Levi stirred as gentle fingers traced his jaw, tickled his ribs, lightly gripped his hips.
"Hello there, handsome." A voice cut through the fog in his mind. "How are you today?"
Eren's voice. It must be morning.
"I know you can't be doing that well, considering you're dead and all, but aside from that, you good?"
Eren was the forensic anthropologist at the local police department. From what Levi had gathered from his short time spent under Eren's careful gaze, he knew that Eren was tall, had brown hair, green eyes, and possessed a strong need for overly-sweetened coffee in the morning. He also, apparently, liked to talk to his subjects while he worked.
Said coffee was indeed present as always that morning, steam rising from the mug as Eren brought it up against his lips.
"Are you going to tell me who you are today? Maybe give me a hint on to who murdered you?"
Rubber gloves again poked at his bare ribs, prodding at the spot where his heart would have been hidden behind, where the bullet had gone in from the back.
"You're being quite difficult, you know. You're actually making me work for my paycheck! Do you know how difficult it is, living all on my lonesome on this meager salary? And to think, you are making me work for every penny of it!" Eren said lightly. "The horror!"
The day slowly passed by, as it always did, with Eren chattering softly to him about anything that happened to cross his mind, his sister, his friends, his cat. Levi personally thought the thing sounded like a devil straight from hell despite the fond way Eren described the horrid beast. He occasionally reprimanded Levi at random intervals for making his job difficult, as if he had a choice.
Even if Levi had been able to talk, he would not have been able to tell Eren who his murderer had been. The stupid fuck had shot him in the back in a deserted alleyway near his apartment, then rummaged around his body until he had his wallet. He had had no identification on him when some bratty middle-aged mom found him the next morning on her morning run.
A man popped his head in the doorway around when Levi estimated the work day was almost over.
"Eren. We think we found the name of the victim's name. Thanks for the information, it really helped." He set a file on Eren's nearby desk. "Levi Ackerman, 28. He's ex army, honorable discharge, worked at a bar, uh, Titan's, I think it was called, after he left. His boss reported him missing two weeks ago, about a week after the body was found."
"Thanks, horse face."
The man huffed angrily and it did absolutely nothing to reduce his resemblance to a four-legged beast.
"A couple of us are going out for drinks, if you think you will be done soon."
"Ok, sounds good, I will be out in a few minutes."
Eren peeled off his latex gloves and stood up as 'horse face' walked away.
"Well, Levi. At least I have a name to call you now." He scooped the file off his desk and cracked it open, wolf-whistling softly.
"Damn, Levi. You were hot before you ended up on my table. Shame we had to meet this way. Well, I guess I will see you tomorrow." He set the file back on his desk and shut off the lights as he walked out.
Levi listened to his footsteps as he walked down the hallway, the sound eventually dwindling to the quiet that would remain unbroken for the most part until a new day started. He prepared himself to wait the night out. The nights were the worst for him, when he felt the least human. His mind fogged up, he was barely aware of time passing, and he felt, well, dead. Forgotten. Sorrowful. The world kept turning without him. Eren's endless talking did one good thing at least, no matter how annoying it could be. It reminded him that he had been someone, that he had mattered to the world as a human being, no matter how small his role had been. Eren grounded him.
He looked down at his form, sitting on the table that had what remained of his body, growing brighter as the light from the day started to fade away. He had no idea why this happened, just as he had no idea why he had stuck around to keep his bones company, but, well. It's not like he could just ask someone.
Sometime into the night, the door to the workroom opened again.
"Stupid me, forgetting my keys all the time." Eren muttered under his breath. He stopped short as he saw Levi. His eyes were doing their best to jump out of his head.
"What," He gasped. He looked really dumb with his mouth hanging open like that.
"Close your mouth, you'll catch flies you shitty brat."
His mouth snapped shut with an audible click.
"What-" He tried again.
"Well, I know that's not all you can say because you do talk A LOT during the day."
"Are you . . . ?"
"That's something more, I guess. Yes, I'm Levi. Yes, I'm dead. And yes, I'm a ghost. No, you are not hallucinating. Does that answer your questions?" He quirked a brow and crossed his legs.
"I- uh. Why are you . . . ?"
"Mmm. Great question. One I would like to know the answer to, myself," he said, leaning back on his hands.
Eren squeaked. Honestly, Levi was surprised he was taking this so well.
Eren dropped to the floor, unconscious.
So much for taking it well.
He sighed. He wondered why it was now that Eren could see him. Maybe it was some sort of thing like the alignment of the stars, the phase of the moon, being a little more than tipsy, some magical bunny that felt like giving the living the ability to see and converse with the dead. He really didn't fucking know.
But whatever. He wasn't versed in the supernatural, and dwelling on what he didn't know would do no good. He adjusted his position, settling down to wait. Wasn't like he had anything better to do than wait for Eren to wake up anyway.