"Hurry and say what you wanted to say." Levi speaks, avoiding eye contact. We both currently sat on his bed, me sitting criss-cross and his legs dangling off the side. I play with a strand of my hair between my fingers. "Well..." I let out a sigh.

Now that i'm actually here I have no clue where to start. I've always thought of this type of scenario in my head, coming up with things I would tell Levi, but way easier said than done.

"I guess I'll just start from the very beginning." I seemed to have peaked Levi's curiosity. Slightly.

He glances at me from the corner of his eye. I take a deep breath already feeling the weight of everything coming back. Well, here we go.

%*****%

I fell to the floor, grabbing the side of my face. "Get out of this house! No fucking son of mine would act like this!" I stand up with tear filled eyes. "I just want Mommy!" I scream. I glance past my father to the stair case in which I had heard my mom scream.

Suddenly two strong hands are on me. "Your mother's fine." I start to kick in protest when I am lifted off of my feet. I feel a slap on my face again.

I momentarily go limp in his arms from pain and shock. I barely realise that I am being carried toward the front door of the house. Let me rephrase, I was barely carried to the front door of the house. I screamed and kicked and even tried scratching at the man holding me, making the trip harder.

"Gah! Stop fucking moving you--"

My flying fists met with his cheek and the man's face slowly fills with an amount of anger that would make anyone wet their pants. My dad walks faster toward the door and swings it open. "No! No! P-Please!" I scream on the top of my lungs. Tears fell freely down my cheeks.

I'm violently thrown onto the cold, outside floor, gasping when the wind is knocked out of me. I try to stand up and reach for the door, but loose my balance, still struggling for breath. "Don't come back in until you've learned your place." My dad slams the door and I hear the click of the lock.

"Daddy! P-Please let me in! I'll be good! D-Dad!" I scream, still lying on the floor. My throat burned and I could barely see a thing with the amount of tears in my eyes. He wasn't going to answer. I slowly get to my feet, wiping at my face with my sleeve.

Fine, i'll just run away.

I turn around and begin to run down my neighborhood's street. Maybe this will make my family finally care about me. I won't stop running until my legs broke!

Five minutes later and I stopped running, feeling like I was about to pass out. I crouch down with my hands on my knees. I should be far enough away now, right? I have to be at least a hundred miles away.

I stand up straight, noticing something to my left that caught my eye.

A Park! I can't help but smile. I walk across the quiet road to the somewhat empty Park. Walking through the wood chips, I take a seat on one of the many swings.

For once in my life I actually felt relaxed, and worry free.

Caught up in my own thoughts, I hadn't noticed the bright red ball that had rolled underneath my feet. "Hm?" I stare down at the red ball, before jumping off the swing and picking it up off the ground.

"Hey, what are you doing?" I turn around with the ball held up against me. "Um..." I sniff, still slightly recovering from my tantrum from earlier. Three guys, way taller than me, start to walk in my direction.

"What do you think you're doing with our ball?" I look down at the ball in my arms, before holding it up to the group of boys. 

I sniff again. "Here. I wasn't doing anything with it." One of the guys snatches it from my arms. "No need to cry about it, you baby." I step forward, clenching my fists. "I'm not a baby! I'm in fourth grade." The boy holding the ball rolls his eyes while the other two laugh.

"Oh, really? Well we're in eleventh grade. You know what grade that is? Do you even know how to count that high?"

"Shut up, you jerks!" I kick the nearest boy in the shins before taking off in a run. Or at least I would have, but my foot caught on the edge of concrete separating the wood chips and the side walk.

Now on the floor, I feel three pairs of hands grabbing at my hair and clothes. "Ah! L-Let go!" The three older boys were kicking at my side, stomach, and stepping on my arms and legs. I began to call for help, but the kicks being blown onto my stomach stopped anything from coming out. I could feel the warm tears I had only experienced moments ago starting to come back.

I feel like i'm about to die.

I was having a hard time breathing and my whole body was starting to numb. I was becoming more and more numb until I felt no more pain being added onto my misery.

That's when I noticed I didn't hear the guys laughing and yelling anymore either.

I slowly open my eyes, and no longer see the three big kids standing over me. Where'd they go...?

I roll over onto my back with a wince, having to blink way my blurry vision. Through my dazed state, I can see someone punching at the boys who were just attacking me.

That cant be right...

With a cough, I struggle to my feet. Though, by the time I actually do manage to stand, I see a short boy around my age standing with his back to me as the three assaulting teens ran off into the distance.

"Th-Than-" I feel my chest clench and I fall down to my knees, struggling to stay on my feet. The person with their back to me turns around, their eyes slightly widening.

"Woah, there. Take it easy kid." I feel the boy's cold hands on my shoulders. "Tch. You're lucky I chased those brats away." All I can do is smile in response.
Though, it probably looked like a grimace.

All week I've felt nothing but pain. This boy was the first one to actually acknowledge me. To actually care.

I take in the features of the boy helping me sit up, realizing I've never seen them in my life. Why they decided to help me will forever remain a mystery.

Black skinny jeans and a light blue, button up shirt, the boy's black hair styled back in a small bun.

"W-What's your name?" I whisper.

"Levi."

I smile, finally being able to stand up without falling over. "I'm Eren!"

"Bright eyes."

"W-What?"

"Your eyes...They're...what color are they?"

I blink a couple of times. I was not expecting this to be the first thing he says to me. "Green-ish I guess."

"No, No. They're not green...Is that a turquoise?" I shrug.

"They're really...beautiful." I feel heat rise to my cheeks. "I think i'll call you that from now on."

"Call me what?!" Thinking he meant 'beautiful' I turn away knowing I had turned bright red. "Bright eyes." I turn back to Levi, watching as he runs his fingers through the few strands that had fallen loose from his bun. "You might want to get home and wash up a bit, kiddo."

"Im not a kid! Im in fourth grade..."

Levi smirks. "Yeah, and i'm in fifth."

"Besides, I don't have a home right now." Levi's smug smile disappears. "You don't have a..." Levi looks away before walking up to me. "Come home with me. That way I can take care of your sorry butt."

There was a playful light in Levi's eyes, making me believe that he was honestly a nice guy. I could trust him.

I nod my head and start to walk, but instantly regret it. Pain shoots through my leg and I almost collapse. That's when I feel Levi's cold hands on me as he lifts me up, one hand on my back and another under my legs. "W-What?!"

"Hush." I do as i'm instructed and close my mouth. I stayed silent. only listening to Levi's heart beat and steady breathing. As much as I resented the thought, I felt my eyes drooping with sleep.

"Don't you dare fall asleep. That'll just make everything harder."

I can't help but smile as I close my eyes and let myself fall asleep.

***
*two days later*

"Hey, Levi!" I knock on the door of the familiar house. After Levi had taken me to his house a couple days ago and comforted me, he suggest I stay with him. To my surprise, his house was right next to mine, but I kept my mouth shut not wanting to be sent back.

It just meant I had to be that more careful when going and leaving his house.

The front door swings open and I'm greeted by a shorter Levi, smiling back at me. I gasp noticing something different.

"You don't have your hair up today?" His ends reached below his ear, just far enough to cover them completely. Though long hair didn't work for most guys, it worked wonders on Levi. It's definetly something I couldn't pull off.

Levi glances to the side to look at it. "Hm. I was thinking about cutting it."

Levi steps back to let me into his house. I walk in before turning to him again. "No! Don't ever cut it. I like it like that." I smile at him and the pale boy quickly looks down at his shoes.

"Can I ask you something?" Levi asks,  slowly looking up at me. I nod. Of course he can.  Levi grabs one of my hands linking his fingers through mine.

"Do you...are we...friends?" I blink down at our hands before looking back at the boy in front of me. "Of course!"

The faintest of smiles plays on his lips. "You're...you're the first." He whispers.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"L-"

What I was about to say was cut off by a series of frequent knocks on Levi's door. Suddenly his mother comes rushing down the stairs, past us, to the front door.

She swings the door open with a gentle 'yes?'.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but I have an important question." My heart speeds up at the familiar voice. I begin to back up, tugging Levi with me. "What's wrong?"

"Eren?" I freeze as Levi's mom says my name. Oh no. "Y-yes?"

"Eren?! Oh thank goodness you're all right." I stared wide eyed at the familiar face of my mother. As happy as I was to see that she was alright, I didn't want to go back. Not with my dad around.

"Eren...who is that?" Levi asks quietly, though from the look on his face he seemed to already know the answer.
"My...m-mom."

"I though you said you didn't have a home." He mumbles, looking down at his feet.

I feel my mother's soft hand wrap around mine, as I'm led out of Levi's house. Before Mrs. Ackerman closed the front door to their house, I turn back to Levi, even though his gaze was still avoiding mine.

"I don't."

*****

"Mommy, where are we going?" I ask, Noticing that she began getting in her car.

"Everything's okay sweetie. Things...things are going to be a little different from now on." At the time, I didn't quite understand what she meant.

"Different?"

"We're going to be checking out a new school for you to go to. That's okay, right?"

New...school?

"It's not too far away from home. That way mommy can get you in case anything happens." She says turning to me to smile. I can't help but smile back. "Okay!" I hop into the car, making sure to buckle my seatbelt.

I watch through the window as the unfamiliar scenery zooms past.

"Where's...dad?" I ask quietly.

My mom looks at me through the review mirror with worried eyes before smiling. "Don't worry about him sweetie. He went on a trip and won't be coming back...for a while." There was a dead silence before she spoke up again.

"Wanna listen to some music?"

I clap my hands together. "Yeah!"

****

"Hi! Are you new? I've never seen you before!" I blink a few times in surprise. I had just began my first day at my new school and had already been asked question by a bunch of different people.

At least I know everyone here is pretty nice.

"Ya. Actually I am new." I currently sat in the grass area of the school's playground.

"That's weird. Why'd you come in the middle of the year?" I shrug my shoulders. "I don't know."

The short blond boy, with hair wild and cut short, like mine, smiles wider. "Well, I'm Armin. Wanna be friends?"

Since no one else asked, why not. "Sure! I'm Eren!"

Armin wraps his arms around me in a hug. "Since we're friends now, I can show you around the school. Come on!"

Armin hangs onto the side of my shirt, dragging me along behind him. I can't help but laugh. "Over there is the lunch tables." Armin says point off somewhere in the distance. "Oh! And over there is the school entrance for the big kids!"

I continued to be dragged around until Armin stops, causing me to bump into him. "Wait, we should turn around."

"Huh? Why?" I see that we reached the end of the playground, but the area wasn't off limits or anything.

"Because...he's over there."

Armin points straight, turning his eyes away. I struggle to see the figure he pointed at, who sat against a tree.

"You shouldn't go near him. He's super scary. At least I think so. Everyone avoids him. Plus they say it's bad luck if you touch him."

"Bad luck?" I take a step closer trying to get a better look at the still-unclear person.

That's when I see it. I gasp, a smile growing on my face.

"Levi!"

The person against the tree, looks up with a confused look. He recognises my running figure because suddenly a large smile breaks out on his face. "Eren? What are you-" I crash into him, wrapping my arms around his torso. "You're not mad at me, right? I know a couple day ago I left with out telling you why and I feel super bad. I'm so, so, so, sorry. I'll-"

"Eren." I release Levi, taking a step back.

"Ya?"

"It's okay. I was never mad." Levi chuckles. "Just...a little surprised, that's all."

"Wait...what are you doing here?" I ask, just now realising he was at my school.

"I go to school here, Bright Eyes."

"Me too!"

Levi's eyes widen. "What? Since when?"

"Since today!" Levi begins to smile again before it disappears. "Wait, you're in fourth grade aren't you?" He sighs. "We'll barely see each other."

Levi runs a hand through the strands that had come loose from his usual man bun.

"That's not true! There's always recess like right now. Plus, we're neighbors!"

Levi furrows his eyebrows, confusion finding his face yet again. "What?"

My eyes widen when I realise what I just said. I forgot, I never told Levi that my house was right beside his....

"Yeah, I sorta forgot to tell you about that too."

"E-Eren! What are you doing?! You literally did the one thing I said not to!" Armin comes running up, hiding behind me.

"Who's this?" Levi asks with a smirk.

"My new friend, Armin!" Levi strolls over to us, offering a hand.

"Cool, I'm Levi."

****

Today was currently the last day of school before summer break.

Throughout the days I mainly hung out with Armin and Levi when ever I could. Even though Levi still occasionally hung around his fifth grade classmates, that was nothing compared to his time with us.

I could honestly consider the two of them to be the best friends I've ever had. Ever since my first day at the school, Levi and Armin had been over to my house countless times, and me to theirs.

As I began getting my things together I felt a light tap on my shoulder. I turn around to a scared looking Levi. "Levi? What's wrong? Your face is all red!" I drop my bag in favour of inspecting Levi closer.

"I-I'm fine. I...can I ask you something?" 

I step back smiling at one of my closest friends. "Do you...look, I know you're in the grade below me, but...do you wanna go out with me?" I blink a few times replaying his words in my head.

"Go out where?"

Levi smiles looking away. "No, I mean, will you be my boyfriend?"

My mouth makes
an 'o' shape when I realise what Levi was asking me. I smile before wrapping my arms around his neck in a hug. "Of course I will!"

Levi hugs me back for a minute before releasing me. "Can you meet me in the school's play ground at..." He looks down at the batman wristwatch around his wrist. "Five twenty...two."

I nod my head. "Yeah, I'll see you then." Levi smirks in response, taking my hand in his. He leans forward placing his lips on mine. I stare after Levi when he pulls away. "See you later, Bright Eyes."

****

"Why do I need to drop you back off at school again? Did you forget something?"

"I already told you, I'm meeting with Levi!" I tell my mom as she continues to drive. "Ah, I see...do you want me to hang out in the parking lot until you're done?"

"Yes please." My mom parks in one of the empty parking spaces of the school and I quickly unbuckle my seatbelt, hopping out of the back seat.

"I'll see you later!" I break out into a run until I finally reach the playground of the school.

I wonder if he's already here...

I run the length of the playground, looking through all the play structures to see if Levi had beat me here. By the time I reached the edge of the playground I decided to check the one other place he might be.

I walk over to the large tree I usually found Levi leaning against.

When I find no one in sight I decide to sit on the grass underneath the shade of the tree.

I came a little early anyway, there's no harm in waiting.

Though in my time of waiting I found myself climbing the tree. Then jumping off In favor of sitting on the highest play structure. And my time of waiting turned to minutes.

And a few minutes turned to an hour.

And that hour turned into the afternoon sky getting darker.

I slowly stood up off of the swing feeling a dull ache in my chest. Did Levi...forget?

No, it wasn't like him to forget.

I clench my fists at my sides, trying as best I could not to get angry. Though, I was never good at controlling my anger.

Breathing heavily I decide to walk around. Maybe that will help me calm down a little bit.

I find my self walking around the neighboring sidewalk before crossing through the play ground into the grass field surrounding it. I stomp my way toward the school's parking lot.

I stop though when I hear hushed voices near the school's building. Despite my growing anger, I couldn't help but feel slight curiosity.

Why would anyone still be here this late?

I press myself against the side of the building, trying to hide as best I could in the shadows. I creep along the school's outside walls until I come to a corner.

I could here the voices almost perfectly. They were just around this corner.

I risk a quick glance, hoping they weren't closer than they sounded, and gasp when I see Levi along with two other guys.

"Glad to know you're on our side, kid." An unfamiliar voice speaks.

"Tch. I'm hardly that. Whatever though, I did what you asked." That was undoubtedly Levi. Though, I've never heard him sound so irritated.

"Make sure the message is clear. You're not interested in him." The other male of the three says.

"I was never interested in the brat. Haven't you ever heard of acting? I wasn't even friends with the kid."

My heart started to pound. Who...who are they talking about? Even though I had an idea who they meant, I didn't want to jump to conclusions.

"Good. If you want to hang out with us you can't be friends with fourth graders. That's gunna ruin our rep. You gotta ditch Eren and that Blondie he's always with."

No.

"Didn't I already tell you," Good, Levi's defending himself. He'd never abandon me. He's always been there for me. He always will be.

"I already have."

He would never know how much those three words actually hurt me.

The pain in my chest was unbearable. I've never felt this before. One of my only friends....no, my new 'significant other'....

I break out into a run toward the parking lot. I instantly spot my mom's car and quickly pull open the door.

My mom lets out a scream before covering her mouth. "Oh goodness, it's just you Eren." My mother fans at her face with a laugh. "You scared me."

I stay silent, and focus on buckling my seat belt. "So, how'd it go? How's Levi?"

"He's...good. Everything went fine." My mother furrows her eyebrows at me, knowing something was wrong, but nods. "I guess that's good then..."

***

The next day I sat in my living room, all excitement for summer now gone. "Eren! Can you be a dear and come here for a second?" I get up when I was called. She stood at the front door so that's where I headed when I began walking to her.

"Yeah." I say quietly. My mother walks back to the kitchen as I answer whoever was at the door.

I instantly regret my actions when I see that it was Levi.

He stood at the doorway with a smile, and even waved at me.

"What do you want?" Levi seemed slightly taken aback and puts down his hand, his smile faltering.

"Eren, I-"

"No. I don't wanna talk to you."

I almost felt bad when Levi looked completely heart broken. "Why not...?"

"I trusted you. I've never been able to get close to people, yet you were one of the people I trusted the most. I now see that I was wrong." I feel my eyes starting to water but I wasn't going to cry. I wasn't some kid that would actually show Levi he'd really hurt me.

"Is this about yesterday? I'm sor-"

"No. I'm sorry. Sorry that I didn't mean as much to you, as you did to me. We should just end anything that we may still have, now. Goodbye." I didn't give him a chance to respond.

I closed the door finally letting the tears fall.

****

That entire summer I tried to stay inside, only leaving when I had to. I made sure to avoid...the person living inside the house next to mine.

When the new school year finally came around, I found myself anxious. Even though I had Armin, I still had no clue what to expect.

Though, I was not expecting what I saw.

As soon as I got to school, what I thought was a new student, was someone that I in fact already knew. Levi.

The smiling, man-bun wearing boy from before was no where to be seen.

Levi had one of the most horrifying glares on his face, eyeing everyone who passed. His long hair was gone, his trimmed hair shaved in the back to form an undercut.

Instead of his usually classy fashion, he wore all black, making his appearance even more unapproachable than before.

"Woah, that's not Levi is it?" Armin whispers in my ear as we continue to walk to our lockers. I can't help but frown at Levi, shaking my head.

Levi catches my eye and his glare hardens. "What the hell are you looking at, brat?" My footing falters and I can't help but feel hurt at his words.

I grab Armin's hand and quickly rush past the boy leaning against the hall's walls.

Looking back over my shoulder, I see the two guys that were talking to Levi all those days ago, walk up to him. Levi smirks before pushing himself off the wall to walk with the two massive upperclassmen.

He didn't look back once.

% ***** %

"Ever since that day you'd been a flirtatious douche, always scaring anyone who crossed your path. The school's personal 'bad boy'."

I let out a sigh after finally re-living the whole scenario after years of trying to forget about it.

Most people may have moved on or even talked out their problems with said friend. The only thing was, I didn't know how to. As a kid, I'd refer to myself as sensitive despite my occasional stubbornness. I had no clue how to handle the situation and look how it turned out. It turned into an eight year grudge.

I shift in my position on Levi's bed, and look up at him.

He stared down at the floor, unmoving. His bangs covering the top half of his face, so I couldn't tell his current mood.

I can't help but smile slightly. "Can you image if you still had long hair?" I whisper. Levi visibly tenses beside me before the corner of his lip lifts up into a smirk.

"Do you..."

I look up when Levi speaks, still hiding his face. "Do I?"

"Do you mind if I share my side of the story as well?"

Legs still crossed, I turn to fully face the male in front of me. "Go ahead."

Levi clears his throat before telling me his story.