They both stood on the walls of the city, towering high about the grassy fields below. The sun was setting beyond the hills on a new world. A world without Titans: a world of peace. Erwin Smith and Levi allowed themselves to stand on the walls with their freedom to stand on the walls with their freedom and the wind in their hair. It felt strange. For so many years they had stood on walls, and in trees, on ground, fighting. But now, they were allowing themselves to enjoy the view. And yet, they still held some fear.
Levi was the first to speak.
"This is pointless. What are we doing up here?"
"I don't really know." Erwin replied. "I mean, we finally get to enjoy the view up here. We know that there's nothing to interrupt it, nothing to get in the way." When he saw that answer wasn't what Levi was looking for he spoke again. "I suppose we're thinking." Levi scoffed.
"Of what?" Erwin let his eyes wander towards the man, seeing him looking out in the distance, calm as ever. Levi's shoulders and chest seemed to finally relax, yet his legs still in a saluting stance. He moved his hand, going to grip his stump where his arm used to be. He looked back at the receding sun and the golden hues of the evening.
"What will you do now?" Levi stiffened at that question. Erwin was genuinely curious. In his heart, he hoped for one answer, but common sense told him he wouldn't get it directly. Perhaps he could work the conversation in the direction he wanted it to go in.
"I don't know. I'm… unsure…"
"Me too." Levi grimaced. "There's not much for me, not much I can do. With my arm and everything that's happened during the war. We're both stuck in the same rut."
"No." Despite the harshness in his tone, Erwin calmly looked over at the man to his right, who was now glaring at him. "Don't make your situation and my situation similar. You have no right."
"Levi-" But he was cut off.
"You have plenty going for you, Captain Erwin Smith. You've just won us a victory over the Titans. Thanks to you, it's all over and our world belongs to us again. You can do whatever you fucking want. I was just your right hand man. Before this I lived in the gutters as a filthy thief, only to be picked up and thrown into the military against my will. Sure, I'm the best at it, but where does that put me now? Nowhere. So, what am I supposed to do?" Their eyes held a dangerously long gaze, strong as fire. Yet something was easy in Levi's eyes. Levi, without breaking contact, slowly walked over, stopping when he was just close enough for Erwin to make his move in their little game. "What do you think I should do?" Erwin's fingers dug into the clothing bunched around his stump, breath hitching.
"I-I don't know." Levi turned his back to him with an audible tsk.
"You're pathetic, old man." Erwin smiled. In an instant Levi was turning back to him, surging forward on his toes and grabbing the hem of Erwin's shirt, pulling him down. Levi collided his lips with Erwin's, the older man's eyes wide with shock before sliding them shit with a small smile. Finally.
Levi pulled away slowly, glaring up at him.
"You bastard."
"To answer your question," he began as Levi rolled his eyes, "I don't know what either of us should do, but perhaps we could figure it out." He pulled Levi into an embrace with his good arm, holding his waist. Levi allowed this, allowed himself to be pulled in and held.
"Whatever, I trust your judgment." The sun had finally set now and it was quiet. The leaned their heads on each other, savoring their scents.
"You know I love you, right?" Erwin asked.
"I've always known. And you?"
"Yeah."
It was a new world.
