-Past 12 years ago-
It was a bright and sunny day at Shiganshina Elementary, and Eren wasn't really excited to go to school. After watching what it was like on TV he had convinced himself that he didn't need it. After all who needed friends when you have a sibling who was all the company you needed. Nonetheless, here Eren was sitting in the play yard on the bench sitting with his arms crossed. As he watched the other kids play, he could only wish that Mikasa was with him. But as fate would have it, his sister was placed in another class that had recess at a separate time. So there, Eren stayed angry and lonely without a soul to talk to. All of the kids he had seen so far seemed to be not his type of friend. Therefore he didn't care to even try making friends.
His father had told him to correct his attitude, but he didn't care. Friends are suppose to like you no matter, so the other kids were suppose to be the ones to try and get a long with them. It wasn't his fault after all, if they really wanted to be his friend then they would have to try. And so far no one was up for the task. Scanning over the play yard, the brunette didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Little girls were playing house within the play structure as little boys dared each other to do stupid things. Everything was normal, until he came to look at the monkey bars where he saw a group of boys kicking something. Curious, Eren got off his bench to see what was happening.
Getting closer he could see long blond hair, and his first thought was that they were bullying a girl. This got his blood boiling since he didn't like bullies and the fact they were bullying a girl wasn't right. Speeding up he was about to help the poor "girl" when he was stopped by the bully's words as their kicks started to stop.
"You look girly! You're not a boy you're a girl! Only girls have long hair." The tallest one of them says as he gives one last kick.
"No I'm not! I just like my hair long! Just because I have long hair doesn't mean I'm a girl." The person in the middle tells his oppressors only to earn him another kick.
"Whatever, you can't play with us until you look like a boy." A boy without his front teeth says as he turns around and leads the line of boys away from the small child who was now on the ground struggling to hold back tears. Allowing them to pass, Eren gave them a dirty look before quietly approaching the victim.
"Why didn't you fight back?Now you lost because there were so many of them." Eren ask bluntly as he looks down at the poor blond who was still crying on the ground.
"I-I didn't lose..." The boy replies as he wipes some blood off of his face and tries to get the dust off his clothing.
"What?"
"Because,didn't run away..."
"You...What's your name?"
"My name is..."
-Two days before the photo shoot-
-Beep-
-Beep-
-BEEP-
Eren's alarm cries to him trying to wake him up from sleep. After a few moments of ignoring the annoying device, Eren slams his hand on the top to shut it up as he began to stretch and awaken his muscles. With a yawn he allowed his brain to ready itself for another stressful day, and stray away from dream land.
"Ugh that stupid dream again...Who the hell is this kid?Why do I keep dreaming about them? After that accident I didn't remember anything before seventh grade. Why am I remembering my childhood now? It's so annoying, it's not even relevant." Eren told himself as he swung the covers off of him and got ready for school. It didn't take long for him to fall into his usual rhythm. He got into his car and was driven to school by his driver without Mikasa as it had been for the past few days after his confession.
Recently he had been ignoring her in fear he might say something stupid. Shaking his head to stop himself from thinking about Mikasa, Eren told himself that he needed to focus on Homecoming and his lessons with Armin. Just thinking about his lessons with Armin made him stressed to the mass in fact. After all it seemed as if Armin was only yelling at him half the time to change his personality, which was hard for him. A personality isn't as easy as changing your appearance a bit. Not only that but at the moment he didn't really seem to be retaining anything Armin had been teaching him.
The things the blond was teaching him was more on personality and actions rather than the physical and sweet words. The drastic change in courting methods made Eren's head spin because it didn't come as easy to him as using his good looks and charm. Never in his life was it hard for him to get someone to love him, and here the one person who was immune to his charms is helping him. Which lead to another problem that he was currently having, how the hell was he going to make Armin fall for him?
The masked teen obviously showed little emotion and never really talks to Eren. At school he straight up avoids him even though they have first period together. It really pissed him off, but what would piss him off more is losing to his father. After all his father had chosen Armin to be his challenge and a challenge he was. For the few weeks he had known the blond he had gotten no where close to having him fall head over heels for him. In fact you could say that he was doing the opposite everyday they spent together after school. All they do is fight because they would disagree with so many things. So not only was he having to try so hard to have Mikasa fall for him, but have his own fiance fall for him. Just thinking about it all gave Eren a head ache. He had so much to do and so little time to give enough time to all of it.
"We're here sir." The driver informs Eren who gives a nod and gets out of the car. He then proceeded to walk over to the school were he made his way into the hallways and to his first period class where he spotted Armin reading a book quietly to himself. Choosing to ignore the other to dwell in his thoughts more, he tried to think more on how he was going to win over Armin for now since that seemed like his biggest problem right now. Mikasa would be a bit easier since he already had a relationship with her and just needed to cater to what she wants in a guy. As for his masked fiance he was mysterious and didn't voice out a lot about him.
Spacing out during class he tried to think of ways to get to Armin. Maybe he could use what the blond was teaching him against him to test if it would actually work? But on the other hand that would only distance him from the other. From what he could tell for Armin he needed to get to learn more about him, but how was he going to do that? All his meetings with the other were about him and Mikasa not him and Armin. There had to be something that would lead to Eren learning more about his fiance but what would that be he thought.
He spent all of class stuck in his thoughts and when the bell rang, Eren just grabbed his things and continued on with the school day as he usually lunch he told his group of friends about the beach house and told them to meet him there after school for homecoming. After that he just continued on with his day but not without stealing glances of Mikasa as he did so. When fifth period rolled around the play boy decided that he would cut class early and go to the beach house. It wouldn't take long for school to end anyways and it was only two periods he would be missing so it didn't really mattered to him. Now waiting at the beach house, Eren patiently waited for his fiance to come and wondering how he was going to tell him about homecoming coming over. He figured he would find a way once the other came. After what seemed like hours, a familiar blond head came into the house.
"So what made you come here early?" The masked teen asked as he placed his backpack down to sit across from the other.
"I ditched class and had nothing to do. Plus this place is actually pretty nice. I always thought this place was creepy, but when I looked around it was actually pretty. Great place for a hang out." Eren explained calmly watching the face of disappointment grow on the masked teen's face.
"..."
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Like what? I'm not making a face."
"Easy." Eren said as he got up from his seat to approach Armin who arched his brow in confusion. Eren strutted on towards him,observing as the masked teen took his backpack off and held it in front of him to ensure a distance between them. Seeing this Eren gave a chuckle before stopping right in front of the other and putting his face about an inch away from Armin's.
"Your eyes tell me all I need." The brunette stated before tapping lightly at Armin's mask.
"S-Shut up...A-Anyways, let's just get your lessons over with so I can go home."
"Yeah yeah, but you have to agree to stay here for at least 2 hours."
"W-What why?"
"Well, for one you love the ocean. And two I invited the homecoming committee to come here."
"YOU DID WHAT!?"
"Hey if we're gonna win this thing, we have to campaign. Plus we have to make decorations for the school. Mikasa will be here too so you can help me everyday in real time." He explains to the other who only got yelled at in response.
"That was not apart of the plan! THIS IS MY SECRET SPOT!"
"Can't keep a secret forever."
"How could you!?"
"What you said you hate losing, and this is the only way I could get you to do homecoming."
"I WANT TO BE A NOBODY!"
"Well you're doing a pretty bad job at that. A guy who wears a mask everyday, if anything you're making yourself stand out. Sorry to break it to you dude."
"That can't be right. People ignore the strange."
"Well this is high school, and you're kind of engaged to the most notorious play boy of the school too. You will always be in the spot light. But as promised I'll make sure no one bothers you about it."
"Ugh, if that is suppose to make me feel better about you inviting the homecoming committee here then you're wrong."
"Let's just drop it and get to this Mikasa winning lesson."
"How can I when I-I'm so cross with you."
"Cross...Really?"
"You get my point! Honestly you're so inconsiderate."
"What, you'll thank me later when you have a bunch of friends who love you."
"Ugh, I don't want friends. You say that now but watch you'll need them.
"Anyways come on let's do this thing."
"Fine...I'm not talking to them though...I meant what I said when I say I don't need friends...They only hurt you in the end...Anyways first things first, stop looking at other people!"
"What?"
"You heard what I said."
"Yeah but like how specific are we getting here? Like not looking at them, you know I have to look at people sometime."
"I mean sexually and no bad behaviors."
"I don't do anything bad."
"Sure you don't."
"The bottom line is no nothing nothing sexual or anything that is considered do you get it now?No looking at other girls or guys. No more drinking, flirting, sexual encounters of any kind."
"Aww, but that's all the fun stuff what am I suppose to do when I'm bored or have sexual tension?"
"Find another way to take it out that doesn't require a partner. Mikasa from what I see is a nice girl, and if you want her she has to be your one and only. You have to show her you're serious about her."
"Okay, okay. Gosh why the heck are there so much rules?"
"Because you will literally have sex with anyone that is human."
"What sex is fun."
"Honestly do you think of anything else?"
"Nope, I bet you haven't even had sex."
"Why would I need to?"
"It's fun."
"To an animal like you I'm more of a romance guy if anything."
"Have you ever kissed anyone yet."
"C-can we not talk about this?"
"So I'll take that as a no."
"It's not important right now."
"Really I kind of find it kind of exciting. So you haven't even felt the touch of anyone yet. So I bet if I did this it would make you feel weird." Eren leans in close to Armin to the point where their noses were practically touching.
"Y-you're in my personal space right now...Please get away..."
"What if I don't want to?" Eren states with a smirk on his face and he notices the flustered expression he was getting from Armin. If he were to be honest with himself it almost got him excited.
"Whoa what did we just walk into?" Connie says aloud as he walks in with a bunch of Eren's other friends. Shocked by this Eren immediately distanced himself from the masked teen to great his friends.
"Connie, Jean, Sasha, Mikasa , and everyone else welcome!Let's get this homecoming thing going!" Eren exclaims as he greats everyone else and completely ignored Mikasa in fear he would say or do something stupid.
"Thanks dude, but I see we are interrupting something. You almost had him too." Connie comments jokingly.
"Connie be nice, Armin obviously didn't want him near him. I'm so sorry for my brother's behavior Armin." Mikasa apologizes drawing Eren's attention to her instead of his other friends. Immediately with her presence around he felt nervous, this was the first time he was really around Mikasa for a prolonged amount of time than at the dinner table.
"Where should we start making the decorations? I want to win this year!" Jean exclaims as he sets down some supplies that Eren sees he had, which reminded the brunette about Homecoming and the fact that they had to win. But what was the theme anyways? He needed to start planning on his and Armin's campaign if the even had a chance at winning.
"You can start over there in old living room. Looks like a great place, what's the theme anyways?" Eren ask watching the others place their things down on the ground completely oblivious to the lose of a certain someone's presence.
"It's fairy tales, we figured it worked with the crowning of the king and queen and we haven't done it yet." Mikasa told her brother despite the awkward tension between them that Eren was making.
"Great, oh speaking of kings and queens we need to start thinking of ways to get Armin and I to win this year."
"Oh how about you and Armin being the prince and prince charming. Finally together and waiting for the coronation." Sasha suggest.
"I like that idea! But better yet, Eren has finally found his princess well prince this time. We can play on the idea of him finding his 'princess'. Since they're engaged it makes it even better don't you think. People love that stuff!" Connie corrects.
"Agreed, okay that's what we're going for! I like that theme a lot!" Eren gave a thumbs up.
"Why don't we ask Armin his opinion. Armin what do you thi-...W-Where did he go?" The black haired beauty ask as she herself just noticed that there was no masked teen next to her.
"He left a few seconds ago. He said that he needed to finish an assignment." Jean explains to the others.
"And you didn't stop him?" Eren yelled at Jean as he charged at him feeling rage in the pit of his soul.
"Why would I need to. He looked uncomfortable, and I'm not gonna stop him. I had no reason to. Why would I want a freak around us anyways."
"Hey that freak is my fiancee and you don't say anything about it!I warned the whole school and that includes you guys too!" Eren warned his friend as his voice became even more raised. He didn't know why, but the fact that Jean was calling his fiance a freak was not okay. And that unknown feeling is what caused him to act out.
"Wow you we're serious? I thought you just did that because you dad told you to."
"No I did it."
"Yeah but that is just to get on his good side. He'll always still be a freak!" Jean emphasizes the freak just to piss Eren off more.
"Will you stop it isn't a freak he is just shy boy. I will not let you talk bad about him." Mikasa says as she steps in front of Eren with murder in her eyes. "You are too quick to judge people on their appearance, and I am more than ready to report to the principal what you did last year."
"What, no, you said you would let me off the hook if I did the work."
"Well I change my mind for someone who doesn't have a kind once in life Eren is in the right."
"So what I'm just expressing what I think."
"Which was uncalled for. He is my soon to be brother-in-law so I will treat him like I treat Eren. I will protect him form people like you."
"It's not like I'm gonna beat him up."
"You still look down to him, that's why from now on you will have to make an effort to be his best friend."
"WHAT!?"Eren and Jean exclaimed in unison.
"Mikasa what the hell!?" Eren walks over to Mikasa now worried that with Jean around Armin too much it could ruin his plans on winning him over. After all Eren knew well that if another suitor would make his work load even harder. It would also make the chances of him winning his father's challenge harder since he would have to actively try harder. Not only that, but in doing so he would be too busy having to win over Armin that he couldn't get the person he truly wanted, and that was not going to happen.
"He needs to learn not to judge a book by it's cover. Jean will do this or else I will report what he did last year to the what do you choose Jean?" She replies confidently.
"Fine...I'll be his friend, but I'm not going to like it at all...Let's just start making decorations and campaign for those two." Jean defeatedly says as he starts opening buckets of paint.
"Great just another thing i have to worry about..." Eren mutters to himself before going to the others to help them. Hours later him and Mikasa finally made it to their house where , their father waited for them to start dinner. When the got to the table they noticed that their father was on the phone with someone. Eren being the nosy person he was tried listening in to find out if it was important or not.
"Yes, I would like the engagement pictures to be done as well as the family photo shoot. Is that okay?" Levi ask the person on the other end that he assumes was the photographer. Hearing about the engagement pictures peaked Eren's interest a bit. If they were going to have engagement pictures why not use it to their advantage. After all they had barely gotten anything together for publicity about him and Armin running for king and queen, and others in the school already had posters. Therefore might as well do something the others don't have. Their pictures will most likely be shown in a magazine so people will have to purchase the magazine to see. And then they could make a skit off of the pictures. It would be great.
"Dad!" Eren interrupts his father who glares at him. "Let me talk to the photographer I got an idea about something related to the photo shoot. I promise it's appropriate." He begs his father who hands over the phone reluctantly. Monitoring his son's movements , Levi listened into what he had to say.
"Hey, this is the son of Levi Ackerman. I am wondering if I can make a suggestion about my engagement pictures. I want to make sure it's perfect for my fiance. Yes, I have a plan. I'll fax it to you, what is your contact? I can find it on your website great. Thanks, bye." Eren hands the phone back to his father. "Here you go."
"What is the meaning of this?"
"I just found a way to get us ahead in homecoming."
"Us?"
"Armin and I."
-Day of Photo shoot-
Eren woke up as early as can be, after all he had to direct for the photo shoot and double check everything. He also had to make sure everything was right so he wouldn't disappoint anyone in the homecoming committee. Today was going to change everything about their class's homecoming status and his relationship status with Mikasa. It was a very exciting day, and Eren couldn't wait to get started. Eating breakfast and going into his family photo shoot suit he scanned himself in the mirror for any flaws. Once he saw none he went into the car with the rest of his family.
"Now Eren, if you do anything in appropriate for the photo shoot I will kill you." Levi warns.
"Don't worry about it I won't. The most "inappropriate" thing that can happen is my kissing scene with Armin today."
"Your what?"
"Kissing scene."
"Why, did Armin agree to this?"
"No, in fact he doesn't even know the story for shoot."
"Eren you do realize this boy has never kissed anyone."
"That's why his expression will be genuine."
"You will not kiss him. You will do a stage kiss. I don't want to see lip-to-lip contact unless he agrees to it."
"Fine..." Eren lies through his teeth deciding that a real kiss would leave an impression on Armin as well as make the pictures seem more authentic. The rest of the ride to the photo shoot was relatively quiet except for the sounds that were coming from the outside. Mikasa still hadn't really talked to Eren since his confession, but that would all change today. Just looking at his adopted sister, Eren knew that she had calmed down from the incident and was only waiting for Eren to tell her he was ready. So with hope in his heart, he couldn't wait until the end of the photo shoot. Ah, the end of the photo shoot he had almost forgotten that Armin was going to help him with that. Digging into his pocket, Eren felt for the zip lock bag that Armin had given him. He had brought it in case he thought he couldn't talk to Mikasa by himself.
Patting the pocket lightly until he felt the devices, he sighed in relief and waited for the car to stop. Once it did, Eren went out with his family and then were separated into different dressing rooms to get their make-up done. In no time it seemed like him and his family were done since when he got out they were all the way he could see Armin eyeing them as if surveying the competition, but Eren knew at his father he was surprised to see his hair slicked back for his occasion. His father had always hated having it slicked back, but he would put up with it for the photo shoot.
As for Mikasa on the other hand, Eren was left speechless. She was gorgeous, the way her red dress fit her body and the jewelry and make-up enhanced her beauty he couldn't take his eyes off her. His heart beat began to pick up as he looked at his crush. The more he felt his heart beat the more he felt his breath leaving his body as he sighed with longing in his eyes. However he had to snap out of it, it was their turn to take their family picture. Listening to the direction of the photographer, he took a seat next to Mikasa on the couch while his father was behind. Sitting in place with a smile, Eren watched the flashes of light come and go until they stopped entirely. The photographer then asked them to switch into different positions which the family complied with. Another bunch of pictures were taken.
"Alright take 5 everyone!" The photographer announced to everyone on those words were said , everyone starts to scramble doing their own thing. Eren went over to the refreshments table where he grabbed some water, hot from the spot lights on the water only did well to quench his physical thirst but not his emotional. After taking a sip, he noticed one of the female make-up artist watching him closely. Giving them a wink, Eren thought why not let off some tension and practice with some flirting. And that is exactly what he did. Walking over to the female, he asked her for a touch up which she complied to. However while she was touching him up he tried to work his charms on her.
"You know you're such a beautiful lady. Do you plan to be a model?" The brunette inquires only getting him a blush and a light punch to the shoulder.
"No, I-I just do make-up. I'm not pretty enough to be on camera." She tells Eren modestly as she looks down and places a hand on her cheek.
"Well I disagree." He replies as he grabs her hair and kisses it.
"Well look at my fiance the cheater." No other than Armin says causing Eren to let go of the girl's hair and the girl to dismiss herself with a soft 'sorry' as she went to tend to something else.
"Thanks a lot, I was really getting somewhere with her." Eren tell his fiance with a defeated look running his hand over his face to show his annoyance. It wasn't like he was going to kiss her or anything, he was just going to warm up with her.
"May I remind you that you have to add another rock to the beach house now."
"Ugh, that is so stupid."
"Who are you trying to get here?"
"Mikasa, but that's besides the point. I need to warm up you know. I can't just talk to her."
"Yes you can."
"Well, I don't want to say anything stupid."
"Did you bring the thing I gave you?"
"Yeah..."
"Before we leave put it in. Whatever I say you will say to here to arrange the date."
"Oh that's great."
"...Just don't flirt here anymore."
"Why you jealous?"
"Why would I ever be jealous over you?"
"Most people are."
"In your head I'm sure."
"Anyways, you ready for our engagement pictures. They're going to be so romantic."
"I hope so,if we're going to win homecoming they have to be romantic not lustful."
"Ha, so you are going to help us win!"
"I'm not doing this for you. I-I just had an epiphany of some sort last night, and I thought I would try it out."
"Good to hear geek boy."
"Don't call me that..."
"Okay, well don't be surprised about the picture scenarios."
"I doubt you can surprise me when everything is just a lot coming from you."
"Alright everyone on set!" The photographer announces holding the camera and waiting in front of the set for the families to fall into place. Hearing the call Eren and Armin walked onto set with their family to await their directions.
"I want the two fiances on the couch together holding the pillow with the heart." The photographer explains watching as the two teens sit on the couch together while Armin hands Eren the other side of the pillow. " Everyone else I want behind the couch smiling if possible. That goes for the two boys as well, if possible smile." With that being said the two families posed for their pictures. After what seemed like millions of shots, the picture session was done, and they returned to one normal pose before being instructed to change clothing.
Knowing that the photo shoot was almost coming to its end, Eren darted to his dressing room to get ready. He was excited to see all his hard work finally lead to something good. Never in his life did he work so hard to make something perfect, and the fact that he was going to ask Mikasa on a date only added to his excitement. Once in his dressing room, he and the make-up artist ran about getting things ready. Eren first of all had to have the papers with descriptions of what the pictures should look like given to the photographer so he knew what he wanted. After all they were telling a story, and it was one hell of a story too. The committee had come up with it recently and it was a success amounts the people in the Armin wasn't present enough to hear what their final decision was because his father had told him to return home.
The story told of a crowned prince and an elf prince of the forest. It starts out with Eren telling his father he was going for a hunt, and his sister would assist him. They go into the forest with weapons. Armin happens to be there, playing with animals when he sees a arrow fired. He then reveals himself and then gets into a fight with Eren But it ends with Eren and Mikasa retreating. Armin's character would then run to his father and tell him about it. Erwin would then tell him that he was a candidate to be the prince's fiance and that they would go to the ball. Meanwhile Eren is being told that he will have fiance candidates and the he would have to chose one. King Levi would hold a ball for all to see. Erwin arrives before Armin because the servants were still getting his son ready. Meanwhile Eren talks to people picking aside the ones he think would make a perfect fiance. And then that's when it happens. Over at the balcony all alone, Armin sits there and him and Eren make eye contact. Remembering him Eren would angrily go to him pushing past the people in the crowd. They confront each other, but then their father's have already decided that Armin would be the final candidate since this was all planned from their birth.
After the ball it shows Eren flirting with the other candidates ignoring Armin, and Armin being by himself being with Mikasa more. Until one day in the garden of Eren's castle gardens Armin is about to be abducted by a prince who want Armin for his consort, but Eren saves him. From that point on the two get closer, but they don't realize each others feelings. But Eren would still flirt with the other girls more and say lovely words to them as Armin watched behind the scenes. Armin would go to the forest and cry in his personal garden, where a butterfly lands on his right shoulder causing him to be controlled by the evil prince who tried to take him earlier.
For one whole day Armin goes missing, and the kingdom searches for him. And then they go to the first place they met Armin were the clue of his whereabouts was. Eren travels to the opposing kingdom to save his prince finally realizing his feelings. Once there he would storm into the castle to find Armin dressed in black and purple and a different crown upon his head. It would then pan out to see that Armin would be sitting on the villain's lap about to kiss him. Eren then challenges him to a duel, but the other prince uses Armin as a puppet making Eren battle him.
Eren fights bravely, but Armin wins. Now on the ground with Armin on top of him about to stab him, as a last resort he would kiss Armin breaking the spell. After that Eren would defeat the villain and take Armin to his castle where he would propose and then marry Armin. It was the perfect fairy tale scenario romantic and told the story of how their engagement started. After giving the papers to the photographer, the brunette got dressed behind a screen and got his make-up done and costume adjusted. He knew he would be a while, but he needed everything to be perfect. Once he was done, he walked to the set where he was ready to go.
"Alright let's get this rolling guys. I want this whole story to look and play like a movie!" Eren boast to everyone in the room, analyzing the area seeing how everyone was in costume. However there was one thing out of place, and that was Armin. He looked like he had seen something terrible and then he heard the loud sound of someone who was breathing way too hard. Oh no not this. I thought today was going to go off without a hitch.Eren thought to himself right as he saw his fiance run away from the set and to his dressing room.
"Armin!" Erwin called for his son in a panic looking as if he was going to have an anxiety attack as well. Watching as Erwin was about to run for his son, Eren saw his father stop him before he had the chance.
"Erwin you need to calm down. You can't help him if you're not calm." Levi informs.
"I'll help him." Mikasa volunteers hiking up her dress as she was about to dash off after her soon-to-be brother-in-law.
"N-No I'll do it!" Eren says surprising everyone in the room.
"You, and why would you do that? You don't care about anyone but yourself." His father told him, which cut Eren deep.
"Well...This is the perfect opportunity to warm up to him. Plus if he is having an anxiety attack I know how to help. And you guys can't tell me no." Eren declares as he runs in the direction of Armin's dressing room. It took him a few tries but he was in front of the blond's door, and from beyond that door he could hear a mumbled voice. Opening the door, he saw the most pitiful sight that made his head spin and a memory came to mind.
"Teacher what's wrong with him?" A tiny Eren frantically ask his teacher who is currently helping what Eren assumes is his childhood friend. His friends was not breathing right, and was on the ground unable to really move. It scared him.
"He is having an anxiety attack sweetie. It's when you get really nervous and you can't breathe. I need you to go with your other classmates." The teacher instructs only for Eren to not listen.
"No he is my friend I want to help him! I want to help! I want to help!"
"O-Okay, well then you know what you can do? Can you count for me?"
"Yes!"
"Now I need you to count to three like this 1...2...3...And then - will breath in and when you count to three again he'll breath out. And then in no time he'll breath normal. You ready Eren?"
"Yes!"
"You ready -?"
The other boy nods.
"Ready 1...2...3.."
"That was weird..." Eren tells himself right as he got out of his trance, and then proceeded to walk towards the teenage boy on the floor having a crisis. Cautiously, Eren crouches down to the floor with Armin who seemed to not notice his presence. If Eren wasn't so desperate for the other to get back onto the set he would have ran away from how creepy this all was. However a part of him felt like he had to help the other. It was like his body was reacting before he could. His hands went to Armin's shoulders shaking them to help the blond out of his trance.
"Armin." He tries once softly trying to test how much the other wasn't paying attention to him. When he noticed that there was no response but more silence and rapid breaths, he calls the other's name once more again with no reply. Trying one final time until he got even more physical with the other, Eren yells Armin's name snapping the other out of his world. Feeling the small body underneath his arm flinch, Eren breathes a sigh of relief but tries not to show the other how worried he was.
"Eren?" The blond questions as he looked to his side to see none other than Eren.
"Gosh I thought you were a goner there. What the hell was that back there? You just ran, so I went after you and I saw you panicking." Eren let go of his grip to breathe another sight of relief.Gosh that was something.
"W-What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to get you duh. Why did you run out like that?"
"I-I..I-I can't do it!"
"Can't do what?"
"The photo shoot., I-I can't."
"Armin you can."
"No I can't, there is so many things that can go wrong. Not to mention that I'm not suited to be the next to you in all the pictures. I-I'M UGLY AND TERRIBLE I'LL RUIN THE PICTURES."
"Armin are you listening to yourself, you sound ridiculous."
"I-I can't, I CAN'T!" Armin screamed at the brunette catching him off guard. Then the next thing he knew he heard the other's breathing pick up. Panicking Eren tried to change his previously critical demeanor to a softer more understanding one as he tried to get Armin to stop hyperventilating.
"W-Wait not i'm sorry, don't breath like that! Breathe with me 1...2...3.. breathe." Eren instructed the other who followed along desperately. After a few minutes of routinely breathing together Eren and Armin were now sitting on the floor relaxing after their previous heart attack. Remaining in silence, Eren waited for Armin to say something to him in fear he would mess up again and have to go through the breathing process all over again.
"How did you know to do that?" Eren heard Armin ask curiously.
"Do what?"
"Tell me how to breathe?"
"Mikasa use to have anxiety attacks too." Eren lies out loud, not truly knowing the reason he knew how after that memory he had just remembered a few minutes prior.
"S-She did?"
"Yeah, when we were little she was scared of a lot of people because she didn't know how to make friends. So I helped her out when she got like you did just now."
"Thanks...But I still can't do this Eren..."
"You can and you will."
"I can't."
"You can, you're the only one telling yourself no."
"Yeah because i'm right."
"No you're not,at least not now. Look we need these pictures, and your dad is worried about you we need to get back out there."
"M-My dad?"
"Yeah, he was freaking out about you. My dad had to calm him down, I guess anxiety runs in the family."
"Is he alright?"
"Yeah, but come on now we need to let him know that you're okay."
"I-I'm such a terrible son..."
"Okay you know what new deal!"
"W-What?"
"New deal."
"Deal for what?"
"Every time you have self-degrading thoughts you have to make a rock pile too. And by the looks of it for today you need to add ten."
"Why."
"I'm helping you out here. Don't get me wrong I'm only doing this because we need to get this over and in homecoming you need to learn how to get social. So it's perfect training for you. Plus it's pay back. And stop looking down so much it makes you look shorter than you already are."
"Gee that's nice to know."
"What are fake fiances for am I right?"
"W-Whatever...You're a real jerk you know that?"
"What's new?Now come on we need you to get your make-up redone. We'll have them do it over there."
"Ok." Armin follows Eren close behind as they slowly made their way back to the set. As Eren lead the way he felt that sensation once more of something forgotten in time. Why did he keep getting these memories now? They had nothing to do with Armin, and yet they always were triggered by him.
"Hmm, maybe it's just a bad dream..." Eren convinced himself quietly trying to shove off the issue for a later time. Right now he had to warn Armin about the plot of the story and what would be happening. "Armin, about the photo shoot we're telling the story we picked for the skit."
"And what would that be?"
"The story of the crowned prince being engaged to the prince of the forest. The crowned prince is a play boy,and you fall in love with him and so does he. You get kidnapped by another prince and then manipulated. I have to come save you and then we get married."
"Sounds simple."
"You can act right?"
"I do it everyday."
"Great, fair warning the class is here."
"What?"
"Yeah they need to be seen in them too."
"Why weren't they there earlier?"
"They were probably getting ready. Those were all extras, but they should be there now."
"Ugh, so who is playing who anyways? And is there anything I should know about?"
"Well," Eren begins trying his best to avoid telling him anything about the kiss, "You will have to sit on the evil prince's lap and then act like you love and hate me."
"Doesn't sound too hard. But whose lap is it?"
"I don't know actually, they didn't tell me the role of the evil prince since we we're still be prepared okay."
"I'll try, sorry I freaked out. I-I've been trying so hard not to break down but...yeah..."
"You'll get it eventually." The brunette closes the argument once he noticed that they were getting close to the set. As predicted the people from class had came all dressed in costume. And who he found out was the evil prince made Eren feel uneasy. Walking up to the teen like a bull charging at a matador, Eren grabbed the person's shirt and made him look down to him.
"Who the hell chose you to be the evil prince?" Eren questions demanding to know the explanation for all of this.
"I didn't want to do it, it was all Mikasa's idea." Jean replies as he grabs Eren's hand forcing him to let go of his grip.
"Mikasa's why!?"
"She said it was a the perfect role since I have to be friends with Armin."
"You're an evil prince."
"I don't get it either. Can we get this over with, the rest of us have to get back to help the others. We didn't leave school two periods early for nothing."
"You have a point fine, but don't do anything weird."
"Like I want to, and why are you acting like you actually care about him? You don't even like him."
"Well I feel sorry for him okay."
"He is a pretty wimpy guy. "
"Let's just get this over with...Alright everyone let's get ready for the firs scene! Armin you will take your pictures first!" Eren exclaims the last part watching as everyone flocks away from the set where there was a woods like scene places.
"Okay this is it, you can do this." Armin cheers himself on as he walks to the woodland scene. Once on the set, Armin noticed something moving from his peripheral his head towards the moving figure to find out that it was a live deer accompanied by a handler. Eyes lighting up with excitement, Armin walked over to the beautiful was his first time seeing one up close so he was excited.
"W-What's this for?" He ask the handler who shrugs and turns to Eren for an answer.
"You're the prince of this forest. This is your friend, you are just gonna take a few pictures with him. Ignore the camera and just play with him. We're going to add more animals." Eren explains and on cue a few birds were let out of their cages and onto the set. Some landed on Armin's shoulder as instructed by their handlers, others went to the fake trees. After those were added a rabbit was handed to Armin who received the animal happily. With all these animals around, the blond felt less nervous and more at ease.
"So all I do is play around with these animals?" Armin ask for clarification.
"Yes, I will be taking random shots around you. Be as natural as possible." The photographer takes charge as he approaches Armin with his camera. Giving the man a nod of understanding, Armin took a deep breathe and went to play with the animals around him. It was going well so far, he didn't notice anyone behind the scenes and he was genuinely having fun. When the deer licked his face, Armin couldn't stop laughing which surprised everyone in the room. No one but Erwin had heard the blond laugh and here he was laughing without a care in the world and smiling as he did so.
"W-Wow..." Jean whispers captivated by the sight in front of him, and the laugh he his body knowing, he took a few steps closer to the set to look at the blond a bit closer.
This is actually fun, I can't believe I thought this was going to be hard. Armin thinks as he cradles the rabbit in his hands and sits down with the deer. Everything was going so well until Armin felt a breeze go past him. Wiping his head towards the direction with shock visible on his face, Armin saw a fake arrow come on set that had barely missed the deer.
"Perfect, we got all the shots for this scene! Excellent reaction Armin, next please come on set with your son." The photographer orders leaving Armin still wondering why that arrow was shot at him in the first place. However now was not the time for that. When he saw his father come up to him, Armin swallowed the lump n his throat remembering how disappointed his father must be with him. Looking his parental figure in the eye, Armin let out a shaky breath.
"Don't worry Armin. You'll be fine, I believe in you." Erwin tells his son as he touches his hair to calm him down. With a sad smile, Armin accepted his father's encouragement and continued with the photo shoot. Turning to Eren Armin awaited instruction and once he was told it he did it. All the scenes he had been in so far were relatively easy he just had to act angry and shocked. When it came to the scene where he was told to cry in the meadow he did so with ease. It wasn't hard for him to find something to cry about after all, there were so many things going on in his life right now he needed the excuse to let it all out. However it did take a while for him to settle down after that.
Once all of the scenes with Armin and the meadow were done, Eren came in to do his parts with Armin which came naturally since he didn't like the other. When they had changed to the castle scenes it got even easier. The blond never had to pay attention to Eren much, but when he did have to he had to grin and bare it. Everything was gong on smoothly Armin thought. He didn't even remember people were taking pictures of him half the time because he was in his own world. After a while he even caught onto what the story was about and had to admit it was good for a fairy tale.
When it came to the part where Armin had been manipulated Armin enjoyed that part the most because he didn't have to show the took a break, the blond decided to go up to Jean to apologize for his weight . Ever since he found out that he was the evil prince, Armin feared his weight would hurt the other once he sat on his lap. To his surprise, Jean quickly dismissed him and avoided eye contact with him. Not minding the dismissal, Armin walked to an empty chair and waited to be called back to the set.
Fifteen minutes later, they were back at it again taking picture after picture. And before Armin knew it they were finally at the point where he would sit on Jean's lap. Reluctantly, Armin did so avoiding eye contact and looking down to his lap. Feeling a hand on his chin and forcing his face to get closer to Jean's, Armin could feel his heart beat trying not to put himself in a state of it was over as fast as it had started much to Armin's relief. Getting off of his lap, the blond was handed a sword where he and Eren play fought with Armin winning of course.
Now he observed the brunette that was on his back on the floor. Being instructed to straddle him, Armin did so as he raised his sword to Eren's neck no emotion on his face. Just as it had been planned out, Armin thought that was all for this scene. How Eren was going to prevail never came to Armin's mind that was until he felt Eren take his wrist causing him to let go of the sword. Shocked Armin looked back down to Eren who only smirks as he puts his hand on the back of Armin's neck to drag him towards him.
The next thing, Armin knew was that he was uncomfortably close to Eren. When he was about to say something about it, he felt his lips on the other's. Eyes dilating in shock, Armin felt himself get dizzy before he felt relaxed laying on top of Eren. Alarmed by this sudden development, Eren sat up with Armin in his arms and the photographer still taking pictures.
"Stop! I-I think he fainted!" Eren announces causing everyone in the room to panic, and the one who panicked the most was of course Armin's father. Running towards the teens as fast as he could, Erwin went to his knees and went to pick up his son. Caressing his cheek, Erwin pushed the hair from out of his son's face. The adult then took, Armin over to the couch that was off to the side where girls had fans and water ready for the masked teen.
"Come on sweetie wake up." Erwin pleaded his son who was unconscious on the bed. Getting no response, the elder sighed and took one of the water bottles one of the girls had Erwin twist it open and pours it on Armin's face.
"Ah!What happened?" Armin exclaims as he tried wiping the water off his face, but the mask was in his way.
"You fainted." Erwin replies gently observing as his son looks to the crowd around him scanning over them as if searching for a problem.
"I did for how long?"
"A few seconds."
"Not bad, why did I fai..." Armin stops mid-sentence when he sees Eren and the memory of the kiss came into mind. Touching his lips Armin could still feel the other's on his even though Eren wasn't close. "I-I need to go..." Armin not so calmly said as he got up and past the crowd of people. Once he was past the lot, the masked teen ran as fast as he could back to his dressing room like before, this time with no one stopping him.
"His first kiss..." Erwin informs the crowd who yells in shock and looks to Eren as if he were the villain and not Jean.
"A kiss, my first kiss!" Armin wailed as he took off his mask to dry his face from whatever was left of the water. Placing it on the make-up table, Armin tried to calm himself down but he just felt so disgusted with himself. How could he let Eren steal something as precious as his first kiss and how did he not see it coming? It was a fairy tale story and a very stereotypical one at that, a kiss was bound to happen. The fact that, that little detail never crossed Armin's mind made him feel so stupid.
"I-I'm so ugh...I don't know..." The blond tries to contemplate the feelings he had but couldn't. Therefore he kept pacing around back and forth until he heard a knock on the ...Armin assumed as he heard the sound determined to start something that he had a right fury in all his being, Armin charged towards the door completely forgetting the fact that his mask was not on. What mattered right now was that he was going to give Eren a stern talking to. Grasping onto the door knob firmly Armin flung the door open.
"Eren, I am..." He pauses as he notices it wasn't Eren, but instead Jean.
"I'm not Eren..." Jean tells the other while looking at him with eyes filled with shock. The sight that no one had seen in 12 years was right in front of him. The rumored "ugly face" was anything but what the people had hypothesized. What Jean saw was pale white skin that didn't have a blemish in sight. Delicate features that were blocked by the mask were not revealed to show Armin's heart shaped face along with those piercing blue eyes. Eyes that Jean hadn't noticed were so bright upon their first meeting. in a sum, Armin was gorgeous one of the most beautiful people he had ever seen (Mikasa being the first). The question now on Jean's mind was why was this beauty hiding it from the world.
"What are you staring at? Why aren't you saying anything?" The blond questions the teen in front of him as he examined the other's face. Why it was him instead of Eren he had no clue. Now what he wanted to know was why was Jean here and why was he looking at him so closely.
"Beautiful..." Jean mutters out by accident as his face started to turn red.
"Beautiful? " Armin questions as he looks behind him to see if there was anything beautiful in sight. What he did notice was that he wasn't in his dressing room, and his precious mask was sitting on the make-up table alone and not on his face. Looking back to Jean in terror, Armin realized that he had seen his face. He had seen the shame that Armin tried to hide, and had seen the thing that no one should ever lay eyes upon. Shutting the door as fast as he had opened it, Armin felt the world around him grow cold as he let the thought process.
"H-He saw!"
Admin: I hope thew 9 of you who actually read this like how it is going and how fast it updated this time.I hope you all enjoyed this faster update, and the story once more. I really do appreciate those of you who read this and tell me you like my story. It really makes me want to tell you guys how this all plays out. Your kind words really let me through. I may not be the best fanfic writer with the best plot and grammar but you guys support me. And that support gives me the courage to tell my story to you guys. On another note I wanted to state something about Armin's trauma.
So usually when something is repeated in childhood many times to a person it sticks with more negative it is, the more it sticks with someone. I've talked with a few people on the issue, and a lot of people agreed that their hateful out look on themselves started in experienced a lot of body negativity and t stuck with them until today. So just telling those that were confused on how a small thing like being called in childhood can make Armin act this way.
