#ν: нυмαиιту'ѕ ℓαѕт нσρє〚 scout / eren 〛

[centuricnis]

" i don't feel like talking . " || (@ Eren!!)

THE SOUNDS OF NIGHTMARES SENTENCE STARTERS .

THE SOUNDS OF NIGHTMARES SENTENCE STARTERS .

eren hadn't really come over to talk. afterall, the last thing he associated levi with was long drawn conversations. still, his presence was a comfort to him and the brunet found himself gravitating to wherever his captain was when he needed a moment to just gather himself. sometimes eren had wished they'd never found what his father had hidden in that cellar. it seemed to make everything so much more complicated in his mind. what was the point of it all?

he grimaced and sighed softly in defeat. just trying to figure it all out made his head hurt. instead, teal eyes flicker over to the shorter man, taking in his familiar frame with the almost ever present furrow in his brows. sometimes he wants to just reach up to smooth it out and his fingers twitch with the sudden compulsion to. he curls them into a fist to avoid doing something idiotic.

"that's okay... we don't have to talk," he finally replies after what's probably been a minute of silence. "i came over here for the quiet, anyway."

[centuricnis]

okay so maybe he had a problem of just speaking whatever random thoughts popped into his mind. he was doing a lot better of not doing that when they were with the rest of their peers. but this was armin and he'd never had to pull back or be anything other than himself with the blond. his mind had been wandering all day, wondering what else could be living in the sea. how much of the outside world had explored those beautiful blue depths. what lived there and who lived on the other side? so many questions and so little answers.

the question had just spilled out before he could have reined it in, a grimace quickly following the spoken intrusive thought. but he was quick to remember that it was just them, nobody to tell him how stupid he was being or to slap him upside the head and call him an idiot. teal hues flickered over to where armin was getting up and he relaxes immediately when he hears the familiar laugh. it pulls a smile across his own lips and he settles back down where he's laying, body language softening as watches the blond come closer.

"i think it would be pretty cool to live in the water," he adds, his tone playful as arms and legs open wide to receive the shorter male. limbs easily wraps around armin's waist, dragging him closer so that he's practically laying on top of his chest. he's weight that is comforting to eren and he tilts his head so he can press his nose to the top of soft golden locks. eren isn't at all subtle when he inhales the familiar scent of someone he deems home and his chest does a weird rumble of contentment.

fingers curl around armin's hip and he lets out a quiet noise at the thought of that. exploring the sea together? he doesn't know how, but with their combined titan powers, maybe it could be possible. "yeah," he lets out with a quiet laugh, "i don't want to see the world with anyone else. no matter who or what it is that lives outside of paradis. we promised." there was the nagging and foreboding feeling that always lingered these days, but eren pushed those thoughts aside for him to contemplate later. for now, happy content seeped into his every pore and he tucks his nose against armin's temple.

"how far down do you think the sea is?" he asks after a few moments of silence. half lidded eyes lazily scanning over the page armin's reading. he's not really taking in any information but eren has always been unable to resist the curiosity that persists. "if you turned colossal in the middle of the sea, would you sink to the bottom and still be above water?" now he's just throwing out half baked, playful questions, wanting to hear armin's laugh again. how could they have known the titans they had once feared would be something to joke about in the future?

the room is dimly-lit, almost cozy, as rain patters outside. mirthful voices faintly echo in the hallway as the rest of the scouts return from dinner in the mess hall. armin is splayed on his stomach on the floor, swinging his feet absentmindedly behind him, a book propped up by its spine in front of him.

even absorbed in reading, he is half-aware — as he always is — of eren seated adjacent on his bed, as if he is tethered to him, pulled taut when they are apart and entwined when they are together. it's these moments, seemingly small and insignificant, where he is happiest, nothing but comfortable silence between them. bittersweet now that they seem to be more infrequent, farther and farther apart, as they've grown busier with all there is to do now, when paradis is no longer severed from the rest of the world.

@centuricnis ( eren ) says: what do you think... lives in the sea? i mean, other than whatever it is niccolo has been cooking us. do you think there are people that live there, too?

he looks up at the sound of his voice, a small laugh slipping in response to the question. " they would have to have some way to breathe, wouldn't they? maybe they could have some kind of technology we don't have, " he answers, humming thoughtfully. he closes the book rather quickly, stands up and tucks it beneath one arm as he pads the few feet across the floor to climb onto the bed beside him, limbs tangling with eren's as he does. it isn't half as easy as it used to be when they were smaller — or when eren was, at least. all their friends seem to be sprouting in adolescence, leaving armin behind.

he wedges his way in beside him, anyway, opening the book on his lap now, smiling. " i think there must be all kinds of animals there, don't you? maybe even ones we don't know about. maybe some even the rest of the world doesn't know about — " he's talking too quickly now, words almost bleeding into each other. if it weren't his best friend, he might be sheepish, but eren has always been the one person who never made him feel like he needed to stop talking, never made him feel like he was being silly or childish. instead, he has always been the one person who has understood, shared this with him, even. " i don't know what lives in the sea, but i do know — whether it's all sorts of creatures or even people — that whatever lives down there, i'd want to see with you. "

[centuricnis]

" i'll protect you . " || (Eren, again :) )

THE SOUNDS OF NIGHTMARES SENTENCE STARTERS .

THE SOUNDS OF NIGHTMARES SENTENCE STARTERS .

his brows furrowed and he wanted to look away from levi's face, but those silver eyes captured him and he stood stock still instead. almost a deer in the headlights. why was it that nobody but his captain could make him feel this way?

if mikasa had said those words to him, an almost unspeakable anger would have bubbled up in him as the innate need to shout, 'i don't need protecting!' would be ripped from his throat. how was it that levi could say those words to him and eren would immediately deflate like a popped balloon? it was unfair, but if anybody could have this power over him, he'd want it to be levi. his captain would never take advantage of just how much of a hold he really had over the titan shifter.

eren's protest died before it even began and tired teal eyes finally glanced away from the piercing gaze of his captain. "i-- you do know i can turn into a fifteen meter high titan, right?" he says instead, his voice full of mirth and an exhausted amusement. he swallows around the sudden lump growing in his throat and laughed at what seemed like irony.

"you do make me feel safe-- protected," eren admits. his voice is quiet, subdued enough that eren's sure levi wouldn't have heard him. the brunet hopes that he did hear him, though.

"... fine," he exhales after a long moment of silence, "i will defer to you." not that the captain had to know that eren had been doing that his entire scout's career, but that really was neither here nor there. he purses his lips, but there is no fight in his stance and he lets his head sag just a bit.

[centuricnis]

eren verse tags. updated rules to include the angsty boy.