No More Wishes (Cheating!Reiner X Bertholdt Fanfic)

Part 5

"Sorry I couldn't stay."

Bertholdt wasn't really all that sorry.

The moment he stepped out, cool air licked his skin, dancing over his cheeks and swirling over his ears. It wasn't a cold day, but spending so much time in the warm cafe made any temperature drop seem chilly. A shiver ran down his spine, but he ignored it and tagged after Erwin.

"Well, that was unexpected," his boss mumbled once he'd caught up. They were walking in pace, side-to-side, but Erwin didn't look at him. It appeared to be more of an internally directed comment than a voiced grievance, but Bertholdt decided to chime in anyways.

"Yeah. Life's funny with coincidences, isn't it?" he hummed.

"Yeah." Erwin blinked, before a nostalgic and pensive smile filled his face. It was a stark contrast to the scowl he'd been sporting minutes prior. "Like how we met. Who would've guessed, right?"

Bertholdt nodded. "Too good to be true! Makes you wonder if it really was coincidence."

"Huh?" Erwin eyed him suspiciously.

"No, no, I phrased that wrong." He shook his head, as if to dismiss that statement. "I just think it's so crazy that out of all the 7 billion people in the world, we ended up reuniting. My boss could've been anyone else. I could've worked at any other firm. But somehow, I ended up here. The odds are clearly stacked against us, and yet..." Bertholdt looked at Erwin. "I found you."

Oh, that really did him in. A choked "Goodness!" fell softly from Erwin's lips as his face shot scarlet. From that point, he dissolved into a myriad of frantic actions to hide his embarrassment and delight — all, but not limited to, eyes averting to the ground, left hand fidgeting with his right sleeve, right hand fidgeting with his left sleeve before covering his mouth, and most importantly, the slight way his ears perked whenever Bertholdt said something vaguely romantic. He'd always been observant of people's behaviors and quirks, but anyone could've told that Bertholdt had hit Erwin's soft spot. However, Erwin must have not considered Bertholdt to be just anyone. In his mind, Bertholdt would have been some new-fangled breed of obliviousness to not register the flustered reactions.

Bertholdt would give credit when due, though; his boss composed himself much faster than usual. "A-ah, so you're saying that there must be some sort of greater force at work?" If one listened carefully, the faintest of tremors could be heard in Erwin's voice.

"Yeah. Like fate. Like some sort of red string."

"But...doesn't the red string connect lovers, or something?"

Bertholdt, who had a penchant of saying the right thing at the right time, smiled and replied, "Well, what do you think that means for us?"

Erwin combusted on spot, and it took everything in Bertholdt's body to not laugh. He wore a perfectly blank stare as his boss halted and turned shades of red he didn't even know the names of. While it would've been fun to tease him a little more and see how much wider those eyes could get or what else would fall out of that trembling lower lip, Bertholdt decided to spare him.

He spun forward on his heel, taking a few steps ahead. "But, lover or friend, I'm still so glad we had the chance to meet. So, thank you."

There was a brief pause. "'Thank you'?" Erwin questioned. "You make it sound like I was responsible." He had cleared his throat and pulled himself together by time he'd returned to his place beside Bertholdt.

He shook his head. "No, I was just thanking whatever force might've brought us together."

"Well then, thank you."