Okay, final chapter to post and now FF is on the same page as AO3, meaning that you're subject to waiting for chapter six. It's... in the works right now. I'm having major writer's block with it, plus my mind is bouncing with other stories that I have partially done. I'm trying to get it done, I just... need a swift kick in the ass, I guess. That's probably what I'll do when I finish this, I mean because hell. Boring, gloomy, rainy April day with no one in the house except a Shih Tzu that's asleep on a pillow adjacent to me. Lazy dog...
So, I should also tell you guys my little dilemma. I rarely have access to the internet, and when I do, either nobody is home or nobody is awake. I have my own laptop, though due to excessive downloads, the poor thing is bogged down like crazy, so I slip onto my sister's laptop and use it. When I write my stories, I go old school first- yes, classic pencil and paper. And then when I'm finished there, I type it on a Word document and upload it. Doing all of that, it takes me roughly a couple weeks to finish a chapter, a month if I'm kept busy and don't have free time or energy.
I'll shut up now so I can go see what I can do with chapter six. That, and I'm quickly losing track of what I need to say, so...
Shutting up.
I promise.
After his mandatory forty-eight hours, Levi was promptly released from the hospital. He was sent on his way with an arm in a sling, a refillable prescription for antidepressants and a doctor's note in hand and four new numbers in his cell phone's contact list.
Though, really, he didn't discover that he had Hanji's house, cell, and work numbers until he received a text message from a 'Terra Brown' on his way to work three days after his release stating that he was 'terrible at keeping in touch'.
Levi's eye twitched in slight irritation, damning the woman and cursing her to have a boring, uneventful day filled with flu patients. As he did that, he changed the name the numbers were saved under to 'Hanji' and replied back to her, telling her to leave his shit alone before snapping his phone shut and shoving it into his back pocket.
As he walked, he traced every crack in the concrete he passed with his eyes, nearly walking by the diner where he worked. Levi jerked himself to a halt, backed up a couple of steps, and pushed the glass door to Granny Smith's open.
The usual morning scents of coffee and bacon wafted in the air as Levi stepped inside. His stomach immediately gurgled as a reminder that he neglected to make himself breakfast.
From the cash register at the service counter, a freckled brunette man stood up from his slumped over position.
"Welcome to Granny Smith's-" He stopped mid-sentence, actually looking at who he was speaking to. "Levi! Where have you been for the past week? We were all starting to think that something happened to you."
Levi couldn't help but to wince at the small mention to the possibility of him dying. "I was in the hospital. I was involved in an… accident." He quickly changed the subject. "Are you alright, Marco? You look dead on your feet."
Marco waved his hand, dismissing Levi's comment. "I stayed up a little too late last night studying for a test that I have later today. I'm fine, though."
"What about you, Levi?" He asked, showing genuine concern. "Are you alright? Your accident didn't do any permanent damage, right?"
The questions were simple and innocent, but held deeper meanings to Levi. "No, I'm fine." He rummaged through his pockets, swearing internally as his fingers brushed a small plastic bottle in his jacket pocket and reminded himself to ask for toast so he could take his pills.
He finally found what he was looking for in his right front pocket, pulling a small piece of paper out to wave at Marco. "Is Erwin around? I need to give him my doctor's note before I clock in."
"Erwin's in his office. " Marco replied simply.
Levi nodded. "Oh, can you get a piece of toast and a cup of coffee for me?" He pulled some money from his wallet and put it on the counter, double checking to see if he had enough. "Put whatever's left over in the tip jar."
He passed the service counter as Marco put the money into its proper places, walking through the kitchen to a closed door marked 'Office'
He knocked on the door, paused for a second to hear Erwin say 'come in' and opened the door.
Levi never really liked going into Erwin's office, not because he didn't like Erwin himself, though. No, Erwin Smith was a particularly easy man to get along with.
It was all of the pictures that adorned the walls that unsettled the small statured man. They varied in size and color, but were all of Erwin's family through the generations.
Their faces, all happy and cheery as they posed for the camera… most of them hardly looked natural. The older the person, the more forced the smile seemed. Erwin had confided in Levi once that if he had his way, he'd remove the pictures himself. However, his mother prided in the family-owned diner's family-friendly atmosphere in every single space of it and would more than likely string her son up by his thumbs if he even did so much as tilted a single frame.
The unsettling atmosphere instantly surrounded Levi as he walked in. He kept his eyes focused on the man at the desk to avoid the portraits, thankful that there were no pictures on the desk itself.
"Good morning, Levi. I assume you're doing better today?" Erwin looked up from the paper in front of him to acknowledge Levi.
"That depends. Are you talking about how my morning's been or how my shoulder's doing?" He laid the piece of paper onto Erwin's desk. "Here's my doctor's note."
The blonde looked at the note and then set it to the side. "So you were at the hospital after all."
Levi crossed his arms. "If you need physical proof that I actually got shot, I'm pretty sure there's a scar developing on my shoulder."
Erwin shook his head. "No, I believe you. Plus you already sent me a picture a week ago back when the wound was…" He cleared his throat. "More recent."
"Would you believe me if I said that the picture was Hanji's idea?"
"Your doctor." Erwin raised an eyebrow in amusement.
"Doctor, childhood friend, general nutcase." Levi shrugged.
The blonde man laughed. "Alright then. Anyway, it's nice to see that your recovery went well." He looked at the watch on his wrist. "If I remember correctly, your shift starts in a few minutes, so I'll let you go so you can clock in and get to work."
Levi's stomach rumbled quietly, reminding him of the toast and coffee waiting for him and nodded to Erwin before leaving.
The morning progressed to the afternoon quickly, the occasional person grabbing breakfast in town traded up for the lunch rush. Agitated, hungry people that always, no matter how quickly they're served, complain about the 'slow service', how they 'need to get back to work in x minutes', blah blah.
If you're in a hurry, there's this thing called fast food- and I'm sorry, no, we're not McDonald's, we don't offer to-go meals, it's called a diner for a reason. Now, shut up, eat your damn food, and get the hell out, I'm supposed to be on break right now.
Levi sat down at the table that he had just finished clearing and looked at the busy expanse of the diner in mild distaste. It was almost shocking how a week off of work had made him forget exactly how terrible the lunch hour rush at Granny Smith's could get.
As he watched the other waitress on duty, Sasha, dart to and fro, greeting, getting glasses, cleaning tables, and taking orders, Levi felt a small pang of sympathy for the woman.
Almost like she sensed his sympathy, Sasha turned around to look at him with desperate, pleading brown eyes that nearly made Levi choke on the water he was drinking from the intensity.
No.
Oh, hell no. Not his break time.
Sasha started walking towards him, drink tray in hand. It took all of Levi's willpower to not hightail it to the men's room in order to preserve the remaining twenty-five minutes of his break, instead settling for shaking his head continuously as she approached.
"No." He instantly declined when Sasha finally stopped in front of him.
"But, Levi, please!" The poor girl looked ready to fall on her knees to beg.
"Half of the people you're serving are just sitting around talking, they'll leave soon." Levi reassured her, regretting his piteous thoughts from earlier.
"Yes, but they still flag me down for drinks! And here's more of a point: they're not gone."
"I'm on break, Sasha. No one bothers you when you're on break." Then again, Sasha's breaks were important for everyone. If she didn't get her breaks, she couldn't eat, and if she couldn't eat, she started stealing food off of customer's plates.
That would start a vicious cycle of customers getting upset, complaining, getting free food, and then upsetting Erwin. The man wasn't a cheapskate; he just couldn't handle giving free food and likewise feeding Sasha.
"Please, Levi? The diner's busy and I can't handle the lunch crowd alone!" At that point in time, Sasha had actually dropped onto her knees.
Levi's back straightened as he scooted his chair back, away from the brunette woman. He was pretty sure people were staring.
"Sasha, get up, groveling on the floor isn't necessary." Levi hissed down to Sasha.
"I'll get up when you agree to help me."
"You're going to get us in trouble, idiot!"
"Help meeeee." She whined.
He sighed, a sign of defeat. "Fine." Levi twisted the lid on his water bottle and shoved it into one of his apron pockets as he stood up. "You owe me, though. Now get up, people are staring."
Sasha quickly stood up as well, her ponytail bouncing upward as she did. "Don't worry, Levi! The next time you need someone to cover you; I'll do it for sure!" She looked over Levi's head and made a small noise. "Two guys just sat down at booth nine, so I'll let you handle them. Oh, and please take care of eleven, twelve, and four, okay? Thanks again, Levi!" With that, Sasha walked off to the other side of the room.
He picked up his drink tray from the table and started towards the two, putting his hand up at a man at booth eleven that was impatiently shaking his glass in the air.
"Welcome to Granny Smith's, I'll be with you in a moment." Levi quickly greeted the two, not even sparing them so much as a glance before moving two booths down.
"Finally, I've been waiting forever for a refill!" The man complained, shoving his glass into Levi's face.
There were a plethora of things that Levi wanted to say, particularly one comment about where he could shove the glass, but instead forced a tight, apologetic smile that felt more like a grimace.
"I'm sorry, sir. What did you want to drink?" He all but pried the small apology out of his mouth.
"A Coke. This time, leave the ice out like I asked."
Levi snatched the glass and headed behind the counter to the soda fountain.
"I thought you were on break, Levi." Marco commented as he handed a customer change.
"Sasha said she needed help with the lunch crowd." He explained hastily, refilling the man's drink and heading back to his booth. "Here you go, sir."
Levi set the drink down and left for booth nine before any words could be exchanged.
"Sorry for the wait. My name is Levi and I'll be serving you today. Would you like to start off with a drink?" He tucked his tray under his arm, fishing a receipt pad and a pen from the apron at his waist.
The man sitting to Levi's left, one with unkempt brown hair, looked away from the blonde opposite of him and up to Levi, looking at him with strikingly familiar green eyes that made his shoulder ache.
""I'll have a Coke, please."
"And I'll have a Sprite." The blonde spoke up, looking up to Levi as well.
As Levi scribbled down their drinks and the prices, the brunette spoke again. "So, Levi, have you been doing okay?"
Levi furrowed his eyebrows together, confused. Why was he talking to him like he knew him? "I've been good. Could be better if I could actually take my lunch break." He jabbed his pen in Sasha's general direction behind him. "My co-worker needed help, so after some groveling on her part, I gave it up for the time being to help her. I'll be back with your drinks."
He headed behind the counter once again, grabbing two glasses from beside the fountain and filling them with ice and soda.
Levi placed his tray on the counter, the drinks on the tray, and carefully lifted the tray up, sneaking glances at the vacated booths four and twelve and the dishes left behind.
He set their drinks down at their table, handing the blonde his Sprite, who received it with a polite 'thank you' and the brunette his Coke, who nodded in thanks.
"I'll give you two some time so you can figure out what you want." Levi stated. Before he could go over to booth twelve to clear the table, the brunette stopped him in his tracks.
"Hey, Levi. Is your shoulder doing alright?"
Time seemed to have slowed as flickers of memories came to surface in his mind.
That man was the one who kept him from killing himself.
Levi suddenly didn't know whether to thank the guy or slap him and ask him where he got off thinking he could interfere in other people's lives.
He turned his back to the man. "My shoulder's fine." He replied neutrally, walking to booth twelve and picking up the dishes and various trash, setting it on his tray.
"Eren, do you know that guy?" He heard the blonde ask. So that was the Eren Jaeger that took residence in his contacts list. At least he had a face to put to the name.
"Yeah, Mikasa and I… uhm," Eren faltered for a second. "met him on the street last Thursday after we left your house. He got into a fight or something and hurt his shoulder, so we drove him to the hospital."
Levi knew that was a lie; a god-awful one at that, but the pressure in his chest lightened a little thinking about how Eren was trying to protect him.
Not that he really needed protection, but the gesture was still nice.
His friend didn't seem fully convinced of the story. "I didn't know you were such a saint. What happened to his shoulder?"
Levi caught himself, straightening up and heading over to booth four.
"He-" Eren cut himself off as Levi passed by, gray meeting green for a few brief seconds.
"It popped out of place, I think. He was in a lot of pain."
He heard the blonde reply with an 'oh wow' and quickened his pace to the booth, which looked like the customers were kind enough to stack their plates, silverware, and glasses together with all of the leftover food put in a pile on the top plate.
Levi gathered the dishes up and walked back into the kitchen to hand them off to the dishwasher, narrowly escaping conversation with the main cook and Erwin's aunt, Tempest, as he exited.
When he came back, Levi was relieved to find that the subject had changed to something else.
He grabbed the pad from his apron as he approached. "Ready to order yet?"
The two snapped their attention from their conversation to him.
"I'm kind of having a hard time deciding," the blonde admitted before Eren could speak. "I've never been here before, so I don't know what's good. What do you recommend?"
"Not the apple pie." Levi stated without thinking, receiving blank stares from both men.
"…Actually, no, the apple pie is okay, not exactly on my list of things to try, though. That comment was more of an inside joke with the employees here." Levi shut his mouth, a vain attempt to keep from digging himself into a deeper hole.
"I prefer the chili. It has a good blend of herbs and spices, plus it is prepared fresh and from scratch." He explained more coherently.
"I'll have a bowl of chili, then." He handed the menu to Levi, which made him absently think about setting the two booths back up.
Levi set the menu on the table and jotted down the blonde's order, looking at Eren afterwards as a cue for him to speak.
"I'll have a burger, well done. No mayo or mustard, though." Eren placed his menu on top of his friend's as Levi finished writing their orders.
"Alright, I'll be back with your food in a little bit." Levi grabbed the menus, turned, and walked to the register, ripping the order out of his pad and handing it off to Marco.
"I didn't know you knew Eren and Armin." Marco said as he clipped the order up in the window.
"I don't." Levi sat down at a stool parallel to the cash register, deciding to sit and wait for the order. "Not really."
"What do you mean 'not really'?" The cashier pressed.
Levi groaned, regretting yet another decision. "It's complicated. I-" He stopped mid-sentence. How could he explain how he met Eren to Marco without including mentions of his suicide attempt or his gun wound?
"I met him a week ago. He took me to the hospital after some jackass tried to mug me and popped my shoulder out of place in the fight. I managed to get away and bumped into Eren and some girl he was with."
"That was probably Mikasa." Marco informed him.
"Okay, fine. Mikasa. He set my shoulder straight and took me to the hospital just in case. I haven't seen him since and didn't even know his name until today. Happy?" Levi tapped his fingers on the counter, suddenly growing impatient. "Is their order done yet?"
Marco ambled over to the window. "How much longer on that order, Tempest?" he asked.
Over the sizzle of the grill, Levi could barely make out a feminine voice worn with age that, over the course of the three months that he had actually worked at Granny Smith's, came to recognize as Tempest Everclear.
Nodding at what the woman had to say, Marco looked back to Levi. "It'll be ready in a few more minutes."
Satisfied with his answer, he changed the subject back. "I'm guessing that you know them too, then?" he asked.
"Yeah. I've known Eren since elementary school and Armin since middle school. They're pretty nice guys to hang out with."
Remembering that he still needed to set booths twelve and four back up, Levi got down from the stool with an undignified hop, rounded the service counter to get the silverware and menus, and walked back out into the dining area. As a last minute thought, he grabbed the menus that he took from Eren and Armin's table in his stride.
He quickly set booth twelve up and noted that the man in booth eleven had finally cleared out, leaving his half-drank soda and the money to pay for his meal in his stead.
Levi passed by the booth, picking up the glass, money, and receipt, making a noise in his throat when he realized that the man didn't leave a tip.
"Well, fuck you, too." He muttered, sticking the money and receipt into his apron before stopping back at booth nine.
"Your food's almost ready."
Eren acknowledged the information with a simple 'kay'. Levi took that as an opportunity to go to booth four to finish setting up.
"Um, Levi?"
He stopped and turned around when Armin called out to him, cocking his head to let him know that he was listening.
"When you're done with what you're doing, can I please get more Sprite?" The blonde's polite tone nearly threw him off, being one of the first few people that day to actually ask him and consider the fact that he was already in the middle of doing something like a civil human being.
"Sure. You had ice in that, right?" he replied.
"Yes, thank you."
Levi turned back and returned to booth four to set it up. When he was finished, he took the chance to reassess the dining area. A lot of the tables that Sasha left to herself were emptied and cleaned. Only one table in the middle of the floor remained occupied with multiple women chatting and laughing amongst themselves. The otherwise emptiness of the diner was a sure sign that the lunch rush was over.
A ding from across the room pulled Levi back and he shuffled across the floor, picking up Armin's glass along the way.
He placed his tray on the counter and grabbed the glass from booth eleven off of it. "Put the food on my tray, alright?" Levi asked Marco as he passed him, going to the dishwasher once more. He heard Marco say something in affirmation continued his task.
When he came out of the kitchen, the food was there, ready to be served.
He grabbed Armin's glass next, refilled it, placed it back on the tray, and picked the tray up, carrying it cautiously but surefootedly to the booth.
The chili and soda were set down first in front of the blonde and then the burger in front of Eren.
Levi tucked the cleared tray under his arm again, a movement that was natural to him at that point, and retrieved the receipt pad from his apron again. "Will that be all?"
"Yeah, I think we're all set here." Eren replied, surveying his order with a look that clearly stated that it was not entirely what he had expected.
"Alright." Levi tore the receipt out and laid it on table. "Do you want a refill?" He asked Eren, nodding to his glass.
The brunette looked to the glass as well, but shook his head. "No, I'm good. Thank you, anyway."
Contented in the fact that he was no longer needed and that no one else had come in and sat down, Levi looked around for Sasha, finding her hidden in the expanse of booth three. He weaved through the tables on the floor, laying a hand down flat on the table of booth three with an audible smack that made Sasha stab at the empty air with her fork rather than into the slice of pie she was eating.
"You paid for that before you started eating it, right?" He questioned.
"Of course I did!" Sasha squawked defensively, crumbs spewing from her mouth. The sight made Levi wrinkle his nose in mild disgust, though normally things like that didn't bother him completely.
"I'm taking the rest of my break now. I'm sure you can handle a next to empty diner by yourself, can't you?"
Sasha nodded, chewing slowly and swallowing before she spoke. "Okay! Oh, and thank you again for helping me, Levi!"
The man made a small 'nn' sound and walked away. He reached for his water bottle in his apron, the sound of loose change rattling reminding Levi that he still had booth eleven's payment.
After giving Marco the money and receipt, making an off-hand comment about how there wasn't a tip included, he sat down at the table he occupied earlier. The table was placed nearby booths eight and nine, so Eren and Armin's conversation could be heard easily.
Levi didn't know what it was about being a part of the waiting staff, but it seemed like the entirety of the waiting staff at Granny Smith's, himself included, were nosy as hell.
"How can you have lived here for eight years, but never have eaten at Granny Smith's?" I'm pretty sure this place is at least twice as old as your grandpa."
"I don't know, I just haven't? You have to remember, Eren: I live on the other side of town." There was a pause. "This place isn't that much older than Grandpa. It was established in 1913 and I'm pretty sure he was born sometime in the 1930's."
"How the hell do you know when this place was established?!" Eren sounded incredulous.
There was another pause and a small 'oh' from Eren. Levi looked at the wall next to the right entrance. On the wall hung a large, handmade wooden plaque with big storybook font that read 'Granny Smith's' burned into the glossy wood. Underneath the storybook font were smaller letters that seemed less ornate than what was above it that read 'established 1913'.
"How have you lived here your whole life, but you don't know minor details like that about a landmark of the town?" Armin asked in mock shock.
"You shut the fuck up, Armin, I don't pay attention to what they have hung on the walls here. Besides, I haven't been here since I was sixteen."
The blonde sighed. "You're full of excuses, Eren. Anyway, you got me out of my house for a full three hours, now can I go home and finish my report? It's due tonight and my professor won't take 'my best friend wouldn't let me' as a viable excuse."
Eren made a noise. "You've hardly eaten!"
"Do you realize how much you sound like your mom right now, Eren?"
The brunette's voice pulled low in warning. "Hey…"
Armin laughed, dismissing his friend's tone. "You have to admit that saying that, you sounded like your mom."
"Blame the fact that I've been drowning in estrogen for the past five years." Eren grumbled. "I'm lucky that I got enough money to get a separate apartment from Mikasa last year- hey, I thought I told you earlier that lunch was my treat!"
"I hardly ate my food, so I'll pay for my half." Armin explained.
Out of habit, Levi got up and got Armin a Styrofoam to-go box, walking over to the booth and handing it to him.
Thinking nothing of it, Armin took the box with gratitude and started carefully pouring the cooled chili into it.
"Were you listening to us the whole time?" Eren asked defensively, eyebrows furrowed.
"It's hard not to when you're the only other people nearby talking." Levi countered.
The brunette opened his mouth to respond, but Armin quickly cut in. "Eren, relax. It's not like he heard anything overly personal."
"That doesn't change the fact that he was eavesdropping, Armin."
Levi felt a surge of anger at the accusation. "Then maybe you should try talking a little quieter if you don't want people listening to your conversations."
Eren rose from his seat. "Maybe you should try backing the hell off."
Levi wanted to shut up, to recede into what he had been taught to do in his childhood with his mom and dad, but he couldn't bring himself to. Instead, he sized the taller man up, locking eyes with him unabashedly. "Or what, brat?"
Armin made his way between the two in an instant and Levi heard Marco coming over to assist as well, saying "What's going on here?"
"What is your problem?" Eren looked down at Levi with such intensity, glowering.
My problem is that I want to shut up, but right now I don't know how to.
"My problem is that you can interfere in my life, but you're ready to persecute me when I get involved in yours!"
The outburst drained Levi of his energy, his anger included. He felt like going to bed.
Wasn't his medication supposed to stop that? He absently thought of the fact that maybe all of the drug abuse from his past rendered the pills useless.
Eren's face softened immediately and Levi felt a hand on his shoulder. He wanted to shrug it off, but felt like he could barely move.
"Hey," Eren voice had softened, as well. "Do you want to go outside, maybe talk about this?"
He didn't want to.
Levi nodded anyway and looked behind him to Marco.
"I won't report this to Erwin, but just because I won't doesn't mean that somebody in the kitchen staff that overheard won't either. I'll cover for you, but hurry back, okay?" Marco said.
"I've got ten minutes of my lunch break left. If I'm not back by then and Erwin asks about me, tell him that my shoulder was acting up so I went home to get some painkillers. If he asks about what happened here, just tell him that I was being an asshole."
Together, Levi, Eren, and Armin all exited the diner.
Eren turned to look at Armin. "You can go home, Armin. Go study to your nerdy heart's content."
Armin made a face at his friend's comment, but made no protest. He fished out his wallet with one hand and struggled to open it with one hand, but quickly gave up. He handed his to-go box to Eren, pulled out a ten dollar bill out of his wallet, and handed it to Levi.
He stared down at the money in his hands like it was a foreign object. "I-"
"Take it. With all that you've been balancing and dealing with today," Levi didn't miss the minute nudge of Armin's head towards Eren. "You deserve it."
The blonde looked to Eren with a sly smile. "I'll see you tomorrow, Eren." With that, he turned around and started walking down the street.
"I thought that he said he lived across town." Levi half-stated, half-asked numbly.
"We took the bus here since I'm still trying to get your blood out of my backseat and I don't want to explain to Armin why it's there in the first place." Eren replied easily.
"Hydrogen peroxide and a scrub brush."
The brunette looked at him inquiringly.
"Pour some hydrogen peroxide on the blood stains and let it bubble for a few minutes, and then scrub the blood and peroxide away. I can't guarantee that it'll get rid of all of the blood since the stain's been sitting for a week, but it'll make it a hell of a lot better." Levi explained simply.
Eren let the topic drop and Levi didn't object.
After a pregnant silence, Eren spoke. "I'm sorry for blowing up in there; I guess I kind of overreacted."
Levi didn't respond, so he continued.
"Are you… upset about, um, last week?" He sounded more confused than anything.
There were so many things that Levi wanted to ask- was there a real reason behind Eren defensiveness? Did Eren come to Granny Smith's, knowing that he worked there?
Why did Eren save him that night?
So many questions and Levi didn't want to ask any of them, so he stayed quiet.
"You said that you wanted to talk, Levi, so why aren't you talking?" There was frustration in Eren's voice.
No answer.
"Levi."
Can I go home now?
He bit the inside of his cheek.
Eren growled, irritation boiling back into anger.
Instead of getting yelled at, Levi heard Eren take a breath, deep through his nose and then out through his mouth.
"You still have my number, right?"
Levi nodded.
"When you're… if you want to talk, or if you need anything, call or text me, okay?"
Another nod.
Eren patted him on the shoulder, the gesture a little more harsh that intended; turned in the direction that Armin left in, and walked away.