Just Five Days // REMASTERED (IN PROGRESS)

Prologue

"You're fucking dumb, Jaeger." Levi rolled his eyes at me. He was doing a great job testing my patience. I was ready to explode. My fingers instinctively curled into fists. "You're just a shitty fuckin' brat, that nobody fuckin' likes." He was looking for a fight.

"I have no clue why the staff have me sharing a room with an asshole like you!" I finally snapped, taking a step closer to him, towering over him. "I don't care that your sex worker mommy died. She had what was coming to her. That doesn't mean you get to parade around and-"

Levi's fist went straight into my diaphragm. He gripped the collar of my old tee shirt and slammed me into the wall. "Don't you ever say that again, brat. You don't fucking know me!"

 He punched me again, knocking the breath out of my lungs. I gasped for air as he kept landing hits. He was a lot shorter than me, but that didn't matter at all. What he lacked in height, he made up for in pure muscle. He landed a right-hook to my cheek before I was able to fight back. Once I caught my breath, my fist flew to his jaw, trying to get him back a little. He staggered backwards and I took my chance to land a few more blows on my roommate, before tackling him to the ground like a linebacker. Football had done me well. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the door swing open and slam into the wall.

"Both of you, over here, now!" Reagan, a staff member at the Residential Treatment Program we were both in commanded sternly. I saw Armin and Connie from the room next to ours huddling behind the giant man.

"Well, we're screwed," Levi muttered as we shuffled over to the angry mentor.

"This is your fault," I grumbled.

"Oh, right, it's my fucking fault. It's always my fucking fault!" Levi yelled at me bitterly.

"Shut up! Stop it! Both of you need to stop bickering. You two can go, thank you for informing me." Our neighbors scurried off like cockroaches, fear and amusement on their smug faces. Reagan turned to us. "Look, I can go to the Executive Director right now, if you two wanna be shipped off to Wilderness." He paused, letting his words sink in. "Again," he emphasized, turning to Levi. "Or, I have a punishment for you two and all that goes in shift notes is another argument. You two can choose."

"What's your punishment?" I asked. Levi snorted, folding his arms, probably to hide the way his body was convulsing. He was still shaking. We both were, as the adrenaline of a recent fist fight had its way with our veins.

"Wuss. Can't spend the night outdoors, huh?" Levi said condescendingly, not turning his head to even look at me.

"You idiots! I am trying to give you guys a way out of severe punishment, and all you two are giving me is pushback. You know what the higher up's are gonna do if they find out there was a fistfight again. I don't wanna see you two overnighted to the great outdoors."

"Fine," Levi consented, his silver eyes hard and angry. "But only because winter is on it's way. I don't feel like having frostbite again. Wilderness in the middle of winter isn't exactly something I'd like to do over again."

"Good. The punishment is Distance from everyone except each other for five days. And this." In one swift movement, Reagan whipped out a pair of handcuffs and bound me to Levi.

"What the hell?" Levi snapped, tugging on his side of the handcuffs. "Not happening."

"Yeah, I was expecting an essay or something," I complained, tugging back on my side of the shiny silver bracelets. I strained against the cold metal.

"See? You two already agreed on something. Five days will be over before you know it," Reagan said matter-of-factly, nodding in approval at his shit eating intervention.