Just Five Days // REMASTERED (IN PROGRESS)

Chapter 9

The rest of the night was uneventful. Once Levi had calmed down a little more, we were handcuffed to each other again, before brushing our teeth and going to bed.

Levi wrapped his arms around my waist, and I couldn't bring myself to pull away as I fell asleep. I woke up with sweet smelling smoke blowing into my face. I opened my eyes to see faint orange embers emerged from the joint in Levi's mouth. I felt his fingers tracing up and down my chest. I smiled at the twinge of pleasure it gave me to see Levi candidly being affectionate to me.

"Did you smoke at home?" Levi asked, offering me the weed with a raised eyebrow. I nodded and rubbed my eyes. "Want some?"

I shook my head, declining the offer of a high. I felt the need to stay sober in case we did something stupid together. He shrugged, taking another hit. "Your loss."

"Where did you get that? What time is it?"

"Hanji and 2:30." I looked around the dark room, my eyes adjusting. I saw Hanji sitting in the desk chair with a small pipe, the light from a tablet illuminating her face. She smiled and waved at me. I sat up and waved back, trying not to cry out in pain. Now that my muscles had a chance to shut down, my lower half was in agony trying to go back to normal. It hurt to move a centimeter, let alone sit up and move around. In the silence, I could hear the rain continuing to come down.

"Does Erwin know?" I asked, trying to distract from the obvious stabbing ache I was feeling. "And how are you still awake? I thought you needed lots of sleep."

"When I say lots of sleep, I mean more than an hour. Anything more than about two restful hours without night terrors is a success. And Erwin's Hanji's fucking dealer, Mike, that other overnight staff, buys from him too." He puffed on the joint again, blowing rings with his smoke cloud.

"Hey, Levi," Hanji interrupted lazily. "Wanna watch a doctor show? I love it when they do the operations. Maybe I shoulda been a surgeon, not a stoner," she giggled.

"Nah, you can, Hanji. I gotta talk to Jaeger. Can you give us a minute?" Hanji nodded and stood, leaving the bedroom and closing the door behind her. Levi looked down at me. I tried to sit further up, but a shooting pain slammed me hard. I sucked in a breath through my teeth. Levi's relaxed, lowered eyelids couldn't mask the concern gleaming in his silver eyes. "You okay?"

"I think you beat my back out. I hurt all over," I mumbled. I could see Levi's eyes glaze over, even in the darkness. He nodded silently, putting the spent butt out in a cup of water.

"Look, I hate that I had to get high to be able to say this, but I'm not used to having feelings for people the way I have feelings for you. I promise, if you try again with me, I won't push you back. I promise that sex meant something, but it freaked me out enough that I kinda lashed out. I- I'm sorry, Eren." I raised my eyebrows, shocked at Levi's sudden apology. I wasn't sure if he had ever said those words in his life.

"Levi, it's late and you're high. Let's see how we feel tomorrow and go from there. This morning, we hated each other. I just don't think feelings can change that fast." Levi sighed and scooted down, rolling to face me. He wrapped his arm around my waist again, pulling me tight to his body and we fell asleep again.