Work Text:
Levi is leaning against the doorway to the kitchen, cloth and bacteria-killing cleaning spray in hand, eyes staring vacantly into the dining area, which the kitchen connects to.
Eren is wandering around him, half-heartedly contributing to their twice-weekly top-to-bottom cleaning. The younger male continues to shoot Levi concerned and annoyed glances, and finally clears his throat. Levi ignores him, still floating away somewhere in his mind. To a very specific space that he cannot stop thinking about recently.
"You never stop in the middle of a cleaning session," Eren jokes first, still maintaining most of his patience. Levi knows, though, that if he doesn't get a reaction out of the raven-haired male, it's quickly going to thin out.
Levi decides to push that boundary a little further, still not paying attention to a word said.
Eren clears his throat another time, and tries again to engage Levi in conversation. "What's on your mind, Levi?" He says this a bit louder, and intentionally adding Levi's name so he knows that he's being talked to. Not that he wouldn't know he was being talked to anyway. God, they're the only ones who live in the house, despite Eren wanting a cat.
Levi shudders at the thought, which brings a low, pleased hum out of Eren's throat. At least the other is partially satisfied that Levi is still with him. There have been one or two occasions where Levi wasn't able to bring himself back to the present. Plus two or ten occasions where Levi gave Eren the cold shoulder.
"Hey, did you know that your face looks a little more constipated than usual, Grumpy McGrumpy-face?" Levi ever so slowly turns his sharp gaze over to Eren, turning his head during for a more dramatic effect. "Oh, there you are. Where was your mind just now?" How is Eren so cheerful all the time? And how is he not visibly afraid of Levi more often than not?
Levi does not return the bright smile thrown carelessly his way, nor responds to Eren's question, and instead turns sharply on his heel. "We have a job to finish. If you miss a spot, you're doing it all by yourself." By now, the other should know all about the thoroughness rule. They've been cleaning together for a couple years.
Levi begins wiping the counters - although he has a feeling he already did that - and keeps his face, if not his whole body, turned away from his boyfriend.
Thankfully, Eren keeps quiet during the whole thing, causing Levi to relax in the repetitive motion of sweeping the floor, then scrubbing it.
It's almost dinnertime, though, when Eren decides to continue pestering him about it. The brown-haired male was sitting quietly in a chair, pulled out and turned away from the table, scrolling through God knows what on his phone, while Levi was setting the table, grumbling to himself for what feels like the millionth time about how he feels like a housewife.
Then Eren sets his phone down abruptly and begins staring at Levi with wide, teal eyes. Levi, thinking that he's safe to not ignore him for once, turns to face him completely and raises a thin eyebrow slightly.
"Talk to me," Eren blurts after a minute of silence and staring. Levi scoffs and turns back to setting the cups down, which was his last table-setting requirement. Eren must've planned it that way, so Levi has nothing else to do to distract himself with and pretend he never heard the request.
"Tch. I have nothing to talk to you about." Maybe unless if Eren wants to hear about something that wasn't exactly fun for the brown-haired boy. Levi's almost one hundred perfcent sure Eren did not like that situation.
Eren reaches out and latches a hand around Levi's wrist. The other stares at it quietly, blank expression on his face. He knows Eren would let him out of the grasp, but even if he didn't, he has the power to do it himself. "Come here. Sit. Talk to me." To Levi's surprise (and dismay, as well as perhaps his mortification), Eren doesn't pull out another chair like he usually does. Instead, he uses his free hand to pat his lap.
And there is no way Levi is going to sit on his lap and talk about violence. No way he's going to sit on his lap at all. What a fucking brat though; Eren uses that weakness on Levi to his power as much as possible. Makes Levi want to kick him. In the face.
With that thought, Levi outwardly scrunches his face up in a cringe, upper lip peeling back slightly. Eren is now giving him an amused look, so he spins around and sets dinner on the table. "Have fun, brat. I'm going to eat upstairs." He further ignores the puppy-dog eyes that Eren is pleading at him with, and stalks away after putting food on his plate.
He most likely shouldn't have overreacted so much. It was unnecessary, and irrational. Too bad he's so stubborn, or else he might've told Eren as soon as the other asked him about what he's been thinking about lately.
Levi stays in his office - which he decided to eat in - a couple hours after Eren goes to bed, both dreading going into the same room as his significant other, and unable to sleep. Damn it all.
Eren continues pressing for several days after, attempting sternness, pleading, prodding relentlessly, and affection (which very nearly broke Levi), but the raven-haired male still does not tell him.
Until he yet again considers how irrational and idiotic he's being, and he instead is the one who begins attempting to get Eren into the mood to talk about it. The younger had given up and stopped trying the day or two before, instead sulking like a toddler, and refusing to participate in anything Levi wanted him to do. Which means the second top-to-bottom clean was done by Levi and Levi alone. Which was calming, but not helpful for the rest of the day, where he was forced to put off every other project he had planned.
It proves hard to get Eren out of his mood. Levi tries engaging in conversation, staring creepily at him, following him around inconspicuously and plainly both, smacking the back of his head occasionally, and being overly helpful. None of it works. Finally, Levi does his last resort. The one thing he views as pathetic in his life, which is also his own number one weakness.
Hopefully when Eren notices that Levi's actually giving in and trying the thing that turns him soft, he'll realize that this matters to Levi now, and he's not just playing with him.
So Levi tries affection as his last resort.
During a lazy, boring afternoon at home, while Eren's sitting on the couch, Levi's pacing in the other room, wondering whether he should sit next to Eren and lean up against him, sit next to Eren and toss his legs over the other's lap, or just plainly sit in his lap. No matter which he picks, they're all going to be mortifying. There's no way he can get out of it by choosing the least embarrassing.
Levi pulls out his phone and pulls up a random wheel-spin website that he occasionally goes to when faced with tough questions, and spins it, closing his eyes until it dings and lets him know it picked for him.
When he opens his eyes, he sees the one he did not want. He scowls slightly, eyes darkening. Well, here he goes, then. Of course this is the one he gets. It always is. Maybe this website is cursed. He should never go back to it ever again, no matter how easy and delightful it is.
He walks out into the living room and hesitates, drawing in a sharp breath. He rolls his shoulders back to make himself look taller and more commanding, and strides purposefully over to Eren, where he promptly plops down in the younger's lap. The other's eyes open almost as soon as Levi makes contact, and as soon as they're fully focused, they find Levi's and stay there.
Eren pulls out his earbuds and raises both eyebrows theatrically. Levi huffs, suppressing the urge to look away stubbornly. They communicate with their eyes and facial expressions for five to ten minutes, making small sounds such as acknowledging hums and irritated huffs. Finally, the brunette's arms snake around Levi's waist and pulls the smaller male closer to him. Levi cannot help but squirm ever so slightly, hating that he loves this. Quiet, brain. Be quiet. Stop being so susceptible to love. It's not like you were affection-starved too awfully much.
"I can't stop thinking about the time when I beat your face up." Levi blurts, eyes widening slightly, then narrowing down into slits. Eren's face stays the same neutral as it was before Levi spoke, until the corners of his mouth twitches up.
"Seriously? That's what's been on your mind? Something that insignificant?" Levi begs to differ; the time where he beat up his boyfriend's face is not insignificant at all.
Levi had been minding his own business by an old abandoned structure, when in wandered Eren Jaeger, pissed off about something one of his friends said. So Levi invited him to explain what happened, just hoping to humor the boy. But when Eren told him, it was so fucking stupid that he began mocking Eren relentlessly. And then Eren swung at him several times, obviously too worked up to think about his actions.
So Levi got him to stop. And then Eren started yelling at Levi, still not cooled off enough to help himself. Levi then kicked him square in the face, and smirked to himself when he saw the reaction it had from Eren. By that point, Levi was also worked up. And so as soon as Eren challenged him to "try that shit again," Levi took up that offer.
And Levi kicked and stomped and beat Eren up, much to his humor and delight. His personal favorite was when he grabbed Eren by the hair roughly, and kneed him right in the face.
What do you know, here they are now, together for a couple years, living together, and hopefully one day going to make it unofficially official.
"It isn't insignificant to me, asswipe." Eren nods for him to elaborate, taking one arm away from his waist and instead wrapping his hand around Levi's thigh. For what reason, Levi has absolutely no idea. "I enjoyed hurting your poor face. With my foot."
Eren snorts loudly. "Not surprising, sweetheart. You've always threatened to kick people in the face before. I knew you had to get some kind of pleasure out of it. Nothing to be so worked up about, though."
Levi frowns. "I don't want to seem too violent. Not for utterly no reason. I just want to ram my knee against your face." This comments sets Eren off into laughter, starting off as ridiculous giggles, and turning into gasping guffawing. Levi has to slap him lightly across the face to get him to calm down.
"You are violent, though. You're a violent, filthy-mouthed, insulting human. And I love you for that." As much as that's heartwarming, Levi doesn't like the fact that the kneeing part wasn't included. "Now, as for the hurting my face thing, we can do that sometime. I just don't see how my adorable submissive-"
"Oi! I'm not submissive, you stupid brat!"
"-bottom is going to remain bottom-y when making me bleed." Levi looks down at the floor, giving it an irritated face.
"I don't know either. Can we stop talking about this?" Levi huffs. Eren shakes his head. "Fine. How about I don't phrase it as a question; we're no longer talking about this." This makes Eren grin widely for no reason.
"See? Bottom, yet so commanding. How are we supposed to-"
"Jaeger, I don't want to talk about sexual endeavors that may or may not come in the future!" Levi barks, cutting Eren off for the second time in short succession. He ignores that he's still proving Eren's point that they do know how to make him a bottom that still seems on top. He doesn't want to keep thinking of this. It's been bothering him for a week or two, and now that he's got it off his chest, he doesn't want to make it a big ordeal.
Eren chuckles, but lets it go finally. He turns Levi around with ease, moving him so his legs are wrapped around the younger's waist firmly, and they're face to face.
The brunette runs his fingers through Levi's undercut and tangles in the longer strands, tuggling Levi in for a kiss. The older male huffs and pulls away, making a disapproving face. "Kisses are disgusting. Sharing bodily fluids is horrible." He says it placidly, and as soon as the last syllable leaves his lips, he's leaning into Eren for another one.
"I know, sweetheart. Doesn't make it less amazing." Levi nods and hums in quiet agreement, closing his eyes. He feels utterly relaxed now, safe with Eren, even though he should never trust the brat to not make reckless decisions.
Now that he's finally given in to Eren's hold, his affection, the rest of the day can be spent being needy and soft. And right now he just wants to lie on top of Eren's chest while they play with each other's hair or trace each other's skin lightly.
He hates this part of himself. But someone - a very specific, crazy, four-eyed human - once suggested that it might have been because he has had no affection for the longest time in his life, so he goes looking for it to fill that hole. Levi has a different version of that theory where he cut himself off from emotional ties and affection that it caused the same result.
"Can you lie down so I can smother you?" Levi asks with a slight frown. Eren chuckles again, his voice low and calm.
"Why not just ask to be my blanket. But of course, darling." First the brown-haired boy stands up, supporting Levi's legs around his waist, and then he shifts the other in his arms, bridal style, before lying down on the couch with Levi sprawled across him comfortably.
Levi sighs happily, making sure that it's inaudible. He doesn't want Eren to tease him right now so they start play-fighting. Their play-fights always end up rowdy, and he's not up for that right now.
He closes his eyes slowly, but blinks one open after a thought comes to him. He makes sure his meet Eren's yet again, widening his own while having to look up into his boyfriend's face. "I know. Your face belongs to my boot."
Eren snorts, and Levi frowns at the ripple it causes in Eren's chest. He doesn't exactly like being randomly risen, especially only one part of him. "And the other way around. That way you can kick me when you want-" not that Levi didn't already do that, although he does suppress the urge to several times, "-and whenever I want you to kick me, I can." Levi completely doubts that Eren will ever want his face to be kicked.
Maybe they'll both get lucky though.
Levi smiles slightly at this thought, and reaches up to smack the back of Eren's head.