CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

She put his eyes back to the scope, wondering if she'd imagined what she saw. After all, desperation could be affecting everyone's objectivity.

Bot no, the blood cells were living.

Breath left her lungs in a shudder.

Finally, stored blood that was still viable.

As a physician, her hands had always been tied when it came to treating patients surgically and addressing certain complications. Real-time transfusions were possible, but it could be hard to find donors in a timely manner. This blood was highly unstable, and storage outside the body had always been impossible. Air, that life-sustaining, invisible curtain blanketing the earth, was one cause for the problem, and it didn't take a lot of those molecules to contaminate a sample. Just one or two and the plasma disintegrated, leaving red and white blood cells to fend for themselves. Which, of course, they couldn't do.

But not this sample.

It had taken her years, decades, but now she finally got a positive result.

Some hundred miles away, Levi was standing in the kitchen, preparing himself a cup of tea. When the first batch of varieties that came with the duffle bag Erwin had sent when he moved in here draw to a close, he'd asked Maria to order some of his all-time favourites. Chinese Pai Mu Tan, japanese Shizuoka Tsuyu Sencha and Tam Doung Jasmine from Vietnam. Black tea from the rainforest in Phongsaly, Laos. The maid was so delighted, she told him she ordered some more sorts of which she felt certain, he'd like as well. Admittedly, one tea did catch his eye right away. A Gyokuro that's label said Ippoen. He could smell the misty and rainy climate's scent the tea had been grown in still lingering on the delicate dark green, needle shape leaves.

Levi poured the warm water in his side hand kyusu tea pot, watched it turning into liquid jade and the infused leaves into an even darker, more juniper-ish shade of green. The gentle marine-like odor was raising to his nostrils.

When taking the first sip, tasting the tea's full-bodied mellow sweetness and slightly viscous nature, he heard Maria entering the kitchen, a younger, similar dressed woman at her side. They were coordinating their duties around the mansion and Maria sent him a friendly smile when he saw him holding his cup.

They'd just left through the other door as Eren came in at a dead run.

"Shit. Shit...shit…"

"What's doing, brat?"

"I've got class and I'm late." Eren grabbed a sleeve of bagels, a chicken leg out of the fridge and a quart of ice cream from the freezer. "Shit."

"That's your breakfast?"

"Shut up. It's almost a chicken sandwich."

"Rocky Road doesn't count as mayo, kid."

"Whatever." Eren beelined back for the door.

"Hold up." Levi tossed the spoon he'd used to stir his tea across the room. "You're going to want this, true?"
Eren caught the thing on the fly. "Ah, would have spaced that. Oh, can we reschedule training to four? I have to see Armin first."

"Whatever."

The butlers door flapped shut.

In the silence of the kitchen Levi took another drink from his cup. The tea's warmth was dissipating already. In another fifteen minutes it would be icy.

Undrinkable.

Yeah… he knew he had to change his attitude. Before things really would start to change.

He felt his chest arching at the thought.

Under the caged lights of the gym, Eren focused on his training opponent. His father had finally lifted the embargo on their training sessions. Maybe all those self-made dishes he brought to his father's study each and every night helped changing his mind. Eren was excited about this but only until Levi told him, he had ordered one of his former trainees to come. He said, Eren shouldn't get used to just his style of fighting.

By the looks of it, the two of them were well matched. However, what was on Eren's mind was something different.

As he stood across the redhead in front of him, observing how his blue eyes squinted while going up and down his body, inspecting him, it dawned on him that Levi had led a whole life before he came here, before him, he was absolutely unaware of. Sure, he knew it hasn't been the normal went-to-college experiences and he also probably knew about some of the most secret parts, but… they never talked about the little things. The people he'd met or the places he'd seen. The things, he'd lived through. He doubted Levi was going to be very keen on talking about such matters.

Said man was standing a good seven feet away. He whistled through his teeth, and Eren and the other guy bowed to each other and moved into ready position. Then they engaged. Hands and arms flew around to no great effect; kicks were thrown out like paper airplanes; dodges made with little finesse. Eren only ever had learned about the basics, the theory, in those sporadic sessions with Levi. He still lacked the necessary familiarisation or, well, the muscle for his moves and positions to be more than just shadows of what they should have been. Echoes of thunder, not the bass roar itself. The only thing easing him was that his opponent wasn't that much better than him. His technique was more refined, but he lacked Eren's flexibility and adaptability.

The session lasted for about an hour until Levi ordered the redhead to hit the showers and leave the mansion. He complied without a single word, just like he did since he'd arrive.

"What. Now?" Eren panted, stooping forward, head bowed, arms supporting his weight on his knees.

"We go through the moves a couple of times to see how you do with your left hand leading and that's it for today. You did well, but we need to work on your stabilisers. Otherwise you won't be able to carry out the exercises correctly. Starting tomorrow, you'll join me in my workouts."

Boy, that was going to be some severe drills he was in for. Being right next to him while Levi would be heaving weights, sweat running down his entire body… it was going to be interesting.

"I have to admit…," Eren said, finally getting a better hold of his breath, "I like it better when you're my opponent, though. I don't see the benefits of me training with someone else, when I can't land a single punch against you."

He watched Levi evaluating his argument. "Fine, we'll put that off until later."

After they finished, Eren excused himself and went for the kitchen. He let Maria know that she'd bee in charge for tonight's dinner and that he and Levi won't participate this time. He had other plans. About two hours later Eren went to their room, rolling a tray full of food. "Room service," he cheered at Levi who was sitting in his usual spot at the window, giving him a wary eye. "I though, for a change of pace, we could eat up here. Just the two of us. What do you say?" He lifted the cover from their trays, revealing a spread right off the Four Seasons' breakfast menu: there were Belgian waffles with strawberries, buttery croissants, scrambled eggs fried in sesame oil, hot chocolate, fresh fruit.

He wanted to be modest, but he prepared truly a thing of beauty there.

"Don't you think something less breakfast-y would've been better?" Levi asked, but Eren saw his appetite washing over the other man's face. "Maybe, but I really wanted to try making those croissants."

"You're shitting me, you made them yourself?" Okay, seeing that surprised look on Levi's face probably shouldn't make Eren more THAT gleeful. "I found an ingenious recipe in my grandma's cookbook. They aren't actually that hard to make, but preparation is key."

Eren sat down at the other side of the table, placed the plates and cutlery in front of them and poured Levi a cup of coco.

"Eren, sorry but I'm not that into this stuff."

"Please, try it first, will you? It's not your normal Nestle-shit, you see. I made it from scratch, with fresh milk and actual chocolate. I wished I could've make that myself, though, but you need some specific grinding machine for the cocoa beans. Also, I made it with bitter choc and reduced the sugar, so it won't be too sweet."

When Levi's skepsis didn't fell from his face, he added: "Please, Levi, give it a try."

And that's what he did. The raven led the cup to his mouth and took a mouthful. "It's tasty, alright."

Eren refrained from making any smug comments. They started eating and Eren felt the urge to use this rare opportunity to learn a bit more about the beautiful man in front of him, with his table manners like an aristocrat and the body of a soldier. He wanted to know the backgrounds of a such rare existence.

"How do you like your eggs?"

"They're pretty damn good, kid. You've become quite the chef in the kitchen recently. Say, when did you become interested in cooking?"

"I had a conversation with Armin once. You know, about how much I despise being trapped in here, missing out on life etc. I realised, I had to use my time, even if it's just between these walls instead of wasting it. That way, I'd at least be ready when my dad finally would let me out of here."

"Have you spent your entire life in this house?"

"Oh no. I went to kindergarten and the first three years of elementary school. That's where I met Armin, by the way. He's been my best friend ever since. But after… after my mom died, my father didn't get a hold of his fear of loosing someone else, I guess. So he got Mika and me into home-schooling. It was terrific at first, no driving to school, sleeping in a little longer. But I quickly started missing my friends. I'm glad, he at least let Armin visit me from time to time. This was also how his grandfather and my dad got to know each other. Ever since, my dad's business flourished and he had to travel much. What left Mika and me to being alone for most of the time. It was okay, really, we weren't lonely with Maria and the other people working here. They've always been there for us, but-" Eren grasped that he wasn't only blabbering, but lying as well, so he stopped himself. "Sorry, I-"

"It's okay, Eren. I know why."

They kept eating in silence, and Eren listened to their cutlery clinking and scratching against the porcelain.

"Don't you have any other relatives beside your dad and sister left? No grandparents, uncles?" Levi suddenly asked.

"My maternal grandparents are still alive, as far as I know. But I've never met them. I was told, they didn't approve of my mum marrying my dad, so they cut themselves off. I can't even tell if they know I exist." Eren didn't felt like talking about them. It always stung a bit, knowing that there were people who shared his blood and couldn't care less about it. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"How old were you when you mother-," shit, left you? Disappeared? There was no way saying this without making it sound hurtful.

"About five, I guess."

"Do you have many memories of her? Because... as awful as it sounds, I don't have many about my mother before she… fell ill. I wish I would, so I don't have this particular picture of her stuck in my head, everytime I think of her. But yeah, it's like it is."

"I can't remember her face anymore." Shit, that was hard. "It faded after the first year living on the street."

"Anything beside that?"

"Not really." Okay, Eren got the hint here.

It wasn't surprising that two people, who hadn't led the most fulfilling lives, talking about past events didn't come with much joy. But that wasn't how Eren wanted this evening to turn out. He had to take this conversation into another direction.

"Well. What's with that crazy doctor, by the way? The one who keeps patching you up whenever one of your former acquaintances decides to pay you a visit?"

"Okay, first of all, it's not like every time those bastards show up, I end up with a bullet inside of me. Usually, it's the other way around. And to answer your question: it's hard to believe, but that woman is probably one of the best surgeons the world has ever seen. Not only that, she is an excellent scientist as well, outstanding in fields like neuro- und molecular biology. She's the daughter of one of Erwin's associates and when she started mixing her own anaesthesias and successfully sewing living organisms together at the age of twelve, Erwin took her under his wing, just like he did with me. We kind of grew up together after that." Eren briefly had to wonder how old Mr. Smith really was. He didn't look that much older than Levi.

"Wow, you really think high of her, don't you?"

"Do me a favour and never tell that to her face. She can be such a pain in the ass."

Eren smiled at that.

"So, Erwin is kind of your foster father then?"

"In a way, yes. I'm glad, I don't share his genes, though."

"Why's that?"

"Have you not seen those eyebrows? Seriously, sometimes I dream about that when he dies, his eyebrows will crawl off his face and find some other's to colonize."

Eren didn't trust his ears. Had Levi just dropped a joke. THAT Levi?

"I really don't wanna be the next host, Eren," he added, his face contorted in mimicked worry.

Eren bursted out in laughter, hard laughter. The kind that leaves you breathless, your eyes watering and your stomach hurting. He fell to his side, away from his chair and landed inelegantly on the floor, holding his midsection tightly. Between squeezed eyes, he saw Levi kindly smiling down on him while he took another sip of the coco, Eren had made for them. Eren felt his cramping insides turning into something deeper, something war, and he was finally able to catch his breath again. Levi's eyes hasn't left his face and he felt his cheeks flushing the tiniest bit.

"God, I cannot believe, you said that."

Eren climbed back on this chair, finishing the rest of his egg coated croissant, while Levi had already laid down his fork.

"So, you wanna watch another movie? The one about the contract killer and the little girl sounded cool."

Levi laid the tableware back on the rolling tray and shoved it out on the floor while Eren jumped on top of the sheets, making himself comfortable and pushing the remote's buttons until he found what he was looking for.

Levi sat down next to him, pushed up his pillow and lied down as well. Eren immediately took his place at the other man's side, snuggling against his torso and Levi's arm found its way around Eren's waist.

While watching Jean Reno and a very, very young Natalie Portman interacting, Eren didn't miss the many similarities between the movie's plot and his own current situation. So much alike, but so different on the other hand.

Halfway through, Eren tugged the bedspread at his feet over both of them, to cover up what he was about to do next.

He placed his hand as casually as possibly against the dip of Levi's waist, pleased that his shirt was already tugged out of his sweatpants and ridden up enough to feel a piece of bare skin under his fingertips. He smoothed his palm flat against the firm flesh, feeling Levi tensing up. He stayed there for a while, not moving, waiting for any other reaction. When nothing else happened, his hand caressed further up Levi's side, sliding over the dips and valleys of Levi's ribcage before bumping against the sharp line of his pectoral muscle.

"Eren," he heard his deep voice warn from above.

Eren turned his head to place feather-like kisses against the shoulder he'd been lying upon, while his hand glided over Levi's pec and further to the place where his collarbones met. He knew, Levi might push him back any moment now. Anticipated it, honestly.

Levi tightening his arm around him, pressing him up against him and capturing his lips in the most soft of ways instead was all the more a shock for him. Although he couldn't stop himself from gasping, Eren was quick enough on the uptake. He was in the game the moment he felt Levi's tongue penetrating his mouth, stroking his own. He moved against him, the slow push and pull making his toes curl. Taking advantage of his higher position, Eren relocated their duelling to Levi's hot cavern and then, there, he finally felt them again. Levi's fangs were ever so slightly scraping over his muscle. Excitement mingled with his arousal, encouraging him to move his hand down Levi's sternum. He reached the first set of abs, gliding over the round muscles, into the valley that'd lead him to the next row-

A firm grip landed on his question hand, holding it in place. Eren retreated from the kiss in favour of looking at Levi's reaction. And it took his breath away. Levi's eyes shined, blue fading into grey, and his mouth was open. Those fangs peeking from under his upper lip. "That's enough," he whispered.

Eren dipped his hand and returned to caressing his shoulder with his lips.

"Please, Levi. I long for you. To touch you." But he didn't answer.

"Trust me."

When his gaze returned to Levi's face, he saw the unsteadiness.

"Just let me do it once. Let's not make a big deal out of it."

Eren's eyes never left those shining orbs, waiting patiently.

Just when he was almost sure, he was at an impasse, he finally got what he'd wished for.

"Fine." That diamond gaze narrowed. "Suit yourself."

Eren saw Levi's other hand going below the blanket that was covering them and then he felt him raising his hips, a snapping noise resounding through the room, before his hip fell back onto the mattress.

Gathering his nerves at the thought that this was finally - finally - happening, Eren pulled the sheets away. "There's nothing I haven't-"

Holy... shit...!

Levi was fully erect. Massively erect. Eren's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. Lying straight up his exposed lower belly, stretching from his groin to above his navel, was a spectacular arousal. He saw all of it. His hard sex was the color of his lips and shockingly beautiful. The head blunt with a graceful ridge, the shaft perfectly round and very thick at the base. And the twin weights below were heavy, shameless, virile.

He knew he'd be huge. He'd felt it. But he hadn't expected… this.

"No big deal, remember?" Levi drawled.

"Ah..." Eren cleared his throat. "Well… I'm just going to keep going."

"Fine with me."

Trouble was, he couldn't recall where he was supposed to start. There was so much of him. And he was staring. He was seriously staring. Which was what you did when you got a gander at a man who was hung like a Louisville Slugger.

Oh, God, did he really just think that?

"Since you have one yourself," Levi said in a dry voice, "I can only guess you're checking my navel for lint." Yeah. Right.

He had to do something, or things were gonna end even more awkward.

Eren started caressing his fingers over Levi's pecs and abs, getting closer to that huge thing he couldn't peel his eyes from. Or the way that heavy arousal on his belly pushed forward, then falling back into place.

The tip of it wept a glossy, tempting tear.

He couldn't. His nerves were getting the better of him. He had to-

"I want your hand, Eren." He wanted to snap at him, and he almost did. He didn't want to be told what to do. Not now. Not in this moment. This should've been his victory and he was fucking blowing it! Big times!

But when he looked back at Levi, there was nothing of the mortifying irritation he felt for himself. Only lust. And hunger. "Now," he added to his husky command.

There was no way not obeying to him. Especially as he was lying sprawled before his eyes, fully aroused... it was pretty damn close to unimaginable.

He'd resent him being the one giving the orders later. But he would follow them now.

Eren couldn't believe he actually extended his hand towards him. Levi took what he offered, took what he'd demanded Eren give to him, and pulled it forward to his mouth. In a slow, savoring draw, he licked up the center of his palm, his tongue a warm, wet drag. Then he took his hand and put it to his erection.

They both gasped. He was rock hard and hot as flame and wide as Eren's wrist. As he kicked in his grip, half of Eren wondered what the hell he was doing and the other half, the sexual part, came fully alive.

Hesitant at first, he stroked the same way he would do himself, running his grip up and down, marveling at how the satin skin slid over the stone core of him. He was so much bigger than he was. So thick Eren could barely close his palm all the way around him. Levi's mouth broke open as he undulated on the bed, his eyes rolling back in his head, a sheen of sweat breaking out over his body. The arching of his body took Eren's eyes on one hell of a ride. Shit . . . He was pure sex, totally arousing.

Levi moaned low in his throat and his head kicked back, his blue-black hair feathering over the white pillow. As his hips flexed upward, his stomach muscles tightened in a sequential rush.

Eren straightened up a bit and put his other hand on him, stacking his palms, moving them together. Using his gasps and the spasms of his muscles as a guide, Eren learned the peaks and valleys of his erotic response, figured out when he was getting close and just how to suspend him at the tip of the sexual blade.

He kept going at him until he was twitchy and covered with sweat and shaking.

"Faster, Eren. You're going to do it faster for me now." One of his legs shifted up and his ribs began to pump hard. Across his luscious, fluid skin, a flush of sweat gleamed in the dim lamplight. He was getting closer...

Taking him in one hand again, Eren moved his palm faster and faster, until Levi's face contorted into a beautiful mask of agony and his body grew tight as a cable.

He kept pumping him, focusing the friction at his plum-sized head.

"Don't stop... Fuck..." He drew the word out.

His shoulders and neck were straining, his pecs tightening until they threw sharp edges.

He looked up at him... suddenly Levi's eyes flipped open and glowed bright as stars.

Eren froze. Those eyes were on his throat, and they were burning with a lust that wasn't just sexual. His fangs had fully dropped.

Eren's body moved on its own before his mind adapted to his actions. He leaned forward, crashed his mouth against Levi's lips, open mouthed, penetrating him deep, never stopping the synced motions of neither hand nor tongue until Levi's erection started kicking wildly in his hand and he felt the hot waves of his orgsam running down his hand, slicking their friction even more. He rode him through his highs for as long as it lasted and then, after forever, they were finally coming down again, landing on earth, between their sheets. Still connected.

Eventually, Eren leaned back again, opened his eyes. They connected instantly with Levi's. Blown, panting, breathless. Magnificent.

"You okay?" he heard a voice say.

It took him some time figuring of whom the words were coming from. These were his. Levi's. But he meant to say them too.

"Shouldn't I ask?"

"You first."

"I'm okay." More than okay.

"Good. Me too, I think."

Levi turned his head, looking as if he couldn't believe any of this was real.

"Eren?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you… can you give me a minute?"

He noticed his fingers were still wrapped around Levi's now soft flesh, and withdrew them. "Sure. Sorry."

"Don't be," he said, sat up and pulled his sweatpants back on, "I'll be right back."

Eren watched him leaving the bed, the blanket in hand, and walking into the bathroom. He couldn't help feeling anxious when he saw the door closing.

But Levi was literally back in a minute, in another set of clothes and with a smile lingering on his lips that seemed a little out of place.

"So, you wanna watch the rest of the movie?"

Eren eyed him, looking for something off. But there was nothing. Nothing at all.

"Yeah, sure." He kept observing him, but all Levi did was lying back down right where he'd left him, one hand supporting his head, the other one grabbing for Eren, pulling him close.

While Eren resumed to his former position as well, still suspicious, Levi skipped back to where they'd lost track of the movie.

Yet, when he listened to the steady heartbeat pounding against his cheekbone, he thought that maybe this was alright. That they were alright.

Before Natalie Portman was sitting in Danny Aiello's diner again, they both were sound asleep, embraced in each other's arms.