AOT Castes AU [Reiner Braun Centric]

Armin curled up in the corner and sighed. He threw his backpack down beside him. What has he become? Skipping class and for what!? He always let these entitled bastards step all over him without ever standing up for himself.

But no. Not anymore. He would rather sit in the corner of this broken-down school bathroom than put up with one more minute of Jean's relentless torture. He huffed and pulled down the zipper on his Izuku Midoriya backpack. The cold bathroom tile sent shivers up his spine as he fished out his Chiisai Senpai manga. So what if he was cringey? He was allowed to do whatever he wanted without having Jean and his goons pick on him for it.

"Are you seriously crying in the corner of a school bathroom reading manga?" A gruff voice said. Armin felt the book slip from his hands. "Chessy sinpa?" Armin looked up to see Reiner frowning down at the page. "Why are there so many boobs in this? Holy shi—"

"Give it back!" Armin cried, jumping up at Reiner.

But with one swift movement, Reiner shoved his hand into Armin's shoulder, successfully pinning him against the wall. Armin might've felt little less pathetic if his tormentor wasn't simultaneously judging him while scanning the manga. Armin's shoulder sunk. Forget about resisting Jean, Reiner was a whole other level.

Surely, as soon as the jock could get back to tell his friends about this Armin would be DONE FOR!

"Damn. You're freaky." Reiner said with a grin. He threw the book down and pressed Armin hard against the wall. "You're such a manwhore, I mean not that I can speak, but—"

That's when the sound of the bathroom door slamming closed rung through the bathroom. Reiner stopped and looked over his shoulder to see who'd just left. Just for a brief moment, his grip loosened and Armin took his shot. He ducked down out of Reiner's grubby hands, grabbing his manga and backpack like a ninja and made a break for it.

"Shit." Reiner scoffed as Armin sprinted to the door.

Freedom! Freedom at last!

He burst through the bathroom door, to a crowd of kids snickering outside. Crap. They heard.

~

"Now, retakes and makeups for the presentation." Hange cleared her throat. "We have two groups presenting on a business of their choice. Now, I expect you all to ask the presenters just as many questions as you did on the original presentation day."

Connie tapped his keyboard aggressively trying to add as many pictures to take space as he could. Shit. Shit. He thought Sasha had done it this time but of course she'd left it to him. And him? He'd left it to adding photos last minute and improving.

"I do hope all your presentations are done this time." Hange glared at their pair. Sasha shot a glance at Connie who shrugged. Luckily, Hange didn't stay focused on them for long. "And, of course, appropriate."

Jean rolled his eyes from his seat, leaning back in his chair and using his desk as a footrest. "You said a business of our choice. Victoria Secret is a business."

"Hell yeah, dude!" Reiner laughed.

Hange rolled her eyes, but their antics did give Connie enough time to make a title slide with one word on it and five more slides worth of pictures. He sighed of relief before turning to Sasha and nodding. Sasha smiled a toothy grin at him before shooting her hand into the air.

"Me and Connie are ready to present, ma'am!" Sasha said confidently. Connie nodded. He was sure they could get at least a 75 on this. Piece of cake!

"Come on up, then." Hange said with a strained voice, obviously trying to not be too dreadful. The duo leisured up to the front, connecting Connie's computer to the Smartboard smugly.

Immediately, the single word 'lays' popped up on the screen, unformatted and uncentered. Sasha cleared her throat. "Lay's." She squinted at the board. "Click here to-" Connie's hand suddenly began to muffle her voice, only allowing some grunts and groans through the border.

"MY TURN!" Connie blurted, pushing Sasha to the side. "Our presentation is on the famous, worldwide snack brand Lay's!" He continued on, scrolling through pictures of chip bags upon chip bags. It was obvious he had no idea what to say, as most of the presentation just dwelled on how famous and delicious the food was. "In conclusion, Lay's one of the most, if not the most, influential brands of the 21st century." Connie smirked, feeling much smarter than he was.

There was silence for a moment or two. Connie gulped down a breath of air, the class staring at him. His face began to flush and his leg to tap, until Professor Hange called, "Any questions?"

For a moment, all was silence, save Annie typing away. Professor Hange began to open her mouth, likely to ask questions of her own. She was interrupted by Annie, whose hand shot in the air.

"What year did the Lay's Smile Campaign take place?" Annie asked, clearly reading something on her computer screen.

Sasha blinked before grinning. "Trick question! There's no such thing as a campaign!"

"Wrong. It was 2019." Annie corrected. She read something off her computer quickly before looking back up. "How many ingredients in Lay's Classic Chips?"

Connie stopped, glaring over at Hange who marked something on her clipboard. He suddenly remembered that her policy was 5 points off for every question a presenter got wrong. He was absolutely and astronomically cooked.

"Hey! She's just reading this off the web, it doesn't really count—" Connie tried but Hange just shook her head.

"Everyone else had to answer questions about their presentations. You're not an exception."

And so, Connie sat there as Annie threw question after question at him. Each time, Connie and Sasha took turns guessing or sometimes even just saying it out right. They didn't know. Because this was stupid. Stupid and shitty and so unfair.

"What does Lays fill the empty bit of their chip bags with?" Annie asked. Connie prepared to "nothing" or maybe just "air" when Reiner stood up.

"It's nitrogen." He shook his head. "And lay off. I'm gonna have to come in during lunch to do this if you waste all our time picking on them."

Sasha giggled. "Lay off. Like "Lay's" off. Get it? Heh."

Hange sighed before gesturing for Reiner and Jean to come up and present next. Jean groaned and grabbed his computer while Reiner walked to the front. Before Connie could unplug his own, Reiner slapped him cheerily on the back. His big hand sent Connie's stomach into the corner of Hange's desk.

"Ow man! What was that—"

"You had Coach Keith before this, right?" Reiner pressed as Jean shoved his way between them. Reiner didn't complain. "He mention me? Or like... seem in an off mood?"

Connie blinked, watching sweat drip down Reiner's brow. "No. Did you do something?"

"Someone caught me and Armin joking around. Didn't know if it was a teacher." Reiner just shook his head. "Guess not though. If I got caught, the first thing they would've done is tell Keith I'm off the team."

Connie snorted just as the title slide of Jean's meticulously formatted PowerPoint presentation. The guy was such a neat freak for always trying to be a "Bad Boy". What a lost cause.

He patted Reiner on the back. "You got nothing to worry about. Even if they figured out, nobody's kicking our star player off the team!"

~

Annie was having a rotten day before she had to swoop in and save her 6'2", 400-pound neighbor from committing social suicide. Frankly, she'd never liked the guy much. But to be preyed on by highschoolers... that wasn't a fate she'd wish on her worst enemy.

Y'know, all she really wanted to do was get in her locker. She was already late because of some kids in her business class couldn't take a joke. Unfortunately (and she had already cried about this many times before), Reiner's locker was a few feet away from her's. And he seemed determined to chat things with some other guy on the football team.

"I swear, if coach makes makes us do hill sprints today-" He was cut of by a teenage boy's squeaky, pubescent voice. Somebody was a late bloomer.

"Bro can you chill? I literally have an essay due next period and I already have a headache." Annie was getting a massive headache from all his voice cracks. God, just shut up.

"Eh, it's okay. You'll fail either way." Reiner elbowed him in the side. The shorter guy was not having it.

He turned, a cocky smirk spread across his face. "Okay. I get you're, like, obsessed with me and all, but does your boyfriend know you're flirting with other guys?"

Reiner's smile dropped as two guys howled with laughter from the tiny, barely pubescent football player's other side. Annie glanced over at the obnoxious group. Well this oughta' be good.

"What are you-"

"Careful in the locker room, guys -- He might tackle you off the field, too." One guy snickered. Reiner's face went ghost white, humiliated.

"You don't belong here, man. Quit the team while you're ahead, fa-"

"Back off." Annie chimed in, slamming her locker closed. The guys looked toward her. The one with the squeaky voice grinned.

"You must not have seen the video going around, huh?" He glanced toward Reiner with a devious glint in his eyes. "I mean, who would've thought? Our star quarterback and that one nerd going at it in the bathroom!"

"What are you even talking about right now?" She turned her attention to Reiner. "What video?"

"It was me and Armin. They must've misunder-"

"No, no. We understood perfectly fine." His nose wrinkled and his brows furrowed. A look of disgust washed over him. "He's one of 'em queers."