Ein Riese, der Fliegen Wollte

The Tongue of Man

It takes Eren a few minutes of vague gestures and grunts to get across to the two humans that he his far from fluent in their language, and that he has not- in fact- been hiding the ability from them. Mikasa looks slightly suspicious still, but Armin lights up in excitement, using broad gestures to its mouth and head to convey what Eren assumes is a request to hear what other words he knows.

He frowns, scratching the back of his head. It's been far too long since he's actively tried to puzzle out what the various human noises meant, so he's forgotten much of what he'd learned, but there were a few he was pretty sure he knew.

He nods to the brick in Armins's hands with eyebrows raised expectantly, and the human dutifully resumes eating while Eren decides where to start. He points to Mikasa. "Human." Next, he raises his hand above his head as if measuring a great height. "Titan." Armin nods encouragingly, and Eren looks around, hoping to spark some recognition. He spies the cots and points to them, tilting his head to the side and closing his eyes in a pointed blink. "Sleet."

Armin shakes his head, swallowing his mouthful. "Sleep." He says, enunciating the word. Eren manages to wrangle his fleshy teeth-coverings into submission enough to pronounce the last sound, and Armin makes encouraging noises.

They continue that way for a few more words, including Knife, Steam, Big, Sun, Water, Red, Doctor, Horse, Tree, Open, Hot, Test and Kill. Armin cringes at that last one. There were a few more that Eren said that Armin seemed unable to make sense of, and Eren figured he was most likely pronouncing them wrong.

Oddly enough, all three classes of Titans -Crius, Coeus, and Hyperion- were among them. He was certain he was pronouncing them right, as that one never seemed to shut up about them. He could have sworn he could remember them to the exact descriptions, despite the almost complete language barrier. Crius: Average Titans with no significant behavioral traits and low-level intelligence; Coeus: Titans that behave erratically but maintain low-level intelligence; and Hyperion: Titans that possess superior intelligence and often special skills or abilities. The memories of that time send a shudder down his spine.

But maybe it had been longer than he'd thought. Or maybe these humans call them something else. Eren plans to figure that out later.

For now, he was tired. The sun had been down for hours now, and he hadn't had real food since he was ripped out of his own nape. While the bland, tasteless human food filled his stomach and stopped the pains, it didn't provide him with the energy he would have gotten from the meaty flesh of a deer or cow or a small Titan. For now, he was entirely dependent on the sun for energy. Which was incredibly inconvenient.

Especially if the humans insisted on keeping him up past sundown.

Armin starts to motion something with its hands, but Eren closes his eyes and shakes his head. "No." He stands up and pushes the cots together in one movement with a scrape of wood on stone. "Sleep." He briefly allows himself congratulations on pronouncing the word right, before he sees that the humans haven't moved. "Sleep," he repeats, pointing at the shuttered window. "No sun. Sleep."

The humans just smile at each other and say words he doesn't know. Irritated, Eren walks over and scoops Armin up in his arms with a grunt, plopping the blond on the cot just gently enough not to disturb the still-healing wounds. He turns around to do the same to Mikasa, only to find the other human has already made its way to the cots and clambered inside.

When the humans are situated, he blows out the small fire-stick and climbs onto the cot with them, situating himself between the humans and pulling the threadbare blankets over them. As he closes his eyes to sleep, he feels the humans shaking and making soft noises in their throats. He grunts at them, but it only makes them shake harder, and he resigns himself to waiting it out. Eventually they quiet, and he falls quickly to sleep.

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Maybe it was just the built up tension of the past week letting itself out, but it takes Armin and Mikasa a few full minutes to stop laughing after the pouting boy literally dragged them to bed, grumbling at them. Once they do, however, it doesn't take long at all before they can hear soft snores coming from him.

"Eren gets cranky when he's tired." Mikasa mutters with a soft smile "Noted."

"He did work all day." Armin defends, swatting her on the arm. He doesn't miss the grumbled 'So did I', but he pretends he did. Comfortable silence fills the shack for a few minutes while they bask in each other's warmth before Armin turns on his side, facing Eren and Mikasa. "What do you think happened to him?" He feels more than hears her turn.

"I still think he's simple."

"But you saw him just now! He learns so quickly. I'm pretty sure there's nothing getting in the way of his learning."

He can almost hear the pensive look on MIkasa's face. "Well what do you think happened?"

Armin sighs, eyebrows drawing together. "It's possible he really did hit his head and forget."

"Old man Johnson didn't forget words. Just people. And things."

He shakes his head "Maybe it works differently on other people. Maybe it depends on how hard you're hit."

Mikasa pauses at the insistence in his voice, and he curses how well she knows him when she speaks. "That's not the only theory you have, though."

He shakes his head before remembering that she can't see him in the dark. "No, it's not." When he doesn't respond, she says his name, reaching over the almost feverish boy between them to touch his arm."I mean, you've seen him, right? He walks around like he's never been outside before in his life, the few words he does know seem like a random fistful from passing conversations, he has absolutely no people skills--normal people don't growl at other people, Mikasa--It's like he's never interacted with other human beings before."

"So what? You think someone had him locked up?"

He lets his silence speak for him.

"Who would do that?" Mikasa's hand slides from his arm to Eren's chest, obviously thinking the same thing as him. Who could ever bring themselves to hurt the innocent boy between them?

A chill sweeps through the shack and Armin huddles closer to the candle-hot boy. "There's always the chance he really is like old man Johnson." He tries not to sound desperate.

When Mikasa speaks next, the glimmer of hope he has struggles harder to stay afloat. "I touched his neck earlier and he flinched away like I'd hit him."

They fall silent, listening to the soft sound of three bodies breathing. By the time Armin voices his next decision, he's not sure if Mikasa is still awake or not.

"I want to teach him to speak. Then we can ask him."