STATIC | REINER BRAUN ˎˊ˗
summary: a desperate jail visit forces you to face your self-loathing boyfriend who would rather rot inside than hurt anyone else
tags: modern au. crime. jail. angst. hurt comfort. mentions of physical violence. self-loathing. no smut. somewhat comforting ending.
Reiner told you he’d be home hours ago.
“Baby, pick up,” you muttered to yourself in the dark quiet of your room. You sat on the edge of your bed with the phone pressed so hard to your ear it hurt. Your heel repeatedly knocked against the rough fibers of your carpet, urging for his voice to come through.
Voicemail again. It was already your seventh.
“Reiner, please tell me you’re safe,” you pleaded with a strained voice after the beep. “Text me, call me please. I need to know you’re okay.”
Right as you left that message, Pieck’s name flashed across your screen. Your heart plummeted to your stomach before you could even swipe the glass to answer.
“Reiner was arrested,” was all you could make out.
That was four nights ago.
But sitting in the cold visiting room, the days felt like nothing but static, all blurring into one.
You hadn’t slept. You had spent the last ninety-six hours hearing bits and pieces of a story from Reiner through the agonizing static of an overused wall phone, trying to soothe the tears of Falco and Gabi, all while practically begging his mother, Karina, to just be there for her son.
And that blur only faded with the rough shuffling of papers from the judge to the clerk in a crowded courtroom yesterday morning. The judge never even looked at Reiner, who stood before him, but he certainly took one good look at his rap sheet and set the bail.
Reiner didn’t even lift his head to look at you as they led him out in cuffs. You could see the dark circle under his heavy-hooded eye when the sharp side of his profile came to view. You knew, just like you, he hadn’t slept either.
Now, the heavy door clicked shut behind the plexiglass, and he had no choice but to face you.
An officer walked closely behind him, guiding him to his seat with his arm tugged around his. The officer removed his cuffs and mouthed a few words to him you couldn’t make out. He turned to stand behind Reiner and against the wall, the bottom of his shoe pressed against it.
He slid into the metal chair, his hazel eyes jumping between you and the metal counter in front of him.
You’d seen him in that faded orange cotton before. Tragic, but the predicaments were different—“fair for everyone,” he always described them. Once, it was Annie’s dad would throw her out if he found out what she did, so Reiner took the rap. Another time, it was Porco’s anger spiraling out of control, so he covered for him because he felt he owed him an unspoken debt. And last, he had just lost Bert, so he got drunk to drown out the grief, and ended up getting in a pointless, messy bar fight.
These were all “in the cell for two to three days, and out the next day” kind of moments, leaving him to work late nights to pay the fines. Those same nights always ending with him crawling into your bed, holding you tight with your back pressed against his bare chest as he buried his face into the crook of your neck, letting all his tears fall against your skin and onto the pillow.
And like a fool madly in love with a boy who loved you more than he even liked himself, you took him back every time.
But this wasn't a petty misdemeanor. This wasn't taking the blame for property damage or a drunk-and-disorderly charge.
This time, the purple bruises and severe splits on his knuckles had actually belonged to him. And only him.
Your eyes trailed from your counter to him sitting across from you. His blonde hair was messy and unkempt. He was never one to take time with his hair in the morning, but you could tell he hadn’t looked at himself in a mirror over these past few days. Shadows pooled heavily beneath his sunken eyes, making his cheekbones look sharp, almost gaunt against his skin. And the stubble along his jaw and chin had aggressively crept up to his cheeks.
You both reached for the phone and pressed it to your ears. The sound of his soft breaths through the receiver channeled tears to well in your eyes. Your fingers trembled, but you regained control, tightening your grip around the handset.
He eyed you, pupils moving steadily to study your face, opening ever slightly as if he placed a new detail. You tried tugging a smile on one side of your mouth, but your cheeks felt stiff.
He pressed his hand to the glass, palm spread across the divider.
“Are you okay?” he spoke lowly, breaking the heavy silence. His brows were furrowed.
You swallowed the lump wedged in your throat. “I’m trying to be, Rei,” you breathed, holding back the sob that wanted to pour from your lips. “I’m trying to be strong for everyone out here, but I miss you, and it’s hard.”
“I know, I know,” he responded, voice cracking. “I miss you, too. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry for everything.”
His hand was still pressed against the glass. You wanted to move your hand to mirror his, but your arm felt like lead.
He nodded to himself, drawing his bottom lip between his teeth. His heavy sigh pinged in your ear as he pulled his hand away from the glass, setting it back on the metal counter.
His eyes left yours, staring down at his own hand. He flexed his fingers slowly, tracing the dark, purple discoloration across his knuckles.
“Are the kids okay?” he asked.
“They’re trying to be okay. One minute it’s Gabi crying, the next it’s Falco…And then I look again, and they’re both crying.”
His grip over the handset tightened, the cuts on his knuckles splitting even further. He pulled his hand from the counter and rubbed it roughly over his face, tracing his hairline.
“God, I’m so stupid,” he muttered, the crease between his brows appearing harshly.
The itch in your throat wanted to argue it, but you scratched it by swallowing it down instead, letting his words burn in your ear, remaining silent.
“Have you heard from my mom? Was she even there yesterday?”
You closed your eyes, grimacing at the cruel trap of his questions. Questions you had every answer to—the ones he would accept and let destroy him further. And worst of all, he already knew the answers. He just opted for his worst fears to come out of your mouth rather than be conjured up by his own mind.
“Rei…” was all that left your lips, opening your eyes softly to offer the sympathy your words couldn't.
He understood it perfectly, balling his fist and dropping it to the metal counter with the little force he had left. You glanced at the officer behind, who was startled by the slam on his side, hissing a few words to him. Reiner didn't turn his head and just nodded. A wet drop landed across his knuckles.
“Look, Rei, we’re working to get the bail. Jean, Pieck, and I. We found a local bail bondsman that—"
“Baby, no, you guys aren't doing that." He shook his headd, still staring beneath him.
"What do you mean we're not?" you asked in one breath.
"I mean…" he lifted his head, staring almost through you. "You're not doing that. Not for me. Don't bring Jean, Pieck, or anybody into it. I’m not letting you pour your savings onto a bondsman's table. Just let me stay here, baby, please.”
“I’m not going to just let you rot in here.”
“I deserve too," his voice cracked, folding his neck, letting his head drop into his palm.
Your upper lip curled back, a silent sneer that showed just the tips of your teeth.
“Don’t you say that to me! Don’t you dare say that to me!" you barked, pulling back briefly to glance at the other visitors who were looking your way. You forced a deep exhale to escape you as you shifted your gaze back to him.
“It’s the truth, baby!" he cried, extending his hand out, palm up.
There was a deep slash at the center. Even that didn't stop his blows from coming down that night.
"Look at what I’m doing to you. Look at what I keep doing. I’m hurting you, my mom, the kids. My mom keeps declining my calls, and she’s ignoring you because she knows I'm—" His eyes moved back and forth, trying to find the words his mind wouldn't let him locate. "Everyone knows I’m just like how the judge sees me."
“I don’t care how the judge or your mother sees you," you admitted fiercely. “I see you, Rei. Your real friends see you. And the kids…they see you. You know they do. We need you home. Point blank period."
The tears on his cheeks were coming at an endless downpour. He was spiraling in front of you, chest heaving under his jumpsuit
“I put a man in the ICU—” He choked on a ragged breath. His voice dropped to a low whisper. "Pieck said the doctors think he’s gonna make it, he’s gonna live, but baby, I heard his ribs snap,and I didn't st—"
“Stop it, Rei. Be quiet," you hissed, your voice a desperate whisper.
But your mind had already betrayed you, instantly tracking to the night you got the call. You remembered the suffocating heat of Pieck's living room. Gabi and Falco curled on the couch, faces buried in their trembling hands. Through breathless sobs, they pieced together the horror at the gas station. The owner cornering and accusing Gabi of sneaking a candy bar in her pocket, Falco screaming at the top of his lungs that she didn't—
“I saw Gabi crying…" Reiner choked out, eyes wide and staring at the metal counter as if the scene was playing out right in front of him. "Falco screaming, and after that, everything went red—”
The owner grabbing roughly at Gabi's jacket, making her fall. Falco screaming for Reiner. And Reiner ultimately dragging the owner behind the counter. You knew the sickening crunch of every punch and kick, a brutal assault all captured by a security camera. You knew the heavy pleas that ripped from Gabi and Falco as they watched their biggest protector turn into a monster. And you knew the others in the gas station that day saw him the way he viewed himself for years.
You already knew the owner was going to live. But you knew too much, and the prison walls recording every single word could know too if he didn't stop talking.
“Reiner, listen to me!" you commanded, slamming your free hand against the plexiglass. The sharp slap echoed in the small booth. Your fingers tightened around the plastic handset so hard your own knuckles ached, turning white. You shot a panicked glance at the officer behind him, but the guard was entirely checked out, casually picking dirt from beneath his fingernails.
"Don't speak of that night. Talk to your lawyer. Only your lawyer."
Reiner's heaving chest slowed down. His head jerked to a pathetic nod; his heavy breaths rang through the receiver.
"Gabi is…" He couldn't finish.
"Blaming herself," You finished for him, unsure of where he was going. "She's blaming herself for the reason you're here, and she's going to keep thinking that if you continue pitying yourself and just choose to sit here."
His head dropped to his free hand.
"If you're not going to let us bail you out for your sake, then at least let us do it for Gabi's. For Falco's," your voice cracking as the tears finally spilled over your eyelashes. "They need to see you—in the light—and they need to hear you don't blame them. They deserve that."
You glanced at the officer behind him, mouthing the words: "Two minutes, Braun."
The countdown began to echo in your mind.
Reiner lifted his head from his palms. His hazel eyes were bloodshot.
"What if I scare them?" he whispered, his voice cracking on the final word. "What if they look at me and only see what I did."
You leaned closer to the plexiglass, hand still tight around the handset. Your eyes were locked onto his, refusing to let him drift away. Back home, when you would finally turn to face him after he buried your face into your neck and cried, you would stare into his eyes, immediately finding the flicker of hope between his hazel. Here between the scratched glass, it was harder to find, but you kept searching anyway.
"By staying in here Rei…that's all you're doing."
His breath hitched at the words. His gaze dropped to the metal counter before snapping back to yours with a sudden urgency.
"Look under the bed," he instructed. "You'll see a ring—my mother's. Trade it in, sell it. Use that money for the bondsman. Do not use any of your savings, baby, please. Promise me."
He slid his hand up the plexiglass, his broad palm spreading across the cold surface.
Your arm no longer felt like lead. You lifted yours, pressing it to the opposite side of the glass, perfectly mirroring his, though his hand was much bigger than yours.
"I promise," you breathed.
You watched as the officer behind him patted his shoulder, letting him know it was time to depart. To separate even further than you both already were.
He dropped his head briefly, eyes on the counter before they shot back in your direction. A very faint smile tugged at his lip, a tear slipping between the split of his mouth.
"I love you…I don't know why you're with me, but I love you," he spoke, the line clicking soon after. He placed the phone back on the hook.
You were with a man who refused to like himself enough to want better for himself. But he looked at you simply as his version of better. But you hoped that one day, one day in the dark, he would find it on his own.
With his eyes still on you, hot tears falling down your cheeks, and the phone pressed so hard to your ear, it hurt, you slowly mouthed the words, "I love you."
a/n: emphasis on REAL friends. i’ll never give reiner a break, i love him too much.
very loose portrayal of jail and court proceedings btw.