One thing Levi has noticed about Trost is that there aren't many foreign people. Sure, the central belt of Scotland has more job opportunities and there's a few Polish and Romanian folk up here in Trost, but when you've lived your entire life surrounded by Pakistanis, Indians and whatever else they've got going on down there; it's a little weird to walk into a corner shop that doesn't have minority clerks. Even the Gregg's store down there had a black server.
Oh lord. Even just mentioning Gregg's gives Levi a metaphorical heart attack and the paranoia that maybe Eren can read his thoughts right now. Because that's totally plausible.
Levi's not entirely sure what happened last time, but he sure as hell hopes he didn't do something weird to Eren. Maybe he can pass it off by saying he's French and it was just a habit of his that he kissed him on the cheek.
But still!
He at least wants to remember what Eren's skin tastes like. That'd be nice. He could die saying he did something he wanted to do. Put it on his gravestone: "I pecked Eren Jaeger on the cheek. Sure, I don't remember it, but hey it happened." Didn't it?
Just as he walks out of the Co-operative shop with his fair-trade pint of milk, his brick of a phone buzzes in his pocket. He frowns when he sees a number he doesn't recognise on the small screen. But hey, if he's going to die due to his mistakes in this life, he may as well make it quick and answer anonymous calls. For the hell of it, as Erwin would say.
"...Hello?"
"Hi!" A cheerful female voice answers. "Is this Levi? This is the manager of the hostel of where you'll be staying. We found you a place!"
Levi's eyebrows shoot upwards a fraction. Well that was quick. When Claire said a week, she seriously meant a week.
When Levi arrives back at the industrial estate, he looks down at the silver spare key in his hand, knowing that it won't be his anymore after today. How's he going to break the news to Erwin? He debates over leaving the milk on the counter, not really knowing what to do with it since he'll probably be packing it away soon.
It's only when he's finished with packing his clothes and towels that the blonde man himself walks through the front door in his work clothes; a grey suit with a pristine white shirt and grey tie. He immediately frowns at the sight of Levi with the small brown box of belongings. No, bad eyebrows, don't frown at Levi.
Erwin tilts his head to one side biting his lip, piercing blue eyes flickering from the box to Levi in mild confusion. Levi makes a point to continue packing even when Erwin points a finger at the bag and starts talking.
"Are you running away?" Erwin asks cautiously. Oh yeah, because Levi is totally still ten years old with someone with parental rights over him that he can run away from, sure. Running away. God. Don't make him hurt you, Erwin. Don't even go there.
Levi shrugs nonchalantly, but it's surprisingly difficult to form words past the sudden lump in his throat that formed when Erwin spoke up. "I'm moving out."
"What?!" Erwin saunters over to the couch that Levi has set up on. "We haven't spoken at all about you getting a flat! You can't afford it Levi!"
Oh, there it is, the vein that always pops out on Erwin's forehead when he's mad. He's also turning red from his cheekbones up to the area above his eyebrows, and that's how Levi knows that Erwin's extremely upset. Well, that and the fact that Erwin, a man not quite as stoic as Levi but reserved nonetheless, is raising his voice to someone as dangerous as Levi.
Levi sighs through his nose, folding his arms and raising his chin ever so slightly to look up at the looming blonde man.
"Eren helped me find a hostel for homeless people, and the manahger of the place phoned me today to tell me to come over."
Erwin waves his hands in front of him in a questioning gesture. "And you're just leaving? Without even telling me?"
"I wasn't sure how to bring it up. I wasn't sure how you'd react and I-"
"Telling me you're leaving shouldn't even be an issue, Levi! We shouldn't have to be talking about this because you live with me-"
"No, I sleep on your couch, Erwin." Levi pinches the bridge of his nose, breath becoming a bit shaky. Because it's not like he's abandoning this guy like Erwin makes it out to be. He'll visit, right?
"I sleep in your living room; I have virtually no privacy of my own, everyone invades my personal space when they're in the living room, you provide almost everything for me, I have to clean up after your mess-"
Just then, there's a knock at the door. Levi pauses in his rant then rushes to answer it.
Eren!
Levi had texted him earlier to tell him that he'd been given a place, a place that he didn't know the location of, what with him being completely new to Trost, and Eren had offered to help him move out. Not that he really needs help, seeing as he hardly has anything... Although there's more stuff thanks to Erwin and his insistence that he bought Levi towels, a few mugs, and a blanket. It's also a brilliant excuse to see Eren again.
But as he's answering the door and his heart is jumping around in his chest, Erwin promptly follows him and peers to see who's at the door.
The taller man begins to complain childishly. "Is that him? You know what, it's his fault that you're leaving! He's just some dumb kid, Levi, don't listen to everything he says just because you're-"
Levi cuts him off with a rapid jab at his neck with his forearm and holds it there. His eyes widen because if that sentence had progressed even just a single word further...
"Erwin. Not a word. Don't you dare. I'm serious right now, understand?" He glances over to Eren who blinks back at him uneasily and motions for him to go inside.
Whispering, he bares his teeth at Erwin and glares daggers at him while the blue eyed man competes with a stubborn pout and clenched jaw.
"I am a grown ass man. I have a job, albeit not a very good one and yes, it doesn't pay well. But there are people who will help me out and support me in a way that helps me become independent and be an adult with responsibilities and bills, just like the rest of the world. I don't know how, but I'll get through it. Did you really think you could coddle me forever, Erwin? I have a life outside of you, I want a better one, and you're in the way of that. So just stop, would you? Don't bring him into this."
"Uh, Levi, is this box yours? I'm just going to take it out to the car..."
Nibbling at his lips in annoyance over the situation, Levi nods at Eren, surprised at the soft, worried tone of his voice, and moves to follow him out the door.
"Keys." Is all Erwin says with a low voice. Levi hands them over without another word, but pauses as Erwin herds him out the door.
"I can still come see you, right?" He hesitates when Erwin doesn't reply, but feels the need to push on. "I mean, you are kind of my best friend. And I need to complain about the state of your flat from time to time, otherwise you'll just leave it in a mess."
There's a hint of a begrudging smile on Erwin's lips, but it's hidden too well for Levi to call him out on it. He closes the door behind Levi with a firm click.
Well. That was slightly different from their usual family spats...
Levi turns from the closed door to see Eren wearing the face of a kicked puppy. His. Need. To. Hug. This. Man. But then suddenly he remembers Eren's shocked expression after he may or may not have kissed him and he looks away, hands shaking at his sides, gulping dryly and biting the inside of his lip. There's a warm pressure on his arm and Levi jolts at the sudden contact.
Eren rubs his arm reassuringly. Levi's breathing falters at the knowledge and sensation. "I'm sure it'll be okay. Yeah... You won't avoid each other for too long, right?"
Not that Levi can avoid him, thanks to the fact that he and Erwin both work at the same place...
Eren touched him. Wait, that sounds wrong. Not that he'd be against anything more suggestive... His hands were bigger than Levi expected, warmer than he'd anticipated.
While he's busy trying to push down the giddiness in his gut, he watches as Eren leaps down the stairs three at a time and sprints over to a car waiting for them at the side of the road.
A familiar freckled man rolls down the window, resting his arm on the ledge where the window once was and smirks. Or well, it looks like it's supposed to be a smirk but the crinkles by his eyes are too cheerful for his grin to be smug.
"Get in losers, we're going house hunting."
Inside Marco's smoke coloured Honda, Levi keeps to himself as the two men in the front seats chat quietly with BBC Radio 2 playing as a comforting backdrop of music. Well, as comforting as Nikki Minaj can be...
"So you're going to Swansea, Levi?" Marco asks him, smiling kindly as he looks with wide walnut brown eyes into the rear view mirror at him. "Eren, you used to live there, didn't you?" Is Marco Scottish? He sounds slightly English... (And here was Levi thinking he was Italian)
"Oh my god, yeah." Eren begins to bounce in his seat excitedly with his tongue sticking between his front teeth that are a little larger than the usual. Levi can't help but stare as his heart sinks into his stomach and his lungs fail him. Is Eren suddenly ? He seems really energetic today, or at least once they got out of Erwin's flat. Maybe he ate something sugary? Jesus Christ, it's actually really fucking cute. He should use those bouncing skills of his while on Levi's lap-
"That place changed my life forever. Swansea was the beginning of my manhood, I'm telling you that. I went there when I was like sixteen, and they started me with alcohol, got me my first cigarette, my first joint-"
"Eren you take drugs?" Levi asks incredulously as he's pulled out from his quiet thoughts about what Eren's favourite foods are.
Eren stops mid bounce to scratch shyly at his temple. "Oh, uh, no. I only smoked Weed twice. The first time had me really talkative! Apparently I kept asking people questions, ha. I was really clingy as well. Ended up making out with a total stranger 'cause I thought he was cute. And the second time didn't really count because it didn't affect me at all and I just felt sober. Pretty shit, right?"
Levi shrugs, looking out the window uncertainly. To think Eren, a guy two years younger than him, already has more experience than him... "I wouldn't know."
There's a pregnant pause and suddenly Eren turns around in his seat to face Levi with an accusing look of disbelief. "You were in a gang, no you fucking led a gang, and you've never even taken drugs? What kind of gangster are you?" To think he once thought of Eren as innocent...
"The smart kind. The kind that steals to live, I'm that kind of gangster." Levi prefers the term "thug" but whatever. "Plus, to get into drugs you kinda have to know people that sell them or at least know people who do."
Eren sits back in his seat, lounging with a roll of his shoulders. "Aww, Levi. Don't worry, we'll help you network and soon you'll know all kinds of people. That, or the people at Swansea will help ya a bunch."
Eventually they reach a quiet street with houses at each side. One side has the dodgy looking set of two storey flats that are grey, have stains underneath the pipes and windows, one of the doors is open only to reveal a desolate and cold hallway with bare concrete stairs, not to mention the dry patches of grass at the front that look like they've seen too much in their lifetime.
The other side has white and peach, two storey terraced houses; each with a neatly trimmed garden, a few children's toys and a new brown paint job on the fences that surround them. Oh and a hedge. It's been a long, long time since Levi's seen one without browning leaves.
On this side of the road, there's also a massive white building with three rows of windows. But unlike it's posh neighbours; this one has peeling paint and CCTV hovering above the door.
Eren points at the white monstrosity and babbles as Marco pulls into the narrow car park, which is really just the gap between the road and the row of red bricks guarding the building. Yup, just like a prison.
"I wonder if Lizzy still works there? She was the best key worker I had. Oh, Levi, you'll get a key worker when you're here and that's basically someone that you have to spill your life to. If you don't, they knock on your door every five minutes and make your life hell." he shakes his head, lost in his mind as he delves into the nostalgia.
"Oh man, I remember Jono. He used to wake me up all the fucking time when Eld was my roommate. Oh! You'll share a flat with someone Levi."
Levi freezes at the information, having made no movement to get out the car as Marco starts taking his box out from the boot. He really just wants some peace and quiet, and the whole reason that Levi left Erwin's place was because everyone intruded in his space-
"You, like, share a bathroom and living room and kitchen but you get your own room. Just hope that your roommate agrees to a cleaning rota or whatever."
A sigh leaves Levi's lips. Thank god he doesn't have to go crawling back to Erwin, crying about how sorry he was, how wrong he was... Not that he would, fuck no, he has pride. But at least he gets what he wants out of this. Privacy! A bed! Quietness!
He leaves the cosy interior of the car in favour of retrieving his box from Marco's steady hands and wanders towards the building. Eren pulls up ahead of him and pushes a button on a silver box next to the door, a buzz sounds and they reach the interior of what might be a badly disguised prison.
As soon as he's inside the building, his nose twitches in disgust at the unclean looking blue carpet and he's met with the sound of screaming and loud dance music from the floor above.
There's a questionable call of "FUCK GET HIM TO THE FUCKING HOSPITAL HE'S FUCKING STABBED HIMSELF IN THE LEG OH FUCK."
A woman a decade or so older than him appears from the plain door to the right wearing a floral top that has the sixties wanting it back.
She smiles at him with crooked, yellow teeth. "Hi! Are you Levi? Welcome to Swansea!" When he nods, she hands him some keys and points him to the door opposite the one she came out of. "This is the room you'll be staying in, you can pop your things into here and then we can give you a proper introduction to the building."
Eren yet again expertly takes the lead, swiftly taking the key from him and does something fancy with the door handle to make it open, motioning for him to be inside.
He turns around to Levi, grinning devilishly so that his green eyes gleam like a cat's. (Levi has to discreetly hide his crotch with the box.)
"Welcome to your new hell."