Wings : Attack on Titan x Reader Scenarios / Imagines ▼

Just Do It [ University!Reiner x Applicant!Reader (Modern AU) ]

[ (a gift) for :: awberthxoldt ]

In the storming, swirling weather, amidst the dense gray clouds that clung low to the earth like moths to a light, the only source of luminescence for meters - perhaps kilometers, conceivably - was nothing more than a dim speck against the opaque fog that embraced the world. The dull yellow square of radiance was wedged tightly between many others like it. All the rest, of course, were dark. Yet, for whatever reason, on the third floor of an inexpensively-constructed apartment complex, the window with the light lay, shining through the layers of murk that surrounded it.

The electric alarm clock on the wooden table blinked the time in and out in an unscheduled rhythm. 4:45, 4:45, 4:45. Papers were strewn about it chaotically, and a pair of anxious hands darted in and out of view, pencil scribbling furiously between abrupt pauses and groans of displeasure. Your print was wobbly and almost unreadable, but you couldn't stop your hands from shaking. Whether this was from the three cups of coffee or the stress would forever remain unknown.

Your eyes jumped from line to line of the paper as you decided to abandon the pencil for now. Resuming it now would have only produced equally disastrous results, so you had to wait a bit until the caffeine settled in or your brain stopped sending jittery impulses across your nerves. Again and again you read through the eloquently-written paragraphs. You had already read it a million times, but a few more wouldn't hurt at all. After all, the better you remembered your introductions, the better the chances that you would get into university.

Survey Institution of Sciences. Your dream school.

Ever since a young age, you had dreamed of one day gaining entry to such a school. You never really knew what you wanted to be when you got older - perhaps that was why Survey was the right place for you. They specialized in more than just science, contrary to their name: the arts, literature, language, sports, law, medicine...it was all there. There, in one of the best schools of the country. When you were a child, this had all seemed within reach. Your grades were high in every subject. Schoolwork was your highest priority. You couldn't think of a day without homework. Yet that had been how you'd liked it. The satisfaction of all your effort was worth it.

Logically, as a teenager, you had entered the upper grades with the same expectations for yourself. And at first you had maintained your legacy with flying colors. You made great friends, were ranked highest in your classes...it was all great. This was when you truly knew you were destined for Survey Institution.

After a year, everything changed.

For some reason, no matter how hard you tried, you couldn't keep up. The piles of work added up, and, eventually, the amount of free time you had dwindled so far down that there wasn't a moment spent on anything but schoolwork. Although it felt like hell you'd still kept up. Your grades were no longer the best, but they were acceptable. Certainly still higher than most others'.

In your last year before university, even this, too, fell apart. You had no idea what happened. Somewhere along the insanity of it all, you had lost yourself. Your life was no longer about you - it was about your teachers, your school, your homework, when the next test was, when the next quiz was, what was due tomorrow, how few meals you could skip without passing out to finish it all, how few hours of sleep you could run on. Insomnia had somehow snuck inside your head and began to throw you off, too. You were sleepy at school and sleepy at home. It took two caffeinated sodas and a large coffee to even get you out of bed.

You would've continued this self-deprecating cycle if not for the one person in the world that mattered more to you than getting into Survey Institution: Reiner Braun, your boyfriend of three years, at the time. He had noticed the severe decline in your health and practically forced you to step away from schoolwork. Somehow, with his help, you managed to finish the year with passing grades.