Thanks for all the love on The Wedding! I apologize in advance for my shitty, completely not-creative chapter titles ._.

So, there was supposed to be a chapter between The Wedding and this one, but it just felt meh when I tried writing it to the point where I didn't wanna write it anymore, so I'll leave you guys with a summary of the timeline so you're not confused. :) (And if something doesn't add up, do let me know! ♥)

Timeline: About 6-7 years after the wedding; Eren's in his late twenties, Levi in his early thirties. They've moved into their first house together, too. Two or so years after they got married, they adopted a daughter. Her name is Charlotte, and here she's 4. Eren's in school currently working toward his Master's degree. Levi still works at Reiner's shop. Alex and Reiner loaned them money when they were adopting that they're still saving up to pay back.  

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The moment he saw the man walk through the front door, Levi felt his heart drop into his stomach. It wasn't a face he ever thought he'd see again - that washed out skin, clearly once dark and smooth; those dark-rimmed, faded hazel eyes; head lacking any hair; a horrible, hideous scowl plastered permanently into his rough features.

He'd come in only for a touch-up on something that was clearly over a decade old. Something tribal, Levi remembered, on the back of his forearm that he'd never noticed before - like he'd even been paying attention back then. He talked throughout the whole session in that rough voice that was evidently damaged by all the chain smoking he did, and he reeked of the stuff; Levi found himself having to hold his breath in intervals as he worked, doing his best to keep his cool. Any response he offered was short and quick if he didn't ignore him altogether.

He asked about the photo of the little girl on the desk, and Levi wondered why he didn't turn him away. He asked how long he'd been married, and Levi couldn't understand why he'd only accepted the commission to avoid suspicion, and why he even moderately cared about keeping this man away from suspecting eyes.

But when he found the crisp card between two of the twenties he'd accepted as payment, it hit him.

A business card, made to look like it was for a repair service with a fake phone number - anyone who knew was aware the last four digits were in backwards order. Simple, but it was enough to stump anyone who didn't know better.

It explained the sly smirk he'd left Levi with on his way out. It said 'call me if you need anything' in a different kind of way. Gritting his teeth, Levi pocketed it with the money, forgetting it for the moment.

~*~

Levi walked into the house that night utterly exhausted. It was his seventh day in a row working, making up for Eren's lack of income while he was in school. Fortunately that night Charlotte was staying with Alex, giving Levi a night to relax without an energetic child running around his feet. He hung his keys and shuffled upstairs to change into pajamas before shuffling around the kitchen for something to eat. Settling for a rerun of Criminal Minds, he sat down to eat.

It was nearly ten o'clock before Eren sauntered in, looking as tired as Levi felt as he was curled up on one end of the couch waiting for his husband to come home. Eren hadn't even noticed him until he stood up, stretching.

"Hey," Levi mumbled through a yawn.

"Oh. Hey," Eren said, barely even sparing a smile. "How was your day?" he asked, coming to peck Levi on the lips before heading for the stairs.

"Exhausting," Levi said, following him. "Yours?"

"The same," Eren sighed.

Levi plopped onto the end of the bed while Eren went for a shower. Once he was out, he didn't bother to eat, saying he grabbed a snack from the cafe at school, and they curled up together, the event from earlier all but forgotten.

~*~

"Hey, Levi. Wake up, love."

Levi peeled his sleepy eyes open to a virtually dark room to find Eren sitting on the edge of the bed next to him, fully dressed and clearly ready to go. He brushed Levi's hair away from his eyes, smiling a bit.

"I'm leaving," he said softly.

"Wait, what? Already?" Levi muttered, sitting up. "What time is it?" His eyes scoped out the clock.

"Almost ten," Eren answered before his sleep-filled, blurry eyes could make out the numbers.

"Shit," he muttered, sitting up to rub his eyes. "You should've woken me up..."

"You need your sleep. I just wanted to say goodbye before I go."

Levi pulled in a long breath before meeting his companion's eyes. "Eren..." he mumbled.

"Hm?"

"...never mind. It's nothing, I guess..."

"What's wrong?"

"No. Forget it. I'm fine."

"Levi..."

The raven shook his head. "You should get to school," he said. "Don't worry about me."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Okay." Eren kissed his forehead. "I'll see you later."

Levi lifted his chin to catch Eren's lips with his. "Mm-kay..."

~*~

Levi stood in front of the washing machine later that afternoon, a small wad of cash in one hand, a small black card in the other.

It's easy, whispered his mind. You've barely seen Eren in the past few weeks. Charlotte's been in preschool. You only have to do it once. Nobody will ever know. It's easy.

Levi leaned against the side of the machine, drawing in a shaky breath. Logically, his mind told him this was one of his worst ideas. He was just shy of being clean for seven years; other than a few problems here and there mental-health wise, he'd been doing fine. But Eren was always gone...he had too much time to think, too much time to himself.

Do it. Only once - it's okay. It doesn't count if you do it only once, and then you can go back to being normal. He won't know; he's never around anyway.

He gripped the edge of the washer so tightly his fingers were white. He swallowed hard, his eyes finding the number on the card once again, his opposite hand curling around the cash. He had the money; even if he didn't, there was the savings account he was adding a certain amount of money to every week...

You can just work a little more to replace the money and no one will ever know. It's easy.

His ears rang in the silence of the house and as he focused on it, loneliness washed over. He bit his tongue.

You were never alone with the monster around. It never betrayed you or left you...

His fingers ached, his fight weakening.

Don't worry. It's only a little. It's not like you'll be addicted again right off from just a little. You probably won't even have any significant withdrawals.

And just like that, he shoved his hand in his pocket for his phone to fervently dial the number into.

~*~

Paper towel. Razor blade. Small strip of paper, rolled up perfectly. A line of powder adjacent to a tiny ziplock bag with an identical substance - the absolute minimum he could get, enough for five or six highs, but more than he thought he'd need.

I don't need to inject it, he thought. It'll still feel good this way.

But he hadn't done this in years. His stomach churned with the little bit of fight left he had against the demons in his head, who influenced him more greatly than anything ever really had, except maybe-

He stopped that thought short. Glanced up again at the clock. There was still hours before Eren was supposed to be home. Hours before Alex would be home with Charlotte after picking her up from preschool. The high would be long gone by then. He'd be fine - it was merely an indulgence...

Without another thought, he leaned down, the line of powder disappearing right before his eyes.

~*~

Levi laid sprawled across the bedroom floor. His mind was buzzing, his body feeling like a live wire. This was better than he'd remembered. Stronger. And it didn't allow him to have a care in the world.

He must've laid there for hours, simply reveling in the feeling of the high. Why did I ever give this up? he mused, smiling.

The doorbell rang. Alex. Which meant Charlotte. Yet he was lucky enough that he was beginning to come down from his high. He pulled himself to his feet, allowing a second to compose himself before trotting down the stairs to open the door. Sure enough, there stood his sister with Peter and Charlotte in front of her.

"Hi Papa," Charlotte said, already rushing in to hug his legs.

"Hey, kiddo," he said, ruffling her hair and stepping aside to let the three of them in, murmuring greetings to the other two.

"How was your day off?" Alex asked.

"Fine," Levi murmured, watching Charlotte climb the stairs with Peter close behind.

"Don't get too comfortable," Alex called after her son. "We have to head home soon."

"Kay," the boy called back absently.

"Thanks for picking her up," Levi murmured, heading toward the kitchen.

"No problem, but once Peter starts first grade, they won't be getting out at the same time anymore."

"I know."

It wasn't too much longer before she and Peter were headed out and Levi was left alone with the tale end of his high, a little girl, and growing guilt.

"When's Daddy gon' be home?" Charlotte asked as Levi sat her down with her 'homework' - simply matching colors on a sheet of paper with a box of Crayons.

"Pretty soon," he told her, working on getting ingredients for dinner out.

That night, because it was Friday, Charlotte insisted upon staying up until Eren got home, though she'd passed out on the couch by 9. Levi sat there staring blankly at the television, the girl curled up in his lap, with all the mistakes from the day rushing through his head until he, too, nodded off.

~*~

"Levi. Hey, wake up."

The raven peeled his eyes open to find his husband leaning over them, a light frown on his face.

"You okay?" Eren murmured.

"Yeah," Levi breathed, sitting up straight, causing the child in his lap to stir. "Why?"

"You're kinda sweaty," Eren said.

"Oh. Hmm..."

As Levi dragged himself further into consciousness, he could feel it - the pull for substance. It was more of a craving than anything; like having a strong desire for a certain food, if a little stronger.

"I wonder if you're coming down with something..." Eren murmured, pushing some of Levi's hair aside. "Let's get to bed."

"Sure," Levi mumbled. The events of the day suddenly came crashing back to him, staggering his thought process a bit.

That's why, he thought, looking up into Eren's eyes. That's why you gave it up. And now...

~*~

Days continually seemed to get worse. Between the sniffling and night sweats - a side-effect of snorting and a minor withdrawal (that Levi could slowly feel getting worse but chose to ignore) - Eren merely brushed the symptoms off as a cold and packed Levi full of vitamin C for the few minutes he was around in the morning and made sure he'd taken more once he was home for the night.

But for Levi, vitamin C was doing nothing but causing more frequent trips to the bathroom to get rid of the excess liquid. Work was feeling mildly mundane; after having to do it constantly for six or seven days straight with breaks only to sleep and eat, and a day off here and there simply to make enough money to make ends meet, it wasn't so fun anymore. Eren was around a lot less as he worked on his studies, and while he was home, he was too tired want to do much of anything.

Apart from Charlotte's company, he felt impossibly alone. No one to have long conversations with. No one to sit and watch him work on commissions and make comments or creative suggestions. No one to rub absent circles into the back of his hand while they sat and watched a movie after Charlotte was down for the night...no one to watch a movie with. No time to watch a movie...

He couldn't remember the last time Eren reminded him he loved him.

And the tiny bag became a line emptier. And another, and another...

...until Eren surprised him by walking in the door early two weeks after the initial relapse.

He'd been off work a few hours, Charlotte was spending the day with Carla, and he'd taken advantage of his alone time.

He was sitting in their room on the floor at the end of their bed, mindlessly fiddling with a rubix cube and reveling in the way the colors seemed to swirl through the air as perceived by intoxicated eyes, when he heard the front door shut. His head snapped up and the toy slipped through his fingers and bounced onto the floor, mild panic surging through his entire body.

Hesitantly, he moved to his feet. The sound of keys being hung up and the plopping of shoes being kicked off traveled up the stairs as he shuffled down the hall. When he reached the top of the stairs, sure enough, Eren was just sauntering in, looking tired yet content as he discarded his backpack onto the table.

"Eren..."

The brunet looked up, a smile automatically forming on his face when he saw his husband. "Hey," he greeted.

"You're here early."

"Canceled class," Eren explained, shuffling toward the stairs as Levi descended. "Only happens every once in a blue moon," he chuckled.

Levi hummed, swallowing just before he accepted a kiss. Fortunately, Eren didn't seem to suspect a thing, and he intended to keep it that way.

That evening, Levi's main focus was to keep Eren away from suspicion, not allowing him to genuinely enjoy the time they seemed to miraculously have together. He felt almost fake doing so until the high faded completely and he spent the rest of the night feeling horrendously guilty.

You fucked up.  

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Aaaand we're already off to an angsty start x'D But, speaking of angst! I wanna know what really tugs at your guys' feels when you're reading a fic - stuff that pierces you to the core and gives you that physical ache in your chest. I'm having trouble finding good angsty prompts that can fit into something else I'm working on, so I wanna know what you guys might specifically want to read, angst-wise. (But don't worry, it's not for this!) So, leave me some suggestions? :) Thanks, loves! ♥