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April Rain Showers Chapter 17

"Oi Eren, do you think we should invite some people over for Thanksgiving? I don't mind cooking the whole meal," Levi asked nonchalantly as he taste tested the dinner he was cooking for the two of them.

"Sure, and I'm sure you don't need to cook the whole meal, I'm sure we can get my parents and Armin to at least bring some pie or something," Eren called back, his eyes never once leaving the adventure book in his hands.

"That would be nice, I'm thinking of inviting the "crew" at the Wall Rose, Petra and Oluo, Gunter, Eld, Shitty Glasses, and of course Erwin. I'm sure Petra could make something, I don't trust shit glasses to cook anything," Levi said, smacking his lip and making a face before adding something to the pot in front of him.

"That sounds nice. I'm going to invite Armin, Mikasa, my parents of course, Reiner and his trio...and maybe even Jean. I'm sure I can get Reiner to bring something...hopefully it's not hamburgers. That reminds me how's Jean doing anyways?" Eren replied, already pulling out his cellphone to start texting people.

"Maybe? I think you should invite him Eren, remember his parents disowned him once they learned he was dating Marco. He's doing good, or at least as good as he could be at this stage. I had to get his ass up a few times to get him moving and force some breakfast down his throat and then drive him to work. I would say that's better than nothing," Levi replied, a sarcastic note in his voice as he described how Jean was doing.

Eren sighed,"I wonder if it's safe for him to even be alone in his house..."

"I know what your thinking Eren, and I'm sorry but the answer is no, we don't have room to have another person living here. Give him a month alright? If nothing changes, we'll take him in, that should give us plenty of time to move in to the house," Levi said, walking to the living room with a damp washcloth to clean the already spotless coffee table.

"House?"

"Oh fuck, that was supposed to be a surprise, way to go Levi you idiot," Levi chided himself, straightening once he saw the coffee table was clean to his standards and facing the brunette,"Alright...so couple months ago I thought about us moving into an actual house. We have plenty of money saved, and I'm kind of sick of this apartment, I mean it's nicer than most, but I just kind of figured it would be nice to get a house like normal couples."

"Hey don't call yourself that. I think it's a good idea, I hate how the furniture never matched up with the wallpaper anyways...it would be a nice change, especially when we're going to get married. And probably have lots of kids," Eren replied, adding the last part as a joke.

Levi groaned, and shot back,"Women and children, honestly I don't get it. Who would want snot-nosed brats to dangle around on my limbs, I already have you for that. And your special because you have twice as much snot and brattiness."

"Eww," Eren giggled,"It's wonderful to know my knight in shining armor always makes sure to remind me how special I am based on my level of brattiness and production of snot."

"Yeah well that's me, a knight in shining armor, if you consider armor to be cooking utensils and a bitch face," Levi rolled his eyes, making his way into the kitchen and dropping the washcloth into the sink before checking on their dinner.

"Hey it's not that bad! I think it's cute because your a chef...and you don't always have a bitch face," Eren called back with a pout.

"Suuree..."

"It's true!"

"The only time I don't have a bitch face is when I'm around you, other than that I do," Levi retorted.

"No, that's only for smiling, sometimes your face becomes less bitchy-like in public."

Levi rolled his eyes in response and huffed out an exaggerrated, frustrated sigh,"Ughh there is no winning against you is there Jaeger!?"

"Sorry, I like winning," Eren called back jokingly," Now where's my dinner woman!?"

"I'm not afraid to dump this boiling pot of pasta shit all over your crotch Eren so watch it!" Levi warned, trying to choke back his giggles.

Eren laughed in response and decided to scroll around on his phone to text out some invitations.
~

Levi sighed in relief, sitting down on the couch and handing Eren a bowl of pasta, “Did anyone reply yet?”

“Yeah, Armin and Reiner. Armin is going to bring some cupcakes and Reiner may or may not be bringing hamburgers…our Thanksgiving meal might be a little weird,” Eren warned, taking the plate and giving the man a grateful smile.

“Haven’t you noticed by now that all our friends are weird….for the most part? It’s not a surprise,” Levi said, taking a bite of pasta,” What about Jean?”

“I didn’t hear anything from him yet.”

“Hopefully he accepts…he really needs to get out of his house. I mean I understand he’d mourning his lover…but staying in an empty house surrounding by reminders helps no one.”

“I hope so. So did you find a house we could check out?” Eren asked, hoping to change the subject.

Levi nodded in response, sensing the need for change in subject,” Yeah I found a few, if you want we can go check them out after everyone leaves.”

“Sounds nice, anything to avoid another Black Friday trip with Mikasa and mom.”

Levi chuckled, “Yeah I remember how last year you said a three different old ladies on scooters tried to run your ass over…I would pay to see that. Didn’t one of them stalk you around and tried to get you to go out with her grand-daughter?”

“Yes, I don’t want to talk about it. Her grand-daughter was 4 years younger than me, she thought I was a teen, that’s fucking gross,” Eren responded with a disgusted look that disappeared when he shoved another morsel of pasta into his mouth.

Levi laughed at the man’s disgusted look, in which said man rolled his eyes at Levi and leaned over to grab the remote, turning it on in hopes of ignoring the raven.

"Awwhhh did I make my wittle bwat mad?" Levi asked with a pout, leaning over to the man and giving him a quick peck on the cheek, he smirked when he pulled away. Eren was pretending to watch the news but Levi knew he got some sort of reaction out of the man because a light pink color dusted his cheeks. Levi began to poke at his face with his foot to try to get a bigger reaction out of him.

"You sound weird when you do that, cut it out," Eren complained and snapped his teeth threateningly when Levi's foot came dangerously close to his mouth,"Stop Levi that's disgusting!"

Levi stuck his tongue out at the man childishly before resuming his antics,"Says the slob, disgusting is knowing how fucking disgusting your ears are, honestly do you ever wash them brat!? Your lucky I can put up with your disgusting habits."

"I'm not disgusting, I clean my ears daily! Besides Hanji's house is worse, there's this weird white stain on her wall, I don't want to know what the hell that was from," Eren complained, taking the man's foot with his hand to trail kisses down the man's smooth, porcelain calf.

"Sure you do, and I know how fucking disgusting shitty glasses house is, just think about it makes me want to go on a cleaning rampage," Levi whined, sighing when he felt Eren's lips on his skin.

" This just in, a man by the name of Jean Kirstein has been admitted at the local hospital after ingesting a lethal dose of sleeping tablets. The man have called the ambulance earlier and mentioned he had ingested the pills in hopes of ending his own life. When the ambulance arrived the man was unconscious but still breathing. He is now in the hospital, thankfully in stable condition. We now bring you to news on the weather with Cassandra Brown," the news woman reported on the tv.

Levi felt Eren's whole entire body stiffen under his leg and watched as his head slowly turned to the tv. There was no way in hell that could be there Jean, could it? Levi slowly followed his look, his face taking on an astonished look. He saw the man just yesterday, Jean was up and awake and even eating breakfast by the time Levi got there. Hell he even managed to smile and carry on and normal conversation with the raven as they car pooled to work together. How the hell could someone go from motivated, to trying to kill himself in one day?

"L-Levi you were supposed to check on him to make sure he wouldn't pull this shit! You promised! What the fuck happened!?" Eren shouted, turning on Levi in disbelief.

"I-I don't know, I-I swear to god Eren that man was fucking motivated yesterday! I'm just as confused as you are! Finish your food and get your shit on, we're going to the hospital. That stupid little fucker," Levi growled, removing his leg and getting up from the couch. Fast-walking to the kitchen to deposit his own dirty plate he began to tear open cupboards to grab the things they may need at the hospital depending on how long they decided to stay, including Eren's medication. Eren quickly finished his food and got up off the couch, running around the house to grab their coats and other things he thought they would need.

It only took a few minutes for the two men to get ready. Levi practically rehearsed what he would do in case Eren needed an emergency visit to the hospital, so most of the time went to Eren would had absolutely no clue what they would need. Erwin called up the raven during this time to tell him about the news, just in case the men weren't aware of what happened. Levi currently had his cellphone in between a shoulder and his ear as he put on his winter coat and grabbed his messenger bag with his laptop inside.

"Yes Erwin, I'm aware. Remember I had to go through this once before," the man muttered, cursing when the zipper on his coat wouldn't work. He growled in frustration and sent a mental "fuck it" to the heavens before gently grabbing Eren's arm and dragging him out the front door and to their car. He made sure Eren was sitting comfortably in the passenger side before closing the door and walking around to the driver's side and getting in himself.

"Look, I'll see you when we get there, we can talk more alright? Bye," Levi sighed out, flipping his phone closed and shoving it in his coat pocket as he searched for his keys.

Eren stared at the agitated raven with worry written on his facial features. He had a feeling things would probably come to this. He had to sit through countless conversations of Jean talking nonstop about Marco when he hung out with his friends. Clearly the man felt strongly about Marco, and he couldn't imagine the amount of pain Jean must be facing at losing such a wonderful person in his life.

"What's going to happen now?" Eren asked, his voice sounding quiet and child-like to his own ears.

"They're going to send him to a clinic after they do a quick evaluation on him once he they see to it the drug is fully out of his system," Levi replied, turning around to look out the back window as he put the car in reverse.

"We should've had him move in with us for awhile, we could've prevented this," Eren said, his voice shaking in guilt.

"Don't you think I fucking know that Eren!?" Levi snapped, instantly regretting it. He just felt so stressed right now, he wanted to focus on Eren and solely on Eren and his health. He didn't want to worry about another person who he barely even knew, it was just too much. It didn't help anything that he knew exactly what shit Jean was going through. He went through a phase like that himself when Petra died, he tried to kill himself by hanging himself, but sadly Erwin found him and ended up cutting him down before he could fully end his life. That was back when Erwin took him under his wing and offered a place for him so he could finish school. And their relationship was strained because of it, Levi hated Erwin for saving his life back then, he hated him for letting them take him away to a clinic where Erwin only visited once every few weeks. As years passed, their relationship became stronger, especially since Eren forced himself into his life.

"I-I'm sorry...I didn't mean to yell at you. I'm just stressed...I don't want to worry about two people," Levi sighed out, putting the car in drive and speeding down the road.

"It's okay...I understand," Eren replied, taking one of Levi's cold hands into his own, he began to rub his hand gently to try and warm it up.

Levi exhaled shakily as he slowly regained his self control, his dark eyes trained on the road ahead of him. Eren's frowned when he noticed just how dark the bags under Levi's eyes were, he was definitely not sleeping at night lately, even after the party at Hanji's. He was beginning to get more concerned about the raven, rather than his own condition.

Levi shot a small, unconvincing smile at the brunette, giving his hand a squeeze and he returned his attention to the road. Eren sighed and squeezed back. Levi was always the type to pretend he was okay, even if it was clear that he wasn't okay. Eren wondered if he was reliving his own past as they made the drive to the hospital, even though it was many years ago.
~

Thankfully the couple didn't have to stay long in the hospital, they only stayed for a night, just long enough to scold Jean on his stupidity when he woke up. That situation involved many tears shed (mostly from Eren) and a lot of yelling (mostly from Levi and Jean as they yelled at each other), but in the end they managed to get their point across to Jean. Jean was sent to a clinic a couple towns over once he was discharged from the hospital a day afterwards, as they were told by Erwin. Levi was currently sitting on the living room floor, making a list of things he needed to grab after work for their Thanksgiving party tomorrow. Sadly, Jean was not granted permission to attend their party, for reasons both of them thought was unfair. Levi never understood those petty rules they made in the clinic, but he knew they were put there to protect and keep their patients focused on their goals.

Eren was currently napping in their bedroom after going to clinic to recieve his injection of some chemotherapy drug Levi forgot the name of. Honestly why did they have to come up with stupid, complicated names for drugs, what was the point. Was it just to make the doctors and nurses sound smarter? Levi shrugged and got up from the floor, grabbing the list and giving it a once over to make sure he didn't forget anything before shoving it in his pocket. He was happy he didn't have to wear a uniform for work, one of the perks of being the manager of the restaurant, of course that didn't mean he could just laze around and whip employees and command them to do his every bidding. Secretly Levi wished he could, specifically to Conny and Sasha, Bertholdt's abilities surpassed those two's tenfold, and he was still pretty new.

Levi walked off to their bedroom to give Eren a goodbye kiss, he smiled sadly when he saw the brunette was up, gripping the sides of a pail as the chemo took it's course. Levi sighed and rubbed the man's back comfortingly, patiently waiting for his stomach to settle before saying goodbye.

"S-Sorry if I was being loud..." the brunette choked out weakly, grabbing the water bottle on the nightstand, untwisting the cap and taking a huge swig of it, he swished the water in his mouth for a few moments before spitting it out into the pail. He set the pail gently on the ground, before turning to face the raven, who waited patiently for Eren to go through the normal routine he developed over the months.

"It's fine, you weren't that loud. I just wanted to come in to say that I'm leaving for work...do you want me to bring home anything for you? I'm stopping at the grocery store on my way back home," Levi asked, gently caressing the man's bald head as if he still had hair. Eren sighed and smiled weakly at the raven, happy that even though he didn't have hair anymore, he still acted like he did. He didn't seem bothered by the fact that Eren was sick almost on a daily basis anymore, not neccessarily this kind of sick, more so the weak kind of sick. He didn't mind that the brunette had to take breaks while they were walking around the neighborhood, or that he couldn't do household chores at his normal pace. He took it all in stride, and the only time he was ever bothered by Eren's condition was when people would stare at him for not having hair or question it. He usually shot them a glare to get them to stop staring, or even helped Eren answer their questions, depending on what that question was about of course.

"Not really…maybe some crackers?" Eren suggested.

"Alright, if you need them I set out a couple Zofran pills on the counter if you need them, don't be stupid and accidentally overdose on them alright?" Levi said, leaning down to kiss Eren. Which was surprising for Eren since he was pretty sure his breath wasn't considered "pleasant" at the moment. But Levi pulled away with a smile, not all giving the impression of disgust.

"I get off at six, so I should be home by six thirty if things go my way. If you need anything, call. Got it?" Levi asked.

"Alright, alright, I get it, now go you’re going to be late," Eren chuckled.

Levi sighed and shot the brunette one last smile, which looked really tired,

"Alright....I love you...see you soon."

Eren sighed and closed his eyes in hopes of falling back to sleep when he heard the front door open and close as the raven left the apartment. He hoped he wouldn’t have many more days like this in the near future. He just wanted to feel better.
~

Levi came back home, pissed off once again after a day of work. He loved cooking, he just didn’t like working around people who were incompetent in the kitchen a.k.a. Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dipshit. Today was different though, especially since Sasha managed to mess up on the steaks which put them back by thirty more minutes and made it so Levi had to deal with tons of angry customers. Said customers were for the most part, rich people, fattening themselves on their money and laughing down at the poor peasants that dared to show their faces in his Levi’s restaurant. Levi hated them for it. First they bitch at him about his slow service and how they had very “important” places to be (Levi bet those places dealt with taking a ride in one of their three yachts personally.) but then they had the decency to laugh at the poorer people who trickled in in the fanciest clothes that they had just to treat their family to a rare meal at a fancy restaurant.

Instead of taking out his frustrations out on the rich with words (because that wouldn’t be offering good customer service) he took it out by serving their food last. He purposefully served the poorer families first, and made sure their meals were perfect in every way before serving them. He knew what it was like to grow up poor, and any time his parents dragged him and Petra to eat out at a restaurant, hell even a fast food joint, he knew it should be taken seriously. It was special. Sure some of the families that strolled in wore hideous attire (definitely not the sort of clothing to be wearing at a fancy restaurant) and it pissed him off that people stared or laughed at them or complained that Levi should throw the families out. In all honesty Levi couldn’t care, that was probably the fanciest outfit they had in their wardrobe and Levi was happy to serve them and make their experience special.
~

Today at the restaurant, the same situation had occurred, but Levi had to be escorted by Mike out of the building this time. It started like any normal day, like it was said before, Sasha messed up on the steaks, so Levi was already in a ticked off mood. Levi was also dealing with angry rich people who thought they were the most important people on the planet, so that made Levi pissed off, which is way different from being ticked off in Levi terms. And of course some poorer family comes in, and Levi bit his tongue as he waited for the laughter and disgusted looks that would come from the rich families. Levi noted that the family consisted of a father, two little boys, and a woman, the woman was wearing a hat and Levi noticed sympathetically the woman had no hair. She looked pale and fragile, her husband supporting her with an arm hooked around her own. He wore an out of style, beige sweater vest and gray slacks. The sweater vest looked frayed and old. The woman wore a blue blouse that had a few stubborn stains on it, black dress pants, and some black flats. The two little boys wore matching sweater vests that also had a few stains each, alongside matching black jeans and shined black shoes. Levi presumed they were twins.

Proving his prediction correct, the rich family in front of him starting to make a scene, pointing at the family and laughing.

“Oh look at these peasants Harold, look one of them is bald!” a lady exclaimed, laughing at the poor woman whose smile had faltered.

“Probably had to sell her hair for money,” the man chuckled, “You think you can come to a restaurant like this, dressed like that?”

“Oh honey you should’ve stayed home, nobody wants to see that,” a woman chuckled, hiding her amused smiled with her hand.

Levi felt himself fuming, especially when one of the men turned his attention on him and rudely commanded, “Well don’t just stand there, tell these people their not allowed to eat here!”

“They can stay,” the raven said bluntly, rage building inside him as the women continued to condescend the woman and her condition.

“Its chemo…I can’t help it,” the woman tried to explain.

“Then for heaven sakes, put on a wig,” a rich woman shot back, covering one of her children’s eyes.

“What do you mean they can stay, you can’t be serious? How do you expect me to eat around these dirty hoodlums! They don’t belong here,” another man protested.
“I could give less of a shit about your loss of appetite sir. I own this restaurant therefore what I say goes and I say they can stay! Now all of you will shut up, sit the fuck down, and wait for your food and if I hear one more snide comment about how that family looks I will not hesitate to kick your pompous asses out of my restaurant! Is that understood!?” Levi yelled, his voice causing the whole establishment to go quiet and his employees to step out of the back to see what was wrong.

“Is that any way to talk to us? I can have you sued you know,” a man threatened.

“Is that any way to talk to a woman in front of her family, one who’s probably dying? I understand you rich fat asses can’t control yourself when it comes to putting someone down because of their lack of money, but I will not have that in my establishment. And you can go ahead and try and sue me, you think you’re so tough. You’re not the one who has to watch their partner suffer, wishing you could do something to end the pain, but you can’t! You’re not the one that loses sleep every night, or wake up in cold sweats to make sure your lover is still breathing,” the raven shouted, his voice breaking in the middle of his sentence.

Mike took that opportunity to gently grab the man by the arm,” Sasha, Conny, Bert, deal with the food, Levi come on, let’s go outside and cool down.”

Levi opened his mouth to say more, but closed it when he saw the shocked faces of many staring back at him. He took a deep breath, exhaling he turned to the poor family and pointed at them, with a stern look he said, “Order whatever the hell you want, I’m paying for your meal.”

With that he allowed himself to be led away by Mike, his employees respectfully parting to let them through. Each of them wore a shocked expression. Mike made his way to the mini fridge they had in the kitchen, grabbing a couple sodas, before walking over to the back door. He opened the back door and gently nudged the raven through the door way before following, and closing the back door behind him.

Levi turned around, his mouth already opened with an apology on his lips.

Mike held up a hand and offered a soda to him, “Don’t talk for right now, just take a few sips and calm down man.”

Levi closed his mouth, and took the soda gratefully before popping the tab open and leaning on the brick wall of the alley.

Mike popped open the tab on his own drink, staying quiet as he took a few sips. The men watched the sun begin to set in the crisp, winter air.

“You know…that was really cool of you man. Those fat pigs deserved it,” Mike began.

“I could’ve done that a little better…I didn’t mean to get so emotional. Damn it what if he really does try and sue me, I can’t afford that, not with Eren and the medical bills,” Levi said, running a hand through his hair nervously. He could’ve played that a lot better. He seldom showed emotion in public, especially if he wasn’t around Eren. Usually he wouldn’t have made a big scene about it, he would keep his words to himself, but to see them insult that woman who was fighting cancer, who couldn’t control the way she looked, who is most likely in debt because of the medical bills…it reminded him of Eren. It was like they were insulting Eren right in front of him instead of that woman. They decided to hurt someone who was already hurting, who was most likely like Eren where days of feeling relatively normal, were hard to come by. Normal as in being able to get up in the morning, being able to keep food down, having enough energy to be a mother to her children. And those fuckers decided to hurt her and try to ruin her day.

“Nobody isn’t going to sue you. Look man, the words you said were harsh, but I think they needed to hear it. Sometimes you have to hurt people in order to get them to understand. Honestly, I’m pretty sure either one of us was ready to stand up to those bastards, they walk in like they own the place. We were all getting sick of it Levi. Something was bound to happen, and I’m just glad you stepped up to the plate before the other youngsters did. You had a better chance of being heard then they did, and that’s just the sad truth. It’s the ones who always stay quiet that makes the best impact, nobody expects them to speak up and the world is silenced when they do,” Mike said, chugging down his pop.

Levi rolled his eyes and snorted, “Damn Mike, ever thought of becoming a poet?”

“Nope. I just say it how it is. So are you feeling better? Not to rush you or anything but I’m pretty sure Sasha and Conny are starting a food fight in the kitchen as we speak and I’d feel bad if the new guy got spaghetti sauce on his clothes like last time. It wouldn’t have been so bad if Bert didn’t wear a white shirt that day,” Mike said, crushing the soda can on his forehead before tossing it in a nearby dumpster.

Levi rolled his eyes and chugged the rest of his soda as well before saying, “Show off, I’m going to go talk to that family, by the time I get back in the kitchen I expect the steaks to be perfect.”

“You got it boss.”

Levi threw his empty can into the dumpster before following Mike inside the restaurant, the raven didn’t even realize how cold he was until he walked into the kitchen and felt his hands begin to burn. He gave a once over on the kitchen, happy that no food fight had commenced while they were outside, before shooting a warning glance at Sasha and Conny, even though they weren’t doing anything wrong. Once he saw they both got the warning message he made his way out of the kitchen and set off to the find the family he stuck up for, some of the richer families gave him a look but he managed to keep them silent with a death glare of his own as he weaved in between people. He finally found the family off in the corner of the restaurant, away from everyone else.

The father looked up nervously when he heard footsteps approaching their table, his nervousness dissipated though as soon as he saw Levi, he touched his wife’s arm who looked to him and then up at the raven who approached their table.

Levi coughed awkwardly before beginning his apology, “I apologize for my behavior earlier, I assure you that I usually don’t act like that. Most of the time I just let them go and hope they’ll choke on their food. It’s just that my partner has been going through chemo and it…sort of triggered a response out of me.”

“That’s quite alright Mr. uhmm…” the man began.

“Ackerman.”

“Mr. Ackerman. We’re very thankful for what you did for us. I’m Henry by the way and this is my wife Violet and our twin boys Derrick and Damien,” the man replied.

“Going through chemo is awful…I hope your wife is doing better than I am,” the woman said. Levi mentally blushed, wife? They thought Eren was girl? Oh yeah, that’s right, he didn’t mention his partner was actually a guy.

“Ah, frankly not so well. She had one of her kidneys removed a few months ago and is currently in stage two kidney cancer. The doctor put her on multiple drugs to try and save her remaining kidney. I wish she wasn’t sick all the time but she still manages to have a smile on her face even in the worse situations,” Levi responded, deciding the straight route was the best decision. He didn’t know if the family were homophobes are not right?

“Oh that’s awful, it’s good that she keeps a positive outlook though, it really helps a lot. I’m in stage two breast cancer, sadly the cancer has spread to my lymph nodes but I’m still trucking. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get rid of this thing once and for all,” the woman said optimistically, she turned her attention to her children before continuing, “After all I am a mother and I need to stick around and make sure these two stay out of trouble.”

The two boys looked down in embarrassment and groaned in response. Their mother chuckled before turning her attention back to Levi who was chuckling as well, “Do you have any children?”

“Ah, sadly we don’t have children. My wife really wanted to have children but she’s infertile. Of course we were thinking of adopting but with her condition and all we can’t really afford one right now,” Levi said easily, surprised at how easy it was to hide the fact he was marrying a guy from the couple.

“Oh that’s awful, we’re in the same boat, but health and life is more important than money anyways right?”

“Right. So uh, did you guys figure out what you want to eat, it’s already paid for,” Levi asked.

“Oh heaven’s no, we couldn’t ask you to do that, you’ve done more than enough,” the woman protested

“Please, it’s the least I can do. I know what it’s like to struggle paycheck to paycheck. Thankfully I don’t really have the issue anymore, but that doesn’t stop me from helping those less fortunate. Now what can I get you guys?” Levi asked, giving a stern look to the woman when it seemed she was about to protest again.
~

Levi sighed as he hung up his coat and took off his shoes, he just wanted to drink hot cup of tea and write a few pages before retiring for the day. Eren turned around on the couch, smiling softly when the raven entered, “Hi…how was work.”

“Shitty like always, I barked at a few rich people for insulting a family whose going through a rough time right now,” Levi mentioned, offering the man a small smile, happy to see he was up, “But enough about my day, how was your day love?”

“I slept for a few hours and took some Zofran, and managed to eat a slice of bread,” Eren stated, watching as the raven went into the kitchen to put away the groceries, “Do you want help with those?”

“No, I got them, you just worry about resting. What time is everyone coming over?” Levi asked as he grabbed various items from the plastic bags and put them away in cupboards.

“I told them around four, will that be enough time for everything to be done?” Eren asked.

“Yeah that should work,” Levi responded, taking a moment to grab the kettle, filling it with water and setting it on the stove to boil. He then went back to putting away everything, keeping a few things out for tomorrow’s cooking.

Eren walked into the kitchen and wrapped his arms around the raven, “I’ll try my hardest to help you cook tomorrow. I feel bad because you’ve been working your ass off lately and I’ve been lazing around.”

Levi turned around in the man’s arms to give him a quick peck on his lips, before turning around and replying, “Eren, you’re sick, you’re not lazing around your resting. I want you to rest. I can handle the cooking tomorrow.”

“Please let me help, at least with something,” Eren pleaded.

“Fine, but if you’re vomiting and carrying on I’m not going to let you,” Levi stated, leaning back into Eren’s touch.

“I’ll be fine, it’s wearing off anyways,” Eren said.

“Better not jinx yourself kid. Do you want some tea? I’m making some with ginger in it so it’ll settle your stomach,” Levi offered.

“Sure, I’ll take some tea,” Eren replied, nuzzling his face into Levi’s neck, “I missed you…the house is always so quiet when you’re gone. Sometimes I have to turn on the tv just to get rid of the deafening silence.”

“Oxymoron.”

“Excuse me!?” Eren asked, taking it as an insult, “Did you just call me a
moron?”

“No, I said oxymoron, because silence can’t be deafening. The two words are contradictory,” Levi stated with a smug smirk on his face, “If I called you a moron or something insulting, you would definitely know.”

“Oh…I forgot all about those…and we just covered those things in English class to.”
“That’s not surprising.”

“Oh jee, thanks Levi, you make me feel so much better about myself,” Eren replied sarcastically.

Levi chuckled and turned around in Eren’s arms, giving the man another kiss, “I love you…I can’t wait until April.”

April was the month they decided would be their wedding day. On the second of April they will be lawfully married. By then they’d already have a house as well, and maybe Eren’s condition would get better.

“I can’t wait until April either…I love you so much,” Eren squeaked in excitement, looking at his engagement ring thoughtfully, a small smile on his face. Levi sighed and allowed himself to enjoy the moment, that is until the kettle whistled and interrupted it.

“Damnit, can’t have a moment to ourselves can we?” Levi complained while Eren giggled in response. Levi made his way to a cupboard and grabbed two tea cups for the two of them, a small smile also on his face. Eren always had a way to make the shittiest of days even better, all it took was a smile.
~

“Eren stop eating everything, don’t you have any self- control brat!?” Levi exclaimed in irritation, they only had two hours left to get everything put together and Eren wasn’t helping anything by eating all the food.

“I’m sorry, it just tastes good! Besides we have two hours left, it’s not like we’re working at Wall Rose, they can wait for a little while can’t they?” Eren asked, walking over Levi and embracing him, “Just relax, you’ve been tense all week. Tell you what, when everyone else leaves and after looking at a few houses, why don’t I give you a nice massage?”

Eren emphasized his point by moving behind the man and massaging his shoulders, Levi smiled slightly and moaned, “Yeah that sounds like a nice idea…”

“Why are you so tense anyways? Is it work? Is it the fact I’m almost sick every day?” Eren asked, feeling ashamed that the cause for the man’s pain was because of him.

“A little bit of everything, we have five months to plan our wedding, Sasha and Conny…well work is always stressful when you have to keep those two idiots in line, and who knows how much worse your condition can get. What if you end up like Marco and suddenly stop breathing in the middle of the night?” Levi sighed out, walking over to the counter to
take a sip of his tea that he set there while he prepared the Thanksgiving meal.

“I’m not going to end up like Marco. Besides, the wedding is in five months, there is plenty of time to plan for it. And if you want I can talk to Sasha and Conny while they’re here…you really need to stop stressing over everything. That’s making me stress out to, and I’m the one that’s supposed to be taking it easy and resting,” Eren assured, taking a sip of water from the water bottle he set out next to Levi’s tea cup.

“You can’t blame me Eren. I lost my whole family at a young age. I’ve lived in the life of rags before Erwin showed up. You can’t blame me for being worried about money. What if we can’t afford your chemotherapy drugs anymore? What if you get seriously sick in the middle of the night and they have to put you under again to take out your remaining kidney?” Levi fretted.

“I know, but trust me Levi I’m not going anywhere without a fight. And Erwin will help us if we get low on money, he’s your friend and he promised that he’s going to treat me to his fullest ability. He’s a really good doctor, and my father is a doctor to, we’ll be just fine Levi, I promise. You’ll see. Just relax today, and enjoy being surrounded by our family and friends, okay? I love you, and remember I worry about you to,” Eren said in a way he hoped was comforting. He didn’t mean to make the raven freak out even more.

“Okay…” Levi sighed, angry with himself for letting the brunette know what kind of tortured thoughts were running through his head.

“I love you,” the brunette said, giving Levi a kiss on his forehead.

“I love you to,” the raven replied with a small smile.
~

Levi huffed victoriously, looking over his handiwork. Everything was cooked to perfection and put on the dining room table, that was basically three tables put together since their normal one was too small. Eren was currently taking a cat nap on the couch because Levi told him to since he thought he was working too hard. Eren being Eren, threw a fit but after a few threats from the raven he obeyed and laid down on the couch.

Seeing that everything was perfect, Levi made his way to the living room, pulling out his cellphone to check the time. They really needed to get a clock…this whole checking your phone to figure out the time bull shit was stupid, Levi thought. Their guests were going to arrive in about ten minutes so he walked over to the sleeping Eren and shook his shoulder gently.

“Eren, baby it’s time to get up, the guests are going to be here soon,” Levi said softly.

Eren groaned in response, “Gimme five minutes….”

Levi chuckled, finding Eren to be endearing when he was sleepy, “Brat if I give you five minutes, that five minutes will turn into an hour…come on, you can do it I
know you can.”

“It won’t turn into an hour…” Eren whined, gazing at Levi sleepily, closing his eyes when Levi began to caress his face and moaning again.

“I know you Eren, trust me it will,” Levi said, grabbing the man’s hands and helping him get up to at least a sitting position.

Eren gasped out at the sharp pain in his side, his hand flying to his side.

Levi cast the man a worried look, his hand pressing against the upper part of the man’s back where he knew it must hurt, “Sorry, your kidney is bothering you again?”

Eren nodded back, his face still pinched in pain, “Just give me a minute, it’ll go away soon, I’m sure of it.”

“Maybe we should have Erwin look at you again soon,” Levi sighed, allowing the brunette some time to let the pain pass, that is if I does decide to pass.

“No…I’ll be fine, I don’t want to ruin the party,” Eren said, slowly getting up.

“Eren-“Levi began his words interrupted by the doorbell knocking, he sighed out an, “I’ll get it, you just sit down and relax.”

Eren sighed and obeyed, laying back down and relaxing for a bit. Levi went to the door and opened it to reveal Erwin and Hanji.

“Hey idiots, did you bring anything?” Levi asked in his usual harshness.

Hanji laughed and replied, “Yes, we brought banana bread.”

“Did you at least make it edible this time?” Levi asked, letting the two walk in.

“Oh I wasn’t the one who made it, it was Erwin,” Hanji replied.

“Thank god.”

“I’m thankful to,”Hanji said, walking off to the kitchen but pausing when she saw Eren curled up on the couch, clearly in pain, “Eren! Oh honey, are you feeling okay?”

“Y-Yeah…j-just my kidney,” he replied

“Your kidney? Here, let me take a look,” Erwin replied, walking over to Eren.

“No it’s fine,” Eren replied, trying to get up.

“Eren, honey, lay down and relax,”Hanji soothed, pressing a hand gently on Eren’s chest, forcing him to lay back down.

Eren rolled his eyes but laid back down anyways, allowing Erwin to check his body. He caught a glimpse of Levi’s face which reflected worry, that look quickly disappeared though when the man saw that Eren was staring.

“I’d like to perform a CT scan tomorrow morning of your kidney…has it been hurting a lot lately? Or has it just suddenly started hurting?” Erwin questioned.

Eren bit his lip and looked away, feeling his face flush up. It has been hurting a lot lately, but of course he hid that from Levi as best as he could. After a few moments of contemplating Eren sighed out the truth, “It has been a lot lately, I just figured I had to deal with it and hope the drugs would work…”

Erwin sighed in response, clearly not happy with the lack of information from the brunette, “Do you think you can get through today?”

“Yeah I can…”

“If the pain gets any worse you better tell me, understand? I’m more than willing to perform an emergency CT scan if I have to.”

“I will,” Eren promised trying to sit up once again before a hand was pressed on his chest once again, causing him to huff in frustration as he was forced on the couch once again.

“Where do you think you’re going? You’re going to rest here, understand?” Erwin said.

“B-But, it wouldn’t be right of me to lay here while everyone else is at the table…”

“Then we’ll just sit around the living room,” Levi said with a shrug, “It’s not that big of a deal.”

“But I’ll be burden to everyone!” Eren protested.

“No you won’t. You will be though if you don’t take it easy,” Levi responded, walking to the door again at another knock.
~

In about ten minutes everyone have arrived and quickly filled the apartment with noise. Eren was surprised at how fast the place filled up, it only sucked that Levi and Erwin wouldn’t let him get off the couch to socialize with everyone. Thankfully though no one seemed to care that they would either have to kneel or stand to talk to Eren, even though the brunette offered to move a little bit so they could sit down on the couch. One of Levi’s friends, a hyperactive red-head bounded over to Eren in excitement.

“Hi Eren! It’s so great to meet you!” the girl chirped excitedly.

Levi’s eye twitched in annoyance as he came up behind the girl, ruffling her hair he explained just who she was,”Eren, this is Isabelle Magnolia, a long-time friend of mine, we met in an orphanage, that is before I escaped that wretched place.”

“Oh it’s good to meet you, why haven’t I heard of you before?” Eren asked, his hand being shook violently by the hyperactive girl.

“You haven’t told Eren about me!? What kind of fiancé are you big brother!?” Isabelle gasped in horror.

Levi groaned, “You know how much I hate to talk about my past. And besides we only found each other again a week ago, the only reason you’re here is that Farlan managed to get my cell phone number while you were hugging me and blubbering like a baby.”

Eren chuckled as Isabelle starting to pound on the raven’s chest in protest, turning his attention to a man with blonde hair approaching the group.

“God damn it Isabelle, I can’t take you anywhere without you throwing a fit,” the man said in annoyance.

“Eren, this is Farlan, I also met him in the orphanage. The three of us used to run around on the streets until we were split up one night after we were caught stealing food because one loudmouth couldn’t keep her mouth shut,” Levi said, directing his attention on the red-head as her cheeks flushed up in anger.

“Hey! It was Farlan who didn’t notice the security cameras around the place!”

“I thought we agreed to stop talking about that,” Farlan snapped.

Eren giggled at the trio’s antics, specifically at Isabelle who reminded him of himself when he was younger. He was always so obnoxious and full of energy, so much that he got yelled at more than a few times by his parents and his teachers at school. He also suffered through a few beatings from his father when he got too riled up.

“Anyways, it’s nice to meet you Eren. I’m sorry if Isabelle freaked you out, she has issues,” Farlan said, dodging a fist flying at his head from Isabelle.

Eren chuckled in response, “It’s nice to meet you guys to.”

Levi sighed in exasperation, “If you two do not behave I’m not inviting you
over ever again!”

“You know you would never do that, you love us too much!” Isabelle protested.

“Sure, you keep telling yourself that.”

“That’s right, we all know Levi likes me better,” Farlan refuted.

Levi sighed in response and turned his attention to Eren, “How are you feeling?”

“Better…just feeling a little antsy,” Eren responded, he didn’t like not being able to walk around. Even though chemotherapy tired him out considerably, he still had moments when he felt hyperactive.

“If you let me help you, I’ll let you walk around for a bit,” Levi offered, holding out his hand.

Eren sighed and took it, it was better than nothing right?
~

After a half an hour they decided it was time to eat, Levi made Eren sat on the couch again and told him to stay as he went to grab their plates. They decided that everyone can sit around the living room, so Eren wouldn’t feel excluded.

“How are you feeling?” Erwin asked Eren approaching him with his arm around Hanji’s waist.

“A little better…just feeling a little tired, “ Eren admitted, waiting for
everyone else as they filled their plates.

Levi came back after a few minutes with two plates in hand, he handed one to Eren,

“I didn’t know how much you wanted so just eat as much as you can, okay?”

Eren nodded in response and gratefully took his plate, head tilting as he noticed a tiny pink cupcake on his plate, “I didn’t know we had cupcakes.”

“Yeah Isabelle made them, they’re not that bad, but make sure to eat it so you don’t hurt her feelings okay?” Levi said, taking a bite out of his own cupcake that Isabelle practically shoved in his face earlier, with one command, eat it.

Eren nodded and took a bite of his own, he didn’t feel all that hungry but he didn’t want to hurt the red head’s feelings, especially since he just met her.

Sooner or later everyone was gathered on the floor, none of them at all minding that some of them had to sit on the floor. In fact some of them dragged chairs from the dining room to sit on.

“I think we should go around in a circle and say what we’re thankful for!” Isabelle piped up.

“What’s the point? Everyone started eating,” Farlan asked.

“It doesn’t matter, we can still do it, right?” Isabelle asked, looking towards Levi.

“I guess so,” Levi responded awkwardly, he wasn’t the greatest socializer after all.

“See Farlan! I’ll go first!” Isabelle said hyperactively, sticking her tongue out at Farlan before beginning.

“I’m thankful for being reunited with Big Brother, your turn Farlan!” Isabelle exclaimed.

“Ehh, same thing as Izzy’s,” Farlan said noncommittally.

“Not fair! You can’t have the same thing as me! Come on Farlan put some thought into it, please!” Isabelle exclaimed.

Farlan sighed and redid his, if that would make Isabelle happy. Afterwards the metaphorical torch was passed on to the next person and so on and so forth. Levi desperately tried to come up with something to say that wouldn’t make him seem like a complete sap. Frankly he couldn’t figure anything out and before he knew it was his turn to say what he was thankful. He decided to stick with the truth.

Levi sighed and bowed his head, his hair covering his eyes as a slow blush crawled acrossed his face, “I’m thankful for…being able to meet the man of my dreams…which wouldn’t be possible if someone decided to give a shit about me and give me a second chance. Even though we’re both going through some heavy shit right now, I’m happy that I’m going through it with you. I am also thankful that one of my friends, that managed to gain my trust, a feat that isn’t managed by most, is taking care of you. And I guess I’m thankful for my shit stains that I dare call my employees, I’m looking at you Sasha and Conny. And for everyone’s support in our time of need. And I’m thankful for every day that your still here with us. Your turn brat.”

Levi looked to Eren, his face a light pink that only grew darker with the awwhhs that came with his confession. Eren looked at him with misty eyes before clearing his throat and getting on with his confession.

“Uhm…I’m thankful for you, even though you come off as an asshole to most, I’m glad I got to be the lucky few that got to see behind that front. I’m also thankful to Erwin for taking it upon himself to try and treat me. I know I’m not the best patient in the world. I’m also glad for everyone’s support in our time of need, and I’m thankful for every day that I am allowed to go through, even if I’m sick for most of those days. I’m thankful that I was allowed into your life and that I have met someone as great as you, and I’m glad to be going through these experiences with you, no matter how painful,” Eren responded, his voice choking up in the middle of it, he stared at the raven whose blush grew darker at Eren’s speech. Eren’s face also flushed up, his eyes sparkling and relaying that message to Levi of how much he loved him.

Isabelle was crying alongside Armin and Eren’s mother at the two’s confessions of love, the whole room was silent except for those three’s sniffles. The silence was broken a few moments later though by the sound of clapping, which came from Reiner. The clapping was slowly met with others until the whole room exploded in clapping.

Eren giggled and looked down at his plate, his blush darkening. Levi response was an eye roll as he shoved another morsel of food in his mouth, hoping everyone else will take that hint and continue eating. He tried to ignore the fact that Conny and Sasha were a blubbering mess, even though he called them shit stains. Mike was giving the couple a thumbs up sign of approval, as well as Reiner who punched Bertholdt in the arm who was trying to hide his tears.

Least to say everyone managed to compose themselves during several minutes and managed to continue eating, the topic switching to light-hearted conversation between everyone. Eren had his eyes fixed on Levi though whose eyes were shimmering with emotion that he usually saved for Eren. He never showed emotion in front of either of their friends, except for maybe Erwin. He looked beautiful.

(Notes: Alright, sorry for the long wait you guys. I had to go to state this weekend and I truly thought I would get this chapter done by Thursday but I was wrong, so sorry for that. Anyways this is truly the longest chapter I have ever written so I hope you guys enjoy it and I hope that it kind of makes up for the delay. I was originally going for 5,000 words or so but it turned into 9,000 some words instead. I didn’t even think of adding in half of this stuff, but it sort of happened. Anyways, keep on with the reviews, I try to respond to each one. I’m thankful for you guys, even though Thanksgiving is long gone, I just wanted to say that. I’m thankful that you guys are willing to share your personal experiences and feelings with me. And I’m happy that you guys enjoy it so far. Anyways I gotta get to Chemistry class. See you guys soon!)

Description
April Rain Showers Chapter 17

"Oi Eren, do you think we should invite some people over for Thanksgiving? I don't mind cooking the whole meal," Levi asked nonchalantly as he taste tested the dinner he was cooking for the two of them.

"Sure, and I'm sure you don't need to cook the whole meal, I'm sure we can get my parents and Armin to at least bring some pie or something," Eren called back, his eyes never once leaving the adventure book in his hands.

"That would be nice, I'm thinking of inviting the "crew" at the Wall Rose, Petra and Oluo, Gunter, Eld, Shitty Glasses, and of course Erwin. I'm sure Petra could make something, I don't trust shit glasses to cook anything," Levi said, smacking his lip and making a face before adding something to the pot in front of him.

"That sounds nice. I'm going to invite Armin, Mikasa, my parents of course, Reiner and his trio...and maybe even Jean. I'm sure I can get Reiner to bring something...hopefully it's not hamburgers. That reminds me how's Jean doing anyways?" Eren replied, already pulling out his cellphone to start texting people.

"Maybe? I think you should invite him Eren, remember his parents disowned him once they learned he was dating Marco. He's doing good, or at least as good as he could be at this stage. I had to get his ass up a few times to get him moving and force some breakfast down his throat and then drive him to work. I would say that's better than nothing," Levi replied, a sarcastic note in his voice as he described how Jean was doing.

Eren sighed,"I wonder if it's safe for him to even be alone in his house..."

"I know what your thinking Eren, and I'm sorry but the answer is no, we don't have room to have another person living here. Give him a month alright? If nothing changes, we'll take him in, that should give us plenty of time to move in to the house," Levi said, walking to the living room with a damp washcloth to clean the already spotless coffee table.

"House?"

"Oh fuck, that was supposed to be a surprise, way to go Levi you idiot," Levi chided himself, straightening once he saw the coffee table was clean to his standards and facing the brunette,"Alright...so couple months ago I thought about us moving into an actual house. We have plenty of money saved, and I'm kind of sick of this apartment, I mean it's nicer than most, but I just kind of figured it would be nice to get a house like normal couples."

"Hey don't call yourself that. I think it's a good idea, I hate how the furniture never matched up with the wallpaper anyways...it would be a nice change, especially when we're going to get married. And probably have lots of kids," Eren replied, adding the last part as a joke.

Levi groaned, and shot back,"Women and children, honestly I don't get it. Who would want snot-nosed brats to dangle around on my limbs, I already have you for that. And your special because you have twice as much snot and brattiness."

"Eww," Eren giggled,"It's wonderful to know my knight in shining armor always makes sure to remind me how special I am based on my level of brattiness and production of snot."

"Yeah well that's me, a knight in shining armor, if you consider armor to be cooking utensils and a bitch face," Levi rolled his eyes, making his way into the kitchen and dropping the washcloth into the sink before checking on their dinner.

"Hey it's not that bad! I think it's cute because your a chef...and you don't always have a bitch face," Eren called back with a pout.

"Suuree..."

"It's true!"

"The only time I don't have a bitch face is when I'm around you, other than that I do," Levi retorted.

"No, that's only for smiling, sometimes your face becomes less bitchy-like in public."

Levi rolled his eyes in response and huffed out an exaggerrated, frustrated sigh,"Ughh there is no winning against you is there Jaeger!?"

"Sorry, I like winning," Eren called back jokingly," Now where's my dinner woman!?"

"I'm not afraid to dump this boiling pot of pasta shit all over your crotch Eren so watch it!" Levi warned, trying to choke back his giggles.

Eren laughed in response and decided to scroll around on his phone to text out some invitations.
~

Levi sighed in relief, sitting down on the couch and handing Eren a bowl of pasta, “Did anyone reply yet?”

“Yeah, Armin and Reiner. Armin is going to bring some cupcakes and Reiner may or may not be bringing hamburgers…our Thanksgiving meal might be a little weird,” Eren warned, taking the plate and giving the man a grateful smile.

“Haven’t you noticed by now that all our friends are weird….for the most part? It’s not a surprise,” Levi said, taking a bite of pasta,” What about Jean?”

“I didn’t hear anything from him yet.”

“Hopefully he accepts…he really needs to get out of his house. I mean I understand he’d mourning his lover…but staying in an empty house surrounding by reminders helps no one.”

“I hope so. So did you find a house we could check out?” Eren asked, hoping to change the subject.

Levi nodded in response, sensing the need for change in subject,” Yeah I found a few, if you want we can go check them out after everyone leaves.”

“Sounds nice, anything to avoid another Black Friday trip with Mikasa and mom.”

Levi chuckled, “Yeah I remember how last year you said a three different old ladies on scooters tried to run your ass over…I would pay to see that. Didn’t one of them stalk you around and tried to get you to go out with her grand-daughter?”

“Yes, I don’t want to talk about it. Her grand-daughter was 4 years younger than me, she thought I was a teen, that’s fucking gross,” Eren responded with a disgusted look that disappeared when he shoved another morsel of pasta into his mouth.

Levi laughed at the man’s disgusted look, in which said man rolled his eyes at Levi and leaned over to grab the remote, turning it on in hopes of ignoring the raven.

"Awwhhh did I make my wittle bwat mad?" Levi asked with a pout, leaning over to the man and giving him a quick peck on the cheek, he smirked when he pulled away. Eren was pretending to watch the news but Levi knew he got some sort of reaction out of the man because a light pink color dusted his cheeks. Levi began to poke at his face with his foot to try to get a bigger reaction out of him.

"You sound weird when you do that, cut it out," Eren complained and snapped his teeth threateningly when Levi's foot came dangerously close to his mouth,"Stop Levi that's disgusting!"

Levi stuck his tongue out at the man childishly before resuming his antics,"Says the slob, disgusting is knowing how fucking disgusting your ears are, honestly do you ever wash them brat!? Your lucky I can put up with your disgusting habits."

"I'm not disgusting, I clean my ears daily! Besides Hanji's house is worse, there's this weird white stain on her wall, I don't want to know what the hell that was from," Eren complained, taking the man's foot with his hand to trail kisses down the man's smooth, porcelain calf.

"Sure you do, and I know how fucking disgusting shitty glasses house is, just think about it makes me want to go on a cleaning rampage," Levi whined, sighing when he felt Eren's lips on his skin.

" This just in, a man by the name of Jean Kirstein has been admitted at the local hospital after ingesting a lethal dose of sleeping tablets. The man have called the ambulance earlier and mentioned he had ingested the pills in hopes of ending his own life. When the ambulance arrived the man was unconscious but still breathing. He is now in the hospital, thankfully in stable condition. We now bring you to news on the weather with Cassandra Brown," the news woman reported on the tv.

Levi felt Eren's whole entire body stiffen under his leg and watched as his head slowly turned to the tv. There was no way in hell that could be there Jean, could it? Levi slowly followed his look, his face taking on an astonished look. He saw the man just yesterday, Jean was up and awake and even eating breakfast by the time Levi got there. Hell he even managed to smile and carry on and normal conversation with the raven as they car pooled to work together. How the hell could someone go from motivated, to trying to kill himself in one day?

"L-Levi you were supposed to check on him to make sure he wouldn't pull this shit! You promised! What the fuck happened!?" Eren shouted, turning on Levi in disbelief.

"I-I don't know, I-I swear to god Eren that man was fucking motivated yesterday! I'm just as confused as you are! Finish your food and get your shit on, we're going to the hospital. That stupid little fucker," Levi growled, removing his leg and getting up from the couch. Fast-walking to the kitchen to deposit his own dirty plate he began to tear open cupboards to grab the things they may need at the hospital depending on how long they decided to stay, including Eren's medication. Eren quickly finished his food and got up off the couch, running around the house to grab their coats and other things he thought they would need.

It only took a few minutes for the two men to get ready. Levi practically rehearsed what he would do in case Eren needed an emergency visit to the hospital, so most of the time went to Eren would had absolutely no clue what they would need. Erwin called up the raven during this time to tell him about the news, just in case the men weren't aware of what happened. Levi currently had his cellphone in between a shoulder and his ear as he put on his winter coat and grabbed his messenger bag with his laptop inside.

"Yes Erwin, I'm aware. Remember I had to go through this once before," the man muttered, cursing when the zipper on his coat wouldn't work. He growled in frustration and sent a mental "fuck it" to the heavens before gently grabbing Eren's arm and dragging him out the front door and to their car. He made sure Eren was sitting comfortably in the passenger side before closing the door and walking around to the driver's side and getting in himself.

"Look, I'll see you when we get there, we can talk more alright? Bye," Levi sighed out, flipping his phone closed and shoving it in his coat pocket as he searched for his keys.

Eren stared at the agitated raven with worry written on his facial features. He had a feeling things would probably come to this. He had to sit through countless conversations of Jean talking nonstop about Marco when he hung out with his friends. Clearly the man felt strongly about Marco, and he couldn't imagine the amount of pain Jean must be facing at losing such a wonderful person in his life.

"What's going to happen now?" Eren asked, his voice sounding quiet and child-like to his own ears.

"They're going to send him to a clinic after they do a quick evaluation on him once he they see to it the drug is fully out of his system," Levi replied, turning around to look out the back window as he put the car in reverse.

"We should've had him move in with us for awhile, we could've prevented this," Eren said, his voice shaking in guilt.

"Don't you think I fucking know that Eren!?" Levi snapped, instantly regretting it. He just felt so stressed right now, he wanted to focus on Eren and solely on Eren and his health. He didn't want to worry about another person who he barely even knew, it was just too much. It didn't help anything that he knew exactly what shit Jean was going through. He went through a phase like that himself when Petra died, he tried to kill himself by hanging himself, but sadly Erwin found him and ended up cutting him down before he could fully end his life. That was back when Erwin took him under his wing and offered a place for him so he could finish school. And their relationship was strained because of it, Levi hated Erwin for saving his life back then, he hated him for letting them take him away to a clinic where Erwin only visited once every few weeks. As years passed, their relationship became stronger, especially since Eren forced himself into his life.

"I-I'm sorry...I didn't mean to yell at you. I'm just stressed...I don't want to worry about two people," Levi sighed out, putting the car in drive and speeding down the road.

"It's okay...I understand," Eren replied, taking one of Levi's cold hands into his own, he began to rub his hand gently to try and warm it up.

Levi exhaled shakily as he slowly regained his self control, his dark eyes trained on the road ahead of him. Eren's frowned when he noticed just how dark the bags under Levi's eyes were, he was definitely not sleeping at night lately, even after the party at Hanji's. He was beginning to get more concerned about the raven, rather than his own condition.

Levi shot a small, unconvincing smile at the brunette, giving his hand a squeeze and he returned his attention to the road. Eren sighed and squeezed back. Levi was always the type to pretend he was okay, even if it was clear that he wasn't okay. Eren wondered if he was reliving his own past as they made the drive to the hospital, even though it was many years ago.
~

Thankfully the couple didn't have to stay long in the hospital, they only stayed for a night, just long enough to scold Jean on his stupidity when he woke up. That situation involved many tears shed (mostly from Eren) and a lot of yelling (mostly from Levi and Jean as they yelled at each other), but in the end they managed to get their point across to Jean. Jean was sent to a clinic a couple towns over once he was discharged from the hospital a day afterwards, as they were told by Erwin. Levi was currently sitting on the living room floor, making a list of things he needed to grab after work for their Thanksgiving party tomorrow. Sadly, Jean was not granted permission to attend their party, for reasons both of them thought was unfair. Levi never understood those petty rules they made in the clinic, but he knew they were put there to protect and keep their patients focused on their goals.

Eren was currently napping in their bedroom after going to clinic to recieve his injection of some chemotherapy drug Levi forgot the name of. Honestly why did they have to come up with stupid, complicated names for drugs, what was the point. Was it just to make the doctors and nurses sound smarter? Levi shrugged and got up from the floor, grabbing the list and giving it a once over to make sure he didn't forget anything before shoving it in his pocket. He was happy he didn't have to wear a uniform for work, one of the perks of being the manager of the restaurant, of course that didn't mean he could just laze around and whip employees and command them to do his every bidding. Secretly Levi wished he could, specifically to Conny and Sasha, Bertholdt's abilities surpassed those two's tenfold, and he was still pretty new.

Levi walked off to their bedroom to give Eren a goodbye kiss, he smiled sadly when he saw the brunette was up, gripping the sides of a pail as the chemo took it's course. Levi sighed and rubbed the man's back comfortingly, patiently waiting for his stomach to settle before saying goodbye.

"S-Sorry if I was being loud..." the brunette choked out weakly, grabbing the water bottle on the nightstand, untwisting the cap and taking a huge swig of it, he swished the water in his mouth for a few moments before spitting it out into the pail. He set the pail gently on the ground, before turning to face the raven, who waited patiently for Eren to go through the normal routine he developed over the months.

"It's fine, you weren't that loud. I just wanted to come in to say that I'm leaving for work...do you want me to bring home anything for you? I'm stopping at the grocery store on my way back home," Levi asked, gently caressing the man's bald head as if he still had hair. Eren sighed and smiled weakly at the raven, happy that even though he didn't have hair anymore, he still acted like he did. He didn't seem bothered by the fact that Eren was sick almost on a daily basis anymore, not neccessarily this kind of sick, more so the weak kind of sick. He didn't mind that the brunette had to take breaks while they were walking around the neighborhood, or that he couldn't do household chores at his normal pace. He took it all in stride, and the only time he was ever bothered by Eren's condition was when people would stare at him for not having hair or question it. He usually shot them a glare to get them to stop staring, or even helped Eren answer their questions, depending on what that question was about of course.

"Not really…maybe some crackers?" Eren suggested.

"Alright, if you need them I set out a couple Zofran pills on the counter if you need them, don't be stupid and accidentally overdose on them alright?" Levi said, leaning down to kiss Eren. Which was surprising for Eren since he was pretty sure his breath wasn't considered "pleasant" at the moment. But Levi pulled away with a smile, not all giving the impression of disgust.

"I get off at six, so I should be home by six thirty if things go my way. If you need anything, call. Got it?" Levi asked.

"Alright, alright, I get it, now go you’re going to be late," Eren chuckled.

Levi sighed and shot the brunette one last smile, which looked really tired,

"Alright....I love you...see you soon."

Eren sighed and closed his eyes in hopes of falling back to sleep when he heard the front door open and close as the raven left the apartment. He hoped he wouldn’t have many more days like this in the near future. He just wanted to feel better.
~

Levi came back home, pissed off once again after a day of work. He loved cooking, he just didn’t like working around people who were incompetent in the kitchen a.k.a. Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dipshit. Today was different though, especially since Sasha managed to mess up on the steaks which put them back by thirty more minutes and made it so Levi had to deal with tons of angry customers. Said customers were for the most part, rich people, fattening themselves on their money and laughing down at the poor peasants that dared to show their faces in his Levi’s restaurant. Levi hated them for it. First they bitch at him about his slow service and how they had very “important” places to be (Levi bet those places dealt with taking a ride in one of their three yachts personally.) but then they had the decency to laugh at the poorer people who trickled in in the fanciest clothes that they had just to treat their family to a rare meal at a fancy restaurant.

Instead of taking out his frustrations out on the rich with words (because that wouldn’t be offering good customer service) he took it out by serving their food last. He purposefully served the poorer families first, and made sure their meals were perfect in every way before serving them. He knew what it was like to grow up poor, and any time his parents dragged him and Petra to eat out at a restaurant, hell even a fast food joint, he knew it should be taken seriously. It was special. Sure some of the families that strolled in wore hideous attire (definitely not the sort of clothing to be wearing at a fancy restaurant) and it pissed him off that people stared or laughed at them or complained that Levi should throw the families out. In all honesty Levi couldn’t care, that was probably the fanciest outfit they had in their wardrobe and Levi was happy to serve them and make their experience special.
~

Today at the restaurant, the same situation had occurred, but Levi had to be escorted by Mike out of the building this time. It started like any normal day, like it was said before, Sasha messed up on the steaks, so Levi was already in a ticked off mood. Levi was also dealing with angry rich people who thought they were the most important people on the planet, so that made Levi pissed off, which is way different from being ticked off in Levi terms. And of course some poorer family comes in, and Levi bit his tongue as he waited for the laughter and disgusted looks that would come from the rich families. Levi noted that the family consisted of a father, two little boys, and a woman, the woman was wearing a hat and Levi noticed sympathetically the woman had no hair. She looked pale and fragile, her husband supporting her with an arm hooked around her own. He wore an out of style, beige sweater vest and gray slacks. The sweater vest looked frayed and old. The woman wore a blue blouse that had a few stubborn stains on it, black dress pants, and some black flats. The two little boys wore matching sweater vests that also had a few stains each, alongside matching black jeans and shined black shoes. Levi presumed they were twins.

Proving his prediction correct, the rich family in front of him starting to make a scene, pointing at the family and laughing.

“Oh look at these peasants Harold, look one of them is bald!” a lady exclaimed, laughing at the poor woman whose smile had faltered.

“Probably had to sell her hair for money,” the man chuckled, “You think you can come to a restaurant like this, dressed like that?”

“Oh honey you should’ve stayed home, nobody wants to see that,” a woman chuckled, hiding her amused smiled with her hand.

Levi felt himself fuming, especially when one of the men turned his attention on him and rudely commanded, “Well don’t just stand there, tell these people their not allowed to eat here!”

“They can stay,” the raven said bluntly, rage building inside him as the women continued to condescend the woman and her condition.

“Its chemo…I can’t help it,” the woman tried to explain.

“Then for heaven sakes, put on a wig,” a rich woman shot back, covering one of her children’s eyes.

“What do you mean they can stay, you can’t be serious? How do you expect me to eat around these dirty hoodlums! They don’t belong here,” another man protested.
“I could give less of a shit about your loss of appetite sir. I own this restaurant therefore what I say goes and I say they can stay! Now all of you will shut up, sit the fuck down, and wait for your food and if I hear one more snide comment about how that family looks I will not hesitate to kick your pompous asses out of my restaurant! Is that understood!?” Levi yelled, his voice causing the whole establishment to go quiet and his employees to step out of the back to see what was wrong.

“Is that any way to talk to us? I can have you sued you know,” a man threatened.

“Is that any way to talk to a woman in front of her family, one who’s probably dying? I understand you rich fat asses can’t control yourself when it comes to putting someone down because of their lack of money, but I will not have that in my establishment. And you can go ahead and try and sue me, you think you’re so tough. You’re not the one who has to watch their partner suffer, wishing you could do something to end the pain, but you can’t! You’re not the one that loses sleep every night, or wake up in cold sweats to make sure your lover is still breathing,” the raven shouted, his voice breaking in the middle of his sentence.

Mike took that opportunity to gently grab the man by the arm,” Sasha, Conny, Bert, deal with the food, Levi come on, let’s go outside and cool down.”

Levi opened his mouth to say more, but closed it when he saw the shocked faces of many staring back at him. He took a deep breath, exhaling he turned to the poor family and pointed at them, with a stern look he said, “Order whatever the hell you want, I’m paying for your meal.”

With that he allowed himself to be led away by Mike, his employees respectfully parting to let them through. Each of them wore a shocked expression. Mike made his way to the mini fridge they had in the kitchen, grabbing a couple sodas, before walking over to the back door. He opened the back door and gently nudged the raven through the door way before following, and closing the back door behind him.

Levi turned around, his mouth already opened with an apology on his lips.

Mike held up a hand and offered a soda to him, “Don’t talk for right now, just take a few sips and calm down man.”

Levi closed his mouth, and took the soda gratefully before popping the tab open and leaning on the brick wall of the alley.

Mike popped open the tab on his own drink, staying quiet as he took a few sips. The men watched the sun begin to set in the crisp, winter air.

“You know…that was really cool of you man. Those fat pigs deserved it,” Mike began.

“I could’ve done that a little better…I didn’t mean to get so emotional. Damn it what if he really does try and sue me, I can’t afford that, not with Eren and the medical bills,” Levi said, running a hand through his hair nervously. He could’ve played that a lot better. He seldom showed emotion in public, especially if he wasn’t around Eren. Usually he wouldn’t have made a big scene about it, he would keep his words to himself, but to see them insult that woman who was fighting cancer, who couldn’t control the way she looked, who is most likely in debt because of the medical bills…it reminded him of Eren. It was like they were insulting Eren right in front of him instead of that woman. They decided to hurt someone who was already hurting, who was most likely like Eren where days of feeling relatively normal, were hard to come by. Normal as in being able to get up in the morning, being able to keep food down, having enough energy to be a mother to her children. And those fuckers decided to hurt her and try to ruin her day.

“Nobody isn’t going to sue you. Look man, the words you said were harsh, but I think they needed to hear it. Sometimes you have to hurt people in order to get them to understand. Honestly, I’m pretty sure either one of us was ready to stand up to those bastards, they walk in like they own the place. We were all getting sick of it Levi. Something was bound to happen, and I’m just glad you stepped up to the plate before the other youngsters did. You had a better chance of being heard then they did, and that’s just the sad truth. It’s the ones who always stay quiet that makes the best impact, nobody expects them to speak up and the world is silenced when they do,” Mike said, chugging down his pop.

Levi rolled his eyes and snorted, “Damn Mike, ever thought of becoming a poet?”

“Nope. I just say it how it is. So are you feeling better? Not to rush you or anything but I’m pretty sure Sasha and Conny are starting a food fight in the kitchen as we speak and I’d feel bad if the new guy got spaghetti sauce on his clothes like last time. It wouldn’t have been so bad if Bert didn’t wear a white shirt that day,” Mike said, crushing the soda can on his forehead before tossing it in a nearby dumpster.

Levi rolled his eyes and chugged the rest of his soda as well before saying, “Show off, I’m going to go talk to that family, by the time I get back in the kitchen I expect the steaks to be perfect.”

“You got it boss.”

Levi threw his empty can into the dumpster before following Mike inside the restaurant, the raven didn’t even realize how cold he was until he walked into the kitchen and felt his hands begin to burn. He gave a once over on the kitchen, happy that no food fight had commenced while they were outside, before shooting a warning glance at Sasha and Conny, even though they weren’t doing anything wrong. Once he saw they both got the warning message he made his way out of the kitchen and set off to the find the family he stuck up for, some of the richer families gave him a look but he managed to keep them silent with a death glare of his own as he weaved in between people. He finally found the family off in the corner of the restaurant, away from everyone else.

The father looked up nervously when he heard footsteps approaching their table, his nervousness dissipated though as soon as he saw Levi, he touched his wife’s arm who looked to him and then up at the raven who approached their table.

Levi coughed awkwardly before beginning his apology, “I apologize for my behavior earlier, I assure you that I usually don’t act like that. Most of the time I just let them go and hope they’ll choke on their food. It’s just that my partner has been going through chemo and it…sort of triggered a response out of me.”

“That’s quite alright Mr. uhmm…” the man began.

“Ackerman.”

“Mr. Ackerman. We’re very thankful for what you did for us. I’m Henry by the way and this is my wife Violet and our twin boys Derrick and Damien,” the man replied.

“Going through chemo is awful…I hope your wife is doing better than I am,” the woman said. Levi mentally blushed, wife? They thought Eren was girl? Oh yeah, that’s right, he didn’t mention his partner was actually a guy.

“Ah, frankly not so well. She had one of her kidneys removed a few months ago and is currently in stage two kidney cancer. The doctor put her on multiple drugs to try and save her remaining kidney. I wish she wasn’t sick all the time but she still manages to have a smile on her face even in the worse situations,” Levi responded, deciding the straight route was the best decision. He didn’t know if the family were homophobes are not right?

“Oh that’s awful, it’s good that she keeps a positive outlook though, it really helps a lot. I’m in stage two breast cancer, sadly the cancer has spread to my lymph nodes but I’m still trucking. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get rid of this thing once and for all,” the woman said optimistically, she turned her attention to her children before continuing, “After all I am a mother and I need to stick around and make sure these two stay out of trouble.”

The two boys looked down in embarrassment and groaned in response. Their mother chuckled before turning her attention back to Levi who was chuckling as well, “Do you have any children?”

“Ah, sadly we don’t have children. My wife really wanted to have children but she’s infertile. Of course we were thinking of adopting but with her condition and all we can’t really afford one right now,” Levi said easily, surprised at how easy it was to hide the fact he was marrying a guy from the couple.

“Oh that’s awful, we’re in the same boat, but health and life is more important than money anyways right?”

“Right. So uh, did you guys figure out what you want to eat, it’s already paid for,” Levi asked.

“Oh heaven’s no, we couldn’t ask you to do that, you’ve done more than enough,” the woman protested

“Please, it’s the least I can do. I know what it’s like to struggle paycheck to paycheck. Thankfully I don’t really have the issue anymore, but that doesn’t stop me from helping those less fortunate. Now what can I get you guys?” Levi asked, giving a stern look to the woman when it seemed she was about to protest again.
~

Levi sighed as he hung up his coat and took off his shoes, he just wanted to drink hot cup of tea and write a few pages before retiring for the day. Eren turned around on the couch, smiling softly when the raven entered, “Hi…how was work.”

“Shitty like always, I barked at a few rich people for insulting a family whose going through a rough time right now,” Levi mentioned, offering the man a small smile, happy to see he was up, “But enough about my day, how was your day love?”

“I slept for a few hours and took some Zofran, and managed to eat a slice of bread,” Eren stated, watching as the raven went into the kitchen to put away the groceries, “Do you want help with those?”

“No, I got them, you just worry about resting. What time is everyone coming over?” Levi asked as he grabbed various items from the plastic bags and put them away in cupboards.

“I told them around four, will that be enough time for everything to be done?” Eren asked.

“Yeah that should work,” Levi responded, taking a moment to grab the kettle, filling it with water and setting it on the stove to boil. He then went back to putting away everything, keeping a few things out for tomorrow’s cooking.

Eren walked into the kitchen and wrapped his arms around the raven, “I’ll try my hardest to help you cook tomorrow. I feel bad because you’ve been working your ass off lately and I’ve been lazing around.”

Levi turned around in the man’s arms to give him a quick peck on his lips, before turning around and replying, “Eren, you’re sick, you’re not lazing around your resting. I want you to rest. I can handle the cooking tomorrow.”

“Please let me help, at least with something,” Eren pleaded.

“Fine, but if you’re vomiting and carrying on I’m not going to let you,” Levi stated, leaning back into Eren’s touch.

“I’ll be fine, it’s wearing off anyways,” Eren said.

“Better not jinx yourself kid. Do you want some tea? I’m making some with ginger in it so it’ll settle your stomach,” Levi offered.

“Sure, I’ll take some tea,” Eren replied, nuzzling his face into Levi’s neck, “I missed you…the house is always so quiet when you’re gone. Sometimes I have to turn on the tv just to get rid of the deafening silence.”

“Oxymoron.”

“Excuse me!?” Eren asked, taking it as an insult, “Did you just call me a
moron?”

“No, I said oxymoron, because silence can’t be deafening. The two words are contradictory,” Levi stated with a smug smirk on his face, “If I called you a moron or something insulting, you would definitely know.”

“Oh…I forgot all about those…and we just covered those things in English class to.”
“That’s not surprising.”

“Oh jee, thanks Levi, you make me feel so much better about myself,” Eren replied sarcastically.

Levi chuckled and turned around in Eren’s arms, giving the man another kiss, “I love you…I can’t wait until April.”

April was the month they decided would be their wedding day. On the second of April they will be lawfully married. By then they’d already have a house as well, and maybe Eren’s condition would get better.

“I can’t wait until April either…I love you so much,” Eren squeaked in excitement, looking at his engagement ring thoughtfully, a small smile on his face. Levi sighed and allowed himself to enjoy the moment, that is until the kettle whistled and interrupted it.

“Damnit, can’t have a moment to ourselves can we?” Levi complained while Eren giggled in response. Levi made his way to a cupboard and grabbed two tea cups for the two of them, a small smile also on his face. Eren always had a way to make the shittiest of days even better, all it took was a smile.
~

“Eren stop eating everything, don’t you have any self- control brat!?” Levi exclaimed in irritation, they only had two hours left to get everything put together and Eren wasn’t helping anything by eating all the food.

“I’m sorry, it just tastes good! Besides we have two hours left, it’s not like we’re working at Wall Rose, they can wait for a little while can’t they?” Eren asked, walking over Levi and embracing him, “Just relax, you’ve been tense all week. Tell you what, when everyone else leaves and after looking at a few houses, why don’t I give you a nice massage?”

Eren emphasized his point by moving behind the man and massaging his shoulders, Levi smiled slightly and moaned, “Yeah that sounds like a nice idea…”

“Why are you so tense anyways? Is it work? Is it the fact I’m almost sick every day?” Eren asked, feeling ashamed that the cause for the man’s pain was because of him.

“A little bit of everything, we have five months to plan our wedding, Sasha and Conny…well work is always stressful when you have to keep those two idiots in line, and who knows how much worse your condition can get. What if you end up like Marco and suddenly stop breathing in the middle of the night?” Levi sighed out, walking over to the counter to
take a sip of his tea that he set there while he prepared the Thanksgiving meal.

“I’m not going to end up like Marco. Besides, the wedding is in five months, there is plenty of time to plan for it. And if you want I can talk to Sasha and Conny while they’re here…you really need to stop stressing over everything. That’s making me stress out to, and I’m the one that’s supposed to be taking it easy and resting,” Eren assured, taking a sip of water from the water bottle he set out next to Levi’s tea cup.

“You can’t blame me Eren. I lost my whole family at a young age. I’ve lived in the life of rags before Erwin showed up. You can’t blame me for being worried about money. What if we can’t afford your chemotherapy drugs anymore? What if you get seriously sick in the middle of the night and they have to put you under again to take out your remaining kidney?” Levi fretted.

“I know, but trust me Levi I’m not going anywhere without a fight. And Erwin will help us if we get low on money, he’s your friend and he promised that he’s going to treat me to his fullest ability. He’s a really good doctor, and my father is a doctor to, we’ll be just fine Levi, I promise. You’ll see. Just relax today, and enjoy being surrounded by our family and friends, okay? I love you, and remember I worry about you to,” Eren said in a way he hoped was comforting. He didn’t mean to make the raven freak out even more.

“Okay…” Levi sighed, angry with himself for letting the brunette know what kind of tortured thoughts were running through his head.

“I love you,” the brunette said, giving Levi a kiss on his forehead.

“I love you to,” the raven replied with a small smile.
~

Levi huffed victoriously, looking over his handiwork. Everything was cooked to perfection and put on the dining room table, that was basically three tables put together since their normal one was too small. Eren was currently taking a cat nap on the couch because Levi told him to since he thought he was working too hard. Eren being Eren, threw a fit but after a few threats from the raven he obeyed and laid down on the couch.

Seeing that everything was perfect, Levi made his way to the living room, pulling out his cellphone to check the time. They really needed to get a clock…this whole checking your phone to figure out the time bull shit was stupid, Levi thought. Their guests were going to arrive in about ten minutes so he walked over to the sleeping Eren and shook his shoulder gently.

“Eren, baby it’s time to get up, the guests are going to be here soon,” Levi said softly.

Eren groaned in response, “Gimme five minutes….”

Levi chuckled, finding Eren to be endearing when he was sleepy, “Brat if I give you five minutes, that five minutes will turn into an hour…come on, you can do it I
know you can.”

“It won’t turn into an hour…” Eren whined, gazing at Levi sleepily, closing his eyes when Levi began to caress his face and moaning again.

“I know you Eren, trust me it will,” Levi said, grabbing the man’s hands and helping him get up to at least a sitting position.

Eren gasped out at the sharp pain in his side, his hand flying to his side.

Levi cast the man a worried look, his hand pressing against the upper part of the man’s back where he knew it must hurt, “Sorry, your kidney is bothering you again?”

Eren nodded back, his face still pinched in pain, “Just give me a minute, it’ll go away soon, I’m sure of it.”

“Maybe we should have Erwin look at you again soon,” Levi sighed, allowing the brunette some time to let the pain pass, that is if I does decide to pass.

“No…I’ll be fine, I don’t want to ruin the party,” Eren said, slowly getting up.

“Eren-“Levi began his words interrupted by the doorbell knocking, he sighed out an, “I’ll get it, you just sit down and relax.”

Eren sighed and obeyed, laying back down and relaxing for a bit. Levi went to the door and opened it to reveal Erwin and Hanji.

“Hey idiots, did you bring anything?” Levi asked in his usual harshness.

Hanji laughed and replied, “Yes, we brought banana bread.”

“Did you at least make it edible this time?” Levi asked, letting the two walk in.

“Oh I wasn’t the one who made it, it was Erwin,” Hanji replied.

“Thank god.”

“I’m thankful to,”Hanji said, walking off to the kitchen but pausing when she saw Eren curled up on the couch, clearly in pain, “Eren! Oh honey, are you feeling okay?”

“Y-Yeah…j-just my kidney,” he replied

“Your kidney? Here, let me take a look,” Erwin replied, walking over to Eren.

“No it’s fine,” Eren replied, trying to get up.

“Eren, honey, lay down and relax,”Hanji soothed, pressing a hand gently on Eren’s chest, forcing him to lay back down.

Eren rolled his eyes but laid back down anyways, allowing Erwin to check his body. He caught a glimpse of Levi’s face which reflected worry, that look quickly disappeared though when the man saw that Eren was staring.

“I’d like to perform a CT scan tomorrow morning of your kidney…has it been hurting a lot lately? Or has it just suddenly started hurting?” Erwin questioned.

Eren bit his lip and looked away, feeling his face flush up. It has been hurting a lot lately, but of course he hid that from Levi as best as he could. After a few moments of contemplating Eren sighed out the truth, “It has been a lot lately, I just figured I had to deal with it and hope the drugs would work…”

Erwin sighed in response, clearly not happy with the lack of information from the brunette, “Do you think you can get through today?”

“Yeah I can…”

“If the pain gets any worse you better tell me, understand? I’m more than willing to perform an emergency CT scan if I have to.”

“I will,” Eren promised trying to sit up once again before a hand was pressed on his chest once again, causing him to huff in frustration as he was forced on the couch once again.

“Where do you think you’re going? You’re going to rest here, understand?” Erwin said.

“B-But, it wouldn’t be right of me to lay here while everyone else is at the table…”

“Then we’ll just sit around the living room,” Levi said with a shrug, “It’s not that big of a deal.”

“But I’ll be burden to everyone!” Eren protested.

“No you won’t. You will be though if you don’t take it easy,” Levi responded, walking to the door again at another knock.
~

In about ten minutes everyone have arrived and quickly filled the apartment with noise. Eren was surprised at how fast the place filled up, it only sucked that Levi and Erwin wouldn’t let him get off the couch to socialize with everyone. Thankfully though no one seemed to care that they would either have to kneel or stand to talk to Eren, even though the brunette offered to move a little bit so they could sit down on the couch. One of Levi’s friends, a hyperactive red-head bounded over to Eren in excitement.

“Hi Eren! It’s so great to meet you!” the girl chirped excitedly.

Levi’s eye twitched in annoyance as he came up behind the girl, ruffling her hair he explained just who she was,”Eren, this is Isabelle Magnolia, a long-time friend of mine, we met in an orphanage, that is before I escaped that wretched place.”

“Oh it’s good to meet you, why haven’t I heard of you before?” Eren asked, his hand being shook violently by the hyperactive girl.

“You haven’t told Eren about me!? What kind of fiancé are you big brother!?” Isabelle gasped in horror.

Levi groaned, “You know how much I hate to talk about my past. And besides we only found each other again a week ago, the only reason you’re here is that Farlan managed to get my cell phone number while you were hugging me and blubbering like a baby.”

Eren chuckled as Isabelle starting to pound on the raven’s chest in protest, turning his attention to a man with blonde hair approaching the group.

“God damn it Isabelle, I can’t take you anywhere without you throwing a fit,” the man said in annoyance.

“Eren, this is Farlan, I also met him in the orphanage. The three of us used to run around on the streets until we were split up one night after we were caught stealing food because one loudmouth couldn’t keep her mouth shut,” Levi said, directing his attention on the red-head as her cheeks flushed up in anger.

“Hey! It was Farlan who didn’t notice the security cameras around the place!”

“I thought we agreed to stop talking about that,” Farlan snapped.

Eren giggled at the trio’s antics, specifically at Isabelle who reminded him of himself when he was younger. He was always so obnoxious and full of energy, so much that he got yelled at more than a few times by his parents and his teachers at school. He also suffered through a few beatings from his father when he got too riled up.

“Anyways, it’s nice to meet you Eren. I’m sorry if Isabelle freaked you out, she has issues,” Farlan said, dodging a fist flying at his head from Isabelle.

Eren chuckled in response, “It’s nice to meet you guys to.”

Levi sighed in exasperation, “If you two do not behave I’m not inviting you
over ever again!”

“You know you would never do that, you love us too much!” Isabelle protested.

“Sure, you keep telling yourself that.”

“That’s right, we all know Levi likes me better,” Farlan refuted.

Levi sighed in response and turned his attention to Eren, “How are you feeling?”

“Better…just feeling a little antsy,” Eren responded, he didn’t like not being able to walk around. Even though chemotherapy tired him out considerably, he still had moments when he felt hyperactive.

“If you let me help you, I’ll let you walk around for a bit,” Levi offered, holding out his hand.

Eren sighed and took it, it was better than nothing right?
~

After a half an hour they decided it was time to eat, Levi made Eren sat on the couch again and told him to stay as he went to grab their plates. They decided that everyone can sit around the living room, so Eren wouldn’t feel excluded.

“How are you feeling?” Erwin asked Eren approaching him with his arm around Hanji’s waist.

“A little better…just feeling a little tired, “ Eren admitted, waiting for
everyone else as they filled their plates.

Levi came back after a few minutes with two plates in hand, he handed one to Eren,

“I didn’t know how much you wanted so just eat as much as you can, okay?”

Eren nodded in response and gratefully took his plate, head tilting as he noticed a tiny pink cupcake on his plate, “I didn’t know we had cupcakes.”

“Yeah Isabelle made them, they’re not that bad, but make sure to eat it so you don’t hurt her feelings okay?” Levi said, taking a bite out of his own cupcake that Isabelle practically shoved in his face earlier, with one command, eat it.

Eren nodded and took a bite of his own, he didn’t feel all that hungry but he didn’t want to hurt the red head’s feelings, especially since he just met her.

Sooner or later everyone was gathered on the floor, none of them at all minding that some of them had to sit on the floor. In fact some of them dragged chairs from the dining room to sit on.

“I think we should go around in a circle and say what we’re thankful for!” Isabelle piped up.

“What’s the point? Everyone started eating,” Farlan asked.

“It doesn’t matter, we can still do it, right?” Isabelle asked, looking towards Levi.

“I guess so,” Levi responded awkwardly, he wasn’t the greatest socializer after all.

“See Farlan! I’ll go first!” Isabelle said hyperactively, sticking her tongue out at Farlan before beginning.

“I’m thankful for being reunited with Big Brother, your turn Farlan!” Isabelle exclaimed.

“Ehh, same thing as Izzy’s,” Farlan said noncommittally.

“Not fair! You can’t have the same thing as me! Come on Farlan put some thought into it, please!” Isabelle exclaimed.

Farlan sighed and redid his, if that would make Isabelle happy. Afterwards the metaphorical torch was passed on to the next person and so on and so forth. Levi desperately tried to come up with something to say that wouldn’t make him seem like a complete sap. Frankly he couldn’t figure anything out and before he knew it was his turn to say what he was thankful. He decided to stick with the truth.

Levi sighed and bowed his head, his hair covering his eyes as a slow blush crawled acrossed his face, “I’m thankful for…being able to meet the man of my dreams…which wouldn’t be possible if someone decided to give a shit about me and give me a second chance. Even though we’re both going through some heavy shit right now, I’m happy that I’m going through it with you. I am also thankful that one of my friends, that managed to gain my trust, a feat that isn’t managed by most, is taking care of you. And I guess I’m thankful for my shit stains that I dare call my employees, I’m looking at you Sasha and Conny. And for everyone’s support in our time of need. And I’m thankful for every day that your still here with us. Your turn brat.”

Levi looked to Eren, his face a light pink that only grew darker with the awwhhs that came with his confession. Eren looked at him with misty eyes before clearing his throat and getting on with his confession.

“Uhm…I’m thankful for you, even though you come off as an asshole to most, I’m glad I got to be the lucky few that got to see behind that front. I’m also thankful to Erwin for taking it upon himself to try and treat me. I know I’m not the best patient in the world. I’m also glad for everyone’s support in our time of need, and I’m thankful for every day that I am allowed to go through, even if I’m sick for most of those days. I’m thankful that I was allowed into your life and that I have met someone as great as you, and I’m glad to be going through these experiences with you, no matter how painful,” Eren responded, his voice choking up in the middle of it, he stared at the raven whose blush grew darker at Eren’s speech. Eren’s face also flushed up, his eyes sparkling and relaying that message to Levi of how much he loved him.

Isabelle was crying alongside Armin and Eren’s mother at the two’s confessions of love, the whole room was silent except for those three’s sniffles. The silence was broken a few moments later though by the sound of clapping, which came from Reiner. The clapping was slowly met with others until the whole room exploded in clapping.

Eren giggled and looked down at his plate, his blush darkening. Levi response was an eye roll as he shoved another morsel of food in his mouth, hoping everyone else will take that hint and continue eating. He tried to ignore the fact that Conny and Sasha were a blubbering mess, even though he called them shit stains. Mike was giving the couple a thumbs up sign of approval, as well as Reiner who punched Bertholdt in the arm who was trying to hide his tears.

Least to say everyone managed to compose themselves during several minutes and managed to continue eating, the topic switching to light-hearted conversation between everyone. Eren had his eyes fixed on Levi though whose eyes were shimmering with emotion that he usually saved for Eren. He never showed emotion in front of either of their friends, except for maybe Erwin. He looked beautiful.

(Notes: Alright, sorry for the long wait you guys. I had to go to state this weekend and I truly thought I would get this chapter done by Thursday but I was wrong, so sorry for that. Anyways this is truly the longest chapter I have ever written so I hope you guys enjoy it and I hope that it kind of makes up for the delay. I was originally going for 5,000 words or so but it turned into 9,000 some words instead. I didn’t even think of adding in half of this stuff, but it sort of happened. Anyways, keep on with the reviews, I try to respond to each one. I’m thankful for you guys, even though Thanksgiving is long gone, I just wanted to say that. I’m thankful that you guys are willing to share your personal experiences and feelings with me. And I’m happy that you guys enjoy it so far. Anyways I gotta get to Chemistry class. See you guys soon!)