The Second Soulmate |Ereri AU|

Chapter Twenty

A/N tell me if there's any errors💙
~~~

Levi's POV

"Eren," I say, walking into the room and sitting down next to him. "Armin told me. I'm so sorry."

Eren looks up at me through his bangs, his eyes more red and lifeless than before if at all possible. His face scrunches up in pain as he leans down, resting his head in my lap. He takes in shuddering breaths as I stroke his hair, waiting for him to calm down.

After about twenty minutes or so I heard Eren say in a quiet and weak voice, "How'd you do it?"

"What?" I ask.

"How'd you go on after losing Erwin?"

I stop stroking his hair for a moment and let out a long sigh through my nose. "It felt like I could never recover. That everything I knew and loved was gone and never coming back, like a part of me had been ripped out. I felt like I'd never be happy again, but as time passes it gets easier."

Eren doesn't reply so I continue. I told him about what happened to Erwin that night. When I finish, Eren looks up at me with glossy eyes. "I'm sorry," he says in a raspy voice.

I shake my head, shrugging it off and Eren looks away. "It was in the past. It still hurts to think about, of course, but like I said, as time passes it gets easier to cope with."

"I lost my mom too, like I said a while ago." At this the boy turned his head to look up at me and I continued stroking the hair out of his face. "Losing a parent causes you so much pain, I know. They raised you since you were a baby and love you unconditionally and promise to always stay with you. So when the day comes when that promise is broken, no matter how soon it is, it hurts. It hurts a lot. But believe me, the hurt will go away over time. It will never be fully gone, it'll be more like a scar on your heart than a cut."

Eren's lips began to quiver and he turned his head back into my lap, another tear falling. I brush his bangs out of his face wiping the tear off his cheek.

We sit on the floor like that for a long time in silence except for the soft cries and whimpers coming from Eren every now and then. Eren would begin hyperventilating every now and then and it sounded like he was laughing more so than crying, but he would eventually calm back down.

I closed my eyes, leaning back against the couch letting out a sigh. Eren fell asleep after a long time and just as I was thinking I might drift off to, I caught sight of Armin hesitantly coming in the room. I meet eyes with him and he gives me a soft smile sitting down in front of me, quiet so not to wake Eren.

"How's he doing?" He says softly.

I purse my lips and look down at Eren in my lap. "He's definitely been better."

Armin scoots closer, putting his hand on Eren's shoulder before looking up at me and pulling away as if he'd done something wrong. "I lost my parents too. I was much younger, around eight years old so I don't remember it as much, but it was still really hard." He pauses looking down at Eren with an expression I can't quite read.

"He'll be okay," He says softly. "He's strong."

I nod. "I know he is."

Armin looks at me for a second before crossing his legs and grabbing his ankles. "Can I ask you a question?"

I look at him then nod. Armin flashes me a nervous smile before looking down at his hands. "Eren. . . told me you didn't believe in soulmates. If you don't believe in it, why do you keep hanging around him?"

I stare at him for a moment before looking down at Eren and purse my lips. "It's. . . complicated. I used to, but things happened and I changed my mind. I never wanted to be with Eren. Hell, when I first met him I wanted nothing more than for him to leave me alone and we never see each other again, but something in me just couldn't let him go."