I got up and scrounged something for us to eat, since Levi was still feeling shaky after his experience the day before. He did rouse himself long enough to blend us a couple of smoothies, though. I just made some oatmeal with fruit, since that was his normal breakfast, and would be the best for his stomach.

When we were at the table eating breakfast, I took the time to study him. He still looked tired, but the bags under his eyes were maybe a bit less pronounced. He was sitting there with his foot cocked over his knee, and his arm slung over the back of the chair, looking like a predator taking a break from his day job.

We didn't talk much over breakfast, but it was nice. He read the paper, and I flipped through a magazine I had in my bag about physiotherapy. We drank our smoothies, then Levi made us a pot of tea, and it was something very aromatic with lots of berries in it. He showed me his tea collection, and I kid you not the guy had at least 30 different kinds of tea. Most of the ones he drank were decaffeinated.

When I asked why, he said with a slow blink, "Body doesn't do well with drugs. Or caffeine. Or certain foods. I have to keep my system very clean to stay in optimal shape."

Not like me, who was on the run so much I was stuffing my face with fast food half the time. Although at least I had fast food standards. Some people didn't even have that!

"How's your stomach wound healing?" I asked him as I was clearing the dishes away.

Levi went to go lie down on the couch. "It's not bad," he called out.

"Not bad like, good? Or not bad like, need a few more weeks before vigorous exercise?"

"Why you so interested in when I can do vigorous exercise?" he said sarcastically.

I felt my face go beet red. Damn. Now I had all kinds of images in my mind. Levi lightly covered in a sheen of sweat. Levi panting. Thrusting. Oh yeah, I was in trouble.

Levi poked his head around the corner, to catch the look on my face no doubt. Then he snorted, and that little corner of his mouth turned up again. Oh he knew what I was thinking, all right.

"Probably still another week. But seriously Eren, I thought you weren't interested. I mean, after everything..." He sucked on his lips. "I thought you needed time, you know, for me to gain your trust again."

I thought about that kiss the day before, and how perfect it was. That was what I wanted, not the angry desperation from after the Survey Recon meeting. But was I still interested? Hell yeah, at least, my dick seemed to think so.

"I'm interested," I said vaguely, giving him a look.

He harrumphed and collapsed back onto the couch. "Kid, I'm probably not going to be much fun today. I am feeling pretty shitty right now."

"It's Saturday," I pointed out. "I don't have to go to class. But I do have to get some studying done."

"So go study," Levi said tiredly. "I'm just going to rest. I don't think I can sleep again so soon, but I'll veg here and read a book."

"I have my books in my car," I said thoughtfully. "If you don't mind, I could get them and come back up. We could hang out."

There was a pause while Levi obviously thought about that one. "...Hang out? Jesus you make me sound like a high school student."

And he made himself sound like an old geezer. "Well? Yes or no, gramps?"

"Whatever."

I grinned, and went to tuck into my shoes. "Back in a mo."

—

When I was out in the car, I called Armin. He was happy to hear things were going well between Levi and I, and said he'd pass the message along that I wouldn't be home for a bit.

I then spent all afternoon studying on Levi's kitchen table, while he lay there reading on the couch. After a while he got up and picked up some folders, and started sorting through the information inside. He made tea for us, the joined me at the table, spreading the papers out and taking a look.

"What are you looking at?" I asked him when I wanted a pause from circulatory systems.

"Open cases they need help with. This is the one from Paris."

I stood behind him, looking at the photographs, papers, and even saw some documents that had been redacted with black ink.

"This one should be pretty straightforward. We have a mark - a person of potential interest, usually because of terrorist activity, that sort of thing - that we basically need to tail to get information from."

I noticed that Levi had also written out everyone's name on a notecard, and he was arranging the notecards, pairing them up. He had Mikasa paired with Nanaba. Armin with Mike. And I was with Eld.

"You working on the partnerships?" I asked, noting the obvious.

Levi nodded, pushing back in his seat. "Armin is a real strategist, so he would have been perfect to pair with Erwin. But seeing as Erwin isn't with this operation in any official capacity, I figured Mike is a quiet guy but very good at his job. One of the best fighters that we have, so Armin will be safe with him."

I pointed to Nanaba's name card with a raised eyebrow.

"Nanaba is our best all-rounder. Should complement Mikasa's skills well, I think. Plus, he's female so it makes it a little less awkward with room arrangements if we need to pair up in rooms."

I squinted, then blinked. "Did you just say he's female?"

Levi waggled his hand back and forth. "Gender queer. You know, female on the bottom, but acts like a man. Well, most of the time, there is the rare occasion that you'll get him to act like a girl for a day."

Somehow that made me giggle. I then pointed to Eld, feeling a bit sour about him being paired with me.

"Eld is a good guy. He's dependable. He's got an even temperament, so he'll be a good balance for your passion."

But he's not you, I thought to myself. In fact, Levi's name was nowhere on the table at the moment.

I reached out and caressed the cards, thinking about what I really wanted. Then I got out a notecard, and I wrote Levi's name on it, and I replaced Eld's name with his.

Levi looked at me, his gaze unwavering, but questioning. When I didn't say anything, Levi sighed and turned to the table. He tapped his name card several times. "What do you want from me, kid?"

I licked my lips, not sure how truthful to answer. But before I could think the better of it, I said, "Everything."

Levi snorted, and closed his eyes like he wanted to laugh. He shook his head, then, and said, "Eren, you'll have to be willing to separate the personal from the professional."

"I can do that," I answered straightaway.

"No, you can't," he said softly. I realized then that he was thinking back to what had happened at the tribunal. For him, it hadn't been personal. It had been a part of the job, required for the mission of keeping me safe. I had made it personal.

I wanted to reach out and touch him, but I knew that if this was going to work, I had to convince him right here that I was serious. "Levi, I promise you, I'm willing to try. I understand now what you were doing, it's just that sometimes my emotions run away with me. I want you to respect me, enough to tell me the truth. That hurt worse than anything else.

"But I don't want that to be the end of us. And I can't bear the thought of not being there for you, and having your back, professionally. I promise you I'll work harder than you can imagine. I'll turn myself into a machine if that's what you want."

Levi looked up at me, then he sighed and patted his lap. I looked at him for a minute, not sure if this was what he meant, but when he gave me the look, I sat down on his lap, straddling him.

Levi's eyes were examining my face, and then his hands came up and brushed my hair back. "I don't want you to be a machine, Eren. I want you just the way you are, full of passion, and energy, and joie-de-vivre. But I can't be a good partner to you if you don't trust me."

I bit my lip, and fiddled with the hem of his shirt. "Do you trust me?" I countered.

"Yes."

Levi said the word without hesitation, without doubt, and with utter sincerity. He looked up into my eyes, and I saw in that moment that he would have walked into fire for me. And if I was true to myself, I'd already done that for him. And if I asked myself if I was willing to do it again, the answer was hell yes.

I cradled his head in my hands, and turned him up for a kiss. I just lightly kissed him, not much more than a movement of our lips together. We lingered, lips touching, just tasting each other's essence. "Please be my partner," I murmured against his mouth.

Levi looked at me, well aware that the double entendre was intentional. He closed his eyes and smirked. "Fuck, you have no idea what you do to me."

I grinned down at him, feeling impending triumph. "Oh?"

I kissed him again, only this time, I went in deeper, chasing Levi's tongue. He tasted like peppermint tea, and felt like soft velvet. I moaned into his mouth, loving the taste of him, and at the sound, Levi's hands caught my hips and tightened around them.

"Eren," Levi groaned before reaching up for another kiss, his hands clenching on my sides. My hands were wandering under his shirt, skirting across his abs, and up to run over his pecs. My thumb found his nipple, at the same time as I sucked on his tongue, and I felt the nipple stiffen into a peak under me.

Levi's hands rocked my hips forward, and fuck, there we were rubbing against each other, and Levi was hard. So was I, but knowing that I did this to him, it undid me.

"Are you sure about this?" Levi mumbled, but his hands didn't stop their exploration of my hips. His hands slid into the back pockets of my jeans, and he cupped my butt in a way that made my body sing.

I tugged on Levi's shirt, and he grumbled but let me get it off him, so I could run my hands up his bare skin. When I bent my neck to suck under his ear, his head tipped away, giving me access, and he was biting his lip adorably. I licked the shell of his ear, and he jerked under me, and I one of his weak spots.

"Eren," Levi said more urgently, slapping my hip. I jerked to a stop and looked at him. "Let's switch positions," he said, his eyes skirting away. I realized that he was embarrassed at our height difference.

I smiled, and clambered off his lap. Levi stood gingerly, and I took the opportunity to look at the healing wound on his side. It was pink, still raw, but was definitely on the mend.

Levi slapped my hand away, and jerked my shirt unceremoniously over my head. When my skin was exposed, he ran his hands up my torso, and I shivered under his touch. While we were standing, Levi was at the perfect height to step forward and - yes - take my nipple in his mouth.

I threw my head back at the sensation of that wet tongue lapping at me, then nudging the small nub. He then bit it between his teeth, nipping just the right side of pain, which shot straight to my traitorous cock. "Oh, Levi," I moaned, my hands running up his back.

Levi kissed a trail over to my other nipple, which he gave similar treatment. He licked, he prodded, he nipped, he sucked, and hell, I was undone by it. My cock felt rock hard in my pants.

Levi then pulled my head down for another searing kiss, and my arms went around him, and I pulled him up into my kiss, my hands on his lower back. Levi's arms were around my neck, and I was overwhelmed by him, by his kiss, by his scent, his taste.

He finally pulled away long enough to push me down into the chair. "Stay," he ordered, pointing at the chair.

I watched him as he jogged out of the room, and wondered what he was so eager for. It could only be good. We'd never gotten this far before, and I was excited by it, but also a little apprehensive that he'd stop halfway through. God, I wanted him to touch me so badly.

Levi jogged back in, with a tube of lube in his hand. When I saw it, I flushed, wondering what exactly he had planned for us.

He waggled his finger. "I'm not healed enough for that yet, but there's something just as good. As long as you help me a little, this will be great, I promise."

Anything Levi said was great was good enough for me. I smiled at him and beckoned him over.

Levi surprised me by dropping down to his knees in front of me. He looked up at me, and just palmed me a little through my pants, making me squirm. Then undid the zipper and slowly slid it down. When he patted me on the hip, and I obligingly lifted my hips enough to help him slide down my pants and underwear.

Suddenly I was sitting there naked on the chair, but I was too aroused to be ashamed by it. Levi was just standing there, between my spread thighs, looking down at me. He stepped away long enough to give me the once-over, then he cocked that little sideways smile and said, "Not bad."

I was glad there was something about my ridiculously long limbs, and too-soft skin, that he seemed to like. I wasn't hairy all over like most guys - I was just touched with hair here and there, but overall my skin was smooth. My muscles had become more pronounced since I'd started doing kickboxing, and my cock wasn't small by any stretch, so I knew I had nothing really to be ashamed of.

But the way Levi looked at me set me on fire. He looked at me like he'd never seen anything so sexy. He bit his bottom lip, almost involuntarily. Then he slowly looked up at me, and undid his pants, and slid them down. He folded his pants and mine over the back of another chair, then came to stand in front of me.

He wasn't small, either. Especially not for his height. Levi was a lucky boy, and it made my mouth water to see him fully nude for the first time. He was powerful, his body sculpted by muscles, but his bones were still fine, his wrists and ankles thin, almost to the point of being graceful. And he had a collarbone that I could spend hours tracing with my tongue.

Levi ran his hands up my thighs, and leaned in for a quick kiss. His hand found my erection, and pumped it slowly, and my breath caught in my throat. His hand was calloused, but still soft. It felt so good to have his hand on me, and my breath caught somewhere in my throat. His fingers wandered down to my scrotum, playing with my testicles, weighing them and pulling them, making me squirm.

Then Levi pressed my knees together, and climbed fully onto my lap. This way around we fit so perfectly, because when he sat, our faces were completely level. We could kiss like this for hours, languidly, whereas I may have gotten a sore neck doing it the other way around.

Levi's hands were on my stomach, then slid up to my chest, his thumbs circling my nipples. Then he was kissing me, his mouth trailing down to my throat, and he leaned down and bit me, and sucked the injured flesh into his mouth. Why was that so good? I moaned and begged him to do it again, and he did, until my neck was savaged and quivering. He even bit a love mark onto my pectoral, close to my nipple, and when I asked him to, he sucked my nipple into his mouth again, and it was perfect.

I let my hands wander to trace his cock, learning the shape of it, the surprisingly long length, the girth. I stroked him, and Levi stilled, his breath weighing in heavily on my neck.

Then Levi straightened up. He arched his back, and slid forward, and oh god yes, he rubbed our erections together. He pressed our dicks up against each other, and the feeling of his hot hard length against mine made me moan.

I was suddenly self-conscious of the sounds I was making, and I bit my lip to stop, but Levi thumbed my lip out of my mouth. "I like the sounds you make," he reassured me. "When I fuck you, I want you to scream my name."

The whispered words went straight to my dick, and I moaned again.

Levi found my hands, and he placed them on his hips. "I'm still a little weak, so I won't be able to move like normal. So just use your hands when you want to move me, I won't mind," he said seriously, his eyes boring into mine.

I tested it, my hands rocking his hips forward, until not just our dicks but even our balls were rubbing together, and I threw my head back in an oh.

Then Levi was reaching out for the lube, and next thing I knew, he'd squeezed some onto our dicks, and he took them both in his hands. I say hands, because Levi's one hand alone was not big enough to wrap fully around both our dicks, so he needed both hands. The idea of it made me flush, that his small hands couldn't take us.

Levi didn't just jerk us off, though. He almost massaged us together, his hands going up and down, but then smoothing over the tips, then swirling down in a pattern down the length. He was flushed beet red as he did it, looking down at us.

I looked down at us too, and the way his hands moved like magic. Up, down, swirling around, then rubbing over the tips. It felt amazing, like a trail of tingling fire burned in his wake. Then he held them both and pressed the heads together, in an obscene kiss, and then rubbed the full lengths along each other again.

The variety was excruciating, and slow. I felt myself slowly getting hotter and hotter, then when I couldn't stand the slow pace anymore, I started to rock Levi's hips for him, grinding him into me.

"Good, Eren," Levi praised me. "You're so good."

I kept up the motion, my hands catching Levi's ass, and pushing us together rhythmically. I watched Levi's face, his eyes were nearly closed and focused on our dicks, his mouth parted. His breathing was erratic, and he was flushed all over. Damn it was sexy.

I groaned and licked his neck, then pulled back so I could watch the flush on his face. "Look at me, Levi," I commanded him.

Levi looked up, his eyes half-hooded as always, though now the pupils were dilated, and he was unfocused in his desire. "Eren, fuck us into my hands," he said huskily.

"God, yes," I agreed. I jerked my hips up, and pulled his hips forward at the same time, and Levi kept his hands in exactly the right place, and exactly the right pressure. I ground up into him, and our movements became sporadic, jerky.

"Levi, I'm close," I warned, in case he wanted to stop.

God, I hope he didn't want to stop.

"Me too," he said breathily. "Eren, let's come together. Eren, harder. Ah, yes, right there - Eren! Now!"

Levi's hips were convulsing, his legs clenching around mine, and my hips were driving up and shit I couldn't even see I was coming so hard. I felt myself jerk not once, twice, but at least four times, maybe five. It was blinding.

I'd never come so hard in my life. I felt like some part of me had been waiting for him, waiting to meet him, and now I had found a release that had been building up inside of me for as long as I could remember.

Levi had come a lot, too, and he was trembling like a leaf, all his strength sapped. I clenched his buttocks in my hands, keeping him in place, while we caught our breath.

Then I pulled back, and looked at us, and laughed.

There was come on our stomachs, on our chests, and even on our faces. I saw a spot of come on Levi's cheek, and he swiped a finger into a spot on my chin, and wiped it on my chest with a grimace.

"Jesus," Levi whispered shakily.

I leaned my forehead against his. "Yeah."

Levi's lips were tracing my temple, then he found my cheek, the corner of my mouth, and finally my lips. We kissed languorously, both half-drunk in a post-coital haze.

Levi's hands worked their way into my hair, and he tilted my head back, so he could look at my face. I can only imagine what I looked like, tousled and flushed and sated and happy.

"Eren, fuck, you have the most beautiful eyes," he said, then started as though he didn't realize he'd said it aloud.

I laughed, pleased at the compliment. "I love your eyes, too," I said. "Even though they're always glaring, or bored, when you look at me like that, it makes me come undone."

Levi leaned our foreheads together, and nuzzled his nose against mine in a surprisingly tender gesture. "Jesus, Eren. Why does this feel so good?"

I looked back at his eyes again. "You feel this too?" This connection, this string that pulled us together. It felt less like rushed sex, and more like making love with a lover you've known in another life. This was what I had craved.

Levi bit his lip, and I thought he'd lie, then he finally said, "Yeah. I feel this too."

I sagged in relief, and hugged him to me, then he squirmed and slithered out of my lap, and then pointed down at the cum now smeared all over his torso. I laughed at his gleaming chest and abs, and it would have been even more funny if it hadn't been fucking sexy too, knowing that it was me, and him, together proof of our attraction for each other.

I stood and reached out a hand and grabbed his wrist. "Come on, Levi. Let's go take a shower."