It's a normal day when Levi makes a promise he won't be able to keep.

He's in his bed, with his back against the headboard and one leg crossed over the over. The bed dips up and down as Eren moves excitedly in it. Too much excitement, if you ask him.

"Hey, brat," he says, stifing the urge to lean over and strangle the teen, "would you quit it? Keep moving like that and you'll break the bed."

Eren, with effort, goes still and resorts to tapping his fingers on his knee. "Sorry, Levi."

"What has you so excited, anyway? It's unsettling."

"Ah, well, um . . ." Eren scratches at his neck. "It's silly, really."

"Everything you say is silly; I'm used to it," he points out. His eyebrows raise, and his mild curiousity nudges him toward the boy. "Out with it."

"I just can't stop thinking about the sea," Eren blurts out, and even his voice rises with the excitement bubbling up. He wrings his hands, over and over, as if to channel his nerves to his fingertips. "Me and Armin were talking about it today, and I was just thinking that maybe the chances are better now. To go see it, I mean."

Levi has to swallow down a laugh. His eyes meet Eren's, and he is astonished to see how serious they are. "You think your chances are better? You must have your eyes closed, then, if you think that."

One look at Eren's wide, blue-green eyes, however, proves otherwise. He isn't one to avoid to truth with a look the other way or a closing of the eyelids. He looks on, painfully and angrily, as his friends or family die. (If he can't save them, that is.) He then wields that raw emotion into a weapon, and that's what intrigues Levi so.

"The chances really are better, though!" says Eren. "Ever since joining the Survey Corps, it wasn't just some unreachable dream I had as a kid. It's real now, something that's actually possible, even if the chances aren't that big, you know?"

Levi doesn't know. He has no particular dream in mind, never has. He hasn't thought much about the aftermath once they defeat the Titans.

"Don't you have some kind of dream? Something you want to do once we kill all the Titans?"

Eren's words are an echo of his own thoughts, much to his irritation. Is the kid a fucking mind reader or something? He gives a halfhearted shrug. "I don't have any dream, Eren, I'm not five. I have a goal, and that is to annihilate the Titans and restore humanity. That's it."

"Come on, Levi, that can't be all!" Eren crawls closer to him, mouth fixed in a pout. "I want that too, obviously . . . But isn't there something else?"

He shakes his head; no, there isn't and there doesn't have to be. His glare sharpens, daring Eren to continue his pestering. Eren shrivels back a little, but then he smiles.

"You can have my dream, then! Wouldn't you want to see the sea? Me and Armin read about it, and it's supposed to be amazing, with these huge killer waves and . . ." His words pour out like spilled tea, jumbles of words pooling on the floorboards before Levi can process them.

As much as Levi wants to sit there and simply listen to Eren's bright voice, he doesn't want him to get the wrong idea, so he interrupts the boy with a kiss. Eren makes a noise of surprise despite the fact that this is nothing new.

"L-Levi!" says Eren once the man pulls away. He licks his lips, a blush like fire on his cheeks. "Someone could see, you know! The door is wide open!"

Ignoring Eren's spluttering completely, he says, "I don't want to steal your dream, brat. Are you stupid?"

"Not steal," Eren says. "We'd be sharing it." Levi opens his mouth, another protest on his tongue, but Eren continues, "I want to see it, Levi. I want to see it with Armin, and Mikasa . . . And I want to see it with you, too."

"You don't need me there. I'm not even interested in it; I'll just ruin your mood."

"No, you won't." Eren's eyes are bright and insistent. "As long as you're there, I'll be happy."

The roof of Levi's mouth dries up. He looks away with a scoff. But his heart is beating the way it would if he were in danger, fast and frenzied. Except he isn't in danger, so this has to be for a different reason entirely.

It is true that he doesn't care about the sea. He sees water every day, after all; why would he want to see more of it? It makes no sense.

But, to his surprise, the realization that Eren wants to see it with him makes his throat constrict with something that feels like gratitude.

"You're pretty desperate to have me go with you, aren't you?" he teases, earning another blush from Eren. "I'm willing to believe you're just scared to venture out there alone, defenseless and vulnerable."

"E-Eh?" Eren waves his arms about and shakes his head. "That's not it! I can handle whatever comes at me by myself! I don't need some midget corporal to protect me . . . And, um, if for some reason I couldn't handle it, Mikasa would be with me too, so . . ."

"You've got one foot in the grave, Eren," Levi warns. "No, on second thought, your whole fucking leg. I better not have heard what I thought I just did."

"What?" Eren frowns, but then his face lights up with understanding. Soon followed by terror. "Ah, I'm sorry, it just came out . . . I couldn't help it."

Levi's hands seize his waist, and the boy yelps. He wriggles and twists, but the grip is strong as steel.

"Wait, please don't kill me! I'm sorry!"

"I've always wondered," the corporal says, pulling him over, "whether or not you're ticklish. This is the perfect opportunity to find out, I think."

Eyes widening with realization, he struggles further, to no avail. "Levi, wait!" Hands cup Eren's chin, fingers tickling the sensitive skin, and he lets out an adorable squeak. "S-Stop it!"

Levi's fingers venture under the boy's shirt, dancing on his stomach and sides. Eren bursts into giggles, and it makes the corporal's own lips spread into a small smile. Eren's limbs fly about, out of his control, and the blankets are kicked off the bed.

"This - is very - immature -" gasps Eren, but Levi is having far too much fun with this to care. He tickles him until his face is red and his eyes are watering from laughing.

When he withdraws, finally halting his attacks, Eren sits up. His breaths come out ragged, and it is a while before he speaks.

"I . . . hate you," he says, his brows scrunching up as he glares.

"If you hated me, you wouldn't have forced me to go find some sea with you." Levi has to stop himself from smiling a little at Eren's angry face. It looks adorable, like an angry kitten with no claws.

"Oh, that's right!" Just like that, his anger is gone, evaporated like chimney smoke. He grins. "Does that mean you'll come with us? Please?"

The hopeful look in Eren's eyes, the easy smile he wears- it all makes Levi's heart ache. It makes the decision one of the easiest he's ever made. "Yes, I will."

Eren's smile widens, as if to make up for Levi's lack of one. Levi has begun to love that smile. "Really? Promise?"

At that, though, he frowns, and the muscles in his jaw tighten. "No, I can't promise-"

Eren's expression crumples like a house of cards. "Why not?"

Levi sighs; is it not obvious?

"Do I have to spell it out for you? One of us might die before this ends, Eren. And I can't guarantee that-"

"I know that!" interrupts Eren, and Levi has to restrain from punching him for interrupting him again. "Okay, how about this: if I die, will you still go and see it? And take Armin and Mikasa too? I really know you'll love it, Levi, and I-"

It's his turn to interrupt, now. "No," Levi says sharply, "don't you dare. You'll make it out. You'll survive because that's what you do. So don't go talking about dying and leaving me with this shit, understand? Go look at the sea yourself."

"But you just said-"

"I didn't mean that you might die. I won't allow that. You're my responsibility."

Levi states it calmly, as if it's just a universally accepted truth, like how the dirt is brown and the grass green. Not a trace of hesitation. He would protect Eren to his last breath, and that is that.

"Okay," Eren says slowly, startled. His back straightens up. "If you can guarantee that I will still alive, then why can't you promise?" His gaze hardens; he must have seen the answer in Levi's eyes. "And if you're going to say you might die, you won't. I . . . I know that I might not be as strong as you or as experienced, but I won't let you die, either. Never."

Eren's voice is powerful, confident. Levi's eye twitches.

"I said I'd kill all the Titans," says Eren, and his eyes are murderous; they would frighten anyone who didn't know him. "And if I see one coming towards you, I'll kill it. So- So you don't have to worry about it, Levi."

Levi is rarely fazed by what goes on around him, but now he is at a loss as to what to feel. No one promises to have his back these days- not when he's Humanity's Strongest. He's supposed to do the protecting, isn't he? What else is he good for? Cleaning?

"That's nice, Eren, but I can take care of myself. I don't need you to protect me." He tugs Eren over again, but this time not to torment him. Instead he buries his face into the boy's shoulder, inhaling his scent. "Let me protect you."

"If you can take care of yourself, you have confidence that you'll survive," says Eren, quietly. His arms wrap around Levi's shoulder blades, and the contact is nice. "So promise. Promise me that you'll live, and that we'll both go find the sea together."

Levi's trapped. He told Eren that he won't let him die, under any circumstances- he also said he himself would survive, and that he doesn't need protection. As a leader, he is not supposed to go back on his word, either.

"I promise," he says finally. "We'll go find the sea together."

Eren gives a victory shout, and his arms wrap tighter around Levi's frame. The warmth oozing from him is soothing, and the happiness in his voice as he depicts the saltwater sea once more melts Levi's uneasiness. Some of it, at least.

Levi's dream isn't seeing the sea, he decides. It never will be, regardless of Eren's influencing. That is Eren and his friends' foolish dream, not his.

But perhaps his dream is Eren himself.