You will (not) stop
At some point in life, his body gave up.
He no longer smelled like honey and cinnamon; just weird hospital chemicals that made Levi gag. His hair no longer soft and fluffed; but all messed and lanky. He lost his honey-tan complexion to unearthly pale-white, and all he had left of him was of his immobile mind behind his fixed skull; everything else was either cement-fixed or metal - save for his skin and other body parts perhaps, but every of his organs were replaced artificially.
His eyes had been staring at the exact same ceiling for the past two years.
The pupils won't even expand nor shrink whenever the light affects him. He won't move except the flutters of his eyelids, and he would die if it weren't for machines and wires and tubes clogging in his system to keep a steady rise and fall to his chest. He won't respond to anything anymore - even physical pain.
It wasn't his fault; he had been born with a rare condition. His body started to break down, bit by bit, and when somebody notices it was already too late.
Eren is already gone, even if he's here.
"Hello, Eren."
Levi pulled the orange stool beside his bed and stiffly sat down, and, out of habit from the past three years, held his hand, the silver rings clinking silently in greeting. He kissed his cheek but Eren did not flinch or look at him at all, as he just looked up lifelessly upwards to the very-so fascinating plaster ceiling.
"Shall we get you outside?" Levi softly whispered. "It's a nice day today."
...
He sighed, pecking his cheek. Next to the wall, he unfolded the wheelchair and slowly lifted Eren up from the bed, slowly carrying the tubes and the machine under the wheelchair. Eren was lightweight but Levi was pinned down all the same with his immobile body, unmoving and limp like a doll. Levi corrected his chin when Eren's head flopped to the side and put his arm back on his lap when it flopped down. Checking that no tubes not wires were tangled or left, Levi pushed him out the door, through the busy hallway and into the hospice's garden.
Wheeling him out into the yard, Levi stopped by a bench.
"Pretty today, isn't it?" he murmured. "Shall we read a book today?"
Eren only shifted his pupils to look at Levi, but these eyes told him nothing and his body stayed limp and stiff, his answer unreadable from his dull teal eyes.
"We'll read... hmm..." Levi reached out to his pocket and produced a rather quite small book, one you could fit the whole of your palm in the width and the length.
"Attack on Titan..." Levi shrugged. "Do you want me to read it, Eren?"
Eren just stared at him, and the way he look with his lifeless pupils could be a little intimidating sometimes, even when they have no sort of emotion whatsoever in them. Probably because they look a little... odd?
Levi opened the first page and read every word to Eren, laughing every noun and then when he came across something funny. Though Eren only stared at the book as if it was the most lamest thing in the world, and Levi gave a sigh of defeat, giving up halfway through when the plot became a little muddled and non-linear.
Levi glanced at his watch, as it was time for his job. Sighing, he pulled the book back to his pocket and wheeled Eren back to his room, laying him down on the bed - and he shuddered when it felt like he was putting a dead body into a coffin.
He walked back home, his heart furthered and wrenched; as always.
He should stop seeing him.
He should stop hoping.
He should stop trying altogether.
Why should he be talking to an empty shell? Eren is not Eren - at least, not the Eren he used to know. The hot-headed, clumsy and much-too-cheery-for-my-liking brat, non-punctual and dumb. This is not Eren, and he'll never come back.
He felt an electrifying headache sear through his head and he groaned, wobbling on his way, receiving weird looks and glances from unfriendly passer-byes. As he staggered home, his hand trembled when he unlocked the key, pulling out his phone to call off from work.
He groaned in frustration and slammed his fist on the wall, a cracking noise could be heard where he either broke his knuckles and broke the wall; neither mattered. Seizing his hair like it was problem to him, he went into the bathroom, trying to calm himself down a little bit with his razor... definitely not for shaving as there were small droplets of blood from his wrist; but they were small cuts as he weren't planning to die soon; just letting out his emotions through pain.
Then the doorbell rang ; fuck it all.
He slammed the razor angrily at the sink, flinging the door open, so vigorous the hinges almost gave away. He stomped his way through his apartment, opening the door and screaming at the poor person in front of him.
"Hey, you're Levi... right?"
As if his voice sobered him from his intoxication, he blinked slowly.
"... Yes."
"Married to Eren Jaeger... Ackermann?"
"... What's going on?" Levi felt his breath hitch. "What...?"
It was expected for Eren's body to break down completely any moment or one of his systems to malfunction, but Levi was honestly not ready yet to let him go. Or any other day of that matter.
"It's not a bad news, sir. Actually, you could also count this as an opportunity." the man said, smiling a little bit. Levi eyes him suspiciously with his trademark icy eyes.
"... Spill."
"We could bring your partner back. Life-wise; health-wise back." he smiled even wider. "But there is quite a risk and hassle to make, and this is a matter of life and death we're talking about."
Levi's eyes widened instantly.
"G-go ahead."