Work Text:
“You spent how much?
“I don’t know… Like… Two hundred pounds…”
“Are you- two hundred? How the actual fu- EREN!"
“…”
The silence hung heavily as grey eyes stared into green eyes. Levi’s mouth hung open in disbelief, opening and closing like fish, unable to form the words to speak. His boyfriend was an idiot. A complete and utter fucking idiot.
He had been sat at the dining room table, marking his pupils’ classwork work when Eren had slowly entered the room, biting his lip and with a guilty expression. The kind of guilty look that said he had done something stupid. Levi had prepared himself for the worst as Eren had awkwardly stumbled over his words, trying to explain why he shouldn't be irritated at him. It had taken Levi several minutes of coaxing a reasonable explanation out of the younger man, who was left hanging his head in embarrassment, his long hair falling in the way. It turned out that Eren had bought a pair of bracelets that would somehow let them feel a touch when the other one touched it.
Levi placed his pen down and ran his fingers through his undercut. “Okay whatever, I don’t care. What I care about is how you were able to afford them?”
“I um… Mayhaveusedyourcard”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I quite caught that. Do you care to repeat that again?” Levi was slowly starting to lose his patience with his boyfriend.
“Um… So I might have your card…” mumbled Eren who was looking everywhere but at Levi. He was too ashamed to look at him now.
He was at a loss of words. Eren had bought some dumb shit in the past. One year he bought a massive bouncy house. Once he even rented a donkey. A fucking donkey. But this really took the throne. “Right so you take my card without my permission, you spend my money then you spend it on overpriced bracelets that might not even work!”
“I’m sorry… I wasn’t thinking. I just saw them and thought it would be a nice surprise.”
“Return them” said Levi as he turned back to his work. He didn’t have time for this shit, he has papers to mark.
Eren’s eyes widened at this. “What? Seriously? You’ve not even looked at them!”
“I don’t care, Eren. You need to return them. You don’t need them.”
“Please? It’ll be fun! I promise!”
“You said the donkey would be fun and look at how that turned out!” he all but hissed at his boyfriend. “That bastard peed in the fucking kitchen. Do you remember how long it took to get rid of the stench of piss?”
“THAT WAS THREE YEARS AGO LEVI!” Whined Eren, his face going red from remembering the pee incident. Levi didn’t talk to him for a whole week. “Plus, the great thing about the bracelets is that they won’t pee anywhere! So please just have a look at them, they look pret-"
“I don’t need to see them to know that they’re a load of shit!”
An uncomfortable silence fell between them. All he could do was sit there, his work completely forgotten about. His boyfriend was now looking at him with uncertainty, he assumed that his reaction wasn't what Eren was hoping for. He felt a pang of regret when Eren let out a disappointed sigh before slowly backing out the door. Well shit. "W-wait! Eren, I didn't mean to be... y'know... rude about it..."
Eren turned back round to stare at him. "So... You don't hate me?"
“I could never hate you Eren. I love you. Even when you do dumb stuff like this." Levi kept his gaze trained on Eren’s feet as he spoke. Despite being with Eren for over 8 years, he still felt weird talking like this. His eyes snapped up to Eren's face when he heard him let out a soft chuckle. Eren's laugh was something that Levi would never grow tired of hearing. The way Eren's face would light up with happiness when he laughed would always make his heart do weird somersaults in his chest. He stood up from his desk and made his way over to where the taller male stood. He reached up, tucking Eren’s hair behind his ears. The raven loved the brunet’s long hair, it was so soft, and Levi loved to run his fingers through it when he was bored. At first when he started to grow it out, it made him look like a hobbo but after a few months of trail and error of different styles they figured out what made Eren look good. held his hand out. "Can... Can I see the bracelets?"
"Yeah" Eren smiled before handing one of the bracelets over. "Here, let me put it on for you."
"So, what does it do then?" Levi asked. He brought his wrist up for Eren to put the bracelet on. Eren’s warm hands took a hold of his wrist, his warmth spreading through him like a wild fire. This was another thing about Eren that Levi loved.
His warmth.
When they first started dating the raven was surprised how warm he was. The first time they had slept together in the same bed had been complete bliss, being wrapped up in Eren's heat. It felt safe. Levi was never one for cuddles but with the promise of warmth, he was always seeking out Eren's heat. He loved spending his evenings lying on the couch with Eren holding him close to his chest. It was extremely soothing when he could hear the brunet’s heartbeat. Call him a sap but Levi secretly loved how the pair contrasted with each other. He was cold, Eren was warm. He was grumpy, Eren was joyful. He was sma- Slightly below average, Eren was tall. Grey eyes, green eyes. All this made him feel bursts of fireworks inside his chest, but it’s not something that he would ever admit out loud.
“Well… They’re called ‘Bond touch’ bracelets. How it works is that when I would touch this black thing here and then you would feel it. I think it was originally designed for couples over long distances. On the website it has stories from couples that have used it and they were so cute to read Levi!” Eren let out a small giggle just thinking about them, a small blush tinted his cheeks. “I thought it would be nice to get them since I’ll be going back home to Germany for two months for volunteering. I’ll miss you terribly, but I know I’ll be busy, so I thought this would be a cute way to let you know that I’m still thinking about you.”
Oh…
Levi was fucked. How can he expect Eren to return them after saying something like that? His boyfriend was probably the most loving and sincere man Levi has ever met. He thought Eren only got them for a laugh, but he actually put a lot of consideration and thought into the purchase and Levi basically flung it back into his face like the shitty boyfriend he is. Levi was absolutely fucked.
“Well… Um that’s very nice of you to do that. H-how do they work?” Levi kept his eyes trained on Eren’s hand that was still holding him and was now rubbing small soothing circles into his wrist.
“First, we’ll need to connect the bracelets to an app, this is how the touch will be sent. So, like, if I were to touch mine, it would be sent through my phone and then sent to yours. Cause I think it’s linked through Bluetooth or something, so we’d have to make sure we’re both connected at the same time. That’s what the website says anyway” he said as he fiddled with Levi’s bracelet before looking up and giving him a shy smile.
“So, let’s say I’m at work, I can just tap it, and you’ll feel it?” Levi asked, as he brought the bracelet up to his face for a closer inspection. He really wanted to hate it, but the bracelet wasn’t that bad looking if he was being honest. It was a very simple design and sleek looking. He couldn’t hate it.
“Yep! When I’m here I’ll be able to feel it. And when I’m back home in Germany and I will still feel it!”
“Seriously? So basically, you’ll be able to feel it anywhere?”
“You can feel my touch anywhere in the world! No matter how far away I am from you, you can still feel it” Eren confirmed proudly.
“Wow… That’s actually really impressive,” Levi said with a small blush.
“Mhmm”
“So… what happens now? Can we try it out or something?” asked Levi, suddenly feeling awkward just standing there in the doorway.
Eren let out an over dramatic gasp, “YES! We have try it out now!” whilst grabbing Levi by the shoulders, his fingers digging into him. His bursts of enthusiasm always startled Levi and he swore one day it would cause him to have an actual heart attack. Levi let out a surprised yelp as Eren started to vigorously shake him. “Oh my God I’m really excited! Wait wait! I could go upstairs, and we could try it! You stay here, take the instructions, download the app thing and text me when you’re ready!”
“Ye-yeah right okay,” blinked Levi as he tried to find his balance once Eren had stopped shaking him. Before he could say anything else, Eren was shoving the instruction sheet into his face and was then rushing out the room, stumbling over his feet as he made his way to the stairs. His loud hurried footsteps could be heard from down in the office where Levi still stood.
He’s like an overly excited baby elephant, he thought to himself as he made his way back to his desk, already in the middle of setting up the app.
Both men then sat for the next ten minutes furiously texting each other back and forth, trying to figure out how the damn thing worked. It was a lot more confusing than it appeared to be. After a few strongly worded texts on Levi’s behalf, they were ready to try it.
After a couple of seconds of anticipation, he felt a little buzz on his wrist. He laughed. Hard. Levi couldn’t believe it worked. Maybe it’s worth keeping. After all, Eren had been really excited about it and he didn’t want to disappoint him. He stared at it for a moment before bringing a hand up and tapped on the bracelet softly. From upstairs he could hear Eren let out an excited scream. His phone then buzzed.
Eren: OMG!! IT WORKS!!!
Levi: It feels odd, but I’ll admit that they’re pretty cool.
Eren: IKR!? So can we PLZZ keep them?
Levi: I don’t know… I guess we could keep them.
Eren: FOR REAL? BBY YOU’RE THE BEST!!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! So would you like to bond with me bby? ;)
Levi: Ew, you’re gross. Stop with puns.
Eren: Aw c’mon! I’ve dying to say it this entire time!!! You still love me!
Levi: You’re still an idiot though.
Eren: I know, but I’m your idiot. <3