The Next-Door Neighbor

The First Night

Levi's POV
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It's 1:39 in the morning. Who is knocking on my fucking door at 1:39 in the morning? I swear to God, if they knock one more time, I'm going to get up and throttle them. The heavy pounding on the door starts again. God, this means I have to get up. I throw the bed sheets off of me and trudge to the door. My apartment is cold, and I am now freezing. Shitty person, waking me up when I was finally able to get to sleep. The pounding on the door becomes more frantic.

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you, I'm almost there!" I yell loud enough so whoever it is will stop making a ruckus. I swing open the door to find my new neighbor in front of me.

"Hi, my name's Eren Jaeger. I know this is our first time meeting, but can I stay the night in your apartment?" I look at him hard, trying to make sense of what he just said. I glare at him, looking over his features. I bet he is barely 18, just moved out of his parents' house.

"What, can't handle living on your own already, shitty kid?" I didn't mean to be so rude, actually, I did, but I shouldn't have been. The boy's smile is now gone and has been replaced instead with a worried look.

"Please, I promise I won't be too noisy or make a mess. I just can't sleep in my apartment. That place is haunted. Please don't make me go back there for tonight!" Tears start spilling from his green eyes. Fuck. This was not in my job description. I sigh, before giving in to this cute stranger.

"Here, come inside. I'll make some tea," I move aside and motion for him to enter my apartment. Gratitude on his face is easy to see, and he smiles at me, tears still streaming down his face. "What kind of tea do you want?" He hesitates.

"One of your least flavorful, please, if that's okay!" He immediately starts tripping over himself with apologies. I sigh and shake my head.

"Just sit on the couch and wait for me. I really want to here this story," I stare at him until he finally shuffles over to the couch and plops himself down. I pour water into the silver kettle and set it on the stove, turning the stove on in the process. I grab two mugs from my cupboard and the tea packets. I always drink Earl Grey. Always. Eren gets Japanese Blossoms. Once the water is hot enough, I pour it into the mugs with the tea and bring them over to the couch where Eren has been sitting uncomfortably for the past couple of minutes. I hand him his tea before plopping myself down next to him on the couch. "So what actually happened at your apartment? Why are you so scared to sleep there?" I ask.

"Well, there was a lot of weird things that happened when I moved my stuff into the apartment yesterday. Things went missing or were moved. Just odd enough that I thought it was my own doing. But then, when I went to go to sleep, I got these," He rolls up his sleeve on his right arm to show scratches running vertically the whole length of his arm. "I don't know how they got there. But something was watching me while I was trying to sleep too. I have these scratches on my legs, torso, and both my arms. I'm not an easily spooked person, I promise. That apartment is haunted though." I look at the scratches, and get up quickly. Those need to be disinfected, who knows what kind of diseases ghosts have. I rush to the bathroom to get the first-aid kit and am by Eren's side again in a matter of seconds. I settle myself in front of the kid this time so I can look at the injuries better. I hold out my hand, waiting for me to give me his arm. He reluctantly does so, and I disinfect and bandage all of the scratches on his body.

"Okay, now that that's taken care of, we can seriously talk," I move back to my original spot next to Eren. He looks embarrassed but grateful at my gesture. "Those scratches were pretty bad, I'm not going to lie. I'm a doctor myself, but I haven't seen scratches like that ever. I have no idea what the hell is in your apartment. Truth be told, I really don't want to. But I will make this deal: you can move in with me. I know we just met, but I don't want you to show up with worse injuries. If you're not comfortable with that, you can just use your apartment during the day and then once it gets to be around 8-9, you just come to my apartment to sleep." Why am I being so reasonable? Why am I being so goddamn nice? I hate people. I'm the only doctor who hates people. And I just met this shitty kid today, when he was pounding on my door. I'm not going to lie though, he is really fucking cute. But still!!!

"Well actually," He begins, pulling me out of my internal scolding. "I wouldn't mind living with you if you wouldn't mind having me. I mean, you seem like a really nice person. Who knows, too. It could be really fun!" He smiles at me with a goofy grin. "My only request that if you're a serial killer or a cannibal, please don't kill me. My sister only has me left in the world." I know he's trying to joke around, but holy shit it just got serious fast. I clear my throat, trying to break the awkward tension.

"Uh, listen, I'm sorry about your parents. I don't know what happened but still, sorry," I extend my arm to reach his back and and start rubbing it soothingly. His green eyes look up at me and smiles softly. "Why don't we go to bed? Just leave the tea, I'll deal with it in the morning," I get up and he follows my actions. I head over to my bedroom and he is not too far behind me either. I hold the door open for him and he flops onto the bed. "Hey, scoot over you shitty brat. I'm sleeping here too!" He moves over slightly and gets underneath the covers. I do the same and shut off my lamp. "Goodnight Eren." I whisper.

"Goodnight Levi" He whispers back. Jesus fucking Christ, what did I get myself into?