A/N: Alright, time to spill some guts here. Now I'd like to first apologize for the slow updates on this story. It's really not fair to you that I'm not properly working on this one as much as I am my other stories, which is why I'd like to let you in as to why it's happening.

Lately, though I see all of your reviews and I absolutely adore you guys, I feel like this story is getting harder to write. I myself find it too predictable, too slow (even though I already warned that it'd be a slow build), and just... Too fluffy maybe? Like there will be smut, I can assure you of that. There will also be twists and turns, but I feel like it's become too guessable. You guys know what'll happen besides some unexpected curve balls. The desire to write this story is getting harder to grasp, because I feel like some may not appreciate its entirety. I myself don't even like it at this point. I find myself disliking it, because I can't imagine how some people still follow it, or want to continue following it when they already know how it could end. I keep writing, because I do see your reviews, and they're what keep me going. I don't want to disappoint you guys by any means. Honestly though, if I knew people weren't reading it, I'd stop it. I'm not a person who gives up on a story easily, but I also know when it's become too much of one thing and not another.

I'll keep working hard on it, though I thought you should know that this is how I'm feeling as of recently towards this story. I don't want to give up, because I'm not that type of person to throw away something I've come so far and worked so hard on already, buuuut I don't want to disappoint others with something too obvious, you know? ^^' The updates may increase, because I had a lot of stuff already written out for future chapters, but that depends. I have a important test next week that I've been studying for like crazy... Okay not that hard. It's just a lot of going over what I already know. Anywhoooos, I just wanted to give an explanation. Excuses aren't good by any means, and this is a terrible excuse, but at least you know why now. ^^' I'm really sorry.

-Misty

The Change You Wish to See

(Original summary, but screw the stupid character limits) Levi's never put much care into things. He doesn't put much care into things at all. Nothing ever peaks his interest. Well, that's until he meets Eren Jaeger. Levi isn't sure what it is that's so interesting about him, and it irritates him to feel these feelings he's never felt before. Regardless, he goes to talk to the boy. When he doesn't receive an answer, he just thinks that the boy is rude; however, he understands why when Eren doesn't answer him. Eren is deaf.

Rated M for sexual content, adult language, some violence, mild character death
Main pairing: Riren with some side pairs
Anime: Shingeki No Kyojin (Attack on Titan)

Chapter Sixteen: Forgiveness

"So she didn't return her book yet?"

"No, she didn't."

"Start charging her with a late fee then. You know the drill."

"She's just a kid though, Levi. Give her a break."

"If it were my choice, I'd say extend it a week. It's not my rules though, Hanji, and you know it."

It was days like this that Eren detested the most.

The snow had finally settled some, letting up on the poor city. People could finally return to work, but kids were off for their Christmas break. Lucky for him, Eren got his break from school too. That didn't stop adults from working though, to his dismay.

He decided that he would continue working to keep himself entertained over the break. He wanted to keep helping out, even when everyone else said not to. Mikasa had picked up extra hours as well. In fact, she gave up her weekend shifts to work twelve hour shifts during the week during break. To Levi, that was bordering torture, especially working at a restaurant. There had to be some law that place was breaking to have a nineteen year old girl working that many hours.

Since Armin couldn't work at the school while everyone was away, he was trying to find a small job over the holidays to keep himself occupied. Between him and Eren, things were still ungodly quiet (And not in the way it usually was). Levi kept reminding him to leave it be; Armin would come talk to him at his own time. Eren wasn't the patient type (That was already an obvious fact), but he was managing.

It showed that he was suffering though. Not having his best friend to talk to him about everything was taking its toll on him. That much was obvious too.

That left everyone free on the weekends. Eren tried spending as much time as he could with his siblings, though Armin was constantly hiding in his room. The twelve hours a day all week Mikasa spent was greatly endured if it meant getting to spend a decent weekend with Eren, and they usually turned out to be. It hadn't come as much of a surprise, nor was it hard to guess that Mikasa liked cooking. She did it all day, and one would think that she'd grow to detest it with the amount of cooking she does every day, but that didn't seem to matter. So long as she could make a good dinner for her family, all that work seemed to be enough for her.

It was the only time Levi had ever seen her express her gratitude towards them too.

They were getting along. Things were slow, like they usually were, but things were coming along.

That was why Eren hated days like this. It was just too slow, and that left his mind to wander about useless things. It was no secret that his mind wandered far off into fantasy land, which often sparked his writing. He'd think up a number of things, whether they were inspired from something he saw or did to something his mind just suddenly came up with. He tried keeping those stories hidden often, but there was a time every now and again Levi would be quietly reading over his shoulder. Eren wouldn't notice it until he felt Levi's breath on the back of his neck, but by that point, he'd read most of what Eren was writing.

Sometimes his mind would wander elsewhere. If it wasn't on his writing, it was only the only other thing it could be on.

Levi.

On the way he signed, and how those nimble fingers, soft, but defiantly strong, were growing accustomed to moving. They moved quicker, with more confidence, but Levi still had to stop every now and again to correct himself or think of what came next. It'd be on the way he still talked while signing, just like Mikasa and Armin did, though he had probably picked it up from them. The way those lips moved as he spoke and the way his dark eyes were always on him when he spoke.

"Hah…" Eren sighed.

This was also why he hated days like this.

"Oi, brat," Levi called over to him and waved in his direction. Eren looked up from his notebook to the man, having noticed the motion sooner while daydreaming. "What are you complaining about over there?" The older man asked.

"Nothing…"

"You're sighing."

"I'm bored."

"Isn't that obvious...?" Levi uttered in an annoyed tone, but Eren couldn't have heard it. "Hanji, would you go check to see if the computer out front rebooted properly?"

"And miss all the fun back here?" Hanji mused while tucking her hair behind her ear.

"Now." Levi deadpanned. That was enough to having Hanji groaning as her legs carried her out of the room. Levi could even hear the sounds of her shoes scuffing up the floor as she groaned all the way to the front of the store. If only Eren could hear that. He'd probably get a kick out of it, though Eren may have already felt it. Could he figure out or place what it was he was feeling though?

"Alright..." The older man sighed to himself as he set his arms down on the desk. "Time to get through this shit storm..."

He went about getting through the mess of emails first. They'd only gotten two days off, but he had received over sixty of them within that short time. Granted, most were spam, but there were a few that were important, such as a few things from his boss, an overpayment on something, and all of the other annoying day to day things. There was something in the folder for Hanji, something akin to the lines of a subscription to a magazine. It wasn't anything explicit, unless someone found old dinosaur bones explicit, but the fact the payment was arriving in his email was annoying.

He was going to have to remember to ask her about that one.

"Levy..." Eren called out to him, a quick reminder that he was still sitting on the chair behind him in his cramped office.

"What, Eren...?" Levi asked while carelessly signing it. He didn't even bother looking. There was just no point to it, though he forgot that would mean Eren would need to respond verbally.

"I'm bored..."

"And...?" Levi asked him. There was a pause, a long, held back sigh, and then the sound of a book dropping to the floor. Levi didn't look back to see if something has fallen, knowing Eren was probably the cause of it, but he probably should have. He would have seen the arms reaching out to wrap around his shoulders sooner. He would have seen the mischievous smile on Eren's lips, indicating that his crazy brain had come up with some form of entertainment. He would have known this was coming.

"Entertain me," Eren's fingers signed in front of his face, purposely blocking his view from the old computer monitor.

"And how do you expect me to do that?" Levi asked, but his fingers couldn't come up with the proper symbols for it. Despite what he said, what Eren read was more along the lines of, "How do I do that?" Levi was sure Eren could pick up the rest from his lips though, considering that was all he was staring at. Those golden eyes were on his lips and staring at them like he had just found a treasure worth bragging about.

"You know..." Eren mumbled before moving forward to catch those lips. He didn't want to give him the chance to move away, though where was he supposed to go? The floor? He either stayed in his chair and kissed him or fall to the floor.

Levi didn't have much problems with kissing him though. So long as they didn't get out of hand, then that was fine. He didn't mind a little peck every now and again, so long as Hanji or anyone else didn't see. Sure, they were at work, and there were a bunch of rules that needed to be followed, but no eyes were on them to watch those rules be broken.

Sometimes though, he didn't find it easy to keep it simple. He wouldn't deny a slowly growing heat between them. He thought at first that it was just him, that he hadn't gotten off in a while and it was affecting his mind while kissing Eren. However, he noticed it in the brunette as well.

He noticed it with the way his own kisses seemed a little more urgent than they used to be when they first started "dating." It was just a little after they got back together that it picked up. It was just after that one day in Levi's apartment, after their first kiss in, what? Weeks? Maybe even a month? It was all going by too fast.

It was after that day, after Eren admitted to him that he was scared, after Eren broke down on him, though Levi knew why. He was scared for more reasons than one. At that point, they weren't together, and Eren thought he had destroyed what was left of their friendship as well by that one kiss he gave him. He didn't know if Levi still felt anything for him, but those answers and dilemmas were solved fairly quickly.

Since then, that little spark between them was growing. What it meant, Levi didn't know, but he couldn't ignore it either. He couldn't ignore Eren's hands when they wandered lower than usual. He couldn't ignore it when their mouths slowly opened up more for an intense kiss, though he'd lie ahead of everything else and say he couldn't breathe. He couldn't ignore the tilt of the brat's head, those tiny little sounds, or the way he looked with his eyes closed and within such a close range of him.

He couldn't ignore that something more was coming up. He had an inkling of what it could be, but it wasn't that. It couldn't be that. What this was between them was too innocent, and if Levi was honest, he didn't feel it was permanent between them. He didn't know how long this would go on for, but he couldn't see himself getting married, buying a house, and adopting a few kids with the brat.

Eren didn't see that happening though, did he?

"Oh Levi...!" Came the sudden belch of Hanji, who had no presence of mind to knock. Of course. Levi leaned back the moment he heard her, and Eren followed when he figured that something was wrong. However, when the two of them looked up, they were met with Hanji staring them down, a grip splitting her cheeks from ear to ear.

It was no surprise for her that she walked in on this, though a little discrepancy would have sufficed. She saw this coming one way or another. They spent too much time together, and honestly, she felt the tension between them getting thicker. It was suffocating really.

"My, oh my..." She mused while pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

"You talk and I destroy your subscription to your stupid fucking dinosaur magazine." Levi threatened her, but it was only taken lightly. She knew he would do it; that wasn't a lie, but how could she not enjoy this, or the light dust of pink in his cheeks.

"Not a problem. Cross my heart and hope to die!"

"Hanji..." Eren mumbled to catch her attention. "Don't tell Mikasa or Armin about this..." He signed, though he wasn't threatening her. He was honestly scared they'd find out. He wasn't ready for them to know yet.

"My lips are sealed," Hanji promise him while making an imaginary zipper to close her mouth with. Levi groaned. If only that actually worked. "Levi, there is someone here to see you." She told the man still sitting in his chair.

Levi rolled his eyes and sighed before standing up. He didn't think it was such a good idea to leave these two alone; Lord only knew what Hanji would do to him, but he had to deal with whoever it was out there.

"Please don't hurt him," Levi pleaded with her as a passing thought before leaving the room.

"I can't make any promises." He swore he heard, but the door to the office shut before he could fully make it out.

Instead of bothering to try figuring out if what he heard was correct or not, Levi simply decided to ignore it. If he heard blood curdling screams later, then he would know whether or not he was correct until then, he made his way out into the main room, the smell of old books more prominent out here than it was in the tiny office. He was expecting to see someone with an overdue book. He was expecting the little girl they had been talking about. He was even expecting the bigot that had been in not too long ago, the one that had caused such problems with Eren and Armin.

He wasn't actually expecting to see Armin though.

"Hey," Levi wasn't going to give him the benefit of the doubt, nor the presence of mind to give him a polite greeting.

The blond startle in place; no doubt he had been ogling some books along the shelves. The moment he looked at the older man, however, he looked ready to piss himself. Levi was more or less proud of himself for revoking such a reaction from him.

"H-Hi," The blond stuttered.

"You looking for something?" Levi asked him, hoping that the answer would be Eren.

"Oh! Uhm, Eren left his phone at home..." Armin told the man, and then reached into his coat pocket to produce said talked about phone.

"Good to know. He's been searching for this thing all morning." Levi said and took the small device from him.

"Y-Yeah, it was still on his charger when I went to get his laundry." Armin's voice fell quiet as he spoke. "I thought I'd just bring it over."

"Thanks. I'm sure he'll be happy to know where it is now." Levi said to him. Armin nodded his head and looked at the floor, probably too embarrassed or shy to speak of anything else. If his red cheeks were anything to go by, than that was probably the biggest case. "How's job searching going?" Levi figured it'd be best to not make him faint from the extreme amount of blood rushing to his head.

"Uhm... Okay? I'm not too sure... I haven't heard back from anyone yet, and most places already have college kids working for them over the break..."

"So not well?"

"Yeah..." Armin uttered, looking much like that of a kicked puppy, though Levi wouldn't know what one looked like. He looked so down, so defeated, though he probably knew why. Armin was probably so used to working by now that sitting at home having nothing to do and not making money was driving him insane.

Levi knew that feeling.

"... You know," Levi began. "I've got a friend who just moved back into town. Works for a pretty big company too. Have you ever heard of Recon?"

"That place that handles a lot of continental affairs in trading. It's that really tall building beside the shopping district, isn't it?"

"Yep, that's right. Well, he just moved back, and I'm sure he's looking for a new secretary. If you're interested, I can put in a good word for you." Levi told him, but it only took a second for the words to sink into his head. It took just one more second for the expression on his face to go from embarrassed to utterly shocked.

"W-Wait, wait. Seriously?" He asked, absolutely stunned.

"Yeah," Levi mused. "If it helps you out any. I'm sure he'll love you too. You're perfect material for a job like that." Levi spared a glance over to Armin again, finding his expression still very much laughable. Armin looked almost offended even. He was lost between being grateful and trying to figure out if Levi was just yanking his chain or not.

Why would Levi lie about something like that though? He wasn't that type of guy, and Armin was smart enough to realize that.

"If you don't want me to, then I won't do it. I just thought I would offer since he's looking."

"N-No, no! I would really appreciate it!" Armin suddenly blurted out. "Please, if you could, it would mean so much to me!"

"You don't have to be so hasty." Levi told him. "I'll give Erwin your number and have him call you." Armin's mouth was lost in a form of a smile while still hanging open.

"T-Thank you! Thank you so much!"

"Not a problem." Levi waved him off like the offer was nothing, though it probably meant more than what Levi could imagine. "A tip for the interview though. Try to get him talking about his kids. You do that and he'll hire you in an instant."

"Thank you! This means so much, I-!"

"It's isn't a problem. I know how hard it is to find a job this day and age, whether you've got an education or not." Levi once again waved it off, deciding it was best to let Armin live up the moment. "I'll give Eren his phone back and tell him you dropped it off."

"Ah, uhm…" Armin trailed off, eyes adverting down to think of what he wanted to say, which didn't seem to want to come off of his tongue the way it should have.

"What is it?" Levi asked gruffly, not content with playing games today, especially not with Armin. "Speak now or forever hold your peace."

Armin frowned as his eyes looked up at the older man. He barely met a steely gaze before looking back down, his cheeks tinting pink again. His hands came up to his lap so that his fingers could twiddle together, some form of a distraction. It wasn't a good one, but it was all his mind could think up with at this point.

Whatever it was he had to say apparently wasn't easy.

"Kid, I'm not playing games here. Either say it or lea-"

"C-Could I…" Armin interrupted him, but that was instantly reprimanded on his own part by looking down to the point his head tilted with it. "Could I talk to Eren…?" He asked, and Levi could see those blue eyes peaking up from behind his bangs. Was he trying to determine Levi's reaction from him? Was he trying to find an answer without getting a verbal response? Levi couldn't tell.

Armin's bangs had gotten longer since he had last seen him, which was easily a good month ago. In fact, the last time he had seen him was when Armin told him off.

He was still thoroughly impressed with that.

"Oh, so that's why you brought this over." Levi told him while motioning to the phone in his back pocket.

"N-No, it wasn't! I mean, not at first, b-but-"

"Stop stuttering. It'll end up permanent." Levi told him before turning away. "I'll go get him for you." Levi said and left the room.

He wasn't entirely sure if this was a good thing, because this could either end one of two ways: With them kissing and making up, or just arguing some more. He didn't want to see that piss poor puppy dog look on Eren's face again, but he wasn't the type of man to interfere with other people's relationships, though he'll openly admit that he was the reason Erwin was married to the woman he was with now.

He wasn't the type of person to sabotage a relationship though, whether he was jealous or not. He'd seen how upset Eren had been for the whole time Armin hadn't talked to him, and it was about time that ended. He was going to have to suck it up and let them figure this out on their own.

If worse came to worse and they didn't make up by the end of this though, Levi was going to tie them to a chair until they could play nice.

"Eren," Levi called out to the brat still in the office. Hanji was signing away to him, something Levi couldn't understand. It wasn't even the fact that some of it didn't make any sense to him. No, that wasn't it. It was that Hanji's fingers were moving too fast for him to keep up, and judging by the thoroughly tired look on Eren's face, he couldn't either. "Oi, Hanji, shut up."

"What…? I was just telling him about last month's subscription to Din-"

"Armin's here. He wants to talk to you." Levi quickly signed for Eren, keeping Hanji from speaking any longer. Once you got her talking, it was incredibly difficult to get her to shut up. Levi found that the most effective way to stop her though was to blatantly speak over her and ignore the rest of what she was saying. It didn't always work, but maybe mentioning Armin got her to be quiet.

Eren looked surprised. He looked stupefied even. For a moment he even tilted his head, silently questioning if the man had simply signed wrong to him, but his lips said Armin's name. He said the boy's name, said he was here. Even if Eren didn't understand what he signed, he understood what he said by his lips.

This wasn't a joke, was it? No, Levi wasn't the type of person to make jokes. If and when he did, they were potty mouth jokes that made no sense to him, and Hanji often had to translate them for him to figure them out. It wasn't the barrier in language that was the problem; Levi just told really shitty jokes.

No pun intended.

"Okay…" Eren mumbled to himself before leaving the room. Hanji gave Levi a very similar look, but he ignored it to go back to the main room. He wandered off to one of the aisles not far off, a book in his hand like he was going to put it back. He was, but in the aisle beside this one stood Armin and Eren. Apparently they needed a smaller and more secluded place to talk. Levi could see the two through the cracks in between the books though, and with one knocked over onto its side while the other was tilted onto another book's spine, it was easy to see the two of them.

Neither of them looked happy.

Armin looked guilty and upset while Eren looked frustrated and angry. He had every right to be too, because Armin had taken out his frustrations on the wrong person. Even Eren could see it, and now he was finally letting the blond have a piece of his mind. His hands were a blur though, just like Hanji's had been. Had it not been for Armin's usually cool demeanor and his own idea to speak as he signed, Levi would have been at a loss for words.

"What was your problem anyway?" Eren asked him, a small grunt leaving his grinding teeth. "You just – me for – too."

Levi cursed under his breath.

"I know, Eren, I know. It was wrong of me, and I'm sorry. I just… Got really upset, and really frustrated. I didn't want to take that out on you…"

"But you did! You've been – me for the past -!"

"And I was wrong, Eren! I can't apologize enough!" Armin still had the presence of mind to keep his voice down, even when no one was in the store. He probably didn't know that though. "I don't know if there's anything I can say or do to make it up to you, but I want to. If there is, you have to tell me, because I want to make this right..."

"So then why didn't you a month ago?" Finally, Eren's fingers had settled some. It was easier to see what it was he was trying to say, though some words still escaped him. "Why didn't you just talk to me? Since when is our - like that?"

"It's not…"

"It feels like it is. I've always trusted you, Armin. I knew that if there was ever someone I needed to talk to, someone who wouldn't judge me, it'd be you. You know things even Mikasa doesn't know about, the same that Mikasa doesn't know a few things about you. Since when did we go from telling each - everything to hiding things from one another?"

"I'm sorry, Eren…" Armin dropped his head, his throat bobbing as he swallowed what must have been the oncoming of tears. Obviously this wasn't an easy thing for him. "I-I don't know. I just… Got a little jealous, I guess."

"Jealous…?" Eren abruptly questioned out loud. "What are you jealous about? It's not about Levi, right?"

"Yeah, it's about him."

"Whoa, whoa…" Eren said and hit the blonde's arm gently. "Why are you jealous of Levi?"

"I-I don't know, really. Eren, I'm so happy that you're working. You're making money, you've got new friends, and you're even happier doing all of this lately. You have new stories to tell, and you're starting to write again. Honestly, I couldn't be happier for you, and I'm really glad that Levi's helped you get these things, but…"

"But…?" Eren prodded at him for more answers.

"But you spend so much time with him now…" Armin shrugged his shoulder as he signed to him. "And it's so unbelievably selfish that I think like this, because I know Mikasa does this to you, and I know you hate it so much, but I guess… The amount of time we do spend together just isn't good enough for some part of me…"

He admitted it like he was guilty, and he partially was. He was admitting it though like he had committed the biggest sin within the bible, whatever that may be. Levi wasn't an advocate for the bible. He looked ready to break down. He even looked ready to fall to his knees, bow, and beg the brunette for forgiveness, but Eren seemed to have other plans.

If that smirk growing on his lips was anything to go by.

"You love me," He mused in a sing song tone.

"Stop it," Armin warned when Eren advanced, but that didn't stop the teen from wrapping his arms around his waist.

"You love me," Eren continued, though it sounded more like, 'you lob me,' than what he was intending. Armin rolled his eyes and tilted his head back, trying to avoid glaring at the smirk on Eren's lips, but that wasn't easy when it was only inches from his face. "You love me. You know you do."

"Yeah, yeah…" Armin scoffed and pushed at his head. Eren laughed it off though, his smirk giving way to a playful smile when he forcefully grabbed at the blonde's sides and squeezed. It was enough of a squeeze to elicit a very girlish squeak from the teen, and it was enough to have Eren break out into a fit of laughter. "That wasn't funny!" Armin signed, agitated.

"Yes it was," Eren openly disagreed with him and stuck his tongue out when his laughter had died down enough to allow it. Armin groaned, followed by a childish attempt to break free from Eren's grasp by simply going limp in his arms. That still didn't work though, because he seemed to forget the fact that Eren was impressively strong.

Eren kept him up and grounded, pulling him into a hug that Armin was forced to participate in, though it wasn't like he could or even would complain. He looked quite content wrapping his arms around broad shoulders and hiding his face away in Eren's turtle neck.

No, Levi was not jealous. He was not jealous. He refused to let this get to him.

"Armin," Eren said and pulled back. Armin looked up at him expectantly, a stray tear at the bottom of his cheek. He didn't even seem to be aware of it though. "No more hiding, okay? No more secrets."

"Sounds like a good idea." Armin agreed with a relieved smile. Levi sighed; he was glad that was all over.

"We'll talk to each - about everything, okay? I won't hide anything from you either."

"Then you should start with this…" Armin said softly and left Eren's slowly increasing grip. "How long have you and Levi been dating again?"

Levi's eyes instantly darted to the blond, wide and confused.

How in the hell did he know about that?

"W-What…?" Eren gaped in surprise. "How did you find out about that? Who told you that?" Eren asked frantically.

"You just did," Armin answered, followed by a wink of the eye while his tongue stuck out at the brunette. Eren had that stupefied look on his face again, but the moment Armin darted away to avoid any confrontation, Eren was instantly after him.

"Armin! Get back here!" He yelled out, but even after losing sight of the two, he could hear Armin's laughter around the store.

"Shit," Levi cursed under his breath. He really had no idea who he was dealing with.

Armin was smart. He was going to have to watch out for him from now on. This only meant one other thing though.

Erwin was going to fucking love him.

A/N: On another, less depressing note-ghiaghir;ognv Cute fucking adorable Armin and his mind games. How could you not love him? He's an adorable little shit...