Chapter Text
It was late, 12am to be exact and that was usually never a fun time to be a bartender. The people got drunker and ruder and you usually had to kick someone out or deal with some deep set trauma. Not that you didn't have to do that but usually you only do that in your day job. Psychologist by day and bartender by night, a duo that worked surprisingly well for you. Running your own practice meant you set your own hours for the day and picked up a shift or two at your local bar. The work was rewarding and it paid well enough for you to settle down and live perfectly comfortably. A comfortable home, food on the table and money to blow on whatever you wished. Life was good but something was missing.
Leaning over the edge of the bar you sighed it was pretty much empty, just one couple in the corner making out and a drunk dude at the bar who you were probably going to have to kick out in maybe 15 minutes. Staring at the clock in the corner you willed time to just go faster so you could finally sleep. Don't get me wrong you loved both your jobs and the extra money certainly you got from bartending certainly didn't hurt but god did it get boring. So when the ringing of a bell indicated to you that someone else had entered the bar you were immediately intrigued.
Adding to your intrigue was that the man who walked in was built like a goddamn house and notably did not look drunk at all. He had to be at least 6 foot tall and muscly but what really drew your attention when you looked him up and down was the bright red arm band on his arm. A goddamn titan shifter holy shit maybe tonight wasn't going to be as boring as you thought it was.
It seemed that the other customers noticed him as well as you watched the couple making out quickly rushed from the bar and even the drunk guy gathered his wits enough to call for the tab. “I'll be with you in a second!” You called to the man as you put on your nice bartender voice as you quickly grabbed the tab for the drunken man. After that was all sorted you grabbed a glass to wash and turned around flashing your best smile to the new man. “Can I get ya anything?” you asked as you put the now washed glass away.
“Uh, just a beer” He responded sounding somewhat confused but with an underlying tiredness in his voice. You couldn't tell if that tiredness was from the time or something else. However you could assume that the confusion came from the fact that you weren't completely repulsed by him. It's not that you loved eldians or advocated for change in society but as a trained psychologist the debate on eldians always seemed stupid to you. Brains work the same no matter what's in your blood and in your opinion what's in your head matters far more than what's in your blood. But even if you did hate the eldians you weren't going to turn away any paying customer, especially not a war hero. Hed worked and earned his status and his right to be here and get a beer if he wanted one.
“Sure coming right up” You responded politely, smiling at him slightly.
It wasn't until about three beers in that he started talking. Sure he was responding to all your attempts at small talk but this was more that.
“I'm impressed” You joked as you walked over with his third glass “most men who have that look when they walk in start talking by the second beer” you said as you placed down the drink in front of him.
He raised an eyebrow at you “what look?” He asked somewhat playfully, likely assuming this was more of your earlier small talk meets banter. It's not that you were being completely serious but you certainly were attempting to prompt, it's not everyday you get to talk with someone with such a unique life.
“Well frankly you look like one of my patients who's about to drop a huge trauma bomb right in the middle of our session” You said as you leaned over the bar beside him.
“You're a therapist?” He said, intrigued taking another swig from his glass. “I wouldn't have pinned you for that.”
“Yeah you could say that” you sighed “what can I say this is a great way to meet patients, alcohol makes people say things they wouldn't say sober, useful in my line of work.”
He laughed, really laughed this time not just a stifled snort or an awkward chuckle like before. “I'd imagine it is.” He said as he finished his drink.
“So you're three drinks in, feel like spilling all your deepest traumas to a random psychologist in a bar?” You said as you grabbed his drink. “I'll pretend that the armband and the uniform don't already give it away to me.” You smiled as you walked over to refill the glass.
“Well” He sighed leaning slightly more over the table “let's say that someone died saving your life and now that person's brother thinks it's your fault.” He said and you watched his face cloud over with a dark sadness “Probably is my fault” he half chuckled sadly and you could almost see tears in the corner of his eyes but you ignored it. He was drunk, it was to be expected that he would be more emotional than usual.
“Well” You said as you returned with the glass you filled and placed it down. “First I would say that I think you need to worry about how that person's death affected you before you worry about how it affected anyone else.” You said gently as you slid the glass over to him. “Because I think that it’s affected you a lot more than you think that it has.” At that last statement he got quiet.
Looking down he took a swig of his drink seemingly processing what you just said. “My name (Y/N) by the way, you might wanna know my name before you tell me your whole life story” You said, joking slightly as you extended your hand for him to shake in an attempt to lighten the mood.
Half smiling he reached out and shook your hand “nice to meet you.”
The rest of the night went on in comfortable silence between the two of you neither saying anything until he was about 7 or 8 drinks in. It was then you noticed that it was about time to close and you still had a now noticeably drunk man in the bar, at 2am. Of course it wasn't just any random drunk man in the bar no that would be far far to easy to deal with you had fucking warrior unit captiain Reiner Braun drunk in your bar. Sighing you steeled your resolve figuring you would probably have to walk him back you finished what you needed to to close the bar.
“Alright bars closed.” You said finally walking out from behind the bar. “I think you should come back tomorrow night if you can find the time” You said as you walked to his side smiling slightly.
“Am I not bad for business?” He hiccuped slightly as he finished his sentence and that combined with the flush on his cheeks told you he was definitely drunk. Although his statement left you slightly confused for a half of a second before you picked up on it, oh yeah the whole Eldian thing. It's not that you didn't notice how people fled the bar when he walked in you just figured he was used to it. Maybe sober Reiner was but apparently drunk Reiner was a different story.
“Please you and I both know this bar probably tops the ‘marleys most boring bar’ list.” You chuckled slightly making light of an unfortunate situation.
He laughed slightly at your response “there's a list for that?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Well not that I know of but if there was I'm sure this old place would be number 1.” You smiled playing along with the gag. “Come on, let me walk you home.”
“No, no, I'm fine.” He insisted as he stood up wobbling ever so slightly but you noticed it anyways.
“Nope im gonna walk you home, the zone cant be more than 15 minutes from here and I live nearby so i'm going that way anyway.” You insisted right back at him as you gave him a determined look.
He looked you up and down seemingly about to protest more but you raised an eyebrow and looked up at him with that same determined glare, he seemed to decide it wasn't worth the fight.
“Fine” He sighed and you smiled walking towards the door and opening it wide.
“After you sir” You joked and bowed slightly. He chuckled slightly as he walked through the door and out into the cold night air.
Ah, that you didn't plan for. It was cold, like freeze your toes off cold and you didn't bring a jacket because why in the world would you plan that far ahead. To be fair it wasn't entirely your fault it was only late may not the middle of december.
The pair of you walked in silence but it wasn't awkward or unpleasant silence, just silence. The cold air eventually got to you as you were only in a t- shirt and you began to shiver slightly, covering it up the best you could.
It took a second for him to notice but when he did he stopped for a second. You stopped as well, turning around somewhat concerned as to why he stopped “What are you do-” You were shocked from your sentence as you felt a coat wrap around your shoulders. Taking another second to process what had happened you realized that he had stopped to take off his jacket and wrapped it around you.
“Dont,” He said, looking down at you before you could process “Payment for walking me home.” He gave a small smile, his flushed face still notable in the moonlight.
You didn't respond but smiled back at him “We should keep walking.” You said, still smiling slightly.
As you walked you noticed the scent of liquor with a hint of some type of cologne on the oversized jacket. It certainly did its job in keeping you warm as you noted as you pulled it slightly tighter over your shoulders.
After a few more minutes of walking you reached the gates of the internment zone. Not deterring you from continuing walking, there was no firm law against non-eldians entering the internment zone. However as soon as you got close the guards approached “M’am” They said as you approached the gate.
“Officers?” You responded, stopping slightly confused. “I'm walking this man home he lives here” You explained crossing your arms.
“I'm sorry I can't allow you to go in here.” One of the guards said as he stood in front of you, blocking your path.
“But why I-” Before you could continue your sentence Reiner cut you off.
“It's alright I can make my way back on my own.” He said seemingly sobering up disturbingly quickly. You were ready to protest some more but the look in his eyes shut you down before you could even open your mouth again.
“Alright” You sighed deeply, taking a step back. “Same time tomorrow? I'm on night shift again.” You said half smiling and raising an eyebrow opting to ignore the unfortunate situation with some light humour.
“Yeah same time tomorrow.” He responded “Good night (Y/N)” He said smiling as he turned around and walked into the zone.
“Good night Reiner.” You smiled back watching him walk away from outside the gates before you noticed something. “Wait your jacket!” You shouted.
Whether he didn't hear you or just chose to ignore you, you would never know.