Life went on for both of us. There was no goodbye, only a parting half smile, and we were on our separate paths again. I didn't think much of it, until he started haunting my dreams.

Well, not dreams. Nightmares. They started with huge, hideous monsters that violently destroyed humanity, killing everyone that I knew long enough to care about. I woke up in a cold sweat each night, wondering why this was happening to me.

And then he invaded my thoughts. He wasn't dull in my dreams. He was angry, about everything. About living in this world, about all of the people that he had lost. But he felt more than any of us. There was a spark in him that I couldn't ignore.

The nightmares became love stories. Subtle glances and touches and silly arguments turned into soft smiles, heated kissing, even cuddling.

I knew him. I knew him from another time, place, life. I knew the gold flecks in his eyes, the freckles on his shoulders, the way that his smiles flowed and changed like flickering light. Sweet, teasing, seductive. I knew how to make him blush, how to make him smile, how to rile him up.

I knew how he died, the lively flush fading from his cheeks, the vibrancy falling from his eyes. I knew how he sounded as he cried, whispering, "I love you," before he took his last breath. I knew the feeling of being unable to stop crying, to be angry and hurt and not be able to accept the truth. I knew the taste of his blood on my lips. How Hanji pulled me away from his body as I screamed.

That's when the emptiness I usually felt began to ache and long for someone that I spent a few hours with in a cemetery on New Year's Eve.

I didn't act on it, of course, no matter how much I wanted to. My life was stable. Predictable, sometimes boring, slightly lonely, but I knew what to expect when I awoke each day. I liked that. And yet, every time I was out in public, I searched for a certain pair of striking turquoise eyes.

Life doesn't work like that, though. It doesn't satisfy your desires until you've given up all hope, when you've convinced yourself that you don't need it anymore. When you least expect it, because life is mischievous and spontaneous and even cruel.

"Jesus Christ, it's cold," I complained into my phone, trying to write my scarf around my neck tighter. "Why couldn't you have gotten the coffee?"

"I could've sworn you wanted to go outside. After all, you've been staring out your window all day." I could practically see her smirk. "What are you thinking about? Or should I say who?"

I scowled, cursing her ability to read me, and grumbled, "None of your business."

I could hear her laughing, and prepared myself for more teasing. Everything happened quickly after that. One minute I was grimacing at the sidewalk, and the next it started to snow. And when I looked up, there was a very, very familiar boy in front of me.

His eyes hit me like a pile of bricks. These were the eyes that I remembered. They were sparkling and smiling brightly, and it was aimed at me. My breath caught in my throat as I hung up the phone immediately, trying to suppress the overwhelming happiness rising in me.

"Hi," he said. It was simple, and I shouldn't have cared as much as I did, but when he positively beamed at me, it took all I could not to sprint into his arms. "Do you remember me?"

"Of course." My small smile was threatening to spread into a grin nearly as wide as his. "Do you want to walk with me?"

The words slipped out before I could take them back. His eyes brightened even more, but that faded when he checked his watch. "I've got to get back to work. Will you be here again tomorrow? I work on Monday, Thursday, and Friday."

"Yeah." I bit my lip, trying to contain my smile. "What's your name?"

"Eren," he says, smiling. Eren. A million images hit me at once, me saying his name thousands of times.

"Eren." Simply saying it makes me warmer than I've been in a long time. He flushes slightly when I say his name, and oh God I want to make him blush over and over again, it's so lovely. With a tiny smile, I say, "I'm Levi. I'll see you tomorrow."

I turn away before I can do something stupid, like grab him and kiss him. Hanji's just going to have to deal with another brand of coffee.