Be My Salvation (Ereri/Riren)

XXI

Eren awoke in a cloud of bliss. He was warm, almost too warm, his skin damp with sweat and his clothes sticking to him a bit, but he was happy. He was still curled up beside Levi, head tucked beside his shoulder, hand still resting on top of his stomach. The blankets were gone; the two of them must have kicked them off in their sleep sometime during the night.

Before he even opened his eyes, a smile was tugging its way at Eren's lips. He had no desire to move and only stretched his legs out to snuggle a bit closer. Peeping an eye open revealed the sun shining atop their blanket fort, letting a soft yellow light filter through. Zoe was nowhere to be seen; he could only assume she'd left a while ago to wander around or curl up somewhere else as she usually did. The rest of the room was virtually silent.

With a contented sigh, Eren opened his other eye and tilted his head up, searching for Levi's face. The other remained asleep, his hair feathered across his forehead with a peaceful expression relaxed over the rest of his face.

Eren didn't have the heart to wake him, so instead settled in to gaze at him for a while; watching the way his chest rose and fell with the slow breaths through his nose. Watching the way his eyes beneath their lids would occasionally flick, or the corner of his mouth would twitch. The overwhelming urge to gently brush away Levi's hair and trace his delicate features with just the tip of his finger came over him and to stop himself from doing so, he balled his fists up between his thighs.

As he laid there in his own bliss and the comfort of Levi's presence, Eren realized how much he wanted every day to be like this - to be able to wake up next to someone so important to him every morning and to feel this immeasurably happy. He wanted it every day for the rest of his life, no matter what. He wanted it so much...

His thoughts were cut off by the soft sound of a sleepy groan and the sight of Levi's gray irises just barely coming into view. An involuntary smile spread across his face.

"Hey, brat," Levi mumbled sleepily, the words almost unintelligible.

"Morning," Eren murmured softly. "Sleep well?"

"Mm...yeah," grunted the older. "You?"

"Yeah. Me, too."

A sigh blew past Levi's lips as he sat himself up, stretching his arms up over his head. Eren couldn't help but sneak a glimpse at the tiny sliver of skin exposed as the end of his shirt rode up but quickly averted his eyes.

"What time is it?" Levi asked when he finished stretching, running a hand through his hair.

"Oh, uh...I have no idea," Eren said with a small laugh, sitting up as well.

"Hm. Kay...well I have to use the bathroom so I'll go check." Levi didn't spare him a backwards glance as he crawled out of the fort.

Still floating in bliss, Eren worked on gathering all the blankets they'd used to sleep with and taking them out of the fort before starting on taking the fort itself down. He was just barely beginning to fold up the blankets when Levi returned looking a little more awake but still with an arm up his shirt scratching his stomach.

"Only a little after nine, but Mikasa and Marco are already up...'n I think Petra was too, but she was still in the bathroom."

Eren nodded. Levi moved in to help him fold the blankets. When they finished and stacked them up to carry back to the closet, they dragged the chairs back to the dining room and shuffled in to join Mikasa and Marco in the living room where Mikasa was, typically, sketching and Marco had his eyes fixed on the morning cartoons.

Eren did his best to keep his smile reserved as he sunk down onto the floor beside Levi, keeping close enough for their thighs to touch without raising any suspicion.