A/N: My first fan fiction I've ever posted. I really hope you all enjoy it! I did my best to keep the characters in line with their real selves… though I feel like Annie was just out of my reach. Anyway, please enjoy!
Armin was nervous. He had been working up the courage to do this for weeks. He had carefully planned his attack. Every angle, every option, every plausible scenario, every viable option, and every scenario. He also calculated his success rate. Maybe he dropped a negative somewhere, but it was disheartening to see a negative percent success rate.
"Dude, just ask her."
Armin gave Eren the most dumbfounded look he could give. "Eren, you don't 'just ask' Annie to prom!" Another crumpled paper made its way to the already full trash bin, knocking off two from the mountain. "And you don't do prom-posals either!"
"And why not?" Eren took another sip from his drink, "I did it for Mikasa. Worked like a charm."
"Yeah, but you and Mikasa are doing the fre-" Eren gave Armin the 'shut the hell up before I kick your ass' look. It didn't shut Armin up, but it did redirect the conversation, "Regardless, the last guy to ask her got a flat out no, and the last guy to prom-pose got rejected."
"How did he propose, and how did she reject?"
"Ping pong balls. All of them saying 'I didn't have the balls to ask you to prom' or something. She took one she made herself that said 'No' and shoved it down his throat." Armin frantically scribbled on his paper, "Ah! I did drop a negative!"
"Your odds improve?"
"…well, if I took the absolute value I'd have a great shot!" Armin stared at his negative ninety five, opting to throw that piece of paper over at the bin and missing entirely. "Eren! What am I going to do?"
"Play video games with me."
"There are more pressing matters here!"
A heavy sigh exploded from Eren as he paused his video game, "You tutored her for a like a week-"
"Three months-"
"-whatever. How did you manage to get a crush on her?" Eren tossed his empty can over at the bin, knocking off the large pile of crumpled papers, "Ahh! Damnit!" He grunted, getting up to clean it.
Armin decided he wasn't going to get anywhere, but he had to perform by tomorrow. What was he going to do?! He had his plan, but with that no-chance success rate that was so far in the negatives it might just backfire before it even starts, what was he going to do?
Tomorrow was Monday… he had no choice but to ask her then. With his plan in the negatives, he really needed some luck.
Monday showed up, and attempt one was well underway. Math class, second period. This plan had the highest chance of success. The plan was composed of two steps, both of which were very easy to perform. Step one, create one of the two 'I love you' equations. Step two, give it to Annie, and drop the big question, be it girlfriend, or prom, or both, or rejection… or what have you. Everything was perfect…
Except Armin. The only variable in the entire equation. He was shaking in his chair. A few edges from violently shaking. Annie was sitting right next to him and kept glancing over at his work, and that did not help his case in the least. He couldn't concentrate, damn it! Look away, Annie! Go to the bathroom! Have a girly moment! Just stop looking at the piece of paper with the math equation!
"Armin!"
"Yes sir!" Armin jolted out of his desk, eyes forward, facing their drill instructor of a teacher.
"Solve the equation on problem five!"
Armin went to the board, and wrote the equation out. A basic inequality. 9x-7i (3(3x-7u)). Solve for I in terms of u. Easy. He had this… he had this-
Shit. Annie was watching. Why did she have to pay attention now? He was already stressed out enough trying to ask her to prom, and now she was trying to stress him out by giving him that (super sexy) cold look of hers? That indifferent (but beautiful) look… why was she torturing him so?! "U-uhm… well, I'll figure this problem, sir!"
Math… that would take his mind off of Annie for sure. "First, multiply the three on the right side through… then subtract the nine x to cancel them out, then divide by seven…" This equation was looking very familiar… "then, flip the inequality symbol due to the negative. You should get I love you A-"
Shit. That just slipped. Shit that just slipped in front of the entire fucking classroom. Shit, that just slipped in front of Annie. Damage report, what's the status? Armin turned to see Annie with an eyebrow quirked, and a gaze fixed on him. Shit, she wasn't happy about where this was going. The entire class was staring him down, expecting a confession from the geeky nerd. The sharks were waiting for the rabbit to be devoured by his crush (Annie, but they didn't know that.) Damage was severe, he needed to abort mission. "You should get I love you… um… Algebra!" Armin smiled. It was forced, his face was burning red, and he was internally screaming. There was a noticeable temperature difference along his return path to his seat.
"I appreciate your enthusiasm, maggot! Next…"
Armin stole a look at Annie who was looking down at her desk, completely disinterested in the subject. A failure of a plan that caused Armin to sigh deeply. She was clearly not amused, and plan A had resulted in disaster.
Tuesday rolled in, and with it, plan two. Plan B, aka, the casual ask. It was time for their afterschool tutoring sessions in the library. He had this… he had this, he had it much more in the bag than Plan A's attempt. This time it was going to work.
However, Armin's nerves once again stole his opportunity. He was only able to speak 'business as usual' and Annie had the best subconscious defenses he'd ever seen. Every time he tried to slip in the question, "Hey Annie, prom is coming up."
"What of it."
"W-well, surely you have a date, right?"
"Last guy to ask me got his self-esteem crushed. Why do you ask?"
Rinse and repeat with different variations, the result was the same. Armin lost his nerve, he already had self-esteem issues before hand, and Annie had the natural talent to put someone down without any problems. She once laid Eren out flat with both words, and combat. Time slipped away, and one hour was up… like usual, she got up and left. Armin was left sitting in the library watching his opportunity leave with her.
His head thunked so hard against the desk, the librarian almost called 911.
It was Wednesday after school, and once again, it was time to try asking Annie out. Except this time, Plan C didn't exist. Eren looked over at Armin, his eyes wide, "You mean to tell me you wasted an entire notebook and our Sunday Game-a-thon with the results only being two plans?"
He was right. Armin only had two plans worth anything, the rest was him sort of recalculating, and trying to do what others had done before him. However, half his plans went out the window as other people tried them. Love note? Receive a 'go fuck yourself' note. He watched Jean take the brunt of that one. The balls one was out of the question. He tried finding a loophole in all of those plans that he could exploit, but with his assumptions of being on the same playing field as them, there was no exploitable option.
"Just ask her." Eren suggested.
"Tried that."
"You tried it with your stupid 'Plan B', Armin. How about Plan C you just wing it?"
"Eren," Armin did his best to give his best friend an explanation, "You don't-"
"Yes you do." Eren grabbed Armin's collar, and threw him back into the hallway, "Annie! Armin has a question for you!"
He didn't have time to formulate his plan! Eren, you dolt! To make matters worse, he didn't just appear in front of Annie, he collided with her. They didn't fall over or anything, but she did drop her books. Quickly gaining some space, Armin greeted her, "Hey, Annie!"
"Eren said you had something to ask me?"
"Y-yes, I do." Armin checked for Eren, catching sight of the teen behind him, flexing his punching hand. There goes the masterful escape plan of asking the wrong question. "I… uh, tried asking yesterday, but… um…"
"Armin, just ask. What is it?"
F*ck it. Cards on the table. "Annie, do you want go to prom with me? As a couple, not friends."
The ice queen's cold stare warmed a bit, and she smiled at him. "Sure."
"…wait, what?" Confused and still processing, Armin looked at Annie dumbfounded. "R-really?"
"Sure. We can talk more about it tomorrow during our tutor sessions." She picked up her book, and gave the stunned boy a quick kiss, "See you tomorrow. I got to get home."
Armin stood still for a minute. Maybe three before Eren stopped laughing and slapped him on the back. "You don't just ask Annie to prom, my rear!" Eren laughed, "Wow, you're the smartest idiot I've ever known, Armin."
"She said yes."
"She did. Plan C worked."
"There was no plan C." Armin corrected. "She said yes."
"You said that twice."
"She said yes."
"Three times, now."
Armin pumped his fist in victory, "Yes!" Armin laced his hands behind his head, humming a little happy tune to himself. She said yes, she was going to prom with him, and she was his girlfriend! He strung it all in one question, and she answered it pretty straight forward, and she kissed him, too! Winging it worked! However, a peculiar voice in his head reminded him, "Oh crap. I spent so long figuring out how to ask her, I don't have a prom date plan!"
Eren slammed his hand onto his face, "Armin, you f-"
"'Scuse me." A little girl shouted as she ran through the halls between the two friends.
"-ing idiot!"
A/N: Soo, what did everyone think? Good, bad, or meh? Leave a review and let me know! –Skye Blade