Chapter Text
Come to find out after the twenty minute drive full of nothing but the chatter of preteens, Gabi’s friends names are Falco (who you remember from the baseball field), Udo (the geeky kid with the glasses) and Zofia (the girl with the braids). All of them go to school together and want to tell each other each and every thought that comes to mind. Their discussions are all over the place, you can hardly keep up with the topic they’re on.
Reiner attempts to ask you how sofa shopping went on the way there but fails when his question gets interrupted by the plethora of conversations going on in the back seat. But as soon as he parks the car and Gabi and her friends hustle out of the car, he finally asks how your day went.
“So did the Jeagers get a new couch?” He asks, walking side by side with you. You trail behind the group about five feet.
“The Jaegers?” You ask with a smirk, already catching on to what he means.
He shrugs, “I mean they might as well be married.”
“Yeah, that’s true,” you agree. “They did get a new couch. Deep red, very comfy. Suites them well, I think.”
“That’s good to hear, can’t wait to sit in it,” He replies, making you laugh.
You both follow the group up to the ticket booth, the sunset starting to rest upon the water. It’s been a while since you’ve been to the beach and have almost forgotten how much you love being near it. The purples and pinks in the sky reflect beautifully on the water, the lights seemingly twinkling off the waves. The June heat still warms up your skin, but you’re grateful for a small breeze coming off the water.
Reiner pays for all the tickets and collects the cash from the kids after you finally enter the fair. You stand next to Reiner as he declares the rules of the evening, all four of them paying attention to his words as if he was some kind of commander in chief.
“Alright, here’s how tonights gonna go down,” he starts, and you can tell he’s flipping some sort of switch. “Y/N and I won’t be glued to your side all evening but we will be following you the entirety of the night. Sorry, but that’s the only way to keep an eye on you.”
Gabi almost interrupts but you watch her decide not to as Reiner continues, “I know it’s summer vacation but we will be outta here by 10:30. I still have to drop each and every one of you off.” You giggle softly as you hear the groan he ends that sentence with.
“Yes, yes, whatever,” Gabi says, waving her hand back and forth, “I’m starving.”
“Alright, who else is hungry?” Reiner asks. You join the group in raising your hand eagerly in the air, as you haven’t eaten since French toast.
Reiner laughs and shakes his head at you, “Then food first.”
Deciding to let Gabi and her friends pick where to eat, you and Reiner once again trail not too far behind the group. You look around the pier, the neon lights glowing all around. The large ferris wheel not too far away shining bright yellow lights into rainbow, the glow of the carousel twirling round and round, the soft music and thousands of conversations buzzing around is all rather nostalgic to you.
Reiner catches you looking around and asks, “Is this your first time here?”
You sort of scoff at the question, “No, not at all.”
“Oh wait, you and Eren go way back right?”
You nod, “Yeah, we do. Well, Eren, yes but also Mikasa and Armin. We would be here all the time during the summer.” You reminisce for a moment about the memories with that trio, every roller coaster ride, every time Eren made you and Armin cry yourselves laughing on the spinning ride, and how he would yell at the two of you for making him get on while he nearly barfs from the dizziness. You were a kid last time you were here, nearly the same age as Gabi and her friends.
You smile at the sight of the four of them chatting and laughing, bickering about where to eat between it all. You tell Reiner, “I was about Gabi’s age last time I was here.”
“Really?” He chirps, “How much has changed?”
Everything, but then nothing at all, it seems weird standing in the same place at a different time in your life. But instead you say, “There’s a lot of booths that are new and a couple new rides, but other than that nothing much.”
“I think I remember coming here maybe once during grade school as a field trip,” Reiner shares, also taking in his surroundings. “I don’t remember it all, to be honest.”
“Good thing I’m here to show you the ropes then,” you say, hoping to show him at least a few of your favorite rides here.
You feel him bump your shoulder with his own gently as he goes, “Hey.” He waits until you look at him to finish saying, “Thanks for coming by the way. You didn’t have to.”
Your chest warms at his genuineness and you look away smiling, “Well, I wanted to.”
Reiner goes to say something else but Gabi’s cries of waving the two of you down at their chosen dinner stall stops him. The two of you shimmy over to catch up with the group. After skimming over the choices, you decide upon a classic spiral potato. When it comes out of the tent along with everybody else’s order, Reiner starts laughing at your dinner choice.
You sit across from him at the picnic table Udo was able to save for everybody and pout your lip out, “What’s so funny, huh?”
His choice was a practical corndog you realize as he chuckles, “That thing is absurd.”
“Absurd and delicious,” you rebuttal, gently peeling off a sliver and offering it to him.
He squints his eyes skeptically as he takes it from you, then eats it. He nods and holds back a smile as you brag that you told him so. You munch down on your greasy, comforting potato on a stick. You find yourself paying attention to the crazy story Gabi is telling about what happened in summer school today, but you also notice something else.
Falco is paying particular attention to what Gabi is saying, his eyes watching her intently, eager to try to say something in response to earn her attention.
You notice that his deliberate attention does not stray away from her for the rest of the meal and is very much in support of Gabi’s idea to hit some games first. When you and Reiner continue following them, you bring up your observation to Reiner. He is Gabi’s older cousin, after all.
“Have you noticed anything between Falco and Gabi?” You remark to him when you’re a safe distance away.
“Yes, he’s been crushing on her for years.” Reiner responds, matter of factly. You’re a little shocked to how calm he is about it. “You don’t say,” you muse.
“Yeah but Gabi will never realize it,” Reiner says. “And to make it worse, I don’t think she realizes she likes him back.”
You gasp dramatically at this new information. “She does?”
Reiner smirks and nods, standing to the side as the group picks a game booth. “I think she’s too stubborn to even consider the idea.”
You giggle, watching the group attempt to knock down a tower of milk glasses. Reiner makes a joke about how terrible their form is while they throw and that he wishes he could teach them like he does his students.
The two of you gladly observe the group play their games for a few booths, no one unfortunately winning any prizes yet. You think about playing a game yourself finally when Gabi says there’s a short line on the pirate swing ride and the next thing you know the six of you are making a B line towards it.
You have a giggle fest on the large pirate swing, forgetting how high you go into the air, and you notice Reiner couldn’t stop smiling that huge grin of his as well. After some pestering and ensuring him that it’s safe, Reiner finally agrees to the spinning pendulum ride. He still smiles as you scream delightfully, but his white knuckles gripping tight to the handle don’t go unnoticed by you. You and Gabi laugh manically as you gently rub Reiner’s back when he ends up almost hurling after the zero gravity ride, but there was something familiar about it all. Just laughing, having silly conversations and being with friends.
Gabi’s friends weren’t as bothersome as you were expecting, they all just remind you of when you were in middle school. Questioning everything but never admitting it, doing your best to seem cool to your friends, putting on a face but being true at the same time. You’re glad you came.
Reiner slips right into this space too, you notice. While your memories with Mikasa, Amin and Eren are still replaying in the back of your mind, you are actively capturing every memory spent with him here at this fair. He puts on this facade of not having as much fun as he is, and you come to understand he takes his older cousin role seriously.
But you already knew that, Connie always tells you how Reiner was the ‘big brother’ of the group when they were in college. It warms your heart to see him in action, you suppose. With his little cousin who probably made him gallant in the first place.
You sigh contently as you think all this in your head, watching Reiner and Gabi race each other in a game similar to skee-ball. Gabi doesn’t detect Reiner’s purposeful bad shots so she can win the game, but you do. You smile, watching him watch her. Your roommate is sweeter than you ever imagined.
Gabi’s friends cheer as she is awarded her prize for winning the game, which is a green knit hat in the design of a frog with super large eyes, complete with strings hanging downwards. It makes you laugh seeing how some of the prizes haven’t even changed.
But instead of wearing it herself, she jumps and plops it over Reiner’s head. Her friends laugh at him as he adjusts it to his head. A pink blush speckles your face as he grins, proudly tying the strings under his chin, then doing a triumphant pose.
You giggle endlessly, part because you never thought you’d see Reiner wear this kind of thing and part because how cute he looks overwhelms you. His eyebrows scrunch as he smiles and laughs at Gabi poking fun at him, and you think about how great his smile is.
Before you can stop your thoughts, Gabi drags the group to another booth. Reiner slacks behind, walking next to you, sweeping his chin to the sky, “So how do you like the new look?”
You laugh, “I actually don’t think you’ve ever looked better.”
Gabi comes jumping back to the two of you, tugging on Reiner’s sleeve and hopping with excitement, pointing. “Reiner! Do you think you can win me that big one?”
You follow Gabi’s pointer finger to the stall she’s talking about, it’s a dart game. It’s a dartboard made of small balloons, all indicating a different level of prize. In the dead middle of the circle is a tiny, red balloon. Gabi wants the ginormous teddy bear that comes with popping that singular ballon.
You’re convinced that this is one of those rigged games at the fair, as nearly every single one of them is. But Reiner waits his turn with his head high so you comment, “You’re looking pretty confident for a guy wearing a frog hat.”
He rolls his eyes and chuckles. “Frog hat or no frog hat, I’m actually pretty good at darts. Ask Jean or Connie, they’ll tell ya.”
He’s almost cocky saying this, which makes you laugh and sit back and watch. You find yourself doubting him, but once it’s his turn he picks up the first dart, throws it with precision and pops that little red balloon easily.
You pick your jaw up off the floor as Gabi and her friends whoop in excitement, and Reiner cracks up, taking in your shocked expression. The employee, who’s just as surprised, hands Reiner the large teddy bear for his win.
You laugh at this even funnier sight, him cradling an oversized teddy bear with a pink bow and sporting a frog hat. He puts his hands on his hips, “Hey, there’s no laughing at the winner.”
The silliness of the situation gets the best of you and you hear yourself saying between giggles, “It’s just funny seeing such a big, buff guy hold and wear such cutesy shit.”
Gabi interrupts Reiner’s reaction, “Reiner, she said a bad word!”
You laugh even more as Reiner tells her to can it. He hands her the stuffed animal, then turns to you, wiggling his eyebrows, “So, you think I’m big and buff?”
The heat in your cheeks intensifies at this comment, finding it hard to chalk it up to just your laughter anymore. Why did you say such a thing? How are you supposed to back this up?
So you do what your middle school self would have done, and push him away from you, “Oh, shush your mouth.” But as you walk away, you’re both laughing.
It’s getting late, so Gabi suggests hitting the Ferris wheel as a last ride. Everyone happily agrees. While you wait in line, you and Reiner both clock that Falco was trying to convince Gabi to go alone with him, but she doesn’t pick up on it. You share a sort of apologetic, knowing smile with him when she gets on the gondola with the two of you. Falco, Udo and Zofia are sharing another.
You sit next to Reiner on one side while Gabi and her newly acquired teddy bear friend (who she has named Ralph) sit on the other. The view from up high is so pretty, as it always has been. Being up high on the ferris wheel used to make you nervous, but now, sitting with your roommate and his cousin, you feel rather safe.
The three of you small talk about the evening, laughing at the moments mentioned. It might have been a very spontaneous decision to come with them but it was one you were kind of proud of making. It’s ended up a really fun night.
Gabi stops for a moment after talking, and then asks out of nowhere, “Was Falco asking me to sit with him?”
The question takes you and Reiner both back for a second, and you exchange a glance with him, letting him do the talking.
As he turns away from you, Reiner nods his head, “Yeah, I think so.”
Gabi leans against Ralph, with a troubled look on her face. She sighs as she looks out at the view, you’re starting to descend now.
“I wish I wasn’t so scared,” she mutters, finally.
Seeing Gabi act vulnerable is definitely new to you, but Reiner gently kicks her foot. “Hey,” he says, “It’s actually a good thing you’re scared.”
Not expecting him to say that, both you and Gabi look at him. He goes on, “If you’re scared or nervous about something, it just means you care about it. You should trust what your heart tells you.”
A smile tugs your lips upwards. He’s leaning a bit forward, face serious, and still adoring the stupid frog hat. “Is your heart telling you something?” He asks, delicately.
Gabi stays still for several seconds until she responds, “I think it would have rather gone with Falco.”
Her light voice sounding so forlorn tugs at your heart strings, remembering how it felt having a crush on a boy at her age. Gabi smiles suddenly then and says, “But you guys aren’t so bad.”
You feel honored to be included in her statement, she looks at you in particular, “Thanks for coming, Y/N.”
Reiner joins her in smiling at you and you feel rather bashful. “It was really fun, I’d hang out with you guys anytime.”
“Careful, now,” Reiner notes, “Don’t give Gabi any ideas.”
Gabi laughs evilly, playing into the bit, and then you reach the bottom of the wheel. Gabi joins back with the group, taking care to stand next to Falco, as you and Reiner follow. Reiner announces you all are heading to the car and you head for the gates to leave.
You’re caught in the many conversations happening within the group when you hear a familiar voice calling. You stop and look around, hearing the voice a little clearer now, “Hey, Braun!”
As you whip around, you see Porco, waving. Your stomach drops slightly, as you never know what could happen with seeing Porco. You hate that he’s so unpredictable.
Reiner turns around too and immediately rips the hat off his head, which makes you frown in confusion. Porco is not alone, you recognize Pieck, who you’re actually happy to see not too far behind him, along with some other guys you don’t recognize. They don’t make the trip out with Porco to greet Reiner, you notice.
You wave at Pieck and she gives you a soft smile back. “Porco, hey,” Reiner puffs, seemingly thrown off his guard. They dap one another.
“Babysitting, huh?” Porco questions, nodding to the group of preteens, who are hanging off to the side. You’re kinda surprised Gabi isn’t coming out to say hi.
Porco’s eyes land on you and a slimy smirk grows on his face as you walk up next to Reiner, “Oh, wait, I see. The babysitter needs a babysitter of his own.”
The words rub you the wrong way and Reiner seems to stumble in his response, so you say quickly, “It looks like you got a few chaperones yourself, Porco.”
“Yep, he needs it, thats for sure,” Pieck adds, grabbing Porco’s arm and caressing it gently. “A couple of friends from work invited us out, you guys have fun?”
“Yeah, it’s been fun. Just following Gabi around basically,” Reiner says, regular confidence in his voice.
“He’s won her a number of prizes, naturally.” You add.
Porco decides to throw an arm around Pieck. “That’s what Im going to go try to do for this one.” Pieck seems flustered at first, but smiles softly.
Their friends shout something at the couple and they take that as their cue to leave. Porco smiles, “You two have a fun evening, alright?”
For once you’re confused on how to interpret Porco’s choice of words. When he’s being an asshole, he makes it obvious. That last thing though didn’t have that same slithering vibe.
“See you guys later,” Reiner says with a small wave. You and Pieck exchange smiles before you both turn around and return to Gabi.
On the walk back to the car, you can’t help but notice the quietness coming from Reiner now. It’s not that his entire mood has changed, but he doesn’t put the frog hat back on, and his laughter is much quieter, shorter.
You consider that you’re reading too much into it when the group quiets down once they all put on their seatbelts. But the way his eyes scour while he focuses on driving makes you think he’s in his head.
Your own eyebrows furrow at this, angry that he is somehow being made to feel small by Porco. He was happily wearing that hat all night, making everyone laugh, making sure everyone was safe, buying everyone food. He was nothing but incredibly generous.
His fingers tap on the wheel to the beat of the music he’s got playing, something soft with a really nice electric guitar. You want to assure him that what Porco said doesn’t matter. Something stops you, convincing you it’s not your place.
Besides that, you’ve been awake for a long time, and the hum of the car, the clicking of the blinker and the swiftness of how Reiner drives is lulling you to sleep. You barely open your eyes as Reiner drops each kid off at their respective homes. The closing and opening of the door as he walks them to the door and returns keeps you awake more than anything.
It’s Gabi’s turn to be dropped off, she gently shakes your arm before she gets out. “Goodnight, Y/N,” she whispers.
“Bye, Gabi. Sweet dreams,” you mumble in response, waving her off. Reiner tells you he’s gonna walk her inside but you’re already nodding off as he walks away.
A notification from your phone wakes you up, you go to check it. It’s a text from Bertolt, asking if you guys were on your way home. After typing a response to him, you glance over your screen to the porch the headlights are shining on.
You watch the door open and an older lady with short hair step outside. Your eyelids grow heavy as she talks with Reiner, seemingly glancing at you over and over again, ushering Gabi quickly inside and Reiner using his hands to talk, then sleep takes you.
It takes him a minute to bring himself to do so, but once he parks at the complex, Reiner gently wakes you, informing you it’s time to walk home. The thought of carrying you crosses his mind, but he quickly decides against it.
You yawn countless times as you stomp up the stairs, the stupid elevator of course not working right now. Reiner is patient as you ascend all three flights and gently guides you into your room once you get inside.
He makes sure you’re sitting on the bed before he closes the door, huffing out a breath as soon as the latch clicks. He wants to say something. But he doesn't understand what. And you work early anyway. He'll make it up to you.