Life is Strange (EreJean)

Searching

Thankfully, Jean was able to drop the subject of what happened in the alternate reality. He was able to calm me down and then, after convincing me that we both deserved a break from everything, he drove me back to his place. We ended up hanging out in his bedroom all day, both thankful that Nile had already left and his mother was at work. We didn't do anything special, at least nothing that would be considered special by anyone else, just played video games and watched movies.

And, God, did it feel good to be able to hang out with him like that again.

By the end of the day, my mind was almost completely free of any of the shit that had happened recently. I say almost because, well, it was pretty difficult to forget completely. Distractions worked wonders, yes, but in the short seconds between conversations and before the start of a new game of Super Smash Brawl, it was easy for thoughts to come flooding back into my mind.

Still, I was truly grateful for those distractions. I hadn't really thought about it when I was blurting it all out, but hearing that there was a way that someone could go back to save your dad but at the cost of you becoming paralysed was, well, a pretty shitty thing to hear. And, yet, Jean still pushed any feeling or questions about it away, just to be able to give me the pleasure of ignoring it all for the day.

I really did owe him for that.

Honestly, I owed him for a lot more than that.

We ended up calling it a day at around eleven at night, neither of us having realised it had gotten so late. I was beyond relieved to be able to spend yet another night at Jean's place, especially now that we were... Well, there wasn't exactly an official title to it yet, so I'd guess I'd just say that we were now just open with our feelings about each other? I honestly didn't care too much about being 'official' or anything as long as long as there was /something/ between us but, well, it would be nice to know for sure.

After getting changed into a clean t-shirt and pair of boxers that Jean let me borrow, I slipped into bed, my eyes trained on Jean as he turned off the light before coming over to lay beside me.

"Do you always sleep shirtless?" I asked, grinning faintly at him as I shuffled over to wrap an arm around his bare waist.

He shrugged, shifting over slightly so he was lying on his back. "Are you complaining?"

"I'm pretty sure you know I'm not," I said, barely able to see the smirk that his lips curled up into but still knowing it was there. Humming softly, I curled up a little closer, drowsiness easily starting to overcome me as I closed my eyes. "Thanks for taking my mind off everything," I mumbled sleepily. "I'm sorry for making you mad."

"It's fine. I was mostly just mad because of Marco," he whispered, slipping an arm around me. "I still want to find him, though, Eren. I still-" he sighed. "I still miss him."

"I know. We'll find him," I mumbled, barely even managing to get it all out in my sleepy state. I didn't know what, if anything, he said in response, as I had already slipped into sleep.

~

Morning came around all too quickly, the sunlight that spilt in from the windows causing me to squint as my eyes fluttered open. I groaned tiredly, shuffling around for a moment as I tried to find the body that should have been sleeping beside me.

I whined out his name when I couldn't find him, my fingers dragging through my hair as I shut my eyes again to avoid the harsh light. Straight after, I heard a short laugh coming from somewhere on the other side of the room, to which I reluctantly sat up so I could look over at its source.

Jean was sitting at the desk in front of his window, his old laptop sitting open on top of it. He was already dressed in his usual outfit, a slight grin showing on his face as he stared over at me. I smiled tiredly in return, still not fully awake yet as I glanced around the room. My brows furrowed slightly when I spotted a large piece of cardboard propped up against his wall, with photos and other pieces of paper stuck to it.