Attack On Titan: Dreams

"Lie down..." he commands, shaken at how difficult it is to force his face into a glower while staring her in the eye, when all he wants to do is fall apart in front of her.

He pulls his wrist from her grip, his stomach instantly dropping in regret once he does so. But, he takes comfort in the lack of sadness on her face at the action, finding only defiance on her face, as she disobeys and remains resting on her elbow, eyes challenging, much like that night, in the moments right before she had kissed him.

He tears his eyes from hers, looking back down at her wound, not even attempting to partake in a staring contest this time, knowing that he would undoubtedly lose.

"Please?" he begrudgingly entreats the tear on her abdomen.

When she doesn't move an inch, he chances another imploring look at her, softening his scowl.

With a frown, she follows suit and lies back down.

Eren continues his work in silence, no longer minding the feel of her gaze drilling holes into his skull, for he is too preoccupied with thinking about how to say things, because he has to, because she asked. He did not exactly have a plan when he ran to her in a panic, the moment he woke.

His anxiety and desperation had made all rational thought and any foresight impossible, now leaving him completely unprepared to give any sort of speech. However, despite his apprehension, he figures now is as good a time as ever to apologize and explain himself and tell her... things.

When he has finished applying the ointment, he readies himself to speak, summoning his courage as he reaches into the water basin to wipe his fingers off on the rag, letting his mouth drop open as he grabs the new gauze and gingerly places it over her wound.

He stares down at the dull white square for a moment before speaking, deciding to be honest, and begin with the very reason he had sprinted to her and nearly broke down her door.

"I just wanted to see you."

And even just the seep of honesty, however vague, alleviates some of the pressure that has been sitting on his chest.

It makes him brave enough to look at her face

At her incredibly unimpressed, underwhelmed, and unconvinced face.

"What?" he snaps incredulously, first insulted that she found his honesty about feelings unimpressive and underwhelming; then, relieved at her reaction, because her clear disbelief roused his argumentative nature, and with it, the need to convince her that he was being truthful.

"I'm serious," he follows up sternly.

"That's why you were punching my door?" she inquires flatly.

"Well that's how badly I !" he spits defiantly before catching himself, his voice turns low and agonized, "That's how badly I wanted to see you."

He tears his gaze away witnessing her wide eyes. He is left swearing under his breath, as he begins to unfurl the end of the bandage roll while avoiding her gaze.

"Eren," she shakes him slightly, but he says nothing as he presses the bandage to her abdomen, pulling it taut across the lean stretch of skin, at which she obediently arches her back to let him pull the roll under.

He remains silent as he leans closer, his hand guiding the bandage along the soft skin of her back, her peer heavy on his face, his heartrate beginning to accelerate for some stupid reason.

"I had a bad dream," he murmurs as he continues to work, figuring that he should say something before he can focus on how fast his heart is starting to beat.

And then it is like a weight has been lifted, because he does not have to look at her to feel her expression shift into one of slight surprise and understanding.

"Oh."

And now she is silent, apparently finding the answer valid. He figured she might, as in their youth, when she had first started living with his family, he had woken many nights to find her teary-eyed and nearly hyperventilating, shaken from her nightmares.

At such times he would stay close at her bedside, eyes on hers, hand on hers, until she fell back asleep. Then, once Shiganshina had fallen, she had returned the favour in kind when he was the one tossing and turning and crying on a regular basis, waking to her warm, pitying charcoal-blues, as she used her sleeve to dry his tear-streaked face, fingers loosely curled around his wrist until he fell back asleep.

However, it had been years since they had sought one another's comfort in such a way.

It is likely why she is staring at him with such concern in her eyes, deducing that whatever had led him to her door must have been something particularly horrific which it was.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asks hesitantly.

The gauze begins to disappear with each turn of the bandage around her torso, the seconds passing by in silence, neither saying a thing as he continues to work.

"It... it was about this," he says, smoothing the bandage over her abdomen as he winds over and under again, his stomach fluttering, not only because of the feel of her warm skin against his palm and the backs of his fingers each time he goes around, but at the impending truths he is going to have to relay soon.

Silently, she looks back at him in understanding, and he feels the tension ease slightly in her body, as he winds the last piece back around and tucks it into place.

"Oh," her voice finally comes softly, with understanding.

He sighs heavily, lifting a hand to smooth out a slight fold on one of the bandages as he mentally prepares himself to say more.

He thinks he might start by describing the dream, and then segue into the conclusions he had drawn from there but his train of thought stops abruptly when she reaches for his hand, and slides her fingers into the gaps between his.

His mouth drops ajar as he stares and stares at their hands loosely entwined across her abdomen, heart fluttering when she squeezes his fingers between hers, and he is left mute, without a clue as to what to say or do in response.

Slowly, his eyes trail back up to find unbridled concern on her face, eyes reading 'are you okay?', her gentle clasp conveying, 'I'm here'. His eyebrows arch pitifully despite his best efforts not to break, and it is the first time in a long time their eyes are locked in something that is not a stubborn staring contest.

The warmth and tenderness of both her peer and her grip then begin to dissolve the tension that had both of them on edge ever since he had stepped into the room.

"It's all your damn fault..." He mutters.

She quirks an eyebrow at the remark that certainly did not suit the warm, comforting hush that had settled over them.

"Eh?" She mumbles and before she could process anything Eren's arms gently pull her into a tight embrace and his head drops onto her shoulder and without warning his tears start to roll down her bare, scarred skin.

"You've messed me up entirely Mikasa..." Eren whispers again and she's left confused, without hesitation she pulls him even closer unable to grasp the situation. However before she could question he's already sobbing at the top of his lungs and she's running her hands down his uncombed hair.

And he just shakes under her touch a faint smile tugging at the curve of her lips. "Eren... What's wrong?" She asks however before they could go any further...

"Knock knoooock OH."

They do not even have time to blink before Mikasa tears away from his grasp, her expression flipping back to relatively neutral, as she looks towards the door.

His wet eyes linger on her face momentarily, as he registers the instant switch, finding it eerie, most especially after the internal war of emotions he had just seen play out on her face.

He then follows her gaze to the door, to find a wide-eyed Sasha peering in.

He frowns wiping away his tears, not even attempting to soften the glare he is already shooting her way.

"Sorry! Um didn't mean to interrupt," Sasha says through nervous laughter, cheeks tinted pink, as she makes brief eye contact with him, already seeming to understand her transgression, "I was just "

"You're not interrupting anything," Mikasa says a little too brusquely for his tastes, only adding onto his irritation, because Sasha had indeed interrupted something.

"Eren was available a little earlier to replace my bandages. We're just finishing up here."

'Available,' he scoffs internally, for some reason annoyed at the word choice.

"Oh. Great, then!" Sasha says with a nod, flustered as she shifts back out of the room, pulling the door along with her. "I'm gonna okay! Yeah," she continues, as she pulls it closed.

And again they are left alone in the silence, both blinking at the door, both left discombobulated at the unexpected respite from the tension that had just peaked between them.

But with the silence, that same tension fills the air once again, only heightening the moment Mikasa turns back to him, face close despite the coolness in her gaze.

And suddenly, it occurs to her what Sasha might have thought she had walked in on, considering the candlelit room, their relatively intimate position upon her bed not to mention the fact that her shirt was hanging wide open, and that his hand had been on her wrist.

Eren sighs his deep frown shaking something deep within her. His gaze shifts to her momentarily filled with sympathy and somewhat regret.

"Eren.... Hey.... Tell me what's wrong...."