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Leave it all behind

"Eren."

"What? It's in the rules y'know, Levi."

"No it fucking isn't. If you take those boxers off, I'll make you eat them."

Your friend scowled, pouting bottom lip showing his disappointment as he unhooked his thumbs from the elastic waistband, the only one of your small group to be participating in 'strip Jenga.'

"Fine."

The brunette stomped off to find his clothes, fallen piece of wood still in one hand as Jean snorted a laugh, watching his boyfriend retrieve each garment in the apartment. It was your last day here, the hour growing later with every passing second and the decision to mark the event indoors had been unanimous - no one wanted to risk a repeat of the incident almost a fortnight ago.

You smiled at nothing in particular, palms rubbing together to quell the itchy line of healing flesh. A bandage usually covered the red welt, mainly to protect from any infection or unintentional bashes to your injury but it felt nice to let the skin breathe now and again, allow mother nature to do her job and fix you for once. You'd done all the hard work, along with Levi, to recover from the more devastating accident so it only seemed fair that life took care of something.

Most of the furniture was gone, only a few simple necessities left along with those items you'd be shipping home in the morning. Home. That word no longer applied here and you cast a critical eye over the walls which were now barren, ghosts of your previous life seemingly imbued into the paint in shadowy clouds. The move to this apartment had signalled a change, got you away from the often vile and seedy atmosphere of the strip club and it's neighbouring streets, let you take the steps needed to really take a look and sort yourself out. From that perspective it held comfort and support, yet now you required more. Selfish perhaps, but true.

Levi kept his glare trained on Eren, making sure the guy did as ordered and got into his clothes. He grumbled quietly to himself, light music in the background masking any sound.

"This is why I don't live here. Wouldn't catch Mike trying to get his cock out over a game of Jenga."

He sipped at red wine, legs crossed and body hunched over on the uncomfortable wooden stool, a possession you wanted to bring for sentimental reasons and Levi watched the two men struggle drunkenly to get socks over Eren's feet. His gaze drifted to your position on the floor, the recently habitual scratching of your hand giving another fine example as to why the city was being left behind and he nodded slowly, catching your stare with a smirk.

That look never ceased to cause your breath to become stuck in your throat, piercing silver shining from beneath low thin brows in a way which screamed desire. Despite having only a bare mattress to sleep on tonight and one thin sheet as a cover, Levi had insisted it would be more than sufficient and you started to understand why when the mischievous glint in his eye became more obvious.

Having the ability to hold your own in terms of alcohol content paid off once more and you observed the clothing battle to your right, giggles erupting at the ridiculous scene as you stood, stretching out protesting muscles and gaining adequate blood flow again. Whilst you weren't exactly in a position to run a marathon, your recovery was mostly complete apart from the occasional bout of stiffness and pain, all perfectly normal according to Hange whom you'd met with a couple of days prior. The talkative medical professional had discharged you, provided as close to a clean bill of health as possible and made you promise to get in touch should any issues arise.

All in all, things seemed to moving in the right direction and you smiled, Levi's arm snaking around your waist after the man had materialised as if from nowhere. He spoke softly, breath tickling your ear.