Work Text:
Riiiing....riiiing....riiiing…
I gripped the small, rectangular iPhone so tightly I thought it might crack. Dial tones have never sounded so drawn out, so rejecting as they did in that moment while I waited for—
‘Hello?’
"Levi." I winced; I hadn't meant to sound so relieved. I quickly cleared my throat, trying to focus. "Uh, hey."
Levi's chuckle sounded over the speaker, a little higher pitched due to the distortion, but as distinct as ever. I thought back to the last time that sound had reached my ears, how his hot breath had never failed to elicit a shiver down my spine.
‘I'm grabbing some things at the grocery store right now. We ran out of fruit loops this morning.’ I could hear the sound of something clanking into a basket in the background. ‘I also know you like Lucky Charms so I threw that abomination in.’
"Awwww, you're so sweet." I laughed, trying to steady my quivering hand that was holding the phone. My other forearm struggled to support my weight as I pulled myself into a sitting position against the wall. "Make sure you get oreos and peanut butter too."
‘Brat, I'm trying to get ingredients for dinner, not feed your goddamn sweet tooth.’ Although his voice was scolding, I knew that he was heading into the snack aisle to pick up what I had requested. ‘Don't we already have oreos at home?’
"Ugh, Armin brought the normal kind and you know I only like the double stuffed kind."
I could practically see the eye roll he gave when he retorted, ‘My god, you're so high maintenance.’
"Naw, you love me like that." The pain in my abdomen was spreading up my spine, and I was beginning to lose the feeling in my legs.
He sighed. ‘You're right, I do. God knows why.’
"'Cause the sex is great."
Something clattered and I heard Levi swear. ‘Fuck, I’m in public, you little shit.’
"But I’m your little shit." I gave a small, weak laugh.
‘Hmmm, unfortunately. Are you headed home now?’
My chest clenched uncomfortably at those words. I couldn't bring myself to tell him. "Yeah…might be a while though." It was definitely getting harder to breathe, as each breath I took caused sharp pain to lace through my back.
‘What are you doing? You sound out of breath.’ His voice dropped a little, smooth. ‘Tell me you're not home and preparing for me.’
It took everything I had to laugh convincingly. "No, I'm walking back now. I just…have to make a quick stop somewhere."
‘Hm…’ He sounded distracted.
"Levi, you better not be ignoring me to stare at bleach again."
‘Fine. But this one works on colors too. Who comes up with this shit?’
I chuckled in spite of myself. My hands were starting to get cold, and the one not holding the phone up was slipping on the wet fabric around my stomach, which was stained so dark a scarlet, it was almost black in the dimming light.
‘Eren, I gotta check out soon. I'll talk to you later?’
"No!" I flinched as the sudden outburst caused a fresh wave of pain through my chest.
‘Are you alright?’ Levi's tone had turned sharp. ‘Eren, what's going on?’
"Sorry, I was yelling because I thought a car was going to hit a stray dog," I lied smoothly. "Can't you stay on with me for a little longer? I miss hearing your voice."
‘Of course it was a dog,’ he sighed. ‘I swear to god, Eren, you're going to walk into a wall one of these days because you're staring at a goddamn dog.’ I heard the faint hum of a refrigerator. ‘Do we need more ice cream?’
"I thought you weren't catering to my sweet tooth," I teased. I had to tilt my head to keep the phone by my ear at this point; it took too much energy to hold the damn thing up. My eyelids were getting heavy, and most of my body had gone numb. It was surprising that shock hadn't set in yet, but maybe having Levi on the phone had something to do with that.
‘I'm not; I want ice cream too, and I'm pretty sure you plowed through the last one after you cried your eyes out watching Marley and Me.’
His voice was like an anchor, the one thing still securing me to this world. I hummed in agreement. "That movie was so fucking sad…" I sounded tired, even to me. But I didn't care; as long as I could still hear Levi's voice, it was worth it.
‘Shit Eren, you sound exhausted. Bad day at work? We’ll dig into the ice cream together after dinner, yeah?’
"Sounds like…" I took as deep a breath as I could. "…a fucking perfect…ending…to this day…"
Levi snorted. ‘Well, it will be, if you can stay awake long enough to make it through dinner.’
"Oh I will…"
An empty promise.
There was a heavy silence while I listened to the sounds of Levi unloading the basket onto the check out belt. I heard him curse when he nearly dropped something (It was probably the ice cream; he hated touching cold items), heard him mutter about my unhealthy eating habits as he loaded the Lucky Charms and oreos, heard him shifting the phone to wedge it between his cheek and shoulder so that he could lift something out of the cart with both hands.
"Levi?"
‘Yeah?’
"I love you."
He scoffed. ‘Of course you do.’
"Yeah, I just don't say it enough. I love you, Levi."
‘Fuck, what's gotten into you today? Are you sure you're okay?’
Of course I wasn't. I was lying by myself in a dark street, bleeding out. Of course I wasn't okay. I was never going to be able to look into those piercing, steel grey eyes of his, feel the callouses on his fingers as they intertwined with mine. Of course I wasn't fucking okay.
And of course I told him otherwise. "Yeah. I just…sometimes it hits me just how much I love you."
‘Damn it, I will not blush in public.’ His voice dropped a little. ‘But I love you too, brat.’
I smiled, took one more shuddering breath, and closed my eyes, his words echoing in my ears as my world faded into black.
Levi frowned, glancing at the clock on the wall.
Eren was late. Granted, the kid didn't have a punctual bone in his body, but this was abnormally late, even for Eren. The brat had stopped responding to him abruptly earlier (probably accidentally hung up) while he was at the check out, but he hadn't thought too much of it since the cashier was giving him a dirty look for being on the phone.
However, it had been hours and Eren still wasn't back, and wasn’t answering his calls.
Levi dialed the phone number he had memorized by heart yet again.
'Hello, you've reached Eren Jaeger! Sorry I can't come to the phone right now, but if you leave a message I'll get back to you ASAP!'
Levi sighed and hung up. Maybe Eren had actually fallen asleep on his way home.
The raven snorted. Honestly, he wouldn't put it past him. He'd found the brunette napping in the park one time–it was actually how they had met in the first place. Levi had been on a jog outside and failed to see the tall, lanky man who was asleep in the grass and had literally tripped over the boy.
Oh he really hoped Eren wasn't sleeping in the park again. He didn't want to have to—
The doorbell rang.
Oh, Eren must’ve forgotten his keys. That's why he was late.
"I swear, I'm going to make like five copies of the goddamn key for you if you keep forg—" Levi abruptly shut his mouth when he opened the door to see two police officers standing there.
"Levi Ackerman?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm Officer Brzenska, and this is my partner Officer Dietrich. May we come in?" The woman took off her hat and the man followed suit.
"Fuck no. Why?"
The female officer hesitated. "There's really no easy way to say this… Mr. Ackerman. Unfortunately earlier today there was a stabbing in Shigashina district involving your partner Eren Jaeger. I'm sorry to inform you he was injured in the incident and died as a result of those injuries."
Levi blinked, his brain refusing to process those words.
"You're wrong." He said flatly. "I was just on the phone with him. He was telling me to grab oreos and ice cream…"
The female officer's expression didn't change. "I'm very sorry, sir. It might be a good idea for you to sit down—"
"No, go fuck yourself. You're wrong. Eren was just here." Levi pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, frantically pulling up his previous calls. "See? He just called me. You guys fucked up big time."
Officer Brzenska bit her lower lip, understanding suddenly passing across her features. "Please, if would be best if you take a seat, Mr. Ackerman."
"No!" Levi was shouting and he didn't care. These officers were wrong. They were at the wrong house. Eren Jaeger was a common name right? It definitely was; they were at the wrong person's house. After all, Eren had just called him a few hours ago, had promised to come back and eat ice cream with him, had told him off for staring at bleach instead of talking to him…had told him how much he loved him.
Apparently his expression changed, because the male officer stepped forward. "Sir, I implore you to let us in and help you right now. Please."
Levi didn't protest this time, but took a step back, and felt his legs give out from the motion.
Both officers sprang forward to try to catch him, but his bottom hit the ground with a thud, his phone dropping to the floor next to him with a loud clatter. Levi stared at the officers, not really seeing them. Suddenly Eren's strange behavior seemed to make sense.
He hadn't called because he'd missed hearing Levi's voice. He'd called because he knew he wasn't going to make it back.
That's why he hadn't wanted Levi to hang up.
That's why he'd told Levi that he'd loved him.
That's why…he had stopped responding.
"What…how…what happened?" Suddenly the words were pouring out of his mouth without any control. "What happened? Where did it happen? Who did it? Did he suffer? Was he in pain? Where is he now? I need to see him, where is Eren now?!"
"Mr. Ackerman--"
"Tell me! Don't sugar coat it; what the fuck happened? Why the fuck am I only finding this out now, if he was on the phone with me only a few hours ago?"
Officer Brzenska's face twisted in anguish. "He…We only got a call in about this half an hour ago. A pedestrian called to report an unconscious person who was sitting in the street. By the time paramedics arrived on the scene, the victim had been dead for over an hour."
"That's not possible." Levi tried to get to his feet, but his legs wouldn't support him. "He was talking to me right before that. Why would he not call for help?!"
This time the male officer spoke. "His wounds…were significant. There is little chance he could have survived it. We believe…we believe that instead of calling 911, he used his last moments to call you. That's how we were able to find you so quickly."
Levi didn't feel anything. Couldn't feel anything.
Eren was really gone?
That conversation in the grocery store was the last time he would hear Eren’s voice?
This couldn't be real. No, it wasn't real.
The officer (he wasn't even sure which one anymore) was talking again. "If you'd like, we can contact other family members or get a priest or someone to come to your home. We understand this is an extremely hard thing to--"
A choked, dry laugh escaped Levi's throat. "You don't understand jack. You just came into my house, told me Eren is dead. Told me that the phone call I had with him two hours ago was the last time I would ever hear his voice? Told me that instead of trying to save himself, he decided to fucking call me and talk like there was nothing wrong?! Don't you fucking dare say you understand!”
The two officers did not look surprised at his outburst, and instead stayed blissfully quiet.
Levi's hands scraped the floor, searching for his phone. Without saying anything to the officers, his fingers flew across the screen, dialing those numbers he knew all too well.
'Hello, you've reached Eren Jaeger! Sorry I can't come to the phone right now, but if you leave a message I'll get back to you ASAP!'
Levi hung up.
He dialed again.
'Hello, you've reached Eren Jaeger! Sorry I can't come to the phone right now, but if you leave a message I'll get back to you ASAP!'
No.
No.
He hit the red button so hard he thought he might break the phone. But the minute the keypad showed up, Levi dialed the number again.
'Hello, you've reached Eren Jaeger! Sorry I can't come to the phone right now, but if you leave a message I'll get back—'
"No!"
Something warm hit his hand. He looked down and was surprised to find that he was crying.
The officers stood over him, clearly uncertain what to do.
Levi dialed again.
'Hello, you've reached Eren Jaeger! Sorry I can't come to the phone right now—’
And again.
'Hello, you've reached Eren Jaeger! Sorry I can't come to the phone—’
Now sobbing, Levi dialed the number again, and again, and again, hoping, wishing, praying the call would go through. At one point, he realized he was yelling 'I love you, I love you, I love you!' in broken intervals between his tears.
But he just kept dialing.
'Hello, you've reached Eren Jaeger…'