A man short in stature, thin, shivered as he walked beside a road. His arms were crossed, kept tight against himself. A bottle of aspirin was in his grasp.

Levi's breaths were visible in the cold air. He had nothing with him, save for a very thin layer of black clothing and an almost empty wallet. His last dollars had gone to the charity of buying the pills.

Levi was a man who saw the worst in the world. He saw the lies, the hatred. Everything left a burning sense of discomfort within him. He has tried to ignore it, and he's tried to find something good in the world. However, you can only bury your feelings for so long. Now it just seemed easier to stop everything once and for all.

Why would he continue living in a world that has no good in it? There's only one way for Levi to find peace – in death. He's thought about it long enough, and he knows it has to be done. Levi has wanted to die for a long time. The only thing stopping him was Erwin.

Erwin. The name struck a bad feeling in Levi.

Levi was in a relationship with Erwin for five years until last night. He was the one who stopped Levi from killing himself many times before. But he wasn't here this time.

Even he has given up on me. Levi mused to himself. It's understandable; a person can only stay in deep water for so long.

He stopped walking and eyed the bottle of cheap drugstore-bought aspirin. It has ninety pills in it. More than enough pills to kill a man. It's known that overdosing is painful. He's quite okay with that. He's too far gone to feel doubtful.

He wanted to be dead. He would swallow these pills and die an excruciating, slow death. This is it. There will be no more waiting around for him. It has to be done.

He is going to die from his own ruin.

Levi seemed to fall back as he sat on the cold bench beside the sidewalk. There were no tears on his cheeks; from the eyes of a stranger he seemed to appear fine. Yet even with his apparent composure, his hands shook as he attempted to open the bottle.

He couldn't do it. He couldn't open the bottle. His hands were shaking too much.

On what seemed to be the one hundredth try to open the bottle, Levi stood up in a fit of anger. Why does everything seem to be against letting him just die?! He threw the bottle to the ground. At this the bottle opened. Pills scattered onto the ground. Levi watched the capsules roll on the sidewalk.

"Levi, you need help." Hanji had said to him a little less than a week ago.

"No, I don't. I'm perfectly fine. Stop worrying about me, and mind your own business." Was what Levi had replied with. His voice had taken on a sudden tone anger that seemed to surprise Hanji.

"For the sake of my own sanity, would you just stop for once? Stop with the lies at least. You look like a bag of bones! You're going to kill yourself if you keep on like this!" She had said with a frown.

"Even if I die it's not like anyone would miss me anyway." He had bitterly stated.

"Is that what you really think?"

"Oh, no, sorry. People wouldn't miss me; they would miss me cleaning up after every single one of you goddamn slobs. That's just about all I'm good for, anyways." He had said sarcastically."I'm not anyone's fucking maid!"

"Levi... Nobody thinks of you as a maid. You're a good person. No one wants you to die." Hanji had a sad look on her face.

"Has the thought ever occurred to you that maybe I don't care what you want? Why can't anyone just let me be already?! I'm not your problem that you need to fix!"

"You always want to help people; why can't you just put in some effort to help yourself for once?!"

"For the last fucking time, Hanji, I don't need any help!" His voice was too loud.

"Don't you realize that you're starting to bring everyone down with you?! Have you even taken the time to see how this is affecting Erwin?!" Hanji was starting to yell too. "There are people here that care about you!"

"I can't stand this." Levi had shouted before walking out and slamming the door behind him. It had echoed throughout Hanji's home.

"...Sir?" A timid voice had Levi's eyes opening with shock. When was it that he had closed them? "Are you okay?"

The stranger's question wasn't answered; the heavy silence put a feeling of dread in the other.

"Sir... Why don't you come with me? It's cold out here, and my car has heat."

"... No." Levi's voice was quiet.

"Please, just for a while? Why don't you tell me what's bothering you? We could stay together for a while and chat. I think that would be nice, yeah?" The newcomer's expression seemed to hold anxiety as Levi stared into his eyes.

"Why would I do that? I don't know you. Leave me alone; this isn't your problem." His tone took on one of spite.

The stranger's temper seemed to flare up at this, yet he managed to stay calm.

"It's true that we don't know each other. Just entertain me this one time? My name is Eren. What's yours?" A small, hopeful smile formed on Eren's face.

Levi finally looked away with a frown and didn't say anything. Eren's smile fell.

"Come on, it's freezing out here. We could go to my place and have hot chocolate if you'd like that. I'll make it myself."

Again, Levi was unresponsive.

"You know, homemade hot chocolate always tastes better than store-bought. My mom taught me a really good recipe for it. I think you'd enjoy it." He persisted. Eren's expression seemed to get more worried by the second.

By then, Levi had sunk bank onto the bench and put his face in his hands. He was quiet, desperately trying to keep his composure. Levi kept his face covered and whispered, "Would you please just leave me alone?"

Eren took a few steps forward, and took off his thick green jacket. He sat down next to him and hesitantly put it around Levi's shoulders. Both men were quiet.

"No, I won't. You don't have to deal with whatever you're having trouble with like this." Eren had finally stated with determination. "Definitely, not like this." He whispered. It would've gone unheard if it wasn't so eerily quiet.

His soft words seemed to strike something within the other.

"It's Levi. My name is Levi." He stated, not raising his head. He just wanted to die so badly.

It was quite the sight – two grown men sitting beside each other in this way at about five thirty in the morning. They stayed like this for a while. Levi with his head down and Eren just sitting there with him, watching this sky.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

A/N;

Huge thanks to Throneofwaste from tumblr for betaing this. uwu You should check out their fanfic: The Minutes of the Red People. I find that it's very interesting, original, and well written. It's worth reading if you haven't already!

Also to 3d-manoeuvre from tumblr for just generally being a huge help!

I'll upload more chapters very soon. My tumblr is really-annie if anyone would like to talk to me. I find the messaging system on here a bit confusing so sending me an ask on tumblr would be quicker. ;u;

Thanks for reading!