Notes:

Well, here is chapter two! I've been writing up a storm these days. I'm going to do my best to publish a new chapter at least once a week. Hope you guys enjoy this one. As usual, feel free to comment, I'll read and respond to them all :)

Art is a funny thing. Sometimes the drive to do it disappears entirely. Other times, it floods out like a fucking volcano. The only complication arises when the type of art that wants to make itself known is in some way disagreeable to the artist at hand. In this case, Levi wanted nothing more than to paint endless images of doleful, green-eyed rocker boys. Instead, he painted nothing—not one fucking thing—because he couldn't bring himself to engage in such foolish nonsense.

At least he'd managed to clean up since the party last weekend. It had gotten to the point where, assessed side-by-side, the cons of continuing to destroy himself truly outweighed the pros. Not only did his body feel like shit when he drank every night, but a familiar angst trickled into his thinking, stealing away the meaning from simple things like listening to music, eating, or even sleeping. Levi lived alone and in order to pay rent, he needed to work, and in order to work his dead-end bartending job, he needed to not be a full-blown dysfunctional shut-in.

That being said, Hange had invited him to another party that evening and Levi had agreed to go. He had the next day off, and heaven knows he wasn't in any kind of a painting mood, so he couldn't see the harm in it. It might even be healthy for him to get out and see some people. Meet some people. Re-encounter... some... people.

Levi grimaced at his wayward thought, hopping off the bus and starting his way down the street. The address Hange had texted him was in a part of town Levi had never been. It seemed relatively well-kept, but not as ritzy as Erwin's neighbourhood. Maybe this crowd would be a little less pretentious than last time. Levi hoped so. He had stubbornly worn the same black jeans and leather jacket as before, protesting silently against their affected style. Thank god it was nowhere near as hot out as it had been last week.

He was also grateful for the fact that Hange had let him find his own way to the party this time. Levi was anything but a social butterfly and it usually took him a few moments to adjust to the idea that he was about to be immersed in a group of people. Before parties, he needed to get his game-face on in private. The procedure progressed in assiduously planned stages. A drink while he showered; careful preening in front of the mirror accompanied by the blaring soundtrack of his favourite metal band; another round of drinks before he left the house, to last him during his commute, and a solitary walk to the venue to loosen him up. These were the kinds of rituals that made him feel armoured before entering a social setting. God knows what would happen if anyone ever caught a glimpse of him in his natural environment. They might think they'd stumbled across a new species.

Levi glanced at the address to his right. According to his phone, the house was four doors down. He took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. He was ready. He was the perfect amount of buzzed to get himself through the door. Socially, he tended to swim from one island of alcohol to the next, and it looked like he was going to make it this time. Land was in sight.

Suddenly his phone buzzed in his hand.

"What the?" he muttered, ducking behind a bush to read the message. He was almost right in front of the house at this point.

Still haven't forgotten about you.

Levi felt himself flushing. Who the hell was texting him such sappy things? He glanced at the contact and saw that it was an unknown number.

Hope to see you tonight.

Levi lowered his phone and stared ahead dumbly. Could it really be who he thought it was? And if so, why had he chosen to text Levi just now? Furthermore, how had he gotten Levi's number? Levi couldn't remember giving it out that night at Erwin's, although, Levi couldn't remember a lot of things about that night.

Well, fuck if he was going to respond. He was almost on the bloody front step—how weird would it be to text the brat back and then see him two seconds later inside? That is, if the text was indeed from who Levi thought it was. There was still no guarantee. He had only just jammed his phone into his back pocket when it buzzed again. Levi cursed out loud.

You taste just as good as you smell btw

Levi froze at the top of the steps, his finger poised in front of the doorbell. There was no way he could walk into the party in his current state. He was suddenly a mess. Eren's text had effectively unravelled him, leaving him wondering if he'd drunk more than he remembered. He felt out of breath, not to mention monsoons of heat were rising oh so stubbornly in his groin-ish region. Unfortunately for him, somebody chose that exact moment to pop outside for a smoke.

"Oh hello," Erwin said silkily, pulling a silver lighter out of his breast pocket. He eyed Levi circumspectly. "You seem in good health."

For a moment Levi thought Erwin was actually referring to his hard-on, then he remembered the state he had been in the last time the two of them had spoken face-to-face. He arranged his hands to cover the unsightly problem.

"Thank you," Levi said stiffly, "for letting me crash at your place last time."

"Of course," Erwin replied. "Anytime."

Levi hurried away, anxious to escape Erwin's oblique scrutiny. Ever since last week he'd been telling himself that Eren was right—nobody had witnessed their little assignation on the porch—but now, Levi wasn't so sure. Really, when he walked into the room and found Hange, Jean, and various others from the party waving up at him from around a table, he felt as though his indiscretions were written all over his face. Certainly Eren's recent texts hadn't helped.

"Levi's on my team!" Hange yelled. "We're playing charades."

"Charades?" Levi asked, furrowing his already furrowed brow. "Really?"

"You heard her," Erwin replied, shutting the door behind him with a clap. "Take a seat."

Levi was just about to ask Erwin why he thought he had the right to order him around, especially when this wasn't even his house, when a certain somebody came gambolling out of the kitchen with a drink in either hand.

"Alright Armin, let's take these guys down—"

The moment Eren spotted Levi he stopped talking. It was actually so abrupt the entire table looked up to see what had happened. There was a moment wherein Eren and Levi just looked at one another, Eren's eyes sparkling like gemstones, Levi fighting the blush that was rising to his expressionless face. It was impossible to say how long they might have stood like that had Armin failed to break the spell.

"Are you going to give me my drink or not?" the blond kid interrupted. Armin's words were bossy but his voice was not. Even as he said them an apologetic smile appeared on his mousy face.

"Uh, yeah, right," Eren said, plopping Armin's drink down in front of him. A large portion of it slopped over the edge and spilled all over the table. Armin dabbed it up with his sleeve.

Miraculously, Levi didn't even notice. He made his way to a chair, clumsily accepting a beer from Jean, and chugged half of it within one minute. The following game of charades was probably one of the best Levi had ever played. It didn't seem fitting that a guy as antisocial as him had ever had the opportunity to participate in such a thing but, believe it or not, even the kids back in art school had harboured a soft spot for drinking games. Levi had always been a bad sport about it. The difference was, back then, he hadn't given a shit what any of them thought.

Oh, how things had changed.

Levi contorted his body to mimic a dolphin, served as the ass end of what was supposed to be a pickup truck, and waved his hands in circles to convey the sentiment of whimsy, all in the hope of overwriting everyone's memory of the way he and Eren had greeted one another. It was bad enough that the two of them had disappeared upstairs for half of the night last weekend, and the episode on the balcony itself... Levi fixed his face into a rigid smile and remained attentive as Erwin strutted around the lobby like a flamingo. Eren was seated just across the table, but Levi couldn't bear to look at him.

The most incredible part of all of it was that Levi didn't know one god-damned thing about the kid. He didn't know where the guy came from, what he did for a living, or if he had a job at all. Chances are he was still living with his parents. They had spoken a maximum of fifty sentences to one another, all while drinking copious amounts of liquor—or well, the last part held true for Levi, anyway—so it didn't make one bit of sense the way Levi felt. Sure Eren was gorgeous, but Levi encountered attractive people every day at his job. Besides—Eren was a guy.

Perhaps this is why Levi felt as terrified as he did. It's only fun to pretend you have nothing to lose when it's true.

"Eren's turn!"

Eren pulled a card out of the heap and a grin slowly began to creep over his face. Levi didn't like the look of it one bit. After a moment, the boy slapped the card down on the table and stood up, motioning for Hange to start the timer.

"What the fuck?" Jean shouted as Eren's shirt hit him in the face.

"Stripper!" Armin yelled.

"Pole dancer!" Hange theorized.

"Whore!" Erwin added gallantly.

Even if Levi's mind hadn't gone blank, there's no way he could have asserted his guesses. His throat was as tight as a finger trap. He didn't dare take a sip of his beer, for fear that he might choke. Eren was inching his jeans down bit-by-bit, revealing a pair of aquamarine boxers. The kid had perfect skin. It stretched up from his abdomen like a golden sea, rolling gracefully over his hauntingly lithe musculature, up and up to the most beautiful pair of collar bones Levi had ever seen. Levi never knew he could feel this way about a man. Fuck, Levi never knew he could feel this way about a person.

What's wrong with me? he demanded of himself. This guy is a total idiot.

To Levi's horror, Eren began making his way around the table, tossing flirtatious winks at guests as he sauntered by. Levi couldn't be sure, but based on Eren's trajectory, he was pretty certain he knew where the kid was headed. Eren locked eyes on Levi's and suddenly Levi didn't care. Let them see. What did it matter, as long as Levi got to touch him once more...

"Times up!" Armin cried, slamming the table with his hand.

"Aweeeee," Eren complained, sticking his ass out and making a pouty face. "I was so close."

"What was the word, anyway?"

"Peeler?" Mikasa questioned incredulously, inspecting the card. "You've gotta be kidding me. There's a bowl of fruit right there."

"Words have multiple meanings, Mikasa."

"Some people don't like watching their friends strip, Eren."

"Awe, you know you liked it," Eren retorted, tossing Jean a wink. Jean pretended to vomit back into his cup.

More people were arriving and soon the game of charades was put on hold. Eren stuck around to shoot the shit with Armin and Mikasa, and Hange had disappeared somewhere as usual, so Levi slipped away to check out the house. Apparently it belonged to a girl named Ymir. It was nowhere near as nicely decorated as Erwin's abode, but Levi felt more comfortable here. It was easier to blend in.

Images of Eren's body surfaced in Levi's mind. It irritated him how single-minded he had recently become. Just to prove a point to himself, he went up to a group of girls and chatted them up for a while. Levi might have been antisocial, but he was no shrinking violet. He knew he had a certain appeal when it came to the ladies. The girls poured them a round of shots and Levi obliged half-heartedly. Like it or not, the entirety of his attention was fixed on the door leading back into the lobby, through which that stupid kid might appear should he ever decide to leave those stupid friends of his for one stupid moment.

Eventually Levi got bored of waiting and he busied himself with finding a washroom. He wandered up a set of stairs and tried the handle to the first room. It was locked. A dim light shone from a room at the end of the hall and he took a few steps closer.

It was when he heard the sound of someone moaning that he knew he should have turned around. Still, some kind of morbid curiosity drove him onwards. In his mind, anything was better than returning to the nerve-wracking dilemma downstairs. He made sure to step lightly so as not to be heard. Just as he reached the end of the corridor, a second voice joined the first. This voice was clearly Erwin's. All Levi caught was a glimpse, but it was a very informative glimpse.

"Fuck," he muttered under his breath, hurrying back down the stairs. "How did they get up there so fast?"

He stumbled into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of wine. When he raised the cup to his lips, he realized that his hands were shaking. For the life of him he couldn't figure out why. It wasn't like he cared about Hange that way or anything.

It was just that all of these people were so interwoven. Ymir knew Historia, who was pretty good friends with Armin, who of course had attended grade school with Jean and Mikasa. Erwin had been Mikasa's TA this year in college, and Eren seemed to know just about everyone. But Levi was nothing but Hange's plus one. And now that was severely up for consideration.

It's true, Levi thought to himself. If Hange and Erwin are fucking, there's absolutely no reason for me to be here anymore.

Levi drained his glass and went looking for his jacket. He didn't even bother saying goodbye. What was the point? Without Hange's invitation, there was no way he was ever going to get asked back. It was clear that Erwin had zero respect for him as a person. It went beyond the fact that he was currently fucking the girl Levi was allegedly dating. The guy never stopped with the pompous remarks. Obviously he thought Levi was nothing but low-bred trash.

Levi was halfway down the street when he heard someone calling after him.

"Where are you going?" Eren gasped, fighting to catch his breath.

"I don't see why that's any of your business."

"But you didn't even say bye."

"Even if I'd wanted to, you were clearly occupied," Levi said coldly.

"What, with Mikasa and Armin?" Eren laughed. "Those guys are totally cool with you."

"You can't expect a stranger to just come up and—" Levi paused. "They're cool with me? What's that supposed to mean?"

"I told them all about you and they like you!"

"All about me?" Levi was starting to feel sick.

"Like how you're a artist and you like to paint buildings and cityscapes."

"What, when did I—"

"And how your favourite time to go on walks is after midnight."

"Eren, seriously—"

"There were a few things I left out, of course," Eren giggled.

"Don't tell me I spilled all that to you last weekend while I was drunk?"

Eren nodded gleefully.

"That's how you got my number," Levi concluded. He turned around, sighing. "I'm never drinking again."

"You still haven't explained why you left without saying goodbye."

"Why does it matter?"

"Because..." Eren paused, suddenly awkward. Levi couldn't understand why someone who persisted in behaving so apishly all the time would ever feel that way. Here was a guy who was shameless enough to strip in front of a room full of people. What business did he have in feeling shy?

"Because I think you're cool," Eren mumbled forlornly.

"Do you even know what you're saying?" Levi snapped. "You don't know a thing about me. I'm nothing like your friends. I fucking despise parties. The only reason I went last weekend was because Hange begged me to, and now she's boning Erwin, so a whole lot of good that did."

"Hange is boning Erwin?" Eren said, wide-eyed. After a moment his expression darkened. "That's why you stormed out. Because you're upset."

"I couldn't care less who she chooses to bang."

"Clearly you do," Eren protested. "Otherwise you wouldn't have left."

"Did you not hear one word I just said? I hate parties. That's a good enough reason to leave."

"If you hate them so much, and you don't care about Hange..." Eren shuffled his feet, "why did you come tonight?"

Levi dropped his gaze and turned to the side. He made a mental note not to underestimate the kid's reasoning skills in the future.

"I know I can be stupid," Eren continued awkwardly. "I'm sorry if I'm grossing you out. But I think you're really awesome."

"I'm seven years older than you."

"So is Erwin."

Levi raised an eyebrow. "Please don't tell me you're fucking him too?"

"N-no!" Eren exclaimed frantically. "He's just a friend!"

"So what do you think a twenty-six-year man old would want with a brat like you?"

Eren looked so downcast Levi almost died right then and there. Had Levi had a knife in his bag, he might have used it to commit harikari.

"I'm sorry, kid," he grunted. "I just don't think you know what you're saying."

"And just who are you to make such claims?" Eren demanded heatedly. "You think because I'm young I don't know when I like someone? It isn't rocket science!"

Eren grapped Levi by the collar and pulled him in to a kiss. The moment their lips met, Levi growled, dropping his bag onto the pavement. He pushed Eren up against a lamppost and ground against him, snaking a hand up under his shirt, hungrily caressing every inch of the hallowed skin the kid had so frivolously showcased earlier. Levi's finger brushed one of Eren's nipples and Eren cried out, his sandy voice resounding all the way down the street.

"Shhhh," Levi panted, willing himself to step away. "They'll hear us."

Eren nodded obediently, covering his mouth with two hands.

Levi glanced around cagily. His desire had overridden all thoughts of why or if. The only thing on his mind was where. "We can't do this here."

"Can I come over to your place?"

"You can't just leave. They'll all wonder where you went."

"I don't care," Eren whispered. "I want you so bad."

The kid's words made Levi's head spin. He grabbed Eren's wrist, snatched up his bag, and led them to the bus stop. Thankfully the bus came quickly, and within minutes they were cruising back downtown to Levi's apartment. The lights in the bus were fluorescent white. Levi caught a glimpse of himself in one of the windows. His eyes were clouded and his mouth was swollen and red from all the kissing they'd done. He almost looked stoned. Turning around, he found that Eren was in much the same state.

The two of them sat in silence. The bus was pretty full. There was an old guy with a ridiculously swank pair of headphones rocking out to some unknown beat near the back. A group of teenagers sipped technicolour slushies through enormous straws, and a mother sat at the front with a baby carriage.

Suddenly Levi's breath caught in his throat.

Eren was running his little finger along Levi's wrist, making little circles. Nobody could have seen, for their hands were hidden by the mess of coats between them.

"Stop it," Levi muttered.

Eren smiled innocently. "Stop what?"

Levi closed his eyes and exhaled through his nostrils.

It felt like the bus took forever to reach their stop. The moment they were back on the street, Levi grabbed Eren and dragged him behind a retaining wall.

"How—dare—you—" Levi intoned, biting the boy's neck.

"I'm sorry," Eren sighed shakily. "I couldn't help it."

Through a series of stops and starts the two of them eventually managed the journey to Levi's apartment. It was a bachelor's suite on the fifth floor of an enormous housing complex right next to a row of office buildings. The elevator had a sort of stale smell and the carpets in the hallway were faded and dusty, but the moment they pushed through Levi's door, it was an entirely different world. The tile was polished to utmost uniformity. All table-tops, counters and desks were clear of objects and recently dusted. There was the faintest hint of lemon in the air.

"Where's your washroom?" Eren asked. "I have to take a piss."

"Last door to your right," Levi responded, moving Eren's shoes onto the mat. He hoped Eren would have the sense to know which was the hand towel.

While Eren used the bathroom, Levi poured them a couple glasses of cheap merlot. Having caught a minute to himself, he reflected momentarily on the preposterous nature of the situation. One moment he was playing charades with a bunch of college students, the next he was making out with one of them in the street. Now they were in Levi's own apartment, ready to do god knows what with all their pent up desire, and Levi was only just realizing how ultimately unprepared he was for such a thing.

He'd never had sex with a guy before! What did such an act even entail? Levi may or may not have stumbled across the odd clip of gay porn in his time, and may or may not have found some of it slightly intriguing, but porn was no substitute for real-world knowledge. His only hope was that Eren knew what he was doing.

The moment Eren exited the washroom, Levi's heart gave a little flip. Maybe it didn't matter either way.

They took their wine into the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed. The moonlight shone in the window, illuminating the pale sheets like windblown snow.

"Ugh," Eren gasped, setting down his glass. "Chugging wine, not a good idea."

"Nervous?"

Eren smiled sheepishly. "Maybe a little."

"We don't have to do this."

"No!" Eren exclaimed forcefully. "I want to."

Levi set his glass down. They kissed like that, on the edge of the bed, for quite some time. After a while Eren pulled Levi up onto the bed by the front of his clothes. Levi undressed slowly, unbuttoning his ripped shirt, snaking out of his tight black jeans. Eren did the same, albeit a little more hurriedly than his older counterpart. When the two of them were finally in their boxers, Eren stared so hard Levi had to look away. His pitch black bangs fell over one eye, casting his face in shadow.

"What is it?" he finally asked, his voice strained.

"You're so..." Eren swallowed.

Levi had a moment of doubt. Was Eren having second thoughts? Levi vaguely recalled the fact that Eren's sexuality was just as unspecified as his own. Now that they were almost naked, did the kid still like what he was seeing?

"I can't take it," Eren breathed, crawling forward on all fours. "I need to taste you again."

Before Levi knew it he was splayed backwards, supporting himself on his forearms while Eren yanked off his underwear. Eren took Levi's cock into his mouth and began working him with his hands, and within moments Levi felt himself contract dangerously. He pushed Eren back and rolled on top of him instead, pinning his wrists against the mattress.

Eren stared up with enormous eyes.

"You know how to give," Levi said quietly, "but do you know how to take?"

Eren began to say something, but it trailed off into stutters as Levi made his way down to Eren's boxers. He ripped them off and tossed them to the side. He'd always figured that going down on a guy would be disgusting somehow—perhaps the smell, or the taste of precum—but at that moment, something about Eren was so singularly beautiful, none of these thoughts crossed his mind.

The tip of Eren's cock was already dewy with arousal. Levi ran his hand down its length and felt Eren twitch. The feeling was so satisfying, Levi leaned over and took Eren's cock into his mouth just to feel him do it again. Eren let out a little yelp, grabbing handfuls of Levi's hair, and Levi began to work Eren up and down. Eren bucked his hips and Levi was struck by what it might feel like to have those hips pressed into his own, Eren's long slender legs wrapped around his back as Levi pressed deep inside him—

"I want you," Eren moaned, as if reading Levi's mind.

Levi unearthed a condom and a bottle of lube from his bedside bureau. He didn't know exactly what to do, but he figured it couldn't be that much different from how things were with a woman. He coated his fingers in lube and felt around until he found Eren's opening. Taking a deep breath, he slowly pushed one inside.

"Ah," Eren said thickly.

"Is it alright?"

Eren nodded. Levi gently worked him until he felt Eren begin to relax. He was just about to push in a second finger when Eren grabbed his arm with a soft slap.

"I'm ready."

Levi, who had been holding back with everything he had, pulled out his hand and fished around for the condom. He doused himself in a fresh coating of lube and crawled on top of his impatient guest, positioning himself with his hand. When everything was in place, he looked down and met Eren's eye.

"Have you ever done this before?"

Eren groped at Levi's hips. "Just do it."

Levi complied, pushing forward slowly. For all his exuberance, it was impossible for Eren to completely mask the pain he was experiencing. He bit his lip and shut his eyes, digging his nails hard into Levi's sides.

"Am I hurting you?"

Eren shook his head furiously from side-to-side. "Keep going," he panted.

Levi pushed until he was all the way in and Eren gave a little whimper. Levi reached up and touched the side of the boy's face.

"I don't want to do this if it's hurting you."

"No," Eren said weakly. "I mean, yes, it hurts, but it also feels good—"

Eren pulled Levi down into a kiss and Levi couldn't help it; soon, his hips were moving on their own accord, thrusting in and out with measured restraint. Eren's moans became more and more erotic in nature, and soon, instead of flinching against Levi's cock, he was arching his back, opening himself wider to let it in.

"Fuck, you're so tight," Levi lamented, gritting his teeth in laboured self-control.

"Harder," Eren groaned, seemingly oblivious to Levi's plight. "You're hitting me in this crazy spot, I'm going to lose my—"

Levi leaned over and sucked Eren's collarbone, wrapping the kid tight in his arms. It felt like it would never be enough. No matter how hard he thrusted, how deeply he penetrated, he would never reach a closeness that would satisfy him. He wanted everything about Eren; his smell, the look in his eyes, the sound of his voice. Levi wanted to reside within Eren's very being. He drove himself in and out, fighting against his flagging breath, the sweat that trickled down his forehead into his eyes. A heat was rising in his abdomen, creeping its way into the base of his spine, driven onwards by Eren's heady cries—

"I'm going to—"

Eren interrupted Levi with the deepest, throatiest moan Levi had ever heard, and that was the end for him. Levi exploded, shuddering long after the seething orgasm had ravaged its way through his every vertebrae. He collapsed on top of Eren, and for the second time in two weeks, fell asleep in the strange boy's presence.

END CHAPTER 2