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charles-simmons-fanfiction · 7 months ago

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A cup of hot coffee - Paul Bäumer / Female Reader

Description: Paul was caught stealing from the farm, again. Fortunately, the daughter of the farmer sympathized with him. [fluff, slight angst, oneshot, 3k words]

Omg, this is literally so self indulgent. Just saying but I only watched the 2022 movie, so I'm sorry if this isn't accurate to the book or to the other movie. Might also not be the most historically accurate thing either, bc I think the famers probably wouldn't speak his language, but hey, this is a tumblr fic.

Hope you enjoy it and pls let me know if you do, it always means a lot! <3

Part I

Paul was almost reaching another egg when he heard the door opening. He turned around instantly. Before he even saw a person, he saw the rifle.

No words came out of his mouth as his eyes widened and he raised his hands to the air, dropping the egg. It broke on the floor. He gulped.

"Don't do any movement, or I will shoot" It was too dark to see who was talking, but the voice was of a woman. On one hand, that probably made it easier to escape. On the other hand, Paul hadn't seen a woman in months and was caught off guard.

"Do you have any weapons with you?" Her tone was firm and she had the rifle pointed at him. He shook his head no. "I don't believe you"

Paul sensed he had no choice. "I have a knife."

"Throw it on the ground, away from you"

He did as she said and looked at her again. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he started to see who was at the door. She was no older than nineteen.

"What's your name, soldier?"

"Paul Bäumer" He kept his voice steady, but low. "I apologize, ma'am. I am very hungry"

"Bäumer, you'll get to live another day" She didn't lower the gun, just stepped away from the door. He hesitated, only walking towards it when he was sure she wouldn't shoot. She stopped him just before he could leave, "You're very lucky you didn't wake up my dad. Don't come back again if you care about your life," and stepped back again.

He nodded in silence and left. As soon as he was outside, he sprinted away, with just one egg on his pocket and a rumbling stomach.

---

That was at least three weeks ago and the soldier had, in fact, not come back. Or at least you didn't notice if he did.

Your dad was in the nearest city, and probably would only be back by tomorrow. There were more chores to do than usual, but you didn't mind. Your day had already been quite productive, so you calmly folded the laundry while you waited for the water to boil for coffee.

Then the dog started barking and you heard a loud thud. You quickly grabbed the rifle and ran outside. The barn's door was slightly open.

"Who's there?" You asked, raising your voice as you entered the barn.

You found a soldier, getting up from the floor, his uniform stained in blood.

"Don't shoot!" He was quick to ask, raising his hands. For a moment you were confused, until you finally recognized him as the same soldier from before. He looked like he had been to hell and back, and he probably did.

His eyes found yours and you were left speechless. His whole face was covered in dust, mud and dry blood.

"Are you alright??" The soldier stared at you in confusion, not quite sure what to answer to that. Giving it a second thought, it was actually a pretty stupid question, so you didn't expect an answer. "You're Bäumer or something, right? I had told you not to come back."

"I deeply apologize, ma'am" His voice was shaky, although he managed to keep a collected posture. You should probably just shoot him, that was the smartest and safest thing to do at the moment. Still, you couldn't get yourself to pull the trigger. You sighed.

If you weren't going to shoot him, you should at least just tell him to leave, but if he had come back once, he'd do it again. There was a moment of tense silence between the two.

"Would you like a cup of coffee?"

"What?"

You lowered the rifle and gestured for him to follow you. Every part of you was telling you that was a terrible idea. Letting a man, more specifically a soldier, into your house while you were alone was, at the very least, completely reckless. But there was also another part of you that felt terribly bad for the guy.

He didn't move for a few instants. "C'mon," you rushed him and he started walking, glancing at the weapon in your hand, which you made sure to keep close to you even after you entered the kitchen, holding the door open for him.

You simply gestured at a chair for him to sit down and started to make coffee for both of you. The two remained in silence, and you would make sure to keep him in your sight. It was hard not to notice how much he was shaking. At first you wondered if it was out of fear or something, then you came to the conclusion he was just freezing. Now, giving it more attention, his lips seemed to be already slightly purple.

"Do they not give you food over there in the trenches?" You broke the ice.

"They do, but rarely enough for everyone"

You nodded. "Tell me, how old even are you, Private Bäumer? You're a Private, right?"

"Yes, I am," he quickly said. "And I'm seventeen."

"Pretty much my age," you thought, but didn’t say out loud. You took his cup of coffee and handed it him.

At first he didn't drink it. He held the cup with his two hands, feeling the heat of it. Then slowly took a sip. You could swear his eyes were teary.

"Thank you, ma'am." His voice was sheepish, shaky almost.

"You're welcome. I'll get us some bread too" You looked for it as you spoke, then shared some with him.

The soldier was fast to eat it. He didn't seem to be lying about not having enough food. You took your time as you drank your coffee, trying not to feel pity towards him.

He looked out the window, and sighed.

"I should go back now, before it starts to get dark," Bäumer downs the rest of the coffee. "Thank you, again. I owe you a lot for this"

"If you want to thank me, then don't come back"

He nodded. "You won't be seeing me again"

There was both a huge sense of relief in hearing that and a slight disappointment. It was easier if he actually didn't come back though.

Private Bäumer got up and stared at you for a few instants. "Have a good day, ma'am."

"You too." The words were merely something polite to speak and you knew it, although you wish he could actually have a good day. He didn't look like he had had any it's been long time.

You opened the door for him and gave him a small smile. He smiled back, the tears now not so visible on his face, and you thought that maybe you wouldn't regret any of this at all.

"Before I leave, what's your name? Since you know mine"

You silently considered on whether you should answer it or not, then spoke. "My name's y/n"

Part II

The next time Paul saw you, he didn’t plan on trying to steal from you or anything. He wasn't even sure what he was doing. All he knew is that he couldn't sleep even if he wanted to, and for some reason he wanted to see you again.

As much as he loved his friends, he missed talking to someone outside of all the war. He missed feeling like just another guy instead of a soldier. And he missed talking to girls too.

So he was walking towards the farm, knowing that it was a terrible idea.

"She didn't shoot me the last two times," he thought. "Maybe third time will be the one."

On the way there, he almost stepped on a beautiful white flower. Barely noticeable in the snow. Paul stopped and knelled next to it, then carefully picked it. "I could give it to her as a way of saying 'thank you for the coffee'," he considered, "or at least as a 'sorry, I'm here again.'"

"I'm definitely getting shot" was his final conclusion as he kept walking anyway.

Then he saw you, and Christ, he needed to pull his shit together. He instantly felt anxious. It was embarrassing, really. "It's just a girl existing, chill."

Paul took a deep breath, looked around, and walked up to you.

"Good afternoon"

You screamed and turned around, pointing the shovel in your hands towards him. When you saw it was him again, you almost yelled, but was interrupted by the voice of an old man coming from inside the house.

"You okay??"

"Yes, dad. The dog sneaked up on me!" You yelled back with the best excuse you could think of.

"Sorry, I didn't think this through" Paul tries to apologize, but is cut off by you pushing him to the barn.

You close the door behind both of you and when you looked at him again you could swear you had never hated a soldier this much. "What are you doing here?? I was nice for not shooting you dead and you can't keep a promise to simply not come back?!"

Paul opened his mouth to defend himself, and closed it again. He probably looked like a kid being yelled at and he couldn't help but cringe at himself.

"You'll stay here until my dad goes to sleep, because if he sees you, he will kill you and I'll let him," You warned harshly. "Actually, no, I highly encourage you to leave, it'd make us both a favor if that happened."

The door is slammed after you leave and Paul takes a few instants to think about what happened, his heart still beating way too fast. He looked around and sat down on the ground, feeling hungry but not daring to steal anything. The flower had probably fallen somewhere.

---

You watched in silence the soldier who had fallen asleep in your barn, taking courage to actually wake him up.

Bäumer actually looked only slightly better than last time and he smelled terrible. One could easily find him like this and assume he's dead. You sighed and sat next to him, with your head on your knees, wondering what you were even doing.

Were you really this lonely? So desperate for any sort of human interaction with someone your age that you'd do something this stupid? That was pathetic, there was no good reason for you to be helping this guy.

"Are you alright, ma'am?"

You flinched and quickly moved away. "Yes. I thought you were asleep"

"I was, kind of. I sleep very lightly just in case" He explains.

You nod with a sigh. "Were you out of food again?"

"I mean, we always are, but I came here to... I don't even know, talk?" He visibly cringed at his own words.

"Well, Private Bäumer, that was stupid of you" You couldn't help but feel annoyed at his presence. Although not annoyed enough to kick him out already.

"Call me just Paul, no one calls me like that"

"You call me ma'am, so it sounded appropriate"

"Touché, y/n" He smiled a little, not looking directly at you.

There was silence. You looked at him carefully, analyzing every detail. The mud under his nails, the dark circles under his blue eyes, the chapped lips.

"He's probably good looking when he's clean," you thought, almost immediately feeling guilty about it and looking away.

"How's life here? I suppose it is very calm," he still didn't look at you as he spoke.

"It is, usually. Recently there's been this dude who won't stop trespassing though. It's annoying as shit"

Paul chuckled. "Really? What a jerk! It must've been awful!"

"I know right? People these days are unbelievable!" You said dramatically.

He sat up with a smile. "Good thing the army's around! I'm sure the soldiers would help!" You snickered, rolling your eyes and suddenly not being that mad at him anymore.

Surprisingly, the conversation lasted for at least another couple hours, which felt like just a few minutes. As time went on, Paul started to talk more about himself and so did you.

You couldn't help but notice he had a beautiful smile.

Part III

"I brought a bottle of water, if you want some."

"I do. Thank you," he took the bottle and drank a least half of it in one go.

You two were walking in the woods, something you have been doing a lot recently. At least once a week, he would find a way to escape the trenches and you would do the most chores you could in the morning to have some free time later.

As it turns out, Paul was really nice. For the most part at least. He could also be annoying as much as he could be shy.

"I think you might actually be in love with me," he stated matter-of-factly out of nowhere.

"Excuse me?" You laughed, indignant.

"I'm just saying, I think you are," his voice was so sweet it barely even sounded sarcastic. "You like me too much."

"That's a problem?" You raised an eyebrow, curious on where he was going with this.

"Maybe. I don't know," he kept his eyes on anywhere but you, while you couldn't keep your eyes on anything but him. "Just doesn't feel like the brightest idea."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that," you chuckled and, this time, he looked back at you. For a few instants, you two just kept eye contact, feeling comfortable enough to not say anything.

Paul looked away first, maybe a bit embarrassed. "If you say so"

Everything felt lighter on those moments. Just chatting about whatever came to mind, from the most frivolous subjects to the deepest ones. And life wouldn't feel so lonely.

You listened to Paul's voice attentively. Wondering how was it even possible for you to like a person this much.

---

That night, there was another attack.

You barely got any sleep. The trenches were miles away, but you could see the lightning of the bombs in the sky. You closed the windows and prayed, trying your best to not cry or think of the worst.

---

The days passed excruciatingly slowly. You didn't get any news of Paul and was trying to at least keep focused on the chores and helping your dad with the farm. You had honestly never missed anyone like this and it was agonizing.

One day, after your dad went to sleep, you sneaked out again, needing air. You leaned back against the wall with your hands in your face and your eyes tightly closed.

You didn't sleep much that night either, or the one after that, not even in the whole week afterwards. For some moments, you tried to just accept Paul's probably dead. To simply go through whatever grief has to happen and move on. But then you would find something else to do and distract yourself from the idea. You wasn't sure why you even cared that much about a soldier whose fate was most likely always going to be this one.

Soon the sun would set again, ending another day. You were alone and had just decided to heat up water for coffee when you heard the dog barking. At first you brushed it off, but he kept barking. You sighed deeply, annoyed that you'd have to go outside.

"What is it, Otto?" You took the rifle, went outside and started looking around for you dog or why he was barking. It probably wasn't anything, as it usually wasn't.

A noise came from behind you and you quickly turned around, but before you could react any further, you felt something covering your mouth and stopping you from screaming.

"It's me, don't scream," it took a few instants to calm down and see who was really in front of you.

He took his hand off your face and you dropped the rifle on the floor to hug him.

"I'm so, so relieved to see you, Paul," your words came out muffled by how tightly you had your face pressed against his shoulder.

He was left completely in shock and took a way too long time to wrap his arms around you back. At first he was hesitant, but when he finally held you with the same strength you did, you could hear quiet crying. You couldn't even remember what had been the last time you felt human touch and it was so warm.

"Me too," he whispered. You could feel his hand on your hair. You would have to bathe again soon, but that was the last thing on your mind.

When you pulled away, the first thing you looked at were his eyes. You could never get tired of watching them.

"I know, I know. I look like shit right now," Paul said apologetically. You shook your face and put your hands on his cheek.

"No, you look great," his eyes widened and he couldn't get any word out of his mouth. "Maybe in need of a bath, but still great." You added with a small smile.

The sun was now almost gone and everything was quiet. Paul leaned against your hand and closed his eyes for a few seconds. Enjoying the silence and the comfort before he lost it again.

There were still tears on his eyes as he slowly opened them again. You gently brushed the tears away and he looked away with a embarrassed laugh.

You leaned in very slowly, giving him all the chances to pull away. But he didn't, and as he leaned closer too, you knew how much he wanted this.

Paul's lips were so soft pressed against yours. His hands made their way to your hair again and you closed your eyes. Your noses bumped and you could feel his smile as you kissed. Neither of you knew how to do this, but that didn't feel like a problem. He was here, alive, and you two had a life ahead of you to figure it out.

Both of you remained silent after you parted, still close to each other and trying to calm your heartbeats. You looked up at him again, and he did the same. There was so much you wanted to say, and not much you could get out of your mouth. Why was it always like that?

"Would you like a cup of coffee?" was what you asked.

Paul smiled. God, his smile was beautiful.

"I'd love to, please"

#fluff #slight angst #but with comfort!#all quiet on the western front #paul baumer #paul baumer x reader #x reader #felix kammerer

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