Levi almost didn't wake up. His alarm was so quiet he almost slept through it, but thankfully by some miracle it managed to wake him up. It was pitch black outside his window. The moon was just a small sliver in the sky and the stars seemed to keep their light to themselves tonight. It was three am and he'd only gotten four hours of sleep; his high school graduation had been hours before and parties kept him up. Shit, I need some coffee or something, he thought, getting out of bed and silently moving around his small bedroom.
It was odd to see his room emptied out. The few pictures he had on the walls were packed away in his duffel bag, their frames sitting empty on the pale grey walls. His favorite clothes were packed as well. The jar that he put all his extra change into since first grade was empty; he'd taken it and gotten it exchanged for bills the day before. It'd ended up totaling seven hundred and fifty-two dollars and it added a nice padding to his bank account. He'd worked all his life, saving up for this moment. Saving up for the day he'd get out of this small town and explore the world.
Trost was the epitome of Small Town, USA. Everyone was obsessed with football (God forbid you didn't have school pride), everybody had known each other since birth, and the people were good ol' "Christians," the ones who didn't practice what they preached and used a warped version of religion to justify their prejudice and shitty attitudes. They were the ones that did horrible, horrible things and used religion as a reason why and ignored the fact that what they were doing would go against what a loving God would want.
He remembered his twin Mikasa getting punched during second grade because she said she would marry her friend Sasha. He remembered his first day of middle school, watching janitor paint over graffiti on lockers that had homophobic slurs written on them. He remembered the week before high school began how a group of men murdered a gay high schooler and got away with it by claiming he attacked them and they were acting in self-defense. He had always planned on leaving, but once he fell in love with another guy he knew it was time to high-tail it out of there.
They started dating after winter formal their sophomore year of high school and while Petra and Mikasa knew about their relationship, they had to keep it under wraps to the majority of their friends. In a town as small of Trost, word traveled fast and while they were sure they could trust their friends, they didn't want to risk it. But even with the danger looming over their heads, the past two and a half years had been the best of Levi and Farlan's life.
Car lights flashed in the darkness outside of Levi's window. He threw his dirty pajamas into his hamper and grabbed his duffel bag. Slowly he opened his bedroom door and tiptoed down the hall. Mikasa's bedroom door was open. She was fast asleep and for a moment Levi considered waking her up to say goodbye. No, you can't wake her up, Levi told himself. She won't tell anyone but it'd be better to keep her out of this. He gave her one last look before walking down the stairs and out of his childhood home. He locked the door and left his keys in a potted plant.
"It took you long enough to get here," Levi said, the ghost of a smirk on his face. Levi threw his duffel bag into the back of Farlan's car before climbing into the passenger seat. Farlan chuckled.
"I had to deal with family. It took them forever to go to bed," he replied.
"Have you gotten any sleep?"
"I'm not tired. Once we get out of Rose County I think we should find a place to sleep, though. It's not healthy to run on almost no sleep," Farlan shrugged. He pulled out of Levi's driveway. "But we can figure that out later." He turned to Levi, a bright smile on his face. "The big question is where do you want to go from here?"
"How about New York City?" Levi suggested.
"I think I can live with that," Farlan smirked. "New York City it is." His hand found Levi's, fingers lacing between his. "I can't believe we're doing this. We're finally getting out of his hellhole. We're finally going to explore the world." I can't believe it either, Levi thought as he squeezed Farlan's hand. They were finally going to leave the confines of Trost and see what the world had to offer them. There were no words to describe the amount of relief Levi felt as they drove past the cheery "Welcome to Trost!" sign and into Maria County. There would be no more hiding. There were some things to worry about soon and Levi knew they couldn't underestimate those obstacles, but he knew that they were safer as they drove away from Rose County.
It felt like a weight was being lifted off of Levi's shoulders. People always told him that running away from his problems wouldn't solve anything. But he disagreed. Driving into the future with Farlan by his side felt pretty damn good.