Chapter Text
Eight Months Before
It happened so fast that it was almost as if it were a dream. A terrible, terrible nightmare. Something I still wish I could wake up from.
There was black smoke billowing through the halls of the apartment while the bells were ringing so loud to the point where my head was pounding, and that it just sounded like one solid tone. The sprinklers were spraying cold water trying to keep the fire and smoke down while we all escaped, and in the confusion, things were breaking and people were screaming, dogs were howling and babies were crying. Outside, the sirens were loud and the lights were flashing bright across the black sky.
There was absolutely no time to grab large belongings. A jacket that had been on the chair I was sitting on, a laptop that I had been working on in one hand and a two-month-old three-legged puppy in the other.
It wasn’t until I was sure I was safe, the dog was safe and my boyfriend was safe (albeit, crying on his cellphone) that I looked up to the apartment to see the entire top floor collapsing in on itself.
We lost everything that we had worked hard for. We were left with nothing but our health. But I guess that is all one could really ask for.
—————
The road was a tough one, but we had finally been approved to move into a house in a new development that had just opened up on the outskirts of town called Trost Landing. It sounded like some uppity rich, high-end gated community, but so far it was just yet another housing development for the lower-middle class working folk. The paperwork had been squared away, the money had been sent off and I found myself staring up at the two storey house that I now owned with my husband-to-be. I’d be lying if I said I was a bit nervous about it considering we’d only lived in our shitty apartment for about a year until the fire happened, but the house was so beautiful that it made up for it. We were going to buy a house one day anyway, the day just arrived sooner than we had both anticipated.
Thank you, insurance!
The architect had taken great care in filling in all of our needs, which really was not a long list. We lucked out with finding the lot while it was still under construction, and when we had submitted our bid on the house, we were able to discuss things with the builder. Of course, our biggest concern was Erwin, our three-legged golden retriever. He had a condition when he was born a year ago that ended up with him losing his right front leg, and as much as he has gotten along fine thus far, we felt that the bigger he got, the harder it would be on his remaining limbs. So the front porch and the back patio were both given ramps alongside the stairs for the pup to get in and out of the house. The stairs inside were another story, and something that we were still going to have to work on.
The outside of the house was a plain white with black trimmings, which matched all the other houses on the small block. The neighbourhood was still rather empty, as the houses were still being built in the area. I’d seen the lot when it was still empty many times before driving in and out of town, and I had heard stories of there being a military base that had been met with a traumatic end. But stories will be stories, and you can’t know what is really real. Some of the tales were pretty believable, while others were just complete garbage.
“These boxes are the last of what is in the truck, sir.”
I jumped from where I was standing on the front lawn and turned around, turning my head up to look at a man with dirty blonde hair and a scruffy face. He gave me a small smile before heading up the path with his cart of boxes, using the ramp to take them into the house with ease.
He returned within the minute and threw the cart back into the truck. I watched as he shut the door and moved to the front of the truck, pulling out a clipboard and walking back to me, holding it out with a pen in his other hand.
“I just need you to sign the bottom of the page and we will get out of your hair.” he stated as I took the clipboard and pen. My eyes skimmed the page before falling onto the line where I had to sign. I quickly scribbled my name and handed back the items as the man in front of me sniffed. I watched as the man’s brow furrowed slightly, though it had been so fast that had I blinked, I’d have missed it. His face softened as he looked back to me. “We’ll charge your card as soon as we get back to the shop. Have a nice night!”
And with that, he turned on his heel and went back to the truck, yelling something to the man that had taken the drivers seat.
“Thank you!” I called out just before he slammed the door. As they drove away, a hand waved out of the passenger side window and I took that as my queue to finally go inside and find the boy who had been hiding inside most of the day.
I walked up the path and into the house, closing the door behind me. The sun had started to set and it was starting to get dark. I flicked on the light in the foyer and kicked off my shoes, scrunching my nose at the sight of the floor. After boxes were unpacked, I was going to be on my hands and knees scrubbing the hard wood floors back to their pristine conditions.
But that was nothing to worry about just yet, as painful as it was to look at.
I shuffled through the house, looking to the right into the living room only to find boxes. I furrowed my brow and continued into the house further down the hall until I entered the kitchen. I grinned as I found Erwin laying in front of the sliding glass door in the last ray of sunshine before it hide behind the trees. He was panting happily as he looked up at me, as if he was smiling.
I turned my head as I heard dishes being stacked on the counter and found Eren pulling plates out of one box, and a wet rag sitting on the counter beside the plates.
“I figured I’d get a head start in here, since plates and forks and knives are kind of important.” he explained, stepping up onto a stool and grabbing the rag to wipe out the bottom shelf of the cupboard. I smiled to myself as I watched him work, meticulously getting the corners as he knew I’d be going through doing the exact same thing tomorrow. He knew how clean I liked keeping things, and he was perfect in doing it without me saying a word.
Hell, he was perfect anyway.
I stepped forward and leaned on the counter which sort of acted like a dividing wall between the kitchen and the sitting area. I rested my head in my hands and watched as Eren lifted the stack of dinner plates and placed them carefully on the bottom shelf, followed by the smaller plates sitting beside them.
I slinked around the counter after I was sure he had no more breakable objects in reach and moved to stand behind him, wrapping my arms around his body awkwardly as he still stood on the stool. I pressed my face to the small of his back and I heard him chuckle.
“Let’s go make the bed.” I mumbled quietly, nuzzling his back. “It’s been a long day for both of us. We can order in some pizza and sleep and unpack tomorrow.”
As much as I hated leaving boxes scattered around the house and eating greasy food in bed, my entire body ached from moving boxes and furniture all day that I couldn’t bring myself to care.
Eren wiggled slightly and I loosened my grip on him to let him step down from the stool. He looked down at my face and brought his hand up to brush against my cheek. He leaned over and let his lips meet mine momentarily before pulling away.
“You look exhausted. I’ll order some pizza, you go upstairs and find the linens and I’ll meet you up there in a minute.”
Nodding once, I turned around and made my way back to the front of the house to go up the stairs. I moved slowly as my legs continued to ache the more I stayed on my feet. From moving heavy things, to skipping lunch and not having had food since the crack of dawn, my body was taking a hit. I made it to the top landing and turned right to the master bedroom. It was a light grey colour on the walls, which went nice with our brand new black stained wood dressers along the walls. On the wall to the left of the door was a walk in closet, and to the right was the en suite, where we had a jacuzzi installed as a gift to ourselves. The brand new four-poster bed sat opposite the door, right in the middle under a row of curtain-less windows. As much as it made me uneasy to sleep without curtains, there was no way I was about to get into it at that moment.
I looked around the room until my eyes met with the box that read “LINENS” in large black print across the side. I hurried over, and with the keys I retrieved from my back pocket, I sliced through the packing tape and started to pull out the brand new packages of sheets.
I got started right away in putting the fitted sheet over the mattress, followed by the top sheet. It wasn’t until I was fighting with the pillowcases that Eren popped into the room.
“We are so far out of town that our regular pizza place won’t deliver to us.” he said, furrowing his brow with a frown. “I did find one though, so food is on it’s way.” he added after, moving over to me to help me with the pillow cases.
We continued to make the bed in silence, and as soon as we were done, I fell forward and collapsed on the comforter.
“I feel so worn out.” I muttered, which got a chuckle out of Eren.
“You really didn’t have to help move the furniture. That is what the movers were for, Levi.” he said quietly, sitting beside me and moving his hand through my hair gently.
“I know… But I didn’t want them to fuck up our brand new shit. We paid a lot of money and I didn’t want scratches on anything.”
Eren stayed quiet, but I knew he was nodding. His hands continued to comb through my hair, which was something he did to relax me and, in turn, something I am pretty sure relaxed him as well.
We both jumped, however, when the doorbell rang loudly downstairs.
“That’s pizza. I’ll be back, you stay here.” he said, bouncing up off of the bed.
“Bring napkins!” I called out after, getting a noise back from him to let me know that he had in fact heard me.
After Eren had left the room, I slid back off the bed to remove my shirt, pants and socks. I really could have used a shower, but with being as tired as I was, I wasn’t about to chance it. Everything was already filthy and I knew there was no escaping the grime just yet. It was only for one night, as starting tomorrow things would be back in tip top shape.
I folded my clothes and set them on the top of one of the dressers before moving back to the bed. I pulled back the comforter and crawled into my side and pulled up the blanket. I sat back against the pillow and sighed, content. The more I continued to look around the room, the better I felt. This was a good move. This house was a good choice. This house was ours. The home of the future Jaegers. The home of the future Ackermans. Hell, the home of the future Jaeger-Ackermans.
I was ripped from my thoughts when Eren came back into the room with two medium sized pizzas in one arm and a roll of paper towel in the other. He grinned at me and walked to the bed and I immediately snatched the roll of paper towel from him once he was in reach. I pulled off a few pieces and sat the on the bed in front of me and nodded my head towards them.
“Pizza can go there for a little while, unless it is super greasy.” I mumbled quietly, pulling a few more pieces off the roll before setting the rest on the night table.
Eren set the pizza boxes down side by side before stepping back and removing his clothes. He followed the same routine I had and folded them before sticking them on the dresser. He stretched his arms above his head and yawned, and I kept my eyes on the pizza, knowing I could have easily gotten distracted. I pulled the first slice from the box and held it over a piece of paper towel as Eren climbed into the bed beside me. He leaned over and pressed a kiss to my temple before grabbing a slice for himself.
“Thank you for the pizza.” I said quietly, turning my head towards him, watching him take a bite of the overly cheesy pepperoni pizza. He smiled around a full mouth and stayed quiet as he chewed.
“Of course, my love.” he said quietly once his mouth was clear. And the words, as always, made my heart skip. “I haven’t seen you look so exhausted since the fire…” he said, trailing off a bit before taking another bite of his pizza.
I nodded slowly and took a small bite of my own piece.
The fire was still a delicate subject, considering the amount of things we lost. When we had gone back to the building a few days later with many of the other occupants, we learned that nothing was salvageable. The entire top floor had collapsed into our own, causing the ceiling to cave into the lower flower. It was more or less a domino effect of ceilings crashing down with fire rapidly spreading. Honestly, I was still amazed that no one was critically injured.
We continued to eat our pizza quietly, leaning on each other for support. It was clear that Eren was just as worn out as I was, though he was keeping up appearances more. But as he started to falter with eating his pizza, I knew it was time to sleep.
I quickly wiped my hands on the the paper towel sitting in front of me and leaned forward to close the pizza boxes. I lifted them and sat them on the nightstand beside the pizza and turned back to Eren, who was nodding off beside me. With a small smile on my face, I reached up to wipe the pizza remnants from his lips before balling up the towel and sitting them on the pizza boxes.
Part of me knew I needed to take the boxes downstairs to the fridge, and to brush my teeth. And part of me wanted to just curl up with Eren and fall asleep right then and there. Finally, I huffed and pushed the comforter back to slid out, though as I was about to leave the warm confines of the bed, I felt Eren’s hand wrap firmly around my wrist and pull me back against him. I looked up at him, and he was looking back at me through half lidded eyes and a smirk on his face.
“Don’t leave me.” he whined quietly, poking out his bottom lip.
I rolled my eyes and sat up a bit so I wasn’t straining my neck as much.
“I have to put the pizza in the fridge.”
Eren groaned but let his hand loosen on my wrist. “Fine, fine. Only because pizza for breakfast is almost as good as pizza for dinner.”
I squinted at the boy beside me before shaking my head. “Brat.”
I slid off the bed more successfully this time and picked up the pizza and towels before leaving the room. The house had gotten a lot darker than before, with the sun completely down now and all the lights off. I felt around the wall with my free hand until I found the light for the foyer before making my way down the stairs. I moved quickly as the temperature was a lot lower than it had been upstairs. I shivered slightly as I once again felt around the wall for the kitchen light once I had made it down the stairs. I quickly put the pizzas into the fridge and backtracked all of my steps to the front entrance. I poked my head into the living room to see Erwin sleeping soundly in his bed beside the fireplace and smiled. After making sure the front door was locked, I headed back up the stairs two at a time and turned off the last light before heading into the bedroom. Eren was still sitting in the same position where I had left him, though his eyes were open a bit wider. He grinned as I entered the room and reached for his phone, turning the flashlight feature on so I could shut off the lights. By the light of his phone, I padded my way across the room to the bed and crawled back up beside him. He immediately shut the light back off and set his phone to the side before sliding his arms around me. I fell against his side where I fit perfectly every night, wrapping my own arms around him.
I don’t remember falling asleep that night, but when I woke up the next morning, something felt off. I just couldn’t place it.