A/N: This story is no longer a part of the APEP universe. After some serious thought, I've decided that the outcome of this plot would not result in the kind of relationship depicted in APEP. Starting today (1/23/17) the new title of this story is Here and Now. Enjoy the new chapter!

The night that Eren left them was one of initially utter confusion and then devastating heartbreak for Armin. When Jean came back upstairs, Armin looked up at him from where he was still tied with his arms behind his back and his legs bent at the knee.

"Where did Eren go?" he asked, confused.

"Eren left," was Jean's short reply.

"Is he coming back?"

The look that Jean gave him at that moment was terrifying.

"No."

"Why?"

The questions—reasonable as they were—seemed to only make Jean angrier.

"He left because of you, Armin."

The words were like a physical blow. Almost immediately, Armin started struggling in his bonds, trying to free himself. Before he could make any progress, though, Jean's warm and heavy hand was pushing him back down and stilling his movements. Knowing the silent warning for what it was, Armin ceased his efforts at once.

"What did I do wrong?"

"You didn't tell him that I changed the rules, Armin."

If this statement was meant to clear up any confusion, it failed. In fact, it had exactly the opposite effect.

"You said that you told him you changed the rules. And that he had been fine with it. And that tonight would be okay. Was that a lie?" Armin was starting to panic now. Because if Jean hadn't in fact told Eren that he'd changed the rules, then he could only imagine what it had looked like when Eren had walked in only minutes ago. He could actually imagine it all too well. It had looked like cheating.

"Jean, please untie me now."

Jean made no acknowledgement that he had heard Armin at all. Instead, he walked over to the kitchen to get a bottle of beer out of the refrigerator. Armin watched as Jean slowly sipped his drink, staring at the front door and ignoring Armin completely.

Now thoroughly panicking, Armin once again tried to wiggle himself free of the tight ropes. The ones around his wrists were starting to cut off his circulation. The struggling caught Jean's attention immediately and seemed to make him even angrier. He chugged down the rest of his beer before smashing it into the sink. Armin winced at the sound of shattering glass and doubled his efforts to get free. Jean was scaring him. Without a word, Jean stormed over and picked up Armin off of the couch before carrying him over to the ceiling rig.

"Jean, wait. This rope work isn't meant for suspension play. It's dangerous. Jean stop!" Jean ignored him completely. He calmly clipped Armin into the ceiling rig before hoisting him up with the pulley. Armin let out a sharp cry at the harsh tugging at his wrists and ankles.

"Red! Red! Safeword! Please, Jean stop it hurts!"

A hand circled his throat and squeezed until Armin could barely breathe.

"Did you just try to use a safeword, Armin?" Another hand fisted in his hair and pulled sharply, forcing his head back and making breathing even more difficult. He stared up in terror at Jean's face. His boyfriend looked slightly unhinged at the moment. "You know you don't actually have a safeword, don't you? We never agreed for you to have a safeword." The hand around his throat tightened even more, and Armin felt his vision blur and darken. Then both hands were gone, leaving Armin's head hanging down as he coughed and tried to regain his breath. Right as he was starting to get it under control, a rubber ball was being forced into his mouth and secured into place with a strap around his head. Armin started shaking his head and trying to push the ball out with his tongue. He hated gags.

"That should keep you from trying something so foolish again."

With that, Jean walked back over to the kitchen. Armin couldn't really see what he was doing, but he could hear the clinking of glass. Moments later Jean came back with the broken bottle shards wrapped in a dishrag. With a smile, he started scattering the pieces on the floor right underneath where Armin was hanging from the rig. Armin didn't dare move anymore, staring down at the broken pieces with trepidation.

With a satisfied nod, Jean stepped back and surveyed the set up he had put Armin in.

"That should keep you from moving around too much. One little slip of rope is all it would take, Armin. I'd be careful if I were you." Tears were running down Armin's face in a constant stream now. Jean tsked at him. "There there, baby. This is necessary. You need to be punished for sending Eren away. You're not going anywhere."

Jean went back to the kitchen and took another beer from the refrigerator before plopping himself down on the couch to watch Armin.

The pull of the rope made all the joints in his arms burn; the ball gag made it hard to breath, especially at this angle; the jagged shards of glass on the floor terrified him, and in his mind he saw an image of him bloodied with a slashed open stomach. But most of all, the pain of Eren's absence left Armin feeling hollow. He was gone, and Armin had never felt so alone.

Jean left him there for a few hours. The pain radiating from his arms was constant, only getting worse as time passed. It was the most horrible thing that Jean had ever done to him.

When Jean was satisfied that Armin had been thoroughly punished, he took his time collecting the pieces of broken glass from the floor, and even went as far as to take out the vacuum cleaner to ensure that all of it was gone. Only then did he lower Armin down to the ground and slowly start undoing his bonds.

Armin discovered that the only thing more painful than being suspended by his arms for hours on end was being untied from it. His arms felt heavy and sore once untied, and Armin couldn't move a muscle without feeling another stab of pain. Once the rope was gone and the ball gag was out, Jean carefully gathered him into his arms before carrying him to the bathroom. Gently, he lowered Armin into the already-full bathtub, and the warm water felt like a blessing to Armin's sore muscles and joints. Jean meticulously cleaned and massaged Armin's body, making sure not to jostle him too much. Then he just let Armin soak in the water for a bit as he shuffled around the bathroom gathering towels and clean clothes. Then after about fifteen minutes, Jean carefully lifted Armin out of the tub and wrapped him in a soft towel, drying him off gently. He helped him into his pajamas, and then brought him to bed, where he pulled Armin close and pressed soft kisses to his face. Armin let himself settle, content in the gentle treatment and aftercare. They lay there for a few minutes, and Armin was just starting to drift off to sleep when Jean spoke.

"You're moving in with me, baby. You're going to move in with me, and we're going to win him back. We're going to fix this mess you've made. I promise."

After the first few attempts at winning Eren back failed, Jean decided that it was Armin's job to get him to come back.

"It's your fault he's gone, baby. It only makes sense that you're the one who's going to have to win him back. I believe in you. I won't let you fail."

Apparently not letting Armin fail meant punishing him every time he came back from an attempt without Eren in tow. At first it was just a thorough spanking, but as time went on and Jean's impatience escalated, so did the punishments. So much so that the punishment he'd received the night Eren left soon became Jean's favorite way of punishing Armin for his failings.

Despite how awful the consequences of his failures were, Armin purposefully did not put much effort into winning Eren back on the days he was instructed to do so. He'd seen the other side of Jean. The side that Eren had been hinting at for months before he'd left. The side that Armin had thought was the exception to Jean's behavior, not the rule. But he knew otherwise, now. And he still loved Eren very much. So there was no way that he was going to do anymore than the bare minimum requirements Jean called for in winning Eren back. He knew that not being with Jean was the best thing for Eren. And if keeping Eren away from Jean's poisonous influence meant Armin taking more punishment for himself, then so be it.

After about a year and a half of failures, Jean began what he liked to refer to as his "Three Step Plan" in winning Eren back.

"Step one," he had explained, "is figuring out how Eren is spending his time away from home. I don't like dealing with Mikasa. She's too nosy and gets in the way. If you're going to have a shot at getting him back for us, we're going to have to try while he's not with her."

That's how Armin and Jean found out that Eren had started frequenting various BDSM clubs in the area. At first, when they learned that Eren had started playing with other people, Armin was worried that Jean would flip out. However, Jean had calmly explained that Eren wasn't getting attached to anyone in particular. "He needs the play but he misses us too much to get involved with anyone else long-term," Jean had explained. Armin wasn't so sure how accurate that assessment was, but by now he knew better than to argue with Jean.

Once they had a reasonably accurate knowledge of how Eren spent his time away from home, Jean announced that they could proceed with step two.

"Step two is making contact. We're going to Ludus tonight and we're going to talk to him there. You'll be wearing this." Jean then presented a black leather collar and leash. Armin had made a face at the accessories but didn't argue.

Logically, Armin knew that it wasn't his fault that Eren had caught sight of them at Ludus first that night. But Jean had punished him all the same, claiming that Armin had blown their cover before they'd had a chance to get Eren by himself.

Armin's a smart person. He knew very early on that Jean's "punishments" were simply justifications for abuse. And he knew that staying with Jean was probably the worst thing for him. But he also knew that if he left Jean, there'd be no one tracking Jean's movements. And an unmonitored Jean seemed far too dangerous for Armin to leave him.

The day that Armin went over to Eren's apartment, Jean had driven him there.

"I don't care if Mikasa is home. I want you to go in there and don't leave until you have the chance to talk to him. I don't like the looks of those two guys he's been spending time with. He's getting far too close to them. You better not screw this up, Armin. You'll be in a world of hurt if you do."

Mikasa was kind, though obviously wary. Armin wasn't sure how much Eren had told her about what happened, but it couldn't have been much if she was willing to invite him inside and offer him tea.

Of course, after so much time of just sending texts or e-mails, Armin couldn't have prepared himself for seeing Eren walk through the front door.

The subsequent interaction was both anti-climactic and incredibly difficult for Armin. It took everything he had not to just blurt out all the planning that Jean had been doing over the last three years. But the thought of what kind of punishment would get added onto what was already in store for him when he came back to Jean with news of yet another failure stopped him.

When Eren abruptly dismissed him, Armin didn't even have to fake the tears rolling down his face.

Everything came to a head when Jean went to follow Eren and the two older men he was with to Ludus. Armin had stayed home, still sore from his most recent punishment and not wanting anyone to see his scrapes and bruises. Most people experienced in BDSM play could easily tell the difference between play wounds and abuse wounds, and he was not keen on giving anyone the chance to determine which kind of wounds he had.

When Jean stumbled into the apartment later that night, drunk beyond belief and grumbling about bitchy club owners, Armin resigned himself to his fate. Especially when Jean's eyes locked onto him. Armin knew that look.

"It's all your fault, Armin. You drove him away and failed to bring him back. And now he's being taken advantage of and manipulated into another relationship. It's all your fault!" With that, Jean lunged for him. Armin didn't even try to run.

Later that night, while Jean slept off the obscene amount of alcohol he'd consumed at the club, Armin was shivering and silently crying inside of his cage.

Jean had bought the cage around the time they discovered that Eren was frequenting the bondage clubs in the area. Armin hated the cage, but it was Jean's favorite place to put him after a particularly intense punishment.

Just like when Jean had demanded that Armin move in, the cage was simply another tool Jean used to keep Armin from running away the same way that Eren had.

Of course, Armin wasn't an idiot. So almost immediately after Jean brought the cage home, Armin had a spare key made and taped it to the underside of the cage. He hadn't felt the need to use it yet, but after tonight he couldn't stand it anymore.

He was quick about it, despite the limp in his step and the incredible pain any movement caused. After hastily sliding on the loosest pair of sweatpants and the lightest t-shirt he could find, he grabbed his book bag and blindly stuffed in some extra clothes, his computer, and his phone. Without a glance back at Jean's sleeping form on the bed, Armin made his way quickly to the front door and quietly let himself out.

The whole escape had only taken a matter of minutes, but it still felt like the biggest victory Armin had ever achieved.

He called a cab, and his voice was so broken that he had to repeat the pick-up address three times before the person on the other end of the phone could understand him. He'd had to stop and think before telling the cabbie his destination. He had no family, and any friends he'd ever had were pushed away when Armin moved in with Jean. The only person he could think of who would understand to some degree what he'd been going through was the one person who, understandably, didn't want anything to do with him. However, it was Armin's only option. If Eren turned him away, then he'd stay at a motel until he was able to make more permanent arrangements.

Armin was both fairly surprised and not surprised at all when Eren only took one look at him before hurrying him inside. Eren had a heart of gold, and Armin had a feeling that regardless of how their romantic relationship had panned out, Eren missed Armin's friendship just as much as Armin missed Eren's.

Now, though, Armin is quickly coming to the realization that leaving Jean isn't going to be that easy. Because Jean has managed to carry out step two without Armin's help. And if step three is in progress, then Armin and Eren are in serious danger. Because step three is the last step.

Only three little words, but they say so much.

Step three: bring him home.