CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Levi never let go of Eren's hand when he dragged him behind and into the living room on ground floor which was placed next to the dining room. Levi hadn't spent a single second in this room yet, for he had no reason to do, but when he hit the light switch to the left, illuminating the room, he had to admit that it was quite an eyeful.
Silk drapery hung from the windows in swaths of red and gold. Satin and velvet adorned a huge antique Jacobean sitting area as the room's centerpiece, and the framing of which must have been made out of whole oak trunks. There was an Aubusson rug on the floor, oil paintings on the walls. He was pretty sure that Madonna and Child on the one side was a Rubens.
But it wasn't all Sotheby's stuff. There was a plasma screen TV with an Xbox on the floor, and enough stereo equipment to carry off a Super Bowl half-time show. The room was flanked by two ceiling-high shelves packed up to the top with DVDs, Blue-rays and CDs.
Levi made the brunette sit down on the three-seater, and put a blanket he found on an armchair in one of the room's corners around his shoulders. Before the other man could've said something to him, he turned, heading for the kitchen, and wandered along one of the bookshelves, where leatherbound volumes in foreign languages stood straight and proud. He quickly scanned the titles and ran into the DVD collection.
Oh, the humanity.
The Austin Powers boxed set. Aliens and Alien. Jaws. All three Naked Guns. Godzilla. Godzilla. Godzilla. . . wait, the rest of this whole shelf was Godzilla. He went one lower.
Friday the 13th, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street. Well, at least they hadn't bothered with the sequels to those. Caddyshack, The Evil Dead boxed set.
It was a wonder Eren hadn't blinded himself with all the pop culture.
Levi went out the door and into the kitchen two rooms further to prepare a can of ginger tea for the boy to heat up again. His skin had been icely cold when he had taken his hand, and the last thing Levi needed was a sick brat with snot hanging from his nose. The image alone made a shiver run up his spine. Fucking disgusting...
When he was done, he took the glass can as well as a mug and went back into the living room. The boy had turned on the TV and was snuggled against one of the couch's armrests. The scent of grief was slowly fading, and Levi felt relieve coil in the pit of his stomach. Maybe, things can finally get back to normal now. Whatever normal meant for them. He placed the can and mug on the coffee table.
"You have to wait until the ginger infuses the water," Levi said, sitting down on the other end of the couch.
"Uhm- thanks."
The older man closed his eyes, but he still felt Eren's gaze lingering on him. And God, it felt so much better than when he tried to avoid looking at him. He liked that green eyes on him, so he took a moment to bathe in that feeling before he noticed Eren moving closer on the couch.
"What are you doing?" The motion stopped, and he heard the boy struggling for words.
"You said that there were other reasons to why you're working as a hitman. What are those?"
Levi rolled his eyes behind closed lids. "As I already told you, I won't tell."
He was getting closer again. "You said you wouldn't because you think none of them would change the way I think about you. Well, maybe the one reason you told be about did help a bit to change my mind."
"Is that so?"
"I guess."
"Then the purpose is already fulfilled and there is no point in telling you about the others as well."
"Levi-," he brunette whined.
This is so much better, Levi thought and stayed silent.
After a while of quiet, Eren spoke again: "So, you're only killing people you consider bad? Like some kind of avenger?"
Levi opened his eyes to find the other having slid onto his side of the couch. He looked at the wall of movies behind the brat, he hadn't took a glimpse at yet, and as if on point saw a row of Marvel and DC titles. "You're watching too much garbage, kid."
"No, seriously. Does it mean that you're one of the good ones? Supporting police forces and stuff like that or how does it work?"
Levi suppressed a smile that was threatening to crawl onto his lips. "I had a guess, but now I am fully convinced that you've never graduated kindergarten." Hell, how could he make a face like he did at the pool and still have no clue how the world works?
"But it's true, isn't it? Why would you tell me about all this a second ago and still not admitting that you're one of the good guys?"
"Listen, Eren. I am not the good guy. You of all people should know since it's the reason you're interested in me. And I don't have a problem with that. But I am nothing of what you're making out of me right now. I am just the guy who normally works as a hitman and who's current job is to protect a girl and his bratty brother from some random cocksucker."
When he looked back at Eren, he saw him smiling shyly as if he'd complimented him.
"What are you blushing about?"
"It's the first time you called me by my name."
"Don't get used to it, brat." But that stupid smile remained.
He'd selected some random show on netflix when Levi went into the kitchen to prepare the tea because he couldn't stand the silence anymore. There had been too much of it the last few days.
And he felt better now. Somehow, knowing that Levi didn't kill innocent people made the whole situation a lot easier for him. And it didn't feel like Levi was only telling him that to make him feel better. What reason should he have to do so, anyway?
Eren had always thought about joining the police force or something like that to save people's life after his mother had died. Becoming a medical might have been the more obvious conclusion, but Eren figured that he wasn't smart enough for such a career. Those were reserved for people like Armin, those with brains. And policemen also rescue people and keep them save by putting the bad guys out of business. Just like Levi claimed, he did. Was there really that much of a difference?
Also, what had he meant when he said that thing about why Eren might be interested in him?
The man on the other side of the couch got up and grabbed for the can, pouring the steaming liquid into his Star Wars mug.
Though, the last days had been hard for Eren and he knew that it'll take some more of them before he finally shove them back into the dark corner of his mind. But maybe with him and Levi talking to each other again, there were some ways he could distract himself. Those images from what happened after his combat training in the basement came back to him.
Eren heard Levi giving an exasperated sigh when he turned around towards him, and then, while one hand balanced the hot mug on the armrest next to him, his other one was on his jaw, insistently keeping his face turned towards him. It wasn't violent or painful, but Eren might as well have been struggling against steel. The other man patiently maneuvered him so that their eyes were level, their faces inches apart.
"Who gave you such eyes, brat?"
What an odd question. "I think I got them from my mother."
"You better appreciate them. They're one of a kind."
God, everything about that man rediated sex, from the strength in his body to the way he moved and the smell of his skin. Levi hovered above him, a silent menace despite his lack in height.
On impulse, Eren hands went to the lapels of the raven's shirt, and he tried to pull him down to his mouth. Why fucking wait with the distracting?
But Levi easily captured both his wrists in the hand that had been on his jaw. "Easy."
Easy? Eren didn't want easy. Easy was not part of his plan here. He struggled against the hold, but couldn't get free.
"Close your eyes."
Eren's heart skipped a beat. Now that he had lost his motion, he got nervous. Fuck him for always getting ahead of me! Eren didn't know a thing about kissing. Hadn't never done it. So when he did as he was told, he quickly called on every movie he had ever seen… and got no help at all. As a horror fan, he was just swamped by visions of Godzilla stomping across Tokyo and of Jaws chewing in the ass end of the Orca. Big help.
He thought of the mechanics. Head tilt. Lean forward. Make the contact.
Tantalizing slow, Eren felt the other man coming closer. A few breaths ghosted over his lips before a set of velvet lines landed on them. The contact was as soft as one could only imagine. Eren pushed against the other's mouth, trying to intensify the feeling, but Levi hold him in place. Their lips moved together, sliding against each other when Eren felt something hot and wet licking over his bottom lip. As he gasped, the raven's tongue penetrated his mouth instantly and stroked his own. He was taken aback a bit, but somehow his body knew what it had to do. He almost effortless joined the rhythmically push and pull of Levi's wet muscle, getting tingly all over. The kiss was slow, tongues dancing together in gentle circles, and when Levi pulled back much to Eren's disappointment, there was the tiniest string of saliva connecting their mouths. With a pink blush on his cheeks and panting slightly, Eren stared at each other man, his heart fluttering, their breaths mingling. Those grey eyes unreadable.
Levi straightened and let go of Eren's hands, placing the mug in his palms.
"Drink."
Shit, he was really getting into this. There was a humming crawling up his spine when his tongue entered the hot cavern behind the boy's lips and bit by bit it spread through his entire body, getting louder by the second. Which was why he had to pull back before he lost control of the situation and make some of his fantasies come true. He didn't need a rerun of the time they'd been down in the basement. And it wasn't like Eren would hit the brake either. He smelled his frustration and arousal, a potent and dangerous mix even for people who are sexually experienced. And as much as he could put some relieve to good use himself, he wasn't interested in taking advantage of the boy's emotional distress.
He sat back against the cushions and watched the film the boy had put on earlier. Something about a woman with a blindfold and her two children. God, he had to give the brat some serious lecture about good cinema.
Although the kid apparently had turned his focus back on the screen, Levi knew he wasn't following the plot either. His scent spoke for itself and kept informing Levi about the kind of thoughts he was having. He wished he could see them as well, not only guessing the exact scenarios. What might they be?
Most likely not the same kind as Levi had. He thought of the soft skin of the brunette's neck. Imagined the sensation of his tongue stroking over the vein that ran up from his heart. His fangs elongated as if he was before him on his knees, naked as the day he was born. As if he could sink in his teeth into him anywhere he'd want and drink. Levi closed his eyes as his body began to shake. His stomach, full with food, turned into a bottomless, achy pit. He tried to remember the last time he'd fed. It had only been yesterday, so it really hadn't been that long ago.
He forced himself to calm down. Get control. It was like trying to slow down a train with a hand brake, but eventually a cooling stream of sanity replaced the whacked-out, blood-lust spins.
As he came back to reality, he felt uneasy, his instincts crying out for airtime. That boy on the other side of the couch might get dangerous if he wasn't careful. When he could affect him like this without even touching him, he might just be his detonator. An express-lane pass to self-destruction. Levi dragged a hand through his hair. How goddamned ironic that he wanted him like hell.
But maybe it wasn't that ironic. The urge to cozy up to what could annihilate you ensured the damn thing to get a chance to go work on your ass.
After all, what kind of fun would it be if you could avoid your inner hand grenade easily? Damn it all.
"We should call it a night and go to bed," Levi said, standing up again.
He'd been so certain that Levi meant something else… but unfortunately, Eren was lying on his sheets, all by himself. When he wanted to follow Levi into his bedroom, he had looked at him as if he'd lost his mind and ordered him to 'lie down in his own fucking bed'.
But he wasn't going to give up. Not now.