A/N: If anyone can think of a more fitting title for this chapter, feel free to tell me about it... because I ran out of ideas. There are also quite a few more changes in this particular chapter than the other ones, simply because I disliked what I read from around the second section onwards, so hopefully those changes made the story somewhat better.
Beta'd by AutumnCadenza and Stately Demented.
secondary revisions have been left unbeta'd
~ Chapter Four [Visiting] ~
Daylight was useful for a city mainly powered by solar panels and, for the most part, its residents were more than happy to spend any remnants of their free time under its accommodating warmth. If one were to go out on any given day during lunch hour, there would generally be a large amount of people situated in the dappled shade underneath the trees spread generously over the streets and an even larger amount of people simply milling around on the footpath as they chatted to strangers and friends alike. Cheery smiles would be exchanged, regardless of whether one knew the other or not, and the air was generally pleasant, as perpetually happy people often made it to be.
Sometimes, though, Eren wished that a storm would appear, just so people wouldn't see him when he angrily trudged back home from, say, a stupid counselling session.
He hadn't really expected much from the imbecilic counsellor, other than the usual condolences and a smattering of perfunctory queries, yet he had still been disappointed by the total lack of sympathy that the bright-looking man had bestowed upon him. It was quite true that the guy was a professional and, as such, should probably possess some sort of neutrality about his form… but the shallow cheeriness that he displayed was almost enough to make Eren barf. That, along with the clinical disdain in which he'd constantly looked down his nose at him, had been too unsettling for him to last more than halfway through his hour-long session.
Eren was used to the oddly empty feeling that tended to settle in the pit of his stomach every time he finished a session with the useless individuals that claimed to have the power to magic away his 'grief sickness', but the white-hot rage that blinded his vision was something else entirely. He'd stood up and barrelled out the door, amidst the half-troubled (and curiously half-resigned) protests that had flown out of the counsellor's mouth as soon as he'd made his hasty departure, and had no idea why he'd done it. Then, there had been a moment of inactivity that had wormed its way into his unusual bout of anger once he'd flown out the college gates and nearly fell into a pothole half-concealed by the imposing brick wall…
…but it had passed when the rage had flared up again inside of him.
Although societal standards continued to plague his fuzzy mind and he'd occasionally direct a tight-lipped smile that erred on the side of a grimace to any unfortunate pedestrian that caught his eye, the majority of his thoughts were occupied with the unsettling feeling unfurling inside of him. While he dished out half-arsed smiles to the genially confused, it was clear that he couldn't release his emotions upon the unsuspecting populace around him. While the people around him continued with their daily lives, his mind continued to spin as furiously as it had since he'd left the counsellor bare minutes ago and his emotions were, in very mild terms, a chaotic mess that he could make neither head nor tail of. For the first time in his life, Eren was mildly thankful for his passable (though somewhat poor) ability to put his body onto autopilot.
Mild discontent was something that he'd often find rankling at his soul at odd times in his life (such as when there wasn't enough cheese on his pizza or when the sports channel didn't have anything other than golf), but this level of ire was something that he couldn't consider as something normal. Heck, he didn't even know that he'd possessed this much fury inside of him until the insensitive counsellor had pleasantly threatened him with the notion of anti-depressants after he'd refused to answer any more of the man's overly probing questions. Apparently, not talking about his problems equated to being saddled with a disease in the counsellor's eyes, and that thought didn't quite sit well with him. As if any emotion that wasn't happiness meant that he had some sort of disease.
Eren grit his teeth at his thoughts –not to the point that someone would see, but enough to release even a sliver of the tension boiling up inside of him– and almost walked head-first into the lamp-post in front of his apartment complex. The rather startling urge to shake his fist at the inanimate object and hurl a slew of profanities at anything and everything was getting stronger by the minute and, in a bid to escape making a fool of himself, he rushed into the building and flew up the stairs.
He would've preferred to take the elevator, but… well…
The annoyed college student felt an embarrassed-flush creep up his neck as he recalled punching in the elevator button the day before but, with a few jerks of his head and an angered growl, the memory floated peacefully to the back of his mind. As he mentally prepared the rest of his day in his mind and began to look forward to doing a few exercises with his punching-bag, Eren threw open the door that led to his floor…
…Only to find a column of rather thick black smoke billowing out from Levi's front door.
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"I can't believe you blew up your stove…" Eren sniggered incredulously, even as he sipped at his caffeinated tea and quietly revelled in the welcome boost of energy that it gave him.
The man seated opposite him at the dining table threw him a rather filthy glare, but Eren was too busy smiling to himself to notice or care for his neighbour's palpable annoyance.
To say that he had been left speechless at the events following Levi's accident in his apartment was an understatement; if anything, Eren had been completely flabbergasted when he'd seen the guy throw himself out the apartment amidst the hellish smoke that issued from the maw of his front door. If he had been the poetic sort then he might've described his neighbour's emergence from the smoke as something akin to a firefighter emerging from a blazing inferno, thanks to the soot-stains caking his cheeks and the mild burns running down his forearms, but all he settled for was a whispered expletive.
It had seemed like that whisper wasn't enough to escape Levi's hearing though, if the intense stare that he'd received from the man mere second later was any indication of that fact. However, before he could do anything more than take a threatening step in Eren's direction, he had mercifully keeled over and slumped face-first to the floor.
When there was a person that was, for all intents and purposes, unconscious in front of a ruin that could potentially go up in flames, what was one supposed to do, other than call emergency services to deal with the problem and lug his unfortunate neighbour back to his apartment? Eren was ever so slightly inane in his actions at times and was one of the contented populace that tended to steer clear of any involvement with outside help, but even he knew when to call someone else to do what he could not… though, of course, it didn't mean that he wanted to admit that fact aloud.
Calling the fire services hadn't been too much of a hassle, but dragging the semi-conscious body of his neighbour had proved to be a slight challenge. How someone that small was heavier than Armin and even Mikasa was beyond his comprehension –though, to be fair, it had been a while since he'd snuck behind his best friend or foster sister and attempted to carry them as a joke– but, luckily for him, he'd only had to drag the man to his front door, as Levi had obligingly stood up and carried himself over the threshold. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he'd tried to make his neighbour rest when he was sure Levi wasn't going to collapse on him at any given moment in time, Eren had only been tossed the occasional sigh and mild expletive…
…Until now, that was, thanks to Levi's rather reluctant explanation of the mess next door.
"I knew I should've just gotten takeout instead…" Levi angrily huffed, even as Eren continued to snort rather loudly into his tea. "But no, some shitty friend wanted to visit and I had wanted to bake for them, because I don't go around ordering pizzas day in and day out."
Levi continued to rant under his breath as Eren wondered why his neighbour seemed to know about his frequent purchases from the local pizzeria. "Now my damn apartment's gone and blown up on me because the gas hadn't been working and the idiot's going to laugh at me for my shit luck… Tch, of all days, it just had to be today…"
"Well, um, you could just bring your friend to my place for dinner!"
Eren hadn't meant to blurt out his half-baked thought –heck, he hadn't even realized that he would be this accommodating to a man that, frankly, riled him up almost as much as Jean would– and, judging from his neighbour's widened eyes, Levi didn't particularly expect his outburst either. However, before he could chicken out and do something to either deflect or apologize for his suggestion, the steely grey eyes staring at his narrowed thoughtfully for a few long moments.
"I suppose I don't really have a choice right now, since the restaurants around here probably source their produce from charnel houses or the sewers, but…" Eren quietly gulped as Levi's cold gaze bore into his eyes, before he heard his next words.
"I think we're going to have to fix a few things first."
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Eren's wardrobe was a little atypical for a young adult his age, if one wanted to put things mildly.
There was the odd splash of colour amidst the grey and black of his casual clothes and a rather staggering amount of hoodies and loose jeans. A sole outfit for formal occasions gathered dust in an abandoned corner, along with the usual bright shirts that most of the younger members of the populace wore. Half the clothes had probably not seen a washing machine in a week, while the other half had not seen one in their entire lifetime.
…So all in all, the disgust painted rather obviously across Levi's face was probably the right reaction to the monstrosity before him.
Most people who'd been privileged (or simply unfortunate) enough to witness the interior of Eren's wardrobe would often turn a little pale, close the doors and hurry out of the apartment… unless they were Mikasa, in which case they'd shake their head and then proceed to sternly lecture him for the next half-hour. However, Levi did none of those things; instead, the air around him turned so frigid that Eren was tempted to say that his neighbour had brought about the next Ice Age.
"Eren," Levi frostily uttered, and if Eren had been more cowardly then he might've wet his pants in sheer terror. "I had expected to see, at the very least, some colour in your wardrobe that didn't yell of your inability to function as a normal human being. Perhaps my hopes had been a little too high when I was thinking that you washed your clothes on a half-weekly basis, but this…"
Eren's gaze guiltily slid to the mess that was his clothing for an instant but, when he'd returned his attention to his furious neighbour, he nearly screamed when a hand shot out and bunched his shirt up in a powerful grip.
"Do you really expect me to pull out some sort of respectable attire for the two of us from this dump, brat?! You might as well try to get a diamond out from your arse than find something to wear here!"
"Oh, c'mon, it can't be that much of a big deal!" Eren scoffed loudly in an attempt to cover up his previous fright, while his surprise manifested as a half-amused facial expression. "Besides, they're all my clothes to begin with."
The disbelieving smirk that had all but plastered itself onto his face abruptly careened off his face and died when Levi let an animalistic snarl rip from the back of his throat.
"If you haven't noticed, brat, I don't have many friends and I have less pretty clothing than you have clean ones," Levi growled wrathfully. "Unfortunately, this particular friend is one of the only people I have known since my childhood and they're a pain the arse when they've latched onto something that amuses them, which just so happens to include my 'old fart's outfits'. If they weren't one of the only people that could tolerate my behaviour, then I would've stopped being friends with them a long time ago, but…"
For a moment, a bottomless darkness had blossomed to life inside Levi's pupils, but it disappeared in an instant when he bit off his words and wrenched his clenched hand out of Eren's shirt. Eren's eyes merely watched Levi in a silent daze as the man muttered something inaudible, hissed a few deep breaths into his lungs and stopped his increasingly wild ranting, before his neighbour sighed wearily.
"Why the hell am I even bothering with you…" Levi huffed quietly, almost as if he'd been talking to himself, but anything that Eren had wanted to say in response was cut off by the clipped statement that followed his words. "And no, Eren, we're not going to be throwing a pity party for ourselves anytime soon, so wipe that look off your face and go away. I can't rifle through your wardrobe and look for suitable clothing in this mess if you insist on hovering around me. Go scrub the kitchen or take a crap, why don't you."
And, with that rather charming order, Eren found himself forcefully expelled from his bedroom before a door was rather heavily slammed in his face.
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"Scrub the kitchen, he says," Eren grumbled under his breath, as he scrubbed furiously at the rather large stain caking his dishwasher. "Become a slave in my own apartment is more like it…"
When he had given up on scratching pathetically at the door and flinging every profanity he knew at the stubborn wooden panels before him, Eren had been tempted to break it down, splinters be damned, and see exactly what his evil overlord of a neighbour was doing. Of course, the thought of having to pay the hefty sum that would've surely come with fixing the door weighed even heavier on his mind than the potential damage Levi was doing to his clothing and so, with a sigh, he had crawled away to clean his kitchen. He wasn't doing it for his neighbour at all, no matter what his mind said; he was merely wearing his sponge away on the smooth metal surface of his dishwasher because he was bored, nothing more.
To be quite honest, he had been ever so slightly appalled to find that there had been a few rather unidentifiable stains streaking across the rangehood and various other components of his kitchen. That, along with a few frolicking dust-bunnies and a fluffy clump that had disintegrated into a mass of spiders as soon as he'd touched it, continued to horrify him, even as he moved onto another stain.
It was true that he'd neglected to clean his apartment ever since Armin had accused him of living in a pigsty and, being the stubborn idiot that he was, he'd vowed that he wouldn't clean so that he could show his friend what a true pigsty looked like, but he hadn't expected to see this much mess. If it wasn't for his insufferable pride or his annoyance towards his neighbour, who was still holed up in his room, Eren might've gone to thank him for practically forcing him to clean his apartment.
Of course, that didn't mean he was going to show his gratitude to the grumpy man anytime soon.
It was almost as if his thoughts had summoned Levi because, when he next looked up from the dishwasher, Eren found a pair of cool grey eyes surveying him from his bedroom's doorway. The suddenness of seeing Levi's figure by the door almost forced an unmanly yelp to force its way out of his throat.
However, when he finally bothered to focus on his unamused neighbour, his eyes almost fell out of his head.
Eren had vaguely pondered over the notion that Levi wouldn't have looked like a man-child with a wardrobe that could rival his in uniformity if he stopped wearing baggy track-pants and shapeless hoodies every time he saw him, but his neighbour's current appearance had just confirmed what his mind had suspected all along. The black skinny-jeans that hugged his legs almost made him reconsider his preferences for females… and the form-fitting white shirt that clung to his chest and accentuated the raw strength in his arms caused Eren's eyes to glaze over ever so slightly. A rational part of his mind began to wonder how someone shorter than him had managed to make his clothing fit so well, but it'd quickly been squashed back down when his eyes roved over his toned form.
If he had any less shame than he already had and coupled it with his scattered state of mind, Eren might've allowed the drool pooling in his mouth to leak over and drip salaciously down his chin in a rather obvious display of his challenged sexuality. As it was, though, he couldn't help glancing rather dreamily at Levi's figure.
"Well," a dry voice cut through his reverie and, after he'd blinked rapidly for a few moments, Eren was greeted with the sight of Levi's patented smirk, "I was going to ask you for your opinion on my clothing choice, but I think the nosebleed's telling me all I need to know."
Levi snorted amusedly when Eren hurriedly brought his sleeve to his nose and cast a glare at him when he realized he'd been tricked, before he cast an appreciative eye over the kitchen and nodded to himself. "So you can actually clean, what a surprise.
"But really," he continued on, when Eren's eyes narrowed dangerously and his mouth flung open in preparation to bark some sort of protest against his harshly veiled compliment, "If you're quite done with your failed imitation of an affronted meerkat then I'd advise you to get out of the kitchen now. As much as I have faith in your ability to cook… I don't, so get out and go take a dump or something."
Although Eren was sorely tempted to argue or simply kick Levi out his apartment, he didn't have the heart to refuse anyone anything, no matter how annoyed he felt… unless, of course, they were a certain Mikasa-loving jerk by the name of Jean. After he'd thrown a rather pointed glare in Levi's direction and huffed unamusedly to himself, he discarded the sponge in the sink and stalked past the smirking man, before he picked up a set of (miraculously) clean clothes on his bed and headed off for a shower. As fun as it'd be to take a long and satisfying crap, there were better things for him to do than sit on his arse for the next half-hour and contemplate the cracks on his bathroom tiles.
Eren had just finished his shower and meandered out from his bathroom when the raucous sound of repeated knocking assaulted his ears. He'd told Levi to send the mystery visitor over to his place when he was done and he'd assumed that said mystery visitor would knock on his door sooner or later, but the sun had barely set in the sky. He had imagined that Levi's guest would come at least half an hour later, when he was done doing pointless things like watch the news and see what his neighbour was cooking up, but—
"Eren, get the damn door before Zoë kicks it down." Levi's almost-bored voice jolted Eren out of his train of thought and, with a sheepish grin, he moved to do just that. However, when he'd set his hand on the knob and opened it, he was amazed to see who was in front of him.
"P-Professor Hange?!" Eren stuttered, bare moments before the overly excited person crushed him to their chest and proceeded to suffocate them. "What…"
"Well, well, Eren, I didn't expect you to be Levi's neighbour!" Hange gushed excitedly, before they let go of his gasping form and skipped indoors. "This is going to be such a fun dinner!"
As Eren closed the door behind his back and wearily followed his eccentric professor inside…
…he couldn't disagree with their supposed idea of 'a fun dinner' more.
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As much as Eren hated to admit that he was wrong, he couldn't deny that the dinner had actually been somewhat fun.
Although Levi had been responsible for blowing up his own kitchen –which, according to the unimpressed landlord, would cost a hefty sum of money and around two days' time to fix– and Eren had been sure that his neighbour was probably a bad cook, the lasagna that he'd just eaten had brought a smile to his face. Instead of casting his usual glare in his direction every five seconds or snarling at him, as he was wont to do most of the time, his neighbour had been forced to engage in pleasant, if not slightly strained, conversation with Professor Hange. Even though he was too busy eating to care for making small talk, his dinner companions had filled the silence with all forms of chatter that both entertained Eren and allowed him to forget that he was dining with his lecturer.
When dinner had been over, they'd gone to do more catching up (and smoking, if Professor Hange's request for a lighter was anything to go by) out on the balcony while Eren had stayed inside to clean up. The two adults had offered to clean but, after he'd seen the pleading glint in Levi's eyes when he'd tried to squirrel his way out of having a civil conversation with his friend, he had been more than happy to leave his neighbour to his fate while he'd loaded the dishes into the dishwasher.
Besides, it was his attempt at getting Levi back for trying to get stupid stories out of Eren about his lectures with his professor anyway.
He'd just finished unloading the last of his plates and was on his way to his bedroom to finish off one of his many research papers when Professor Hange's raucous laughter rang from the communal balcony. Although their amusement probably wasn't any of his business and he'd almost certainly be half-beaten to death if Levi found him eavesdropping, Eren couldn't help himself from squatting underneath the window leading to the back and craning his ear upwards to listen to what they were saying. Perhaps, if he was lucky, he might even be able to learn something about the two of them.
"So he's next, is he?" Professor Hange chirped curiously, and Eren quirked an eyebrow at the odd phrasing of his lecturer's words. "Ah, it's such a pity… I quite like him, you know, so I hope you can reconsider your choices."
"There's nothing I can do about it," Levi growled back, though his words were muffled in a way that suggested he was forcing his words out through clenched teeth, "I just do what I have to do… and besides, it's all just business anyway. After all, since when did I ever have a choice in these matters?"
"That's what you said last time, Levi…" His lecturer then muttered something that Eren couldn't quite pick up on, but he thought nothing of it when they continued speaking in an unusually serious tone. "Just make sure you don't get attached again, okay? I'd hate to see a repeat of last time's—"
"Tch, I get it already, you shitty four-eyes!" Levi snapped abruptly, and Eren was so badly startled by the unexpectedness of his neighbour's outburst that he hit his head on the windowsill with a loud crash. When a sudden silence greeted his ears, he hastily slid for his room and just managed to escape inside before the screen door opened and two heads popped inside.
Although Eren was safe from the suspicious eyes of his guests and was sorely tempted to ruminate over what he'd heard, the sudden vibration of his phone distracted him from his scattered thoughts. By the time he was done with talking to his worrywart of a sister, who'd heard about the fire on his level and had immediately assumed that it was his fault, his visitors were long gone…
…And so were the memories of their cryptic talk.