[ There's a good two minute pause while Reiner just gazes at that picture, spellbound. The pause continues for another minute or so while he figures out how to save it.
Eventually, he texts again. ]
You're gorgeous, Eren. I know I say that, but I don't think it's enough. I need to say it more
[ TWO compliments? Wow, he really is drunk, huh. Eren has a hard time imagining he'd be this free with any of that outside the bedroom if he wasn't drunk. ]
You can say it all you want. You're gorgeous too though.
[ Good thing this is in text, because he'd fall on his face out loud, probably. ]
Yeah. This seemed like the easiest way to send off 17. I never know whether to celebrate or mourn, you know? You're supposed to celebrate. This does both. Sorta
I don’t know. There were less of you here then. I didn't really know where I stood then with everyone. It doesn't really matter. Some of them can never know the significance of me living this long.
[ He's aware the math doesn't add up and that part about not knowing where he stands might seem well and he might be tipping his hand too far. But this is in text and Reiner is drunk anyway so whatever. ]
[ Reiner is indeed way too drunk to question Eren's words as much as he should. Maybe he'll reread it later, or something will spark a memory down the line. For now, he just frowns at the text, aware that he's missing something but unsure what the hell it is. ]
However you want. I can take you on an actual date. One where we don't get pissed off. We can pick a district neither of us knows well and walk around until we find a restaurant that smells good. You can eat something brand new. We can have ice cream cake. Did you know they sell ice cream cake? That's a luxury!
The next evening, as promised, Eren meets Reiner outside the apartment building. He's not sure if Reiner actually will have a hangover. Hopefully…not? Whatever, not his problem. He can only be so nice.
He found time earlier that day to make cookies. The only ones he knows how to make are chocolate chip, so that will have to do. They don't look beautiful but they're not burned and they taste fine. He…made way too many, so he left some on the counter at home without any explanation whatsoever. If Levi doesn't eat them, Hange will probably wander in and eat them. No big deal.
Hopefully the cat doesn't suddenly discover a liking for chocolate chips.
He has the cookies in a paper bag which he awkwardly shoves at Reiner when the other boy appears.
Thankfully, Reiner managed to avoid a hangover, though how much of that is because he stopped drinking and how much is because he's a Titan is anyone's guess. He did not manage to avoid his humiliation at drunk texting everyone under the sun. (Hange! Levi! Other people he barely knows!) But he got an actual date with Eren out of it, so he's not complaining too much.
(How the hell did he manage to get an actual date? He has no idea. Gift horse, etc.)
Reiner is dressed a little nicer than usual, which translates as a button-down shirt with no knife on his belt. Not that either of them needs a knife for this to turn into a fight. The intent is there, though: Reiner is aiming for a night where they don't get pissed off. How successful he'll be remains to be seen.
Eren greets him with a bag shoved at him, which Reiner accepts gingerly, not wanting to crush whatever is inside.
"What is it?" he asks, curiously opening the bag. He peers inside and pauses, lips parting. "… These are for me?"
Eren, maybe naively, didn't dress like anything. He looks exactly the same as always, tshirt and dark jeans. Fashion sense? He doesn't know her. Maybe someday.
He also doesn't have a knife on him this time, but they both know that doesn't matter. He keeps his nails long these days to avoid having to bite, but...they're a threat just be existing. Eren isn't scared of that threat. But he's also not especially worried about it, not today. Is this a truce? It has to be, right? No one just goes on a date with an outright enemy. Probably.
Eren shrugs and looks off across the street, pretending not to be embarrassed. This was stupid. Why is he so stupid, he wonders. What the hell.
"I learned how to make them recently. I had extra."
These are both true things, but the explanation is misleading. He learned to make them so he could make them for people. He had extra after he made these ones, specifically today, for Reiner's birthday. He just can't be straightforward about it because he's Eren.
For a moment, Reiner says nothing, just gazing into the bag with still-parted lips. Cookies. Homemade cookies, baked by Eren, given to him on his birthday.
When was the last time Reiner had homemade cookies? It had to be in Liberio, most likely on one of those occasions when Reiner did particularly well on some Warrior exam. A reward, not a gift. Not something without strings attached.
"Thank you, Eren," he finally says, completely sincere. Only then does Reiner reach into the bag, carefully removing a cookie, holding the imperfectly shaped treat almost delicately. He doesn't mind if they're the extras (as he believes Eren's misdirection); they're still his. Still a gift.
Then he raises his eyes, focusing on Eren's question. He reviewed enough of his drunken text messages to recall the date he proposed, and he spent a portion of the day looking up places to get ice cream cake. (The ice cream cake is essential!)
"How about somewhere that isn't cold?" Reiner suggests, still relieved that Hange's potion was effective. "I haven't explored Blossomcrown much. Does that sound good?"
It's only the second or third time Eren has made them, but if he doesn't dissociate out of his mind, he can follow a recipe easily enough. It's just steps, just orders, do one thing then another. That might not be true for all baking, but just for cookies? It's not really that hard. So they're not pretty. They're just getting eaten! Doesn't matter if they're pretty, right?
"You're welcome," Eren says, surprised at himself for saying it. But he means it. It's not like this was an afterthought. He doesn't know much about gift giving, and he gives himself more than he gives actual items. That kind of gift is always a double-edged sword, tinged with his lies and manipulation and violence. Even Mikasa and Armin were not immune to it in the end, but he needed them to do what he needed them to do.
When it shifted so that Reiner is included in people he wants to protect, he's not sure. That night in the dark? Before that? The day Reiner didn't kill him when he could have, the Armored's mouth against him? Did he always feel this, underneath his rage? He doesn't know.
"Somewhere that isn't cold, definitely," he agrees. "Blossomcrown it is. There's probably good food there. There's good food everywhere."
He has no idea what you do on dates, but they were supposed to get food, this time (hopefully?) without Eren being a menace about it. That's the real birthday present, isn't it, Eren being as much of a person as he can manage to be.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dreamsofwings) wrote2021-07-13 03:17 am
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Eventually, he texts again. ]
You're gorgeous, Eren. I know I say that, but I don't think it's enough. I need to say it more
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You can say it all you want. You're gorgeous too though.
[ Good thing this is in text, because he'd fall on his face out loud, probably. ]
Is that really all you wrote me for?
[ He doesn't know the word "texted." ]
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Yeah. No
[ Which is it? ]
I turn 18 tomorrow
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I wouldn't say it if I didn't think it.
Oh that's right. Your birthday. Is that why you're drunk?
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[ Same difference! ]
Yeah. This seemed like the easiest way to send off 17. I never know whether to celebrate or mourn, you know? You're supposed to celebrate. This does both. Sorta
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I haven't celebrated in a long time. It wasn't mourning either, just running out of time. Needing to hurry.
The last one this year, I didn't talk to anyone about it. It just happened. I shouldn't be alive but I am. It's weird.
You have time left though. We said we'd live, right? What do you want to do?
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[ Things he would never admit while sober. ]
It was March 30th, right? Why didn't you do anything?
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I don’t know. There were less of you here then. I didn't really know where I stood then with everyone. It doesn't really matter. Some of them can never know the significance of me living this long.
[ He's aware the math doesn't add up and that part about not knowing where he stands might seem well and he might be tipping his hand too far. But this is in text and Reiner is drunk anyway so whatever. ]
1/2
I really don't like our world's future
2/2
I decided what I wanna do. I wanna celebrate your birthday
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[ But enough of that! ]
My birthday was months ago. Don’t you mean you want to celebrate yours?
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]
Okay. How?
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Ice cream cake. Like it's both? That sounds amazing actually.
Ok. There's something I want to tell you in person anyway.
1/3
2/3
3/3
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Don’t get a hangover.
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Okay beautiful
switches this to DATE NIGHT I guess
He found time earlier that day to make cookies. The only ones he knows how to make are chocolate chip, so that will have to do. They don't look beautiful but they're not burned and they taste fine. He…made way too many, so he left some on the counter at home without any explanation whatsoever. If Levi doesn't eat them, Hange will probably wander in and eat them. No big deal.
Hopefully the cat doesn't suddenly discover a liking for chocolate chips.
He has the cookies in a paper bag which he awkwardly shoves at Reiner when the other boy appears.
"Here," is all he says.
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(How the hell did he manage to get an actual date? He has no idea. Gift horse, etc.)
Reiner is dressed a little nicer than usual, which translates as a button-down shirt with no knife on his belt. Not that either of them needs a knife for this to turn into a fight. The intent is there, though: Reiner is aiming for a night where they don't get pissed off. How successful he'll be remains to be seen.
Eren greets him with a bag shoved at him, which Reiner accepts gingerly, not wanting to crush whatever is inside.
"What is it?" he asks, curiously opening the bag. He peers inside and pauses, lips parting. "… These are for me?"
no subject
He also doesn't have a knife on him this time, but they both know that doesn't matter. He keeps his nails long these days to avoid having to bite, but...they're a threat just be existing. Eren isn't scared of that threat. But he's also not especially worried about it, not today. Is this a truce? It has to be, right? No one just goes on a date with an outright enemy. Probably.
Eren shrugs and looks off across the street, pretending not to be embarrassed. This was stupid. Why is he so stupid, he wonders. What the hell.
"I learned how to make them recently. I had extra."
These are both true things, but the explanation is misleading. He learned to make them so he could make them for people. He had extra after he made these ones, specifically today, for Reiner's birthday. He just can't be straightforward about it because he's Eren.
"Where do you wanna go?"
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When was the last time Reiner had homemade cookies? It had to be in Liberio, most likely on one of those occasions when Reiner did particularly well on some Warrior exam. A reward, not a gift. Not something without strings attached.
"Thank you, Eren," he finally says, completely sincere. Only then does Reiner reach into the bag, carefully removing a cookie, holding the imperfectly shaped treat almost delicately. He doesn't mind if they're the extras (as he believes Eren's misdirection); they're still his. Still a gift.
Then he raises his eyes, focusing on Eren's question. He reviewed enough of his drunken text messages to recall the date he proposed, and he spent a portion of the day looking up places to get ice cream cake. (The ice cream cake is essential!)
"How about somewhere that isn't cold?" Reiner suggests, still relieved that Hange's potion was effective. "I haven't explored Blossomcrown much. Does that sound good?"
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"You're welcome," Eren says, surprised at himself for saying it. But he means it. It's not like this was an afterthought. He doesn't know much about gift giving, and he gives himself more than he gives actual items. That kind of gift is always a double-edged sword, tinged with his lies and manipulation and violence. Even Mikasa and Armin were not immune to it in the end, but he needed them to do what he needed them to do.
When it shifted so that Reiner is included in people he wants to protect, he's not sure. That night in the dark? Before that? The day Reiner didn't kill him when he could have, the Armored's mouth against him? Did he always feel this, underneath his rage? He doesn't know.
"Somewhere that isn't cold, definitely," he agrees. "Blossomcrown it is. There's probably good food there. There's good food everywhere."
He has no idea what you do on dates, but they were supposed to get food, this time (hopefully?) without Eren being a menace about it. That's the real birthday present, isn't it, Eren being as much of a person as he can manage to be.
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this got away from me and I rambled on orz
HAHA SAME…
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we can wrap up here if you like?
sure!