THE RELIEF you felt when you woke up at seven in the morning was astonishing and refreshing, something you definitely missed. how lucky you were that you had afternoon classes for the day and you got to sleep in for a little bit after days of meeting up with armin that left you sleep-deprived and exhausted. unfortunately, you had to finish some homework which you didn't get to finish yesterday.
after an hour or so, you packed up your things to get ready for college. you went to your room to change and grab the remaining supplies that you may have left before putting them in your bag. you checked the clock and saw that you still had an hour and a half left.
deciding to head out now, you could buy a cup of coffee to pass the remaining time or—
your phone rang, a notification popped up. well, no coffee in the meantime. you checked the message you received before deciding that you'd head to reiner's and pick him up since he asked you to.
apparently, his car wasn't working today.
you quickly replied and headed out, jumping in your car before driving away to reiner's location.
surprisingly, there was no traffic in the city as you headed towards reiner's place considering it was almost afternoon, where traffic becomes heavy with people trying to get to their job.
minutes later, you parked in front of reiner's apartment and sent him a message to let him know that you were already waiting for him. you got out of the car and looked at the ocean up ahead, spotting a few people playing and having fun on the sand. you glanced at the ocean, unintentionally smiling and getting your mind muddled up with happiness and somewhat nostalgia.
the memory of armin flashed and your small smile turned to a shy grin before you could even stop it. you could still remember the sea anemone hopping around as you play with it, the texture of its soft tentacles was still there just on your fingertips. you were still giddy and jubilant with armin's gift, you weren't expecting something like that and you couldn't forget it even if you wished it to be. it's a wonder how he memorized and knew what your exact favorite sea creature was just because of a page and your wistful talk when it comes to the creature. just thinking about it brought a new feeling in you, something familiar yet you can't put a finger on it. your cheeks were hurting from your smile that never faded as you recall the memory, heart flipping for some reason while you tried to keep your excitement from yesterday at bay.
"hey y/n!" reiner exclaimed excitedly, breaking you out of your memory lane, closing the door behind him before making his way towards you. he pulled you in for a hug which you reciprocated, patting his back after.
"hey reiner, you ready?" you asked, opening the car door to the driver's seat before getting in. reiner followed and went to the passenger's seat, wearing his seatbelt before giving you the go signal.
it was silent between the two of you, only the car engine and the outside world was the noise both of you could hear. you didn't think too much of it, perhaps he had something in his mind or he was too lazy to talk. if you were being honest, you kinda were too. you have no idea what to talk about, you don't even have the latest gossip.
at the stoplight, you glanced at your blond friend only to see him scrolling through his phone with a bored look. you slowly turned back to the road and waited for the light to turn green and while waiting, your mind wandered off to your conversation with reiner yesterday.
you could remember reiner being a tad bit protective of you, and your dumb butt thought it as a sign of him liking you. you cringe every time you remember it, you could only cry in despair and curse at yourself for even thinking about his feelings toward you or getting your hopes up.
you didn't have to! you no longer like reiner, anyway. he's just a protective best friend! he does that to pieck and annie too. why did you even think of such a thing? even you couldn't answer your question.
i need to like someone, stat. you thought bitterly, or else i'm going to make myself crazy and fall for this asshole all over again.
the light soon turned green and you pressed on the pedal and continued on your merry quiet way to college.
"so how's work yesterday?" reiner questioned, pulling you out of your deep thoughts.
you glanced at the buff blond once again and saw him putting his phone away, focusing his attention on you. which you really didn't like.
the college was still twenty minutes or so away, what could he possibly talk about with those excess time? thinking about it gave you a bad feeling but you guessed that it probably had something to do with your supposed boyfriend. why can't he go back to scrolling his phone and allow you to have a quiet time to reflect on your past regrets?
"it was fine," you replied, "it wasn't crowded so the time pretty much flew past."
reiner nodded slowly, "that's good to know. did you rest afterward? i slept kinda early yesterday so i didn't get to see your car." he inquired truthfully, flashing a small smile.
you pursed your lips and shrugged, "uh, you already know my answer." you cheekily grinned. reiner sighed and shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. despite texting you to sleep early multiple times and giving you so many lectures as if he was captain america, you did not listen to his concerns, and to him, it was getting exhausting.
"y/n, seriously, what are you even doing at the ocean at such a time? don't you get, oh i don't know, tired?" he asked almost in irritation, quirking an eyebrow.
"reading by the ocean and smelling the sea salt every now and then makes me relax, reiner." you defended, smiling a little to see him get so worked up on a trivial thing.
"does your boyfriend even know about this? honestly, i won't be surprised if he's not even asking if you have eaten or how your sleep was. that means he's a dickhead!"
a laugh went past your lips at this, "reiner, that's okay! i don't want someone smothering me and my every move."
"that's not what i meant!" he argued back, "i'm just saying, he should worry about you. don't you guys video call or some shit? he'd notice how tired you actually are."
you bit your lip and decided to lie, just to get him off your back. besides, it's the only thing you've been doing these past few days. you're probably a pro at it now. "actually, the reason why i stay up late at the beach is that we call and chat there, okay? no need to get your panties in a twist."
"if he loves you he should've let you sleep instead, he should know that you've been stressing yourself a lot because of work and college," he mumbled quietly after sighing, arms crossed as he looked out of the window.
you were about to retaliate when he asked another question, "what's his name anyway? age? his course? where does he live? i need to have some kind of background check."
well, questions.
you rolled your eyes and took a deep breath, this is it y/n, you better not screw this up and spill the truth.
"his name is ar- aaron, he's, uh, a year younger than me," you started hesitantly, "he-he studies marine biology too and uh like i said, he lives in a different city. augsburg."
he nodded slowly, taking your words in before pursing his lips. "huh, he lives so far. no wonder you guys just chat and call."
you smiled and left it at that, hoping that he'd stop asking questions. lying was already hard and making up stories would be harder. you could only hope that he won't ask how you two met—
"so how'd you guys meet?"
fuck you, reiner!
"uh, well, through social media..." you answered hesitantly, hoping that he'd just leave it be. but of course, when reiner is in his protective mode, his attention span isn't like a goldfish's. he'd ask anything about 'aaron' until he's satisfied.
"social media?!" he exclaimed, "you do know that you can't trust anything from social media! you're lucky he didn't catfish you or use you or kill you. you need to be careful from now on, y/n." reiner barked out, voice laced with anger and concern.
"i know that but i already met with him, so all is fine!"
you sighed as another stoplight turned red, giving reiner the full chance to ask you more questions about your supposed relationship with a fake guy named 'aaron'.
"yeah, sure. why did you even make it a secret? why don't you want to tell the others?" he, calmly this time, questioned.
you sighed shakily and tapped your fingers on the steering wheel, "because i-i'm, well, i'm not sure if our relationship's going to last, y'know? i want to, uhm, make sure that we're both ready for something serious before i-i introduce him to you guys." you lied, silently praying for him to believe your (well-thought) excuse.
reiner sighed and grabbed one of your hands from the steering wheel, squeezing your hands and patting it softly. "i understand, sorry if i seem too invasive. just want my little marine biologist to find someone kind and sweet for her, y'know? but don't worry, i... i approve of you guys together as long as he takes care of you." he, though forced, assured you.
'my'? that's new... he usually says 'our.' you thought to yourself suspiciously. maybe you were reading too much into it but his sudden change of word is kind of noticeable. and his approval seemed forced and unusual, even for him.
he sounds jealous. almost.
the possibilities of him liking you were now raking up, even if you didn't want to think about it. you weren't that oblivious, either so...
yeah, maybe you were reading too much into it. he's your best friend! you already told yourself that he doesn't like you that way. he has every right to scold you for keeping such a secret from him and he has every right to ask about 'aaron', as he's usually overprotective.
though you didn't want to admit it, arguing with yourself and your thoughts left you confused and furious with yourself.
you nodded in understanding, your stomach flipping at the familiar warmth of his rough and calloused hands. you pulled your hand away and focused your attention on driving once the light turned green, gripping the wheel tight in order to get rid of your thoughts about the blond.
reiner was about to ask another question when your phone suddenly dinged from the dashboard, lighting up to let you see what it was. you were busy with driving, so you asked reiner to read it to you.
it might be from your mother or father, asking you about your classes or you in general.
"it's from pieck, she said give me memes or die l-o-l." reiner read, snickering at pieck's trashy message.
however, what caught his attention the most was your new lock screen. beautiful digital art of a mermaid swimming up to the surface that you acquired from google. he eyed it curiously, eyes narrowed with a frown forming on his lips.
"since when did you have a mermaid wallpaper?" reiner asked curiously, "last time i saw, it was a wallpaper of tony stark."
you glanced at him sideways and shrugged before answering, "seeing tony stark every time i open my phone breaks my heart and i saw that cool picture on twitter so..."
he cleared his throat and placed his phone back on the dashboard, "it's kinda weird that you're suddenly liking mermaids since last, last week, i think. what gives?"
"uh, well, i haven't watched the little mermaid since i was born so i watched it like last week and all of the other movies that have mermaids in. i think mermaids are cool and pretty, y'know?" you reasoned, feeling your palms sweat up a bit.
you were being too obvious now and it all depends on reiner's wit if he catches up. let's hope he doesn't...
"wouldn't it be cool if it's real and we saw one, though?" reiner sighed out wistfully, looking out of the window with a look of deep in thought. the question sounded innocent but it didn't stop your whole body from going frigid, silently wishing that he didn't pick up any clues.
"yeah, i think so too..."
luckily, you both arrived at your college. you parked at an empty spot, grabbing your things and locking your car before following reiner inside the campus. you let out a breathe you didn't know you were holding. one thing for sure was that you were glad reiner's questioning was already over.
one more confrontation and you might break.
a/n: hello! i'm very sorry for the late update. i was in another place and couldn't write because there were a lot of things that needed my attention and focus. plus, it's vacation, i needed some time for myself and i had to finish some work too (yes they gave us work during vacation sigh). next update might be late again because next week, we'll have exams so please be patient :)
thank you for understanding, i hope you liked this chapter!
also, any thoughts on the latest manga chapter? :) (possible spoiler in the comment section)