ONE ʙʏ ONE

ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ-ᴏɴᴇ

Hange pulled into the parking lot of the back entrance. She held the takeout in one hand and locked the car before making her way inside. The girl slipped into the computer lab, carefully holding the boxes of Chinese.

"Hey, Erwin. I think we ordered way too much," the girl chuckled, setting it down on a nearby table.

When she didn't hear Erwin react, Hange scanned the room for him. The girl gasped as her eyes fell on her destroyed computer station. Hange's monitors were bashed into wires and plastic, impossible to fix. Her keyboard was snapped in half, keys littering the floor, and all of her cords had been sliced into bits.

Hange panicked and ran to her demolished area, looking over it and searching through drawers. However, all she found was a note reading: Here's your rehab, Shitty Glasses. And, of course, Levi took his phone as well.

The livid girl seethed, "He took my notebook and my flash drives. That son of a bitch!"

Hange pushed her glasses up and turned to head towards the boiler room. As she approached the wide-open, she froze with fear and noticed drops of blood trailing down the hallway. Not bothering to get back at Levi anymore, she sprinting down the trail.

"Erwin?" Hange cried out. "Erwin, are you okay?"

The trail ended with a bloody handprint on the wall and two on the floor, but Erwin wasn't there. Hange felt tears prick her eyes; however, she held them back, hoping Erwin escaped. She pulled out her phone and dialed Erwin's number, praying he would pick up. Unfortunately, the line went immediately to voicemail.

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Marco dropped Eren off at Levi's house. Eren was kind of glad to have spent time with his two, now, ex-bullies. Though he went with bad intention, he let it slide past him and embraced the new friendships. Eren learned somewhat of a moral from the visit: Always ask why, and take time to listen.

As the teen entered the house, he heard Kenny loudly praise, "There you go! You're practically a natural computer whiz!"

"Thanks, Mr. Ackerman. But I still need some work." Chuckled Armin.

Eren followed the noise to the kitchen. Armin and Kenny were sitting next to each other, working on a computer at the bar. Sipping coffee not too far from them was Levi, his bruised and still bloodied wrists on display. Erwin was at the sink, wetting a rag to clean up the blood that was still dripping from his head.

Eren plopped his bag against the door frame, gawking at Erwin and Levi's injuries. The sound made everyone glance over at him.

Armin greeted, "Hey, Eren!"

"What. The. Hell." Eren exploded. "I was gone for like an hour! What happened to you two?"

Levi laid his cup on the bar and monotoned, "Doesn't matter. How was your date with that bastard?"

Kenny raised his brow and pressed his lips together, but he didn't say anything. He found that whatever was Levi's business was his business only. It wasn't his place to interfere unless lives were at stake. Armin gaped at Levi's rudeness and glanced back and forth between Levi and Eren, waiting for Eren's response. Erwin was deathly silent, having no energy, or courage, to chastize Levi.

"It wasn't a date, Levi." Eren shot with the same amount of sass. "I just went to settle things."

Armin scoffed, "Uh-huh, sure."

Levi smirked and looked over at the blond.

"What happened to wanting to see your bully apologize to you after 'you' were the one to break him?"

Levi gibed, "Oh, so you were the one to knock the bookcase on that idiot? Funny, I thought it was you who was panicking and guilt-tripping me."

Eren glared at Armin for speaking up, but the teen wasn't at all intimidated. He started getting used to Levi and even picked up some traits from his personality, so the kid didn't shy away from his voice as much as he did. Armin didn't care if Eren was mad at him because his friend needed him and wouldn't dare leave.

"Look," Eren fumed, "I know what I did had bad intentions, but it ended okay. Jean and I are friends now."

Armin snorted whiled Levi chortled, "Eren, don't get ahead of yourself. Jean isn't anyone's friend, and he's not going to be yours."

"Excuse me?" Eren growled back, crossing his arms.

"Jean harassed you, me, and other smaller students for years." Armin defended, standing and walking towards Eren. He pointed an accusing finger. "Even you were so fed up with him; you wanted to see him beg for mercy!"

Levi jumped from his seat to barricade the two from each other. The raven was just in time to hold the angry teen back before he tried lunging at Eren.

"You want that prick as your friend? You're putting him on the same level as me?"

Levi scolded, "Hey, that's enough. Let's pull back a little."

Erwin and Kenny watched nervously, anticipating a fight to start. Levi had his fill of fighting and violence for the day, so he kept hold of Armin's collar just in case he tried to attack Eren again. The raven wasn't too worried about the blond attacking Eren. One, how much damage could really do? And two, Levi was pissed.

"Shouldn't you be happy?" Eren scoffed. "You're always so against violence. Now, you've gone psycho!"

Levi felt a migraine starting, so he argued calmly, "Eren, what if I had become buddies with your dad and forgave him for everything he did to you? How would that feel?"

Eren was seething at that comment, but he held back and picked up his bag. As he turned, Levi became livid and let Armin's collar go. Just as he planned, Armin raced towards Eren and tackled him to the ground. Levi wasn't going to have his love be disrespectful to him.

Sitting on his back, Armin laced his fingers through Eren's hair, grabbing it tightly, and brought his head up. Aggressively, he forced the side of Eren's head to the floor. He brought it back up and slammed it down multiple times until Eren's nose began to bleed. 

Erwin watched in horror as the blond furiously beat his childhood friend, reminding him of how Levi attacked him earlier. But, still, he remained to the side. Kenny observed, admiring Armin's strength. 

When Eren screamed for Armin to stop, Levi commanded, "Arlert, that's enough. Step back."

Armin hesitated but shakily stood up and moved behind Levi. His breath was heavy and his fists were solid. 

"Smart, strong, and obedient." Noted Kenny. "Kid, do you need a job?"

"Shut it." Levi shot before kneeling down to Eren, who was still half-unconscious on the floor. He rolled Eren over on his back and glared at him. 

Leaning down close to his ear, Levi intimidatingly warned, "If any of us see Jean around you, not only will we send him back to the hospital for another week or two, but you will lose all sense of freedom you have."

Levi stood back up and returned to his chair, picking his cup up by the rim instead of the handle. Armin did the same, returning to the computer Levi stole from Hange. It took Eren five minutes to stand up again. 

Levi ordered, "Eren, go upstairs for a while. Don't come back down here."

The raven watched his love's defeated expression as he grabbed his schoolbag and trudged up the stairs. Once the boy was out of sight, everyone resumed their previous activities. Levi downed a sip of coffee and sighed. 

The dark teen decided, "Arlert, you stick with me, got it?"

"Yes, sir."

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I'm noticing how Levi is creating a little gang. I wasn't planning on it, but oh well. lol

Thank you for your guys' support! I might update again later today if I finish the next chapter.

Toodles~