Not Ever

The bedding of Eren's little basement cell was rumpled and sweat-damp in places and the place reeked of sex and Levi's hand-rolled cigarettes.

The corporal was lingering in the bed enjoying the post-coital haze and allowing Eren a rare moment of intimacy, lying with a leg tangled in the sheets and an arm flung over Levi's stomach. Levi arched a brow when Eren pressed his lips almost reverently over the curve of a rib and stubbed the end of his cigarette into the small dish Eren had pilfered from the dining commons to serve as an ash tray.

Eren sighed heavily at the motion his arm tightening a bit against Levi's waist.

"Off, brat."

The kid's expression was downright mulish but he rolled over onto his side taking his arm with him quick enough.

Levi was just as quick to swing his legs over the edge of the bed stretching a bit and checking himself over for any marks. Eren had learned very early on not to make them purposefully but the sly brat still sometimes bit just a little too hard when he was supposedly caught up in the moment. There was a suspicious red splotch in the curve of his hipbone but it would be gone before morning. Levi thumbed the spot thoughtfully.

"It's barely even red, and no one but me gets to see you without pants anyway."

"Shut up you shitty brat, if this shit lasts the night you will regret it," Levi shot back sliding his pants back on and quickly strapping into the belts and harnesses for his 3D manoeuver gear. He left his zips and button undone so that he could tuck his button up shirt in neatly.

Eren had begged bartered an outright stolen for the wash stand, cubby and coat rack that he'd installed in his quarters. It was a consideration for Levi's fastidiousness, and one that allowed the corporal to strip down and fold or hang his clothes and gear neatly before they started their activities.

A quick glance in the small looking glass that was carefully hung above the wash stand was enough to ensure that his shirt remained unwrinkled and to catch the look Eren was giving him behind his back.

Levi frowned. That look was downright dangerous. The slight softening of the brat's eyes and the gentle, crooked curve of a barely-there half-smile spoke of thoughts and feelings that Levi had no interest in even knowing about, let alone acknowledging. Still, now that he'd seen the look he couldn't pretend it didn't exist.

Levi caught the brat's blue-green gaze in the mirrored glass and held it. The brat's smile turned sheepish and hesitant now that he was well and truly caught and the soft-eyed look flickered with nervousness a guilty flush creeping down from the tips of his ears along the back of his neck.

"Eren," sighed Levi.

"Don't."

Levi shot him a glare, turning to face the teen, who was suddenly out of bed and yanking on a pair of sleep pants over his bare and boney hips. He wasn't terribly surprised when Eren glared back.

"Just don't, Levi. Okay?"

Levi took two long strides forward and had a fistful of the brat's hair before he could blink and was using the punishing grip to force the kid to his knees and tilt his head back exposing his throat and forcing a pained hiss through his teeth. A reminder of just who was in control of this liaison.

He stared impassively down into Eren's gloriously defiant eyes and tamped down on a frisson of lust that was becoming all too familiar and not entirely unwelcome.

"I'm not going to fall in love with you, brat. You don't have a fucking snowball's chance in hell."

Levi wasn't sure what he was expecting, a breakdown of some kind, maybe tears or accusations of using and the end of their mutual sex life, but that wasn't what he got.

"I know," said Eren with a grimace as he ripped his head away from Levi's hand with a jerk that left more than a few of the silky brown strands still clenched in Levi's fist, "You made it pretty clear that this was all sex that first time. I'm not actually an idiot."

Levi snorted a bit at that pulling a sullen scowl onto the kid's face.

"I'm not," he insisted, "Not the point though. The point is you don't have to fall in love with me, but don't try and stop me from falling for you."

The 'Cause that's one fight you've already lost.' Hung unspoken in the air but was there all the same and Levi found himself half-flattered and half-nauseated by the implications.

His fist tightened until he felt his nails bite sharply past the first layer of skin on his palms and forced himself to relax. Maybe he should have known better than to start up with a brat in the first place but the damage was already done so there was no point in not continuing.

He brushed the stray strands of Eren's hair off his hands and into the waste basket and buttoned his shirt, tucking it into his pants and adjusting the collar so that he could re-tie his snowy-white cravat.

"Say something," pleaded the brat, still on his knees, something like fear making his voice just a tad quieter and breathier than usual.

"It's your heart," Levi sad finally, shrugging into his jacket, and wetting the ends of his fingers to neaten his sex-mussed hair, "If you want to break it that's none of my business. Just keep in mind that if it affects your work I will have to make it my business."

"Yes sir," agreed Eren with a sigh of relief, getting to his feet and rubbing at his soon-to-be-bruised knees, "Do you want me to walk you out?"

"I'd rather piss glass you shitty brat."

Eren chuckled at that, too used to being on the receiving end of Levi's indiscriminant rudeness to be bothered.

"Alright then, goodnight Corporal."

The bars of Eren's basement cell clanged when they shut behind him and the scrape of the curtain Petra and Mike had helped him erect for privacy was annoyingly familiar as Levi strode out of the basement past the line of five other empty holding cells his boot heels clacking authoritatively on the cobblestoned floors of the castle.

He checked in at all the watch stations and cursed when he realized he'd left his cigarette case on Eren's rickety bedside table again.

Standing in the castle courtyard staring out into the night he let the knot between his shoulders unwind a bit, since there was no one watching. Het let himself close his eyes and acknowledge in the privacy of his own mind that there was a certain fondness for the brat building up under his breastbone and then allowed it to fill him up for one glorious moment, his lips twitching in a faint echo of Eren's secretive little half-smile before ruthlessly bringing up the knowledge that one day he was going to have to kill the stupid brat and crushing all those fond feelings in one fell swoop.

He wasn't going to give up the sex but he also wasn't about to let himself get caught in the same trap that Eren had happily wandered into. He wasn't going to fall for the brat. Not ever.

Disclaimer: I don't own Attack on Titan