Academy of the Artists

Sleeping With Your Best Friend

Yay another chapter is up lol

I woke up to a snoring Reiner next to me. The clock said twelve and I knew that this was the latest and longest he had slept in a long time, even when I would get back and see that he had just fallen asleep before I returned from class. He looked surprisingly peaceful when he slept.

He wasn't constantly worrying about his music when he slept, or at least he didn't look like he was. He still had an arm around me and I blushed. It would be hard for me to get out of bed without waking him up since I would have to crawl over him. I sat up on my elbow and looked at him.

His breathing was slow and calm and he didn't look so tired anymore. I remembered how he held me without shame when I asked him to, well more like made him. He didn't seem to care about what others would have said had someone seen it.

I recalled our conversation last night and how I shamelessly laughed in front of him, not giving a damn about what he thought about me. Then I remembered my reckless act of jumping in his back. I smiled at my stupidity. How could I ever think that he would hurt me? Then again, do I really deserve for him to give me such an amazing friendship this early in?

I laid my head down on his chest, watching his face so I would know if he woke up. I listened to his slow heartbeat as his chest rose up and down in a perfect rhythm. It was a comforting sound, his heart beating healthily. That's a sound that had always be a comfort of mine.

I never was able to explain it but I think it gives me the mentality that I'm not alone, not matter how alone I felt in this world. I closed my eyes to listen to the sound of his heart and his breathing. Not to long after, he began to stir. I didn't want to untangle myself from him so I stayed right where I was, not caring about how it looked to him when he woke up. I had my right cheek on his chest and I was just looking at his side of the room when he woke up and looked at what was laying on him.

"Good morning, leech." He said in his sleep filled voice. I smiled to myself and looked up at his face. I could feel his muscles underneath his thin tank top. I couldn't help but thinking about how I wouldn't mind much if I had a guy like him to wake up next to every morning. I knew it wasn't right, but I kept thinking that my perfect guy would be just like him.

Muscles toned, interesting personality, selflessness when it came to his close friends, and everything else that labeled Reiner as Reiner. We just laid there in silence, until my phone rang. I sighed and tried to get up, which consisted of me tripping over Reiner a few times since I was awkward and he was lazy.

When I finally got to my phone, it had stopped ringing the first time. It began to ring a second time and I answered it as soon as it started. "Hello?" I said, not realizing how weird my voice sounded after I had woke up.

"Hey Bertolt!" It was Armin. I had given him my number Tuesday before class so he could help me with whatever if needed. "We're going to hang out at Erens' sisters' place later and wanted to know if you would like to come with." I looked over at Reiner and seen him already working on his music. I guessed that he wouldn't be doing anything other than working on that.

"Yeah, what time?" I asked, looking back at the desk in front of me. He seemed to have to ask Eren for the answer or something but soon replied.

"About five. We won't be back till a little late so if you don't want to stay that late, we understand." He told me. I told him that was fine with me and we said our goodbyes. I threw my phone back onto the desk and flopped onto my bed.

"That seemed like a pleasant phone call. What was it about?" Reiner asked as he did work on his laptop. I looked at the ceiling.

"It was my friend Armin. They're going to one of there sister's house and wanted to see if I wanted to go with them. I won't be back till late though." I said as I looked over at him for some kind of response. He scoffed at me.

"What? Do you think you need my permission to hang out with your friends?" He asked and I blushed. Of course he didn't need to give me permission, but I didn't want to just leave him all alone.

"Well I know how much you miss me when I'm gone so I wanted to make sure that you would be okay without me." I replied to him. He shook his head at me.

"I would like to know where you've been all my life my friend. That would totally be an answer that I would give. Oh yeah, Bertl I need to ask you something." He said and I hummed for him to continue. "Well, you see since you're such a huge part of my life and I love you, I really do, I would love for you to come see the other part of my life with me." He said and I looked at him with a confused look.

He sighed and continued. "What I'm asking is, since this recital means so much to me, and you do too, will you do my the honor of having both of my important things in one place? Come see the recital with me?" He said and my blood ran cold. He wanted me to come see it with him, but he didn't know that he would be seeing me instead. I instantly remembered the thing that I was hiding from him.

Would he be mad at me for hiding it from him? Or would he laugh at me for being a dancer? I would have to cross that bridge when I got to it. For now, however, I would have to give the only answer I knew of.

"Of course I will."
~
It was about four when I left our room to go see Ms. Petra to pick up something for my friends. Armin had said that I could walk to where we were going, so I did. They had decided to go over early and I was fine with that.

It was cold, and I enjoyed walking in weather like this. It was relaxing for me. The cold air hitting any exposed skin that you might have, making you feel like an ice sculpture. It sounds crazy, but whoever said I was sane?

I still couldn't believe that I was in a place like this. It was all still very surreal to me. All of the people here would probably ask why I was so shocked to be in such a place. The answer has been given many a time for some people, but I would continue to answer it all the same. I've never been good enough at anything to get anywhere.

It was a wonder that anyone would read about a kid from where I'm from, let alone ask them to attend a school such as this. The cold had my entire attention while walking down the sidewalk. I was told that they were going to an apartment building and that it was forty-four A. When I finally found the set of apartments, I looked for the right one. I heard laughter from outside the door. I could see in the window that it was because Jean was chasing Eren around the room. I knocked and they immediately opened the door and pulled me in.

They all said hello and introduced me to Eren's sister, Mikasa. She was cooking some soup, which looked really good and the rest of the group was sitting at the large dining room table. I sat down in a chair they had pulled up for me and put the envelope that I had gotten from Ms. Petra on the table. They all looked at it as soon as it touched the table.

"What's in the envelope?" Armin asked and everyone became intrigued. Everyone looked at me and then the small package. I exhaled and prepared myself for the worst.

"Well, I would uh like to formerly invite all of you to my recital a week after thanksgiving." I said in a voice stronger than I thought I could. I opened the envelope and took out five tickets for the show. I gave them each one ticket and they all looked at them.

Jean smirked and looked at me. "So a dancer, huh?" It was a lot like what Eren had said and that's when I realized how similar they were. It wasn't their differences that caused them to fight, it was all their similarities. I nodded as a response to his question.

"I will most definitely be there! I love shows like this." Marco said with a smile, and I seen Jean look over at his companion and smile softly at the sight of him smiling. "Jean can we go?" Jean nodded and Marco got excited.

"Hey Bertolt, there's one more ticket. Is that for your roommate?" Armin asked softly. I looked down at the ticket left over. Reiner got in for free since he was one of the creators.

"No, I brought an extra in case Eren's sister wanted to go." I stood up and walked to where Mikasa was leaned up against the door frame. I handed it to her and she smiled kindly at me. I sat down and listened to them talk about how good the show was going to be, but then I remembered something. "Eren, I need to talk to you about something later." He looked at me like he was a bit worried but nodded anyway. Right after that, Mikasa announced the food was ready.

These are all practically filler chapters until we reach the climax of the story, but that's not until thanksgiving break so... Yeah