Eren checked his phone for the umpteenth time and let out a sigh when he saw no sign of a missed notification. He had been waiting for what felt like hours to hear back from Levi who was supposed to call him.

Since Levi had called him for his birthday, they had talked on the phone every weekend. They only used texts during the week because they were both too busy and tired. Besides, after they had hung up after midnight one Tuesday night, they had realized their conversations tended to be hours long. They had therefore both agreed to call each other only on Saturdays and Sundays.

Even if they talked for hours, they weren't really discussing anything remotely important. They often started their conversations by telling each other about their week, switching then from one subject to another easily. Time was just passing by so fast while they were talking, Eren lost in the maze created by their conversations, leaving him more than often confused about how they had started talking about that or this topic sometimes. But he never dwelled on it for too long. He really enjoyed being able to talk with Levi, no matter the subject, and the fact they never reached the point where they had nothing to say always made him feel warm and fuzzy inside.

When had he started developing those kinds of feelings for Levi, he had no idea. They had just grown with each passing weeks and months of texting, without him really realizing it. Before he had been aware of them, he had noticed he was always waiting eagerly for Levi's texts, smiling when he read them, and that every time something happened, he wanted to share it with him. It had been quite innocent at first, but then he had started to want more.

XxxXxxXxxX

Levi was just this name on his phone and words piled up in a conversation, but that was it. And with how close they had started to be, talking about subjects he didn't talk about even with his closest friends, Eren wanted to see the face of the man who had brought back a smile on his face and a glimmer of hope in his life. But while being the straightforward person that he was, Eren didn't know how to broach the subject.

"Send him a picture of you, he might do the same, right?"

Jean, surprisingly, was the one to offer him a solution. He had been at some gathering with his friends and had started to talk about his faceless new friend at some point, sharing his concerns with them. Being his flatmate, Jean had already heard of him even if he hadn't had more details before that night. He confessed he was starting to be fed up with Eren's constant lamentations and if he didn't plan on doing something soon, he would be the one taking the matter in his own hands, even if he had to send a stupid picture of Eren to forward things.

Taking Jean's threat seriously, and ignoring Mikasa's repeated concerns about how dangerous talking with a complete stranger was – like he was a 6-year-old kid, Eren started to think really hard about it. Then, one night, after a few bottles of beer to give him more courage and several messed up selfies, Eren eventually sent a picture of himself to Levi. His mind had been quite clouded by the alcohol, but all in all, it went well. Levi complimented him, after a few minutes of pleading, and it helped boosting his confidence. However, Levi didn't send a picture of himself in return. Well, he did, but Eren still had no idea how Levi looked like. He just received broad shoulders and toned forearms as an answer. But Eren wasn't someone known for giving up, and thus he didn't.

Eren racked his brain in an attempt to find out why Levi didn't want to send a picture of himself. Maybe he found himself ugly. Maybe he had a burn or a scar on his face. Whatever it was, Eren was pretty sure he wouldn't care either way. He had already fallen hard, and all he wanted was a face to put on the name of the person who could make him smile with a single buzz of his phone. At some point, Eren even thought about the possibility of Levi not being photogenic and having a complex because of the – he hoped – flawless pictures he had sent of himself. Hence why Eren started sending silly pictures, probably making a fool of himself, in the hope of coaxing Levi to lose whatever complex he had about his appearance. But of course, it didn't work. Eren still only received photos of his surroundings, and at best, of him but without his face.

Eren then became quite paranoiac, much thanks to Mikasa always warning him to be careful. Maybe Levi wasn't the person he claimed to be and that was the reason why he didn't want to show his face. Maybe everything he had said until now was only a strategy to get closer to him in order to- to what? Get pictures of him? Swindle him? Play with him? Eren was really overthinking everything at this point, and every time he tried his hardest to chase away those thoughts. He had pictures of Levi which were coherent with one another and couldn't be some he had found on the internet. He also had the number of Hanji, Levi's best friend, who was exactly how he had described her. Either they were two in this setup or Eren was definitely paranoiac.

However, with those thoughts, Eren started to question his feelings. How weird was it to crush on someone you had never met before? To feel so close to someone and be so far away from them at the same time? For all he knew, Levi could live miles away from him. And thus, Eren came to the conclusion he needed to stop feeling that way about him and start seeing real people. People he could actually see, meet, and talk to face to face. It would actually be better for his mental health than having an unrequited crush on someone he had never met.

But how one could meet new people? Eren had always been a very social and open person, ready to befriend anyone who started talking to him or start talking to people he thought he could get along with, yet he felt like it had been years since he had socialized with strangers. Since Armin's accident to be exact. And thus, he never passed the stage of staring at people, trying to figure out if he should try to talk to them, gauging the way they were interacting with others to see if he could start a conversation easily. But every time he looked at a man, he couldn't help but think of Levi and wonder if he had a long or round nose, dark or light eyes, if he looked like the man who was sitting over there or the other one on the opposite side of the room. By the time he would realize what he was doing, his mind was already filled with thoughts of his texting friend and the brunet couldn't help but groan at his uncooperative mind.

Even that one time when he actually met someone and tried to talk to the person, it had been because he had been thinking of Levi. He went to his favorite café – which Levi couldn't stop praising for their beverage – in order to check the man's statements, and also maybe to feel a bit closer to him – but it was a secret. While he tried to take a good enough selfie to send to his friend, his eyes landed on a man, sitting alone at a table, looking at his phone.

He had sharp cheekbones and a well-defined jawline, a thin nose and a pointed chin. His hair was as dark as charcoal and looked really thin and silky, resting on his temple and a bit on his forehead. But what captured Eren's attention the most was his eyes. While the rest of his face looked expressionless, even a bit rough, his lips closed in a thin line, his eyes seemed to hold a hundred of different emotions he couldn't pinpoint. From where he was standing, he could only assess that they were light and that they were shining, the screen of his phone reflected in them.

Before he had time to really think things through – it wasn't his style anyway, he always headed into a situation first and thought about it after – he made his way to the stranger and cleared his throat, eager to catch his attention and start a conversation with him. He had nothing to lose. At worst, the guy wouldn't answer him and it would be it. But if it went well, he could get to know someone new, get to talk with someone he could see with his own two eyes, and it would be a hundred times healthier than being attached to someone he couldn't even see.

The man looked up at him, surprise in his eyes but his face still closed, and Eren improvised. He figured asking him to take a picture would be as a good start as any, and also a good pretext to start a conversation. Considering it had been a while since Eren had done something like this, he was pretty sure he was a nervous mess even if he was trying to look confident and friendly. Nevertheless, the stranger seemed quite uncomfortable talking to him, so eventually he backed down and stopped intruding in his personal space.

Eren didn't think he had read him wrong and the guy had actually been interested in him, if the way he had looked at him – scanning his body, his face and his eyes – was a good indication. So maybe the reason why he had seemed uncomfortable was because he was shy and a bit awkward socially. But even if Eren had only talked to him for a few minutes and hadn't asked for his name nor his number, it had made him feel better. He was still able to talk to strangers if he wanted to. But as he talked with Levi on his phone afterwards, telling him what had happened, he just didn't know if he really wanted to.

He begun to feel kind of torn after this meeting. Why had he tried to talk – even flirt if he allowed himself to use the word – with a stranger while he had Levi? Granted, they were just friends, and Eren had actually no idea if he could be interested in him or not, so it wasn't as if he had betrayed him. But the brunet had felt like he had tried to betray his own feelings. Even if it sounded pathetic or stupid, Eren felt like a cheater.

Thankfully, he was soon on vacation, and going back home allowed him to think more clearly about his feelings. He didn't talk to Levi a lot during December, and that fact added to his introspection spurred him on to his new – old – quest.

Getting a picture of Levi.

Maybe he was annoying, maybe he was insisting too much, but maybe if he kept asking Levi would eventually give up and oblige. However, he might have underestimated how stubborn his friend could actually be, because it never happened. Perhaps Levi had no interest in getting closer to him and that was why he refused. Eren was just this annoying brat Levi found funny to tease and talk to, and that was all. But then, Levi had confessed pretty personal things to him, things you didn't tell someone you were just passing time with. So maybe Eren was just overthinking everything again.

And maybe he had gotten it all wrong, because one day, all of the sudden, Levi suggested for them to meet in person. It came as a huge surprise to Eren. He was shocked and had a hard time believing he had actually offered. It was so much far ahead of everything he had hoped for, but he couldn't complain, and he didn't. He was actually completely thrilled at the fact he would be able to not just see Levi's face, but see it with his own eyes, hear his voice and talk to him while looking into his eyes. Be physically with him. It would make everything so much more real and Eren couldn't wait.

The day of their date – friendly date as Eren reminded himself, not that he would mind if it was a real one – arrived and the brunet hadn't felt this nervous in a long time. Would he be able to talk normally to Levi, without making a fool of himself? Would Levi find him more annoying once they would be face to face? And then another crucial question emerged. How should he dress? Something casual but not too casual should do it. They were meeting as friends after all, so something too classy would give the wrong message, and something not enough neat would show his messy side.

In the end, he opted for clothes he was comfortable in and had already worn in some of the pictures he had sent to Levi, as well as his lucky pants: dark skinny jeans that hugged his legs perfectly like they had been made just for him. They always gave him a boost of confidence, and that was all he needed to appease his nerves.

Once he had succeeded in taming his hair at the best of his capabilities, meaning they were still a bit messy but in a controlled way, he made his way to the bus stop in order not to be late. He would actually be early, but it was a thirty minutes route to the café and there were less buses on Saturday. Besides, being early wasn't so bad. He could calm down a bit before meeting Levi, considering he wouldn't be early too.

Eren had relaxed a bit during his bus trip, but the second he passed the threshold of the coffee shop, he became nervous all over again. He tried not to look too much tense and made a beeline to the counter to order his long-awaited morning dose of caffeine. He tried his best not to look around too much before getting his order, and sent a message to Levi to let him know he had arrived. Was he already here too? The thought eventually made him look at the faces present around him, and his eyes widened when they landed on a familiar one. Was it the guy he had approached last time he had been there? The more Eren glanced at him and the more it became clear that he had recognized him right.

Seeing someone he knew, even if he had only seen and talked to the guy once, kind of appeased him and made him less nervous. Would it be wrong for him to go and talk to him? He was waiting for Levi after all, it would be kind of awkward if Eren was talking to someone else when he came to meet him. But at the same time, he couldn't imagine waiting alone at a table with all his piled-up nervousness. He could just go and talk a bit while waiting for Levi to answer his text. Just a few minutes wouldn't hurt.

But as he approached the dark-haired stranger for the second time and saw a look of utter surprise and his eyes sending alarm signals his way, Eren suddenly came to the conclusion it had actually been a terrible idea and that the guy didn't remember him. They had only talked once months ago, of course the guy didn't remember, that was actually pretty normal. Eren just had a too good memory of faces for his own good. But then it had been his turn to be surprised when the guy none only remembered him but also remembered what he had drunk that day. People's memory all worked in their own ways, he guessed, and didn't complain. Him remembering meant he could have some company while he waited, and that was all he needed.

The guy seemed extremely uncomfortable though, even more than the first time, and Eren tried not to look too much at him to give him his space. He was too preoccupied by Levi not answering him anyway, so he didn't dwell on it too much. But maybe he had overstepped his boundaries and the guy hadn't known how to turn him down? Maybe he had actually no idea how to say no to people and Eren had backed him up in a corner with his demand. The fact that he shared personal details about his upcoming meeting didn't help much, because in a matter of minutes, he stood up abruptly and said his farewell before storming out of the café. Well, not really in a hurried way, but it had felt like he wanted to get away as soon as he could without it being too flagrant. However, Eren was a good observer and had noticed it. Next time he should really refrain from annoying the poor guy.

It was way after their meeting time, and Eren still hadn't heard anything from Levi. Not even a single text telling him he had left his apartment and was on his way, or one saying he would be late. Nothing since the evening before, and Eren's impatience quickly turned into worry. Was Levi okay? It was definitely weird that he hadn't heard anything from him. He had said he lived in the area and would walk to the shop, so there was no way he was caught up in traffic. Did something happen to him on his way here? Eren didn't want to think of the worst, but without any news in the last thirty minutes he had started to go crazy and imagined a bunch of horrible and pessimistic scenarios.

Until finally he got the answer he had been waiting for. Well, he had been waiting for an answer, but the answer itself wasn't what he had been expecting. Levi had had to go to his office to work and still hadn't finished what he had been doing.

The first emotion that went through Eren was relief. Levi was safe, he hadn't been caught into a car accident or anything that had hurt him and kept him from coming, which was good news. Then, Eren felt upset, because from what he had told him it seemed like Levi had been working since early in the morning, way before their meeting, and Eren couldn't help but be pissed that Levi didn't think about letting him know that he might be late. It could have prevented him to be worried sick and come up with all those different and horrible scenarios in his mind, and he could have waited in his own apartment for Levi to finish instead of waiting alone like an idiot in the coffee shop.

Soon he started to feel down too, because how bad was his luck that Levi had to be called for an emergency on the exact same day they had agreed to finally meet? But the brunet knew how hard Levi worked, how many responsibilities were on his shoulders, and so he felt guilty because of his selfishness for wanting Levi to leave everything behind and come see him. He wanted to see Levi so badly, but not at the expense of his job. So in the end, he decided that all he could do was wait for him a bit, in the hope of seeing him at a later time, once he would have finished his work. He would wait as long as he had to, if it meant he could meet Levi.

But eventually, after a few hours of waiting and a couple of lattes later, Eren admitted defeat. Levi hadn't answered his texts after letting him know he was busy, and so the guilt and the dejection he had felt had soon been replaced by confusion and annoyance.

Levi might be working, he had come to terms with that, but why was he not answering him at all? Did Levi feel no remorse in standing him up like this? Didn't he feel as bad as Eren that the opportunity to meet had gone to waste? Didn't he feel guilty for the fact Eren had been waiting for him? Couldn't he at least try to make it up to him? Just a small text couldn't hurt, but Eren didn't got one that day. All he got was Jean snickering and laughing at him when he got home much earlier than he had anticipated, pointing out what a bad date he should be if his meeting had been that short. Eren had twice the reason to feel angry that night.

Eren didn't got an answer the next day when he tried texting Levi again. He had thought that he would have at least texted him when he would have gotten home on Saturday evening, but nothing. Moreover, it was Sunday. Surely he wasn't working, right? Eren felt even madder because he thought Levi cared about him enough to at least text him back in this situation. He really didn't want to think about it, but in that moment he felt as if his friends were right when they had said Levi was just playing with him.

He cast the thought aside and just ended up reading for the umpteenth time the only texts he had gotten from him on Saturday. His texts had been kind of weird, he had apologized way more than usual. That meant he at least felt kind of sorry for what had happened, right? But the fact he wasn't answering still lingered in the air and Eren couldn't help but be worried.

What was actually going on? Did Levi get tired of him and didn't want to talk to him anymore? But that was way too all of the sudden. Did Levi actually come to the café, saw him talking to someone else and got mad at him? No, that didn't make any sense either.

His mind couldn't help but see the word sorry written in Levi's texts flashing over and over before his eyes. Did he actually apologize because it had been his fault? Did Levi lie to him? Eren stopped immediately his reflection and scratched his head furiously as if it would make the thoughts go away. He didn't want to doubt Levi, but the circumstances weren't really playing in his favor. Still, Eren wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.

He tried again on Monday, because Eren wasn't one to give up easily, and he was also fueled by his annoyance and frustration of being ignored. And then, finally, he had gotten a reply. But the answer was really short, not really structured, and not correctly punctuated. It didn't look like a text Levi would write. Even when he was really tired, Levi's texts were always well typed, as if he was writing for an essay, with full stops at the end of every sentences. So more than being glad to finally have an answer, Eren had grown concerned.

Had Levi really been the one to answer him? If yes, then what had happened for him to write such an indifferent text, as if replying to Eren was a chore? Maybe that was it, and Levi was fed up with him. Maybe he was actually trying to cut ties with him, and Eren wasn't getting the signal he was sending his way.

Then his mind wandered back to the possibility of Levi playing with him. It was one of his most unpleasant scenarios, but Eren couldn't help but think about the likelihood. After all, it was really hard to trust someone when all you had were words on a phone. Words could be faked. And Eren had more than often had a hard time analyzing how Levi was feeling, because he was hiding his feelings too damn well. And reading someone over messages was hard and too unpredictable.

On Tuesday, Eren eventually backed off. Without any words from Levi since his suspicious text on Monday, Eren had finally settled on being mad at him. He was still a bit worried though, worried that this would be the end of their friendship and that he wouldn't be able to talk to Levi ever again, because he definitely didn't want that. He wanted to get to know Levi better, wanted to see him, meet him, talk to him. Have the opportunity to confess his feelings to him too, if he was getting ahead of himself. Everything ending this way wasn't a part of his plan. Losing him wasn't an option he wanted to consider. But Eren was tired to keep on trying on getting any kind of answer and coming up empty handed. He wasn't exactly giving up per se, but he needed a break.

The next day after coming up with this decision, Eren got an unexpected call from Hanji. They had only talked a bit by text, mostly Hanji trying to know more about him and his relationship with Levi, but nothing too personal that would have made them friends. They were more acquaintances, besides Eren always felt like he was invading Levi's privacy when he talked to her. So, her calling him was definitely unexpected and odd. And once they had hung up, Eren was a bit lost for various reasons.

First, why hadn't she just texted him instead of telling him everything on the phone? But that wasn't the most important thing that had clouded his mind. Levi was sick. This whole time, when Eren had tried to get a reply out of him, thought his text on Monday had been weird, it had just been because Levi hadn't been feeling well.

"I'm sure he'll be glad to hear from you!"

Could he believe then that he had been worried for nothing and that he would still be able to talk to him? Without really thinking further, he sent a text to Levi, and relief washed over him when he got an answer in the following minutes. The texts were written like usual, and Levi only needed to rest.

This wasn't the end.

Nonetheless, Eren couldn't help but feel like Levi had tried to push him away. He could have texted him and say he was sick and wouldn't answer, preventing Eren from unnecessary worrying and decreasing the chances of him being angry. Didn't he care if Eren was mad at him? Was a small heads-up in this kind of situation too much to ask? Was Eren too demanding? Was it selfish of him to want Levi to inform him of those details when he had been dead sick? After all, it wasn't as if they were together or Levi owed him an explanation. They were just friends, texting friends. But Eren had thought they were closer than that. Or maybe it was just wishful thinking because he wanted more from their relationship. Maybe he was the only one who thought of the other as special and should stop pestering him as if they were dating.

Maybe he should back away a bit and give Levi some space.

It wasn't what he really wanted, but at the moment his feelings were a total mess and he was at a loss as to what to do. He wanted to be closer to him, but every time he tried, it felt like it had the opposite effect. Levi wasn't exactly pushing him away, but he wasn't allowing him in either. Eren wasn't really giving up on advancing their relationship forward, but for now he was tired of trying. He had been forcing Levi to open up to him, almost harassing him for his picture, but now he was done with it. He would let Levi set the pace. If he wanted to get closer, he would have to do something about it, like when he had proposed to meet – even if that had resulted in a disaster, but Eren wouldn't force it.

Their conversations therefore turned awkward. There was a tension, that much was clear, but Eren wasn't sure from which side it came from. Maybe both. He couldn't ask Levi about trying to meet him again, the whole subject seemed taboo, and besides, he had agreed not to ask for anything more. But being restricted in that way was part of the reason everything seemed awkward. Eren was restraining himself from talking about certain things, and that made him uncomfortable. Sending pictures made him uncomfortable too now. And another reason for the tension was that Eren was still upset about their failed meeting, or more exactly about the lack of communication that had ensued. And it felt to him like Levi didn't really care about any of it.

Eren dropped small – maybe not very subtle – hints about his upcoming birthday, but as Levi never seemed to react, he didn't push the topic further. So, on the D-day, when his phone lightened with four familiar letters and a picture of broad and toned forearms, his ringtone filling his ears, he completely froze. It was a really nice surprise, and he couldn't shake the smile that appeared on his face during that moment.

Levi called him. He was able to hear Levi's voice, talk to him, hear him pronounce his name, calling him by his nickname too. His voice was particularly deep and low, and a few times he had been able to hear a small laugh, or more like a low chuckle, and damn did Eren want to make him laugh for real. It seemed like a hard challenge, but he wouldn't back down from it and will keep trying.

After the phone call, Eren started to wonder once again how Levi looked like. For the moment, he knew that Levi was quite muscular, had seen it a few times on the pictures he had received. He also knew that Levi had black hair, information he had gotten from a picture Hanji had sent him once, but it hadn't been enough to clearly see his hairstyle. He then wondered what color his eyes would be. He had already tried to guess from the color of his ties, but they ranged from blue to red, which wasn't helpful in any way. Eren was really trying to get hints from anywhere he could.

He really wanted to see the face that went with the deep and low voice, broad shoulders and toned forearms, but for now he felt satisfied enough with what he had gotten. Levi had called him, he had taken the next step in their friendship, and Eren couldn't be more delighted. Hearing his voice has changed so many things for him. Mainly, it had dissipated the main concerns he had about Levi and had made everything more real. But because of that he had truly started to feel greedier.

Eren had really fallen hard for Levi and had crossed the point of no return.

XxxXxxXxxX

The sound of his ringtone put an end to Eren's thinking and he hurried to pick up his phone. The familiar name on his phone put a smile on his face, and without further ado, he answered the call. His lips stretched into a bigger smile once he heard the low-pitched voice he had come to be accustomed to greeting him and saying his name.

Like usual, they began talking about their day and their week, and as the conversation stretched, an idea Eren had had for a few days now resurfaced and his attention was divided between his thoughts and their conversation.

"Oi, Eren!" He jumped slightly at the use of his name combined with what he could only identify as annoyance in Levi's voice.

"Huh? What?" He really hadn't been listening for the past minutes, too engrossed with the thoughts of 'Should I ask or should I not?'.

"You sound distracted. I can hang up if you have other things to do."

"No no no! I don't! I was just, uh… Thinking…" Eren rubbed his forehead with his thumb and index in order to clear his mind, hoping Levi wasn't thinking he was bored with their conversation.

"Well, don't hurt yourself." Levi sneered. Eren would have been offended if it had been anybody else, but it was Levi, and he was kind of used to it by now. "Something you wanna share?" Detecting no anger in his voice, Eren judged safe to assume that he wasn't really mad at his inattentiveness. On the contrary, he actually seemed a bit curious.

Should he just give it a go and ask? It wouldn't be weird, right? Eren was pretty sure Levi wouldn't answer if he didn't want to, so there was no actual reason to be scared to do it. Anyway, by now, Levi should be used to Eren asking him random questions out of nowhere, so that really shouldn't be a problem. The older man actually seemed to indulge his cadet more on the phone than by text. But the issue was: how to come up with the question without it being weird?

"Um… Yeah, uh… But… Don't you… Don't you have other things to do on your side?" The line went silent for a few seconds and Eren started to think it wasn't really the best way to go with this.

"Tired of me already?"

"No! That's not what I meant!" Well, it was definitely not going in the direction he wanted this to go.

"What do you mean, then?" He heard him sigh and he tried to refrain the urge to facepalm himself in frustration. It would be so much easier if Levi could just read his mind. No, wait, it was actually a very bad idea.

"What I meant was, um… Don't you have, like, someone else you have to be with? Since it's the weekend and all…" It might not be the smoothest way to ask him if he was seeing someone, but if in the end he got the information he wanted, it didn't really matter.

"Like who?"

"I don't know, your… Your girlfriend or something?" Eren hold his breath, waiting for the inevitable answer, but didn't have to hold it for too long because the reply came almost instantly.

"I don't have a girlfriend."

"Oh." Eren tried not to sound too happy about his answer and to sigh of relief not too loudly. But he was still a bit nervous, because it wasn't exactly what he had wanted to know, just a tiny part of it.

"Never have, never will." Wait. Did Levi just imply what he thought he did?

"Oh… Oh! D– Does that mean you're… Uh…" It wasn't a hard word to pronounce but somehow it was stuck at the back of his throat.

"Yeah." He didn't have to say it in the end, and now he actually had the answer he had wanted. Levi was gay. Levi was interested in men. Levi could be interested in him. And just that tiny bit of information, even if it didn't entail that he actually was, gave Eren a lot of hope and a boost of confidence. "Is that a problem?"

"What? No! No, I don't mind! I… Um…"

"Hm?" Eren took that as his cue to come out to Levi without sounding like he was trying to convey a message or trying to give him a hint as to what he was feeling towards him.

"I'm actually pan, so that's not… A problem."

"Good then."

"So… No boyfriend either?" Now that he had come this far, Eren didn't think it would be bad to continue with the questioning and get all the information he could get.

"You'd know if I had one."

"I would?" Would Levi actually share this with him? To this point, they had never really talked about relationships, being past or present. His surprise was legitimate.

"I wouldn't have told you how much I'm bored during the weekend if I had someone I could spend it with. And I wouldn't spend my afternoon talking on the phone with you either."

"Oh. Yeah. That makes sense."

It was actually pretty easy to guess now that he was thinking about it. Levi often complained about not knowing what to do with his free time, besides what he already did every day. And that Hanji always either tried to coax him out of his apartment or crashed on his couch to keep him company because she thought he was lonely. None of this would be accurate if Levi was seeing someone.

"You?"

"Me? W–What about me?"

"You have someone or you're just as a loner as I am?"

"Oh!" Eren tried to contain his joy at thinking that Levi was actually interested in knowing if he was single or not. "Uh, yeah. I mean, I don't. No! I mean I, uh…" Eren took a few seconds to take a big breath in order to be less agitated and manage to give him a proper answer. "I'm single."

"Hm…"

It almost sounded like a hum of content, and Eren pushed away the thought that Levi was actually happy at the answer he had gotten. It wasn't really the time to think that he actually had a chance and that he was also interested. He would take his time to think about it once he would be alone with his thoughts and not on the phone with the object of them.

They talked a bit more after that, changing the subject and not mentioning it like it had never happened. The moment they hung up, Eren threw his head in his hands, his brain running at full speed because of the information he had just gotten.

Levi was gay and single. Which meant Eren's chances were pretty high, or at least it wasn't impossible. It wasn't as if they had started talking to each other in the prospect of getting together, they had become friends because of they're circumstances. Well, it wasn't as if anyone could predict that kind of outcome, nor that it was a rule not to date the friend you made through texting – as if it was a recurrent situation. But maybe Levi would never be interested in a 21-year-old 'brat'. Then, when had Eren ever given up in front of a challenge? It wasn't in his nature, and on the contrary a good challenge always fired him up. He was too far gone to give up now anyway.

Even after a month, his imagination was still running wild because of their conversation. They had never picked up the subject about relationships again, which Eren was kind of grateful for since it would become awkward quite fast if Levi asked him if he had anyone in mind. However, that didn't help leading their own relationship anywhere. It wasn't that bad, they had time. Eren wasn't in a hurry, and they had been both busy in the last few weeks. But now that he had more free time on his hands, therefore more time to think, Eren was back to wondering what he could possibly do.

A few days after that thought came up in his mind though, he received messages from Levi that got him stop everything he had been doing and thinking. His mind was completely blank and he might have stopped breathing for a second or two too.

Levi:
Hey pumpkin. You're free on Saturday?

Me:
Good morning sunshine! ;)

Yeah, i am. What's up?

Levi:
There's something I need to tell you but I can't on the phone.

Can we meet somewhere? I promise this time I'll show up.

Me:
Yeah, sure. Is it something serious?

Should i be scared or something?

Levi:
Depends on you. But yeah, kind of, I guess.

10a.m at Rose café?

Me:
You're making me nervous now

Isn't that close to my uni? Why not at survey corps?

Levi:
They have more private booth, and this time it's my turn to come near your place.

Me:
Oh, okay

Levi:
You're on then?

Me:
Yeah, sure. I'll be there

Levi:
Good. Talk to you later.

It took Eren a few minutes before collecting himself, and even then, he was still pretty shaken up.

Levi asked to meet him. Levi wanted to tell him something. Something he couldn't or didn't want to say on the phone. Something he needed to tell to his face.

What did Levi possibly want to say that could be this serious?