The time they met underground, ate ramen, that might be a date. A fucked up version, but...they'd eaten and then gone home, fell into each other's arms, slept in the same bed. It hadn't been planned, though, and had started hostile.
This is nothing like that. This is...freer. Bad blood will always exist between them but even Eren isn't focused on it at all. He hadn't even hesitated when Reiner suggested this, though he knew Reiner was drunk and might not have meant it.
He's never been on a real date either. When would he have done it? Not during training when he was obsessively focused with killing titans. Not after training when he was obsessively focused on killing titans. Not after Shiganshina when the Scouts were all dead and he knew the horrible truth and he became obsessively focused on killing...everyone. (He'd tried to find another way at first. Maybe subconsciously he was still looking for one when Hange confronted him in that cell. Ultimately, the future consumed him. He's only here now because of Thirteen's invitation. Would he still have been brought to Ellipsa? No way to know.)
Reiner's so much easier with his touch than Eren. It's the little things, the reassuring squeeze, the way his thumb moves. Eren isn't stiff, but he's still got so much of himself locked behind whatever walls he built in his mind. Was he ever good at casual touch? He can't remember. Maybe he was, with Armin and Mikasa if no one else, but those days seem so long ago now.
What would Reiner have been like in another world, one like this where he didn't have to grow up brainwashed and hated? He is kind where Eren never has been. Despite all the blood and terror, part of Reiner is still kind. Eren...is Eren.
He glances over, surprised, pulled from his thoughts by Reiner's words.
"What? No way. It's not actually my birthday. You shouldn't give up celebrating yours just for me." He doesn't mean to say the next part out loud, but he does, eyes in front of him again. "There's nothing in me worth celebrating."
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This is nothing like that. This is...freer. Bad blood will always exist between them but even Eren isn't focused on it at all. He hadn't even hesitated when Reiner suggested this, though he knew Reiner was drunk and might not have meant it.
He's never been on a real date either. When would he have done it? Not during training when he was obsessively focused with killing titans. Not after training when he was obsessively focused on killing titans. Not after Shiganshina when the Scouts were all dead and he knew the horrible truth and he became obsessively focused on killing...everyone. (He'd tried to find another way at first. Maybe subconsciously he was still looking for one when Hange confronted him in that cell. Ultimately, the future consumed him. He's only here now because of Thirteen's invitation. Would he still have been brought to Ellipsa? No way to know.)
Reiner's so much easier with his touch than Eren. It's the little things, the reassuring squeeze, the way his thumb moves. Eren isn't stiff, but he's still got so much of himself locked behind whatever walls he built in his mind. Was he ever good at casual touch? He can't remember. Maybe he was, with Armin and Mikasa if no one else, but those days seem so long ago now.
What would Reiner have been like in another world, one like this where he didn't have to grow up brainwashed and hated? He is kind where Eren never has been. Despite all the blood and terror, part of Reiner is still kind. Eren...is Eren.
He glances over, surprised, pulled from his thoughts by Reiner's words.
"What? No way. It's not actually my birthday. You shouldn't give up celebrating yours just for me." He doesn't mean to say the next part out loud, but he does, eyes in front of him again. "There's nothing in me worth celebrating."