Despite their near constant time together and their various intimate moments, Eren was still learning new things about Levi all the time. The man never stopped surprising him, slaying a titan in a way he had never seen before in the morning than actually holding down a civil conversation with Mikasa in the afternoon. It certainly kept Eren on his toes.
Tonight, he was quickly learning that despite the corporal's strength and his usual indifference towards whatever he approached, Levi was a lightweight. It only took a chug of some beer and a few shots (encouraged by Hanji) before Levi was having trouble holding his head up and his words started to slur together.
It had been a rough week; several of their subordinates had lost their lives on a side mission outside the wall and they were being pestered more than usual by the inner-city about the taxes they were consuming. Eren thought it was all totally unfair, considering the inner-city wasn't doing a damn thing to help humanity. They were the ones risking their lives.
Levi only scoffed at the various abusive letters that had been sent their way before leaving the office and slamming the door. He wouldn't admit it, but it was pretty easy to tell; he was pissed. This had led to a night of drinking away all their troubles. Erwin had protested heavily against it as Levi was still supposed to be keeping his eye on Eren, but Levi had only brushed the man off, saying if the brat couldn't take care of himself by now, he'd never survive long in the Scouting Legion.
Though Eren liked that Levi had some sort of faith in him, he didn't think it was coming from the right place. This proved all too right as Levi didn't seem to hesitate at all before swallowing as much alcohol as the Scouting Legion would let him. Hanji wasn't helping, challenging Levi to several drinking contests, getting them both completely hammered.
Erwin seemed to be fine, having had two large mugs of beer and still holding his posture nicely. Eren was impressed, and slightly infatuated with what was going on around him. He had seen plenty of drunks throughout his life but he had never really seen people in the process of getting drunk. He briefly wondered how many drinks it would take before his own head started swimming and the world wouldn't stay still under his feet.
But being as young as he was, he was strictly told not to touch a single drink. Eren was a bit perturbed, but didn't argue, knowing the Scouting Legion had enough to worry about without having to handle explaining a drunk, titan-shifter to the Military Police. But Eren was happy to sit back and watch the show.
It had been a fairly eventful night. Eren didn't realise how confident people could get with a few drinks in them, Oluo making it a point to hit on Petra, Petra making it a point to hit on Levi, which had Eren screwing up his face at the girl out of spite. It was amusing watching Hanji confuse everyone with Sonny and Bean, the beloved titans she had lost only a few weeks ago, though her obsessive antics cleared out the dining hall pretty quickly.
Soon there were only four of them left, before Erwin picked Hanji up and threw her over his shoulder, dismissing them from the room. Then there were two.
Eren looked across the table at Levi, the man's cheeks flushed pink from the alcohol and his eyelids only seeming to droop lower and lower over his eyes as the minutes ticked by. Eren wondered if he was falling asleep or deep in thought. He certainly seemed to be concentrating on something.
Soon he figured out what, as something soft but firm was pressed heavily onto his crotch, Levi now slouched down in his chair so his foot could reach Eren under the table. Eren squirmed against it, protesting slightly. He wasn't sure if tonight was a good idea to go where Levi was thinking; though he doubted he'd be able to put up much resistance if Levi persisted.
"L-Levi! Your f-foot is in my crotch!" Eren tried to move his chair back so he could escape the man's advances, but Levi only lowered himself further so he could let his foot follow. Eren wondered if he kept moving back if Levi would simply disappear under the table completely. So he shifted his chair back entirely and sure enough Levi slithered from his chair to lie on the floor.
Eren vacated his chair and peered under the table to find a very grumpy looking captain giving him a rather ominous glare.
"That wasn't nice," Levi stated.
"So alcohol makes you act the age equivalent to your height?" Eren pondered. Levi only frowned at the short joke, rolling over on the stone so his face was pressed into the bricks and Eren was now looking at his back.
"That wasn't nice at all," Levi only mumbled. Eren let out a chuckle.
"You insult me every day, Captain," Eren said, trying to alleviate some of the tension Levi was obviously feeling.
"You like it," Levi only said, seeming intent on falling asleep right under the table. At this, Eren grabbed Levi's ankles, trying to drag the man out from under the furniture so he could take the drunken figure back to his own bed; Eren didn't think sleeping face first on the floor would be very good for Levi's inevitable hang over the next morning.
Levi kicked Eren's hands away, bringing his knees up to his chest and hugging them. Eren sighed heavily.
"You're not really going to fall asleep down there, are you?" Eren asked seriously. Levi only let out a soft snore in response. At this, Eren got down on his hands and knees and crawled under the table himself, lying next to Levi so they were facing each other.
Levi opened his grey eyes, his expression softening at the new, pleasant company.
"You sure you don't want to go back to your own bed? It has a mattress. And pillows," Eren pleaded his case. Levi only stretched out again, rolling towards Eren so he was now smushed against Eren's chest.
"All you've done is made it infinitely easier to fall asleep down here," Levi mumbled into Eren's shirt, clutching the fabric to himself. He closed his eyes again, seeming to breathe in the musty scent of the wood and floor coupled with Eren's usual scent of ash and teenage hormones.
Eren smiled fondly, looping his arms around Levi's body and pulling him closer, placing a light kiss to the corporal's hair. He had to admit, it was actually quite nice down here. It was cool because of the floor, but warm because of each other's heat. Levi's soft breathing sounded so relaxing to Eren, and they didn't get to cuddle like this very often.
What surprised Eren the most about Levi was that he was very affectionate towards the younger man. When they were alone together, the ever watchful eyes of Squad Levi dissipated to who knows where, Levi was always finding excuses to be in contact with Eren. Brushing unusually close against the boy's back as he passed or, if he felt like being more direct, tackling Eren to the floor for a good, long kiss. Of course, Eren didn't mind one bit.
But despite the very strong temptation to just stay in each other's arms like this, Eren knew it would be extremely hard to explain why two men were wrapped in each other's arms if they were found like this in the morning. So Eren nudged Levi awake again.
"I think you want to go back to your own bed, Captain," he uttered before adding, "despite your best efforts, I doubt it's very sanitary down here."
It worked like a charm.
Levi sat right up, slamming his head onto the ceiling of the table in the process, and scrambled out from under the furniture. He clutched his forehead and swore profusely, apparently blaming Erwin for making the tables so hard. Eren could only laugh heartily as he made his own way out from under the wood.
He stopped laughing abruptly when he saw Levi slouching heavily against Eren's previous chair, still clutching his forehead and his head falling dangerously low on his shoulders. Eren didn't hesitate to take one of his arms, crouching down slightly so Levi could lean against him comfortably, and they started making their way out the door and up the stairs towards Levi's bed.
Once there, it took all of Eren's efforts to be able to place Levi, who had fallen asleep along the way, onto the mattress carefully, folding his body into a comfortable position and covering him with the sheet. Levi only woke long enough to curl back up into his defensive ball again, falling right back to sleep as if nothing had happened and the change of scenery had gone unnoticed
Eren watched Levi's face soften as he slept, his face void of all worried thoughts. It was a pleasant sight. Eren realised then that he had never actually seen Levi sleep before. His soft lips slightly parted to let out his low breaths, the raven hair falling over his eyes and tickling his nose, which twitched in agitation at the strands. Eren leaned over, reaching to brush the soft strands away from Levi's nose so it would stop twitching and he could relax in his sleep again.
With Eren's fingers still wound in raven locks, he bent down to place a loving kiss on the red bump that had formed on Levi's forehead. Eren decided he would explain that away tomorrow by saying Hanji had smacked Levi a little too hard; Eren expected he would appreciate that.
Suddenly a fist was twisted in his shirt and Eren found himself being thrown onto the mattress, Levi wrapping his arms tightly around Eren's chest and nuzzling into the exposed skin caused by the stretched v-line. Eren lied there for a moment, shocked at what had just happened before realising Levi had only been pretending to be asleep so he could get Eren into his bed (quite literally).
Eren let out a sigh of relief at the lack of danger, patting Levi's back and settling into the soft sheets, realising he probably wouldn't be leaving anytime soon tonight. As the candle on the wall slowly burnt out, then finally extinguished completely, Eren contemplated their relationship.
It was a dangerous thing, being left along to your thoughts so late at night.
"You're pretty affectionate with me, Levi," Eren mused out loud now, still rubbing small, calming circles into Levi's shoulder blades. "I wonder why that is. You're usually so cold with everyone else, or at least you don't give off the impression that you don't really care about anybody. I'm actually surprised how close you are to the commander…"
The room was silent.
"But when we're alone together, you never hesitate to grab my hand or steal a kiss. Not that I'm complaining, I like it a lot. I also like it when you insult me, just so you know that you were right. Besides, I've never thought of them as insults, more like pet names."
Still, Levi slept on.
"I wonder if your affection towards me comes from your child hood. I know I'm usually always angry because of the way my mum died. You never told me about your mum, or if you had siblings. But I still knew my mum, how it felt to be loved by her. So maybe you never had that kind of chance before you entered the Scouting Legion; maybe you're trying to make up for lost time…with me."
Eren didn't want to feel sad, but the memories of that dark time five years ago still felt so fresh, the gaping wound in his heart yet to heal over completely. It was hard to think that maybe Levi had his own dark memories, and that he was suppressing them with his coldness the way Eren supressed them with his rage. Eren hugged Levi to his chest harder.
The bed sheets rustled slightly as Levi adjusted to hold Eren tighter as well.
"You moron," Eren felt the deep voice come from his chest, lips pressed against his skin, brief and unexpected. "I'm not affectionate with you because of shit like that. I'm affectionate with you because I like you. Now shut up and go to sleep."
Eren felt slightly awkward for a few moments. But once the words Levi had spoken sunk in, he smiled to himself, happy and content to relax entirely, holding his lover tightly and falling asleep with Levi's words echoing in his head.