CHAPTER ELEVEN

He smelled something. To be more precise, there was a bunch of different somethings. The mixed scent of feathers and cotton coming from his bedding rose to his nostrils, accompanied by the metallic odour of the weapons he'd placed everywhere in his room. Next there was his own blood and sweat dried on his body and it disgusted him. So far, nothing too out of the ordinary. But there was something that didn't fit. First, the smell of detergent was way too strong considering that it had been almost a day since he last used it. And another thing. A scent that didn't belong here. One of sadness and exhaustion.

Levi opened his eyes.

A ceiling. He was lying on his bed. Last time he remembered, he was in a car and a brat was sitting next to him, his hands tightly pressed on his own. Levi turned his head to the left, and was greeted by a bunch of messy brown hair. There he was, right next to him. Halfway sitting on a stool, halfway lying on his bed. His face was turned towards him, and he snored ever so slightly while his head rested on his forearms. And although he was asleep, his forehead was twisted in deep lines of worry. That unpleasant scent emitted from him. Without a second thought, Levi reached out to touch the soft looking brown mess, but at the tiniest movement his whole body arched in sharp pain, and so he pulled back his hand.

Oh, right. He got shot. That bastard on the roof dared to puncture his lung and Eren drove him back to the mansion. He had called Erwin to send Hange over. She must've removed the bullet before his internal organs started to heal around it. The details came back to him as he watched Eren breathing. A boy this young shouldn't have set his face in such an expression. Sure, he remembered himself starting to look like that at a way younger age. But that didn't change the fact, it wasn't supposed to be this way.

He wanted to wipe away those ugly lines. Although his body screamed at him to stop, he moved his hand closer until he finally curled a stand of Eren's hair around his fingers. It was smooth and thick. He let his hand fall next to Eren's face and caressed the plump cheek with his index finger.

God, his skin is even softer than his hair. And he is warm.

Levi had noticed this earlier, but he'd thought that it might've been because of the situation Eren was in back then. But even now while he was in this awkward position and sound asleep, he radiated a comforting warmth that made Levi wonder where it might come from.

Maybe he'd caught a fever. Maybe he was infecting him the very second by his shallow breaths and Levi's inability to keep his hands by himself.

He got annoyed by the situation, but mostly by himself. He clearly wasn't in his right mind yet, he thought as we wiped his hands on the sheets beneath him. Not that he had a fucking better alternative since he could barely move his arm.

Levi looked out of the window and saw that outside it was pitch-black. If he wanted to recover fast, he should get back to sleep. Maybe in the morning, the brat would finally be gone and stop irritating him.

Levi closed his eyes again and forced his mind to stop clinging onto the disturbing scent that floated up to him from his left. It was a pity. Normally the boy smelled really good. Like a fresh mixture of lavender, rosemary and mint at the top with underlying floral and woody notes of jasmine, geranium and sandalwood. A warm, sweet base of musk and amber. But now, most of it was overdrawn by his negative emotions.

In no existing universe he'd ever admit it. He'd rather kill anyone on the spot who would allege it. But more or less deliberately, his hand sneaked towards the arm of the boy next to him, without touching it tough. He just wanted to feel a little more of the warmth he boy was giving off while he went back to sleep.

It was ten o'clock in the morning and Eren was almost fine. Almost. Except for one really minor thing. A little crack in the otherwise comfy bubble, he was in. His whole body. Was. In. Agony! It had been a downright miserable idea to stay on this fucking chair. He should've gotten himself a futon to lay upon. Fuck, even lying on the bare floor would've been a better idea than the idiotic combination of half chair, half edge of a bed.

He was still in Levi's room, and to kill time until he had to change the bandages, Eren had cleaned the room all over again. He now headed into the bathroom to take a quick shower while he kept grumbling about his own stupidity. Seriously, why were all his mistakes continuously coming back at him right away like a K.O. hit that was waiting around the next corner? A break would be awesome once in a while.

He knew, he was acting irrational, especially about wanting to stay in this very room. But he didn't want to leave Levi's side until he would wake up and tell him that he was fine. So he finished, patted himself dry, and returned with a sponge, a pair of scissors, a bunch of cloths and the tape, Hange's assistant gave him. The time had come. He would remove the bandages, clean the wound, and put a big clothed patch on it. What meant, he would touch Levi. Not that he hadn't the day before, but now they were alone. Sorely alone. Eren couldn't stop himself from thinking about it as an intimate moment. He sat down onto the mattress and eyed Levi warily, thanking the gods that he was still asleep. It would be painfully awkward to do this with him being awake.

With trembling fingers, Eren reached for the thin blanket's rim that covered Levi's upper body. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and pulled it down to the other man's waist. He didn't dare to take a look right away. He had to braced himself for a few moments.

Though he hated himself more than just a little for his childish manner, he counted up to three and only then opened his eyes. And swallowed immediately. Although half of his body was wrapped with bandages, Eren had an otherwise unobstructed view of every inch of exposed skin. He knew, Levi was well-built, but he hadn't expected him to be so… freaking ripped. For an instant, Eren almost got jealous, but then he was rather fascinated by all those lean and perfectly defined muscles that ran throughout Levi's torso and arms. It wasn't that he'd never seen a well-trained body before. Hell, Mikasa wore just a sports bra and shorts when she worked out, and she was built like a mixed martial arts fighter. But the man in front of him took it to another level. He wasn't bulky or anything like it, but just so... goddamn defined and balanced. Somehow, he managed to make all those muscles look elegant. With his sleek, jet-black hair falling back from his face and lying softly on the cushion underneath it. With these dense eyelashes that rested on high and pale cheekbones while slim and slightly parted lips glistened in an ever so shallow touch of pink. The way his flawless skin caught the surrounding lights, storing and giving it back off in a sheer shimmer was mesmerizing. Combined with those lightly visible tendons that ran along his neck and flexed gently whenever he breathed in, he looked as perfect as if he had just risen from an oil painting by Rob Hefferan.

It must've been minutes that Eren let his gaze wander back and forth over Levi's exposed body. He was nothing less than perfection itself. Somewhere in-between, Eren remembered what he'd been about to do, and his mind snapped back in place. Shit, he was taking too long. He shouldn't check out the raven like this without him even knowing.

So, Eren finally grabbed the scissors that laid next to him, positioned them at the lower rim of the surgical dressing, and carefully cut a straight line up Levi's clavicle.

The bandages stuck a little to the skin, and Eren tried his best to remove them without waking Levi up. And the gods seemed to be on his side, at least for today. He finished the front and encountered the problem of pulling the bandages away from under Levi. But there was no way to do it without waking him, so Eren figured that it wouldn't be too bad, and just left them being where they were.

Next, he had to clean the wound. Eren laid Levi's arm a little further away from his body, so that he had better access to the man's side. When he saw the little red and swollen circle with stitches still in it, he got sad at the thought that something now blemished Levi's otherwise flawless appearance. Not that it took harm on his attractiveness in the slightest. Anything but. Eren was merely mad at himself for causing the blemish.

But then, something came to his mind. Hadn't Hange told him that she'd patched Levi up over and over when he had gotten in serious trouble? Where were all the operation scars? They couldn't all be placed on his lower body, could they? Eren was tempted to look for them, but then he certainly would cross a line.

Instead, he drowned a piece of cloth in the fresh water and tapped it carefully on the wound to remove any dried blood or other stuff that might cause an infection. He then dried the wound, put on some ointment, and placed a piece of freshly opened medical cloth on top of it, and fixed it with some sticky tape. Done. Mission accomplished without him stepping into a big bunch again. Greeeaaaat .

Completely ignoring his inner voice that wisely told him to always stop when things are going too good to be true, he came up with another idea.

Levi was a clean freak. For that reason Eren had already cleaned his room twice.

But there might be something else, Levi would rather have clean. Himself.

It was risky, but at least Eren had a good excuse.

He went back to the bathroom, changed the bowl's water and put in a bit of the soap, he found in Levi's shower. He returned with a fresh towel, and sat back on his place right next to the man on the bed, balancing the bowl on his knees. He dipped the fabric into it, and started to wipe Levi's hand and wrist as gently as he could. He moved up and down his forearm, to his bi- and triceps and up to his shoulder. Now and then, he dipped the towel back into the soapy water. This worked. And it was astonishing how the water intensified the reflection on all the little curves, his muscles and bones caused. He continued wiping the upper body, and slowly, he was getting closer and closer to the soft fabrics rim that covered Levi from down his hips. Eren wondered when he'd become a masochist as well, but torturing himself like that made him feel an excitement, he never knew before. It felt so, so good. Plus, he just couldn't get enough of this sight...

...

"What the fuck are you doing there?"

Oh. Shit.

Eren frightened so hard at those simple yet promising words that he jumped right off the bed and fell with the water bowl on top of him while his eyes fixed on the clearly open ones of Levi. His heart was beating so hard, it made his breath stuck in his throat.

There he was, sitting on the ground, water all spilled over him and caught again.

Must be the new title of my life.

He felt heat crawl up his neck and knew, he was getting red as a tomato. And those eyes, he was staring into kept being hard as stone and just as emotionless.

But, no… not entirely. There was something in them. Something Eren couldn't entitle quite exactly. And as soon as it flashed in those steel grey eyes, it was gone again. He saw Levi's lips moving, but the blood in his ears was being pumped so hard, all he heard was a deafening roaring. Levi started to look annoyed as Eren just kept staring.

He tried to come back to mind and shook his head. "Ah- sorry. I'm sorry, what did you say?

"I want to know what you are doing inside my fucking room and why I am fucking halfway naked." Levi repeated his words slowly and emphasized every one of it as if he was talking to someone totally incompetent. Eren blushed even more at his last word, although he didn't think that it was possible.

Words. Speaking words... Shit, say something!

"I had to change your dressing, you know. You were shot and Hange was-"

"And the towel in your hand?" Levi interrupted him. Eren turned his head down and looked at the piece of clothes he was fisting.

Nice. The gods hate me after all.

"I- I was thinking that... you know... well, since I know, you have a thing about cleanliness and stuff... maybe you would like to get rid off all the blood and dirt so I grabbed it and a bowl of water and started to remove your... you know... I hoped, you-," he trailed off and hoped for an earthquake or something similar to rescue him from this situation. But since he already figured out that the gods weren't on his side, he wasn't really surprised when nothing else than Levi looking even more pissed than before happened.

"You thought, I'd appreciate it to get undressed and touched in my sleep by some shitty brat I practically don't know?"

Eren's eyes widened. Without thinking at all and all his knowledge about conventional conversations leaving him, his next words just slipped his tongue. "Do you want to get to know me?"

One second. Two.

He mentally face palmed as he recognized what he just said and was about to take it back, but again something flashed in the other's eyes. He wasn't answering either, so Eren was lost of things to do. Cover up? Make a joke? He was clueless.

So, in the end he simply stood up.

"I'm sorry. I'll leave. I just wanted to make sure, you're okay." Eren took the towel and the bowl and turned around, ready to leave the room and never coming back again when he heard Levi speak again.

"Why?"

The kid stopped. Again, the room was filled with the muddy smell of his sadness, and it slowly was driving Levi nuts. The boy switched from excitement to worry and sadness way too fast for him to keep track.

"What do you mean ‚why'?" He still hadn't turned around, but Levi knew what he would look like. Those impressive green eyes would be glassy. The salty scent of hidden tears gave him away. But at least, the boy tried to keep his countenance.

"I mean, why do you stay at my bedside all night long, try to clean my room, whereby you did a pretty pathetic job by the way. I can see the dust on the curtain rod pile up even from here. And then you also try to free me from the filth clinging to me to satisfy my obsession with cleanliness?"

That must've been the longest sentence I ever said to the brat , Levi mused quietly.

"Because you were shot."

Levi rolled his eyes. Well, duh.. . as if he didn't remember. "Yes, but why does it matter to you? You don't know me. There's no reason for you to do those things and even less for you to cry now."

Eren tensed up a bit more, obviously realizing that he'd been caught.

"Because I want to know you."

...

Well, didn't see that coming.

Eren's answer made Levi shut up for a whole minute, leaving him shocked by the boy's honesty. It became a habit of him over the past years to never get too close to his clients, since he wasn't spending much time with any of them anyway. So he thought it best when they don't know any more than necessary about him and vice versa. There was no point in getting to know each other, when their paths would separate after all. Or worse, if they meet again on opposite sides of the game field. Sure, for some people that didn't apply. Erwin was the biggest exception from this rule due to their common past. But also a few hand-picked more got a deeper insight of Levi's personality or his background. Mostly because he knew them since a very long time and they never proved themselves any other than reliable. So the little voice inside his head told him, he should send the boy away already, but for some reason Levi didn't want to. He triggered his curiosity. On one hand, he was immature in so many ways, but then again… Levi didn't know how to spell it, but he got a feeling that the boy's interest was genuine. That alone was something that didn't happen too often to him. And so, it made him question his own resolve since he woke up last night and found the boy lying by his side.

What could go wrong even if he spent some time with him? It wasn't like he could ever pose a real threat to him. Sure, he knew that Eren had taken some interest in him, Levi didn't necessarily plan to serve. And even if he would, it only would keep on until he'll finish his job and leaves. Afterwards, it wouldn't be his problem anymore. Furthermore, he had to admit that he was tired of being alone here in this foreign mansion. He might be a loner for most of the time, but even he needed some interpersonal interaction from time to time.

The silence continued for a while longer until Levi finally decided to break it. "How about some tea, brat?"

Eren, who'd kept standing exactly where he was, turned around with such joyful eyes, Levi almost had to lower his gaze.