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Bertholdt clutches Serania to his chest, mouth a tight line where it presses behind her ear. She twitches her tail, wiggles until he loosens his hold, scrambles up onto his shoulders with a triumphant huff. She noses at his cheek, licks at his hair to get it out of his face and he wrinkles his nose as her whiskers brush his skin. He tips his head, lets her chew playfully at his ear for a second and stands, squares his shoulders to support her weight.
Serania settles with her tail thrown over her human’s shoulder, small paws shifting as Bertholdt makes his way back to the barracks. They enter and she slides down his front, kicks off the slope of his thigh to land on the nearest bed. She starts speaking quietly with Marco’s daemon Marielle, lies on her side as the otter paws at her, rubbing her claws through her thick fur. Bertholdt hums, shuffles across the room to climb up to his bunk.
Reiner stirs and Lina grumbles as she crawls out from under the blanket, yawns wide, peers up at Bertl where he froze. She says his name softly and he goes limp, lets himself tip to the side until he can curl into a tight ball beside her, toes against Reiner’s calf. He hears Serania dart up the ladder behind him, tenses his belly to counter her weight because he knows she’d rather walk over him instead of going around.
He curls his fingers around her tail as she and Lina nose at each other carefully, whispering so quietly that their voices sound like nothing more than a soft breeze. Reiner’s arm reaches over the two, brushes over both their backs and Bertholdt feels like he might melt, soak right into the mattress. He takes Reiner’s hand, runs his thumb along his fingertips, slides the fingers of his free hand over to stroke Lina’s back.
The murky hollow beneath his sternum is suddenly filled with light, soft and golden and so precious and Bertholdt thinks he might cry as Reiner and Lina’s love seeps into his skin and Serania nuzzles under Reiner’s chin so he knows they feel the same.