Work Text:
Historia arises to a cream colored ceiling that filled her vision, fuzzy memories led to an inability to recall how she arrived in the room. In a slight panic, Historia quickly attempts to rise only to be met with a surge of unbearable pain that spread from her abdomen. She touches the area gently, fingertips gliding over bandages under her shirt.
“Hey. It’s alright. You’re fine.” Come a voice from her side as she inspects her body for following injuries. It’s Eren, standing at side of the bed she currently occupied as he pours water into a glass cup. “We finished the move successfully. Somewhat. Here.” Eren hands her the glass, which she accepts wordlessly. Everything had happened so quickly, or at least that is how Eren describes it to her. The stormy skies that had accompanied their latest of moves had caused poor visibility in the already dense forest. Unfortunately, the circumstances prevented them from detecting a wayward farmer, who upon recognizing the group as enemies of the state decided to take justice into his own hands. The man, equipped only with a couple of rusty tools, had been fairly easy to take down, however only after he had knocked Historia into a nearby tree with a shovel, resulting in 2 cracked ribs and 1 broken one. “After that I carried you here on my back, Mikasa dressed your wounds, and we’ve been taking turns checking on you. You’ve been out for a couple of hours now.”
“Thank you.” Historia mumbles as she idly drums her fingers on her now empty glass. Eren returns the gesture with a wide smile, placing a pillow behind her back to release the pressure on her ribs.
“No problem. You should rest for now.” Eren tells her, tugging the glass out of her grip to place it on the bedside table. It was an odd thing to experience the man that could turn into a raging Titan in a matter of seconds, gently ruffling her hair about as if such affection where normal between them. “Do you need anything before I go? Food, water, a kiss to make it better?” It was obvious that the last had been a joke, from the way he chuckled while delivering the suggestion. However, it sparked a curiosity in her. Was it a common thing to do for injuries? Growing up in a household where even talking positively was uncommon meant such things were foreign to Historia. Her befuddlement must have shown on her face, because she watched Eren’s grin dissolve into a small concerned frown.
“Sorry. It’s not that I don’t understand. I just don’t really… know what that’s like?” Historia tries to phrase, finding it more difficult that it should be. She tilts her head to the side, eyebrows furrowed in thought to how that would be.
"Uh… Well, it’s just kind of comforting. My mom would do it for me all the time when I would get cuts fighting. Only after she yelled at me though.” Eren sat himself on the bed, a fond smile spreading across his face at the memories. He recounts this one particular incident his mother had patched an wound on his arm and just light peck from her on the bandaged area had ceased the stinging. Historia recognized it as a mental kind of comforting that she couldn’t quite relate to, but from the wide smile Eren wore it must be nice.
“Sounds nice.” Historia mumbles to herself, drawing her knees up to her chest. She hears the light pittering of the rain outside hitting the paned glass window to her left in the momentary silence. It picks up in frequency for a bit as Historia stares at the white sheets that had pooled at her waist. Historia’s attention gets turned back to Eren when she picks up on his flustered movements, the edges of his sleeve being tugged at furiously.
“If you… I… I can show you what it’s like… if you want.” Eren stumbles out, his eyes averting from her gaze. Eren quickly appears like he wants to retreat on the idea when she says nothing.
“Yes. I would like that.” Historia finds herself break her first genuine smile in a while, it’s small but nice all the same. He nods in return, mumbling a small ‘excuse me’ as he shifts closer to her. She allows him to slowly hike up her shirt to get to the wound, his cold fingers brushing her stomach accidentally. For her sake he doesn’t move any higher than necessary, the pale skin already gaining a flurry of goose bumps at the cold weather. Eren is very visibly flustered as he moves close to the bandages, lips brushing the cloth lightly. Eren knows that should someone walk in, the situation would be seen badly, but he pushes it out of his mind as he presses the first kiss into Historia’s ribs. He feels Historia’s muscles tense and he shifts his gaze up. Historia returns with an only slight flustered curiosity. Eren takes this as a go ahead and moves to her the two cracked rib, higher up. The material there is warm against his lips as he presses two more light flurries of kisses before pulling away. As Eren drops her shirt and stands, Historia can only think of the pleasant warmth that soothed her aching ribs.
“I’ll go tell the others you’re awake.” Eren brushes off, moving quickly towards the door in embarrassment.
“Eren.” Historia calls out when the brunette reaches the door; he had already yanked it open for his escape. “Thank you.” Another genuine smile, slightly larger than the last.
“Anytime, Historia.” Eren smiles before leaving, shutting the door lightly behind him. She listens to his retreating footsteps before drawing her knees back up to her chest, clutching them to her. Her name didn’t sound so bad with him saying it.