Eren stared at himself in the mirror, unblinking. There was no way this wasn't too much. It really wasn't a lot, but probably too much for a first date, especially for someone who was going on a first date with a person he was already with.

"I think you went overboard," he said quietly, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt.

Sasha's hands batted his away. "Nonsense," she said. "It's not too much but it's not too little."

He sighed as Christa piped up, "I think you look great."

"Thank you, Christa," said Sasha.

Eren shook his head at himself. He'd only let the girls help him because they wouldn't stop begging, and once half an hour passed he couldn't take it anymore and broke down. Presently, he stood in front of the long bathroom mirror behind the door at home wearing what was practically a tux shirt, sleeves rolled to the elbows, and faded skinny jeans. He'd managed to talk Sasha out of doing his hair and was counting on his mom to hide at least a change of a shirt on the front seat of his car.

"Come on, guys, it's not like I'm getting married or something." He rolled his eyes.

"No, but this is your first date since high school."

"What does that have to do with anything?" he mumbled. Technically it was his first date ever. High school...that...didn't really count. For anything.

"Stop being a grump or you'll ruin the night. Come on, let's go downstairs."

The girls practically dragged him down the stairs by his ears. In the living room, Mikasa lounged on the couch watching TV and his mother waited with Sasha's phone.

"Are you serious?" he grumbled as she stood and snapped a picture. "You guys are seriously taking this out of proportion."

"We're serious," said Sasha and Christa in unison. Sasha took the phone and tapped the front camera icon to snap a picture of all three of them. And then several more until Eren ducked under her hand and out of the way.

"Okay, enough, enough," he grumbled.

At that moment, Sasha's phone chimed with a text message. "It's Connie, gotta go! Have fun, lover boy!" she blew him a kiss and herded Christa out the front door.

"Girls are freaking crazy," he mumbled.

Carla chuckled. "Good thing you're not going out with one then, huh?" She enfolded him in a hug. "I left the shirt on the front seat of your car as promised," she said. "Even I think this is a little too much for a first date." She tugged at his sleeve and smiled. "Even though I think you look so handsome." She reached up and ruffled his hair, earning a wild blush.

"Stop, Mom," he complained.

"Are you nervous?"

"Yes..."

"Don't be. You'll have fun."

"So you're not gonna give me one of those mom speeches about how your little boy is 'all grown up' and stuff?" he joked.

"You are grown up, but I already knew that." She winked and kissed his cheek. "Should I be expecting you home tonight?"

"Probably not. It's just, um...things are harder for Levi when he's alone, y'know..."

"You don't have to explain anything to me, dear. I know. Now go before you're late, and have fun."

"Thanks, Ma. Love you." He kissed her cheek and headed for the door. "Bye, 'Kasa!"

"Later," she called back.

Eren half-jogged to his car. Inside, he promptly changed his shirt. It wasn't that he was unappreciative of Sasha and Christa's efforts, but the dressy shirt just didn't fit him or the mood of a first date, especially for where they were going. The one he wore in place was a simple blue and green plaid button-up shirt, sleeves already rolled and buttoned at his elbows. It wasn't much of a difference from the original white he wore, but felt more casual while not being too casual at the same time.

With that, he took off toward Levi's, forcing himself not to chew his lip out of habit due to a comment by Christa on how his lips were too chapped. Instead his teeth found the inside of his cheek which would surely end up raw, but it was a better alternative to his lip...

The butterflies didn't make themselves known until he was staring at the gold numbers of 36 on a dark gray door. He knew he could've just walked in; this place felt like his home almost just as much as the house he'd come from. But this was a date and part of him wanted to be traditional, whether it was from a force within himself or compelled by Christa's gushing words about the tradition of dating. So he lifted his fist and gave the door three short knocks.

"It's open," called a deep, muffled voice from the other side.

Rolling his eyes but grinning faintly, Eren twisted the knob and stepped inside. Levi was nowhere to be seen as he pressed his back into the door to shut it, but the flood of light in the hallway from the bathroom indicated his location. Not a minute later, the light shut off and the raven stepped out, causing Eren's jaw to nearly drop open at the sight before him. Levi hadn't dressed up all that much, either, but what he did sport was a lot more than his usual long-sleeved shirt and sweats. Instead he was equipped with a white - yes, white - long-sleeved turtle neck, covering up the last of any tattoos that might be visible and gray skinny jeans that uncannily matched Eren's. On top of the white shirt was a black vest that, somehow, kept the whole thing casual. His hair was the usual, falling neatly over his forehead parted decently to the right.

"I'm starting to think your staring problem is psychological," he said, having shuffled toward Eren to grab his shoes from the entryway.

The younger forced himself to blink. "S-sorry," he mumbled. He felt the urge to scratch his neck but refrained; Christa's nagging had his mind noticing all of his habits. "Just...you...you look great," he stammered.

"No need for flattery. We're already going on a date, aren't we?" He pocketed his wallet and keys.

Eren frowned. "You could say thank you."

The raven glanced down his body. "It's nothing special," he mumbled. "So I thought it fit."

Eren reached for his hand. "It's great," he countered. "So it does fit."

"Tch. Let's just go." Once in the car he asked, "So am I allowed to know where we're going yet?"

"An arcade," answered Eren. "And then dinner."

"What? Are we five?"

"I'd say twenty and twenty-four are close enough to five," Eren said with a grin.

"Hmph. Well don't be surprised when I kick your ass at Skeeball."

"Oh? We'll see about that."

"Don't get cocky, brat."

"You, either."

"Hn, I've been to an arcade or two in my time."

"So have I."

"Then we'll see how this goes."

Very quickly, Eren learned what Levi meant about kicking his ass at Skeeball. When they showed up, Eren tried to pay but Levi bumped him out of the way with his hip, slapping down a twenty and saying, "Don't think you get to pay for everything, nerd." Four bagfuls of tokens later, they walked across the arcade, past machines with blaring music and strange robotic voices beckoning them to play and parents with their ten-year-olds, past younger teenagers looking as if they were going to break the steering wheels off the racing games and about to open fire on each other with the fake plastic guns. One woman was in the corner with an absolutely screaming baby, which Eren booked it past to save his poor sensitive ear drums. In the furthest, darkest corner of the building were the Skeeball lanes and seemingly the only games in the whole place that didn't play ridiculous music.

And Eren was totally ready.

"Nerds first," said Levi, gesturing toward one of the lanes.

Childishly, Eren stuck his tongue out at the short man and slid two of his tokens into the machine. The balls rolled down the slot and he began, totally ready to show Levi up and show how much of a nerd he really was. He managed mostly fifties and two hundreds but ended up with three fouls. Pretty satisfied, he tore the tickets from the front of the machine and automatically started folding them up while Levi shook his head in disapproval.

"Sloppy, sloppy," the artist muttered. He uncrossed his arms and stuck two of his own tokens in the machine next to the one Eren used.

"You think you can do better?" asked Eren, a brow raised in an obvious show that he wasn't buying it.

"I know I can. Are you doubting my skills?"

"I think you're bluffing," said Eren.

"Tell you what, brat," said Levi, reaching for the first ball. "We'll compete using the tickets. Whoever gets the most, wins. Loser buys dinner."

The brunet lifted a brow. "For Skeeball or the whole arcade?"

"Whole arcade. We play till we run out of tokens."

Grinning, Eren nodded. "You're on."

The raven clicked his tongue. "You might regret that."

"So might you."

"Hmph. Watch and learn."

With that, Levi turned to focus his attention on the game. He rolled the ball in his fingers a few times, seemingly sizing up the lane and targets before leaning down and, almost expertly, swinging his arm back and then snapping it forward, releasing the ball. Four eyes watched it roll up and fly off at the end to land directly in the 500 point hole.

For the second time that night, Eren felt the need to let his jaw drop, but this time it actually fell open with an audible pop.

"How did you-?"

"Shh!"

Levi kept going, easily making the balls into the slots and hitting points every time. He even managed three balls all the way up into the 1,000 point slot and never did he make a foul. Eren stood there the whole time with his mouth hanging open. Once out of balls, Levi clapped his hands together as if to dust them off for good measure and watched the machines spit out his tickets. They piled up several times on the floor before he even touched them.

"Careful, Eren. You might catch a fly," he said with a grin, lifting a finger to push Eren's jaw shut.

"How the hell...?" The brunet was at a loss for words.

"Still think I'm bluffing?" He reached for his tickets and started folding them up. When finished, he had too many to fit into his small hand.

"No..."

"Feel free to call the bet off," he said.

Eren blinked a few times before putting his game face on. "Hey, it was only one game." He gestured at the rest of the machines. "We still have a long way to go, so don't get too cocky."

The raven snorted. "We'll let the games decide, then." He stalked off in the direction of the rest of the arcade.

The next couple of hours were spent in competition between the two. They made a deal not to count or even estimate the number of their tickets until they were totally out of tokens. He wouldn't say it, but by the looks of things, Eren was 99% sure he was winning this bet despite his major loss to Skeeball. Still, he didn't much care about the bet. Even if he lost, he'd planned to pay for dinner anyway. And if he won, he planned to pay for dinner whether Levi liked it or not. He was in this to spend time with the person he loved, to get to know him better (it was remarkable how much you could learn about a person in an arcade). He wanted to make Levi happy and get him away from all the negative in his life for a while, and by the lustrous appearance of those stormy gray eyes, he could tell he was succeeding and that in itself made him happier than anything.

When their token bags were rendered empty and they each had three cups full of tickets, they started feeding them to the machines. In the end, Eren had three hundred more tickets than Levi and their total came to 2,148 altogether.

"Brat," Levi muttered, ripping the slip of paper with his total from the dispenser.

"Don't be a grump," Eren joked. "You were the one who wanted to make the bet in the first place."

"Yeah, yeah," he said, waving the paper in Eren's direction. "Here. Get yourself something nice. I'm gonna go sit down for a minute."

Eren's feeling of triumph immediately twisted to concern and he automatically began searching the raven's face. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Mhm. Just getting a little tired. I'm fine."

He wandered toward the door. He seemed okay, but Eren kept an eye on him just in case as he walked over to the ticket counter. His eyes scoured the wall filled with dozens of prizes - giant teddy bears and Despicable Me minions among other stuffed things, lava lamps and those strange lightning lamps down to the glass container with those Chinese handcuff things, candy, slinkies and sticky rubber hands. He settled for something that would use up most of the tickets and a few miscellaneous things at the end. Once done, he went in search of Levi who'd gone outside to sit on the curb. The air was beginning to cool off as the sun set, casting brilliant oranges, pinks, yellows and even purples over the clouds.

Eren sunk down next to Levi, who didn't so much as react and continued to stare up at the ever-changing golden hues.

"Y'know, it's strange," he said softly. "Right now I'd probably be sitting here with a cigarette between my fingers, either already high or wondering about my next fix...or I guess I probably wouldn't be sitting here at all. Why would a junkie come to an arcade?" He snorted an unamused laugh. "I dunno. Guess I'm just saying that a lot's changed in such a short time."

"A-are you upset about that?" Eren couldn't help but ask.

"Are you kidding?" Levi reached for his hand. "No. Not at all."

At that moment, a woman with three small children burst out of the arcade, all gushing about the prizes they got and how much fun they had, being particularly noisy. This seemed to break Levi out of his slight reverie and he tore his eyes from the sky.

"So what'd you get?"

Eren fished in his pockets, pulling out a slinky and one of the sticky rubber hands. Levi raised his brows in question.

"They were all I could afford."

"Those did not cost over 2,000 tickets."

Eren grinned. "Nope. But this did." He twisted around and grabbed the big ball of fluff to set on Levi's knees. The raven stared at it in disbelief. It was a giant red...thing with puny wings on either side.

"What the hell, Jaeger?"

"It's a dragon!" explained Eren, sounding much too like a little kid as he flapped one of the wings.

"And you wanted this...why?"

"For you."

Dumbfounded, Levi turned and stared at the brat next to him. "Seriously?"

Eren nodded. "I thought you'd like it better than a stuffed dog or a giant minion..."

Levi turned back to the stuffed thing. It was hideous, with giant purple eyes and its tongue sticking out. It was bigger than Levi's entire torso but admittedly soft and in the absolute strangest of ways, it reminded him of Eren himself. His face softened and he took it by the wings.

"If you don't like it, I can probably get a refund..."

"No," Levi cut in. "I like it."

"Really?" He sounded much too hopeful.

"Yes, really. Now come on," he said, standing up. "I'm starving. Let's go eat."

Eren jumped to his feet as well and they walked hand in hand to the car. Levi stuffed the dragon-thing in the back seat and when he stood to close the door, found Eren standing less than a foot away from him.

"By the way..." Simultaneously he brought his hand up to cup Levi's chin while dipping his head down, claiming Levi's lips in a tooth-curlingly sweet kiss the raven couldn't help but absolutely melt into, gripping the front of Eren's shirt and stepping closer. "That's me giving it back."

"You know, it's not very custom to kiss your date on the first date...especially before the date is over," said Levi breathily.

Eren's chuckle was equally as breathy. "If you ask me, not much is custom in our relationship."

"Hm, touché, brat."

Eren winked and said, "Let's go eat."

With that, they hopped in the car. Dinner took place in a quiet, cozy little restaurant where they could easily be concealed in a large booth. They talked endlessly, sharing stories and opinions. Eren himself did most of the talking when it came to the stories, talking about his family and friends and school while Levi listened intently, soaking up every little detail. He genuinely wanted to remember and know everything he possibly could about Eren. He picked up on the little things, too, like the way his eyes lit up when he talked about his mom or the ever so subtle dimple in his left cheek when his mouth moved a certain way...the way he'd sometimes shake the hair out of his eyes (particularly that one strand Levi always had the urge to move). Simple little quirks that he could feel himself falling in love with.

Eren himself didn't fail to notice that the more he talked, the less Levi did. Or maybe the less Levi talked, the more he found himself babbling. He observed, too, that Levi's eating progressively slowed down until he was merely picking at a breadstick and most of it ended up on his plate rather than in his mouth. By that time, he'd only eaten half the contents of his plate, but it was more than Eren had ever seen him consume while sober.

The waitress brought the check and Eren held his debit card out to her before she had the chance to walk away and before Levi could even pull his wallet out of his pocket as he started moving to do so.

"I'm supposed to pay, brat. I lost the bet."

"Too late. I planned on paying anyway."

To that, Levi narrowed his eyes but argued no further.

They departed after Levi'd taken his after meal medication. His slower pace and lack of speech signaled he was fading quickly. Eren couldn't help but feel guilty, feeling he'd pushed him too hard, too far, too fast.

The two made it back to the apartment in good time. Eren made it a point to walk up the stairs behind Levi, who carried the dragon under his arm, in case he lost his balance or something worse.

Once inside, he lazily kicked his shoes off and shuffled toward his room, lightly gripping Eren's hand to pull him along. He tossed the dragon onto the bed before moving to the dresser to find clean pajamas.

"Do you want me to stay?" murmured Eren. Asking this was a habit he was quickly getting into each night.

"Yes," said Levi, shoving his drawer shut with his hip. That was always his answer. With a yawn, he ran his fingers through his hair and shuffled past Eren. "I'm gonna shower real quick."

"'Kay..."

Levi disappeared into the bathroom and Eren took his opportunity at brief privacy to change into his own pajamas - a simple black T-shirt with what he called TV fuzz gray sweats that hugged his legs at the ankles. He was starting a stash of his own belongings in Levi's closet, had an extra toothbrush in the bathroom and was slowly moving things from his house to Levi's apartment. Staying with Levi was ideal, he told himself, having been the reason he was recovering from such a brutal and long addiction and the raven having trouble being by himself. Still, he had to admit internally that he loved the time he spent with him.

The second night after Levi got out of rehab, he tried sleeping on the couch. He'd been setting it up with spare pillows and blankets, totally ready to crash while Levi was in the shower when he'd appeared around the corner and asked, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Setting up my bed," Eren explained innocently.

"You're such a brat. Get your butt in the bedroom."

When Eren had raised his brows, Levi rolled his eyes. "Not like that, you kink. What makes you think you need to sleep in here?"

Eren had no valid answer for that and had crawled into bed alongside his black-haired artist. Ever since, it was natural that they just sleep together. It was never anything sensual for obvious reasons, but admittedly some of the best nights' sleep Eren could remember having. There was something about a warm body next to his with breath and heartbeat, even curled up in his arms or with a head on his chest that he couldn't seem to get enough of. They'd trade positions, and sometimes Levi's heartbeat was his lullaby or vice versa. It was never awkward and contrary to how one may think, it wasn't moving too fast for either of them.

"Not much is custom in our relationship."

It was true, and it was exciting. Eren was the spontaneous and go with the flow type, and everything felt so natural and right while with Levi. As natural as a tree growing out of the ground and as totally right as the colors of the sky. It was what he needed. It was what they both needed.

The brunet sat cross-legged in the middle of the bed, mindlessly scrolling through channels on the TV as all of this rushed through his head. When he resurfaced from his daydream, he heard it. The familiar heaving and gagging noises, unmistakably coming from behind the closed door of the bathroom and suddenly, he snapped to his senses, carelessly tossing the remote aside and practically flying off the bed and across the hall.

"Levi?" he murmured, gently knocking on the door.

"I'm fine," came Levi's choked voice. "Just go-" His words got cut off by another retch and the terrible sound of throwing up. His own stomach churning, Eren tried the knob. Finding it unlocked, he cracked the door open. Sure enough, Levi leaned over the toilet, his head halfway concealed inside of it as he puked his guts up.

Eren automatically started getting a cup of water ready and then kneeled to the raven's side just as the puking came to an end and he sat up, face flushed. Soundlessly, Eren offered him the water. He swished and spat twice before downing the rest.

"You okay?"

Levi gave a nod and handed the cup back before flushing the toilet and knocking the lid closed. He gave Eren an apologetic, regretful look, to which the younger shook his head and offered a hand to help him stand up. He went to the sink and immediately started getting his toothbrush ready. Eren took the slight opportunity to look him over. He'd only had time to pull on his boxers before he puked, leaving most of his skin bare.

He was still too skinny. Eren could literally count all of his ribs and the bumps of his spine. His shoulder blades jutted out and his hipbones remained prominent, as well as his collarbone, even under the tattoos. His legs were still almost like sticks. Even so, it was so much better than last time Eren had laid eyes on his naked skin, pulling him out of the bathtub.

"Sorry for ruining the mood," mumbled Levi after he replaced his toothbrush in the holder. He met Eren's eyes in the mirror and flinched, seeing those green eyes roving over his body. "Hideous, right? You don't have to look." He reached for his clothes, suddenly feeling much too exposed, and pulled them on as quickly as possible.

"No," countered Eren. "Your improvement shows. And I like your tattoos."

"Hmph, because I'm a fighter, right?" His voice held an edge of sarcasm. "And thanks."

"Absolutely." Eren cast him a smile.

Sighing, Levi nudged him back into the hall. "Yeah. I'm tired."

"Go lay down. I'm gonna finish getting ready."

Levi complied easily, immediately laying down on his usual side of the bed. Eren made a detour trip to the kitchen to retrieve a couple granola bars and a sleeve of crackers for the raven.

"You'll need something in your system, even if it's small."

He didn't stick around to see if Levi dug into it right away, but went back to the bathroom to finish readying himself for bed - brushing his teeth, washing his face, peeing, et cetera. Upon reentering the bedroom, Levi had begun nibbling on a granola bar but held it in one hand while the back of the other was pressed to his mouth, elbows resting on his knees.

"Should I get the bucket?" offered Eren.

"Probably better..."

The brunet retrieved the bucket from under the living room table, as well as a couple bottles of water, keeping one for himself and leaving the other on the table near Levi, the bucket on the floor halfway under the bed in case Levi needed it immediately.

"Thanks," he sighed, obviously in disappointment.

"Of course." Eren flicked the light off before maneuvering up next to the raven, who discarded the remainder of his granola bar onto the table.

"How can you even stand this?" he mumbled, bringing his knees up.

"Because you're worth it," Eren put simply.

Levi's orbs, shiny from the light of the TV, darted in Eren's direction and narrowed. His lips parted like he wanted to counter that statement, but instead he relaxed and said, "Somehow that's easier to believe, coming from you."

"Good. It's true."

"Hmmm..."

"Come on, aren't you tired?" The younger leaned back into the pillows after shutting the television off, tugging Levi gently by his shoulder. The older followed suit, nestling himself among the pillows and pushing the blankets down to snake his legs beneath them. In the dark cavern of the sheets, their fingers found each other and then their bodies pressed close, foreheads touching and legs tangling together, abandoning the rest of the bed for the middle.

"By the way," Levi yawned, "Thanks for today. For showing me that I can still kick ass at Skeeball."

Eren let his eyes roll despite Levi's inability to see it. "You're more than welcome," he said. "I had fun, too."

"Can I tell you something?"

"Mhm."

"I'd never been on a date before today."

"What? Seriously?"

"Yup."

"Hmm...well, neither had I, really..."

"Tch. I don't believe that."

"Well...there was this one thing junior year in high school...but that doesn't count."

"Hn, you'll have to tell me why sometime."

"Hmm, okay."

Levi mumbled something else, but he was clearly already half asleep. Eren chuckled breathily and said, "'Night, Levi."

"I love you, Eren..."

It seemed such a contrast for his stomach to explode with butterflies next to Levi's tired body, but it did, and he smiled.

"I love you, too."

He couldn't be sure if the artist heart him or not, because his breathing had already deepened and his entire body relaxed with the sleep he finally managed to find. His soft, warm breath brushed across Eren's lips and cheeks. Strands of his cool, still wet hair was pressed to Eren's forehead and tickled him a bit, but he didn't mind. Levi smelled good; he still used the same shampoo - kind of a minty, honey-ish fragrance, mixed with the subtle scent of aftershave and some other unnamed smell that could only be Levi's own unique, natural scent. His soft fingers were warm between Eren's, too, though his knee felt a little awkward between Eren's thighs. His breathing was audible, slightly more ragged than the average person's breath.

Slowly, Eren's sensitive eyes adjusted even to the dim light of the city from outside and he was just able to make out the outline of Levi's features. He looked so immensely peaceful. It was almost humbling and one of the most beautiful sights he'd been allowed to lay eyes on.

Eren pressed a light kiss to the tip of Levi's nose and then angled his head so his lashes gave his forehead butterfly kisses as he let his eyes flutter closed for the last time that night.