A/N: Thank you for still being here my lovely, beautiful readers! A super big thank you to my loyal reviewers who make me smile with every single review and always, without fail, make my day.

Let us move on now! Enjoy the following chapter, which is significantly more lighthearted given the feels we've been having the last chapter or two.

Disclaimer: I do not own SnK, its characters or any other brands mentioned in this story.

The emotionally draining week of catatonia sent Eren into a coma-like slumber and kept him there for nearly twelve hours. He was eventually awoken by a disconcerting commotion coming from his kitchen; it wasn't like Thomas to be this noisy, but his roommate was odd enough to not have a permanent set of characteristics whereby Eren could predict his behavior. So after hauling himself out of bed, Eren left his bedroom to investigate.

Guided by the delicious scent of breakfast wafting throughout his apartment - something that the oddball named Thomas had never made - Eren quietly descended the stairs whilst wondering what the hell Thomas could be up to this time. When he rounded the corner, the last thing he expected to see in his kitchen was a shirtless Armin and an equally scantily-clad Mikasa, ghosting around one another in what was either a heated debate or a casual argument as they prepared the breakfast that was emanating such a delicious scent.

At least Mikasa had the decency to wear a sports bra to cover the essentials, but the fact that she was still half-naked in his kitchen was disturbing enough to disregard her decency.

"Uh, hey guys," Eren called out unsurely.

Armin immediately turned away from Mikasa, with a spatula in hand, and his expression went from fierce and focused to relieved and joyous in the blink of an eye. He smiled and said, "Hey Eren. You look significantly better!"

"Thanks," Eren mumbled. He made his way to the bar-stool by the kitchen counter and smiled at Mikasa in greeting. There was no way he was going to hug either of them with so much skin exposed, even if he was wearing a shirt. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Eren, that's rude," Mikasa snapped.

"Sorry, mom," Eren grumbled with a roll of his eyes. He immediately righted his features and glared playfully at her. "I guess being half-naked in someone else's kitchen isn't?"

Instead of retort, Mikasa simply glared at Eren, and even though her glare was a playful one to match Eren's, it still managed to make the brunette feel somewhat uncomfortable. It was uncanny how similar Mikasa and Levi's glares made him feel, but the teen did not want to mull about that. In fact, he didn't want to think about the millionaire at all.

"Well, we figured you weren't exactly in a state to take care of yourself so we stayed over just in case. But it looks like it's all blown over." Armin regarded Eren cautiously. "It is over, right?"

The brunette cringed at the memory of his catatonic state. If there was one thing Eren hated and found downright unacceptable, it was showing weakness, especially to those closest to him. All his life he fought to be strong and to protect those closest to him, so when those people saw him break it left him feeling useless, weak and ultimately embarrassed. While not many people would know that Eren being so withdrawn was the ultimate display of pain and vulnerability, Mikasa and Armin sure did. That fact alone made the ordeal exponentially worse.

"I'm fine, really," Eren eventually answered. He was not entirely okay, but that's only because everything was still too fresh in his mind. What he meant was that he'd be okay to function and that he wouldn't slip into a depression like that again.

"Great!" Armin said. Mikasa, on the other hand, seemed more skeptical about Eren's answer but she said nothing of it. She simply made a mental note to keep an eye on him during the upcoming week. "Oh! So Mikasa told me that the helicopter pilot you hate took you to Stohess Country Club and Spa." Armin wiggled his eyebrows playfully, earning an eye roll from Eren.

"So?" Eren snapped. "Lots of pilots go there. It's a great place to fly to."

"Aaaand…" Armin's eyes were mischievous. Eren didn't like it. Not. One. Bit. "You slept there. Do lots of pilots do that?"

"Rich ones do."

"To impress people."

Eren scrunched his nose up in distaste. Just what was Armin insinuating?

"So…how was it?"

"It was okay," Eren quickly said. Awkward as hell. He sure hadn't forgotten waking up in the same bed as Levi, with the man's arms wrapped tightly around his waist and hot breath on his neck. Eren shuddered at the memory, but he wasn't entirely sure if the shudder was from the memory being pleasant or unpleasant.

This did not go unnoticed by Armin. "It looks like there's a story coming!"

"Oh, hell no!" Eren cried out.

Armin threw his head back and laughed boisterously as Mikasa glared at the uncomfortably shifting Eren with suspicion clear in her eyes. "What did he do?" Mikasa asked in a low voice.

"Nothing," Eren said a little too quickly. Armin raised a brow at this. Eren sighed. Being unable to lie to his two closest friends was the worst curse a teen could possibly have. "We just had some spa treatments, got a little tipsy and went to bed. That's all."

"In separate rooms, right?" Mikasa pushed.

"Yeah." There were separate rooms, yes, but Mikasa needn't know they hadn't used them.

"So he's not too bad, huh?" Armin teased. "Taking you out to one of the best spas in the country in his private helicopter…"

Eren snorted. "If you want to date him then be my guest, bisexual Armin."

"Ew!" Armin cried out in mock disgust. "He's way too dark for my taste! And too short."

"But Mikasa is just fine?"

Mikasa spoke then. "No. He doesn't actually find me attractive. I'm just an easy lay for him."

"Mikasa!" Armin cried out, genuinely mortified by the accusation.

She shrugged. "It's true. You're not exactly my type either."

"Don't talk about yourself like that," Eren snapped at Mikasa. He shot a glare at Armin, the threat clear in it. Watch it or I'll cut your balls off.

"It's not like that," Armin mumbled. "It's simply a mutually beneficial agreement that would terminate if any of us find someone we're interested in."

"Armin likes someone," Mikasa said offhandedly.

Armin sighed. He simply couldn't understand why Mikasa insisted that Eren know every little thing about him. Being best friends did entitle him to information not available to others, but Armin really wasn't fond of his personal life being spilled to Eren so casually and without his consent. But regardless of this, the kind-hearted blonde simply couldn't find it in him to be angry at Mikasa for laying his secrets bare to Eren again.

"That's great, Armin. Who is it?" Eren sounded suspiciously excited.

"He won't say."

And the reason for this was because the absolute last person on earth who could find out about his crush was Eren. In fact, Armin would rather confess to his crush than let Eren ever find out.

"Uh-huh," Eren said, snatching a piece of bacon and wolfing it down. While Mikasa felt like Eren needed to know everything, Eren was quite content with being left in the dark. He'd never been one to pry. In fact, the chances of him forgetting that this conversation ever happened was quite likely.

"So when are you going to fly with him again?" Armin asked.

"No!" Eren snapped. "Never!"

"Oh, come on," Armin urged. "It's not like you have anything to lose."

Except my pride, my innocence, my organs, maybe my life…Eren cleared his throat and tried again. "Nah, the helicopter thing really isn't for me."

Just then, Eren heard his cell ringing upstairs. At first, he ignored it, thinking that no one important would want to get hold of him on a Sunday morning – especially since the two most important people in his life were right in front of him – but when the caller tried to get through to him a second and a third time, the brunette had had enough. The fourth time that indie track echoed quietly through the house, Eren bolted upstairs with a grumble.

He was back downstairs less than a minute later, his phone placed precariously between his fingers and his face as pale as a sheet of paper.

"Who was that?" Armin asked just as Mikasa asked, "What's wrong?"

"Levi…" Eren mumbled, entranced. "He wants to take me flying again…"

"Fantastic!" Armin sang. "You always feel better after a flight. I'm pretty sure that applies to helicopters as well."

"No," Eren whispered. He shook his head. "I can't do it."

"It's just a helicopter, Eren."

"That's not it…"

"What's wrong, Eren?" Mikasa asked sternly.

He had to tell them. Both his friends could see something was wrong and neither of them were idiotic enough to believe it was something as superficial as the aircraft type. Eren could feel how pale his face was; no lie he could come up with would be able to explain the pure dread his friends must be seeing. And now that the seed of suspicion was planted in their minds, it was only a matter of time before Armin manipulated the truth from Eren or Mikasa beat it out of him.

"Something…" How the hell am I going to say this? "…happened last time…"

Both Armin and Mikasa's undivided attention were on Eren. Armin regarded Eren curiously while Mikasa glared at him suspiciously as the brunette stared unseeingly at a spot on the floor. After taking in a long breath, Eren closed his eyes and decided to just say it as it is. He sprinted through the confession in the hopes that neither of them would hear.

"IgotdrunkandendedupinbedwithLevi."

Two gasps filled the room. Who was he kidding? Armin was intelligent enough to decipher any form of English and Mikasa had the ears of a fox.

Armin was the first to speak. "WHAT! Did you guys…"

"NO!" Eren roared. "I'm not like that, dude. Ladies only!"

"That's what they all say," Mikasa mumbled before her glare hardened. "Did that asshole touch you? Hurt you?"

"No," Eren said in a much softer voice. The exact opposite, actually. Armin's gaze softened as if he had heard Eren's thoughts. "We just…I was feeling a bit down and he was just there for me. It was really weird, but whatever. The point is he wants to take me up again."

"He likes you," Armin stated.

"Ew," Eren said unconvincingly. "No offence, Armin."

"None taken," Armin said with a smile. The look he gave Eren promised the brunette that there would be a talk about this at a later date. Eren huffed and turned away, knowing full-well that these sorts of dates with Armin were serious and impossible to avoid.

"Can we eat?" Eren moaned, desperate to change the topic. "I'm sure the food's already cold."

"Stay away from that guy," Mikasa growled. Both Armin and Eren looked at Mikasa, shocked. "I don't want you near him, Eren, do you understand?"

Hearing Mikasa say those words made something twist painfully inside Eren's chest. Caught off guard by the foreign and painful sensation, Eren just nodded and turned away from Mikasa to hide the contortion of his face as he felt a branding iron stab through his beating heart. Why was the thought of cutting Levi out of his life suddenly so frightening and so damn painful? Eren didn't even like the man, much less want to spend time with him, so why now when Mikasa forbid him from seeing Levi did Eren's rebellious streak decide to rear its ugly head and give the teen the aching desire to spend every waking second with the millionaire?

If Levi were to know that it was simply an act of rebellion that had brought Eren to the airport at ten on that beautiful, chilly Friday morning, the man wouldn't have given half a damn. Seeing Eren walking down the apron wearing baggy dark blue jeans and a baggy hoodie, hands in its pockets and the hood up, was reward enough for the week of silence that had passed between the two. As Levi watched Eren advance with his head down and shoulders tensed up, the man wondered how it was possible that such over-sized clothing could make the teen look so damn good.

"Good morning," Levi said when Eren was within earshot.

"Hi," Eren greeted back.

"Tch."

Levi didn't bother with Eren's curt greeting. By now, he was used to being greeted in such a brusque manner. If he hadn't seen the brat interacting with the other brats his age, Levi would've safely assumed that this was just Eren's way of greeting people, but it was clearly just Eren's way of showing a middle finger to the world – or more specifically, to Levi.

While Levi started up the helicopter and got the aircraft airborne, Eren's mind was occupied with two irritating questions: why did I want this so badly and why is this actually nice? He might not have shown it but inside, Eren was bursting with giddiness and zeal as the helicopter lifted off and ghosted forward with splendid grace. Simply being in the sky had already improved his mood that had been quite low all week, owing to the four exams he wrote from Monday through to Thursday. Armin had been right…Armin was always right; flying was Eren's healing, his aphrodisiac, and even though he had explicitly and repeatedly expressed his discontent with helicopters, he couldn't help but feel at ease as they flew to the east.

Wait…east?

"W-where are we going?" Eren asked in a small voice. Having been so lost in his own thoughts he'd completely missed all the radio communication between Levi and the controller that would've revealed their destination. Who was the controller anyway? Was Hanji working today?

A smirk tugged at the corners of the raven's mouth but he remained motionless, keeping his face neutral and his eyes outside. The only movements he made were the subtle ones that kept the helicopter stable as they flew through the breezy sky. Although he remained still on the outside, inside Levi was fighting the urge to touch Eren – anywhere – because that cowardly whimpering voice the brat just used was so innocent it made the man want to ravish the boy.

And Levi was more than happy to be having these perverted thoughts again instead of the heartfelt ones that painted the frightening image of him falling in love prematurely.

"Do you like skydiving?" Levi asked.

"I've never been." Eren smiled suddenly, his green eyes bright with hope. "Why…?"

Fuck, he looks cute like that. Levi shrugged. "We're going skydiving."

"Sk-skydiving?"

"Did I fucking stutter?" Levi snapped.

Eren stared at Levi incredulously as the man turned his attention back to flying the aircraft as if they weren't in the middle of a conversation. It utterly fascinated the teen how Levi was able to exhume such a calm demeanor even if his voice was laced with either sarcasm, anger or irritability. The man continued flying as if Eren wasn't even in the cabin with him, not even glancing sideways once as Eren stared at him for the longest time.

"You shouldn't do that," Eren whispered, more to himself than to Levi as he turned away to look out the window instead. "It's expensive…"

"Didn't I tell you I make more money than most people will in their entire lives?" Levi asked. When Eren looked at Levi, the man was still focusing outside the aircraft. "I can spend it how I want."

The brunette turned away once again. He didn't want to hear Levi brag about his limitless wealth and he definitely didn't want to think about how much of it the man was spending on him. Flying helicopters was not a cheap venture, and everyone knew that. If he were to be honest with himself, he would say that fixed-wing pilots were simply jealous of helicopter pilots' ability to afford the luxury. He would never admit that to anyone, though, and wouldn't even dare entertain that thought again.

"Why spend it on me?" Eren asked lowly. He didn't mean for Levi to hear.

But Levi heard. And it wasn't just the question that had his grey eyes fixed on Eren, but also the dejected tone with which the brunette had asked the question. Just like last week, Levi stared at the back of Eren's head, taking in the rich texture of the teen's chocolate hair as Eren stared out of the window. A heavy sense of déjà vu overcame the man and he idly wondered if this moment would end the same way it did last time, with them staring at each other, entranced and paralyzed.

That won't do while airborne, Levi reminded himself before tearing his gaze off the boy beside him. The man couldn't deny that the question Eren had mumbled was indeed a valid one. For Levi, it made all the sense in the world – he was doing anything and everything in his power to change Eren's image of him to improve his chances of a relationship with the boy who had stolen his sanity. Levi was simply courting Eren, using Eren's own interests to win the boy's affection. But of course, this wasn't nearly as obvious to Eren as it was to Levi. For all Levi knew, Eren only saw him as some rich, old man that had nothing better to do with his time and money and who had taken pity on an air crash victim. All things considered, Eren had every right to question Levi's intentions.

Oh how Levi wished he could just tell Eren outright. How he wished he could just say 'I wanted you from the second I first saw you, I'm crazy about you, madly obsessed with you, disgustingly infatuated with you and probably falling in love with you'. Life would be so much simpler if he could just tell that to Eren, and then Eren would accept his advancements and they would live happily ever after. But life was no fairy-tale; Levi had been alive long enough and seen enough death, destruction, heartache and just pure hell to know that no one gets a happily ever after. He knew that, yes, it was a fact of life, but if that were the case, then why was he trying so hard to get his own happily ever after?

Levi sighed loudly before speaking in a voice so low Eren wondered if he'd really heard the words or not. "I just want you to be happy, Eren."

The first thing that came up in the brunette's mind was the words Armin spoke so randomly yet so confidently. He likes you. Based purely on the charitable acts of a near-complete stranger – a stranger that had saved his life – Armin had concluded that said near-complete stranger liked Eren. How had the blonde even come to such a drastically improbable assumption? Eren couldn't fathom it and had been pondering it all week, yet now in this moment, when Levi had said that single phrase, Eren understood exactly what Armin had meant.

Levi liked Eren.

Eren turned to face the man who was focusing all his attention on maintaining straight and level flight (much to Eren's relief). He took a moment to look at Levi, to really look at the man. Levi's hair was black, even blacker than Mikasa's hair if that were at all possible because Eren always thought Mikasa had hair so black it was simply devoid of all color. His skin was pale and smooth, completely unblemished with not so much as the inklings of stubble along his jaw. That perfect jawline that Eren had noted once before looked even more picturesque up close, and as the teen took in the angles he noted that as prominent as it was, it was more sharp than strong. Levi had fine, sharp features that were prominent and masculine. The man looked good.

"Is there shit on my face?" Levi suddenly asked.

"Huh?" Eren cried out in a voice much too squeaky for his liking.

"You're staring at me like there's shit on my face."

Eren immediately turned away, but not before Levi caught a glimpse of that delicious crimson blush the teen so desperately tried to hide behind his hand. The brunette could feel Levi's eyes boring into the back of his skull and he kept his eyes outside the aircraft, waiting for the yelling or the insults, to be told he was nothing but a rude brat and that he shouldn't stare like that. He waited to be berated and insulted, and to be put on his place by the older man.

So when Levi let out a breathy chuckle instead of smack him, Eren whipped his head up, brows furrowed in confusion only to find the man's eyes dead ahead.

"Brat," Levi murmured, a smile on his lips.

"I'm not a brat," Eren mumbled, but there was no venom in his words. He was too relieved.

Levi quirked a brow and cocked his head to the side, smirking. "Oh? Prove it."

"I'm about to jump out of a plane, according to you," Eren deadpanned. "Brats don't jump out of planes, smartass."

"That's exactly what brats do," Levi retorted.

Eren simply clicked his tongue. As much as he wanted to continue arguing, he refused to be some millionaire's cheap entertainment just because he was liked. On that note again, could it really be possible that Levi liked him? Armin said it, and Armin was always right, after all. Not only that, but being bisexual meant that Armin should, theoretically, have an idea of the kinds of signals men gave off when interested in someone? Did what Eren tell Armin about Levi contain those sorts of signals?

Shit, Eren thought, biting his bottom lip. He glanced nervously at Levi and found the man staring at him, and even from behind the perfectly reflective sunglasses Eren knew the man's eyes were hungrily staring at his lips. This is so awkward…

"Do you want to fly my helicopter, Eren?" Levi purred, eyes never leaving Eren's kissable lips.

At the sound of the man's sultry baritone purring the question into his ear, a chill ran down Eren's spine that had all the hairs on his neck standing on edge. It was a simple question but the tone of the man's smooth voice gave it other, more sinister, implications that even Eren understood, and suddenly the teen found his heart hammering in his chest and his mouth drier than the driest desert. Unable to control his body, the teen did nothing but stare at Levi as the man's eyes trailed up his face to meet his own.

"Come, Eren."

The image of a dripping wet Levi assaulted Eren's mind then and there. Swallowing hard, Eren remembered in stark detail how Levi had, after saying the exact same thing, lifted his perfectly sculpted body from the water of the Jacuzzi to reveal not only a torso carved out by the gods, but something else perfectly outlined by the man's wet swimming shorts. Eren remembered how his eyes trailed down the planes of Levi's torso, captivated by the perfection before him, unable to stop his line of sight from dropping until he saw something he wasn't meant to see, something he could never unsee. He hadn't thought about it since but now that the image had returned with such vigorous potency, Eren couldn't stop thinking about that bulge the man so openly displayed that fateful afternoon at the spa.

"Are you out of your fucking mind?" Eren tried to yell, but his voice cracked under the weight of all that was Levi. The man's presence, his scent, that god-awful smirk that Eren couldn't take his eyes off and most of all, the vivid memory of a perfect, wet body laid nearly bare before him. Eren cleared his throat and tried again, but even now his voice held nothing but a frightened tremble. "We're not even two thousand feet above the ground…"

"Are you a pussy, Jaeger?" Levi purred, spitting Eren's last name in a manner that caused the teen's spine to snap up and become rigid.

"I am not!" Eren spat. Once again, his voice was weak despite his intentions being to yell.

Levi chuckled and turned away. "Then prove it."

"Give me fucking control," Eren snapped.

The sudden volume and solidity of his voice was the sole evidence of Eren's resolve as his true nature took over, freeing him from the paralyses of crude memories and lustful gazes. The familiar heat of determination exploded within the young man as he confidently grabbed the cyclic, wrapping his fingers around its girth as if it were as familiar as his own…

"Do you even know how to fly a helicopter?" Levi asked, interrupting Eren's moment of uprising.

"Of course not," Eren spat. All the timidity from moments ago was gone and replaced with the venom and fervor of a young man on a quest. Levi liked this side of Eren, a side he'd long suspected existed but one he'd never seen before. "I've never flown a piece of shit like this before."

"Watch that mouth before I fucking punch it," Levi growled. Or fuck it.

Now it was Eren's turn to smirk. "Try me."

A surge of arousal rushed through Levi's veins, leaving a blaze on his skin in its wake. Just hearing the challenge in Eren's voice and seeing those soft-looking, pink lips turned up in a devious smirk as those green eyes defiantly glared at him would've had Levi flustered had he even an ounce less self-control than he had. He knew he would like this side of Eren but he hadn't anticipated the potency of the effect it would have on him. He wondered if that challenge extended to Levi's unspoken threat as well because if it did, it would be met sooner than that pretty brunette could possible imagine.

"Don't push me, brat." That was all Levi could say. Any other words that would leave his mouth were sure to be crude and downright filthy.

"Are you gonna show me how to fly this piece of shit or what?"

"Are you going to stop insulting my multi-million dollar 'piece of shit'?"

Eren's smirk turned into a victorious smile. "Sure, whatever, old man."

Levi didn't say anything to that despite wanting send his fist into the boy's mouth for insulting his age. Or perhaps something else that would be a better fit. He gritted his teeth and exhaled sharply as an image of Eren kneeling before him flashed through his mind.

"Alright," Levi said. "That stick in front of you is simply referred to as the cycic. It controls motion in the 'roll' and 'pitch' planes."

"Okay," Eren said, running his thumb up and down the stick as he pondered this. Levi swallowed hard as he imagined his own length in Eren's hand being stroked as the teen stroked the cyclic. "So, how does that work? Airplanes use ailerons to roll so…"

Happy to be distracted, Levi eagerly explained in as much detail as he could whilst still summarizing the aerodynamic principles of helicopters.

"It alters the angle of attack of the main rotors cyclically creating different amounts of lift at different points," Levi said. Eren nodded in understanding before Levi continued. "Because of the varying angles of attack, the helicopter will pitch up or down, or roll left or right."

"Okay," Eren said with a stiff nod.

Theoretically, it all seemed simple enough. A thorough understanding of aerodynamics is paramount for all pilots, so Eren completely understood Levi's explanation. What held the brunette entranced, however, was just how complicated the mechanics of operating a helicopter could be. To roll an aircraft, one would simply turn the control column like a car's steering wheel, causing one aileron to go up and the other to go down. The difference in lift on the wings would cause one wing to lift up and the other to drop down and voila…a roll. It was simple and straightforward, unlike the helicopter's principles of operation.

But Eren had to admit that it was interesting.

"This is the collective," Levi said, his hand gripping something between the seats that looked suspiciously like a car's handbrake. "It collectively changes the angle of attack of the main rotors, giving her more or less lift which will in turn cause her to climb or descend, or accelerate or decelerate."

"Simple enough," Eren lied.

Levi smiled and watched as Eren's right hand tentatively reached out to the collective, his long fingers wrapping gingerly around the control until it was secured in his hand. The older man then removed his hand from the lever, allowing Eren to settle comfortably with the control in his large, veiny hand. Levi's jaw set taut as his eyes fixed on Eren's large, masculine hand, vividly imagining what that hand would look like wrapped around other things.

"Okay, got it," Eren said. "Can I give it a go?"

"Sure. Be gentle."

Eren smirked and threw a cocky sideways glance at Levi and said, "I was taught to always treat a plane like I'd treat a lady – gently and with love."

Levi wanted to roll his eyes at the horrible cliché that every single flight instructor had to have used at least once in his life, but instead, the man opted to tease Eren with a snarky reply. "And what if she likes it rough?"

The raven heard Eren's breath hitch followed by a choking cough as the teen's head whipped to the right to look at Levi. Eren's bright, oceanic orbs were wide and horrified as he stared at the man. Levi couldn't help but chuckle at Eren's comic discomfort, finding his virginal innocence incredibly endearing and somewhat attractive. But instead of dwell, Levi continued to explain the controls of the helicopter as if Eren had not just almost swallowed his tongue.

"By the way, the pedals control the yaw, just like in a plane. We don't have a rudder, of course, so it is the manipulation of the tail rotor that will cause the helicopter to yaw left and right."

With a stiff nod, Eren forgot his discomfort and focused on his challenge. Even though his heart was pounding in his chest with the same ferocity it did the first time he landed a plane by himself – which he maintains was the single most stressful experience in his near two decades of living – he held the cyclic firmly with his left hand and the collective equally as firmly with his right hand, resting his feet on the pedals, ready to go. As he steeled himself for the moment where Levi would hand over control of the aircraft, a thought ran through Eren's mind: not once in his life did he think he'd ever pilot a helicopter. There was not a single second in his entire life that he thought it would ever become a possibility, much less a reality. It was exciting and scary, and for the first time since Eren had started flying, he felt such concentrated adrenaline coursing through his veins that he physically felt ill.

"You ready?" Levi asked.

"Sure, let's do this thing," Eren called out confidently despite himself.

The teen's enthusiasm and his fiery determination brought a small smile to Levis face as he gently released his grip on the controls and handed over the control to Eren. To see those green eyes so wild with both excitement and determination as the boy bit his tongue as it rested at the corner of his puckered lips had Levi's heart hammering wildly in his chest, and it wasn't from anxiety or even lust. He was enjoying seeing Eren so happy and so determined to master the helicopter, not only because it was his helicopter, but because the teen looked nothing short of intoxicated as he took control of the aircraft. Eren hadn't flown in weeks and to be able to control an aircraft again had the teen undeniably high on euphoria as he gently fought to stabilize the mildly oscillating machine. This high was wildly contagious, and soon had Levi so affected that the man could no longer fight the smile breaking out on his face.

It took a few seconds before Eren got the hang of it, but Levi had to admit that the teen was a damn fast learner. Within a minute, the helicopter was stable, and while they had lost some speed, Eren still kept them on course and moving forward moderately stably. A sense of pride swelled in the man as he watched Eren's tongue slink back into his mouth as the teen breathed out softly in what looked to be relief. As Eren regained and maintained control of the helicopter, the furrow in his brows and the light in his eyes lessened from 'stressed' to simple 'concentration'. It was adorable to watch the teen as his head snapped from left to right as his eyes darted across the instruments to verify his stability, glancing outside to reaffirm what the instruments were telling him. The man watched as Eren gradually began to relax despite the sweat beading on his brow – which Levi thought looked damn good on that flawless, tanned skin – and soon Eren's entire body was relaxed as he settled into the technicalities of flying the helicopter.

Levi wouldn't have thought he'd ever say this about someone he considered a rude, obnoxious and egotistical brat, but Eren was actually very good at flying. He scanned his instruments regularly and maintained a constant heading and airspeed, keeping his eyes outside the aircraft the majority of the time to watch for any airborne threats. The teen often glanced at the engine performance instruments, which was a good habit to have although Levi couldn't help but wonder if this was because Eren was distrusting of the engine that was keeping them in the air.

Eventually, the teen cracked a smile. It wasn't a cocky smirk or an idiotic grin, or one of his signature obnoxious, face-splitting smiles that Levi had seen here and there. This smile was a sincere one that touched his eyes, which were alive with zest and passion and sparkling so brightly that his eyes looked a shade lighter than they usually were. For the first time in weeks, Eren felt truly complete. The feeling of complete bliss settled over him as he flew the helicopter with increasing confidence, reveling in the feeling of joy and complete inner peace that he was petrified he would never feel again. The feeling Eren lived for, the fundamental reason he opted to become a pilot engulfed the teen whole as flew with a precision Levi never imagined the teen could possess.

It was beautiful – watching Eren in this state of completeness brought more happiness to the man in that moment that he'd experienced in years.

"This is amazing," Eren breathed, the genuine smile still plastered on his face.

While Levi itched to snap 'I told you so' or 'says the fixed-wing pilot', Eren's bliss was simply too intoxicating for the man to even dare to spoil. Not once since meeting the teen had he thought Eren to be capable of experiencing such simple, primal joy, and as Levi watched Eren begin to fall in love with his helicopter, he began to fall more and more in love with Eren.

So with nothing to say, Levi remained quiet as he watched Eren fly his very own Robinson. To say one of his greatest fantasies had just come true would be a severe understatement, and as the man relaxed under Eren's expert control of the aircraft, Levi couldn't douse the optimism rising within him giving him hope that his other fantasies regarding Eren Jaeger would be fulfilled sooner rather than later.

So was that progress OR WHAT?! Please don't forget to share your opinions with me now that the tides are changing :) And thanks again for reading this story.