CHAPTER SIX

Levi went up the steps that led to the front door, approaching Olou, who was standing in front of it. The smell of that woman still lingered on him and it sickened him.

"Were there any complications while I was gone?"

"Not a single one," Olou said while pushing away from the door, "I didn't even get a glimpse of any of those brats. That elderly woman told me they weren't feeling well, maybe caught a flu or something stupid like that, so they went to bed early."

That caught Levi's attention. He rushed past Olou, and threw the door shut right in his face as he was turning around to get the thanks he thought he deserved.

You should know better.

"Oh yeah thank you Olou, how very nice of you to come the whole fucking way out here to take my place, it is always a pleasure to see you." Levi heard the other man speaking to himself on the other side.

He went straight up to his bedroom, switching on the TV and choosing the channels where he saw the cameras recording. A few employees were still wandering around the hallways, but all three kids were in their rooms, lying still in their beds.

More or less still. The green eyed-boy was throwing himself from one side of his bed to the other, apparently having trouble falling asleep.

When Levi was in that impasse with that filthy woman, he could have sworn that he had caught a trace of the boy's scent. But what were the odds of him getting out of the house without anyone noticing it and then running into him at the very same club? So Levi had shrugged it off as something his head came up with since the boy's smell was pretty good turn on.

He watched Eren trying to fall asleep, but then remembered that he still had to take a shower. Like, dreadfully had to take a shower to get rid of this woman's filth. Although it didn't help much to calm his mind, at least she hadn't had any diseases like most of the other possibilities he'd found at the club.

Still, this whole matter nauseated him, but there was nothing he could do about it. And now that he'd taken care of it, some time should pass until he had to bother with it again.

He switched off the TV and walked inside the bathroom, taking off his clothes and folding them neatly on the small drawer beside the shower. When he looked at his reflection in the mirror above the sink, he saw that there was still blood on the right side of his throat. Twisting his face in disgust, he stepped inside the shower and turned on the hot water, he needed so badly. When he felt it running down his chest together with every other kind of body fluid that had covered him underneath his clothes, his muscles relaxed thanks to the heat, and he rested his head on the still cold tiles he deep cleaned during the day. He stayed in the shower until the room was fogged with steam, before starting to scrub his body with a bar of soap, purifying each pore till he was satisfied with his degree of cleanliness.

It took him half an hour.

He finished and stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around his waist and rubbing his hair dry with another one. Re-entering his bedroom, he laid down on the king size bed and wondered if Erwin had made any progress in finding the guy that caused Levi to be in this house. It hadn't been long since his arrival, but he would have expected at least a few new information by now. But that's how things were. Unfortunately, there was nothing to do for him but wait. He took Miller's book from the nightstand, and started to read the last few chapters before falling asleep with it.

When Levi woke up the next morning, his nose was filled with the delicious smell of steamed rice, miso soup, grilled fish and other dishes like fermented soy beans and vegetables. His stomach made itself noticed, so he went to the bathroom to take another quick shower before getting dressed, and jogged down to the dining room. Mr. Yeager had arrived this morning and was sitting on one end of the large dining table with all three kids around him. The table was laden with all sorts of Japanese dishes, and the fine smell of freshly brewed jasmine tea hung in the air. Levi couldn't resist entering the room, and was met by four pairs of eyes set on him.

"Ah Mr. Levi, how are you today? Do you mind keeping us company? We're celebrating Mikasa's nineteenth birthday, and Maria delighted us with this opulent meal. Please, have a seat." Right on point, the elderly housekeeper entered the room with another set of tableware that she demonstratively put down right in front of where Levi was standing.

Doesn't seem like an actual option.

And fuck, the food smells delicious .

Maria poured some hot tea in his cup, a pleased expression on her face when he finally sat down and looked at all the food, much of which he remembered his mother preparing for him when he was still young. Mr. Yeager reverted to talking to his children while Levi took some of the dishes on his plate and started eating. He would have been fine with pretending as if he wasn't there, if only there hadn't been a pair of eyes he felt piercing through one side of his face.

That brown-haired brat had the brass neck to observe him from out of the corner of his eyes while pretending to follow the conversation between Mr. Yeager and the blond boy. And Levi wasn't the only one noticing it. The girl sitting on the opposite side of the table also looked leerily back and forth between her brother and Levi. Although she did it in a way more subtle manner than her brother.

As the boy didn't stop for another few minutes, Levi grew annoyed. He imitated his actions and fixed his stare right back at him from the corner of his eyes. The brat visibly swallowed and blushed, reverting his eyes in front of him, only to get caught a second time by his sister this time. His cheeks turned a deeper shade of red, and he lowered his view to his lap. Levi smelled the air getting filled with tension steaming off of the boy.

He didn't know why, but the brat was off. Not only did he look like a corpse by the way his eyes were sunken into his skull, accompanied by heavy circles underneath them, but he also appeared to be highly irritated by something. It couldn't only be caused by his lack of sleep, Levi thought, there had to be something else. And he wouldn't give a fuck, hadn't it be so obvious that every time the brat tried another attempt to look at him, it seemed to get worse. What the fuck is his problem all of a sudden? While the situation went entirely unnoticed by the other two participating at the table, Levi finished his meal, and went up to his room again.

He sat down in the chair in front of the window, eyeing the outside for a while before he grabbed the book to read the last pages and finally end it. Erwin was right when he said it wouldn't fit Levi's taste. But come in, who cares about some boring as fuck struggling writer who describes his experience living among a community of Bohemians in Paris where he suffers from hunger, homelessness, squalor, loneliness and despair over his recent separation from his wife. To Levi, he was a wimp. But at least he knew now what Erwin was talking about the other day when he wouldn't stop referring to this stupid book. Levi closed the pages, and stood to go to the library to bring it back. He left his room, walked along the hallway up to the last door, and stepped inside the library.

And as if he hadn't seen enough of him for one day, he found the boy in front of one of the bookshelves, looking for something. When he turned around, the kid's face paled in contrast to his usually tanned skin. If Levi had a sense of humour, he would've laughed. But since he was still right in his mind, instead he glared at the shocked expression the boy was giving him.

"Calm it, I need to put this back in its place." He raised the book to emphasise what he was talking about.

When the boy didn't answer, he merely approached him since the kid was standing exactly underneath the empty space Levi had gotten the book from. He failed to come up with an explanation to what he had done and why the brat was acting so weird when he was around, but then he got an idea of how make a bit of fun of it. Maybe he could tease the brat a little.

With every step bringing him closer to the brat, he saw him getting more tense until he stopped right in front of him, and whispered in a dark voice: "Will you move already?"

The boy's eyes fixed on his, but he didn't make an attempt to shy away from him. Quite the opposite, actually. He crossed his arms over his chest, and settled more comfortably against the bookshelf, an obviously fake smirk playing around his full lips.

Is this piece of shit seriously challenging me? Bad decision, brat.

If that kid didn't happen to be his object to take care of and the son of his customer, he would've beat the shit out of him without a single thought, thrown him on the ground, and used his back as a step. But unfortunately, that was exactly the case. So he had to resort to the psychological line.

Let's see how much of me you can handle in your state of mind.

Levi stepped forwards. "Fine," he said and reached up to put the book back into place. His hand didn't quite reach the space yet. So he stepped closer.

And closer.

The smirk on Eren's face fell off as, without warning, he was gifted with a very close up view of Levi's nape.

Is he standing on his toes?

Eren wanted to look down, but then he would've come into contact with the man in front of him. Eren's mouth went dry and swallowing hard, he fought the urge to squirm as Levi moved even closer.

Oh dear god, he smelled incredible. The scent of discrete soap and an underlying touch of dark spices wafted into Eren's nose as he pressed himself back against the books. This had been a bad idea , Eren realized. Since he still hadn't a clue about his own behaviour, and why those images from last night wouldn't leave his mind up to the point where sleep seemed to be a faraway opportunity he won't have the pleasure to get a hold of for quite some time, he just wanted to test the waters a little and see how he would react to Levi being closer to him.

The man was almost sandwiching him against the shelves, precious few centimetres separating them. Turning his face away, Eren had to fight the even more insane urge to grab a handful of Levi's shirt, bury his face in the man's nape, and inhale deeply.

Damn it, what's wrong with me? He's just some fucking guy!

Eren blushed furiously at his bad choice of words, and closed his eyes when he felt Levi sliding a leg between his own for leverage.

Dear lord…

Trying to control his breathing, Eren glanced at Levi. The man's face was set on him, a knowing look in his eyes, and Eren's heart began pounding as he placed a suddenly sweaty palm flat against the books. Every bone in his body was screaming to get away, but it was too late. Levi's face turned away from him, and when he looked up to that empty space he was reaching for, Eren abruptly found himself flattened against the shelves, Levi's entire length pressing against him. Embarrassingly enough, a small squeak slipped free from his lips as his rapidly freezing brain registered the feel of Levi's firm and toned body pressing against him.

Eren swallowed a second time, his face being pressed against the other man's ear and neck, but before his panic could break the surface, Levi was already stepping back and turning towards the door. Eren's eyes flicked up, looking at the neatly placed book on the high shelf, and then flew back to the man leaving. The raven stepped out of the room without looking back at Eren for even one moment. Eren felt his heart racing so fast that he feared it would jump right out of his chest any second and follow Levi wherever he was heading to. Why was he reacting so strongly to his presence?

He kept standing there for several more minutes before he was able to move again. His legs wobbly, he went to the chaise lounge, sat down, and buried his face in his hands. Whatever caused Eren's reactions, he had to stay away from Levi until he'd figured it out. He was pretty certain that his heart wasn't going to make it if he ended up in such a situation again.

Now the lovely film that kept playing in his head ever since last night was accompanied by an even closer-up one and very precise impression of the man's scent.

Fucking perfect…