Bite Me.

42.

There was a strange stillness when Eren woke up, one that made him distinctly uncomfortable. The first thing he noticed, after rubbing the sleep from his eyes, was that it was still dark so it had to be the very early hours of the morning, and the second was that he was decisively alone in the luxuriant bed. He sat up and used the torch on his phone to make sure Levi wasn't in there, but could see nobody. Confused and mildly concerned, he pulled on his boxers and shirt and decided to go look for him. The house was dimly lit with the glow emanating from the moon through the odd window, casting eerie shadows across the halls and coating everything with a faint shimmer. He made a quick scour of the top floor, but found nobody, and was about to give up halfway through the ground floor when he heard a single note resonating through the corridor he was walking down. He followed the sound, not sure what was making it, but observing that it was beautiful nonetheless. Of course- the music room. It took him a while to find, since he'd only been there once, but at last he located it and pushed the door open quietly. Levi was standing, shrouded by moonlight, violin in hand and producing a sharp, melancholy melody that was intricately intertwined with his soul. His face was tilted away and his eyes closed so that he did not notice Eren when he walked it, which felt distinctly odd as due to the acuity of his superhuman senses Levi was never taken by surprise. He appeared to be so lost in the music that all senses had been absorbed into the beauty of each quivering note. Eren sat on the edge of the stage and watched, enraptured, for what could have been hours but was realistically probably circa 30 minutes. The piece was inarguably composed by its player, owing to its personality being the mirror image of his. It was largely in a minor key, with occasional modulation to the relative major, but these moments were so quiet they seemed still laced with sorrow, and every now and then it would build in a sudden crescendo like a storm gathering, accentuated with sharp spikes in the melody that personified anger itself. The last note seemed to go on for hours, resonating through his mind. The piece had left him so enchanted that nothing seemed quite real in the room. He would have stayed silent just musing upon the piece had it not been for Levi's voice startling him from his reverie.
'Did I wake you?'
'No,' he replied quietly, afraid to break the stillness of the atmosphere and feeling as if he had encroached upon something very personal. 'I just saw that you were gone and I...'
'You should sleep.'
'I- yeah. Okay,' he didn't move, feeling like he ought to stay because something had just passed between them, and yet he wasn't sure what nor whether it had been positive or detrimental. 'That was amazing, you know. You're talented.'
'I haven't played in years,' Levi smiled fondly, placing it back on its rest with the utmost delicacy and loosening the bow. 'I forgot how much I enjoy it, although I must say I prefer antique violins.'
Struggling to find something other to say, Eren floundered for a while, fully aware that the longer he stood rendered speechless the more of an imbecile he looked.
'What's it called?' He finally queried.
'What?'
'The piece. Does it have a name?'
'As of yet, no, considering it wasn't a piece. I was just playing what came to me in the moment.'
'You mean you've never played that before?'
'That's what in the moment means,' Levi sighed in exasperation. He was tired, and pouring his heart out in lyrical form has really taken it out of him. The emotions of the melody were still very much running high in his mind and he felt like either crying or lying down and staring at the ceiling for the next week. 'Did you have something you wanted to say?'
'Oh. No, I...' Eren swallowed and wished he was brave enough to say the things he wanted to. 'Never mind.'

Eren woke up for the second time that day with aching muscles and a killer head, but at least this time the bed wasn't empty. In the night, he had somehow found his way into Levi's arms with their legs tangled together. He didn't want to wake him, but it was an awkward position when he for some reason felt that Levi was angry at him, without really knowing why. Nevertheless, he remained as still and silent as he could despite the heat being nigh unbearable. The warmth of skin on skin accounted for most of it, and he was pretty sure that had it been anybody else he wouldn't have been feeling this heat. He couldn't take his eyes off Levi's face, though. He'd not once seen him asleep, and it made his heart flutter like a teenage girl watching Twilight. Levi's face was no longer hard and cold, instead softened by dreams it was now cherubic and soft, his eyelashes so long they brushed his sleep-flushed cheeks. Without being aware of what he was doing, he laid his hand gently against Levi's cheek, caressing the smooth skin.
'What the fuck are you doing, Jaeger?' He growled, his eyes not opening and his voice endearingly groggy.
'You looked cute,' Eren didn't remove his hand- he just couldn't bear to.
'Don't call me that.'
'What, cute?' He smirked, a teasing hint to his voice.
'I will kill you if you call me that again.'
'Oh, I don't doubt it. What would you rather I say?'
'Nothing. Don't talk. Ever again.'
'I still think you're-'
Levi shut him up with a kiss, rolling on top of him and glaring at him. He tongued him with the utmost expertise, just enough to quell his squeaks of protestation at being silenced.
'Mmm,' Eren moaned and propped himself up on his elbows. 'As much as I enjoy all this, if I miss another day of school I think Armin might actually fight you back.'
'Are you still mad about that?' He pouted.
'I forgot it even happened, but not really.'
'Okay, good- because he was out of line and I couldn't stand there and watch him treat you like that.'
'He probably hates me now...'
'So what? You have me! Aren't I way more fun than any of your friends? I bet none of them run supernatural empires.'
'You make a good point. Then again, none of them have tried to kill me.'
'I never actually tried to kill you. Just did things that may or may not have killed you. Without the intent to kill. And anyway... None of them make you feel half as good as I do,' Levi winked and kissed him again, taking his breath away. 'But like you said, we have to get up.'