False Pretense [EreRi/RiRen AU]

Chapter 14: An Unexpected Guest

Sorry for the late and shitty chapter. Please ignore the mistakes. Read on.

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"Here, Levi." The first person I saw as soon as I woke up is Hanji, sitting on the side of my bed, still wearing a worried look on their face. They handed me a glass of water which I gladly took, just realizing that my throat feels like a fucking desert. The water felt good, quenching the thirst that left my throat feeling like sand paper. "Are you feeling okay?"

'Yeah, if having a broken heart is fucking okay.'

I avoided Hanji's question and stood up from my bed, padding to the bathroom feeling Hanji's gaze on me the whole time.

Standing in front of the sink, I stared right at my reflection, taking in every little detail of what resulted from all of those crying yesterday. My eyes are swollen and red, my face still tear streaked from crying on hours end. Scowling at my reflection, I made a move and washed my face, trying to make myself look less like the mess I am. After that I went out of the bathroom and headed straight to the door, looking back at Hanji.

"Are you coming down? I want some tea." They stood up and followed me, walking through the halls and down the stairs with nothing but our footsteps to be heard. It's very unusual for Hanji to not talk my fucking ears off by now, and it's just making me much aware that there really is something wrong. That they're walking on eggshells, afraid that they might cause some more harm to me.

But I'm not fucking fragile, even after what happened, and them acting like I am one is really pissing me off.

So after setting the kettle on the stove and letting the water boil, I faced them as they sat by the countertop, raising one of my eyebrow and crossing my arms over my chest.

"What's with you?" They looked surprised at what I said, both eyebrows raising as they gape at me. Their mouth opened and closed when words failed them, but soon forcing out a confused 'what?'. I kept my face blank, as well as my voice. "Stop walking on eggshells, Hanji. I know that you want to fucking ask. Go on, stop acting like I'm going to break."

"But it just happened, Levi, it should still be a sensitive topic for you—"

"And I'm not a fucking damsel in distress. I already spent my damn day yesterday mulling over and crying over it. I think that's fucking enough." They kept their gaze on me, scrutinizing my face looking for some fault but then sighed when they saw nothing. They removed their glasses and rubbed their face, shooting me a half-hearted smile after doing so.

"Sorry, Levi. I was just so worried, y'know? After hearing you call me sounding like that, so broken and defeated, then watching you cry yourself to sleep, you just can't expect me to act all careless after that." After hearing what they said, guilt washed over me. They were only worried about me and I'm being a fucking asshole.

I didn't respond, letting the heavy silence take over us as I prepared us some tea. Offering a cup to Hanji, they took it while muttering 'thanks' and we sipped our tea in silence.

Deciding to break the silence, I set my tea down, keeping my hands wrapped around the cup before speaking. "Rein...he isn't real."

Repeating my actions earlier, they also set their cup down, looking at me before giving me a nod, prompting me to go on. "What I mean is, he's been pretending to be Rein all this time. But the truth is, he's Eren. He's been Eren the whole fucking time."