Pretty Please {Bertholdt x Reader} COM

Bertholdt focused all of his attention on the litter of old bread crumbs on the table, occasionally grinding them between his fingers to give the illusion that he was doing something other than sitting awkwardly by himself. His head was bowed to avoid eye contact with anyone in the dining hall, as well as conceal his pink face. He just couldn't help turning a bit red when he thought abou--

"HEY, LANKY!" Bertholdt nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt the sudden impact of a heavy weight next to him. He let out an undignified squeak at the unexpected movement, even though he knew Reiner would come eventually.

"J-Jesus, Reiner." Bertholdt exclaimed, panting a bit from the shock. Mentally, he had been in a whole other world before his bulky best friend had pulled him out of his daydreams.

"You nearly pissed yourself, didn't you?" Reiner laughed. "God damn, you're easy to scare."

"You're an ass." Bertholdt grumbled, returning his attention to the sprinkled bread crumbs.

"Eh." Reiner shrugged, before flinging his arm around Bertholdt's shoulder. "So tell me, skinny. Why've you been so blue lately?"

Bertholdt took a moment to respond. "Blue?"

"Yeah, you know. Depressed, sad, miserable, etcetera?"

"I know what you mean, Reiner." Bertholdt folded his arms on the table and rested his head on top of them. "I'm not blue."

"Really? Your recent habit of sighing, moping around like you got no sleep the last night and sitting at this table by yourself like a huge loser really contradict that, Bert." Reiner delivered a hard slap to Bertholdt's back.

"Shut up." Bertholdt sighed.

"Nah, I won't until you tell me what's got you so upset."

"Nothing."

"Really?"

"Yes! Nothing!"

"Liar."

"Ass."

"Seriously, tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong!"

"Did someone say something that hurt your feelings?"

"Reiner, I'm not eight years old."

"Did someone point out your abnormal sweat patterns?"

"What? I don't have abnormal sweat patterns!"

"Did some0ne say-"

"Reiner! No one said anything!"

"Jesus, Bert. Just tell me!"

"Not a chance."

"Is it something to do with this increased training regime?"

"No."

"The rapidly decrease in food quality around this place?"

"No."

"Is it a girl?"

Bertholdt's eyes widened.

"N-no."

"It is! Who, who, who?" Reiner grinned.

Bertholdt sighed in bitter defeat and glanced over at a figure a couple of tables away from his own.

"Her." Bertholdt sighed, knowing that he'd blush crimson if he actually said your name.

"Her? (F/n)? Jesus." Reiner looked shocked for a second, before his usual smug expression returned. "You like (f/n). You actually like her. You want like, 30 of (f/n)'s babies, don't you?"

"Reiner, not so loud, people can hear you!" Bertholdt growled through clenched teeth.

"Bert and (f/n) sitting in a tree, F-U-C--!"

"Finish that sentence and I'll kill you, Reiner Braun!"

"Jesus, calm down." Reiner laughed, ruffing Bertholdt's hair, much to the taller boy's disgust.

"Reiner, if you tell anyone, I swear our friendship will be over." Bertholdt threatened, fisting a ball of Reiner's sleeve in his hand for dramatic effect.

"I won't tell. You will." Reiner grinned. Bertholdt's eyes widened as he released his grip.

"W-what?"

"You're going to tell (f/n) that you want her, because I'm sick of you being so freaking whiney and miserable. Just go up to her and make out with her or whatever, I don't care just stop being so annoying."

"Want her? That's... so vulgar." Bertholdt sighed, burying his forehead in his hands. "She's so beautiful, Reiner. She's like a star. I can't just WANT her like you suggest, that's too vile and impure for her. I wish it was infatuation, or some kind of weird lusty thing, but it's not. She haunts my dreams like a ghost, the pace of her breath dictates my heartbeat, and she makes my blood pump ice cold and boiling hot at the same time."

"I zoned out as soon as you started talking. Jesus, if you want to recite poetry or whatever that lame thing you just said was, I'll call Armin over."

"I think I love her, Reiner." Bertholdt wailed, covering his eyes with his hands. Reiner awkwardly patted his friend on the back in an attempt to comfort him.

"That's... okay. Don't worry. We'll work through this." Reiner paused. "But you still have to tell her."

***

"Oh my God, Reiner. I can't do this." Bertholdt hyperventilated.

"Yes you can, and you will. Stop panting like a dog, you're beginning to sweat." Reiner growled as he inspected Bertholdt's appearance, moving a couple strands of stray hair before nodding in satisfaction. "You look good, she and her hot ass always look good, it'll be fine."

Bertholdt's emerald eyes widened, making the darkening bags under his eyes more visible. "Don't talk about her ass; she's not a piece of meat!"

"Never said she was. When did you ever see a piece of meat that had an ass?"

"Reiner!"

"Calm down, I'm just joking around with you. You're so irritable and anxious, have you been getting enough sleep?"

"I can never sleep when she's on my mind, and she always is." Bertholdt pined, looking at his feet rather than at Reiner, who had commenced making fake vomiting noises.

"Stop being so gross, man." Reiner whined, wiping furiously at a dirty patch on Bertholdt's jacket. "Just tell her you think she's pretty and then kiss her, or whatever. Just... if you're going to say more of that romantic shit make sure I'm out of earshot, because I will start actually vomiting."

"You know what, Reiner? We should call this off. Call the whole thing off. Then I don't have to make a fool of myself, (f/n) doesn't have to witness me embarrassing myself, and you don't have to vomit."

Reiner sighed in exasperation and dramatically raised his hand to his forehead. "You wound me, Bertholdt. I went through all of this trouble to meet you two up, and you want to bail?"

"Yes."

"Well. Looks like I'm going to have to give you a bit more incentive to confess your feelings of undying love or whatever." Reiner thought for a couple of moments, before clicking his fingers and smiling. "You tell (f/n) you love her, or I'll tell her you wet the bed until you were 10."

"But I didn't!"

"She doesn't know you didn't."

"(F/n)'s smart. She'll know you're lying."

"Fine, fine. I'll tell her that you stole her pillow and you kiss it and talk to it every night."

"You idiot, I think she'd notice if her pillow was stolen."

"Damn, I didn't think that one through. Okay! I've got it!" Reiner's cocky grinning was very clear under the radiant moonlight, even though they were in the shaded area behind the dining hall. "You tell (f/n) that you love her, or..."

"Or?"

Reiner let out a chuckle. "Or I tell her I love her."

Bertholdt's eyes flashed with both anger and shock. "You wouldn't."

"Why wouldn't I? She's quite the looker."

"Fine! God damn you, Reiner Braun. I'll tell her."

Reiner whooped in triumph. "I can't believe I'm going to be an uncle soon..."

"Reiner! You are not going to be an un--- Oh Jesus, she's coming." Bertholdt's whole body tensed up and his breathing became heavy. "I can't do this!" He turned and began walking, only to slam right into Reiner's broad chest.

"You're doing it. You're doing this right now, or so help me I WILL ask (f/n) out and I will take her on the best date ever and you will cry yourself to sleep because you blew your chance." Reiner growled, trying to verbally slap some sense into Bertholdt.

"Yepp. I can do this, I can--"

"What do you guys want at this hour of the night? I'm missing out on valuable sleep." You began grumbling as you walked up to the boys. You raised your eyebrow at Bertholdt's bewildered expression, but otherwise reacted neutrally.

"Oh! H-hi (f/n)! Isn't it um... nice out tonight?" Bertholdt stuttered, trying to control his breathing and not allow any sign of panic show on his face. "How funny you're here actually, b-because I kind of wanted, NEEDED, to tell you something."

"Uh-huh..." You nodded, wrapping your arms around your torso in an attempt to bring a bit more warmth to your freezing frame.

"Hahaha, yeah..." Bertholdt ran his hand through his hair awkwardly, successfully ruining all the effort Reiner had put into making it nice. Reiner slapped his fist over his mouth so he didn't scream.

After a minute of you boring your eyes into Bertholdt's nervous forest greens, you sighed. "Bertholdt, stop screwing around. I'm too tired for you two pathetic morons to be pulling pranks on me." You sighed and turned around on your heel. You began walking away, the small flame of hope in your heart beginning to flicker out.

"Wait! (F/n), wait please!" Bertholdt cried, running after you.

You felt Bertholdt's hand wrap around your arm, halting your body. You gasped at the sudden contact, even though his grip was hardly hard enough to hurt you. Twangs of confusion and panic were freckled abundantly in Bertholdt's eyes. His breathing was heavy and uneven, as though he was scared. His lips quivered through his defiant attempts to keep them calm and pursed.

"Bert? What's wrong?" Concern was present in your voice, and Bertholdt could sense it. He began nodding, as though he was trying to come to terms with something. You stood still in confusion, Bertholdt's hand never dropping from its hold.

"I just..." Bertholdt bit his lip. "(F/n), do you really think I'm pathetic?"

You looked at the male before you. His shoulders were drooping and slouching low, as though he was Atlas carrying the world on his back. His desperate green eyes scanned you as though your face was a book. The hand that was holding you gave out a feeble tremble, even though you could feel its heat. You knew you could pull away in a second if you wanted to. Bertholdt's eyes were lined with dark shadows and his skin looked somewhat paler and mustier than usual.

"I... of course I don't. I didn't mean that." You said, a wave of guilt overcoming you. Did you really hurt him so much with such a meaningless comment? "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Bertholdt sighed, taking his hand away from you and dropping his head to stare at the ground. "I'm sorry."

Boldly, you took a step closer to him. When he didn't look up, you lifted his chin with two fingers. "Bert? What's the matter with you? It’s not like you to be this sad..."

He didn't reply.

"Is it me? Am I causing a problem?"

Bertholdt sighed and bit his lip once more. "Well... yes and no."

You felt your heart practically stop. What could you have possibly done to hurt him? You had always tried so hard to be nice and helpful around the fumbling Bertholdt. "Did I do something wrong?" You whispered to yourself more than to Bertholdt.

"(F/n), no, of course not. It's just... oh my god I can't believe I'm saying this... (F/n) I really like you. I, I think I actually love you. You make me feel as though my heart will beat out of my chest whenever I see you, and your smile and unending kindness makes me forget everything wrong in the world. When you're not around I feel completely empty and useless, and all I can feel is worry that something will happen to you and I won't be able to protect you. I want to be able to help you and make you smile your gorgeous smile and laugh your gorgeous laugh but... well, look at me. I'm a sleep-deprived, cheesy fool in love and you're a goddess. You'd be stupid to ever waste your time on me when you could make a prince fall for you instantly. But, I just had to tell you. I had to tell you how perfect you are, (y/n), how beautiful and kind and lovable and worthwhile you truly are. I really love you." Bertholdt's face was a mix of longing and aching, though he was trying hard to steel his expression, as though he was attempting to build up a defence for your imminent rejection.

You stood silent for a few seconds, just trying to absorb what just happened. "Bert..."

"(F/n), please don't. It will break my heart. Just... go back to bed and pretend this ever happened."

"Bert, no! Listen to me! It's... it's a dangerous world we live in. We can't afford to waste our time on frivolities like romance and relationships..."

"(F/n), please stop..." You could see his expression turn even more pained as he felt his heart breaking.

"Bertholdt, let me finish!" You snapped, averting Bertholdt's attention back to your words. "But, I suppose that if I had to waste my time on love, it would be with you.

Nothing could be heard in the silenced that endured, aside from the staggered breathing of both you and Bertholdt.

"Really?" Bertholdt's eyes glimmered with an apprehensive glimmer of hope, as though he was still bracing himself for rejection.

You smiled reassuringly. "Of course, Bertholdt."

He smiled back as you embraced him softly. "(F/n)?"

"Yes?" You replied into Bertholdt's chest.

He lifted your chin with a single finger, and you let him.

"You wouldn't mind if I...?" He was blushing a million shades of pink and red at the thought of kissing you under the moonlight. You weren't going to refuse his advance at all; you had been staring at those perfectly defined lips of his for days now. You gave a soft smile and stretched up on your tip-toes to reach him.

"Of course not, Bertholdt." He awkwardly darted towards your lips, catching them in a nervous but sweet kiss. He pressed his lips against yours sweetly and tenderly, as though you were the only thing that he cared about.

Somewhere in the distance you heard the hollering of Reiner waking up the dorms to witness the new coupling sealing the deal. But, you didn't care who would see. Your heart fluttered in time with Bertholdt's, and that’s all that mattered to you both.