abandonhumanity | PSL / MEME CONTINUATION

[Alright, enough laughing. Eren knows he got her. Not allowed.]

[Aubrey turns the key with prejudice. It is a janky, shitty sound from a stuttering wad of metal that’s several months past its expiration date; it had a shitton of miles in the first place and they just keep stacking. Trips like this don’t help. Truly the best money could (and still can) buy.]

Every day you find a new way to disappoint me. [She’s trying to sound nonplussed again. It’s a better attempt, if only because she’s too embarrassed by the catch to fire back immediately.] I wouldn’t put it past you. [Not these days....]

[He can hear the engine rattle to life. Thank God. His heart warms even as his irritation rises. He'll see her, he'll see her, he'll see her again soon. It's been too long (only a week or two - far too long).

["Every day you find a new way to disappoint me."

[That cuts him deep. He doesn't show it...He's never told her with any degree of honesty how those particular words make him feel.

[His mom would be disappointed in him too. He's positive of that. It weighs on his heart every single day.]

You don't know shit. [There's no real animosity to his tone. He just sounds drunk.]

I wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Stupid prick. I'm only staying with him because I got kicked out of my apartment.

[A little snort at that. It's funny, see? The last time Aubrey saw him, he was still there.]

[In the tragedy of the century, Aubrey only briefly notices that Eren didn’t have much else to say back (a hint, maybe, if she thought about it), and then he’s talking about Forster again. And like, fuck that guy. Fuck that guy so hard.]

[The phone is deposited unceremoniously in the nearest cupholder. It will rattle like a bitch the entire drive, even when the roads stop being hot pothole-ridden garbage, but Eren should be used to it by now—or, well, “should,” in Aubrey’s opinion. Since he insists on these calls.]

Ha ha, very funny. [Something tells her Eren’s not kidding but like, entertain the thought.] You just said you have some self-respect left.

[He "insists" on them. "pinky promise???"

[At her disbelief, Eren snorts again, but it's a bit more humorless than the last. He's not exactly happy about that entire situation; he won't admit its his fault, of course. Landlords are fucking parasites and deserve to have their lives threatened. It's fine.]

I'm not kidding.

I got evicted, so I needed somewhere to go. Piece of shit landlord - lives two states away in a million dollar McMansion. I bet he really gets off on robbing poor people of their housing after doubling their rent so he can afford his next trip to Cabo.

Maybe I really should kill him.

[He might have a harassment lawsuit pending. Anyway!]

Floch and Yelena are my friends. Sorry that you can't stand that. They gave me somewhere to go just like they always have.

[The story has Aubrey eyerolling—not because she doesn’t believe it, but because she absolutely does, and of course he would. Of course! He doesn’t even need to sound serious about the death threat for her to know he made one, maybe several. That’s Eren Jaeger for you.]

[The disappointment comment wasn’t supposed to be serious, either. Come on.]

[Anyway, every word of his topic change is a chunk of ice down Aubrey’s shirt. She won’t give him the satisfaction of laughing again, but her reply drips venom.]

“Just like they always have”… [Like. Ow. Okay. Way to remind her she was almost always going over Eren’s house, for (depressing) reasons he knows damn well about (because they’re depressing).] If you were sorry you’d be staying literally anywhere else.

[And where was Aubrey after they broke up? ~~Driving to his house several times a month to talk him off the roof and hold him until he felt like he could live in this cruel world another day, just so long as Aubrey was still a part of it.~~

[He picks absently at the grass growing out of the cracks in the sidewalk. He sounds like someone who is engaged in this activity - idle and casual, still drunk as all hell, brain foggy.]

Sorry for what?

[Well, yes. She is absolutely pissy because she’s jealous, and not because she would’ve offered her own place in a stupid, regret-inducing heartbeat. Which is its own jealousy, but. Always easier to get mad at the third party.]

Sorry about your culty-ass “friends.” [Aubrey is also aware they were… around… for Eren, in a way she still refuses to be. Still not gonna get all gung-ho about mailing people bombs, sorry; got tired of pretending to understand that a looong time ago.] Bet they won’t even hold your hair back when you’re puking your guts out tomorrow.

I'm not sorry about my "culty-ass friends," so. That would explain why you aren't getting an apology.

[He yawns into the receiver.]

Yelena always holds my hair back, but it doesn't matter anyway since you can't stay away from me.

[Towing the line...]

[Yawning, huh? He’s either fucking with her again or genuinely tired. The latter is an unfortunate thought; she’s not driving all this way to find out he’s gone to bed.

[So, with great reluctance, Aubrey will entertain the line. There’s a pause, though. He knows her too well for “I could turn around right now” to be anything but a joke.]

[After a slow, rolling stop:] Hm. Yeah? [Visibility’s shit at this hour.] What else does Yelena do for you?

[Begging for an onslaught. It should invigorate him, though.]

What's that supposed to mean?

[He sounds...invigorated. :)

[He's smirking into his phone.]

Don't tell me you're jealous.

[Oh, of course he’s gonna make her elaborate. Mission accomplished failishly....]

Alright. [Too defiantly to be convincing,] Then I won’t.

I think you're forgetting something, Bow.

It’s not supposed to mean anything. I can ask.

I'm only interested in one girl.

You may have met her. Insecure type?

[Had to get that little dig in there.]

Edited 2023-10-08 06:35 (UTC)

Ha ha, very funny.

Maybe I want to hear Yelena’s treating you right, actually. [So I can one-up her—] So you can move on.

Yeah, well. That's never gonna happen.

[The good humor isn't gone from his tone, but there is, as always, a hint of sadness that comes with that sentiment.]

Don't act like I'm the only one, either. You coming or what?

[It's a tease. He knows she's only been in the car a few minutes.]

[See, see, that never. It’s exactly why she knew she had to end it—quote-unquote “had to” “end” “it.”

[That stupid goddamn “never” might be the most satisfying thing she’s heard all night.]

Gee, sorry, guess I’ll just crash through a few buildings in a straight line to your buddy’s little frat house. Don’t die before I get there. [Lest he interject:] You owe me gas money.

[Eren hadn't wanted to end it. He still doesn't find it necessary; in fact, he still considers it all one big mistake on Aubrey's part. He still thinks, sometimes, that she might change her mind and quit pretending she's happy like this. Sometimes, he's positive that will never happen.

[Those are bad nights (and when does he tend to call Aubrey the most...?)]

I'm not reward enough? I'll show you a real good time. Promise.

[It’s times like these, headed further and further out of town on a bored whim, when Aubrey thinks she did make a mistake. Like, she truly is not turning around. Who’s she trying to fool?]

[She is dead certain she’ll be reminded sooner or later. Another dashboard slam away. Or maybe different, more miserable call, her empathy and energy draining rapidly in tandem; surely Eren got himself kicked out, after all, and she’s not asking why for a reason. Right now…]

Alright. Guess you owe me that, too. [Ugh, how long has it been, a couple weeks? Far too many.] Better not be too drunk.

It's fine. I'm not drinking anymore.

[He is curling up on the walkway leading up to the porch though, head on his balled up jacket. Just gonna lie here for a few minutes. Talk to Aubrey. She hasn't turned around yet; all at once, warmth spreads out inside his chest (one of those mood swings again). It's been too long. More than anything, he wants to hug her - just wrap his arms around her and carry her inside. Just lie around and look at her, and touch her hands, and put his cold feet against her cold feet. He wants her to wear his hoodie, and he wants to watch bad TV, and he wants to talk all night, and kiss, and kiss, and kiss.

[His voice comes out a soft.]

I've been missing you.

[God, that voice. Aubrey wants that right in her ear while she curls up into him, not caring if there’s alcohol on his breath or if this too would be a truce at best.... Always bittersweet. She really did try to throw it away, for some nebulous “good” that quite clearly hasn’t manifested.]

[Idly she recalls “teasing” from some not-quite-friends, people she’s met and tossed just to pretend she’s not hung up all the same. ‘What, you’re keeping his number so you can take advantage of him?’ It’s a paraphrased jeer, warped by Aubrey’s own gnawing thoughts. She doesn’t speak with these people anymore. (Eren had a hand in that.) If you really loved him you’d stop toying with him like this. That’s cold.]

Miss you, too, I guess. [Muttered into the night.]

["Toying" is something that Eren has also accused Aubrey of in moments of anger (of which there are many). But he doesn't really feel that way. He and Aubrey are soulmates. That's what he thinks. They can't stay away from each other, and they shouldn't have to. When he's drunk and warm, he can smile into the receiver about it when she says, "Miss you, too, I guess."]

Yeah, I know it.

[When he's somewhere darker, the tone is much different, the desperation more vicious. He's told her more than once what he'd do if she stopped answering his calls, or making those drives; especially cruel and selfish considering what Aubrey has already lost. But he means it too. He needs her. He's never been shy about that...

[For now, though, the fog stays floating above. He's calm.]

You should stay a couple nights. Maybe forever.

[“Yeah, I know it.” There’s just… no bluffing with Eren. Ever, really. They know each other too well—or at least Eren’s held onto that, and it gives him the upper hand. Small mercy that, for now, he’s not taking advantage. It’s not like Aubrey hasn’t blamed him for his own spiral, or threatened, in the heat of the moment, not to come back… She’ll swear it even as she pulls him off the brink. Maybe it strokes his ego. Maybe it fucks with his head all the more. It’s become her lifeline, too, in a way.

[Something’s gotta give, eventually. It just can’t be him.]

[—However:] I’m not staying with your friends. [It’s their fault....]

Luckily for you--

[There's some drunken grunting as he rearranges himself on the concrete. Ironically enough, his next words are:]

I have my own room and everything.

[He sure doesn’t sound like he’s in said room.]

What, some little closet you carved out? [It’s meant to insult the “friends” more than anything. Sure could’ve phrased it differently, though…] Frankly, I’d rather not set foot in Floch’s house at all.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject