Eruren/Eruere Week Day 3

It was astounding how much his head ached, enough that Eren immediately regretted waking up, even if he didn't exactly have control over it. He winced and twisted his head in some pathetic attempt to escape the pain and the itch in his temple but they followed him. Eren groaned and raised a weak, uncooperating hand to his head, blindly feeling and moving.

Something stirred beside him, a soft breath reached his ears before cloth shifted and something by his leg shifted. "Eren…?"

Erwin's voice was husky with sleep and God knew what else, but he sounded utterly exhausted all the same. Sea green eyes struggled open to meet early-morning darkness and an unfamiliar room, one with white walls and Spartan decorations. His fingers twitched against the bedsheets, different from the ones in his or Erwin's apartment. "Eren?" Erwin's voice was stronger, more solid, drenched with worry.

What happened? "Erwin… wha?"

A large, warm hand immediately found his as a large shape shifted before the block of curtained light that was the window. Thin lips were quirked up into a relieved smile, his eyes unreadable in the dark. "You're awake… thank God. I wasn't… They weren't sure for a while."

Eren blinked at his boyfriend as his head slowly tipped to the side, a move that only made him grimace as another bolt of pain shot through his skull. "What're you talking about? Why are we in… a hospital?"

Perhaps it was the pain, or maybe it was the fact that he had just woken up a few minutes before, but Eren had finally managed to make the connection to his surroundings, to the sterile white and the reek of antiseptics that hung in the air. He watched Erwin's forehead crease, brow furrowing with worry as they stared at each other in the lessening dark.

"Eren… do you not remember?"

"Remember what?"

"Getting hit."

Eren blinked and shook his head gently, mindful of the ache. "Unless I somehow hit my head after we came home from dinner with your parents, no. I mean, I didn't drink that much, just a glass of wine. Did I fall out of bed again?" He'd done it before, but never hard enough to land himself in a hospital. Fuck, what happened?

Erwin's hand tightened on his as the blonde stared at him, lips parted and eyes helpless. He didn't say anything for the longest time, leaving only quiet breaths in the place of conversation and words, ones Eren needed desperately. He didn't understand what was going on, what had happened. Hell, he still didn't even know what was wrong with his head.

Tentative fingers returned to his head, brushing across his temple, then to the source of the pain and itch. Instead of uninterrupted skin and hair his fingers found rough protrusions, like tiny laces that slipped in and out of his skin a little beyond his temple. Stitches. How bad did I fall?

Erwin's expression tightened as his eyes flicked up for a second before they returned to Eren's face. "Eren… That was a month ago - the twenty-third of July. It's the thirtieth of August."

Eren's jaw dropped as he stared at Erwin, not quite comprehending the new piece of information. A month. He was missing a month of his life. Gone, vanished, stolen, a mere blank spot in his mind no matter how hard he wracked his memory or strained to reach back to those missing days.

Those were the only things missing, the only spots in his mind that were dark. Everything else was in place, perhaps a little hazy from the pain and lingering exhaustion, but there nevertheless. That was one small consolation. At least I still remember Erwin. I still remember that I love him, the last two years. He just hoped something important hadn't happened in the last month.

"But… I… Erwin… What happened?" The desperation in his voice made him cringe but he had to know, had to understand.

Erwin leaned forward until he could touch Eren's head, hand settling overtop Eren's near the edge of the stitches. "We were walking home yesterday and there was a protest on Third Street. People against the new law allowing for same-sex marriage here.

"One… One came up and started yelling at us. You know what they say - it's all the same. Except this time they had a bottle, a glass one. They went to hit me and you… You jumped in the way. Eren… you were so limp, there was so much blood… I thought I'd lost you."

Erwin wasn't one to cry, not often anyway, so when he pulled his hand back to dab at his cheek and the invisible tear sliding down it Eren's heart nearly broke. "Erwin… I… Fuck, I'm so sorry." He grabbed Erwin's hand and twisted their fingers together, clutching tight. "I just… I guess I wanted to protect you. You mean so much to me, you always have. I can't just stand there and watch you get hurt. I…"

He was so dizzy, the world swimming around him but he clung to it, staring hard at Erwin as he gripped that hand, unwilling to let go, to let unconsciousness take him. Those thin, pale lips were moving but he couldn't make out the words, couldn't make sense of the noises that filled his ears.

Erwin's brow furrowed and he leaned forward, head tipping to the side as he stared at Eren. He stared back, uncomprehending as to why he was being watched so intently. The world trembled around him, darkness creeping in at the edge of his field of vision. And Eren let go, eyes slipping shut as he collapsed back into darkness.

He came to sometime later, this time to darkness only broken by a lamp on a little table in the corner of the room. Erwin stood by the window, face tilted toward the sky as he spoke quietly into a phone, though Eren couldn't make out the other person's voice to guess as to who it might have been.

"Yeah… He seems to be fine. Seventeen stitches and a major concussion, but that'll go away. Though… he's suffering from amnesia. Not bad from what he said before he passed out, but enough that he can't remember the last month. I know… I'll be careful, just in case. He recognized me though… Alright, alright. See you." Erwin dropped the phone with a sigh and leaned against the edge of the windowsill, head tipped down to his chest. "Eren…"

"It'll be okay…"

The blonde's head whipped around and he remained frozen there for a moment before he slid into the chair beside the bed and caught Eren's hand. "How're you feeling?"

The young man snorted and shook his head, careful for once in his life. "I'm fine. Perfectly fine. Just… just a bit tired. You look exhausted."

Erwin shrugged helplessly with a wry smile. "I've been here since you were admitted. Haven't really slept. I've been too nervous."

"Idiot."

"I know… But I was worried."

Eren sighed and let his head loll back, too tired to keep it upright. He squeezed Erwin's hand though there wasn't much strength behind the action. Even so, he managed to pat the bed. "Sleep in th' bed with me… You need it."

"Eren, I don't think it's big enough for-"

"Shuddup and get your ass in before I change my mind."

That soft laugh was music to his ears as Erwin squeezed his hand before the chair moved back. The brunette shifted to the side, all his energy going into simply moving his body to create room for Erwin. A much larger body joined him a second later, though Erwin helped conserve space by lying on his side. His shoes were gone though it didn't matter much, not when they couldn't twine their legs together as they normally did.

Eren's face found the junction of Erwin's neck as he took in a deep breath, one that smelled faintly of cologne and coffee. Warmth in the shape of a hand found his cheek, curling over the planes of his bones to cup his face. "I love you…"

"Love you too…"

If Erwin said anymore, Eren didn't hear. He was gone to the world.

He never did get those memories back, but it didn't matter to him. Not when he could make new ones. And he certainly didn't mind saying "yes" to Erwin's marriage proposal twice.