Chapter Text
So this was what death felt like, huh? Sitting around feeling like you’re made of lead, listening to the soft drum of the ocean against the rocks while someone messed with your toes. Yeah, that’s death.
Wait, what?
Levi’s eyes shot open, sputtering as his lungs sprung to life, greedily taking in gulps of air. Okay, what the actual fuck? Levi shot up at that, using his arms to brace himself upright as he looked around with wide eyes. What the hell? He quickly glanced at his toes, noting that whatever had been holding onto them had vanished. Great, just fucking great, not only had he washed up on this god forsaken rock, but now he was hallucinating.
Levi let out a groan, falling back onto the wet stone with a soft thud and bringing his hands up to rake them through his damp locks. Alright, get it together, what did he remember before this? Yeah, that was a good place to start!
Cold. Alright, that was a start. It was cold and dark, and,and...damn, what else? He could have sworn that for a fleeting moment he had felt arms around his waist, pulling him from his watery grave, but...but that couldn't be true. Could it? They had literally been in the middle of the ocean, miles away from anyone who wasn't on a boat. Actually, there wasn't even anyone on a boat! It had been literally just them and the water.
“God, this makes no fucking sense,” Levi said to himself, hating the raspy quality his voice had taken on. Damn, how long was he out for? It couldn’t have been more than a couple of hours, tops. Levi was about to give up on figuring it out, say fuck it and figure out a way to get back to shore.
“God, they probably think I’m dead,” Levi mumbled, hand falling from his hair to his face, scrubbing at it slightly as he let out a long drawn out sigh settling on at least sitting up and getting a better view of where he was, and to find out what the hell was. messing with his toes. Like, fuck, his toe did not bend that way!
Wait.
Ever so slowly, Levi removed his hand, blue eyes darting down to hopefully get a look at whatever had come back to mess with his feet. And honestly, he was not expecting to see what he did. The thing grabbing at him was definitely humanoid, the fingers unmistakable, though there was a webbing between each of them that told Levi this creature spent its life in the water.
He waited with bated breath, hearing his heartbeat in his ears and watching as what appeared to be a mop of brown hair peek up from the stone that he had been placed on. Fuck, okay okay, breathe, Levi, this...this thing has your toes, this thing that looked rather human at the moment but could possibly be checking you out before it eats you, had your toes, again. He had managed to control his breathing, watching as the creature made more of itself known, and, and...wow, that was...that was definitely not as gruesome as Levi thought it was going to be.
The creature had long brown hair that had been plastered to its tan skin by the salty water. Its neck had three slits on each side - probably gills. That was Levi's best guess, anyway. Seaweed wrapped its way around its wrists and forearms, covering up a few of the scars that littered the sea dweller's flesh, and it had wide, curious eyes, one a rather attractive amber and the other a brilliant turquoise, both of which stared at Levi's feet as though they were the most fascinating thing it had ever seen.
All was quiet between the two, Levi watching the creature's every move, and the creature far too interested in Levi's feet to know that the man was watching. A few more moments passed before Levi decided he had had enough of the silence.
“They don't bend that way, you know,” he said, voice still rough from his earlier ordeal, watching the creature's eyes widen, the mismatched irises darting up to meet Levi's own before removing its hand from Levi's foot so quickly that you could have sworn it had been burned.
The creature took in a few shaky breaths, looking as though it was about to dart away, and honestly Levi couldn't tell if he wanted the thing to leave or not. It would make his life a hell of a lot easier, that was for sure. God, he could just picture himself trying to explain this to Erwin, ha! Like that would go well.
Levi was brought out of his thoughts by the strangest noise, causing him to look back at the other. He noted that its brows were knitted together as it looked Levi over, as if expecting him to answer.
Levi went to open his mouth, but was cut off as the noise happened again. It was a high-pitched clicking that kind of reminded him of dolphins, but not quite. It was odd, and almost a little grating, but that wasn't what really interested Levi. Oh no. What interested him was that it seemed to be coming out of his supposed saviour's throat.
Levi blinked, looking around them as he tried to figure out his best course of action before clearing his throat and adjusting himself so that he was sitting more comfortably on the rock. ”I...ah, I don’t speak Fish. Sorry.”
In a flash the curious nature of the creature vanished, its eyes hardening as they looked Levi over, huffing as it crossed one arm over the other, resting its chin on top of them. ”Not speak fish,” it hissed back, much to Levi's surprise.
It spoke English. It spoke English! It was garbled and broken, but it was English! Levi stared wide-eyed at the creature, quietly celebrating that the language barrier had been broken down somewhat. Said creature shifted about awkwardly, brushing some of its hair out of its face.
”Um...um, okay?” they asked, watching as Levi seemed to spring back to life.
”Yes, yes I'm okay. Shit, I'm okay," Levi breathed out, raking his fingers through his hair, an air of relief about him as he went on speaking. ”English, you-- You speak English,” he stammered, watching as the mer-person's brows furrowed before it offered a nod.
”Lil' bit,” the other said before sitting up pulling on the seaweed that was around his forearm, letting a short silence fall between the two.
"... Eren,” it mumbled, odd eyes glancing up to meet Levi's, who in turn raised an eyebrow at him, causing the merman to huff. Eren? What on earth-- Oh, oh fuck Levi, he was telling you his name, Jesus Christ, your head is most definitely in the wrong place.
”Levi, my name is Levi.” He said watching as the other brightened up at bit, hands going back to Levi's feet slowly and carefully running his thumb over the pad of Levi's foot.
”These?” He asked, eyes glancing up at Levi, brow quirked curiously as he awaited Levi's answer.“Toes. They're called toes,” he said, wiggling them for emphasis, causing Eren to jump, his grip on Levis foot loosening for a moment before tightening back up. Eren wiggled the appendage himself, a big, sharp, toothy grin breaking out across his features as he watched the pale appendages bend.
Levi’s gaze never left the other’s hands, noting the stark contrast of their skin and how gently the other handled his foot, almost as if he was afraid he was going to break it. The guy was curious, Levi would give him that much.
“Bad swimmer,” Eren finally said, drawing Levi out of his inner musings yet again, causing the other to raise an eyebrow. ”Bad swimmer? The hell does that mean?” he asked, watching as Eren’s brows furrowed as he tried to find the words. ”Flail arms wrong,” Eren said, flailing his arms around as a visual aid.
Wow, this kid was cute. Er, Eren was younger than him, right? He looked young least...ah, whatever, it didn't matter right now. He watched as Eren went back to his toes, fingers moving down the side of his foot, stopping at his heel and lightly pressing the calloused skin. ”Hey...Eren,” Levi started listening to the dismissive hum Eren gave off as he bent his ankle.
“I need you to take me back to shore.”
Eren dropped Levi’s foot, skittering back a bit as his eyes widened. ”No, no shore! Land walkers there,” Eren said, his tail, or what Levi could assume was a tail, lashing through the water, causing droplets to fly up and hit Levi in the face.
Levi groaned at that, scrubbing at his face as he took in a breath, great, of course. Why would the handsome merman want to take him back to shore? That would really just be too easy. “Is there a spot near the shore you could take me? Somewhere far, far down the shore line where no, er...’land walkers’ are?”
“...M...Maybe... But! But why go back?“ Eren asked, brows furrowed as he looked up at Levi, still at a safe distance from the other. Levi bit back another groan at that, okay, yeah, he wasn’t making this easy.
”I live there, Eren. You see these?” He said, pointing to his legs and feet. ”Not really made for swimming,” he said, tone tense as he tried to keep his temper in check. He couldn’t afford to scare Eren off, though as time went on it was definitely getting harder and harder to keep it together.
The merman looked perplexed, as if debating his options. Take the interesting land walker back to land, or keep him as his own... Jeez, this was tough, it wasn't every day he found a human on his way back to his family. Hell, it wasn't every day he saw a human! They were a lot different up close and Eren wanted to learn more about them! But...but the human-- ah, Levi looked uncomfortable and more than a little cold. Wow, what time even was it? Eren looked over his shoulder, noting that the bottom of the sun was meeting with the water. Oh no, no no no, if he didn't get back soon, Mikasa was gonna skin him alive.
Eren’s brows furrowed again before he looked back over at Levi, chewing on his bottom lip and heaving an exasperated sigh. ”Okay... Yes, take you home… But! Only...only...” he frowned, watching as Levi’s owns brows furrowed, waiting for Eren to finish his sentence. ”Only if meet again?” Eren finally said, watching as the other blinked a few times.
”Again? You want to see me again?” Levi asked slowly, watching as Eren nodded happily, a smile replacing the concentrated look the other held moments ago.
Levi’s nose wrinkled a bit as he thought, rubbing the back of his neck and letting his fingers trail over his undercut for a moment. Eren wanted to meet him again? How the hell were they going to do that? Levi was still trying his damnedest to figure out if he was dreaming.
“...Yes, yeah, okay, we can meet again,” Levi finally said, watching as the merman’s smile gave way to a face splitting grin.”Good! Good, umm...meet...meet...dock? First day meet dock! Find better place after,” he said, reaching out for Levi. ”Here, come, take you back.”
Levi looked at Eren’s hands then back at his face. God, this was weird, this was really fucking weird. He was going to go swimming through the ocean with the little fucking mermaid. When did his life turn into a bad Disney movie? Levi finally scooted forward, letting the other wrap his arms around his waist, and slowly, carefully bringing him into the water with Eren, paying no mind as Levi wrapped his arms tightly around Erens neck, taking in a deep breath as he felt them start to move.
“No like water?” the merman asked, glancing to the side and taking in the other’s tight lipped expression.”Not one of my favorite pastimes if that’s what you mean,” Levi mumbled, letting a deep breath out through his nose. He hated this, hated every last minute of it. Hated the way the water pulled at his clothes, the numbness of his legs, how deep it was, all of this was just horrible.
“Hurting neck.”
“Hmmm?”
“You hurting neck.”
Huh? Oh, er, sorry.” Levi loosened his grip at that, listening as the merman gave a chuckle. "It’s ‘kay. Almost to beach,” Eren said, prompting Levi to look over his shoulder, physically relaxing as he saw the shore come closer and closer.
“...Thanks, by the way.”
“Huh?”
“For getting me out of that shitty situation,” Levi said, looking away from the shore and to the sky, watching as the sun dipped down behind the horizon,leaving a lovely read,orange hue, slowly bleeding into the deep blue sky. Wow, he had honestly forgotten how nice sunsets on the water actually were.
“Okay! Here!” Oh, those were the best words Levi had heard all day, didn't matter if the guy could barely speak English; he could have literally grunted and
pointed in the direction of the shore and Levi would still feel as though he was on cloud nine.
Levi clumsily stumbled out of Eren’s grasp, practically running onto the shore and dropping to his knees once he was completely out of the water. Oh,thank god. A splash from behind him brought Levi back to earth, prompting him to look back at the ocean. A pair of mismatched irises blinked at him curiously from
the water’s edge. ”Meet tomorrow?” Eren asked softly, offering the other a small smile that only grew when Levi gave a nod.
“Yeah, tomorrow.”
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It was around midnight when Levi finally got back home. Oh man, ‘home’. He never thought he would be saying that again. With a tired groan, Levi slammed the door behind him and plodded towards the kitchen. His phone was still there; abandoned on the counter because he left in a hurry. Way to go,sleep-deprived brain.
Levi picked up his phone clumsily, wincing at the numbness of his fingers. Alright, first things first, he should probably call the people who think he’s dead.Levi clicked Erwin’s contact as he walked into his bedroom, phone pressed against his ear.
It only took a few rings before a very panicked Erwin answered his phone.
“L-Levi? Is that you?”
“No, it’s the fucking Easter bunny. Who else?”
“Jesus, Levi, I don't have time for your bullshit.” Levi couldn't help but smile at the exasperated tone his friend has taken on.
“On the contrary, after the day you probably had, you most definitely need
a dose of my bullshit,” Levi chuckled taking his phone away from his ear for a
second as he removed his shirt.
”Not funny. Mike and I thought you were dead,” came Erwins voice, causing Levi’s smile to falter.
”So did I, to be honest. I just got back a second ago.”
“And how exactly did you get back?” Erwin asked. Levi could practically see Erwin raising his eyebrow at him.
”... Would you believe me if I told you a hot surfer picked me up?” Levi deadpanned, hearing Erwin snort on the other end.
“The fact that you said ‘hot surfer’ leads me to believe otherwise.”
“Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it,” Levi grumbled as he worked to get his sweats on and keep the phone pressed to his ear. ”He was from out of
town, visiting from Germany.”
“Really, Levi?”
“And he saved me from drowning and now I'm here.” Levi said matter of factly, managing to get his pants on before removing his phone from his ear
briefly to pull a tank top on, after which he flopped back on his bed.
“That is a terrible lie, Levi,” Erwin said with a sigh, causing Levi to give a
chuckle.
”I'm sticking to it!” Levi insisted, letting out a breath as his head made contact with the sweet, fluffy wonder that was his pillow. Sweet Jesus, he thought
he was never going to see this amazing pillow again.
“Alright, alright, fine. I’m just glad to hear that you’re in. I'll return your laptop to you in the morning, by the way.”
“Sounds good. Told you your boat was a death trap, though.”
“Levi.”
“Alright, alright, I'm sorry. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay? Night.”
“Good night, Levi.”
With that Levi hung up, letting his phone drop to his side with a sigh as he curled up in his bed. His day had been fucking long: he fell off a boat, he almost
died, he met a fucking merman of all things... At least he was now resting comfortably in his bed. Shit, it was all like some fucked up dream, a fucked up
dream that he really really wanted to forget.
He was tempted to write it off as a dream as he started to drift off to sleep. He would’ve written it off as a dream if it wasn't for those mismatched eyes he
saw, shining brightly every time he closed his eyes.
God, he was fucked.