Bite Me.

32.

Eren sat twiddling his thumbs and fidgeting in the seat next to Levi, wanting to check his pulse more and more each second that ticked by. He had closed his eyes ten minutes ago and still hadn't reopened them, although Eren suspected he wasn't actually asleep, but rather pretending he was. He also noticed that his canines were protruding past his top lip a little, and wondered if he couldn't speed up the healing process a little.
'Are you hungry?' He hoped the answer was yes, because this little 'mission' felt like some kind of a last hurrah. They hadn't said a thing, but nothing had changed. He still didn't want to get sucked back into their lives. This was a one time thing.
'Feed, brother,' Archer ordered from the front seat, having taken the role of chauffeur for the duration of his brother's inability to fulfil it himself. Levi opened his eyes a crack, and took Eren's hand, holding it delicately against his mouth. He bit down and sucked weakly, not up to much as he was still regaining his strength. He felt a little rejuvenated after a feed though, and found the strength to thank Eren, who was now melting into the seat with a cute little smile on his face. He was acutely aware that they were nearing the Shigansina Estate and imminently they'd have to drop him home. Eren instructed his brother to pull in at the next turning and showed him which building to park next to.
'Here, take this,' Levi passed him the leather jacket he had left lying around in the car for a while. 'You're covered in blood.' He said by way of explanation when he caught his befuddled expression. He had to admit, he quite liked the idea of him wearing his jacket. It marked him out as his own. Man, he really needed to stop being so possessive... He couldn't let him go without saying something, so he stumbled out the car and held himself up by sitting on the hood.
'So this is goodbye, then,' he looked down, seeing that he was getting blood on his car. Great.
'Yeah, I guess it is,' Eren scuffed his feet awkwardly, still thinking about the way he'd acted earlier. Thinking it was your last few moments with a person did make you do strange things, say mushy things like 'I'll never leave you'. Yeuch.
'Live with me,' Levi blurted out, then mentally smacked himself as soon as he said it. 'I- I only meant for a while.'
'I don't think that's a good idea,' he smiled sadly, thought it killed him to say it. What he really wanted to say was 'yes, of course I will!', but he had the vague suspicion that his friends were waiting upstairs for him to come home. They wouldn't be best impressed to see him covered in blood that wasn't even his own, but he'd worried them enough recently. He had to go and face the music. But at the same time, he didn't want the finality of a goodbye.
'I know I don't mean anything to you, but will you stick around?' He tried to no avail to keep the pleading tone out of his voice. Levi smiled, and it was dazzling and warm and brilliant like the sun in the middle of July.
'What would I do without my favourite bloodwhore?' He teased.
'What say we just be... Friends?'
'Well then, here's to friendship,' they shook hands firmly. 'Whatever that means.'
'Do you, umm, do you want to come in?'
'Oh,' Levi looked taken aback. 'I'd love to, but I'm kind of covered in blood and you know, bullet through the heart and all.'
'Oh, yeah,' Eren blushed. Why had he said that? He was supposed to be steering clear of this guy, but already he had asked him to stay, be his friend and come into his house. Did he really have no resolve at all? Armin was going to be so disappointed, and being rejected stung all the more.
Seeing how dejected Eren became, Levi resolved to cheer him up. Really, he did want to come in but he wasn't going to even make it up the stairs in this state. He was playing down his condition a lot more than was healthy, and he wasn't sure if he could actually make it back into the car without aid. Not only was he physically in bad shape, but his stress levels were ridiculously high as he didn't want to risk lashing out or getting into a weird mood. All he needed was a few hours of rest to allow his body a chance to heal and his mind to soothe itself. He didn't want to be any trouble, or get Eren in any more trouble. They'd only been gone two hours, but they must have been spotted leaving the school together. That would ring some alarm bells between his friends. He didn't care what they thought, but he was sure his friend did.
'How about I come over in a few hours?' He suggested, and seeing Eren's face light up gave him a tight, buzzing sort of feeling in his chest.
'Sure,' he tried to play it cool. 'See you later, then.'
They said goodbye and Levi watched him go, still perched on the bonnet of his car. Archer honked the horn angrily.
'Get back in or run after him,' he snapped, more impatient than usual.
'I... Might need some help,' Levi confessed. Archer growled and muttered something in French that shouldn't be said in any language, and lifted his invalid brother up, lying him across the back seat and ordering him to not under-exaggerate his injury again, or he'd be suffering worse than a hole in his heart.
'All things said,' he conceded eventually. 'Thanks for today. You saved my as out there, and to your own expense rather than your personal gain. And you asked Eren to live with you. Lev, I don't say this often, but I'm proud of you. You're starting to let people in again. Even Eren, who abandoned you.'
'Shut up,' he scowled, hiding his pink face behind his hands and curling his knees up to his chest. There wasn't just a physical hole in his heart he was trying to ignore... The pain of Eren leaving was still lingering fresh in his mind, and he couldn't bear a repeat of that. But the reason he had left in the first place was because of his awful behaviour- threatening him and his sister. This boy did something to him, and he wasn't sure if he liked it or not. He knew he'd do almost anything to keep him safe. Why did he feel like this? It wasn't like they were together or anything. They were just friends. But even friends was something special to him- he never had friends, just people who were convenient to him. Friendship would be an entirely new concept to him if it weren't for Archer, and even their relationship was an odd one. Friendship actually felt like something of an understatement because Levi had drawn Eren to him like a moth to a flame from the start, knowing full well he'd only hurt him in the end but wanting the fire that he felt in his veins to glow a little longer. Stupid boy, dancing too close to the edge of the fire. Didn't he know that any minute now he might trip and fall in?
Both of them were teetering on the edge of falling dangerously in love, and neither of them even suspected a thing.