Sex doesn't feel distasteful with her. That's how he knows she is something special. The whole production has always felt slightly unsanitary to him, the heat, the noise, the sweat. But when Mikasa is beneath him he finds himself tracing a trickle of her perspiration with his lips and tongue, skating down her browbone to her cheek. When he comes she holds him tight as he hisses her name against her shoulder and tries not to blurt out that he loves her. (He does not, but can see himself muttering it to her someday, probably at some inopportune moment. The knowledge feels dangerous to him, somehow.)
Later, they spend time simply looking at each other as they lay tangled in Levi's crisp white sheets, memorizing the planes and angles of each other's faces. They wear matching smiles, lightly curved lips, a peek of teeth.
"You know, for the longest time I thought you were such an asshole," Mikasa says, twirling a strand of Levi's hair around one finger.
"I am an asshole," Levi admits. "But it works, 'cause you can be kind of a bitch."
"Yeah," Mikasa chuckles, her already flushed cheeks growing slightly darker. "A little."
"But I like that," he breathes, then closes the slight distance between them, kissing her lightly.
"I noticed," she says against his lips as they lay there, nose to nose. "You've had your hand on my boob for like twenty minutes now."
Levi scoffs and looks down at his right hand, firmly cupped around Mikasa's left breast. "It's my boob now."
"You're so bad at dirty talk!" she laughs.
"Thanks," he gripes, burying his face into the pillow (although, Mikasa notes, he does not move his hand at all).
"No, it's cute." She leans in to kiss his forehead, hoping that the pressure of her lips is more reassuring than her words.
Levi sighs, blowing a strand of Mikasa's hair away from her face. "I'm still mad at myself for not realizing we've probably been texting each other while we were in the same room."
"I'm pretty sure we've done that. I'm not sure how I'll spend my time now that I'm not glued to my phone."
"You can talk to me in real life, stupid. We can just hang out."
"Oh yeah? Is this how you hang out?" she asks him, one eyebrow raised.
Levi shrugs one shoulder. "Apparently."
"I like it." Mikasa turns onto her back and puts her hands behind her head, then exhales deeply. "So we broke the cardinal roommate rule, huh?"
"Definitely. But I'm not worried about it. We've already been honest with each other for this long. Why stop now?" Levi raises himself up on one elbow and looks down at her. "Except you lied to me about drinking my tea."
Mikasa looks away from him for a moment as she flashes a wide, goofy smile. "In my defense, you told me to take it."
"So this is my fault now?" he asks, shifting until he is straddling her hips. He leans down over her, lacing his fingers through hers.
She smirks at him. "What are you going to do about it?"
"Murder you, obviously," Levi answers.
"Please don't say you're going to murder me with your dick. That was horrible."
"No, I'm just going to hug you to death." He wraps his arms around her chest. "I like you so goddamned much, you fucking disgusting brat," he grunts out as he squeezes her to him.
"I like you too, even if you are a serial killer," she replies between bursts of laughter. Levi's grip slackens a little and Mikasa takes the opportunity to snake her hands up his chest and then outwards, under his arms, tickling him there.
"What the hell?!" he yelps, wrestling himself away from her. "How did you know I was ticklish?"
Mikasa grins at him. "A friend told me."