Greetings!

This is my first ever attempt at an AU, but nonetheless I am going to try my best!

I hope you enjoy!

.

.

.

Chapter One:
Roomates

.

.

.

Moving in together was crazy, there were just too many things everywhere. Erwin had a typewriter on the middle of the temporary table, where Levi screamed that his paint supplies were supposed to be, wondering who could have moved them. Hanji found them on top of her piano, saying something about how it could scratch the surface.

"Who spilled my calligraphy ink?!" Erwin yelled, looking at the black mess on the brand new carpet, "We haven't even been here six hours, and there's already a permanent stain in the middle of the living room!" He held his hands out, looking at it.

"That's not ink, that's my gouache paint!" Levi gasped, looking at it. "Now what am I going to shade with?!" This was a nightmare! "This place is a fucking pigsty, There's absolutely no way I'll be able to concentrate- Hanji careful with that box!" He yelled, "Those are stiff horsehair brushes and the last thing I need is dust getting in them, or the bristles being frayed! Do you know what it's like to paint with frayed brushes? A disaster! A messy, ugly disaster!"

She set it down in the hallway, "Well, it was on my piano!" She folded her arms, looking at the mess around them. They knew it was going to be trouble moving in together. They were all such strong personalities. Though they had graduated from the same class of one of Paris's top art academies, so they already knew each other. However, as artists, they were all struggling to make a living on their own, let alone keep a roof over their heads, so they decided to band together to try and make their careers.

Erwin sighed, sitting down on the floor of the living room. They hadn't bought any furniture yet, so they would all be sleeping on the floors of their bedrooms. He had brought his mattress, but it was still in the moving truck. "I think we all need to take a break." He looked up the other two, who sat down as well. "I understand that we're all calm-challenged, but if we're going to make this work, we need to take chill pills."

"I'm sorry, I left my pot in the car." Hanji said, "I mean I can go get it, but…"

"Those aren't pills." Levi said, looking at her, "I have some Xanax. But those are also in the car-"

"I didn't mean drugs!" Erwin sighed, putting his face in his palms. "Hanji. I'm well aware you need… grass… For your artistic process… But Levi? Xanax?"

"I get anxiety when I'm surrounded by idiots." He said, looking at his cuticles. "And then my hands shake. Do you know how hard it is to paint with shaky hands?" He looked to the gouache on the floor, "Not that I'll be able to paint now. Thanks to however spilled it."

"I blame the goblins." Hanji said, rolling her eyes. "It must have fallen out of a box, and someone stepped on it. You'll live." She reached to ruffle his hair, only to be swatted at. This resulted in her laughing, trying even harder to mess up his hair. In the process, the accidentally kicked Erwin in the face.

"Really?!" He said, getting up, the two wrestles looking up at him and his bleeding nose. There was now blood on the carpet as well. He looked at it with a sigh, "What a beautiful painting. Of Pain."

Erwin had made all of them dinner that night. Not only did he have a way with words, but his way in the kitchen was a poem of its own. "Remind me again why you didn't go to culinary school." Levi said. They had gotten most of the house set up. The boxes were where they were supposed to be. His easel was set up on the porch, overlooking the city. His second easel was in the main room, beside Hanji's piano. Back when they were in school, he used to like painting while she played whatever she was learning for her recitals. Her songs had inspired a number of his paintings, and were usually much brighter and more colourful than what he did on his own.

"I did, for a semester." He smiled, taking a bite of the chicken he had made, with a side of penne covered in vodka sauce. It was just a simple meal. "I found I couldn't express myself enough on a plate." He took a sip of the wine Hanji had grabbed at the supermarket. It was nothing impressive, but just enough to celebrate their first night together. "To bigger and better things." They all toasted, taking a sip together.

Hanji coughed, setting the glass down, "I forgot how much I hate red wine." She got up to go get a glass of water, accidentally knocking the glass onto the floor, "Eh?!" She watched the liquid drain from the glass, onto the already destroyed carpet.

Levi set his own glass down. "You have got to be kidding me." He shook his head, getting up to help her clean it. Though the wine would never completely come out, no matter how often they tried, even years later. "Just forget about it." He sighed, running his hand through his hair. "Sit down, I'll get you apple juice." If she was going to make messes like a child, then she was going to drink juice like a child.

She clapped happily, and Erwin couldn't help but smile. "I love apple juice!" Levi handed her a fresh cup, this one was made of plastic, so at least if she spilled it, she couldn't break it. "So, I was thinking, once we're finished unpacking tomorrow, we should go into town and look at some furniture. We definitely need a couch, a table that isn't my piano, and chairs that aren't boxes." They had sold all of their furniture before they moved in together, "Plus, this is the first time I've been in the inner city since graduation!" She smiled, looking to Levi, who was just sitting back down. He was the only one who had lived here since before they went to school. "You should show us around."

"I don't know my way around much." He took another bite of the pasta, "I never left the area I grew up in. When I did, it was because I was getting arrested for painting on walls." This happened every other month. Why didn't people just get it?! He couldn't afford a canvas as large as those walls. So he just painted on them instead. And then those fools actually had all of his precious work scrubbed off! Their property value would have gone up had they left it on! He was only trying to do them a favor.

"I do, actually." Erwin said, thinking back on it. "I used to go there to get inspiration. I like to write about people. There's something in the way they move that's so… Magical." He said, unable to put a single word on it. No matter how many poems he wrote, he could never quite capture the whole beauty of it, a river of people, all moving separately but having a single flow down the street. It was even prettier when it was raining, because all of the umbrellas bobbing up and down in one vivid and colourful symphony. "So let's go tomorrow." He smiled, spinning his wine glass, watching the liquid inside dance.

Levi nodded, "I don't see why not. I need to make sure that whatever Hanji picks out isn't an ugly mess."

"Like your paintings?"

"Listen here you little shit!" He stood up, seeing her laughing her ass off, and sitting back down. "The only reason my work would be messy is because some idiot frayed my brushes."

"Oh I'd fray your brush alright." She poked his forehead. Maybe she had had a puff earlier. They would never know.

"Brilliant play of words." Erwin said, ignoring the fact that the two were wrestling on the carpet, and getting to work on cleaning up the dishes. "One of you make sure to wash these." He knew Levi liked cleaning, and found it cathartic. He also knew that Hanji would break something if she tried, and make an even larger mess. "I'm getting a shower."

"Have fun." Hanji said, looking up from beneath Levi. "Make sure to leave a hair on Levi's soap!"

"Oh that's nasty!" Levi said, and Hanji got the advantage while he was distracted, and pinned him beneath her.

"I win!"

"Says who?"

"Says my knee being in the perfect position to ensure that you never have kids." She smirked, messing up his hair.

"That's low." He said with a slight growl, "I'll get you back for this!" She got up, cheering in victory, heading off to her room. If there was any moment for him to pop a chill pill, it was now, before he had an aneurysm.

Erwin paraded around the house early the next morning, admiring the view from the porch. The sun hadn't even come up yet, but people were still scurrying in their cars, rushing to get to work. It was so unnatural. None of the other animals were up, so why were humans? "Beautiful, isn't it?" He asked when he heard Levi's footsteps. Levi was so light on his feet for someone so down on their emotions all the time. "You take your medications?"

"Yes mom, I don't need you to remind me." He leaned on the railing, overlooking the scene below. He and Erwin had been friends for such a long time. Much to Erwin's father's dismay, who was the police chief constantly arresting him. "But yeah, it's nice." Dark scenes were always his favourite to paint. He didn't use much colour, it was his style, for what it was worth. He was still trying to find that sense in his work that was just right. He would know when he found it, everything would just click, and make sense. "How's your wrist?" He took Erwin's right hand into his own, looking it over, "You really should get a brace for when you write, you're going to injure yourself even further if you keep it up."

Erwin laughed, looking at the wrist in question. It was swollen. "I think I pulled it again yesterday while lifting those boxes."

"What an old man." Levi said, letting his arm go, and looking outside again. "Do you ever just get the feeling that something great it about to happen? Something so wonderful that it will change the world?" Erwin looked at him, shocked, this was unusual for Levi. He had suffered from depression for years, so if there was anything to shake him out of that, it should be applauded.

Erwin smiled, hearing Hanji's door open, "Yeah I do. I get those feelings a lot." He drew circles on the railing with his finger, looking back when Hanji knocked on the wall to get their attention.

"Sorry to interrupt your date~" Hanji smiled, leaning on said wall. "I'm making breakfast, what do you-"

"Hell no." Levi said, "You can't cook with hair like that, it will get in the eggs, and then we'll all die." He looked at her fingers next, "And your hands are a mess, you need a manicure before you even try preparing my food. You could get skin flakes or something nasty in there." He dragged her off, going to clean her up, Erwin laughing as he went to make them omelets.

After they ate, they headed into town. The city was alive and bustling as usual. There were dozens of people taking pictures, as always. The flashes from people's phones and cameras were quite annoying, especially to the people who lived there. "Idiots don't know how to turn the damn flash off. It's in the middle of the day." Levi said, folding his arms.

Hanji looked around at all of the aspiring street musicians and caricature artists. "Ah, I love this place!" She had been here a few times before, and every time her breath was taken away. She could see a little blonde photographer, taking photos on quite a nice DSLR camera, a silver haired man blowing glass, a young asian woman dancing to the beat of a foreign song, alongside a brown haired man who was advertising his pottery. It was so magical! "Cutie at ten o'clock." She said, nudging Levi, "Come on, go talk to him." He was a tall blonde man, with quite a well chiseled nose.

"I've told you a hundred times, I don't swing that way- Is that Nanaba?" He asked, looking towards a woman singing, "Wow, I haven't seen her since graduation. She's… Really cleaned up." He had a slight blush to his cheeks, Erwin was staring as well.

Hanji folded her arms, "Oh come on." She rolled her eyes, feeling a tad jealous. "Hey, Boys, snap out of it."

"I'm in love." Erwin said, earning stares from the other two. He wasn't looking at Nanaba, he never had been, his eyes were locked on a silver haired woman setting up display dresses in a shop window. He could feel his heart in his ears, listening to its rapid pace. He felt like he couldn't breathe. "Hanji, go find out her name. Please."

"Wow… Erwin. It's one thing to say a girl's hot but… In love?" She scoffed, heading towards the store, "I don't wear dresses, by the way. I prefer pantsuits. Something that screams 'I'm the more dominant in this relationship'." She headed into the store, it smelled like Vanilla candles, and soft flute music was playing from a small speaker by the register.

"How can I help you?" The woman asked, a small smile on her face. It seemed forced, like she wasn't used to being near people.

"Hi, I'm Hanji Zoe." She shook the woman's hand. "My friend out there, the tall one, reverted back to fifth grade when he saw you, and sent me in to get your name. He's a blundering idiot, but he's really sweet." She could hear two other people in the back of the store.

"Petra, that should go over there." A man said, referring to a pink bridal gown. The man's presence distracted the silver haired woman.

"No, Olou, it goes here. With the other pink dresses. Ah, How can I help you? Sorry, Rico is our designer. She's not used to handling customers." She smiled, chirping up like a small bird. She saw Levi and Erwin through the shop window, and raised an eyebrow, "I'm guessing that this is a social call." She could see the way Erwin looked nervous, like he was about to start pacing. "Rico, whenever you're done, the truck just stopped by and there's this brilliant velvet fabric that you should totally try as an accent on your latest design."

"Yeah… Sure." Rico said, nodding. "Um… My name is Rico." She said to Hanji, "And to be honest, I'm quite creeped out right now… So…"

"Got it. We'll see you another time!" Hanji smiled, handling Erwin's rejection for him. "She's creeped out." She said to Erwin, dragging him away, "So slow it down love bird, you'll see her again. She's the designer there." Ah, this city was so full of art! "Her name is Rico, didn't get a last name."

"Great…" Erin sighed, and Levi patted his back. But he knew the moment he laid eyes on her that she was his soulmate. All he had to do was convince her of that without being creepy. That would be easy, right?

Levi smiled, being in the same boat at the moment, even though he would never admit it. A little ray of sunshine had appeared in his life, and he was going to do his best to open the curtains and let that light in.

.

Please let me know what you think!

Your support means so much!