The Book Store (Ereri/Riren) |COMPLETED|

Nine - Unexpected Visitor

Sorry it's short and late, I just haven't had much inspiration lately, but now I do so...HERE I AM.

Levi's P.O.V.

Another week past, and it got dangerously close to Christmas and my birthday. Eren was ecstatic for the holiday, prancing around daily in excitement to see his friends. His happiness was almost like he was bragging, even though I knew he wasn't. I just felt like he was considering I had no friends other than him or Hanji, and Eren wasn't even my friend; actually, I didn't know what we were. Certainly friends weren't as close as we were, but it was barely a relationship either, we were in the middle. We had never even kissed yet, which was weird since we had been in this 'middle stage' for almost two weeks.

I didn't mind not kissing though, it was simple. We didn't argue or anything, we were calm and at peace together. Sure, we'd argue about simple things such as which movie to watch next or what time we would meet after my shift was over, but other than that, everything was simple, exactly how I liked it.

I could tell Eren wanted more though, but he never pushed me. I knew he wanted a real relationship with me, but he accepted that it would take some time. I would tell him numerous times that I liked him, just so he wouldn't forget and think that I didn't considering the way I barely treated him like we were together. He'd tell me he liked me too with his usual smile on, but I could tell that my neglect was bothering him a bit.

Sometimes I would try to act like we were in a real relationship, but I'd stop myself and go back to how we usually were. When I did this, I'd hug him more often, attempt to cuddle, but I still wouldn't kiss him. I didn't want to kiss him, but not for the reasons a normal person would think. I didn't want to kiss him because I wanted it to be real, natural and not have it be forced or be thinking about it; I just want to kiss him. But every time I'd try, I'd find myself realizing that I was thinking about, and so I'd stop just before our lips would touch, leaving Eren confused and a little shocked once I pulled away and went back to whatever I had been doing before, not a word of any sort of explanation leaving my mouth.

Since Christmas was only a few days away, Eren and I had gone Christmas shopping. He bought a truckload of things, while I only bought a few things here and there. Since he wanted to make Christmas and my birthday special, he wouldn't let me go with him the next time he shopped, because he said he would be shopping for me the next time. I had immediately decided against this and told him I just wouldn't look at what he was buying me, but damn can that kid throw a fit. So instead of trying to change his mind, I decided to shop for him while he was shopping for me.

That was two days ago though, so right now we were wrapping the gifts we've bought for people at my apartment. Mine were neat, while Eren's gifts were more tape than paper.

"Can you help me?" Eren whined.

"Fine." I muttered, scooting over next to him on the floor.

I ripped apart the paper, making sure to shove it in the garbage bag beside him, then rewrapped the entire gift which was a maroon coloured scarf. I got a label and slapped it on, grabbing a pen to write "From: Eren" and "To:

"Who is this for?" I asked.

"Mikasa." He answered.

I wrote down her name and handed it back to him. "Your sister, right?" I asked.

"Adoptive." He confirmed, placing the gift along with his others before standing up and stretching. "I'm gonna go out on the balcony." He announced.

"Okay." I said. "Be careful."

"I will, mom." He teased before disappearing out the sliding door.

I sighed and started to clean up the mess. I wiped everything down, stacked up the gifts nicely, and put everything into the garbage. After I was done cleaning, I decided to join Eren since he had been out there for awhile.

"Eren?" I asked as I stepped out into the cold.

He was leaning over the railing, almost falling off the edge. If he were to lean just a bit more, he'd go falling.

"Stop." I said, approaching him slowly.

He looked up at me, smiling. "What?" He asked.

"You weren't going to jump, were you?" I asked, standing beside him.

"No. I was just looking." He reassured.

I nodded, placing my hands on the slightly frosted railing. He took a step closer to me, placing his hand on to of mine, instantly warming it. I closed the gap between us by leaning against him comfortably.

"I like you." I said.

"I know, you tell me at least every hour." He said, laughing lightly. "But I like you too."

"Scale from one to ten?" I asked.

"Eleven. what about me?"

"Twelve."

He smiled at me, leaning over the edge a bit to look down. "Have you ever thought of jumping?" He asked.

"Honestly?" I asked.

"Yeah, honestly." He murmured.

"Well I have, many times." I said. "But I haven't lately."

"I'm glad you didn't." He said softly. "Otherwise I don't know where I'd be right now, probably crying away at my own apartment."

"You'd cry if I died?" I asked, completely confused and shocked.

"A part of me would die too, Levi." He murmured. "But other than that, I really don't know what I would do. I don't even want to think about it."

"That's stupid." I stated.

"Huh?" He asked, confused.

"That's stupid to care about me that much." I answered. "I don't want you to."

"Too late." He muttered.

I sighed. "I'm gonna go back in, it's too cold." I said.

"Okay, I'll be in soon." He said, leaning against the railing again.

I left to go back inside, feeling guilty that he cared about me that much; not because I didn't care for him, but because I didn't do anything to deserve it. If anything, I should be the one caring about him way more than the both of us combined, maybe even love him.

I winced just thinking about it. Love was only pain, that's it. It was pain in disguise.

I went to the kitchen and put the kettle on, planning to make us some tea before bed like I usually did. It was only eight o'clock, but I had nothing better to do.

"Levi! Guess who I ran into!" Hanji shouted, whipping open my door. "And I found my key!"

I groaned, not wanting to deal with her at the moment. I got the cups ready then started my way towards the door. I stopped walking when I heard two voices, Hanji's, and somebody else's.

"What the fuck, Hanji? Who did you bring-" My breath caught in my throat as I stared at the two.

I felt anger arise in me, along with pain and abandonment. Hanji looked happy and excited, while I only glared at the creature that had left me, without even a word or reason, they just got up and left without even an ounce of concern for anything other than themselves.

"Levi, what's going on?" Eren asked, stepping up behind me, wrapping his arms around me from behind. "Who's-?" I felt his head look up, noticing who was here.

While I had no idea what to say or do, Eren's two simple words summed it up:

"Oh shit."

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CLIFFHANGER LMAO