Work Text:
Erwin's office was half-dark as Levi stood in front of the oak desk, reciting his reports in the most monotone way he could manage, staring at the wall behind his commander's chair. His logic was that the worse he did this job, the less likely Erwin was to make Levi report to him again. This situation was out of the ordinary protocols; normally, they only had to report once a mission was completed or if something was amiss, but Levi could see no reason as to why he had been called into Erwin's office this evening. Perhaps the other scouts were finally sick and tired of his constant pessimism -realism, in his opinion, but anyway- and had decided to snitch to the commander about it.
At this point, Levi was barely even bothering to think about his words as he said them, but Erwin still listened intently, his elbows resting on his desk and eyes remaining fixed on the man standing in front of him. Despite his confusion at the intensity of the stare, Levi refused to let anything show on his face.
He finished up his half-assed report, finally letting his eyes rest on Erwin. Levi tried not to twitch as he continued to maintain eye contact. There was a moment of silence as the two of them stared at each other, Levi's confusion only getting worse. A strange warm tension started to build in his body, and he didn't know what to make of it.
"Is that all for the report?" Erwin asked, leaning back slightly. Levi almost sighed in relief as the silence was broken. He usually thrived in quiet, but he found that he didn't enjoy that one at all.
"Yes." Levi responded, still confused, but now an equal amount of whatever that strange sensation was. He was also discovering that he did not enjoy being this bewildered. At all. "Why, was there a word count that you didn't tell me about?"
"No." Erwin huffed a small laugh, and Levi felt a small swell in his chest at the sound before he swiftly shoved it back. "You are dismissed."
Levi dropped his head slightly in respect before turning away from the commander's desk, but he found himself having to swallow a lump in his throat as he took a step towards the door. He exhaled quietly, and his breath shook.
"Unless there's something else you need to talk about?" Erwin called out to him, and Levi didn't know whether he should be annoyed or grateful. He slowly turned back to face the commander, and Erwin stood from his chair, making his way around the desk. He stopped as he reached the front, resting his palms behind him on the wood and leaning back against it.
Everyone knew that the scouts were underfunded, but Levi had never actually realised just how small his commander's office was before this moment. There must have only been a foot between them, the proximity made worse since Levi hadn't even managed to make it more than a step or so away before he had been stopped.
Levi continued to frown, his eyebrows pinched together at the centre. There was a sort of personal air to this conversation that there had rarely been before, a sense of vulnerability on his commander's face that took him aback.
"Is there anything that you need to say?" Levi replied, feeling an urge to step closer that he firmly ignored. Something about his commander made him feel safe, comfortable, and that was not a feeling he was familiar with.
That silence was back again. This time, Erwin was the one who looked away, and Levi felt something in his gut. Was it nerves? Anticipation? He didn't know, and he didn't like it. Erwin swallowed, took a small breath, and looked down at him again. Levi raised his eyebrows, gesturing for him to speak.
"I'm assuming you've heard the rumours amongst the other scouts?" Erwin said, his voice strangely stiff.
"You're assuming that I listen to any of them." Levi scoffed, and Erwin raised an eyebrow. "No, I haven't. Why, did someone sleep with someone's little boyfriend?"
There was no more humour or lightness in Erwin's face, and Levi didn't know what to do with that. It was all too sincere, too close, and his attempts to lighten the air weren't working.
"Rumours about me, Levi." He said. The intense look behind his eyes was back, somehow feeling even stronger now that he was closer to Levi, worsened by the height difference now that Erwin had stood. Still, Levi tried to brush it off.
"Did you sleep with someone's little boyfriend?" Levi joked, although his tone was barely different than normal.
He desperately hoped that the answer was no, but it would take him being the subject of every single one of Hange's little experiments for him to admit that to anyone. Or to himself.
"Me and you, Levi."
Oh.
Shit.
Levi just stood for a minute, trying to think of something to say that would get rid of this discomfort.
"Oh." Was all he managed, mentally slapping himself the moment he said it.
It went quiet. Again.
"Heard a few." He finally managed. He didn't even realise he'd looked away from Erwin until he made himself look back again. Erwin was still looking at him, almost gazing, and Levi felt that lump return to his throat.
"Does it bother you?" Erwin asked, and Levi, despite not being a genius when it came to emotions, felt as though there was something else to the question. Levi opened his mouth slightly, but he couldn't find the words that needed to come out. The words that maybe said something like 'it only bothers me because it isn't true' or 'I don't care what they think, they aren’t you' or 'I get this strange feeling in my chest when I look at you or think about you for too long and I don’t know what it means’.
Luckily for him, Erwin caught onto his inability to talk before he started to blurt out every word he could think of.
"Because if it does bother you, Levi, I can find who it's coming from." Something in the way that Erwin said his name brought Levi gently back down to the ground, placed the words back into his mouth. "I can give them a talking to, make sure they stop-"
"I'm not a child, Erwin. I think I can handle a few rumours." He stared at the floor.
"I figured you'd feel that way." Erwin smiled slightly, and there was something that Levi couldn't quite place in his voice. "Well then, let me know."
"I'll keep it in mind."
Levi felt as though he should be leaving, but he couldn't bring himself to walk away. Whatever was in Erwin's voice, in the look on his face, made him want to stay. Levi flicked his eyes across his commander's face, refusing to acknowledge the way that his gaze lingered ever so slightly on the pucker of his cupid's bow, the flushed curve of his lower lip.
He quickly pressed his lips together to get rid of the strange pressure forming there and then spoke again. "Do they bother you?"
It came out quieter than he had intended, and he cleared his throat as Erwin raised an eyebrow at him. "The rumours." Levi said, voice back to normal. Almost. There was still a nervous tremour lacing the edge. Most people wouldn’t have even noticed a difference, but unfortunately for Levi, Erwin knew him better than anyone.
"No." Erwin replied, so quiet Levi barely heard it. When he finally managed to meet his gaze again, Erwin's face was soft. Everything he wanted to say was so clearly written over his sculpted features that Levi found himself struggling to speak again. This time, the words were right there, just sitting on the end of Levi's tongue, but he didn't have the courage to push them out of his mouth. All he could do was stare. "Just... let me know."
Levi nodded, unable to say anything. Once more, he felt like he should leave, but couldn’t make himself move. Erwin’s eyes flicked downwards slightly, lingering on Levi’s lips just as Levi’s had done before, and his heart caught in his chest. For a moment, Levi swore he saw Erwin lean forwards, but it was gone as fast as it came. Erwin turned to the side slightly, his lips parted as he released a breath that was just as shaky as Levi felt.
Levi was well aware that he couldn't read emotions. But he could read Erwin. He understood Erwin in a way that he had never understood anyone, and it terrified him in a way that no titan ever had. Still, he chased that rush of knowing that Erwin was by his side, that deep-rooted longing that seemed to yank at his ribs every once in a while.
Right now, that longing was controlling him more than ever. And if he could read Erwin like he thought he could, he was certain that he felt the same.
Before he could talk himself out of it, Levi reached up to grasp at the taller man's collar, pulling Erwin's face down as he rose up, sliding his eyes closed as he pressed their lips together. At first Erwin's lips were stiff against his, and Levi panicked, wondering if he had misread everything after all. But then Erwin lifted his hand to rest his thumb and forefinger underneath Levi's chin, tilting his head up further as his lips softened, and Levi felt like everything had fallen into place.
It was soft, gentle. As if their lips were silently teaching each other everything that they had both been too scared to say out loud. An acknowledgement that they both understood, reciprocated, cared.
After what felt somehow both like forever and like no time at all, Levi pulled back to look at him once more. He was still more confident with actions that words, so Levi allowed a crack to form in the wall that he had built, allowed Erwin the slightest glimpse into what lay underneath as he looked into his eyes. Let some of what he was feeling make its way onto his face.
And then he was gone, out of the door before Erwin could say a word. Before he realised that there was no need to really say anything, at least not until they had both rested. For now, that peek into Levi's thoughts was all that he could have asked, probably more than he would have imagined.
Yes, they'd need to talk, but for now, for tonight, it was enough.