ELIC CH 7: A Romantic Dinner

The school day finally ended at around 430 and Eren let out a relieved sigh. Now he could finally draw or paint in whatever spare time he had left without having to worry about a teacher getting pissed because he wasn't paying attention. He hadn't paid attention anyway all day long, Levi was on his mind.

Eren just couldn't get over the fact that they had kissed. It was insane because the feelings that they had for each other were so apparent! Yeah, after they got out of the café a few days ago Eren had felt like they had a chance to get together, but now it was so perfect.

The connection he felt with Levi was pretty crazy, seeing as how he'd only known him for a couple of days. But from the minute they'd met Eren had been interested in him.

And that wasn't even starting on the heat Eren felt wherever they touched. His lips still felt like electric shocks were going through them. Eren had tried the whole day to stop thinking about Levi and concentrate on his classes, but it wasn't going to happen. The grumpy man had been running through his thoughts for a long time, and it didn't seem like he was going to stop thinking about him any time soon.

Eren sighed wistfully as he entered the library to study and check out a few art books for his art class assignment. While he studied and tried to find the books, Levi was already back at the dorm room.

Spaghetti and garlic bread were being cooked and Levi was trying to make it perfect for a romantic dinner. Sure, they hadn't actually confessed to liking each other or even confirmed if the two were boyfriends or not, but Levi gave zero shits about that and wanted a romantic dinner with Eren. Therefore, he was fixing a damn romantic dinner.

He hadn't been able to stop thinking about Eren the whole day, and every once in a while he would turn slightly pink when he replayed their kisses in his head.

Eren's eyes had always displayed his emotions for everyone to see, and when they kissed Levi could definitely see some pretty strong feelings. Levi knew for a fact that he was in love with him. There was no doubt about it, the feelings that boy had made him feel were unlike any other feelings Levi had ever experienced before.

Levi felt like Eren was…home. It sounded strange, but Levi felt very comfortable and safe around Eren, like he would feel if he was at home. Levi was able to be himself and loosen up that giant wall he kept around himself all the time.

Around Eren, Levi was trying to legitimately be himself, without all his emotional barriers in place. Levi could feel a smile dancing on his lips as he stirred the spaghetti sauce, and the happiness he felt was very strange and new to him.

Levi acting pissed off all the time generally was him actually being pissed off. The grumpy-seeming little man was pretty damn grumpy a lot. But around Eren, no matter how much he tried to convince himself that the brat wasn't worth his time or how much he pretended to be irritated, Levi wasn't grumpy. He was happy around Eren and the sensation was wonderful.

Levi straightened out the black apron on his waist when he had to stir the spaghetti sauce faster, trying his best not to cause a mess with the tomato sauce landing on him.

Of course, he failed, but his purple tank top and jeans were spared and the little black apron was quickly turning brownish. Levi couldn't find any reason to care about this and he laughed at himself whenever he noticed the filth he was causing.

When Levi deemed the sauce well enough stirred he covered it and turned the heat off on the stove. The noodles were already done and the garlic bread about to be taken out of the oven. A timer beeped and Levi knelt down to get the bread out of the oven.

Levi didn't realize it, but Eren had walked into the dorm room a few minutes prior to him finishing the sauce and all that. Eren was standing in the doorway of the kitchen throughout most of Levi's little laughing fit at himself and the messiness.

He's so fucking adorable Eren thought to himself, grinning because of Levi's cuteness. He was unsure as to why Levi was cooking dinner, but it smelled amazing and Eren was starving so he decided to announce his presence in the kitchen by murmuring a quiet "hey"

Levi just about jumped out of his skin when he heard that, and he spun around really quickly, wielding a spatula that he had used to get the bread off the pan.

Levi sighed and relaxed his pose when he realized that it was Eren who had said hey, not some random stranger in his dorm room.

"You just about scared the shit out of me, brat" Levi said, his eyes twinkling with amusement and a blush on his cheeks because of the adrenaline rush.

"Maybe I should've tried harder and you maybe finally would actually take a shit and not look constipated all the time!" Eren replied jokingly, smiling widely at him.

"Tch, who ever said I was constipated is misinformed, I have a quite regular shit-schedule, thank you very much" Levi replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Wonderful to know that you have regular shits. And speaking of shit, what is this food you are making that will make even my shit smell nice? It smells so good in here that I think the aroma will linger in my poo" Eren said, gesturing grandly at the stove and sniffing for emphasis.

"It's spaghetti, and hopefully your shit will smell nice because a smelly bathroom is disgusting" Levi replied, stepping away from the stove to reveal the sauce and noodles.

"Fantastic. When will we be eating this spaghetti masterpiece of yours?" Eren asked excitedly, hoping that it would be soon because he was starving.

"As soon as I can put it on plates and on the table." Levi replied, walking over to one of the cabinets to get a couple plates and cups.

Eren laughed at him because Levi had to stand on his tippy-toes to reach the cups, which were one shelf higher than the plates. He walked over and grabbed two cups with ease, ignoring the fact that he and Levi had basically no personal space because of Eren's cup grabbing.

Levi inhaled sharply when Eren got really close and got the cups for him. He blushed (now he was the one resembling a strawberry) and stepped away from Eren, trying to calm his heart rate down from the sudden closeness.

Eren also ignored Levi's stepping away and stepped right back into his personal space to give him the cups. He obviously could have just stretched his arm out, but Eren quite liked being close to Levi.

Levi muttered "Thanks" and rushed to put the cups on the table so that he could get away from Eren and his persistent nearness.

Eren chuckled and went to sit down at the table after Levi came back to the stove and put their food on plates. Levi sat down as well and before anything could be eaten he said "Have you ever heard of personal space?"

Eren widened his eyes at Levi and replied somewhat snarkily, "Heard of personal space? Yes, of course. I wasn't aware that you had a problem with me being in your space…neither of us seemed to have much personal space this morning." Eren blushed while saying that, but he managed to keep looking Levi in the eye.

"Hmm…makes sense. No, personal space certainly wasn't an issue this morning. However, when you invade my personal space it makes my heart do strange things and when I'm trying to do something as ordinary as plate some spaghetti, it's kind of…strange to have my heartbeat hammering away like it does when you're close" Levi replied, his face glowing because that was almost a confession of feelings.

Eren grinned so widely that Levi was sure his face would split in half. He was pretty damn ecstatic that he wasn't the only one with a funky heartbeat around him. In fact, his heart was racing pretty fast at the moment, happy feelings bubbling up inside his chest.

"You aren't the only one, Levi" Eren said, his face still about to split open because of his smile.

"That is reassuring…so it would seem that we both have increased heartbeats and extremely happy emotions around each other." Levi said, his face also about to split due to the wideness of his own rare smile.

"You know, there's a word for that feeling that we feel when we're around each other" Eren said, his heartbeat increasing ever-steadily as he prepared to say the word love.

"I believe the word is…love" Levi said, his voice extremely warm and his eyes were glimmering with happiness.

Eren leaped out of his chair at Levi's proclamation and ran over to his chair as fast as he could. He enveloped Levi in a giant hug and didn't hesitate to say those three words he'd been desperate to say ever since he met Levi:

"I love you"

Levi jumped out of his chair and wrapped his arms around Eren as well, about to pass out from the happiness he felt.

"I love you, too" Levi replied, squeezing Eren tightly and relishing the physical comfort of hugging that he'd been denied for so long. Levi literally hadn't hugged anyone other than Hanji for over a year, and being held in Eren's embrace was too amazing for words.

They stood like that for a few minutes, quietly saying "I love you" every few seconds as if to reassure themselves that they really were serious. When they finally pulled away from each other, Levi took Eren's face in his hands and kissed him tenderly. Eren kissed back and when they broke apart he smiled a smile so full of love and happiness that Levi felt tears in his eyes when he smiled at Eren in the exact same way.

Dinner was forgotten about and the two headed back to the bedroom. Levi climbed into bed beside Eren and they fell asleep in each other's arms, both murmuring sleepy I love you's before slipping into sleep.