Bite Me.

21.

Eren awoke to find that he wasn't in his usual bed, but one with black sheets and dark purple canopies dripping with jewels and embroidery. He would have bolted upwards were it not for the fact that he was struck by agonising pain everywhere when he tried to move. It took quite extensive research within his memories to piece together what had occurred the previous night. When he had worked it out, he immediately wondered why he was alive. The whole house was filled with the smell of bacon, and he could vaguely hear muffled voices downstairs. If he could just manage to sit up and figure out what was going on... But it was not to be. His head was fuzzy enough as it is. He probably couldn't handle whatever was happening downstairs.
His question was half answered when May came dashing into his room carrying a plate of fry up. She thrust it towards him eagerly, babbling about something or other.
'Slow down,' he mumbled, taking it from her.
'Lllleeeeeeevvvvvviiiiiiiii,' she grinned, extending the word to a ridiculous length and giggling when he rolled his eyes and smacked her hand. 'And Archie-'
'Archie?' He raised an eyebrow.
'Yep! They cooked me breakfast and I asked if I could help make some for you so I got to use the frying pan and the knife to cut the tomato and turn the fire on all by myself!'
Eren felt the blood drain from his face. Well, they certainly didn't get any marks for parenting skills. He was surprised, what with her erratic and ditzy nature inherited from her mother, that she hadn't managed to set the entire house on fire. He ate the food quickly and got her to pull him from the bed. He winced and hobbled down the stairs, clutching his ribs and just praying that one of them wasn't broken. What he found in the kitchen filled him with an odd sense of joy. Levi and Archer were discussing something animatedly, clearly fascinated by the conversation subject, although he understood nothing of what they were saying as it was all in French. They didn't even notice him as he shuffled in, just caught up in their own little world. Or at least, that was what he believed until they both turned to him in complete synchronisation. Creepy. Levi's face fell somewhat when he saw the state of him, remembering that he had caused this.
'Uh, thanks for the food,' Eren mumbled, starting to wash the plate. But as he lifted his arm, a shooting pain in his side screamed at him to stop moving. He dropped the plate in the sink and cried out in pain, gripping the side of the counter and clenching his teeth.
'Woah,' Archer rushed forwards and took the plate. 'Levi, faire quelque chose...'
Levi hovered near to them, but remained impassive.
'Give him your venom, Ash,' he crossed his arms, scuffing his feet.
Why did he look so uncomfortable? Eren just couldn't fathom it. Sure, he had tried to kill him the night before, but what was new in that? He had never acted embarrassed or guilt-ridden like this before. In fact, it weirded him out. He preferred it when Levi was his overly confident angry self because at least then he wasn't awkward. Archer gave his brother a long look, not moving to do anything.
'Je peux goûter?' He raised an eyebrow, knowing his brother was never one for lending playthings. Especially not one he cared about this much. He obviously hadn't given this enough thought.
'Fine, I'll do it,' and now he had thought about it. Levi decided that actually, despite being uncomfortable with being around Eren right now, he'd rather that than watch his brother give him any pleasure.
'You never would let me share your toys,' he smiled, stepping back and raising his hands in mock surrender. 'I will leave you to it.' He was gone mere seconds after he finished his sentence, and Eren was left alone with the one person who he was probably most scared of being on his own with right now. Not because he was afraid he might hurt him any further, but because he disliked the sudden change in dynamic between them.
'My venom will heal you,' Levi took a step closer, tilting his head. 'If you want me to.'
Was this him asking permission to feed? He'd never done this before. He never thought he would either, not in a million years. But this boy had changed him. He pressed Eren back into the counter and waited until he nodded to bite down on his neck, then he he knelt down and sank his teeth into his side to mend what he suspected was a broken rib. It was only once he was on his knees in front of Eren and pulling his shirt up that he realised what a provocative position he was in. He stared up and met the brunet's eyes, his own eyes probably echoing his fantasies very clearly. He stood up hastily, brushing himself off and looking very uneasy. Eren was basking in the glory of the venom, and there was a lot of it. He tried very hard to remain upright, but found it nigh impossible and so he jumped up and sat on the counter.
'Thank you,' his voice was high and melodic, and didn't sound quite right to his ears.
'Whatever,' Levi muttered, avoiding eye contact. 'It doesn't make a difference.'
'What?' That was a pretty weird thing to say. Everything was weird today.
'I still hurt you. I might have even killed you. That was really stupid, what you did.'
'I stayed because I didn't have a choice.'
'Yes you did! You always have a choice. I told you to go. If you had, we wouldn't be doing this.'
'Doing what?'
'You trying to convince me that what I did wasn't wrong. That's a pretty ugly mindset to have.'
'What you did was wrong. But... I knew it was going to happen. I could have run and avoided it, but I didn't. I chose to stay and risk my life so I knew you'd be in a better place. Does that not count for something?'
'I'm not in a better place, though. I feel- God, I feel guilty and sad.'
Eren snorted in disbelief. 'You say that like it's a bad thing.'
'It is. Why would you willingly put me in pain?'
'Because your brother asked me to. He says its for your own good, and he cares about you, so I assume he's right.'
'My brother also killed a maid unprovoked yesterday, so perhaps we shouldn't be basing our decision off of his behaviour.'
This brought no reply. He was right- Archer had killed in cold blood, there was no way around that. Perhaps his brother had killed multiple times in the past, but there was always some way in which they had failed him- however small. It didn't excuse his murderous ways, but there was something that didn't sit right about just outright killing her. She was only 16. Well, she was far older than that, but she only appeared to be 16. So why had he pretty much excused Archer's treatment of others when Levi essentially treated them better? No, he didn't treat them better. Archer had the common decency to be compassionate, aside from killing one person for no reason. Was that what made the difference? If you had done awful things to achieve happiness for somebody who didn't deserve it, was that wrong? If it meant that the person you wanted to be happy would stop wreaking havoc on the lives of others? Oh, it was no use. He still knew he would forgive Levi eventually. He already partially had. The effects of the venom were wearing off already, meaning that his previous concerns about his emotions surrounding the brothers were creeping back to niggle at the corners of his consciousness. Why did he feel like this? It was ridiculous. It was probably because when he kissed Levi, he was already high, and this just heightened everything. Was he just addicted to the venom- was that why he kept crawling back? He wasn't drawn to the drug, no, but the dealer was the flame if he was a moth. This entire situation was completely crazy. Why hadn't he just run while he'd had the chance? Maybe he wasn't hooked on his venom, but on the feeling of being pushed away and hurt in ways he'd never thought he could be hurt, then being allowed some small consolation in being allowed to live. There was something of a thrill about it all.

Levi watched Eren closely, trying to decipher just what he was thinking about so intently. He was frowning and biting his lip- it was quite adorable, really. He raked a hand through his hair, trying to shake these inappropriate thoughts from his mind. He still felt all this stupid guilt over what he had done the night before, and he hated it. He felt stupid for feeling guilty. He had never cared about things like that before, so why now? Could it be that Archer had broken through his shell? He very much hoped not. His shell had protected him from silly emotions such as guilt for a long time now, and it had been consistently effective up until this point. Yeah, there was a breach in the walls of his composure. He could either have a rampage and try to mend it with more anger or he could allow the rest of it to dissolve. For once, he honestly had no idea what to do. Just letting people in didn't necessarily mean he had to stop being so brutal- that was a vital part of remaining in power. No, he wouldn't ever give that part of himself up. He was oddly proud of his ability to ruthlessly tear down people as he needed. What it meant, however, was probably a whole world of pain. He'd always found physical pain excited him, but emotional pain was a real mood killer. There was always an element of sadness that hung around him, of course- or else how could he be angry about anything? Anger requires hurt feelings. Could he really allow the pain of all those betrayals and deaths to flood his mind once more? Perhaps he could, if he had someone to comfort him when he needed it. For centuries, Archer had provided that support, but would he still do it now? He wasn't entirely sure he still trusted his brother- he had betrayed him completely, after all. Archer had always had terrible separation anxiety so no doubt being abandoned had driven him a little crazy. Crazy enough to warrant purposefully emotionally ruining Levi and leaving him to pick up the pieces by himself? Probably. But he wasn't the kind of person who betrayed his own kin. Then again, they'd never truly been related. They may as well have been, but the only blood they shared was when they fed from the same vein. Weighing up the pros and cons was taking too long. He had to actively seek an answer.