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The milky steam of pancake batter wafted into the quiet space as with the mouth-watering aroma of other breakfast dishes, gradually pulling Eren into a hypnopompic daze. Not long after, a light sensation dampens on his cheek, Eren purrs into the familiar fingertips softly rubbing on his temple.
"Eren."
The young man's lids flutter softly but did not part as he hummed in response.
"Get up and let's eat."
The drowsy male groans. "Can't. And you know very well why."
"Don't go blaming me this early. Let me remind you just who the cocky brat who riled me up as much as he liked last night was. You even passed out in the middle of it!"
Remembering the moment upon regaining his consciousness last night, Eren muffles his guilty snickers onto the blanket close to his face. "That was just once though! And we did it again twice after that!" Eren's eyes grew wide in amusement, not in any way denying responsibility for having pushed Levi's buttons until the man caved in to his whims for it would never fail to delight the wilful lad. "And just where do you get that much strength to go on for hours?? Really, I've been wondering for quite a while now."
"I don't know what answer you're expecting, but should you seriously question my endurance this early in the morning?" With a quizzical arch of his eyebrow, Levi pinched Eren's cheek a bit too hard. "Come on, let's get breakfast instead."
"Okay wait," shimmying the blanket off of his lethargic body, Eren stretches his arms towards the older male once he does so. "Carry me then?"
Out in full view for Levi to bask in was the sight of Eren's dishevelled state in an unbuttoned pyjama top with only a pair of moss green Calvin Klein trunks on. The lad had a beaming face as bright as the soft early morning rays which enticed the older male into scooping Eren up and into his arms, the younger's legs around Levi's firm waist. As Levi strides past the doorframe, Eren settles his head on the curve of his lover's neck and lets his eyes wander at the cream walls of their house, taking note of the free spaces across the hall of the second floor. "Hey, isn't the house a bit bare?"
"Of course it is. We've transferred only some of our stuff from the other place twice since this place was bought though."
Reaching the ground floor, Eren gasped suddenly that it startled the man holding him up.
"Oh! Why don't we shop from the local stores later? I don’t mean furniture though, maybe something to fill the free spaces upstairs?"
"Like what?" Levi lets Eren down onto a wooden chair and seats himself across the table where dishes of eggs, toast, and bacon bits were laid neatly with a couple of coffee-filled mugs.
"I don't know, something like beanbags?" Eren says before delightedly digging in.
After taking a sip from his mug, Levi starts as well with a toast. "Would that be necessary? What about potted plants, bigger than the ones you take care of in Tokyo?"
"Actually, that's nice, too! Let's look around town later then."
Levi chuckles suddenly. "What??" Eren asks despite his mouth being almost full.
"You can't even walk right now."
"Uh.." Eren felt a warm flush in his face. "After lunch, then."
"You sure about that?"
Eren simultaneously sighed endearingly and attempted to feign a glare at his teasing lover before leaning forward, gaze fixated on Levi's teasingly anticipating orbs. "Try me then."
Levi snorts at what seemed to be a plan than a challenge. "Alright, later then."
"But!"
"What?"
"He-help me…"
Levi hums in response as he watched Eren dart his eyes sideways.
"My back, my hips, I mean."
“What about those?”
Now with disbelief on his face, Eren’s mouth emptily gapes. “You’re seriously asking me that?”
“Tell me straight then,” Levi said with a sly curl of his lips.
“You’re making fun of me again! Obviously, you’re partly to blame for being too forceful last night!”
Levi’s prominent grin finally burst out in hearty cackles. “Right, right.”
“Ugh, Levi,” groaned the younger male before gulping his hot coffee on impulse. “Ah!”
Without a second to waste, Levi pulled an ice cube tray out of the freezer and cracked a few cubes into a new cup then dashed to his lover in pain. “Here.”
Eren was covering his mouth with his palm that he hardly paid attention to anything else but the strong pricking pain. Levi initiated instead and abruptly took Eren’s chin from under the younger’s hovering palm. He took an ice cube with his fingers and pushed it past Eren’s reddened lips and into his burnt tongue. “Better?”
As his face contorted in a flinch at the suddenness, Eren nods as his features gradually ease up.
“Hu her hoo hashy, Hevi.” Eren frowns at his lover.
“What?”
“I shaid, too hashty.” Even with the ice limiting Eren’s articulation, Levi nonetheless understood.
“Had I not hasten, you’d probably be too engrossed in waiting for the pain to subside.”
Eren just rolled his eyes and groaned. “Still painful though. But anyway I’m full so..” The younger male extended his arms towards Levi again and the older male does as he did earlier. With Eren up in his arms once again, Levi starts walking to the living room.
“Here is fine?”
Eren nods again before the shorter male gently sets him down onto the soft cushions of the big couch.
“Call me when you need me.” Levi plants a soft kiss upon his lover’s forehead. “And for the record, between you and me, you’re far hastier than I am.”
“Why would you sa-?”
“In a lot more ways than one, you definitely are that even your friends would, no doubt, side with me on this.” Then after a quick ambush on the younger male’s reddened lips, Levi spun around and fled to clean up the dining table.
“What was that, Levi?!” yelled Eren, his face too warm than normal that even his ears got flushed as well.”
*
In just half an hour, the table and the kitchen sink were squeaky clean. Levi then joins the younger male and sinks himself beside his boyfriend on the couch.
“Anything good on the TV?”
“Nothing. Maybe- ah! This one!”
Levi’s eyes narrowed at the screen. “Isn’t that the series about titans gobbling humans inside those walls?”
“Yeah, that one. Armin told me this is good!”
Shifting himself closer to Levi, Eren snuggles onto him then lays his head on the older male’s lap before stretching his limbs out on the far end of the couch.
“Where do I start?”
“Here, please.” Eren shifts on his side and leads Levi’s hand onto his aching waist.
“Can’t you sit upright? I can’t reach it properly this way.”
“Fine, fine.” Eren rolls himself up slowly but Levi lifts him up a bit and settles him down his lap. “I’m gonna block your view, you know?”
“Oh no, I already finished that series.”
“What? And you didn’t even tell me about it!?” grabbing Levi’s hand once again, the young lad redirects his lover’s palm onto his torso’s backside. “Meanie, please do my waist now. And don’t spoil!”
“Just concentrate on the damn TV, Eren.”
The thrilling opening song of the series had just finished and right into the first couple of minutes, Eren gets a little too absorbed into it despite the graphic gore and violence. Letting Levi work wonders on his sore body, Eren realizes just how bad their late night lovemaking took a toll on his body. Besides, he hasn’t exercised in a month or so due to university projects and seminars so it was bumming Eren how embarrassed he feels over his weakened state. But with the soothing sensation of rhythmic pressure from Levi’s fingers, Eren couldn’t help the faint mewls escaping from his lips at the firm strokes across his skin.
“Am I that good at this?”
“Odd, but yeah? Have you done this before?”
“When I was younger, my mom usually complains how frequent her headaches come. And everyday, upon getting home from work, I’d always run up to her and just massage her scalp in front of the TV. She’d always end up falling asleep though.”
“I thought you’d done it with someone else.”
“That…you wouldn’t want to know, right? None of that matters anyway.”
In his mind, Eren knew Levi was right but the little green monster will always find the best way to get into his head and overthrow his rationality. “If you don’t like to talk about it, then it is fine.” He dismissed in a rather serious tone void of his usually childish caprice.
For a long few minutes, the air was still and both males seemed to mind their own business: Eren kept his attention glued to the dreadful scenic fights between humans trying to gain their freedom back from monstrous titans; Levi stroking Eren’s waist and hips in a calming rhythm using both his hands.
Just as soon as Levi’s massaging came to a halt, Eren thought about trying to clear the air but is startled when he felt a warm air brushed on the shell of his right ear. “Eren.”
Eren huffs out a slow breath before turning to meet his man’s gaze over his shoulder. “What, Levi?”
“If it upsets you that I did it befo-”
“Actually no, stop.” Eren’s tone grew unintentionally louder and he immediately realized it. “Uh, sorry. It’s nothing.”
“You know it annoys me when you run your mouth off but you also know how much I hate it when you do otherwise. It’s worse to have you not telling me anything.”
“Sorry, i-it’s just… I know getting jealous… I know it’s useless. And stupid, and- I’m still young so maybe that’s why I’m like this..?”
“Eren..”
As much as Eren would like to console himself with his lover’s words, it wasn’t in the least bit helpful in trying to stop the irrational ache in his chest. “Yeah, I am. Sorry.”
In efforts to calm himself down instead of tearing up for something he considers so trivial, Eren missed the way Levi’s hands moved up onto his shoulders. It was only then that his top’s collar was being pulled down his back, exposing his nape to the man who unravelled his skin. With his thoughts running away to an emotional outburst freeway from what he calls petty jealousy, Eren stunned at the contact of his nape with what he felt to be Levi’s lips.
“..Levi.”
The man doesn’t answer but Eren feels Levi’s lips trail on to his left shoulder and up to the curve of his neck. Eren’s pyjama top now halfway down his back, Levi’s kisses continued across the expanse of Eren’s shoulders and neck; however many Levi left on his younger lover’s back, the soft sensation of gentle presses were what snapped Eren back to where he is.
“I know it’s dumb, but I’m sorry. I’m not better than any other person out there who could control their emotions and I’m still trying to grasp the fact that you’re here to stay. With me.”
Levi halts from paying attention to Eren’s back then gently laid the young lad on the couch on his back. The older male reached for the remote control and hit ‘mute’ just before he hovered on top of Eren. Seeing as how the lad’s lashes glisten with tiny droplets of withheld tears, Levi knew in himself that he would do everything to wipe Eren’s eyes dry and bring his cheery laughter back.
“Listen. I’m not good at this, Eren. And I’m sorry if I owe you any sort of reassurance but please, trust me when I tell you that you’re the only one who matters to me right now. And I’d continue to believe that for as long as I live. What I did several years ago, leaving you right after you’ve told me your feelings- you were so much younger back then and- I was honestly scared of a lot of things so I left. I’m sor-”
“Levi..” Swiftly slinging his arms around the older male, Eren pulls Levi down on to his chest and tightens his hug around him as his chest heaves from sobbing. “I understand. It’s just that, now that you’ve come back to me, everything’s changed so much in me and I got scared by my own thoughts that one day you’d…..you’d leave.…again.” Eren didn’t try to stifle his crying anymore, what with the pain from 5 years ago briefly resurfacing due to mere jealousy.
Levi took Eren’s arms off of him and turns to reach for the remote once again. This time, he turned the system off along with the other appliances running in the room. When he was done with it, he carefully scooped Eren up into his arms and let him cry on his chest as Levi makes his way back to their bedroom upstairs. Levi knew how Eren hates crying, how his younger lover doesn’t like it as it makes him vulnerable and physically reduces his strength no matter how athletic or healthy Eren is when put in different circumstances or in any other situation.
“You need to rest.” Eren flops down into the fluffy white sheets of the duvet a bit calmer than earlier. Levi slides next to him and lies there. “I’m not going anywhere anymore, Eren.”
Feeling much lighter from his crying, Eren sits up and reaches for the glass of water on the bedside table near his side of the bed. After taking several gulps, he sets it down back to its place and lies back down again next to Levi, who has his arm over his face and his lips tightly pursed. Eren inches closer above the older male and gently lifts Levi’s arm out of the way, revealing a pained expression across the man’s pale features. Eren attempts to undo it with a smile but figures something better so he brings his lips closer and takes Levi’s in a slow, mellow kiss.
“I believe you, Levi. I truly do..”
“Eren.” This time, Levi pulls Eren into another chaste union and presses another kiss onto the younger’s forehead. “Thank you.”
With a few genuine chuckles and his smiling eyes back, Eren goes for another kiss, letting his weight press down on Levi but the older male figures Eren’s position would strain his aching limbs more so he pushes himself up without breaking the kiss and switches over and above Eren.
“I told you, you need to rest.” Levi cups the side of Eren’s face and the lad leans into it.
With reddened eyes and a crooked smile, Eren reaches his arms around Levi’s neck. “But-"
“You brat-“
Pulling the older man’s face closer until their foreheads touched, Eren hesitantly closes his eyes and whispers into his lover’s ear.
“Please." The lad uttered with genuine need written across his face. "I need you more."