They were so close to Riften. So close Eren could taste it.

They had been walking a day since the spriggan incident and Levi hadn't let Eren stop to sleep. He had allowed Eren to pause and rest his feet every few hours, however reluctantly. It seemed like after the spriggan thing Levi just wanted to book it to Riften. Eren could understand how he felt.

He was tired and sore, but he had a bed waiting for him in Riften, in a place where (hopefully) no one wanted to kill him. No wolves would attack him, no bears (which were surprisingly populous in this forested area), no dragons. Fuck, Eren hated dragons.

Speak of the devil.

Eren heard the roaring and rumble of a nearby dragon, circling in the sky. He groaned in frustration, and before he knew what he was doing, he had grabbed Levi's hand and crouched behind a rather large rock to hide from it. He hated dragons.

The only problem? How close their bodies were, his chest flush with Levi's as he pressed close to the rock, their breath mingling. His arms caged Levi against the rock, which Eren knew couldn't be comfortable. Levi's armor was poking into Eren's stomach, but it still somehow felt intimate. Eren was currently sitting with both of his legs in between Levi's. Levi opened his mouth, but Eren shook his head violently.

The dragon roared once again, closer this time. Eren felt the ground rumbling as the dragon landed, and sounds of attack. He peeked around the edge of the rock to find a dragon fighting a giant. Gods, if there was anything Eren hated more than dragons, it was giants. Eren had more than a few bad memories associated with them. Hopefully the giant and dragon would kill each other and Levi and Eren could continue on their merry way.

Eren could feel Levi squirming in his arms, which made him pause for a moment. Eren had at least a little self control, especially when there was definitely nothing sexy about the situation. Levi's armor was hard against his stomach, he was in an uncomfortable position, and Levi kept squirming. So why did he feel flustered all of a sudden?

How long would it take for either the dragon or the giant to kill the other?

"There's a dragon fighting a giant," Eren whispered, his voice barely audible, "Hopefully they'll kill each other."

"I'm uncomfortable as fuck," Levi hissed, "Plus, I've got the heavy armor, shouldn't I be on the outside?"

Eren ignored the comment and kept watching the fight. It went on, the giant swinging his club at the dragon and the dragon snapping at the giant, occasionally taking off and flying around a bit. Eren always pressed closer at those times, which resulted in more squirming from Levi. However, Eren knew Levi had the full capability to shove Eren off him, and he didn't.

Finally, after several excruciating minutes, the giant killed the dragon. Eren wasn't close enough to absorb the dragon soul, but there was no threat of the giant attempting to kill them, as it was beginning to walk away and giant only attacked if you got too close. Eren relaxed and fell back onto the ground, releasing Levi.

"Well that was fucking awful," Levi said scornfully as he stood up and glanced at the dead dragon, the giant not even pausing in it's journey away.

"Sorry," Eren said, standing up, "I'm too exhausted to fight a dragon. Let's just go."

As they were walking, apparently Eren got close enough to the dragon corpse to absorb it's soul anyway. The giant was too far away at that point, and didn't notice them. Even if it did, it wouldn't have attacked.

Finally, after fighting a few more bears and wolf packs (seriously, why were there so many bears?) they made it to Riften. The giant wooden gate was a welcome sight. Even the guard, with their typical "What is it, elf?" couldn't dampen Eren's spirits. They entered the city together.

As usual, it was bustling with people. It was a nice day, and nice days in Riften were beautiful. Levi and Eren walked together into the marketplace. where the stall owners were yelling about selling armor or jewelry. Homeless people sat outside the market, begging for coins. Riften was said to be the worst city in Skyrim, what with the Thieves' Guild running around. In Eren's opinion, it was actually quite nice.

"Guess we have to part ways, for now," Eren said awkwardly, trying to hint at the fact that he wanted to see Levi again after this. Levi seemed to catch the hint.

"Yep," was all he said before he walked off. Eren's shoulders slumped in disappointment. Eren expected something... more, from Levi. They had been traveling together for a while, he just thought Levi might care a bit more at this point.

"Hey," Levi called as Eren made to sulk off, "See you."

Eren grinned, feeling happiness bubble up inside him, and watched Levi disappear into the Bee and Barb. Levi had said "see you". Meaning, they would see each other again. Meaning Levi wanted to see him again. Eren was smiling as he walked to the Thieves' Guild secret entrance, grinning the whole way. One guard stared at him a bit too long, but Eren didn't mind much. That one woman who was always praying to her god didn't pay Eren any mind.

He walked through the Riften graveyard and pressed the button on a tomb, opening the entrance to the Thieves' Guild. He walked in and climbed down the ladder into the Ratway. Immediately, he was confronted with the faces of his two friends, Mikasa and Armin.

They were Bosmer like himself. They were childhood friends of Eren's, who had decided to travel with Eren when he left. The three had been through a lot together. They were able to sneak across the border into Skyrim safely, while Eren had been caught in an Imperial ambush and almost executed. He was still kind of angry about that, one of the reasons he wouldn't choose a side in the civil war. (The other was, of course, that the Stormcloaks were elf-haters. Well, non-Nord haters.)

"Eren, are you OK?" Mikasa asked immediately, inspecting him for wounds. Apparently satisfied with his lack thereof, she relaxed and smiled, pulling Eren into a hug.

"Welcome back!" Armin grinned. He had an odd hair color, for a Bosmer. There weren't many wood elves with blonde hair.

"Hey, guys," Eren grinned happily, feeling immense relief at being back with Armin and Mikasa, "It's good to be back."

Rather than head right for Jean to get his money, he instead stumbled towards his bed, one among various beds set around the room. He fell into the bed face-first, and immediately drifted off to sleep.

Eren woke to Mikasa peering into his face.

He let out a startled yelp and tried to shuffle back, ultimately falling off the bed. He got up slowly, wincing at his aching back. He had slept well, now that Levi wasn't there to nag him about wasting time.

"What are you doing, Mikasa?" Eren asked grumpily. He yawned.

"Jean heard you were back and wants to see you." she said, a hint of malice in her voice. She had settled on Eren's bed, gazing at him and pursing her lips, "He should let you sleep."

"It's fine, Mikasa," Eren waved a hand dismissively, not wanting Mikasa to get too worked up. He glanced around the room, finding Armin standing by some practice dummies, preparing his bow for some training. Now that Eren knew where his friends were, he headed to the outer part of the Ratway, the place the Thieves' Guild called home.

In the Ratway, he found Jean sitting at a nearby table, littered in notes, either warnings or requests. He also had a bottle of ale beside him. It was a little early to be drinking, if you asked Eren.

"You finish the job?" Jean asked unceremoniously, munching on a piece of bread. He raised an eyebrow expectantly.

"Yes, I finished the job," Eren rolled his eyes and brought out everything he had stolen. Jean grinned as he checked it all over.

"Alright, it's yours to keep," Jean said happily, settling deeper into his chair, "Oh, right. You know how we've been missing a fence? Well, we got a new one. He'll buy your stolen goods. Might as well go sell them."

Jean waved a hand at Eren, motioning for him to leave. Eren sighed and searched the room, trying to find the new fence. He really did need to sell this stuff before he was arrested and they were taken from him.

"Looking for the new fence?" Marco asked. He was the bartender in the Ratway. He really was too nice of a guy to be down there, but Eren knew why he stayed around, if the way he kept looking at Jean was any indication. What the man saw in a Nord Eren would never know.

"Yep," Eren answered, eyes still scanning the room. The room looked like a run down tavern. It had tables and chairs, and a bar for drinks. Behind those was a small little indoor pond, with another eating area near there.

"He's over there," Marco pointed to a table that was behind a wall. No wonder Eren couldn't see him.

"Thanks!" Eren smiled, "Oh, and, how's it going with Jean? I've been meaning to ask."

Marco's freckled face immediately turned beet red, and he brought a hand to his face, as if to cool it off. He glanced over at said Nord, who was busy downing an entire bottle of ale.

"He doesn't even notice me," Marco said quietly, "He just sees me as an alcohol provider."

"Keep trying!" Eren said sympathetically, before turning around to find that fence.

Eren strolled over to the table where the fence was sitting, already taking his stolen goods out of his bag. He didn't look up as he began talking.

"Hey, I heard you're the new fence? I've got some-" Eren finally looked up and recoiled, eyes widening in shock at the man sitting before him.

"What the fuck - Levi?!"

A/N: ┏(;-_-)┛ anyone interested in helping me write some smut later on?