Going to sleep early is always difficult the first night. I tossed, turned, and checked my phone in circles the night before we took off.

Levi did not turn to check who it was when I came. He knew it was me. I greeted him by resting my hand on the crown of his head.

It was my first time doing it. It was enough to make him pause his wooden puzzle to glance at me in mild surprise. Then he saw me looking at the puzzle in his hands and resumed playing with it.

I asked, "How long have you been at it?"

He shook his head, defeated. "No more than an hour."

"Fifty-nine minutes?"

"You're such a knee-slapper." He didn't laugh, but I did, because he was funnier than me. He looked up at me again, amused in a way he didn't admit. "Idiot."

"Why do you like puzzles so much?" I sat down next to him.

"They're challenging. You don't like them?"

"No, I like things that are easy."

He held a complex-looking arrangement of wooden pieces that somehow fit together, like a rat king. If you pulled at one, another piece stopped it from coming out. The goal was to completely undo the whole structure by pulling pieces in the correct sequence. What did they call it, a level ten puzzle?

"Can I try?" I held out a hand. He passed it to me.

It was carefully polished, slightly warm from his touch. When I shook it, the pieces rattled pleasantly. I took the end of a random piece and tugged. It moved loosely, but stopped abruptly at a barrier. I let go, and pulled another, then another, until I lost track. I strung together various combinations, unsuccessful until the end. If Levi couldn't figure it out, it was going to be impossible for me.

"Jesus," I murmured. I rotated and rotated it. "What an intricate design."

"A friend of mine carved it by hand," his voice was close to my ear. "We can go to him right now."

"Is he not busy?"

"Busy making more puzzles, maybe. This one kind of pisses me off, so if we crash his plans, then good."

I was glad to have followed Levi's advice. "You'll want to close your eyes for this," he said. So I did. Then I felt his hands on my shoulders.

Even if I knew it was coming, I couldn't have been prepared. I stiffened, overstimulated, like a hurt funny bone. It was the experience of riding a rollercoaster, compressed into one homogeneous sensation, but it lasted so short, I wasn't done gasping by the time it ceased.

Levi squeezed my shoulders a little too tight, "You're okay."

I opened my eyes.

On Earth, green skies were rare, but when they did appear, it usually meant a storm or something. This sky was not threatening at all. This green was pale, just as pale as blue skies could get on a good day. I should've been shocked, but it just looked too natural. Like it rightfully belonged in the sky as it did in plants.

Unreal. The buildings were unreal, built abnormally large and primarily of a white stone. I analyzed them further. I think they were residential units.

Levi called, "Eren?" I saw him paused in the middle of going somewhere, looking back at me patiently. I rushed to catch up to him.

I brushed anything and everything with my eyes. I did not want to annoy him with questions, so I said nothing at all as he led me through an entrance. When I stepped foot inside, my eyes rose up, up, and up…there were 5 levels, braced with railings and lined with doors. White stone flourished in the sun. In the center of the spiral stood a lone weeping willow, its emerald green locks hanging just inches from the ground.

I follow Levi up four sets of stairs. To the highest floor. The marble-like stone felt cold through my socks. Neither of us wore shoes but it felt acceptable because of how clean every corner was. The streets were spotless and clearly designed for walking. Not once did I see a car; gods would rather teleport, I bet.

Blonde hair sat on a stool under the skylight, drinking in the sun. The expression underneath was a clean slate. Nimble fingers worked together to carve a piece of wood. When he looked up to acknowledge us, I saw that his eyes were blue. His pupils shrank in the light, reducing to dots. They looked at me, then Levi, then back to his hands. "Who's this?" he asked, obviously to Levi.

"This is Eren. He appreciates your work."

The god didn't hide the joy on his face. "Is that so? Thank you, Eren."

I gestured to the puzzle Levi held. "Is that your hardest one?"

He squinted in contemplation. "I believe I've made more difficult ones. That one in particular, I've forgotten the combination to."

"You forgot the solution to your own puzzle?"

He laughed, leaning into his workbench, "That's how long I've been doing this." He reached out a hand. "I'm Armin."

I took it. "Hi, Armin."

Levi was pleased with us. He leaned down and examined a half-finished piece.

"Please don't touch it," said Armin.

Levi replied in a surrendered tone, "I won't."

It was a box puzzle in the making, I could tell. The gears and mechanisms surrounding it were all deliberately shaped and placed. Even with the insides open and exposed, I didn't understand what any of those parts could possibly do.

Armin was incredibly gifted, and I liked the gifted. I liked creative people.

"What do you do with these?" I asked.

Armin made a series of shrug-like movements. "Sometimes, I leave it for humans to see if they could solve it. This one, though," he pointed at the box. "Is going to Petra."

Levi and I exchanged looks. I looked first.

"Why?" he reviewed the contraption, looking like he saw it for the first time again.

"It's a commission," Armin said.

"But why does she need it?"

"Should I go ask her?" It was a rhetorical. Armin grinned with confusion. "Never told me. She just really liked another box of mine and asked if I could make one uniquely for her."

Levi hummed. I wanted to believe that either Petra or Armin was lying, but I could easily be wrong.

"Eren, were you at the wedding?" Armin asked, his chin resting on a palm.

I was going to answer, "No," for myself, but Levi spoke for me. "He's human."

Armin's shock is inaudible. His pupils recoiled as they shifted back to me. "No," he whispered in denial. "How did you get him here?" Levi didn't say anything. I guess the answer was all in his eyes, because Armin nodded at him, visibly connecting two dots. "It's a good thing you're asleep," he pointed his blade at me benignly.

I looked to Levi, lowering my voice, "Is it okay that he knows?"

His shoulder was an inch from mine, so Armin didn't see his arm lift behind me. My back felt his palm. Comfort. That look on his face only meant one thing. You're okay.

"I don't know any god who genuinely despises men," Armin said with half-focus. The other half latched on whatever nook he was shaving with his knife. "But I wouldn't mention it unless someone asked me, if I were you."

Shelves, sprinkled with puzzles, encircled us. There was nothing to lie down on, and there were no doors. I think Armin lived somewhere else that was not here. This must have been his office of sorts.

My fingers hovered above a puzzle. I asked, "May I touch these?"

"Knock yourself out," Armin's voice was pride and gratitude, blended.

I found ones that were made of metal. Paper, even. I picked up a paper creation and showed it to Levi, who was watching me observe. I said, "How would you solve this?"

"You can't," there was recognition in his eyes. "I folded that years ago. It's not a puzzle."

It was the figure of a winged beast. Bird-like. The paper was pinched and creased to precision, forming its individual feathers. Its beak froze open in the peak of a war-cry.

"It's a griffon," Levi said. "Ever heard of them?"

Memories reconnected with me. "Yeah, actually."

Jade grinded against onyx. Again. As of yesterday, we've been doing a lot of that. I felt that it was all because of me, or maybe my intuition told lies. His attention lifted me into the air, and when he let go, it was as if my feet touched the floor again.

"It's beautiful," I said.

"Thank you," there were notches in his cheeks when he smiled. He turned his head the other way, and my eyes, surreptitious daredevils, went for a slide down the muscles of his neck. They relayed something to my brain. Either envy or infatuation. I couldn't tell which.

I checked Armin to see if he caught me. He wasn't looking.

I got away with it, and was going to admit it to no one.

"So, what have you been doing?" I heard Armin say to Levi.

Levi went, "Trying your impossible puzzle. I came here for the answer only to find out you don't even know it."

Feigning distraction, I eavesdropped.

"It's not that hard, the answer's just really specific. Let me see."

A rattle.

A pause.

"Yeah, I forgot."

"How the hell is that possible?"

"I spaced out while making it, leave me be."

Another pause.

"How old is he?" Armin is quiet.

Levi had to think. "Twenty-one years."

"That's like one fourth already."

"Yes." I heard solemnness. "But I'm going to make him immortal."

Immortality. To have such a coveted yet unattainable ability would take me one step closer to becoming a god myself. Because I've come to realize that if Levi ruled dreams, it made him one of the few higher powers able to communicate with men directly. The chances that my path would be the one to cross his were so unfathomably thin, it was certainly sharp enough to cut an atom. I'd been so lucky, and only now was I aware.

Words became unintelligible. My hearing reached as far back as possible, but could not touch their whispers. The topic could have been anything. I stood on the fence between suspicion and brushing it off. I didn't like when things were hidden from me. But I've hidden so much from others that I shouldn't complain now. I removed myself from the room, stepping outside through the nearest exit.

A wrap-around balcony. Every part of it glowed, making the sun look dull. In the human world, I would've had to pay to be somewhere like this. To see a view like this.

I peeked over the railing. The whole city was visible, as in, I saw the border where buildings stopped appearing. Beyond it was sand. Just sand, for as far as I could see. I'm sure it ended at some point. Somewhere too far to see.

I spotted a goddess. Long, black hair. She stood out due to being the only one in the streets. She walked with purpose, fixing her hair three separate times before disappearing into a building. I did not see her face well, but her poise alone made her beautiful. In the human world, I would've had to go on social media to see someone that flawless.

Armin had piscean qualities. Soft and romantic. I could take a dip into his irises, they were so ocean-like. Even while sitting on a stool with no back support, his posture never slacked. Just like Levi. It was the first similarity I noticed between them.

And Levi was something out of a daydream. He was handsome, too, but I already decided that back in December. I've counted his eyelashes before. He had one hundred thirty nine on one of his upper lids. I would know that face if I was dying from brain rot. I suppose gods were superior, after all. It was true even at first glance. Armin's beauty was seven of mine. Levi's was maybe nine.

A voice next to me. "Hey."

"Didn't hear you come up," I said.

"That was the goal," said Levi. Mimicking me, he leaned on the railing. "Do you want to leave?"

"Where to?"

"Whatever kind of place you like."

"A boat in the sky."

It was me throwing out an idea. I didn't know for a fact if it was possible, as fantastical as this world appeared to be. I expected chemistry-defying magic, not physics-defying magic.

He only had to touch me. We were now both in the air, but I didn't get the chance to brace myself. The feeling of being at such an altitude made me lose balance. I fell, catching myself with one arm. "Jesus Christ."

Levi sat down on the opposite side of the wooden boat. "Sorry. I forgot to warn you."

"I was joking," I gripped the edge and looked over. There were bottomless clouds under us. I threw myself back in. "Holy shit, it was a joke!"

"Calm down, we can't capsize."

"Where are we?"

"In the sky."

"How high up?"

"Doesn't matter." He wrapped his arms around me, clamping my arms like he handled a bird. I let him weigh me down, until my back hit the edge of the boat. His voice was sonorous and lacking effort, "Look up."

The softest shade of green I've ever seen. Its soft radiance resembled a nightlight. It washed over us. Or were we already submerged?

I almost fell asleep then and there, but Levi said something. My ears perked and I awakened. "What'd you say?"

"I said, isn't it pretty?"

"Oh. Yeah, it is."

He took a while to say this, like he feared the answer. "Where do you see yourself in a thousand years?"

A thousand years. A thousand years? That sounded so far away. I've only planned out maybe forty years of my life. What could I possibly be doing in a millennia? Maybe I'll be a singer, if I still loved music then. Or maybe I'll take on a profession meant for gods.

"Where do you hope to see me?"

"Doing what you like."

I cracked a smile like no one was watching. "That'd be nice."

"Boredom changes people, you know."

"I know."

"Are you afraid of changing?"

"Not afraid. Sometimes, I miss liking something. Because liking that thing felt good at the time. If that even makes sense."

"I know what you mean." He pulled away and sat back down.

I've never seen hair like his. Cut and styled in that way. In the mirror, I've imagined it on myself. I never looked as good. There was shadow where his cheeks dipped inward, deeper than mine. I was allowed to feel either admiration or jealousy. I chose to feel jealous.

My palm did not itch. I scratched it anyway. "I'm sorry I hit you that one time," it seemed to come out of nowhere.

Even Levi did not expect it. He said, "Why are you sorry?"

I said, "Because I did hate myself."

He raised an eyebrow. It was not as easy as people thought, but he did it well. Not a trace of self-pity.

"I don't need you to apologize," he shook his head. "I just need you to see me as I am."