Covered Eyes (No Name Levi X Eren)

Chapter 13 - Nicknames

After I stopped dying, not to sound dramatic or anything, we finished our food listening to the radio. The station even played our cover of Donut Hole. Eren was too busy mumbling along to the words to notice the amused glances the rest of us shared. We silently agreed to not tell him that was us, a surprise for later.

We walk back to the hotel so that the others can go swimming in the hotel's pool. I normally would join them, but Eren can't soak in the highly chlorinated water with a bullet wound, so we agree to walk around the town's botanical gardens after stopping by the room. (Reason being I forgot my phone and our manager hates that I don't like to carry one, let alone answer it.) The gardens weren't too far from the hotel according to the pamphlet I took from the counter.

We get to the room, I quickly get my phone and hand it to Eren as I close our room again. The stupid thing begins to ring not a moment later. The default ringtone echoes through the hall as I sigh.

"Levi,” Eren quietly says.

"Well, who is it?" I ask, not wanting to actually talk to anyone over the phone, especially now.

"It just says 'Eyebrows'," Eren reads, confused. He hands me the phone and I sigh as I answer.

"What's wrong Erwin?" I growl.

“L,” the older male's commanding voice vibrates through the phone. “I thought we talked about answering the phone correctly.”

Erwin Smith is our manager, one of the only people who knows who we are and Mike’s on and off boyfriend. He usually keeps our lives separate like us, calling us by our stage names when it's business related.

“We also talked about my dislike of answering it at all. What's this about?”

“The schedule as usual,” he simply says.

“We're on it, as usual,” I can hear how annoyed I am with him, I hope he can.

“Are you sure?” He laughs. “Even with the added kid?”

“Yes, and he has a name.”

“H told me, can I speak to E?”

“No.”

“I just want to ask about-”

“No. Don't make me repeat myself a third time.”

“Okay, then that's all for this call L, I'll meet you at your next stop to talk.” I don't bother replying and hang up.

“So,” Eren quietly starts, already making it sound like a question, “Who is ‘Eyebrows’?”

“Our manager,” I simply answer.

“Is everything okay?” His voice fills with concern.

“Hanji just told him about you and he wanted to talk to you.”

“So why didn't-”

“Erwin has a tendency to work from an angle, it was a business call, not a social one. Plus Hanji’s the one that told him about you so it's safe to assume that they had discussed some shitty thoughts.” I begin walking to the patio door, Eren quickly follows me.

“So, in a way you were protecting me, again?” He smiles as I look at him.

I turn away as I feel my cheeks warm up, “Sure Brat, you can look at it that way.” Which reminds me, I should probably ask him about being called ‘Brat’.

We get outside and begin making our way to the garden, following the tiny map on the pamphlet.

“Eren,” I start. “I can stop calling you Brat, if it bothers you.”

“Levi, where did that come from?” Eren sweetly asks.

“Your conversation with Mike.”

“Oh,” he nervously laughs, “I'm not bothered by it in the slightest Levi.”

“Then, why-”

“I,” he hesitates, his cheeks turning red. “I asked because I was wondering if it meant something, or if you just called everyone that.”

“I normally do it to people I haven't figured out some nickname for.” I shrug.

“Like how you call Hanji ‘Shitty Glasses’ and your manager ‘Eyebrows’?”

“Exactly. I try to use blaring and dominant features people have, for instance Hanji’s shitty sight and resentment of contacts. What do you imagine when I say ‘Eyebrows’?”

“I guess someone with thick or weird eyebrows,” he lightly laughs.

I placed two fingers on each of my, rather thin, eyebrows to show Eren how Erwin’s are. Eren laughs and turns away, allowing me to crack a smile as I remove my fingers.

“So, I guess I don't have a nickname-worthy feature?” he jokingly asks.

“I just haven't found some dominant feature on you that I like as a nickname. Animal Eyes is the closest I've come, but it lacks proper description.”

“‘Animal eyes’?” Eren chuckles, his cheeks turning redder. “How did that come up?”

“Well, the first time you opened your eyes, you were looking right in mine, and my first thought was ‘I'm staring into the brilliantly green eyes of an animal’. Although I think that doesn't do them justice either.” Eren covered his mouth and cheeks with his hand.

“Okay, I get why you write lyrics now,” he mumbles through his hand.

“I haven't even said anything lyrical though,” I remark, raising an eyebrow, “In fact, I find myself failing to properly convey my thoughts around you, which can be a problem sometimes.”

“Sorry,” He apologizes, removing his hand and smiling.

“Cheeky Bastard.” I growl at him, making him chuckle.

“That's not a very descriptive one, Levi,” he teases, causing a glare to form in his direction.

“Shut up Brat.”

“Okay, okay, sorry.” he smiles. Again, another question pops into my head about ‘Brat’.

“So why doesn't it bother you?”

“What? Being called ‘Brat’?” He clarifies, receiving a nod from me. “If it were anyone else, I'd have a problem with it, I don't exactly enjoy being emasculated or patronized like that. But since it's you, your voice, I don't find it so toxic. Just like I knew you'd protect me from Sawney and Bean, it was just something familiar and comforting to me. I guess that's really weird to say.”

“I get it.” I reassure him.