Be My Salvation (Ereri/Riren)

XVIII

I apologize in advance for the short length of this chapter. The next one should be longer and will probably be out within the week~

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"Eren. Hey, kid. Wake up."

Eren peeled his sleepy eyes open to the dimly lit car of the train. His neck was stiff, his right hand asleep, but he was unbelievably warm and comfortable otherwise. Sighing, he sat up, seeking out the source of the voice. Sure enough, Levi was looking down at him, something of an amused sparkle in his eye as Eren sat all the way up from having been leaning on his shoulder.

Initially, his reaction was to jerk away and sheepishly apologize, but the soft, barely there smile on Levi's face kept him close, and he even managed a small, sleepy grin in return.

"We made it," Levi murmured. His sentence was punctuated by the train jerking to a stop.

Eren directed his attention out the window where, sure enough, the familiarity of the town was lit up in manmade light. The sun had clearly been down for a while.

"What time is it?" he mumbled.

"Almost 9 PM," Levi said. "C'mon, let's get our stuff and get ready to get off."

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes (or attempting to, at least), Eren stood up to help Levi pull their belongings from the overhead compartment. Only a moment later, the doors swung open and the passengers began flooding off.

The night air was warm and a little more humid than it'd been at Franz and Hannah's. Eren stayed close to Levi, who was scouting out Petra among the other people waiting to pick up their friends and family members. When they walked up to her, a smile immediately spread out across her features and she moved in to hug them both, and though it had only been a day since they'd seen her, it felt nice to be home again.

"Did you guys have fun?" she asked, smiling.

"More or less," Levi said as Eren merely responded with a nod.

"Good, good. Come on, I parked down this way," she said, starting down the sidewalk. They peeled themselves away from the rest of the crowd, made a quick stop to use the restroom, and made it to the car. "How was the cemetery?" Petra asked once they were headed down the road.

Eren found himself swallowing hard, and even Levi's eyes found him expectantly.

"It was...nice," he murmured, looking down at his hands where they fidgeted in his lap. "Peaceful."

"Glad to hear it," Petra said. Eren expected her to ask more about it, but she didn't. Instead she moved on to other things - if they liked Franz and Hannah, if they slept well, ate enough. Eren found himself telling her about the fireflies and Levi's playing, unaware at first of how fluttery it made his insides feel in just speaking about it.

Once home, Petra helped them carry their things inside as quietly as possible. Everyone except Oluo was already fast asleep, but Eren was all too happy to be greeted by a cat whose tail stuck straight up in the air when he entered their bedroom. She stretched out her front legs before stalking in his direction, giving a small meow as he knelt down and scooped her up, smiling face nuzzling into her soft fur.

"You two can wait until morning to unpack if you'd rather just go to bed," Petra said quietly. After that, she said goodnight and left them alone once again.

Not fifteen minutes later, Eren was curling up on his side around Zoë, pajamas on and teeth brushed, sighing lightly and contentedly as he relaxed into his pillows. On the other side of the room, Levi was just tugging his night shirt over his head before he, too, slipped between his sheets, facing Eren.