The Transtempus Penalty (ERERI//RIREN)

Chapter 18

Morning came the same way it always did, loudly and far too soon, which was something I certainly could have said for past partners I had been with. I shoved a pillow over my face in a vain attempt to block out the sunlight and the obnoxious birdsong that came with the early grey Saturday. I was startled when I peered through my curtains to see a massive thunderhead looming just north of us, but still continued smothering myself with my pillow in an attempt to catch a few more winks. My efforts ceased when I remembered that Levi had stayed over the night before, and I sprang from my bed to check on him.

Careful not to wake Isabel and Farlan with noisy, lumbering footsteps I walked slowly on the pads of my feet to allow them however much more sleep they could get. I'd had a feeling that Levi would already be awake, which proved to be accurate when I rounded the corner and saw him sitting on the couch-bed, which had been folded back into a couch, watching the morning news on a low volume setting, enough that the quiet murmurs and static were unintelligibly melded together until I had gotten close enough for him to notice my presence.

"Morning," he whispered, leaning against the back of the couch, his legs akimbo while his eyes followed my sleepy Saturday morning self while I trudged my way to the couch and sat down beside him.

"You stayed," I replied, enjoying his profile in the soft morning light that just barely illuminated the dark room.

"I said I was going to, didn't I?" he replied, unfolding his legs and resting them off the front of the couch.

"Sure, but-" I started to say, but he cut me off, crossing one leg over the other and resting his arm along the back of the couch behind where I was sitting.

"But you didn't believe me," he muttered, leaning forward just barely, so that he could look into my eyes.

"I- It isn't that I didn't believe you," I mumbled, taken aback by his immediately scathing presence, which was especially in stark contrast to the early morning. Upon checking the clock, I saw that it was just after seven in the morning.

"But," he began, a small, amused looking smirk playing across his smooth lips, "You didn't believe me," he concluded, exhaling a quiet snort through his nose. "Now, tell me, Eren, you're not gonna go around resenting me, are you?"

"Not at all! Of course not!" I exclaimed, a little too loudly, while he slapped a palm over my mouth.

"Shh! You're gonna wake up your folks," he whispered, his eyes wide and glancing over at their bedroom door. His hands had moved so quickly to cover my mouth that I hadn't realized until just then that one of them had taken a hold of the back of my neck, gripping onto parts of my hair so tightly that I nearly gasped when I became aware of it.

When we didn't hear any movement or signs of life from Farlan and Isabel, he slowly moved his hand from my mouth and patted down the hair he'd disturbed. "Do you not want Farlan and Isabel awake?" I asked as calmly as I could manage given how quickly everything had just happened.

"Not yet," he said, his voice a hushed murmur that I had to strain my ears to hear.

"Why not?" I asked, bringing my knees to my chest, but gently resting his hands on them and providing subtle amounts of force, he pushed them back down.

"Because," he whispered, keeping his hands on my knees and leaning in, close enough that if I had moved even a centimeter forward, I would have kissed him. "Just because," he sighed, pulling back again and leaving me thoroughly flustered. "They're weird," he muttered several seconds after a response would no longer have been relevant.

"What do you mean?"

"Just that. They're weird. They're so jumpy," he said, like he wasn't talking about my aunt and uncle, which he wasn't, but he didn't know that.