A Lifetime Friendship (ErenxLevi)

Chapter 13: One Year

**rises from the dead**

**looks around**

Le gasp!

Admin isn't dead!

AND THERE'S AN UPDATE!!

GOMEN GOMEN!!! Oh. Mai. Glob. I am so sorry about just disappearing out of the blue like that!!! I've been on vacation for the past two weeks and have been suffering MAJOR writers block!! I'm so sorry!! Please, take this chapter as a gift!!

Unedited

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LF pt 13

One year. That's how long it had been since Levi had moved. That's how long Eren had been battling his sudden depression.

One year. Every day, the two lovers would video chat, text, and call, but it was never enough for Eren. His absence at school was becoming greater, and his contact with his other friends was disappearing. Several times had Mikasa and Armin forcefully barged into his room, only to find the brunet bundled up in his blankets, laying in the dark with his closed laptop on the bedside table and his phone clutched to his chest. He only seemed to smile in Levi's presence lately, and hardly spoke a word to anyone else.

One year. In that year, Eren had spent every moment he could with Levi. He stayed with Levi a couple of days over Spring Break, a month during Summer break, and a week during Christmas break. Each time, Eren had to be dragged away, literally, from Levi's new home to he brought back to his own a few hours away.

One year. A new family had moved in down the road into Levi's old home. The Ackerman family would've kept the home, and they had, at first, but the expenses were too great, and his father's job became permanent with a new promotion. When the new people, a young couple with a 6 month old baby, moved in down the road, they completely repainted the house, changing it from its white exterior to a cool forest green with maroon shudders around each window. It broke Eren's heart, because it was as if Levi had never been there.

One year.

One year.

A soft knock sounded on Eren's door. He made no move to get it, if the person needed him, they'd come in. If not, then they'd leave. Simple.

"Eren, honey, you haven't eaten all day, and you didn't eat dinner last night," Carla's soft voice reached his ears as light from the hall flooded his dark room, a hiss emerging from his throat as his eyes made sudden contact. He didn't say anything else to his mom.

The dark brunette ventured deeper into the room, sitting down on the side of her son's bed. "Hey, can I tell you a story?" A smile played on her petite lips as she looked down at her son.

Said son's eyes flickered up to his mother's gentle face, a sudden curiosity erupting in his dulled turquoise eyes, glittering slightly with the unshed tears that always resided there. He didn't speak a word, but his eyes spoke enough for his mother to give a warm chuckle.

"Well, when I met your father, I was 16 and he was 25," she began, a wistful expression spreading on her face as she recalled the memory. "He was already a doctor, then, fresh out of college. He and I got to know each other, and slowly, began to fall in love with each other. We began dating, much like you and Levi, and everything was just perfect. But then," she paused, her face falling for a moment, "your father had to go away because of his business. I wanted to go with him, but I had recently started university, and he told me my education came first and foremost. I was upset, no matter how many times I called him or wrote to him, because I missed him dearly. And he was gone for almost two years." She looked back at Eren, an understanding look in her eyes. "Two years without me being able to see him at all, but did I let that get to me?" She paused again. "No, because I knew that, one day, he would come back to me. Just like he promised, he stayed faithful to me, as I did to him, and we were soon reunited. It was a few months after that when we decided to get married, and then I had you." A smile spread across her face.

Eren sat up a little, looking into his mother's caramel eyes. "Y-you know what this is like? To be so far away from someone you love?"

Carla pulled her son into a tight, warm hug. "Yes, sweetheart. I know exactly what you're feeling. I know that you're hurting, but there's a saying that runs deep in this situation."

He looked up at her with tear-soaked eyes. "What saying is that?"

"It goes: 'if you love something, set it free. If it comes back to you, then it's yours.' My father told me the same thing, and he told me that in order for me to move on, I had to let your father go. Yes, it hurt so much, and I still spoke to him almost everyday, but I let him go. And he came back to me, so I knew that it was the right decision."

Tears trailed down Eren's cheeks, listening closely to his mother's words. "So... I have to let him go?" Eren asked with a quiet, weak voice, obviously holding back sobs.

Carla gently caressed his cheek, wiping away the tears with gentle thumbs. "Yes, baby. I know how hard it is to do so, a d it hurts so much, but it something you need to do to move on. In the end, it'll all be worth it. I swear it, honey."

Eren sniffled, more tears flowing down his cheeks, soft sobs beginning to wrack his body until he couldn't hold it back anymore. He held onto his mother as he cried, never letting his grin slacken, until his sobs quieted, and tears dried up. His eyes returned to Carla's, slightly red and puffy from crying.

Carla gave a soft smile. "Come on, hon, I've got your dinner made." Standing, she carefully pulled Eren up with her, and led her son out of the room to where his father sat at the table, the food untouched, and a small, comforting smile on his face.

'Maybe letting Levi go is the best thing to do.'

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Unedited. I'm going to try to write another chapter and post it. I'll be on the road tomorrow, so no update then! Or, at least, for a while.