All The Same / Ereri / warning: dark

One: Solitude

((please don't ignore the A.N. at the end or I'll find you and slap you<3))

Alone again.

You say that as though you aren't usually. Don't jest.

Don't pick on him, he's a wimp, you know it makes him crazy.

Crazy? No, no, he's already beyond that.

"Stop it, I'm tired," the boy snapped, rubbing his temples as he lay, curled up, on the lumpy mattress. "Let me sleep."

Sorry, Eren. Ignore us.

Goodnight, special boy.

Eren ground his teeth, ignoring the whispers as best he could, but they continued. The damp of the mattress made it hard to sleep too.

Eren sat up and flicked on his bedside lamp, examining the mattress cover. Ah, it was just blood.

Is that your blood?

"I think so, but I haven't let any get on here," Eren murmured, running a finger across the wet surface. "It's still wet."

Are you alright?

"Yeah, fine, why?"

Eren stopped. Elam wouldn't answer him. Nero was quiet too. Eren shook it off and tugged the sheets from his mattress and rolled them into a ball, throwing them into the corner.

"I'm cold." He muttered, sitting on the edge.

Use the sheet as a blanket, or something.

Nero was back.

"It's got blood on it," Eren protested.

It's only your blood. You won't catch a disease from yourself.

"Are you sure it's mine?" Eren pondered, glancing at the sheet, considering it.

Well, no one else in this house carves holes in their skin.

"Don't make fun of me," Eren snapped, raising his voice as it wavered. Nero was always like this, short tempered and harsh. He disapproved of Eren's methods to release emotion.

Go for a run, if you're still cold.

"You know I can't go out, Dad will hit me, again."

Obviously that was a joke, you idiot. Get some sleep.

Eren nodded and spread out across the mattress, ignoring the damp patch that warmed his torso. He wrapped his arms in a lock around himself to try and preserve any heat, but his teeth still chattered.

He lay still for a while, watching the shadows dance across his skin, as the wind blew the trees, outside his window.

He still couldn't seem to close his eyes. "Where did Elam go?" Eren whispered.

Silence. Perhaps Nero was tired.

Eren forced his eyes to close, but he lay awake all night, staring at the veins of his eyelids.

------------------

Morning.

Good morning.

"Don't leave me, like that," Eren said. "I hate the silence, it's so loud."

Aren't you poetic, this morning?