There was no denying it there was his evidence. The faint trace of the wiped away lipstick. He could tell Levi, or someone had tried to wipe it off. It wasn't visible to those who weren't looking for it, but to an artist's eye, to Eren, who was used to looking for details in everything it was as visible as a light in the darkness. Eren felt like he had just received a punch to the gut. He felt all the wind get sucked from his lungs as the lipstick mark stared him straight in the face. 'No way,' he thought, 'but Levi's gay, isn't he?' He kept his composure for a moment and stayed dead still in order to push through these feelings and not tip off Levi in any way.

"Aw, Eren, you're so cruel," Levi pouted being denied a kiss. "I'm gonna go brush my teeth," Levi announced turning around and heading to the bathroom. Hoping that in doing so it would clear away the smell of alcohol.

'I trusted him,' Eren thought as his body started to shake. He tightly clenched his hands to try and get a grip on reality. He felt a tear run down his cheek. He went into his nightstand and made sure he grabbed what he wanted before he quickly turned around and headed for the bedroom door silently slipping out of the room.

He went downstairs and grabbed his keys. He scribbled a bullshit note saying he forgot to pick up some things at the store and silently walked out the front door leaving behind his phone and his jacket in the rushed process.

Levi had finished brushing his teeth and washing his face. He came back into the bedroom to find it empty. "Eren?" Levi asked to be met with silence. He walked out of the room to Eren's studio thinking he forgot something in there, but no the light was off and the room was empty. He headed down the stairs to find a single light on over the table where a note and a pen sat. He walked over and read the note.

"Where did you really go?" Levi whispered reading the obviously rushed note. He saw Eren's phone that was left on the table knowing that wherever Eren was going he wanted to be alone. "I'll give him two hours, any longer I'm calling Hanji and we are tracking him down," Levi mumbled heading back upstairs and staring at the clock nervously. He eyed his nightstand and saw the panda that had sat there all these years proudly. He grabbed it and hugged it tightly like he did whenever a negative feeling was approaching, it reminded him of Eren and that always helped him.

Eren had begun to drive he didn't know where he was going or how long he would be gone. In the passenger seat sat what he had dug through his nightstand to find. He drove in a haunting silence as his thoughts dictated everything he did. The radio remained off so that the ear piercing silence was in control of Eren's emotions. Eren pulled up in front of the familiar place and sighed. He hadn't remembered the last time he came here, it must have been around four years ago. He got out of the car grabbing the item in the passenger seat as he walked into the park.

This park had seen so many of his emotions back in the day, he would come here instead of going home, he would kill as much time as he could dreading what awaited him when he got home. After he moved in with Levi he thought he had seen the last of this place, but here he was doing the same thing he did back then. Hiding away in an abandoned eerie park in the middle of the night wishing when he got home he wouldn't have to face the horrors that awaited him.

This place hadn't changed that much in the four years he had been away, aside from some new paint jobs everything was exactly how he had left it. He sat on the same familiar bench that was positioned in between two trees. Their leaves hung so low that behind them was a secluded and quiet area. It was cut off from the rest of the world by the green curtain. Eren had remembered several times when the park was a little more active during the day hiding underneath one of those trees so that no one could see his tears. Even on the rainy days and nights when no one was there he would take refuge in the peaceful and mostly dry safe zone. 

Eren brought his knees up to his chest as the object rested on the bench next to him. He looked at it for a moment and took a deep breath before grabbing it. He wrapped it in his arms and clung to his stuffed panda. All he wanted were things to go back to the way they were.

"I wish I never found out," Eren sighed angrily, "things would be so much easier." Eren's voice had started to shake as he spoke to himself his tears starting to fall. "I could just forget, I could, couldn't I?" Eren asked himself, "Pretend it never happened, that I never noticed," he sighed once more. "I just can't lose him," Eren said to himself his voice quivering under the sobs. "I know Levi loves me, I do, but maybe I'm just not enough for him anymore... maybe I never was." Eren whispered to himself as his depression was starting to take hold once more. "Maybe I'm not thinking hard enough, maybe there is a logical explanation to all of this, one that ends happily," Eren said trying to be optimistic, but that was short lived as all of his thoughts lead back to the same road with a painful dead end.

Eren sighed and stood up he had made a decision that he hoped he wouldn't regret. "For now I am going to forget about it, I'll continue to play dumb. So what if it hurts a little, at least I get to stay by Levi's side."

What choice did he have, for the past four years this has been all he had known. He knew he was happy with Levi and that he love Levi, god did he love Levi. He knew that Levi loved him back in some way. He didn't want to lose the only person that ever seemed to give a damn about him. He gave him a place to call home. He was finally somewhere where he didn't have to constantly look over his shoulder. He was the one who accepted him for him and loved him for the differences that everyone else hated. He was with someone who knew every little thing about him, even some things he didn't even know about himself. This relationship was one that he would fight for to the bitter end. He wasn't about to give up this amazing thing he had with the love of his life. Levi was the only one to love him and cherish him even if it turned out he was cheating on him. Even if that was how it turned out Eren had figured Levi loved him more than that mystery person, I mean for god's sake he was living with the man.

Eren's thought flashed back to when he was in the hospital talking to his sister. 'Relationships are poison,' he remembered saying to his sister. He remembered how she told him that Levi was different. "I'm not so sure anymore," Eren whispered back at the old memory biting his lip to keep from any more tears spilling down his cheek.

He made his way back to his car and headed to the nearest store that he knew would still be open this late. He walked in and grabbed a few things to hopefully throw off Levi's suspicion when he got back. He quickly made his way home checking his face in the mirror first making sure there were no signs to give him away that he was crying because he knew Levi would be checking.

He walked up to the door with bags in hand. He was about to reach for the doorknob, but it had already swung open. Eren was faced with Levi who had his jacket on and a panic look on his face.

"Eren!" Levi said surprised. He stared at the boy wide-eyed for a moment before hugging him. "I was just about to go looking for you," Levi admitted before helping Eren carry in the bags.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to worry you," Eren said rubbing the back of his neck looking down.

Levi walked up to him and handed him his phone, "you left this behind, again," Levi said with a raised eyebrow, but he refused to question Eren about where he disappeared too. He knew if Eren wanted to talk to him about it he would.

He wasn't going to force him to talk about what was going on. He was trying to give Eren some space, he knew that he was always a little too overprotective of him, but he wanted Eren to know that he wasn't controlling. When Eren needed to go somewhere to clear his head he respected that, the only reason he was going to try and track him down is he feared that this late at night something bad might happen and he worried for his safety. He wished Eren would take his phone so that he could just text him every few hours to make sure he's safe so he wouldn't have to invade his personal thought time.