Summary: "Y-yeah…yeah, he forgot." Simply saying it made Bertholdt feel as if his ribs were tightening in his chest, closing in on his fragile, breaking heart, because Reiner had forgotten the one thing he had always vowed to never forget.

Warnings: Manga spoilers and the Sweaty Birthday Prince being sad

Characters: Bertholdt, Annie, 104th trainees

Word Count: ~1,109

Notes: Welp, I'm doing Reibert Week. This is also dedicated to my special birthday boy! Happy birthday Bertholdt!


You ripped me off, your love was cheap
Was always tearing at the seams
I fell deep, you let me down
But that was then and this is now
Now look at me

~Part of Me - Katy Perry


Back in their hometown, Bertholdt's family couldn't afford to celebrate birthdays with presents and treats. Food was scarce, and though his family insisted on saving up to buy him a present, Bertholdt would always decline their offer. His family's well-being meant more to him.

Reiner, though he never had the money to get him a gift, would always make sure to spend time with Bertholdt, making sure that Bertholdt would know that he it was his special day and that it would be all about him. Annie would sometimes join them as well, but not as often.

Even with being assigned the mission to destroy humanity, taking down Wall Maria, pretending to be refugees, and the first year in the military, Reiner never forgot his special day.

That was until Reiner began to lose himself, however.

On December 30th, in their final year of training, Bertholdt woke up to notice that the bed next to his was cold. Empty. It was late December, meaning that the barracks were especially cold at night and in the morning. Bertholdt could see his own breaths in front of his face. He had woken up on his side, a normal position (minus the fact that his feet were on his pillow and his head at the foot of the bed.) The rest of the boys in the barracks were in the process of getting ready for a long day of training; Eren and Jean making constipated faces at each other, Reiner using his shirt to whip Connie in the legs as Marco watched and laughed.

Bertholdt sat up and stretched, working the kinks out of his spine and neck, before climbing out of the bunk and searching for his uniform. Some of the trainees smiled at him, greeted him, and he smiled back shyly. That was the most acknowledgement he received that morning.

Training had been slow that day; the air was cold, frost covered the ground, and the 3D Maneuver Gear was stiff and slightly slow due to the cold. Thomas Wagner's gear ended up getting stuck, causing him to get tangled in the wires and hang suspended in the air, upside down. The same happened to several other trainees, including Armin and Ymir (though she would vehemently deny it), but Instructor Shadis didn't even blink, only helped untangle the trainees and send them back into the fray.

Bertholdt stayed silent the entire day. He entertained the idea that he looked a bit like Annie, stoic and indifferent. The thought almost made him chuckle.

That night, Connie managed to swipe four large bottles of the finest Trost Whiskey from Shadis' cellar and was kind enough to share it with other boys. Bertholdt, never one for alcohol, left to sit on the porch whilst the boys promptly drank themselves into oblivion, his blanket draped around his shoulders. The porch was abandoned, much to his delight.

He didn't know how long he sat there until Annie came out.

"Happy birthday."

Bertholdt jumped and looked up questioningly at the petite girl. She watched him with that familiar cool, calculating gaze before sitting down next to him.

"Thanks," he replied, averting his gaze from hers. He could still feel her eyes on him though.

"He forgot, didn't he? Reiner, I mean." Bertholdt winced at her bluntness. Annie was never one to beat around the bush.

"Y-yeah…yeah, he forgot." Simply saying it made Bertholdt feel as if his ribs were tightening in his chest, closing in on his fragile, breaking heart.

"Odd. He never forgot your birthday."

"He's…he's losing himself, Annie. He isn't a warrior anymore. He doesn't remember the real reason he's here." Bertholdt's throat tightened as tears threatened to escape.

"He was always your rock," Annie stated. "He always made sure he was there for you, to make sure you had someone to lean on when you needed it. And now he's forgotten everything, and it's tearing you apart."

Bertholdt cringed; how was it that Annie always managed to hit the nail right on the head? He must be pretty obvious, he supposed. He never was good at hiding his emotions around her.

Or maybe it was because Annie wasn't stupid. She knows him better than he thinks. She watched him from the ground with Reiner as he destroyed the Shiganshina gate, pulled him out of his titan's body, and watched as Reiner held him tightly, while Bertholdt sobbed wetly into the other boy's shirt. Bearing the weight of being mankind's greatest enemy had taken a severe toll on Bertholdt, who was and is fragile and weak-willed. Annie knew this for a fact.

"You know, Reiner thought that I had a crush on you," Bertholdt shifted sideways to look at her. "I told him that I didn't, because I had feelings for him. He said he had feelings for me too. He promised that when we get home, he was going to marry me so you couldn't take me away from him."

The corners of her lips twitched the tiniest bit, prompting him to continue.

"That was on my birthday last year. He told me he loved me but…all of a sudden he was distant. Hanging out with Krista…he told me he thought she was a goddess. That he was going to marry her."

"And how does that make you feel?"

Bertholdt bit his lip, delving deep into his inner emotions. "Angry. Sad, and heartbroken, and really, really, angry. I feel like I've been ripped off. If he loved me, then it must have been cheap. It feels like I've been chewed up and spit out. I've never felt so…worthless. And it makes me so mad!"

Annie nodded to herself, seemingly in understanding. "You can't forget about the mission, okay? We'll have to try to get Reiner to snap out of it or…you'll have to break the walls yourself after graduation. The village elders made sure we knew this."

Bertholdt nodded shakily, not wanting to believe that Reiner could be gone for good. His best friend, the love of his life, he could be gone forever.

Annie stood up and placed a tiny hand on Bertholdt's larger shoulder. "Happy birthday, Bertholdt."

Bertholdt couldn't bring himself to smile at her, so he kept his gaze locked on the frosty ground. "Thanks, Annie. Goodnight."

He waited until the door to the girls' barracks opened and closed again before he curled into a ball, his legs pulled to his chest, arms wrapped around his shins, face pressed into his knees. His shoulders began to shake as he shuddered violently, whilst tears spilled endlessly from his eyes.

"You're spineless."

"Reiner is gone."

"Reiner doesn't love you."

"You're all alone."