Bertholdt has always loved being high in the sky. High rise buildings fascinated him and his affinity extended to the Ferris wheel he sat on as his cart stopped near the top of the wheel and he had a great opportunity to look around as the sun was setting on the suburbs. He looked for the telltale landmarks and surely enough: "Look, there's my house," the brunet said.

The blonde with him didn't look up from her phone. She hadn't spoken to him and although they usually get along well in any other situation, this time she had nothing to say and looked bored. He wasn't sure why he let Reiner push him in a cart with her or why he would do such a thing. It wasn't the first time he'd done it. They were having fun and when the blonde came, Reiner pushed him towards her. Bertholdt would rather be friends. He wanted Reiner to understand that. Maybe he should just tell him already to stop it from happening.

A sudden gust of wind rocked the cart, causing it to sway. "Wow!" Bertholdt said and he held on but the cart soon stopped wiggling and he realized he had grabbed Annie's wrist to hold her steady but she didn't pull away like she usually would. She looked a little scared after that to the brunet's surprise. "Are you okay?"

"Yep," she said but she looked deathly pale instead. He almost felt like giggling to see the brave and daring Annie being so scared but he didn't want to anger her at such an altitude and get kicked out. Many would mistake her for cold when she was truly chill but independent.

Many would also confuse Reiner for arrogant when he was actually kind but excited. Kind of like a Great Dane puppy: big and happy but oblivious to his size. That's why Bertholdt liked to hang out with him. He was like the opposite of Annie and Bertholdt was happy to be able to have such different friends. But for the rest of the evening, that happy puppy personality was gone and Reiner was reserved. Even after Pieck and Annie left and even when Bertholdt brought Reiner home, the blond still seemed to be holding himself back. Bertholdt hated when he made things awkward like that.

He would come home, sit at his desk and look at the envelopes there: Marley University, Liberio State College and Paradis Academy. He couldn't throw away the other two yet though he hadn't sent in his final application yet. Maybe he deserved what happened today. He didn't want t be a liar but he was afraid the shorter blond wouldn't understand if he chose his dream college over Reiner's. He already looked up the facility and had a video chat with some of Marley's teachers and a coordinator and they were a perfect match for the brunet's introverted temperament. It was such a good match and so selfish and inconsiderate to his friends too.

He sighed so loud. He came downstairs and saw that his mother was still awake watching a detective show on television. His father has already gone to bed to get up early for work. The brunet sat down on the couch and waited to be noticed.

"Still up, honey?" asked his mom. Bertholdt answered yes. "How was your day at the fair?"

"Fun," Bertholdt said.

"I'm glad you had fun," his mom said.

The brunet twirled his thumbs, "Mami...can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Do you think Marley is a good college?"

"I think so. When we went there last summer, the staff was so polite and showed us around. It's a pretty campus to study."

"And Paradis?" Bertholdt asked cautiously.

"Paradis? Do you want to go to Paradis, p'tit chou?"

"No. I mean...hum, I don't know. It's where Reiner and the rest are going."

"If Reiner jumped off a bridge, would you follow him too?" his mom laughed, she was only kidding.

"No," Bertholdt said. But his mom saw how serious he was.

"Did Reiner ask you to come to Paradis?" his mom asked.

"No mami...but I didn't even tell him I got an acceptance letter. Marley is my preferred college but I feel bad lying to Reiner to go," Bertholdt confessed. He wanted to ask her if she would agree to him going to Paradis but he couldn't.

"Reiner is a nice boy. Why don't you just tell him and see how it goes?" his mom smiled kindly and sympathetically for her son's troubles.

"I think I'm going to upset him because I lied," Bertholdt said.

"You're going to be upset if you keep not telling him."

"You're right, it's better if I do," Bertholdt nodded.

"You'll feel better when you do," his mom smiled.

"Ok, mami. I'm going to bed."

"Good night honey."

"Good night, mami," Bertholdt said. He went back to his room but now he felt even worse. It was the right thing to do to tell Reiner about his acceptance letter from Paradis Academy and his mom wanted him to too, but it would be so difficult. He should do it soon because the registration window was closing and he would feel very bad if he did it afterwards. He was ready for bed when his phone buzzed and he saw that he had received a message from Reiner.

Reirei ✨: zoo w cuz tmrw!? 🐯🐯🐯

Bertholdt smiled. The blond has such a funny typing quirk of adding ! to questions it didn't belong in and that suited his excited Great Dane personality. He typed like a suburban mom who just discovered her phone's emoji panel. The brunet typed his answer.

🐢: Sounds fun, I'm in.

Reirei ✨: 10 braun hq!? 🏠

🐢: Ok.

Reirei ✨: 🚗?🙏

🐢: I'll come pick you up. See you tomorrow.

Reirei ✨: 💞❤️💋💖💘 ty best chauffeur in the world

Reirei ✨: gn

Bertholdt laughed and blushed at the outpouring of thanks and now he felt so much more guilty for lying. He finished typing a final message before trying to sleep.

🐢: Night!