→ softly | eruri

12

"I wanna sleep here tonight."

Erwin's eyebrows knitted together in a total confusion. His eyes fixed as if he was searching for any punch lines or jokes, but there wasn't any. Levi seemed to carry a small crossbody bag in his right hand, his black overcoat made him look a lot smaller. Erwin blinked a few times to refocus as he straighten his shoulders.

"And why is that?"

A cool breeze touched Levi's skin and wicked away his body heat when Erwin asked. "Can you..." Levi closed his eyes momentarily. "Can you let me in first? It's freezing outside."

Erwin opened his mouth to say something but his mind went blank. He eyed Levi up and down, subtly checking him out before moving away from the doorframe. "Right. I'm sorry. Come in." He said and let Levi stepped inside the house.

The latter sighed. "What was the question again."

"Care to explain why you want to sleep here?" Erwin asked again. The air suddenly felt thick and awkward, slowly encircling the two male. Regardless, both of them attempted to ignore it.

Before Levi got to answer the question, he heard a creaking coming from the stairs and that forced him to stop. He turned to his head to meet a tall, lean old man who looked really identical to Erwin. Except, he has an unkept beard and wore glasses. The man walked down the steps as he rubbed his eyes drowsily.

"Erwin? Who's at the door?" He questioned as he wrapped the robe around his muscular body and stood beside Erwin. And the fact that Erwin was taller than the man really surprised Levi.

"Father-"

Levi interfered. "Good evening, sir. I'm Levi Ackerman, the friend who's your son has been tutoring for awhile now." He bowed. "I want to apologise for disturbing you during this late hour but something terrible happened at my house. So, if you don't mind I would like to stay here for the night."

Mr. Smith pursed his lips. The name sounded really familiar to him. "Ah, so you're Levi. Erwin loves to talk about you a lot."

Erwin furrowed his eyebrows and glared at the older. "Father, what the hell." He muttered something under his breath, shaking his head in distrust. Oh, what a way to ruin your reputation. Mr. Smith just laughed evilly and Levi didn't know what to say after that. 'Did I hear that shit right?' His brain cogged, trying to take in that bizarre information.

"May I know what happened?" Mr. Smith asked.

Levi fixated his vision. "Uhm... there's some technical problems going on at my house and I didn't want to stay there. Also, a relative of mine came to visit and we're not really close. Besides, I'm going to leave it to him cuz he seemed to know how to sort the issues out. It's a bit complicated actually." He explained in one breathe as his hands did those random movements in a nervous way. It was such an infrequent sight to see Levi like this.

"And also, Erwin is the only one who's close to my house." He added. Hopefully, the father would let him stay.

"I see." Mr. Smith stroke his majestic beard. "Are you by any chance, feel hungry?"

Levi cut him off. "Oh, please no worries sir. I already ate." He smiled politely and glanced at Erwin who was staring at him the whole time. Levi guessed that he probably had a lot of questions wandering in his mind and he's waiting for the right moment to ask him. Meanwhile, Erwin knew it was all an act because Levi have never been this well mannered to anyone before. Like, ever.

"That's good to hear then." The old man nodded. "Yes, of course you can stay here. Until your house is okay again. Please, inform me if you need anything."