It's late at night when Erwin arrives in his room, surely exhausted from a shitty work day and Levi's already there, patiently waiting for him. Perhaps not that patiently. He showered a couple of times, made the bed until it was perfect, and it still took Erwin a lot of time to finally get there.
Levi doesn't like to feel needy at all. He feels as if he has so much love now that his dam will explode. Like all those years of being forced into numbness will colapse. He has in fact needed this his whole life. And he doesn't want to be that heavy on Erwin's shoulders. Doesn't want to demand attention like a stupid puppy when his owner leaves the house for a couple of hours. He wants to support Erwin and that's obviously not the best way to do it. So he usually just ignores his feelings and does what he does best, follow Erwin's orders and helps him out, like he doesn't need any attention at all.
"Wait." He says before Erwin can enter the bathroom to shower. "Just hold me for a bit before it."
Erwin's probably puzzled by this request, but, if he is, he doesn't show it and just steps back into the room and gets in bed with him, cuddling him with all of his own huge body.
"I never expected you to be like this."
"Like what?"
"So sweet I guess." And it is definitely strange. Because Levi hadn't seem soft at first glance. He'd seemed harsh and sharp on all edges. When Erwin first met him he'd looked and he'd felt like the world beat him up countless times but never actually managed to break his tough skin. On the other hand, the more Erwin got to know the man, the more he came to realize maybe this softness wasn't strange at all. Because he always seemed to care a lot about people, at least a lot more than he did.
"I thought you'd try to deny it." Erwin says still stroking the little man's hair, as gentle as he always did.
"There's no point." Levi said uncharacteristically softly. "I'm just melting in your hands like a fucking idiot and you already know it."
"Yeah...I do." Erwin avoids confirming it out loud, but smiles when he hears Levi say what he already knows.