Well I have some important things to say but if you wanna skip then go straight on ahead but anyway. My final exams are starting soon so I won't be able to write as much so I made this chapter a little longer as compensation.

Next I want to say thanks to Lyra Sprinkles, Scattershot98 and Kuchel2077. Without your chapter by chapter responses I probably would have given this story up ages ago. I also want to say a big thanks to Mishafer for your review, I'm always open to new ideas and any construct criticism so thank you and read on!

Sweat trickled down Bertholdt's forehead as his legs finally gave way. Collapsing to his knees Bertholdt looked over to Annie who was still striking the bag with her calf, noticing that he had fallen she rolled her eyes and made her way over to him.

"You need to work on your endurance." She sighed.

Bertholdt looked up to Annie and gestured to the still swaying bag. "It feels like my legs are going to fall off." He huffed after several unsuccessful attempts.

"That means your legs are getting stronger," Annie explained as she stretched her arms over her head. "However…" Annie's eyes glanced over Bertholdt's chest and his rapid breathing rate. "Maybe you should take a break."

With Annie's permission Bertholdt fell onto his back giving his lungs the oxygen they painfully begged for. Once the burning in his chest and legs subsided he managed to pull himself to his feet and make his way to the lockers.

Once he reached the lockers Bertholdt reached into his bag and pulled out the nearly empty bottle of water, deciding that he could fill it up later he unscrewed the lid and poured the contents out over his head. Bertholdt groaned as the water instantly cooled him down, it soaked through his hair, down his neck and through his vest, once the bottle was empty Bertholdt shook his head relishing in the relief the cold had brought him.

With his head clear Bertholdt walked back to the bag and put his bottle down, noticing that Bertholdt came back Annie looked over from behind her bag and found her words stuck in his chest.

Annie was no stranger to seeing a well-toned man, or woman, being raised in both a gym and fight club she had been surrounded by people wearing little to cover themselves, however there was something different this time, the first time she had seen Bertholdt with his shirt off she thought nothing of him, to her he was only a means to make sure her father's gym could remain open and that involved making him stronger. Now her efforts had paid off and Annie could clearly see the results through the vest that clung to Bertholdt's chest.

Under the vest Annie could see his clearly defined abs, stacked upon one another leading up to his impressive chest that only seemed more alluring thanks to his broad shoulders that gave Bertholdt an almost intimidating appeal. Noticing that Annie was looking at him Bertholdt felt blood rush to his cheeks.

"I...is everything okay?"

Shaking herself to her senses Annie walked over to Bertholdt and pointed to the lockers. "I hope you're going to mop that up later."

Bertholdt followed Annie's finger to the pool of water beneath his locker. "Oh, of course," He chuckled. "Do you want me to do that now?" He asked.

"No," Annie sighed shaking her head. "For now keep working on your kicks." She said as she reached for one of the pads and held it up. Bertholdt nodded before assuming the stance Annie had taught him and as his calf struck the pad over and over again Annie was shocked by the determination and strength he put into his kicks.

"You did pretty well today," Annie explained as Bertholdt left the changing rooms, now wearing his normal clothes. "You've got the strength but you still have a load of wasted movement."

Bertholdt raised an eyebrow as he threw his bag over his shoulder. "Is that bad?"

"What makes Mike a real pain in the ass isn't really his defence," Annie sighed. "It's his eyes," She paused for a moment to see if Bertholdt picked up on what she meant.

When Bertholdt's eyes widened Annie smirked. "He predicts his opponents moves."

Annie nodded before continuing. "Exactly, so if you have wasted movement in your kicks he'll be able to block you everytime you try to strike him," Seemingly convinced Bertholdt hummed in agreement before reaching for the door when Annie stopped him. "We… we don't have that much longer until your fight so we'll need to train harder so… make sure you come over tomorrow as well."

If Bertholdt hadn't been so focused on keeping his blush from rising he might have noticed the sudden shift in Annie's behavior.

"Sure," Bertholdt said as he ran his fingers through his hair. "You're the boss."

That night as Annie sat on her bed staring up at the ceiling she found her thoughts wandering the Bertholdt and his vest, as she pictured the way the fabric clung to his chest and abdomen, Annie's sense only returned to her when she began to imagine the way it would feel to press her hands against it.

"What the hell am I thinking?" Annie groaned to herself as she roughly shook her head, yet despite her best efforts she couldn't rid the thoughts from her mind. Eventually, Annie dragged herself out of bed and went into her bathroom, after splashing some cold water on her face she felt confident enough to go back to bed.

Yet as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep Annie couldn't stop herself imagining Bertholdt's warm smile and gentle grey eyes.

"You want to what?" Bertholdt gawked as he leant around the tree to face Reiner.

"I want to join the gym you work at," He shrugged in response. "Is that a problem?"

Bertholdt held his chin and hummed. "I guess not… and it'd be nice to have a friendly face at the gym."

"Oh?" Reiner cooed. "If I'm a friendly face what does that make Annie?"

"Oh shut it," Bertholdt chuckled as he reached around the tree and jabbed his friend's shoulder. "Why do you want to join anyway?"

It took a couple of minutes before Reiner could answer. "Well… It's because of you!" Reiner was thankful for the tree between them as it stopped Bertholdt from seeing the flustered look on his face. "You're supposed the smart one and I'm the strong one. Now you're becoming the strong one and the smart one."

"So you want to be the stronger one?" Bertholdt asked.

"Yes!" Reiner cried. "And if you got that strong that quickly I need to get in on it."

Before he could answer Bertholdt found himself clutching his sides as he broke out laughing while Reiner explained how needed to be the strong one.

Reiner walked a step behind Bertholdt as he lead them to the gym. "So you're sure this is going to be okay?" He asked as Bertholdt raised his fist to knock on the door.

"Yeah it should be fine, it's a gym afterall." Bertholdt shrugged as he hammed the thick metal door.

Almost immediately the door flew open and Bertholdt found himself looking down at Annie who returned his grin with a small smile, a smile that faulted when she saw Reiner. "What's he doing here?"

Reiner felt a chill brush over his skin as he momentarily locked eyes with Annie. He quickly looked over to Bertholdt who answered on his behalf. "Reiner wanted to sign up to the gym, so I brought him along," The unwavering expression Annie wore suddenly planted seeds of doubt in Bertholdt's mind. "Is… is that okay?"

The air suddenly felt heavy as Annie pondered their proposal, eventually, she sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "That should be fine, if you can pay."

"I can pay!" Reiner said enthusiastically.

The tension in the air began to dissipate as Annie lead them inside, with the door shut she called out to Connie. "You follow Connie and fill out the paperwork," as Reiner followed Connie to the office she turned to face Bertholdt. "You get changed and warm up then you can help me set the ring."

"Set up the ring? Is there a fight tonight?"

"Yeah…" Annie murmured. "It's an important one tonight so hurry up and get changed so you can help me." Silently following her orders Bertholdt made his way to the changing rooms and put on a light grey vest and simple black shorts.

When he emerged he saw Annie waiting for him holding a mop and bucket. "You get the ring clean then we'll start training."

"Yes ma'am." Bertholdt chuckled with his calm smile, as he took the mop and bucket and made his way towards the ring Annie took note of the way he carried himself and the broadness of his back.

Did he always walk that way? She thought to herself as he stepped into the arena.

As Bertholdt hummed away to himself as he cleaned the arena Annie set about hanging the heavy bags to their chains, every now and again she'd find herself looking towards Bertholdt. Upon doing so she'd shake her head and get back to work, being so distracted meant she couldn't hear the footsteps coming up behind her.

"Do you need a hand with that?" Moving in a blur Annie dropped the bag and turned to face the approcher with raised fists. "Woah calm down. I just thought that looked heavy."

Annie rolled her eyes. "I can handle it, and don't you have paperwork to do?"

"I don't doubt you and I've done it all," Reiner huffed. "So do you want some help?"

The thought of lifting the heavy punching bags was not one that filled Annie with joy. "Fine," Annie said reluctantly. Reiner picked up the sacks as if they were pillows and hung them on their respective hooks. As he worked Annie let her eyes wander back to Bertholdt who was wiping the sweat from his brow. "So how long have you two known each other?"

Reiner pondered Annie's question for a minute. "We've been friends since we were little," He explained. "We hung out a lot since Bertholdt's dad was working all the time since his mum left." Reiner clamped his hand over his mouth hoping that Annie hadn't heard.

She had.

"What do you mean his mum left?"

Reiner groaned and slapped his forehead. "Imagine I didn't say that. He doesn't like to think about it, it took him years to talk about it to me."

Annie folded her arms. "Why did it take so long for him to open up?"

"Bert is the sort of guy to put on a brave face. He doesn't want to be a bother to anyone so he'll just smile and say everything is fine." The heavy tone with which Reiner spoke told Annie that he had thought about this a lot.

"You care about him a lot?"

Reiner nodded. "He's been there for me so I want to be there for him," Reiner suddenly shifted his eyes to Annie. "And that's why I want to thank you."

"For what?"

Annie's attention was so focused on Bertholdt she didn't the thin smile on Reiner's lips. "I've never seen Bertholdt so happy. When he's here he seems… happy. Like he doesn't have to worry about anything."

"You know," Annie said as she lightly punched the bag. "I think he's lucky to have someone like you."

With raised eyebrows Reiner looked down at her. "What do you mean?"

"He told me that you look out for him at school. Not many people would do that so you're a good guy, and don't worry. I won't mention his mother."

Reiner's smile grew. "Thanks shorty." Almost immediately Reiner came to regret his choice of words as Annie turned to face him with an icy glare and balled fists.

Bertholdt placed his hands on hips as he looked at his work. The previously dirty, blood stained floor was now shining in the light and the grit that clung to the metal wires now only dirtied the cloth in his hands.

"Wow," Bertholdt turned to see Annie approaching. "I haven't seen it this clean in ages," She took a moment to face Connie. "Maybe you should take some notes."

Chuckling Bertholdt scratched the back of his head. "Thanks. You said it was an important fight tonight so I wanted to make it a clean as possible."

Once again Annie felt the familiar heat building in her cheeks. "Well… now that you're done I've got an idea," Annie paused as she reached behind her and pulled out a helmet. She tossed it to Bertholdt who quickly caught it. "To see how your wasted movement works in a fight you're going to spar with Connie."

"Connie!" Bertholdt gawked. "I didn't know he could fight."

Appearing from seemingly nowhere Connie came to Annie side wearing a helmet and body armor. "I spend most of my time here, of course, I'd pick up a few moves," Connie scoffed as he walked past Annie and into the arena. "Come on."

Bertholdt cautiously followed Connie into the ring and once inside he strapped the helmet on and faced his opponent. "So I want you to focus on your kicks," Annie explained to him. "And Connie, I want you to read his movements and try to counter him."

"Got it." Connie smirked.

After taking a deep breath Bertholdt raised his fists and face Connie who mimicked his gesture.

Remember. Turn, rise and kick. Bertholdt repeated to himself over and over again.

Moving as quickly as he could Bertholdt lifted his right foot and turned on his left heel, as he leg came past Connie he extended his leg. His calf collided with something hard and Bertholdt mentally praised himself only to find that Connie had blocked his kick with his own calf.

From behind the metal Bertholdt heard Annie sigh. "Try shifting your weight in your chest as you turn." Bertholdt repeated Annie's words in his head as he took a step forward and sharply turned his body. Once again his leg arced towards Connie and while he brought his leg up in defence Bertholdt was too fast.

Bertholdt's kick caught Connie in the side sending him stumbling back several steps. "Damn, you've got some strength."

"That was better. Make sure you practice with both legs." Annie explained as she made her way upstairs.

Bertholdt felt a small wave of sadness wash over him as Annie disappeared behind the door at the top of the stairs. He had hoped Annie would stay and watch him practice. "Hey eyes on the fight." Connie called out as he sent a light jab into Bertholdt's mid section.

"Sorry." Bertholdt mumbled as he returned his attention to Connie.

"Annie's still got her eye on you," Connie said as he rolled his eyes. "She's just gone to do some homework or something, but she's still watching you," Bertholdt followed Connie's hand as he pointed to one of the many-tinted windows that lined the upper half of the building. "So why don't you try to impress her." He joked as he brought his fists up.

From her desk Annie drummed her pen against her temple as she vacantly stared at the paper in front of her. After working for roughly half an hour Annie had more or less given up on finishing her homework as was instead focusing on her fight tonight.

"This is going to be a tough one. Ymir tore her opponent apart, she seems to have worked on her speed. Maybe if I focus on her legs I could slow her down enough," Annie hummed to herself as she leaned back in her chair and rubbed her eyes. "And I've still got to get Bertholdt to a point where he can fight Mike." The moment she said his name Annie found her thoughts wandering to the boy in question. She stood from her desk and looked through the one sided windows that overlooked the arena.

Down in the ring Annie could see Bertholdt repeatedly striking Connie's sides with his calfs.

"He's still wasting a lot of movement," She chuckled to herself as he evaded one of Connie's jabs, before returning with a sharp kick. "He's still trying so hard." Even with the distance between them Annie could still make out the sheen of sweat on Bertholdt's forehead as he sidestepped between Connie's attacks before returning with his own.

After a particularly strong kick Bertholdt stumbled back and fell on his back, his chest rising and falling rapidly. Connie leaned over him and looked up to the windows. Knowing exactly where Annie would be he waved to her and gestured to Bertholdt.

"Maybe a break wouldn't hurt." She said to herself as she made her way downstairs.

The moment she opened the heavy metal door at the top of the stairs Bertholdt turned his head to see her come out of the doorway. Ignoring the burning in his legs and chest he heaved himself to his feet and faced Connie with raised fists.

"Um…" Connie hummed shifting his eyes between Annie and Bertholdt. "Maybe you should take a breather."

Bertholdt firmly shook his head. "I can keep going." He huffed.

"Or," Annie said as she rolled her eyes. "You could take a break, you don't want to hurt yourself. Come on," Bertholdt followed her as she walked towards the door." I could do with the fresh air."

Looking back to Connie Bertholdt found him shrugging his shoulders. "She is your boss, you better go with."

Following orders, Bertholdt took off the helmet, wiped the sweat from his forehead and thanked Connie before chasing after Annie. Outside he found the sun well into it's decent as the sky began to show hughs of light orange. "Took you long enough." Annie chuckled. Bertholdt turned his head to see her leaning against the wall.

"I was fine to keep going you know." Bertholdt hummed.

"It's not a bad thing you know," Annie explained as Bertholdt walked beside her. "Taking a breather, it can be good for you."

Bertholdt stuffed his hands in his pockets and blew a stray strand of hair out of his face. "I just want to make sure I'm getting the most out of being here."

"To help against the bullies?" Annie asked with raised eyebrows as they slowly walked through the park.

The question filled Bertholdt's ears and mind, the answer should have been simple but when he opened his mouth to reply he found no words in his throat. "I… I guess so." He eventually deadpanned.

Annie lead the two of them to a nearby bench, when she sat down Annie tilted her head back and sighed. "You don't sound too convinced. If you want to get stronger you need to a have a reason, a real reason."

Suddenly Bertholdt felt a heat bubble up in his lungs. "It was a real reason!"

"Was?" Annie asked with her familiar tone and raised eyebrow.

"I...is. It is," Bertholdt shook his head as he corrected himself. "It's just…turns out I have more reasons to get stronger," The fire in his voice weakened with each word. "My dad needs me."

Annie thought back to what Reiner had told her earlier. His mum left him and his dad… we have something in common I guess. She thought to herself. "I can't imagine you being a difficult child."

Bertholdt scoffed. "I try." He chuckled.

"So why do you need to get stronger?"

"So I can help my dad," Bertholdt deadpanned. "I'm planning on getting another job so dad doesn't have to work so many hours."

"What about school?"

Once again Bertholdt scoffed. "If I drop out its a win win. I make more money for dad and I get away from those guys at school."

Annie slowly turned to face Bertholdt, he had his head resting in his hands. "I can't imagine your dad is happy about that."

Bertholdt leaned back and looked up to the orange sun as it approached the horizon. "He wants me to study so I can get into a good university."

That's two things we have in common. Annie thought to herself as she suppressed a thin smile. "What does your dad do?"

Suddenly Bertholdt's face lit up with pride as he turned to face Annie. "He's a paramedic," Annie found herself basking in the warmth of Bertholdt's smile as he explained how long his dad had been working. "Since mum left he's been working loads more nights," He said with a weak smile and faded passion. Bertholdt quickly realised what he just said and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry. You probably don't want to hear about my sob stories."

"It's alright," Annie said calmly. "I… I know how you feel." Anne could hear Bertholdt's questions before he even asked them. Yet she never heard them, she turned to see him looking at her with clasped fists.

"Don't feel like you have to tell me… I… I told you because I trust you, only tell me if you trust me." It took all the confidence Bertholdt could muster to maintain eye contact with Annie as he spoke.

Annie suddenly felt a warmth spread through her veins, tightening in her chest as she looked into Bertholdt's calm smokey eyes. After what felt like an eternity she regained her sense and looked back to the sun. "My mum left as well. I was really young so I don't really remember what happened, but one day she was there and the next she wasn't."

"It's weird for the first few weeks… but after a while," Bertholdt trailed off as Annie paused to take a deep breath.

"After a while you barely remember what they were like," Annie said, returning his smile. "Thanks for not giving me the 'oh no that's terrible' crap."

Bertholdt laughed, genuinely laughed. "I know that those words mean nothing and I know you would've kicked me for saying them."

"My dad poured everything into the gym, he took out loans, started gambling all so he could pay for me to go to a good school, he's like your dad. He doesn't want me following in his footsteps."

"But?" Bertholdt questioned.

Annie scoffed. "I want to."

The two of them fell into a comfortable silence, they sat on the bench watching the sky gradually turn deeper and deeper shades of yellow, orange and red as the sun began to dip below the horizon. Both new that they would have to get back to the gym sooner or later, yet neither of them stood to leave, neither of them wanted to. Eventually, Annie sighed and reluctantly stood.

"Come on, we better get back before the come looking for us."

Bertholdt quickly followed her lead and the two of them made their way back to the gym, they arrived just as the red streaks of light began to give way to the dark blues and purples that signaled the night. As Annie opened the door a thought suddenly popped into Bertholdt's mind.

"Maybe I could help you study. That way you dad will ease off a bit."

Annie hummed as she pondered Bertholdt's proposal. "You're okay with that?" She asked as they walked through the door.

"Of course." Bertholdt nodded.

Annie tucked a stray bang of hair behind her ear as she looked to her room and smiled. "Thanks, so I guess I should invite you upstairs."

A blush crept up Bertholdt's jaw, collecting in his cheeks as he realised Annie had just invited him into her room. "Y… yeah." Bertholdt walked in silence as Anne lead him up the stairs at the back of the gym, his mind was racing with ideas as he imagined what Annie's room might be like.

I'm just helping her to study. Don't get any stupid ideas. He told himself as Annie stopped outside of a plain looking door.

"I would say don't make a mess but you don't seem too clumsy." She joked. Bertholdt gave her a humorous smile just as Annie threw the door open. She reached around the wall and hit a sitch, basking the room in light.

What immediately caught Bertholdt's attention were the sheer number of medals and trophies that hung from various hooks and stood on various shelves. Upon closer inspection, he could realised that these were all Annie's awards. "Wow, Annie. I knew you were a great fighter but all these awards… you're amazing."

Annie looked to the shelves and glared at the metal accolades. "Those are from a long time ago. Anyway, you're here to help me study, not gawk at my memorabilia."

"Yes ma'am," Bertholdt said with a mock salute. "What do you need help with?"

Annie's response came in the form of a heavy stack of papers being thrust into Bertholdt's chest. Looking down at the various notes and books Bertholdt hummed. "Okay… pretty much everything, I can work with that."

After carrying Annie's notes and textbooks down stairs he laid them out in the center of the ring and when faced with the confusion on Reiner's face he simply pointed to Annie and shrugged his shoulder. Reiner gave him a sly grin and a firm thumbs up.

Doing his best to ignore his friend Bertholdt set about sorting through Annie's notes. Once there was some semblance of organization in her work Bertholdt decided to start with maths, much to Annie's despair.

"So for this problem," Bertholdt said leaning over the paper to point at the book with the end of his pencil. "You need to rearrange this equation."

Annie copied his writings and followed his instructions as best she could, whenever she found herself struggling Bertholdt was always there to ease her back on track and with his help Annie easily breezed through her work, every time she would ask for help Bertholdt would lean over and explain. The gentle nature with which Bertholdt answered each problem made Annie want to ask more and more questions, and she did.

"Do you get it then?" Bertholdt asked as he leaned back and rolled his shoulders.

Annie finished the problem she was currently working on before throwing her pencil down. "Yeah, mostly. Thank you."

With a wide, childlike smile Bertholdt looked to Annie. "I'm happy to help. Anyway," His smile faded slightly. "I better get going, it's getting pretty late."

Looking up to the clock the satisfaction in Annie's eyes also faded. "Oh yeah. You still need your rest."

"Hey, Reiner!" Bertholdt called out. "Go get changed, we don't want to be too tired for tomorrow."

Reiner peered around from his punching bag, he reached down to his phone and was shocked when he saw the time. "Yeah, good idea." He said as he jogged to the changing rooms.

With Reiner gone Bertholdt and Annie were left alone, as Bertholdt went to leave the ring Annie stopped him. "Make sure to come back tomorrow."

Once again Bertholdt mocked a salute. "Yes ma'am," He said with a smile, as he reached into his locker and pulled out his bag his expression soften. "Make sure you win tonight."

The familiar warmth in her chest arose yet again and Annie could feel her ribs tightening around her heart. "Y-yeah. I will." Annie went to reach out the Bertholdt when a familiar tone interrupted her.

"Bertholdt, you ready to go?" Both Annie and Bertholdt turned to see Reiner leaving the changing rooms.

"Yeah." Bertholdt sighed.

As the two of them left Reiner thanked Annie and waited outside for Bertholdt, telling them to 'have a moment'.

"Try not to let Ymir break your ribs and nose this time." He said with a light chuckle.

Annie almost subconsciously clasped her side. "I wouldn't want to have to call an ambulance and have your dad turn up would I?" She jested. As Bertholdt fell in line beside Reiner, Annie stood in the doorway watching them leave with a smile filled with warmth and as they disappeared into the darkness Annie realised something.

My cheeks are starting to hurt from smiling so much.

"You sure that's her?" hissed the voice.

Hidden in the black of night six figures slowly stalked towards the Leonhardt gym. "Absolutely." Chuckled another of the voices.

"Good," The leader growled as he pulled a large wooden bat to his side. "Let's see if Berty stands so tall when his girlfriend can't stand at all." His voice was heavy with venom as he hammered his fist against the door.

From beyond the metal door, the six hyenas could hear a light sigh. "Did you forget something?" A voice asked as the door opened.

The bullies looked down at Annie with savage smiles. "Don't look so afraid girly," One of the cackled as the girl in front of them took a step back and raised her fists.

"We're friends with Bertholdt." The leader said as he raised the bat over his head.