Lovers from the past | Eruri

Chapter 1

An electric clock on the bedside table flipped to exactly 5:00am. A loud, siren-like noise rang through a small bedroom. Male groaned loudly as he tried turn off the evil's machine almost falling out of his bed. He wasn't even sure if he has closed his eyes tonight. His small frame crawled out of bed, as he rubbed his eyes aggressively, walking up to a mirror on the wall. Male glared at his reflection in the mirror gloomily. His short, raven-black hair fell over his tired piercing, grey eyes. He looked and felt exhausted.

He's been having heavy and tiring nightmares of his past life almost every night. Scenes of losing his mother, friends, the love of his life flashing aggressively and replaying over and over again made him lose sleep.

Levi didn't like Mondays, cheesy enough, he hated them with passion.

He slowly started getting ready, brushed his teeth and made sure he looked neat. With a cup of tea in his hand and morning news playing in the background he starred into nothingness. Insomnia made him feel tired during the days he had to work yet it wasn't something he couldn't control. All mornings were equally hard for Levi.

After cleaning up a little bit and turning off the TV he locked the door of his tiny apartment and left for work. Levi lived in the old town of Maria, not too far from his workplace.

It was a pretty social job that he had, which wasn't Levi's favourite thing about it, however it was always his dream to open up a coffee shop. He, himself wasn't a fan of coffee. A paradox but he preferred a huge mug of tea a lot more over a fancy coffee but the experience of a coffee shop itself, from a single green bean, to roasting it, to making a perfect cup of coffee, fascinated him. It was something he had dreamed of for a very long time. It was a cozy and inviting place, filled with plants, many bookshelves with books to read, mostly antique furniture and professional coffee making equipment.

By the time he got to work it was already 6:30am, just enough time to prepare everything for opening and have another cup of tea to mentally prepare himself for the day.

Soon enough Levi flipped the sign that read "open!" in bold font of red letters and opened the door for fresh July's breeze and warmth to come in. The morning was quiet and soon there were a few frequent customer sitting in the back, enjoying their daily morning cup of coffee.

A young woman rushed through the door, her hair a little messy and her dirty glasses sitting on the bridge of her nose.

"Good morning, Ackerman! If you don't make me the biggest mug of coffee this instant, i might start having caffeine withdrawals and die right here on the floor," She yelled out loud pointing at the wooden floor. A few customers in the back looked at her as if she was crazy.

Levi stared at her blankly.

"Good morning, four-eyes. Maybe if you weren't screaming into my ear, i would've heard what you just said, but sure, on my way, whatever that was," Levi muttered and began making a huge mug of black coffee for Hange, the usual, as for the past years every single day they've known each other.

His greatest friend Hange was often times at his café. That was initially how they met again. She was the only person that he found reincarnated back from his past life. She was always studying there or even helping him on his side of the bar. She was the only person he could lean on when life got hard and could trust with his life. They were always there for each other from the day that they met almost 5 years ago for the first time again by pure coincidence. She was still the same good old Hange, occupied with inventions and science, now working in a laboratory as a scientist.

Hange sat down across Levi and started blabbering something about her work and after a while she noticed that Levi wasn't exactly listening, even though he was sitting near her, looking at her in the eyes.

"Are you even listening? It looks like something is bothering you, Levi. What is it? I can see it in your eyes," Hange mumbled quietly with a sympathetic look on her face.

"Hm? I'm listening," Levi seemed to come out of trance.

Levi was about to open his mouth again and say that it's nothing but Hange shot him a serious look forcing him to roll his eyes and quickly look down, focusing on a single coffee bean that was lying on the squeaky clean floor.

"It's nightmares again. I feel like should've given up on looking for him a long time ago. Maybe it's just not meant for me to see him ever again. However the way he promised that we'll meet again haunts me. Erwin always kept his word no matter, Hange," Levi sighed, his gaze looked empty but he was deep in thought.

Levi was not the one to ever open up so Hange was a bit surprised by his lack of hesitation to speak up so easily about his feelings all of the sudden.

"Hey, don't get your nose down. I know that it's very tough but maybe it's time to open new doors for new people," Hange trailed off hoping that it wasn't too harsh of a thing to say.

Levi glared at Hange, his eyebrows furrowed and his jaw clenched but gradually, his expression softened, and he found himself considering her words.

Maybe she was right, he thought. Maybe it was time to move on, to find someone new who could help him forget about his past life and start anew. The idea was both exhilarating and terrifying, and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest at the thought.

Levi looked up at Hange, studying her face for a long moment before speaking. "Maybe you're right," he said at last, his voice barely above a whisper. "Maybe it's time for a change."

"I know that you've tried dating people multiple times and nothing good came out of it because you were too hung up on the idea of him coming back but it's just been so long. I want to see you happy. This sadness can't last forever, Levi. You could at least try something casual, to loosen up a little" Hange added, her finger circling around the rim of her mug of coffee that was getting cold. She felt bad about saying it because it was so obvious by the look on Levi's face that these words hurt.

"I hate to admit it but it's true," Levi said quietly, his heart sinking as he heard himself speak.

Now that Levi saw it more clearly: he was waiting for Erwin to appear in his life again since his memories came back which was almost 15 years ago. He was so sure that the day will come and he will be with his lover again. They'll be together just how they have always dreamed. Just this time without titans, pain and grief. But this was too surreal, a distant dream. Too good to be true.

"You'll see, it's not so bad. We have so many cool bars and clubs in the city centre, I'm sure that at least one of them would suit your snobby taste," Hange smiled sympathetically, breaking the depressing trail of thoughts in Levi's head and attempting to cheer her friend up.

"Pfft, you're a professional at this, you'll have to pick one and go with me, how about that?" Levi snickered finally squeezing a smile at Hange.

Hange was picking up her things and stuffing them in her purse getting ready to get on with her day. She finished the rest of her coffee, which was now cold, in one gulp.

"Sure thing, it's almost like it's my specialty. I know exactly where we're going," Hange winked at Levi swinging her bag over her shoulder as Levi rolled his eyes and chuckled softly.

"I'll come to pick you up after you close," she waved a quick goodbye and left.

Levi's heart quietly ached at his decision but he went on with his day trying to hype himself up for the evening.

He really needed to give dating another chance instead of waiting for a miracle to happen.