The days trickled by so slowly it was like a blur. Different faces, names, words, medicines, addresses, emails, appointments. All of them blurring together into a grey fuzz of nothing. There was nothing colourful.

Levi sighed in annoyance. Hanji was late again. At least she had bothered to message him first this time, and he had received a crazed message from her earlier, in the usual Hanji style.

"Sorry but I'll be late today! Moblit found another fault in that new boiler thingy, so we tried to fix it and things got a bit hectic! Should be there around 11? Thanks!"

It was now 11:39, Levi grumbled to himself as he tried to stretch out to reach his phone. Just a bit more…got it. He sighed again, looking down at the expanse of white sheets encasing him. It was so suffocating. Everything was.

Flipping open his phone, his hand vibrated slightly at the sudden barrage of messages arriving on his phone. He scrolled mindlessly through the messages, smirking slightly at all the random ones from Hanji updating him on her latest antics. His fingers paused over the last message. Feeling a dead weight reappearing in his chest, he opened the message. It was from his doctor.

"Levi. The date for the operation has been decided; all we need now is the ok from you. Please reply as soon as you can, as long as you feel up to it. From, Dr Erwin"

The dead weight seemed too increase in size. He resolved to ignore the message for now. He would reply, of course. Just not now. Throwing his phone aside and burying himself under the duvet, Levi tried to get back to sleep. He felt the ache in his chest, swelling up into each and every part of his body, it felt like he was being strangled from the inside, heat rushing over his body, followed by cold ice-

"LEVI!"

He bolted upright, disconcerted, his loose white shirt sticking to his back with cold sweat. He straightened up and tried to compose himself, eyeing the door warily.

It burst open suddenly, making him jump, and a whirlwind of brown hair was all he could see, as his temporary housekeeper, and best friend, encircled him in a hug, squeezing the life out of him.

"Hanji, what the-" He spluttered, his arms flailing helplessly against his ambusher. A few more seconds of hugging, before she released him and took a step back, her matted brown hair pulled in a messy ponytail and her glasses askew on her face.

Hanji stood before him, grinning apologetically.

"So sorry I'm late!" She apologised, but her tone was contrary to the wide grin on her face.

Levi glared at her. "Nothing unusual there, weirdo." He said this in his usual deadpan voice, but a quirk of his eyebrows told Hanji he was pleased to see her. Her smile grew even larger, if that was possible.

There was a pause as Hanji surveyed him, her sharp eyes taking note of his messy hair, the sheen of sweat across his forehead, her grin now replaced with an unusually serious look.

Levi averted his eyes. He knew what was coming.

"Did...you receive the message then?" She asked tentatively. "The one from Dr Erwin?"

"Not yet." He lied smoothly. Hanji still looked at him doubtfully, but pressed the matter no further. She knew him too well for that.

"Well then!" Hanji was grinning again, as if nothing had happened. She was good at doing that, and Levi had to work hard to suppress his smile. She looked at him quickly, with a hint of worry, before turning her attention to the surrounding room. "Lets see then...you've managed to keep it clean, huh?"

"Of course." Levi replied, his voice slightly smug.

"Well I'm not complaining! Less work for me, eh?" She laughed. "Any requests for breakfast, your majesty? You can have the usual, but I also bought some eggs, so you could have pancakes, or waffles! Unless your stomach's playing up again, in which case I've got some fruit somewhere..." She reeled through the options, ticking them off on her fingers one by one.

"The usual is fine" He was starting to feel his stomach growling, and Hanji was known to faff about and experiment when it came to cooking. He didn't feel like another bout of food poisoning.

"The usual it is then! Oh, and Levi, I bought you a change of clothes, so you change while I make the food, 'kay?" She winked at him before walking out the door, humming a little tune as she went.

"She forgot to shut the door." Levi thought in annoyance, before diverting his attention to the bundle of clothes on the floor. He wished she had put them closer. He stretched toward the floor, feeling his back scream in protest. He jerked back. He could change later, he told himself.

This was the worst part about it all. He just felt so pathetic. God knows how he would've survived without Hanji: He was sure nobody else would be able to put up with his bad temper and unreasonable demands. Sinking further into the soft pillows, he closed his eyes. How long had it been now? He couldn't even remember the last time he had gone down from the top floor of his house. If he strained his neck, he could almost see outside- but not quite. He didn't want to damage his spine even more.

When he woke, it was pitch black. Groggily, he sat up and felt something fall off the bed with a soft thump. He fumbled for the light switch. It flickered on, and the sudden burst of light made him recoil. Blinking, he looked around. Hanji must have left hours ago. He looked around for the source of the "thump". A pile of clothes sat on the floor, a plastic bag sitting next to it. Hooking the handles of the bag with his toe, he managed to lift it up. It smelt funny. Opening it with caution, he peered inside, and relaxed. An innocent-looking wrapped sandwich lay in the bag with a folded note.

He opened the note, and at once recognised the sprawling handwriting.

"Levi, I left you some sandwiches, that should last you until morning right? If not, give me a call and I'll pop back round and whip something up. Also, I contacted Dr Erwin and he said he had sent you a message? I thought you said he didn't, what's going on? Hanji."

He had been found out. Well, she was bound to find out sooner or later. Hanji had a knack for figuring things out, and over the years he had learned that keeping secrets from her was pointless.

He may as well go back to sleep. Nothing else he could do, really.

Just before he turned out the light however, he spotted something on his bedside table. A something that looked very out of place in comparison to his drab bedroom.

Flowers.

Pretty ones at that, a mass of golden yellow, a spot of colour amid the grey surroundings.

He picked them up cautiously. Why where these here? Was it Hanji's doing? No, she would have shoved them in his face, or tied them above his head or arranged them in some weird way, Hanji-style.

A few soft petals fell onto the sheets, as Levi stared at the small flowers with bewilderment.

Putting them back on his table, he decided to interrogate Hanji about them tomorrow. Lying back down, he was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, the sandwich lying forlornly on his bedside table.

They had smelt nice, too.

Notes:

This is my first attempt at writing a fic, so feel free to leave criticism!

Yay for Rivetra AU's ^^ Also, sorry if Levi and Petra are a bit OOC in this .