"So … Hange, was it? … is your friend?"

"My best friend. She babysits Kasa a lot. She's really saved my ass in more ways than one."

Eren hesitated then took a big breath, hating himself for what he was about to ask. "Are you sleeping with her?"

"What?! No! She's my friend. How is it any of your business, anyway?"

Eren ran his thumbnail along the groove where the top of the table met the chrome sides and stayed quiet for a minute.

"Sorry. You're right. You're right. How did you meet … " Eren fiddled with his spoon, "Hange?"

"We met when we were at Sina together."

Eren goggled. "Sina University?!"

Levi looked at him. "Yeah."

"What …? Why …?"

"Why did I not graduate from Sina? Why am I going to a shitty community college?"

Anger tinged his voice but Eren sensed that it was not at him. "Well, yeah."

"One word: money."

Eren stared down into his coffee. He had never wanted for anything. He had his tuition and his rent/utilities paid for by his dad and was given a generous allowance for food, household items, etc. If he'd been able to make it into Sina, Grisha would have had no trouble affording it. He'd never really looked at it from the outside before and the whole thing made him feel miserably guilty.

Levi could tell that what he'd said had affected Eren adversely. He cringed inwardly and was suddenly embarrassed. Embarrassed at his worn clothes, his tiny home. He was such a loser. How could Eren even think that he liked Levi? He was probably regretting everything right about now.

Levi crossed to the window. "It looks like the sleet has eased up. You should be able to make it to your car without too much of a soaking."

Eren looked up, alarmed. He didn't want to leave.

"I … yeah." he could think of no valid excuse to stay and that made him sad. He was shocked at the depths of the feeling. He stood.

"Guess I'd better get going, then."

Levi, who also didn't want Eren to leave, nodded slowly.

"Thanks for the coffee. You have a lovely home."

Levi swelled a bit at the compliment to his space. He'd tried very hard with his severely limited budget to make his home nice. "Thanks for the ride."

"Any time. And I, uh, mean that. If you ever need a ride, just text me."

"That's nice of you."

Eren crossed reluctantly to the door and Levi followed him and opened it for him.

"Well, bye. Bye, Mikasa."

The little girl waved vaguely, entirely caught up in her movie.

"Bye, Eren," Levi said.

The door clicked softly shut behind Eren and he realized that he felt like shit. He cursed himself. He should have tried harder to stay, to talk. Disgruntled and disappointed he walked to his car.

Eren let himself into the apartment and immediately cringed. Jean was home.

Jean had been a problem. A big problem.

Eren felt nothing more than friendship for Jean but Jean stubbornly refused to believe it. He decided that since they'd fucked, they had a romantic relationship. Eren had assiduously avoided having anything sexual with Jean again but that didn't deter Jean. He wanted to play house.

"Darling!"

And here it comes.

"Don't call me that, Jean."

"Why not, Bruh?" Jean rubbed his hand up and down Eren's arm and Eren had to stop himself from shuddering. "Just stop. We are never going to be more than friends!" He pushed Jean's hands away and walked toward the kitchen. Jean crossed his arms over his chest.

"I suppose you went to Levi's."

Eren actually flinched at that. That hadn't been his intention but it had ended up that way. For a brief moment, he recalled Levi's chilly, threadbare, but homey house, drinking cheap instant coffee and admiring Mikasa's school work. It had made him happy.

Happy. He had felt happy. He hadn't been really happy since he started school at South Wall.

"Well? Did you?"

Eren snapped out of his reverie. Jean was waiting for an answer.

"Yeah, dickhead, I saw him, went to his house. We fucked, too. Like animals. Right there on the kitchen table!"

Jean's face shut down. He knew Eren was just yanking his chain but he was not pleased. He retreated to his room and Eren heaved a huge sigh. Jesus.

Levi was restocking his tissue paper behind the counter at the flower shop when the customer came in. The guy was wearing a nondescript grey hoodie with the hood up. Levi eyed him suspiciously. He hated when people came into establishments with their hoods up. It made them look dubious.

The man seemed to be looking around at the flowers and clearly wasn't stealing. Levi relaxed slightly. The man selected a pot of purple hyacinths and approached the counter. Levi frowned. Hyacinths represented sorrow and were often used in funeral arrangements. Was the man aware of this?

"Anything else for you?"

The man shook his head.

"That'll be 12 dollars even."

The man dug in his front hoodie pocket and withdrew something silver.

Levi thought it was a cell phone.

It wasn't.

Levi went very, very still.

He didn't move from where he was standing at the counter but slowly raised both hands up above his waist so that the man could see them. The man sent a nervous glance back at the door, then turned back toward Levi, gesturing with the ugly little gun.

"Gimme all the cash in the register."

Levi inched to the right, toward the register. The man leveled the gun at Levi's head.

"No funny stuff!"

"No funny stuff," Levi echoed. He scooted over until he was completely behind the register. With his left hand—the one the man could see—he opened the till. With his right, he felt under the counter for his cellphone. He slowly got a stack of ones out of the drawer.

"Not those small bills, you fucker! Gimme the twenties!"

Levi replaced the ones with his left hand and dialed 911 entirely by touch with the other. He withdrew his right hand and used both to get the twenties out. He handed the man the small stack.

He spread the bills and cursed. "40 fucking dollars?! What the fuck, asshole?!"

Levi shrugged. "It's a flower shop."

"Goddamn it! Get a bag! Put everything in the drawer in it!" He jerked the gun up and down for emphasis. Levi got a bag and began putting the money in it at a glacial pace. The gun twitched again. "Hurry the fuck up, fuckface! I'll shoot you in the fucking head!"

Faintly, in the distance, a police siren wailed.

Down the street, Eren was walking toward the flower shop in a feigned attempt at casualness. He didn't have any reason to go into the shop—he had no significant other and he couldn't use his mom as an excuse. If he tried to go in and buy flowers it would just be awkward and creepy. That didn't keep him from walking by the shop though.

Eren was right outside, craning his neck to see if he could spot Levi through the front windows when there was a strange, disturbing noise, a muffled pop, pop, pop like little kids in the backyard with fireworks on the Fourth of July. Barely a second later the door to the flower shop was wrenched open and a man appeared in the doorway. Eren stumbled to a halt. The man had on a grey hoodie with the hood up and looked, wild-eyed, past Eren toward the sounds of sirens.

Wait. Was that a ...gun?

Before Eren's brain could fully process that the man was holding a weapon, the guy cut and ran, fast, in the opposite direction.

A gun …

"LEVI!" Eren sprinted toward the door to the flower shop which had closed back and banged it open again. Levi was nowhere to be seen. "Levi! Where the fuck are you? Levi!"

"Quit shouting, dickhead. I'm right here."

The voice came, faintly, from behind the counter. Eren bolted through the swinging gate to get behind the counter. Levi was there, sitting on the floor, gripping his left side and blood was spreading alarmingly under his hand, soaking across his shirt.

Eren plunged both hands into his own hair. "What the fuck? Are you shot? Are you OK? No, fuck that, you're not OK! What do I do?"

"Calm your tits for one. I'm not dying. Go into the back and bring me a clean rag."

By the time the police and the EMTs arrived, Levi was standing, leaned against the counter, a carefully folded cloth pressed against his side and Eren hovering anxiously nearby.

Two of the bullets had gone wide, although one had clipped Levi's left ear. The third one had, luckily, passed between Levi's side and his left arm, digging a deep gash across his ribs. The EMTs insisted that he ride on the gurney in the ambulance to the hospital which Levi protested vociferously.

The EMTs loaded up the ambulance and Eren came to stand next to the gurney. "Do you want me to come with?"

"Won't do any good. They won't let you go back with me or tell you anything. HIPAA."

Eren nodded.

Levi went quiet and still. The shock seemed to have caught up with him. He looked a little glassy eyed. Eren realised, with a start, that Levi was trembling. He'd never seen him display weakness.

Distractedly Eren noticed that Levi wore a silver bracelet, on his right wrist, with the name 'Kuchel' on it. It was smeared with blood.

Eren took that hand and Levi didn't protest. He just stared off into the distance.

"Sorrow …"

"Sorrow?"

"Hyacinths," Levi said faintly. "He was carrying purple hyacinths. They symbolize sorrow."

Eren was speechless. He didn't know what to say. His gaze went back to Levi's mother's name, streaked with blood, and he shivered suddenly.

"I could have died," Levi whispered. "For under 100 dollars."

"But you didn't," Eren pointed out tremblingly.

Levi turned his head, then, and gave Eren a hollow look that made his blood run cold.

"'Kasa would have been so, so sad."