A Second Chance || Attack on Titan

love, love, love, never let go

Hello! Welcome to the third install of this series! I know I said it would take me a while to post, but yesterday inspiration struck and I wrote this. It's a little short, but there wasn't anything else I had to tell in this instal, so here you go!

SUMMARY

Life before Eren had been dull. That's something that hasn't changed even if the life Levi is currently living has.

Life before Eren had been dull. That's something that hasn't changed even if the life Levi is currently living has.

And he's not talking about the shitty experiences, though the thug life and the abusive household don't make for a pretty picture either way. No, Levi's talking about something else. Before Eren, everything was coated in a shade of grey. Even with Isabel, his little light in the darkness of the underground, her soft embrace when he couldn't stay at home, things never really took color.

Then Eren came and everything turned so bright, brighter than it was to see the sun for the first time, and Levi could have cried in joy.

He remembers the first time they met with startling clarity, back in Trost before everything went even more to shit. Eren was exciting his titan's nape, steaming hot and in the edge of unconsciousness, and Levi had landed not even ten meters away, asking what was going on. Even then Levi knew the brat would change his life.

And he did. He still does.

Now he's in this new life, this new chance they all got. While he was still a kid, hiding in the broom closet so his uncle's drunk friends wouldn't find him, Eren was what gave him hope, what kept him sane. Levi's always been able to remember, for better or worse, and those bright teal eyes that have always looked at him with admiration, and then all that care, that tenderness, that love. Those eyes kept him going. Because they meant there was something - someone - better out there, waiting for him.

Levi has always looked for Eren.

Looked for him on the streets, on the university halls, on the stores. Everywhere he went, Levi searched for those teal eyes and unruly brown hair, for that beaming smile that always made his heart skip a beat back when there were man-eating titans looming over them.

In a world full of suffering, and death, and pain, Eren was his beacon of hope, his anchor. He rapidly became the one constant in his life that didn't involve any of the horrors Levi's life seemed to be full of. Eren was his breath of fresh air, his perfect complement.

(Which is why his death always wakes him up in the middle of the night, tears staining his cheeks as he mourns his love of a life long past, a love he isn't able to let go.)

(He hopes Eren doesn't remember any of it.)

And that day, when he hears that voice calling his name - he sounds older, more mature than the teenage voice Levi used to know, but he recognizes it all the same - Levi stops. His heart beats fast, breath held because is this happening, has Levi really found him? It's even a coincidence that he's even taking the train, since his car is getting its yearly maintenance.

But it is him. It's his Eren, Levi knows it's him even if he's taller, broader, and overall older than he was on his last moments all those years ago. Levi's heart skips a beat, eyes widened as he takes in what's in front of him.

Eren looks different. He looks healthier, it's obvious that their meals in this life have done wonders to his physique. Even in the military, food was hard to find back then, and there was never the amount of meat and nutrients they have now.