I want to apologize in advance for the shitty quality of this chapter. I wrote it through writer's block, but I know that's not really a valid excuse. I also want to apologize for taking so long to write this chapter in the first place. I suck, and I'm sorry. >.<

---

For the next several days, Eren spent the hour he was allowed on the computer researching ways to take care of a cat, all the while regretting not doing it sooner. It all seemed fairly simple, and thanks to her days in the hospital being trained by the people there, she adapted easily to her new litter box in the corner of Eren's side of the closet - covered as not to get litter everywhere - and she quickly learned to keep her scratching to her posts rather than the carpet and furniture. Lucy, thankfully, welcomed her with a wagging, playful tail (though was clearly chagrined when Zoë wasn't allowed to follow her outside).

The little Siamese slept comfortably beside Eren's head on his pillow or curled up into his chest while he laid on his side, purring and keeping him warm until they both fell asleep. Most of the time when she wasn't exploring the nooks and crannies of the house or playing with another member of the household, she remained faithfully by Eren's side, earning mild teases about being 'part dog' from Levi, to which Eren rolled his eyes but smiled at anyway.

Zoë especially stuck near Eren the night he started to feel sick, not a week after she'd come home with them. His stomach had felt like it'd been constantly churning since lunch, though only did he feel the nausea hit when he laid down to sleep that night, not having said anything to anyone about it in hopes the feeling would go away. He laid curled up around her, trying to concentrate on the soothing vibrating of her constant purring as she attempted to help him feel better. Even with eyes squeezed shut and lying completely still, his head felt like it was constantly spinning or rocking back and forth as if he was on a boat and the waves were relentless...

Don't throw up, he told himself over and over. Just go to sleep. It'll be gone when you wake up.

And sleep he finally managed to do, though it didn't last long and his eyes were flying open as bile rose and assaulted his taste buds. He stumbled out of bed clumsily, as quickly as he could with his hand flying to cover his mouth. For the first time since living there he hated that the bathroom had to be on the complete opposite end of the hall. He nearly tripped over his own feet, tumbling in and accidentally knocking the door against the wall before falling to his knees and getting violently sick into the toilet, just barely making it.

Halfway through, he couldn't decide what was worse - the horrid feeling of nausea seemingly radiating through his entire body or the fact that he was probably waking everyone in the house up due to his unattractive heaving.

"Eren?" he heard from behind him once the heaving was no more than coughing and sputtering due to the foul taste. "Are you alright, hon?"

It was Petra's voice; he wanted nothing more than to curl up and disappear, hating that he'd woken her up when tomorrow was such an important day for her.

He couldn't respond as she leaned next to him, gently rubbing his back and brushing his hair from his face. The coughing had stopped and he was left with nothing but the aftertaste of everything he'd eaten that day mixed together.

"Eren, sweetie, how are you feeling?" she asked again. "Do you want some water?"

He only managed a small nod, leaning away from the contents of the toilet as he shakily reached up to flush it away. Despite having gotten rid of it all, he still felt pinching in his gut and an uneasiness behind his eyes.

"Mikasa, go get a bottle of water from the fridge, please?" Petra asked.

Horrified, Eren's head snapped in the direction of the door to see Mikasa just walk away, leaving Marco alone in the doorway until Levi came into sight.

Oh god, he thought. This is humiliating...

"Marco, Levi, go back to bed. I'll handle this," Petra said, casting the two a smile.

"Is Eren okay?" Marco asked in a sleepy voice, his hair sticking up where he'd been sleeping on it.

"He just got sick, but he'll be fine, hon. Go get your rest."

Past a yawn, Marco mumbled an "okay" before shuffling back down the hall. A second later, Mikasa reappeared with a frosty water bottle from the fridge. Petra promptly twisted it open and handed it to Eren, who gradually sipped at it, grateful for the coolness slowly chasing away the burning of his esophagus.

"You too, Levi," Petra urged softly.

With a slight frown that was barely there, Levi too disappeared from the doorway, but not before Eren managed to give him an apologetic glance, knowing he was the first he'd woken up in his haste to the bathroom. Mikasa followed him away.

Once Petra got Eren to his feet, water bottle still gripped tightly in hand, she began questioning him. "Is this something that just started?" He shook his head. "Hm. I thought you looked a little green after lunch...is this the first time you've thrown up?" He nodded. "Are you in any pain?" she asked, reaching up to feel his forehead with the back of his hand.

Another small nod. "My head...and my stomach especially. And I'm nauseous..."

The redhead hummed in thought. "I'm gonna take your temperature," she said, turning to retrieve a thermometer from the cabinet above the sink. She pulled the plastic container open and made sure it was clean. He cooperated as she moved to place it in his ear and waited for the beep before checking the screen for confirmation of what she already suspected. "Exactly a hundred degrees," she murmured. "I think you might have food poisoning."

The brunet felt his eyes get wide as he downed another gulp of water. "What does that mean?" he asked in a hushed tone.

"It means you ate some contaminated food," she explained calmly. "It's alright, though. It's nothing serious, but you're going to feel nauseous and have a stomach ache for a few days. You'll probably throw up again and maybe have some diarrhea." She gave him a regretful look. "We'll have to be sure to keep you hydrated."

Obediently, he took another drink of water just as he felt something soft brush up against his leg. Looking down, he found Zoë to be rubbing her face against him and curling her tail around his leg, purring.

Smiling a bit at the interaction, Petra continued, "You should get back to bed, hon. You'll need all the rest you can get to get better."

Eren grimaced at the thought of having to sprint out of bed again and wake Levi.

"Is it okay if I sleep in the sunroom?" he asked, chewing his lip and wrapping an arm around his abdomen.

"Are you sure you don't wanna go back to your bed?"

"Yeah...don't wanna disturb Levi or anyone else again."

"Alright. I'll have Lucy join you, then. Head on down there and I'll bring you a few things."

"'Kay..."

Cat at his heels, Eren made his slow way down to the sunroom. The more he moved, the worse he felt. Nausea seemed to swirl throughout his whole body accompanied by the aching of his stomach and he kept his lip between his teeth to hold back throwing up again. Unfortunately, the only bathroom on the first floor was off of the living room which was on the opposite side of the house, but he still preferred the sunroom to his and Levi's for a reason he couldn't really pinpoint.

Petra was down a minute later with the pillow from his bed a large quilt he'd never seen before, and a plastic bucket with Lucy not far behind. He took the pillow and situated it into the corner of the couch as Petra set the bucket on the floor near his head and unfolded the quilt to drape across his body. He felt like a child being tucked into bed, bringing forth the memory of loving hands sporting two rings, one silver and one gold, and a warm pair of lips to kiss his forehead goodnight.

"Will you be alright down here?" Petra asked as Zoë jumped up onto the couch alongside him and curled up against his chest.

"Yeah."

"Okay. If you need anything, don't hesitate to come get me, alright?" she asked, walking back toward the door, eyes still in his direction. "But it looks like you're in good company," she tacked on with a smile, nodding toward the cat on his chest and the dog on the floor against the couch.

Eren only managed a tiny smile in response. She was halfway through the door when he made the snap decision to call out, "Petra?"

"Hm?"

"Sorry for waking you..."

"It's not your fault, sweetheart. Just try and get some rest and feel better in the morning."

After he heard the door shut again, Eren averted his attention up to the stars concealed only by a few wispy clouds. There was no moon, but the simple sight of the night sky he loved so much and the purring cat comforted him enough to drift to sleep.

~

"Morning, Eren. How're you feeling?" Petra was asking as she stepped into the sunroom to Eren, sitting up with his arms wrapped around himself. He only shook his head.

The nausea was even worse than last night; he continuously felt as if he was going to puke again but nothing came up, and any trips to the bathroom had been fruitless.

Frowning with concern, she took a seat in front of him. "Let me check your temperature again," she said softly, opening the thermometer he hadn't noticed she carried. "Hmm...it really hasn't changed," she said thoughtfully. "Do you feel any better at all?"

"Worse," he muttered.

"I wonder what it is you ate that made you sick," she mused.

Eren wasn't so much worried about that. Apart from the horrible feeling churning relentlessly in his stomach and the spinning of his head, he was concerned about only one thing.

"Is this gonna stop you from picking Oluo up at the airport?"

Petra sighed, tucking the thermometer in the pocket of her robe. "I don't know, hon. I'll work something out, though, and I won't make you go if you're not feeling up to it."

"I don't want to stop you...or anyone else..."

A smile manifested on Petra's delicate features, but the gesture didn't touch her eyes. "If anything I'll see if Historia's available to come stay with you while we go. Don't worry about it. You just worry about drinking lots of water and resting." She ruffled his hair and stood up to exit the room.

On top of the nausea and everything else, Eren felt overwhelmingly guilty as he watched Petra scurry around the house to get everyone ready and attempt to find a solution to the issue. Everyone excluding Levi - even Annie - was fairly adamant about joining Petra to pick up Oluo.

Historia wasn't answering her phone, and when Annie came back from attempting to contact her in person, she reported there to be no one home, leaving Petra at a total loss.

"I can just stay here myself," Eren attempted to offer, but he hadn't even completed the sentence before Petra was shaking her head, telling him there was absolutely no way she could or would leave him alone while he was so sick.

And in the midst of it all, he'd thrown up twice, and absolutely nothing Petra offered to feed him seemed remotely appetizing. He continued to sip at water with his throat burning and his stomach feeling like it was constantly turning itself inside out and back, and then inside out and back constantly. All the commotion made him even dizzier...

It was clear Petra was ready to completely give up and have Oluo call a cab instead (although she'd made it clear they couldn't really afford it) when Levi spoke up.

"What if I stayed with him?" he asked from his place casually leaning against the wall in the kitchen. Eren just barely heard the offer from his spot in the curve of the couch on the floor, wrapped in a blanket with a cup and a straw between his hands, wallowing in his immense amount of guilt.

"I can't ask you to do that, Levi. It's not your responsibility..."

"It's nothing. It's not like he's a baby, and I'm not a fan of crowded cars anyway."

A pause, and then, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. It's fine."

"Okay...okay, that could work. I'll give you Annie's cell phone to keep in touch just in case, and..."

Eren pulled his knees closer to himself and pressed his head down into them.

Oh god.

~

Not ten minutes later, the front door swung shut behind them and the car pulled out of the driveway, leaving Eren, Levi, a cat, and a dog behind.

Eren hadn't moved from his spot in front of the couch. Petra had told him the situation and left them both with instructions they were sure they wouldn't need before promising to hurry and herding the other three out the door. He had his head buried in his hands ever since.

"Your vibes are loud, you know that?" Levi was asking. He was sat on the end of the couch in front of Eren, one leg crossed over the other while his hands rested in the pocket of a hoodie. How he wore that thing while summer was headed in full speed, Eren would never be able to fathom. (Then again, he was the one bundled in a blanket, though he had a valid excuse.)

"What?" Eren mumbled.

"Your guilt," Levi clarified. "I can practically smell it."

"Oh." Eren swallowed. "Sorry."

"You're not used to it, are you? Having someone care about you the way Petra does...like a mother would."

Eren couldn't stop his flinch. "No...not anymore, anyway..."

He thought he heard a huff from Levi's nose, but he couldn't be sure. Neither of them said anything for a long while, and eventually Levi stood up and disappeared back into the main part of the house. When Eren heard his footsteps on the stairs, he let out a small, disappointed sigh and curled in further on himself, settling in to try and fruitlessly will the nausea away. He'd just found a (moderately) comfortable position when the screen door opened and Levi stepped back through, violin case in hand. Eren lifted his head, brows raised in bewilderment.

Neither male said a word as the dark-haired teen sunk to the carpet just a few feet from Eren, crossing his legs and placing the instrument between them. Quickly, he unlatched the case and lifted it open, revealing the sleek-looking violin resting in its velvet interior. He took no time in lifting the bow from its own snug place in the lid and twisting the metal part on the end, causing the hair to tighten and lift away from the stick. He then plucked the small box from its spot and slid a wooden rectangular piece from the cardboard, revealing an odd black, scratched surface, which he promptly ran up and down the strings of the bow, quick and precise. After setting the box labeled 'rosin' (something Eren still didn't completely understand the purpose of, but was happy to know more about what it was used for) back in its own compartment, Levi kept the bow in his right hand while his left wrapped around the neck of the instrument and lifted it soundlessly from the case.

Eren's curiosity got the best of him. "Wha...what are you doing?" he stammered as Levi was about to lift the instrument to his shoulder.

"Playing you a song," stated the other. "What does it look like?"

Eren's brow pulled together in utter bewilderment. "You don't have to do that..." he mumbled. "But...why?"

Levi lowered his violin, looking directly into Eren's eyes. "Because after your ever-so noble wasting of a gift on this, it's the least I could do."

"It wasn't a waste," Eren countered almost immediately. "It was something you wanted."

"There is no way you could have known that for sure."

Eren's eyes dropped. Levi was right; he really had only taken a guess, and he wanted to do something for Levi for his own selfish reasons on top of simply wanting to do something nice for someone he thought he could identify with.

"If you don't want me to play, I won't," Levi muttered. "And I'll leave you alone to sit and focus on not puking instead." When Eren still said nothing, Levi sighed, annoyed. "Do you want to hear something or not?"

Pressing his lips together, the younger looked back up. He couldn't help but be curious about Levi's playing abilities, so he gave a small nod. Levi rolled his eyes, muttering something Eren didn't quite catch, and placed the violin back on his shoulder, tucking his jaw neatly against the rest latched to the side. Just as he lifted the bow to start playing, placing the fingers of his left hand in the correct position, Zoë hopped up into Eren's lap and settled in to watch as well.

There was a beat of silence - not a breath, not even the faint whisper of a breeze outside - before he drew the bow across the strings. The tune started out slow, but Eren was immediately captivated. He could feel something in the song - what it was, he couldn't be entirely sure, but it was unmistakably there. Levi's fingers danced delicately yet flawlessly over the strings, his arm pulling the bow back and forth across them to elicit such a unique song from the sleek black violin. His face was more serene than Eren, in all honesty, ever thought it could be, with his eyes closed and his brow relaxed. He leaned with the motion of the bow ever so slightly with his back pin straight. And it all looked so absolutely natural.

By the time the song came to a soft close, Eren's nausea was little more than an afterthought. He was rendered utterly speechless; all he could think of was the sound of the song, replaying what he remembered over and over in his head.

"What?" Levi asked skeptically, lowering the violin into his lap.

Eren absently reached for his water. "What do you mean?" he mumbled, wrapping his hands around the cold bottle and averting his gaze.

"What's that smile for?"

The brunet felt heat creep up to his ears and he suddenly realized that he was, indeed smiling, if only a little.

"Nothing," he mumbled quickly. "You're...good," he said lamely, feeling his shoulders droop, wishing he could pull forth better words to describe Levi's playing. "What song was that?"

"Thanks...and it's untitled at the moment," Levi responded, also feeling moderately awkward and preoccupying himself with gently plucking at the strings with the tips of his fingers.

"Oh. You wrote it." Levi hummed in affirmation. Eren cleared his throat, took a small sip of his water and scratched behind the cat's ears. "Will you play it again?" He snuck a glance up at the other, whose brows lifted fractionally.

"Sure," he said. "Or I can play something else."

Eren felt his smile return. "Anything you want," he said. "I like it."

Levi's eyes stuck on Eren's for only a second before he went back to focusing on his instrument, but in that second Eren swore he saw some form of joy in those somber irises.

The remainder of the morning was spent with the two of them in the sunroom with Lucy and Zoë, Levi playing on and off and mildly tutoring Eren about the instrument, idle conversations mixed in. It was a perfect distraction from the uneasy feeling throughout Eren's entire body, but eventually it caught up with him again and their peaceful bubble was popped when he found himself having to fumble for the bucket and throw up again.

Petra, Oluo, and the others showed up not long after; Eren had never been more embarrassed to meet someone in his life, pale and sweaty and shaking, feeling like his stomach was trying to turn itself inside out. Still, Petra's husband was gracious about it and Eren immediately decided he liked him. He also didn't miss that extra sparkle in Petra's eyes now that her husband was home, although it was - unfortunately - for an indefinite length of time.

That night, Eren decided to sleep in the sunroom again with Zoë curled up beside his head. He was just in the twilight stage of drifting to sleep when the quiet creaking of the door yanked him back to consciousness and his eyes flew open. A dark figure was stepping onto the carpet of the room and gently shutting the door, the unmistakable shape of a pillow tucked beneath an arm. It stepped into the dull light shining in from outside in time for Eren to see it was Levi before he sat up defensively.

"Levi?" he whispered. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," the other answered at full volume, moving to the other half of the couch and laying his pillow at the end. "I'm keeping you company," he stated bluntly.

"Why?" Eren asked, perplexed as he watched the other sit and lay back without bothering to cover himself.

"I had food poisoning a couple years ago," elaborated the shorter, "so I know how nights suck, and how shitty it feels to be alone."

Eren blinked once. Twice. Snuggled himself back against his pillow, all the while keeping eyes on the black mass that was Levi. "Are you sure?"

"Just go to sleep, kid," Levi grumbled, ending the conversation.

And Eren was completely unaware of the tiny smile he sported when he finally did slip into peaceful rest.