A short slow interlude before we get back to the main action

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Fear and anger drove Eren onwards as a wave of blood approached him, eating up the splintering wooden floors and finally arcing up over him and falling, flooding the entire world in red. It was only as he walked through the blood and dripping with the same that he noticed the bodies lying down as though they were sleeping, though their eyes were wide and open. He drew closer to the woman directly in front of him, bending down closer to look at her, startling back as he recognized his mother's face. He stumbled backwards, splashing in the blood, his mother's blank stare following him as he tried to get up. Looking around, he realized that he knew every single one of the people lying in the endless pool of blood. He ran past them as he searched for a way out; Hannes with a bullet hole in his back, Jarnach's body mangled from an 'accident' in the factory, Dietrich with a knife in his side and Ian burnt from the Molotov cocktail that just happened to go through his window. Pixis was there too, with the tidiest bullet hole he'd seen direct through his skull. And now Grisha joined them up ahead, his body collapsing down as Eren ran towards him, feeling the distance between them widening as he moved forward.

Grisha had fully collapsed by the time Eren reached him, his clothing deflating as soon as Eren touched it so that he was left kneeling with nothing more than a pile of blood-soaked cloth and a pair of glasses. He slammed his palm onto the ground, splashing blood up and soaking himself again. When the ripples finally calmed and smoothed out he found himself staring at his own reflection. It was both familiar and unfamiliar and while he felt his own face scrunching up in concentration the face in front of him stayed calm and unwrinkled, his eleven year-old self staring pleasantly at him from a pool of blood. He watched as his younger self raised their hand and he followed a moment later, mimicking their motion and raising his hand as well. As he lifted his hand a single drop of blood fell from his hand, the ensuing ripple distorting his younger self. He watched as the ripples calmed and the face reformed, now pointing and staring in horror at something behind him. A chill ran down his body as he watched his own younger self run away back into the depths of blood and he felt every hair on his body prick up. He felt more than saw the shadows drawing in towards him, pushing himself and running before he took a moment to glance back. Shadows were racing towards him faster than he could run; dark voids with mouths and rows of sharp white teeth chasing him.

He ran on, feeling the distance between them closing and ignoring the bodies as he vaulted over them, trying not to trip as he fled. A bad landing after a jump saw his ankle buckle under him and still he pushed himself onwards, his limp slowing him down more and more as he went until finally the shadows closed in around him. They hovered around him, a uniform wall of black closing in so that it was just him standing in a circle of red blood with the tooth-filled maw of the void surrounding him. And in an instant they were hurtling towards him, gripping at him and trying to tear him apart and he couldn't even find the breath to scream and –

It took him a moment, but in the dim blue light from the alarm clock Eren could make out Levi's face only a few inches from him and his eyes wide with concern. The grip on his forearms was hard and he could feel himself shivering in it, his throat sore as he took in deep and shaking breaths. They stayed like that for a while; Levi gripping Eren's arms while Eren tried to calm his breathing down and ground himself. After a few minutes Levi let go of his grip and Eren sat up fully.

"Sorry if I woke you up." Eren's voice rasped and he paused in surprise at just how harsh it sounded.

"It's fine." Levi sat back so that he was perched on the edge of the bed by Eren's legs.

"I'm used to sleep paralysis. My nightmares are usually quiet."

"Mine aren't." Eren stared in surprise at the fuzzily defined shape that was Levi's body, felt more than saw him shrug. "It's why I don't sleep much."

"Sorry."

"Not your fault. Do you need me to turn on a light?"

"I'm fine." Eren went quiet and listened to his breath heartbeat, wondering if Levi could hear it as well. He felt exhausted and yet not tired as he sat with his back against the headboard, Levi continuing to sit by his legs.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Do you talk to people about your nightmares?"

"No."

"I don't either."

They fell silent again and this time they both let it stretch onwards, Eren feeling the sharp fingers of his nightmare brushing him and tried his best to ignore the horror on the other side of consciousness. He focused on Levi's weight causing the bed to dip by his legs and reminded himself that not only was someone else there, it was someone who had openly admitted to having similarly horrifying nightmares. It was yet another chip at his perception of Levi; he wasn't a heroic figure nor was he some stoic badass. He was a twenty-nine year-old man whose superpowers were also a vulnerability, who had lost people who he loved, who was plagued by nightmares. Whoever he'd had a crush on before wasn't really Levi, but this Levi – the one sitting beside him – was someone who he wanted to get to know. He also knew that he wasn't going to get something in return for nothing.

"Grisha was in my nightmare. I haven't had a dream with him in it since moving to Trost." Eren felt Levi shift, felt his gaze turn to him. "I'm used to seeing my mom or Hannes, but not him."

"It's not surprising given everything." The whisper of Levi's voice in the dark was soothing and Eren felt himself relaxing.

"Usually it's all smoke and fire and me being taken away before I can save my mom but this one…" He trailed off and shuddered. "There were bodies in an endless pool of blood and shadows chasing me. They had teeth."

"It wasn't real. There's no such thing as monsters like that." Levi's dismissal hit Eren hard and he opened his mouth, a furious response at the ready but Levi continued. "Don't get me wrong, the monsters in our dreams are fucking horrible but they aren't the real monsters, just reflections."

"I know that already but knowing that doesn't stop me from having shitty nightmares."

"I never said it would. I'm just trying to say; what are you more afraid of right now? Shadows with teeth or the unknown people hunting us down?"

"What the fuck do you think?" Eren watched the faint outline of Levi's body, his head hanging forward and resting his face in his hands. His voice was muffled when he spoke.

"I'm just saying that nightmares are fucking shitty but it's not good to think about them too much."

"Easy for you to say."

"Every night I watch my friends die and there's never anything I can do about it." Levi's posture was rigid and his voice harsh. "So yes, it's fucking easy to say and difficult to convince yourself but maybe someday it'll stick."

"Does it stick for you?"

"Fuck no."

Eren couldn't help the amused snort that escaped him and froze up, only relaxing when he heard Levi chuckling quietly as well. He drew his legs up so that Levi could move further back to sit on the bed fully, taking solace in the other man's continued proximity. They sat together, not speaking and letting the dark gather around them. Another few minutes passed and Levi flopped backwards onto the bed. The dim light from the alarm clock cast just enough light that Eren could see Levi's outline, the pale skin of his arms picking up the blue-ish light as he settled his hands across his stomach, his fingers interlacing as he stared up at the ceiling.

There was something comforting about Levi's presence even if neither of them spoke, reminding Eren of a watchdog sitting at the foot of a bed. In the quiet of the room he listened to Levi's breathing; the even swell and fall. Eren focused on it and felt himself grow sleepy, his eyes slowly closing and his body relaxing and curling up in bed again. Part of him wanted to keep his eyes open, to try and keep Levi company in his own sleeplessness, but exhaustion pulled him under into the dark nothingness of deep sleep.

He woke briefly as he felt the bed shift, Levi's weight lifting away and off the bed. While he couldn't see Levi he could hear him faintly, his footsteps almost silent on the carpeting but the open and close of the bathroom door was unmistakable. Eren cracked his eyes open briefly to see the thin strip of light under the door before closing them and drifting off again, asleep before the door even opened again.

The darkness was warm and comforting when he came to partial consciousness again. He curled up slightly, cuddling against the warm bulk beside him. His mind was sluggish as he hovered at the edge of wakefulness, his mind supplying a name for the comforting shape beside him –Levi. Shifting his body he managed to move closer and close the remaining gap between them, his body flush against Levi's. As he moved Levi shifted as well, Eren parting his legs slightly to allow Levi's thigh to rest between his own. As Levi pressed in close his thigh pushed upwards into Eren, pure instinct causing him to roll his hips forward slightly, rutting against Levi. As soon as the soft moan left his mouth he came to full wakefulness, ready for a swift punch to the gut.

Instead he found himself curled up around a hard decorative pillow that he had pushed to the other side of the bed earlier, his hand palming at his half-hard cock. He glanced down to the foot of the bed, his terror receding as he found it empty and looked over to Levi's bed, finding the comforting stillness of his silhouette and the deep and even breathing of sleep. Relief tinged with disappointment rushed through him as he laid back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling, trying to will away the hardness between his legs and failing miserably. After a moment he relented and stood up, walking quietly towards the bathroom and praying that Levi was asleep enough that he wouldn't hear the quiet gasps and hitching breath as he got himself off.