[Aubrey should really stop thinking she can prepare herself for anything.
[His first statement throws her, and the rest leaves no room for recovery. As Eren talks, tense and pained, Aubrey holds him tighter, even as her head spins. She feels ill.
[It’s not because she doesn’t believe it. She was readying herself for denial, not this consuming, revolting connection. It’s the way Mari got evasive the second Eren came up, how she and Armin talked around him; the feeling Aubrey was being lied to, even after Mari swore she wasn’t. It’s how all this happened before Aubrey said any real word about Eren, just that they were friends—ah, but that was more than enough, wasn’t it?
[It’s the voice. That faint, second voice, right before Eren’s plea, calling Aubrey’s name in unison. They were somewhere together.
[It makes sense.
[Mari saw him caged like an animal, and she closed him in.]
[And what Eren goes back to, what seems to hurt him most, is that Aubrey wasn’t there.]
[Hell, she’d almost rather he focused on her friend. Let that betrayal gnaw at her. But he doesn’t, and Aubrey remembers how quickly he went cold when she shoved him away, and she looks at him in dreadful understanding, an apology for so much more than she can find the words for—and she pulls him close, tighter.]
I’m here now.... [Her voice wavers. She’ll explain, she’ll try to explain, if only the world will stop spinning for just a second. For now, Aubrey holds Eren like they’ll never be close again.] I’m here… I’m not going anywhere.
no subject
[Aubrey should really stop thinking she can prepare herself for anything.
[His first statement throws her, and the rest leaves no room for recovery. As Eren talks, tense and pained, Aubrey holds him tighter, even as her head spins. She feels ill.
[It’s not because she doesn’t believe it. She was readying herself for denial, not this consuming, revolting connection. It’s the way Mari got evasive the second Eren came up, how she and Armin talked around him; the feeling Aubrey was being lied to, even after Mari swore she wasn’t. It’s how all this happened before Aubrey said any real word about Eren, just that they were friends—ah, but that was more than enough, wasn’t it?
[It’s the voice. That faint, second voice, right before Eren’s plea, calling Aubrey’s name in unison. They were somewhere together.
[It makes sense.
[Mari saw him caged like an animal, and she closed him in.]
[And what Eren goes back to, what seems to hurt him most, is that Aubrey wasn’t there.]
[Hell, she’d almost rather he focused on her friend. Let that betrayal gnaw at her. But he doesn’t, and Aubrey remembers how quickly he went cold when she shoved him away, and she looks at him in dreadful understanding, an apology for so much more than she can find the words for—and she pulls him close, tighter.]
I’m here now.... [Her voice wavers. She’ll explain, she’ll try to explain, if only the world will stop spinning for just a second. For now, Aubrey holds Eren like they’ll never be close again.] I’m here… I’m not going anywhere.