Something Buried Deep Inside, Part 2

A/N: And here we are again, this time in AU. The plot, of course, has changed a bit. I hope you still like it. Important note: Levi's backstory won't be explained; I thought I'd leave that to you – send me a review on your thoughts :) I'm interested to see what ideas you have! Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 1: Recurring Nightmare

Levi's sound sleep came to a sudden stop when he heard the shrill sound of his alarm clock. He groaned and turned to his side to silence the damn thing with a strong smack, sending it flying through the room and crashing against the wall before it finally stopped its annoying sound. He sat up and brushed his hand over his face. He sat there for a while, unmoving, his gaze resting thoughtfully on his naked feet sticking out from under his covers.

"Again..." he mumbled. "This strange dream... Why do I keep dreaming this over and over again?"

Was it really just a dream? He wondered.

He had been dreaming this dream ever since he remembered, but since a few months they had become more frequent. They were strange, but somehow, he welcomed them; this had been his first sound and peaceful sleep for months – the first sleep without nightmares, without all the sad memories rushing into his mind while he tried to sleep. The memories of fate ripping him away from everything he had loved. But also the memories of that little brat called Eren.

After fate had ruined his life he had believed he would never be able to be happy again – he just had no reason for it. He had built a barrier around himself, trying to keep away any possible intruder. But one day, Eren had broken through this barrier, making him happy again. And ever since then, the two boys were dating each other.

Levi still had some problems trusting Eren and opening up to him, but it was much better than it had been in the beginning. He still felt this emptiness and sadness in his chest when he thought about the things that happened to him – but Eren helped him come to terms with it. He helped him to not feel so empty.

They had been dating each other for almost a year now and school was almost finished as well. They were even thinking about Eren moving into the apartment Levi was currently living in – it was big enough and Eren wanted to move from his parents' since they didn't accept his relationship with Levi and tried to talk him out of it. At least Eren's adoptive sister Mikasa was fine with that although she kept an eye on the both of them – she didn't trust him really.

Levi welcomed Eren's company – he wouldn't mind having him here, though he would never admit it openly. He smiled faintly at the thought of how Eren's lips had first made contact with his. So warm and soft... He touched his lips and gently brushed his finger over them. Actually, he missed the feeling of Eren's lips against his own... He hadn't allowed Eren to do that for quite a while now. Maybe he should surprise him...

His eyes widened. What was he thinking?! He quickly shook his head to clear his thoughts again before he finally stood up to take a shower and make himself a quick breakfast. Thank god he was on holiday right now. Now he could relax and take care of things he hadn't had time to attend to. He could just look after himself – and after Eren, of course... He chuckled softly at his thoughts while drinking his coffee before he frowned again as he realized that he had to spend his holidays without Eren.

Eren was going on a holiday with his family – they tried to prevent Eren from spending time with him. And today Eren wanted to stop by to say goodbye. Levi sighed sadly. This meant he would be alone – again... He could call his old friend Hanji to come over – but her flamboyant, outgoing and curious nature really annoyed him sometimes. And beside that he didn't want to ruin her holidays or bother her in any way. Eren's friends were suspicious of him – he supposed they were even afraid of him – so they were out of the game as well.

Whatever... He would find something to do. He would be fine. He had been on his own for so long now, so what was the big deal?

Since it was Saturday, he decided to just roam the city a bit and maybe do some shopping to pass the time until Eren would stop by. He walked down the street, past the other housing blocks toward the town center. When he walked past the long flight of steps leading up to the abandoned orphanage his gaze wandered to the bottom of the stairs almost automatically – and he immediately found what he had been expecting to see.

She was sitting there again. Levi didn't know where this girl had come from – she just had appeared out of nowhere some months ago. Long, dark brown hair which she mostly wore in twintails, with chin-long bangs framing her face and sometimes covering her left eye; big, calm, dark eyes and pale brown skin and she was always wearing the same clothes, consisting of a silver-grey sleeveless button shirt with dark purple hems and a dark purple button tab, a pair of matching black and purple detached sleeves, a black skirt with dark purple which's hems were dark purple as well, black thigh-high stockings and a pair of worn-down converses.

Levi was slightly worried; these were the only clothes protecting her from the weather and right now a storm was beginning to build up.

The clothes were slightly tattered and dirty as if they'd had their best times long ago, and since she was wearing them all the time, Levi supposed that she hadn't washed them in quite a while. He grimaced in disgust at the thought and shuddered. She was always carrying a notebook with a pencil with her. She always kept it close to her, protectively wrapping her arms around it. He supposed that she was homeless.

He wasn't sure how old the girl was; it was really hard to estimate her age. She had a rather well-developed body with hips and chest, but at the same time, her physique seemed so undersized... as if something was missing. She could have been ten or eighteen or maybe even older.

Every time Levi passed by she would sit there at the bottom of the stairs, watch the people walking by with her wide, dark eyes and smile at them when they greeted her. He wasn't interested in that girl, but there was something about her. Maybe it was the way she smiled. It was warm and soothing – he had never seen anything like that before. She smiled as though she had nothing to worry about – but Levi was not a fool. He sensed that this girl had gone through a lot. Strangely enough, she had something familiar about her – almost as if he had seen her before... but he couldn't determine what it was.

He raised his eyebrows as he noticed how the girl was staring at him. No, not staring – she was rather watching him closely, but strangely enough, he didn't mind. She didn't do it in an annoying way, so decided to let it slip and ripped his gaze away from her without giving her further notice.

The truth was, she always watched him when he passed by. But somehow, it didn't bother him really. He felt as if she didn't really watch him – he felt as if she looked through him. It was almost as if she was staring straight into his soul. She always gave him this sad look as though she knew what he had experienced. She sometimes even smiled at him, even though it seemed fairly unsure and shy. Though he never smiled back he always felt relieved seeing her soft smile.

He went to the bakery across the street and bought himself two croissants – this bakery simply did them the best – before he continued his errands. He was finished quickly and returned to his apartment, seeing the girl one last time. He decided to take another shower before Eren would arrive. After that he cleaned the whole apartment within an amazingly quick hour. With a content sigh, he put the cleaning supplies, the feather duster, the mop and the vacuum cleaner aside and made himself comfortable on the couch to close his eyes for a while.

His eyes fluttered open when he heard the doorbell ringing. He groaned and stood up, slowly striding over to the door. All he saw was Eren's brightly grinning face before said boy threw his arms around him and hugged him tighly.

"Oi, easy," Levi grumbled, but he couldn't suppress a smile and lightly hugged Eren back. However, he frowned a bit when he looked over said boy's shoulder and spotted Mikasa, Eren's adoptive sister, standing behind him. "Eren..."

Eren loosened his grip to catch the look in Levi's eyes. "Oh no, don't worry. Mikasa only escorted me as an alibi," he explained, smiling. "You know, my parents... they don't want me to spend time with you alone, so... Mikasa will come back later to pick me up."

Levi's face lit up. "I see." He gave the ravenette a nod. "Thank you."

Mikasa nodded back before turning to face Eren. "I can give you one hour before Mom and Dad get suspicious."

"Thanks, Mikasa." Eren gave her a tight hug before he closed the door. He sat with Levi on the couch for a while when he suddenly pulled an uncomfortable face as if he wanted to say or do something, but he hesitated.

Levi knew exactly what he wanted. He smirked, noticing how Eren's eyes widened. Said boy flinched and backed away as Levi slowly slid closer to him. "What's wrong, Eren?" Levi asked, almost sounding bored – but his smirk never wavered.

Eren squirmed when he noticed how close Levi was to him and that there was no escape. He didn't seem to like the look in the latter's eyes. "You're acting kinda... heh, weird..." he mumbled uneasily.

Cute, Levi thought. "Funny... As far as I recall you were the one who dared to enter my personal space – and now you're afraid of me?" He cocked his eyebrows at Eren and gave him an almost sad look.

Eren's face turned into a startled expression. "What?! No! I'm not afraid of you! It's just..."

Levi leaned in closer. "It's just what?"

Eren nervously ran a hand through his hair. "Well... You actually never really let me close to you. I think the only time you really let me touch you was... well, our first kiss."

Levi's eyes widened and he withdrew. "I hurt you..." he realized sadly.

"What?! No, no!" Eren shook his head vigorously. "Not at all. I accept it and I understand. I was just... confused."

Levi sighed in relief. The last thing he wanted was to loose Eren – the one who had always been there for him. "I see." He leaned against Eren's chest and smiled when he felt said boy tense in hesitation. "It's okay. I won't bite you if you do that."

The brunet finally draped his arm over Levi's shoulder, pulling him closer. The two boys sat there for a while, minutes passing in silence as they enjoyed being so close to each other until Eren broke the silence again.

"One hour... and then I won't be able to see for the next two or even three weeks..."

Levi sensed that Eren was about to panic.

"Or maybe they will keep me away from you for the whole holidays!" Eren was about to jump up, but Levi pushed him back.

"Shhh, calm down, Eren. We'll see each other when school starts again," Levi replied. "What is it? Do you think you'll lose me?"

Eren nodded, earning a small chuckle from Levi.

"What makes you think you're going to loose me? I have no interest in any other person but you. So don't worry. And now relax," he ordered.

"Wait – you want us to just... sit here and do nothing?!" Eren shrieked.

"We already wasted some of our time. So shut up and relax."

Eren huffed, but he obeyed.

Seeing the look in the brunet's eyes, Levi failed to resist. He missed the feeling of Eren's lips against his own and he knew Eren missed it just as much. "I'm sorry, Eren," he said.

"What for?"

"For letting you wait." Levi smirked at Eren's confused face and watched said boy's eyes grow wide in surprise. "I had to wait, too – but now I can't any longer."

He leaned in closer and planted his lips firmly against Eren's, pressing forcefully until Eren relaxed and parted his lips to return the kiss. After a few moments, Levi pulled away – much to Eren's dismay – and stood up. But only to quickly sit down on Eren's lap.

Eren's eyes widened in panic. "What are you doing...? Levi?!"

Levi placed his index finger on Eren's lips. "Shhh... Shut up. You talk too much. And don't be so tense – relax. You want a kiss, don't you? I mean a real one."

Eren's face lit up; he smiled brightly, vigorously nodding his head.

Levi smiled before moving in to continue kissing the brunet. He placed one hand on Eren's shoulder, the other on the back of said boy's neck. He parted his lips to deepen the kiss, gently moving his lips against Eren's, smiling as he felt Eren relax into the kiss. The brunet seemed to understand that Levi had no intentions of going any further.

Levi guided his lips to Eren's neck and back up, smiling against the warm skin as Eren breathed out a quiet moan. Minutes passed as the two boys passionately kissed each other until Levi suddenly pulled away and stood up, watching as Eren looked at him in confusion.

"Our time is almost up," Levi explained sadly, watching Eren's face fall into a sad expression as well. He lied down on the couch, pulling a reluctant Eren's face down on top of him. "Come closer," Levi muttered and the brunet obeyed. He ran a hand through Eren's soft brunette hair while the other rubbed at his back.

"I don't want to go," Eren mumbled into Levi's chest.

Levi could tell that he tried to keep himself from crying and he had to gulp to stop himself from getting too sad either. He tried to sound confident. "Come on, Eren, it's only for a few weeks. Then we'll see each other again." He tried to pull up Eren's face, but the brunet wouldn't let him. "Eren... please..." He didn't know what to say.

"I don't want to leave you alone here! I want to stay here with you!" Eren raised his voice and his body was now shaking from sobs.

Levi felt Eren's tears wetting up his shirt. "Eren, please stop. I'm going to be okay. Don't worry about me. It's okay." He tried to pull up Eren's face once again and this time, Eren allowed him to do so, staring at him with trembling eyes. Levi had to struggle to keep up his facade of confidence – he didn't want Eren to feel guilty. "It's okay," he repeated, smiling at Eren, brushing his thumbs over said boy's cheeks to wipe away the tears.

Eren finally nodded and placed his head back on Levi's chest, slowly calming down. "I'm gonna miss you, Levi," he finally managed to say. "Will you miss me too?" He gave Levi a hopeful look.

"I will miss you – more than you can imagine." Levi smiled sadly. "It will be okay – trust me."

Eren nodded again and stayed silent for the next few minutes until they both heard the doorbell ringing. Levi gently pushed Eren off of him before standing up and opening the door to see Mikasa's worried face.

"Eren, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine..." Eren muttered sniffily, standing up.

Mikasa wiped away the remaining tears. "We have to go. It's time," she said, shooting Levi a sad and sympathetic look.

"I know," Eren said. He turned to face Levi, tears welling up in his eyes once again, as he tightly hugged Levi.

And this time, Levi returned the hug just as tight. He peered over the brunet's shoulder to look at Mikasa. "Take good care of him," he said with somber eyes.

Said ravenette nodded. "I will."

Finally, Eren let go of Levi, quickly turning around to not let him see the tears now streaming down his face. "Let's go," he mumbled, directed toward Mikasa.

Levi looked out the window and watched them until they disappeared around the street corner. He finally ripped his gaze away from the window and slowly strode over to his bedroom. He suddenly felt so tired. It took a moment for him to realize that the only person who had ever understood him was now gone. It would only be for a few weeks, but still... He felt as if again something had been ripped away from him – something that belonged to him... He hadn't even noticed how much he had become attached to Eren since the beginning of their friendship.

He collapsed onto the couch, face down, burying his face in the cushions. It didn't take long for him to loose control over his feelings; his body began to shake from loud sobs – and he let himself cry, not caring if anyone could hear him, until he finally fell asleep.

A/N: This chapter right here was actually my first idea to Something Buried Deep Inside, but I changed the plot and made the other part first. Since I had already finished this one here some months ago, I decided to upload it before I continue with my other story, "Wings of Hope and Solace".

Also, in the next chapter, Levi will have his first real interactions with the girl whose name, age and true nature has to be revealed yet.