Saturday, 24 July
"Three, two, one, say cheese!"
It was a sunny noon at Marley Academy. It was also in fact the graduation day of the 48th generation of the junior highschool. Therefore, Reiner—along with Bertholdt—attended said event to accompany Gabi—his little sister—to her last day of middle school. It wasn't really a big deal for him to take his parents' place, since there were other students being chaperoned by their elder siblings—for example, there was Falco, who was accompanied by his older brother, Colt.
"Nice!" Bertholdt straightened his back and handed Reiner his phone.
"Thanks," Reiner took his phone and before scruffing Gabi's auburn strands. "Why don't you play with your friends for a bit? I need to finish something real quick."
"Mh-mhm!" and just like that, his younger sibling ran off to Falco and his brother.
"Jeez," he huffed before sitting on the curb of the crops. He patted the space on his left, inviting his best friend to sit next to him. The taller man obliged and sat beside him, but not before he brushed off the few ants roaming around the surface.
When Bertholdt turned on his phone, his lockscreen was flooded by notifications. The most eye-catching of which were three of the same messages from Zeke. "What the hell?"
"What?" Reiner leaned over to take a look at Bertholdt's screen. Turns out, the text messages were about new information Zeke had to share to him personally, and to their group chat. The blond squinted his eyes, attempting to read the paragraph-long message. Bertholdt quickly took notice of his actions and decided to help out.
"Guess what? We're gonna have to head over to Paradis with the others."
"Wait, why?" he asked, shifting his attention from Bertholdt's phone to his face. "I thought only Pieck and Porco were going to Paradis. For the Battle of the Bands, right?"
"Well, turns out we're also performing." Bertholdt sighed.
"Why so late in the game?"
"I don't know," he said. "Zeke probably just got the news."
Reiner's back leaned against his shoulder, but Bertholdt didn't seem to mind and continued scrolling through his phone. The blond unlocked his phone and checked the group chat, the palm of his hand covering it so that he could see the screen. "Wow, did you know that Zeke's brother's gonna join the competition?"
"Yeah," Bertholdt absent-mindedly replied. "But that was over a week ago…" his eyes widened as he slowly turned his head. "Reiner, do you… never read the text messages from the group chat?"
"Not never," he corrected. "I mean, why would I need to check when I've got you. You've always informed me of what's going on."
A faint smile grew on Bertholdt's face, "thanks, Reiner." His smile immediately faded back into his usual serious resting face. "But still, always check your texts. You never know when I'm not with you."
"Hmm," Reiner looked down to his shoes. "I guess we should start practicing, aye?" he whipped his head back at Bertholdt, a warm smile radiating his face.
"Right," Bertholdt smiled back at him. "So, 'The Rumbling'?"
"Probably." Reiner stood up and offered his friend one of his muscled hands. "Come on, let's head back."
Bertholdt took his hand as the blond pulled him up, putting him on his feet. "But first, I need to find my sister."
"Achoo!" Zeke's voice blasted throughout the room.
No one batted an eye apart from Yelena, who—seemed like she's used to Zeke's doings—passed him a yellow napkin. He took the cloth and wiped his nose as Eren rolled his eyes. "Spring's eleven months away, what's the deal with your allergies?"
"Actually, considering Spring just ended, there's a chance that some flowers are still blooming by now." Armin said, zipping open his guitar case.
"No, I don't think it's my allergies," Zeke neatly folded the napkin. "I bet someone's probably talking about me."
"Not this again."
"You still believe in those myths?" Mikasa side-eyed the blond.
"So what?" he shrugged. "No harm in doing so."
Silence engulfed the room as the sophomores prepped up their equipments in their given spaces. Zeke hummed cheerfully when Yelena's eyes narrowed on the better sight of Eren's clothing, "Eren, your shirt's inside-out."
"Huh?" Eren took his eyes off of the mic stand and looked down on his clothes, which seemed like the stitches were sewn from the outside. "Oh yeah, don't worry, it's made that way. You're the third person to point it out."
Then, back to the awkward silence it was; but not until an obnoxiously loud jingle came out of Zeke's pocket. The man in question took out his cellphone and answered the phone without looking at the contact number.
"My Chemical Romance, really?" Connie scoffed.
"Hello?"
"Zeke, you actually picked up!" a woman's voice said on the line.
"Oh, Pieck!" he answered when he heard her voice. "Wait, what do you mean 'you actually picked up'?!"
"Don't you act like you read any of my messages," she warned in a light-hearted tone. "You don't even read the groupchat."
"Sorry sorry, I didn't turn on my mobile data." Zeke gestured to the others as he excused himself out of the room. When the door closed, he leaned on the wall and continued his conversation. "So? What do you want?"
"Hmm," there was a pause between her words. "Say, will it be okay if I get there earlier? Like on the 27th?"
"Why? Do you miss me?" Zeke said, his voice charismatic.
"Of course, not." Pieck chuckled. "I wanted to visit my relatives, they live in Trost District. That's where you live, right?"
"Yeah yeah yeah," the blond nodded a couple of times. "And what about Reiner and the others?"
"Porco's with me, he said Marcel's gonna take a train the day after. I don't know about Reiner and Bertholdt, though. They're still at the Brauns' place. For Gabi's graduation, you remember?" she explained over the phone.
"Oh shit, I knew I forgot something!"
Pieck giggled even more, "anyways, they'll probably DM you when they're about to depart. So make sure to read your messages this time."
"You're starting to sound like my mom," he said.
"Whatever, Mr. Know-it-all. Just don't forget to send Porco your address," Zeke could feel the utter disappointment in her voice.
"Wait, he's not staying at your place?"
"You think?"
"Makes sense, actually," he reconsidered. "Is that it?"
"Yeah, at least I think so." before he could respond to her answer, a loud shatter pierced his ears, with Pieck's slurring tailing.
"Akh, fuck,"
"What?"
"Oh God. Ow, ow, ow, ow," Zeke could hear her phone hitting the ground followed by white noises sizzling. "Ack, wait!"
Splashes of water hit the microphone as a loud thump rang in his ears. "Fucking hell."
"Are you… okay there?"
"Nope,"
"Well, don't try too har—"
"ARGHH!" Pieck's phone hit the ground once again along with its owner. It seemed like she was trying to get up, but inevitably slipped and fell face-first onto the wet floor. "OWW!"
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"I literally have a glass shard up my hand, do you think I am?!" she screamed at the phone. There was the sound of footsteps followed by confused huffs.
"Pieck? The hell happened here?" a new voice hissed.
"...Annie… Could you do me a favor and grab the first aid kit?"
"Goddammit, I just mopped the floor,"
"I am in need right now, you can clean the floor later."
Zeke sighed as the two girls bickered. "Alright, that's enough for today. Pieck, get your hand healed, or else you're not gonna be able to play for the battle. Don't forget about Porco when you're heading here—"
"I'm not you."
"And send my regards to Gabi and the others."
"Fine, I'll see you there."
Tuesday, 27th July
When Zeke entered his apartment, he was ready to collapse onto his bed and sleep for all eternity. So he threw his keys on the countertop along with his backpack before barging into his bedroom. His knees felt weak, body all sore, and his hair was no longer styled neatly. He huffed as he face-planted onto the sheets of his bed, slowly crawling up to his pillow like a caterpillar. He stayed like that for twenty minutes straight; even though he was extremely exhausted and drained, he somehow wasn't able to doze off. And his little paradise was rudely interrupted by the sound of My Chemical Romance's Welcome to the Black Parade coming from the pocket of his jeans.
"Hngghh, why now?" he took out his phone, stared at the contact number for three seconds, and swiped up to answer the call. "Yeah, Porco?"
"Zeke, you fucking moron!"
"Ouch!" he immediately pulled the phone away from his ears. "Quit yelling!"
"Well how about you quit forgetting to open your text messages?!" Porco snapped back.
"...What?"
"Oh, don't even bother! Just get your ass here, it's already 11 PM!"
"Hold on, wait a minute. Where are you?" Zeke rolled over to his back before massaging the bridge of his nose.
"Ragako Station! I've been texting you for thirty minutes now, and you still haven't sent me your apartment address!" After shouting at the phone for almost a minute and a half, Porco hung up on him, leaving him completely clueless.
"The hell is he talking about? Ragako Station?" he sat upright at the edge of his bed and scrolled through his messages. "Oh, shit. It's the 27th already?"
"And I thought I'd have some peace and quiet for the rest of the night…" he groaned as he stood up and approached the coat hanger where one of his bomber jackets was. "Might as well go for a late night drive. As long as Carla doesn't see me, then I should be fine."
After five minutes of grumbling, Zeke finally headed out from his apartment room and down to the parking lot. And so he set out to the great outdoors to pick up Porco (and probably Pieck) from the train station. Just when he thought the circumstances couldn't get any worse, mother nature decided to ruin his day and all of a sudden, the city was raining cats and dogs.
"I feel like this is some kind of warning…"
He lifted his foot off of the gas pedal when the traffic light blared red and proceeded to tap his fingers against the steering wheel while humming to the tune. Staring at the drops of water running down his windshield, he snapped out from his reverie when the light turned yellow. He took a quick look at his backseat, trying to find an umbrella somewhere. Yet the car behind him started honking at him, stealing his attention. So he whipped his head at the traffic light to find it glowing bright green.
He was about a couple blocks from the station when he dialed in Porco's phone number before hitting 'call'. He quickly settled the phone on the seat beside him and turned on the speaker. It stalled for a couple seconds before the man on the other side picked up.
"Hello?"
"Yo, I'm about five minutes away, where are you now?"
"Uh, we're at the KFC." Porco's words were drowned out by the murmuring of the people surrounding him.
"Alright, I'll meet you at the main entrance," he said, eyes on the car in front of him. "You have an umbrella?"
"Wait, hold on," his voice trailed off. "Pieck, did you bring an umbrella?"
"...Yeah, we have one. But it's in her suitcase."
"Why would you put it in your suitcase?" Zeke, who had always been all about efficiency, contemplated. "Whatever, that means you're running under the rain. I don't have one on me."
"Fine, but don't blame us if your car gets wet." Porco sighed.
"Hmmh," was the last thing that came out of his lips before Porco ended the call.
Exactly four minutes later, he found himself parking by the entrance for seven minutes straight. Whether it was because of the stormy weather, or the fact that it was almost midnight, his two friends were nowhere to be seen. And three minutes after that, he spotted the two in full Marley Academy uniforms. Porco was carrying a puffed up travel bag in one of his hands, and his signature green backpack on his right shoulder. Meanwhile, Pieck was dragging along a plastic suitcase by her side, her backpack tied around the handle. To say that they were fatigued and wet was an understatement, they were soaked but still managed to sprint to Zeke's car.
"Took you long," he said when the two of them entered the vehicle, Porco by his side, and Pieck at the back.
"Got lost,"
"Want some?" Pieck offered him a pack of soaking wet fries.
"That's what took your time?" Zeke scoffed.
"What? We hadn't eaten since lunch." Porco said, plucking a couple of the fries when Pieck offered it to him. "Plus, they're incredibly cheap here. What's the deal with that?"
"I know right?" he floored the gas pedal. "Why don't Marley have those?"
"They're too dependent on tax, honestly." Pieck added.
"Heh, patriot comes off the second you enter another country, huh?" Zeke chuckled. "But really, it's like you two are asking to get bullied, wearing the uniform like that."
"I just didn't wanna do more laundry." she replied.
"Didn't have any clothes." Porco answered when Zeke reverted his attention to him.
"Oh yeah, Pieck," the brunet peeked from the space between the headrest and the wall. "Are we heading to your place first, or what?"
"No need, I'll just get an Uber from Zeke's apartment."
"Oh, thank God. I desperately need sleep right now."
When he first got the information that Porco's staying at his place, he never thought of getting into this sticky predicament. It took him too long for him to realize that his room only had one bed. And that single mistake got him in this awkward situation.
"You have to be fucking kidding me." that was Porco's first thoughts when he initially entered the room.
"Oh, shit… DId you bring a sleeping bag?"
"Of course not!"
"Wanna call Pieck for backup?" Zeke took out his phone from his pocket to find a new text from Pieck. "Wait, no. She's already at her cousin's."
"So, same bed it is, then?" he offered.
"No way in Hell! I'd rather sleep on the floor!" Porco shouted.
"Suit yourself," he said before throwing one of his pillows to the floor. He then walked to his closet and tossed a thin futon. "That's all you get."
"Better than sharing a bed with you."
