The twin braids, purple and gold ribbons intertwined within them, bounced on Krista's shoulders as she jumped up and down. Beside her Reiner was wearing a (fortunately) freshly laundered soccer jersey. His grumbly voice, thick with a German accent, filled her ears as Reiner cheered on Ymir. She leapt up to hit an almighty strike straight down onto the other team's side. It ricocheted off the floor with a crack, so hard that Krista was half afraid that Ymir had deflated the ball. Krista joined the crowd in a massive cheer, while Ymir looked across the net, nonplussed.
"Number four, Ymir, scores another point for the University of Washington Huskies!" a commentator boomed. With the current score 15 to 11, the match was looking to be in UW's favor.
This match was the second in an important game against their bitter rivals, the Washington State University Cougars. There weren't many decked out in WSU's maroon and silver, so that each time the opposing team scored, their cheers were pathetic compared to the all-out deafening shouts that Reiner led.
Krista turned to Reiner, her companion bending down so that they could yell in each other's ears. "Ymir is killing them!" she said jubilantly, feeling a swell of pride for her girlfriend.
"Ha. I think she could have popped the volleyball with that last spike," Reiner retorted with a grin. "She was holding back."
"All right, then. Ymir is killing them, but she could be killing and mutilating them," Krista amended, watching the ball as the UW made a powerful serve.
Reiner nodded, letting out a loud "Verdammt!" as the Cougar setter nearly set the ball into the net, but recovered enough to let their player make a pass onto the Huskies' side of the court.
Krista returned to watching Ymir as she confidently made another strike, though the UW setter didn't send the ball high enough for Ymir to make one of her absolutely vicious hits.
"The WSU team is hesitant," Reiner commented, a pleased smirk on his face. "They're scared of our Ymir."
"As they should be!" Krista chirped, her braids bouncing in her excitement. "She owns that court—"
Any comment that Krista was going to make was swiftly cut off as Ymir got another chance to slam the Mikasa volleyball down onto WSU's side of the court. Her attacks were absolutely vicious, and it almost seemed as though the Cougars moved away from the ball as it smacked down onto the glossy hardwood.
"THAT'S OUR YMIR!" Reiner belted. On the court, she turned her head to give him a small smirk and a wink, though it was barely noticeable from their student seating. As UW served again, Reiner leaned over to Krista. "If your girlfriend doesn't watch it, she just might play for Team USA in the next Olympics."
Krista beamed Reiner a big smile. "I hope so! That would be amazing, to go to Rio and cheer her on… Do you really think she can do it?"
"The trials aren't for another year. She has time to really perfect her game. You don't see many girls who make the other team run away from their spikes, now do you?" Reiner turned back to watch the game just as the Cougars made a messy play that somehow the Huskies couldn't counter. The scoreboard changed from 16-11 to 16-12.
"Damn," Krista cursed under her breath, while Reiner gave the Huskies a loud, disappointed boo at their lackluster volley. "Come to think of it, though, Reiner— I've never come to one of your soccer— I mean, football matches! Ymir almost always goes, though."
"Despite looks, Bertl can be a pretty loud cheerleader," Reiner said with a big grin. "It's great to have Ymir come too, though. She usually just yells insults, though."
"She said that you'll be playing for Germany's World Cup team," Krista replied, "So even if she sounds nasty, she really thinks highly of you."
"We'll see…" Reiner's face darkened for a moment, but the darkness quickly passed on. Krisa chose not to pry. "COME ON YMIR!" he yelled as Ymir charged up to the net, reaching ever so slightly over to bounce the Cougars' set back onto the floor.
"GO NUMBER FOUR!" Krista joined in, reveling in UW's immanent win in this match. There was still another match to go, but with the first match won by UW, and Ymir playing as hard as she could, there was little doubt that the Huskies would destroy their rivals.
—
It was a quiet evening in Annie's studio. Normally on Fridays, she would make the trek over to Bertholdt's and Reiner's little one bedroom on 15th Avenue. She'd fill her growling stomach with Bertholdt's excellent cooking, they'd sit down on the couch and watch a movie, invariably her boys would start kissing, Annie would slam Reiner to the floor…
Instead, tonight Reiner was at a volleyball game cheering Ymir on, and surprisingly, Bertholdt had agreed to go to a chemistry department gathering. Annie sat on her bed, eating saltines in a hopeless attempt to convince her stomach that the wafers of salty flour were indeed food. Her only joy was that while her peers in German Literature were struggling their way through Emilia Galotti, she breezed through it. One of the only benefits of being a native German speaker, she thought glumly.
Beside her, her phone dully vibrated, and mechanically she picked it up with the hope that Bertholdt had ditched the gathering. It wasn't a text, though, her phone was ringing; the number that flashed on the screen was unknown to her. Usually she simply waited for a strange number to leave a voicemail, but a tiny voice in the back of her head told her she needed to answer, so with slight annoyance she pressed the answer button and placed the phone to her ear.
"Hello, this is EMT Chapel," a female voice said, her tone serious and deliberate. "Is this Annie Leonhart?"
"Yes," Annie responded quickly, her heart hammering against her breastbone. Something very bad had happened, and Annie had a hunch what it was. There was only one reason an EMT would ever call her.
"You are listed here as an emergency contact for Bertholdt Hoover. We attempted to contact Reiner Braun, but were unable to—"
"Please just tell me what has happened!" Annie snapped, only slightly aware of how badly she was shaking. She waited, feeling sick, for the EMT to say the words she knew she'd hear.
"Bertholdt is in severe anaphylactic shock. We are rushing him to the UW Medical Center—"
"I'll be there. I need to find Reiner Braun." She hung up the phone, realizing in retrospect how rude that was. Surely the EMT had experienced worse, though. Annie jammed the phone into the pocket of her jeans. Her wallet stuffed in her back pocket, she nabbed her keys off their hook and ran out the door. Her heart was racing. Annie felt full of adrenaline; she knew what she needed to do and it felt like if she went any slower, there would be dire consequences.
She needed to find Reiner, that blockhead whose phone was on silent in a loud arena full of screaming people. Even though she was much closer to Hec Ed pavilion than the rest of their group of friends, the building felt miles away, and she could not hope to run fast enough. Damn her short legs, she thought angrily.
Annie and Reiner were the closest Bertholdt had to family in the States. That's why they were his emergency contacts, and they were carefully taught by Bertholdt in using the auto-injector that he always kept on his person; such knowledge on Reiner's part had saved Bertholdt's life before. But Bertholdt was so incredibly hyper-vigilant with his allergy that Annie's mind was in a daze trying to figure out how her best friend was being rushed to the hospital.
Her lungs were screaming and under her hoodie the sweat was making her cold, but she somehow managed to run the entire way to Hec Ed. She caught sight of the bouncers at the door to the pavilion. Realizing with a sickening lurch that the hard-asses at the door might not let her in without a ticket, she gathered up the remaining scraps of speed that she still had. Annie made a desperate sprint into the pavilion, but her arm was still ensnared by a bouncer, almost ripping her favorite white sweatshirt.
"What are you doing?" the man snapped. "You can't get in without an entry pass."
English. Speak English, Annie sternly reminded herself, before launching into an explanation. "My best friend's being rushed to the hospital as we speak, and his boyfriend is inside. He deserves to know, y'know, that his loved one is dying? Unless you want to be the one who tells him that, you'll let me go." Annie punctuated that statement with a vicious glare.
The bouncer immediately let her go.
She stood stunned for a moment, struggling to remember where the student seating was located. She'd only been inside Hec Ed a few times, and her memory of the place was spotty. But she ran to her best guess at Reiner's location, which, judging by the avid face paint and lack of opposing team's colors, was correct.
A few rows from the doorway she spotted Reiner. Nearly skipping steps she ran down to the row where he was sitting, shoving several people out of the way so she could tug hard at the sleeve of his jersey to get his attention.
"REINER!" she shouted, which had the desired effect of pulling his focus away from Krista and onto her. She continued on. "Reiner, Bertholdt has gone into anaphylactic shock. I got a call from an EMT— a call you were supposed to get, stupid, except you were too busy shouting at the game to pay attention to your goddamned phone!" Behind Reiner, Krista's expression was one of vague confusion and concern, and Annie realized that she'd been speaking in German.
Initially Reiner's mouth had been slightly agape, his eyebrows drawn up in an expression of surprise at the sight of Annie before him, dripping sweat. But now his face was blanched, his jaw clenched. "My God, I can't believe this," he stuttered, slipping back into his native language, "how could this happen, Bertholdt knows not to eat anything with peanuts in it, he's always so careful, why wasn't I there—"
"Reiner! We need to go. Fuck it, you weren't there, and it was probably an accident— for fuck's sake, it's your boyfriend. We've got to hurry and make sure Bertholdt's still alive." Annie was about to make a futile attempt to pull Reiner away, but there was no need.
Reiner turned to Krista, the confusion and concern on her face more intense. "I'm sorry, I need to go," he said, the switch to English requiring some effort. "I'll explain later."
Krista nodded solemnly. "I understand. I'm sure Ymir will, too. You two need to go and make sure that our Bertholdt is all right."
Reiner returned the nod, before turning towards the exit. "Gehen wir, Anne." She followed suit, feeling the nervous anxiety flood her as they pushed through the horde of people. Even though her legs ached after her long run, she wanted to Reiner to walk faster. Her brain conjured up such terrible hypotheticals, as if she was not scared enough.
What would greet her and Reiner when they finally reached the UW Medical Center? Her brain was suggesting to her that the Bertholdt did not respond to the epinephrine in time, and that Bertl, her childhood friend, had suffocated or gone into cardiac arrest. She remembered the look on his face as he gasped for breath, back when they were children, and immediately felt horribly sick to her stomach. The thought of losing Bertholdt nearly made tears spring to her eyes.
Free from Hec Ed pavilion, Annie broke into another sprint, Reiner nearly outpacing her even though he was not as fast. The medical center was in sight, and that gave Annie the second wind she needed to blow through the crosswalks and nearly run headlong into the emergency department's waiting room. She managed to regain her composure as the automatic door slid open with a high-pitched squeal. It felt simultaneously eons ago that she had received the call from the EMT, and only seconds ago that she'd raced down Montlake Boulevard to reach Hec Ed.
Reiner strode up to the receptionist, his face still deathly pale. "Do you need assistance?" the man asked politely, obviously too accustomed to both ill or injured patients and frightened loved ones.
"Yes. I'm the emergency contact of Bertholdt Hoover," Reiner barked, and by the mechanical pronunciation and a strong attempt to eradicate his accent, he'd clearly rehearsed these lines before. "I was told that he was being brought in for anaphylactic shock."
"Bertholdt Hoover…" the receptionist scanned the monitor placed obliquely to him. "Yes, we had Bertholdt Hoover brought in thirty minutes ago. We require you to fill out some paperwork, as he was incapacitated at the time."
Annie could see the artery pop out of Reiner's neck. She simply took the clipboard from the receptionist and gently tugged Reiner towards a chair. "I'm… hoping that Bertl is just unconscious, but recovering," Annie murmured, trying to keep Reiner's mind away from darker thoughts. "Let's fill out this paperwork, then we can go see him."
Silently Reiner began to fill out the required information, his shaking hands altering his strong print. Annie let him be, filling the quiet of the subdued waiting room with her own thoughts. She was startled almost out of her skin when Reiner started laughing next to her.
"Is your boyfriend's near death experience that funny?" Annie snapped in German, feeling distinctly irritated with how long Reiner was taking on that damn form.
"It… just asked me, if Bertholdt is pregnant or may be pregnant, and I just thought, I hope not, I've only been fucking him in the ass—"
"Shut it. Finish up that fucking form so we can see Bertl." Annie gave Reiner a cold glare, though after a few minutes passed, she recognized that he was just as scared, just as amped up on anxiety and adrenaline as she was. The laughter had probably been his sole escape from the crushing fear, fear of what they would find on the other side of the wide, swinging door that led to the UW's emergency department.
"Done," Reiner said after another small eternity. Her knees shaking slightly, Annie got up from the chair and followed Reiner back to the front desk. The receptionist accepted the clipboard, quickly entering the information into the computer. He then strode to a small room behind the desk, but emerged only a minute later. His words were music to Annie's ears.
"Bertholdt Hoover is awake. You've been cleared to visit him now; I'll lead you to his room."
The fatigue in Annie's legs tangibly dissipated and suddenly she could breathe properly again. "Gottseidank," she murmured, following the receptionist as though she had been aged a century or two. Even though she was relieved to see her friend, she braced herself for his appearance.
As she had expected, Bertholdt was a mess. His face was horribly swollen, almost beyond recognition, and his olive skin seemed as pale as the sheets of the hospital bed. A painfully red rash ran up the length of his right arm. But he was alive, and that was all that mattered. Reiner could barely contain his joy as he rushed up to Bertholdt. He wrapped his boyfriend in an embrace and showered Bertholdt's mop of dark hair with kisses.
"Gottseidank," Reiner murmured, burying his face in Bertholdt's hair. "I was so scared, Annie got the call from the EMT, and she ran all the way from her studio to Hec Ed, I was stupid and couldn't hear my phone over the crowd…"
"It's… it's okay," Bertholdt said hoarsely; breathing clearly still took a great deal of effort and concentration. "You're here now." He shut his eyes and melted into Reiner's embrace.
Annie pulled a chair over to the other side of Bertholdt's bed, resting her chin on a hand. "Can you tell us what happened?" she asked gently. If Bertholdt was still in such a bad way, recounting the events leading up to his anaphylaxis may be too much to ask for.
"I— I think so." Bertholdt took a deep, wavering breath. "Simply… someone shook my hand." He paused to take another breath. "Problem is… they must have just been eating something with peanuts in it— or maybe, peanuts themselves…"
Reiner's face knit itself into an expression of deep concern. He gently rubbed Bertholdt's back, as if the gesture would aid in breathing. "I didn't think your allergy was that bad… I keep peanut butter in the apartment, and I haven't been careful in handling it. My God, Bertl, I could have killed you." Annie glanced over at Reiner. His eyes were full of tears. "Don't worry though, I'm throwing it out."
"Tha-Thank you. I didn't… think allergy was so bad either, but… I felt really bad, then I couldn't breathe— that's when I… knew I had a reaction— I reached for my epipen, but…" Bertholdt paused to breathe as deeply as he could. "I lost coordination, I wheezed out for someone to call one-one-two… fortunately they knew what I meant." Bertholdt gave Reiner a weak smile.
"You'll be all right now, though?" Annie said hopefully. Bertholdt was still in such a bad way that she felt pangs of intense worry.
"The doctors seem to think so… still, they said I'll need to spend the night…" Bertholdt let out a wavering sigh. "Hospitals are… so expensive in the States."
"Don't worry about that," Annie fired back. "You've set aside enough money for emergencies, and we have our student health insurance. I understand though… It's not like it is back home." Annie scanned Reiner. He was terrified, that much was plain, and in that terror she was afraid he'd do something rash. He couldn't forget Bertholdt's own fears in the face of his own. She sent him a warning look.
"Bertholdt Hoover, I swear, I know I love you when you scare me like this," Reiner said, his voice wavering. "If only I had a ring…"
"Reiner. Don't you dare." She wished that she could step on his toes as an added warning. "Bertl just had a bunch of drugs pumped into his bloodstream. See that IV line? He still needs epinephrine because he's not fully recovered. I know you're better than his father. Don't spring something like that on Bertholdt while he can't say no."
Reiner's eyes met Annie's. "You're right. This isn't the place and time. Someday, though." He immediately dropped the subject, electing to nuzzle Bertholdt gently. Annie let out a sigh of relief, though she was afraid the damage had been done. Bertholdt had an unfortunate history of being used, and she expected Reiner to understand what that entailed.
"I'll stay here overnight with you, Bertl," Reiner said, running his fingers through Bertholdt's hair. "I can't leave you on your own."
"I won't leave you, either. I'm staying overnight," Annie affirmed, not entirely willing to let Bertholdt out of her sight until the rashes disappeared and the puffiness of his face had faded.
"Annie— please get my hoodie?" Bertholdt whispered. Even though her legs were screaming at her, she did not have the heart to say no.
"Of course I'll get your hoodie, Bertl," Annie promised.