Airplanes

Alright people, we're on page 34 out of 110, there's a lot more to come! We hope you enjoy, and thanks to all who have enjoyed the story and left us comments, it really helps encourage us to get the story edited and out here to you faster, knowing that there are people eagerly awaiting the next chapter.

And for those of you who wish for smutty goodness, the next chapter is almost nothing but, I promise! xD

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Getting over what happened at the theater was easy...but that still didn't mean Armin was willing to go anymore. He never mentioned it, and the one time his mother had suggested they see a film after the incident, the blond had immediately come up with something far more fun and exciting...or had tried to. Failing, they had gone to the movie, and thank the skies nothing bad had happened, except Armin's licorice had once again melted against his palm. And so time moved by. The Aryan youth would go to school only to be ignored, come home, and find solace in Eli's company, repaying him with model planes and trips out on weekends. It was like a well oiled machine, and both boy's mothers seemed at ease. That is, until the new year rang in, and January 21st loomed.

"Hey, Eli..." Armin had finally gotten over calling the other youth by his full name, and as they played a game of cards on the floor, the blond was looked up at him, expression rather dire, "It's nearly my birthday." Hopefully the brunette would remember.

Eli had finished the plane and now had three settled on the dresser, and one in the works, all of course he had been thrilled to get and make. Card games were nice, because he always saved his favors, even though he got far less than half of them. He wondered if Armin was keeping track of his own some times. Maybe he wanted a really big favor. Glancing up from his cards, he blinked his large brown eyes, looking the blond over quickly before he said "Oh." looking down at his cards again. Really the idea didn't bother him at all, but he didn't want to seem... happy about it, because he could tell that Armin wasn't too pleased... And he hardly wanted to upset the blond. Waiting a few seconds before glancing up at him again, monitoring his face as discreetly as possible with his large brown eyes.

Armin seemed...startled, by this lack of a reaction. What had he been expecting? Elijah to jump up in horror and run from the house? Well...it would have been more exciting, that's for sure. The blond youth watched his room mate right up until Eli looked back up.

"Well, as long as you're not bothered by it. Just thought I should warn you though...and mum bought you a dress. She told me...got all excited too. Sometimes I think she would have been happier had I been a girl..." Muttering that last bit, Armin looked back at his cards. He would probably win this hand too.

Eli smiled faintly, before he said "Women just like buying dresses and nice things... " he knew that much, it wasn't very important to him, he'd far rather have a model korean fighter jet than a pair of glittery shoes. Nodding at the fact, Armin almost puffed, still a little put off that his mother seemed to dote on Elijah more than she did him. The brunette looked down at his hand for a while before he glanced up at Armin, hesitating before he asked quietly "It bothers you... doesn't it?" he couldn't... quite tell. It was hard to judge Armin some times...

The Aryan picked up another card from the pile, but looked up again quickly at the question. "Why? Does it bother you?"

Avoiding questions, anyone? Armin couldn't just answer that though. It had been like that night at the theater. He knew it should bother him, upset him...but frankly it did not. It wouldn't make much of a difference in their living situation either, so it didn't matter to him if he had to say a vow and sign some papers. He waited a second and then shook his head, as he replied quietly "No... " almost guiltily. To hear that small 'no' was more of a relief than Eli would ever realize. Had it not seemed inappropriate, Armin would have been smiling.

After some silence, Eli said with a faint smile "It wont change much... I'll still be a 'girl'... have to stay inside, you'll still go to school, maybe get a job or something... " he gave a little shrug, before he put his cards down, watching him for a second before he said "You've... You've been really good about all of this, and... Thank you." giving a faint nod, not sure what he wanted to say. He knew what Armin had to sacrifice, to keep up this charade, a real family, and a real girl, a real life, not some mockery of it. In truth it did clench his gut a bit, mostly with guilt, because he was, in a lot of ways, glad that it was Armin...

"Well, neither am I. You're right anyhow, nothing will change, really...we'll just have rings on our fingers," saying that, he lifted his left hand slightly to look at the soon to be ringed finger. He'd never in his life worn jewelry before...Looking up again at the thanks, the blond could only nod his head and mumble a, "sure..." before he was engrossed in picking the plastic coating from a paper card. Only a few more days and they would be Mr. and Mrs. Ostheim, with him playing the loving husband, and Eli playing the faithful wife. What a strange existence. "You've been good too, though...I mean, you're the one wearing the dress and shoes."

Eli felt the want to apologize. For it all. It was his fault, really. The pang of guilt was heavy, and he stared down for a while, before he picked his cards up and set them down on the pile, "I... need to take a shower." he managed, getting up and slipping into the small
closet room. Taking a sharp inhale, trying to just breathe for a few seconds. It hadn't really hit him before now, just what he was doing to Armin. He took a few moments before shaking his head softly. It was just temporary. A few months, a year at most. Then he could disappear and everyone could act like it had never happened, and Armin would have a nice house and income and job for a real wife. Eli was just... practice. Turning on the water he stripped down and climbed into the lukewarm water, trying to calm down a bit from the odd hurting feelings in his throat.

"Oh...alright. I'll get you a towe-" But before he could even finish, Eli had moved, and the door had shut. What was that about? For the first time in a while, Armin knew something was upsetting the brunette, thick as he could be, but he couldn't figure out what. Had Eli lied? Was being a fake wife really bothering him? Must have been...the blond couldn't think of any other reasons. The Jewish youth had to pretend to be someone he wasn't, and at the same time give up his way of life just so he wouldn't be persecuted. Armin didn't feel guilty...but he felt bad, and he resolved to really try and talk to Eli once he returned.
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Elijah took a long shower, which he wasn't really prone to doing, but he didn't really want to look at Armin. After a good twenty minutes, he finally stepped out of the shower, sighed a bit at his clothes and dried off as best he could before pulling them on again, moving out of the bathroom and raking a hand through his wet, but still very curly hair.

Unfortunately for Eli, Armin was right there, sitting on the edge of the bed and swinging his feet. The cards had been picked up, and the blond was holding the pack in his hands as he waited, looking up as the brunette exited the small room. He took a deep breath
before he started. "Eli...I'm sorry. I've been really insensitive, and I didn't mean to upset you just now. I...I don't know how hard it is, or what it's like for you to have to pretend to be someone else...but that doesn't mean I won't try. You never talk about it, whether it's hard for you or not, so I forget that this isn't any fun for you...you had to leave a lot behind, I know that. And so I'm sorry that I haven't tried to be a little more conscious of it. If you ever need to talk to anyone, I'm right here, okay?" Finally, finally he could look up at the Jewish youth, expression utterly serious, brow furrowed over his blue eyes. Now all he could do was hope he hadn't made a jackass of himself.

At first he was surprised that Armin was talking- at length- to him. Speaking for more than a few sentences wasn't exactly Armin's strong suit. He stayed quiet though and listened, watching him for the entire talk. All that sincere, right from the heart kind of talk had taken a lot out of the young Aryan, and he fidgeted and dropped the card box while waiting for a response. After a few seconds, Eli smiled faintly, wondering just how to deal with this...

Eli moved over, sitting down next to him and wrapping his arms around him, resting his head on the blonds shoulder, almost burying his face against him. It was a sincere hug, perhaps a bit more. It wasn't anything Armin couldn't handle- as far as Eli thought anyway. After a few seconds, he said quietly "You didn't upset me, I... " he paused some, and then shook his head "I'm fine."

He had had to think the entire time Eli was in the shower for just the right words, and now that they were out, they were gone. Yet, as the brunette took a seat beside him, Armin knew it was all right, and that he hadn't caused some disaster. "Yeah? I'm glad to hear that...you're the only friend I have left, I don't want to make you leave too," pouting a little, the blond lifted an arm and draped it over the other youth's shoulders, his head tilting to rest against Eli's. Had this been a month or so ago, Armin would have cringed. But after so many mornings of waking up wrapped around the Jewish youth and killing what little
personal space they had, this was nothing

He smiled a little bit at that, before he just said "I wouldn't leave you." holding onto him for a while and just sighing some, relaxing quietly against him. He enjoyed the closeness, it always soothed him. Armin smelled a certain way, it was something he'd gotten
familiar with and used to after a week or so, and enjoyed quite a bit. Once a spell of silence had passed, Eli ventured on, feeling a need to... try it, at least. "I just... feel bad about how... you wont get a real life, because of me. A real wife, a real family..." pulling back just faintly and sighing, then smiling "I like... this. More than I liked being a scruffy Jewish boy who got beat up at school every day. Its... nice to be here with you, for me. So don't think that..." giving him a faint smile. If there was one sure thing in Armin's mind, it was that this did not feel wrong. It was quite pleasant, actually. So, why oh why, did he always think it had to be wrong? Because his father had always asked him what kind of girl he would marry? He'd been to young then to think about it anyway, and had responded with a 'girls are yucky' type reply.

Armin simply shrugged. "I had never even thought about that, actually...besides, this is real. Why shouldn't it be?" He was a little lost on that whole concept, but oh well, "And I'm glad you like it...and you mean despite having to dress up like a girl and all?" The Aryan had to ask, for him it was hard to believe that anyone would enjoy his company, silent and somber as he typically was. This was a little too much thinking for him.

Eli felt his heart leap a bit, and he sucked at his lower lip for a second- something he often did while the wheels in his head were turning, even if his went quite a bit faster than Armin's, he still needed time to think about things, usually... Giving a faint laugh at the comment about dressing up, he admitted "The shoes I could do without. The rest isn't so bad."

Armin seemed pleased with the reply, but Eli... wanted more. Something else. Finally, he ventured to say quietly "Its not real... " looking down a bit before he looked up at him again, brown eyes... curious, measuring his reaction "A real.... Marriage is
for lovers, not ... friends."

"But...what's real is a personal opinion, isn't it? Besides, it's to keep you safe. So, I don't care how real or not it is." And he didn't even know what this 'real' was anyway. Maybe it wasn't all it was cracked up to be? Armin looked from Eli to the floor, swung his foot idly once, then gave the other male's shoulders a light squeeze with the arm wrapped around them. "You know what I think? That we shouldn't think about this so much. What happens, happens."

And... there it went again. He had found himself... very much hoping... things he probably shouldn't have even considered in the first place. After a moment though he smiled, a bit weakly, and nodded as he said "You're right. We shouldn't worry." looking down for a second, before he sighed "I'm ... tired, I think I'm going to go to sleep early..." moving to get up, towel off his hair, and then climb into bed, facing the wall, half curled up. At least Armin wasn't bitter or angry with him.

Head falling to the side slightly, the Aryan youth once again found himself believing he'd done something wrong. First he had been mean to Eli, when they'd met, and even now he couldn't get things right...

"I'm tired too." His statement was maybe a little too loud and sure as he stood as well, pulling socks and pants off before moving to flick the light off in the room and crawl in beside the brunette, though they were back to back tonight. He would fix this, really he would, and find out just what it was he kept doing that bothered Eli. He wondered vaguely too how long had passed since he'd laid down, and how long it would take for it to be feasible that he'd fallen asleep. Biting the inside of his cheek, Armin turned over anyway and curled himself up against Eli.

Despite Armin's thinking that he'd gone to slumberland, Eli was far from asleep. He would often feigned sleep so that he could feel Armin wrap up against him, who was conscious about it now instead of doing it in his sleep. It was a small satisfaction to him. Actually, a rather big one, all things considered. He fell asleep for real after that, and the next morning he woke to the sound of his mother calling them down for breakfast. He shifted a little, giving a slight groan of irritation at being roused. Yawning as he managed to stumble out of bed, stretching and emitting a few pops from his joints. He pulled on a pair of trousers before tumbling down the stairs.

"Mmph!" Armin's sleepy grumble was rather loud as he pouted in his half asleep state, disturbed from a perfectly restful sleep by the movement of the heat source he'd become to accustomed to. He reached out in a vain attempt to bring Eli back, but the other youth was already out of bed, and grudgingly the blond followed suit. At breakfast, Armin's mother was nothing but big smiles and flitty movements.

"Tomorrow! It's your big day! The big day!" It was a Friday as well, perfect timing on his mother's part that their 'wedding' should be done with on a weekend to ensure he didn't miss school. "Ja, mum..." The male mumbled, eating sleepily. He couldn't shake the feeling that he had had an important dream, yet couldn't remember it.

"You don't have to get up super early...but don't sleep in! I don't want to be late at the church." Armin sighed, rolling his eyes. For crying out loud! Would the woman never shut up?

Eli ate breakfast quietly, yawning a bit here and there and enduring with half an ear as Alicia talked and pulled a bit at his hair, in that kind of petting sort of way, honestly he had no idea what she was doing, but so long as she didn't get between him and his hash browns, he could care less at the moment.
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( A shorter chapter, but more to come soon. )