Archive of Our Own

The air is sweet with the scent of cherry blossoms and blooming lavender. The world is abuzz with bees and birds and sunshine. While Eren loves spring because it means that his work nights are shorter, he also loves seeing all the hibernating animals return. He welcomes the rain and sunshine in equal measure.

He gets ready to leave the Library a couple of hours after he closes for the day. He’s finished his rounds, bringing all the misplaced books back to their respective locations. Levi is standing at the front door waiting for him, back pressed against the wood. Eren loves his sweaters and how well they dwarf his body. Levi, for how short he is, is perfectly content wearing oversized clothes that makes him look even smaller.

“Ready?”

Eren smiles.

“Yes.”

They exit onto the street together and they’re immediately hit with a breeze of fresh air. Eren takes greedy heaves, eyes closed in contentment. He waves his hand and locks up the Library, wards in place to keep regular humans away.

Levi takes him by the hand when he’s done. “It’s a few miles. We can walk or…” He trails off.

“Or?”

Levi lifts a meaningful eyebrow and Eren gasps.

“Teleporting?”

“No.” Levi seems amused for about half a second before he turns to Eren with confusion clear on his face. “Is that something you can do?”

Eren thinks. “I’m not sure…I don’t think I can’t do it. But I’ve never tried.”

“If anyone can figure it out, it would be you.” Levi hums. “I was thinking of flying. It occurred to me that you’ve never seen my full form.”

“GASP!” Eren trips on the sidewalk in his excitement and almost brings them both down. “Yes. Show me. Please. I’ll be so good. Please let me see.”

“I suggested it, calm the fuck down.” Levi casts a cursory glance up and down the street to make sure no one sees this.

He whispers an incantation, hands firm on Eren’s neck. There’s a shimmer of magic around them and world beyond their little bubble is ever so slightly obscured. Levi checks his spell and when he’s satisfied, he gives his body a little shake.

And there he is in all his glory.

Two enormous black wings unfurl from his back, the feathers sleek and perfectly groomed. He blinks and the sclera of his eyes are black, but the irises remain their deep blue, almost grey colour. Eren reaches out and touches Levi’s horns. They protrude from his hairline, curving into gazelle-like tips. Their bases are covered in a thin layer of black fur that’s soft to the touch and Eren gets the feeling that this is an intimate moment. And he tries his best not to ruin it by speaking.

But when Levi’s tail wraps around his ankle, he jumps in surprise.

“Say something.” Levi says, his voice just a little bit strained. 
And Eren realises that he’s been staring in silence again.

“You’re beautiful.” It’s the truth. Levi is always beautiful. “Will you fuck me like this?”

Levi almost smirks, butting his horns harder into Eren’s hands as he takes a step forward. “Yeah? Fantasy not enough for you anymore?”

Eren’s face burns. “Monster fucking was always only a fantasy for me!”

“Hmm.” Levi leans in closer and presses his lips to the mark over Eren’s pulse point. “But we fuck so much.”

Feeling a little weak in the knees, Eren tightens his grip on Levi’s horns. “You’re not a monster though…”

“Oh, no?”

Levi is teasing. And it’s so unlike him. “Uhh…”

Levi turns around abruptly and Eren wavers without his support. “Hold on, little one.”

Eren has never felt bigger in his life. He very carefully drapes his arms over Levi’s shoulders and fits himself along the curve of his spine. Levi holds him firmly by the wrists.

“I’ll fuck you as soon as we get there.”

Eren keens, cock a little hard in his pants and he’s sure that Levi can feel it pressed against his back. But he doesn’t have time to think of his mortification and Levi launches into the air.

He lets out a very manly squeal and his masculinity remains intact.

Levi could fly higher, Eren is painfully aware, but Levi is also very kind to him and keeps them just above the rooves of the neighbourhoods. As they approach more of the city centre, he flies them between buildings, above traffic, and Eren watches the ebb and flow of human society. He’s jealous of them, that they get to interact with each other and get to do human things like take the bus and worry about their utility bills. But they are also completely oblivious to the creatures living among them, weaving magic to remain hidden. And Eren is caught between both worlds.

Pressed against Levi, he thinks of Kiyomi. Sad, lost boy. That’s what she thought of him. Is that what she meant by that?

He clings harder to Levi and presses his nose to the space behind his ear and breathes him in. His scent is comforting and warm and Eren calms himself down.

He’s never been in the air before. Not even to travel as a human. And that, combined with his new literal perspective on humanity, has brought forward a lot of unexpected anxieties.

Eren thinks that maybe he now has a newfound fear of heights that he’s never thought of before. And also an acute yearning to be able to go places. The farther he’s been is Trost the next state over. Not that there’s anything wrong with Shiganshina, but he feels that maybe he’s exhausted how much he can learn about this little city. He was born here, grew up here, watched it change and grow and shrink and ebb like any other city. But the city knows him. And he’d like to be a stranger somewhere.

The city thins out as they fly south and soon it’s just forest.

Levi angles them up above the treeline and then down through a clearing. His stomach does something weird, like it’s trying to vacate his body very violently and very suddenly. He tries to focus on literally anything else.

The leaves of the maple and elm trees are bright green with new growth and sunlight passes through them in lazy rays that illuminate the clearing just enough. The forest floor is mossy and soft to stand on when Eren flops boneless from Levi’s back.

His legs are useless, and he immediately collapses.

“Hoh, my god.” He groans.

Levi is standing above him, back to his usual human form. “Thank you for not throwing up on me.”

“That was never a concern.” Eren says. “I haven’t eaten in hours.”

“Why not?”

Eren rolls on to his back. “I try not to eat while working. Seems rude.”

Levi is glaring at him. “Get up. I’m gonna fucking feed you.”

“I thought we were gonna bang.”

“Not until after you eat. And you’ll fucking thank me for it.”

“Thank you, Levi. You’re so pretty and nice to me, Levi.” Eren stands, a little unsteadily.

“You can thank me by taking better care of yourself. Jesus fuck.”

He stalks off into the forest, not bothering to check and see if Eren is following or not. Of course, he is. If he was just left there, it would take him, admittedly, a very long time to figure out which way north is. They say moss grows on the west side of trees, but these trees have moss all over them. What does any of it mean?

As a Librarian, Eren has a great many knowledge of a lot of things, moss being one of them. But all that he knows is theoretical and has few opportunities to put it into actual practise. And now, it seems, that maybe he should have read up a bit more. When he gets back home, he’ll read more human books.

Eren wasn’t sure what he was thinking when Levi said that he lived in a house in the woods, but in hindsight, it should have been exactly this. Levi’s cottage is the most Pinterest ass cottage core fucking thing he’s ever seen in his life. It’s white stucco with dark grey shingles and matching shutters. It’s two storeys with English Ivy crawling up the trellises against the sides.

Leading to the front door is a weather worn bridge that crosses over a creek. And while the sun shines through the trees, making this place look fucking magical, Levi had set up floating orbs to light the way.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Eren blurts.

“No.”

Levi opens the gate and leads him up the cobblestones of the bridge and through his garden.

A garden. Levi has a garden.

Eren stares at the plants and sees climate sigils carved into the wood of each bed. Some are tropical, others are arid, and Eren wants to look at all of them.

Inside is perfectly clean. And Eren immediately removes his shoes when Levi does.

Lining the walls of the living room are filled bookshelves and the Library has all the ones that Eren can see. It’s a cosy space. All pale wood and greenery. Levi seems to love plants; they’re tucked between books and on top of shelves and in windows.

“You live here?”

Levi hums, moving into his kitchen. There are herbs in old cans and jars, their roots pale yellow and flourishing.

There doesn’t seem to be electricity in Levi’s little home, but he’s lived a long time. And while Levi enjoys a lot of modern comforts, there are some, it seems, that he can live without. Eren is similar. They could both have smart phones, but neither of them does. Eren’s doesn’t have one because he doesn’t have any friends. Levi doesn’t have one for reasons unknown.

Eren follows him into the kitchen and balks at the sheer aesthetic of it. The counters are all butcher block, the cabinets all a phthalo green, the walls a white brick. It’s warm and tastefully done.

“It’s like a hobbit hole, Levi.”

Levi pauses in washing his hands and turns a glare to Eren. “I swear if that’s a fucking short joke, I’m gonna fuck you up.”

Eren blinks and then laughs. And because he has no sense of self-preservation, says, “ha, you are short.” Honestly, he was thinking that Bilbo Baggins’ home looks pretty similar to this, except Levi’s home has a lot more natural light and a lot less mess.

Levi finishes washing his hands, notably, a full twenty seconds, and turns to Eren. “On your knees, boy.”

A shiver runs down Eren’s spine. “In the kitchen? Again? Isn’t that a little unsanitary?” He says that and yet he’s already hard in his pants, his dick pressing against his zipper in the most agonising way.

Levi stalks up to Eren and grabs a rough handful of his hair and yanks his head back. “Only if you’re messy.”

He pulls down and Eren falls to his knees. From this position, Levi is taller than him, but he wouldn’t dare say so. With his free hand, Levi unzips his jeans and pushes them down just enough to pulls his cock out. His sweater gets in the way and it’s fucking cute the way the tip pokes out below the knit.

Eren whines, suddenly very desperate to have Levi’s cock in his mouth.

“You’re being punished.” Levi reminds him, tugging him roughly away from his cock. “Hands behind your back.”

Eren licks his lips and very obediently intertwines his fingers behind his back.

Levi rubs the head of his cock between his thumb and forefinger, catching precum and spreading it along his length. Eren can smell his arousal, pungent in the air, and it makes his mouth water. He wants Levi’s cum in his mouth so bad, wants to taste it in the back of his throat.

“Fuck my mouth, please, Levi, please, sir. I want it, I wanna feel you.” Eren babbles, straining his neck against Levi’s hold.

“Weren’t you just complaining about cleanliness?” Levi sounds conversational even as he starts fucking his hand, the tip of his cock just barely brushing against Eren’s lips with every thrust. “You changed your mind so quickly.”

Eren sticks out his tongue on one of Levi’s thrusts and just barely catches a drop of precum. Levi moans quietly and makes a sound of astonishment. “You’re so fucking naughty, Eren.” He glowers down at him. “I was gonna fuck you, but you’ve proven that you can’t be trusted to behave. You’re a bad boy.”

“No!” Eren protests. “No, I’m good, see? I’m so good.” He feels tears of frustration build in his eyes as he stops struggling. “Please, sir.”

Levi clenches his jaw and rubs the head of his cock against Eren’s lips. “Take what you’re given, brat.”

Eren opens up as Levi pushes in, his jaw stretching to accommodate his girth and his throat relaxing to accept his length. He takes slow, measured breaths as Levi fucks into him in languid but firm thrusts. Each pass hits him in the back of his throat and he moans in relief, tears stinging his eyes.

“Fuck, that’s right, take my cock, Eren.” Levi moans above him, his grip on his hair loosening until he’s petting the strands gently. “You’re always so good for me, taking me so well.” He pushes in harder and Eren gags, but resolutely keeps his eyes on Levi’s face, hands squeezing together behind him.

“You wanted this.” Levi hisses. “You begged for it.”

Eren’s erection throbs in his pants and he shifts just a little bit to get some amount of relief, but he can’t and it’s agony. He wants Levi to take him apart, to fill all of his holes until he’s leaking from both ends with his spend.

Levi speeds up, fucking down Eren’s throat harder and it feels so good. Eren is losing himself, his jaw is slack, and his head is wonderfully blank. All he can think of is Levi, Levi Levi.

When Levi does cum, he holds Eren’s face tight to his pelvis, keeping his nose buried in his neatly trimmed pubic hair.

Eren swallows and swallows, groaning and whimpering at the taste. It tastes so good. Like Levi’s smell but about ten times more intense. He holds the last of it in his mouth just to have it there and feels it slide against his tongue and fill the gaps between Levi’s cock and his cheeks.

“That’s my good boy.” Levi murmurs.

When he’s released, Eren pulls back slowly, licking at Levi’s length until it’s fully cleaned off. He keeps his hands behind his back like he was told to. He looks up at Levi, feeling dazed.

“Oh, a little throat fucking was enough to send you to subspace, huh?” Levi mocks. “I bet you probably want me to fuck you now.”

Eren moans loudly when Levi drops to a knee in front of him and pushes a hip between Eren’s thighs right up against his cock.

“You’re so hard, Eren. I bet it wouldn’t take much to make you cum.” Eren shakes his head. “I bet you wouldn’t even mind cumming in your pants.” Levi mouths kisses down his throat and sinks his teeth into his healed mating mark.

Eren tilts his head back and pushes up hard into Levi’s hip when he cums. He slumps forward, forehead falling onto Levi’s shoulder, and he gasps out breaths.

“Oh, my stars, Levi.”

“You’re filthy.” Levi mumbles pressing affection kisses up and down Eren’s jaw and neck and cheek. “Dirty, disgusting boy. Revolting, gross, gross—”

“Geez, I get it. I’ll shower.” Eren says that, but he can’t help but laugh breathlessly into the knit of Levi’s sweater. “You’re the one who made me gross.”

“Yeah,” Levi says, sounding way too pleased with himself, “I am.”

They stay there, kneeling on the floor, Levi running his hands affectionately through Eren’s hair, for a few minutes before the discomfort of cold, drying cum gets to be too much. Eren kisses Levi’s forehead as he stands and pops his back.

“Do you think we’ll ever have sex in a bed?”

To Eren’s immense surprise, Levi pulls a disgusted face. “Not if I can help it.”

“What? Why not?”

Levi stands too. “It’s so wet and messy and changing the sheets takes a lot more time than just wiping up the floor.”

Eren blinks. “We have magic, Levi.”

“I know.”

“We can just…magic things clean again.”

“It doesn’t feel as clean that way.” Levi moves out of the kitchen and towards the bathroom.

“It’s as clean as you want it to be.” Eren argues, very clearly not okay with this line of thought.

Levi turns towards him and clenches his jaw in clear distress. “It is important to me that things are cleaned without magic.”

Eren should have dropped this a while ago. Shouldn’t have pushed because he understands now in startling clarity that Levi has some sort of mental barrier around cleanliness. Eren thinks about all of their time together. How Levi slathers his hands in isopropanol jelly after he touches a book. The way he looks at chairs before sitting in them. How he avoids doing anything before washing his hands. Eren should have noticed a long time ago, didn't, should have. As it stands, he nods sagely like he didn’t just have an epiphany about Levi and sanitation.

They have showered together before. But it’s only now that Eren notices that Levi cleans him with a single-mindedness that probably should have been a little concerning. He gets between his fingers and behind his ears and inside of his butthole. It isn’t sexy at all, but it does feel very nice. And, as usual, Eren feels very clean afterwards, and even more so because he smells like Levi. Or, more accurately, a little less like himself and a little more like Levi.

Levi cleans himself too and washes his hair. Eren loves seeing him like this. A little less put together, a little softer.

Eren smiles under the hot spray of water and presses gentle kisses along Levi’s forehead and cheeks. He only grumbles a little bit about it and tilts his head up to catch Eren’s lips in a kiss.

Later, in the kitchen, Levi is making congee and Eren is reading one of Levi’s many books.

“I’d like to see if you can teleport one day.” Levi says offhandedly as he continues to stir.

Eren hums. “I’d like to try in a place where I can’t hurt anything.”

“There’s a place nearby that you can try in.”

Eren frowns. “But what if I hurt you?”

Levi’s stirring pauses and resumes fast enough that Eren almost misses it. “You won’t hurt me.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do.”

Levi ladles the congee into a bowl and then cracks an egg into it. They sit in Levi’s dining room, knees pressed against each other under the table. It’s delicious, because of course it is, and Eren takes smaller bites that cool off faster.

Sitting next to each other, when Levi is done eating, he regards Eren carefully. "Whenever you do magic, when there's a risk, it's always on you. You're careful to keep others out of it. Lowering the temperature of a room is inconsequential and you recognise that. But nothing you do, whether you've realised it or not, is ever harmful to anyone else."

Eren loves Levi. He’s a short incubus with an even shorter temper. He lives in a perfect cottage in the woods and keeps bees, apparently, and has sigils carved into the raised beds of his garden and how could Eren not fall in love? Everything that they do together is done in companionable comfort. And Levi has noticed so many things about him that he's never even given a second thought to. The closest he's ever gotten to harming someone was Reiner when he removed that curse. But that was...

"I can't believe I never noticed." He admits.

Levi shrugs. "I figured not. Fucking idiot." He kisses Eren shortly on the cheek as he stands and brings their dishes back to the kitchen.

It’s well into sleeping time, but the Library is closed tonight. Happy Thursday.

Levi cleans their dishes by hand and sets them in a rack to dry. The leftovers are put into the icebox and Eren notes that there’s another climate sigil here to maintain the perfect cold temperature for leftovers.

“Come, boy.”

“Bark bark.” Eren rolls his eyes, but obediently follows Levi outside of his cottage.

“You’re such a good boy, puppy. Maybe if you do well, I’ll give you a little treat later.”

Levi’s tone is mocking, but it still manages to get Eren feeling a little hot and bothered. They just did sexy times things, Eren can wait another hour or two to get railed. And maybe after their little experiment together, he won’t even have the energy.

The meadow is beautiful when they arrive. Full of late morning sunshine and blooming wildflowers. The breeze is light and smells clean. And Eren is ready to mess it all up.

“Eren.” Levi stands a few feet away from him. “Try teleporting.”

Eren thinks about teleporting. He’s looking Levi who’s looking right back at him. This might be really stupid. But that’s never stopped him before.

He takes a deep breath and conjures his magic and thinks about what it would take to teleport. Kind of like a rubber band. He folds space on itself and snaps it back to its original position, but brings himself with it. It’s accompanied by a loud pop and he’s across the empty meadow, several metres away from Levi.

Levi’s eyes are wide, but it’s hard to see his expression fully from this distance.

Eren bends space again, drawing energy from the hidden space between corporeal and incorporeal and lands himself right in front of Levi. A wave of nausea passes over him. He hadn’t drawn enough energy and he finds himself falling backwards, swallowing down his sick.

Levi is kneeling at his side, pushing his hair from his sweaty forehead. “How did you do that?”

“Origami.” Eren says and regrets opening his mouth. The back of his throat tastes like bile and he groans. Whatever he just did was too much. It was too much.

There’s a weird thought about moving energy from the world around him to make him feel less sick, but that seems counterproductive, so he does not try.

Eren takes slow, measured, steady breaths to recalibrate his body. Is it dizziness? Or is it vertigo? Someone described the difference to him once as, “either he’s moving or the world is”. And right now, the world is moving, but he can’t remember which one is which. And thinking this hard about something this silly is not helping. The sky is tilting slowly and Eren wonders suddenly if he could force the earth to tilt on its axis.

He will not be trying today. Or probably any day ever. There doesn't seem to be a real reason for that.

Levi is running his hands through Eren’s hair soothingly.

“Origami?” Levi asks when a good amount of time has passed and Eren’s head feels firmly attached to his body again.

“Yeah,” he nods and tries sitting up. “I was thinking about how rubber bands snap and how that one movie I hate, Interstellar, mentioned that wormholes are like folded space. So I thought what if I folded space just for a second? And…well. I did it.” He pumps a lazy fist in the air. “I don’t know if I recommend it though. I feel like shit.”

“Well, you look beautiful.” Levi deadpans.

“I wanna try again, but…I might do something stupid.”

Levi’s jaw works. “Please do something stupid.”

Eren knows what that look means.

The sun is shining and the spring air is warm and perfumed with cherry blossoms and fresh leaf growth. And the sun is shining. The sun is shining.

Eren thinks about photons and atoms and teleportation and phase states and valence electrons and teleports again.

The pop is louder this time, more of a small explosion and he looks at the space he once occupied next to Levi and sees the void for the briefest moment before everything is righted again. Eren is much less exhausted this time around, but the implication that stealing energy on an atomic level means ripping the fabric of space is enough to make his jaw drop.

Levi is staring at where the void was, eyes wide.

It isn’t very often that Levi looks surprised. Or has an expression at all, really. And Eren braces himself for the blowout.

Levi stalks across the field, all sixty-three inches of him in a mass of fury. Eren watches, rooted to his spot and Levi grabs him by the collar of his shirt and yanks him down to his level.

“Stop fucking with the void, you fucking idiot.” The words are harsh and the following kiss is even harsher. It lasts only a moment before Levi is shoving him backwards and Eren has to catch himself before he falls over. “The void is meant to be left alone.”

Eren isn’t sure what the problem is. “I think it’s fine. It’s fine now.”

Levi closes his eyes. “It is physical agony to speak to you sometimes. No, dumb shit, it’s not fine.”

Levi claws through space and a window to the void opens. It’s different from Eren’s in that there is a physical barrier between the void and here. But inside, there is…something moving. It shimmers and moves just enough that Eren strains his eyes to see it clearer. A shift in the infinite blackness. It turns towards the window and then eyes, deep and fathomless and innumerable, blink at Eren. Too many mouths with too many teeth open and the maws are all connected, replaying over and over and over as it gets closer and closer.

A sound, at first soft, and then as soon as it’s registered, deafening, pierces through the air. The world shakes with it, the ground is rumbling and Eren can feel it between all of his molecules. And Levi slams the window shut.

Slowly.

Slowly.

Slowly.

The sound of birds returns, the soft swish of wind, the trill of insects.

Eren is stuck to the ground, unable to form a thought, or breathe, or blink, or feel.

His mind replays, over and over, the teeth and the eyes. The sound it made that he will never forget, but is already unable to replay in his head. It screams through his body, shaking his bones.

Levi holds him by the cheeks. “Look at me, little one.”

Eren blinks, finally, and looks at Levi. And Eren can see him, for once, in startlingly clarity. Levi has a light splattering of freckles over his pale cheeks. And in those beautiful bluish, greyish eyes, dark flecks in the irises. His lips are ever so slightly chapped. And Eren sees, for the first time, imperfections. A light scar on his cheek bone. Pores on his nose. Dark bags beneath his eyes.

He blinks again, and Levi looks flawless as usual. All those things are still there, but all on one face, they look like they have always belonged there, but just for the briefest moment, they had looked wrong. And thinking of Levi that way makes his stomach clench.

“Levi.”

“Thank fuck.” Levi lets him go. “You were fucking catatonic, boy.”

“What the fuck was that?” Eren is back in his body. His legs move and he stumbles back a step.

He feels the way the soil yields beneath his steps. He smells the hot dust of the sun. He hears his own ragged breath. He is human and alive.

Levi looks back at where he opened the window to the void. “That was a primordial being.” He takes Eren by the hand and leads him back to his cottage.

“A what? From what? What?” Eren cannot think properly and allows himself to be taken home. “What?”

Levi looks up at him, lips pulled into a thoughtful frown. “Let me tell you a story.”

&&&

14 billion years ago, the universe was created, invented, chosen, breathed into, exploded. However, it came to be, it came to be circa 14 billion years ago. In an instant, space expanded into the void, pushing back the boundaries of What Is into the non-existent space of What Isn’t.

Between all of the random chaos of the first few billion years, life happened. A few elements combined into molecules grouped into cells evolved into beings. They were the first. The primordials. Mistaken for Gods and Monsters by humanity billions of years later. Beings with too many eyes and too many wings, designed into shapes foreign to earth.

Magic has been around as long as the universe. And it became a tool with the dawn of civilisation.

Humans, with their hatred and short-sightedness saw the primordials as threats. Witches gathered and with powers of hundreds combined, opened a door to the void to cast away those that scared them. It took many to open the void, rip open a portal to a location billions of trillions of miles away. The witches that cast them away perished once their task was done, drained of life and power, leaving behind a wasteland of decay.

And several thousand years into the future, a young boy opens and closes that door as easily as any other fucking door.

&&&

Eren swallows.

“So…what I’m hearing…is that they’re harmless.” He says.

“I’m gonna fucking kill you.” Levi sighs.

They’re back in Levi’s cottage, sitting on his enormous couch. And while there’s all this space that they could be stretched out on, Eren is pressed firmly to Levi’s side. Whatever he had seen in the void, he does not want to see again and it has left him shaken.

Levi allows Eren to be as clingy as he wants to be, a loose arm around his shoulders, his other hand protective on his thigh. Eren is…uncomfortably perched in Levi’s lap, his head shoved under his chin, legs over Levi’s. It’s not comfortable for either of them, but Levi doesn’t seem bothered.

“Do not give into temptation of interacting with the primordials, Eren. We don’t know anything about them. Every time you open a portal to the void, they get closer and closer. And one day, you’ll open the void, and one of them will burst through. And who knows what that means for us.”

Eren nods slowly. “Okay…I…I’ll stop opening the void.”

Levi presses his nose into Eren’s hair. “Good boy.”

Eren has a lot to think about. He had never seen into the void before, never even noticed that there were things lurking in there. Though, to be fair to himself, he’s only opened a portal to the void a handful of times. Hardly any time at all.

“Wait…” Eren is thinking really hard right now. “You…opened a window to the void, isn’t that exhausting too?”

Levi huffs. “Yeah.”

“You did it anyways.”

“Insert something here about proving a point to you.”

Eren doesn’t really appreciate that. “You don’t have to hurt yourself to prove something to me.”

Levi tilts his head to the side, his fringe falling over his eyes. “I don’t. But you seem to be a pragmatist.”

There really isn’t anything to say to that. It’s true. Eren isn’t the best at listening…

So instead he says:

“Teleporting is exhausting too.” Eren says.

“And it’s way past your bedtime, little one.” A pause. “Almost two pm.”

Eren stifles a yawn. “Yeah, but I don’t work tonight, thanks to you.”

“Hmm.”

“I love you, Levi.”

Levi’s arms tighten around him. “I love you.”

&&&

It’s still light outside, thank fucking god.

“A-ah, Levi~” Eren drops his head back onto the desk as Levi pounds into him.

The first load of Levi’s cum is already dripping out of his hole and down to the woodgrain and Eren can hear the wet squelching noises echo through the foyer.

“Fuck.” Levi breathes, bringing up a knee to push himself even deeper into Eren. “You’re always so fucking tight.” He drags his teeth down Eren’s neck, sucking and nibbling his way down the sensitive skin.

Getting fucked by Levi always feels so good. Eren can feel his walls twitching around the cock inside of him, sucking him in. And Levi always cums in him at least twice when they couple.

“I could fuck you here all day until people start arriving.”

“Oh, stars, Levi.”

“Yeah, bet you’d love to let people watch as I wreck this perky little ass of yours.” Levi kisses him, wet and sloppy, teeth nibbling as his bottom lip. “You’re nothing but an omega bitch for me to use and breed.”

Eren shouts desperately towards the ceiling, his voice loud in the open space. Levi groans, slamming himself in harder, until he tenses, cumming hard into Eren’s hole. Eren can feel him pulsing with each spurt of cum that smothers his inside. He moans, locking his ankles around Levi’s back to keep his cum stuffed up in him.

And it does not take long for Levi to start driving into him again. “You like my cum, Eren? Want me to fill you with my pups?”

“Where are you getting this from?” Eren cries, pulling Levi by the hair and dragging him towards the mark on his neck.

“I found your porn, you little slut.” Levi hisses, dragging his teeth down Eren’s throat. “And someone wants to be bred.”

Holy fucking hell.

Eren can’t help that his legs spread to give Levi even more space. His head lolls to the side and he lets himself be taken. In the front of the Library, where anyone could see them.

“Want you to fuck me in my sleep, Levi.” Eren admits and moans louder when the cock stuffing him up throbs.

“Fuck me.” Levi mutters under his breath. “Yeah? Want me to take you while you’re weak and defenceless? Just a little human fleshlight for my pleasure?”

“Yes, yes, please. Fuck, Levi.” Eren reaches down to stroke himself to completion, and for the first time, Levi lets him.

Eren bites down on the sleeve of his sweater to muffle his desperate keens as his orgasm rushes through him, cum splattering across his chest and tummy. Some splatters on his neck and Levi immediately latches his lips and licks it away.

“I’m gonna fucking ruin you, boy.”

“Fuck, yes, Levi!” Eren moans as he’s pushed into oversensitivity. “I’m gonna get a clone-a-willy of your dick and keep it in me all the time.”

Levi covers his mouth to stop him from speaking and rams into him. The desk shakes and creaks and Eren mindlessly casts a quick spell to keep it from shattering below them.

“Love your tight cunt, Eren.” Levi’s thrusts are getting sloppy and erratic and suddenly he stills, stuffing his cock as deep into Eren as he can get as he cums, spurting hot seed into his throbbing channel. “Fuck, Eren, you feel so fucking good.”

His hips twitch a couple more times until he slumps over Eren, smearing cum between their bodies.

Eren makes muffled noises behind Levi’s hand.

“No, you aren’t allowed to speak yet.” Levi mutters. “Because what the fuck was that?”

More muffled protests.

“You wanna make a replica of my dick? Fuckin’ weirdo, I can just keep you stuffed all I want.”

Eren is trying to pull Levi’s hand away from his mouth because he has things to say.

With a chuckle, Levi does drop his hand.

“I thought it was sexy!” Eren immediately says. “Like I can’t live without your peepee in me.”

“I—” Levi shakes his head and pulls of and out of Eren with a disgusted little look on his face. “Your post-coital pillow talk needs some fucking work, kid. Don’t you read a lot of smut?”

“Yes.” Eren says with certainty.

Levi closes his eyes as he waves his hand to clean himself of all of their juices before tucking himself into his slacks. Eren wants to keep it to keep seeping out of him slowly. He likes it in there for as long as he can.

“I want you to know that reading smut does not translate to me being able to dirty talk well.” Eren stretches back on his desk, limbs akimbo. And when he looks up, he isn’t surprised to find Levi’s eyes on him, hot and lustful. “I’m sore.” Eren says before Levi can pull his pants down again.

“Let’s go shower.” Levi says instead, grabbing Eren by the wrist and pulling him over his shoulder with a grunt.

Eren yelps and immediately starts laughing. He’s too tall to be held like this and Levi is much smaller than him, but like this, Eren does not feel big like he normally does.

They shower. Have sex again. And then sleep.

Levi leaves Eren at his desk, presumably to spend some time to himself.

A creature comes to Eren just passed Witching Hour. A huli jing, partially in human form, fox ears peeking out from silky black locks, and nine tails swishing curiously behind him.

“Excuse me.” The creature says. “Someone said that you would be able to help me. They said you break curses?”

Eren blinks and sets his book restoration supplies to the side. “This is true. Please tell me what happened…”

The fox spirit bows. “This one is called Bai Lu.”

Eren stands and bows back. “I am called Eren Jaeger.”

“It seems I am…missing memories? I have a mate without any recollection of having met her. She said we met two years ago…but I…don’t remember.”

Curious. “Would you mind if I touched you?”

Bai Lu shakes his head.

Eren comes around his desk and places a hand on Bai Lu’s shoulder. This is Eren’s first memory curse and after seeing some things that maybe shouldn’t have been seen, he pulls his hand back.

“Could you think of a time closest to where you think you lost your memories? I might…get a little too much information otherwise.”

“Indeed.”

Eren places both of his hand on the shoulders of Bai Lu’s guanfu and closes his eyes.

The memory is more clearly defined than the quick swathes of memories that he was getting before.

A Library.

The Trost Branch Library for the Creatures of Darkness.

Eren has only been here once with the Head of the Foundation before he took over for his mother. But it explains why Eren doesn’t remember meeting him if he’s been frequenting a different Library.

The scene skips and Eren is watching as Bai Lu meets his mate. There is confusion loud in his thoughts. And at first, there’s annoyed affection on his mate’s face. She is smiling, but it’s strained. And slowly, her expression becomes more and more desperate.

And then loudly, “You have to remember me!”

There are tears streaming down her face, one hand gipping the stitching of her hanfu, the other hand covering her mouth as she pleas for him to remember.

“Go see the Cursebreaker of Shiganshina.” She says and the scene shifts again.

Eren sees his own face scrunched in concentration as he works on his books. But there’s something he sees in this moment that he didn’t think he would ever be able to see under any other circumstance.

His lips are pulled into a frown as he draws a sigil into the cover of a book to protect it from damage. A frown while he’s doing something that he loves. Eren loves restoring books and casting magic, but he looks anything but happy from this angle. His eyes are downcast and distant.

But he only sees himself for a moment until Bai Lu introduces himself. And Eren sees his own face smiling up at him, all signs of sadness gone.

Sad, lost boy.

That’s what Kiyomi had thought of him.

Is this how people see him? Is this how Levi sees him?

It doesn’t matter right now.

Fuck.

Eren never gets distracted while breaking curses.

He goes back to the memory of Trost. It feels more distant, a little dreamy. It feels like years ago.

And then a skip to meeting his mate.

There’s a hole.

Eren can’t think of a clever metaphor for memory to help him through this. His own thoughts are jumbled and he hates that he can’t concentrate fully.

He pulls his hands back from Bai Lu and takes a breath. “I’m sorry, would you mind if I thought on it for a bit?”

Bai Lu shakes his head. “I can return tomorrow night.”

Eren shakes his head. “No, I’ll only need a couple of hours. I’ll come find you.”

He thinks he needs to collect himself. Some curses he can figure out in his sleep. Memory is fragile, he knows this. He has a pretty good memory, but he still finds his recall is less than perfect. He thinks of how he saw Levi earlier that night. Is Levi wearing a sweater? If so, what colour? Levi likes earth tones. Eren thinks Levi is wearing a green sweater.

He stands from his desk a few minutes after Bai Lu has left and goes in search of Levi. He holds his arm out straight in front of him and draws an oval in the air. A hazy portal opens that shows Levi. Levi doesn’t stray too far in the Library. But tonight, he’s found on the third floor and he starts as though he’s noticed that he’s being watched and he looks at where the portal is and scowls.

“Are you fucking spying on me?”

Eren blinks. “You can see me?”

“I cannot stress this enough: yes.”

Eren smiles. Even without meaning to, Levi can still cheer him up. “I’ll be up in a sec.”

He leaves his desk and runs up the stairs. And has the brief thought that he should install an elevator or something. This isn’t a very accessible Library.

“You called me dry. To Kiyomi, who called me sad.” Eren says in lieu of greeting after he climbs all of the stairs.

Levi tilts his head to the side. “Sad?”

“And lost.”

Levi’s jaw visibly clenches. “She said that to you? When?”

Eren shakes his head. “No, I heard her think it. When I could read minds. She called me a sad, lost boy. And you called me dry. And I look sad.” Words are coming out of him as he thinks them and feels like he’s so close to figuring something out, but it also feels so far away. “Why did you call me dry?”

Levi stays quiet a moment and then pats the couch cushion next to him. “Eren. Somehow, and I’m not sure how, but you didn’t notice that I was the only person whose mind you couldn’t read.”

Eren blinks and thinks back. And, holy shit, it’s true. He touched Levi a lot that night and didn’t hear a single one of his thoughts. “Why not?”

“It’s too telling. But I think it’s a good time now.” Levi sets his books off to the side and turns his entire body to look at Eren straight on. “Would you like to know?”

“Why can’t you just say it?”

“Nuance.”

Eren thinks of what it was like to read minds and wonders if it’s something he wants to experience again. “Okay.”

Levi nods and leans forward, pressing his lips lightly against Eren’s throat. He speaks soft words and when he’s done, it feels like nothing has changed. Levi's magic has always been soft and difficult to feel.

But Levi takes his hand and Eren can hear his thoughts and feels his feelings and there is so much there. Levi doesn’t show much, doesn’t say much, but in the sanctuary of his mind, Eren knows everything. All the loss and pain and love and fear and confusion and Eren pulls his hand away at the intensity of it.

Levi looks down and Eren sees clearly, for the first time, that that is shame.

“No, I’m sorry.” Eren babbles. “It’s not—I just wasn’t expecting…so much. Not that I don’t think that you’d feel that much, but I just think that you know, you’re so calm and collected all the time, I guess I expected—”

“Eren, it’s okay.” Levi swallow and holds his hand out in invitation.

With a steadying breath, Eren nods once and takes Levi’s hand.

The swirl of emotions is back and Eren is prepared for it this time.

Le coup de foudre. A thought that repeats quietly in the backdrop of Levi’s mind that Eren cannot help but latch onto. Listening a little closer, it feels like love: pure and bewildered as love usually is.

Levi is…lonely, struck by loss and solitude.

And he sees himself as Levi recalls memories of the two of them together. Levi sees him as charming and beautiful and sometimes idiotic, but so fondly as idiotic. He thinks that Eren doesn’t give himself enough credit and hates that about him. Hates that Eren hasn’t realised how much he means to all of the creatures, most of all Levi.

He sees Levi attempting magic that Eren can do without thinking and failing. And Eren sees that Levi is hindered by the rules that he was taught, but he’s so powerful and has so much potential. And Eren can feel it beneath his fingertips and he can only imagine what Levi would be capable of if he knew that rules for magic were merely guidelines. Levi would be unstoppable.

But Eren is sad.

Levi shows him casting spells and concentrating on breaking curses. And Eren gets that same soft look on his face like he’s lost a part of himself for a moment. He does look lost and uncertain and so fucking sad.

Eren pulls away and looks at Levi.

“You think I’m lonely?” Eren asks.

“Very.”

It’s true that Eren doesn’t have any friends. Has patrons of the Library that he cares about but does not see outside of work hours. And if they do see each other in public, it’s an unspoken rule to not acknowledge each other. It almost feels like a metaphor for queerness.

“You love me.”

“So much.” Levi confirms.

Eren leans forward and kisses him, because what else can he do?

Levi kisses back and thoughts flood his mind. And it’s obvious that Levi loves him with his whole heart and Eren thinks he’s a fool for having never noticed to what extent before.

"Dry..." Eren hazards.

"Insert something about your well of magic." Levi doesn't seem like he wants to elaborate.

Eren snuggles more into him and takes careful measured breaths as they hold each other for a while.

Levi has thousands of years of memories. A backstory that Eren has never asked about. Rules that he's learned from his mother are difficult to break, but he wants nothing more than to see past Levi's walls and know everything about him.

“I don’t know what I’d do if you forgot me.” Eren says.

“I never could.” Levi replies.

Eren glances back towards the stairwell leading downstairs. “I have a memory curse to work out. He’s missing a few years of memories.”

Levi takes a moment to remove mind reading from Eren.

“How many years?”

“TBD.” Eren says and presses his face into Levi’s neck and breathes him in. He smells so nice and Eren knows that he smells like Levi’s now.

Levi hums. “I have a theory.”

“Oh?”

“The late fee.”

Eren stiffens.

The late fee. Three years.

“Holy shit.”

Eren stands up and looks at Levi. A fucking genius, that’s what Levi is.

“Thank you, I’m sorry for interrupting your me-time.” Eren says as he turns and runs down the stairs again.

This section of the Library is empty; most creatures tend to enjoy the lower levels where it’s a little more lively. Except for the witches who spend all of their time in the belltower.

Eren stops at the top of the second floor and looks at his desk. And he thinks about teleporting again. Except he thinks of it differently this time. Instead of space folding, what if he treated it as more of an accordion?

Eren takes a step and compresses the space around him. For a flicker of an instant, he feels larger than he’s ever felt. But he’s at his desk when his step is complete.

And he takes a deep breath. He took that energy from himself and he feels the exhaustion in his bones, but it feels like less than the way he did it last time. But he falls back into his seat and lights a candle to help replenish his energy.

Because memory is fragile, the only thing he can practise on is himself. Or…something and not someone.

He touches his desk and thinks about its thoughts and feelings. For a moment, he feels very silly. But then he feels it. It’s faint and not nearly as obvious as a living creature. But the desk has memory. More like echoes of memory, but it’s enough to work with.

Eren swims through the murk, trying to find a good memory to resurface. There are countless memories of the feeling of books strewn across the woodgrain. Memories of Eren resting his head before the Library opens. And one very prominent memory of Eren getting fucked mercilessly on this very desk just a few hours ago.

Eren blushes and wonders if he properly cleaned this desk.

He did.

Thank god.

But maybe it’s a memory that he’d like to erase from his desk.

He first has to figure out how to isolate the memory.

Eren draws a circle around it and it streams to the forefront. Step one, check.

Step two: ???

Step three: PROFIT

Eren shakes his head and actually thinks about what step two would be. Probably should be something like putting the memory somewhere else? Or cover it with a veil? Or…in a box?

This isn’t about guesswork. This is what the Library would do.

So he asks the Library.

Help me forget.

And a magic that feels so familiar to him seeps into him and it feels so much like home, he can barely breathe with the nostalgia of it. It feels like his mother. It feels like him. It feels like a place he’s yearned for his entire life.

And the memory shimmers.

A matches the backdrop of everything else around it. Simply invisible. Eren only knows it’s still there because he was looking at it. He reaches out and feels something just a tad before it yields and he goes through it.

Thank you.

Eren understands.

And he pulls back from the desk.

It’s time.

He takes a deep breath and goes to find Bai Lu. Since his previous method of spying is actually very obvious, Eren decides to walk. It doesn’t take long, he finds Bai Lu sitting in an alcove overlooking the gardens. He looks up when he hears Eren approach.

“Librarian.”

“Bai Lu.” Eren smiles. “I think I’ve got it.” He takes a tentative step forward. “Can I touch you?”

“You may.”

Eren nods to himself and places his hands on Bai Lu’s shoulders. And he looks into that memory of Trost again. It feels just as dreamy as before. And he moves backwards.

And there’s the slightest feeling of something there before it yields. And, like popping a bubble, Eren brings the memories back to clarity.

Bai Lu shudders underneath him.

And he pulls away.

There is silence in the Library again.

“I remember.” Bai Lu breathes. He looks at Eren with wide eyes, his fox ears flattening against his head. “How did you do that?”

Eren shakes his head. “Something about curses being a thing I’m good at.”

Bai Lu stands and looks Eren over for a long time. “The Librarian in Trost would never do this for one of us.” He looks like he wants to say more, but he grips his head and pitches forwards.

Eren rushes to catch him before he falls, hands firm on his shoulders. “Are you okay?”

“I have three years of memories back in my head.” Bai Lu laughs. “I have a headache.”

“Oh shit.” Eren says. “I don’t know if there’s anything I can do for that, tbh.”

Bai Lu shakes his head and takes a deep breath. “You’ve done everything for me today. Don’t worry about this. Thank you, Cursebreaker. Thank you.”

Bai Lu procures a small jade charm from his guanfu and hands it to Eren.

“No, please, I don’t accept payment.”

Bai Lu tilts his head to the side. “You must know that we maintain balance. Something of equal value.” He pushes it into Eren’s hands.

And immediately, Eren can feel the magic coming off of it. It’s soft and warm and he’ll have to figure out what it is later. But for right now, he bows. “Thank you.”

“Thank you, Cursebreaker. Now forgive me, I must talk to my mate.” Bai Lu practically runs out of the Library after one kind squeeze to Eren’s arm.

Eren falls into the alcove where Bai Lu was sitting and heaves in a long breath. The exhaustion is creeping in slowly. And after teleporting earlier, he’s even more tired than he would normally be.

He presses his face into his hands and takes slow measured breaths.

A sprite comes to Eren shortly after and says, “We thought you could only take, Cursebreaker, we had never seen you give before.” She seems a little sheepish and shifts on her feet.

“Most curses are things that people don’t want anymore.” Eren defends, but he nods. “I know there’s been less trust towards me lately. I promise, I’d only do what you’d want. I’d never—” He pauses. “I’d never take your autonomy from you.”

She smiles and places a tiny hand on his knee. “We know, Cursebreaker.”

She leaves and Eren leans back in the alcove and closes his eyes.

&&&

It’s autumn again.

The leaves of the trees surrounding the wrought iron panels of the Library are turning the loveliest shades of orange and red. The air is cooling and gaining that sharp crispness that sinks between cracks and crevices. The last of the insects cling to the vestiges of summer, their flight lazy as they err towards death.

Eren Jaeger, Librarian for the Shiganshina Branch Library for the Creatures of Darkness, stands with his back pressed against the bricks, watching the sunset to the west. The entrance to the Library opens to a side street off of a main arterial and he can see people walking past, but they do not see him, could not even notice him even if they tried. The wards are strong, especially as night grows nearer.

The ones who can see Eren are hanging back, waiting for the final rays of sunlight to vanish from the sky.

There are no rules forbidding the Librarian from being outside of the Library during times of operation. Though time, for the creatures at least, is flexible. With autumn, and winter especially, the nights are longer, and Eren works earlier into the evening and later into the morning.

These moments that he gets to himself mean something to him.

But the nights at the Library mean everything.

Twelve years ago, Eren traded his humanity for this life and, knowing everything that he knows now, would make the same choice over and over and so on until infinity. There is no universe in which Eren Jaeger would not choose the Library.

He has earned the title Cursebreaker.

He had given a half-thought to helping a creature, breaking an unofficial rule put in by his mother, and had earned the trust of the creatures wholeheartedly.

Until he broke a curse that wasn't a curse.

Earning that trust back had been difficult. But through being friendly, maybe arguably too friendly, they have all been getting to know him a bit better. They were all a little weirded out by Eren greeting them each by name during his rounds and his gifts until he was told that gifting something to a creature can sometimes mean that he is courting them.

This is information that Eren had.

And then forgot.

Big thank you to Levi for stopping him from accidentally acquiring more mates.

When Eren stopped passing out gifts, there was a collective sigh of relief.

Many of the creatures had spent time in the Library but had not learned who Eren was until he broke his first curse. The Librarians that came before him followed the same personal rule: no personal interactions. Eren shadowed his mother for eight years before she died, passing the mantle on to her son, so to speak. And for four years after, Eren followed the same model of the previous Librarians.

But now he has forged his own way.

And there’s a sort of relief in that.

A human who cares about the creatures enough to do something about it. It seems that Eren will work tirelessly to help where he can. He weaves magic in a way that no one has ever seen before. Powerful in an effortless and graceful sort of way. Magic is a school and there is no such thing as inherent power. Everything that Eren knows and can do was all learned in, apparently, a very unorthodox way.

Eren has been thinking about how he’s learned magic recently. Especially because Levi seems confounded by him. His mother always treated magic as a means to an end. Eren has always treated magic as anything. He’s literally never applied logic to it because it is the one thing that he thinks shouldn’t have any logic applied.

He thinks: magic can be anything.

And so it is.

The sun sets.

The sky begins to dim.

It is 18:47 and the sun is due to rise at 07:23.

It’ll be a long night and they’re only getting longer.

There’s a shudder of magic that courses over this block; additional protection for the Library from mortals.

For a brief moment, Eren thinks that he would look very cool if he smoked but remembers two things. 1, smoking is actively dangerous to his health. And 2, the Library isn’t supposed to have any odours. But, oh, wow, would he look so cool.

But also, if he wanted to look cooler, he could try wearing a different outfit.

It’s pretty uncool that he wears the exact same thing every day.

Eren immediately gives up on being cool.

The first to show up at the Library that night are the witches. They fly down on their broomsticks, giggling to each other.

“Good evening, Eren!” They all chorus.

“Good evening, Sasha, Mikasa, Ymir, and Historia.” The witches greet by name, and he always follows suit.

They usually hang out in the belltower until after Witching Hour and they go home afterwards. As humans, they have lives to lead, rents to pay for, a lifespan to think about.

Levi comes up a moment later and leans against the wall by Eren.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning, Levi.”

Levi is a bit of an enigma. Incubi aren’t typically immortal, but Levi defies expectation by being the oldest creature Eren has ever met. It’s unclear how old he is or where he came from and Eren only gets little snippets here and there of his life. He knows that Levi hung out with the Greek deities and was likely alive before even them. And he knows that Levi has a quaint cottage in the forest. It seems he grew tired of city life in the past century and decided to spend time in voluntary seclusion.

Levi takes him by the hand. “It’s cold out.”

“Oh?” Eren thinks about it. “Oh, you’re right.”

“Fucking Christ.” Levi pulls Eren down by the back of his neck for a kiss.

As always, his kisses are hot and explorative and Eren loves him. He kisses back, melding their lips together and rubbing their tongues in quick, curious flicks.

“Good morning, Eren.”

Eren takes his time pulling back from Levi and glares at Jean. “Secretariat.”

Jean looks at Levi and nods his head very respectfully. “Sir.”

Levi’s hand tightens on Eren’s. “Boy.”

Jean enters the Library a little hastily, but the doors close politely behind him.

“You really don’t like him.”

“What did you do with that love potion he gave you?” Levi asks.

Eren furrows his brow. “Pretty sure I repurposed it for something… Something about physical reactions, blah blah, something about smells?”

Levi looks up at him. “You repurposed an aphrodisiac?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

The next one to show up, curiously, is Annie. She hasn’t been here since Eren removed the curse of entrapment. She barely acknowledges him with anything more than a nod.

The sky is getting properly dark now and there are no streetlamps outside of the Library.

Eren breathes in one last sweet breath of fresh air and goes inside. Levi follows, but his eyes are trained on the books so this will probably be a reading night and Eren can catch up on fixing books. And breaking curses if any happen to come in.

He sits behind his desk as Levi wanders off.

More creatures come in, fae and vampires and satyrs. Some of them greet Eren, some don’t. Some especially traditional vampires stand outside of the open doors until Eren welcomes them in. It’s curious that some vampires will accept one invitation for the rest of their lives and others need to be welcomed each time. But Eren is happy to treat every creature how they would like to be treated.

Levi comes back a few hours later and slams a book on Eren’s desk.

“Hey, be gentle!” Eren protests.

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Ugh, mean.” Eren pouts.

The book is open and Levi taps impatiently at a sentence until Eren pushes up his glasses and reads.

All potions, while method of concoction and overall efficacy is variable, can be trusted to perform exactly as described. Alchemy, must like human chemistry, is widely considered to be the most consistent school of magic.

Eren stops reading.

“I already knew this.”

Levi furrows his eyebrows. “And you repurposed a potion anyways. Why?”

Eren speaks slowly as he thinks about it. “Because…I knew it would work.”

Silence falls over the two of them.

Beyond their very uncomfortable bubble, the creatures talk and laugh and go on as normal. But between Eren and Levi there is only tense silence.

“How?”

Eren shifts beneath his glare. “Magic is everything and anything and I wanted this potion to be something else, so it was.”

Levi shakes his head.

“I can rip apart space to the void, but I can’t repurpose a single potion?”

This happens every time Eren does something new with magic that Levi doesn’t approve of or doesn’t understand.

“Opening a portal to the void has precedence, boy, this doesn’t.”

Eren frowns and thinks back to the curses he’s broken. “Almost everything I’ve done didn’t have precedence, Levi.”

Levi’s jaw clenches and he looks at Eren very closely. And it’s long enough that Eren starts to squirm.

“I just want to help people. We all deserve happiness.”

“You deserve happiness!” Levi raises his voice. He never raises his voice.

Eren jumps at the force of it. “I—”

“Rely on me a little more. Let me help you be happy.” Levi’s voice is much quieter, like he doesn’t want to be heard.

“You do make me happy. Levi,” Eren tilts his head so that they make eye contact. “I love you.”

“Love isn’t happiness, Eren. You love magic, but it doesn’t make you happy. You have it. It is yours. And it isn’t happiness. I am yours, but I am not happiness.” Levi leans forwards and holds Eren by the cheeks. “I’m yours. Let me show you happiness.”

Eren is looking at Levi and he doesn’t understand. Why can’t it be both? Why can’t he be happy? If magic is everything he wants it to be, why can’t it be happiness?

“Levi…I…” He looks at him, gaze flickering between both of his eyes. “I don’t know…how…to be…happy.”

“I’ll show you.” Levi says immediately.

Eren leans into his touch and lays his hands over Levi’s. “Okay.”

He doesn’t expect to see overwhelming relief cross over Levi’s face.

The Library feels like it always has. But now…it’s a little bit different.

They sit together at Eren’s desk until the sky starts to lighten and the creatures begin to leave. They say goodbye and Eren waves and says goodbye in turn.

Eren casts a quick cleaning spell on the Library as they head up to Eren’s rooms.

“I’m sorry, Levi.” Eren mutters as they walk through the solarium together.

Levi casts a look up at him and rolls his eyes. “You’re out of your mind if you think you need to apologise for being lonely. Fucking Christ, kid.”

The light in the solariums is dim and the sun is starting to cast multicoloured rays through the stained glass. Levi’s cheeks are pale, but blue where the light catches him and his eyes are pink and Eren thinks he’s so fucking pretty.

“My gods you’re fucking pretty.” Eren says and Levi rolls his eyes even harder.

“Fuck off.” Levi nudges his shoulder a little harder than necessary as they get into Eren’s rooms. “You’re a fucking loser.”

“Thinking you’re pretty makes me a loser?” Eren teases, just for some semblance of normalcy.

They take their shoes off and Levi points them towards the door like he always does while he says, “Apologising for being lonely and then calling me pretty like I’d miss it or some shit.”

“I’m so cute, Levi.” Eren smiles, it feels strained, and he starts to take off all of his little gold accents and set them in the dish.

Levi frowns. “You don’t have to be okay.” Then he scrubs at his face. “This is so fucking mushy. You don’t have to be okay, Eren. You have choices in this life. I want you to make them.”

Eren nods and they walk into his dark bedroom. He looks at his tarot deck that Levi got him from the night market. Something about choices. Levi follows his gaze and nods understandingly.

“I’m gonna do a reading, but…I think I want to do it alone.” Eren says, eyes on the duvet.

“Okay.” Levi kisses him on the forehead and goes into the bathroom to shower. “I’ll be out soon.”

Eren, in the quiet of his room, pulls out his deck. He loves the velvety blackness of them and, even more, loves the gold foil line art. They’re beautiful.

He thinks about why he’s a sad, lost boy and draws three cards.

In reverse: The Moon
Upright: Death
In reverse: Three of Cups