Pen-Pals \\Ereri//

10

"Whats wrong, Levi?" Izzy asked, and Levi shook his head.

"I have to take a call, I'll be right back." He replied, and Izzy frowned. Farlan frowned too, and Levi shrugged as some sort of half assed apology attempt. He stood and left the room after that, his phone in hand. He made it to the backyard and he called Eren's number, and the phone only rang once before the call was answered.

"Help me," Eren was crying, he sounded distraught and Levi froze. "Please take me away from here." Eren sobbed, and Levi heard a loud bang on the line. Levi could hear a voice, though he couldn't make out what they were saying. Eren cried louder, and then he dropped the phone. Both Eren and the other person were screaming now and Levi started to panic. He figured he was sober enough to drive, so he took his keys out of his pocket and tried to leave the house without his friends seeing him.

—

"You're such a fucking hassle, Eren." Mikasa, his used-to-be cousin but now sister (her parents passed away and Eren's mum took her in) yelled, and Eren put his hands over his ears, like a child.

"Just fucking leave me alone, go get the groceries yourself. Leave me alone." Eren's face was red and wet, from tears.

"I'm not going to fucking leave you alone until you're done being a useless prick. Carla told you to pick up the fucking groceries. She's going to be mad." Mikasa was angry; spit flew from her mouth as she spoke and her hands were clenched into fists. "What kind of 17 year old can't leave their room for an hour to get their mother food? Eren, just fucking go!" She started yelling again, and Eren was still in hysterics.

"Fuck off, fuck off, fuck off!" Snot dripped down Eren face and Mikasa's lips curled into scowl.

"What's wrong with you? You're fucking pathetic, Eren. Jump off a bridge, no one'll miss you." With that, Mikasa turned and slammed Eren's door shut as she exited and Eren let out a cry of relief. He needed to get out of the house though; his mom as coming home soon. She was worse than Mikasa. Her words hurt more than Mikasa's; it was a completely different feeling when your own mother says you aren't good enough.

Eren started to calm himself, but when he heard a knock at the front door he jumped up and ran to his window. He'd taken the screen out of it a while ago and the siding of the house almost acted as a latter down to the ground. He held his breath and stood still, listening for his mum.

"Who're you?" He heard Mikasa, and Eren sighed. It was probably a salesman. He could hear Mikasa's voice but couldn't make out what she was saying. He heard the door shut and everything went quiet again, so Eren sat down in his bed. He focused on his breathing, something that helped him calm down after things like this happened. Eren laid back and looked out of the window, up at the sky. It was nearly dark, the sun was setting and the moon was out already. Eren looked at the few clouds that were in the sky. He liked clouds.

Eren's bedroom door opened, making the boy jump up from his bed. He looked over at the doorway, and his eyes went wide when he saw Mikasa standing there with Levi.

Levi's hair was dishevled and Eren could tell his eyes were red from where he was sitting on the bed.

"Your friend's here." Mikasa spat, then left.

"Levi?" Eren was confused, they hadn't spoken in a while.

"Are you okay?" Levi walked over to the brunette, and took a seat beside him. Levi reeked of weed and booze, and Eren winced when the older boy wrapped his arms around him. "What happened, Eren?"

"What are you talking about?" Eren asked, and Levi pulled back, looking that Eren with an eyebrow raised.

"You called me." Levi said.

"When?"

"Twenty minutes ago, I was at a party and I left to come and see what was wrong. You sounded like you needed help. You asked for help." Eren's face twisted. He remembered now; he remembered texting Levi like a madman and he remembered picking up the phone and he remembered throwing his phone at Mikasa when she barged into his room. Eren stood and walked over to his dresser, then got down on his knees. His phone was under the furniture but it was close enough for Eren to reach it. He looked at the screen- it was cracked.

"Fuck man, I'm sorry." Eren was still a little sniffly, and Levi sucked in a breath. Levi wasn't sure why he freaked out at the party, and he wasn't sure why he drove here. "I was fighting with my sister and I- I don't know, I totally didn't realize that was like, a real call. I'm sorry." Eren tried to laugh it off, and Levi shook his head.

"Its okay." Levi said, even though it wasn't. Levi was mad, he was mad that Eren made him leave the party he was looking forward to. He was mad at himself, too. He chose Eren over his best friends.

Levi was pissed, because he's falling in love again.