Upon waking the next morning - late, of course - the phantom feeling had all but vanished. Much to Eren's confusion, he'd dreamt about his raven-haired coworker, though he had no memory of the events of the dream.

He groaned and rolled out of bed, continually mentally slapping himself for thinking so much about it. He wanted nothing more than to rid himself of the strange sensation, the foreign path his thoughts seemed to take leading towards Levi.

Why was that even happening? He'd only just met the guy, barely knew a thing about him and had absolutely no reason to feel anything toward him the way he was. Maybe if he just ignored it and forced his mind to think of other things, it would go away.

"Good morning, Eren!" sang a very cheerful Christa as she skipped up to her brunet friend, Ymir in tow.

"Hey, Christa," Eren mumbled past a yawn. "Where's everyone else?"

"In the dining hall, where you should've been ten minutes ago," Ymir muttered as she slipped her hand into Christa's.

"Shit, it's the second Wednesday!" Eren exclaimed in sudden realization.

"Duh," Ymir said and then clicked her tongue in disapproval.

On the second Wednesday of every month, Eren and his friends made plans to have breakfast together in the dining hall before school and catch up - on homework, on gossip, on each other's lives, it didn't matter. They didn't always have time to spend together due to classes and homework and jobs, so they made this deal in order to stay close.

"So then where are you guys going?" Eren asked the couple, changing his direction toward the dining hall.

"That, my friend, is none of your business," said Ymir, winking down at Christa and causing a wild blush to break out across her face.

Eren rolled his eyes and with a muttered 'whatever', headed into the building. Sure enough, his group of friends were all gathered around their usual table chattering away. He moved to his usual spot between Armin and Jean, apologizing.

"Oversleep again?" asked Armin.

"Yeah," answered Eren. "Started work after school yesterday and I didn't have time to study until I got home. Ended up falling asleep at about midnight."

Armin shook his blond head in disapproval. "Studying is important, Eren, but not as important as sleep. You need to take care of yourself."

Eren brushed off his friend's concern. "Yeah, yeah. So Ymir and Christa snuck off to make out and whatnot, huh?"

Jean rolled his eyes. "Probably. Freaking lesbians..."

"Oh, Jean," Sasha said in that patronizing tone of hers. "Don't act like you're not just as homo as they are." She tilted her head in the direction of Marco who was busy filling his plate at the breakfast bar. No one missed the reddening of the tips of Jean's ears as Sasha winked.

"I don't even know what you're talking about," the silver-haired horse-face mumbled with downcast eyes.

"Just admit it, Kirstein. You have a thing for Freckled Jesus over there," teased Connie, equally as patronizing.

"Shut up, buzz cut! Only if you admit you have a thing for Potato Girl over here." Jean jabbed his thumb in Sasha's direction. Her eyes grew remarkably wide as she, too, became red in the cheeks.

"Jeez, I ask one question and half the table ends up blushing so hard they're gonna get nosebleeds," Eren said with a mildly amused snort.

"Yeah, but good luck getting Arlert over here to blush," interjected Connie once more.

"Me?" Armin looked genuinely surprised. "I have no reason to blush."

"Aw come on, Armin, you've gotta have someone you've got your eye on," teased Jean as Marco finally joined them.

Armin crossed his arms almost sassily. "Why would an aromantic have their eye on someone?" he said, matter of fact.

"Oh. Well, um," Jean stammered. "I didn't know. Sorry, Armin."

"It's alright. Eren, aren't you going to eat?"

Eren had partially zoned out as his friends had their conversation. The sound of his name snapped his attention back to the present and he mumbled stupidly, "Huh?"

Armin gestured at his own nearly empty plate. "Breakfast. Are you going to have some?"

Eren glanced in the direction of the breakfast bar that was already being cleaned up. "Guess not. Oh well."

"What are you daydreaming about, Jaeger?" asked Connie with a smirk.

"Nothing," said Eren a bit too quickly. "Just tired." Fortunately, they seemed to buy his excuse.

"So you got a job, huh?" Sasha asked around a mouthful of, typically, potatoes. "Where?"

Eren proceeded to explain his place of employment to his friends who hadn't been there the previous day when he broke the news. They seemed genuinely interested.

"Ohh, Reiner Braun? I've seen his work," Marco piped up finally. "He's incredible. My older cousin had work done by him. She got it two years ago but it still looks fresh to this day."

"Yeah, and you should see some of the stuff the other artists do," Eren said, thinking solely of Levi's heart drawing. "Their stuff's hung up all over the shop."

"Would it be cool if we checked it out sometime?" asked Connie.

"I don't see why not," replied Eren, glancing at the clock on the far wall. "Armin and I gotta get going guys. Class starts in five." He began collecting his things and stood up. Armin followed his lead and they waved their goodbyes before heading up to class.

"How's your sister?" the smaller blond asked on the way.

"Same as ever," Eren muttered. "Annoying and bratty."

"And your mom?"

"She's definitely hanging in there. She made killer spaghetti last night...but I did something that reminded her of Dad, and I feel kinda guilty about that even though she didn't seem upset about it. She just changed the subject really quick."

"I can't imagine what it's like to have lost someone you loved like that," Armin said quietly.

"Neither can I," Eren said, suddenly understanding his mother's need to avert the conversation away from the subject. "Anyway, she's fine. How about your family?"

"We're doing well," Armin said briefly. That was all he had time to say as the two had arrived in class.
Throughout the day, Eren realized he couldn't have been more wrong in trying to forget the strange feeling by ignoring it and focusing on other things. It constantly followed him around no matter how hard he tried to focus on lessons or work or anything else at all.

The rest of the week followed suit, as did his dreams. Each time he was around Levi - who seemed to conveniently have enough free time to help Eren clean things up - these sensations only seemed to get stronger, more intense. Eren found there was no way to smother or ignore them and it freaked him out a bit.

Outside of that, however, he found he really liked his coworkers. Petra was pretty quiet, but when she did speak, she always had something interesting or important to say. What surprised the teen most about her was her lack of tattoos. She had none to speak of on any skin she exposed, though it wasn't like she ever showed much off. Her nose was pierced, but that was all. There was something calming about her presence, Eren found, as she'd volunteered an hour of her help in the back. It was quite the opposite of Levi, but Eren strangely found he anticipated the rush he got from Levi more than the calm of Petra's presence.

Reiner turned out to be totally chill and easygoing. If Eren was late (which only happened once, and it was by a mere five minutes), he brushed it off like it was nothing. Eren also felt he wasn't getting the back room cleaned efficiently enough, but Reiner told him there was no rush whatsoever. The teen decided he liked his boss.

Inevitably, the raven-haired tattoo artist and the teen ended up learning things about each other as they shared their time organizing tattoo supplies. Levi wasn't the most open person, but he wasn't completely closed off from the world, either. He told Eren about his sister Alex who, thanks to him, was now engaged to Reiner. The only other family information he offered up was that his mother had died several years ago. The brief family story was among other things, such as a vague story of his school life when he attended, how he found the shop to work at, and his art. He'd found his artistic talent when he was fairly young and actually found a tattoo machine around the age of fifteen among his mother's old belongings buried in boxes of decrepit things in their storage shed.

"Being as fascinated with needles as I was, I decided to clean it and hook it up. It worked...so I found a connection and got some ink and practiced. In the end, that led me here," he'd explained.

As they spoke, learning things about each other - sharing stories and talking for long periods of time with nothing better to do as they worked, Eren found himself to be fascinated with the short, raven-haired man in spite of his stories portraying an average, everyday American life. Though he shared a few things and left most of the talking up to Eren - who mostly talked about his friends, family, and school - there was a kind of mysterious demeanor to him. Outwardly, he accepted what Levi said and believed it, though on the inside he felt there was something missing from each story, as if Levi was working around something to keep it secret.

Learning these things did nothing to chase that tingly, stirring sensation within him that was present as Levi was away. On the contrary, it made the feeling stronger. So strong, in fact, that it was nearly overwhelming and did well to occupy his thoughts a good percentage of the time.

After class the following Friday, Eren showed up to the shop for another afternoon of packaging supplies - or so he thought. Once he arrived, he noticed Levi sitting outside against the building with a cigarette between his fingers and his head leaning back against the wall behind him. He looked just as tired as Eren felt.

"Hey," Eren greeted tiredly.

"Sup, brat?" he said, lifting his head and flicking excess ash off of his cigarette with his thumb before pulling it to his lips and taking a long drag off of it.

Eren supposed he shouldn't have been too surprised to learn Levi smoked cigarettes when he first found out. For all the teen knew, he could be on any other kind of drug. He was surprised to feel he cared about the fact that Levi was ruining his health, though. Even so, it didn't matter. They were coworkers, nothing more...

Eren hadn't forgotten the drawing, either, and had been meaning to ask the artist about it. Despite countless opportunities he got, he ended up chickening out each time. He couldn't figure out why.
Levi snuffed out the cigarette on the sidewalk before flicking it into the gutter and then pulling himself to his feet.

"Sorry for the rude greeting yesterday," he said as he led the teen inside, who was remembering Levi's sharp "shh" when he'd said hello the previous afternoon. "When I tattoo, I get into a kind of...reverie, I guess you could say." She short man headed for his personal corner of the shop. "Petra isn't in today, and Reiner will be here in about an hour. Had business to take care of, I guess, but he's probably just fucking my sister."

Eren snorted sarcastically in response as Levi started getting his things ready. "Well uh, I guess I'll be in the back."

"You can do that, or..." Levi gestured an arm in the direction of the door as the same girl he was working on yesterday walked in. "...you can watch me finish her snake."

Eren refrained from responding right away as he watched the girl approach them. He vaguely seemed to recognize her, but couldn't place who she was or where he'd seen her before.

"Well, brat," Levi sighed, already shuffling through his supplies to ready them for tattooing. "If you decide to watch, pull up a chair. If not, don't hover."

Eren couldn't help but be fascinated by Levi's offer and elected to watch, but only for a few minutes. It was only his second week there; he didn't want to start slacking off already.

Wordlessly, he pulled up a chair as Levi's expert hands routinely readied his machine. The girl attempted small-talk with him, but he never really answered. She acted as if Eren wasn't there, obviously infatuated with Levi instead. He showed no interest in her small advances and before the girl knew it, his hands were on her and tattooing.

At first, the sharp buzzing noise surprised Eren's sensitive ears and he flinched. Eventually, he became accustomed to it as he watched Levi's delicate, gloved hands create a masterpiece on the girl's thigh.

Levi hadn't lied about the reverie thing; he seemed to be in a trance-like state as he continually injected the ink into the surface of the girl's skin. Again, she seemed to have fallen asleep.

Eren was tempted to ask questions but refrained, not wanting to interrupt or mess the process up. In the end, the teen found himself watching Levi's hands themselves rather than the tattooing. The way they moved was indescribable, like they had minds of their own and knew what to do rather than Levi himself. It flowed and brought the piece together more with each stroke. The colors faded together where they varied, giving the piece depth and a more life-like appearance. He shaded and highlighted, his fingers using the machine with impeccable precision.

Before Eren knew it, he'd finished the tattoo, collected payment, and sent the girl on her way just as Reiner arrived.

"I need a smoke," Levi sighed, wiping the sweat from his forehead and then peeling the gloves from his hands and tossing them. Eren didn't miss the shaky way he sauntered out of the building, but brushed it off as it being the aftereffects of his trance-like state. The teen had his own aftereffects. Watching Levi express his insane talent had given him an entire new feeling, though no words could ever hope to describe this one.

"Sorry," Eren mumbled to Reiner and headed for the back room. "I'll get to work."

"Wait, Eren," Reiner said. Eren turned. "You watched Levi tattoo?"

"Um, yeah, why?"

"That's...kind of insane," the large blond admitted. "Levi never lets anyone watch him. I wonder what's special about you."

"Never?" Eren asked quietly.

"Nope. He's pretty much self-taught and has been doing it since he was sixteen. He's a better tattoo artist than me, but I have not once seen him let someone watch."

"That's...wow. I don't know what to say."

"I wouldn't either. But Eren, whatever you're doing...I don't know what it is, but keep doing it. I've never seen Levi respond to someone in such a way before. He's usually in his own little shell, never letting anybody in, but I can tell you bring out something different in him. He's had a pretty rough life, but you seem to shed a little light on him. Even Alex sees something of a change in him. A subtle change, at that, but a change nonetheless."

Eren could only think to nod in response. He thought back to last Monday - the first day he'd stepped foot in the tattoo shop looking for a job - when Levi had just begun the snake tattoo he'd just finished. He figured it was too soon for him to tell a difference in the man; a week really wasn't that long...though he did remember his initial impression of Levi. He'd gotten a vibe that he should steer clear of him and had been immensely surprised to find him volunteering his time to help with Eren's work. As the days went on, he realized Reiner had been right about him not being such a bad guy, but he figured that was just his views of him changing as he got to know him little by little.

If Reiner saw a change, however, who was Eren to argue? There was nothing he could say, not having known him before this supposed 'change'. If it was due to something he had said or done, he had no idea. He wasn't doing anything special to or for the man; all he knew was the strange feeling he got from him and how fascinated he was by the mysteries behind those stormy gray eyes. All he could understand was his overwhelming longing to dive into those mysteries and solve them...

Shaking himself, Eren got to work; before his thoughts could consume him, a pair of pale hands appeared, holding a box of needles out to him as he was working.

"Thanks," he mumbled, stashing it in with the rest of the supplies he'd already packed into that particular box.

The faint scent of cigarette smoke came along with the one who joined him on the floor, collecting his own things to organize for probably the thousandth time that week.

"What'd you think, Jaeger?" asked Levi after a minute of quiet - the only sound being the shuffling of boxes.

"Huh?" asked Eren stupidly.

Levi rolled his eyes. "Of watching me," he clarified.

"Oh. Um...it was fascinating," replied Eren honestly.

"That's all you have to say? Tch."

Eren thought quickly for the right words. "I don't really know...I've never seen anyone get or...give a tattoo before. It's an intricate process...and I see what you mean by getting into a reverie. How does that happen?"

"It's a kind of high for me," Levi explained. "It's almost like my hands do the thinking and the art for me while my brain watches. It's difficult to explain."

"Do you...ever get shaky the way you do when you're tattooing?" Levi shook his head once in response. "You were really young when you got into it right? And Reiner said you're self-taught...but you're really good. How long did it take you to perfect it?"

Levi half shrugged casually. "Maybe a year. I don't really remember."

Eren's jaw dropped. "That's it? Completely by yourself?"

Again he shrugged, nonchalant. "Does that surprise you?"

"A little...I mean...maybe it's just because I'm a terrible artist, but that's incredible."

"It's nothing to brag about," Levi muttered. "I'm not that good."

"I beg to differ. Reiner said you're better than even him, and I gotta say I agree."

"Hmph, please. You've never seen him tattoo before."

"Doesn't matter."

"Whatever you say..."

Another one of their long silences settled over. As Eren worked, he thought about Reiner's words and the feeling. Could they have something to do with each other? Was there a greater purpose behind this? Was he just being stupid, letting some strange attraction he seemed to have toward the tattoo artist blind him to do what was really going on? It was silly - he'd met Levi a little over a week ago, knew only a few minor, normal details about him and had no right to be thinking such thoughts of him. They were coworkers, nothing more.

'If I had a dollar for every time I thought that this week, I wouldn't need this job,' he thought to himself.

The strange part about it was even if he didn't need the job due to random dollars being thrown his way from that thought, he wouldn't quit. Not because he wanted extra money. Not because he needed to help his mom with their living situation or any other reason he could conjure up for why he had the job, but because he had this peculiar fascination, a bizarre yearning to get to know his raven-haired coworker down to the very last, tiniest detail, deeper down into everything he already knew, because he had fervent notion that there was so, so much more to Levi.

~*Levi*~ (Addict journal entry #???)

I dreamt of seafoam green eyes and chocolate brown hair last night during the few hours of sleep I managed to grab. Second night in a row. How incredibly torturous.

Tch. He really is the shitty brat I thought he was when I first laid eyes on him.

"Eren Jaeger."

What a pathetic name. What does that even mean, anyway? No, forget it, I don't even care. He has no business here, in this incredibly fucked up mind of mine.

It's been four days and he's ruining my life. Ruining the deep rut I've spent years clawing my way down into. Ruining my natural flow, injection after injection. Puff after puff. It isn't fair, but I can't say I hate the brat for it.

What business does he have, taking up my intoxicated thoughts like that? Get out, brat, get out. I don't have time for petty teenager things. You work with me and that's it. Leave my mind at once!

But you won't, will you? You just keep finding your way back and not even my monster can chase you out. No combination of syringe euphoria, nicotine high, or insulting thoughts will even allow you to fade, and I don't understand any of it in the least.

...

Oh, dear monster? You have a visitor. I tried to kick him out, but he refuses to leave. I'm sorry...there is nothing I can do.

...

He gets to me. This, too, I do not understand. He asks questions and I find myself answering before I can even think of whether I want to. He knows me better than anyone on the outside should...yet I've shared nothing of true importance. Sure, he listens. He even seems to care...though the reason for this is beyond me. Why should something as simple as that cause me to spill my answers? It's as if some unknown force within me wants him to know, wants to let someone other than my monster in, and has elected Eren Jaeger as the victim.

...

Of course I can't help but wonder what he thinks of me. It's the first I've cared what someone thought of me in an impossibly lengthy measure of time. Why do I care? Why should I care? I have no reason to care...yet I do...

...

I find myself having the strangest urges...to touch the brat, caress those incredibly soft looking cheeks of his or push his hair out of his face; - that one strand that always falls over his left eye - smooth out the concentrated frown he always has when he's working so hard he doesn't notice me staring. God, he's like hell personified, killing me in a more torturous way than the monster. At least my monster is merciful, letting me escape as it slowly drains my life away. This kid...he doesn't have the slightest clue what he does to me every time he walks in the front door of the shop with the gentle way he sways his hips, those big, oblivious, innocent eyes, those luscious lips I find myself fantasizing about much more often than I should, that smooth voice that could melt freaking chocolate... He gets to me so easily and quickly by just his presence. Talking to him is like a euphoria all on its own. He isn't extensively interesting, but I can't help but hang on every last one of the words that spill off of his tongue that I so greatly desire to taste, to feel with my own...

Dammit, Levi! What is with you?! This isn't how it should be. You're idiotically infatuated with a brat you met four days ago! Snap the fuck out of it!

Oh, but dear monster, don't you know that this is much more than simply infatuation? So very much more...