In the morning (10th December) Levi trudged back into his and Eren's room. His room-mate hadn't got a wink of sleep, he'd laid on his bed all night crying and thinking of all the horrible possibilities that could happen until his eyes ran dry and there were no more tears to cry. He glanced over at the door from where he was hugging his duvet, pretending that it was Levi, wishing that he could hug him like that and make him happy again. Levi met his gaze sadly for a split second before shutting the door and sitting down on his bed. Eren watched him with a harsh lump in his throat. The smell of alcohol and smoke followed Levi into the room and wafted over Eren as he walked past. He looked at Levi as he hung his head. His hair was a windswept mess, he hadn't slept in days and his eyes were black around them from both lack of sleep and drinking far too much. He hadn't drunk much that night because he'd run out of money. He was craving it and wasn't drunk, so was unable to try and forget his problems. His head was pounding painfully with tiredness. Seeing Levi like this broke Eren's heart. With a sad sigh, Eren hid his face in his bedsheets and screwed his eyes up. After a couple of minutes, he heard Levi's quiet voice speak up.

"Eren, do you hate me?" His voice whispered and Eren peeked over his dark green duvet in shock. This was the first time he'd heard his room-mate speak to him in days. At least the first time while he was sober...

"Of course I don't..." Eren replied quietly, his voice slightly muffled by his sheets.

"But I drink, I smoke, I cut... How can you not hate me..." The ravenette's voice was barely a whisper and Eren swallowed. He sounded so defeated. He didn't sound like the Levi he knew and loved at all.

"Why would that mean I hate you? You're still the Levi I love..." Eren whispered sadly although that wasn't strictly true, he was losing him the Levi he used to be... But he did still love him.

"But we both know that's not true, don't we Eren..." Levi mumbled, glancing up at him through his messy black locks. His hair was longer than usual as he hadn't bothered to cut it because of the mood he'd been in the past week. Eren swallowed again, searching what he could see of Levi's sad grey eyes beneath his hair.

"You still are him, you're just hiding him behind all that alcohol..." Eren said softly, pushing himself up into a sitting position. "You're still in there Levi..."

"Hmph... No, I think we've lost him." Levi muttered sadly and Eren sighed, shaking his head.

"No we haven't because it was him that asked if I hated him a moment ago. Now I want to ask him the same question, do you hate me?"

"Why would I hate you...?" Levi frowned in confusion.

"Because I have been so distant, I should have tried harder to help you the last few days... I know you told me not to take your cigarettes because you'd feel betrayed but you only said that because you wanted them, and you knew I wouldn't take them if I thought you'd hate me..." Eren replied solemnly. "But I was stupid, I should have taken them anyway, because a Levi that hates me is better than a dead one..." Levi swallowed, looking away. He'd feared Eren would be worried about that. "I know you said you'd just go and buy more but I should have followed you no matter what and done whatever it took to stop you... But I didn't. I was selfish and weak. I should have stopped you, this is my fault. It's my fault this has all happened..." Levi shook his head in answer and it ached with tiredness as he did so.

"No you brat, this is not your fault... It's mine, I'm the reason I'm doing this to myself, not you and I told you not to stop me..." He muttered and Eren watched him with sadness in his eyes.

"I want to help you Levi..." He whispered and there was silence for a number of moments. Long, painful moments.

"...And I want your help."

"You do?" Eren perked up and sat up straight in shock, looking at Levi with wide green eyes.

"But..."

"But...?" He asked nervously, gripping the sheets tightly in his fists.

"But I don't think I can stop... And I don't want to stop, but I know I have to."

"Levi you've only been getting bad for a week but you did it so quickly it's affected you badly. It's not killing you yet but I can see that if you carry on, it will kill you, it's plain to see – and I can't bear to lose you. I don't want to sit here and watch as you murder yourself slowly." Eren's voice cracked as he spoke and he shuffled to the left on his bed, making room for Levi. He patted the space beside him. "Come on Lee, I still love you and I want to help, come here..."

"Don't call me that infernal name..."

"Fine, Levi come here... Please?" He asked softly and Levi sighed after a few moments and got slowly to his feet. He perched on the edge of Eren's bed but Eren tugged his arm and gestured for him to sit beside him properly. With a tired huff, Levi did as Eren wanted. He wanted help, he didn't want to ruin it and he would do his best to follow what Eren told him to do. Eren felt tears prickle the back of his eyes at the strong smell of tobacco and beer. How much had he been drinking and smoking? His heart thumped in his chest as he realised he didn't know how much Levi had actually been consuming over the past week. "L-Levi... how much have you smoked this week...?" He asked quietly and Levi shifted awkwardly, not looking at the younger brunette. "Levi...?"
"About 15 a day..." He admitted, his voice barely a whisper.

"15?!" Eren cried out in shock. "Levi oh my God! How long has it been now? 8 days, yeah? That's what..." Eren hurriedly worked the maths out in his flustered head. "110! Levi!"

"120..." Levi corrected Eren's calculations. Tears erupted from the brunette's eyes. "H-have you been sick?" Levi nodded silently in answer and Eren grabbed his hand. "You should have told me! 120 fucking cigarettes Levi!"

"I started at only a couple on day one but I just couldn't stop as I remembered what it was like and on day two it was 6 and then on day 3 it was 10 and then from there on it's been 15 or 16 a day..."

"That's about what... that's about 100 then, that's still terrible! Oh my God, Levi have you been being sick and have you had a really bad cough? God knows what's happened to your lungs!" Levi shrugged in reply and said nothing. "H-how many drinks have you had?" Eren stammered through his tears.

"Last night I only had one and only 2 the night before because I have run out of money, that's why I'm not drunk but before then I was having about 4 full bottles..." Eren felt faint.

"Th-that's about – er, 27! Y-You need to see a Doctor, how many times have you been sick?"

"I've lost count..."

"Oh my God Lee..." Eren whispered, his hands shaking as he looked at the shorter male beside him. Levi didn't meet his eyes. "Y-you HAVE to stop, y-you could have actually died this week and I didn't even know it was this bad... Did you faint...?" Levi responded with a small nod and Eren's teeth chattered and his whole body shivered and shook as he realised the horrific seriousness of the situation. "How many times?"
"Almost every night..."

"W-where?"

"In a random empty alley..." Levi muttered in answer and more tears spilled down Eren's cheeks. He tried to pull himself together. After a minute he cleared his throat.

"L-Levi... I'm going to help you and by Christmas you are going to have cut down a lot from that because this cannot continue..."

"But I'll have to wean off of it though..."

"I know, but today you're having no drinks and 10 cigarettes instead of 15, do you understand?" Eren said commandingly. He didn't care if Levi was going to grow to hate him. He was taking control. He was NOT going to lose him.

"But I need a d-"

"NO. Not today. Tomorrow you can have one but not today." He was not going to lose Levi. He'd only just got him and he wasn't ready to give him up. "You're having too much, if you continue like this, it will kill you." What Levi said next made Eren's mouth dry and he didn't know what to say. He went numb.

"Maybe I don't care if it does."

(A/N:) Hey guys! Thanks for all your reviews, I'm trying out a few of your suggestions about the paragraphs :) Thanks for reading, glad you all seem to be enjoying it! I'll maybe update again tomorrow... :)