The Music Room - Ereri/Riren (SNK)

-Day 6-

"Levi?" he murmurs after a while of silence; I jump involuntarily at the sound of my name in his voice.

"Hm?"

"I was wondering...what did you do around here before you met me?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, since you said you didn't have any friends and that you aren't a people person and all that, and since you don't like watching TV and stuff..." He trails off.

"I read."

For the first time since stepping foot outside the building, Eren fixed his eyes on me. They're still wide, still full of wonder and curiosity though this time it's for a different reason. "What do you read?" he asks.

"Anything I can get my hands on, really. Fiction, non-fiction, biographies...I'd say anything but, say, text books."

"So you're not picky." He nods, absorbing this information. "Is that it?"

"Pretty much."

"Do you ever write?"

"Stories?"

"Yeah. Or anything, I guess."

"Not really."

"What do you mean, not really?"

"I have," I say, "but none of my spur of the moment ideas ever go anywhere. I'm never motivated to continue them."

"Why not?"

"I'm not sure."

"Give me an example."

"An example?"

"Of one of your ideas."

At first I'm a bit baffled. I can't imagine why he'd want an example of one of my shitty ideas I'd never cared to even write down. Most of them are ridiculous in my eyes, anyway. But since he's shown me his enormous talent at the piano and played songs for me upon my request, I figure I owe him this much. I search around that dusty corner of my memory to find one that didn't completely suck.

"There was one...about a man who could fly. He wanted to find God, and thought his wings could carry him to heaven...but once he reached the outermost parts of the atmosphere, he found the whole concept of it to be a myth. That's all I got." I shrug and look away from Eren, mildly embarrassed. This was one I'd come up with several months ago and at the time, it seemed pretty interesting. However, now that I've said it out loud to someone like Eren, it seems ridiculous.

"Wow," he murmurs. I risk a glance back; he's still gazing at me, eyes sparkling. His imagination is clearly running amuck. "That sounds neat. Why don't you write it?"

"Loss of inspiration, I guess."

"Damn, that sucks. I would've liked to read it."

I scrutinize the kid. "You're just saying that," I accuse.

"No, no, really! I think that sounded pretty cool. I could never have thought of something like that."

"Hmph, and you're the creative one."

Eren snorts, nudging me with his knee. "You're obviously pretty creative, too," he retorts. I simply roll my eyes at his ridiculousness.

Silence falls over again. A few birds chirp here and there, some bees buzz their way by, essentially ignoring us. Hearing footsteps, we turn to find a dark-haired girl with a nurse shuffling down the path. Eren smiles and offers a wave, which they politely return. I only nod in acknowledgement, and they continue on.

Again, Eren is the one to break the quiet.

"So what's your favorite book?"

"Don't have one."