Misunderstandings {BertholdtxReader} [School!AU]

Bertholdt felt his cheeks heat up and looked away quickly as she looked up from what she’s writing and smiled at him. He’s embarrassed that ____ caught him looking at her even though he knows that she most likely thinks that he was looking down at the notes she’s hurriedly scribbling down about the project they’re working on. He wasn’t looking at the notes though, in fact he’s not even that sure what the project is about because the only thing he pays attention to in biology is her. She doesn’t know, of course, that Bertholdt has had a crush on her since he first saw her across the room in another class last year. If she knew, there was no way that she would have sidled up to him on the first day of semester and asked him to be her lab partner. Who would want to put themselves through all of that awkward? For the first couple of months of class, Bertholdt had had a theory that his best friend Reiner had paid her to get her to ask him so he’d shut up about her, but that definitely hadn’t worked and so Bertholdt had been forced to accept that _____ had actually chosen to ask him herself.



He looked up to glance at her again, she was looking down at the sheet of paper in front of her, pen looping words across it. She paused for a second and bit her lip, a look of concentration across her face, as if she was trying to remember how to spell a word, before she continued to write. Ugh, how did she not realize how cute she looked when she was concentrating and why did she have to torture Bertholdt so by just… existing.



The bell rang, causing ____ to hurriedly write down a couple more things, before throwing her pen down. She and Bertholdt gathered their bags and pens in silence as the sounds of the rest of their class scraping chairs and slamming doors rang out through the classroom. When ____ was done, she looked up at Bertholdt and smiled. “I’ll type those notes up tonight and bring them in tomorrow. Do you think maybe we could go to the library at lunch tomorrow so we can work everything out?”



Sweat prickled on Bertholdt’s skin and he swallowed, trying to form the words he was looking for.



He must have been quiet for an uncomfortable amount of time because she looked up at him confused and. “Bertl?”



“Yes.” He finally managed to choke out. “Yeah… that’s okay. Tomorrow. Library. Lunch.” He shrugged nervously.



_____ gave him a curious look, but shrugged. “Okay, great I’ll see you tomorrow.” She gave him another one of those damn smiles of hers and walked out of the classroom, leaving him stood there alone for a second before he grabbed his bag and followed her out.



Reiner stood outside the door, waiting for him so that they could walk home together. They’d been best friends for as long as Bertholdt could remember, growing up on the same street and attending all of the same schools. He really did appreciate that Reiner had always been there for him, what he didn’t appreciate was the smirk on Reiner’s face. “So… you and your girlfriend were alone in there for a bit, huh?” he teased.



Bertholdt stared straight forward, shifting his backpack on his shoulder and started to walk towards the exit of the school grounds. “She’s not my girlfriend.”



“I know she’s not your girlfriend, Kirschtein was out here waiting for her and they left together.”  



Bertholdt stopped abruptly, feeling like someone had just punched him in the stomach. “What?”



“Yeah,” Reiner replied. “Sorry dude, I thought it was better that you heard it from me.”



Bertholdt doesn’t say anything, he stares straight forward and continues walking. He hears Reiner ask him if he’s okay, but he shrugs it off. Of course she would go out with someone like Jean Kirschtein, of course she would. He’d never really considered that she might have a boyfriend and now he realized what an idiot he was for thinking that. She was so pretty and so sweet and so perfect and fuck Jean. Fuck that horse-face.



And tomorrow, he still had to go and meet her and work on the project and it sucked. And what if she’d noticed the way he looked at her and what if she off-handedly mentioned it to Jean one day? He knew Jean would never let him live it down and would probably make a point of telling him things to try and piss Bertholdt off. This sucked. “I have to meet her tomorrow…” he said quietly. “I told her that I’d go meet her and work on our project, how am I supposed to do that? How am I supposed to look at her without thinking about Jean. I’m never going to be able to talk to her again.”



Reiner looked up at him. “You can’t tell me that the two of you have ever had a full conversation anyway though, I’ve seen you around her, your face turns into a tomato, you start sweating more than average and you completely forget how to use words. I’m pretty sure none of that is going to change just because you’re thinking about her with Jean.” He paused. “Or you could man up and tell her how you feel about her.”



“Well, now you’re just being ridiculous.” He groaned. “I can’t go work with her tomorrow!”  



“And how much of your grade is this project worth?” Reiner asked.



“Dammit.”



***



Bertholdt peeked around the door of the school library. It had taken him all day but he’d finally worked up the nerve to at least go and get the notes from ____. He could make some excuse and leave with them and maybe just work on the project on his own. Or maybe go to Ms. Hanji and explain that there was some issue he had yet to think of and so he needed to switch lab partners and work with someone else. He surveyed the room in front of him, it was pretty dead and there was no sign of ____. Maybe she wasn’t going to turn up anyway? If he left now he could probably go find Reiner…



“Hey, Bertholdt!” A familiar voice chimed out behind him, alarming him. “I’m glad you made it, I bought the notes!” ____ gave him that smile again and walked past him, leaving him stood in the doorway as she threw her bag down on the nearest table and started to rifle through it, looking joyful when she produced a plastic folder but frowned when she saw Bertholdt still stood in the doorway. “…Are you not staying? I made you a copy of the notes.”



Bertholdt took a deep breath and walked into the library and over to the table. He took the folder she was holding up to him. “I guess… I didn’t want to waste your time.” He said quietly, quite alarmed that he’d managed to form the words. “I know that you’d rather be spending time with Jean.”



____ pulled a face at him. “Gross, I spend quite enough time with Jean, thank you. I’m glad for the break from him. Now sit down, if I didn’t want to be spending time with you then I wouldn’t be here right night.”



Confused, Bertholdt settled down onto the seat next to her, still clutching at the notes and making no move to remove his bag. “Then why are you guys dating? If you don’t like being around him.”



“What?!” She asked. “What are you even talking about? I am in no way, shape or from dating Jean Kirschtein, that’s disgusting… who told you that? Because whoever it is needs their head examined.”



Bertholdt swallows. “It’s just something I heard… that’s all.” Where are these words coming from? How is he having an actual conversation with _____ ___ right now?! “Because apparently he was waiting for you outside some classes yesterday…” he trailed off. He didn’t want her to think that he was a pathetic stalker.



“Yeah, because I’m staying at his house, he was meeting me so his Mom could give us a ride home.” She pulled a face. “Ugh, our Mothers are sisters, we’re cousins.” She shuddered. “Besides, I’m pretty sure that it would be illegal for me to date him even if I didn’t think he was kind of an asshole. He’s so not my type.”



“Actually, I think cousins can marry cousins.” Bertholdt said quietly.



“I wasn’t talking about that though, I was talking about bestiality. That’s illegal.”



Bertholdt barks out a laugh and then another and somehow, he feels more comfortable around her. Maybe because it’s clear that she’d comfortable joking around him. He settled down into his seat and took his backpack off before he looked down at the notes in front of him. She starts talking about the project and he gives her his input and answers, but there’s still something harassing him in the back of your head. “So Jean’s not your type?”



“No Bertholdt.” ____ looks up. “My family is most definitely not your type.”



“So… what is your type?” and oh god he shouldn’t have asked that and why can’t he control his mouth and what gave it the right to speak those words? Dammit, damn his mouth, damn is brain.



____ doesn’t reply and Bertholdt can’t help but notice the flush on her cheeks. She doesn’t look at him but he feels something brush against the hand he has on the table in front of them. ____ still doesn’t say anything, but Bertholdt gets what she’s trying to do.



And he moves his hand, allowing her to lace her fingers with his.