By the time the clock hit 4 AM, Levi had come to a conclusion and decided he would start cleaning hall walls as he intended to do weeks prior but even a lone liver managed to procrastinate and that was what he had done but Erwin there gave him a reason to do it and put him to use.

The halls between the second and first floor were left spotless even though no cleaning was necessary in the first place considering hardly anything ever went through the castle. He was nearly at the first floor when Erwin appeared at the top of the staircase, beginning the trek downwards. 

It was funny. Erwin, in a completely new environment and household, seemed surprised to see Levi awake and in a suit while cleaning the spotless walls. What did he expect anyway? An eerie house with ghosts scrambling around? The only ghost like figure was Levi in his severely underslept state.

“Why are you cleaning so early?” Erwin asked with a stretch while examining the walls he walked past. He really didn’t see a difference but he couldn’t actually say that to Levi, now could he? “Wait, how long have you been awake? Did you even sleep properly?”

Levi rolled his eyes and looked at Erwin. Such a gentleman. Even asking about his health.

“I’ve been awake for around an hour and a half, I’m cleaning so that I can be free the rest of the day and yes, I did manage to sleep for about an hour or so. Happy?”

“Very hap- wait, what? Half an hour? Are you serious?” Erwin asked in shock, unable to believe what he was hearing.

“Yes. I have trouble sleeping so it’s normal but, why are you awake?” Levi asked, continuing to scrub the wall in gentle motions with a cloth.

“I wanted to take a jog but then I remembered I don’t actually have clothes and I might get lost again so I just got up to look at the fog and take a look at my horse.” 

“Interesting. I’ll go with you. I want to see how you care for a horse.”

“Don’t you want to clean?”

“Cleaning can wait. It’s not every day I go around a horse.”

Levi put his cleaning supplies to a side and followed Erwin to the front door. The air outside was cold and Levi shivered a bit at the sudden gust of wind that blew over him. He never realized he always stayed inside until nearing evening when he would decide to walk around the yard. Holy shit since when was early morning always that cold? 

Erwin seemed unfazed and Levi cursed under his breath from the temperature difference inside the castle and outside. 

“Hey Blondie, aren’t you cold?” Levi asked, blowing on his hands.

“Nope. Are you?”

“Tch. As if. I’m perfectly fi-fine,” Levi said as his teeth chattered, selling him out.

“Of course. I wouldn’t expect anything else,” Erwin laughed, knowing full well Levi was trembling like a leaf. “I left my horse in your shed looking thing. I think it used to be to keep only a small amount of horses because there were only about three different sections which appeared to have old hay.”

Levi didn’t even answer. He just gave a hum knowing that any words spoken would just be a chatter and that’d be beyond embarrassing. Upon entering the shed, Levi felt more than thankful for the little bit of warmth that the enclosed area had. He really should start walking around more to get used to the ungodly weather.

Erwin set to work on brushing the horse and Levi gently ran his hand against its muzzle. His fingers were slightly blue and the tip of his nose was red.

“Are you cold?” Erwin asked, glancing at Levi who was trembling.

“Of course no-not.”

Erwin scoffed at the bullshit response, walking to where Levi was standing and pretending to be ‘macho’ against the temperature. Without a word, he took Levi’s hands in his and gasped in shock at the coldness.

“What a liar. Your hands are ice! Let’s go inside and warm you up.”

“I’m fine.”

What a load. Ignoring the words, Erwin started walking to the house holding onto one of Levi’s hands to keep it warm. Levi, unfortunately, could clearly feel his hand warm up and his other one remained cold which made him really want both of his hands to be held, encaptured by strong, unfairly warm hands. 

Once inside, Levi felt the warmness surround him immediately which meant that his hand was set free which meant his thoughts when he was vulnerably cold were embarrassing.

He was really starting to feel affection and touch deprived and that was nowhere near good for his health.

A fire was created in the sitting room and Erwin pulled Levi to sit beside him on a sofa in front of the fire. Slowly, Levi felt the invisible icicles sticking to his skin melt away, warming him up as he sighed in happiness. What if he had gone out when he was alone? Would he have frozen to death? Since when was he so severely unhealthy?

Too many questions, too little brain space.

“Well now that I’m not dying, I’ll prepare breakfast,” Levi announced walking to the kitchen. “Oh, by the way, what time are your friends coming?”

“I assume it’ll be a little before eleven,” Erwin answered, going to the kitchen as well.

“You think they’ll want to stick around for lunch?”

“I wouldn’t know but if I know them well enough, they will definitely want food. Why? Are you planning on making them food for lunch?”

“Only if you think they’ll stay. If not, then it’ll mean I’ll once again go back to eating alone.”

They had met for what? Sixteen hours? Eighteen hours? They didn’t know, it didn’t matter but Erwin did know that that sentence alone was just painful to hear. He couldn’t possibly allow Levi to go back to being a loner now, could he?

“Oh, they’d definitely want to stay,” Erwin answered, feeling the need to at least join Levi for one more meal with company.

“Well, then it’s settled.”

Levi made them some tea along with breakfast and they sat in silence just eating their food. They washed the few dishes and Erwin helped Levi with the remaining chores that he had left undone when they went to the shed. It wasn’t much, just usual sweeping and tidying things that seemed to have moved out of place on their own.

“I washed your clothes you had on yesterday so now you can wear those when you leave,” Levi said once they had gone to take a seat in the sitting room. “You don’t have to change now. You can do so when you’re about to leave or whenever you want.”

“Thanks. I just met you but you’ve already done so much. Is there any way I can repay you?”

“No. I’m fine.”

“No, really. Anything at all?”

Levi let out a sigh and looked into Erwin’s eyes, “My pride is telling me to say I’m fine but since you keep insisting, just come visit me every now and then. Perhaps if you allow me, I can visit you. I haven’t been around people in years so maybe it would be nice just to leave the castle every now and then. That is, if you agree.” 

“Of course. You can come visit me whenever but do you have a job or something?”

“No. I live off of the money my ancestors and parents saved over the years, kind of an easy life but a lonely one I guess. I should ask if you have a job though, can’t let you miss it just because I want to visit.”

“Me? Yeah. I’m a high school teacher but you wouldn’t be a bother, my students seem to love visitors more than anyone.”

“Really? Well, you missed school today. I wouldn’t expect you to be a teacher though, I thought you would be a businessman or someone like that,” Levi said surprised.

“Yeah. I thought a teacher would suit me best and I’ve never missed so it shouldn’t really matter. Besides, it’s a Monday,” Erwin explained nonchalantly. “My friend is also a teacher so I assume they explained why I’m not present.”

“Interesting. What subject do you teach?”

“History. It brings me joy to see the students suffering to remember the dates but they still love me because I don’t give that much homework.”

“Oh boy. I would suffer in your class,” Levi tisked. “I never was the brightest in history or maybe it was just the fact that the tutors I had made me learn the history of so many countries I got them mixed up. Anyways, it doesn’t matter anymore.”

Erwin smiled at the thought of a young Levi suffering over his notes, it was amusing to say the least. Just as they were just about to start another conversation, they were interrupted by the sound of hooves against gravel and a whinnying of a horse.

“Looks like they’re here,” Levi commented, standing up and going to the front door.

Like a normal person, Levi was about to greet the new people but before he could even open the door, a rather loud voice yelled from the other side.

“HEY, ERWIN! ARE YOU HERE!?” a voice yelled, gender of its owner indistinguishable, not that it even mattered in the first place.

Levi didn’t open the door but instead looked back at Erwin for an explanation for the yelling.

“Okay, don’t open the door. It appears someone else than I was expecting came along with another of my friends. If you open the door now, there’s a high chance you’ll be thrown back so let me do it,” Erwin whispered.

“Oi Hanji. Shut up. You can’t be yelling around here. This isn’t even your property,” a male voice said.

Erwin slowly opened the door and as warned, was thrown back with such force he fell to the ground with the ‘Hanji’ on top of him.

Oh fucking hell, Levi could already sense he’d be desperately trying to escape this person’s presence.