A/N: I know the last chapter was a bit heavy, and I appreciate the support everyone has given about the sensitive issues raised. It means a lot x

Hospital

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Eren was fueled all the way to the hospital by a numbness that slowly but surely grew into a ferocious fire inside of him. It burned away at his rationality as he stalked through the hospital hallways, up to the third floor and peering into every ward to see where Levi was. However, as soon as he walked around that pale green curtain and saw Levi lying there in the too-large bed, every spark inside him was extinguished.

He stood there, for all of a moment, taking in the pale skin of his boyfriend, his lank black hair, his complete lack of make-up and piercings. Then he saw the bandage winding its way up his left forearm and he felt his stomach sink.

Dull grey eyes drifted towards him and a frown marred his features. "Eren?"

That spark was back.

Eren dropped his gym bag into the vacant seat beside the bed and threw himself against Levi, his fear gripping him tightly as he let a distressed sob out. He buried his face against his boyfriend's neck, swallowing down every angry retort and snide comment that had paraded inside his head the entire ride to the hospital.

Levi loosely brought an arm around to hold Eren close. "Eren -don't you have college?"

"Who gives a shit about college?" Eren snapped, his words muffled against Levi's neck. "You're in the goddamn hospital!" Leaning back, Eren cuffed the tears away and sniffed. "What the hell, Levi? Why would you do this?"

Levi reached up and gripped Eren's face between his hands. His steely eyes bore into Eren's green ones. "I wasn't trying to kill myself," his voice was firm and resolute. "I got too wrapped up in my head. The beating pushed me over the edge. As soon as I saw the blood, I tried to call you. I misdialled and got through to your dad instead. He sent an ambulance to me. I'm okay, because of him. Okay?"

Eren chewed his lip but gave a nod. Levi lowered his hands, leaning back into the pillows. He barely blinked, watching Eren for his reaction. Eren let his shoulders sag as he eased himself onto the edge of the mattress and dropped his head. "I'm sorry," he finally said. "I just got the call from my dad and I panicked."

"Hey," Levi reached out and caught Eren's sleeve. He dragged the sleeve, pulling Eren's hand into his own, entwining their fingers. "I'm glad you're here."

Eren furrowed his brow even more. "What I want to know is why you're here. The real reason."

Levi drew in a deep breath. Eren's hand fit so neatly into his own, their skin a few shades different, Eren's perpetually tanned whilst Levi was pale as the bedsheets. Levi watched as he traced his thumb in small circles over Eren's hand, enamoured with the solid softness beneath his fingertips.

"Levi?"

"Hm?"

"Talk to me," Eren breathed, trapping his thumb with his own. "Please?"

"Since that initial gym incident, I've been a walking target," Levi tried to ignore the tightness in his jaw. "I did my best not to show any outward signs of weakness. Those jocks are like wolves, they can smell weakness and fear. Some of them had gotten suspended, but a few of their mates escaped before the professor and security arrived. I guess they've wanted some type of revenge."

Eren gave his hand a squeeze. "That's so immature."

Levi nodded, that hollow feeling leeching through him again. "They started up a facebook page. A few actual. I think I count at least four the last time I checked."

"What were they for?"

"For me to kill myself. Or humiliate myself. Although they seemed to overlap a lot."

He said it in such a dejected way that it tore at Eren's insides. He chewed on his lip hard, trying to resist the urge to leap to his feet and demand justice for his boyfriend. It wouldn't do them any good anyway. He listened to Levi as the older teen sat upright in bed. He flinched a little when he felt Levi rested his chin on the crook of his neck, nuzzling gently, his free hand snaking its way around Eren's waist.

"For what it's worth, I'm glad I suck at dying. Can't give those fuckers the satisfaction of winning, can we?" he said it quietly, almost jokingly, but it was just enough to make the mania in Eren's head subside. For now.

"Yeah, you really fucking suck at dying," Eren cuffed at his eyes. He tilted his head sideways and pressed a kiss to Levi's temple. "Please don't do this again. I -I've never been as scared as I was on the ride over here. Thinking what if it was worse than dad said. If I lost you before I even got to the hospital." Fresh tears swelled in his eyes.

"Hey, hey, hey," Levi shushed him, cupping his face and swiping the tears away with his thumbs. "I'm so sorry I scared you. I never wanted to leave you, not like that, not at all if I can help it. You hear me?"

Eren gave a shaky laugh. "Don't make promises just because you fucked up. I don't want you to regret them."

Levi sat back, looking a little like he'd been slapped. He looked as though he was about to retort but clenched his jaw. A muscle ticked away. "Go into that drawer there and grab the plastic bag inside."

Eren frowned but did as he was instructed. Inside the clear plastic zip-lock bag, were all of Levi's jewellery he'd worn to college that day. Some of it was stuff that hardly ever got seen, as Levi either wore it under his t-shirts or the black-on-black was easily missed if you were just brushing past. He handed the bag to Levi. He unzipped the bag, fiddled around with the contents a little and plucked out the rings he'd been wearing. He extended his hand to Eren.

"Pick one."

"I -what?"

"Pick one. I wear these rings almost religiously. Pick one and it's yours, to remind you and everyone else out there, that you're my boyfriend." At Eren's frown, Levi rolled his eyes with a sigh. "Look, kid, I don't just go sharing my shit with anybody."

"Jewellery is easily replaced."

Levi looked pointedly down at Eren's hand. "Not to me, it's not."

Eren didn't argue. Instead, he went through the rings one at a time, before finally settling on a dual-coloured ring. It was simply coloured with one silver band and one black band stacked together, but it was sleek and cool as he slid it onto his right ring finger. "There," he couldn't help but smile, his heart doing a little skip as he fingers the ring. "I'm all yours."

He leaned over and pressed a chaste kiss to Levi's lips, watching as a smile teased at his boyfriend's mouth. Eren safely tucked the remaining rings back into the bag and replaced the bag into the nightstand. Just as he was settling back down in the chair at Levi's bedside, the green curtain was yanked back to reveal Dr. Jaeger.

"Ah, Eren, you made it. I hope you've done some catching up?" he gave Levi a pointed look over his glasses.

Levi wasn't intimated, as long as he just thought of Dr. Jaeger as any other doctor, instead of his boyfriend's dad. "Yes, I told him," he stated.

"Good. Now, all your tests have come back fine, you're a little dehydrated but that's what the I.V. is for," he scanned through the clipboard he was carrying. "We want to keep you over the weekend for observation as this has been classed as a suicide attempt, I'm afraid." He gave a sympathetic smile, before carrying on. "Despite the fact it was a very non-threatening cut you made, I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't give you the best possible care. Also, we haven't been able to get through to either of your parents. I have left a few voice messages but …"

"They'll only worry about why the door has a busted lock," Levi shrugged. "I'll be fine come Monday morning."

"Be that as it may, as your doctor I cannot release you to an empty house. Not in good conscience anyway. We will discuss that more when we manage to get hold of your parents. For now, just rest, keep drinking and the nurses will come around every hour to check up on you." Dr. Jaeger glanced down at his clipboard again and frowned. "Ah, yes. You've also been scheduled to have a psyche evaluation tomorrow morning."

"I'm not crazy or depressed," Levi bit out.

"It's standard procedure."

A heavy sigh. "Fine."

"Good. Now Eren," Dr. Jaeger turned to his son with a cocked eyebrow. "Visiting hours end at seven. My shift ends at half six. I'll wait for you in the café downstairs, and we can go home together. Sound good?"

"Yes dad. Thank you," he willed as much emotion as possible into those two words. It was gratitude for all he had done to help Levi from the moment his phone rang. It was also a 'thank you' in advance to not hold this unfortunate incident against him or his relationship.

Dr. Jaeger inclined his head, "I'll see you downstairs at seven. Rest up, Levi. I'm off to do my rounds."

As soon as the man was out of the room, Levi turned to Eren and entwined their hands together. "Your dad's kind of a Rockstar right now," he smirked.

"Don't say that to his face," Eren groaned. "He'll get it printed on a t-shirt for Christmas."

"Now there's an idea."

"Levi!"

Levi laughed, the sound dying out far quicker than it should have. Eren pressed his lips together, trying to work out what his boyfriend was thinking. "Eren? Thanks for distracting me from this utter shitfest I've made for myself."

Eren pressed a chaste kiss to Levi's lips before resting his head on the older teen's chest. Levi automatically started threading his fingers through Eren's soft brown hair. "Hey, it's what boyfriends are for," he murmured. As Levi's fingers worked through his hair, Eren allowed himself to forget that his boyfriend was in a hospital on suicide-watch.

For the time being.

~0~

The weekend passed like Hell on earth for Levi.

He begrudgingly did his psyche evaluation and was not at all surprised when the verdict came back that he wasn't depressed. It was being classed as a manic episode brought on by a lethal cocktail of self-isolation, bullying and death threats. He wasn't prescribed any anti-psychosis medication and he felt as though Dr. Jaeger was breathing a little easier now that he knew his son wasn't technically dating a nutcase.

Eren came by to visit him on Saturday, with Armin and Mikasa in tow. They offered their support in any way they could, Mikasa personally stating she was going to kick some arse before graduation, and Armin offering his computer skills to get every name of students listed on those groups and report them. The gestures were sweet, but Levi wasn't convinced they'd stick their necks on the line for him. Still, the thought was appreciated.

They rotated -reluctantly as Mikasa and Armin decided to drag Eren out for a movie -and Isabel and Farlan came in. Isabel had decided it was a good idea to wear all her eye-liner and mascara even though, judging from her face, she had clearly been crying for hours. Probably since hearing the news from Farlan.

"Calm down, Issy, let the guy breathe!" Farlan chuckled, prying his girlfriend off of Levi. He snagged a few Kleenex and handed them to Isabel. "Come on, blow your nose and wipe your face. You look like a bad Halloween mask."

Levi snorted. "Dude, your flirting needs work."

"Hey, at least I flirt! What do you and Eren do? Serenade one another?" Farlan scoffed with a smirk.

Isabel let out a watery laugh, "No, he just steals him away in the middle of the night for some naughty sex stuff in his dad's car. Actually, that does sound romantic. Farlan, take notes!"

Farlan rolled his eyes with a chuckle. He sobered up a little as he settled down into the chair. "So, how was Eren yesterday when he came to see you? He looked about ready to commit murder when he got in the cab."

Levi frowned. "Why didn't you guys come with him?"

"I don't know," Farlan shrugged. "He looked pissed and upset I just -you guys needed to hash things out. Besides, Issy was already at home. I didn't want to tell her this shit over the phone."

Levi conceded it was a fair enough point.

"How've your parents been?" Isabel asked. The grey tissues were balled up in a wad in her lap. Her face looked ashy with dark smudges under her eyes, but the redness in her eyes was barely there now.

"No idea."

"What do you mean 'no idea'?"

"I mean, no one's been able to get through to them. Either they don't know, or they do know, and they don't care enough to race to my bedside. You tell me which is worse."

"Obviously the first one," Isabel tutted. "Although, both are pretty shitty options."

"I've actually been thinking … I think I want to be emancipated," Levi said, plucking bobbles from the bedcovers.

Farlan's eyebrows shot up into his hair. "For real?"

"What's emancipated?" Isabel frowned.

"It means I can basically divorce my parents. Move-out, get my own place, get any job I like and study for Uni and don't need to rely on them for anything."

"The only downside to that would be not getting to live in that amazing loft you've got," Isabel teased. "It's a pretty sweet set-up you made for yourself."

Levi shrugged, "It's a small price to pay at this rate."

"Does Eren know?" Farlan asked. "Where would you go? You'd have to do this through the family court, and that could take ages anyway. At the same time … where would you go?"

"I know your place is out of the question, so don't fret," Levi shrugged. "It's just something I've been thinking about. I need to talk to Dr. Jaeger about it and get a more adult opinion on the matter. If my parents even show up, then I can tell them what I want. Get the police involved, all that shit."

"You just attract drama, don't you?" Isabel grinned.

"Hardly," he tutted. "And no, Eren doesn't know. I'm only now even entertaining the idea as an option. The main issue is finding somewhere to live if the courts grant in my favour"

Farlan nodded, "Well, however we can, Issy and I will do what we can to help."

"Of course, we will!" she chimed in. "We're a team, us three."

Levi leaned back in the pillows and allowed himself a small smile as he watched his two best friends start to bicker. It was good-natured and light-hearted, exactly what he needed right now. He decided to close his eyes for a few moments, just enjoying the cadences of their conversation as he was lulled comfortably into sleep.

.

A hand on his shoulder jolted him awake. Dr. Jaeger was standing over him, asking if there was anything else, he needed before he carried on with his rounds. Levi nodded groggily, shuffling so that he was slightly more upright on the pillows. As he scrubbed his eyes, he squinted over at the chairs and found them to be empty. Isabel and Farlan had left? When did that happen? The sky outside the window had darkened and he felt guilty at having fallen asleep so long.

He accepted the drink Dr. Jaeger gave him, taking small sips at first so that he didn't choke. "Dr. Jaeger," he rasped. "I h-had something I wanted your opinion on. It's about my parents."

"I'm afraid we still haven't heard from them, Levi," the older man sighed softly. "We'll keep trying."

"It's not that," he ran a hand through his hair and grimaced. It felt stringy and greasy. He was already desperate for a shower. "I -I wondered how I would go about … getting emancipated from them."

Dr. Jaeger froze as he was replacing Levi's I.V. drip. "You … wish to be emancipated?"

"I think so."

The man sighed, adjusting his glassed on his hooked nose. "That requires a great deal of thought, Levi. There's so much to consider; where your income will stem from, where you'll live, the logistics if you wish to go on to University and how this could affect the funding for that."

"It was just a thought I had over the last few days," Levi took another sip of water. "However, like you said, I'll need to look into it some more."

"If you like, I can see what I can find out tonight. Give you something to read through tomorrow."

"If it's not too much trouble."

"Not at all. When making such drastic life decisions, it's always best to have as much information as physically possible."

Levi fiddled with the edge of his blanket. "Can you not tell Eren about this? I don't want to worry him about this. It's a big thing to think about and he's already worried because I'm in the hospital …" he trailed off.

"Patient-doctor confidentiality," Dr. Jaeger said. "I won't say anything to him. However, I would say to tell him yourself once you're out of the hospital and have taken a bit more time to consider everything I mentioned."

"Yeah, I will do."

"Get some rest, Levi. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah … Night Dr. Jaeger."

~0~

"Where is my son?!"

Levi jarred awake at the shrill voice. It took him a few moments to blink and gather his bearings and realise he was in the hospital. A heaviness weight down on his back, as though a hand were pressing his face into the flat pillow. It felt too early for this type of drama -whatever drama that was. He just wanted to sleep. Cracking an eye open he glanced around at the few other occupied beds. Everyone else was still deeply asleep, which meant Levi was the only one being disturbed.

Fan-fucking-tastic.

Tugging the blankets up a little higher, he burrowed down underneath his pillows and curled up into a ball, praying that his body was still sleepy enough that he could just fade back into unconsciousness. Unfortunately for him, the sound of a pair of determined shoes was smacking their way along the corridor from the nurse's station and directly toward his room. He willed them to move on to the next ward, but the door opened, and he felt himself holding his breath.

"Ma'am you can't be in here!" one of the nurses called out. "Visiting hours aren't until later this afternoon."

"I want to see my son!"

Levi squeezed his eyes tightly, blocking out that voice. He'd heard it for years, calling up to him that he'd be late for school. Fuck his mum and her inability to listen to anyone except herself. How had it taken them this long to even realise he hadn't been at home? Anger boiled up inside him. He tried to tamper it down, praying that his mum would just leave.

"Mrs. Ackerman? I'm Dr. Jaeger, I'm attending to your son. Why don't we go into the cafeteria and I can talk to you about your sons' condition?"

Levi tensed everything, praying that they would go away. Even another half an hour to compose himself and maybe get a bit more sleep would be good. Eventually, he heard their footsteps fade away down the hall. Each step they took, he felt a weight leave his mind. He was able to relax just enough to fade into a dozing state.

.

By some miracle, Levi's parents didn't come back to see him until established vising hours. It would appear that Dr. Jaeger was a literal godsend. They didn't look happy to being forced to obey things like rules, but Levi didn't care. He enjoyed watching them squirm as they shuffled stiffly into the communal ward. By that point of the day, he'd slept for a few more hours, gotten to wash himself down with a nurse present as he was still considered 'at risk', and had managed to choke down some lunch. It wasn't the best day of his life, but he certainly felt more rejuvenated to deal with his parents.

Levi was sat up against his pillows with a paperback book in his hands. Eren had given it to his dad to give to him, as Levi had text him and complained of how boring hospitals were. It was an interesting read, if not really the type of thing he was used to. He liked it, though. It felt like he was getting to understand more of Eren, by learning of the things he enjoyed. He closed the book and tucked it under his blanket as soon as his parents walked into the room, heading over to him.

"Took you long enough to come and visit me," he quipped sarcastically.

His mum frowned while his dad's body went rigid. "We were out for the night," his mum defended. "It turned into dinner with drinks and we couldn't very well drive back."

"Is that why you didn't respond to any of the voice messages that were left for you? Or why you haven't managed to get here until Sunday afternoon?"

"We stayed the night and didn't have our chargers -"

"Because no one else on this planet has an iPhone?"

"Levi, you're not being very fair to us," his dad said in a strained, barely controlled voice. "We're trying to explain the situation here, if you'd just give us a chance -"

"A chance?" he let out a cold, bitter laugh. "I'm all out of chances to give! How about this for explaining a situation, your son nearly fucking died, and you were too busy getting shit-faced to give a fuck until your hangovers had cleared up! How's that for a situation, dad?"

"Levi, you're getting yourself worked-up," his mum tried to placate, edging a little closer. "Do you want me to get the nurse?"

"Come any closer and I will throw the water jug at you," he sneered.

"You're getting worked up," his dad stated. "I'll get the nurse to get some meds to calm you down."

Another bitter laugh. "That's right! More drugs!" Levi shouted. "That's what's going to calm me down, Daddy, lots of drugs! Not my parents giving a shit, oh no! DRUGS!"

"Mr. Ackerman, I'm going to have to ask you to lower your voice," Dr. Jaeger popped his head around the doorframe. When he saw that Levi's parents were standing at the end of the bed, he stepped fully into the room, to his full height, and made his way over. "Good afternoon, Mr. and Mrs Ackerman I'm glad you could come back today. How are things?"

Clearing her throat, his mum nodded. "We only just got here, Doctor. Levi was getting a little worked up."

"I see," he cast a look at Levi. "And has your son managed to explain to you as to why he's here?"

"Well, we listened to the voice messages as soon as we were able to, so we know he tried to take his own life," she said flippantly.

"Yes, well, it wasn't a serious attempt. As for his psychological review, it appears that this was a manic episode brought on by intensive bullying both physical and emotional. We have contacted the police as well as the school and the people responsible are being dealt with, you'll be pleased to know."

"I see," she said.

"So what medication will he be needing to take once he's released?" his dad asked.

Dr. Jaeger frowned. "Medication? For what?"

"For his depression."

"Oh, I see," Dr. Jaeger smiled and shook his head. "What I'm explaining to you is that your son doesn't have depression. He will need to attend weekly counselling sessions for the remainder of the school year, and we can arrange for it to continue beyond that, if he wants to, but other than that he doesn't need anything to be signed-off on."

Mr. Ackerman looked as though he were trying to translate Chinese whilst blindfolded. "So, my son tries to kill himself, and you think talking about his problems is going to solve all of this? What if he tries it again?"

"Mr. Ackerman, your son called for emergency services as soon as he made a single cut. He isn't in any real danger, but we're going to monitor him to err on the side of caution."

Mr. Ackerman scoffed, folding his arms over his chest, "You quacks are as useless as each other."

Dr. Jaeger visibly bristled, but he swallowed his temper and replace his genial expression with a cool smile. "If the counsellor believes Levi will benefit from being on an anti-depressant than they shall prescribe it. Until then, it's in Levi's best interest not to be on medication. As long as he gets support both at home and at school, he should make a full recovery."

Levi scoffed loudly and rolled his eyes. "You may as well give me the drugs then. Home's a shitshow at best, and if those arseholes aren't gone from school, things won't be much better there either."

"Be quiet Levi."

"No, I will not be quiet. You think you have the right to talk to me like that after you basically left me to die!"

"The doctor just said it wasn't that serious."

"Um … not he didn't! He said I took affirmative action as soon as possible, thus saving my life. My God, you really don't listen, do you?"

"That's enough, Levi."

"You think you can just ignore this and hope it goes away, but it won't! I'm so sick of you trying to rewrite your shitty judgement and mistakes! It's no wonder I tried to kill myself after having you as parents!"

"I said that's enough, Levi!" Mr. Ackerman shouted, banging his fist on the flimsy rolling-table that Levi usually ate from. He pointed at his son, his veins throbbing in his neck and forehead. "Now you listen to me; as long as you live under my roof, you'll obey by my rules. And if I say you need medication to help you get back onto the straight and narrow, then you'll damn well take them!"

"Bit late for that since I'm gay, dad!"

"You're not 'gay', your attention seeking! All of this has been attention seeking! This time you took it too far!"

"Tough luck, because as soon as I'm able, I'm filing a lawsuit against you to be emancipated. I don't want to deal with either of you anymore!"

"Levi!" his mum gasped.

"See, attention seeking again! It's all you ever do!"

"Mr. Ackerman I'll have to ask you to calm down and lower your voice, you're disturbing the other patients," Dr. Jaeger said firmly. "There's a room down the corridor you can use to take a breather."

Mr. Ackerman glared down at his son before turning away from the bed. His mum stood there for a moment longer, her eyes looking a little shiny as she looked between her son in the hospital bed and the retreating back of her husband stalking out of the room. In the end, she let go of the bedrail and trailed after her husband, jogging a few steps to catch up with him just as the doors swung shut.

Levi collapsed back on the bed. He felt angry, desperate to cry, but at the same time he didn't want to give them the satisfaction. He could feel everyone else in the room straining to listen or catch a glimpse of him to see what the commotion was about. Everyone had heard, but people were people, and people were nosey as fuck! He sucked in a breath, his chest tight, anger thrumming violently through his body. He wanted to kick and punch things, to physically lash out and stop the heavy, painful throb from cracking his skull apart.

He could cry. No one would really see that.

He sucked in another breath, trying to calm himself.

A cool hand rested on his shoulder, making him lurch a little. He refocused his attention on Dr. Jaeger looming over him. In his other hand, he held out a plastic cup of water. Levi took it gratefully, taking a few sips and shivering at how it seemed to soothe the aches and pains just a little.

"Thanks," he muttered hoarsely.

"Is it always like that?" Dr. Jaeger asked after a few moments of silence.

"At home?" Levi bit the inside of his cheek and nodded. "Yeah, pretty much. Either that, or we just don't speak most nights. Sometimes it's a schedule thing other times … ignorance."

Dr. Jaeger sighed and rubbed at his temples as he picked up Levi's charts to review it. He scribbled his signature on a few things, gave a hum of approval and then replaced the chart in the metal tray at the end of the bed. "Levi …" he hesitated, a muscle ticking in his jaw.

"Yes, sir?"

"If -if you ever feel overwhelmed at home. Carla and I have no qualms about letting you spend a night or two. If it comes to that sort of … disagreement."

Levi scoffed. He appreciated Dr. Jaeger for not judging him the way others would and had done in the past. Having a Plan B seemed to loosen the knot of dread in his stomach. "Thank you, sir, but I wouldn't want to impose any more than I have. I can find somewhere to stay, because I'm not going back with them."

"Nonsense," Dr. Jaeger tutted. "You're welcome at ours. Just call ahead so we know."

"O-of course, sir."

"And I'm afraid you will have to be released into the care of your parents for the time being," he gave a sympathetic look. "Until this matter gets taken to court, it would be inadvisable for you to go off on your own."

"I'm not a risk to myself!"

"Levi, I believe you. However, a judge could easily rule I'm too close to this. Realistically, someone else should be attending to you, but I insisted. So, for now, just … stay at their house, okay?"

Levi clenched his jaw, anger flaring through him. He tried to dampen his temper down, he really tried. He gave Dr. Jaeger a stiff nod. "Fine," he bit out, averting his eyes.

"That being said, it's not against any rules whatsoever for you to come and see your boyfriend however much you want," Dr. Jaeger shrugged, straightening himself up. "In fact, it may well be encouraged for you to spend less of your down time … alone. Weekend sleepovers aren't out of the question either. Just so you know."

Levi turned to gape up at the man, but he had already turned on his heel and walked from the ward to attend to his other patients. Levi sat there, stunned, all the information running around in his head. He hoped his parents stayed away for a little while longer. He wanted to hold onto this hopefully giddiness just for a little bit longer.

~0~

May progressed almost too quickly.

Levi gradually returned to school, more often than not working in the library away from the tight bubble of his classrooms and so that he could have 'peace and quiet'. Not that he minded, he seemed to get a lot more work done this way. On his latest hospital visit they had removed the medical boot from his ankle but told him to wait a little while before returning to any type of kick-boxing or physical exercise. He was still a little tender to walk on it some days, but for the most part he coped. His arm was healing nicely as well. Thankfully, he hadn't required stitches. It still stung sometimes, but the discomfort was lessening each day.

He took the pain in stride; pain meant he was alive and could feel things.

Glancing up through his fringe, he looked over the table at Eren, as the tall teen chewed on a pen, his brow furrowed. They were doing chemistry revision and homework together. Eren had a free period before lunch and had wanted to spend some time with Levi. Despite sneaking glances at one another, and stealing a chaste kiss or two, they worked diligently, their hands linked under the table.

Eren still wore the ring Levi had given him at the hospital.

It made Levi's black little heart swell every time he saw the flash of metal when Eren combed his fingers through his hair. Or when he felt the warm ring against his fingers when they held hands.

"Hey," Eren whispered, shuffling to lean a little closer. Levi took a moment to inhale the soft aroma of Eren's cologne. "I was thinking … you wanna come over tonight?"

"You mean like every Friday night since I came out of hospital?" Levi smirked. "Can't. I have plans."

Eren laughed, kicking Levi lightly under the table. "Don't be a dick!" he grinned. "I want you to come over. I miss you."

Levi hid his smile as he pretended to focus on an equation. It had been a bit of a hard week for either of them as Levi's parents had decided to be home all last weekend and, even though they didn't spend time with him, they had forbidden him to leave the house. That was before he'd gotten his boot off. Now, he was more able to go off if he pleased.

Giving Eren's hand a squeeze he said, "I've missed you too. Won't your parents mind?"

"They said as long as we call ahead it should be fine. If, you know, you want to sleep over …"

"You're adorable when you blush," Levi smirked, leaning over to nip at Eren's ear between his teeth. "And when you ramble."

Eren blushed and ducked his head, shoving Levi for good measure. "You suck," he grunted.

"I'm happy to come over. Anything to get away from that house," he let out a sigh, raking a hand halfway through his hair and then leaning on his elbow. He suddenly felt empty, like he'd vacated his own body and was floating somewhere up near the ceiling and the lights filled with dead flies.

Eren watched as Levi picked up his pen and listlessly went through the next few questions of his homework with seamless ease. He tentatively reached out and slipped his fingers through the fuzzy hairs on the back of his neck. He kneaded the taut muscles there, watching as Levi let his eyes close as some of the tension was worked out of him. "Has it really been that bad there?" Eren asked, even though he knew it was a stupid question.

Levi nodded. "I either get ignored, ordered around or treated like dirt. None of which are helping to aid my recovery. You know I got told to take an uber to my hospital check-up on Monday? Despite your dad telling them at least one of them needed to be present."

"I'm sorry you have to deal with them." Eren had heard about the scene the Ackerman's had made at the hospital from both his dad and Levi. Suffice to say, his dislike for Levi's parents was growing deeper by the minute.

"It's not your fault, babe," Levi leaned back a little. He fiddled with the rings on his fingers. Eren noticed that Levi's nails were mostly bare; most of the nail polish had chipped away leaving only a few specks of black here and there. Reaching up, Levi held onto Eren's forearm before turning to look up into the teen's bright green eyes. "I'm sorry I'm such a downer. Seems a little harder to bounce back these days."

"Has the therapy been helping at all?"

"Yes. No. I don't know. On the one hand it feels great to vent about my parents and how shitty they are. On the other hand, I'm venting at a counsellor not my parents. I'm telling her off and it isn't even her fault, and none of it is getting back to my parents unless my appeal goes through."

Eren felt his shoulders sag. He was completely out of his depth. Here his boyfriend was, talking about divorcing his own parents and moving out into the big wide world, and here Eren was like a useless lump, just massaging his neck and offering weak platitudes. Knowing what Levi had been through -what he had done -and what he was still coming to terms with, Eren didn't feel as though he was offering much by a way of comfort or distraction, or even encouragement.

His discomfort must have been rolling off him in waves, because the next thing he knew, Levi had his chin in a tight grip and was turning him so that they were eye-to-eye. "Babe, please don't worry about any of this," Levi pleaded gently. "I know it's a lot to deal with and I don't expect you to know what to do to make it all better again. I just need to know that you're here for me, with me, when I need you the most."

"But I wasn't!" Tears sprang to his eyes. "And what if you feel that low again, and I'm not there?"

"I know, I know, shh, shh," Levi pulled Eren over so that the kid could burrow against his shoulder. Levi looped his good arm around Eren's shoulders and squeezed. "Don't go snotting on my shirt now."

"This is my shirt," Eren mumbled. "You stole it."

"Borrowed," Levi quipped. "I needed something of yours to get me through the last week of house arrest. Besides, it smells like you. I like it."

They lapsed into silence, Levi rubbing soothing circles onto Eren's back.

"Look, Eren, what I did was a stupid thing. I honestly don't even know why I really did it, except that everything just got too much for me. I felt backed up into a corner and I just … I can't explain it. It wasn't even the answer to what I thought the problem was. All I remember is wanting to feel calm and peaceful. Then that bastard little voice in the back of my head started saying, 'you could be this calm forever!' and for one dumb-arse moment, that sounded like heaven compared to the emptiness I'd been feeling." He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I just … the pain made reality hit. And I panicked. Dialled your dad by mistakes and, well … here we are."

"What if it gets that bad again?" Eren mumbled.

"Then things will be different."

"How can you sound so sure of yourself?"

"Because I have you," he said quietly, resting his head on top of Eren's. "And we have so many things to look forward to. Shit, kid, we've not even started yet. I'm not giving any of that up, not when it's right at our fingertips."

"I'm glad you accidentally called my dad."

"Yeah," Levi breathed, the weight sinking in his stomach. Things could have gone so differently if he'd tried to call his parents. "So am I."

A/N: Please feel free to leave a review!