Competitive Crushes

Reiner Braun was walking to the Marley Warrior Training Grounds with a small bouquet of yellow flowers, a pep in his step, and a rare confident smile on his face. This did not go unnoticed by the Galliard brothers, Marcel and Porco, who were in the middle of hand-to-hand combat training, wrestling with each other. Porco and Marcel let go of each other and looked at Reiner with raised eyebrows before getting back up off the ground and walking up to him.

"Hey Reiner, what's with the flowers?" Marcel asked, with Porco mumbling about nobody caring what Reiner was doing, causing Marcel to hit him in the gut with his elbow.

"Oh, these are for Pieck," Reiner admitted with a blush on his face. While scratching the back of his neck, Porco immediately shot his head back up when he heard this news. Marcel couldn't help but chuckle as Porco stomped over to Reiner, and grabbed him by the collar.

"What the hell do you mean they're for Pieck!?"

"I mean they're for Pieck. I wanted to ask her out, and thought some flowers would be nice," Reiner responded, surprisingly calm despite seeing a furious Porco only inches away from his face. Marcel continued chuckling as Porco pushed Reiner down to the ground, who still kept the flowers in a tight grip. Before Porco could attack Reiner anymore, Marcel grabbed Porco by the back of his collar and pulled him away from Reiner.

"Don't worry about it, Reiner. Porco's just jealous," Marcel said, failing to hold back his laughter as Porco turned his attention to his older brother.

"The hell, Marcel!? Don't tell the little dork that!"

"I really didn't need to, since you made it so obvious, but I just felt like it," Marcel said, his laughter seeping through in between his playfully mocking words. Porco briefly forgot all about Reiner and how angry he was at him, putting Marcel in a side headlock while the dam burst, and Marcel finally burst out laughing. As Porco threw Marcel down with a Headlock Takedown, Reiner took the chance and escaped to the Warrior Training Center, the flowers still in relatively good condition despite the stems being slightly crushed by Reiner's tightened grip. After a minute of wrestling on the ground, Porco noticed that Reiner had left, and immediately let go before rushing over to the Warrior Training Center. Marcel kipped back up to his feet and still chuckled while following Porco.

After ten minutes of running and playful mocking, Porco and Marcel finally made it to the Warrior Training Center. Porco had pulled Marcel into a bush, Porco maintaining a laser focus on Reiner walking over to Pieck with those same flowers in his hand. Pieck seemed to notice Reiner coming up to him and smiled at him before giving him a friendly wave, which Reiner returned with his free hand.

"Porco, why are we watching this?" Marcel knew the reason why, he just wanted to hear Porco's excuse.

"I…I just want to see Reiner fail," Porco said, his face lightly dusted with a blush.

"Right…," Marcel mumbled before turning his attention back to the scene in front of him, where Pieck had just greeted Reiner formally. Reiner, rather than return the greeting verbally, took a deep breath, and handed Pieck the homemade bouquet. Marcel couldn't help but snicker at Porco's grip on the branches of the bush tightening as his glare aimed solely at the back of Reiner's head.

"Listen, Pieck…I…well…it's just…you've been really nice to me since I've been a Warrior in Training…and…and I wanted to know if…," Reiner stammered out while Pieck accepted the flowers, and patiently waited for Reiner to finish his question. Meanwhile, back in the bushes, Porco rolled his eyes at Reiner's nervousness (ignoring the fact that his face exploded into a red blush whenever Pieck was near him), while Marcel looked on in sympathy to Reiner crashing and burning.

"…I wanted to know if you wanted to…hang out sometime? Like…like a date?" Reiner said after a very deep breath, his voice quieting as he continued on with his query. Pieck looked at Reiner with a surprised look on her face, but her face quickly went back to a smile before walking over to Reiner and putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Reiner, I really appreciate the gesture, and I like you as a friend, but I…I don't feel the same way," Pieck said apologetically. Marcel smirked at the silent cheer Porco did behind the bushes while Reiner just sighed and nodded.

"I understand, thanks for letting me down gently."

"Of course, Reiner. Like I said, you're still my friend. And honestly, I…I actually like someone else," Pieck said, looking down with a blush appearing on her face for the first time since this conversation started. Back in the bushes, Porco's attention returned to the scene in front of him, stopping his victory dance mid-step and keeping a close ear out for the name of this crush so that he could pay that guy a visit.

"Really? Who is it?" Reiner asked without any sort of tact. Pieck, however, looked around her, to her left, right, behind her, and diagonally, before nodding and leaning in closer to Reiner.

"I…I really like Pokko." At this point, Porco's face had completely exploded into a blush, Pieck's confession playing on repeat in his mind while Marcel gave Porco a supportive pat on the shoulder.

"What!? Porco!? What…what could you possibly see in that asshole!?" Reiner yelled out in disbelief, causing Pieck to slightly jump before pressing her fingers together, not being able to look Reiner in the eye.

"His…his really compassionate side."

"I've only ever seen his jackass-ish side," Reiner mumbled before Porco jumped out of the bushes, glaring at Reiner.

"Fuck you, Reiner!" Porco yelled out. Pieck looked at Porco for a second before her face exploded back into a blush, realizing that he had just heard her whole confession. While Pieck tried to hide her face with her messy black hair, Porco looked at the blushing mess that was Pieck Finger, and turned into one himself, realizing that Pieck now knew that he knew that she had a crush on him. Reiner looked confused at what was going on, but Marcel simply walked onto the scene, and once again patted his frozen brother's shoulder.

"Well, this just got a lot more interesting."