A.N: Updates may take a little longer as my laptop is playing up. I'm looking into replacing it, but until then please have patience with me? Thank you!

Paper Trail

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Things progressed a bit slower with Levi, after that.

Eren hadn't spent nearly as much time at the older teen's house, mostly because said teens parents were working sociable hours at the moment, but also because he didn't want to keep misleading his own family. He and Mikasa often studied together at the kitchen table whilst sipping raspberry tea in baggy lounge-clothes. It was nice, comfortable; perfect for the cold weather. Often, Eren would let his mind wonder how Levi would fit into his life, if at all.

They would text a lot though. So much so that Mikasa kept shooting Eren scathing looks whenever his phone vibrated next to his mug.

She knew something was going on, just like she knew he was lying about who he was actually texting. He was waiting for the other shoe to drop, he knew that, however he just wasn't ready to get his whole family involved in his personal life. Not yet, at least.

February started with no real difference in the long, cold winter they were enduring. Eren didn't even take the short cut around the back of the building to the cafeteria, it was just too cold outside even with all his layers. He kept glimpsing snatches of dark clothing, but it was rarely Levi who was wearing it.

However, the times where he did see Levi were enough to make his insides burst into flames.

He knew it was silly, knew that it was written all over his dopey face, but he couldn't stop himself from grinning like an idiot whenever he saw the older teen in the hallways. It broke the day up, making the hours he still had to endure seem a little more bearable.

.

Eren shoved his chemistry books back into his locker and grumbled when a few bits of paper and a pen tumbled onto the floor by his converses. He bent to scoop them up and shove them back into the metal box with a growl of frustration. He didn't know what it was but Mr. Smith never seemed to fully explain the equations in a way that Eren was able to understand. Maybe he shouldn't have tried taking chemistry? It wasn't his best subject at GCSE level, so why did he think the AS level was going to be any better?

"That's not a happy slam," someone drawled.

Eren jumped, ducking around his open door to see Levi leaning back against the lockers, adorned in black with smoky eye make-up. He cocked a black eyebrow at Eren, the piercing glinting in the light. Realising that he hadn't spoken yet, Eren swallowed the lump in his throat and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah … Mr. Smith is frustrating me in chemistry 101. I feel dumber every time I leave his class."

Levi rose both eyebrows in a bored manner. "You shouldn't take what Erwin says to heart, brat. He's a prick to everyone."

"You seem to handle him well enough."

A shrug. Gaze averted. "He doesn't like me, and I don't like him. It's a match made in Hell. However, I like chemistry and he's an OK teacher, prick that he is."

Eren frowned, "I don't … that doesn't make sense."

Another shrug. "So? It works. In a few months he'll never have to see me again."

"Unless you come to seek revenge."

A slow smirk. "Yeah. Until then, at least."

Eren smiled, the tension ebbing out of his muscles. "I feel like I haven't seen you in ages."

"That's because you haven't come over in about two weeks."

"Nine days," Eren corrected. "And I didn't think either of us did 'weekends'."

Levi rolled his eyes. Shifting his weight from one foot to the other, he glanced up at Eren through his black hair. "So? When do I get you alone, brat?"

Eren blinked at the rough tone. "Uh … I don't really know."

A glare.

"It's not that I don't want to! I just … Mika's been on my case a bit and I feel like if I start disappearing again, she's going to demand why."

"So?" Levi deadpanned. "You're old enough for a life, kid, don't like your sister boss you about."

"She doesn't boss me about!"

"Sounds like she does."

"You're such an arse!" Eren snapped. He turned on his heel and made to leave for the library. He had a free period and didn't fancy getting lectured about loitering in the hallways. He heard the soles of Levi's boots following at a leisurely pace, but refused to turn around.

The library was eerily quiet, the only other people in there was the assistant currently stamping books behind the large desk, and a few people dotted about on the lower level tables, studiously taking notes off a projection on the wall. No one paid any attention as the two teens entered.

"Hey!" Levi hissed as he trailed after Eren to a lone table obscured at the back of the room.

Eren spun around just before he reached the table. "What?"

"What're you getting arsey at me for?"

"You keep making me out to be a wimp when I'm not!"

"Okay, okay, you're not a wimp," Levi whispered, holding up his hands in surrender. "That means you're ashamed of me."

Eren's eyes went wide. "I'm not ashamed of you."

"Then what is it?"

"I worry my parents will judge you the way Mika already has."

"Badly, you mean?"

Eren nodded, casting a glance at the assistant behind the desk. He hoped they were talking quietly enough.

Levi leaned sideways against a bookcase, arms folded as he toyed with his tongue piercing between his teeth. Eren watched that metal ball disappear over and over from view. It made his insides squirm.

"Have you even told them that you're seeing someone?"

Eren snorted quietly, "Is that what we're doing?"

Levi didn't miss the hurt tone in the kid's voice, but didn't show it. He continued to toy with his piercing. "Yeah," he murmured. "I guess we are."

"I can't tell them I have a boyfriend. That's not what we are."

Levi cut his eyes to Eren, seeing the droop in the lanky teen's shoulders and the downward turn to his mouth. "Tell them that you're seeing someone," Levi shrugged. "It's not a lie. Doesn't mean we have to be boyfriends."

"I don't want to do that," Eren sighed. "I don't want them to worry about me. I don't want them to think I'm being used."

"So your sister can have boyfriends, but you can't even have a casual fling?"

"What's so casual about us?" Eren hissed sharply. "We text nearly every day, I spend as much of my physical time with you in your bed as possible, and that sounds casual to you?"

"About as casual as anything else I've done," Levi shrugged.

The words stung. Whilst it was true, what they'd been doing over the last few weeks had been pretty casual, but Eren was almost entirely sure that Levi never let any of his other conquests fall asleep in his bed, or stroke a stray bit of hair out of their eyes. He was positive that he didn't loan his hoodie out to just any boy that trampled in through his front door.

Then again, maybe he did. Eren always got evasive answers whenever they spoke of such things.

Maybe it was time to change that.

"Are your parents about tonight?" he asked quietly.

Levi shot him a look he couldn't decipher. "They said they're going out to dinner straight from work. You can come by if you want."

Without waiting for a reply, Levi brushed past Eren and dumped his messenger bag into the table with a 'thunk'. Eren pressed his lips together but followed suit, both boys taking out various notebooks and started to work on their homework assignments.

It always amazed Eren just how studious the goth guy really was. His stereotype didn't really allow for intellect. Eren found himself staring across the table at the older teen a few times, to the point where Levi balled up a scrap of paper and tossed it as his head. Blushing, Eren ducked his head down to his notebook, almost missing the smirk that quirked Levi's mouth up.

After about an hour of silently working on their assignments, Eren felt his phone buzz.

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[13:10] You look hot when you're thinking hard. Can almost smell the smoke.

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Eren rolled his eyes and tapped out a reply;

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[13:13] That was an awful pun. You CANNOT be proud of that!

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He was just about to set his phone down when another text came through. This time is was from Mikasa.

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[13:14] Hey I heard you might be in the library. I'm on my way to you, I'll see you in 5!

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"Shit!" Eren hissed. Levi glanced up, eyebrows raised. "My sister's on her way here!"

"Do you want me to go?"

Shame flooded Eren's face and he bit his bottom lip. "No, not really. But I know she's going to give me grief if she sees us together."

"I can handle myself Eren."

"I just …" he floundered. "I just don't want her to judge you based on what you wear. She already has a low opinion of your group of friends, I don't want to make it worse."

Levi rolled his eyes and started packing his things away. "It's fine. I'll see you later then."

Eren wanted to crawl under the table and disappear. Every part of his body drooped with disappointment. He started when fingers ran roughly through his hair and gripped. He gasped only to have his air cut off by Levi pressing a lingering kiss to his mouth. He was a slow, dirty kiss that made his insides tremble. When he pulled away, Levi smirked down at him, "Try not to miss me too much."

With one last smirk, he was gone.

Eren was jolted out of his daze when Mikasa arrived a few minutes later. "Eren are you okay? You look a little warm."

"Huh? Oh, yeah I'm fine. Just been cooped up in here too long."

Mikasa frowned at him, not taking a seat at the table. "If you want to grab something to eat we can. I think Armin is free now. We can go meet him for lunch."

"Sure," Eren said, grateful for the change of scenery. "Sounds good."

As they walked out of the library, Mikasa said, "I saw that goth kid leaving just before I got here. He didn't give you any trouble, did he?"

"Er no, I didn't even realise he was there," he lied.

"You'd tell me if he or anyone else started bothering you, right?"

Eren resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Yes, mother, I'd tell you. Not that I can't handle anyone on my own."

"Don't be silly, I know you can," she snapped. "It's just good to have back-up in these sorts of things."

"What sort of things?" he frowned, stopping just outside the cafeteria doors. "Mikasa, we're not about to start a turf war, okay?"

"I'm just saying."

"There's no reason to 'just say'," he snapped. "Nothing bad has happened, okay? Even if it did, I'm sure I can handle it."

"You don't have to do it alone, though."

This time he did roll his eyes. "Would you just stop? It's school. I'm not in a gang, I'm not doing drugs or putting anything else other than food and drink into my body. Can you just lay-off with the over-protective-sister shtick? It's getting old."

Mikasa bristled. "You've gotten very snappy lately."

"Then stop pissing me off."

Mikasa glowered up at him. "Eren, if you're not telling me something, you can either say it now or wait until I find out. Which do you prefer?"

"You're not my goddamn mother, Mikasa! Stop acting like it! If I have any life-changing news to tell mum and dad, I'll damn well tell them, got it?"

"Eren, you can be erratic. All I'm asking is for you to be careful. I don't know where you disappear to half the time, and you've only vaguely mentioned a few people from any of your other classes. I just worry."

"Well don't."

"Eren –"

"Hey guys!" Armin hurried along the corridor and skidded to a stop in front of them. He froze for a moment, sensing the tention between the two siblings, before he forced a cheerful grin. "Let's get something to eat, I'm so hungry! I skipped breakfast today."

Mikasa turned her frown onto Armin. "That's not like you, Armin."

"I overslept," he shrugged. "It's this weather; sometimes it gets so cold I just want to hibernate."

Eren was glad for his friends' intervention as they pushed through the doors and joined the queue for the food counter. The hall was crowded with bodies, even one table held a horde of goth kids, hunched over and eating, their backs to the world. Eren tried to see if Levi was among them, but couldn't tell who was who. He listened absently to Armin, nodding along here and there when appropriate, but all he could think about was the moment he got to get off-campus and make his way to Levi's house.

~0~

Levi stared up at the ceiling of his room and exhaled. The rain was softly falling outside, lightly sluicing over the window pane of his attic bedroom. The sound was gentle, coaxing a sense of relaxation into his mind and body. A body flinched a little beside him, a nervous chuckle that made his lips twitch in a smile. He continued to lightly graze his black nails over the baby-soft hairs of the thigh he had strewn over his mid-driff. Every so often he'd scratch at a nerve, and the guy next to him would flinch, muffle a chuckle or squirm a little, but he wouldn't move away to the safety of the other side of the bed. He was too content to have his head nestled next to Levi's.

This was one of the things he was coming to enjoy about Eren. He was introducing Levi to a whole new world of touching; being touching, doing the touching, and it never led anywhere beyond kissing and heavy petting.

Not that he didn't want to get to the good stuff. He really, really missed having sex. Just the thought of Eren these days was enough to make him burst without much build-up.

However, Eren wasn't ready and he'd promised to be patient.

Now, there were times where Levi found himself wanting to be almost … nice.

Whenever he saw Eren scowling as he moved between classes, he wanted to nudge the little shit and make a sarcastic quip that would make him smile. Or he'd want to buy the kid a coffee to make sure he was awake enough to deal with an early morning lecture. He wanted to know about the teen's day, but never asked it. He wanted to hear Eren's erratic brain working as he rambled, but he felt stunted when it came to starting any type of conversation that would allow that.

So, he touched.

Touching was good, something he was good at doing. He was hoping that by touching in such intimate ways, he was getting across physically what he was unable to say out loud.

Eren seemed happy enough, held against Levi's chest as he was. If it wasn't for the mumbled words every so often, Levi would have thought the younger teen had fallen asleep. Every now and then, he'd feel Eren shift, his warm smoothing trails up Levi's arms and over his collar. With the bitter weather outside, it felt amazing just to lie with one another and gently touch in the warm bubble they'd created.

The sky outside the window had grown dark some time ago, and a restlessness was niggling at Levi's otherwise peaceful mind.

"We should be getting you home," he murmured.

Eren shook his head, "Nuh uh. Five more minutes."

"Of cuddling?"

"Yes."

Levi rolled his eyes and bit back a smirk. He swatted the back of Eren's head. "Come on, you."

With a defeated sigh, Eren rolled up into a sitting position, his head still fuzzy and warm from where he'd been lying on Levi. He raked a hand through his messy hair. "I wish I didn't have to leave."

"Yeah," Levi agreed, resting his elbows on his knees. "Doesn't feel like long enough."

Eren hesitated, not wanting to mention how very easily he could stay longer. All night, in fact. However, he felt as though that was bordering into territory Levi had warned him away from. It hurt to have to keep a part of himself locked away. It took all of five minutes before a hand on his back spurred him to get to his feet, claw clothes back onto his body and shuffle downstairs after Levi.

The rest of the house seemed cold and empty. Levi's parents had 'unsociable' hours yet again, but it still felt as though he were trespassing. The house gave him the creeps. Stuffing himself into his boots and coat, Eren turned at the door and smiled tiredly. "I'll see you at college then?"

"Yeah," Levi nodded, hunching against the burst of cold air as Eren pulled the door open. "See you at college."

There was a brief moment where Eren thought it'd be okay for him to kiss Levi. However, the moment vanished as soon as it'd presented itself. He gave another tight smile and forced himself up the path to the road. He didn't hear Levi close the door behind him. The thought made him feel a little calmer as he waited for his bus to come.

.

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For anyone to give a shit about Valentines Day whilst in college in London, must mean that their relationship was on the rocks and they needed to force hearts and flowers into everyone else's vision just to prove that their love was worth watching. Eren was happy to watch, because then he'd get to see all the cracks appear when said couple thought no one else was looking. Hands would be let go, shoulders would be hunched, and smiles would never quite reach their eyes.

Their dead, soulless eyes.

Blinking himself back to reality, he realised he'd entered his locker combination wrong. Grinding his teeth together, he tried it again. He just about managed to force it open when the five-minute warning bell sounded off. He was two doors away from his classroom, he had time.

Shoving his books inside in a haphazard manner, Eren didn't notice the slid of paper taped to the inside of his door until he was about to slam it closed.

It'd been printed from a computer and simply read;

Cafeteria. Table 6. 1PM.

Secret Admirer.

It's weird and random and made Eren feel nervous. It was just a joke, he told himself. Probably one of his mates being a dickhead. Probably Jean, it was always Jean trying to take the piss.

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By the time lunch time came around, Eren was doing his best to get to the cafeteria early. He'd text Armin that he was grabbing them a table. Armin had replied with the offer to get Eren's lunch for him, which the tall teen agreed to instantly. When he got to the cafeteria it was already busy with people bustling back and forth to the queue. Eren ducked around the edge, scanning any empty table to see if there were numbers dotted around at all.

To his surprise and delight, all the tables were numbers with an engraved number in the right hand corner. He made a beeline for Table 6 and threw his bag down onto it before a cluster of girls could beat him to it. They scowled at him, but he didn't care. He'd technically gotten there first, if barely.

There was nothing waiting for him on any of the seat and he frowned. Had he gotten the wrong table? He sighed, dumping his bag on the floor. Hovering just low enough to see under the table, his heart thudded loudly in his ears when he saw the red envelope taped to the underside.

Ripping it off, he opened it.

Library. Second aisle, fourth row, Dickens. 2:15PM.

Secret Admirer.

Eren frowned at the oddly precise instructions, but was distracted as trays clattered down on the table. He jumped, shoving the note into his bag and looking up. He could feel the blood rush to his face. Armin was rabbiting on about his last lecture and how hard it was to balance two full trays of food considering how small he was, but Eren wasn't paying attention. Mikasa had joined his table, flanked by Marco and Jean. She looked at him briefly, before pursing her lips and turning her attention to her own food.

No one seemed to notice the cold energy between the siblings, or if they did, no one commented on it.

He did his best to remain focused, even joining in with the conversation as it flitted back and forth, Jean laughing like a horse at a particularly dim joke.

Some things never changed.

Mikasa and Armin had lessons on the other side of the North building, so when the bell rang for the end of lunch, Eren bolted from the cafeteria and practically skidded into the library, heart pounding, desperate to find the book. He dug the note out and calmed himself, trying to make sense of where, exactly, this book was.

Second aisle …

Fourth row …

There! Oliver Twist!

He thumbed through the book, cover-to-cover, and then fanned all the pages out, until a red envelope dropped out onto his shoe. Shoving the book back on the shelf, he tore it open and scanned the words.

11 Widmore Road. Bromley. 8PM.

Secret Admirer.

It was a little later than Eren had planned to be out, but he tucked the note into his back pocket and frowned at the shelves opposite him. Whipping out his phone, he googles the address. It was a restaurant. Zizzi's, in fact. Anxiety made him flinch. What if this was a set-up for a joke? What if it was Mikasa the entire time to trap him? Or, even moe unlikely, he had a weird stalker who wanted a date out of him, but was too chicken to just ask?

He honestly wasn't sure which was worse.

Maybe he should at least give someone a heads up before he went out the door, later? Just so that they'd know where he was going, if things went tits-up.

He checked his phone, his texts with Levi being scarce throughout the day. It wasn't too unusual, the goth wasn't a big texter anyway, but with one lesson still to get through, and a long stretch before he needed to go out to meet this weirdo, Eren couldn't help but feel on edge. Something dark and familiar would have kept him grounded.

Although he could already imagine Levi sneering at the sentiment of Eren going on a date with someone else. Whatever they were was still slightly greyish, but going out tonight didn't have to be a date. Worse case scenario, he'd turn and leave without even sitting down.

Heaving a sigh, he sent a text to Levi before dragging his feet to his Art lesson.

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[13:11] You didn't have plans for us tonight did you? Only I've been invited out.

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[13:16] Nope. You do you. If you need anything, just text.

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The frank attitude was off-putting; he didn't even ask what Eren's plans were. Did he really not care? Or was this Levi putting on a front, so he didn't seem offended by someone else taking an interest in Eren? Either way, the blunt message still hurt. Eren tried not to let it bother him for the rest of the day. He failed miserable.

~0~

Fresh out of the shower, Eren felt a little lighter as he towel-dried his hair and plucked the few errant hairs from his jaw. The bathroom was still steamy, the air warm, and he dried himself down before changing into a nice pair of dark, pressed trousers, a thermal vest and a navy blue button down shirt. He fumbled a little with the cuffs, but he refused to ask anyone for help. He was a grown-up.

He took an experimental sniff of one of his dad's after-shave bottles, and put a tiny squirt just under his jaw. If this did turn out to be a date of any kind, he didn't just want to smell of soap.

By the time he was heading downstairs, his hair was dried and sticking up slightly. His parents were in the lounge, watching TV, his dad typing away on his laptop. Mikasa must have been up in her room.

Carla spotted him first. "Oh, don't you look handsome. Off anywhere nice?"

"Only to Zizzi's, in Bromley," he shrugged, taking his coat from the hook by the door. "I'll try not to be too late."

"You make sure you wrap up warm, okay?"

"Yes mum," he droned, with a smile.

"You have enough money?" his dad asked, finally glancing up from the screen.

Eren nodded, "Yeah I should be fine."

"Give me a call if you need a lift home." In other words; 'if you drink, I'll come and get you.'

"Thanks, I'll let you know if I need you." He shrugged into his jacket, fastened his scarf up and made sure he had his essentials before heading for the door. "I'll see you guys later!"

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The bus ride to the restaurant was long, but not unpleasant. Eren liked being bundled up under the bright lightd, watching the dark world whizz by. He felt like he didn't necessarily need to rush anywhere.

Not that the warm rush of air was unwelcome when he finally stepped inside Zizzi's.

The interior took his breath away; the golden glow of hundreds of fairy lights woven through the branches of faux birch trees nestled throughout the centre of the restaurant. It reminded him of a fairytale. There were candles on every table in little red holders, and there were red decorations adorning the walls.

"Good evening, do you have a reservation?" a waitress asked, coming over to him.

"Er …" Eren blanked. He hadn't thought this far ahead. "I'm supposed to be meeting someone? Reservation for 8PM?"

The waitress scanned down the list on the podium, ticking things off with a pen. "Ah! Yes, party of two for Eren?"

"Er yeah … that's me."

"Right this way. Your date is already here."

He hadn't realised how nervous he'd been about being kicked out, until he exhaled. Then the nerves started up again and he felt as though he was in need of more antiperspirant as he obediently following the girl to a table off to the side. He had to climb up two steps to access the table.

"Here you are, all set. I'll give you a few minutes to look at the menu before taking your order." With that, she was off to see to another customer.

Eren was left staring at the person at the table. "What the –it's you?"

Levi raised his eyebrows in a bored manner. "Nice to see you too."

Colour rose in Eren's face. He felt both relieved and ashamed, guilty and stupid all at once. Had it really been so obvious that he should have seen this coming? He felt like a gullible prat. Of course Levi wouldn't have been truthful with him about his plans if these were his plans.

Goddamnit.

Eren was gripping the back of the chair, refusing to meet Levi's eyes. He felt so stupid.

"Eren, sit down. It's been a long day."

For some reason, Eren found himself obeying. He worked his jaw, trying to find the words. It should have all been flattering, but there was an ugly sheen to everything that made him feel like an idiot. "Why didn't you just ask me out?"

"It was tempting, but I wanted to do something more," Levi drawled. "I wanted to make things clear."

"If anything, you've made it a whole lot muddier."

Levi arched an eyebrow. "Really? I put all this effort into getting your attention. I wanted to make sure you knew how I felt and where I stand. I even dressed-up for you."

Eren glanced over at Levi, having realised he hadn't been paying attention before; black slacks, black boots and a black button-up shirt with a thin, dark red tie hanging down the middle. He gave a thin smile.

Levi narrowed his eyes. "You're not convinced?"

"I'm just –shocked, I guess. I didn't imagine you making such a fuss about Valentines Day."

"Not Valentines Day," Levi tutted disadainfully. "I'm making a fuss about you, brat."

"Oh." Well, not he felt even more like an idiot. "So … What does this all mean? Make it clear to me, Levi."

The older teen gave an exasperated sigh, but didn't object any further. He made a grabbing motion with his hand, and almost yanked Eren over the table in order to hold his hand. The candle flickered between them. The heat rushed through Eren like an explosion; he was suddenly aware of how eager he was for something more, something real, something that he didn't need to shy away from every minute of the day.

"Eren, will you be my boyfriend?"

"For real?"

"For real."

"No jokes?"

"I might make one or two, but not of you."

Eren bit his lip, trying to restrain the grin forcing its way out. He adjusted his hand in Levi's. "I'd love to officially be your boyfriend."

Levi smiled that secret smile that Eren was almost certain was reserved only for him and chocolate cake. "Good," Levi said, pressing a chaste kiss to the back of Eren's hand.

When the waitress came over, they both ordered food and pre-ordered dessert. The entire time Eren felt his heart drumming loudly. He found himself stealing glances of the goth as he ate his food, talked about school or what his Karate group had done that weekend. He enjoyed watching the way Levi's feathery black hair shone in the soft lights, how his skin was pale but creamy. An enormous weight had been lifted from his shoulders and Eren was simply buzzing with excitement when their dessert cake; chocolate lava cake.

He wasn't sure who moaned loudly at that first bite, but suffice to say both plates were licked clean by the time the bill came.

SUCCESS! IT IS ESTABLISHED!