everything has changed

by hipster-rivaille

Essentially, just a very cliche college au in which Levi and Eren fall in love. Dorky boys and fluff; that's it, that's the /entire/ fic.

hahaha i handwrote 20 pages of this and gave myself tendinitis and it's so dumb and inconsistent and just oh wells
strongly based off of the song 'Everything Has Changed' -/highly reccommend u listen to it while reading A++/- DON'T JUDGE just read everything and then judge and send hate and whatnot and u are 100% justified

i already regret everything

please note!
Eren has absolutely nothing against asexual people! he just really wants the levi booty
also unedited yeah so it's riddled with errors galore sorry will edit later

---

"You good to go?"

The first time Eren and Levi meet is simply by chance.

They crash into each other, (or more like Eren runs into Levi), Levi with his arms full of books on the way from the library, and Eren on his way to.

Books go flying everywhere, and so would Levi's language, were it not for Eren's steady stream of rushed apologies.

It isn't that Levi is appeased by these apologies- he simply is left no time to spit vulgar insults at the other boy when he's apologizing at a speed of 50 word/min.

So, he settles for a menacing glare.

Not that it seemed to have any effect on Eren, as the boy stumbles around, helping Levi pick up all of the loosely strewn books tossed haphazardly around the grassy terrain.

"I'm sorry man, I totally spaced out there for a second! I didn't even see you- must've looked right over your head there-"

Levi's glare goes from menacing to ranging murderous.

"-but anyways, yeah sorry, I didn't mean to." Eren says, before finally stopping his speech.

Levi opens his mouth to at last say something, as they both reach for the same book, but Eren beats him to both.

"I'm going to the library too! And, oh wow, you're reading the Half-Blood Prince?" Eren asks, referring to the final book sitting in the grass in between them. "It's my favorite of the series, but oh man, the part where Dumbledore dies-"

Levi resists the urge to strangle the poor boy; 'There are too many witnesses', he tells himself.

"-oops, spoiler alert! But yeah, great book."

At this halter in speech, Levi wastes no time in saying something as Eren looks up and at him.

"Shut the fu-"he begins, only to be cut off by

"Hey, you have really nice eyes." Eren says, slowly for once as he looks into Levi's eyes with an honest smile like he's taking the time to really look into those eyes.

And Levi is taken aback while Eren leaves with a quick "I got to run, bell's going to ring anytime now. It was nice meeting you!" before running off and leaving behind a very confused Levi whose mouth is still halfway open; paused in the middle of speech.

'All I knew,'

Levi snaps his mouth shut seconds later; confusion turning into irritation.

'This morning when I woke,'

"Nice to meet you? What the hell that wasn't meeting- what the hell-"

'Is I know something now, know something now, I didn't before.'

"-who the hell does he think he is? The next time I meet that fucking brat-"

-turns out to be the very next day.

Levis' grabbing a plain milk from a tray as he passes through the dwindling lunch line in the campus's cafeteria when a too loud, much too enthusiastic (for 11 am in the morning!) voice startles him, causing Levi to knock over an entire row of neatly stacked milk cartons.

"Hey! You're that kid who crashed into me yesterday!" A perky voice very nearly shouts in his ear.

Levi, who is more scared of the resident lunch lady than he is willing to admit, immediately cringes and tries to hush Eren as he moves away from the site of crime as fast as possible. (Eren eagerly follows him.)

"Buy a surround system and broadcast your voice any louder, will you? Lower your fucking voice, numbskull." Levi hisses.

"Shit, sorry." Eren rubs the back of his head, trying to smooth down a minor case of bed head. "So, what're you doing here?" He asks, not at all affected by Levi's harsh tone.

"Buying condoms." Levi deadpans, at which Eren just blinks blankly. "Buying lunch you dolt, what do you think I'm doing?"

Eren chuckles slightly, the tips of his ears turning the lightest of pinks.

But he makes a fast recovery.

"Anyways, I didn't get your name last time, what is it?" he asks, blithely unaware of Levi's murderous intent towards him.

'Well, he does deserve to know the name of his murderer,' Levi reasons, as he waits for the person in front of him to finish paying so he can do the same and get the hell out of here.

So, he tells him, "Levi." with about as much gusto as before.

"I'm Eren." Eren offers with a grin, even though Levi doesn't ask.

"Great." Levi flatly says, ultimately deciding to just finish the unwanted conversation as quickly as possible and escape the presence of this oblivious, idiotic creature before he commits a crime. (And, so he can evade the wrath of the Lunch Lady from Hell, most probably.)

Thankfully, the person in front of him has finished paying by now and Levi rushes to complete his transaction with the cashier.

He does so, and hightails it out of the lunch line before making it to an unoccupied lunch table where it's blissfully silent for a few moments until-

"So which year are you?" Eren asks him, setting his own lunch tray directly across from Levi on the same lunch table even though there are many other lunch tables with empty seats.

The fucking brat has followed him to his lunch table and for the love of god Levi doesn't even know why and can't fully comprehend this series of events. The level of irritation suffocating him is nearly crippling at this point as his fingers twitch with suspicious intentions.

But Levi just sighs, because he knows Eren isn't trying to be annoying; the brat's only trying to be friendly for some ungodly reason, (why, of all people, him? Levi wants to demand an unknown deity that he doesn't really believe in.) and it isn't his fault that he's so obliviously obtuse and nerve impairingly irritating. (And it certainly isn't his fault that Levi isn't the most sociable person.)

Maybe Eren was just dropped on his head as a child.

"You're in your first year?" Eren guesses when Levi fails to respond.

-was dropped on his head a lot as a child-

"Though in all honesty, you could easily pass off as a highschooler or maybe even a middleschooler," Eren goes on speaking.

-dropped on a his head on a severely hard surface a significant number of times resulting in immense brain damage as a child-

"but you know," he continues slowly, as if he's only now realizing how offensive his words are, "you don't look…bad." And then the brat turns a rosy pink, like he's a middleschooler and this (for some indefinable reason) amuses Levi to the point where he actually replies.

(Also, this seems like a really good chance to mess with the brat, something Levi's not going to pass up.)

"Are you implying that I look good, then?" he asks, leaning forward with just the hint of a suggestive smirk gracing his features.

"U-uhm, well," Eren stutters and it's Levi this time who gives him no space to reply.

"Well then, doesn't that make you a pedophile? Seeing as how I'm a middle-schooler and all." Levi drops the ball flatly.

Eren splutters with surprised indignation.

"W-what! No way, what the heck! You're not a middle-schooler!" he objects, and Levi is even more amused because you can practically see this brat's thought process clear as day on his face.

"I could be. How would you know? Maybe I'm attending college early." Levi shrugs.

"A-are you?" Eren asks incredulously.

And even though he should've been offended, Levi just begins laughing. He can't help it when Eren's making such an astonished expression; eyes wide and mouth open in protest-now-turned-shock.

"No, you dipshit. I'm in my fourth year."

And despite the insult, Eren finds it very difficult to be angry at a Levi who is laughing.

Instead, he smiles somewhat relieved before saying, "Oh… I'm in my first." Eren pauses. "And,"

"And?" Levi prompts when he doesn't continue, surprising himself. Is he actually inviting more conversation?

"And yeah. You do look good. Pretty good, in fact." Eren tells him, not embarrassed or ashamed in the slightest at saying this for some reason.

Levi finds himself freezing for the second time at Eren's open declaration while Eren goes on blabbering about something unimportant, seemingly unaffected just like last time.

Is this kid flirting with him? It didn't seem like it was meant to be flirty- just sincere- but Levi has no time to ponder over these things because the conversation (since when was it an actual conversation?) is demanding his attention- and Jesus Christ he's actually complying.

He pawns his interest in the conversation off as amusement at Eren's general denseness, but if he's really honest with himself it probably has more to do with Eren's smile- the kid has goddamn dimples- which is all white teeth and honest warmth.

Probably.

And so they actually converse- which mostly consists of Eren asking nosy questions and Levi unfailingly evading them and somehow insulting Eren in the process (he means only half of what he's saying), but Eren can't seem to find it in him to get angry or bothered which probably has more to do with the sound of Levi's laughter and less to do with his thick-headedness.

Probably.

It's pretty odd because suddenly an hour and a half passes and Levi finds himself in the courtyard still with that pesky brat who's still talking about some stupid shit- the idiot's somehow managed to waste not one but both of Levi's free periods- when he gets up and off of the bench they've gravitated towards to post lunch and cuts Eren off of whatever he's currently blabbering about with, "So, do you ever have class or do you just cling on to random strangers and pester them with stupid shit all day?"

(The truth is Levi has class in five minutes and he's too much of an asshole to actually come out and say that he has to go.)

A slow realization hits Eren as he checks the time on his phone. "SHIT! I've missed an entire class…!"

If, even after willingly spending more than an hour with Levi, he expects Levi to be sympathetic, then he truly must've landed a lot on his head as a child because there's simply no other explanation.

But Eren doesn't disappoint. He doesn't even flinch when Levi snarks "Dumbass." at him in a way a little too pleased to be polite. (Not that Levi is polite. Ever.)

Instead, he asks Levi for his phone number.

"Why?" Levi asks, not expecting that at all.

"So we can text and stuff." Eren explains, as if it's just that and nothing more.

'No, but why?' Levi wants to ask again.

Instead, he says, "You don't even know me."

At this, Eren just smiles and says, "But maybe, maybe I'd like to."

Eren's a fucking freshmen and a stranger and annoying and a brat and-

-but for some unknown reason Levi finds himself trying to decide whether Eren's eyes are more green or more blue instead of vehemently denying the sharing of his standard cellular telephone digits.

And that's how Levi ended up giving his phone number to Eren, blaming it entirely on the color teal.

[x]

Levi manages to successfully avoid crashing into the brat named 'Eren' whose last name he does not know the entire next day.

But. (And there's always a but.)

But that night when he's lying down on his bed and staring at the ceiling with absolutely nothing to do, that very same Eren creeps into his thoughts.

'And all I've seen,'

He wonders what the fuck even happened yesterday and the day before- because it makes no sense. How the hell did he waste so much time speaking to a stranger just yesterday? How has he not strangled that very same stranger yet? Why is that stranger not a stranger, but 'Eren'- a boy with too bright eyes in his mind-

'Since eighteen hours ago,'

And then he spaces out and starts absentmindedly remembering a dash of freckles sprinkled across a straight nose, the mess of brown hair which somehow looks okay, those goddamn dimples, the way his own reflection looks in those mysteriously colored eyes, the edge of a jaw line, the curve of his cheekbones.

'Is green eyes and freckles and your smile,'

-but more than that, Levi doesn't understand why Eren would willingly pester him and pressurize him into conversation (okay so only 45% of it was peer pressure). Levi's not a nice person and quite frankly is an asshole. Why does Eren want to talk to him of all people?

'In the back of my mind, making me feel like,'

It's just as he's thinking this that his phone tinkles, (and Levi is downright horrified at of all things, the fucking hope and nervousness that fills his chest) a text message from an unknown number flashing on the screen.

555-104-005: (9:45 PM)
Hello is this a certain Levi

Levi: (9:46 PM)
Depends on who's asking.

555-104-005: (9:46 PM)
A certain Eren Yeager

Levi: (9:46 PM)
Then no.

Eren Yeager: (9:47 PM)
Leviii :D

Levi: (9:47 PM)
What.

Eren Yeager: (9:47 PM)
Nothing! what's up?

Levi: (9:48 PM)
Nothing.

Eren Yeager: (9:48 PM)
Are you sure?

Levi: (9:48 PM)
What the hell do you mean 'are you sure' I'm pretty fucking sure there's nothing up.

Eren Yeager: (9:50 PM)
Certainly not with that attitude

Levi: (9:50 PM)
What are you implying

Eren Yeager: (9:50 PM)
If it helps, think of me ;)

What? This fucking brat! (Levi snorts but no one's there to hear him so he pretends it doesn't happen.)

Levi: (9:51 PM)
I'm a middleschooler remember

Levi: (9:51 PM)
I'm reporting you for sexual harassment

Eren Yeager: (9:52 PM)
STAY AWAY FROM THE VASELINE i repeat STAY AWAY FROM THE VASELINE

Levi is most certainly not smiling, no he's not.

Levi: (9:52 PM)
I assume you're speaking from personal experience.

Eren Yeager: (9:53 PM)
Maybe

Eren Yeager: (9:53 PM)
No wait, i have a friend

Eren Yeager (9:53 PM)
Yea, him

Levi: (9:55 PM)
Congrats, kid. I'm actually laughing out loud.

Eren Yeager: (9:55 PM)
I like the sound of your laughter

Eren Yeager: (9:56 PM)
it's really nice

Levi has way too many fucking butterflies in his stomach to ignore the warmth creeping up his neck. He doesn't know what to say to that (social interaction? How?!) so he waits until he's not acting like a fucking middleschooler with a crush. (Crush?! Where did that word come from? He most certainly does NOT like a certain Eren Yeager.)

Levi: (9:59 PM)
Why are you even talking to me, kid

Eren Yeager: (10:00 PM)
I just

Eren Yeager: (10:01 PM)
think you're really interesting

'I just wanna know you better,'

Eren Yeager: (10:02 PM)
I just wanna get to know you,

Eren Yeager: (10:03 PM)
I guess

Eren Yeager: (10:03 PM)
I mean it's the only logical explanation, right?

Levi: (10:03 PM)
Well

Eren Yeager: (10:03 PM)
well?

Levi: (10:04 PM)
Okay.

'know you better,'

Eren Yeager: (10:04 PM)
okay :)

Levi: (10:04 PM)
This isn't some fucking teenage tragic love story bestseller, moron.

'know you better now,'

Eren Yeager: (10:05 PM)
you read the book?

Levi: (10:05 PM)
No.

Eren Yeager: (10:05 PM)
you totally read the book

Levi: (10:05 PM)
No, I did NOT.

Eren Yeager: (10:06 PM)
did u cry

Levi: (10:06 PM)
Do I look like I have a soul?

Eren Yeager: (10:06 PM)
so u did read the book :D

'I just wanna know you better,'

Levi: (10:06 PM)
Shut up.

Eren Yeager: (10:06 PM)
:D

'know you better,'

Eren Yeager: (10:07 PM)
let's go see the movie

Eren Yeager: (10:07 PM)
unless ur scared u'll cry

'know you better now,'

Levi: (10:07 PM)
It's been out of the theatres for months now, dipshit

Eren Yeager: (10:07 PM)
it has?

Eren Yeager: (10:09 PM)
oh it has

Eren Yeager: (10:09 PM)
oh well

'I just wanna know you better,'

And Levi doesn't want to feel disappointed, what the fuck. He's a stranger. (Whose name is Eren Yeager.)

Levi: (10:10 PM)
Anyways, I wouldn't have gone with you.

Eren: (10:10 PM)
dick.

Levi: (10:10 PM)
I do indeed have one.

'know you better,'

Eren Yeager: (10:11 PM)
-_-

Eren Yeager: (10:11 PM)
why not

Eren Yeager: (10:11 PM)
are u straight or smething

Eren Yeager: (10:11 PM)
i mean let's be friends

Levi: (10:12 PM)
No you dumbass. STRANGER DANGER. I've known you for barely 2 days.

Eren Yeager (10:12 PM)
So ur counting! :D

Levi: (10:12 PM)
Oh my GOD.

'know you better now,'

Eren Yeager: (10:13 PM)
…but seriously, am i just bugging you? Do you want to remain as strangers?

'I just want to know you,'

Levi: (10:13 PM)
…No.

'know you,'

Eren Yeager: (10:14 PM)
then let this mark the start of our beautiful friendship! bro! dude! friend!

Levi: (10:14 PM)
You dork.

Eren Yeager: (10:15 PM)
like ur nt smiling

'know you,'

Levi has to wait fifteen minutes (for obvious reasons) before he can take a picture of his unsmiling face to send to Eren.

Levi: (10:31 PM)
Image sent.
I'm not smiling.

Eren Yeager: (10:34 PM)
ur normal face is literally just -_-

Levi: (10:34 PM)
-_-

And that's how Eren and Levi's beautiful (fuck no, Levi says) 'friendship' started.

Eren Yeager: (10:36 PM)
so r u gay or wat

Levi: (10:36 PM)
Shut up.

[x]

'Cause all I know is we said 'Hello','

That first night they text, Levi ends up texting the brat until 2 am.

'I couldn't sleep and had nothing else better to do,' is what Levi tells himself.

That's what he tells himself the next night, too.

And every night for the week after that.

It's when he realizes that he suspiciously keeps eyeing the clock at around 10 PM (Eren's last class ends at 9 PM.) that he tells himself, 'Okay, so maybe the kid's kind of cute. So what.'

So what.

It's 10:15 PM that night when Eren diligently texts him.

(They text throughout the day, but it's staggered and on and off due to both of them having classes. Night's when they can properly converse. Or insult the other person, in Levi's case.)

Eren Yeager: (10:15 PM)
so today Armin farted in the middle of biochem

Eren Yeager: (10:15 PM)
and then proceeded to blame Mikasa

Eren Yeager: (10:15 PM)
like dude i saw u eat that burrito during lunch who're u kidding

Levi: (10:16PM)
You're just trying to get me to laugh, you little shithead.

Eren Yeager: (10:16 PM)
Guilty as charged!

Eren Yeager: (10:16 PM)
did it work

Levi: (10:16 PM)
No.

Eren Yeager: (10:17 PM)
that's okay, we have all night :D

This was another thing they'd gotten into. (They; read: Eren). Eren was always trying to get Levi to laugh. Because apparently he liked that sound. A lot, apparently.

(Levi likes to pretend that every time Eren says that, his heart does not start beating furiously in his chest because what the fuck.)

The whole thing was stupid, either way, because let's say Levi did laugh, how the hell would Eren hear it through text? (Read: Call me, you dork.)

So that night, Eren does.

It's already 1 AM and Eren's just made the stupidest joke possible on this very Earth.

Eren Yeager: (1:05 AM)
wat did beethoven do to fix his oven

Levi: (1:05 AM)
Please enlighten me.

Eren Yeager: (1:05 AM)
beat that oven

Levi: (1:06 AM)
Oh my god

Levi: (1:06 AM)
That was the SHITTIEST joke I have ever heard

Eren Yeager: (1:06 AM)
r u laughing?

Levi: (1:06 AM)
NO WAY IN HELL.

Eren Yeager is calling you.

It feels like a million butterflies have just been released in Levi's stomach and his heart is beating embarrassingly loudly in his chest and he just sits there, dumbly staring at the phone like a fucking walrus.

He picks up.

"You are laughing," Eren notes proudly after a few seconds.

"Shut the fuck up," Levi tells him.

"Did you just snort?"

"Goddammit, Eren."

"Good. From now on I can actually hear you laugh."

Levi tries not to dwell too much on the 'from now on'. (But fails miserably.)

And just like Eren said, their nightly conversations are then replaced by phone calls.

It's mostly just that brat annoying him, anyways. Nothing important. (Levi's lying.)

Sometimes, sometimes Levi even calls Eren.

And he always ends up unconsciously smiling while talking to Eren, this big, goofy, stupid grin that takes over his features so often that Levi has to consciously force himself force himself to stop, and worry about someone mistaking him for a mentally deranged person.

His roommate points this out to him one night.

"Levi, you're smiling,' she marvels.

"No I'm not." He immediately stops.

"You're smiling?" Eren asks, pleasantly surprised, on the phone.

"No I'm not." Levi reinforces.

"And the other day I could've sworn you were laughing." She goes on to say, wondrous at such a development.

"I laugh. I laugh all the time." Levi lies.

"No you don't." Hanji frowns at his obvious denial. "Careful, someone might actually think you like him." She says this next line a bit quieter, so that Eren can't hear. A few moments of silence pass.

"Your eyes are bugging out of your head," She informs him.

"Wait what?" Eren asks.

"Shut up." He tells both of them.

"Don't call me and then tell me to shut up!" Eren argues back.

"…might actually like him!" Hanji whispers a bit too loudly.

"What?" Eren asks again.

"NOTHING. That was just Hanji being bitchy because she's sleep deprived and cranky." Levi says.

Hanji frowns, and then as she walks by, leans near the phone and loudly says, "EREN! Levi's so gay he sometimes cries while reading teenage bestsellers!"

"You're gay?" Eren asks, excitedly.

"Shut up." Levi tells both of them again, feeling strangely outnumbered for once.

Later that night, in the safety of his bed, when there's no Eren on the phone or sleep deprived Hanji walking around trying to annoy him, Levi can admit to himself that okay, he might just like Eren Yeager a little bit, so what.

So what.

[x]

Sometimes, sometimes they even meet.

(They didn't really meet before because apparently Eren had just started a job at the library and was really busy.) (Read: Levi started suspiciously avoiding the library during certain periods of time and would sweat nervously when in there at other times.)

(Read: Levi was nervous.)

But after Levi gets over the fact that, okay maybe spending time with Eren isn't the worst thing in the world, they meet and, miraculously, it's not awkward.

Levi's biggest fear is skipped right over, and it's kind of maybe even, fun.

They sort of just click and Levi feels like he's falling deeper and deeper the more time they spend together.

(Deeper and deeper in what?)

It's usually whenever the two of them are free and can ditch their friends. (Who are beginning to think that they might possibly hate them.)

Only a month has passed when the worst possible thing happens.

It's a sunny day and both of them are sitting at a bench not too far away from where they first met. (Or otherwise known as the place where 'Eren did not see where he was fucking going and then proceeded to crash into me and make it his life mission to bug me for the rest of my shitty life.' Eren still argues that Levi was the one who crashed into him.)

And both of them are just talking about the stupidest shit possible when Levi catches himself looking into Eren's eyes and feeling, of all things in the world, content.

'And your eyes look like coming home,'

There's this weird, obnoxious, beautiful feeling bubbling up in his chest when he realizes that there's no place he'd rather be, than with this not-so-much-as-a-stranger named 'Eren Yeager' who smells like citrus and gets on his nerves more than anyone else does.

'All I know is a simple name,'

These feelings that's he's been trying to deny, been trying to run from now all click into place and it's like the world's suddenly been tilted upside down and he's looking at everything through a kaleidoscope but for some reason, for some fucking reason, it's clearer than before.

'Everything has changed,'

And despite everything, nothing makes sense, and Levi is sure of one thing, though.

He just knows that, he wants to get to know this stranger better, and he's just suddenly really glad that Eren came crashing into him that one day-

'All I know is you held the door,'

It's overwhelming, almost. It would be, if it weren't for the smile that Eren gives him when Levi looks back up at him after being lost in all of these thoughts. The smile is all slanted eyes, and has a comforting tilt and-

'You'll be mine and I'll be yours,'

- Levi feels like he isn't alone.

And that's enough for now.

'All I know since yesterday is everything has changed,'

[x]

But, later that night, when Levi's by himself and when the time when Eren usually calls him comes, he finds himself ignoring the first call.

And the second.

And the third.

Eren Yeager: (10:47 PM)
Levi?

'And all my walls stood tall, painted blue,'

Eren Yeager: (10:53 PM)
Levi are you mad at me?

Eren Yeager: (11:02 PM)
if i did something, im really sorry Levi

Eren Yeager: (11:35 PM)
i didn't mean to

Eren Yeager: (11:45 PM)
im really dumb sometimes and if i did something that hurt you or upset you in any way im really sorry

'And I'll take them down,'

Levi just sits there, reading the texts over and over again, before curling up on his bed and just feeling so wrong.

'take them down,'

Eren Yeager: (2:05 AM)
please talk to me Levi

'and open up the door for you,'

Calling Eren Yeager.

"Levi?"

"Hey, Eren. I'm…"

"…?"

"Sorry."

"What happened?" Eren breathes.

"I…Eren you could be talking to anyone else. Of all people, why me?" Levi shouldn't be being this honest, because Eren might not stay. Honesty is revealing. And Levi has never felt more bare, even though they are miles apart and only talking on the phone.

Eren takes a deep breath, and Levi feels like he's losing his.

"Isn't that my choice to make?" Eren says, sounding a angry as he barrels on. "I want to talk to you, Levi. Is that so hard for you to believe?"

"I'm a shitty person, Eren."

"I think you're an amazing person, and there's no one I'd rather be talking to." And even though Eren's saying these words like he's frustrated and maybe even pissed off with Levi-

'And all I feel in my stomach is butterflies,'

-Levi feels all of the tension in his stomach slowly melt away and it's as if a weight's been lifted off of his shoulders.

"Okay." He says.

"…Okay." Eren says back. And Levi can almost hear him smiling.

'The beautiful kind, making up for lost time,'

"Eren?"

"Yeah?" Eren answers.

"…I'm sorry." Levi repeats.

"It's okay."

'Taking flight, making me feel right,'

And it really was.

[x]

Another month passes and Levi knows he shouldn't be this hopeful.

Eren's sort of like a puppy dog, he's reasoned to himself. Friendly, and amiable and follows strangers around- pestering them until they pet its head.

Levi has no doubt that there's no one who wouldn't pet Eren's head.

So it's only a matter of time, because someone like Eren has a world of infinite possibilities and couldn't possibly, couldn't ever possible be in love with someone as mundane as Levi.

But he can't help himself from pestering Eren right back, and petting the proverbial puppy's head.

'I just wanna know you better,'

Because no matter how much time he spends with Eren, Levi feels like it's not enough.

'know you better,'

Eren is never going to get any less interesting.

'know you better now,'

Or maybe, it's just that Levi is never going to tire of him.

'I just wanna know you better,'

It doesn't matter either way, in all honesty.

'know you better,'

"So, are you gay or straight?" Eren asks him one day. It's the one thing that Levi refuses to answer.

"Does it matter?" Levi asks drily.

"Do you think it does?" Eren counters.

"Do I think my sexuality matters?" Levi enunciates slowly, as if speaking to a child.

Eren pouts. "That's not what I meant." He pauses for a second, before worriedly asking, "You're not… asexual, are you?!" A near horrified expression crosses his features something Levi would have found amusing, had he been looking.

"How would that bother you in any way?" Levi wants to know.

'know you better now,'

"I just, don't want you to be alone." Eren explains, softly.

Levi snorts. "Dipshit, being asexual doesn't mean you can't fall in love." And then he stops suddenly because Eren had said he didn't want Levi to be alone, not never fall in love!

'I just wanna know you better now, know you better, know you better now,'

But his worry is all for naught because it goes by Eren unnoticed, or maybe, that's what Eren had meant all along.

Eren sighs. "Yeah, actually I know. Armin gave me an earful about it last time. Romantic orientation, sexual orientation and all that jazz." An alarming expression passes over his features. "Wait you're not really asexual, right!"

"It doesn't sound like a bad idea." Levi muses.

"Levi!"

"What. I don't get why you're so obsessed with my sexual preferences." Levi points out.

"I'm just curious!" Eren explains.

Levi just rolls his eyes.

"Okay, don't tell me then. I'll just figure it out at your wedding."

Levi doesn't want to dignify that statement with a response.

'I just wanna know you, know you, know you,'

[x]

Maybe others would think him a fool for not confessing, or making 'a move on him' or whatever (the fuck, Hanji?) but no matter how eager Eren might seem to meet Levi every time, there's always that fear that maybe Eren doesn't want to hold hands (cheesy as Parmesan, Levi knows).

And Levi knows that if Eren doesn't at the very least love him back, it will hurt like hell and even more than that time in middle school he fell off of the pull up bar whilst hanging upside down.

(It's supposed to make you taller, apparently.)

(When Levi begrudgingly told Eren this story, Eren just looked at him very thoughtfully for a few seconds before informing him that no, it didn't seemed to have worked very well.)

It's that incessant fear, that Eren might not love him back. Because you can't take back loving someone and Levi's really scared of stepping out of safety and ruining their perfect balance.

'Cause all I know is we said 'Hello','

For now, he's happy with evading Eren's questions about his sexual orientation and comparing Eren's eye color to various greenery outside when he's not paying attention and just being able to feel the warmth of Eren sitting next to him, always just a little bit too far away for Levi's taste.

'And your eyes look like coming home,'

Levi even enjoys the comfortable silences that occur between them, sometimes, when they're both lost in thought or have nothing to say because it feels-

'All I know is a simple name,'

-it feels alright. And Levi knows that after this, he needs Eren in his life. Which is so odd because they met just two months ago and-

'Everything has changed,'

-and they used to be strangers but now they're anything but. Levi's secretly grateful for Eren's persistence and general pushiness because he knows,

'All I know is you held the door,'

he knows, that were Eren not as pushy and annoying and obnoxious as he is, they'd never have made it this far. No one else did. But that's okay, because Levi doesn't really need anyone else-

'And you'll be mine and I'll be yours,'

-a single pesky brat is enough.

'All I know since yesterday is everything has changed,'

[x]

Everything is going fine and great and just like this when suddenly, exam week comes.

A term has ended much quicker than Levi would have liked, and now he has a week until the first exam.

What that means is Levi needs to buckle down and study- with no distractions.

It's the same for Eren.

So no one's to blame when they slowly begin to talk less frequently; the phone calls becoming texts which eventually become spare messages which range from a 'hi' to the odd 'had a shitty day today' and because both of them are in entirely different classes, they have no way of seeing each other.

Levi hadn't expected it to hit this hard. It's only been three months yet a day without constant contact with Eren leaves him feeling more like a recovering drug addict than he would like to admit.

It's the night of the first exam that Levi really feels it- the first day he's gone in three months without a single text from Eren.

He wants to send a simple 'How was your first exam?' but the possibility of bothering Eren stops him. Because, if Eren wanted to talk, he'd had messaged by now, wouldn't he have?

So he doesn't and instead swallows his uneasiness before revising his notes for his next exam half-heartedly.

'Come back and tell me why,'

The next day goes the same way. Levi doesn't break their static silence, and neither does Eren.

Levi feels like everything is drifting away, like the past three months are drifting away and he can't do anything to hold onto them. Three months isn't even that long, he knows, and that makes it easier for it to slip away and become increasingly less relevant as time passes.

It's only been two nights yet he feels this unsettled. Is it even normal to miss someone this much over the course of barely 48 hours?

'I'm feeling like I've missed you all this time,'

Eren finally messages him on the night of the third exam-

Eren Yeager: (10:45 PM)
hey Levi sorry, i've been studying really hard for these exams, and i always have to focus 100% to do well on them

Levi understands this, and it makes a lot of sense. Eren's the sort of person who always puts all of his energy into the sole task he's doing- and hence he can only do one thing at a time. Levi doubts that Eren's talking to any of his friends much, much less Levi, the weird irate short guy he met three months ago.

Levi, however, has always been a multitasker.

'This is what I get for being good at everything,' Levi grumbles to himself. However, he can't complain about any of this so he just swallows his discomfort once again and messages back-

Levi: (10:48 PM)
No problem at all. Good luck for all of your exams.

Eren Yeager: (11:15 PM)
thanks! you too!

Levi grits his teeth for the rest of the week and successfully aces all of his exams. That slow burn still sits in his chest, but it doesn't deter him from accomplishing his own goals because he takes his studies really seriously too.

After the last exam, Levi goes through the following hours wasting time with his friends, (his other friends), and tries not to check his phone too often for a text message that never comes.

He ignores the lack of recontact from Eren for the rest of day.

But when it's passing a quarter after ten that night, he can't help but feel all the fear and worry he's been suppressing of losing contact with Eren tumbling onto him because Eren should have messaged him by now, but he hasn't so Levi feels his heart slowly start to break at being forgotten until he hears an odd knocking sound at his window.

He sits up on his bed and something comes and hits the glass, making a soft plink as it does.

'Is someone, is someone throwing stones at my window?!' he wonders incredulously as he walks over to inspect what exactly is happening.

Someone is indeed throwing stones at his window.

Eren Yeager stands there, looking adorably rumpled with an endearing expression of determination on his face which fades into a sheepish smile when he catches sight of Levi, who's just standing there with an open mouth, blown eyes, and flustered cheeks.

'And meet me there tonight,'

How fucking dare you,' Levi thinks, as he feels his heart nearly explode. 'You pull shit like this and expect me not to fall in love with you?'

Aware of how ridiculous he must look, Levi finally snaps his mouth shut and points to the rose trellis. Eren's brow just scrunches in confusion until Levi rolls his eyes and shouts, "Climb it, you dipshit."

At the sound of Levi's unofficial nickname for him (also in the running: dumbass, brat, kid), Eren breaks into an honest grin before proceeding to scale the trellis.

It takes him a few minutes while Levi waits, sitting quietly on the roof consciously forcing himself not to smile. Eventually Eren plops down next to him, breathing a bit heavier. Levi feels out of breath too, even though he didn't have to climb any trellises.

"So," he begins.

"So?" Levi reiterates.

"Which teenage bestseller is this from?" Eren asks, with a light smile, eyes sparkling.

"Pretty sure it was 'Romeo and Juliet'." Levi answers, his voice dry as a bone when really, he's kind of sort of melting inside.

"Doesn't that make you Juliet?" Eren teases.

"When Romeo sneaks into Juliet's room, it's to consummate their marriage." Levi apprises him nonchalantly.

"Oh!" Eren turns a shade of red. "That, uhm, wasn't my plan." He says, cheeks a dahlia red.

"I would hope not. My bed's only a single, and anyways Hanji's in, doing god knows what." Levi tells him, idly. "But, there's always the shower. Hell, it'll be clean too. So what do you say, up for some smoking hot shower sex?" The words trip out before he can really consider them, because in all honesty Levi's never been one to hold back, and turning the brat various shades of red is something that always amuses Levi to no end.

But. (And there's always a cute butt, especially when Eren's around.)

As he says it, Levi feels his own words painting bright, unrestricted pictures in his mind- and it's not like he hasn't thought about it before (read: fantasized, Levi would apologize to Jesus if he believed in him.) but Eren's sitting there right next to him and Jesus Christ popping a boner would never be more awkward.

Eren, for his part, just splutters unintelligently while he turns a deeper shade of red. "Levi!" he cries out, adequately ruffled.

Eventually the awkward sexual tension dissolves as they slip into their own style of casual conversation which is really just two boys being hopelessly and unknowingly in love with each other.

"Hey," Eren says, leaning back onto his arms as he stares up into the never ending starry sky.

"Yeah?" Levi asks, arms wrapped around his knees as he inhales the night air.

Eren looks at him, tilting his head to the side, a gentle smile fronting his features. "You know, even though it was only like a week, and it wasn't even like you were gone or anything, I really missed you."

'And let me know that it's not all in my mind,'

Levi meets Eren's gaze and sighs, contentedly. "I know." He says, lips pulled up on one side in a slight smile.

And Eren understands what Levi isn't saying, what he doesn't need to say.

It's in the air, soft and heavy at the same time as they both breathe and sit in comfortable silence and just exist next to each other.

[x]

Levi's an honest person, so he can accept the fact that he's completely and utterly fucked.

A complete stranger (how long will you keep calling him this, Levi) now has the capability to ruin him.

"Why don't you just tell him?" Hanji questions him one day.

"I can't!' Levi says, exasperated. "I came to you for moral support and shitty comfort, not advice on what to do." He frowns.

"I can offer you alcohol but we both know you don't really get drunk and ice-cream's only for broken hearts. And you, my friend, most certainly do not have a broken heart." She tells him as she glances through a notebook.

Levi makes a sound of frustration. "Hanji, you don't understand, it actually fucking hurts to sit next to him and not hold his hand." He cringes at how cliché that sounds, while Hanji looks up from her notebook.

"You really are screwed, aren't you?" She observes, with a pitying expression.

'Not pitying, anything but pitying!' Levi thinks to himself, worriedly.

"Just tell him!" She urges again, with a more insistent tone of voice. "What's the worst that could happen? That he won't love you back?" she snorts and Levi shoots her a look meaning you are not helping.

"Yes!" He hisses. Yes. he says again, to himself.

"Levi. That boy doesn't keep coming back for no reason. You and I both know that." When all Levi does is glare back, she purses her lips and considers something. "…unless that's not what's really stopping you? Levi, is it that you don't think you're good enough for him?" she asks, incredulously.

Levi just looks away, ashamed and Hanji gets her answer.

Sleep deprived Hanji is sort of like drunk Hanji (who for some reason behaves with common sense and speaks with an indoor voice) and is also on point.

"Do you really think Eren feels that way?" She asks. "Because his opinion is the one that really counts in this situation."

'Isn't that my choice to make?' Levi remembers Eren telling him a while ago.

"Yeah," He says bleakly, to both statements.

'I just wanna know you better, know you better, know you better now
I just wanna know you, know you, know you,'

[x]

Eren goes back home for two weeks, for the first semester holidays.

Thankfully.

Thankfully, because Levi knows he's not going to last must longer. Now, it actually hurts to not tell Eren those three words and he's scared that one day he's going to slip up and text 'I really love you, dipshit,' instead of 'I had a shitty day today'.

So of course he does the most nonsensical thing that can be done and starts avoiding Eren. (And even goes as far as to switching off his phone and avoiding all of Eren's friends for obvious reasons.) (Eren's friends; read: Mikasa.)

Which is really stupid because there's a difference between running away and running from something.

And Levi can't run from him for too long; Eren's bound to catch up eventually.

(Read: Eren's going to return to campus in a week and a half inevitably.)

Knowing Eren, the day he arrives, the brat will show up first thing after class to confront him.

Levi blissfully and successfully manages to avoid Eren until the day of his return. (Which quite frankly wasn't all that difficult what with Eren being some 400 km away from him.)

But that fated day arrives so right after class Levi drives to the place where he hopes Eren will least likely expect him to be at- the pet store.

The fucking pet store.

And whilst there, Levi most certainly does not pet all of the kittens and he most definitely does not leave when he sees a really eager puppy chasing its own tail.

The problem with ignoring Eren for the rest of Levi's life is that Eren knows where he lives, and so he dreads going home.

On the drive back, though, it starts raining so Levi relaxes, knowing that Eren will not be able to catch him at home.

But the gods that were once favoring Levi turn their back on him, and at exactly 9:45 PM it stops raining.

Levi groans, and turns on his phone.

Levi: (9:55 PM)
Don't come to my house.

He doesn't get a reply, but he waits, knowing that it is all futile. Because teal eyes and tousled chestnut hair and a determined grin and warmth are not things you can forget, and Eren is unavoidable.

It doesn't take long, maybe only fifteen minutes, before Levi's phone flashes with a new text message.

Eren Yeager: (10:10 PM)
come down

With a sinking feeling in his chest, Levi accepts defeat and slowly puts his phone into his pocket before walking over to the window.

It hits him like a term paper deadline; Eren's standing there, arms crossed and waiting. Levi swallows slowly and makes his way to the door.

For once in his life, Levi doesn't want to see Eren. He swallows again.

It's like everything's falling in reverse, and time is agonizingly yet reassuringly slow-

'All I know is we said, 'Hello','

-until finally, Levi's standing in front of a heavily unimpressed Eren.

Eren's always been an open book that Levi loves to read, but today every emotion written in those features is something Levi can't even bring his eyes to.

He stares at the wet ground. And waits.

And waits. Because it seems like Eren's doing the same, waiting for him to talk.

But Levi's always had more patience than Eren, so in the end Eren is the one to break the silence.

"Levi." Eren regards him.

Levi remains silent, eyes still on the ground.

"Why did you start ignoring me?" He asks, tersely.

With a pang in his chest, Levi does not miss the fact that Eren doesn't ask, 'What's wrong?'

"I just…" he trails off, unable to answer.

"Levi!" and Levi almost flinches at Eren's tone of voice, it's so desperate, it's so betrayed. "Look at me!" he very nearly pleads.

And so Levi does. It's like a slap across the face, Eren looks angry, confused, frustrated, tired, but more than anything else, he looks,

he looks hurt.

'And your eyes look like coming home,'

"Why, Levi, tell me why." He says, so desperately wanting to know what he's done wrong.

And it's that, that affects Levi more than anything else. 'Nothing, you did nothing wrong, I'm just a shitty person who wants to hold your hand!' He wants to yell. But he doesn't, and instead says, "It's nothing. I'm…sorry." He gives a small smile. "I'm sorry. It's nothing. We just… don't need to talk anymore. Thanks," he takes a deep breath and manages to finish what he was saying, "thanks, and goodbye, Eren."

'All I know is a simple name,'

Then Levi turns, and starts making his way back to his front door, trying not to look back because doing so, he knows, would shatter his heart into a tiny million pieces.

Any other person would have left. But, but this pesky brat-

"I just don't get it!" Eren shouts. "What the fuck did I do? Is it because I keep pushing?! Well I can't stop pushing!" Levi whirls around, astonished.

'Everything has changed,'

"I can't stop fucking pushing, you asshole! I just can't." Eren stands there, as his voice becomes unendurably quiet. "I can't."

"Well why not?" Levi yells back, this crack of emotion breaking through his stoic façade.

"Because," Eren says, voice nearly a whisper, "if I stop pushing then I'll never get to you."

'All I know is you held the door,'

It starts raining.

"Why do you want to be my friend so badly?" Levi asks, voice cracking badly on friend.

Levi hates the rain.

"Because!" Eren's shouting again, "Because I enjoy your company and I'd rather spend time with you than anyone I've known and you're such an asshole yet you're actually a really good person and I like hearing you laugh and seeing you smile and I never want to stop talking with you so I keep pushing because I want to know more about you but you keep pushing me away and so I don't know if you're just entertaining me not to be rude which makes no sense because you are rude and just," he takes a huge gulp of air, "I can't help but think maybe you just don't like me."

'You'll be mine and I'll be yours,'

"No, you dumbass. I don't not like you!" Levi says, weakly, as he fights a losing battle

"Then WHAT, WHAT is it?" Eren demands.

"I'M FUCKING IN LOVE WITH YOU, you idiot." He shouts back. "I'm in love with you." Levi says again, quietly this time, before turning away and walking as fast as he can to the stupid fucking door so he can walk inside and slam it and cry with at least a smidgen of his dignity still intact.

'All I know since yesterday is,'

And Eren just stands there, blank faced, taking in what Levi's just said. And then his heart starts beating studiously faster as he realizes what's happening.

As he rushes up to Levi and grabs his arm, causing Levi to turn back around.

As Levi shakes him off and asks, in a wrecked voice, "What the fuck do you want?"

"I," Eren says, dazed. "I'm in love with you too."

'everything has changed.'

Levi blinks up at him, and freezes just like all of those times before. "What?" He asks, dumbfounded.

"I love you. I'm in love with you too." Eren starts to grin, that goddamn brat.

'All I know is we said, 'Hello','

"What." Levi repeats, dumbly. But it's not a question anymore.

Because his heart is racing and all of a sudden he feels like shouting and throwing his hands up in the air and rolling all over the ground but he doesn't because

A) He is not Eren.

B) The ground is wet.

C) No.

All of that heavy weight lifts off of his shoulders and Levi feels like he could fly and he can't decide whether he wants to kiss or punch Eren more.

Because Eren loves him too.

He knows that maybe things won't work out and that maybe they might end up hating eachother-

'So dust off your highest hopes,'

-but maybe they won't and maybe things will work out, but none of that matters now because it's raining and Eren's standing there right in front of him right now and they're both drenched and Levi still can't decide whether he wants to kiss or punch Eren more-

'All I know is pouring rain,'

-only it's okay, because Eren makes the choice for him.

And that's how Eren and Levi end up having their first kiss in the rain.

'and everything has changed,'

Levi fucking loves the rain.

[x]

Some days later, after things have happened and time has passed, (but not too much time), Eren and Levi are having lunch together when Eren says, "So,"

"So." Levi repeats.

"So, I take it you're gay, then?" Eren asks.

Levi doesn't dignify that with a response.

'All I know is a new found grace,'

[x]

Levi and Eren are walking through the courtyard, right past the spot where they first met, when Eren slips his hand into Levi's jean's back pocket.

"Trying to cop a feel?" Levi asks drily.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Eren answers, innocently. Then, not so innocently, "Nothing I haven't done before."

"Okay." Levi says.

"Okay." Eren says.

And they continue walking.

'All my days I'll know your face,'

[x]

"Hey Eren," Levi says idly, one day, visiting him in the library.

"Yeah?" Eren calls back from behind a shelf, as he tediously stacks books onto the same.

"I bought 'The Fault in Our Stars' on DVD. Let's watch it tomorrow night?"

And Eren,

'All I know since yesterday is,'

Eren just grins, happy.

'everything has changed.'