Crack of Sunlight (Ereri/Riren)

*~Chapter Nineteen~*

As soon as he was sure Levi was asleep, the teen quietly padded over to the opposite couch and took a seat. He could easily watch as Levi's fragile body relaxed; it almost appeared as though it were caving in on itself. Still, beneath the blankets, his shoulders and ribs expanded and contracted with each breath he took, still serving as the brunet's only reassurance.

Eren took this as an opportunity to finally respond to Armin.

|Hey, Armin. Sorry for being MIA. A lot has happened in the past 36 hours. Thanks for the luck, though. I think I'm gonna need it.|

He tapped send and replaced his phone on the coffee table before leaning over and rubbing his face with both hands. He didn't expect Armin to reply right away; the blond almost always had plans Saturday night, whether it was with friends or family or simply studying. He just figured replying late was better than never replying at all, even if Armin wasn't around to see it right away.

To his surprise, however, his phone vibrated in indication of a text message merely minutes later. Upon picking it up, he found it to be from his blond best friend.

|No worries. Need to talk?|

Eren's immediate response was yes, he truly did need someone to talk to, to get advice from. In truth he didn't really know what he was doing; he'd artlessly been following either his instincts or making decisions he thought were best, yet at the same time it didn't seem enough. Talking to someone he trusted like Armin could serve to be useful, but that would mean explaining the entirety of the situation to him and he wasn't sure if that was something he should do.

Levi hadn't even told his own sister, his own family. What right did Eren have telling a secret to a person Levi had never met, especially unbeknownst to him?

He found his lip trapped between his teeth and his thumbs doing an awkward dance over the screen of his phone that had since gone black during his contemplation. He glanced at Levi - who hadn't changed a bit in the last five minutes - and then back at his phone.

Deciding he was desperate enough to need some sort of advice, he retrieved his headphones from his bag in the corner, unlocked his phone again, and tapped the phone icon to call Armin. As it started ringing, he stood and wandered outside as not to wake Levi.

Soundlessly shutting the door behind him and stepping into the frigid air, Armin's familiar voice sounded from the speaker in a cool tone.

"Hello, Eren."

"Hey, Armin."

"How are you?"

Drawing in a deep breath, the brunet slid down the wall and sat. "I'm...overwhelmed," he replied honestly.

"Sounds like it. What's up?"

To keep warmer from the slight breeze blowing snow into the stairwell, Eren pulled his knees up and rested his chin on one of them.

"It's a long, complicated story."

"I think I can keep up."

Eren began tracing nervous, invisible circles on the concrete floor. "Well, what did my mom tell you?"

"Not much. She said you had something really important to take care of and she thanked me."

"Well she wasn't wrong to do that," he replied with a small smile.

"Why?" asked Armin.

"I, um..." Eren gulped, nervous butterflies erupting in his stomach. "I talked to Levi last night," he began. "You were right about that whole thing, not surprisingly."