Day 7 - Childhood

Bertholdt knelt down and cupped his chin as he looked across the flower bed. His eyes scanned across each and every petal, it needed to be perfect, it just had to be. "Hhmm... What about this one?" He pondered running his fingers across a series of purple petals. "No, it's too droopy."

"Hey Berty what are you up to?"

Turning around Bertholdt saw Reiner walking towards him with his hands stretched over his head. "Oh… nothing." He mumbled.

"Eh… you're always hanging out around the flower bed," Reiner hummed. "Don't let the instructors find you here. They'll think you've gone soft."

"I'm not going soft!" Bertholdt protested. "I...I'm just looking for something."

Reiner's eye widened and a large smile plastered across his lips. "Are you looking for something for a special someone?"

"That's not funny Reiner," Bertholdt pouted. "I… just like the flowers."

"Oh. You sure it's not because you saw Annie looking at them the other day?" Reiner cooed clasping his hand together.

Bertholdt got up from his knees and sighed. "Fine. I thought since Annie is always on her own I could do something to become friends with her."

"What a gentleman," Reiner scoffed. "But you're right, she always seems to be by herself. So what was your plan?"

Bertholdt twiddled his thumbs. "You have to promise not to tell anyone, especially Marcel or Gilliard," With a hand over his heart Reiner promised. "Okay," Bertholdt said with a hushed tone. "I was going to make her a bouquet of flowers and give them to her after combat training."

"You think Annie will like that?"

Bertholdt firmly nodded. "I see her looking at the flowers all the time, so maybe she'd like some."

"If you say so," Reiner shrugged. "So what flowers are you going to use?"

Sighing Bertholdt rubbed the back of his head. "That's the problem. I have no idea."

"Why not get her flowers that match her?"

"What do you mean?" Bertholdt asked turning his attention back to the flower.

Reiner stepped forward and pointed to a collection of bright, shining yellow flowers. "Well, they look like Annie's hair," He shifted his point to a loose bundle of light blue buds. "And those are blue like her eyes."

For a moment Bertholdt was stunned silent. "You're a genius!" He eventually exclaimed. "How come I didn't think of that?" He added while gently picking the flowers Reiner had pointed out.

Reiner gently rubbed his cheek, trying to hide the blush of embarrassment rising on his cheeks. "I-It's okay, just don't make a fool out of yourself." Before he could finish Bertholdt had gathered all the flowers and was running towards the training ground.

After spending nearly ten minutes arranging the flowers Bertholdt was content with his work. Carefully holding the collection of flowers he made his way to where he knew Annie would be training, turning the corner Bertholdt saw Annie stretching her arms over his head.

Walking up behind her Bertholdt tapped on her shoulder with a wide smile on his lips.

Before Bertholdt could react Annie turned on her heels and grabbed the hand that touched her, in one fluid movement she brought her other hand up to Bertholdt's neck and kicked his feet out from under him.

Bertholdt grunted in pain as he was left in a cloud of dust on the ground with Annie standing over him. "Ow…" He moaned as he slowly picked himself up. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have disturbed you." He mumbled before turning and leaving Annie who wore an expression of confusion as she looked down at the crumpled bouquet in the dirt.

That night as he coddled his wounds Bertholdt found himself thinking to what had happened earlier with Annie. "The flowers were a stupid idea…" He sighed to himself. "Now she hates me."

Little did he know that after limping away from her, Annie had picked up the bundle of flowers and brushed the dirt and dust from them. Since she had training that afternoon Annie made sure to hide the flowers somewhere the instructors wouldn't find them. Once her training for the day was over and she had been dismissed Annie made her way to her hiding spot, making sure she wasn't followed. After she was sure no had followed her Annie found the flowers and didn't suppress the small smile that spread across her lips.

Once she got back to the dorms Annie made sure to fill a jar with water and put it and the flowers in the small shelf below her window and every day since then, after training Annie would take a couple of minutes to tend to the flowers Bertholdt had 'given' her.