Work Text:
At high noon, in an old warehouse in the middle of April, a group of thuggish men and women were scattered around the room, attention turned to a singular point in the center. There, tied up in a chair, sat a young blond man with a nasty purple bruise on the right side of his jaw.
In front of the young man stood a tall lady with goggles and wild hair tied back into a ponytail. She fired off words like a machine gun, and no one could ever be sure if she was trying to interrogate him or drive him insane.
Both, maybe.
A raven-haired man, dressed in a clean, pressed suit, was up in the loft of the building, overseeing the scene below. The poor, poor young man was merely caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. He saw too much, and now he was going to be left with too little. Unless he decided to join the family, of course.
Ha, who was he kidding?
A clanging sound from the metal staircase distracted him from the sight. He drew his gun in anticipation, lazily holding it down at his side.
The Shiganshina Chief of Police, himself came up to greet him with a feral smile. The raven smirked and reholstered his gun.
“I finally found you, old man.” the chief said. “It took a while, but I did. It's quite bold of you to be doing this in broad daylight, no?”
“Hooh, so you managed to get past my men. Why did you want to find me, hm? Did you finally decide to give in to the dark side?”
“I came for the civilian you have tied up down there. Could you just hand him over to me? It would save me a ton of trouble. And while I’m at it, I guess I could take you, too, Levi.”
“You can't catch me, Eren, ” Levi taunted. “Never could, never will.”
“Watch me.”
“I don't know,” Levi drawled, stalking closer to the brunet cop. “Sitting back and watching isn't really my th-”
“Chief!”
Another series of clangs came ringing up the staircase. The smirk dropped off of Levi’s face.
“Freudenberg! What the fuck are you doing here!? Did you tail my goddamn car? Get out of here! It's not safe!” the chief yelled at the newest addition to their little party.
“Chief Jaeger, that's exactly why I’m here!” the boy yelled, glaring daggers at Levi. “I’ll be your backup.”
Eren looked livid. He gestured wildly to the stairs and yelled, “I told the squad I was doing this extraction alone! Get out of here, cadet, that's an order.”
The kid stupidly shook his head, not moving an inch. His gun was shaking in his hands, and his knees seemed as though they would buckle at any second. “There are too many of them for you to handle at once! Dreyse is waiting in the car— let's just get out of here!”
Levi dragged a hand down his own face, suppressing a groan. “Petra.” he called.
A petite, strawberry blonde girl came slinking out of the shadows behind Levi. She had a fierce expression on her face, directing it at the little cadet.
“Take… care of the kid for me.” the raven said.
The girl nodded as she drew her gun.
Levi and Eren grimaced at each other, a split-second exchange, before drawing and cocking their own guns.
‘Sorry,’ Eren mouthed. Levi only scowled more.
Then all hell broke loose.
Bullets rained upon the walls of the warehouse. None seemed to make their mark, but each cling that echoed as the bullets ricocheted off of the metal was an omen of death all the same.
One after another, bullets were fired off, the four of them weaving through and ducking behind crates and barrels and tables. A bullet whizzed past Levi’s arm and buried itself in the crate just behind him.
Levi aimed for the chief’s exposed leg and tilted his gun to the left, slightly. He fired off a shot, sure it would miss, when suddenly, the man moved towards it and—
A cry of pain rang out through the warehouse— a voice he was all too familiar with.
Ice cold fear crept up his spine. The sounds of gunfire ceased.
“Fuck. Oh, god dammit fuck. I’m never going to hear the fucking end of this.” he cursed, shoving a hand through his hair.
A pathetic whimper echoed from the other side of the room. Freudenberg had his hand on his radio and was hurriedly yelling for backup.
“10-33, s-send another unit-””
Petra dashed forward from her hiding spot and knocked out the cadet, smashing the barrel of her gun against his temple, and turned to Levi with a sympathetic smile.
“Good luck, boss.”
By the time Levi got home, it was well past the time Eren usually returned. Luckily (or not, all circumstances considered), Eren was likely at the hospital.
One of the agreements Levi and Eren made when they got married, was that they would visit each other at the hospital as scarcely as possible. At least, if they knew the reason behind the admission wasn't fatal. It wouldn't do well to have too many run-ins with Eren's coworkers.
Meaning: Levi still had time to figure out a way to absolutely grovel when Eren got home.
He sat stoically at the couch, elbows on his knees, and face in his hands. A mug of tea sat on the coffee table in front of him. Levi was never going to be able to make up for this. His husband was going to hate him forever. Something like this had never happened before. They had always been so careful. So, so careful.
And how was he supposed to repay Eren for this? This kind of thing turned into a lifelong debt because fuck, Eren was going to be livid. Eren was going to come home and castrate him and disembowel him or decapitate him, and Levi wouldn't do a thing, because he deserves that.
He could wait on Eren for the rest of his life. Maybe that would earn Levi a little forgiveness. He would wait on every beck and call if he had to.
If he knew this was going to happen, he never would have chose this life.
“I’m sorry. For today.” he practiced out loud. Levi grimaced. Even to his own ears, that felt stilted and ingenuine. “Kid,” he tried again, “I made a mistake, and you can drag me through shit for the rest of my sorry-ass li-”
Shick. A key slid into the lock at the front door. No— it was too early. He was supposed to have time.
Click. The latch released.
“Honey, I’m home. ” a saccharine voice sang out into the empty corridor. The ominous creaking of the front door further exasperated the tense atmosphere, and if Levi weren't always so controlled, he might have quaked in his proverbial boots.
Levi oils the hinges every month— how did Eren even manage to make it creak?
He heard the distant rumble of a car speeding off.
“Did someone drive you home?” Levi asked nonchalantly. He tried assembling his body into a mask of calmness. “How was work today?”
It was so obvious how uncomfortable he was. Levi held his mug by the handle, for once. His legs were slung up over the backrest of the couch, so much so, that he was nearly laying upside down.
The front door slammed shut.
“Oh, yeah, that was just Connie. Work was—you know. The usual. Boring case files to look through. New recruits to yell at- HOW DO YOU THINK MY DAY WAS!? YOU FUCKING SHOT ME! THAT'S HOW MY DAY WAS!” Eren cried, hobbling into the living room on crutches.
Levi winced. “You know, technically, I think you're still supposed to be in the hospital.” he said quietly.
“Oh, fuck the hospital! This? This is just a flesh wound. What I’m going to do to you is so much worse!” Eren stopped just in front of Levi. Right in front of the older man’s face, the edge of the bandage on Eren’s thigh was just visible past the edges of his shorts.
Levi only stared at the wound, guilt creeping up to him.
“I hope you’ve sorted your apologies out, mister.” Eren gritted out through clenched teeth. “Well? I'm waiting.”
Levi straightened up, setting his mug back on the table. He could do that. He practiced, earlier. He gazed earnestly into Eren’s eyes, and with a dry throat, said, “I regret picking up a gun this morning.”
Eren merely sighed, turned on his heel and started hobbling into their bedroom. “I’m going to bed,” he called out tiredly over his shoulder. “You're sleeping on the couch tonight.”
Levi gaped like a fish. He hasn't been banished to the couch since-
“And I’m not kissing you for a month.”
The shorter man shot up from his spot on the couch, making a mad dash towards Eren, who was already in the doorway.
“Hey, kid, no you can't-”
“Goodnight!” Eren chirped, and promptly slammed the door in his face.
“Hey, Leviii? Baaabe?” Eren called from the kitchen. “Can you help me with something, please?”
A couple of weeks had passed since Levi’s… mistake. For the past two weeks, Eren didn't talk to him. Didn't touch him. He even followed through with his no kissing rule— which was a complete shock to Levi, because usually it was the brunet who always needed to be touching Levi…
This morning, he was just glad Eren was acting normal again. Maybe he'd been forgiven for his sins.
“What do you need?” Levi asked, striding into the kitchen and making a move to slide his arms around Eren’s waist.
Eren sidestepped.
Levi was so not forgiven.
“I just need help reaching the bag of flour on the top shelf,” the younger man said innocently. “I don't know… since you shot me in the leg, I can't really reach for it, since it would put stress on the wound.” He batted his eyelashes at Levi.
Bullshit. Absolute, complete, utter bullshit. Eren could damn well reach the top shelf on his own without even having to go on his toes.
“Of course, darling.” Levi forced out.
He moved to the supply closet and reached for the collapsible step stool that was hanging on the wall. He forced himself to think of kisses and finally sleeping on his bed next to Eren every night, all the while embarrassingly setting the stool on the ground and stepping up on it to reach for the bag of flour-
A muffled giggle made him whip his head around to glare at his husband. Eren's hands were raised in surrender, but his mouth was twitching, and his face was pink.
“Don't. You. Dare.” Levi said lowly, slowly setting the bag down on the countertop. He hardened his glare, which would usually have people shitting themselves. Normal people would already be running for the hills, by now.
Eren’s eyes flicked down to the stool— which Levi was still standing on— and back up to Levi’s menacing expression.
He started laughing.
Full-out guffawing. Completely laughing his ass off. The sound filled the whole house, lightening the atmosphere of the past weeks. As much as Levi wanted to be ticked off by it, he couldn't. He hadn't heard Eren laugh like this in front of him since— well, since he shot him.
By the end of it, Eren looked like he had run a marathon. He was panting, and his body was red right from his ears to his fingertips.
Fingertips that reached out and finally tugged Levi into an embrace, Eren's warm face tucking securely against the raven’s neck. Levi’s arms immediately came up to pull the boy closer to him, relishing in the contact.
Finally.
“I’m sorry,” Eren wheezed, gasping through his final bouts of laughter. “You’re just so cute, I can’t—“
Levi pulled back and cradled Eren’s face in his hands. His eyes fluttered shut as he leaned in for a kiss— and met with cold air.
“Thanks, babe!” Eren chirped, slipping out from Levi’s grasp and snatching up the flour to finish cooking breakfast.
Levi groaned and slumped against the counter. When was this going to end?
Thunk.
Levi set the object on the table in front of Eren and kneeled down on the ground before it. Eren looked up from his phone and regarded the item with an alarmed expression. His gaze slowly turned from it, to Levi, and back down again.
“Levi,” the brunet said slowly. “Why is there a gun on the coffee table? I thought we had a no-weapons-in-the-commons rule?”
“Shoot me.” Levi said. “It's been a month already and we’re still like this-”
“Jesus, Levi I’m not going to kill you!”
“-and I’m done. Just shoot me in the leg as payback, I’m sorry- ”
Eren jumped up from the couch and threw himself into Levi’s arms, banging his shin on the coffee table on the way. He hissed as he pressed his mouth to Levi’s but didn't falter as he moved his lips against the older man’s.
This past month had been straining on the both of them. Eren longed to just forgive Levi and shower him with kisses, but he was too stubborn. Too dedicated. To what? Well…
Levi pulled back with a gasp, wrapping his arms tightly around Eren and shoving his face into his shoulder. He breathed his scent in deeply, his body aching at the familiarity. He felt too touch-starved. Here he was, mafia boss and certified non-tactile person, feeling touch-starved of all things.
“God, I missed you.”
Eren laughed and stroked Levi’s hair tenderly. “I missed you, too.”
“Then why did you-” Levi suddenly straightened, nearly clubbing Eren in the chin with his head. “You waited for me to apologize!? Eren you know I’m sorry for shooting you-”
“I wanted to hear you say it.” Eren mumbled. “It's stupid, I know. I know you didn't mean to, but I really wanted to hear you say it.”
Levi frowned and pressed a kiss to Eren’s temple. Immense guilt weighed down on him. He should have apologized sooner.
“I’m sorry. For making you wait.”
It came out stiffly, but Eren knew it was genuine.
“I know.” he said, smiling gently.
They spent a while on the floor, just wrapped up in each other's arms. Eren’s warmth was something Levi dearly missed, and he couldn't wait until he could lay like this again, every night.
“Does this mean I can sleep in the bed?” Levi asked hopefully.
Eren grinned and extracted himself from his husband’s arms. He got up and padded over to the bedroom door, pausing in the doorway to shoot a foxy smirk at Levi.
“I know other things we can do on that bed besides sleep…”
Levi never got up faster in his life.