Surprisingly, very little changed for Eren and Levi after they laid their feelings at each other's feet. Not much had to. They already acted like an old married couple with how freely they touched and cuddled with each other. The only difference was that now they could kiss each other whenever they wanted. And oh, if Levi had thought Eren was affectionate before, it was nothing compared to the creature he had transformed into after their first mutual kiss. It seemed like every time Levi turned around, he was being pulled in for another one, and then another one, and then one more, no wait one more. The boy was certainly making good on his promise to make sure they got better at it.

Eren, for his part, had noticed to his utter elation, something shift within Levi. Ever since he had made his feelings clear to him and Levi had made it clear that he felt the same way, the other man had begun to act younger and more carefree. In fact, he seemed to be acting every inch the love struck teenager than Eren was, pulling the boy in for just as many kisses and cuddles and whispered endearments as Eren did to him. It was as if he was making up for lost time, acting like a teenager with his first crush because he never had the chance to before.

A few days later found them out in the backyard enjoying the lovely evening. The sun was beginning to set over the mountains, shrouding the world in twilight and blurring the outlines of everything in warm, smoky smells and burnt, mellow reds of fading light. They lay in the grass beside each other, talking about nothing and everything, when a thought suddenly occurred to Levi.

"Doesn't it surprise you that we don't mind kissing?" he said, "I mean, I feel like it should bother us considering everything we went through. You know?"

To his surprise, Eren nodded beside him, turning his head to the side towards Levi. The other man noticed the movement and turned his head as well to meet Eren's gaze, before the boy answered, "I do. And I think I understand why. Our abusers took everything else from us, but they never kissed us. Guess it was too intimate for them."

Levi found himself nodding slowly in agreement. "Right. Kissing is more about affection, less about control and causing pain. I'm just glad they didn't ruin it for us. You're right, they took a lot away from us, but they managed to leave us with the option of who our first kiss would be."

"Mmm, and I picked a damn good one," Eren observed, propping himself up on his elbows and leaning down to kiss him, Levi snorting at his comment and then humming in approval with their lips met. He reached up and held the base of Eren's skull, gently sliding his fingers in between silky strands of hair. When they separated, Levi gave Eren's upper lip a playful lick, and the boy laughed softly. He then lay back down, scooting a little closer to him, feeling Levi's hand shift from the back of his head to the side of his face, resting on his cheek. His smile only widened when he felt the man begin to idly stroke his hair, his palm warm and heavy. In return, he lay a hand on Levi's chest, idly playing with the collar of his shirt. It was sitting low today, exposing the milky column of the man's throat and even the bony protrusions of his collar bone. Eren found himself biting his lip in response to the sight, and it took a huge effort not to run his fingers over that pretty bit of exposed skin.

"God, how did I get so lucky?" Eren whispered, "What Fate loved me enough to throw me your way? It almost makes all the hell I went through with Nile worth it, because it led me to you."

Levi's breath caught in his throat at those words, and he coughed, trying to cover it up, though he couldn't cover up the blush that flooded his face. Funny enough, he could feel the soft skin under his fingers heating up as well, and he replied, "I daresay that I think the shit I endured was almost worth it for the same reason. I've had a lot of stuff happen to me in these fifteen years since I was freed, but I think you're the best thing that's happened to this mess masquerading as a human being."

Eren nuzzled his hand in response, too speechless to form a reply. Instead, with a soft grin, Levi sat up and placed a hand in the grass on either side of the boy's head, his body hovering over his. Before he went any further, he asked, "Is this alright?"

"Is what alright?" Eren wondered.

"Me being over you like this. I don't want you to feel trapped or anything."

The younger man shook his head. "No, you're fine. As long as you don't hold me down, it's okay."

"Oh no, no," Levi assured him, leaning down, "No, I'd never do anything like that. Just thought I'd ask, since being pinned down makes me nervous too."

"Okay, I'll remember that," he promised, and then grinned when his eyes flickered down to those full, pink lips hovering so close to his own, requesting impishly, "Please kiss me again?"

And Levi did, slow and sweet, lowering his body so that their chests were pressed flush against each other, so that every breath Eren took was felt by Levi and in fact lifted and lowered him slightly. The soft, high pitched sounds their lips made as they moved together was music to their ears and made their bellies tingle pleasantly. Eren reached up to lightly grasp Levi's shoulders, before he began rubbing them to encourage him and attempt to pull him closer. When he did so, he felt Levi's lips curl into an amused smile against his. This time when they parted, their lips separating with a quiet noise, Eren leaned his head up and rubbed their noses together in an Eskimo kiss, sending a delighted shiver down Levi's spine.

When Levi propped himself up on his elbows again and backed away slightly to just look at Eren and contemplate once more how he had gotten so lucky, it in turn gave Eren the chance to observe him as well. The low light of the twilight was casting this otherworldly appearance on their surroundings, as if they were no longer in the realm of mortal men. Instead, Eren felt as if he had stumbled into the realm of the fae, and one of the legendary creatures had managed to seduce him, casting its dark eyes upon him and trapping him with a heady stare filled to the brim with warmth and longing. He seemed to be wearing the twilight itself, skin lit from within and smelling warm and earthy. Part of Eren wondered whether or not Levi was even real in that instant. Leaning forward as he was, some of the man's hair fell in front of his eyes, and Eren was pleased that he no longer had to suppress the urge to brush it out of his face, and reached up to do just that, pushing the hair away from his forehead. He marveled at the softness of it, and Levi's content expression at his actions heated his gut further.

"You're so beautiful," Eren breathed, "I know I've said that so many times already, but I think you might as well get used to it. You look like a fairy right out of the Welsh stories. You should probably be helping meadows grow and cursing families for letting their sheep trample all over your ancestral homeland, not wasting your time with a mortal like me."

Levi laughed and stroked Eren's cheek, saying, "Nah. With how pretty you are, there's no way you're mortal. I'd say you're more like an elf. Tall with eyes like springtime, a love for nature and wisdom few others in the world will possess. The question is, why are you wasting your time with me when you should be off stargazing or scoffing at the stupidity of the human race?"

The boy snorted in response and Levi laid down fully onto his chest, resting his ear against Eren's heart, before he continued, "It's actually funny you mention that I look like a fairy. My first memories that I can recall are of me playing in this little grove near where we lived. Now, we lived in the city; we had to for my mom's, uh, work. But once in a while, she'd take me to this field outside of the city that had woods outlining the perimeter of it. It was always so green…mom said it looked like Ireland, or at least how she always imagined it. And I grew up on her stories about the Sidhe. She was a pagan, and she told me so many legends about fairies and their wars, and the stories of Finvarra and Oonagh, the fairy king and queen. I remember wanting to visit Finvarra's castle so badly. It sounded so beautiful from the way she described it. So whenever we went to the field, mom would read a book and keep an eye on me while I played in the woods near her, pretending I was Finvarra riding into battle. Sometimes I'd even look for fairies. When I couldn't find any though sometimes I'd build them little gardens out of whatever I'd find lying around, because mom always said if you gave them a suitable garden they'd come and dance in it."

"Is that why you tried making a garden here?" Eren wanted to know.

"Mhmm. It's a good fairy spot. That's what my mom would have called it. Fairy spots were places she thought fairies were most likely to visit. But I suppose this whole place is a good fairy spot. Lots of fairy flowers in the field back here, or at least there will be in summer. Um, my mom called certain flowers 'fairy flowers,' and those were any flower she thought fairies might enjoy above others. For her, those were things like sweet peas, peonies, irises, roses…things like that. I may have planted a few back there when the garden didn't work out. Figured I could turn the whole field into a fairy spot."

Eren felt his heart melting a little more with every word Levi spoke, the man endearing him further and further, and finally he sighed fondly, "Could you get any more amazing?"

Levi chuckled in response. "Really? You find my family's weird interest in fairies to be amazing?"

"Yes," the boy affirmed without hesitation, "It's charming and appealing. Like you."

Levi ducked his head bashfully, wondering if he'd ever get used to Eren complimenting his looks. He eventually mumbled, "Yeah, well, mom loved nature, and she passed that on to me. Some of the paganism rubbed off on me too, or at least what I remember of it. The sage and lavender I keep around the house is because of her. She'd keep a bundle of it over every doorway. Kept the energy in the room clean she said, calmed any restless spirits that might be lingering. That's also why I keep so many gemstones too, because my mother always kept them around to put positive energy in our space."

"What's your favorite gemstone?" Eren wanted to know.

The older man thought about it for a minute, before he answered, "Amethyst, I think. It's always made my heart the lightest when I've held it, or looked at it. Why, what about yours?"

"My favorites are your opals," the boy said, grinning, "They're gorgeous. It's like a whole rainbow trapped inside a pearl, and yet everyone says they're bad luck. They kind of remind me of you, actually. Misunderstood, but so full of light and sweetness and power. I can't really look at one without thinking of you, actually."

Levi was certain his face was going to remain red permanently at this point, and he groaned with no heat in his words, "You're too cute, kid. You're going to give me a cavity."

"I don't say anything I don't mean. So, anything else about Levi Ackerman and his love for fairies and gemstones and Ireland or anything related that I should know about?"

"Well…" he pulled up a blade of grass and began worrying it between his thumb and forefinger, "I um, know some rudimentary Irish Gaelic. Nothing too crazy, but I did take some classes. Helped remind me of my mom."

"Are you serious?" Eren asked, wide-eyed.

"Is ea, mo lá an earraigh," he answered cheekily.

"Oh God," the boy breathed, "Oh wow. That was…"

Levi did not miss the way Eren's legs shifted behind him, and he didn't have to look to know that the boy was not so subtly clenching his thighs together. The man snorted, happy to cause such a reaction, and decided to push it with, "Tá tú súile na hÉireann agus i croí fiáin."

"Stoooop," Eren all but begged, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes, his face flushing the brightest shade of red Levi had ever seen, enhanced only by the red of the fading sun. "Stop, holy shit, your voice was sexy enough before, now it's just…I can't…"

"Did I break you a little?" the man smirked.

"A little."

"Want me to make it worse?"

"I don't know if I can take anymore."

"I took Irish step-dancing in addition to the Gaelic lessons. I actually got kind of good at it."

"Jesus Christ."

An image of Levi performing the intricate steps of Irish step-dance, thighs flexing powerfully, feet pounding confidently, combined with a passionate expression on his face and sweat shining on his forehead, glistening down his neck, was enough to have Eren sitting up and pulling the man back to his lips for a deep kiss. Briefly, he flicked his tongue past Levi's teeth to caress the other man's tongue, causing them both to gasp at the sensation. But while it felt strange, it wasn't appalling. In fact, in their impassioned state, it felt quite the opposite, and Levi's fingers grasping at Eren's shirt only encouraged him to do it again. So he did, heart pounding, blushing harder than he had thus far this evening, Levi reciprocating and even guiding his own tongue into Eren's mouth at one point to taste the backs of his teeth. When they parted, they were both breathing hard, and Levi could barely hear himself think over the sound of his own wildly beating heart.

"Holy shit," Eren exclaimed, grinning hugely.

"I'll say," the older man panted, "If this is how you react now, how the hell are you going to react if I decide to demonstrate some of that Irish step-dancing for you?"

Eren groaned, his head falling back into the grass with a soft thump. "I'll explode. They'll find pieces of me in every corner of the world, and it'll take all of my relatives living and dead to put me back together again. You're going to kill me, Levi."

The older man laughed deeply, the sound rumbling in his chest, before he scooted forward and pressed his forehead against Eren's, nuzzling the boy's face much like a cat might. "I'm sorry."

Eren nuzzled his face back, kissing his cheek, the corner of his mouth, and his eyelid, before replying, "Don't be. There's worse ways for me to go than spontaneously combusting because I find you too endearing and hot."

After laughing a little more, the two of them fell into a comfortable silence, Levi remaining with his head on Eren's chest, the boy's heart thumping comfortingly against his ear and Eren wrapping his arms around his shoulders to hold him close. The watched as the sun finally sunk behind the mountains, letting go of its grasp on the day and surrendering the sky to the moon. As soon as the first few stars began to appear in the sky, Eren spoke tentatively, his voice almost surprising Levi into jumping.

"Levi?"

"Hmm?" he hummed, inclining his head slightly so that Eren knew he was listening.

"Someday, maybe, if we ever have the money, do you want to take a trip to Ireland? With me? So you could say you went to see if that field you played in really did look like Ireland?"

Levi lowered his gaze, rolling the idea over in his mind and feeling it click with his secret to desire to travel to the country someday for his mother's sake. Maybe Kuchel never go to set foot there, but he could honor her by taking the trip himself, touching Irish soil instead, to see the green moors, gray skies and all those fairy spots for her. And he couldn't think of a better companion to see it all with than the boy who found wonder beauty in everything, including a ruined wretch such as himself. He remembered when he used to hate being called beautiful, but now Eren had turned that hatred on its head and destroyed it.

And what was worse, he was actually beginning to believe Eren when he called him beautiful.

"Yeah, sure kid," he finally said, snuggling in further into Eren's chest, and then added almost as an afterthought, "Yes, that sounds like fun."

And they both stayed outside until the moon rose, bodies intertwined and thoughts filled with green hills, sweet flowers, and the other's smile as they took it all in.

000

"Isn't it a little early for surprises?" Eren yawned over his breakfast a couple weeks later. He was still out of it enough that most of his French toast was not making it into his mouth, rather bypassing it to poke his cheek instead as he sleepily tried to feed himself.

Huffing in amusement at his groggy actions, Levi clarified, "Actually, this one is going to help in your recovery. Petra recommended it herself."

Curious, the boy asked, "What is it?"

"Well, we're going to take a little trip to visit one of my former cases."

At that, Eren's grogginess disappeared almost completely. He stopped chewing, and regarded Levi apprehensively from across the table. Seeing his nervousness, and half expecting it, Levi quickly reassured him.

"Oh no, don't worry, you'll like her, I promise," he said, "She's a very sweet girl. Her name's Christa, and she was my last case, actually. But anyway, Petra thought this might be a good opportunity for you, that it might give you more hope that you can recover. If you meet someone who's actually been through the program, if you see that they're living a successful and fulfilling life. You think?"

Eren turned the idea over in his mind a couple times, still nervous over meeting a stranger, as he usually was, but from the way he described her, Christa didn't sound all that bad. She seemed safe, approachable, and that was probably why Levi chose her for Eren to meet with rather than any of his other kids that he had worked with in the past.

"Yeah, that sounds alright," the boy finally agreed, and finally swallowed his mouthful, "So she knows we're coming then?"

"I emailed her last week asking if we could visit her, and she said it was fine. She's expecting us at around noon today, and she lives about two hours away, so I figured it was best we get an earlier start. Now, I've told her a bit about you, but nothing too revealing, since I figured you might not be comfortable with that, and I figured you could tell her what you wanted. Likewise, I won't tell you anything about her so she can reveal that information if she wants to. I really think this is going to do you a lot of good, Eren."

Eren nodded distractedly, before getting up and circling around the table to Levi's side. The man gave him a curious look that Eren only noticed for a brief moment, before he was leaning down to kiss him. Levi made a sound of surprise in the back of his throat, but didn't pull away, simply regarding the boy with a questioning look when he pulled away.

"It never ceases to amaze me how much you're willing to do to help me," Eren explained, "I know you said I don't have to thank you, so I'll just kiss you instead, okay?"

Levi's expression shifted into one of amusement, and he snorted, "Alright, I suppose I can't complain about that."

With a grin, Eren leaned back down again to pull Levi into a deeper kiss, gradually leaning in a little further at a time and pushing him further back into his chair. Levi let out a breathy laugh through his nose without ceasing their kiss, reaching up to stroke Eren's jaw, tasting the syrup and sugar on the boy's tongue.

They left the house at ten sharp, and arrived at Christa's apartment at noon, just as Levi had promised they would. Eren was still a bit nervous, huddling against Levi as the man knocked on the door. He glanced down at Eren warmly when he felt the subtle trembling of the kid's frame against his body, and folded his hand inside his own.

"Don't worry," he said softly, "I promise you'll like her. Christa is shy like you, but very perceptive. She'll figure you out quickly and in turn figure out what to say or do to make you feel not so nervous since she knows what it's like to be chronically anxious."

"Okay," Eren said with a nod, taking a deep breath to calm himself.

Eventually, the door opened, revealing a small blond girl with huge blue eyes who was even shorter than the older man was. Her face looked very young and sweet, and she smiled bashfully in greeting when she saw them.

"Hi Levi," she said, before she walked up to him and hugged him, "It's so good to see you again! You look like you're doing well."

"I do?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her briefly before she pulled away, "How do you figure?"

"You look less tired," Christa observed.

Levi rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. Of course she noticed how awful he had looked. "Just getting more sleep now. I know, it's shocking."

She laughed lightly, before turning to the boy next to him, and cautiously holding her hand out to him, unable to meet his eyes at first. "And um, you must be Eren, right?"

Eren immediately felt the tight ball of anxiety sitting in his chest loosen slightly. Her voice was quiet and pleasant to listen to, and her nervous actions put him at ease only because he knew he did similar things when meeting new people, and yet she was doing so much better than he did. He took her hand, grasping it lightly and shaking it, before answering, "Uh-huh. Nice to meet you."

She invited them both in with a nod of her head and a quiet offer to catch up in the living room, before she shut the door behind them. She ushered them over to sit on the couch, while she sat down in an armchair across from them. Once everyone was comfortable and she asked if she could get them anything, to which they both said they were fine, Christa gave Eren a brief account of her story and why she was admitted to the Wings of Freedom's program.

"I was eleven when the program took me in," she explained, "because of how my mother treated me. Now, she didn't outright abuse me. She just neglected me, which is just as bad I think. I was treated me like I didn't exist, mostly because I was the product of an affair she had with a married man. She didn't speak to me, or really make any motions to take care of me. I had to learn how to take care of myself quickly if I was going to survive. I tried to run away a few times, but they always sent me back. Until one day I came home from school and found my mom collapsed on the bathroom floor. She had…"

Christa paused for a minute, wringing her hands together and taking a deep breath to steady herself, before she continued, "Her bottle of oxycodone was next to her, and it was empty. I came home just as she was going under from it, and I tried to keep her awake. I shook her and cried and kept telling her to stay with me, telling her I was going to call an ambulance for her. And she replied to me, 'Don't. I'm trying to get away from you. I hate you, don't you realize that? Always have. Don't prolong my suffering.' First time she ever spoke to me, and that was what she said. It would be the last thing too. Ambulance got there not too long after, but it was too late. They tried to place me with my birth father after that, but he didn't want anything to do with me either. No one did. And child services didn't know what to do with a mess like me, so they got in touch with the Wings of Freedom, and I was assigned to live with Levi. The program was the best thing that ever happened to me. It helped me learn how to function as a normal human being."

"Hey, you did most of the work," Levi insisted, "We just gave you a nudge in the right direction. Besides, once you were in the right environment, you bounced back fairly quickly. She might not look it, Eren, but Christa is just as stubborn as you or I. Once she sets her mind to do something, she does it, and once she gained some confidence and decided she was going to make a life for herself and live on her own someday, nothing was going to stop her."

The girl blushed at his praise, lowering her eyes to the floor with a pleased smile she was trying very hard to hide. "So, um, Eren, why don't you tell me what led you to being placed in the program? If you want."

Eren shifted around uncomfortably on the couch slightly, before glancing up at Levi. When the older man gave him a warm smile and an encouraging nod, the boy took a deep breath, before shifting subtly closer towards him so that their thighs barely touched, and launched into his own story. However, he just gave Christa the abridged version, deciding to skip out on the details. Her mouth dropped open near the beginning, followed by her placing her hands to her mouth in shock, sympathy written all over her face and remaining there even after Eren finished.

"Oh my," she breathed in horror, "Levi said in his emails to me you were the most difficult case the organization has ever had, but he never told me why. You…oh Eren. You poor thing."

Eren just shrugged. "Well, like for you, Levi has been helping me. Everyone in the organization has. I don't know where I'd be without them either, and I'm glad they found me. Things have been hard though, I get severe panic attacks and flashbacks, and my nightmares are horrible. But I want to get better. I have to. If I don't, Erwin said they're going to send me to Hutchings, and if I go there"-

He pressed his lips tightly together, feeling fear crawl up his throat and threaten to choke him at the very implication. Levi shushed him, reading the signs and grasping his shoulder lightly, rubbing his thumb over it comfortingly. Once he registered the contact, some of the fear in Eren's head dissipated like mist retreating from the sun's rays, and he began to form coherent thoughts again. He straightened up slightly, and when he spoke again, he was proud of himself at how little his voice shook and how determined he sounded.

"But that's why I'm here, talking to you," he said, "I'm going to get better so that doesn't happen. So, maybe you could tell me what you've been doing since you got out, and what you think the secret to recovering to the point where you felt comfortable enough to living on your own is."

Christa sat there for a moment, lips slightly parted, in awe of his determination and the fire that seemed to be burning in those green eyes, before her lips curled into a soft smile. "Well, since I got out, I got my own apartment," she stated, glancing around the room, "I'm getting my bachelor's and plan on becoming a primary school teacher. I have a girlfriend that I adore to pieces and who loves me and understands my problems because she had similar ones growing up. Uh, Ymir had an alcoholic mother that ignored her, but she didn't have the luck of being placed somewhere like the Wings of Freedom. So we're helping each other get better and encouraging each other to pursue what we love. I think she's one of the things that's helped me the most. I have a hard time being alone for too long, and it's nice having someone that loves me unconditionally and someone that I love waiting for me when I come home. As for my secret for recovering, I think Ymir is one of the big parts of it. The other part is I've just always tried to do what makes me the happiest. I'm going to get a job doing something I've always wanted to do and I go places I've always wanted to go. I've surrounded myself with people who understand, people who I know I can go to if I have a bad day or a panic attack. Above all else, Eren, keep the people who care about you close to you, and always strive to do the things that will make you the happiest. The worst thing that can happen to you when you have a past like ours is being alone. Take it from someone who knows that better than anyone."

Eren stared at her for a moment, absorbing her words, before he nodded slowly. "I-I think I can aim for that. Thank you, Christa. I had a feeling maybe I should do something like that, but I wondered if it could really be that simple. I appreciate you putting it into words."

She smiled at him and waved her hand dismissively. "It's no problem. Now, enough of the heavy stuff. Levi told me you like animals. I have a couple of rats, if you want to see them?"

Instantly, the boy brightened, nodding eagerly and replying, "Yes please."

Christa stood up from her chair and said, "Here, come with me and we'll carry them back out here."

Eren stood up from the couch, looking down at Levi and flashing him a huge, happy smile, and Levi smiled back, the sight of the boy's happiness prompting an empathetic swell of elation inside of him as well. He then followed Christa down the hall to what he assumed was her bedroom, and on a large table across the room from it sat a large cage with two white and tan mounds of fluff cuddled up next to each other.

"Hey girls," she cooed, and two heads lifted at the sound, their eyes opening blearily. When the cage door opened though, they were right there, climbing up the bars eagerly, their whiskers twitching brightly. Christa picked one up and handed it to Eren, instructing him to hold her under her butt and keep her close to his chest.

"That's Sasha," she clarified, "And this is Annie. You'll notice Sasha is very fat. She's not pregnant, just a big pig, always hogging the treats. Annie is much smarter, she can do all sorts of tricks. She actually comes when you call her, and you don't need food to prompt her, not like the tub of lard you're holding."

"They're so cute," Eren gushed, "Cover your ears, Sasha, don't listen to those lies. You're adorable the way you are."

Christa huffed a breath of laughter, and said, "Eren, listen. I just wanted to tell you before we went back out there that whatever you're doing, keep it up. I've never seen Levi like that before."

The boy looked up at her, blinking questioningly. "What do you mean?"

She met his eye, smiling gently and saying, "I've never seen him look so…warm. So relaxed and open. He was never like that when I lived with him, and I always thought it was my fault, that I was stressing him out or something. But Petra assured me that I wasn't, that he had always been like that, and I shouldn't take it personally. I learned not to, but I felt horrible for him, you know? I tried to help him, but he always very nicely told me that I shouldn't worry about him and to concentrate on getting better, that he would be okay. But I wasn't stupid, yet at the same time, there was nothing I could do. And now he looks…happy. I mentioned before that it looks like he's getting more sleep, maybe that has something to do with it, but I'll bet it has something to do with you."

Eren glanced towards the floor, trying desperately to hide his blush as he stammered, "W-What makes you say that? I haven't, I mean…I'm nothing special."

"Obviously you are," she refuted him, "Let's just say he was never as affectionate with me as he is with you."

Eren lifted his gaze sharply at her words, his mouth opening and closing several times, trying to think of a reply but failing miserably. How was she even…? Well, hadn't Levi mentioned she was perceptive? But now came the question, what would her reaction be?

However, Christa just shrugged one shoulder and looked down at Annie briefly, stroking her back as she murmured, "I meant what I said that you need to keep the people you care about closest to you to help you get better. If Levi means a lot to you, you need to not let him go, no matter what. I think it's vital for the both of you."

When she looked up again, she held the boy's eye, her face serious, and Eren found himself nodding determinedly in agreement and saying, "I won't let him go, Christa. Not if I can help it."

She patted his shoulder and said reassuringly, "Don't worry, Eren. I think you're going to do fine."

He smiled softly at her praise, and then followed her out of the room, Sasha in tow and tickling his bare arm with her twitching whiskers.

I won't let him go, Eren repeated to himself when they came back into the living room and Levi's handsome face was once again all his heart could see, I won't let him go.

A/N: Chapter title means "all my heart can see". For the first scene I was listening to Thymian und Rosmarin by Faun on repeat, so if you want an enhanced reading experience, I recommend popping that on. It's super soft and nice. ^^ Also, if anyone is curious, the phrases in Gaelic that Levi speaks mean in order, "Yes, my spring day," and "You have Irish eyes and a wild heart."