Can You Come Over?

"Hey, can you come over?"

When Levi gets a phone call like that, especially when it's a call from Eren, he immediately knows that something must be wrong. The call could come at two in the afternoon, or at two in the morning, and it's with an unsettling feeling of uncertainty that always has him asking, "What happened?"

Even though he tries to figure out what has Eren, a frustrated teenager who cannot seem to understand the concept of technology for the life of him, in a frazzle, he knows that it must be something big. "I'll be there in twenty minutes."

Levi says twenty, but what he really means is five, because ever since they've been in grade school, Eren has lived right down the street from him, in the two-bedroom house with the neatly trimmed shrubs and a white, picket fence out front. It doesn't take twenty minutes to get there, not when Levi knows that Eren needs to see him.

And he's gotten called over for more things than he'd like to admit, honestly. From the death of a goldfish to a break-up text message from a girlfriend (one that must have taken him about ten minutes just to open up, let alone reply to), Eren is definitely not the type of person who likes to suffer in silence. He needs someone to be there with him, and that's exactly why he calls Levi. He calls him, because he knows he'll come. He always has, and he always will.

When Eren hears the doorbell ring, he uses the back of his sleeve to wipe at his snotty nose (Levi would find that gross, but whatever) and gets up from his bed. It probably takes him longer to get his reluctant self to the front door than it did for Levi to physically leave his house and jog his way over, but he's been spoiled. He knows that Levi won't mind. He rings the doorbell once, and if Eren doesn't show up, he'll ring it again after two or three minutes or so.

So, when Eren finally swings back the deadbolt and twists open the door, Levi's hand is lingering dangerously close to the bell button before he nonchalantly shoves it into the baggy pouch of his hoodie. "You wanted me to come over?"

"Yeah..." Eren says slowly, using a guiding hand to usher Levi inside. "Thanks for coming."

As per usual, Levi and Eren make their way up the stairs, always purposefully skipping the third step that has a tendency to creak beneath their feet, and head into Eren's bedroom. Levi always seems to have some sort of comment about the dirty laundry that carpets the floor instead of an actual carpet, or the way that Eren can just never seem to make his bed properly or close his closet door, but today, he doesn't say anything. Today, he waits for Eren to speak up first.

Levi can't put his finger on it, but something about Eren's demeanor feels different than from the other times he's called him over. He's not bawling his eyes out, and he's not throwing things in frustrating; in fact, he seems...anxious? Like there's something on his mind, but the words that he's waiting to say are imprisoned in his throat, his tongue being the guard keeper that refuses to let them out. Levi wants to ask, but he doesn't. Like he already promised himself, he's not going to say anything until Eren initiates the conversation.

"So, uh..." Eren finally begins, unsure of himself in a way that makes the both of them feel tense. "You're probably wondering why I called you over here, right?"

Just a nod, not a word.

The sigh that Eren releases has enough force behind it that Levi actually feels it when his warm breath tickles its way down the side of his neck. If that doesn't make him shudder, what Eren says next definitely does. "...Don't get mad, okay?"

"What did you do?" Levi knows that Eren isn't stupid; he's just prone to doing stupid things at stupid times in stupid places. There was that one time last summer, when he got himself stuck on a tree branch after winning a bet. Yes, he made sure to let Levi know that he had won that dumb gamble over and over again, as he had his sorry butt scooped up and carried down from an altitude of thirty feet up.

"I didn't do anything!" Eren quickly spoke out, in his defense. He could understand why Levi would make such an assumption, of course, but now really wasn't the time for him to get all parental on him. Especially since what he was trying to say was, well...not really something he would tell his mom. "Just...promise me you won't get mad, okay?"

Levi was never one to make promises to things when he didn't know what he was making his promise to, but for the sake of Eren's sanity, he nodded his head and muttered a half-hearted, "Sure."

Now that Eren had Levi's word, he really wasn't sure where to go from there. Should he just spit it out, or should he make Levi wait more than he already has? Eh, he ended up heading down a middle route. "So, you know how I canceled our plans to go to the movies last Friday because I wasn't feeling well?"

"...Yeah?"

"That was a lie. Well, it wasn't entirely a lie, but you probably thought that I was feeling sick, right?" From the corner of his eye, Eren saw Levi give him another nod. "Yeah, I wasn't sick. I just...had a lot on my mind."

"Like what?" Levi wasn't typically one to pry, but if Eren's so-called "thoughts" had him missing out on the latest gore-fest horror movie of the month, it must have been something serious.

"Wait, you're not mad that I lied to you?" Eren seemed genuinely surprised by Levi's lack of aggression. He'd been half expecting to receive a blow to the ribs for making them give away their pre-paid tickets to some of the annoying snobs that lived on their street.

"I just want to know what was on your mind, Eren. That's all."

What was on Eren's mind now was conflicting with what was on his mind then, and it had him ruffling up his hair and shaking out his stress. He was grateful to Levi for exhibiting the patience of a saint, because without that virtue, he probably would have needed another ten minutes, before coming out and saying, "I was thinking about you. Or rather, I was thinking about...us."

"What about us?"

It was the second time that Levi felt Eren's hot breath against his jaw that had him turning his head over his shoulder. What he saw should have been shocking, but it wasn't.

Eren's face was redder than that one time when he and Jean got in a heated argument over holographic Pokemon cards in the fifth grade, and it would have been legitimately concerning to him if his lip weren't quivering and his fingers weren't twitching. He was predictable in so many ways, because Eren was the type of person who wore his heart on his sleeve. And speaking of his sleeve... "What is that?"

"Huh?" Eren's eyes followed Levi's finger, as it pointed directly to the dried up snot stain that was smeared on the outer cuff of his hoodie. "Oh, I don't know. Probably soap, or something." If it was soap, he knew that Levi wouldn't pester him about it, but that really wasn't the turn he wanted their conversation to take. "But like I was saying, about us-"

"I like you, too, Eren."

If Eren had stood up from his bed any faster than he did, he probably would have given himself a serious case of vertigo. "Levi, what the Hell?! How did you - what if I wasn't even going to say that?!"

Levi rose from Eren's bed at a snail's pace in comparison, but once he'd fixed the folds in his jeans and fit his hand into the slight curve of his hip, he prompted, "Fine. Tell me what you were going to say, then."

Fiddling with the overgrown hairs that were making the nape of his neck feel itchy, Eren awkwardly tried to reclaim what little bit of dignity he had left in him, before ultimately and pathetically giving in. "Well, I mean, that's kind of what I was gonna say, but..."

"But what?"

"You're not...mad?"

"I said I liked you, too, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but..."

Now, it was Levi's turn to sigh. He'd held a plentiful amount of patience up until the moment he'd opened his mouth and opened it wide. Maybe it was because a virtue can only be twisted and stretched so far, or maybe it was because it was a virtue that was never entirely present to begin with. Either way, it was about time that he got a few things straight. "Eren, tell me why you wanted me to come over."

"It was because...I wanted to apologize to you for lying about the movie."

Was Eren being for real? His false mask of innocence had Levi scoffing in amusement. "Is that the only reason?"

"...No." He may have been playing innocent, but at least he was being honest.

"Just go ahead and say it, Eren," Levi whispered somewhat sternly, wondering if this softer, yet firm approach would get Eren to spit out his entire confession already. It's not like it wasn't already obvious, anyway. "I already promised you that I wouldn't get mad, right?"

"Yeah, you did. You've...said more than that, actually." Eren was still habitually playing with those prickly little hairs that stuck out in all kinds of crazy ways. They were strangely comforting, but they were also encouraging, and after stroking his own neck for longer than was probably deemed normal, he granted Levi's one and only request by saying the words that he'd shamefully gone over in his head more times than he was comfortable admitting.

"Do you remember that time last week, when you, me, and Armin went out for ice cream together and I tripped over that parking curb and dropped my chocolate cone on your crotch?" Wow, what a beautiful way to begin.

"Um, yeah? Why?"

"Do you remember how you came back to my place that night? How when you were scrubbing out the stain in your pants, you were wearing nothing but your boxers and a pair of navy blue ankle socks?"

He nodded, because he remembered. He definitely remembered.

Eren had started out on a high, words flying out of his mouth in a way that had his tongue clicking against his teeth, but now, he was obscenely slow. So slow that each syllable he pronounced almost sounded slurred, intoxicated by the memory and stirred up by the recollection of it.

"Levi, do you remember how you looked over at me, when you realized I had been staring? How you grabbed my hand and thrust me up against the washing machine? Do you remember how your lips found mine? How sloppy such a kiss had been, how disgusting it was when I began to drool, but how perfect everything felt? Do you remember how the next day was Friday, and even though we'd been planning on seeing that movie together for months, I called you at the last moment and canceled our plans?"

There was no hesitation, just another nod.

"I'm glad you remember," Eren whispered, "because that's what's been on my mind - it's the only thing that's been on my mind - since it happened. And if I'm going to be completely honest here, Hell, my feelings for you were kind of confusing before all of that even happened."

Allowing himself to let his hair go for the first time in a long time, Eren opted to toy with the tattered drawstrings of his hoodie as he answered Levi's first and foremost question once and for all. "The reason why I called you over isn't because I'm in some sort of trouble or because I got into a fight; it's because I kind of think that I like you, and I honestly wasn't expecting you to feel the same way, too."

"What, are you mad?" Levi asked, without missing a beat. He felt rather smug for using Eren's initially requested promise to his verbal advantage. It definitely earned him an eye roll, but it was totally worth it.

"Hardly. I am kind of upset that you figured it out on your own, though..."

With a slight shrug and a turn on his heel, it was to Eren's bemusement that Levi began to head for the door. "What can I say? You're easy to read, Eren. Also, you're a horrible liar. I know that's not soap on your sleeve, so you're taking that filthy thing off right now and we're going to wash it."

On any other day, Eren would have felt a plethora of things - flustered, embarrassed, agitated, you name it - but knowing that he and Levi were heading into the laundry room, both with a lot of thoughts about each other in their heads and maybe even a couple of butterflies in their stomachs, Eren only felt one thing and one thing alone, and it wasn't any of the emotions listed above. He felt excited, and it was through that excitement that had him saying the very same thing that he always said after his problems were addressed and he had talked himself through them...although, this was hardly a problem.

"I'm glad you came over, Levi."

Hi there! Chappy here! :D

So, in all honesty, today really wasn't a good day for me. I cried enough that I ended up giving myself a headache, so I really just needed to write something that was both comforting and, well, adorable. (:

If any of you that are reading this are having a crappy day, too, I hope that this short drabble had a way of cheering you up! That would make me feel really happy! To everyone else, I hope you enjoyed this simple little idea! (:

And as always, thank you for taking the time to read!

- Chappy