Work Text:
The first thing you’re aware of is the sun streaming in through the halfway opened window. There’s a cool breeze hitting your exposed arm, you bundle up further in the blanket. There are birds chirping outside, and the sound of driveways opening and cars roaring to life are all you can hear.
It’s different from when you lived in the city. Back then you always awoke to the aroma of coffee wafting in from the bodega on the corner of the street. There was always at least one person yelling off in the distance, and the window your bed had been up against faced west instead of east, no direct sunlight.
You still wake up the same after a nightmare though. Your heart’s long stopped racing, and you’re not the type to move around too much or cry out in your sleep. You can barely even remember what it is that plagues your sleep half the time, but this time you remember.
You’d been running, breathing hard and crying up until you weren’t. There was something behind you but you couldn’t bear to turn and look. The sounds of war were all around you, the smell of blood assaulted your airways, your legs were exhausted but you couldn’t stop. And then you tripped and it was all in the goddesses hands now. They did not look kindly on you.
The sun’s streaming in. The cars are waking up and going to work. The birds are singing. You’re aware of a body next to you. It doesn’t smell anything like blood. You peek an eye open.
Eren is the first thing you see.
“You ok?” Your other senses hit you at once. He’s all you can see and smell and feel. Rubbing your back the way he always does. He smells like a pine forest, like he always does. His green eyes, black hair, worry lines between his eyebrows.
All you can do is groan.
“You’re ok baby, come here.” He pulls you into his chest, you’re on his left side. His heartbeat pumps in your ear, grounding you even more than he already has. “You’re here babe, I’m here.”
You snuggle in closer to his chest and let out a deep sigh. “Morning.”
“Morning baby. Bad dream?” He’s playing with your hair, another hand on your exposed back. You shiver but you’re not sure if it’s from the breeze or his touch. Either way he pulls the blanket up over the both of you.
“Mhmm,” is all you can get out, placing a tiny peck on his chest.
“I’m sorry babe,” you can’t see him, but he frowns. He’s always known what dreams plague you, even if you can never remember it. He prays you never will, afraid of how you’ll react if you knew about it all.
Back then he’d been cursed, a lost cause, doomed from the start. He never had the option to just live a life he could one day be proud of. Things are so different here, the only thing he could ever ask for is ignorance.
He watches you as you slowly wake up, it must’ve been an especially bad dream from how long it’s taking you. It usually takes you a minute or two to get your bearings after a nightmare, but it’s been five since you first let out a tiny moan and your eyebrows furrowed. He leans down and kisses the crown of your head, pulling you into his chest even tighter. He misses the smile pulling at your cheeks.
It’s another handful of minutes before you even attempt to open your eyes, now that the sleep doesn’t make them burn when exposed. You blink a few times to get the picture to clear up and you’re met with a view of his forearm, his hand buried deep in your hair. All you see is his skin, a beautiful sight.
You tilt your face up a bit, placing a ghost of a kiss on his forearm before taking a deep breath and stretching. Your hands come up as you stretch your whole body, landing on his cheeks as he chuckles at you.
“You wake up like a little kitten,” he says, wiping away a stray tear from your eyes. You’re not crying though, at least not that he can tell.
“Ok, so cuddle me like a momma cat.”
“You’re so weird when you wake up,” he laughs as he pulls you up for a kiss, a real one this time. “Sleep well?”
“Eh, could’ve been better,” you shrug, palming around on the nightstand for your phone. “The wake up call was fantastic though.”
You swear as you accidentally push the phone off the nightstand, reach down to the floor to grab it all while trying not to leave the comfort of his embrace. Everything you do is so endearing to him it’s a wonder he even had the nerve to talk to you that first time. Of course he knew you already, but you didn’t him and he almost debated not butting his way into your now perfect life. Almost.
“Well I couldn’t just let you suffer in your dream alone. Wish I could protect you there too,” he kisses your temple before reaching his arm down to the floor and grabbing your phone. His arms are longer than yours and you wonder why he watched you fumble around for it in the first place.
“Ok first off, that’s cheesy.” You grab your phone and take a look at the notification bar. 15 emails and 20 texts. It’s only six, why are you already being bombarded by work? “Second, not much you could do in a battlefield, babe, but I appreciate the sentiment.”
“You remember?”
There’s something in his voice that makes you look up at him. Something between fear, worry, and sadness. Or maybe all three at once.
“Just a little. I think I was in some kind of war or battle in a past life,” there’s a smile in your voice, but it doesn’t reach your eyes. You can joke all you want but it had all been so real, like looking back on a memory rather than just a dream.
“Yeah, or maybe no more wartime movies before bed.” He’s back to his usual self, all smiles. You miss the faraway look in his eyes.
“In my defense I had no idea what Cherry was about before going in,” you giggle thinking back to the movie you’d watched together the night before.
“Anyway,” you say as you let out another delicious stretch, “I gotta get up. Duty calls or whatever.”
“One more kiss before you go?” He pouts.
“Well how could I say no when you look so pretty pouting?”