Get enchanted by this catchy record from one of my favorite series ;)))
And imagine Erwin with Nina singing along :DDD

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Nina P.O.V.

The deep and overwhelming tiredness that hit you out of nothing kept you chained to the bed for hours. After you cried yourself to sleep, a long and Sleeping-Beauty-like slumber came upon you. The last days and weeks were just too exhausting to endure. The whole story with Petra, from her first appearance, over your own jealousy part, to the fight and the almost-breakup with Levi, to the hearing. Then was the make-up again, with lots of emotions and sex, not to mention the mass of it just within the last day. Its was all too much. You were terribly exhausted, in body, and emotionally. And now your body simply claims what he wants: Sleep.

Despite a few little wake up breaks, it didnt take you long to turn around in bed to fall asleep again, with Levis scent invading your every sense. The last time you woke up was around 10 pm in the evening. Shocked over the hours you actually spend in here, your empty belly made sure to tell you its true and you really slept that long. As you get up from bed, dressing up in a set of dark blue and white leisure suit, you leave the bedroom to look for something to eat. Surprisingly, the penthouse was dark and silent. When you enter the living room thats connected with the dining area, you see the couch in a very used state, as if someone was sitting and lounging here just moments before, and this someone can only be Erwin.

You sneak up to his bedroom door to eavesdrop, but you hear nothing but gentle and low snoring. How disappointing....you really overslept the whole day and even missed to hang around with Erwin, but you were just too busy with other things, your mind not able to focus on other things but Levi, but now that you slept for so long, the urge and constricting feeling to weep over his absence had subsided. It's not so hard to endure anymore and judging by your current calm and relaxed state, you have hope that maybe this 3 weeks will go by faster and easier than you actually thought. It was just the parting pain in the beginning, and after the long sleep to sort your thoughts and to allow your body and heart to rest, your emotions had settled on a normal level again. When you had issues with other people, or with yourself, no matter if emotionally or physically, a decent sleep really works like a miracle cure for you.

Next day, the world would be in perfect order again and all problems wouldn't be so bad anymore.

With Erwin now in bed and the penthouse empty and silent, theres nothing much to do. Turning on the TV and the console will only wake up Erwin and he probably needs some sleep as well. You werent a very pleasant and cheering company after all. You go into the kitchen, opening the fridge to see if Erwin had cooked something, and your eyes sparkled once they fell upon the foil-covered plate with a very delicious looking meal.

"Oh my....thanks Erwin!" you whisper into the darkness, taking out the plate to warm it up again. The foil was ripped withing seconds and just moments later, the plate was in the microwave.

You have no idea what Erwin had cooked here, but it has spinach, pasta, and Gorgonzola cheese. So its perfect! Munching happily on your late-night snack, you smile like an idiot, thanking Erwin over and over again inside your head for making such a tasty meal.

With a sharp sigh once the food was gone, you silently put the dishes into the sink. Still enough time to clean them up tomorrow...

Now that your tummy is full and satisfied, all you can do it waiting for eating coma to arrive, and what place would be better than Levis big and soft bed?

Its late anyways, and without making any more noise, you walk back where you'd spend the whole day by now.

The door closed behind you with a silent click and just by feeling with your hands where the bed starts, you quickly undress from your leisure suit and jump onto the mattress, crawl to Levis side, roll yourself up in the duvet and wait. Covered into the softness of the welcoming warmth to your nose, you close your eyes, imagining how it would be if Levi would lay here next to you. This vivid and serene fantasy was very soothing, even if it was just your imagination. Soothing enough to actually make you fall asleep again.

It seems your body really needed this amount of sleep, since you only awoke next day when the stupid facility manager with his damn fucking leaf blower pulled you out of your dreams. With this noise in this intensity, its impossible to drive off into dozing...Sad enough its just 8 am in the morning, but judging by the amount of sleep you had its enough for now.

Followed by lots of stretches, groans and labored noises, you struggle to get up, putting on the same leisure suit like last night before you open the window to change the air inside here. After making the bed accurately, you leave the room.

Then, heading around the corner for the bathroom, just after waking, the smell of fresh coffee and the TV droning softly in the background filled the long hallway. Erwin must be up by now, so you take a little detour to greet him first, but what you saw then, caused every bit of air inside your lungs to leave.

Erwin was sitting on the couch, looking like something the cat just dragged in from its last hunting trip.

He didnt look like anything you would ever expect from this type of man. His hair sticking out in all directions, a hideous pair of grey pajama pants decorated with Pusheen cats all over, and a fucking ridiculous bathrobe in rainbow colors with a unicorn hood while holding a bowl of cereal. You cover your mouth with both hands, but even this wasnt enough to keep your snorts at bay. You laughed inside your palms, tears already welling up in your eyes by seeing this stud of a man in this fancy clothing.

"No. Fucking. Way! ERWIN! You look like shit!" You burst out from between your hands, now completely unable to keep quiet from your hysterical laughing.

The blonde raised his head, the spoon for his cereals dangling from his mouth. He looked at you for a moment as if he just remembered he now had a different roommate. "Morning, Sweet pea! You like it? Its my choice of clothing when Levi isnt around. He's TOO straight to even accept a male wearing this next to him. Have to take advantage of his absence." he said with a bright smile after pulling his spoon out of his mouth. "There's coffee."

"No thanks....Im more a tea drinker." You shrugged, but the moment you turn your head, the next shock hit you like a lightning strike.

"Erwin? Is that "My Little Pony: Friendship is magic" you're watching there?!" you point to the TV, completely frozen In all other actions. His grin just became wider.

"Yep! My favorite series to watch in bed after I woke up. Another advantage I can take when Levi isnt around. You know it? Its pretty thrilling, isnt it?" You sit there like ordered and not picked up. You were actually pretty content with this arrangement. You still really didn't spend any leisure time together, but Erwin, even if his taste in lounge wear was atrocious at best, did just become a lot more adorable and loving to you.

You swore you were going to have nightmares about Erwin's grey pants with fat Pusheen cats eating donuts and nomming on hearts in combination with the bathrobe. Where did he find such things, really? Erwin was socially awkward and intimidatingly intelligent, but this was so much out of character, that you had no idea how to deal with it.

Still taken aback by Erwin's appearance, he made sure to give you another heart attack on top. The moment when in the series the song "Winter Wrap up" started, Erwin chimed in instantly, as if he hasn't done anything else in his whole life before. After the slow and cheesy interlude, he really got started.

"Winter Wrap-up, Winter Wrap-Up. Let's finish our holiday cheer! Winter Wrap-up, Winter Wrap-Up, 'cause tomorrow Spring is here, 'cause tomorrow Spring is here!"

Gaping at Erwin in shock, you couldnt tear your eyes off him since he started singing, but you know this song by heart as well, and once you overcame your big shock, you took over the coming part, and Erwin definitely wasnt expecting this. Together, you sat there side by side on the couch in your lounge wear, watching the whole first season of "My little Pony" on TV and singing along the catchy songs, with a little break in between to finish your morning routine with brushing your teeth, arranging your hair and washing your face before putting on a calming cream for dry skin. Feeling presentable again, you decided to copy Erwin's way of having breakfast as you fill a bowl with Lucky Charms, sitting down next to Erwin to continue where you stopped watching. This is by far the best morning you had in ages.

What could be better than watching this ridiculous series with your best bud, who was also looking very ridiculous right now, and simply enjoying the morning?

There was nothing you could think off right now. The morning was, even though Levi's absence, or maybe even BECAUSE of Levi's absence, very funny, charming and absolutely endearing.

After this morning, the first week went by very quick. Apart from a few visits at your own apartment for dusting up and doing laundry, you spent every free moment at your second home with Erwin. What made the week even better, was that Levi actually kept his promise to stay in contact with you. Every time he could sneak away from his job, he used the time either for a voice mail or even a call, telling you how boring it is over there, what kind of a big snob his client is and how much he missed you. These short, but sweet moments sent your heart aflutter like a hummingbird and let you look forward to the moment when you can hold Levi in your arms again. You'd grown together much more since the last time and your bond became so strong, that Levi even skipped his own shadow by calling and texting you whenever it's possible. Even in the night when you wake up tired like hell, you look forward to read his messages. Mostly it was just a little "Hello" and "How are you?", but its all you needed to know he cares and he wants to come back home.

When the first week was about to end, with the end of your vacation crawling closer and closer, you spend another Friday with Erwin at the gym, but something was different today. He seems to be rather absent, he barely talks and his instructions were short and blunt. Something must be bugging him. He looks as if his favorite puppy was being killed, or something very close to that. After the regular work-out session, you planned to ask him, but he slipped out of your grip before you could even open your mouth to breathe. He went straight into the men's changing room, leaving you behind with strange new emotion boiling up inside. Annoyed worry. Is that even an emotion? If you want to punch someone in the guts for acting ruthless, but feeling concerned about the well-being of that someone at the same time, how should that be described?

Anyway, you chose to stay just where you are right now, leaned against the wall next to the door were Erwin just disappeared through, with the intention for a little interrogation. With gentle force, if necessary.

A few times the door swung open and close, men entering and leaving that were absolutely not of your interest, no matter how charming their gazes were. Ten minutes later, you finally saw the sheaf of golden hair that you were looking for and you hastily skip after him, since he made no efforts wait or even to look around for you. Now you're sure that something was wrong.

"Whoa! Hold on a second, blondie!" You grab his wrist to make him stop and as your voice reached his ears, he actually jumped when your hand clutched around his arm. Slowly, Erwin turns around to face you, and just now you realize, that he's wearing a really nice looking outfit. His hair is styled very loosely, a few loose tresses dangling into his face, what made him look like at least ten years younger, but its probably the very first time you see Erwin wearing black from head to toe. The only little spot of color was a petrol or green-blue colored bolo tie that hung from his neck. He looks absolutely gorgeous. He wouldnt be dressed like this for nothing. Just for going back home, this was too much fuss and hassle.

"Hm? Sweetie. I almost forgot about you. Im sorry, but im somewhere else with my head today. My bad..."

What?! He almost forgot about you? If this is a joke, then its not a good one.

"You dont say.....Erwin, I knew that something isnt right with you today, but now Im absolutely sure. Since when do you forget about me on a training day? And why on earth are you dressed like this? We're friends, right? This means, you can tell me everything thats bothering you. I want to be there for you if you need me, just like you were for me recently. Is that so hard to understand? If its too embarrassing or too personal, I can understand, your privacy belongs to you, but dont lie to me just to make me believe you're okay, since I can see you're not." Erwins shoulders drop and he lowered his gaze to the ground in defeat as he scratched the back of his head in unease.

"Looks like I cant keep secrets from you that easily, huh?" He mused absently. His cheeks took a tiny shade of pink as he was struggling what to say. For someone like him, a former commander in the military, he sucks in personal and emotional conversations.

"No, you cant. Call it intuition. So...do I have to ask further or are you going to tell me?" You wont give up so easily. Only if he can pronounce a proper reason. After a few moments, he sighed.

"Actually, Im having a late night meeting with a possible future client. He said he wants to meet me in person before he decides to sign the contract. I hate such meetings, but thats part of my job. Thats why Im dressed like this. Leaving a good first impression is important, especially with such people Im dealing with, you understand?"

You shake your head disbelievingly. Why is he making such a drama out of this? When its just a simple meet and greet, is should be part of his flesh and bones to win over new clients hearts and minds in a matter of seconds.

"Uh-huh. And you're acting so weird because?"

"Because its a very important meeting. The mentioned person may play a big part in my future and I want to be on the safe side, you know?"

"I guess I do. So...the suit, the nice hairstyle, the lovely aftershave, your strange behavior and the fact that you almost "forgot" about me....You're nervous!" You point at him with a smug grin. When was the last time Erwin was such a bundle of nerves? You cant point at one situation specifically, but this one was worth a imaginary photo inside your head to hang it in the section "Memories worth keeping".

However, Erwin suddenly burst our laughing so hard, tears welled up in his eyes.

"Oh sweetheart. You have no idea. You bet I am. I havent had such a meeting in quite a while and Im afraid I will ruin it. So, yes. I am nervous. Satisfied?" Still giggling, he wiped the drops from his eyes, exhaling long and harshly from relief. That man is unbelievable, but at least now you know whats going on.

"Dammit Erwin! How can you scare me like that?! I already thought I had done something wrong and you dont want to talk to me anymore."

"Im sorry, sweetheart. I didnt mean to make you worry. But now that we're talking about it: Do you mind to sleep at your home tonight? I wont be around and I have no idea when I'll be back. I dont like the idea of you being there all alone, where normally Levi or me are with you. I fear you will feel alone and broken again and I wont be there for comfort, you know?"

This request was a bit odd, but you understand. It was questionable if you would stay sane and stable alone in this big penthouse. Going home was probably the best.

"Yeah, I know. Can you drive me? I came here with you and the bus needs hours and a whole tour through the city before Im even close to my apartment."

"Sure thing! As if Im leaving you here."

"Don't say that. You almost forgot me, remember?" You teased, poking him with your finger.

"I know, and Im sorry. Do I have to listen to that for the rest of my life?" Erwin rolls his eyes, smirking a little.

"Nah...only half of it. I'll shower at home. I just grab my stuff and then we can go. We dont want you to be late to your very important meeting, don't we?" With a final tease and a wink, you spin around, leaving for the women's dressing room.

Its relieving to finally know whats wrong with Erwin. It didnt sound so stressing when he explained it, but he's the pro after all, so he surely knows what he's talking about, but you cant deny that there's a nagging feeling in the backside of your head. Something still feels strange, and you cant even tell why. Maybe the feeling will go away once you're home again.

When your sports bag was packed, with you still wearing your work-out stuff, a tight leggings with a cherry-blossom pattern and a matching rosy colored shirt, you join Erwin again, who was looking at his watch.

"Calm down, Erwin. Im sure you'll be on time. Come, Im done so far." He hummed with a nod and followed you suit down to the parking lot. Erwin made an effort to open up the passenger door, but you quickly skip to the door to do it by yourself, lifting your bag on your lap.

"Come on! You're short of time, aren't you?" Since he had nothing to say against this, he shrugged and hopped into his own seat. As the door smashed close, he already pushed the engine-button that will wake up the white dragon with his deep, sonorous roar. His hands landed on the steering wheel before he leads his Audi on the main street, taking the direct route to your apartment building. The few minutes he needed to get there were also awkward. And with awkward, you mean silent. Erwin must be really tense, even if his appearance doesnt show it. This is not the Erwin you know and love. Hopefully, he will make this evening a success and go back to normal. Its stressful for yourself to see him like this.

Erwin pulled around the last corner just after ten minutes of driving and by skipping at least one red traffic light.

He stopped right in front of the building, not stopping the engine.

"So...I guess we see again tomorrow?" You ask nervously.

"I hope so. If not, I'll let you know."

"Okay. And once more: Dont be so tense. Be yourself. Im sure you can do it. The client surely will fall for you, just like everyone else." You pull over to Erwin, bringing your hand to his face as you lean closer, placing a quick kiss on his cheek, a lucky charm and a goodbye at once.

"I believe in you. Good luck, Mr. Tall and Handsome." Useless to say that Erwins eyes went as wide as saucers, but he didnt make any effort to back up as well. He let go of the steering wheel with one hand to place it on top of yours, leaning into the touch with a sigh. As long as this moment seems to be, Erwin was the one who insisted to stop it, much to your surprise.

"Thanks, sweetheart, but Im afraid I have to go now. My fate is waiting for me."

"Man...why so dramatic? Just relax and enjoy. If that guy is such a rich-ass bastard, he can at least pay for the food, dont you think?" With a wink, and a chuckle in return from Erwin, you leave the car, the key already in your hands. One last look over your shoulder, together with a wave, then he was gone, the squealing tires his favorite way to leave the scene.

Once you're up in your own apartment, it feels like coming home after a long vacation and actually, thats exactly what this is.

Your dirty clothes fly into your laundry basked, followed by your training outfit, so you can have a shower, but it feels weird. After spending so many days and nights in the penthouse, your own apartment feels awkwardly small and uncomfortable. Its still your home, but without Levi or Erwin, it feels meaningless, strange, empty, and theres still that nagging inside your head that wont keep quiet. Something still feels strange about all this. Erwin's strange behavior, his outfit, the aftershave, all of this just for a possible new client?