Sweet Serial Killer [ Riren ]

TWENTY NINE

TWENTY NINE
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"Stay still, Eren."

Blushing, Eren remained as rigid as possible as Levi wiped the wet paper towel over his face. Its surface was rough and he pouted as it turned his cheeks an even brighter shade of red. Yet Levi insisted on scrubbing at him until he deemed him clean. So Eren let him, not entirely minding and not wanting to argue, either.

Getting more paper towels from the dispenser, Levi squirted a dab of soap onto them before lightly drizzling water on top, rubbing it together before resuming cleaning Eren again, making sure to avoid contact with his eyes.

"Are you almost done?" Eren asked him, and Levi sighed. "Yes," he said, tossing the paper towels into the nearby trash can. He then washed his own hands, looking at Eren through the huge mirror placed in front of him.

"So, about our last conversation before that mutt interrupted," Levi began, and Eren's heart started to race. He fiddled nervously with his fingers. "Yeah?" He questioned quietly, his chest tightening in anticipation.

"I was just wondering . . . Do you really want me to flirt with you?" Levi inquired, and Eren felt himself trembling. But why? He wasn't scared. Or was he? He didn't know, all of this was relatively new to him. And he was experiencing it with a boy. But was that really entirely bad? His palms grew slick with sweat as he swallowed, his mouth becoming dry as he fought to say something, anything.

"I-I don't know . . ."

"You don't know?" Levi repeated slowly, drying his hands off. Every part of him was screaming to teach Eren how it felt to kiss someone. He wanted to pin the boy against the sinks and kiss him until his lips became bruised.

Maybe then he would know.

"Y-yeah. It's just, I've never really . . . Flirted . . . You know?" Eren mumbled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. Levi dug his nails into his hands to stop himself from reaching over and biting Eren's exposed neck. He wanted to litter it with marks, tell other people to back off, he's mine and mine only.

Soon, he promised himself.

"Ah. I get it," Levi assured him, smirking slightly. "I'll just take things slow. I was more joking than anything, though." Eren nodded, seeming more relaxed. But Levi wasn't. He was lying to Eren. He didn't want to take things slow and he certainly wasn't joking when he flirted with Eren. He itched to tell the truth.

Soon, he promised himself.

"Wanna go look at some cats?" Eren asked, breaking the momentary silence. Levi looked at him, and to ease up Eren's nerves over the flirting, nodded. "Sure," he said, and Eren smiled. "Great!" He exclaimed, grabbing Levi's wrist and pulling him out of the bathroom. It made Levi content to know Eren still felt completely comfortable with touching him. Perhaps Eren was simply confused. He was still new to flirting. But if he was, why didn't he stop touching Levi? Either it was a harmless friendly gesture, something Eren automatically did, or an effort to tease Levi.

Or all three, he thought sourly.

When they arrived in front of the 'up for adoption' cats, Eren released him, crouching down to look at the cats peering up at him from their cages. Levi examined Eren more than the cats, marveling at his cute and innocent expression.

"Oh my God!" Eren suddenly gasped, making Levi jerk to attention. "What? What happened?" He asked urgently, ready to rip someone to shreds. Instead, Eren beamed at him, gushing, "This one kinda looks like you!"

Pointing towards a cat named Raven, Eren smiled as Levi bent down to observe the creature that apparently resembled him. How a cat could look like him, he was confused over. But he did flirt with Eren through a fish, so there was that.

Raven was a small cat, and from the tag describing him, a male. He was tiny, abnormally so; apparently from malnutrition as a kitten. He was raised in the home of a major hoarder, but was rescued. For some reason, these facts filled Levi with rare inklings of empathy. He looked solemnly at the cat, who stared back at him.

Dark eyes met dark eyes in a staring contest. Raven's black fur was neatly groomed, either by the cat himself or from some Petco workers. The area around him was relatively clean, probably from a recent cleaning session. Raven then blinked, expression flat, at Levi, seemingly bored with the whole situation.

"I guess he does," Levi announced at last, and Eren grinned. "Do you think they'll let us take him out of his cage and hold him?" He wondered, and Levi shrugged. "I don't know," he responded. Or care, he added silently. He didn't want cat fur on his clothes or Eren's, and he didn't want either of them to get bitten or scratched.

"Let's go ask!" Eren insisted, and Levi heaved a tired sigh, complying.

That was how he ended up sitting with Eren, a purring cat in his lap as it kneaded him with its paws. Eren was constantly cooing over the scene, and even had the nerve to snap a few pictures of it with his phone. He has guts, Levi thought.

Meowing, Raven peeked up at Levi, who looked down at him. "What?" He asked, and Raven meowed again, pawing at him. Eren leaned over, practically onto Levi's lap, to scratch underneath the cat's chin, earning another meow.

How Levi wanted to shove the cat off of him and pull Eren into his lap instead. The urge was so strong, he had to psychically fight against it.

When Raven was at least returned to his cage, Eren took a while saying goodbye to him. It took at least another ten minutes to pry Eren away from the cat. As they walked away, Levi made them both apply hand sanitizer.

Dusting excess fur off his pants and shirt, Levi was grateful that the cat's fur was black; and that he didn't shed much. That would have been a problem.

"Where to next?" Eren asked him, and Levi glanced at him.

A smirk played onto his lips as he said deviously, "You'll see . . ."

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(A/N: YO LEVI'S FOUND HIS LONG LOST BROTHER WHO WAS REINCARNATED AS A CAT OMG :0 jk jk oR aM I?)