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“Let’s get married.”
Erwin sat up, startled and dropped the report he had been reading. He looked at Levi stretched out on the bed beside him, staring straight up at the ceiling his face as impassive and unreadable as always.
“What do you mean?” He marked his place and set the papers aside.
Levi glanced up at him and furrowed his brows. It was a look that made Erwin feel self conscious, as if he’d misstepped or said something utterly stupid, even after all these years.
“I mean let’s get married.” He said and returned his full attention to the ceiling.
Erwin looked up, as if the answer were clearly written in the cracked plaster and whitewash and timber above them.
Nothing.
He turned to his captain.
“I don’t understand, is this a serious proposal Levi?”
He reluctantly ended his staring contest with the rafters and shifted onto his elbow.
“I’m sorry, should I have gotten on one knee?” He huffed and propped his chin in his hand.
“I’m just surprised. For one, I didn’t think you were the marrying type.” Erwin suppressed a laugh but smiled despite himself.
“And why’s that?” Levi sat up, their thin sheet pooled in his lap. Erwin couldn’t help but admire the ridges of his abdominals, the broadness of his chest and the spread of his shoulders. The way he hunched irritably. The rough bands of skin where the gear dug into him and left its mark. The myriad other wounds and scars that made up the map of his life, written in his flesh.
“Oh! Just, everything you’ve ever lead me to believe about yourself Levi.” He couldn’t help the breathy chuff of air that escaped him then.
Levi’s eyes narrowed and he sprung from the bed in a flurry of sheets and hard limbs.
“Wait! Levi, come back!”
Erwin lunged across the bed to catch his arm and held him from escaping.
“I shouldn’t have teased you, I’m sorry.” He kept his voice low and pulled him back slowly, ever worried the man might spook like a deer and take off. “This is why you surprise me,” He whispered into the flat of his back, tentatively wrapping his arms around the firm waist and pulling him in.
“I’m never sure what to expect from you, Levi.” He kissed a shoulder blade and the captain relaxed. “You keep me on my toes.”
Levi turned in his embrace, let Erwin look up at him with that sickeningly sincere look in his eyes.
“It’s exhausting as much as it is exhilarating.” He dropped his head onto Levi’s chest, smiled into his ribs.
Levi clicked his tongue and ran his fingers through the Commander’s ruffled hair.
“Tch! You’re too sentimental old man.”
“So you wouldn’t want a church wedding, then?” His smile broadened into a cheeky grin and Levi rolled his eyes, broke free from Erwin’s hold and shoved him back onto the bed.
“Fuck, no!” He pinned Erwin to the mattress and nipped at his nose. “Here.” He stated firmly, eyes locked.
“Here? On the base?” Erwin cocked an eyebrow.
“No, right here.” Levi emphasised his words as he ground down against Erwin’s hips.
Erwin breathed out a sigh as his eyes slipped closed, “All right, here.” He agreed.
Levi mouthed his jaw, his neck, worked back up to his ear with soft, wet kisses.
“I’ll follow you to the end, Smith.”
“And I’ll be waiting for you there.”
***
A month later as they descend the steps leading to a cellblock below the MP base, Levi leans close to his commander’s shoulder and hisses,
“This isn’t the honeymoon I was promised.”
Erwin snorts through his nose and quickly schools his expression.
“I’ll make it up to you, Captain.”