Be My Salvation (Ereri/Riren)

XI

sorry this is so late, and so short >.<

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"Are you sure you have everything you need?" Petra asked for the umpteenth time.

"Yes," both Eren and Levi assured her simultaneously once again.

She smiled. "Okay okay, I'll stop asking," she said. "I know you're only going to be gone a couple days, but I still worry."

"Don't worry hon," Oluo said, draping an arm around her shoulders. "They're big boys. This'll be a good lesson of independence for 'em. I'm sure they can handle themselves."

"I know, I know. Just promise you'll remember to call when you make stops, okay?"

The boys nodded in agreement before allowing Petra to squeeze them each around the shoulders once more until Oluo finally managed to drag her away, leaving them to themselves and only a few others at the bus stop.

"Petra worries too much sometimes," Eren said, though not without a fond smile on his lips.

"She's motherly. Just trying to be protective. Moms do that," Levi responded.

Eren swallowed, his smile vanishing. "Right," he murmured, hiking his backpack up a bit and gazing down at the pavement beneath his feet.

But Levi was right. Sadly, Eren didn't have many memories of his mother because she was gone when he was still so young, but he remembered her being that way, too. Not quite panicking the first time he fell when learning to ride a two-wheeler, but rushing over to him and inspecting every inch of his body to make sure he wasn't too severely hurt. She always made sure he had everything he needed and was happy, no matter how exhausted she was. If he woke up in the middle of the night crying, or crawled into her bed because of a nightmare, she never neglected to pull him into her arms, hold his head against her shoulder and hum a quiet tune until he forgot why he was afraid and drifted back under...

Before he knew it, the bus - bigger than a normal bus and rattling on tracks so that it was more like a mini train than a bus - had screeched to a halt in front of them and Levi was coaxing him on board by the strap of his backpack, giving him an odd look. Confusion, Eren found as he surfaced back to reality, and what he thought to be a touch of concern swimming around the edges of his eyes.

They selected a seat at the very back of the bus/train - a long bench padded with red leather spanning the entire back end - and scooted in on the right, Eren closest to the window. He stripped off his backpack and handed it to Levi, who tucked their things in the compartment above their head.

"Wait, did they check our tickets?" Eren asked as Levi plopped into the bench next to him.

The raven lifted a brow. "You're really out of it today, kid. They checked before we even boarded."

"Oh."

It wasn't long before most of the seats in front of them were filled with different colored heads and they were off.

"Relax, Eren," Levi was saying a while later as Eren was watching the town disappear in their wake.

He turned, mildly startled. "Huh?"

Levi indicated his fists, clenched with white knuckles in his lap. Immediately, he relaxed them. "It's gonna be a long ride. Don't waste your energy being tense and jumpy."

"Sorry," Eren whispered, running his hands up and down his thighs, partially to relax, partially to clear his palms of sweat.

"Don't needlessly apologize, kid," Levi stated casually, leaning back in his seat to get comfortable. "You figured out what's got you so nervous?" he asked, folding his arms behind his head. His eyes were fixed on the bottoms of the overhead compartments as he formed the question, but something told Eren he cared a lot more than he led on about the answer.