Chapter 13
Mikasa wasn't sure if it was the weed or if her friends were just very bad influences, but she's found herself doing a lot more deeds that are quite out of character for her. From laughing loudly, to a steamy love scandal and to add Marijuana as the cherry on top, she knows that maybe part of this was to defy her parents.
Either way, they weren't around now, and she was about to help Ymir play a nasty trick on their deadpan bandmate, and on the poor soul who was currently stuttering excuses about needing to be back to work soon. Mikasa kept telling him to hang tight, you'll be back on the road before he knew it, he just needed to help them with something.
"I thought Eren came home, why can't he help? I really don't-,"
Mikasa hushed the tall man by stopping in front of her bedroom door. "Come with me."
She opened it, and Bertoldt almost passed out from all the blood draining from his head.
Inside the bedroom, the other three girls had changed into their nightwear, and were laughing loudly and playing cards.
Annie's hair was out of its usual sophisticated bun, as well as Ymir's small clip, and all three wore a variety of different shorts, T-shirts, and tank tops.
"Okay, now I know I shouldn't be here. I can't-,"
"Berty! You're still conscious, hell, I thought you woulda passed out by now!" Ymir cackled madly, sparking another joint. Mikasa flew into action.
"Hey! Outside, girl. Last thing I need is for Levi to catch me having sex AND smoking drugs."
"I think I should get going soon, what did you need help with?"
mir handed the joint to Mikasa, who started toward the terrace doors, and the brunette stepped up to Bertoldt, taking the pizza, then passed it to Historia.
"Where do you need to be in such a hurry?" she demanded. Bertoldt started to sweat.
"Uh, b-back to work, obviously," he said. Ymir let out a bark.
"Nice try, Berty, but I know that on Friday's you're off at 6, this was your delivery on the way home, wasn't it?" Ymir's voice had a honied tone, and Bertoldt did NOT like it.
"Yeah, yeah, you caught me, I made plans with Reiner this evening, Mina broke up with him," he explained.
Annie chuckled. "Yeah, don't go telling him you blabbed, Reiner might shatter if his giant ego get's the slightest crack in it." Bertoldt looked at Annie bewildered.
"Is Annie high, too?"
"Um…" Ymir raised an eyebrow. "Since when is Annie a party-pooper? You've been avoiding her so much you've missed her blossom into the amazing woman she is today! She grew up, bud. She no longer sucks out all the joy and happiness in the room just by sitting there," Ymir explained.
Annie paused eating her slice of pizza to stare at Ymir. "Thank you?"
"The point is, when was the last time you partied?" Ymir demanded of Bertoldt.
"Party?" Mikasa parroted in the background.
"I hung out with Reiner and Eren literally-,"
"With girls, Bertoldt," Ymir rolled her eyes.
There was no answer from the black-haired male, and Ymir won.
"Just as I thought; call Reiner, invite him here, and we can persuade Big-Shot to come out of his cave of dwelling and spend time with his apparent new girlfriend and her hot friends," Ymir leaned over Annie to grab a slice of pizza.
"Wait, wait, hold on, Reiner? Who is that? This is my house! Did I miss something when I left? Since when is there a party happening?"
"Chill, girl," Ymir noticed Mikasa's pupils start to dilate and turn alarmed. The last thing she needs is one of her friends having a bad trip because of her. "It's hardly even a party, if you'd call it that. It's just one other guy, and no one is home, not gonna be for a couple days. If things get out of hand, I promise I will take care of it, I think you need this too, Ackerman," she explained.
"Can you at least tell me who this guy is? I want to know who I'm allowing into my house," Mikasa said.
"Fair enough. His name is Reiner Braun; Bertoldt, Annie, and I all came from the same hometown, or I guess you could say we shared a childhood at some point together, and it was enough to bind us together even 12 years later. He's a good guy, I guess, but everyone has their flaws, he's not perfect. But he cares about us, and his family and he is definitely no party-pooper.
"Convinced he's not a mass murderer now?" Ymir wondered.
"I mean, I didn't think he was a mass murderer, I just wanted to make sure I could testify that I knew him before he came in, Levi has a radar for these things," Mikasa defended, noticing everyone looking at her. "I'm not trying to be controlling-,"
"It's fine, Mikasa, we understand that some environments need more control then others, and this is a powerful environment. You're used to a certain way of things, and we respect that, and Ymir, you really should've confided in Mikasa before you start planning things that involve her hosting," Historia said. Ymir shrugged.
"Fair point, and I know when I get carried away. Sorry, Mikasa, I should've said something first," Ymir crossed her arms.
"It's alright, honestly, I usually can expect things from certain people, and I have a feeling I'm going to have to get used to it if I'm going to be friends with you."
Appreciative of the fact that Mikasa doesn't seem to own a high-horse, Ymir smiled and clapped her hands together, and whirled back to Bertoldt, who was silently trying to make an escape.
"Call that ass and tell him to get big head here so we can get this started!"
Bertoldt sighed and pulled out his phone. "I've been abducted…and I'm about to party with the girl of my dreams in a goddamn pizza uniform," Bertoldt murmured as he typed into his and Reiner's chat. Ymir heard this and scoffed.
"Are you dense? Tell Reiner to bring you some extra clothes, damn Bertoldt, can't spell everything out for you," Ymir said.
Bertoldt glared. "Hey, don't talk down to me! It's you're fault I'm a complete mess now, Ymir, come on, you said you wouldn't say anything about this," Bertoldt started to harshly whisper.
The brunette rolled her eyes and glanced back to make sure the other three girls were preoccupied, before leaning in close to him.
"Let me just set the line straight, yeah? I never SAID anything, I'm nearly pushing you in the right direction. Bertoldt, you can't live like this. You can't keep living your life in Reiner's shadow, avoiding the love of your life and then saying it doesn't matter. You better listen now, and you better listen well, because if you try and repeat this or share it, I will deny it and there will be more than just your secret about Annie coming out." Ymir took another nervous glance over her shoulder.
Annie, Mikasa and Historia were watching something on Mikasa's laptop, on the bed, and they were conversing excitedly about it. She turned back.
"You deserve to be with her, Berty, and she sure as hell deserves you. You don't think Reiner and I talk without you or the others around. He tells me that you rave about her, that you cry about her, that every time you see or hear that she's conversed or hung around another guy, you turn possessed for the next week," Ymir said.
Bertoldt's lip trembled, and he glared. "I can't believe he would tell you, of all people, that…"
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that, and continue to save your dignity, and also call you a hypocrite because you just did the same thing to him not 5 minutes ago."
"Fair enough…"
"So, believe me when I say, if you grew the balls to talk to her, you might be surprised by what plays out. Annie isn't one to talk about what she's feeling or thinking, we both know that, but I thought you, of all people," Ymir raised an eyebrow at him, "would know how to read her. Think about it. When the whole situation with Eren and Mikasa happened, she acted like it was no big deal, but when Annie tries to emconvince /emyou of something that she's saying or feeling, that's when you know that she cares a lot more then she's letting on. He probably didn't mean to, but Eren seriously damaged Annie when he told her they were a mistake," Bertoldt couldn't stop the growl, "and now, she's lost some confidence in herself. Not completely, but in the side that makes her female, the side that has her checking in the mirror to make sure her hair is up and straight, the side that forces her to blush when someone calls her pretty, even if she hates it."
Bertoldt glanced at the blonde, that beautiful, intelligent, powerful woman who he has dedicated his entire life to. Ymir was striking all the right cords and pushing all the right buttons.
"She needs that side back, Bertoldt, it's what makes her human. She needs someone she can trust, completely, someone who cares so much about her opinion and thoughts, that they would cancel a guy's night out, ON HIS BIRTHDAY, just because she called, her voice shaky, after a bad day at work. You showed up at her house and stayed there, listening to her, talking to her. She talked about it for days. It was the best week of my life; I finally could tease her about something. She never forgot that, Berty. You and I, and all our other friends, hate that it was Eren that did this to her, but the truth is, it could've been anybody that broke her, but it's only you who can put her back together."
Bertoldt stared at this, suddenly, wise woman, who just put him in his place. A place he had stood in limbo in for so long; the one thing that kept him from pursuing his love…
How had Ymir hit the bullseye without even looking, without even caring where it landed? How had Ymir answered the one question that Bertoldt had been asking himself since the moment he felt his heart flutter for Annie for the first time…What made him so special? What made him different from any other guy?
The answer? Annie. Plain and simple. It was under his nose the entire time, he just looked past it.
He already had Annie. That's what made him special. She may not see him in the way that he wants, but she sees him in a way that she sees no one else. He was special…to her.
He just needed to get it out of his system. Finally let go of the weight bearing down on him, heavier and heavier by the day. He can barely go another day without twirling Annie into his arms, pinning her to a wall, and then ravaging her. A nineteen-year-old man only has so much willpower. But sadly, like most things in life, this answer just led more questions.
"And what if I did something about this, then?" Ymir crossed her arms.
"Are you really trying to think of an excuse right now? Come on, I had to smoke three joints to be able to come up with that butt-kicking speech."
"As much as that's appreciated, sort of, that doesn't answer this. What if I tell her my feelings and she rejects me, or she accepts and later we break-up? That bond that we have would be severed and she'd never look at me the same again. Can I honestly be that guy and risk losing this already irreplaceable connection with an amazing friend, just because I want to have sex with her?"
"God, you really are dense, and a jerk! You don't want to just have sex with her! You love her! Don't you dare insult Annie like that, or else you're no better than Eren. The fact that you even asked that question is the answer, Bertoldt. You care about her so much, you're willing to be placed in any position she puts you in, as long as it's beside her.
Risk it. Be bold. Get her attention, whatever way you do it. You can dwell on that question of yours and not take my opinion to heart, but while you're at it, I have another question you can think about. Could you really live with yourself without trying?"
And there it was. That was all Bertoldt needed to cement his resolve.
As if fate was pulling the strings, Bertoldt felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.
Realizing that this conversation was done, Ymir joined her girls to get in on the joke, and Bertoldt pulled out his phone. It was the reply from Bertoldt's text to Reiner.
From: Reiner Braun
Oh, you better not being lying, man. If you are actually standing in Mikasa Ackerman's bedroom while you read this, I will give you my Party Box JBL for the next month. Also, if you were lying about all four of them wearing summer nighties, I'm going to make sure Annie knows what you said about her, completely wasted, although I might conveniently leave that part out. Be there in 10.
I'm so sorry for the late update guys. I had written this chapter and then I deleted it by accident, so… I rage quit, and then life goes on and suddenly it's 5 years later…yeesh. I promise to be more on top of this story as I have gotten back into the flow of it and have a whole new list of ideas. Another thing I wanted to touch on is my chapter lengths. They're not long, but honestly, I prefer them that way. A lot less work when I must rewrite it like I did this one; I find it easier on the eyes when you take a quick break of reading, and it gives the story more structure and keeps it organized. So, prepare, my fellow Scouts, for a journey of music, love, scandal, betrayal, and so much more of that nice stuff that keeps us entertained in the night while we pet our cats and eat our snacks. See you soon, lovelies!
-RavenJaeger