeat throbs uncomfortably in his vision, making it hard to breathe. I-It's so... loud. His hands shake and his breathing is shallow. C'mon, h-he knows this stuff!! W-why does he feel so— so panicky?! The issue is all the stimulation; it's too much. If he weren't so all-consumed by it right now, he'd probably feel ashamed. No matter how many times he's been told that his sensory issues aren't his fault, he still can't help but feel stupid. If he doesn't get ahold of his breathing, he's about to have a full-blown panic attack—
Eren glances up and sees his best friend starting to shake, jittering in his seat. His eyes soften as he looks at Armin's face, watching his oceanic eyes. Eren knows that look; it's the familiar deer-in-the-headlights look that means he's super overwhelmed. Eren lifts his sticky cheek from the desk with a dull peel, instantly more attentive as he observes Armin's movements.
Armin's vision starts to blur... The words on the pages become meaningless scribbles, blank ants crawling across a white plane. He looks over, static buzzing in his ears—
A pair of blue-emerald eyes meet his own, somehow gently holding him without a single touch. Armin is suddenly brought back to the memory of three days ago.
~~~
"Armin, you are the smartest motherfucker in this whole entire school. You're gonna be fine, okay?"
"B-but Eren, I— F-first of all no, a-and second of all that's besides the point!! I haven't b-been able to study every day b-because of the English essay a-and so Imightfailandohmygod—"
"Armin..." A strong, warm pair of arms suddenly wraps around him. Armin squeaks softly, going pleasantly dizzy. He finds himself melting, gazing down at the carpet floor. There's moment of gentle silence, the curtains on Eren's bedroom window swaying softly in the evening breeze.
"...I don't know why, but... e-everything just makes me so anxious lately. F-for no reason, too!!... It's just..." Armin sighs, biting his lip. He feels so... so weak. And not the good kind of weak-in-the-knees that's coming from Eren holding him. He gnaws his lip harder, feeling it split slightly between his teeth. Eren closes his eyes, breathing in the nice, familiar scent of Armin's golden hair. Citrus and eucalyptus, with a hint of seabreeze.
"Just so... s-so frustrating..." Armin finishes through his teeth, finding that his throat feels all tight. His eyes begin to sting. Eren takes Armin's hand, feeling his stomach sink. He hates when Armin's sad.
"U-ugh, I'm sorry—" Armin chokes as he feels Eren tense, trying to clear his throat as he blinks his hot eyes. Eren quickly shakes his head, giving Armin's hand a squeeze.
"No... It is frustrating. You're not being dumb, so before you say you're being dumb, I'm here to tell you hey. You're not. No dumb. No dumbness whatsoever."
...
"...Can I be honest?" Armin whispers, letting out a shaky breath. He plays with Eren's fingers absentmindedly. Now that he feels comfortable to cry, he finds that there's no tears left to do so. It's almost worse.
"Course..." Eren murmurs, his fingers softly twitching in response.
"I-I think... I think I need a break..." He sighs.
Eren suddenly pokes up his head. "Ha!!! Finally!!"
Armin tilts his head around in confusion, his lip all swelled and red from being chewed. "Huh?..."
When Eren sees those watery ocean eyes, so tired and confused, so... broken... he just can't help it. He buries his face in Armin's head again and hugs him tight. Armin makes another little hitchy noise in surprise, his breath catching.
"Ugh, Armin, you're so amazing that you always forget you're a human being!!" Eren grumbles warmly.
"E-eh... I'm... not quite sure I understand... Have I ever... messed up the binomial or something?..." Armin mumbles, frowning in concern.
Eren shakes his head fondly. "What—? No. I'm just saying that you need to take more care of yourself."
"Take more... care of myself?..." Armin repeats, looking down at the carpet floor again. "But... But I always try to get enough sleep. I eat enough too, or at least I thought... A-and I always wash my legs when I shower."
Eren sighs. He moves on the bed so that he and Armin are facing each other. "Look. I'm gonna tell you something that you're always telling me. If it can get into an idiot's head, I'm sure it'll reach a smartass like you."
"Um... Alright...?" Armin nods softly, still a little confused. He's not sure why, but he feels warm already, even though he doesn't understand consciously.
"One of the biggest parts of your well-being is the mind. Fuck all the other stuff; if you're still shitting on yourself mentally, it's not really gonna fix anything." Eren says firmly. Armin's eyes widen, looking at Eren's face with new light.
"I..." He breathes. "......don't think I worded it like that."
Eren can't help it. He laughs. Armin still doesn't know why, but a soft smile starts to twitch at his lips. Something about Eren's laughs, so rich and bright, always make his tummy flutter.
"A-are you trying to tell me I've been pushing myself too hard?..." He murmurs, feeling himself breathe little breathy giggles like huffs.
"Yeah. Both of us, for that matter. The school loves to torture us this time of year, but then we end up actually falling for it! We gotta fight back against those bitches!!! And we gotta do that by taking a second. It's not selfish." Eren smiles.
Armin smiles gently, finding it silly how Eren always thinks of school as a 'battle'. "I-Is it... counterproductive for me to say that I feel like it's not selfish when it's anyone other than me?"
"Not as long as you don't believe it." Eren takes Armin's hands again. "You need a break, Armin. You're always pushing yourself so hard, and you deserve one. You deserve to enjoy time for yourself so that you can enjoy school-time too."
Armin meets Eren's emerald eyes again. Something warm passes between them, and Armin feels a little weight lift off of him. That's right... School is supposed to be fun...
...
"Ice cream?..." He murmurs.
"Huh?"
"Ice cream. Can... can we go get ice cream Friday afternoon? A-after the science test?..."
Eren looks into Armin's beautiful ocean eyes. Soft and sparkling like pools of seaside sunshine. He softens...
"...Yeah. Yeah, of course."
~~~
Back in the science classroom, Armin blinks his eyes. Eren gives him a slight shift of his head. His lips lift in the gentle wisp of a smile. A reminder that soon this test will be over, this class will be over, this week will be over, and they'll be eating ice cream. Armin finds that it doesn't feel so overwhelming anymore, not when Eren's holding him with his emerald eyes.
Ice cream. They're gonna go get ice cream. Probably some nice soft serve with sprinkles for Armin, and Eren'll have his ice cream in one of those giant waffle cones, the ones with the yummy chocolate coating them. It's such a simple thing, and yet Armin had forgotten how nice it was to just... relax for a moment. And speaking of dairy, the next answer on the test is Lacto bacillis, Armin remembers. He quickly scribbles in the box.
When Armin's not putting so much pressure on himself, he's not making his SPD go all haywire. SPD and other stuff aside, anyone would be messed up if they were as stretched out as Armin is. Eren watches as Armin puts a finger to his pulse, closing his eyes as his pink lips part gently. He's doing the breathing techniques that his therapist taught him. Knowing that Eren's there makes Armin feel better as he does so. In for four... Hold for four... Out for six... Four... four... six... Four... four... six...
~~~
"One large chocolate soft serve in a cup, please, with rainbow sprinkles on top." Armin smiles, glancing over at Eren, who's squinting at the menu with an intense look.
"...Eren, you're up!" Armin chuckles, giving Eren a gentle nudge with his elbow.
"Ahh- Yeah yeah I know— Can I geeeeet... one scoop of Oreo and one scoop of cookie dough, and on a large chocolate waffle cone?" Eren grins at Armin happily.
"Alright, coming right up!" The man smiles, turning around to fix up their order.
"You go choose a table, ok? I'll wait for the ice cream." Armin says.
"Gotcha. I'll go find one without bird shit."
"You do that."
Eren walks around the small pavilion with fresh-blooming pear blossoms, the chickadees warbling happily from up in the leaves. He finds a nice table at the edge with a cute view of the town, the gentle stream of pedestrians and leisurely cars giving the place a homey feel. He looks down at the two wooden white chairs, and sits in the one that does have the bird shit on it (although he's pretty sure it's just tree-sap anyways). Resting his chin on his hand, he turns his attention over to Armin, who's happilt waiting for their ice creams. His blonde hair glitters warmly in the sunlight like silk-spun gold, his baggy blue Zelda shirt swallowing him up cutely. Eren's heart flutters gently.
Eventually, Armin comes back with two ice creams in hand, humming as he does so. His ocean eyes glitter.
"Got the goods." He says with a chuckle, sitting down in the chair across from Eren.
"Hell yeah." Eren grins in response.
Armin licks Eren's ice cream first, smacking his lips in almost serious evaluation. "Mmmmmm." He hands it to Eren, then taking a lick at his own chocolate ice cream. Sheer bliss washes over the both of them. They talk and laugh in the warm afternoon, feeling light after finally letting loose for a bit and balancing life right.
Armin gets chocolate ice cream on his pink little nose as he licks and nibbles it like a bunny. He always manages to do that somehow. Eren devours his ice cream like a monster, just narrowly stopping it from dripping everywhere. Life is good.
Ice cream is good.