"M'Levi Ackerman," Levi said flatly.

"I need to ask you a few questions, Mr. Ackerman."

Levi shifted. "'Kay."

"Where did you get the bike, Mr. Ackerman? The Harley Davidson?"

Levi's brow knit. "The Harley. That … that's … Farlan's"

"Farlan?"

"M'friend. Farlan Church."

The officer wrote in his little book. "Are you aware that the motorcycle was not registered and had no tag?"

"What? No!"

"We've not been able to contact the owner of the bike up till now because of this. Mr. Ackerman, does anyone know where you are?"

Erwin sucked in a startled breath just as a horrified look crossed Levi's face. "The names … in my phone …"

"Your phone was smashed in the accident."

No one knew where Levi had been the whole time.

"How … how long? How long'v I been here?"

"Six days, Mr. Ackerman."

Levi was clearly gobsmacked. He sat with his mouth hanging open and his hands loose in his lap. Suddenly he jerked. "Need a phone! Maria and Rose!"

Erwin moved, grabbing the room phone and hurrying to Levi's bedside. Levi punched in a number then growled in frustration. "Can't call long distance," he muttered, slamming the receiver down.

Erwin crossed over to the small table under the window and dug in the bag that contained his clothes. He came back with his cellphone and handed it to Levi. His brows knit but he took it.

He dialed and it seemed to take forever for anyone to pick up, then,

"Hans! It's Levi."

Erwin could hear the excited bellow from the other end of the phone line then loud chattering. Levi's eyes crinkled. He had actually smiled—it was the first time Erwin had ever seen him smile. It was small and reserved but it was there under the mask.

Erwin nodded to the cop and excused himself from the room, slipping out to take a walk in the hallway. He adjusted his mask and was suddenly grateful for the socks one of the nurses had brought him. It was chilly in the hall. They had also brought him a second gown that he wore over the first, but backward, like a coat, so that his ass didn't hang out. He was very happy about it. He had a fine ass but that didn't mean he wanted to flash it at everybody.

As he walked, he thought of Levi and what a mystery he was. So handsome and yet single? The first person he called—he'd called them 'Hans'—had sounded like a woman from the voice that he'd heard. Was she his partner? Lover? Sister? Friend? Was she the woman who had wanted to visit? He doubted that she was his significant other as he'd not used any endearments. A person missing for six days would at least call his partner 'dear' or 'sweetheart' or something.

Erwin let his mind turn often to Levi. He was almost obsessed and despite him being rather bristly and hopped up on morphine he still wanted to be around him.

When he returned to the room, out of breath, the officer was on Erwin's cell phone, and sounded like he was talking to Farlan about the motorcycle. He hung up just as Erwin, exhausted from his short walk, climbed back into his bed.

"Well, Mr. Ackerman, I'm glad we got that cleared up. The good news is that the motorcycle was insured. The bad news is that you will be ticketed for operating an unregistered, untagged bike."

Levi nodded. He'd assumed that. "What about the accident? 'M'I being charged?"

"No, Sir. The fault was entirely on the gentleman who hit you, unfortunately, he was uninsured."

Levi's already pale skin went ghost-like. "How … how will I pay th'hospital?"

"You can always sue the guy but he's in jail. DUI."

Levi was silent.

"Thank you for your time, Mr. Ackerman." The cop turned to go and Levi extended his hand,

"Wait. The bike. Where's Farlan's Harley?"

"The motorcycle was totaled, Mr. Ackerman. There wasn't anything left but a twisted frame. You're very lucky you didn't die."

The police officer saw himself out.

Levi sat in bed, deep in thought. Erwin watched him, letting his brian mull over Levi's predicament of paying for the hospital. How in the world was he supposed to pay? The bills would be sky-high.

Levi was still sitting upright, eyes unfocussed, a tiny vertical line between his fine eyebrows. Erwin wondered if he should try distracting him. He remembered something.

"Who are Maria and Rose?"

Levi blinked. "What?"

"Maria and Rose. You mentioned them. Are they family?"

Another tiny smile crinkled Levi's eyes. "Kinda. Bring my wallet."

Erwin retrieved Levi's wallet from the bag and handed it to him. Levi extended a photograph. "Cats. Maria and Rose."

Erwin peered at the photo, worn from riding around in Levi's wallet. A fat black and white cat and a tall, slender Siamese looked out of the picture at him. He was charmed. How sweet was it that this vitriolic man carried around a picture of his two cats?

"They're adorable," he said sincerely, handing it back. Erwin retreated to his bed and snuggled down, preparing to nap.

"Hate this," Levi said suddenly, almost to himself.

"This?" Erwin turned his head toward him.

"Hospital."

"Yeah, I agree. It sucks."

"Sucks," Levi echoed.

It would come to suck more. That morning they stopped Levi's morphine drip and began giving him oxycodone alternating with Tylenol every four hours. He lay stiffly in the bed, staring at the ceiling and in pain. The nurses reassured him that it would get better. Lunch suddenly held no anticipation for him. It was replaced by anticipation of oxycodone.

Levi eventually fell into a fitful sleep at two am the next morning.

The next day was Sunday and Erwin awoke at his regular time of 7:30. When his eyes opened he automatically looked left toward Levi's bed. He was awake, quietly reading the book of poetry.

Erwin sat up. "You're awake."

Levi was clearly a lot more lucid that morning. He looked at Erwin and his brows drew down. "I get up at 5:30."

Yes, much more lucid.

Levi shifted slightly and flinched, baring his teeth and hissing.

"Are you OK?"

Levi let out a long, slow breath. "They need to bring me my fucking meds."

Erwin frowned. He was not sure he liked this new 'where's my meds' Levi.

The hospital staff talked about discharging Erwin and that made him panicky. How would he get by without being able to see Levi?

Erwin was taking longer and longer walks around the ward, his breathing was improving. They'd already removed his sling and were testing him every day to see if he was clear of Covid. They would release him soon.

When Erwin returned to the room, Levi was on the phone with 'Hans.' The day's nurse had followed Erwin into the room.

"You should be nicer to Moblit,' Levi said into the phone.

A vociferous chatter ensued. This woman was a loud, excited talker.

"You take him for granted, Hans!"

More chatter, even louder.

"Yeah, right. Keep telling yourself that."

The nurse checked both of their vitals and spoke to Erwin about his discharge from the hospital.

"Listen, I gotta go," Levi said. "Talk soon." He hung up and tried not to appear to be eavesdropping.

The nurse finished up what she was saying and told Erwin that the doctor would be by to talk about possible release dates.

After she left, Levi handed Erwin the phone. "Thanks for letting me use the phone. I'll pay you back. Just bring me the phone bill." Levi fiddled with the bookmark in his book. "So you're busting out of here?"

Erwin nodded. Levi had finally been taken off of oxygen and now just wore a face mask. He didn't seem to want to look Erwin in the eye which was bizarre. He normally had a smug, challenging stare.

"Looks like it." Erwin held up the phone, "Wife?"

"Hange? Oh hell no! Best friend."

So Hans was Hange.

"She seems … fascinating."

Levi shook his head. "That's putting it mildly. Also, it's 'they'"

"What?"

"Their pronouns are they/them. They're non-binary."

Erwin felt out of his depth. "Ah."

"So any idea when you'll be released?"

"No idea. It's up to the doctor."

And I'd rather stay here with you.

Erwin fidgeted as if Levi could have heard his thoughts.

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" He smiled under his mask.

"No!" Levi said, then, amazingly, he blushed. "I mean, uh, of course not."

Erwin, embarrassed, wandered over to his bed and fluffed his pillows. That blush had sent a thrill through him that stunned him. Wanting to keep the conversation up he nodded at the book in Levi's hands. "Kuchel?"

Levi looked down at the little tome. "My mom." He sounded so sad that Erwin was immediately regretful. He was worried that his ill-timed question would end the conversation and that made him unhappy. He was wrong, however.

"You … you never told me what happened to, uh, your arm," Levi said.

"Dislocated it! I fell, like a fool. My dog. She's kinda big and rambunctious."

Levi nodded. He was no conversationalist and seemed to have run to the end of his repertoire.

"Is Hange taking care of your cats?"

That was the lead-in Levi needed to open up. "My friends Farlan and Isobel are. Or rather Isobel is. She's the doer in the relationship. Farlan's just moral support." Levi chuckled. It was a nice sound, warm and deep. "Who's taking care of your dog?"

"My assistant, Petra."

"Assistant? What do you do?"

"Architect. You?"

"Teacher."

Erwin was thrilled. He hadn't thought of that. "Yeah? What grade?"

"Kindergarten."

"I can't imagine that!" Erwin perched, without thinking, on the edge of the foot of Levi's bed.

"Tch! Can't imagine teaching kindergarten or can't imagine ME teaching kindergarten."

Erwin laughed. "Both."

"Ahh, get the fuck outta here! I'm a damned good kindergarten teacher." Erwin could tell he was smiling.

"I don't doubt it."

They fell back into an awkward silence. Levi scratched up under the cast on his arm. "Where the hell are my meds? Isn't it time?"

"Another half-hour,' Erwin said. He noticed that Levi never kept track of the hours when he got Tylenol. Only the hours he got the oxycodone.

"Hey, are those cards for you?" Levi pointed.

"No, those are yours. Have you not looked at them?"

"I can't exactly walk, asshole," Levi said, gesturing pointedly at his leg.

Erwin laughed at himself, got up, walked to the tiny table under the TV, and retrieved the two cards. He handed them to Levi who opened one and read it, chuckled, and handed it to Erwin. The card featured a naked, elderly man with a cloud of noxious fumes behind him. Inside it read, "Get better soon you old fart!" and was signed 'Hange,' 'Farlan,' and 'Isobel.'

Erwin looked back at Levi who had opened the other card, a large one with a very long-necked cartoon giraffe on the front. His face was completely transformed. Erwin just stared. Levi's countenance was soft, his eyes sentimental. He eventually handed the card over.

The inside was a crazy mess of scrawled, mostly illegible collections of letters that were, presumably, names; other, large single letters; tidy adult signatures; random pictures (a lot of giraffes were depicted;) even a couple of tiny handprints. Erwin looked questioningly at Levi.

"From my class. My classroom theme is giraffes. I have a big banner that says 'Kindergarten will GROW on you!' Kinda funny seeing as I'm so short."

"That's … that's adorable. I'd love to see your classroom."

And your bedroom.

"Ah, you don't want to visit a kindergarten class at a run-down school in the bad part of town."

Erwin frowned. "I do. I'm serious."

Levi scoffed but said softly; "Maybe you could come by for career day." He was playing with his bookmark again, two pink patches high up on his thin cheeks.

Erwin was delighted.

Levi, secretly, was too.