After all his years of living overground, Levi is still adjusting to the seasons of the year. The storms of autumn, with all their vibrant colours and earthy scents, with the golden light and the mist hanging in the woods. The icy grip of winter, with its glittering snowflakes and frost so fierce that it feels like he never will be warm again unless he sits down in front of a fireplace. The tender touch of spring with its hesitant green and vitality in the sky, in the soil, in the wind. The summer with its merciless heat, the sticky air, and the relieving crackling of thunderstorms at night.
Never has he seen the summer sky over a sea of blue before, though. His skin itches and burns from the scorching sun. His lips taste like salt. The sand seems to be everywhere, creeping through his clothing, sticking to his skin, fine and rough and almost shockingly white.
They've been here before ever since the war has ended. A couple of times, in fact. In the spring time mostly. Yet never in the summer.
He looks down at his boots that seem to sink more and more into the ground with every movement. The change is barely noticeable, but he wonders if he only stayed here long enough, the sand would swallow him up and consume him, feast on his body and gnaw on his bones. Or maybe time would just let him sink and sink, never too far, his only companion the sea with its ever-rushing waves that greet him and say goodbye with every come and go.
Swoosh!
Swoosh! Swoosh…
He likes that last thought.
Ironically enough, he's found his peace in what must be one of the loudest places on this earth.
It might have something to do with the figure standing at the shoreline ahead. He left his own boots in the sand nearby Levi before strolling on with an inviting grin and the determined announcement to dip his feet into the water.
Levi doesn't trust the sea.
It's fine from this point of view—only looking at it, estimating it from afar, from a safe distance. Eren, however, doesn't seem to mind. His trousers legs are rolled up while he simply stands there, the waves lapping playfully at his feet, the sun illuminating his silhouette. The salty breeze ruffling his wild hair. His wind-billowed shirt not quite concealing how broad his shoulders have become over the years.
He looks down, bends to pick something up, and washes it in the water before holding it against the afternoon light and turning around to Levi. Even with the back light blinding him, Levi can see the smile splitting Eren's face. Before he knows it he's forsaken the secure grasp of the sand and steps closer, noticing the changing texture of the damp, not really wet, beach under the sole of his boots—hard, yet soft, pliant, yet steadying.
Somehow Eren always manages to make him try things without really thinking them through first.
"I found a piece of amber," he says over the sound of the waves as Levi is so close that he can make out the colour of Eren's eyes. It's an almost pure, dark blue today, matching the sea ahead and the beam of his smile.
"Amber," Levi repeats. It's supposed to be a question.
"Yes. Dried resin." Stepping away from the waterline, Eren turns around to the full. His excitement is palpable. His whole figure seems to glow and shine and there's a ring to his voice as he speaks, softer now, that makes Levi want to smile back. A little thing is caught between his fingers. It's so small that it seems to have the size of a small pebble or a little berry, and Eren holds it out with smooth and warm, ocean-damp fingers for Levi to examine.
The object is surprisingly light as he takes it and astonishingly…strange. Its surface is obviously roughened, but smooth to the touch. It looks like a stone with an almost milky orange hue, but as Levi lifts it up to inspect it closer, it suddenly catches a ray of shimmering light in an astonishing brilliance of honey or sunset, that's reflecting all the way through its core.
It's beautiful. And while Levi feels himself marvel at the odd little stone, he thinks it reminds him of Eren's laugh.
"They used to wash up on the riverbank in Shingashina every now and then," Eren says, interrupting Levi's reverie. His words are fond, making Levi look up to meet his eyes, where he remains for just a heartbeat too long.
Focussing on the curious thing between his fingertips once more he reaches for his voice. "Resin, you said?"
Unlike so many others when it comes to Levi's curious questions about nature, Eren never seems to mind them. On the contrary. He's always eager to explain. "Yes. According to Armin's books it's from conifers. Dried very quickly and somehow washed away. We used to make a game out of it, who would find one. Armin and Mikasa did once or twice, but I never did."
Levi can picture them: Three scrawny kids at the riverbank, one cheering, one watching in silent earnestness, and one trying not to pout.
The thought makes him smile. "Well, you found one now." He stretches out his hand to give it back, but Eren shakes his head.
"Keep it."
It's yours, Levi wants to insist. I can't keep it. But Eren already turns to face the horizon again, and Levi knows he won't take it back. He lets the little stone roll between his index finger and thumb, holding it against the sky, and nods shortly, closing his hand around it in protection. "Thank you."
"Mm."
For a while they just stand there, watching the birds above and the constant rushing around them. Eren stirs next to him, his feet wriggling in the half-dry sand, digging deeper. It makes Levi wonder for the first time how it must feel like; if the sand between Eren's toes feels scratchy like the bits caught in his shoe, rubbing distractingly against his raw skin, or if it feels different. Warm from the sun or cool because of Eren's heightened body temperature. Levi can feel the heat wafting over to him, breaching the distance between them to settle on his own skin. Just like the salt.
Eren shifts again, his elbow almost brushing Levi's as his toes wriggle even deeper into the sand. The brief proximity makes the hairs on Levi's arms prickle under raising goosebumps, despite of the hot summer sun. Eren gazes at the waves, the sun catching in his eyes.
Levi has never felt this alive. He never wants it to end.
"Did you ever expect your life was going to be like this?" Eren's question mingles with the wind, floats on it in a way that tells Levi he doesn't have to answer if he doesn't want to.
"Did you?"
Eren chuckles. "No." He shoots Levi a glance again, knowing—too knowing—and carefree. "I hoped so, though."
Sometimes Levi wonders how Eren does it. How he is still is able to hope and laugh and smile this gently. How he can find beauty in a tiny, little thing—washed ashore next to a whole ocean of freedom and looking completely unimposing until it is held against the light—and still not mind giving it away. As if it meant nothing. Although Levi has nothing to give him in return.
"I didn't," Levi admits, remembering standing under a sewer in the midst of darkness, looking up in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the world above. It all seems so unreal now. Even to him.
"And yet, here we are," Eren says, his eyes shining brighter than the summer sky. "You and me."
"So it seems."
Eren remains silent, only smiles.
Levi feels the stone of resin press against his palm in an unsaid promise as the breeze of the approaching autumn whispers through his hair. Now he has all the seasons, the whole world open to him. Yet Eren is the most fascinating phenomenon of it all.
And as Levi allows himself to take that last step Eren tastes like salt and hope and like the colour of honey, shining against the blinding sun.
Next to them the ocean whooshes.