Mistaken Message (Levi x Eren)-

I Love You

It must have been almost a month since that night where they stayed up playing monopoly, and Eren was starting to see more and more of the Levi he knew. He had started talking less, but he seemed almost happier that way. If you could call any of his emotions happiness that is. Eren had done his best to do anything Levi asked and he hoped that maybe he could learn a bit more about Levi, figure out how to help him. It was almost dinner time and Eren was sitting at the table, watching Levi cook. Levi seemed to like cooking, he did almost every meal. But he never cooked without a glass if scotch in his hand, and that made Eren wonder. He had noticed that Levi tended to drink a lot, but he hadn't put much thought into it until he started truly wanting to help Levi, rather than just escape.

He stood, walking over to see what Levi was doing, he couldn't explain why but he really enjoyed watching the older man cook. Today it looked like he was making something simple, a pot of pasta boiled and Levi was stirring a skillet full of sauce on the stove.

"Do you want something?" Levi asked the same thing he always asked when Eren came to watch him cook. He took a sip from his glass, knowing exactly what the boy would say.

"No, just watching." Eren said, the same thing he always said when Levi asked. He glanced at the glass in Levi's hand, wondering if this was the culprit for Levi kidnapping him. He thought back, Levi did drink a lot, but not all the time. Eren shook those thoughts from his head, it would be better for Levi to cut down on his drinking but Eren doubted that was the main problem.

"Oi. You want something to drink? You've been staring at my glass for a bit." Levi said a few minutes later when Eren's gaze still hadn't shifted. Eren jumped as if he had been shocked, that was weird, the boy usually didn't zone out like that. Levi stepped away from the stove and grabbed a glass out of the cupboard. He swung open the fridge and put a few ice cubes in the glass before pulling the bottle of scotch off the top of the fridge and pouring some into the glass. He held it up at eye level to make sure it wasn't too much before turning to Eren. Eren watched, a little dumbfounded until the glass was shoved into his hand.

"Uh. You didn't have to, I'm fine." Eren tried to say, attempting to hand the glass back to Levi.

"Drink." Levi ordered, downing the rest of his drink before stepping back to watch what the boy would do.

Eren gulped, he had never been much of a drinker, in fact he had never had anything stronger than a beer before but he might as well give it a shot. Maybe he could figure out why Levi liked this stuff so much. With that in mind Eren raised the glass to his lips and took a large gulp, regretting it instantly as he coughed, setting the glass down as he gripped the counter, his eyes squeezing shut from the harsh sting.

"What the hell?" Eren asked in between coughs. The liquid burned and Eren was sure he didn't like it, not one bit. He didn't even get a chance to taste anything he was too focused on the strong burn that he could still feel running down his throat. Why did Levi like this stuff? Beer was not necessarily the tastiest but it was not nearly as painful and vile as this stuff. His eyes slowly opened in shock when he heard a chuckle. Was that Levi? Was he.... Laughing? Eren had never heard the man laugh before, it was a little rough, but Eren loved it.

"Too strong for you?" Levi teased, picking up Eren's still half full glass. He hadn't seen a reaction like that in a long time and it was definitely a sight to see. Levi couldn't resist chuckling at the boy, it was cute how his face had scrunched up, Levi wanted to see more of a cute Eren like that. That was what he has decided. He would work to see more of Eren's cute side.

"Why do you drink that? Its nasty." Eren said, the burn in his throat having had subsided a bit by now.

"Its an acquired taste." Levi said, sipping at Eren's glass "and you aren't supposed to gulp it down like that. You need to sip it." He explained, offering the glass to Eren again.