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No amount of runway work could prepare him for this paralyzing grip of sheer terror.
Eren may as well have been facing a grotesque giant by the way he stood in the parking lot and gawked up at the looming, dilapidated building of his old high school. He would rather face a catwalk and crowd of hundreds while wearing nothing but a bowtie than return to those hellish halls.
But Mikasa had demanded it and Armin had begged – and yes, there were a lot of friends with whom he'd lost touch with and would like to reconnect. Eren didn't have Facebook, so once he'd dropped off the map and began to travel the world with Rose Maria Models, his old life had been a casualty left for dead.
He'd have liked to keep it that way.
Sucking in a breath, Eren fiddled with the silver, key-shaped cufflinks at his wrists as he strode towards the main glass doors. He could see that the larger foyer was illuminated with cheerful lights and muffled pop hits from their graduating year. A few groups of grads in glamorous clothes were grouped outside, drinks in hand as they chattered and laughed too loud.
Eren paused again, chewing the inside of his mouth. What if no one believed he was a model now? What if they all laughed at him? What if they took one look at him and realized he was, in fact, the huge homo that some cruel jocks had once accused him of being?
What if what if what if.
“Got a light?”
Eren nearly jumped out of his skin. He'd been standing away from the crowds, assuming he'd been alone. Looking over his shoulder, he caught only the silhouette of a short, shadowed man leaning against a brick wall, his arms folded across his chest.
Eren cleared his throat.
“Uh, I'm pretty sure you can't smoke on school grounds.”
There was a quick snort of amusement.
“Who the fuck're you, the hall monitor?”
Eren's smiled thinly.
“They never helped me any.”
They had always turned a blind eye to Eren's bullying. They'd rather have saved their own skins.
“So, have you got a light or what?”
Or what, dickhead, Eren wanted to say. Instead, he shook his head.
“I don't recognize you,” the guy said, slipping his hands into the pockets of his suit pants and shifting to move from the shadows.
Black carved away to reveal pale, haughty lines of high cheekbones and a sharp, angular chin - a fox face with heavy-lidded, bored eyes in a pale, indistinguishable shade. But Eren knew their color. Just as he recognized that blasé arrogance and soft but unyieldingly serious mouth.
Aside from Levi's voice, nothing had changed. It was enough to punch Eren straight through the gut and leave him weak at the knees.
“I'm – I've –“
There was no way Eren was going to tell him. Nor would he get sucked into any conversation with this guy. Four years of torture at the hands of the ever-popular, brilliant, ruthless Levi had been enough. There wouldn't be a minute more of that for the rest of Eren's life.
“Gotta go in,” Eren eked out in a shamefully small voice as he turned on his heel to dash away.
“Wait a sec.”
A cold, iron grip shackled Eren's wrist and spun him back around. Before the rioting nerves set it, a perverse sting of pleasure prickled Eren's skin as he realized he was now over a foot taller than his former bully. In high school he had been shorter than Levi, all four years through.
“Dude, what the hell?” Eren jerked to shake his hand away, but Levi only pulled him closer so that Eren had to hunch over to go face-to-face. “Don’t fuckin’ touch me.”
Levi's frown deepened, his gaze narrowed as he searched Eren's increasingly aggravated expression.
Then, as if burnt, Levi's eyes widened and his hand snapped away.
“Jaeger?”
Eren's heart dropped. He didn't know why he thought he'd get away with it. He might have been taller, tossed the glasses, gotten a haircut, and smoothed out the rough edges, but he was still the same as ever. Once a loser, always a loser.
“See ya around, Levi.”
“Wait – Jesus. Puberty treated you well.”
“What?” Eren spun back around to stare incredulously. He was too riled to fear some washed-up bully, now. “What would you have said to that kinda comment ten years ago, huh? Pretty fuckin' faggoty, right?”
“Your backbone's same as ever,” Levi said, appearing once more composed, now that he had Eren's attention again. “You always did have a mouth on you.”
“Do you want something, Levi?” Eren said between clenched teeth.
Levi pursed his lips, his eyes unnervingly seeming to consider Eren from head to toe.
“Up until five minutes ago, I didn't.”
Eren's heart leapt into his throat and threatened to choke.
“The fuck is that supposed to mean? Aren't you a little too fucking old to play at class bully? Or maybe I should just advise you to pick on someone your own size.”
After an arctic pause, Levi blew a long breath through his nose.
“What I mean is that I'm gay and I'm wondering if you turned out to be like I always assumed you would.”
Eren's jaw dropped. He wasn't sure, but he was fairly positive he heard it hit the pavement.
Levi heaved a sigh and crossed his arms, staring abysmally up at Eren.
“Lemme buy you a drink, Jaeger.”
It wasn't until they were walking through the doors of the school that Eren shook off the shock and said, “Dude, it's gonna take a lot more than one.”
Levi's laugh was throaty and low, something only for Eren to hear.
“Same here.”
They walked in, side by side, the music blasting over them from the gym upon entry to the school foyer area. Eren couldn’t help the scrunched expression of distaste as he surveyed his surroundings. Everything still looked the same. Smelled the same. Carried the same ghosts.
Eren refused to feel small here again.
“You look like you want to be here as much as I feel I want to be here,” Levi said blandly, not looking to Eren, but shoving his hands in his pockets and jerking his chin in the direction of the gym. “Suck it up.”
Eren slid a suspicious glance Levi’s way as they fell into step together.
“Why the hell would you be dreading this? They’ll probably give you a crown and kiss your ass for leading the Titans to state every fuckin’ year.”
“Don’t get all whiny on my ass, Jaeger, “ Levi said, pushing at the gym doors with a metallic screech. “We’ve all got shit we regret from this hellhole.”
Eren’s eyebrows shot up, his mouth parting to question what regret Levi could possibly have, but the sound of the dance and his past classmates was a barrage on his senses within seconds.
In that moment, despite the music and surrounding conversation continuing, there seemed to be a strange hush around the near vicinity. People stopped talking, others squeezed their friends’ arms and gestured they take a look at the new arrives.
For lack of anything better, Eren looked to Levi, his brow furrowed in anxiety.
Levi tossed a glance up to Eren in turn, his expression unreadable, sans the apparent utter misery beneath his heavy eyelids.
“That drink will probably have to wai-“
“LEVI!”
Practically leaping through the crowd, a tall woman in khaki slacks and a crisp white dress shirt rolled up at the sleeves bounded across the gym enveloped in Levi in a hug that took him back a few steps. Eren didn’t recognize her at all, but he had often paid as little mind to his surroundings in high school as he could.
“For fuck’s sake, Hanji, I saw you yesterday,” Levi said, his hand half-heartedly patting her on the back anyway, before physically detaching her hold from him. “Don’t touch the suit, you grabby bitch.”
Wait – Hanji? Zachary Hanji?
Eren looked on in minor shock as they spoke to each other in equal parts exuberance and exasperation. This person was not Zachary Hanji.
Everyone had called him Hanji, and he’d never left Levi’s side all through high school. He’d never bullied Eren – that had all been Levi’s personal, confusing vendetta – but he’d never done anything to dissuade it, either. He’d been a part of the football jocks that Eren couldn’t have been any further removed.
Looking closer, Eren studied the woman’s profile. Then nose, the grin were the same. Damn. Okay, well, nice job on that. Hanji had done good for herself.
Realizing he’d just been lingering beside them like the fucking loser he was, Eren, started to walk away without a word.
“Oiy.”
Eren looked over his shoulder, frowning. Levi was taking long strides toward him, his expression fiercely intent.
“Uh.” Eren looked around, like Levi could be coming for somebody else. “Me?”
“Obviously,” Levi said, stopping short of bumping into Eren. He met Eren’s wary expression, eyes like silver bullets as they ever had been. “Find me for that drink. I’ve got things I wanna say.”
Eren’s eyebrows drew together, his gaze narrowed.
“I don’t think so, Levi. You need me for something? You come find me.”
With that, he turned on his heel, shoulders back like any other catwalk and strutted the fuck away. All the while, his heart felt like it was threatening to crawl up his throat and kamikaze itself underneath everyone’s dancing shoes. Wading through the crowd, growing further unsurprised that no one recognized him or tried to greet him, Eren finally spotted a familiar pair lingering by the long length of snack tables.
Eren approached, and as form of greeting, snatched the cup Armin was holding. He sniffed it.
“What’s in this? Fuck it.”
He drank it all in one go and crushed the cup in his hand.
Armin sighed, his expression mournful as he took the cup.
“I guess I’ll get us some more drinks,” he said, wandering away.
“How many has he already had?” Eren asked, his lips quirking despite his foul mood.
“So much,” Mikasa said. “He’s already traded sweet Armin for sassy Armin, so – you know.”
“I love him,” Eren said, watching Armin wander away, a long pale braid down the back of his suit.
“Clearly,” Mikasa said, eyeing Eren with a critical air as she swirled her plastic glass of wine. “So, what’s gotten into you?”
“Your fuckin’ cousin, is what,” Eren said, folding his arms across his chest, one of his toes tapping with latent irritation.
Mikasa’s expertly-shaped eyebrows shot up.
“Levi? What does he want with you?”
“Dude,” Eren said emphatically, waving his hands as he spoke, his eyes going wide with an expressiveness he’d become famous for. “I don’t – I don’t know. He caught me in the parking lot, asking for a lighter, and then he was like – weirdly hitting on me? Or… Something? I mean, he straight up told me he was gay while looking at me like I was a piece of meat at the butcher shop!”
“That’s – wow,” Armin said, walking up with three drinks in hand. He held out the hand that was holding two. “These Jack ‘n Cokes are both for you, because of who I know you are as a person. Also, Levi is gay? Mikasa, you’ve been slacking on gossip, and I’m honestly pretty disappointed in you.”
Mikasa looked between them both, her deep crimson lips turned in a frown. Finally she shrugged.
“What? I thought everyone knew.”
Eren gawked.
“Well, I sure as fuck didn’t! You know he made my life hell for four years because he crowned me Humanity’s Gayest Fairy.”
“I’ve met gayer,” Armin said, taking a sip from his cup.
“That’s because you teach at Berkley.”
Armin shrugged his wide shoulders. He’d filled out and grown up – way up – in the past ten years. He was definitely taller than Eren, anyway.
“He was hitting on you?” Mikasa said, her eyes narrowed as she subtly glanced over her shoulder and searched through the crowd.
“Hey – hey,” Eren said, trying for Mikasa’s attention. Once she got that huntress look on her face, there was no stopping her. She probably got her Olympic silver in Jiu Jitsu from her murder stare alone. She and Levi had both inherited that. “If anyone’s gonna punch the guy, it’s me, okay? He’s got one a long time coming.”
“I wasn’t going to punch,” Mikasa said, shifting back to their circle. “Only threaten.”
“That’s what you always say,” Eren said grimly.
“Now that you mention it, though,” Mikasa said, pausing to take a long, considering sip of her wine. The three of them all drank, waiting with baited breath. Mikasa never spoke unless there was a reason. “Now that you mention it, that makes other things fall into place.”
“What?” Eren said, his brow furrowed in confusion.
“About Levi. In high school, when him and my aunt and uncle would visit for dinner. Levi would bring you up.”
“What?” Eren said, knowing he sounded like a parrot.
“At the time I’d brushed it off because I thought he was trying to goad me into a fight, or get info on you that he could use to make fun of you.”
Eren frowned.
“And?”
“And sometimes he’d straight up ask how you are. I’d assumed he was being sarcastic. Now – well, I wonder.”
Eren gaped.
“There’s no way you’re implying that Levi had a –“
“Someone’s coming your way,” Armin sing-songed, smiling into his drink as he looked down into it.
“Jesus,” Eren said, bringing his cup to his lips and chugging. Over half of his cup empty, he turned.
“Eren!”
“Oh –“ Eren’s eyes widened. “Oh no. I need – I gotta go.” Eren turned around, his face running right into Armin’s chest. He looked up. Armin smiled.
“Oh no. This was always my favorite part of high school.”
“Bro!” Jean said as he approached and physically yanked Eren into a tight bear hug, full of bruising back-slapping. Someone had two-handed their drinks, same as Eren. “I barely recognized you. You got hot as fuck. Like damn.” Jean held Eren out at arm’s length and eyed him up. Why was this becoming a habit for the men of this school? “You are – wow. You leveled up.”
“Flattered,” Eren said dryly, giving Jean a grave stare.
Just as quickly, Eren burst into a grin, slung an arm over Jean’s shoulder and feigned a chokehold. Jean struggled out of Eren’s grasp, his grin cocky as ever, his hair disheveled.
“You were gonna hide from me, weren’t you, asshole,” Jean said, pulling on the sleeves of sharp blazer.
“Well, things ended kind of –“
“I will admit that I was not at my coolest when you broke up with me at graduation and I stole your pants and underwear from under your gown.”
“Dude,” Eren said, already laughing now that it was all in retrospect. “You tackled me! Behind the bleachers! You literally pantsed me and I had to go through a windy outdoor graduation, completely commando.”
“Okay, but you seriously had to fuck me over on graduation day?”
“That was also not my best moment,” Eren said, grinning wide.
Jean seemed happy – and he looked like he hadn’t aged a day. Maybe a little sharper around the edges, but he really hadn’t changed.
“So, I’m totally married now, by the way,” Jean said, his eyes lighting up with something Eren had never seen before. He rummaged out his phone and began flipping through his photos. “Feel free to be jealous. This is Marco.”
He held up the phone and both Eren, Mikasa, and Armin leaned in to inspect.
“Nice,” Mikasa said, nodded faintly, her mouth a considering pout.
“I know,” Jean said, beaming enough to light up their corner of the food table. He slipped his phone away, his gaze going a little sharp on Eren. “What about you, Eren?”
“Uh –“
“Lemme guess.”
“This will be great,” Armin said, finishing his drink.
“Youuuu – hm.” Jean tapped a finger on his lips and surveyed Eren, who met his stare with an obstinate look. “I’m gonna go for this one. Even though you’re obviously ridiculously hot now – and not to say that you weren’t before, otherwise I wouldn’t have dated you for two years – anyway. I’m gonna take a stab in the dark and say you haven’t dated anyone since this handsome man right here,” he said, gesturing to himself.
Armin snorted and turned on his heel immediately, his hand over his mouth.
“We're gonna need more drinks,” he said behind his palm, his shoulders shaking with laughter.
Eren gawked.
“That’s – that’s not. I’ve screwed plenty of guys since then! Fuck you, man.”
Jean raised an eyebrow, his mouth curled in a lopsided grin.
“You date them?”
“Jean,” Mikasa said, a grim warning in her voice.
“Just wondering,” Jean said, raising his hands in surrender, still smiling it Eren.
He’d always been like this. He loved to goad people into reactions. But especially Eren, since his reactions tended to be so – passionate.
Eren gritted his teeth, biting back the wrath of a vast, raging tirade ready to spew forth.
“Hold my drink,” Eren said, shoving his half-empty cup into Armin’s hands.
Eren leaned in, holding his second drink up to the side with one hand, and gripping Jean by the collar and tugging him in with the other. That unrelenting smile finally twitched just a little with nerves.
“I’m the best fuck you’ll ever have,” Eren said, and this time it was him who was grinning.
“Ahem.”
Eren and Jean turned their heads in twin tandem, Eren’s hand still fisted in Jean’s shirt.
“Hi,” Levi said, one thin eyebrow arched. “You look busy.”
Eren blinked and promptly shoved his arm forward, sending Jean toppling into the crowd.
“Not busy,” Eren said. “Hold on.”
Turning to Armin, whose mouth was agape, he promptly took the half-full cup from him, swallowed it down, and handed it back.
“Now I only have this one,” Eren said, turning back to Levi, holding his drink up in a mock cheers.
Levi stared, his expression unreadable.
“You’re a fuckin’ savage, aren’t you, Jaeger?”
Eren grinned.
“Always have been. You just never noticed.”
With that, he took a sip of his Jack and Coke, his eyebrows rising slowly when he noted Levi stared off to the side. Turning, Eren found himself faced with Mikasa, Armin, and Jean, silently clutching alcohol to their chest and watching, clearly waiting for drama to go down.
“Fuck off,” Eren said, laughter shaking his voice as he flicked them. He turned back, a grin still tugging at his mouth as he motioned with his drink to Levi. “Come on, let’s go someplace we both know well.”
Levi looked up at him, his expression a little dazed before he frowned a little and nodded.
“Sure. Lead the way.”
With a heady buzz warming his limbs and tongue, Eren filtered through the crowd, more confident in his stride after reuniting with his friends – and Jack Daniels. How strong had Armin made those drinks? There was an easy answer to that one.
Eren looked over his shoulder, making sure Levi was behind him, before he busted through the side gym doors and out into the blessedly cool night. Eren couldn’t have been inside that hellhole for more than twenty minutes, and that was twenty minutes too long.
Shoving his hands in the pockets of his slim slacks, Eren slowed his gait to a stroll, grinning at Levi as they fell into step with each other. Levi aimed a look at him like he’d never seen him before. Their shoes crackled over asphalt pebbles as they slowly approached the vast football field and its metallic cage of bleachers.
“You’re bein’ awfully fuckin’ nice,” Levi said lowly, unbuttoning his suit and revealing a crushed pack of cigarettes from his inner pocket. “What’s your angle?”
Eren snorted derisively, watching Levi as he snapped a lighter to life and brought the flame to the cigarette at his lips. The cool, pale tones of his face flooded with a warm glow, shadowed hollows of his sharp, cheekbones stark and striking.
“Where’d you find a light?” Eren asked, ignoring the question.
“Pick-pocketed it,” Levi said, taking an aggressive drag and blow plumes into the night like a dragon.
“Are you joking?”
Levi’s mouth quirked.
“Who knows?”
Eren went to yank open the chain link fence gate, but found it jangling with a heavy padlock.
“They’ve gotten wiser over the years,” Eren said, taking a step back for Levi to peer in.
“Looks like.”
Eren glanced at Levi.
Levi met his gaze, plucked the cigarette from his mouth and tossed it to the pavement.
“I’m up for it if you are,” Levi said.
“You’re on,” Eren said, unsure of why he was so delighted to be in Levi’s company. The guy seriously had made his life hell. And it wasn’t as if this little sidequest was getting him off the hook, or that Eren was any less spiteful towards him.
But it was fun. Eren missed fun.
Also, Eren wasn’t stupid enough not to realize that Levi didn’t have something to say to him that might have been some kind of apology. Although he couldn’t exactly imagine those kinds of words coming from someone like Levi Ackerman, football star, valedictorian, and all around cocky bastard.
Eren shucked off his jacket and began to remove and pocket his cufflinks, delighted when he noted from his periphery that Levi was following suit and rolling up his sleeves in quick, clean movements.
They both left their jacket behind in the dust as they climbed and lofted over the fence.
Eren dropped to his feet, glorying in the sting that shocked up his soles.
He felt like a teenager again for a second – but better. Upgraded.
“This must bring back memories,” Eren said, hands in his pockets again as they ambled toward the unlit field.
“Guess so,” Levi said with a slight shrug, already putting a new cigarette to his lips and setting it alight. The glowing cherry seemed to be the only warm thing about him. That hadn't changed. Levi had always been forged from steel.
“Feels like yesterday,” Levi continued, and instead of walking onto the field, took a high step up onto the first bleacher, the seating clanging and squeaking underfoot. “Feels like forever ago.”
“Yeah,” Eren said, following suit. “I'll take forever ago over yesterday any day, though.”
“I'm with you there,” Levi said, making the climb higher and higher up the seating.
Eren stared incredulously at Levi's strong, well muscled back. Through the thin dress shirt, it was obviously that Levi had not only maintained his physique from the past, but improved it.
Well, he and Eren had that in common too.
“You're fucking with me,” Eren said with a disbelieving laugh as he followed Levi to the top bleacher. “What the hell could you have wanted to leave behind? You were perfect.”
Levi turned, his expression unreadable as he met Eren’s gaze and took a seat. He caught his cigarette in the vee of his slim fingers and held it out
Eren considered the nature of the offer and took it without much thought. It had been a while. He sat beside Levi, hunched over with his elbows resting upon his knees. He inhaled, savoring the old burn in his throat. It had been a long while.
“I was completely in love with you, y’know,” Levi said casually from beside him, loosening his thin black tie like it was choking him.
Eren choked loudly, smoke clogging his nose and throat as he dropped the cigarette to its death between the bleacher gaps and doubled over in a coughing fit.
He felt a small hand patting him firmly on the back. Eren looked up, wheezing a little, tears rolling down his cheeks.
Levi was actually grinning at him. Not the malicious, sharp blade of smile he would get when he slammed Eren against a locker and spat on him. He looked genuinely delighted, the motherfucker.
“Asshole,” Eren said, his voice raspy with exertion as he elbows Levi's hand off of him. “You're fuckin’ with me like always. I don't know why I bothered.”
Getting to his feet -
“Hey!” Strong fingers clamped around Eren’s wrist and pulled him back into his seat. “I wasn't fucking with you, dumbass.”
Eren yanked his wrist away, glaring daggers at Levi's grim expression.
“Fuck off,” Eren said. “You made me miserable. There's no way -”
“Believe me or not, I don't care,” Levi said, looking up to the stars. By the light of the moon, his eyes looked weary, his mouth sober. “You scared the shit outta me, Jaeger.”
“Don't make me laugh.”
“I think that I thought if I made you hate me, it would be easier for me to ignore what was… Going on in me. Or something.”
Eren dared a glance over, gaze narrowed on Levi's profile, and the line that marred his scrunched brow. Levi breathed a soft sigh through his nose, and met Eren’s stare, his expression candid enough to send the hair on Eren’s arms standing on end.
“You were always right behind me in the rankings at school. You were always surrounded by friends, smiling and fucking around like my existence never gave you a single thought unless I was directly in front of your face.”
“You came into my mind plenty,” Eren said gravelly. “Mainly, how to avoid you. I wasn't gonna let your bullshit bring me down.”
“I know,” Levi said, his jaw flexing with what Eren imaged was him gritting his teeth. “You bounced back from everything. I – you were always smiling.”
“I'm not smiling now,” Eren said, raising an eyebrow. Their eyes held.
“You pissed me off,” Levi said, maintaining their stare. “Something about you.”
“You're were a shitty person,” Eren said, a weight lifting from his chest as if the words had been chained around his heart for ten years, holding him down. “And you were smarter and better than all the crap you did to me. You could have just been my friend. I would have been friends with you. I know I didn't run in that crowd but -”
“Minus a couple of people, my crowd sucked. You might have been the awkward, stuttering nerd with anger management issues, but you were surrounded by good friends, and it was obvious. I had Hanji, Erwin, and a fuckin’ legion of fakes.”
“Yes,” Eren said bitterly, “Your life was clearly fucking wrought with troubles. I’m so sorry you ended up super hot and successful in life.”
Levi’s throaty laugh startled Eren into stillness.
“I could say the same for you, Jaeger. You turned out alright. Model and all that.”
Eren narrowed his eyes at Levi and leaned back against the uncomfortable metal bars of the bleachers.
“I never told you I was a model.”
Levi flicked a thin brow, his gaze raking over Eren’s figure in much the same way he had when they’d met in front of the school.
“I asked around.”
“Why?” Eren said incredulously, disbelief painted clear across his face.
“I told you why,” Levi said, his expression grim.
Eren snorted a harsh laugh and placed his hand on Levi’s knee for leverage to stand.
“Right. Because you were in love with me. You’re fucking hilarious. At least you found a sense of humor in the past –“
Levi’s fingers flexed tightly around Eren’s wrist and didn’t release.
“Hey,” Eren snapped as he turned on Levi, temperature rising with the heat of Levi’s hand. “Whaddayou think you’re –“
“You don’t believe me, you shitty brat?” Levi said, his eyes shadowed and his voice dark as he stroked the calloused pad of his thumb along Eren’s delicate pulse point. Eren shivered, stuck to silence by the unexpected sweetness of the gesture. He swallowed hard, eyes trained on Levi, wide and weary.
“What good does this do me, eh?” Levi said, his voice slicing through the silence like a sword. He stood, keeping Eren in his hold, going nearly toe to toe with him. “You think I’m embarrassing myself for shits and giggles? Or that I’m fucking petty enough to make a fool of you after I spent four years making a fool of myself in front of you?”
“I –“ Eren clenched his hand into a fist, his hand squeezing like his heart. “I don’t know. I don’t know why this is happening. What – what do you want from me?”
“Come here,” Levi said, his roughened voice hushed beneath the sparkle of stars.
“I’m here,” Eren said on a shaky breath.
“Here,” Levi said, harder.
With his free hand, Levi’s fingers caressed Eren’s throat, curling around to cup the nape of his neck.
Eren’s heart quivered. Confusion and curiosity swarmed Eren’s senses, his gaze lingering on the shape of Levi’s mouth, the searching, vulnerable expression on his frowning face as he guided Eren down towards him.
“Eren,” was the last thing Eren heard before his world was promptly turned upside down.
Levi’s lips were surprisingly soft. The slide and caress of his tongue against Eren’s, the delicate scrape of teeth, the thorough, eager way he tasted, savored, swallowed him whole. When Levi murmured his name again, a groan spilling onto Eren’s lips as Levi linked his arms loosely around Eren’s neck, Eren’s chest expanded to bursting point.
Levi was pulling away too soon, though, and Eren followed his departure with his still eager mouth. He felt those lips twitch in a brief smile before Levi broke their kiss, but only by a short distance. Levi’s fingers intertwined at the back of Eren’s neck, his palms a warm, comforting pressure.
Eren didn’t know how long they remained like that, him hunched over to accommodate Levi’s hold, their entwined gaze looking beyond the past carnage, and seeing the real person standing behind the rubble. This was the first time Eren realized that Levi’s pale eyes could switch from icy, cutting steel to the warm, soothing grey.
“Date me,” Levi said, his voice roughened with whatever emotion was running through him.
Eren blinked and grinned.
“I’m sorry, I think I missed that. Did the most popular asshole in my graduating class just ask Humanity’s Gayest Fairy out on a date? Mind repeating that?”
Levi was quick and merciless as ever. He pinched Eren’s cheek, stretching the skin as Eren made warbling, awkward noise of surprise. Levi guided him in, then released when their foreheads bumped.
“Go on date with me,” Levi said from between his clenched teeth. “Please. Eren.”
“Hmmm,” Eren made the sound of consideration, even as he tilted his head and brushed his lips once, twice, three times over Levi’s small, succulent mouth.
“Last chance,” Levi gritted out as he wrapped Eren’s tie around his knuckles. “I won’t ask again.”
“Last chance, huh?” Eren said with a breathless laugh, taking in the pink of Levi’s high cheekbones and the way his free hand flexed with nerves on Eren’s hip. “Nah. I think this is your second.”
Neither of them showed up for the remainder of reunion. But Mikasa brought home both of their awards.
Most Successful and Most Changed. Mikasa wouldn’t tell them which belonged to whom, but it didn’t matter. They were interchangeable.