His Promise [Riren/Ereri Fanfic]

Chapter 9: Only the Strong Survive

Eren stretched and burrowed under the warmth of the blanket while the storm raged outside. He breathed deeply, filling his lungs with Levi's scent, counting the minutes until Levi walked through the door. Ever since Halloween, for three weeks, this had been their routine. Every Wednesday after study hours and Sunday evening, Eren would slip away to 59 Marley, take a shower, crawl into bed and wait for Levi to come home. For three weeks they had fallen madly into eachother's arms, fucking senselessly as if each clandestine encounter would be their last. In public, Levi treated Eren with the same tolerant indifference he treated the other 15 pledges. Only here, in the privacy of Levi's bedroom could they live their truth.

Eren stared at the ceiling, beginning to grow impatient. Even in their little cocoon of intimacy, they never spoke of anything important. The sex was incredible, but Eren craved more of Levi. He wanted to know him, to understand him. What did he think of when his eyes took on that haunted look? Where was he when he seemed a thousand miles away? Eren would wake sometimes in the small hours of the morning to find Levi awake at his desk staring out the window at the sky. Why couldn't he sleep for more than a few hours? The only time Eren had stirred and asked him for an explanation, he had returned to bed and taken Eren with frightening intensity- pounding him until they both collapsed exhausted as the first rays of daylight painted the morning.

Eren's phone pinged a notification and he reached for it, sliding the lockscreen. A text from mom.

°♡MoM♡°
"Hey sweety! I was looking through some old photos and I found this one from when we adopted your sister. Aren't you two the cutest?? 😍 Soooo, have you met 'the guy you're going to meet' yet? J/k. Not really. Hope you are having fun! Love you♡♡"

Eren rolled his eyes and clicked the attachment. He and Mikasa, 6 years old, standing in the kitchen of their old apartment, faces covered in brownie batter, smiling from ear to ear. Eren smiled at the memory. Mikasa had been such a quiet, thin little thing when his family adopted her. Traumatized after the accident that killed her parents, she rarely spoke and never smiled. Eren had latched on and forced her out of her shell, so excited to have a sister. Eren was about to close the picture when something on the refrigerator over the shoulder of his 6 year old self arrested his attention. Disbeleivingly, he zoomed in, his mouth dropping open in shock. Two stick figures, one with brown hair labeled "me" and one with black hair labeled "captin" stood in front of a crudely drawn green shield with two wings on the front, one gray, one white. Even though it was a rough crayon drawing, their could be no mistaking that it was a copy of the tattoo on the back of Levi's neck.

Eren clicked his phone shut and scrambled as he heard the door unlock, his heart in his throat. He was determined to have a meaningful conversation with Levi tonight.

°•☆•°

Levi entered the room and hung his soaking wet jacket on the bathroom door, before shaking some water droplets from his inky black hair. The storm was brutal tonight and showed no signs of abating. He had been day-dreaming of this moment all day, all through the boring ARO meeting and council with his Pledge Assistants. Through the run through the flashing lightning and pounding rain. The moment he would walk into his room and shut the world out. The moment that would stretch for hours where Eren was the only other person in the world and he could lose himself in soft brown hair, wide azure eyes and a slick trembling body.

Levi washed his hands in the adjoining bathroom and pulled off his Slipknot t-shirt, noticing for the first time that something was slightly off in the atmosphere of the room. Eren wouldn't meet his eyes. He slipped out of his shoes and stripped off his wet jeans before perching on the edge of the bed and gently cupping Eren by the chin, turning the younger man to face him.

"Honey, I'm home."

Levi leaned in to taste his lover's lips and was greeted instead with Eren's smooth jaw. Not deterred, Levi nibbled on Eren's cheek and worked his way down to his collarbone, lightly licking and sucking. He ran his hand down Eren's body on top of the blanket feeling him squirm beneath his touch. He loved that Eren would come to his bed naked, freshly showered. Everything felt...right...when he was with Eren. Levi had the overwhelming urge to consume Eren, to crush him in his arms and never let go. Tonight he would settle for licking his entire body...but right now he wanted his lips. Unhurriedly, Levi worked his way back up Eren's neck, pausing to lave the sensitive spot at the base of Eren's throat, eliciting a whimpering moan from his lover.