The smell is what hits you first, as you step outside from the bakery you were visiting.  Your eyes first dart to the right, scanning the area where you live, but you don’t see the source of the smell.  You then look left, and see it.  The smoke, rising into the air.  It’s fowl smell and taint spreading into the sky.

“Look!”  Someone next to you points at it.

“I live over there!”  Someone else chimes in, checking their phone for the news.  

“I wonder what’s burning?”

“With that much smoke?  Probably someone’s house.”

“Oh, that’s horrible.”  

You can’t move.  You’re frozen staring at the smoke, it won’t stop going up, and you try to place where it’s coming from, but you can’t see the source, only the result.  Only the smoke.  

Your phone buzzes, pulling you from your trance like stare.  

You answer it and hear sirens, loud voices, and water.  

“Eren!”  Your name is shouted into your ear and your stomach fills with dread.  

“Hange?”  You barely whisper their name in response.

They cough, and you can hear more shouting in the background, more water being sprayed.  “Eren!  It’s--”

You don’t hear them.  You don’t hear anything.  Something shatters, in your head, in your heart, in everything.  Something in the world snaps.  And then you’re running.

You’re running faster than you’ve ever ran before, down the streets, bolting across the streets.  You’re sure you were almost hit more than once, but it doesn’t matter.  None of it matters.  Hange said It’s Levi.  You can get hit by a car, you can trip and fall, it doesn’t matter.  What matters is you getting there, you making sure he’s okay, he has to be okay.  If he’s not, nothing else is.  

You’re only half way there when you start to feel your leg muscles give out, aching as you don’t let up, only pushing them harder.  You don’t focus on the pain, nor the roads you’re following, you know them all by heart anyway.  You’ve walked this path many times, behind him, next to him, with your hands entwined, much to his annoyance and your satisfaction.  You focus only on hoping he’s okay.  

The smoke thins out slightly as you get closer, as their source is smothered by water, but the air is still thick with the burning smell.  It makes you sick.  But there was so much smoke, how much burned?  How many things went up in flames?  How much was lost?  Where was Levi?  

Hange sees you before you even get half way up the street.  

“Eren!”  

“Hange.”  You barely get out their name, coughing slightly.

“It’s really bad for your lungs to breathe in all this crap, you know.”

“Don’t… care.  Levi?”  You can get a biology lecture another day.  Right now you need to find him.  

“He’s at the hospital, being treated for minor burns, but he’s okay, Eren.”  

You let out a breath and feel your body relax slightly.  

“Can I… go see him?”

“I wouldn’t.  He’s not to happy right now, and while I know you do put him in a good mood sometimes, he’s already giving the police a hard time.  I would wait it out.”  

You nod, Hange often knows what’s best, even if you really want to see Levi right now and make sure he’s okay.  He has to be okay.  

“What happened?”  

“We don’t know.  I didn’t hear or see anything, but next thing I know, I look outside and there’s fire coming out of the windows.”  Hange shakes their head.  “There was a lot of fire, I’m not sure how much stuff survived.”

----

You get to see Levi two days later.  He’s standing in front of what’s left of his house, half covered in various bandages.  His arm is in a sling and you think some of his hair was singed.  He doesn’t say anything as you walk up to him (although you want to run and tackle him into the biggest hug ever).  

“Hey, Eren.”  He doesn’t look your way, doesn’t take his eyes off the wreckage.  

“How bad is it?”  

“Well everything’s complete shit.”  Levi sighs, kicking a piece of wood.  “I own nothing at the moment.”  

“I’m sorry that happened.”  

“Eh.  I don’t need much.  I’ll live.  I’m more angry this place is a complete mess.”

You laugh.  Levi would be concerned about how his house looked.  

“That would be your first issue.”  

“I don’t like messes.”

“I know.”  

Silence.  

“I’m glad you’re not badly hurt.”

“It’s whatever.”  

“I was really worried, when Hange called me and said it was your house.  I was really scared for you.”  

“You worry too much.”  

“That’s what you’re supposed to do when you’re dating someone, Levi.  You’re supposed to be worried about them.”

“Or you can have faith they’re fine.”

“It was a house fire, Levi!  There is no guarantee with those!  Do you expect me to just not be afraid for your life?  God, this is just like last year.”  

Levi sighs and you clench your fist.  “Are you still stuck on that?”

“I was in the hospital for five days!  My car was wrecked!”  You’re screaming now, your blood is boiling.  “You didn’t visit me once!  I could have died, and you didn’t even care!”  

“Eren.”

“Don’t ‘Eren’ me!  Do you even care about me like I care about you?”  

“You’re being stupid.”

“And you’re being heartless.”

You walk away from him.  He calls your name.  You run.  He doesn’t chase you, in his state he can’t if he even wanted to.  

----

A week later Levi has a new apartment and a few basic living necessities, complaining he didn’t want to live with Hange any longer than he needed to.  

You haven’t spoken.

Hange makes you help him move in.  You do so spitefully, bringing him a coffee.

“Eren, I don’t drink espressos.  Neither do you.”

“Really?  I think you should.  You have a lot in common.”  

He stares at you, his unblinking, near emotionless gaze challenges your words and questions your judgement.  Those eyes used to scare you into submission, but you’ve known Levi far too long to be challenged by his signature gaze.  

“Short and bitter.  You’re the human version of an espresso.”  

His eye brows furrow but you ignore him, grabbing a few of the new olive green plates and placing them on a shelf.  You could place them out of his reach.  You could.  It crosses your mind to do so, and you want to, but you don’t.  

You may be angry and holding a huge grudge, but something deep in you keeps reminding you why you’re here.  

You let out a slow breath and turn around not expecting what you see.  

“Eren, come here.”  

“What?”  Levi was standing on a new kitchen chair, looking down at you.

“You’re not deaf.”  

“Why are you standing on a chair?”

“Just get your ass over here.”

You sigh, giving into Levi’s request.  It’s often easier than pressing him for information or explanations. You don’t even know why you argue with him so much anymore, it’s not worth it.  

When you get close enough, he reaches out his arms and pulls you into his chest, your head resting on the middle of his chest.

“It terrified me.”  

“What?”

“That day you were in the accident.  When Armin called me, I felt like I couldn’t breathe.  I’ve lost so many people, I couldn’t…”  He takes a breath.  “I couldn’t lose you too.”

You can feel your hear racing with every word Levi says.  His voice is steady and emotionless to the untrained ear, but you can hear the sadness and fear just barely tinting his tone.  It makes you angry for holding such a stupid grudge.  

“I wanted to come see you, but every time I’ve been in a hospital, someone I cared for didn’t make it.  So I didn’t.”  

“Levi-”

“I never considered your feelings.”

You wrap your arms around his hips.

“It’s okay, I understand.”

“I didn’t care about the fire either.  I lost everything, but it didn’t matter.  Because I don’t need anything else, just you.  You’re the only thing that matters.”  

You pull your head back from his body and look up at him, smiling.  “Levi, that just might be the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me.”