Chapter Text
Annie walks into the bar, stopping only as she sees the long-haired blonde man seated on one of the Bocana chairs. His leather jacket's zipper clanking against the metal rod of the chair. "Armin Arlert. It's been a long time." Annie says with amusement. It's been years since she last saw him. The younger man she knew is completely different from the man that is seated now close by. Long gone were the short bob, the ridiculous glasses, and awkwardness radiating from him.
"Oh." Armin turns to look at her. "So now you know me, just drop the act Annie, we were never friends. So don't even pretend we were."
Annie walks closer to him. "I understand as to why Eren is cold to me. But why are you so rude to me?"
Armin looks away from Annie. "Whomever he hates, I hate as well."
Annie scoffs. "That's some lovely friendship you got there." She says dryly.
"But you know, you two only ever got close with one another after he and I fell apart."
Armin laughs bitterly. "Now who told you that complete lie? We've always been close," Armin begins. "Seems to me you've never really paid attention after all."
Annie tilts her head, an eyebrow raised.
"Maybe if you hadn't been so busy withㅡ" Armin catches himself and hummed with a strained smile. "You would know that we've had a greater bond than you ever had with him."
Annie only meets his gaze, solemnly. She breathed through her nose harshly.
"Your ignorance has no limit. Don't live your life with ignorance and tell yourself that you've always been in the right because you never had."
Annie's lips pressed in a thin line before harshly digging her nail into the cuticle of her thumb. "You sure have a lot of time to be here at his hour."
"Eren told me to stop by so I did. Had I known you would be here, I would've just left." He says taping his fingertips against the bar.
Eren then walks behind the bar, wiping down a flask with a rag. Armin looks up to him and mutters a bye.
He gets up from the Bocana chair and walks past Annie before he abruptly stops. Sniffing the air and turning towards Annie. "Hey…" Annie turns towards the blonde man.
"Where did you get the perfume you're wearing?"
Eren stares at his best friend confused as he stops mid-wiping a bottle of champagne. Annie only stares at him before she responds.
"My boyfriend got it from France during his business trip," The blonde woman says with a smirk. "You wouldn't know even if I told you."
Armin looks stunned. "That's impossible, this is mine…" His blue eyes looked down on the floor before he glanced back at the woman.
"Are you sure? Ask him again to make sure he didn't buy it here in Manhattan."
Annie has a disgusted look on her face. "Why are you comparing a perfume from Manhattan to the one in France?"
Armin laughs humorously. "What's wrong with perfumes made by a small business in Manhattan? Besides, I studied in France for a semester, or have you forgotten that too?"
Annie rolls her eyes. "I'm positive that it's mine. I'm the only one who has the recipe. I spent months making that." Armin says with pure confidence. Annie looks weary as she listens to Armin. Somehow she felt a strange feeling lingering within her that didn't feel right.
"So ask your boyfriend exactly where in France he purchased that. It's possible that they copied mine."
Annie sighs. "Sure, I'll ask if I have time. But he's extremely busy, so I don't know if I'll ever have the chance to ask a ridiculous question like that."
Armin looks seconds away from pouncing into the woman. He sighs as he turns to Eren and waves harshly before he heads out the door.
✘✘
"Thanks!"
"T-thank you."
Eren nodded with a smile as he placed two "Spanish skies" martinis before them. Yet again the girl took out her phone and took several pictures of their martinis. The young blonde man sheepishly tells Eren that she won't post the picture online.
"Hey, are you single? You're cute." The wide-eyed brunette says with a lopsided grin.
Eren raises an eyebrow, completely thrown off by the random and bold question. He thought the young couple was dating or something along that line.
"Gabi, shut up." The blonde hissed.
"No, I already have someone." Eren blurts out suddenly even before he catches himself and realizes what he said. Shit.
"Aww, that's a shame! How did you two meet?" Gabi asks without any shame, leaning her elbows on the counter bar. The young man beside her sighs, sending a silent sorry look to Eren.
"Well….there's this beautiful scenery I happen to see every night to get a cup of coffee…they happen to be there too, that's it.."
"That's sweet, short! but sweet." Gabi said, taking another sip from her martini. "Oh to watch the beautiful sky at night sharing a cup of coffee with someone.." She sighs with a smile.
Eren didn't bother to say anything as he closed the lid of the shaker. Not noticing the way Levi leaned slightly closer to Eren, hearing their whole conversation. The dark-haired man's lips shut tight, his eyes slightly staring off into a cocktail glass.
"Sir." The woman attempts to catch Levi's attention. No response from the man.
"Excuse me," The woman calls Levi again. This time the older man turns to the woman.
"Yes? I apologize."
"I'd like an old-fashioned."
Levi nods. "Sure." He leans towards the brunet, taking the cocktail shaker as he prepares her cocktail. Rolling up his gray sleeves from his dress shirt, exposing the veins running through his forearm as he used a muddler to crush the ice very hard, his strong showing as he rattles the counter bar.
Eren looks at Levi from the corner of his eye. With each slam against the ice, his dark bangs fall over his eyes. His biceps are more visible under the gray shirt. He looks at him, dazed and confused.
✘✘
"Hey, hey! Look at this," Armin calls the brunet. The blonde man shoves his phone to his face. Eren holds his phone and looks at the screen.
"The post that I made on-site is going viral and is posted on another website I usually visit."
Just as Armin said, he looks at the website, different from the one originally posted. A different forum with as many people active. Trending on the front page with over one thousand comments.
"I bet everyone knows who they are now. People's noisiness paid off," Armin says looking at Eren. He takes off his face mask. "You think his wife read this?"
Eren hands him the phone, nodding. "Yeah, better to find out sooner than later."
He looks at his phone and looks back at the bathroom mirror. His fingers itch, a lot. Itch to touch his phone. Desperation creeping upon him. He leans on the bathroom sink, looking at the phone. He sighs, biting his lip, grabbing his phone, and typing a text.
Me; 10:42 P.M
How's your dad's birthday party?
No answer. His eyes settled at the small black gift bag. A present for his birthday by one of his friends, Mikasa. He smiles softly as his fingertips trace the embedded letters of the bag. 'I Love U'. He then pressed the call button.
It rings.
It rings.
It rings.
It keeps ringing.
But they ignore it.
They ignore it as they're too busy sharing a moment. Too busy to finally taste one another. Losing themselves in the kiss in which Annie and Mikasa share.
✘✘
Several days later.
Annie finally gets in her expensive black car. Placing her bag in the passenger seat, she pressed the call button on her phone. "Zeke, today you're coming back to Manhattan right?"
"Yes, I'm on my way," The man responds. "I need to head back to the office though, I'm sorry."
"You do?" Annie says with disappointment. She thought he was going to finally be free from his work. After all the vigorous hard work without breaks, surely her lover is exhausted.
"Yes, I know we made dinner plans today. I forgot about the company dinner, it flew over my head."
"A company dinner…then can I at least stop by?" Annie says, hopeful, not letting the desperation show in her voice. "I bought a few things for you and your mother," Failing. "I could just drop them off."
"I can pick them up later. You must be tired from work." Zeke says. Annie shakes her head. "I'm never too tired to meet with you."
Zeke hums. "How cute, It's been ages since we've met. I've missed you," He sighs deeply, not in annoyance but relief. A heavy burden lifting off his shoulders. "Stop by then," Annie smiles, a smile that reaches her eyes, a victory. "I'll let you know where we go once all this is over."
"Okay, I'll see you later."
✘✘
Eren walks on the sidewalk, passing several deli shops through Central Park. He sends out a text to Armin, telling the man he's on his way to his shop. Just as he looks from his phone, he sees familiar blonde hair. The blonde man walks to the passenger side of the car to shut the door. He walks to the opposite door, turning as Eren manages to see his face. Zeke.
"But he's extremely busy, so I don't know if I'll ever have the chance to ask a ridiculous question like that."
Zeke smiles at the unknown person before getting in the car himself. Eren looks at the passenger window. The only thing the brunet saw is a dangling fine silver plated earring before the car drove off.
✘✘
"A full drop of floral scent will be too strong. You won't be able to smell the other scents," Armin says, as he takes a toothpick and takes a swab of the floral scent drop. "If you use a toothpick, It'll help you control the scents even better."
The three women nodded as they continued to experiment on their scented bottles of perfume. The blonde man assists the ladies with any help regarding Ph levels and a mixture of scents to create an equal balance. Armin glanced at the window stills. His friend sitting down, his green eyes watching the rain start pouring.
"I'll leave you, ladies, to it," Armin says as he leaves the table to go sit next to Eren. "Are you still thinking about that?" The blonde asks him.
"I'm just surprised," Eren says, still watching the pouring rain, he then turns to Armin. "My mind is just bamboozled. Wasn't he too busy to meet up with her?"
Armin closed his eyes briefly, sighing as he listened to Eren's rambling. "If he's so busy, what was Zeke even doing in this area?" Eren asks, his fingers fiddling with a floral scent bottle serum. So much for wanting to see him, yet Zeke couldn't bother to give Eren a call or a text.
"They might be colleagues, or just business partners? His secretary? Who knows. Ask Annie then."
"Ask what?" Eren genuinely asks.
The blonde man rolls his eyes. "Ask her if his business trip was here in Manhattan." He takes the bottle from his hands and settles it along the neat row of other serums on the table.
Eren shakes his head. "No, I don't care about them like that."
Armin leans back on the chair, crossing his arms. "Then why are you so curious."
"Because he's my brother? I don't know, it's just weird." Eren says with a grimace. Sure he doesn't really like him, but getting in contact with one another wouldn't hurt right?
Armin hummed as he returned to the table occupied with the group of women. "So, have you all figured out a name for the perfume?"
✘✘
"I'm here, where are you?" Annie says on the phone, walking towards the hall of the law firm.
"I'm walking out right now," Zeke responds. Annie looks at the empty reception, most likely already left to get ready for the big company dinner. As Annie turns around, she immediately spots Zeke, a hand on the air with a wave.
The blonde woman walks towards him and holds out two heavy shopping bags to him. "Here."
"So much clothes, you didn't have to go through so much trouble." Zeke says with a gentle smile.
"Of course I do, you're wearing this suit again after I told you to throw it out." She says, tugging on the navy blue suit, which fitted him perfectly.
Zeke chuckles. "I do like this suit very much."
"Too bad, It's made of cheap materials, a lawyer like you shouldn't wear cheap clothes."
Zeke hummed as he embraced the woman. Her head rested on his chest as she smiled softly, wrapping her own arms around him.
"All the stress from work is gone now." He says in a low voice. They stay like that for a while before they pull away from the warm hug.
"Zeke, when are you free? I want to talk to you."
Zeke furrowed his eyebrows. "Is there something wrong?" He says concerned.
"No," Annie says with a slight shake of her head. "I just want to spend time with you."
"I see, I'm sorry. Work has been quite hectic lately, "The blonde man says readjusting his glasses. "But, once I'm done, you and I will have time for ourselves and go on a vacation."
Annie nods. "That would be nice, yes."
A pair of heels loudly clicks against the floor. A woman stops next to the couple.
"Oh Hi, We've met before, haven't we?" The dark-haired woman says with a friendly smile.
Annie stares at Pieck. Her own smile quickly disappeared the instant she heard her soft and velvet voice.
"We've only met once briefly but it's nice to see you again." Pieck continues, her eyes crinkling. Not seem to notice Annie's glowering stare.
"You two met already?" Zeke asks, looking between the two women.
"Yes, while I was visiting Yelena." Annie says dully almost monotone. Her blue eyes still on Pieck, her lips tightened.
"We didn't really talk much." Pieck said as she looked between the two blondes.
"I didn't really introduce myself properly to you, but I'm Pieck Finger. Despite Mr. Jaeger being a few years my senior," Pieck looks at the blonde man. "We rely on each other a lot. Yes?"
"I don't." Zeke says in a playfully as he looks at the small dark-haired woman.
"Oh, is it just me then? How cold!" She laughs as Zeke chuckles. Leaving Annie to look down at the floor. Not meeting their eyes. Pushing unnecessary thoughts down.
✘✘
Two women came into the lively speakeasy bar. Hesitating as they walk together, looking around the place.
"Come on in." Eren said to the women with a gentle smile. "Is this your first time here? Let me prepare your welcome drinks."
"No," One of the women says quickly. Stopping Eren from moving further. "I'd like something else," The woman looks at her companion. "I'd like a glass of 'between the sheets."
"Hey now, don't ruin the night." Her companion says, clearly annoyed.
"I just want to try it." The dark-haired woman says quietly, sadness laced her soft voice.
The curly-haired woman sighs. Her small face scrunched up in worry. "Fine," She turns to the brunet. "I'd like the same please."
Eren nods. "Okay." He begins to work on their cocktails. Listening to the two women as they continue to talk amongst themselves.
"Can't believe you barged in there, you pretty much asked to get humiliated."
"They didn't see my face." She said, oddly calm from whatever bad situation she was involved in. Eren gave the women their fresh cocktails.
"But didn't you go to his company?"
The printing machine turned on, it turned on by itself and was printing out paper after paper. Was someone using his printing machine? He watches as it continues to print out even more. As it finishes, he grabs the batch and realizes it was photos. Printing photos of his colleagues. Franz and Hannah. Photos of the couple kissing. Smiling, Sharing a delicious dessert, on a date and so on. He looks around the Reiss workplace. All the printing machines printing in unison.
"Are you guys seeing these?" His co-workers gather around, some having the same batch of the photos, some looking through them gasping and whispering to one another.
"What are you guys looking at?" Someone asks. With that, some quickly turned and walked away upon hearing Franz Kefka. He looks at the printed photos and quickly snatches them from their hands. "What the hell? Where did you all get this from?"
"I dunno' you tell me." He says defensively. Franz gritted his teeth as he walked away from his cubicle.
Franz goes to his own cubicle and settles the photos on his desk. His printer turns on ominously as it prints out a paper with a big and black ink text.
You'll be paying one hell of alimony, so be prepared
Franz's eyes widen as he hears his printer working its magic again as it prints out to what it seems a document. With his hands shaking he takes hold of the document and curses loudly as he reads the top header and the familiar signature and writing. Only a signature at the bottom left blank. Divorce papers. He closes his eyes and covers his face as he leaves the work offices.
"Oh! Mr Kefka, a lady left this for you." The male receptionist calls out to Franz just as he was to call his wife on the phone. Franz looks at the man, takes out a red suitcase and lays it on the reception desk. Franz hesitantly opens the suitcase only to find a pink sticky note.
I wanted to pack your things but there wasn't much. You can have the car, Make sure you pay the monthly installment
Franz sees the car keys and immediately groans. He closes the suitcase and bats his head against the suitcase, cursing loudly as the receptionist repeatedly asks him if he is okay.
"See, this is why I don't mess with you. The quietest ones are the scariest you know?" The curly-haired woman says with a grin. "Hopefully that bastard knows to never mess with you."
"I still can't believe he came here with that woman, on our son's birthday..." She says softly. Her eyes casted down on the counter bar.
Eren frowned, learning that one of his clients is the wife and her friend of the man who committed infidelity.
"But I wonder who posted that? Did they want everyone to know?" She harshly asks as she takes another long swig of her cocktail.
Eren winces, biting his lip. His brown bangs hid his eyes, creating a shadow over his features.
"I'm actually grateful that it was posted. I wasn't blinded. What happened has happened." She said with a faint smile.
"Anka, From now on I'm going to live well. I'm going to start working again, I'm going to work twice as hard." She said with determination.
Anka nodded. "That's good, divorce isn't a flaw these daㅡ cry as much as you want, let your frustration out." Anka said as she rubbed her back comforting the woman who was sobbing and crying quietly.
Eren hands out a handkerchief to the woman. His soft eyes looked at her, not with pity, a silent support and comfort.
She took the handkerchief with a small strained smile. "I want Beer." She mutters.
Anka nodded with a sigh.
Eren stopped cleaning the bottle of champagne, he settles it down as he quickly opens the small cooler and grabs a bottle of Beer and sets it down in front of the women.
The women look at Eren as if he grew another head. Eren chuckles. "You said you wanted beer, should I make beer cocktails?"
Anka blinks and smirks. "Are we allowed to have this here?"
"Just for tonight." Eren said with a wink.
"Okay."
Eren nodded as he began to prepare the cocktails. A perfectly rounded ice at the base, as Eren began whisking together gin, lemon juice and a few drops of honey, using the muddler to stir before adding the lager beer.
"It's a Beer Bee! Meaning it's more a shandy drink due to the slight sweetness. I enjoy making this, it's easy to make and makes me feel good." Eren said as he served them their cocktails. "These ones are on the house."
"Thank you." Anka said before clicking her drink against her friend's. Both women took a drink of the cocktail.
"The other one tasted bitter, but this one's good." She said, her smile genuine and reaching her beautiful eyes.
✘✘
"We should have dinner together sometime, I would like for us to be friends." Pieck said as she held onto Annie's hand. Warm and gentle against her small and cold hand.
"Sure, I'll check my schedule." Annie said as she tugged her hand away to push her blonde strands of hair back.
Zeke narrowed his eyes at Pieck. "Stop chatting and go back inside, They're going to start looking for me as well." He sternly says with a small smile.
"I was about to go." She said with a roll of her eyes. She looks back at Annie. "I should go, let's meet again."
As the woman begins to walk away, her steps falter as she stops, turns back at the blonde woman just as Annie calls her name.
"You have the same perfume as I do." Annie said, not meeting her eyes. Looking elsewhere, not even in her direction before looking straight at Pieck, her blue eyes glimmering, shiny and red.
"It smells the same."
Silence.
Silence.
More Silence.
"Oh, really? It smells nice doesn't it? Guess we all have the same taste." She smiles as she walks away.
✘✘
Hitch; 9:34 P.M
Isn't this about your bar?
[ Image Attached]
www.blind.com/reisscompany/287456
Annie read the attached picture, she pressed the link and began to scroll down towards the comments, reading comment after comment as she quickly closed the website and tossed her phone on the passenger seat of her car. She took out her pills from her purse and a bottle of water. Seeking immediate relief.
✘✘
It poured earlier in the afternoon as he went to Armin's shop, making the weather cloudy, the breeze cold as it caressed his face. It had stopped raining while he was working, an hour ago. Still, it didn't stop Eren from having his ice coffee despite the chilly weather which also made his scalp itch.
As he sits down on the steel table, he stares at the beautiful scenery. The moonlight above him, the ocean water glistening, different shades of blue and green of the city's lights illuminating the skyline.
Eren hears the red coffee machine operate. He glances back and sees Levi, two small cups of coffee in each hand. The man mixed the two cups together, blending them to make sure it wasn't too hot. He settles one cup in front of the brunet while he sits down on the table.
"Thanks, though you didn't have to." Eren said with a small smile.
Levi snorts. "It's cold out here, you were shaking like a puppy fresh out the bathtub."
Eren felt a warm heat on his cheeks. "Why haven't you gone home?"
"I can't sleep, insomnia can be a bitch."
Eren chuckles, nodding. "We're complete night owls, practically nocturnal." He says before taking a sip from the warm cup of coffee.
"Levi," Eren hesitates. The man looks up from his cup. "You don't dislike anyone do you?"
"Yeah I do, a lot of people." Levi says bluntly.
Eren hums. "I'm not one of them?"
Levi shakes his head. "Lucky for you, no." He says with a wink.
Eren sheepishly smiles and looks down at his cup. "Say if there's someone you dislike, borderline hate, but you have to tell them something, what would you do?"
Levi shifts in his seat. "Like what?"
"Something you think they should know about." Eren didn't know as to why he was he walking talking to Levi about this, he didn't want to bother the man about stupid things. Yet it didn't seem like Levi was annoyed or disinterested in whatever Eren is talking about. Levi was silent yet listening to Eren.
"Then I'd tell them." Levi said. "A while ago, when I was in the military, there was an accident with two of my comrades. I made a selfish decision to let one of them go. It was better for the group, I didn't say a word to them,"
Eren stayed silent, somehow surprised at Levi's military background yet somehow having a hunch about it. Eren nodded to let the man continue.
"I didn't want to live with guilt nor regret so we talked."
Eren didn't know he was holding in his breath, he thought his comrades were notㅡ at least they talked like normal adults.
"I don't want to live with guilt. Even if it involves someone I dislike. Guilt isn't something I want to feel whenever I think of those I dislike." Eren said truthfully. He didn't want to experience guilt or regret. He wants to feel relieved and free.
"We don't have enough time to care about those we like. You shouldn't be bothered by those you dislike," Levi says with a long sip of his coffee. "It's not worth it, a waste of time."
It's not worth it.
It's a waste of time.
It's true, why would he continue to think about Annie or Zeke. He dislikes them, they can live their own lives just like he's living his own life. There's no way for him to completely avoid them, they will always be tied to his life. It's not Eren's problem or business, they could fuck themselves for all he cares. It's beyond him.
His phone rings. Eren takes out his phone and accepts the call. "Hello?"
"Where are you?"
Annie.
"What?"
Levi mouths Eren asking who's on the other line.
"Just tell me."
"I got off work, why?" Eren mouths that it's Annie.
"Come to the bar, we need to talk."