Chapter 18
Rewrite the Stars
Eren walked down Canal Street in the late afternoon and noticed how it was bustling with the sights and sounds of people strolling on the sidewalk, automobiles humming on the pavement, and street cars clanking on the rails as everyone hurriedly made their ways to various destinations. Happenings like this always amazed the brunet; The city of New Orleans was alive in a way that Eren had not been used to; for even in such a rush, the atmosphere still felt relaxing and laid back. It was a stark contrast to the Los Angelis busy where everyone sped around with no time to spare for anyone else. He was still amazed how some people, complete strangers, would actually bid him a "hello" of sorts when he walked by wherever he went. He mused if the feeling had anything to do with all the historical architecture still standing and in use just about everywhere you looked in this part of the city sitting in the midst of the modern structures. It was easy to see many of the shops were centuries old. So perhaps these buildings carried the energies of times past when mankind moved at a much slower life's pace.
The Jazzy Blue, he thought as he approached, was one such building, a small three story building surrounded by some of the newer modern ones. It had become practically routine for Eren to visit the shop on his short days of classes; therefore, he typically showed up there two to three times a week. As Eren pushed the door open and walked in, he was relieved to see that it was Jean, and not Annie, that was working in the shop today.
"Ha, welcome back, Eren," the two-tone hair colored male called out from behind the counter.
Eren raised his hand in a hello. "Hey, Jean. How's it's been going?"
"It's been going ok. But classes are starting to kick my ass. So much math just for a criminal justice degree," The employee said with a sigh and put his head down.
"Yeah, I understand the workload is starting to get to me too. But remind me where you going to college again?" Eren called out over his shoulder as he began to look around the small, quaint record shop.
At the question, Jean perked up. "Oh, yeah. I forgot you're not from around here. I go to UNO, that's short for University of New Orleans. And it's next to the lake. Over on the other side of the city from where you go. It's not as fancy as your school, but it's still a good college."
Eren walked up close to the counter and continued the conversation. "Well I really wouldn't know the difference between the two schools, but I'm sure it's a really nice place. And Wow. The shop put up some new No Name posters. How do you guys always have so much No Name stuff? Do you have any clue how hard I've had to search to find some things in the past?"
Jean shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. We just always have. And we sell the crap out of their stuff. But how we always seem to have a constant supply of somethings is a question for the boss."
The smile fell off Eren's face and turned into a puzzled one. He had never met the boss before, never even seen him actually. This now had Eren questioning who this man was because the boss seemed to be just as elusive as the band. "Now that you mention it. Who is your boss?"
"Oh, really? You never met the boss before?" Jean asked, a bit surprised.
Eren shook his head. "Nope. Not once. I haven't even seen anyone else that works here besides Annie."
"I'll give you my condolences on that one," Jean said, before a shiver rocked his shoulders.
With a smile back on his face Eren replied, "Thanks. I appreciate it." At that, both boys laughed.
"Well since it seems that you have become a pretty cool regular, I'll try to help you fix that problem."
Without another word, Jean picked up the phone and started to push some buttons. And Eren was slightly lost on which problem the worker was trying to fix.
"Hey boss man, I got a customer out here you need to meet… No no, it's not a bad customer but a really good one… yeah…yeah… ok thanks. " Jean set the phone back on the receiver then looked at Eren with a wide grin, "Congratulations. He said he is coming down."
"Oh?" Eren said, with an intrigued face that showed less interest than what he felt. Inside he was excited and nervous as well as feeling ashamed for having those other emotions over simply meeting the head honcho of the place. "Are you sure it's not an inconvenience?"
Jean casually waved the question off. "Nan, he meets customers all the time. The only customers he doesn't like meeting are the ones who are here to complain about something. He actually likes meeting new regulars. Oh, just one thing." Jean leaned over the counter, getting really close to Eren, and lowered his voice. "He has this habit of sniffing your scent. He says he can smell the personality of the person. Just be cool about it, and everything will go fine." Before Eren had a chance to respond to the bizarre news, Jean jumped back to where he had been standing.
Eren then saw out the corner of his eye a very large, very tall man making his way around the counter. The blonde wasn't large in the fat sense of the word, but large as in the built definition and dwarfed Jean when he stood beside him. Add the scruffy beard and serious face, Eren completely doubted that any customer—nay anyone—would ever want to argue with this man.
"Hey boss, this is the customer I was talking about. He just moved to the city but he's already become a steady regular."
Looking into the man's light bluish eyes, Eren nervously extended out his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Eren."
Mike had been studying the boy from the moment he walked up to the counter. The boy looked familiar somehow, but he could not place his finger on it. Well that was until the boy introduced himself. 'So this is Eren Yeager, the boy that Hanji is looking for.' He almost couldn't believe how easy it was. All he had to do was put out that No Name was working on new material, and the boy was led right in. Mike shook Eren's offered hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Mike," he said before he leaned over the counter and examined the boy closer.
Mike led in as always with his nose and took two quick breaths of air right above Eren's head. The boy definitely practiced good hygiene, which was something he knew Levi would appreciate. But aside from that the boy had the smell of fallen leaves. This one made Mike think that Hanji's need to find this boy as well as Levi's intense attraction to him might be more than the eye could see. This particular smell was one that Mike had become quite sensitive to over the years. It was the very same scent that he also smelled on Erwin, Hanji, Levi, and his two employees. He truly had no clue as to the reason they all smelled that way, but it was something he had started to pay attention to over the years in hopes of one day figuring out why.
Pulling back from Eren and playing it cool, Mike had a smile on his face. "Well, it's nice to meet you too, Eren. We can always use a new regular customer. So what brings you so often to my store?"
"Oh, this is your store?" Eren asked in surprise. And his mind immediately started to process that information. If Mike was the owner, Eren figured that he would probably know the identity of at least one No Name member. Trying not to sound too excited, he continued, "Well, for years I have been following the infamous local band No Name. So of course I've also known about this shop's existence and always wanted to come. But every time I've tried, it always seemed to be closed."
"We close randomly sometimes for special occasions. It's a shame you're just now getting a chance to visit the store if you are that big of a No Name fan."
Glancing down, Eren awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, since this shop is the only place to get No Name merch, it's been difficult to get my hands on a few of the limited items released. I have always had to go through secondary sellers online."
"You must really be a true fan to go through all that trouble." As he and Eren had been talking, the gears in Mike's head had been trying to figure out a way for the fan and Hanji to meet. It would be dangerous for Eren to meet them in plain clothes as themself since their personality was so out there and unique, he was sure the boy could put the two of them together and realize that they were H from No Name. Suddenly, Mike came up with the perfect solution for Eren to meet Hanji as H. "Since you seem to be one dedicated fan and a cool kid, I'll let you in on a secret raffle for an upcoming No Name event.
"You see, the band needs to make a new music video for their upcoming album. The thing is since the band is an indie band they sometimes lack funds for big projects. So what they do in these situations is sell raffles for different things to help pay for the cost of productions, and this time the big prize is one of the best ones they have ever given. It's a meet and greet with the entire band at the end of filming wrap-up party. The odds are 1 out of 50 with 10 winners, and each ticket cost $20 a pop. You interested? "
Eren's eyes grew to the size of saucers at the news. This was the opportunity he was waiting for. Actually, it was even better than anything he could ever imagine. He didn't think he would get a chance to see Levi as L again so soon. Moreover, if he did get the chance to see L up close again after meeting the singer and seeing him just about every day on campus, Eren knew "Dr. Ackerman" would not be able to hide the truth any longer. "Are you serious? Hell yeah. There's no way I would say no. Is there a limit on how many I can buy?"
With a puzzled and cautious expression on his face, Mike answered, "No, there is no limit."
Eren smiled so brightly it was blinding. "In that case I'll take all you have left."
"Wha—" Jean stood stupefied like a statue with extra wide eyes and mouth hanging wide open waiting for flies to fly in from Eren's declaration.
Even Mike was in shock; though, he didn't show it. He had only sold under half of them. Just how rich was this kid, and just how obsessed with the band—L—was he? Levi and this kid must have had one hell of a good time that night together. "I still have over 250 tickets. That's a lot of money. Are you sure you can afford that many?"
Without even hesitating for a moment, Eren replied, "I'm sure. So how do you want the money? Cash, card, check, , Venom?" Eren was pushing to seal the deal before Mike changed his mind about the no limit rule.
All the while, Mike's head was spinning at the thought of this kid being able to throw money around so easily like that on top of having that much in actual funds and not credit. "You do realize that that's over $5000 dollars, right?"
Eren tilted his head to the side as he considered the amount before nodding his head only a second later. "Yeah, that's fine."
"Eren quit joking around with Mike like that. It's not funny." Jean said in a grave voice, having managed to come out of his stupor.
"But I'm not. I'm being totally serious." Eren looked from Jean to Mike with a straight hard gaze that had a hint of pleading under it.
Meeting Eren's gaze head on and not taking his eyes off of the boy, Mike decided that this was the best option to not raise suspicion. "Jean, run and get me my tablet in my office."
"I'm… I'm on it," the two-tone said before he sprinted around the corner and made loud clanking sounds as he galloped up the stairs.
As his employee left, Mike's demeanor suddenly changed. "So tell me why you need to buy that many tickets? Are you one of those obsessed crazed stalker fans with perverted delusions that would hurt the band members?" Mike already knew that was not the case. With no one around to stop him, this fan had had every chance to do anything to Levi that night, but he didn't harm Levi in any way, just the opposite—although, Mike would put money on Levi cleaning Eren's clock if the fan ever did try something with him that he didn't want. At this, Mike realized that he was not only doing this for Hanji, but also Levi. When Eren didn't answer, he asked again, "Well? Are you?"
While Eren was an obsessed fanatic who had posters of No Name and L hanging all around his room, who had been going to the Jazzy Blue at least twice a week for info on the band, as well as making up some excuse to drop by Levi's office once a week, who for the past four years had been using L—and as of late Levi—as his fapping material with mental images of being buried deep inside the singer, Eren did not think he fell into that particular category of being a stalker. So what if he had also stolen the key to L's hotel room from the night he had been so pleasurably thoroughly fucked by the singer and was currently wearing it as a necklace because he hardly ever took off, anyone would want a souvenir from a night like that.
"No, I'm just an over privileged rich kid who would like a chance to also bring my older sister along. Because if she finds out I'm going to meet the members of No Name without her, hell couldn't stop her from preventing me from going." Given the condition he had come home in, Eren knew Mikasa would not be happy to hear he was going to meet L again without her. And unlike last time, there really would be a fight between them. "So that means I need to win two tickets and not just one."
Eren watched Mike's face turn skeptical, then added, "Look, you don't understand, my sister can be five times scarier than Annie and could literally snap me like a twig. Seriously. She has been studying Muay Thai since she was 3 years old, and since she hasn't been able to find the right MMA gym round here yet, on a whim she decided to do boxing and take up Aikido just because she thought it might be a fun change. Believe me; if she doesn't come with me, I doubt I'll make it out of the house… alive."
Eren had no clue why he was telling this complete stranger all about his "hard" life, even labeling himself with the title he hated the most—though it was true. But it was better than the man thinking he was a perverted stalker. He just hoped that the man believed him; because sometimes even to him, the truth of his life seemed unbelievable.
To Mike, the story sounded crazy, but then again, a kid this age having that kinda cash was also crazy. Rich people from California really did live in a different world compared to the normal people of South Louisiana. With that, he decided to just let it go. It was Levi's job to decipher crazy, not his. No, his job was taking care of the band and making sure everything with it ran smoothly. Although with Hanji, that was sometimes easier said than done, especially when they made outrageous requests like to find a random fan that Levi had a one night stand with after a concert.
But before either of them got a chance to say anything else, Jean came around the corner with Mike's tablet and handed it to the tall blonde. "Sorry, it took so long to find it. You had tossed it in your bottom desk drawer for some reason."
That "some reason" was that it had slipped off his desk when Erwin stopped by earlier for a quick visit. Without saying a word about how it could have gotten there, Mike took the electronic pad and typed in the passcode before pulling up his app for the raffle sales. One of the reasons Mike loved Android over Apple was he could make and run his own apps for band stuff with an Android. "So this is how the ticket thing works. All the tickets are sold electronically with the ticket number, or numbers, sent in an email receipt. The tickets are sold in numeric order and the number of tickets bought gets put in a simple program, and then a computer randomly selects the numbers.
"Now, before you think it is not fair. It's a public drawing after hours in the shop for all those who have purchased a ticket. You are not required to be present at the drawing to keep your prize, but some people still like to come to see for themselves. If you win, you will be sent an email notifying you of which ticket number won as well as the instructions to follow to receive your prize, or in your case, potentially prizes. The exact date of the drawing hasn't been set because we always wait until either all the tickets are sold or after the project is completed, whichever happens first. But I guess it's going to be happening sooner rather than later now. Anyway, you'll get an auto-generated type of email when it sends, so make sure to check all inbox folders. Any questions?"
Eren's head was spinning from all the overload of new information given to him so fast. He really started to wonder who was the mastermind behind these plans because they were so intricately thought out, just like the details to party after the concert. The one that thought this shit up was either a genius or insane—or both. He really could not tell. "Not really. It all sounds legit. So what ticket number do I start on and how much do I owe you?"
Softly shaking his head, Mike replied, "I can't believe I'm saying this. You start on number 243 and end on number 500. That's 257 tickets for a total of $5,140.00 dollars. I would ask again if you were sure, but I already know your answer. Just give me your damn debit card." Mike extended his hand for Eren's payment. "Oh, do you need to call your bank first?"
"No. Why?" Eren asked, as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet to get his card. Handing a heavy, metal card to the blonde, he looked at Mike with a confused expression.
"Never mind." Mike said before he put the slick, elite looking card in the reader machine. After which, he handed Eren a small box with a number pad on it.
Eren took the device in one hand while the other punched in four numbers and hit enter. After a moment of awkward silence, he passed the pin pad back looking neither Mike nor Jean in the eyes. He usually tried to never drop this much cash at once in public because people always seem to act strange when he did. Like now. The short few seconds needed for the transaction to clear seemed to stretch into minutes, and Eren was relieved when he heard the beeping sound signaling that it had cleared as another machine began to print out a receipt.
Mike tore the paper from the box and he handed it with the card to Eren. But before Eren could grab the card, Mike pulled it slightly back, and when Eren finally looked at him, he asked, "Why?"
Eren knew what Mike was asking. Why spend this much money for only a chance to meet someone? He slowly took his card back as he, for the first time, actually thought about how to answer Mike's question. After the card was back in his pocket inside his wallet, Eren looked Mike square in the face. "Because there is something I need to know. And I'll only find the answer once I see him again."
Mike snorted a suppressed laugh as he put his head down and shook it from side to side. They were both doing this for the same exact reason. Lifting his head back up, Mike actually had a genuine smile on his face. "I can't believe I'm saying this either, but I can't wait to see you again, Eren." Mike said before he extended his arm out for a final handshake.
It was late at night, and the sounds in the castle were silent except for in one small room underneath it. The room was filled with the glow of a single oil lamp attached to a side wall, but it still provided enough light to see the layout of the room. In a back corner, a male was sitting on a small bed with his head in his hands.
Standing a short distance away, Levi eyed the figure with a dismal expression. It had been a long and exhausting night for the both of them, and all Levi wanted was to crawl into that small bed and snuggle close to the other person in the cramped space before falling to sleep. But the brat was not letting him. "You can't be mad at me for this. It wasn't my fault, and you know it."
The young male on the bed swiftly brought sharp green eyes up to meet Levi's. "I know it wasn't exactly your fault, but that doesn't mean I can't be mad at you for that shit." The agitated teen got to his feet and took a few steps forward. "How in the hell could you let someone else touch you? And right in front of me? And I don't give a damn how much money or power her father has. You should have just pushed the slut away when her hands started to work their way down."
"Do you know what kind of trouble not just me, but the whole regiment, could have gotten into if I put my hands on some councilman's drunken daughter?"
"I don't know, from where I was standing it looked like you already had your hands all over her."
"I was trying to gently get the girl off of me. Trust me. It took every bit of self-control I had not to snap that bitch's neck."
"You know, this is not the first time someone has made passes at you trying to hook up. Although it's the first time things have gone this far. Stuff like this would never happen if they knew you were with someone."
"We already talked about this. You know no one will ever accept what has happened between us."
The boy's face morphed into anger. "It's been over two years, Levi. Two Years! I'm no longer that rookie cadet you were assigned to babysit. All those scared, selfish men in the king's court are all long gone. Hell, we have even made it to the ocean and back. Our world has changed."
Levi moved a step closer and took the taller teen's cheek in his palm as his anguished gray eyes stared into brilliant but angry forest green ones. "You're right. It has changed, but it still hasn't changed enough. Even though they don't say it, they are still afraid of you. That's why they would never let you stay with me if they found out we were together." The brunet pushed Levi's hand away from his face and took a step back, but Levi continued, "Have you forgotten? I'm the one who is supposed to kill you if anything ever goes wrong and you betray us. Not only was that the condition they demanded to let you live, but also why you were put in my care. And it's only because of that fucked up order do we get to always be together."
"You know that I would never betray you, Levi."
"Good. I don't need you to put me in that position, because if it ever comes down to that I will fulfill my duty." 'And I would kill myself afterwards.' "Please don't become the thing I regret in my life."
"You know I shouldn't be surprised, but it still hurts to hear you say those words. I love you, Levi. And even though I am a cold blooded killer, I would rather die than ever hurt you. But for you it seems I'll be just as easy to cut down as any other titan." The taller man-boy pushed passed Levi, and his longer legs quickly brought him to the room door.
"Don't twist my words. You know how much I love you."
With his hand on the door knob and without even turning around the taller male replied, "Do I? All I know is I have a lover who never wants anyone to know about us and push-come-to-shove is coldblooded and heartless enough to kill me."
There was a long silent pause as if both were replaying those words in their heads. But truth be told, Levi was frozen on the spot, blankly staring at a crack in the wooden floor plank. He just didn't know how to reply to this. They never fought, at least not like this.
Remedying the silence, the boy opened the door to leave, but before running out said, "And I honestly don't know if I can be with someone like that anymore."
Levi jerked up his head and turned around, but his lover was gone. With his heart already hammering in his chest, he ran out of the room in search of the brunet. After he exited the door, instead of finding a corridor he was transported into the middle of a strange town deep in the throes of battle. He could hear the roaring sounds of plane engines overhead, smell the cloud of burning buildings in the air, and feel the shockwaves of bombs falling all around him. But even in the middle of all the chaos his mind was still focused on finding the young man who had just left his side. In a frantic panic, he ran through the mayhem calling out to the boy. "#%# "
Eren was a mixture of excitement and nerves. He was on his way to Dr. Ackerman's office for their private one-on-one secession. He had stopped at the Starbucks on campus and picked up himself a tall triple shot caramel macchiato, and for Levi, a venti Earl Gray. He knew that Levi would appreciate the drink since the man still had another class to teach.
As Eren walked down the hall to the office, he was more nervous than excited; and when he finally got to the door, his heart was pounding in his chest. 'You can do this Eren. It's just him being a good teacher. There is no alternative motive for meeting you during his personal alone time.' Taking a second to a calming breath, he noticed that there was a small crack in the door. He hesitated for a moment to consider if he should knock or not; but since he knew that Levi was waiting for him, he figured that was probably why the door was ajar. He slowly opened the door while he scanned the room for the owner.
Eren was taken by surprise when he found Levi was asleep on the small couch on the side of the room. Quietly he closed the door behind him. Trying not to wake the sleeping man, he silently crept in and made his way to the desk on the other side of the room, putting the drinks on the desk before he softly set his book sack in the chair next to it. Suddenly, he heard a groan coming from the singer. Eren turned expecting to see the man awake, but the professor wasn't. It looked like Levi was in a fitful slumber dreaming, and it did not appear to be a good dream to Eren. Concerned, he moved towards the couch, unsure if he should wake the man or not. Up closer, he could see that Levi's face was slightly sweaty and scrunched in distress. He reached a hand down to rouse him, but he stopped stunned when he heard Levi softly whimper out his name.
" 'Eren' "
As if he was being pulled by strings, Eren kneeled down on the side of the couch next to noirette and cupped the man's cheek. "I'm right here, Levi."
Almost like magic, Levi's restlessness instantly calmed down, and his breath evened out to deep slow breaths. A moment later, Levi nuzzled into the touch before he moved his hand up and covered Eren's with his own. A small smile slid on Eren's face at the sight of Levi taking unconscious comfort in his presence. And before his mind could process what it was doing, he leaned over and kissed his professor. He was totally taken off guard when he felt the man's lips respond to the touch. It wasn't a sloppy lustful kiss but a soft, caring, chaste kiss. However, the heat that rolled through Eren was not as innocent as the movement of his lips. His body remembered the feel of those lips pressed against him. And more than ever, he was sure that Dr. Ackerman was L.
Levi was still running in circles around the chaotic battle torn city when a warm wave of blinding light dissolved the carnage around him. When he opened his eyes again he was standing on top of an extremely tall wall overlooking a beach, and the male that he had been chasing was standing right in front of him. Levi stretched out his hand and cupped the taller male's face in his palm.
Eren pulled back just enough to look Levi in the face; he was actually quite scared of what the man might do. But out of all the possibilities, what happened next was not even on the radar. Eren stared at Levi's still sleepy face with eyelids half way open and pupils out of focus, musing how he could find even this look super sexy on the man before his mind went blank when Levi softly cupped his cheek.
As Levi sat on the cusp of reality and dream world, the image of both figures before him blurred into one with his eyes anchoring onto a wonderful shade of green.
"… 'Eren'… "
The oddly soft way Levi whispered his name made Eren feel a warm glow bloom inside him. He smiled at this, and his response was just as gentle.
"Levi"
The affectionate smile that spread on Levi's lips almost stopped Eren's heart.
As Eren stared at Levi in disbelief, Levi closed the small inching gap between them and bought their mouths fervently back together. Instantly, Eren's head spun from the blood rush caused by the luscious kiss that was stealing his breath away. Now this one felt like a real kiss from Levi. It was powerful and demanding and— (over?)
Levi had found himself awake in a very strange and compromising position. It was strange because he didn't remember how he got there, and compromising because Eren was practically on top of him and he was kissing him in his own office. Coming to his senses, Levi pushed Eren off of him with enough force to send the brunet crashing into the floor. Reflexively bringing his legs up to his chest, Levi sprang onto the back of the couch. His breaths were erratic as his mind screamed to find answers.
The last thing he remembered, he was standing on a high up structure with that person. 'No! This world Levi. The REAL one.' He had been grading papers while waiting for Eren to show up when his eyes began to burn since he didn't sleep more than two hours last night. So he decided to rest them for a minute. But apparently he actually fell asleep. But that still did not explain why he woke up with his tongue down his student's throat and said student on top of him. 'Fuck!'
Totally on guard, Levi glared at the teen. "What the fuck? You kissed me!"
"And you kissed me back!" Eren yelled in defense, still slightly stunned to have been thrown so easily on the floor.
"Why did you do that?" Levi questioned, not denying that he had indeed kissed Eren back, though he could not fully remember if that was true.
"You were having a nightmare and called out my name."
"What? No, I wasn't. I didn't"
"Yes, you did."
"No, I didn't!"
"What were you dreaming about then?" Eren countered.
"That's personal." Levi, bit back.
Eren scuffed, "Oh, like taking fan backstage and fucking their brains out personal?"
Levi looked like he had just been physically slapped across the face, and he sure felt like he had whiplash. 'Whoa, that was way too specifically close to home.' "What the fuck are you talking about, Eren?"
"What I am talking about, Levi, is you can't bullshit me anymore on this. You kissed me when I called you 'Levi'!"
Levi raised both his hands openingly in a pausing gesture. "Hold on for a moment. I need a second to think." Taking his eyes off of the boy, Levi put his head in one his hands trying to find his balance in reality by mentally tearing apart the fantasies swimming in his mind from the present. It was the stranger in his dreams that remembered kissing. But that could explain why he was kissing Eren back if the student kissed him first. Dream transference was a real thing.
"What? Not going to deny it again, 'L'?"
Levi jumped off the couch and landed right in front of Eren, slightly pleased when he saw the teen flinch. "Is that why you did it? Was it to test me?"
"No, I told you—"
"I can't fucking believe this. I allow you to come to my office during my personal free time, and you took advantage of me for your own means." Shaking his head in anger, "Tch," Levi put his hands on his hips and glanced to the side before turning from Eren and taking a seat on his desk.
As Levi moved away, Eren finally picked himself up off the floor. He couldn't deny that he hadn't taken advantage of the situation, but that had not been his intention. However, Eren realized he wasn't the only one guilty of taking advantage of a situation. "Yes, I might have kissed you while you were asleep, but I'm not the only one who is at fault for this." and in a slightly softer voice finished, "if there even was anyone to blame here."
Levi threw a sharp gaze at the brunet. He didn't know where Eren was going with this, but at least he knew one thing was certain: he had lied to the fan about being L. Thinking this might be a chance for the other thoughts in his head to settle down, he figured that he might be better off simply just listening right now.
"Deny it all you want, but I know you still feel a connection between us. I can see it just about every time I look into your eyes. And I know it's there because I still feel it too. Something ignited that night, and it's still burning inside both of us." As Eren spoke he had slowly moved forward and was now standing in front of Levi staring into his eyes, seeking that intense pull he knew bound them together. "… And you know it's true."
Levi knew right then and there that it was the raw emotion that Eren could always so easily display in his beautiful gem eyes would be his weakness—the hypnotic emerald green that was so clear, it cut through Levi like glass. They held confidence, but not arrogance, while they pleaded and not demanded. Levi didn't know how to handle this kind of person. He should be shoving Eren away, bitterly denying every word. Except, he couldn't. He was being bombarded with so many foreign thoughts and feelings at once, and not all of them had to do with the dreams. Even in this very moment, a part of him wanted Eren to push him down on his desk and kiss him until they were both out of breath. Levi was so confused he was lost on how he should proceed. "Eren, I…I'm sorry, but I can't do this right now."
"Why not? Can't think up a good enough lie to get you out of this?"
"Eren, I don't need time to think up a lie. The fact remains I'm still your teacher and you are my student. It would be a serious mistake and immoral for this thing to continue." Levi gripped the edge of his desk and turned his head to the side before looking back at Eren with hard eyes. "Besides I thought we had an understanding. You agreed with me that it was only going to be for that one night, remember? So, now that you know the truth about me, this is the end of it. Right here, right now."
"Of course. After all, I was only supposed to be a piece of ass for that night, right?" Eren threw back venomously at Levi.
Those words sliced through Levi a hell of a lot deeper than they should have. Seeing the hurting rage in Eren's eyes, Levi wanted so much to take those false words back, but he knew he couldn't. It would give the boy hope, and then Eren would never give up on him. Knowing this slowly twisted their incredible night together into a bittersweet memory. But Levi kept stone-faced and silent even as, unexpectedly, his heart physically clinched painfully in his chest, without giving him a reason why.
Eren desperately searched Levi's cold but still stunning slate blue eyes for a hint of what he had just said wasn't true, but came up with nothing. All the rage he had been feeling sank into defeat. And he fought the burning in his eyes and nose as his face twitched and tensed into a half frown. He was not going to fall apart in front of this man. He wasn't going to give him that satisfaction to know how deeply he had hurt him. Stepping away from the older man, Eren jerked up his back pack from the chair and continued walking to the door. His hand only hesitated for a second when it touched the cold metal knob. And without saying another word, Eren left the room. The click of the door finalizing their prior agreement.
A/N: Before you go ballistic, I SWEAR this story will finish the way we all need it to. Just never forget that. No matter WHAT!
Just thinking about what is to come in the coming chapters has got me really excited to write.
Also update on the hand/wrist sprain. Well shit, you know it's bad when the specialist sends you to an even MORE specialized specialist. This shit is starting to fucking suck. But nonetheless, I'm still going to continue to write this story whenever my hands allow me too.
And know that any cannon scene from here on out is divergent and made up. And if any part of it parallels with the manga ending...IDK... because, Nope, still haven't read it past Ch.125 XD
A/N: please leave reviews to feed my starving muse ;)
