Crack of Sunlight (Ereri/Riren)

*~Chapter Twenty Two~*

Later the same evening, the two had settled down in the living room with the television on, though neither of them were paying any attention to it; it was merely background noise. Their attention was instead focused on the open sketchbook in Levi's lap as he mindlessly doodled, not consciously aware of the image coming together beneath his pencil. Eren sat next to him, his hands wrapped around a mug of tea and his legs crossed on the couch, watching attentively. It was strange to him how focused the raven was on this and how much his body lacked its usual shaky manner. He knew it was only because of the drug coursing through his veins, as was that the reason he'd been able to eat and still hadn't thrown it up.

Levi's hand descended to the bottom of the page where, in intricate letters, he wrote a quote. One that left Eren in stunned silence.

Right beyond the cigarette and the devilish smile, you're my crack of sunlight.

That again...

Almost as if in slow motion, Levi's slender, capable artist fingers released the utensil. It rolled down the page and rested on his stomach at the same time his head fell against the back of the couch.

Eren had nothing to say. He couldn't tear his gaze away from the drawing.

It was dark; the pencil was charcoal. It portrayed the corner of a room with no doors or windows. In that corner was a person, appearing small and fragile, curled up into a fetal position with his arms wrapped around his knees. The majority of the face was covered by a hood, but what was visible was unsettling. The mouth was spread into an ear-to-ear smile, the cheeks ripped through. The teeth were sharp and menacing, and between them was half a lit cigarette, a curl of smoke drifting upward. Above the person was a crack in the ceiling. Levi had left part of the paper white to symbolize the light flooding in though that one crack down on the person in the corner.

Part of Eren felt he knew what the symbolism in this drawing was, what each thing meant and what it had to do with the quote, why Levi had said it was stuck in his head and why it seemed to have so much significance to him. At the same time, none of it made any sense to him. All he knew for sure was the person in the corner was supposed to be the artist himself.

Before Eren mustered up the courage to ask any questions about it, Levi had sat back up and was closing the sketchbook to toss it onto the coffee table. He then pulled his knees up and ran a hand through his hair.

"You alright?" Eren murmured.

"Get ready for round two," was all Levi said with hands beginning to shake, raking up and down his clothed leg. That meant only one thing – he was coming down from the high.

"C-can I ask you something, Levi?" Eren stammered.

The raven's eyes narrowed to slits and he scrutinized the teen out of the corners of them.

"What?"

Uncomfortable, Eren divided his attention to tracing the rim of the mug. "I just wanna know what it's like. I mean, to be someone like you...like, to be..." He had a hard time getting the words out.

"An addict?" suggested Levi.

Despite his flinch, Eren nodded. He felt very small there under the close stare of gray orbs.

"Why do you want to know?"

Eren swallowed hard. "Because I wanna have an idea about what you're going through. I mean, for you personally. I read up on it, but I'm sure your experience is different..."

"What do you want to know?"

"I don't know. Everything, I guess. What it feels like. And what the consequences are...other than the obvious ones."