Forever and Always

Epilogue - One Month Later

As the semester neared a close, I was looking forward to spending Winter Break with Levi, as he had gone back East after Thanksgiving, taking Dominic with him. Upon their return from their "girl's trip," my sister, Sasha, and Petra surprised me with Jean himself, acting as their only souvenir from their trip to San Francisco. Levi had been in on it the entire time, of course, but what none of us expected was Jean's instant attraction to Rivaille, so much that Rivaille stayed behind when the other two left, just to be with his new boyfriend. Much to my surprise, Levi gave them his room in the shared apartment with Petra, for Jean to return to when he graduated high school in December.

When I asked him where he intended on staying when he came back, his only response was, "With you, dumbass," coupled with a flick to the forehead. I took that as a good sign and allowed time to continue marching onwards.

It was a warm, sunny December thus far and I was enjoying the lackadaisical last couple weeks of school, spending my early mornings with Mikasa and Sasha, my afternoons with Christa or Petra, and then my evenings at home with Poppy. My job had not lasted much farther than my trip out to Massachusetts after Isabel's passing, so I was looking at a mostly free schedule.

I was lounging on the couch at the apartment, snuggled up next to Petra while we watched Rizzoli and Isles on Hulu, yet another one of Petra's crime show obsessions when my phone pinged with a notification.

It was a snap from Levi. He rarely sent me snaps, only really getting on Snapchat to video call me, so I shielded my phone for a moment while I opened it, wondering if he was sending me a dick pic or something along those lines.

Much to my relief, it was not, in fact, a dick pic. It was a picture of his arm. His left arm, free of a cast, with a wicked tan line from six months of total sun deprivation. The photograph was captioned, "Thought you might wanna see this lol." I quickly took a screenshot, feeling excitement bubble up through my core.

"Petra oh my God! Look at what Levi sent me!" I squealed, turning the phone towards her, but much to my surprise, she threw her hands over her eyes. "What?" I asked.

"Look, between you and Levi, and then Jean and Rivaille," she muttered, holding up a small unit of measurement between her fingers while she continued, her other hand still clamped securely over her eyes, "I've seen enough to be this close to just being a lesbian. If you promise me it isn't somebody's penis, I will open my eyes."

"Oh my God, I wouldn't share those, Petra."

"Maybe not, but that doesn't explain the mental scars," she laughed, slowly lowering her hand and blinking her eyes open.

"Oh, no way. No way he just sent you a picture. We need to call him right now," she snapped, snatching the phone from my hands and pressing the video call button.

I heard the phone stop dialing him and watched over Petra's shoulder while Levi answered the phone.

"Bitch," she said slowly, cutting me entirely out of the shot of her face, not giving Levi a chance to speak before she began her tirade. "You mean to tell me you sent this poor little bean a picture of your arm without calling him to listen to him be excited? Weak. I could be a better boyfriend to Eren than you."

"Okay first of all, I don't think I'm the bitch here, Petra. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think I ever took your dick, ma'am," Levi said, almost the second Petra stopped talking. "Also, I picked up, didn't I? Where is Eren?"

"I'm right here," I said, leaning over Petra's shoulder to appear in our side of the video feed.

"Hi, Love. So, how's that tan line for you? Yikes," he muttered, carding a hand through his hair while a smirk settled into his breathtaking features. There was just enough light filtering through his windows to give him a sort of ethereal glow while he glimmered on the screen.