The first time we fell into bed together was the night we returned from the 57th expedition beyond the walls. The mission was a failure and the Survey Corps suffered heavy casualties. My entire squad perished at the hands of a traitor, a human who had the ability to become a titan like Eren can. The many deaths we witnessed that day took a huge toll on us. Everyone who left through the gate that morning returned back through it with fewer friends, assuming that those who crossed the threshold even made it back at all. This time Erwin's gamble was a losing one and the bets were once again paid with lives.
Even beyond the loss of life, the failure of this mission put the Survey Corps' custody of Eren in jeopardy again. It was hard on me, it was hard on the soldiers, above all it was hard on Eren, who blamed himself for the decimation of the special operations squad. I would need to discuss that with him later. For now, all I wanted to do was get back to headquarters to process the day's events over tea, away from prying eyes. I was granted this boon since Eren was injured during the mission and was currently under Hanji's observation and hadn't yet been cleared to leave. I hate the thought of him being hurt but I knew he would be okay. I needed the time to gather myself before I could focus fully on him.
Everyone who returned with us was either asleep or in town drowning their sorrows, so I had the mess hall to myself. I knew this peace and quiet was limited since the failure of such an important mission was going to attract attention from the rest of the military and probably the central government, but I hoped I would get the chance to check in with Eren before duty dragged me away to deliver my report. Eventually Eren found me there and we sat together in somber reflection for a while. The heavy silence and the unusual emptiness of the mess hall didn't go unnoticed by either of us.
I knew what he was thinking as he looked at each empty seat at our table because I was thinking the same thing. Petra used to sit there, smiling and telling stories. Auruo would sit next to her, sometimes giving her a hard time, sometimes trying to imitate me in an effort to impress her, usually ending with him making even more of an ass of himself by biting his tongue and spitting blood on my clean table. Gunther would sit at the end and I could never stop staring at his weird-ass hair. Erd had better hair and always sat next to Gunther. Their antics and occasional bickering grew irritating at times, but now I'd prefer the irritation over the permanent silence of death. Especially now, just after Eren had finally gained their trust. The whole squad even surprised him by marking themselves with a physical symbol of solidarity; they each bit down on the base of their thumb like Eren does to transform. That made him very happy.
The adrenaline of the fight had clearly run out for both of us allowing pain to overtake the numbness of shock. I would be fine grieving and coping alone, I always have been, have always needed to be. I didn't know if the same could be said for Eren, and truth be told, even though I could handle myself alone, for once I didn't want to. I know he wants a shoulder to cry on and I am more than willing to be that for him. His two childhood friends and others he made during training in the 104th division were here at headquarters with us. He chooses to come to me. He never explains why and I don't need him to. Giving him my full attention will be good for me as well. The closeness we share provides me with comfort and focusing on Eren's needs prevents me from dwelling excessively on the tragic events of the day.
I rose from my seat at the table and was about request his company in my quarters when the weight I shifted to my ankle sent a jolt of pain up my leg. Shit. Eren hadn't noticed I'd also been injured during the mission, so he definitely didn't know that I acquired my injury rescuing him from the mouth of the titan he failed to kill. I wasn't about to have that conversation with him out in a public common room. I maintained my expression of tired indifference and spoke the first words between us that evening. It was just a simple statement: my quarters. He didn't salute or respond with his usual enthusiastic "yes, sir!" as he does when we're in public. He only nodded and silently headed in the direction of the officer's hall. I made sure to fall a few steps behind him in case I flinched, and we then retired to my room for the night.
I opened the door for him and I closed and locked it behind us. He still hadn't spoken. I'd just grabbed a match from beside the door and was raising my hand to strike it, intending to light the lamp at my desk when his walls finally crumbled. He turned to face me and pulled me into an embrace. His arms wrapped tightly around me, one across my shoulder, the other around my waist, and he hung his head down low to rest upon my shoulder.
Momentarily stunned, I stiffened for an instant before dropping the unlit match to the floor and returning his embrace. I pulled his body tight and close and I closed my eyes as I lay my head against his chest, lifting a hand to run my fingers through his hair. I heard how his heart rate was elevated and felt him beginning to tremble so I knew what was coming next. He was about to cry and I didn't want him to have to do it standing at the doorway.
My next move would usually annoy him but I didn't think he would mind in this situation. Keeping one arm around his back, I ducked and brought the other behind his knees and lifted him into a bridal carry. As I'd hoped, he didn't say anything, only giving a startled wobble to regain his center of gravity at the unexpected change in position. I flinched as I had actually forgotten about my injured ankle and this time he noticed. He turned his face to me and his eyes grew wide while I carried him to my bed and sat him upright at the edge so I could kneel to remove his boots. He stared.
"Levi! You're injured!"
Eren's voice doesn't come out as weak as I expected for someone on the verge of tears. It's as strong and forceful as usual as he quickly straightens his posture as if he's going to give me his usual hurried salute. His emotions are always readable on his expressive face, but I'm not exactly an expert in emotional literacy. Some are easy. Right now I can't tell if that outburst and accompanying facial expression is annoyed, angry, or concerned. Maybe it's all three. I see that he's adopted his soldier persona just as I had in the mess hall.
"Mm." I reply with a dismissive hum as I remove his other boot, setting it beside the first as I move to begin working on his 3DMG harness.
"Why didn't you tell me? I let you carry me! How did it happen? Levi! What will we do with our strongest soldier out of-" I interrupt his rapid questioning. I suppose I interrupt him a lot. I wonder if he minds. He never seems to. The lower body harness is sufficiently loosened and I pull it down his legs and stand to hang it on the wall. I bend one leg up behind me to pull off my boot and set it beside Eren's. He's waiting for a reply.
"Oi. Calm down. It's a minor injury. What's done is done. I'll be fine." I'm a hypocrite. I get upset when Eren is injured, except I don't usually let him know that. I sit on the edge of the bed next to him to remove my other boot and avoid putting weight on my ankle again. My boots stand beside Eren's pair at the foot of the bed. His are larger than mine. I feel an odd sense of pride when I see them standing there together. I look back over to him and he's looking away, brow furrowed, hands clenched at his knees. Walls, he's cute when he's mad. I sigh.
Exhaustion overcame us before we had the chance to continue bickering about my ankle. I'd turned around to hang my harness next to his and by the time I'd finished undressing, he was already stripped down and curled up in bed. His back was to me, a tangled mess of brown hair sticking up over the sheet that was pulled up to his ear. I wondered how humanity's secret weapon, a rage-fueled titan slayer with a thirst for blood and a knack for smashing skulls could exist in the same body as this adorable fucking… puppy dog sleeping curled into himself in my bed. I was too tired to think more on that, so I sighed once more, stepping over the pile of his clothes on the floor, and joined him in bed.
Eren must have woken up by himself sometime during the night. His shuddering body and muffled sniffling pulled me from sleep and I was instantly on alert. The tears had finally come for him now that he was no longer too tired to cry. A familiar desire to protect flared in my gut and I spoke to let him know I was awake before pulling him to me.
"Eren." I speak firmly but gently to him, only loud enough for him to hear me over the sobs he was trying in vain to stifle. It startled him anyway because he froze for a second before allowing himself to be pulled onto my chest.
"I'm here." I wrap him securely in my arms, pressing his head into the crook of my neck and my lips to the top of his head. I feel his hot tears drip onto my shoulder and roll across my skin toward my back. It itches.
His voice cracks as he speaks. "I didn't save them. I could have saved them if I'd just transformed like I wanted to. Levi, I killed them! They died because of me!" The tears continue to fall and sobs wrack his body, occasionally choking him. My heart feels like someone's squeezing it. I'm glad he can't see my frown.
"Eren, listen to me. Did you forget what I told you earlier? There's no way to know the outcome and you made the choice you thought was right. They chose too. What's already happened can't be changed. Look at me." I grab his chin and turn his face so I can look into his eyes as I say this. "I don't blame you for what happened. No one does. We'll mourn them and continue on. You lived through today and that's all that matters to me right now. I'm not going anywhere. I've got you. Now, cry. You need to." I give him a soft kiss and press his head back down to the curve of my neck and do my best to comfort him as he releases his pain.
Eren's breathing eventually evens out as the flow of tears stops, and his hand that rested on my shoulder starts to move down to caress my side. As his hand drags back up my body, it inches closer to my chest, slowly rubbing down the side of my pectoral muscle before tentatively stroking over my stomach with only his fingertips. He nuzzles his face even closer into the crook of my neck as his hand travels back up my body, this time with his palm fully over my pectoral. His hand drags slower this time, fingers intentionally teasing over my nipple, causing my breath to hitch and his to quicken.
I know where this is heading. I tense as a flood of conflicting emotions washes over me. Eren and I have been physically intimate but never explicitly sexual. We mutually benefit from acts of physical closeness like kneading each other's sore muscles after hard days of training or riding, sleeping together in the same bed, and strangely enough, grappling, which is fun because we can grapple public and it appears to anyone observing as nothing but standard combat training.
Experiencing mutual arousal isn't rare either. Kissing almost always leaves us in this state, and when waking up together on the nights we've shared a bed it's unavoidable; morning erections are a natural function of the male body. Sometimes we'll find ourselves rutting our hips together and Eren seems to be satisfied leaving it at that. I don't push him to progress further. It's not that I don't desire him sexually. Far from it. I can't count the times I've taken care of myself with his name on my lips, and, if I'm very fortunate and he's left one behind, one of his shirts pressed to my nose. No, it's definitely not from lack of desire.
It's because I value Eren above all others and hold a deep respect for him. I know the horrors that are forced upon him. To the rest of humanity, he's a specimen. He's experimented on constantly and those tests are never painless. He's been cut, bruised, burned, submerged, impaled, exposed to chemicals and untested medicines, forced to transform over and over until he collapses into unconsciousness for a day or more, he's been dismembered and had his fucking face torn off. This isn't even counting injuries incurred in the line of duty and his penchant for fistfights. How many times now has he been attacked and kidnapped? One time I told him I'd have to cut his hands and feet off. I beat him in front of a full courtroom and that still makes me want to vomit.
His body has been abused and battered. He says he consents to the experiments, but that still makes him an object for Hanji and others to do with as they please. When he became humanity's hope, his body became the military's property. He's always under someone else's watch (luckily that's my job) and he's not even allowed to use his own power to transform unless he's given permission.
Regardless of what humanity thinks he is, Eren is a man and no man is invincible. His bones can break as much as his heart. Being treated as a monster to be feared and controlled or a living weapon with no emotion, an unlimited source of scientific data via endless vivisection and experimentation? This would destroy any other man and yet Eren endures. Eren is precious to me and I will prove that to him through my actions. I have no desire to use his body as a tool for my own gratification. If he never wants to enter into a sexual relationship with me, I won't fight him on it. If he does want to, it starts only when he says so. Yes, I want him. Intensely. I want his trust and respect more. I need him to know that he has a choice. I have a hand. I can use it. Eren, though, is irreplaceable.
Eren's body is still pressed desperately close to mine. I swallow with nervousness and start to lightly trace my fingers up and down his back. He sighs at this action and I feel his lips begin to nip at my neck, forcing an involuntary sigh from me as my heart races. It's then that I notice his erection pressing into my thigh where he has his leg draped over me. Yes, this is definitely heading where I thought it might be. I try to quell my panic as my mind races. Eren is a virgin and we've never discussed this step in our relationship. He's never brought it up and I've never pushed him to. Neither of us have even attempted any below the belt fondling with each other. Maybe that's all he's seeking. I allow this thought to calm me and let Eren set the pace.
His hand that was smoothing over my torso stills as he cups it over my shoulder, and the gentle nips he was placing on my neck and shoulder turn to open-mouthed kisses, stopping to suck at my skin every now and then. Now I'm feeling the heat of arousal begin to grow in my core, but I continue to let Eren lead. Suddenly he startles me by using his grip on my shoulder to flip me on top of him. Ah, fuck, yes, I'm very, definitely, undeniably aroused now. I didn't know it was possible for a cock to harden that fast.
My eyes widen in shock as they dart up to meet his. His gaze is intense and I have only a second to take it in before he clamps his hand over the back of my head and pulls me down to press my lips against his. This kiss is very different from the affectionate ones we usually share. This one feels like desperation.
It's my turn to nip at him, taking his bottom lip in between mine and lightly tugging. I'm rewarded with a deep moan from the back of his throat and he kisses me more fervently than before. His head is tilted and he uses this angle to part his lips between mine, enticing us to open our mouths to each other. He doesn't hesitate to sweep his tongue into my mouth, immediately seeking to brush against mine. I relax against him as we continue to kiss and I relish the warmth and familiarity of having him close to me like this.
When he finally breaks the kiss, the breaths escaping from his parted lips are quicker and heavier than before. Eren locks me in an intense stare, and even though the room is dark, the moonlight from the window is enough to reveal the blackness of his heavily dilated pupils. They aren't the result of darkness of the room. His eyes never leave mine as he snakes an arm in between our bodies. I raise myself on my forearms to give him more room. I wasn't expecting him to shove his hand down between my legs and press his palm over my cock. His eyes are determined, his hand beginning to rub and knead me in firm, undulating movements. I don't stop him when he draws his palm back up and over my cock to loosen the ties of my breeches. He doesn't remove his hand once they're untied but he slips his middle finger under the ties of his own undergarment to loosen them as well, only moving his hand away when his task is completed.
Eren's hands find a new position over the width of my lower back, tightening his grip and jerking me down to grind our hips together. I nearly fall forward onto him completely when I feel his astonishingly hard erection rub against my own. When I moan in response, he takes this as his cue to advance and slide his hands down lower on my back so they now rest at the top of my ass. Our eyes haven't parted this entire time and his expression is still determined when he slowly slides his hands down over the curve, fingers underneath and against my skin, thumbs hooked over to pull my undergarment down as he feels me.
His hands are so hot on my skin and they're just large enough to perfectly cup my ass in them. I moan again at this and take my first action of the night when I reach down to strip him of the last barrier between us. I need to sit up slightly to remove our breeches completely, and I freeze as I'm struck by the sight of Eren's naked and aroused body, completely vulnerable in my presence. My mouth goes dry. I can't find any words that could ever fully describe how beautiful he is.
When I finally, regretfully, tear my eyes away from the incredible display laid out before me, I see that Eren is looking at me the exact same way, lifted slightly on his elbows to allow him a better view. He even swallows the same as I had and something about seeing his Adam's apple bob in his throat as he swallows forces me to grit my teeth.
I decide to test the waters a little. I'm still surrendering full control over the situation to him, but I want him to know that the desire is mutual. I wrap my palm around his cock and start to give slow, drawn out strokes, experimenting to see what he likes by occasionally twisting my hand, varying pressure, or pulling his foreskin up over the head and watching his reactions.
He simply tosses his head back and falls back onto the bed while releasing such a long, gorgeous moan that I'm afraid I'll come right then and there. In fact, I squeeze my hand around the base of my shaft just to make sure that doesn't happen. I know I should probably keep our first sexual encounter from moving too quickly, but my need to taste him is far too strong to resist.
I release his cock so I can hold my body up on my hands and lower myself back over him. I start by giving a kiss to the underside of his chin, then his throat, his collarbone, his sternum, his navel. The dark trail of hair leading down to his groin looks like a feast to a starving man. I nuzzle my nose in his pubic hair, inhaling his scent as deep as I can. His scent affects me like a drug and the dizzying wave of euphoria it causes in me starts to make me lightheaded. Right as I'm about to close the short distance separating my mouth from his cock, he grabs me by my hair to pull my face away.
Fuck. Fuck! I went too fast. I knew I shouldn't have tried to do that. I stop immediately and start to sit up to apologize, except I can't because he just locked his legs behind my thighs and is using them to pull me close enough for him to reach down and grab my ass. Then squeeze. With both hands. Hard. Did I just whine?
Once again he's caught me by surprise and when I look at him this time, the discomfort I expect to see on his face isn't what I find there. And, once again, I lose my breath at what I see. He's biting his bottom lip and I should probably be worried that if he bites any harder he's gonna turn into a titan and I'll die naked, crushed into the ceiling by my fifteen meter tall dickless teenage monster boyfriend, but that's the last thing on my mind as he gives me a pleading look and starts to spread his legs beneath me.
This entire time we've been successfully communicating without words, but now I have to break the silence. This is something I have to be absolutely certain about.
"Eren. You need to tell me exactly what you want."
When he looks back up to me with those big, emotion-heavy eyes, my heart thumps because there's just enough moonlight to see the blush that's settled across his cheeks. God damn, could I be any more wrapped around his finger?
"Levi…" His voice is soft and breathy, almost questioning as he says my name. I'm not used to hearing Eren speak without that deep, forceful (and occasionally inappropriately loud), confidence he usually has. That only reinforces the seriousness of this situation for me because it's a reflection of his emotional state.
"I want to have sex." I knew this was coming. But why now, after everything that happened today? How can he even think about sex when… Oh. It clicks. I'm at a loss for words and I realize I'm just sort of…. staring at him. And then I notice that his expression is wavering and he's taking my silence as rejection. I cup his face in my palm to reassure him while I close my eyes to gather my thoughts.
Eren's eyes are still unsure and pleading when I meet them again. Rubbing my thumb delicately over his cheekbone, I'm finally ready to answer him. Now the softness of my voice is intentional, nearly a whisper, when I look into his eyes to speak.
"Okay."
Eren closes his eyes and releases a shaky breath. I now cup both hands around his face, pressing my lips to his forehead before moving down to give him a brief, soft kiss on the mouth. I understand exactly why he wants this. He just watched his entire squad die brutally. My squad. I know he blames himself. If I accept him it'll be a sign of forgiveness, though I have nothing to forgive him for because I never once considered it his fault. And, I think, even more poignant for him is realizing that I could have died today, too, especially once he noticed that I was injured during the fight. He wants a confirmation that I'm still alive. He wants the relief of having me near him, living and breathing and firmly by his side.
Truthfully, I want the same thing. He needs this as much as I do. That doesn't mean it's going to happen the way he's expecting it to happen. It's his first time, he's grieving, and there's no fucking way I'm going to make him do any work or hurt him physically. I'm going to take care of him tonight.
He starts to wrap his legs around my hips, but I lean over to the bedside table and open the drawer, blindly feeling around for the small pouch that holds my maneuver gear cleaning kit. Eren pushes back on his hands to sit up and watch me curiously as I pull out the leather pouch and remove the bottle of oil that's used to lubricate the gear. Every soldier is required to have a cleaning kit for their gear and I'm thanking the Walls right now that I have several stashed in various places. I also praise the Walls that I decided to take a shit when we got back to headquarters.
I lean back over to him and place my hand on his chest, feeling his heartbeat as I gently ease him back down. I set the oil beside me to unwind legs from around me so I can push them together and straddle his hips. He looks up at me in surprise and I have a feeling he's about to protest, so I speak before he gets the chance to open his mouth.
"Trust me." Eren hesitates at this, but then nods and relaxes against the pillows.
I say nothing more as I retrieve the oil, pouring it into my palm and sitting back on Eren's thighs. I pour a little oil from my palm over the head of his cock before I use the rest to stroke him a few times, coating him thoroughly and making sure he's fully hard. I move back to my position straddling his hips and take a deep breath before reaching behind me to align Eren's cock with my asshole. I look at him one more time before I continue, my eyes seeking permission, and he understands because he gives a small nod and a slight smile.
I lower myself very slowly until just the very tip of his cock begins to breach me and stop, assessing his size. Determining it to be comfortable, I sink down a little lower until the entire head is inside me. I still for a moment to adjust, withdraw for a little more oil, and then take him inside me once more. This time I sink all the way down, Eren fully penetrating me, his eyes on me the entire time. I'm about to lose myself in the realization we're finally joined together, Eren is inside my body, and this is really happening when Eren pulls me out of my reverie with the best sound I've ever heard in my whole life.
"Haaaaahh…!" It's a long, keening moan, nearly all breath, gradually increasing in pitch and volume as his eyes squeeze tightly shut and his back arches up below me.
I start to ride him, setting a slow pace. I want this time to be a comfort and reassurance for him. The fast, hard, urgent fucking can wait. The moans, breaths, and closed-mouth whines coming from Eren below me are threatening to change my mind about that. I'm groaning and vocalizing too, overcome by the sensation of being stretched and filled by Eren's cock, how warm it is, how the friction of him sliding in and out of me is making me shiver.
Eren reaches up to grab me behind the neck, and I assume he's pulling me down for a kiss until he wraps his other arm around my waist to press me flush against him. His cock slips out of me as I'm forced to lean forward, but I know he's asking for more contact, to have my body safe and steadfast against his, so I adjust my position for him. I reach up to grab a pillow, tapping Eren's hip to encourage him to lift it so I can place it under him. I crouch back down over him, reaching behind myself again to take him inside me. This position is a little awkward, but Eren presses his heels down into the bed to lift his hips a little more until we find an angle that works. The penetration isn't as deep like this but it's much easier to rock back on my knees keeping my weight off my ankle than is was to use strength of my thighs to ride him like before.
As we establish a steady rhythm together, I start feeling overwhelmed again. The rumor that I'm unemotional and unfeeling is just that: a rumor. I have emotions just like any human being, I just don't allow them to be seen by anyone except those I trust implicitly. There are a few I trust, but this level of vulnerability is reserved exclusively for Eren. Having him under me, around me, inside me, sweat from our bodies mixing between us, saliva combining on our tongues, rocking in unison in a balance of give and take. I can't help but be overwhelmed. We fit perfectly together. I wonder if Eren feels this same sense of completeness.
This has been a night that's required very few words, both of us content speaking through the pleasured sounds we make for each other. The only times we've spoken where when we needed to make things explicitly clear with each other. I need to make one more thing explicitly clear to him tonight. My mouth leaves his to trail kisses along his jaw. I nip at his earlobe before I start whispering in his ear.
"I'm here. I'm here, Eren." I'm interrupted by my own moan. I notice that Eren's breaths have become deeper. "Eren," also more of a moan than a word, and his body tightens at this. "I love you."
I lay my head in the crook of his neck as we continue to rock together, skin sliding against slick skin as sweat pools between us. Eren takes several fast, uneven breaths and starts to tremble below me before he chokes on a sob and cries. He holds me even tighter and his rhythm falters, so I kiss his temple and stroke his hair while taking control of our movement.
We've never actually said those words to each other. We've had a mutual understanding of the feelings between us so words were never deemed necessary, but I think he needed to hear me say it after what happened today. I needed to say it, too, because it could have been Eren lifeless and bloody in those woods today and he would have never heard me confirm it out loud. His tears are tears of emotional release, and I sense that his physical release isn't far behind because his abdomen is tensing against me and he's starting to cry my name.
"I love you. I love you, Levi, I love you." Eren is chanting this in such a high, broken, emotional voice that's so different to my ears that I can barely take it. I don't know what exactly it is I'm feeling but there's a lot of it.
Eren starts to arch his back, his calves and thighs tense and shaking. When he draws in a deep breath and holds it, I momentarily consider making him pull out but kill that thought as quickly as it appeared. I feel Eren's cock grow even harder inside of me, so I tighten myself around him until the tension in his body snaps. His held breath is released as a shout while his cock throbs as he releases inside me.
Satisfied that he reached orgasm first, and even more aroused at the sensation of him coming inside me, I reach down to stroke myself to completion. Except… Eren swats my hand away from my dick, shaking his head as if to tell me no. Now I'm confused. I briefly wonder if he's going to deny me release, but maybe he just wants to do it himself. That's probably more likely. That's why I'm blindsided by what happens next.
He lowers his legs and taps my thigh to get me to move off. As I start to remove myself from his lap, still hard to the point of urgency, he pulls out of me and rearranges himself to spread his legs wide before me. For what feels like the hundredth time this night, he surprises me. And, for the hundredth time this night, I'm frozen. Frozen, staring at Eren presenting his body to me, and suddenly realizing that his semen is dripping out of my ass. That's... new. For the first time in my life I don't know what to do with myself. Eren grows impatient and decides to wrap his legs around my waist to pull me towards him. That snaps me out of it.
Eren reaches out to grab my hand and gives me a pointed glare.
"In me." The strong voice I love so much is back and it sends a shiver up my spine. I shake my head at him.
"That's not necessary." I want him. Wow, he looks pissed at me now. This boy is full of surprises. Unfortunately, this only serves to turn me on further and I think I may pass out if I don't come soon.
"Levi. I'm giving myself to you. I want you to have me. You don't think I can handle it? I'm not going to break." He saw right through me and now he's offering himself to me and challenging me at the same time. FUCK.
He takes my hand and guides it down low between his open legs. When he presses my hand against him, two of my fingers end up aligned with the cleft of his ass. The pressure of his hand over mine causes those fingers to dip into the cleft and brush over his asshole. "FUCK!"
Judging by the shit-eating grin he just flashed me, I must have said that out loud this time. Some amusement remains as his expression becomes soft and sincere again.
"Levi, please. I'm asking you to show me how it feels to have you inside me. I want this. I want the same. Please trust me." This feels familiar. I try to speak but once again I'm reduced to weak whispering.
"Okay."
