Walking around without Levi was like trying to walk without one leg; unbalanced and difficult. He was well aware that he was being irrational. Surely he was able to survive without Levi for two weeks, but he felt like he was slowly dying from the inside. The airplane ride made up for Levi's absence. Eren loved and enjoyed plane rides but not because his family always purchased first class seats, but because the feeling of exploring into new land excited him. He's been to many places in Europe such as France and Spain, but Italy was unexplored land to him. He heard the weather was going to be nice and sunny too, something different from the wet, chilly weather back home. Eren sat between Armin and Mikasa and his parents were seated in front of them. 

"Will you tell us who you moved in with?" Mikasa asked curiously three hours into their flight. It was two in the morning, but it seemed that everyone in the place was awake. 

"There is a time and place to tell certain things. Right now is not one of them," Eren answered simply. 

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Armin squeaked. Eren turned his head towards him and shot him a glare. Long ago, Eren made Armin swear not to discuss the topic of girlfriends in front of Mikasa because once she was curious, she would not shut up. "O-Or boyfriend, that works too." 

"I won't release any information until I feel that the time is right. I promise I'll tell you guys everything, just not now," Eren said and then began to whisper so that his parents wouldn't overhear him. "Especially with me and Kasa's folks here. Armin, you already know how nosy they can get, and I don't want to endure the rest of flight while having them throw millions of questions at me." 

"We've been dying to know. You never call us anymore. I wonder what kind of person he or she must be that you ignore your best friend," Armin said with a mock pout.

"They're a wonderful person, I'll tell you that," Eren said with a big smile. 

It was three in the afternoon and Levi still didn't feel any motivation to get up. The sunlight was dripping from the windowpanes and onto the floor but Levi never felt so cold. He had his legs up to his chest and he was on his side, looking at Eren's side of the bed. He lifted one hand from under the sheets to reach forward and touch where his head would be, feeling the soft wrinkles of the covers where his scent still lingered. He created little hills of fabric as he dragged his hand back and under the covers again. He was lonely. He knew he would need to get up eventually because knowing Eren, he would be upset if Levi just wasted hours moping in bed just because he wasn't there. With a loud sigh, he slowly slid himself out of bed and fell onto the floor, bottom first. He sat on the cold, wooden floor for a few minutes before getting up and heading to the bathroom where he would spend another ten looking at his reflection and thinking about how much he hated his facial expression; he had more sleep than when Eren was there with him, but he appeared as if he had just risen from the grave. 

After washing his face and brushing his teeth, almost in a rush, he went back to their shared bedroom and crashed right back into bed, the mattress molding around him as if all the time he spent in the same spot had created a dent. He grabbed his phone from the bedside table and texted Eren. 

L:  miss you already. 

Using his world clock on his phone, Levi found out that it was a little after midnight in Italy. He was surprised at how Eren replied to quickly despite the late hour from where he was. 

E: Right back at you. We just arrived at our hotel. 

After reading the message, Eren quickly sent a slightly blurry photo of their hotel room; it was a shot of the satin curtain-covered window and the mini dining area where two boxes of pizza where opened. Although the chairs and the table itself looked more expensive than all of the things Levi had stolen in the past, he wondered why they settled for just pizza, and it wasn't even the fancy, gourmet pizza swerved in silver coloured platters. Levi laughed aloud at this. 

E: Dinner for a king. It's Italy so I just had to order pizza. 

L: Hahaha, you have good taste. 

E: Rather be tasting you right now. I guess pizza will suffice for now. 

L: Already been a day since you left and you're already texting dirty? Why am I not surprised? 

E: Can't help it. I feel like Italy is a place for romance like Paris. I've seen so many tourist couples. I'm lonely without you. 

E: But it's been great so far! Though my sister and Armin are starting to wonder who you are. 

L: Eren... what did you tell them?

E: Nothing. 

E: All I told them was that you're a great person, but I didn't give them any more details. 

L: Alright. 

L: I forgot how weird it is without you here with me. 

E: I was just thinking the same. How weird it is that I am surrounded by my friends and family and I still manage to feel like I am the loneliest individual on Earth. How strange is that? 

L: Well, don't let it get to you. I want you to have fun and enjoy your trip. 

L: It's late over there, isn't it? I don't want to keep you up when you should be sleeping. You should rest soon. 

E: I will don't worry. 

E: God. 

E: I wish I could hear your voice. 

L: When you wake up tomorrow you can skype me if you want, okay? 

E: Okay. 

L: Okay. 

L: Goodnight, get some rest. 

L: I love you. 

E: I'll send more photos soon. I love you too. 

Levi hated the word soon. It brought so many questions and anxiety. When was soon? A few minutes? A few hours? A few days? 

When Eren woke up in the morning, he was surprised and pleased to find that he didn't have any nightmares. He woke up feeling fresh and ready to start the day. He shared a room with Armin, and he was still deep in slumber, so Eren thought this was a great opportunity to give Levi a skype call. He sat up in bed with his phone in hand and excitedly tapped on Levi's icon to call him. It took less five seconds for Levi to answer. 

"Hi, baby," Levi greeted him. He appeared to be in bed as well and looked as if he had just woken up. He rubbed his eyes and smiled. 

"Good morning from Italy. How is my adoring boyfriend doing?" 

"I'm doing fine. Just a little tired is all. I hope you've rested well. Any nightmares?" Levi asked him with a small yawn. He stretched a little before directing his attention his phone screen again. 

"I have and no, I haven't had any. I hope you're taking care of yourself over there because I know you forget sometimes. Do you have any plans?" 

"Eren, I am a criminal. People like me don't have friends to make plans with," Levi said sarcastically with a scoff. 

"When I come back I definitely need to introduce you to people to socialize with." 

Levi sighed quietly, but loud enough for Eren to notice. 

"What's wrong? Do you have a big dislike of social situations or something? If I'm stepping over the line I completely understand-" 

"It's not that," Levi cut him off. "I wish I could kiss you." 

Eren smiled sweetly at him as he fell back into bed with a sigh. "I want to kiss you too. I wish you were here with me. If my parents knew about you, I would definitely buy a plane ticket for you." 

"As much as I hate to admit it, you can't be with me all the time. You haven't seen them in a while, yes? This is healthy for you." The connection of the call began to break up a bit, but not enough to end it. 

"Well, I suppose you're right. I don't know, everything feels weird without you, like living without my heart for a while. I may sound overdramatic or irrational, but I think this is what it was like before being with you; I had grown used to it but it doesn't feel too good, almost unpleasant." 

"I'm sorry you feel that way but your trip just started and I can promise you that you will have fun soon and you will forget about me for a bit. Did you eat breakfast yet?" 

"Not yet, I just woke up. Everyone else is still asleep, and it's still pretty early so we probably won't go out to eat until later. What have you been up to?" Eren said as he began to lower his voice, remembering that Armin was still knocked out in sleep. 

"Nothing much; I've been napping and watching the news, nothing too exciting like what you're doing. But don't worry, I won't stay in bed too much. I was thinking of heading to the coffee shop later." 

"Sounds great. Well, I'm going to head to the shower now and get ready for the day," Eren stated as he lifted himself from the bed once again, the speakers of Levi's phone emitting crinkling sound from Eren's end of the call. "I'm sorry this call is so short, but I'll call you later." 

"It's okay, I don't mind. I miss you already," Levi told him with a faint grin. There was a trace of sadness in it. 

"I miss you too. I love you, Levi."

Eren ended the call and slammed his phone onto the bed and under the covers so that he wouldn't be tempted to pick it up and call Levi again. He sat back on the bed and brought his knees up and tucked it under his chin as he leaned against the unnecessary amount of pillows. He was still wearing the hoodie he borrowed from Levi. He pulled the collar up and gave it a strong whiff before turning to Armin's bed, realizing that he was wide awake and staring at him with a weird expression on his face.

"It's a guy," was all Armin said. 

"God. How much did you hear?" Eren asked in a panic. 

"The last few seconds," Armin answered quietly. He slowly sat himself up and swung his legs over the edge, letting them dangle. "You said his name is Levi."

Eren didn't respond. He looked away from him and tightened the drawstring of the hoodie so that the hood wrapped more securely around his head. 

"Levi as in Levi Ackerman? Levi as in the Levi who helped to kidnap you and then turned against his partner in order to help you escape and save you?" Armin questioned, almost excitedly. 

Eren huffed and wished he had decided to give Levi a call in a more convenient place where no one else was present. Armin was an intelligent boy and could easily through Eren if he ever tried to lie to him, so Eren knew it was best to tell the truth instead of fighting it. "Yes."

"Okay." 

Eren turned towards him again, his hood falling from his head and revealing his awful bed head. Armin paid little mind to this, but couldn't face Eren with a straight face from how he looked. "'Okay?' That's all you're going to say? Aren't you, like, mad at me?" 

"I predicted something like this was going to happen. I suspected it for a while now, and it explains why you were so secretive about your relationship. No, I'm not mad, just surprised," Armin whispered.

"Surprised that I'm dating a man or that I'm dating a criminal?" Eren asked. 

"That you're dating a man. You were so popular in high school with the females, Eren, they were all over you and you openly flirted with them. But I'm mad that you didn't tell me your new discovery of sexuality. I know finding yourself can be quite challenging when you don't rant to your friends about it sometimes-" 

"Armin," Eren cut him off. 

"Yes?" 

"He's a criminal." 

"Yes, and? Am I supposed to be angry? Do you want me to be angry? How am I supposed to react? Truth is, I'm happy for you. Your parents told me you seemed a lot more at ease and happier when you moved out of their place. Yeah, he may have been a bad person but he proved himself wrong by bringing you back to us, yes? I don't see a problem as long as he doesn't hurt you again." 

Eren was stunned. He was ready to defend himself verbally if Armin had exploded and told him off for dating someone with a dark past. This reaction was a lot better than he had anticipated. He was relieved and felt the urge to cry because Armin was his best friend and he never wanted Armin to ever resent him for his choices.

"Please don't tell the others," Eren pleaded. "I'm not ready yet. Mikasa is going to freak out for sure." 

"Of course, Eren, it's all up to you. I just so happened to wake up at the perfect moment. Man, this trip is going to be interesting." 

lol this chapter is so boring i'm so sorry y'all 

the next few chapters won't be too boring I swear

thanks for reading this garbage chapter. I was going to edit it more but I feel like I can't make it interesting???? anyways, fic's ending soon so i'll make sure it won't disappoint. 

-t