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A soft grunt left Levi as he stepped onto the warm sand – slowly cooling as the sun set. He continued to walk down to the shore despite his wounded leg protest, with the sand lightly crunching under each step he took and coming closer and closer to the sea, waves gently crashing against the sand every few seconds.
The sound was… Calming. Grounding, after a long day in the office and finally able to take a break.
He stood at the shore once he reached it, the water barely reaching his feet before it pulled away back. He watched for a few minutes only, simply watching each peaceful wave hit the sand again and again.
Levi’s peace was broken partially when his leg began to protest once more to stand for so long, the years old injury deciding to make itself once more.
He only sighed at the feeling before giving in to the pain without daring to fight back and agitate the wound worse. He sat down at the shore finally, close enough that the water still hit his feet but couldn’t manage to soak his pants. He leaned back to continuing watching the ocean once more, with his gaze occasionally shifting to watch the sun as it fell more every time he glanced at it.
Despite this he couldn’t stop the faint impatience beginning to grow in him.
An forty-five year old man, old and long retired from his military service, sitting at the shore of the ocean like he had nowhere to be.
Which… He didn’t.
Work was done for the day, gone home and cleaned himself already, fed his cat, and yet the feeling that something was missing stayed in the back of his head.
The thought was nothing more than a faint annoyance, though. He was confident everything was already done and his house wouldn’t suddenly compost into flames for the short half hour he was away.
Levi took a deep breath – both the air from his lungs and the unnecessary paranoia from his head gently pushed out.
He let his eyes close when the sun brought no more light.
“Levi, back again so soon?” He heard a faint whisper say, a wet hand pressed against his bare ankle not even a minute after he’d done so.
He let out a grumble with a shrug as he opened his eyes, tilting his head to the side to see none other than the familiar siren by his side once more.
“It’s been a week.” He commented quietly. His gaze didn’t leave the siren’s body, familiar and the same as last week.
The same long brown hair that was already drying and beginning to poof up, the same vibrant green eyes gazing up at him with amusement just like every time they’d seen each other, and the same blue and green scales tail resting on the shore.
Those green eyes squinted a bit as his smile grew, hand running down his foot before resting it by his side.
“Usually I get to see you once every two weeks, or so…” Eren trailed off, gaze shifting to the ocean for a moment before returning to Levi. Levi only shrugged as a response, letting his gaze follow Eren’s to the ocean in front of them.
Eren shrugged in response to Levi’s shrug, a rather disinterested hum leaving him as he did so. Levi couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at Eren’s shrug.
“I decided to connect with nature more often this month.” He finally spoke up once more.
He turned away from the ocean to let his gaze return to the siren laying beside him. “I saw somewhere that it can help you heal.” He added.
“Heal?” Eren curiously asked as he raised an eyebrow, letting his gaze shift to Levi’s leg – the scar running up his calf barely peaking out from the bottom of his pants.
He glanced up at Levi’s face while he let his hand slowly drag closer to his leg once more.
When he did nothing more than look down at Eren he finally grabbed the edge of his pants, gently pulling it up to his knee.
His gaze set onto his calf, eyeing the scar. Despite how long ago it had healed it looked no more like it had before. The scar was deep, the skin able to pass as still rather fresh if it was redder. “I don’t think some time with nature will heal this.” He spoke once more.
“I think it looks better than it did last month. I’d say that counts as healing.” Levi replied with a small sigh.
“Well, I think that's because of that new lotion you said you were using… Hydrating, you said?”
“Hydrtating, definitely. But it could smell better.”
Eren chuckled at Levi’s response, shaking his head in amusement. He let his hand rest over the scar – silent but the feeling of his damp skin soothing the rough skin.
Levi looked down as he felt the siren’s hand on his leg. He didn’t pull away and didn’t lean in, just accepting the wordless support.
“You know what you should bring next week?” He spoke after a moment of silence between them, the faint sound of waves lightly crashing in the background filling the silence when no one spoke. “If it's you trying to get me to bring Apricot here again, it's a no.”
Levi couldn't help but grin faintly at the sight of Eren’s visible disappointment.
“Why not?” He asked accusingly, head tilting to the side as he spoke.
“Because I can’t recall a time she hasn't tried to eat you. Nearly bit your fishy fingers off the first time.”
“She was curious.” *He mumbled under his breath, glancing away with mild annoyance. Levi let his eyes roll just for a moment at the sight of the siren’s dramatics. “You’ll survive without the cat for a while longer. I’ll bring her when I'm in the mood to wrangle it into the harness.”
“So, you’ll bring her one day… Got it.”
Eren laid his head on the sand with a playful smile, resting his hand on Levi’s ankle once more.
He let his eyes close while he relaxed on the shore. He could hear his quiet breathing while he laid with his eyes closed, the sound almost, if not just as calming as the waves and the faint breeze.
Levi watched the other rest.
He reached a hand down to run his fingers through Eren’s long hair, already half dry. The thick hair had even begun to poof up more, no longer flat against his head.
“So, you’ll be here next week?” Eren quietly spoke, glancing up at Levi through his long lashes.
Levi smiled faintly at the sight. He let himself close his eyes, a small chuckle escaping him as he shrugged.
“Yeah, I'll be here next week.”