It took Eren a few months to get itself together so that he could move in with Levi. He attended two counseling sessions a week as an attempt to fix himself so that he was the perfect version of himself that he wanted to be to Levi. Although he was of age to be moving out, his parents were very hesitant in letting Eren move in with someone they did not meet yet. They were also concerned because they were not certain if Eren was in a stable condition to make that sort of decision, but they eventually agreed because they noticed how... light be had became. Not light as in loss of body weight, but brightness. Eren liked being alive, genuinely loved to wake up and spend his day because he knew Levi was his. He didn't enjoy sleeping, which used to be his favourite activity, because sleeping was like another way of dying without having to end one's life, and he didn't want that anymore. He just wanted to bathe himself in the presence of his newfound love.
The first time they slept in the same bed, it felt normal and right as if they had already done so a few hundred times. They always fell asleep facing one another. Levi wanted to end his day looking at Eren and waking up doing the same. Everything went smoothly for the first few days until Eren started to get nightmares and woke up screaming, startling Levi.
"Hey, hey," Levi said in a hushed voice as he wrapped his arms around a sobbing Eren. "You're alright. It was only a dream, okay? I'm here."
It was three in the morning and the room was uncomfortably warm. The light of the moon was shining down onto the wooden floor like radiant crystal water. Levi buried his face into Eren hair and kissed his whole face.
"Look at me, baby," Levi whispered. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"No," Eren said quickly as he stifled a sound between a gasp and sob.
"That's fine with me, but you're welcome to tell me anything if you need to."
"I'm sorry I woke you up," Eren whispered as he pressed his head over Levi's heart.
"It's okay," Levi told him as he eased the both of them back down.
"I love you," Eren murmured.
"I love you too," Levi replied. "What can I do to make you feel better?"
"Blow me," Eren muttered in an innocent voice. Levi looked at him, thinking he was serious, but shook his head with a smile when he saw that Eren had the goofiest grin on his face.
"Very funny."
"Can you tell me a story?"
"What are you, a baby?" Levi asked sarcastically.
"Your baby," Eren answered him in an almost seductive voice. At this rate, Levi thought he'd go bald if Eren continued to talk this way at this rate. "Please? I need a distraction."
"Fine. Does it matter what genre?" Levi questioned as he began to stroke Eren's hair.
"No, not really."
"I once heard about this tale a long time ago and although my memory of it is a bit fuzzy, it always stuck with me. So this story takes place in an Italian village called where a man with a grotesque appearance lives in a secluded castle with a lovely garden. A beautiful garden, Eren, with flowers of all shapes, sizes, and colours, like a vibrant rainbow of plants. Since he's so lonely, he spends his time tending to the flowers and growing even more for this garden of his because it is the only thing that brings him joy. One day, a woman comes in and he is immediately stricken with love. He wants to approach her and her for her name and why she is there, but he can't because he's too hideous and doesn't wish to scare her away. It turns out she isn't in the garden to admire the flowers, but she's actually there to steal handfuls of them to sell in order to make a living because she is horribly poor. Eventually, he is able to meet her, but he wears a mask so that she doesn't have to see how horrendous he appears. She comes to the garden every day and continues to take the flowers because she's not aware that it's the masked ugly guy who grows them. He doesn't care though. He would give the entire goddamn garden to her if he could. Although they are not a couple, his heart was already broken from the start because he knew it would never work out between the two of them. He's okay with this because it makes him happy that she's putting his flowers to use. When they talk, the girl expresses how she wants to help him out and be with him since he is so lonely, but he tells her not to care because it is in his fate to be forgotten, invisible and hated so it will be fruitless if she tried to be with him. He often lies to her and because of this, he feels like she can never love the real him. It's hurting him that he can't be with her, but he is still in love. One day he blooms a flower that never existed before and is just like her; reflecting her undying beauty. He wants to give it to her unmasked but he can never do so because he is so self-conscious and so he must forever hide, he won't allow himself to show the run-down part of him. He grows this particular flower everywhere in his garden so that she can pick them and make tons of money for it since they're so exquisite. Unfortunately, the girl never comes back for the flowers as it turns out that she passes away before his act of kindness of sincerity and kindness could reach her, and he is haunted by the pain of what could have been. He begins to wish that he had the courage to stand before her with the mask. Although she is gone, he still longs for her."
