[🌸] Admit It | Riren/Ereri AU

07 | she won't let me

Unedited
* * *

"Hey Levi..."

"What is it, Eren?" I groan bitterly.

"Thanks again..."

"You've thanked me over a hundred times this week," I complain. "Please, just go to sleep, Eren."

We lay like logs in our separate beds. Eren is wide awake and staring at the blank ceiling as if it were to change at any second and he dared not to miss it.

I've been neglecting my classes this week trying to help Eren. I didn't worry much for what I'd miss, since Hanji, Farlan, Isabel, and Armin are pitching in to help with my notes for the week. I felt that I needed to, that and Isabel practically forced me. She says that it would be a good chance to 'fill the gaps' in our relationship. Jeez, she's making it sound like we're married couple or something.

Eren rolls to his side, his cheek squishing against the pillow. He groans quietly, whining like a child.

"I can't sleep," he whines.

"Welcome to everyday if my life," I respond with a yawn.

"Oh, you're one of those people..."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I ask, finally turning my head to face his bed. I snort at the way his cheek is pressed against the pillow, he looks innocent and child-like, but I know very well he isn't. Childish, yes, but innocence has been out the window for years.

"Oh nothing, I just assumed you were insomniac..." he trails his last word as if it were an insult he didn't mean to blurt.

"I am, and?"

"Oh... I'm sorry, I'll let you sleep." Eren pouts his bottom lip and turns to his opposite side.

Man, he's emotional. I don't bother to feel sympathetic for him. Today's the first time in a long time where I'm able to rest, and I'm not letting this opportunity slip.

With Thanksgiving Break coming up, I want to be able to relax and hang out with mom and Buddy back home, not sleep. My body is exhausted and if I lack any more sleep I'm afraid it will shut down on its own, and I don't want that to happen again.

Just a few hours of sleep... That's all I need.

* * *

"Eren, if you keep messing around with that phone you'll never understand what I'm trying to explain."

Eren groans and set his phone face-flat on the table for what feels like the hundredth time this hour. I'm helping Eren catch up before we go home for Thanksgiving Break. I'm not doing this for free, of course. He offered me thirty dollars an hour, three hours a day before the weekend. Naturally, I agreed to this offer. Why wouldn't I?

Hanji is with us, studying for herself. She says she wants to finish the assignment before the break so she'll have all three days to herself. I don't blame her, having only three days off for break is a big deal when you're bombarded with assignments before and an exam after. Teachers are also off for three days, and everyone is anxious for the break to begin, even if it's only three days.

"You're being too hard on me, Levi," Eren complains.

"Hey, you're the one paying me for this. Now, read section twelve and answer the question, I have my own work to do."

Eren groans again and plops his forehead on the medical textbook in front of him. He mumbles something about Armin being busy, and how he preferred him as a tutor. I don't bother replying, instead I act as if I didn't hear his mumbling. Besides, we've been at the library for an hour now and I'm barely starting on my own assignment. At this rate I'll finish in years. I mentally curse myself and crack open my textbook.