The Second Soulmate |Ereri AU|

Chapter Forty

Last chapter!! Thanks for reading the entire thing if you're here💙
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Eren's POV

I knew I shouldn't worry. And I didn't. Well, that's not true. I was definitely worrying. It seemed every day was worse than the next. I thought Levi would recover after some rest since he started taking the prescribed pills every day again, but it seemed to be going in the opposite direction. It wasn't always terrible though.

Eventually he did begin to recover a little and he seemed to be gaining his strength back soon after. A couple of days later he went to work. I highly advised against it but no amount of pestering would stop him this time. Back then I thought he was fine, that he looked more chipper than usual these days so I didn't give it a second thought. Looking back I should've tried harder because it was only about a day or two in before he was sent back home to finish recovering.

I'd hear "Hange's being dramatic," or "Hange's overreacting, I'm fine," when he came home from work but I knew he was lying. As the days turned to weeks and the weeks turned to months I could clearly see him losing energy and growing tired, especially the days he'd insist on going to work. He'd come home pale, his hair a mess. It wouldn't freak me out so much if I didn't know about Levi's sleep schedule. But when someone goes from being an insomniac to accidentally falling asleep in a chair the moment he got home from work, it's generally time you start to worry.

Almost a year past and one day, around late autumn, when Levi came home early from work I got a call from Hange telling me not to let him come back till he was fully healed. I said a quiet 'okay' before hanging up. I knew deep down that it wouldn't happen though. That Levi wouldn't "fully heal" because he couldn't. He was going in the exact opposite direction of healing at this point. Every day spent with him I'd hold him as tight as I could, fearing it would be the last moment, never wanting to waste a second.

After hanging up the phone I turned to Levi. "Did you not tell Hange?"

"Tell them what?" Levi asked, slowly looking up from the book he'd been reading. His eyes were dull and his shoulders were slumped over, as they were most days lately.

"That. . . You're not gonna get better," I say quietly. I watch as the realization sinks in on Levi's face and he stands up, beginning to walk toward me.

"What'd Hange say?" He asks and I realize his voice is suddenly quieter, almost strained.

I swallow, not sure how to break it to him that he's being laid off till we see some improvement in his health. If that were to happen I'd be the happiest man in the world, but I couldn't see it happening, which means I also couldn't see Levi going back to work. "Maybe you should just. . . Take a break from work?" I say, almost as a question, not wanting a direct confrontation.

Levi side-eyes me before taking out his cellphone and beginning to dial. "Levi I really don't see how this will help. Just let it go okay?"

"No, I'm not letting it go," Levi yells. He stops dialing and looks up at me, anger suddenly flashing through his eyes. "Because if I let it go that's it. I've given up. I've given up on my job, I've given up on working towards something better for me, for us, I've given up on living. Fuck that. I'm not doing that."

"That's not what I meant," I say, trying to ignore the fact that he was now shaking, taking in quick breaths to make up for the sudden burst of frustration. I take his hand and pull him down into a chair. I sit with him so as not to be so obvious that I'd wanted him to take a seat.

"You know that's not what I meant," I say. "If you just rest a bit we can work through this. Listen, while you're on leave I'll just work extra at the cafe, it's no big deal." I smile at him, the best one I could muster up so as not to look so worried.