The air was tight and dense with the smell of rocks and old metal, almost suffocating him. A heavy weight was sitting on his chest, legs and arms and pinning him down to the point where he could not move at all. He wanted to scream, but found himself unable to without coughing his lungs out. He couldn't tell if his eyes were shut close or not, for he could see nothing but darkness. His ears were ringing, and he could hear a muffled and worried voice calling out his name over and over again. Eren wished he could shout back to let them know where he was, but the only sound that escaped his throat was a dry wheeze. 

"Eren! Eren? I'll get you out of there, just stay put." Levi was searching for him, and for once his voice sounded like he was in sheer panic. "Oh my god..." 

"L..." Eren finally managed to croak out in a sob. "Le...Levi."

"Eren?" Levi called out frantically. 

It was as if there was some invisible and strong force holding a rigid hold over his mouth. He wanted to scramble and inch his way to freedom, but the whole world was on his body. It didn't hurt too bad, mainly because his body was numb with the weight, but it did feel very uncomfortable. The moment brought him back to the time when he was a young child; all the kids in his neighbourhood would gather up and collect as much creepy insects as they could, only to throw rocks at them until they could no longer see their wiggling bodies. Eren was an insect in this case, except there were large metal chunks strewn across his body. He questioned himself how he was still alive.

Crooked cracks of fading light began to form above his squinting eyes, getting bigger and bigger until it formed a rough looking hole. At first he could only see the panting silhouette of Levi but soon could see the sharp glint in his anxious eyes. Although he was able to breathe under all that dusty rubble, he took much needed gasps of air, his chest expanding rapidly as he regulated his breathing. Levi dug out the debris with his bare hands, hardly noticing the increasing amount of shallow cuts and bruises forming at his knuckles. He too was breathing as if he were just dunked in icy water. Levi looked down at Eren's face and felt a huge wave of overwhelming relief smack him; Eren looked okay, minus the small scratches marking his skin. Levi removed all the rocks sitting atop of his body and knew that Eren was not completely alright like he hoped, but he also wasn't surprised at all. 

"You're alive," Levi said as his breath hitched in his throat. 

He felt strangely emotional, but not the kind that would make him want to cry. He was so overcome with feelings such as joy and relief, it made his chest warm and full. 

"Leg," Eren started quietly as he raised a quivering finger to point at said leg. "It's warm. Feels funny. I don't think I can get up."

In frantic panic, Levi cringed to himself as he forced himself to glance down at Eren's leg. From the outside, nothing appeared to be wrong. until he decided to roll up fabric away from the boy's ankles and brought a hand to his mouth in horror. Flaring and angry red was an open gash the size of his forearm on his calf. Blood trickled and gushed out of the fresh and harsh looking wound like a broken tap. Levi could feel his heart dropping to his stomach and his mouth hanging open. 

"You need to go to the hospital." 

"But I don't want to leave you," Eren protested as the pain started to make itself known. He winced.

"I won't leave you then, if that's what you want."

"But you'll get caught."

"Eren," Levi said with visible agitation. "We're either going to be separated or stay together, there is no in between. I'm not going to let you die from infection just because of your stupid stuborn atttude, do you understand? I am no one important and this whole thing, whatever the fuck we have, does not matter. You are going to the hospital whether you like it or not." 

"But, Levi-" 

It was kind of bizarre hearing his name escape from the mouth of someone he hardly knew. It was almost like hearing his name again for the first time in a hundred years. The odd feeling make him shiver uncomfortably. It was something he would never get used to. 

"Don't start with me. You will listen to me and do what I say," he scolded as he looked down nervously at the wound once more. It made him sick to his stomach just looking at it. He moved his stare away and breathed through his mouth and pinched the bridge of his nose tightly.

A little 'hmph' left Eren's lips, a sound between a whimper and a whine. Reluctantly, he nodded slowly before painfully reaching his arms out toward Levi. His teeth clenched to keep himself from letting out any yelps of discomfort. 

"Well, help me up," Eren said in a grumpy tone of voice, to which Levi obliged. 

He bent down to get on one knee as he stretched his arms toward Eren and put an arm around him while the other supported the backs of his knees. He hoisted him up carefully so that Eren wouldn't feel too much pain and cradled him closer to him. Eren was feeling awkward that a man at such a height was able to lift him up as if he was just a sack of feathers.

"Aren't I heavy?" Eren asked for the sole purpose of not causing awkward silence. .

"When you carry the weight of your sins and burdens on your shoulders on a daily basis, nothing can be as heavy," Levi answered in a plain, monotone voice. Eren couldn't tell if whether he was being sarcastic and deadpan or completely serious. It was always hard to tell with Levi. "This is all my fault."

"It isn't. I'm an idiot; I shouldn't have followed you in the first place," Eren told him as he winced when he tried to move his leg.

Levi was about to argue, to say something against Eren's statement but stopped himself to realize that Eren was right; he was an idiot. He wouldn't have been injured if he didn't copy what Levi was doing which was climbing up the damn ferris wheel that appeared like it was going to collapse anyway. It was an obvious butterfly effect waiting to happen.

"I'm a walking death trap, so I advise you not to follow my lead next time," Levi stated with a huff. The car wasn't too far, but it was tiring carrying Eren while being extra careful at the same time. Eren shivered lightly as the night wind hushed at them and tickled their skin like soft butterfly kisses. 

Once they arrived to where they left their trusty vehicle, Levi gently placed Eren in the backseat so that he could prop his leg up. Levi hopped into the driver's seat and began starting the engine. It coughed and sputtered and he could feel it vibrate all around him, but soon it pulled through after a few more twists of his keys. The headlights blinked, and he could see that the night was filled with tiny creatures such as moths and other unknown insects dashing around in alarm from the sudden source of light. Soon he was on the road again, leaving as soon as they arrived.

"How are you feeling? That was a very bad fall, I'm surprised we're even alive." Levi could remember that they were on one of the lowest areas, but he knew that jumping from it was enough to kill someone if they didn't brace themselves correctly.

"I feel light-headed," Eren answered honestly. "I... I think I might pass out sooner or later."

This worried Levi but of course, he was constantly worried nowadays. He read a bunch of horror stories online of unfortunate individuals getting into freak accidents, passing out and then never waking up ever again, and perhaps Eren was going to be next to add up to those horror stories.

"We don't even know where the nearest hospital is and our phones are busted. I don't think this is going to work out," Eren stated, his words slurring and voice groggy. 

"I'll do what I always do; drive until I see something. It worked until now, correct? Maybe luck still favours me," he replied and kept his eyes on the road, but occasionally darting to the rear-view mirror to check on the injured boy.

"Lady luck hates me," he mumbled.

"You will be okay. Stop using a tone of voice that makes it sound like you're dying." Levi was only half joking. He didn't look at the wound long enough to tell whether or not it was life threatening. The path of their conversation was going to get dark, so he switched on the radio to some random station, but was pleased when it was playing a classic sounding song. It sounded familiar. 

Strumming my pain with his fingers

Singing my life with his words

Killing me softly with his song

Killing me softly with his song

Telling my whole life with his words

Killing me softly with his song...

Of course it had to be a song whose theme was death, Levi thought glumly and was about to reach for the knob to change the station when Eren spoke up.

"No, don't. I like Roberta Flack. My mom used to  play this song for me whenever I couldn't sleep, so her voice is basically my childhood," Eren explained with a wistful smile plastered on his face, his voice choking at the mention of his mom. Suddenly a guilt so deep and genuine sharply poked Levi in the heart.

"Tell me about your mom," Levi blurted out. Although it looked painful to talk about her in such a situation, maybe it would make Eren remember happy memories.

Eren was taken aback, but spoke anyway. "She's a wonderful woman. Beautiful, compassionate and warm. Like, if the colour sunset orange was a person it would be her. She's really supportive and loving."

"That's nice," was all Levi could say. He had no clue what else to say.

"How about you? Don't you have family besides your, er, uncle?" Eren asked awkwardly. 

"My parents are dead," Levi told him flatly.

He could see Eren's eyes widen in the rear- view mirror. "Is that so? You don't need to talk about it then."

"It's fine. I was very young back then, so I don't really feel upset about it as much. We were really poor back then, so my dad borrowed money from strangers and he wasn't able to pay them back and well... you can guess what happened. I was only a newborn at the time, so I don't have much memories to actually miss him. My mom worked very hard so that I could have a normal life, but it was kind of impossible when she was gone for most of the day. She was a sex worker. It was the only job she was able to get at the time because she was always turned down by other employers. One night when she went out with a client, she never returned. She, like your mother, was also a good woman. I guess bad habits are passed down because now I have my awful ways of making money. I don't blame her for it; how else was she supposed to make money so that I was able to do the most simple of things like eat and have a pillow under my head at night?" Levi mumbled on.

Their eyes met through the mirror and Eren quickly looked away with a sad expression on his face. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Like I said, this happened a long time ago."

Eren couldn't imagine what it was like to be so young and without proper parent figures. Out of nowhere, he started feeling guilty for all the times he's ever yelled or swore at Levi. Then again, who wouldn't if anyone were in his position? He didn't know what he was feeling. Was it sympathy? Pity? Those were not common emotions he should feel toward someone who originally had bad intentions. 

"Anyway," Levi said quickly. "Does it hurt a lot? Your leg I mean."

Eren just nodded. He was still feeling a bit light- headed but not up to the point where he was going to pass out. His leg was burning and screaming in dull pain, but it was something he could easily handle. Although the cut on his leg was indeed deep like it appeared to be, he didn't think it would need to much stitches. As the song playing softly with the sounds of the ancient engine humming, Eren began to doze off. 

---

He woke up with the sound of Levi swearing, followed by the noises of punches being put against metal from outside the truck. Eren jumped and looked frantically around him in worry. Pain shot up his leg as he tried to move it, forgetting that he was injured for a brief momemt before he settled down in his seat once more.

"What's wrong?" Eren questioned as Levi returned to the front seat. 

"No more gas, and I have no idea where we are," Levi said angrily as he slammed his door shut and leaned into his seat.

"Yikes."

"This thing swallows gas faster than my uncle Kenny taking shots, and that's pretty fucking fast," said Levi as he aggressively ran his fingers through his hair.

Eren was reminded of the one time his parents took him and Mikasa on a road trip to the mountains. They had run out of gas in the middle of snow filled road, far from where the rest of society was. He could remember his mother and father stressing out as they tried to use a map to find where the nearest town was, or where they were able to use a phone. With no signal and no gas, their father had to leave them to search. Much to their luck, a trucker was just passing by and gladly lent them some of his spare gas. It was pretty much the same situation, except it wasn't snowing and there was no sign of generous truckers anywhere. Eren sighed aloud.

"I'm sorry," Levi said, mistaking that Eren's sigh was an agitated one.

"It's not your fault. Let's check what this truck has stored. Maybe Armin's grandpa left something of use," Eren suggested.

Finding useful objects when in danger was always one of Eren's first instincts, it was something he had picked up from an over-exaggerated survival show he once watched with Mikasa and Armin. Now that he was on the road with Levi where being stranded was just a mess waiting to happen, it was finally a useful tip. 

"Oh!" Eren exclaimed excitedly and suddenly, surprising Levi. "Armin's grandpa always got lost very easily whenever he went out, so he made sure to always keep his old cellphone in here just in case. We're saved."

"That sounds too good to be true," Levi breathed in awe. He always hated how clumsy old people could be at times, but was now thankful.

Eren carefully made his way to the front of stretching his body over the passenger seat arm rests and opened the little storage compartment where people would usually stuff their receipts and sun glasses in. It was filled with an alarming amount of pens and  bubblegum wrappers, making it harder for him to dig around as he tried to fish for the the phone he hoped was hidden somewhere in there. As his face began to drop in disappointment, he finally felt the familiar cold metal of an old school flip-phone and immediately yanked it out.

"Wow, I've never seen a fossil before," Levi commented sarcastically as Eren flipped it open in a hurry. "Been a while since I've last seen one of those."

Eren was pressing buttons at random and got the screen to light up, flaring a spark of hope in his heart. 

"One bar!" he announced. "One freaking bar. God, I didn't think we'd get any signal out here." 

"Who do you intend to call?" Levi asked. 

"Armin."

"Don't you think we used enough of his help already?" Levi said, exasperated. 

"Well, who else are we supposed to call?" Eren questioned in a manner Levi would consider what an airhead would sound like.

Gee I don't know; your parents or the police, Levi thought as he rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest tiredly. It was as if the boy was doing everything in his power not to go home. The guilt and shame was already at its peak tight in Levi's chest, and returning Eren home was the only way to make it all collapse and disappear.

"I think I'll call Mikasa," he said finally. "She's my sister, but I think you already know that since you... nevermind. I'll let her know I'm okay."

Levi already knew what Eren was going to say even though he didn't get to finish his sentence. 'She's my sister, but I think you already know that since you have been stalking me.'  was what he was supposed to say. 

With uncontrollably shaking hands, he punched in the familiar number and brought the device to his ear as he listened to the steady, irritating buzzing sounds. His hands trembled as he desperately hoped that his sister would pick up, and she did. The buzzing stopped, and there was nothing but dead silence one the line before she spoke.

"Who is this?" she sounded tired, almost sad as well. 

He breathed into the phone lightly, a lump already forming in his throat "It's me. It's Eren."

Another pause of silence. 

"Eren?" her voice rose an octave higher. She exhaled into the phone. 

"Mikasa," was all he could say. Just whispering her name into the phone felt soothing. He was relieved that she wasn't away and that she answered.

"You're alive? Eren? Eren! I must be imagining your voice somehow, aren't I?" she mumbled to herself. He could her paper rustling on the other line as well as other voices, mumbling quietly. "Eren, are you alright? Wherever you are, please stay there. Do not go anywhere. We're going to have people find you, okay?"

"Huh? Wait-" the signal began to break down. Static rang in his ears as he struggled to listen to Mikasa's cracking voice.

"Eren, please stay safe. I miss you! I'll see you s-" 

The call ended, leaving him speechless as the line played a long and boisterous beep. It was awfully short, but he was glad that he got to talk to his sister after what seemed like a few months. Although they got into the typical sibling fights, he missed her badly.

"They're coming," Levi said in a robotic voice as he stared out the window blankly. "I told you I would bring you home." 

"But... what about you?" Eren asked as he threw the phone down on the seat. It bounced off, now forgotten in the cemetery of dead flies and old potato chip pieces. 

"What about me?" Levi wondered. "Where I belong; in jail."

"But-"

"No more but's," Levi cut him off tiredly as he cradled his face in his hands. "Eren, I really hope you weren't thinking what I'm thinking, because this is not permanent."

"You saved me. When they find us, surely this can't be the end of all things between us." Eren told him as he tried to make eye contact with him through the rear- view mirror but failed. The raven-haired man refused to look at him even once. His mouth was curled in annoyance. 

"It has to be.  I'm tired of running. I don't care what my dumb and lame excuse of an uncle told me; law will always have its way. For my sins, I must pay for them. It's as simple as that," he responded and leaned back into his seat and briefly closed his eyes.

Levi was right, and Eren was too stubborn to believe any of it. At the start, he hated Levi with a deep passion that shook him from the core, but now he wanted to stay with him because he was a good man at heart. They had spent so much time alone together, but he still couldn't figure put what kind of emotions and feelings he had for Levi. It was not hate anymore, but it was not clear whether or not it was love. It was longing and want. Eren always wanted things he could simply not have and vice versa.

"But I like you," Eren blurted out. Levi angled himself so that he was staring right at Eren. There was a look in his eyes that told the boy that Levi was surprised but also slightly angered. His beautifully radiant eyes drowning all of Levi's focus.

"You can't like me," Levi snapped with frustration as he slammed his fist vigorously against the arm rest. Eren's eyebrows knitted together at the sudden movement. "The only reason you think you like me is because we've been practically stuck to one another and there's has been no one else to talk to except myself. Whatever you're feeling, stop it immediately and get it together before the police arrive." 

Eren was dismayed that Levi shut him down so quickly. He was always taught to be honest, and so he often spoke his mind. In some ways he was ashamed for what he was feeling and thinking, but nothing but fate could ever control the excruciating but passionate grasp of a first love. It wrapped itself around Eren's neck and chest, confining him in a blanket of sorrow and anguish as his chest grew heavy with it. It was a sinking and empty feeling, as if he plunged into tepid sea and continuing to sink down hopelessly with no sign of hitting the bottom.

Levi was quite disappointed in himself. He really did want to bring Eren home directly so that he would feel accomplished somehow, but it was impossible when the car is out of gas and the police are on their way. He was upset, but he was glad that Eren was going to see his family again. Envy poked Levi in the back of his mind. A family, how lovely. Something that he would never get to experience. Something as common as trees in forests was so hard for him to obtain, but it was all he ever wanted.

Because he too also wanted things he could not have.

---

AN: 

I am officially out of ideas for this fic buttttttttt I might make a part 1 and 2 for this fic. like,,, the first 18 chapters will be part 1 while the rest would be part 2. I really tried to stick to the same plot as the I found mv, but it got kind of repetitive TT so part 2 will be connected to 1 (obviously) but slightly different plot. it will all make sense in the end. 

I stayed up til 5 to write this and as I am typing this I am too tired to edit the last few paragraphs. I hope you don't mind too much :> 

thank you for sticking around <3

~t