Archive of Our Own

“Karina, I assure you I’ll have the money by the end of the month. I spoke to my old manager and they said they’ll transfer me some sort of hybrid redundancy funds so when I get it you’ll be the first one I pay.”

You aimlessly scratched away at the chipping whitewash that lined your window panel, your mobile sandwiched between your ear and shoulder. 

A rather distressed sigh carried over the receiver to your end of the phone. 

“I get it but… It’s been two months already since your last payment. You said to bare with you the other two times and I—”

“I know, I know! And it’s my absolute sincerest apologies, but I’m being honest with you when I say It’s just genuinely been a sucky few months. I promise you, I will definitely pay everything I’ve missed in full. Karina, you have my word.”

The light bulb that cascaded a luminous glow around your room, shortly flickered. You’d definitely have to change that soon, most likely tomorrow. The last thing you wanted was to be shrouded in darkness when you most needed the light. 

On the other end of the line Karina, your landlord, had little to say. 

You could hear her do that restless thing she did with her throat whenever you presented her with a weighing situation. She’s always had grace when it came to you concerning the apartment but everyone has their tolerance limits. You just hope this third time of your delayed payments wasn’t hers. 

Walking away from the pane, you sat down on top of your bed. Nervousness seeped through your system as your leg bobbled from the tapping of your toes, your voice desperate. 

“Karina, just bear with me. Please.”

Another sigh sounded from the other end of the phone but this time it was one of defeat. 

“Okay, okay. Fine. I’ll give you till the end of the month to pay for your last three instalments— in full! If I don’t receive it by then, expect a prompt eviction notice. Got it?”

You nodded frantically, even though the woman couldn’t see you. 

“Yes! That’s absolutely fine! I promise you, you’ll have it by then. Honestly, thank you so much.”

After a few more exchanges, the call ended. 

With a lazy demur, you threw your phone beside you onto your bed before you yourself flopped down onto it. 

Being laid off from a consistent income job sucked. Being unable to find another one for almost the same amount of time sucked even more. Sometimes, you genuinely wondered whether everyone in the world was whispering about you behind your back in some extensive network club because why didn’t anyone want to employ you?! 

You have great qualifications, even better work experience! Your references were all willing to give you a good say and your track record for company loyalty was exceptional. To make things worse, everyone was supposedly hiring. So why is it that you struggled to find a job?!

Thankfully, Karina was the most understanding of them all. 

She knew how things in this life could be and had shown you favour like no other. But alas, even she had her limits and you were in need of a solution quickly. 

Scooching closer up onto your bed so that your back rested against your pillow, you pulled your laptop from your bedside table and opened it up, placing the device between your legs. 

“Back to job searching we go, huh?” 

With an exasperated sigh, you logged in.

You hated this part. It was so tedious having to try and search for a job. On one side you felt like you’d be content with anything, desperate to just start earning again! But on the other hand, there was a part of you that wanted to upgrade from your last place of work, earn a bit more and meet better conditions. 

Between those two needs, you had to constantly weigh in your head whenever you applied for a job.  

It was no use applying for something knowing in three months time, you wouldn’t be content there. You’d rather be in the position you were in now than in a job that you dreaded.

Still yet, none of this made job searching easier. Your device opened up to the page you last had it on. All it was was a reminder of your countless failed attempts and declined acceptances.

Clicking the logo at the top, it took you back to the home landing page.

Maybe, if you scrolled through the same 10 job seeking pages you have been all week, something new would pop up. 

The sound of muted banging lucidly waived in and out of your thoughts as you could consciously feel yourself waking up. You stirred softly, the balmy feeling of the morning sun bathed you and your bed in toasty warmth, making it irresistibly tempting to fall back into a deep sleep.

And considering you were jobless and had nothing but perilous job searching on your itinerary, that seemed like a good idea.

As you cracked open your eyes to move into a more comfortable position, you realised that you must have fallen asleep whilst in the midst of job searching. 

It seems that you had automatically slipped down into a sleeping position overnight but alarmingly, your laptop was hanging over the very edge of your bed tantalisingly aiming for the hard floor. 

With a jolt, you got up to quickly bring it back onto the safety of the blankets, trying your best not to push it over with your movements. Luckily, you had caught it in time, a subconscious sigh of relief leaving your mouth at the close situation. 

However, now that you were more awake, your ears caught attention to the banging from earlier. 

In the milky state of slumber, you had thought it to be construction work or a noisy neighbour. But now that you listened closer, you realised that it was the sound of someone knocking at your front door. 

“Oh, shit!”

Without second thought, you jumped up from your bed and scurried in the direction of the door. 

You weren’t expecting anyone but the person must have been knocking for a while considering you heard it in your sleep. Whoever it was must have been adamant and so your first thought was to open it without question or presentation. 

As you unlocked and swung the door open, the first words that tumbled out of your mouth were apologies. 

“I’m so sorry I didn’t hear you knocking! I was still asleep and—“

“Finally. Thought you’d never open up.” 

In front of you stood a man who you didn’t know. 

You tried to rack your brain for who he could be, considering he seemed to be expectant of you. 

You squinted at him. 

He didn’t seem like a postman; His evergreen hoodie and khaki trousers said elsewise. His stoic demur also seemed to rule out a few other options. 

You didn’t miss how your mind then lured you to the worst case scenario, the possibility of him being a stalker or someone dangerous, seeing as to how he had his hoodie over his head, masking most of his face. 

As soon as the calculations started flying across your mind, you instinctively pushed into the door, trying to back track over your initial mistake of opening it wide. 

“I’m sorry. Can I help you?”

The man scoffed. Not in a harsh way but almost as if he found what you said funny. He dipped his head with a chuckle before looking up at you. You didn’t miss how he then folded his arms over his chest. 

“You’re so obvious. I could literally see you working all of that out in your head just now.” 

“Pardon?” You gave him an alarming look. 

“I’m not some weird person or anything if that’s what you’re thinking.” 

It was exactly what you were thinking, which didn’t make his case any better. 

In fact, it supported all of the suspicions you had. Wouldn’t it be ideal for someone who preys on others to be able to read body language so well? 

You pushed the door forward a bit more.

“I think you must have gotten the wrong door.” 

“I very much haven’t.” 

The man reached a hand up to brush his hood off of his head, the sun instantly catching the bleach blonde hair that adorned his crown. He rubbed a hand over the bristle style before folding his arms again. 

“My Ma owns the place. She asked me to come and do a property check.” 

The sun was shining from behind him so the overcast shadow distorted the natural contour of his face but if you weren’t on alert for your safety, you would have instantly been able to tell that this man was related to Karina in some way. He definitely was a spitting image of her — and you had only seen Karina in person a handful of times. 

“That still doesn’t mean anything to me. I’m sorry but I genuinely think you’ve gotten the wrong door—“

You attempted to inch the door closed even further, the latch close to its lock but before it could shut, the man gripped his hand to the side of the door frame. Any closer and you would have caught his hand.

“You're the one who's behind on her payments, right? By three months? Ma told me you had the convo last night. Ring any bells?”

Okay, so that technically was sensitive information you had only confided in Karina to, but it still didn’t put you at ease that he knew that much. In theory, he could have easily gotten this information through spying on you or tapping call airwaves. 

Now that you think about it, your curtains had been wide open throughout the call and night. 

You didn’t waiver in opening the door up to him but you also didn’t close it any further. Last thing you wanted to do was admit to him that the information he had was right and so you expressed yourself plainly. 

“I don’t trust you’re here for the intentions you say you are.”

The man looked as if he wanted to groan or at least make a complaint at your stubbornness but instead he only glanced down towards his shoes again before begrudgingly pulling his phone out his back pocket. 

“Look, how about I call her now and get her to talk to you. How does that sound?” 

That did sound a bit better but you were still hesitant to adhere. If he was someone trying to trick you, he could easily use a fake recording or have someone on the other end mask her voice. 

It sounded like a solution but there were still so many issues with that option and so you had to think fast on your feet. 

“No. It’s not good enough.”

“Not good enough?”

The man looked at you pointedly. 

You gulped, your throat slightly dry from waking up and having a conversation first thing in the morning. Well, that’s what you told yourself anyways. You worried your bottom lip between your teeth before giving your solution. 

“Video call her instead. I wanna see her too.” 

There was a slight pause as the man watched you with a credulous look. You could tell he wasn’t prepared for the inquiry but he quickly got over it as he chuckled lightly, clearly amused. 

“Fine, fine. Sure.” He gingerly tapped away at his phone, the smirk on his face still present. “At least we know you’re cautious about who you trust. That comes in handy.” He muttered. 

You made an expression of irked annoyance but the man wasn’t looking in your direction to see it. However, your face seemed to slowly contort into something of interest as the first press of cologne tickled your nose. 

Well, at least he smelt nice. 

The familiar shrill of a call rang aloud, the sound drawing your eyes towards the man’s phone before cutting short on the third bell, the screen popping up with a familiar face. 

“Reiner?” 

The man glanced up to look at you through the silver of doorway you left open, almost as a Told-You-So before looking back down at his phone. 

“Yeah, hey Ma. I’m at the tenant’s house? The one you sent me to? She wanted me to call you so she could confirm that I’m not a weirdo or anything.”

A shuffling noise sounded from the otherside of the call, your landlord seemingly becoming alert at the situation. 

“Oh, Rei. I don’t blame her. Women can never be too careful nowadays. Especially since you’re so tall and insist on trying to grow out that beard of yours.” 

The man seemed to grumble lowly at the irrelevant biased comment. 

This was definitely a conversation they’ve had before and one that could only be exchanged between a mother and child. It was also a bit more obvious concerning the man didn’t react abrashly. If anything, he seemed disinterested. 

“Ma, we’ve spoke about this before. Six-one is not that tall and having a beard isn’t all that either. Most men look like this nowadays, it’s honestly not that deep.” 

Scratching the back of his neck in a wear of chagrin, the man slightly turned to the side, cognizant of your company. Karina however was unaware of his social cues of discomfort and so continued to make her in-house opinion known. 

“I bet you had your hood up too, didn’t you? I told you that makes you look suspicious. No wonder she wanted to talk to me first, Rei. You probably scared her!”

“I!— Ma, come on now...” 

Forgetting your initial conjecture of the man, you softly laughed in retaliation to Karina’s words. The blonde (who seemed to go by the name of Rye…? Damn it, you forgot) gave you a scattered glance, clearly one mixed with embarrassment and the upholding of pride.

“Okay, whatever. Could you…Ma, just talk to her. Please.” 

Unexpectedly, the man jabbed his phone in your direction, displeasure written all over his face. 

With a hesitant hand you looked at him skeptically before taking the phone from him, opening the door up a bit more. As you looked down, the familiar face of your landlord was on the screen. 

You waved at the phone politely. 

“Hey, Karina! Sorry for disturbing you. I was unsure of who he was and I just wanted to be on the safe side.” 

“Oh, it’s no worries. I understand the concern you’d have. I did drop you a text to say I was gonna have him come down and do a property check but it’s my bad. I sent it rather late so you must have been asleep.” 

The connection was jumping to and fro but you could make out her words okay enough. The man outside kept his head down albeit his hands still clamped to the door frame. 

“Ah, I see.” You glanced up to look at the man. He glanced back at you. “Okay, I just wanted to make sure I guess, so…”

Without your confirmation, the man pushed the door open. You softly staggered backwards without contemplation of what he was doing and it was only until he was inside that you realised he had let himself in. You gave him a credulous look. 

“Hey, I didn’t say you could—“ Your words were cut short as the man plucked his phone out of your hand and closed the front door with his other, his arm stretching above your head to do so. 

“Alright, Ma. We’re gonna go now. Talk to you later.” 

And with that he ended the call. 

Still in disbelief, you watched the man with a skeptic expression, clearly unimpressed. The man stood within the middle of the apartment, looking around the place with easy air, his phone now shuffled back into his pocket. 

You looked towards your closed front door and the intruder twice before exclaiming: 

“What the actual fuck?”

He didn’t even turn back to look at you when he replied. 

“Ah, mind the language.”

“Forget language.” 

You walked around him so that you could look him in the face. “Who said you could just come in?” 

The man huffed, sprouting the first signs of annoyance since he had got here. 

“Wasn’t the call enough? What more do you want me to prove?”

“I’m not talking about the call though. You literally just invited yourself inside without me saying you could come in! Acting as if you own the place.”

With the coy smile that seeped onto the man’s face, you instantly knew he was just going to try and say something clever. 

“Well, I mean technically I do own the place if you consider who your landlord is—“

“That’s not the point!” 

You frustratingly clapped your hands in exclamation. 

“Like would it honestly cost you to have some manners and respect that you’ve walked into my home without even thinking to ask whether I was ready to invite you in? Or whether the place — or me — was presentable enough?”

The blonde man didn’t reply right away.

Instead, he wordlessly walked further into your apartment, peaking through the many doors of your abode. To play with you, he hummed inquisitively at every turn as if he was actually assessing your set up. 

When he came back to where you still stood, he glanced around the place again whilst answering your question. 

“The house isn’t dirty. A bit untidy? Sure, but then again, who’s isn’t?”

He turned to look at you properly. If you knew any better, you’d think he was displaying innocent concern.

“As for your own presentability…” 

When the man looked you up and down, you had suddenly become aware of how scantily dressed you were. With only a vest, old Netball shorts on and your bonnet slipping, you were surprised it was only now you were feeling self conscious of your presentation. 

Trying to hide the slight embarrassment you felt, you grabbed at your shorts which had slid up overnight, pulling the bunched material down to then coil your arms around your braless chest. 

“See! This is what I mean! You can’t just walk into people’s place without letting them check those things first.” 

You could feel your skin heating up, the unease making your scalp itch. Backtracking in your mind to see how this could be solved, you turnt towards your bedroom door. You took several steps before remembering you were leaving a stranger in your home unattended. Turning round awkwardly, you pointed towards your room. 

“Uh… give me five minutes to at least get myself presentable, like I literally just woke up.” 

The man nodded, albeit distraction clearly written on his face, but he answered nonetheless. 

“Yeah, sure.” 

Scurrying to your room, you opened the door before shutting it just as quickly behind you. 

No way this was happening. 

How could you be feeling this humiliated within your own home walls? By a whole stranger at that too. 

Hurriedly stripping yourself of your morning clothes, you discarded everything into your designated laundry basket. You picked out a fresh pair of underwear and more suitable clothing to wear; a pair of joggers and a jumper never hurt no one. 

You quickly hopped to your ensuite bathroom as it seemed that one of your legs just didn’t want to go in properly. Picking up your toothbrush, you coated it with a bit of paste before trying to speed brush your teeth and tongue. 

As you watched yourself in the mirror, your mind wandered properly back to the situation you were in. 

Who knew Karina had a son? Better yet, who knew he was that hot?! 

You were gonna be honest, you had your doubts at first; blonde men never seem to look right in person. But now that he was in the proper lighting of your home and you were able to see his face a lot better than before, you had to admit he was definitely easy on the eyes. 

With a mind of its own, you felt the bottom of your stomach quiver in heated response to your thoughts. Now that you thought about it, it has been awhile since you’ve gotten laid.

But as quickly as the suggestive thought came, you shut them down. 

You were already in a tight enough situation as it was with money and how you were going to pay your rent, no way would you go and make it worse for yourself by prying your landlord’s son into bed. 

Spitting out the excess toothpaste, you rinsed your mouth and your brush clean before depositing it back into the holder. In a hurry, you also tried to quickly wash your face — washing away more than just sleep wedged between your eyes but also dirty thoughts from your head too. 

After drying your face and then creaming it, you watched yourself closely in the mirror one last time. 

You had nothing to worry about. 

This was only going to be a quick property check.

That man would be in and out of your place soon enough and then you could peacefully get on with your day and go back to your dreary job searching.  

Deeming that you were presentable enough, you walked back out into your apartment’s living space, looking around to check the whereabouts of the man. After seeing he wasn’t where you left him, you wandered about to see where he would be. 

Nevertheless, you found him in the kitchen, seemingly intrigued by whatever was in one of your cupboards. 

You stood besides him for a few seconds, your arms crossed as you watched him become captivated in your storage space.  

“Found anything worth reporting yet?” 

The man seemed to jump at your presence, clearly not having heard you approach. In his hand, he had one of your seasoning jars 

“N-no, not yet.” 

Reaching over, you plucked the cardamom shaker out of his hand and placed it back into its rightful place. 

The man automatically stood back as he let you move swiftly within your kitchen. Your kitchen didn’t operate under a large space and so there was only so much space for two people to move freely in. Turning round meant you were practically chest to chest with the man and so you awkwardly shooed him away so that you could move. 

“Right, so stop being so nosy and do what you're supposed to be doing.” 

It took him a few seconds before he moved. He watched down at you, his expression milky with fervour but you didn’t meet his eyes as looking up would cause you more problems than you needed. 

“Yeah, of course.” 

You didn’t say much about it but you were taken aback by how passive he suddenly sounded, his edgy spunk from before missing. Maybe it was because he’d been caught snooping but there was definitely an unsure vibe coming from him. 

In the end, it was him who moved out of the kitchen first. You watched him momentarily as he seemed to inspect different areas of your apartment. 

Observing him gave you a chance to witness more of what the man looked like, and you weren’t disappointed because you found yourself almost mesmerised by how wide his back spanned. 

Subsequently, that same vehement feeling you felt when you were in the bathroom returned, yet this time even more concentrated than before.

After several seconds too long, you looked away. Not out of free will or self-control. No, It was the grumbling of your stomach that reminded you you were still yet to eat your first meal of the day.

Instinctively, you went to open your fridge and see what was available. 

You thanked Yesterday You who thought it pragmatic to order a larger portion than usual so that you’d have leftovers for today. Taking out a foil box of vegetables and meat along with two different rices you placed them on top of the counter, ready to prepare. However, before you did, you wondered whether your guest still needed anything to inspect in the kitchen. 

You stood back from the stove, sticking your head into the living room area in order to signify your host.

“Hey, is it okay if I use the stove or are you gonna need to check it still?”

The man whizzed around to look at you, a shake of his head as confirmation.

“Yeah, no go ahead. I’ve already checked the licence so you’re good.”

Taking that as your green light, you headed back into the kitchen. You heated up the pan, splashed in the oil and fried everything together. 

It wasn’t something you’d normally do considering the food already had it’s own seasoning and you just wanted a quick meal but your mind thought back to the jar of cardamom your guest was looking at earlier. Before you could debate whether the taste would match or not, you found yourself shaking the grounded powder into your food. 

Guilt that the man’s choice influenced you didn’t get a chance to cloud your thoughts as the aroma alone made you even more hungry, digging your stomach’s gaping hole even further. Thankfully, the food didn’t take long and you were able to quickly serve yourself a bowl. 

Taking a fork, you walked out of the kitchen and into the lounge where the man seemed to be inspecting behind your TV. 

With no agenda, you aimlessly watched him as you ate your food. Not in a creepy way but just in an intrusive aspect. At the end of the day, it was him who was in your home and so who was to say you had to do elsewise? 

Even though the smell of fried food lingered strong in the air, the man’s cologne still held dominant. You wondered what brand it was.

After a few mouthfuls of food, the man spoke up. 

“What’dyou make?”

His question caught you off guard. There was no expectation that the man was even going to talk to you, especially with his head still being most way behind the TV. You looked down at your food, moving it around with your fork as you described its contents. 

You hesitated. 

“I’ve just thrown some leftover takeaway meat, veg and rice together.”

Now that you thought about it, making the food in his presence must have made him hungry too. You wouldn’t normally offer any other guest your food but seeing as he was your landlord’s son, you thought you’d offer the positive gesture.

“What, you want some?”

The man finally emerged his head from behind the TV.

“Only If you have any to spare.”

With a nod, you placed your bowl down onto the acute round dining table behind you before going into the kitchen to retrieve him a serving. 

As you were placing the contents in a bowl, a part of you was blaring loudly that this was just a tad bit too domestic;  A task you’d do for a family member, a close friend or a significant other.

For a second, it did make you feel awkward. Who were you to be thinking of your landlord’s son in that way? But skillfully, as you had been for the whole duration he was here, you buried the surfacing feelings.

“Spoon or fork?”  You called out into the air.

“Spoons fine, thanks!”

Picking out a spoon from your drawer and then closing it with your hip, you walked back into the lounge and passed your guest his serving, not forgetting to pick your own back off the table. 

He muttered a soft thanks as he took the food from you, your fingers virginally brushing. 

Together the both of you stood there in the middle of your living room, eating away at your meals. What you came to realise is that the silence between you was comforting. 

It didn’t make you feel weird, neither did you feel self conscious that nothing was being said. It seems that you were perfectly content with just being in his presence. 

“Hey, I don’t think I got your name.” 

The man bopped his head in your direction, the smile on his face subtle. 

Right, you suppose you hadn’t. Here you both were eating fried leftovers without even knowing the other’s name. 

Once you swallowed the portion of food that was in your mouth, you curtly gave him your name. The man hummed in response. Whether it was at the food or the confirmation of your name you weren’t sure but still yet, he sounded satisfied. 

“Cool. Mines Reiner.” 

You nodded a few times. “Nice to know.” 

There was another period of silence between you, the sound of clinking cutlery and munching mouths. It however didn’t last long before Reiner had spluttered out into a silly bell of laughter, the action causing you to raise your eyebrow in question. 

“What, I do somethin’ weird?”

He turned to the side, shaking his head before addressing you with a warm smile. 

“Sorry, I just… I just thought it was a bit funny how we were already here eating food but we hadn’t even exchanged names yet. It’s not even that funny, I dunno why I’m laughing.” 

You blinked at him twice before chuckling delicately, the back of your hand with your fork coming up to cover over your mouth. 

“No, I get it. It does seem a bit comical when you think about it.”

As the two of you finished up your food, you placed a hand out towards Reiner so that you could take his bowl. He thanked you once again as you carried it to the kitchen. 

Laying the bowls in the sink, you contemplated whether you should wash them now or do it later. You bantered between yourself in your head but after too much indecisiveness, your thoughts idly drifted towards Reiner anyways. 

It wasn’t anything too steinous. 

Just stuff like how he seemed okay to operate in silence? Or how he laughed at things that weren’t funny. How insanely good looking he was. That particular thought caused you to once again feel that heat from before but this time, you definitely felt it buzzing within your nether regions. You clamped your thighs together in a clumsy attempt of physical prevention.

No, you couldn’t think of stuff like that now. You had a guest over, even though this guest was happening to be the literal source of your temptation. You would just have to settle by sorting your carnal problem out once he had gone. You pondered whether you should go back to him, try to stir up conversation using your libido as the fuel or do the responsible adult thing and clear your head first. 

However, it seemed that you wouldn’t have to make that decision for yourself as Reiner had already made it for you. 

“Hey.“

Now it was your turn to be caught by surprise. 

“Oh my, I—” Your hand flew to your chest as you sped around, the presence of the male startling you. “Don’t sneak up on me like that, man.“

Instinctively, his hands reached out and held you together by your arms, soft concern mixed with amusement written on his face. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

The look you gave him was one of uncertainty. He widened his eyes in alarm.

“I promise! I didn’t do it on purpose!” He says. 

You huffed, the lack of hostility evident in your tone, you couldn’t find it anywhere in you to be upset at him. 

“No, no it’s okay, I…That’s my bad, I should have listened out for you. Been on my guard.”

As the two of you airily laughed it off, it soon became apparent how close you both were in proxemics once again. Only this time, it seemed a lot more intentional on Reiner’s behalf. The musk of cologne he’d been sporting around your apartment the whole day was finally right in front of your face, slowly plaguing your nose. 

Suddenly, you became very much aware of how hot your skin was getting. You cleared your throat. 

“So, uh… what did you want to tell me?”

Reiner softly squeezed your arms as he replied. 

“Oh, yeah! I came in to say that I’m gonna need to check your bedroom now. Don’t know if you wanted to come with or…?”

The suggestive tone at the end of his sentence definitely seemed to imply more than one thing. You weren’t sure if that was your mind playing games on you or if every single move this man had taken was calculated and intentional. 

Really and truly, you didn’t put it past someone like him to not want other things. And if we were being honest, you didn’t put it past yourself to not reciprocate the proposal full throttle.

But just to be on the safe side, just to make sure it wasn’t you just thinking this, you thought you’d give him the benefit of the doubt and asked to clarify.

“For privacy concerns, right? For when you do your inspection.”

You looked up at him with doe eyes. Reiner stared back down at you, his eyes searching your face for an alternative answer to your vocal one. You’re not sure whether he found what he was looking for but you definitely didn’t miss the assertive grin that he now wore on his lips.

“Right. Of course, for privacy concerns.”

The both of you made your way towards your bedroom, Reiner letting you enter first before following suit. 

On impulse, you sat down on your bed whilst crossing your legs, unsure of what to do concerning that Reiner had gotten straight to inspecting.

Suddenly feeling very aware that the two of you were both inside your room, you nervously wring your hands for something to do. First thing that caught your eye was your laptop which glistened at the bottom of your bed. 

Without second thought you stretched over to pull it closer, unlocking and then aimlessly tapping away at it to seem busy. 

Occasionally, you glanced up to watch Reiner wordlessly inspect around your bedroom. Nothing was necessarily out of place or needed hiding but that still didn’t refrain you from feeling self conscious about him being in your private space. 

As if sensing that was the case, the blonde man spoke up, his voice heavy. 

“Don’t worry I won’t pry too much. Direct me if there’s something you want to clear up first.”

He turned back to look at you as he had his hand stretched for the skirting board above your wardrobe, the raising of his hoodie revealing a sliver of skin.

Your eyes watched his back mesmerised before looking back up to meet him with a tight smile. 

“Of course.”

For several seconds, the both of you held eye contact, a display of a nonverbal conversation before you reluctantly looked back down at your laptop screen first. 

Reiner was definitely insinuating for you to establish the boundaries between the two of you. He had to be. His wording was always so double entendre, from the very first moment you spoke— He always had something clever to say. 

The blonde moved towards the window, inspecting the seals and glass with a careful eye. You watched how his finger ran over the chipped pane paint. 

If it was an issue, he didn’t say it was. 

Reiner turned around from the window with all intention to not make eye contact as he made a beeline towards your bathroom. 

“Okay, I just gotta check the ensuite and then I’ll be done.” 

The vocalisation of his job coming to an end sent a worried jolt throughout your body. 

Part of you was relieved that this torment would finish and he could leave you and finally be on his way but unbeknownst to you, that would only be the source of constant affliction. You couldn’t let him go now, not when you had him at the right place and right time. Not when you were sure he wanted the same thing. 

As Reiner walked around your bed and past where you sat, impulsively your hand reached out and latched onto the bottom of his green hoodie, halting him in his steps. 

He watched down at you momentarily, unsure of what you were going to do next, if you were going to do something next. 

You hadn’t thought that far. 

Clearly you had stopped him from going any further, clearly you had crossed a new threshold. 

There was only so much you could do to back away now. 

Reiner took time to react. The clear workings of the cogs in his head, the weighing of the pros and cons. When he did make a decision, his first action was to lay a hand on the balled fist you had made grabbing his hoodie, ultimately pressing your hand closer to him. 

“You waiting for me to make the next move?” 

The change in Reiner’s voice was so drastic you almost denied that the words had come out of his mouth. They were understandingly tender but not in a way of sympathy. No, he was projecting his own vulnerability, desperation oozing out at an alarming pace. 

You glanced up at him still unsure of how to move forward from your bold act but you spoke regardless. 

“Are you really going to make me ask you?” 

Before you knew it, you felt your bed dip just by your crossed legs, the hand Reiner had on top of your hand now caressed the bottom of your chin with just his thumb and index finger. 

“Well, I just wanna be sure you’re sure.” Reiner’s face showed earnest concern. 

Taken aback by his solicitude you struggled to meet his gaze. It was a new look on him concerning up until now, everything about him had seemed to be driven by elsewise. You didn’t mind though. You guess it came with the territory.

“You’re asking whether I wanna fuck, right?” He guessed. 

Surprised that the male had right out admitted to the implicit notion both of you were dancing around, a new found spark of lust wormed its way into your decisions. With a smirk, you opened your mouth with sultry intent before unexpectedly taking Reiner’s thumb that was on your chin into your mouth, sucking on the digit with sober intentions. 

Reiner blinked thrice. 

“Oh. Okay.”

You made sure to keep eye contact with him, eyes hooded as you kept his thumb in your mouth and awaiting his next move. Reiner watched you, trained solely on the warm and damp feeling of your tongue around his skin, almost as if he was studying you. 

The way he calculated you was intriguing, you’d admit. It was nice to see the concoction of lust and analytical conspiracy form on Reiner’s face, his neurons most likely firing at rapid speed. Although you weren’t here to be studied or calculated or inspected. You were here to beguile and reap the consequences of seduction. Whilst your mouth was still lapped around Reiner’s thumb, you wantonly moaned.  

As if a switch had been flicked, Reiner halted. Noticing his change in demeanour, you watched him expectantly, iris’ gleaming with mischief. The blonde took an audible yet shaky breath through his nose before muttering,

“Enough games.” 

Everything seemed to snowball down from there. 

With a succinct pop, Reiner removed his thumb from your mouth, fingers returning back to your jaw but this time so that he could pull you in closer and inclasp both of your lips together. The action took you by surprise but you instantly reciprocated his boiling over lust, your hands coming up to clamp his cheeks so that you could lean into him better. 

Feverhently, the both of you made out in a hot argument of wet mouths and tongue, the kiss sultry and messy. The aftertaste of your meal from beforehand swapped between the two of you, flavour ignored as you only focused on each other’s actions.

Without pulling away, you tried to handlessly sit up onto your knees so that you could sit yourself on the man’s lap.

Noticing what you were trying to do, Reiner guided his hands atop of your waist, pushing the laptop to the side and then aiding you onto his thighs. Once you successfully straddled him, you both continued kissing for a few seconds before Reiner momentarily pulled away, his lips visibly slick.

You made a sweet sound of mild annoyance due to the man’s premature retraction but he pressed his forehead against yours instead, brushing your noses together. 

“H-how…” He pecked your lips once. “How you wanna do this?”

Before replying, you curled your arms around his shoulder, leaning in closer to nip at his bottom lip, lightly sucking the meat of it before letting it go. It earned you a hoarse groan from him of prized possession.  

“Any way you fucking want.” You whispered.

At your coarse words, you felt the slight twitch of Reiner’s bulge beneath you, the sensation also setting you alight. However, none of that beat the grin that grew on Reiner’s face as he lightly kneaded your waist in return. 

“Well, shit, If you ask me like that…”

Reiner wasted no time in switching your positions, manoeuvring your body to the side of him so that your back laid on top of your bed, your head just narrowly missing your laptop. 

Since your legs were still dangling over the edge, you shuffled upwards so that you could give Reiner more room to do as he pleased. The man himself caressly scrunching off his trainers by the heels, discarding them by the side of your bed. 

As he clambered back towards you, the blonde positioned himself between your legs, one of his knees drawing dangerously close towards the crotch area of your joggers. Wanting to reach a high via the man before you, you desperately tried to grind your clothed core onto his knee, a pathetic whine at the lack of friction it caused. 

Reiner could only marvel at how quickly you had lost all perception of pride and shame. A chuckle left his lips as he placed a temporary hand over his knee. 

“Patience. I’ll get to that.”

You shot the man a dirty look albeit there was no venomous bite to it. If it wasn’t for how you just asked him to do as he pleased, you would have told him he was taking too long.

Hovering over your body, Reiner bent down to initiate making out with you again but only this time, his hands now creeped underneath your hoodie, fingers cool to the touch of your skin. The feeling of how his hands felt on yours were euphoric! It was so new yet familiar at the same time. You had such a strong feeling about this, you wanted to feel more— get closer. 

For a second, you broke away from the man’s lips to airily breathe your request. 

“Just take it off. Please.”

You already initiated the act by picking up your hoodie by the hem but Reiner finished it by slinking it over your head, careful to try and not take your bonnet off with it. 

Once he had discarded your hoodie elsewhere, the male directed his lips onto your freshly exposed torso, delicately pressing kisses to your skin.

Unfortunately, you laid there with an exasperated sigh. 

It wasn’t that you didn’t enjoy this sort of play; it was very sweet that Reiner had an almost caring approach with you and maybe if this was any other time, you’d be down for it. However, right now you weren’t trying to make love in any shape or form. Right now, you wanted to be destroyed. 

“Okay, okay. Let’s leave all that soft kissing shit.”

With an almost groan to your words, you moved to the side so that you could slip off your jogging bottoms, leaving you in just your underwear. Reiner sat back as he watched you with a raised eyebrow. 

“What, you tryna just get straight to it?”

“Yes! Bruck me up, I don’t care. Just fuck me, Reiner.” 

“I hear you.” Reiner tugged his hoodie over his head, placing it to the side of him before undoing his khaki button and zip, sliding his trousers down and dumping it in the same place. 

“Since you’re insistent on being such a desperate little slut…” Reiner mutters. 

He took no time in taking a hold of your pantyhem, tugging it down raggedly past your legs and flinging it to the side. 

“I’ll treat you like one.” 

He played with you just past your pussy folds, the wetness staining his hands. His eyes, now darkly hooded, glanced up at you. 

“So wet. All for me, huh?” 

Reiner leaned forward and pressed his soiled fingers to your lips. Without having to be instructed, you opened up your mouth to welcome him in, longingly sucking your own nectar up. With an almost sinister grin, the blonde praised you. 

“Good girl.”

Moving your mouth off of his fingers, you licked your lips to clear up the excess mess before dryly laughing at the man. 

“You’re so chatty.”

Reiner wiped the remnants of your saliva onto the stretch of your stomach as he gave his reply. 

“Want me to say less?

“No. I like it. But a little more action would be nice.”

With an affirming nod, the blonde male shook his own boxers off, his dick visibly hard as it sprung free from his Kleins. You couldn’t help but lap up the sight of his length, the blossoming nerves of wanton running up from your stomach and throughout your chest. 

“Take it off.” 

Reiner broke you out of the dick-trance, the look on his face smug as he caught you staring. However, you looked down to where he was referencing, clocking that the only restrictive item worn between the both of you now was your bra. 

Complying, you sat up so that you could take the bra off better. You pulled your arms through the straps before turning it around so that you could unclasp the back. Once free, you flung your bra to join all the other articles of clothes. 

Quickly, the blonde leaned forward to peck your lips, his grin boyish as he pulled back to check them out. He gave you an upwards nod of approval. 

“Nice pair.” 

Even though his compliment made your skin heat up, you chuffly looked away although the smile on your face was prominent. 

“Whatever.” 

The man leaned forward to kiss you once again but this time he did so with a tender passion, one you had witnessed on him before. You kissed him back just as willingly, the flutters in your chest hard to ignore as he seemed to infatuate you with his effort to make you more comfortable. 

After a while, once the both of you were gaining shortness of breath, Reiner disconnected the kiss. He leaned back away from you, his mood seeming to darkenly cloud.

“C’mere.”

The man dragged you closer towards him by your legs to then hoist your heels over his shoulders. The action sent you lying down on your back again.

Reiner bent forwards to try and steadily align himself with your cunt. With that same intrigue from before, he used one hand to repeatedly tap the lips of your pussy with the flat of his fingers, the cloying scent that squalled from your womanhood driving his libido insane. In that moment, he partially regrets not being able to eat you out first. 

“So wet…” He mumbled. 

The blonde used the same hand to then take a hold of his dick, pumping it a few times before taking grip at the bottom of his shaft and then finally plunging his member into you.

Your instant gasp of delight definitely fattened Reiner’s ego, the blissed out face you had from finally being filled up by him rewarding. 

Reiner watched mesmerised as your pussy sucked his dick in with a lewd squelch, your inner flesh warm around him.

In a flurry, the blonde bent forwards to swallow up the mild dribbling moans you allowed to cascade from your lips, a sweet peppery kiss before pulling back to watch where the both of you were locked in with each other. 

“Your pussys so pretty.” He ran his thumb delicately over your clit. “I wish you could see how well It’s taking me right now.”

His sensuous words caused your inner walls to clamp around Reiner’s dick on impulse, causing the man to bite at his bottom lip. However, despite his lack of movement, you were still trying to adjust to the foreign feeling inside of you. You turned your head to the side before fluttering out the first words that came to your mind. 

“Take a pic’cha for me.” 

At first, Reiner presumed you meant that comically. He didn’t have any thought to capture the moment but upon seeing how expectant your face looked, he realised you were serious. 

With flash speed, Reiner reached over across your bed and grabbed his khaki pants before fishing his phone out from his back pocket. A quick glance at his homescreen told him that he had a few notifications, most of them nonchalant. There was one text from his mother asking him when he was going to finish the inspection. 

He ignored them all and instead swiped to the camera. 

Positioning his phone just above where the two of you met, Reiner took a few shots of your intercourse. Half minded he drew himself out of your pussy, his dick glistening with your slick before plunging himself back in. He did this twice but both times he watched himself do it through his phone screen. 

Reiner contemplated for a moment, his eyes flicking between you and his phone before his intrusive thoughts persuaded him enough and made him press the recording button instead. 

He kept his phone as steady as he could, allowing your pussy to devour his dick whole as he kept his pace moderate. He watched as your breasts bounced with each thrust, your soft ‘ahs’ to match it.

He hadn’t initially asked you if he could take a video. You had only requested a picture but with how delicious your body looked taking him in, he didn’t have the heart to stop. 

Reiner nervously ran his tongue across the bottom of his lip. 

“It’s recording, okay?”

There was a space between how many thrusts Reiner pumped into you and your reply.

For a second, he worried that you were going to lash out in detest, stop everything there and then. Unsure of what your response was going to be, Reiner truly felt as if his heart was going to burst out of his chest and spill onto your stomach and breasts. 

You let out a whiney moan.

“I know.”

Those two words caused Reiner’s dick to jump, the twitch causing an extra moan out of you.

In that moment, the blonde found it in him to steady one of his feet on the floor, the other kneeled by your side. With his free hand, Reiner held just above your knee on one of your hoisted legs, his phone now recording a clear view of your body. 

“I’m gonna fuck you senseless, you know that?”

Reiner’s thrust started to pick up pace, the filthy squelching of your wet pussy and slapping of skin becoming more rambunctious by the second. 

Your mouth hung ajar as Reiner’s momentum pressed throaty and sharp moans out your mouth. Feeling a new wave of lust wash under your skin, your hands automatically found their way to your breasts as you cupped them, your fingers desperately fiddling with the nubs. 

“Yeah…yeah, you’re gonna fuck me so good.”

“So good, baby.”

The two of you fucked with the passion that had been brewing all morning. Steady pumps of sex caused your bed to groan and creak, joining you together in making erotic music. Reiner focused his phone camera back to where his dick met your vagina, the sleek mess starting to run down your pussy lips. 

He groaned in bliss  

“I’ve wanted to…to fuck you like this, all day.” 

Reiner was going at a good pace but you wanted more, you wanted to feel dirtier than you were already being. To try and reciprocate the speed, you rutted yourself down onto his cock in times with his thrusts, your moans becoming desperate. 

The blonde male glanced up to see your frantic attempts, sensing your carnal want. He said your name with a breathy denure to catch your attention. Once he caught your gaze, he spoke. 

“Touch yourself for me.”

He didn’t have to ask you twice. 

You leaned one hand down to join where the two of you met, your index and middle finger instantly rubbing at the throbbing clit that had been far neglected. 

That was a bad idea. You knew you shouldn’t have done that as you felt a euphoric sensation travel all throughout your body. 

Your moans gurgled out of your mouth at the satisfying feeling of your clit being rubbed and Reiner’s cock digging all the right places, you moulded so well around him. You never wanted to stop feeling like this. 

But despite that, you could feel the familiar bubbling of your stomach, orgasm fastly approaching. You couldn’t come now, not when you feel like you had just started. Your burst of desire had been stretched at such a limit all day that it didn’t take you long to come to this place of unravelling.

“Fuuuuck. Rei…Mng, I— I’m g’nna…”

The man nodded, readjusting his slipping posture so that he could keep drilling inside of you. 

“Imma need you to hold it for me, baby.” 

Big talk coming from him considering Reiner too was nearing his limit. With every thrust, he could feel the hand that was holding the phone lose stability. Still yet, Reiner couldn’t unload now. He still had things he wanted to feel and see from you. 

Your moans were getting sweeter. 

“I…I cyan’t…”

“You can. I know you can.”

Your slurring speech and rolling eyes warned Reiner that he didn’t have much time left. If he wanted something from you, he was going to have to act now. 

Instinctively, the man placed his free hand just above your pelvis, pressing down lightly at the bottom of your stomach. He pumped his cock deeper in you, his balls slapping the gape of your asshole. 

Reiner was unsure if this was something he could achieve. He had felt the familiar pressing of your vaginal walls but he wouldn’t know success until he tried. 

“Let’s come together…Yeah, baby? Imma need you to come with me.” 

He panned his phone as best he could to your face, catching your blissful expression as you hazily allowed saliva to dribble down your chin before moving the camera focus back towards your pussy. 

The impending feeling of an orgasm surged through his cock. Pressing further on your stomach, he waited for you to finally let go. Your soft, slurred moans of Reiner’s name signalled to him that you were ready. He knew he could let go too. 

“I’m gonna cum. I’m coming, I’m coming.”

With a low groan, Reiner quickly pulled out as he poured his seed on top of your stomach, unloading hot white stripes of semen. Just as he hoped, you too had a surging experience of an orgasm even though it was delayed. However, Reiner was not disappointed as your vagina spurted hot squirts of fluid after him, the projectile splashing over Reiner’s cock, your chest and your duvet.

Your silent gasps of an orgasm shot through you as your pelvis thrusted autonomously, flowing your come messily in different directions. The rest of Reiner’s cum dribbled messily along the underside of his shaft as he aimed to film your orgasm with every working braincell he had left. 

“Shiiiit…”

Intrusively, the blonde took a hold of his freshly milked dick. He gingerly slapped it against your pussy lips as you streamed your wet fluid in now calmed down, soft spurts. 

His actions caused the jolts of overstimulation to pulse through your body, your pussy involuntarily gaping open and shut as it came down from its high. 

Mind hazy, thoughts halted and vision white, you allowed for your post orgasm euphoria to warmly sweep over your body. You could feel the tangy liquid you had squirted everywhere start to milden in temperature as it had now left your body, making all the places it had landed feel damp. 

Expectantly you could feel Reiner detach your legs from his shoulders, albeit rubbing your thigh absentmindedly. Once he placed you down, you felt the bed dip next to you. 

As you finally opened your eyes, you just about caught as Reiner sat down next to you, his smile clear as he continued to rub your leg. 

“You doing okay?”

You nodded, your smile reflecting his own.

“Yeah? Why wouldn’t I be?” You breathed.

He patted your leg twice before reaching over to grab his boxers albeit not putting them on just yet. 

“Just checking.” As he got up, you watched him look around the room momentarily. “You got any towels?” 

Wordlessly, you pointed towards your bathroom door. He muttered a soft thanks but as he walked around your bed, his eyes couldn’t help but stay fixated on your naked body. Even though he’d already seen you exposed, you suddenly felt self conscious. 

“What? What you lookin’ at?”

Reiner snorted, his expression warm. 

“You. You’re hot...” He leaned down to give you light a peck. Without question, you automatically perked your lips to receive his kiss upside down.

“Whatever.” You replied with a grin. 

“So, you gonna give the report back to Karina?”

Reiner nodded as he stepped outside of your front door before turning round to look at you. 

“Yeah, I’ll give this to her and let her run through my judgments. Although,” He rolled his lips with a hum. “I didn’t seem to get a check on the bathroom so I might have to drop back and do it another time.” 

You raised an inquisitive eyebrow at his suggestion, the smile on your face subtle. 

“Oh yeah?” You nodded, shielding a hand over your eyes at the nearing midday sun. “I guess if that’s protocol then you’re just gonna have to reschedule.”

Reiner mirrored your smile, his eyes flickering with a glimmer of lust. 

“Yeah. Looks like we just have to reschedule.”