Eren felt numb and frigid when he jumped up from his sleep. He noticed how his teeth were chattering uncontrollably and his legs wobbling like they were going to give in. He embraced himself and rubbed his arms up and down to try to remove the goosebumps. He realized he was just soaked with water when he found his father standing just in front of him with a metal bucket held in his hands.

"What the hell was that for?" Eren muttered in his rough, morning voice.

"Watch your mouth, young man," he father snapped. "You forgot to take out the garbage."

"Really? So dunking cold, freezing water was the only possible way to wake me up? You could have shaken me or something," Eren mumbled as he walked past his father to exit the basement.

Eren didn't complain and did as he was told. He was aware that it was also crisp and windy outside, but his father would have forced him to go outside either way without a jacket no matter what he said if he were to argue with him.

He had no choice but to throw out the trash at seven in the morning.

---

Levi was sitting in the adjustable chair in his office, clicking away at the keyboard about something about a prescription for a kid with severe eczema. Erwin ordered him to go to work early that morning because he was told there was going to plenty of checkups that day, but his girlfriend wasn't any help at all. She was distracting him. She was a small woman with light ginger hair and amber eyes, and she was drop-dead gorgeous. They were that one couple who caught everyone's attention on the street. The only person who didn't pay attention to Petra was Levi himself.

"I don't have time. I've been too busy here for the past couple of days. Sorry. Maybe next time?" Levi said apathetically without looking up from the computer in front of him.

"But that's what you said last time," Petra complained. "We never go on dates anymore. The last time we went on one was three months ago."

"Petra, like I said, I'm very busy. It's winter season and all these kids have been going down with the flu. Erwin will scold at me if I ask for free time," he explained as he rustled papers around and scribbled on a few of them with a pen. "Actually, I do have time today, but it's during the evening. You never like having dates that late, but it's the only option I'm giving you right now. We can go watch that movie you've always wanted to watch. What was it called? Die a something?"

She giggled in response. "It's called Divergent, silly. Okay, sounds good to me. I'll meet you at your place in the evening, okay?"

Petra got up, smoothened her frilly dress and kissed Levi softly on the mouth, lingered there for a while just so he could taste her a little. He flinched, but she didn't seem to notice. He was surprised to see her there so early in the morning, but he didn't have anything against it. She was a little odd, but he still liked her very much, at least not in the way she wanted.

"I'll be taking my leave," she announced after she parted away. "I love you, Levi."

"Hmm. See you later."

The door clicked closed after she made her way out, and another voice immediately started to talk again.

"So you put your work before your own girlfriend? Good," Erwin said, pleased. "You're making me sound like the bad guy here. I wouldn't really get mad at you if you ditched just to be with her. I could make Oluo or Pixis take your shifts. I mean, she's a beautiful girl after all." Erwin was one of the most known doctors at the clinic and he was kind of like the boss, too.

"You are being way too generous. Just let a man work if he wants to work without questioning him," he muttered under his breath.

"Tell me, are you trying to avoid her? I don't see you two together much anymore, and I thought you liked her."

"So what if I am? She's getting touchy and possessive and she gets overly jealous whenever I talk to any of the female nurses. She even asked when I was going to propose to her and if I had to be frank, I wouldn't even think about it. I never gave it a thought either."

Levi wasn't good at these kind of things and didn't care much for things like relationships or girls. He was that kind of man that was perfectly fine without someone by his side. For his good looks, he did have plenty of girlfriends in the past, but they weren't really real or official. They were like tests to see what kind of girl he found appealing and alluring. It was true that his relationship with Petra was longer than any other affair he had in his entire life, but that didn't necessarily mean he liked her much. He told her he loved her, but they were nothing but empty lies to satisfy her.

"Break up with her then in the most gentle and careful way possible," Erwin suggested.

Levi didn't reply. He didn't know what he was going to do.

---

Eren turned his back for only a few seconds and the door had been locked up so quickly. After doing what he had to do, he tugged eagerly at the doorknob but failed to open it. It wouldn't budge, and that was when he realized that it was no incident. His father had (of course) purposely locked him up. Eren didn't know why, but he figured it was probably some sort of punishment. The boy shivered and banged angrily at the door.

"Father, open up!" he shouted.

He could see a pesky pair of eyes looking curiously out the window, studying him. His father was sipping from a mug of coffee while watching his son slowly freeze from the awful cold. Eren narrowed his eyes.

"Not my problem," his father mouthed.

Eren grit his teeth. He had work which meant he had to change into proper clothing. If his father didn't open the door, he'd be forced to go to work in his pjs, and he really he didn't seem pleased about that option. He worked at a bakery, and he could already imagine his friends never letting the moment he'd walk in die down. Knowing his father, he knew he wasn't going to open the door no matter what he would try to do or say.

With a loud sigh, Eren walked down the sidewalk as his body trembled from the windy day.

---

"Don't you own your own car?" Levi demanded curtly as his hands were firmly planted on the steering wheel and his eyes never looking away from the road.

"Of course I do. You're only, like, twenty something years old, right? You're too young and you're always burying yourself in work and I'm your best friend. We need to go on adventures!" Hanji let out a small laugh as she turned down the radio music.

"I very much do not want to participate in said adventures, and if you're my "best friend', you would know that I am twenty six. My youth is ending, and so is the only valid thing to do at the moment."

"Don't be like that. You're going to end up like Erwin, Levi, and he's thirty. All he does all day is read science text books and attends military training during the weekends," she said, exasperated. "Anyways, where are we going? Are we going to your place? You have cats, right? I want to see them."

"Why the hell would I own cats? I barely have time to even take care of myself..." he trailed off and abruptly swerved to the lane beside them. "We're going to the mall. I'm going on a date with Petra later and I'm sure she expects me to buy her something. What do girls like?"

"She probably likes expensive shoes or perfume and all that jazz. If she were her old self, I'd say buy her a book. She used to be some giant fan of books, didn't she? I wonder what happened." Hanji smiled sadly and looked down at her hands in her lap.

Levi shook his head subconsciously and stiffened at her words. The Petra he fell head over heels for was this timid and quiet girl who would rather go to the book store than possess diamond jewelry and tons of cash. She was the kind of person who never looked away from the book she would read and always treated and talked about the library like it was a church. The Petra he had now wasn't a bad person, but she sure wasn't the one Levi loved.

"I remember," he said quietly.

"You shouldn't buy her something too extravagant. Buy her something meaningful maybe? It's not like-" she looked out the window and gasped. "Oh my goodness! Is that Eren Jaeger in his pjs?" she snouted and rolled down the window.

The vehicle almost collided with the car in front of them as it violently jerked to the side. Levi was caught off guard by her sudden outburst. He looked over at her angrily. "Hanji, please don't scream while I'm driving."

"Just look at him. Who does he think he is walking down the street like that. He could be kidnapped with looks like that," she told him and stuck out her head out the window. "Eren? Is that you?" She pushed open the door and flew out like there was no tomorrow and ran to a teen who appeared to be dressed in soaking wet nightwear. She greeted him and gave him a tight and enthusiastic hug as Levi snorted. He looked like hell; his dark brown hair looking like he went through a hurricane and under his eyes there were noticeable dark circles.

"Stupid old man locked me out again," Levi could hear him speak. "I have work today, and nothing will stop me from going," he explained with a shiver.

"We could give you a ride if you want," Hanji offered with a grin.

"We?" Levi scoffed. "This is my car and there is no way I'm letting teenagers in it. I need to be somewhere right now, so if you'll excuse me-"

"Levi, look at him. He's been through a lot. Why must you be so cold-hearted?"

"Hanji I'm fine. It's only a thirty minute walk anyway and you guys don't own me anything. I should get going, too," Eren said and began to leave.

"Not so fast, young man," Hanji exclaimed and grabbed his collar. "That's a long walk and there's no way I'm letting you do that."

"I'm alright, really," Eren said stubbornly. "I'm just going to be a nuisance to you both."

"I don't care what you both say. Eren get in the car and Levi, if you oppose to this I won't give you any more coupons for cleaning products." Hanji pushed Eren in.

Levi made a sharp clicking sound with his tongue but didn't argue. If she stopped giving him coupons, his life would be a little more harder than it already was. He didn't have any other choice but to drive him to where he needed to be. He groaned internally.

"Fine," Levi said. "Where do you need to go, kid?"

---

AN:

rewriting and having to read this fic is making me cringe so hard oh my

thanks for reading, my beautiful readers! drop a vote and comment what you think!

also, i'm merely editing this fic so not much will change if anyone is wondering about that :^)

love always,

your best friend takeshi