Eren could probably guess that Reiner is waiting for the gut punch to come, if only because it was true the last time he saw Reiner when he wasn't a titan. Though he had orchestrated it that way on purpose in Liberio, hadn't he, the tension as palpable as the smell of blood in the air. This time the stakes are just…different, at least for him. Whether Reiner is confused or shaken by that doesn't matter too much, though it would be a complete lie to say Eren doesn't enjoy it on some level. Of course he's enjoying this. Even if it ends with his face busted, so what? Even if he dies, so what? Death might not be permanent here. Besides, he's not going to die. Reiner isn't going to kill him. They have a hard time killing each other even when they try.
Eren still longs for violence, but he doesn't want to kill the boy in front of him anymore. He hasn't in a long time, at least not on a personal level. It stopped being personal when he realised they were so much the same. He can't forgive, but he can understand, and because of that his personal animosity cooled into something else. Would he mourn Reiner's death? Hm. Complicated. He might. There has been — will be — so much death. He has made himself so numb to it. But finding out about Hange had shocked him. Maybe he takes Reiner living too much for granted. He doesn't want to dwell on that for too long.
He watches Reiner's reaction, face as carefully neutral as he can make it. He's not a great actor, not really, but he's had a lot of practice at that terrible blankness that he cultivated in Marley. He can't quite reach that here, but he can at least not crack again just yet. Strange, to think that someone who used to be so expressive could be hard to read, even for a few minutes. Maybe not as hard to read as he might like to think, but details.
Same. Of course. They aren't the same age — not here and not at home, weirdly — but all things equal, they would have died at the same age. What else could it be, right?
Eren goes back to eating before he lets himself be too amused at Reiner's reactions, his anger, his tension, the way he really doesn't seem to know how this is going. Not that Eren does. He can't actually plan it out. He can't predict it, not entirely, because he doesn't know what comes next. He has no grand design here, and if he did, he could tip himself into something else without meaning to and they'd end up somewhere other than where he meant. He hadn't meant to get backed up against a wall in an alleyway, after all, but he has no regrets about that encounter.
He'll just take a mile if given an inch, like he always has.
"The others didn't tell you anything about the future either, huh," Eren says, but it's not a question. If they had, this would probably look a lot different. But why would they bother telling Reiner about the end of the world, Eren's mad crusade to crush most of it, Liberio included? Even if Reiner believed them, it sure wouldn't do them any favours when he already sees them all as enemies. Maybe they couldn't ever be friends, but at some point they were/will be allies. At some point they will all be fighting Eren.
God, he doesn't want that here. All his shit about being better, what does any of that matter if he fucks it up right here at this table and tells Reiner he destroyed Liberio and all of that? That's not better.
It's so tempting, though, to do it just because he can. He never claimed to be a saint.
He swallows a bite of food and the urge to be a bigger asshole about all of this at the same time.
"Why'd you come with me if you don't wanna talk to me?" he asks, softly, and it's less bait than anything he's said so far. Sure, he could insinuate something with it like he has with the line he's been walking. Give him a minute, maybe he will. But that tactic isn't entirely getting him what he wants, so…he just asks something genuine, something he's not sure he knows the answer to.
no subject
Eren still longs for violence, but he doesn't want to kill the boy in front of him anymore. He hasn't in a long time, at least not on a personal level. It stopped being personal when he realised they were so much the same. He can't forgive, but he can understand, and because of that his personal animosity cooled into something else. Would he mourn Reiner's death? Hm. Complicated. He might. There has been — will be — so much death. He has made himself so numb to it. But finding out about Hange had shocked him. Maybe he takes Reiner living too much for granted. He doesn't want to dwell on that for too long.
He watches Reiner's reaction, face as carefully neutral as he can make it. He's not a great actor, not really, but he's had a lot of practice at that terrible blankness that he cultivated in Marley. He can't quite reach that here, but he can at least not crack again just yet. Strange, to think that someone who used to be so expressive could be hard to read, even for a few minutes. Maybe not as hard to read as he might like to think, but details.
Same. Of course. They aren't the same age — not here and not at home, weirdly — but all things equal, they would have died at the same age. What else could it be, right?
Eren goes back to eating before he lets himself be too amused at Reiner's reactions, his anger, his tension, the way he really doesn't seem to know how this is going. Not that Eren does. He can't actually plan it out. He can't predict it, not entirely, because he doesn't know what comes next. He has no grand design here, and if he did, he could tip himself into something else without meaning to and they'd end up somewhere other than where he meant. He hadn't meant to get backed up against a wall in an alleyway, after all, but he has no regrets about that encounter.
He'll just take a mile if given an inch, like he always has.
"The others didn't tell you anything about the future either, huh," Eren says, but it's not a question. If they had, this would probably look a lot different. But why would they bother telling Reiner about the end of the world, Eren's mad crusade to crush most of it, Liberio included? Even if Reiner believed them, it sure wouldn't do them any favours when he already sees them all as enemies. Maybe they couldn't ever be friends, but at some point they were/will be allies. At some point they will all be fighting Eren.
God, he doesn't want that here. All his shit about being better, what does any of that matter if he fucks it up right here at this table and tells Reiner he destroyed Liberio and all of that? That's not better.
It's so tempting, though, to do it just because he can. He never claimed to be a saint.
He swallows a bite of food and the urge to be a bigger asshole about all of this at the same time.
"Why'd you come with me if you don't wanna talk to me?" he asks, softly, and it's less bait than anything he's said so far. Sure, he could insinuate something with it like he has with the line he's been walking. Give him a minute, maybe he will. But that tactic isn't entirely getting him what he wants, so…he just asks something genuine, something he's not sure he knows the answer to.
Why.