Key to a Caged Heart

Safe and Sound

A/N: Hi guys! I'm so sorry. I suck, because I tried to have a reliable update time and I failed on the first go. So scratch that, I'm updating when I have something for you that isn't utter shit. The next chapter might be short and posted in a few days because it was originally attached to this one until I decided to separate the two. Or it will be long and take more days to finish. Who knows. I clearly don't.

Song: Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift. The first time I heard this song was for an AMV of Alois from Black Butler. It is amazing so I attached the video up top. Oh, the feels.

EREN'S POV

After almost a week of living together in semi-camaraderie, Levi asked me how I felt about searching for a larger apartment. Even though we made a contract, I still worry that I'll be too much of a burden for Levi and he will regret keeping me around. I told him I didn't care where we lived, leaving the choice entirely up to him, and that is why we are now apartment hunting.

I never imagined he would give me a vote on the new apartment, but he reminded me that it would be my home too so of course I had a say. It was almost a sweet sentiment if he hadn't called me a fucktard for not knowing my opinion counted.

Before our shift at The Underground tonight, we were driving from listing to listing, noting the things we liked and disliked about each location.

The first apartment was laughable. Whoever submitted the listing to the newspaper didn't know the difference between a white lie and a full-out lie. The ad said the apartment was two bedroom, 1.5 bathroom, and had a garage, which was unusual for apartments but would be useful to store Levi's precious car in during the winter months.

When we arrived, the wooden door of the apartment building was hanging loosely on its rusty hinges, but we persevered with the intent to not judge a book by its cover, or an apartment by its dilapidated door.

However, upon entering room 666, it was clear that it was not the place for us, or any respectable human. Levi peered in from the doorway, not willing to enter the dusty box which had the audacity to call itself an apartment. The door to the apartment was in no better condition than the door to the building. There even appeared to be a bullet hole in it.

As for the rooms, 2 bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms was a loose approximation. There were two bedrooms if the living room counted as one and the only bathroom was a broom closet big enough to hold a toilet and a sink.

The owner of the property said that the gas station around the block had a shower for the truck drivers that stopped by on their routes and we could use it if we needed a shower. The look on Levi's face was priceless, a mixture of pure disgust and genuine curiosity that people still existed who didn't count a shower as a necessity. We didn't even bother to ask about the so-called garage. Needless to say, Levi ushered us out of that building faster than the rat that scurried across the kitchen floor.

The second apartment was much nicer, but that wasn't difficult to achieve. It had two bedrooms like we wanted and a fairly decent bathroom but something about it wasn't comfortable. It was hard to pinpoint what it was. Perhaps the lingering odor of cat lady from the previous tenant which was permanently soaked into the brown carpet covering all the apartment except the kitchen and bathroom. Or it was the bars across the windows, reminiscent of a cage or the jail cell I almost spent a night in. Either way, Levi and I agreed that we would be happier staying in his small apartment with me sleeping on the futon forever rather than move to a bigger place that didn't feel right.

Luckily, the third location we visited was perfect. The apartment building, named Rosewall Court, was white stone with black trimmed windows. Around the edge of the building I could see black staircases crisscrossing from various landings outside of certain apartment windows.