Between The Lines | eren x levi (editing)

Chapter 11

"This is not as easy as people make it seem to be," Eren said as he dipped his whole arm inside the pumpkin to remove the innards.

"I never said it would," Levi said and winced as some pumpkin guts flew onto his cravat. It wasn't much of a mess, so Eren didn't think Levi would mind. His mind changed when he watched Levi's left eye twitch ever so slightly.

"Levi, are you good?"

"I just don't like getting dirty," he said with disgust. Eren chuckled at how serious he seemed to be.

"What are you laughing about, Jaeger?"

"It's nothing," Eren said between laughs.

"Your pumpkin looks... creative," Levi said with an exasperated sigh."The eyes are so far apart."

"You're so critical. You need to remember I never had the chance to carve a pumpkin before in my life. This is very new to me," Eren explained. "It doesn't look that bad."

"Well, it's not like anyone is going to see it anyway. It's December, and it'd be weird to put them out on a completely different holiday."

"Thanks a lot," Eren said sarcastically. "I don't know why you're being so critical about my carving skills when this was your idea in the first place."

"I'm not being critical, just being honest."

"I always thought it was weird to carve pumpkins, especially during Halloween. All these elaborate pumpkins sitting outside only to be tossed at the end of the month- oh shit!"

A sharp and heavy pain shot up Eren's slimy and sticky palm as the knife clattered onto the table. The pain pulses and swells.

"You better pray that you don't get your blood all over my carpet," Levi said as he quickly jumped into action. He untied his cravat and brought it to Eren's hand, squeezing tightly.

"It's not like I have a gun wound. I won't spill blood all over your precious carpet."

"Come on, follow me. I'll get you fixed up."

Levi gently guided Eren to the bathroom and aggressively slammed one of the cabinets open, which surprised Eren that the mirror didn't shatter. Inside the cabinet were little small jars and bottles filled with things like pills and cotton swabs. After rummaging through for a moment, Levi retrieved a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a big bandaid.

"Try your best to stay still. This is going to sting pretty bad," Levi whispered and twisted the cap off the bottle.

"Is alcohol really necessary?" Eren complained.

"Yes, unless you want an infection," he said and gingerly dipped a cotton swab into the clear bottle.

Eren squeezed his eyes closed and bit on his lower lip to prepare for the impact of the burning pain. Levi began to dab the cotton slab gently across his palm, making fire dance across Eren's hand. The brown-haired boy put his other hand in a fist to keep himself from shouting in pain.

"Done," Levi said after what seemed to be an eternity.

"Thank god." Eren trembled.

"You can release my arm now," Levi said, shooting him an annoyed look.

"Oh! My bad. " He was completely unaware that he had been clutching the man's arm the whole time, but felt grateful that he wasn't yelled at for it.

"I guess that concludes the pumpkin carving. The last thing I want is to drive you to the hospital, but we do have more plans."

"We do?"

"We're going skating."

—

Eren was pleasantly surprised that Levi had created a bucket list for him. He wasn't against it, but found that it was a little odd for a stranger to do such a thing after being told that one hasn't experienced the majority of their childhood. Eren thought that maybe Levi just pitied him as he read his neat, cursive writing.

1. carve pumpkins with the brat.

2. go skating with the idiot.

3. go to the amusement park with the moron.

4. decorate a big ass tree for Christmas with Jaeger bombastic.

5. draw all over Hanji's walls with crayons with that damn brat.

6. have a pillow fight even though it's obvious that I will win.

7. watch a Harry Potter marathon with the angry German boy.

8. steal lollipops from Erwin's office.

9. make mud pies with that weirdo.

10. fall

"What's the tenth bullet point supposed to say?" Eren asked curiously.

"I still don't know yet. I forgot what I was going with," Levi looked away.

"Oh, okay," Eren said awkwardly. "Um, I don't want to be ruide, but I think it would be best if we skipped the number 2."

"No, you will skate and you're going to enjoy it," Levi said firmly. "Besides, it would be funny to see you fall on your ass."

After slipping some skates on, the pair head towards the ice rink. The ice rink was run by a mom and pop business, so it didn't look the best, but that was the very beauty of it. Fake, plastic vines hung around the fairy lights above the rink, like a forest of ice.

The second Eren touched the ice with the tip of his skates, he could already feel himself slipping. He scowled at the view of Levi skating in perfect circles backwards.

"You just need to show off, huh," Eren said with a roll of his eyes.

"Not my fault you're clumsy, just go slowly, brat."

"That's boring."

"If you're going to be stubborn about it, then I'll help you then." Levi skated over to Eren's side and grabbed his arm, dragging him around the rink.

"I'm scared of going too fast," Eren complained.

"Tch, just admit you're not skillful. You won't fall if I'm holding you, okay?"

"I still feel like I'm going to slip," Eren went on.

With an annoyed sigh, Levi took Eren's hand held on tightly. "There, better?"

"Y-yeah." Eren tried his best to avoid Levi's gaze.

"Your hand is cold," Levi pointed out. "You could have asked me for gloves or mittens or anything of the sort."

For some reason, Eren didn't find this situation very awkward or bizarre. They were told men holding hands, but it wasn't because of an open-minded society that made this feel normal, but because he kind of liked it.