That Time [Bertholdt x Reader] [Modern!AU]

Drumming your fingers against the table, you looked across with disdain as Connie cracked some kind of joke that sent the whole group laughing hysterically. You had been in a bad mood since you woke up this morning, and if it wasn’t for Sasha’s insistence that you join them for lunch you would have holed yourself up in the library to avoid all human contact. You weren’t normally so anti-social, but there was just something about today that was really pissing you off and you really could not be bothered to deal with anyone right now.

Your contempt did not go unnoticed because as soon as the laughter had died down, Connie turned to you and raised a quizzical eyebrow. “Jeez (Name), what crawled up your ass and died?” He asked. It had meant to be a joke, and you knew that he was only playing, but it really struck a nerve with you.

“Your fucking sense of humour, that’s what.” You snapped acidly before you could control yourself. You felt somewhat embarrassed by your reaction, but you didn’t have the patience to apologise to anyone right now. If they had left you alone in the first place like you’d wanted then they wouldn’t be in this situation.

The whole table stared at your incredulously as you closed your eyes and took a sip of your drink. “Wow that was uncalled for.” Connie mumbled, hurt by your harsh words. Although you knew you should feel guilty, it actually somehow managed to irritate you further.

“Is there something wrong (Name)?” Sasha asked, reaching her hand out to rest on yours, her eyebrows knitted together in concern.

You shot her a look and snatched your hand away. “Nothing’s wrong. I just wanted to be left alone.” You chided.

From somewhere up the table, you heard Jean snort. “Must be that time of the month or something.” You heard him mutter under his breath. That comment tipped you over the edge. Slamming your palms flat against the table, you stood yourself up and glared at Jean with murderous intent before taking up your bag and storming out of the lunch hall.

How dare he? How fucking dare he make a comment like that? Did you not have the right to feel a little under the weather sometimes without it being due to your gender? Balling your fists so tight your knuckles began to pale and trying to blink back the tears you stomped through the corridor towards your locker.

“(N-name)! Wait!” You heard a familiar voice call out from behind you. You knew it was Bertholdt before you stopped and spun on your heel to face him. He was a nice guy, although you couldn’t say that the both of you were particularly close. He hung out with Annie and Reiner, whereas you were more friends with Sasha, Krista and Ymir. You did like him though. You didn’t want to be horrible to him, but he really had picked the wrong time to chase after you.

“What do you want Bertholdt?” You asked viciously, rubbing one of your eyes with your knuckles before the tears could slip. The taller male stopped in front of you, staring at you in surprise before he began to wring his hands in a nervous fashion.

“I-I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” He said quietly. You could already see beads of perspiration dotting his forehead, did this kid have some kind of sweat problem? “What Jean said was pretty insensitive... I’m sorry.” He added, his dark green eyes averted to the floor.

You clicked your tongue agitatedly, placing your hands on your hips. “Well I’m glad one of you has the balls to check on me. But it should be Jean who should apologise to me, not you.” You told him firmly.

“Yeah, I know… but you know what Jean’s like.” Bertholdt chuckled awkwardly, reaching a hand to rub the back of his neck. “So, what’s been bothering you?” He questioned, his eyes finally resting on yours.

“Nothing is wrong.” You repeated flatly. “I just can’t be bothered to put up with your bullshit today. I wanted to sit in the library in peace but no, Sasha had to drag me along to sit with you dorks so I could listen to you farting and making dick jokes or whatever the fuck kind of immature shit you guys do.” You knew you shouldn’t be angry at Bertholdt, but your frustration was becoming harder and harder to control.

You could see him wince visibly at your words, but you didn’t care. You’d had enough, and if he was stupid enough to chase after you then he could damn well listen to what you had to say.

“But apparently, I’m the “bitch” because I was forced to fucking listen to you natter on about this that and the other.” You used your fingers as quotation marks. “Well sorry not sorry.”

Bertholdt opened his mouth to say something, but the words were lost when he seemed to notice something. His face paled and slowly raised a finger to point at the floor where you stood. “Uh… (N-Name)… y-you’re bleeding.” He managed to stutter out.

You quickly looked down and noticed a few drops of blood splattered on the ground, batting your eyelashes in confusion until you felt something warm pooling in your underwear. “Oh for fuck’s sake.” You whispered as the sudden realisation of what was happening hit you. That explained everything.

God damn it. Jean was right.

“Y-you’re bleeding!” Your lifted your eyes to the taller male in front of you, who was holding on to his head like he didn’t know what to do, a look of horror plastered on his features. “Oh my God. Oh fuck. Somebody help! Call an ambulance!” He shouted, eyes darting around the hallway to try and find someone.

You stared at him for a moment dubiously before the corners of your lips tugged up in to a smirk and you felt yourself chuckling. Bertholdt looked at you like you were mad, and you began to laugh hysterically, clutching on to your sides for dear life.

“(Name)! What the fuck?!” He practically shrieked, grabbing a hold of your upper arms and shaking you as you cackled away. “This isn’t funny!”

“Oh Bertholdt.” You managed to choke out, wiping a tear of mirth from your eye as you began to calm down again. “You are such an idiot.” You said. “Do you not pay attention in science?”

“I-I don’t understand.” Bertholdt said, still holding on to you as if it were a matter of life or death. “What the hell is going on?”

You could feel that familiar ache beginning to grow in the pit of your stomach and you groaned in agony. “It’s my period, you idiot.” You told him.

The charcoal-haired male blinked as he took in the information before his face grew red and he pulled away from you. “O-oh…” He said softly, looking extremely embarrassed.

“Yes, oh.” You grumbled, still holding on to your stomach. The pain was getting more and more intense now. You really needed to get home and get changed and grab some painkillers. “Help me to the nurse’s office? I’m gonna need to go home.” You gave him a weak smile.

Bertholdt was silent for a moment, watching you contemplatively. “How about I just take you home?” He offered, putting a hand on your shoulder gingerly. “You’re gonna need to change and get stuff right? I can drive you. ” He returned your smile.

“I don’t want to get you in to trouble for missing school.” You told him, but he just shrugged his shoulders.

“I-I want to make sure you’re alright.” He said. You felt your smile grow gentler.

You bit you lip thoughtfully, your gaze dropping to the floor. “But I’ll get blood on your car.” You said, your cheeks tinged pink.

Bertholdt watched you for a moment before he stood back and began to remove the black sweatshirt he currently wore. As he took it off, the fabric of his t-shirt rode up to reveal his toned stomach and abdominal muscles, causing your face to heat up. Damn, you didn’t realise how built the boy actually was. He always wore baggy clothes, so you’d never noticed before.

“Here.” He said, offering you the sweater. “Just tie it around your waist.” He instructed.

You stared at him, completely taken aback. “B-but I don’t want to ruin it.” You mumbled, lifting a finger to scratch your cheek.

He shook the item of clothing at you. “Doesn’t matter.” He said. You took it from him tentatively, feeling the warmth radiating from it. You tied it around your waist as instructed and followed Bertholdt out of the school and towards the parking lot, where his car currently resided.


Arriving outside of your house, you looked at Bertholdt and smiled a little. “Thanks for this Bertholdt.” You said, touching his arm gratefully. “And I’m really sorry about all the things I said before.” You added, casting your eyes to the floor.

“It’s no problem.” Bertholdt assured you, a tiny smile playing on his lips. “Are your parents home?” He asked.

You shook your head. “My dad’s on a business trip and my mom works at the hospital.” You explained.

“I’ll come in with you then.” Bertholdt said before shutting down the vehicle and getting out before you could protest, heading up the driveway. You stared after him for a moment before you climbed out and followed him, reaching inside your bag to get your keys.

“You don’t have to do this you know.” You said as you unlocked the door, turning to face him.

“I want to make sure you’re alright.” He told you, as if it wasn’t obvious enough, his hands shoved casually in his pockets. You couldn’t help but smile up at him. You knew that he was a kind person, but you’d never really experienced it firsthand. He was actually kind of cute too, the more you looked at him.

Letting him inside, you showed him to the living room before heading upstairs to wash up and get changed in to something more comfortable. Trailing back downstairs with some washing, you peered around the door to expect to see Bertholdt sitting on the couch, but instead you couldn’t spot him. You furrowed your brows before hearing clattering coming from your kitchen. Padding inside, you found the boy stood by the kettle, waiting for it to boil. He looked up as you entered the room and offered you a kind smile.

“I was just making a hot chocolate. I hope you don’t mind.” He said nervously. You shook your head, stuffing the dirty clothes in to the washing machine and switching it on before opening up the medicine cabinet and grabbing some painkillers.

“So, Bertholdt, how come you’re being so nice to me?” You asked as Bertholdt handed you a mug of hot beverage. You studied him for a moment as he shifted awkwardly, a coy smile tugging at your lips.

“I just like to look after the people I care about.” Bertholdt mumbled, leading you back out in to the living room and flopping down on your sofa. You sat beside him leisurely, folding your legs underneath you and softly blowing on your drink.

The two of you sat in silence for a minute before you reached for the remote and switched on the TV as background noise. “So aren’t your parents going to be mad you skipped school?” You asked inquisitively, taking a sip of hot chocolate and wincing a little before you set it down on the coffee table in front of you.

Bertholdt shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. “I guess, doesn’t really matter though. It’s just a couple of hours, right?” He turned his head, watching you. “Besides, it’s kind of fun.” He gave you a half-smile. You nodded your head in agreement, grinning.

“You’re sweet. We should hang out more often.” You said, noting how a blush seemed to creep up his neck at your words. You tilted your head to the side quizzically as he cleared his throat and tugged at the collar of his shirt. “Are you alright?” You asked, placing a hand on his leg. He almost seemed to jump at your touch.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine.” He insisted, although you felt he wasn’t being truly honest. Instead of pushing it, you turned back to the TV, leaning to rest your head on his shoulder. You could feel him freeze, heat radiating from him like a sauna. You lifted your eyes to look at his face and saw a bead of sweat trickle down the side of his face. Frowning, you sat up and looked him straight in the eye.

“Bertholdt.” You said steadily, grabbing his attention. “Seriously, I’ve been in a bad mood all day, you don’t want to annoy me further. So what’s going on?”

He swallowed thickly, quickly avoiding your eyes by lifting his hands to cover his face. “I-I can’t say it, it’s too embarrassing.” He whimpered through his fingers.

You raised your eyebrows at him. Without thinking, you reached up and wrapped your fingers around his, gently trying to prise his hands from his face. “Is it about me being on my period?” You asked. He shook his head. “Is it…” You trailed off and thought for a moment. “Is it because you like me?” You asked, a hopeful tone to your voice.

You must have hit the nail on the head because the poor boy looked like he was about to have a heart attack. He stood up quickly, muttering about how he should leave before making a bee-line to the door. You jumped up and sprinted after him, grabbing him by the hand. “Bertholdt, wait.” You said, tugging him back towards you.

“You know, bringing me home and making sure I was okay was probably one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done for me.” You told him, still keeping a hold on his hand, feet planted firmly to the ground. His head was ducked in between his shoulders, his eyes shielded by his dark hair; face as bright as a tomato. You stepped forward, wrapping your arms around his midsection. He gasped a little, back stiffening as you leaned your head against his chest. “Thank you. I like you too.” You whispered.

After a while, you felt Bertholdt begin to relax and slip his arms around you, pulling you close to him. He was like a giant hot water bottle. It was nice. He stroked your hair tenderly before his fingers curled under your chin and he lifted your face to look up at him. Gradually, he leaned his face closer and captured your lips in his; giving you a sweet and affectionate kiss. You smiled and moved your arms to hang around his neck, pulling him further forward to deepen the embrace happily.

Soon you both pulled away for air, staring in to each other’s eyes fondly. “So… will you stay?” You asked brightly. He smiled at you and nodded his head once in agreement. You grinned and took him by the hand, leading him back to sit on the couch. If he still wanted you, could still kiss you after everything that had happened today, well, you knew that he was one of the nicest guys in the world.

And he was all yours.