Zeke Jeager sauntered into the kitchen confidently, smirking at Levi as he sat across from him at the kitchen table and essentially ignoring their other two roommates gathered in the room: Hanji and Erwin. The four of them had elected to share a dorm suite together with two double bedrooms: Hanji and Levi in one and Zeke and Erwin in the other. Hanji and Erwin were Levi’s friends from high school, and Zeke and Levi had been childhood friends, as Zeke’s father was a close friend of the Ackerman family. Though the two hadn’t gone to the same high school, Zeke had hung out with Levi’s high school friends a few times over the years, and when the four of them decided to attend the same university, it only made sense for them to room together as well. All of Zeke’s high school friends had chosen various universities, so he figured this was his best option.

“Levi,” he started, pulling out a small sketchbook from his jacket pocket, “I finally finished it.”

Hanji glanced up curiously, busy cutting up vegetables for a salad. Erwin was looking slightly irritated - clearly Zeke had interrupted some sort of conversation between the three of them, but he didn’t particularly care. He was here solely to capture Levi’s attention, and smiled at the short man as he flipped open the sketchbook.

Levi raised an eyebrow slightly, “What? You finally learned how to read?”

This was a normal conversation between the two. Though he would never openly admit it, Levi was close to Zeke, sometimes even closer than he was with Hanji or Erwin. The two had a close bond: Zeke’s cockiness matching Levi’s deadpanned jokes and expressions perfectly. They didn’t exactly get along, but their friendship was one of convenience. It was kind of impossible not to end up being friends with someone who had been around your whole life.

“Very funny,” Zeke rolled his eyes, flipping through the pages of his book.

“Well, what is it then?” Levi asked, sitting up in his chair and crossing his arms as he leaned forward to peek at what Zeke was trying to show him.

“Thank you for your keen interest,” Zeke quipped, flipping to the right page and stopping, “I finished the best self-portrait I’ve ever drawn.”

Levi could only roll his eyes, clearly not very interested, “That’s what you’ve been building up to?”

“Hey, I’ve been working on this all week!” Zeke replied, almost offended at Levi’s response.

Though his major was in chemistry, Zeke’s secret talent was drawing. He would spend hours outside of doing homework sketching, trying to perfect his art. It wasn’t something he shared with everyone, so his roommates were the lucky few that were in on his secret.

“Well let’s see it then!” Hanji crossed the room and leaned over Zeke’s shoulder, trying to view the drawing as Zeke held it away from them.

“Hey! I’ll show you, just chill,” he laughed a little at Hanji’s eagerness, opening up the journal and showing them first before sliding it over to Levi. The portrait showed a tall, pale-skinned man with short curly blond locks and a beard framing his spectacled face, gray eyes staring out into an unknown space.

“That’s pretty good, Zeke! I’m impressed,” Hanji said in awe, “When do you even have time to practice drawing? Between our labs and all the tests-”

“It’s alright,” Levi examined the drawing, interrupting Hanji and sliding the journal back over to Zeke, “You’re certainly improving.”

Before Zeke could even respond, Erwin sighed a little from the other side of the room, nibbling on a granola bar, “Uh, no offense, Zeke. But Levi and I were having a discussion before you came in. So what’s this history paper you’re struggling with, Levi?”

That asshole . Zeke thought to himself, snatching up his journal and putting it back into his jacket pocket, Always has to ruin my fun . The four of them had been living together for only a semester, this being their second college semester together, and Zeke couldn’t say he was exactly fond of Erwin. The two of them got along for the most part, even sharing some jokes together at times, but when it came to Levi the two of them did not get along at all . Levi cleared his throat and nodded, going to answer Erwin’s question before he noticed something and motioned for Erwin to come closer.

“W-What?” Erwin asked, noticing the look he was getting as he began to walk over to Levi anyways.

Once he was close enough, Levi reached his hand over and brushed some crumbs off Erwin’s lips, “You had some crumbs on you.”

Erwin turned visibly red, mumbling back a quick ‘thank you’ before Levi turned away to take out some papers related to his history paper, clearly not noticing the redness on Erwin’s face as he began to talk about why he needed help with the paper at hand. Erwin was a history major, which is why Levi was asking him for help. Zeke bit the inside of his cheek, practically staring a hole through Erwin’s head as he watched his flustered face. He had noticed this same look on Erwin’s face several times before, and wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about the idea that Erwin clearly felt some type of way every time Levi set his eyes upon him. Erwin’s eyes darted up to meet Zeke’s, who mouthed ‘back off’ as soon as he was sure nobody was paying attention to them. Erwin’s eyes widened slightly, looking confused as to what Zeke was getting at. Zeke didn’t break eye contact, staring down Erwin menacingly.

Though Zeke and Erwin weren’t exactly close, they used to get along a lot better. They used to joke around a lot more often, but since Zeke noticed Erwin’s longing looks at Levi, the joking had died down between them. Erwin had noticed this too, and didn’t entirely understand what he had done to earn this cold behavior from Zeke; having not caught on to the situation yet.

Levi finished explaining why he was having trouble with his paper, and Erwin went to answer before Levi’s alarm on his phone went off. He went to turn it off and started gathering his papers, explaining, “I have to get to class. We can finish talking about this later though, right Erwin?”

Erwin smiled a little and nodded, “Of course.”

Hanji took their salad and went back into the room they shared with Levi, as Levi stood up and pulled his backpack on, readying himself to leave. Zeke and Erwin both waved at Levi as he went to leave, shutting the door behind him tightly.

As soon as he was certain that they were alone, Zeke stood up and glared at Erwin, firmly repeating his earlier message, “ Back off .”

Erwin, who had been about to go back to the room he shared with Zeke, stopped in his tracks, staring at him sternly, “What are you talking about?”

“I’m not an idiot, Erwin.”

“I never said that you were?” Erwin replied in confusion, “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Erwin,” Zeke sighed, a little frustrated at how naive Erwin was being, “I’m talking about Levi.”

Erwin raised an eyebrow, still looking just as confused as before but appearing somehow more sweaty as he asked, “What do you mean?”

“I’m not blind , Erwin,” Zeke accused, “You want him.”

“I... what?” Erwin asked incredulously, even though Zeke could spot a drop of sweat trickling from Erwin’s forehead, “You’re not serious.”

Zeke sighed again and starting walking towards him, “Erwin, Erwin, Erwin. It’s so obvious it’s sad.”

Erwin was staring at him with narrowed eyes, opening and closing his mouth as he was unsure of how to even respond. He was obviously caught off guard by Zeke’s confrontation, and didn’t know what to say to this accusation. Zeke was looking at him smugly, as if he knew he’d caught Erwin in his trap. But Zeke wasn’t done harassing him just yet.

Zeke could feel a smirk tugging at his lips, “So what do you want to do to him then?”

Erwin narrowed his eyes as if he didn’t understand what Zeke was asking, “I-”

“Kiss him?” Zeke interrupted, noting the blush that appeared on Erwin’s face.

“What?” Erwin asked incredulously.

“Fuck him?” Zeke continued, seeing the blush deep on Erwin’s face.

“Zeke!”

“You want him to get on his knees and suck your-”

“ Zeke !” Erwin tried again in exasperation, glancing around as if Levi could reappear at any moment. He also appeared to be searching for a way out of this conversation, but Zeke was standing in the way of their shared bedroom door.

Zeke smirked, “Admit it, Erwin. You want Levi.”

“You admit it first!” Erwin challenged, leaving both of the men a little stunned at Erwin’s sudden accusation. Before Zeke could even open his mouth to respond, Erwin continued, “I’ve seen the way you look at him! I’m not the only one here who has a crush, so don’t corner me when you feel the same way! You two are always joking around with each other and the way you look at him is super creepy.”

Zeke narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms, “So what? You’re jealous now?”

“I am not fucking jealous!”

“I think you are,” Zeke practically singsonged, “Did I steal your man? You’re jealous that I have a better friendship with him than you?”

If he hadn’t already, Zeke was definitely starting to get under Erwin’s skin. Erwin’s fists were clenched, down at his sides, an almost hurt expression on his face. Zeke felt bad for a moment, but quickly pushed his feelings aside - he needed to say anything that might help to keep Erwin away from his Levi.

“Zeke, I don’t have to talk about this with you.”

“You’ll never have him, you know that right?” Zeke taunted.

“And you think you will?” Erwin asked, trying to size up Zeke as he stared him down. It was difficult to size up a man who was the same height as you, but Erwin was doing the best he could in his current circumstances.

“Yes, I will,” Zeke answered confidently.

Erwin was practically seething at this point, but before he could answer he heard the opening and closing of a door behind him, and looked back to see Hanji walking back into the kitchen, pausing when they saw the situation they’d walked into.

“Is everything alright? I forgot a fork,” Hanji asked as they headed towards the cutlery drawer and pulled out a fork for their salad.

“Everything’s fine,” Zeke sighed, uncrossing his arms.

“Are you sure?” Hanji asked, tapping the fork on their lips gently as they looked between them, “You two look pretty pissed off. So are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

Zeke was about to open his mouth to respond, when a sinister idea sparked in his brain. I’m a genius , he thought to himself as the idea began working itself through his head. Erwin and Hanji were looking at him expectantly, and Erwin began to appear nervous as he noticed the evil grin that crossed Zeke’s lips.

“Actually, Erwin and I were just making a little bet-”

“What?” Erwin asked, looking confused, “No we-”

“About what?” Hanji interrupted Erwin curiously.

“Over who can-”

“Zeke-” Erwin tried again, but Zeke held his hand up to quiet him.

“Be the first to sleep with Levi,” Zeke finished, watching Hanji’s eyes practically pop out of their head.

“You what?!” they asked incredulously, looking between Zeke and Erwin in shock. Erwin was beginning to look both stressed and embarrassed from Zeke’s insistence on this bet idea.

“Look, I didn’t agree to this!” Erwin tried to explain, pressing his fingers to his temples in frustration, “I’m not agreeing to this!”

“And why not?” Zeke challenged, “You worried you won’t stand a chance?”

“No,” Erwin said through gritted teeth as clear irritation passed over his face, “ You wouldn’t stand a chance against me .”

“Oh ho ho,” Zeke smiled before his face turned to a more dangerous glare, “Big words from someone Levi only sees as a study buddy.”

Zeke knew this would hit Erwin right where it would hurt him the most. Erwin and Levi’s relationship mostly consisted of doing schoolwork together, a fact Zeke knew irked his roommate. He hadn’t taken the initiative to push the relationship further, and was clearly annoyed at himself for this.

Erwin looked like he was seeing red at this point, but Hanji interjected before he could say anything in response, “Wait, why are you telling me about this?”

“Well, we need a moderator,” Zeke said, putting a hand on Hanji’s shoulder, “And you would be perfect for the job.”

“I don’t know, Zeke...” Hanji frowned, tapping their chin with the fork in thought, “Won’t this... you know? Mess with Levi’s feelings?”

“Of course not!” Zeke replied, “It won’t be messing with Levi’s feelings - it’ll be purely about what Levi wants.”

“And what if he doesn’t want either of us?” Erwin asked.

Zeke let out a laugh, “Very funny, Erwin.”

Levi was clearly not into women, which was obvious to Zeke. He wasn’t sure how obvious it was to the other two, but Zeke had an inkling that Levi might be open to their advances.

“Zeke, I don’t know if this is a good idea...” Hanji sighed.

“Come on, Hanji!” Zeke pouted, “We can set up rules - you can even have the power to stop the bet if it goes too far.”

“Well...” Hanji thought about it, “What rules are they then?”

Erwin looked incredulous, as if he couldn’t believe they were still having a discussion about something he hadn’t even agreed upon yet. Zeke was grinning with success as he began to go over the rules.

“Well obviously, we can’t tell Levi or anyone else about the bet,” Zeke explained, “Second rule: everything should obviously be consensual - no forcing anything on him, especially since he’ll kick anyone’s ass who would try to, anyways. Last rule, we can’t have any outside help. So no cheating .” He stared at Erwin as he emphasized these last few words, clearly implying he thought Erwin would cheat.

“I’m not going to cheat, Zeke!”

“Oh, so you are taking part in the bet then?” Zeke grinned, causing Erwin to curse to himself under his breath.

“Fine,” Erwin breathed out after a few seconds, avoiding eye contact with a very smug-looking Zeke.

Hanji still looked a little shocked, but shook their head a little in disbelief before saying, “Alright. Shake on it.”

Zeke held out his hand, and Erwin took it hesitantly, shaking it firmly before letting go.

“You’re on, Smith,” Zeke taunted, letting go of Erwin’s hand, “May the best man win. And by the best man, I mean me .”

Erwin glared at Zeke as he sauntered off into their shared room, exchanging a look with Hanji before they too went back into their room to eat their lunch. Zeke shut the door and laid down on his bed, grinning to himself smugly as he thought about just how smart this bet idea was. Now he had an excuse to try and get in Levi’s pants.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Erwin stared off absentmindedly as he sat in the living room, listening to Levi and Hanji discussing their plans for the upcoming weekend. He wasn’t really paying attention, his mind wandering as he began to scroll through his Twitter. He glanced up to see Zeke, sitting on the other side of Levi, staring at Levi with an almost dreamy look. Erwin kept himself from rolling his eyes, but still kept his eyes on the two of them, Levi looking up and exchanging soft glances with Zeke every once in a while. Look at how they look at each other , Erwin thought, You’ll never stand a chance .

“Don’t look so serious, Levi,” Zeke joked, poking Levi’s hand playfully.

Levi pulled his hand away slightly, looking up at Zeke and sighing, “What? Are you too deprived of attention again?”

“Of course I am,” Zeke grinned, taking Levi’s hand and turning it over as he began to trace the lines of his palm, “I need constant attention. You know this.”

Levi couldn’t help but smirk a bit, entertaining Zeke’s tracing on his hand for a moment before pulling his hand away again. “I’m getting a little hungry. Did you want to go get pizza for dinner with me?”

Zeke smiled, “Aww, taking time out of your day just for me? How sweet.”

“Don’t read into it,” Levi deadpanned, making Zeke laugh and start to get off the couch. Erwin watched their exchange, feeling sick to his stomach. How does Zeke do that? He wondered. When Levi and Zeke were in the same room, Zeke was able to put up a barrier between him and Levi and everyone else, and it was a difficult barrier to break down. Erwin felt like he was hopeless, having no idea what he was going to do. He watched Levi get up and follow Zeke to the kitchen where the front door to their suite was. He couldn’t help but sigh at all the feelings flooding through him.

“Are you okay, Erwin?” Hanji asked, “You seem off today.”

“I’m totally screwed, Hanji,” Erwin frowned, looking after the two that had just left and hearing the front door open and close as they left, “I don’t know how the hell I’m going to catch up with Zeke.”

Hanji frowned, rubbing the back of their neck in thought before breathing out a sigh, “You’re not screwed, Erwin. You can’t just give up right away... you need to... you know, try harder.”

“ Try harder? ” Erwin asked in exasperation, “Hanji, what am I supposed to do when Zeke’s on Levi like a guard-dog?”

“You could’ve asked to go with them for pizza,” Hanji suggested, “Or when he gets back you could ask to spend time with him. You just have to put yourself out there.”

“I can’t do it, Hanji,” he muttered, looking away from their friend as he felt a blush crawling up on his cheeks, “I can’t even picture it.”

“Picture what?” Hanji asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You know... me and Levi...” Erwin practically whispered, “Having sex.”

Hanji stared at him for a moment before they started to laugh, causing Erwin to whine in annoyance, “ Hanji! Stop laughing at me!”

“I’m-I’m sorry, Erwin... it’s just,” Hanji giggled, hiding their smile behind their hand, “How are you going to win if you can’t even picture it? Why can’t you?”

Erwin sighed, “I don’t know... I just try to picture it and I get embarrassed, so I stop.”

“Erwin,” Hanji breathed out as they finally came down from their giggle fit, “Do you want Zeke to win?”

“No!” Erwin responded almost instantly.

“Then you need to step up your game!” Hanji said, getting up, “Come on. Let’s go to the food court, I’ll get you some dinner. And next time you see Levi, you better ask him to spend time with you in whatever way you want. Got it?”

“Fine...” Erwin frowned, not entirely excited at the prospect of having to confront his feelings for Levi so soon. He got up and followed Hanji into the kitchen, grabbing his jacket and heading out with his friend to get food.

They returned within a half hour, sandwiches in hand. Levi and Zeke were at the table, laughing at some joke they’d shared. Hanji exchanged a glance with Erwin, and they pushed him gently in Levi’s direction, smiling at him before heading to their room to eat. Levi and Zeke looked up as Erwin approached the table. Zeke had been the first to notice Erwin walking towards them, and he scowled as he realized what was coming. Erwin stood by Levi, clenching and unclenching his fists slowly to calm himself, his sandwich tucked under one of his arms.

“Uh... Levi?” he said, his voice coming out shakier than he wanted it to.

Levi looked up at him, a slightly surprised look spreading across his face as he was unsure why Erwin looked so nervous, “Yeah, Erwin? Did you need something?”

“I... uh... are you busy tomorrow?” Erwin asked, reaching up to rub the back of his neck nervously.

Zeke was glaring holes into Erwin’s head again, and Erwin struggled to avoid glaring back as he awaited Levi’s answer. Levi, still looking a little confused, responded slowly, “No... I don’t think I am. Why?”

“I just... was wondering if we could hang out... or something,” Erwin said, cursing himself internally for being so awkward.

Levi raised an eyebrow, “Oh? What did you want to do?”

Oh shit, why does he have to be so intimidating all of a sudden? Erwin thought to himself, What are we even going to do? He hadn’t thought this far. In fact, he hadn’t really thought about this conversation at all, being shoved into it by Hanji. He usually wasn’t this intimidated by the shorter man, but now that he had been forced to confront his feelings by Zeke, he was feeling more and more nervous around Levi.

“I- we could watch TV if you want,” Erwin shrugged, “Or we could just talk. I just thought it’d be nice to spend some time together.”

“Sure,” Levi replied, a small smile appearing on his face that sent Erwin’s heart pounding, “I’ll be free after lunch.”

Erwin could feel relief washing over him from Levi’s answer. He hadn’t really expected Levi to reject him, but still the positive confirmation had made his stomach flutter with happiness. He’d been secretly pining after Levi for a while, and this bet with Zeke was finally making him actually do something about it.

“Okay cool, see you later,” Erwin waved a little, heading back to his room with his dinner. He could hear Zeke and Levi joking with each other and laughing from his room, and tried not to roll his eyes. Sure, Zeke had a slight advantage, having known Levi longer than Erwin, but Erwin still felt confident that he could pull ahead in their bet. He just had to try harder, like Hanji had said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Erwin stood outside Levi’s bedroom door after lunch the next day. He’d been standing there for about five minutes already, just working up the courage to knock on the door. He could feel a knot in the pit of his stomach. How could someone make me this nervous? Erwin wondered, lifting his hand to knock on the door before hesitating and dropping his hand again, God dammit. How am I going to even have a conversation with him if I can’t even knock on the door? He could feel nervousness building up in his chest as he finally raised his fist and knocked lightly on the door, hearing Levi call out ‘come in’ only a moment later.

He turned the door knob and pushed the door open, seeing Levi sitting on his bed with the TV on. He had a cup of tea in his hands and was sitting against the wall, a blanket across his lap. Erwin smiled softly at him and walked in, shutting the door behind him. He made his way over to Levi, his legs almost feeling like lead as his nerves got to him. Levi patted the spot next to him, offering him a seat. He obviously wasn’t catching onto the fact that Erwin was a nervous wreck. The taller man took the seat anyways, trying to make sure he kept a small distance so that the two of them weren’t touching in any way, as Erwin was sure that would send his heart into overload.

“So what did you want to watch?” Levi asked, picking up the remote to change what he was watching.

“Well, what have you been watching?” Erwin wondered, trying to work out what the show was from what was on the screen in front of him.

“Oh, I’ve been watching some competitive cooking shows,” Levi shrugged a little, “But we can watch anything you want. Anything you’ve seen lately that’s good?”

Erwin thought back on what he’d been watching lately. In truth, he hadn’t watched TV in a little while. He’d been so busy with schoolwork that he hadn’t really had much time to just sit down and relax like this. It was nice to be able to do so, especially with Levi by his side.

“I don’t mind watching cooking shows,” Erwin insisted, “I haven’t had much time to watch anything lately.”

Levi nodded, looking relieved that he didn’t have to change his show and setting the remote down. They sat in silence for a moment, Erwin’s mind racing as he tried to think of how they were going to get from this to anything romantic. He could be charming when he wanted to, but if he really liked someone, like with Levi, he felt helpless when it came to romance.

“So do you still think you can help me with my history paper?” Levi piped up, interrupting the silence.

Erwin almost wished he hadn’t. He often felt that Levi just viewed him as a study buddy, as a lot of the time they would spend together was on homework; even back when they were in high school. So the fact that Levi had brought up homework in their time alone didn’t entirely change Erwin’s thoughts about this.

“Yeah, I can,” Erwin smiled anyways, simply trying to enjoy the fact that he was alone with Levi in general.

“Cool, thanks,” Levi replied, tugging his blanket up a little and getting comfortable.

“So how are you outside of school?” Erwin asked, hoping to change the subject.

Levi glanced up at him before looking back to the television, “I’m fine I guess. I don’t get much sleep, so I’m exhausted all the time.”

Erwin already knew this. He would often hear Levi getting up and wandering the dorm suite during the middle of the night; they’d even run into each other on occasions when Erwin was up late studying or writing a paper.

“Still?” Erwin wondered, “You should try sleeping meds.”

“Meds usually don’t work for me,” Levi muttered, “I just can’t sleep because I get nightmares.”

Erwin was a little surprised that Levi was admitting this to him, but he appreciated this intimate knowledge nonetheless. Levi didn’t often share details of his life, at least not with Erwin. They mostly talked about every day stuff like schoolwork.

“What do you have nightmares about?” Erwin asked curiously, pulling his legs up to sit cross-legged as he got more comfortable on the bed.

Levi turned to look at him, wringing the blanket a little in his hands nervously, “I mean... I have a lot of dreams where people I care about die. It’s... It definitely makes it difficult to sleep sometimes.”

He looked conflicted about revealing this information, as if doing so was making him vulnerable. But Erwin could feel his heart pounding as he took in Levi’s words, knowing the shorter man was sharing something personal with him.

“Oh...” Erwin murmured softly, “Well, I’m usually up pretty late working on stuff, so if you ever want to come talk to me, feel free to. I’m sure going through that alone must be terrifying.”

A small smile appeared on Levi’s lips as he looked up at Erwin, “Thank you, Erwin. That’s really kind of you. If you need me, you can talk to me too.”

Fuck , Erwin thought, his chest constricting as he felt the familiar swelling of his heart at Levi’s words. He returned the smile and sucked in a breath as he slowly reached out a hand and settled it on Levi’s knee, the two of them exchanging a deep look. But before he could do anything further, the door whipped open.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zeke was sitting in the room he shared with Erwin when he watched his roommate come back from the food court and head to Levi and Hanji’s room across the hall. Zeke narrowed his eyes a little, knowing Hanji was gone at class for the afternoon. The idiot stood there for about five minutes, lifting his hand to knock and then putting it back down again. Zeke rolled his eyes, He doesn’t stand a chance against me, he thought to himself, contemplating whether he should go mock Erwin for being so nervous. Just as he was about to follow through with this thought, Erwin actually knocked on the door, walking in when he heard Levi call out to him.

Zeke could only sit still for a few minutes before he got up and tiptoed gently towards Levi’s bedroom door. He pressed his ear against the door, listening to Levi ask Erwin what he wanted to watch. Erwin sounded incredibly nervous, but Zeke could pick up a hint of nerves in Levi’s voice as well, which surprised him. Why is he nervous around this fuck face? Zeke wondered, suddenly becoming nervous himself. He didn’t think Levi had any type of feelings towards Erwin, so the nervousness in Levi’s voice was making him question what he thought he knew.

He listened to Levi tell Erwin about having nightmares, and felt himself getting upset. Levi hadn’t told him about any nightmares, why was he sharing this with Erwin? He was starting to feel insecure about his relationship with Levi all of a sudden.

“If you need me, you can talk to me too,” he heard Levi say, and his heart sunk from the words. Maybe Erwin does stand a chance , he allowed himself to think, quickly trying to shake the feeling from his mind.

That’s when there was a moment of silence that made Zeke’s stomach drop. Silence was never a good thing when two people were alone; it either meant there was an awkward moment or that they were sharing some sort of sentimental look with each other. Either way, Zeke didn’t wait to find out. That’s it. Zeke thought, pulling his ear away from the door and opening it, There are no rules about interrupting , he thought to himself as he whipped the door open to see Erwin and Levi, Erwin’s hand on Levi’s knee as they were looking at each other intensely. Levi soon looked up to see Zeke, and Erwin turned around to do the same, scowling a little at his rival.

“Zeke?” Levi questioned, “Did you need something?”

“Oh... I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Zeke said, looking between the two men.

Erwin was glaring at him now, and Zeke couldn’t help but feel smug as he was clearly ruining Erwin’s plans.

“It’s okay,” Levi responded, “We’re just watching some TV. What’s up?”

“Just wanted to check in on you,” Zeke lied, watching Erwin get up.

“I should head back to our room anyways. I have work to get done,” Erwin said calmly, heading towards the door, “See you later, Levi.”

Levi waved a little at Erwin, “See you, Erwin.”

Once Erwin had left the room, Zeke closed the door and sat down at Levi’s desk, turning the chair to face the shorter man as he pointed at him accusingly, “What the hell was that about?”

“What was what about?” Levi responded coolly, leaning back against the wall.

“You know what I’m talking about,” Zeke narrowed his eyes, “ That .”

“I have no clue what the hell you’re talking about,” Levi responded, narrowing his eyes back.

“He had his hand on your knee,” Zeke accused, “What’s next? You two going to fuck?”

Zeke could feel the anger swelling inside him as he reminisced about Erwin touching Levi so intimately, along with the look they had shared between each other. His jealousy was definitely getting the better of him.

Levi looked a little shocked for a moment before rolling his eyes, “Oh calm down, Zeke. It’s not a big deal.”

Zeke couldn’t hide that he was annoyed and pissed off. It was a cover-up for his jealousy - he felt hurt that Levi clearly felt some type of way towards Erwin. He cared for Erwin, which was enough for Zeke to be irritated.

“It’s so... not like you,” Zeke frowned, “Why aren’t you being honest with me?”

“Because I don’t understand what you’re going on about,” Levi quipped back, clearly getting irritated himself, “You’re acting stupid.”

Zeke stood up quickly, “I’m not acting stupid!” He made his way towards the door as he grumbled, “Just don’t fucking talk to me.”

“Zeke!” Levi stood up too, looking thoroughly annoyed and confused, “What the hell is your problem?”

Zeke threw him a dirty look before leaving, shutting the door behind him. He cross the hall to the bedroom, seeing Erwin sitting at his desk. Erwin instantly looked up at Zeke when he entered the room, clearly wanting to have a talk with him. Great, now I have to deal with this asshole .

“That wasn’t fair,” Erwin glared as Zeke closed the door behind him, “You can’t just interrupt my time with Levi like that.”

Erwin went to stand, blocking Zeke from going to his side of the bedroom.

“Get out of my way, Erwin.”

“No. You’re not allowed to just do that!”

“ Get out of my way, Erwin ,” Zeke insisted. When Erwin didn’t move, Zeke went to shove him out of the way, but Erwin dodged his efforts. Zeke used Erwin dodging out of the way as a method to move around him, heading to his desk and grabbing his headphones so he could ignore the other man.

“I’m being serious, Zeke!” Erwin insisted, turning around to face Zeke, “You can’t just-”

“I can , actually. It’s not against the rules,” Zeke snapped, “Plus, you’re Levi’s favorite now, so you have the advantage anyways.”

Zeke knew he was probably being a little overdramatic, but he couldn’t help the jealousy he’d felt from seeing the two of them spending such intimate time together. He didn’t want anyone to be close to Levi except for himself.

Erwin rolled his eyes, “Fuck off.”

“ You fuck off!” Zeke exclaimed, “This is my room too, you know!”

Erwin just shot Zeke a glare and went to work on his homework, Zeke practically seething at this point. He saw a pen sitting at the edge of his desk and without hesitation threw it in Erwin’s direction. It hit Erwin in the back of the head, and he whipped around to glare at Zeke before getting up to confront him. Before he could even take a step, Hanji opened the door, looking incredibly annoyed. This was saying something, because it took a lot for Hanji to get irritated.

“What the hell is going on?” they asked, “I walk in from class and the first thing I hear is you two arguing!”

Erwin stopped in his tracks, knowing he couldn’t do anything to Zeke with Hanji there. Zeke smirked in satisfaction, teasing, “Yeah, Erwin. What the hell is going on?”

Erwin sighed in exasperation, turning around and going to sit back down at his desk, “Nothing, Hanji. I was just doing some homework.”

“That’s what I thought,” Zeke grinned smugly, watching Erwin sit back down and turn to his computer, putting his headphones in and blasting some music.

Hanji glanced at Erwin for a moment before turning back to Zeke, crossing their arms and leaning against the door frame, “Zeke, don’t be so mean to Erwin.”

“Hanji, how could you accuse me of something like that?” Zeke asked incredulously, feigning innocence.

They sighed, “Just... stay out of trouble. Okay?”

“Of course,” Zeke smiled, heading to his desk as he watched Hanji head out the door. I always stay out of trouble .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Erwin was already seeing the effects of having stepped up his relationship with Levi. That morning, he was sitting in the kitchen drinking a coffee when Levi emerged from his and Hanji’s room, fully dressed and ready for the day. He had his backpack on, and smiled upon seeing Erwin at the kitchen table.

“Good morning,” he greeted him.

“Morning,” Erwin smiled, taking the last sip of his coffee and setting the mug down, “Where are you headed to?”

“The food court,” Levi explained, tugging on the straps of his backpack to tighten them, “Did you want to come get breakfast with me?”

Erwin just looked at him for a moment, a little shocked that Levi was even asking him to join for breakfast. Levi was looking at him expectantly, and Erwin couldn’t help but feel nervousness pooling in his stomach.

“Sure,” Erwin agreed, getting up and putting his empty cup in the sink before he grabbed his keys off the table and stuffed them into his pockets, “I’d love to.”

Levi allowed himself a small smile before wandering to the front door, waiting for Erwin to follow him before they headed out. Erwin felt happiness swelling inside him as he followed Levi to the food court. He was thrilled that Levi had invited him, and felt like maybe he had a chance after all.

“So what classes do you have today?” Levi asked as they walked across the campus together.

“Just one, it’s a class on the history of gender and empire,” Erwin explained, holding the door open for Levi as they entered the food court. Levi thanked him quietly and walked in, going to the buffet line and grabbing a tray. Erwin did the same and they each got their own plate of food before heading to sit down together.

“That sounds interesting,” Levi continued their conversation, “I don’t have any classes - today’s my day off.”

Erwin set his tray down and sat at the high top tables that were set up in front of the windows of the food court, Levi taking the seat across from him. Erwin couldn’t help but notice the nervous smile on Levi’s face, and wondered if he was imagining things. Was Levi really nervous too?

“So did you get any sleep last night?” Erwin asked, shifting the conversation to something a little more personal between them.

Levi took his fork and pushed some of his food around on his plate as he thought about how to answer before shaking his head, “No. I was up for most of the night again.”

“Nightmare?” Erwin wondered, starting to cut up the pancakes on his plate.

Levi nodded, looking away from Erwin as he stared down at his food, clearly feeling a little embarrassed about sharing his nightmares, “Yeah.”

“What was this one about?” Erwin inquired, adding, “If you don’t mind me asking.”

Levi shook his head a little, forcing a smile as he looked back up at Erwin, “I don’t mind. It was just another dream where people I love died. This time it was my childhood friends, Isabel and Farlan.”

“I was awake most of the night working,” Erwin murmured, “Why didn’t you come talk to me?”

Levi looked a little sheepish now, as if he didn’t know what to say. He paused for a moment before answering, “I just didn’t want to bother you.”

Erwin frowned a little. He didn’t want Levi to feel like he was a bother to him. How can I make him understand how I feel? Erwin wondered, the silence growing between them as Erwin took the time to think about what to do. Finally, he reached his hand out and placed it on top of Levi’s gently. He could feel himself shaking as he did so, and hoped his hands weren’t too sweaty from being so nervous.

“You’re never a bother to me, Levi,” Erwin smiled softly as he tried to reassure him.

Levi looked up at him, a visible blush crossing his face as he smiled back. Much to Erwin’s shock, Levi turned his hand over so that their hands were interlaced, and Erwin watched Levi calmly tangle their fingers together as he squeezed Erwin’s hand, as if to convey some type of feelings towards him. Erwin could feel his heart beating faster in his chest, but the moment was fleeting. Almost as quickly as it happened, Levi pulled his hand away and went back to eating as if nothing had happened. But Erwin was a little shaken up from their intimate moment. He stared at Levi for a moment before a small grin appeared on his face, and he went back to eating as well, unable to help but feel the fluttering of his heart from the interaction he’d just had with the shorter man.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zeke could feel the jealousy surging through him as he stared across the food court and saw Erwin and Levi sit down with each other to eat. He had joined Hanji for breakfast that morning, since they had been the only two up. Clearly, Erwin and Levi had woken up soon after and decided to do the same by joining each other for breakfast.

“What are you looking at?” Hanji asked, picking up a fork full of hash browns and taking a bite. They tried to follow his gaze and ended up at Erwin and Levi, who were now exchanging shy glances with each other.

“Oh,” Hanji said as they noticed, “Hey, don’t focus on them. You still have quite a lead over Erwin. Just let him have this one.”

Zeke knew Hanji was probably right. He did have a considerable lead over Erwin, and he could probably let Erwin just have this one win. But his jealousy was getting the better of him, and he pressed his fingers against the prongs of his fork angrily as he saw Erwin place his hand on top of Levi’s.

“I’m gonna go over there,” Zeke decided, moving to get up when he felt Hanji grasp his hand roughly.

“Don’t you dare,” Hanji snapped, “Just let them have their moment. You can’t just keep interrupting every time you want.”

“Yes I can,” Zeke argued, tugging his hand away from them, “It’s not against the rules.”

“You’re not playing fair, Zeke,” Hanji insisted, “I’m the moderator. If you try to go over there, I’ll end the bet right now.”

Zeke scowled. He supposed this was probably fair of Hanji to keep him from interrupting, but he couldn’t help but feel annoyed at them for saying this anyways. He frowned and sighed heavily, stabbing his fork angrily into the eggs on his plate. He could see Levi and Erwin holding hands and felt the jealousy pulsing in his chest. But another idea was beginning to form in his mind. Perfect , he thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Levi heard a knock on his bedroom door later that day as he sipped on his tea. He set the cup down, calling out ‘come in’ to whichever roommate stood at the door. He knew Hanji was in class, so it would have to be one of his other two roommates. The door swung open and there stood Zeke. Levi scowled, not particularly psyched to see his friend at the moment. The last time they had spoken was their argument the day before.

“Levi,” Zeke started, coming in and closing the door, “I have something to tell you.”

“Mm,” Levi grumbled, not even looking in Zeke’s direction as he continued to sip his tea.

“ Levi ,” Zeke whined in annoyance as he pulled up a chair and sat down in front of Levi, “Please look at me. Are you still mad about yesterday?”

“Of course not,” Levi responded sarcastically, still avoiding eye contact. In truth, he was of course still upset about their argument. He didn’t understand why Zeke had been so angry with him all of a sudden, nor why he was so accusatory over Erwin’s hand being on his knee. It wasn’t anything that serious, was it? Zeke had always been a very possessive friend, so it wasn’t really anything new, but it still irked Levi when Zeke behaved that way.

Zeke sighed, “Fine. I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean to get so mad at you.”

Levi finally looked up at his friend in some surprise, “Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you apologize before.”

“Don’t get used to it,” Zeke deadpanned, causing Levi to chuckle softly. God-damn that charm of his , Levi thought, as the feelings of anger towards Zeke were already starting to subside.

“Alright,” Levi sighed, “I forgive you. Now what is it that you wanted to tell me?”

Levi took a long sip of his tea as Zeke leaned in to say, “Did you know Erwin’s straight?”

Coughing erupted from Levi as he choked on his tea, not having expected Zeke to say something like this. Why was he telling Levi this anyways? Levi could feel his thoughts starting to wonder, reminiscing Erwin’s gentle touches to his knee yesterday and to his hand earlier that day. That didn’t seem entirely straight to Levi. In fact, he was starting to suspect the blonde man had a crush on him, which had excited him a little. But with Zeke’s sudden news, Levi was second-guessing himself. Had he just been seeing things?

“W-What?” he sputtered.

“Yeah,” Zeke sighed, “I found out this morning. I know you two have been... close lately, so I thought I’d give you a heads-up. He’s not into men.”

He’s not? But I thought... Levi’s thoughts were racing, starting to feel a little betrayed. Erwin wasn’t into men? But what about the looks they’d exchanged? Hadn’t they meant something? Or maybe Erwin was just incredibly kind and Levi had just misread his signals.

“Levi?” Zeke questioned, “You doing okay? You got silent there...”

“Yeah,” Levi cleared his throat, “I’m just surprised is all. I didn’t think...”

He trailed off, looking away from Zeke. He was just so confused by Zeke’s statement; it didn’t seem to make sense to him. But then again, why would Zeke lie about something like this? He was clearly just trying to look out for Levi’s feelings, right?

“Levi,” Zeke singsonged, “Come back to earth.”

Levi looked back over at Zeke, who had some genuine concern on his face. Why am I so bothered by this? Levi wondered, feeling anxiousness pool in his stomach, though he wasn’t sure exactly why.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Zeke asked, reaching over to stroke Levi’s hand lightly, “You look upset.”

Do I? Am I upset? Levi thought, absentmindedly grabbing onto Zeke’s hand to stop him from stroking it. A visible blush came across Zeke’s face, which Levi barely noticed. He took a deep breath before responding, “I’m fine. Again, I’m just surprised. I thought that... you know, he seemed so...”

“Gay?” Zeke finished for him.

Levi nodded, feeling Zeke gently interlacing their fingers. He looked up at him with some confusion, “What are you doing?”

Zeke smiled at him sweetly, “Just holding your hand. You seem stressed.”

He squeezed Levi’s hand lightly. Levi didn’t pull away, used to his friend’s touchiness. He continued, “I’m not stressed, I’m just confused.”

“About what?”

“I’m not really sure,” Levi admitted, “I just feel weird about it. I mean, it’s okay that he’s straight, it’s just... I don’t know.”

“Well...” Zeke leaned forwards a bit, trying to get closer to Levi’s face, “It’s okay to be a little confused.”

Levi noticed just how close Zeke was getting and suddenly started to snap out of it. He pulled his hand away and sat back in his chair so that they were further apart, sighing, “It’s fine. I’ll get over it.”

Zeke sat back as well, looking a little disappointed, “Oh... okay then. Well, I guess I’ll just go then.”

Levi nodded, watching Zeke get up to leave. He struggled to express his feelings to his friend, but he knew that he didn’t feel right about something. Unbeknownst to him, Zeke was grinning as he left Levi’s room, thinking just how difficult it would be for Erwin to untangle himself from this mess.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What do you think they’re talking about?” Erwin asked Hanji as they sat at the kitchen table, looking across to the open living room across the way where Levi and Zeke sat at the couch, chatting cheerfully with each other.

“I don’t know, Erwin,” Hanji frowned, “Stop being so preoccupied with them.”

“You know why I’m preoccupied, Hanji,” Erwin replied, looking a little nervous.

Hanji took a moment to glance over at the two on the couch talking to each other before turning back to Erwin and sighing, “Erwin, stop panicking. They’re probably not talking about anything too serious.”

“I can’t not panic!” Erwin exclaimed in a whispered voice, “I-”

Erwin snapped his mouth shut as he saw Levi get up from the couch and head back to the kitchen or a snack. Erwin could see Zeke smirking at him, though he wasn’t sure why. He didn’t like the look Zeke was giving him - something was clearly up. He decided to ignore him for the time being, turning to Levi and asking, “Hi Levi. How are you?”

“Fine,” Levi responded, not looking at him as he went to the pantry in search of a snack.

Erwin frowned, looking confused as to why Levi was being so standoffish. Or at least, more standoffish than usual. Levi glanced up, looking at Erwin strangely before he turned back to the pantry and retrieved a bag of veggie sticks, closing the pantry doors. Why is he acting so weird? Erwin wondered, exchanging a glance with Hanji, who had also noted the awkward atmosphere that had appeared as soon as Levi had walked into the kitchen.

“Is something wrong?” Erwin asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No, no, everything’s fine,” Levi insisted, shooting a small glare at Erwin before glancing down at the veggie sticks, “You know what? These are too straight for me, I should get a different snack.”

Levi’s statement had left Erwin incredibly confused, and he and Hanji exchanged another surprised look with each other as Levi went back to the pantry to get a different snack. Clearly, Levi was trying to convey something, but what that something was, Erwin had no idea. He turned to look at Zeke, who had a mischievous grin on his face. Well that’s not good , Erwin thought as he turned back to watch Levi take out a different bag of chips.

“Are you sure everything’s okay?” Erwin tried again, wondering what the hell Levi was getting at with his prior statement.

“I’m fine ,” Levi emphasized, heading back over to where Zeke was sitting and taking the seat next to him on the couch. Zeke looked like he was having a hard time keeping in a laugh, and Erwin could feel himself getting annoyed as he obviously didn’t understand the inside joke that was going on. He gave Hanji one more confused look before he got up and headed to his room, not particularly wanting to see Zeke and Levi giggling with each other like they had been over the past half hour.

He went to sit at his desk, and soon, much to his displeasure, Zeke appeared in the doorway, walking in and shutting the door. Erwin looked up at him in some annoyance, going back to paying attention to his laptop.

“What the fuck was that about?” Erwin asked, not bothering to look up at Zeke’s smug face, “You clearly know something’s going on.”

Zeke chuckled and leaned against the closed door, “I told Levi you’re straight.”

Erwin’s mouth dropped open in shock as he stared at Zeke in disbelief. Well, that certainly explains some things , he thought to himself as he realized what Levi’s earlier comments were implying.

“Why the fuck did you do that?!” Erwin exclaimed, though he already knew the answer. Of course, Zeke had done this to sabotage his relationship with Levi. Zeke wasn’t above playing dirty, and here he was interfering again.

“Dunno,” Zeke shrugged, practically beaming, “Thought it’d be funny.”

“You have to fix this,” Erwin urged, turning his chair to face Zeke, “That’s not fair at all.”

“I know,” Zeke acknowledged, “ But ...”

“Oh god, what?” Erwin asked in exasperation. He didn’t like the look on Zeke’s face or the hint of mischief in his voice. He could practically see the wheels turning in Zeke’s head, and Erwin couldn’t say he was a fan of it.

“ You could fix it for me,” Zeke grinned.

Erwin crossed his arms, not understanding what was in it for him if he fixed Zeke’s lie for him. Zeke clearly didn’t want to be caught in a lie, so that explained why he wanted Erwin to do this instead; it would make Zeke look better in the long run.

“And why on earth would I do that? You’re the one who lied,” Erwin questioned.

“Well,” Zeke continued, “Just think about it. Having a personal conversation with Levi. Sure, it’ll be a little embarrassing, but it’ll open up the possibility of talking about liking men with him. Who knows? You might even get the chance to confess.”

Erwin looked at Zeke in some thought, mulling it over as he stared the man down. He was trying to figure out what type of trick Zeke was trying to play on him. But he couldn’t fully work out what was going through Zeke’s mind. Perhaps it really was just so that Zeke wouldn’t have to admit to a lie.

“I guess...” Erwin finally agreed, thinking that having this kind of personal conversation with Levi might turn out in his favor.

“Come on,” Zeke persisted, “It’ll keep me from looking like a liar, and it’ll give you the chance to have one on one time with Levi.”

Erwin sighed in frustration, “Fine. But you have to promise not to interrupt us or eavesdrop. Because I know you’ve been doing both.”

“Deal,” Zeke decided, walking over and holding his hand out to Erwin. Erwin shook it after some hesitation, going back to crossing his arms suspiciously afterwards. Zeke walked out and shut the door behind him, probably going to join Levi back on the couch. Erwin relaxed his arms and sighed heavily. This bet was certainly taking a toll on him, and they had barely even begun.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Approaching Levi’s bedroom door for the second time this week, Erwin knew he couldn’t be as nervous as he usually was. He was already about to have an embarrassing conversation, so he had to try to go into it with at least some confidence. He looked across the hall at his own bedroom door, which was closed. Good , he thought, No interruptions. Erwin turned back and knocked on the door, hearing Levi say ‘come in’ after a couple of seconds. He pushed the door open and saw Levi pouring himself a cup of tea on the other side of the double bedroom. He was wearing a casual button up and black chinos, but Erwin became flustered over Levi’s half-untucked shirt and clearly messy hair. It was pretty early in the morning, so Levi probably wasn’t fully ready yet. Fuck, he looks hot , Erwin bit his lip lightly.

Levi looked up from what he was doing, “Oh, hey Erwin. Did you need something?”

Erwin nodded, staying standing in the doorway with his hands straight down at his sides. Why am I so awkward around him? He wondered, watching Levi finish pouring his tea and setting it down on his desk.

“Do you want some tea?” Levi asked, reaching for a second cup off his bookshelf anyways.

“Sure,” Erwin said, still standing in the doorway. He didn’t know what to do with his hands, and swung his arms a little in nervousness.

Levi poured a second cup of tea and placed it next to his own, looking up at Erwin in confusion, “Well? Are you going to stand there all day? Come sit down.”

Erwin’s eyes widened slightly, and he nodded, closing the door and pulling up Hanji’s desk chair to sit next to Levi, who slid a cup of tea across the desk towards him. Erwin took it gently, smiling a little and muttering a quick ‘thanks’ before blowing on the tea and taking a small sip. He set the tea cup back down to meet Levi’s dull gray eyes locked with his.

“So what can I do for you?” Levi asked, taking a quick sip of his tea as well, not even bothering to blow on it. He was clearly too used to the scalding temperature of the tea he was so used to drinking.

I can think of a million things you could do for me, Erwin was unable to control the thought from entering his head, though he prevented it from going any deeper than that. He didn’t need to be any more nervous than he was already.

“Well... I’m here to clear up a rumor,” Erwin admitted, “I heard that it’s been going around that I’m straight but I... I’m not.”

Levi’s eyes widened slightly, not expecting this to be the conversation they were going to have. He almost looked a little relieved by the news, but cleared his throat, not knowing how to handle this talk with Erwin.

“Oh...” he began, “Yeah, Zeke told me that. Thanks for clearing things up.”

Erwin nodded, both of them taking a silent moment to sip their tea. Now what? Erwin wondered, feeling awkward all over again. He hadn’t thought this far into the conversation, and now he didn’t know what to say.

Thankfully, Levi filled the silence for him. “Erwin?” he piped up, “Do you mind if I ask you something a little personal?”

He set down his tea cup gently and pushed his bangs out of his face in a sexy manner. Erwin couldn’t help but bite his lip again, only able to nod in response to Levi’s question. He wondered what personal question Levi could possibly ask him, and he definitely was not prepared for what was coming.

“I know you’re not straight but...” Levi inquired, “What’s your type?”

If Erwin had been drinking his tea, he would’ve probably spit it out in surprise. Not that this was a particularly shocking question, but the fact that it was Levi asking him this was the surprising part. He didn’t even know how to respond to the question, and opened and closed his mouth for a couple of moments.

“You don’t have to answer,” Levi quickly reassured him, “I’m not judging you. I was just curious.”

Erwin nodded a little at the reassurance, swallowing heavily before quietly speaking up, “No no, it’s fine. I don’t mind answering I was just... surprised by the question is all.”

What is my type? Erwin wondered, I mean, I clearly like Levi... so whatever his type would be...

“I... I like shorter men,” Erwin started, avoiding Levi’s gaze as he continued quietly, “Dark hair, strong, gray eyes... incredibly handsome.”

He felt regretful for how unconfident he sounded, but he tried to finish a little stronger in his words as he ended his sentence. He glanced up to see Levi nodding a little, taking a moment to process the information. He was staring off into space, and for a moment Erwin wondered if he had scared Levi away. But Levi quickly snapped back to reality, turning back and looking at Erwin. Now Erwin was wishing that Levi was still staring into space, as his gaze into Erwin’s deep blue eyes was nerve-wrecking.

“What about you?” Erwin asked to fill the silence, immediately regretting asking the question. He hoped that Levi wouldn’t be offended by him returning the personal question, and suddenly felt embarrassed for asking. He quickly tried to rectify himself, “I mean... I’m sorry - do you mind if I ask that?”

“It’s fine, Erwin,” Levi smiled softly, taking a moment to tap his chin in thought before he explained, “I like taller men, blonde hair, strong... also incredibly handsome.”

Erwin could feel himself blushing. He hadn’t even been sure that Levi was into men at first, but now he could confirm that Levi not only liked men, but that he fit into Levi’s ideal type. Unfortunately, this description could’ve applied to either him or Zeke, but in this moment Erwin had a feeling that Levi was talking directly about him and not Zeke, which made him all the more nervous.

“O-Oh,” Erwin stuttered, “Well... cool.”

Cool?! Is that all you have to say?! Erwin was mentally kicking himself, Why can’t I just act normal around him?

Levi couldn’t help but breathe out a small laugh at the awkward statement, “Yeah, cool. Glad to know we both know what we like.”

Erwin smiled a little and nodded, “Yeah, that’s true.”

“So is there anyone at the university that’s caught your eye?” Levi asked hopefully, taking another sip of his black tea and not breaking eye contact with Erwin.

You , Erwin wanted to say, but he felt terrified to admit such a thing. He’d already practically admitted Levi was his ideal type, perhaps Levi could deduce on his own that Erwin liked him.

“I... I have someone in mind,” Erwin said with a soft smile, taking a sip of tea as he also continued to look into Levi’s eyes, “And you?”

He was asking this with genuine curiosity, leaning forward a little. If he says Zeke I’m going to throw up .

“Me too,” Levi smiled back, setting the tea cup down and taking the initiative to place his hand on Erwin’s knee, much like Erwin had done to him the other day. Erwin sucked in a deep breath, feeling his chest constricting as the nervousness pooled in his stomach.

“Erwin?” Levi practically whispered, “You know you can relax around me, right? You don’t have to be so nervous.”

Erwin could feel the butterflies in his stomach as he set the tea cup down and placed his hand atop Levi’s, his heart practically pounding out of his chest as he breathed out, “I’m sorry. I’ll try to be more relaxed.”

Their eye contact wasn’t breaking, and that’s how they stayed for a few moments, both hands and eyes connected. Erwin could almost see a blush creeping up on Levi’s face, and the feeling made his stomach do flips. That’s when the door opened, and both of them nearly jumped, their hands moving away from each other. That better not be Zeke, I swear to god. Erwin thought as Levi cleared his throat awkwardly. Erwin turned to see Hanji standing there, and he was suddenly regretting the fact that Hanji and Levi were roommates instead of himself and Levi.

“Oh, hey Erwin,” Hanji said with an apologetic look, “Hi Levi. Am I interrupting something?”

Levi quickly shook his head, “No, you’re fine. We were just talking.”

Erwin wanted to tell Hanji to get the hell out so he could continue the intimate moment he was sharing with Levi, but he knew this was Hanji’s room too; he couldn’t just kick them out of their own space. He got up to leave, exchanging goodbyes with the two of them before heading back to his own room, where Zeke was still passed out in his bed. He went back to his desk to start another day of schoolwork. But he couldn’t stop thinking about Levi: the conversation they had, the looks they’d exchanged, and especially the touch of Levi’s hand under his own.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zeke stood outside Levi’s bedroom door, two glasses and a bottle of whiskey in one hand, a deck of cards in the other. He decided he was going to spend some alone time with Levi, considering Erwin already had his alone time with Levi today. And who knows how that even went. Zeke was feeling more and more disconnected from Levi the more he learned about how close Erwin was getting to him. He was hoping tonight might change all that. Knocking on the door, he waited patiently until Levi opened it, already in his pajamas. Hanji was passed out in their bed, snoring away loudly.

“Zeke?” Levi questioned, glancing down to the items Zeke brought with him, “Oh shit, are we drinking tonight?”

“Hell yeah we are,” Zeke grinned, “You’ve been busy lately. I thought we could hang out tonight and relax.”

Levi nodded, going to follow Zeke into the living room and sitting down on the couch with him. Zeke set the whiskey and the two glasses on the coffee table, pouring them each a generous portion before sitting down on the couch. He handed Levi his drink and took his own, the two of them clinking the glasses and taking a long sip. Zeke knew Levi wasn’t usually much of a drinker; it made him feel vulnerable to those around him. But when it was just him and Zeke, he didn’t mind having that feeling.

“So what are we playing?” Levi asked, settling in and getting comfortable.

“Speed?” Zeke suggested, starting to shuffle the cards.

Levi nodded, taking another sip of whiskey as Zeke dealt the cards out between them and laid out the additional cards on the coffee table in front of them. Zeke looked at the cards in his hand and organized them.

“Are you ready?” Levi asked.

Zeke nodded, “Yeah, flip.”

They each flipped one of the two cards set out between them. Levi immediately began shuffling through his cards faster than Zeke, setting down one on his pile and picking up the next from the deck so that he always had five in his hand. He was always the best at these types of card games.

“Fuck! Stop going so fast,” Zeke exclaimed, trying his best to keep up as he slammed down his cards and picked up new ones.

Levi laughed a little as he kept going, “The name of the game is literally ‘speed’, Zeke.”

Zeke groaned in annoyance, focusing intently on the cards he was going through. He was about three-fourths of the way through them when Levi called out ‘speed’, meaning he went through all his cards and won the game.

“Shit!” Zeke cursed in exasperation, tossing his cards down in front of him in defeat, “How come you’re so good at this game?”

“Because,” Levi explained, starting to gather the cards back up again, “I’m faster than you are. Plus, you’re too busy looking at my pretty face.”

Fuck, he’s right, Zeke thought, even though he knew Levi was just messing with him. He couldn’t help but laugh at Levi’s words, rolling his eyes, “Yeah, okay.”

Levi tapped the cards against his palm, “Again?”

Zeke nodded, determined to beat him this time. Levi chuckled a bit as he dealt the cards this time, “You’re just going to lose, Zeke.”

“Try me,” Zeke smirked, grabbing his cards and getting more comfortable, trying his best to get rid of any distractions from his mind.

“Ready?” Levi started, “Go.”

They flipped the cards and began to go through them again. Zeke was managing to keep the pace with Levi so far, and he slammed down his cards as fast as he could to keep up. Just as Levi was about to set down his final card, Zeke called out ‘speed’, slamming down his final card before Levi could.

“What was that about me losing, huh?” Zeke grinned in satisfaction.

“I went easy on you,” Levi joked, taking a sip of whiskey.

Zeke began to collect the cards again. But he wasn’t just here to play cards. He wanted to see if he could get Levi to share some of the things he had been telling Erwin, or even share how he was feeling about Erwin.

“So...” Zeke started as he shuffled the cards, “You and Erwin have been spending a lot of time together lately...”

“Yeah, I guess,” Levi responded, tapping the edge of his glass with his fingers.

“What’s that about, hmm?” Zeke smirked playfully, “You aren’t replacing me, are you?”

Levi breathed out of his nose in a laugh, “Of course not. You’re irreplaceable, Zeke.”

Zeke smiled, a warm feeling growing in his chest. He knew he was special to Levi, but hearing it out loud solidified the feeling. They had been friends for such a long time, but Zeke loved having the reassurance.

“I could never find another friend as annoying as you are,” Levi finished, causing Zeke to scowl. 

“Levi,” he whined in annoyance, “That was mean.”

Levi smirked, “Just deal the cards, idiot.”

Zeke dealt the cards for their third game, which Levi won again, of course. They were close to the bottom of their glasses, and Zeke was noticing Levi was starting to get a little tipsy. As both someone of small stature and someone who didn’t often drink, Levi was a lightweight. Zeke grinned. Drunk Levi was about to come out, and he was so ready for it. Levi took one last long sip of his whiskey, a light smile plastered on his face.

“Zeke...” Levi leaned forward, resting his head on Zeke’s shoulder, “Why do you always pour me so much? You know I’m a lightweight.”

Zeke laughed a little and put an arm around him, “Because drunk Levi is fun Levi.”

“Hey,” Levi scolded, “I’m fun when I’m sober.”

“Of course you are,” Zeke replied, rubbing Levi’s arm lightly, “But it’s fun to see drunk Levi every once in a while too.”

Levi couldn’t help but smile a little, a rare sight for Zeke to see. That’s when Levi looked up, and their eyes met, faces only inches apart. Zeke couldn’t help but blush at the feeling of Levi’s breath on his lips.

Zeke laughed nervously, “Aren’t you a little close?”

Levi nodded, his eyes staying locked with Zeke’s as he moved in closer, their lips almost touching. Zeke was now cursing himself for getting Levi drunk. He knew there was no way he was going to let Levi kiss him now, not when Levi was definitely too drunk to consent to anything.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Zeke gently pushed Levi back, “Calm down, Levi.”

Levi looked taken aback and a bit disappointed. His eyes were glazed over with the drunkenness of the glass he had finished.

“You... You don’t want to kiss me?” Levi pouted a bit, looking so incredibly sweet and sad that Zeke wanted to grab his face and kiss him just to get rid of that look. But he held back, knowing it was wrong.

“Levi,” he sighed, gently bringing his hand up to stroke the other’s cheek, “You’re drunk, babe. I’m not going to take advantage of you like that.”

Levi visibly blushed at Zeke’s touch and leaned into it, “Will you at least stay out here with me tonight? I... I get lonely.”

Fuck, why is he so goddamn adorable? Zeke sighed, “Sure. Scoot over.”

Levi picked up the deck of cards and put them on the coffee table along with his glass, going to lay down. Zeke set his glass down too and got up to turn off the overhead light. When he turned around, Levi was already knocked out on the couch. Zeke smiled a little and laid down behind him, gently wrapping an arm around him. He couldn’t fall asleep right away. His head was swimming with thoughts. Why had Levi wanted to kiss him all of a sudden? Would he remember this tomorrow? And would he still want to kiss Zeke when he was sober? Zeke eventually drifted off to sleep, nuzzling his head up against Levi’s.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zeke woke up the next morning with Levi in his arms, facing him, their noses practically touching. Zeke immediately blushed, pulling away slowly. Levi groaned from the movement and opened his eyes a little.

“Zeke?” he yawned, trying to blink the sleepiness away, “What are you still doing here?”

“You asked if we could sleep out here together, remember?” Zeke yawned in response.

“No, I don’t remember,” Levi said, rubbing his forehead and sitting up a little, “But I believe you. I was pretty drunk.”

I’m sure he doesn’t remember wanting to kiss me then either , Zeke thought sadly.

“Do you remember anything from last night?” Zeke asked with a hint of hopefulness in his voice.

“Yeah,” Levi smirked, getting off the couch, “I remember absolutely annihilating you at Speed last night.”

“Hey, I won a game!” Zeke protested, climbing off the couch after him and grabbing him around the middle from behind. He lifted him off the ground lightly.

“Hey! Let go!” Levi struggled. Zeke knew that Levi could break free at any moment, and appreciated the fact that he was clearly playing along for Zeke’s sake. Zeke laughed and let go, spontaneously pressing a kiss to Levi’s temple.

“What was that for?” Levi blushed, rubbing the spot on his temple in confusion.

Zeke smiled mischievously, “Nothing. Just something you asked for last night.”

Levi looked even more confused, and even more flushed than he did before. Zeke decided this would be a perfect time for him to leave, picking up his bottle of whiskey and the glasses before he walked to his bedroom door.

“What do you mean?” Levi asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

“Bye Levi,” Zeke grinned, heading into the room and shutting it behind him. I’m such a devil.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Levi stood alone in the living room after Zeke’s bedroom door closed, his fingers still touching the place where Zeke had kissed him. Just something you asked for last night . The words rang in his ears. What did I say to him last night? He could feel the anxiety building in his stomach as he wondered what had happened. He took this feeling with him as he carried on his day, spending most of the day outside of classes in his room working on homework. When he saw Zeke again at lunch, they both pretended as if their earlier conversation hadn’t happened. Zeke certainly didn’t seem fazed, still holding Levi’s hand during lunch and pretending as if nothing was different between them. When Levi wasn’t thinking about Zeke, he was focused on Erwin. How annoying , he thought, irritated that his mind could only focus on one of the two men and nothing else. He hadn’t really seen Erwin for most of the day, but something in him missed that bastard’s face. I should see what he’s doing, Levi thought, Maybe it’ll take my mind off Zeke.

After his final class, he headed back to the dorms with the intention of seeing Erwin as soon as he got back. He entered the dorm suite to find Zeke knocked out on the couch with a book resting on his chest. He’d clearly been trying to get some reading done and had fallen asleep, but Levi was thankful he didn’t have to deal with him at the moment, still a little confused by their earlier interaction. He made his way to Erwin’s room and knocked lightly on the door, waiting to hear Erwin call out for him to enter before pushing it open. Erwin was at his desk, typing away at something. But he looked up when Levi entered, a familiar smile appearing on his face. Levi could feel his heart pounding in his chest just from that smile, unable to help but smile back a little.

“Hey Levi,” Erwin greeted him sweetly, turning to face him, “Did you need something?”

Levi held his textbooks tighter to his chest as he felt nervousness pool in his chest, “I was just... I know it’s late, but I... I was wondering if you wanted to join me out on the balcony for a bit.”

The building had a community room with a balcony for students to hang out in, but it was usually pretty empty, especially at this time of night. He liked to sit out on the balcony sometimes and just look up at the stars, but this time he’d hoped that Erwin might join him. He cursed himself for sounding so nervous, but he couldn’t help it. Lately, something about Erwin was making him feel butterflies in his stomach, and he wasn’t going to deny that he had some feelings for the man. Perhaps it was the fact that they’d been spending more time together than usual, but Levi really enjoyed their time together.

“Sure,” Erwin agreed, not even taking much time to think about it. Levi suspected Erwin enjoyed spending time with him just as much as he did, which just made all the time they spent together even more special.

He closed his laptop and got up, going to follow Levi, who dropped his books off in his room before heading out towards the community room. They went out on the balcony and Levi sat on the outdoor swing, patting the seat next to him for Erwin to sit down. Erwin took the seat next to him and Levi could feel an awkward atmosphere setting in as they sat in silence for a few moments.

“So,” Erwin asked, filling the silence as they looked up at the stars, “Do you know anything about astrology or did you just bring me up here to sit in silence?”

Levi rolled his eyes a little and let out a small laugh, “I don’t actually know anything about astrology, no.”

Levi shuffled in his spot, pulling his legs up to cross them as he tried to get more comfortable. He stared up at the starry night sky, trying to recall anything he had ever learned about the stars when he was young, but nothing was oncoming to him. He was trying to think of something to say to fill the silence when Erwin surprised him by doing it for him.

“Whenever I look at the stars,” Erwin said quietly, “I always think of romance movies. Stargazing feels incredibly romantic to me.”

Levi could feel himself blushing, and he shifted a bit in his spot. Erwin was gently rocking the swing back and forth as they sat there, his gaze turning to Levi as he finished what he was saying.

“I... yeah, I suppose it is,” Levi agreed, scooting a little closer to Erwin and meeting his gaze. He took a deep breath before he built up the courage to place his hand on top of Erwin’s, smiling at him gently. He wasn’t usually the one to initiate things, but he could tell Erwin was just as nervous as he was, and if he wanted to get anywhere he might have to start a few things himself.

Erwin sucked in a deep breath, breaking away from their eye contact to look back up at the stars. Levi was still looking at him, taking in his chiseled features and the sweet smile resting on his face. He couldn’t help but think Erwin was incredibly handsome. He took Erwin’s hand gently and took the initiative to pull Erwin’s arm around his shoulder, snuggling up to him. He could almost hear Erwin’s heart beat pounding out of his chest, and tried to calm his own heart as they held onto each other gently. Erwin began to rub Levi’s arm as he rested his head on top of Levi’s, still looking up at the stars. Levi thought Erwin was incredibly adorable; he was still so charming despite the nervousness that he was clearly suffering through.

Levi yawned a little, starting to feel tired as he got comfortable in Erwin’s arms. He could feel Erwin relaxing and sighed happily, his eyes starting to close as he felt sleep come over him, both Levi and Erwin passing out in each other’s arms.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Erwin first woke up, he didn’t know where he was at first. A dark head of hair was nuzzled into his neck, and he took a moment to listen to the deep breathing that it emitted. That’s when everything came back to him: stargazing, cuddling, and Levi .

Erwin looked down at Levi, who was practically glued to him at this point. He felt a strange fluttering feeling in the pit of his stomach. Having Levi this close to him did something to him, and not just in a physical way (it was the morning after all). Erwin’s heart was practically pounding, thinking about how to make Levi happy, how to make him smile, how to let him know he cared about him.

He raised his free hand slowly, letting his fingers trail through Levi’s soft, silky black hair. Even though they had slept outside, Levi’s hair was still somehow not oily. It felt clean and smooth, pretty much how Levi’s whole body was in general. He continued to lightly stroke Levi’s hair, trying to relax his body as best he could.

“Erwin?” Levi whined sleepily, and Erwin could feel his eyelashes blinking against his neck. Levi pulled away gently, yawning and rubbing his sleepy eyes, “Were you stroking my hair?”

Erwin blushed, inventing a cover story quickly, “N-No, you had dirt in your hair.”

“Oh,” Levi sighed, going back to snuggling into Erwin’s neck, too tired to care how close they were, “Thanks.”

Erwin noticed the sun coming up over the horizon, and knew they should be getting back soon in case their roommates were wondering where they went. As much as he didn’t want to, he gently nudged Levi back awake, whispering quietly, “Levi, we have to get up. We should head back soon.”

“Ugh,” Levi groaned tiredly, pulling away and rubbing his eyes to try and wake himself up, “You’re probably right.”

The shorter man stopped rubbing his eyes and stared into Erwin’s, taking a deep breath before muttering, “Can I ask you something?”

“Levi,” Erwin laughed under his breath, “You’ve been asking me questions all week. You don’t have to ask permission to ask me things anymore.”

Levi nodded, clearing his throat, “Right. So what’s been going on between you and Zeke?”

Erwin’s eyes widened somewhat in surprise, not expecting that question. So Levi had noticed the two of them glaring at each other constantly. I guess that’s not too surprising , Erwin thought, opening and closing his mouth as he fought to find an answer that wouldn’t let onto the bet the two had made.

“I’ve seen the way you two have been looking at each other,” Levi admitted, “And I heard you two yelling the other night, but I couldn’t make out what you were saying.”

“We’re just... having an argument right now,” Erwin tried.

“You two used to joke around more often,” Levi frowned, “I don’t know what this argument’s about, but I hope you two resolve things soon. It makes everything awkward when the two of you are in the same room.”

Erwin went to answer, when he heard the doors slide open behind them. He looked back to see Zeke walking over to them. At the sight of Zeke, Levi practically jumped back from Erwin’s arms, starting to get up and brush himself off. Erwin scowled, feeling annoyed that they were getting interrupted yet again by Zeke, who looked equally annoyed at the sight of the two of them together. He was also irritated by the fact that Levi would jump away from him so quickly, as if he wanted to hide their closeness from Zeke. The two clearly spent the night together, and Zeke did not look thrilled by this fact, frowning as he looked between the two of them.

“Hanji’s been looking for you, Erwin,” Zeke said shortly, crossing his arms.

“O-Oh,” Erwin replied, getting up slowly. Levi looked slightly embarrassed, not entirely sure what to say or do after being caught in their current situation.

“Well? Are you going to go or what?” Zeke asked Erwin, staring him down.

Erwin was sick of Zeke interrupting them constantly, and he decided to do something that would piss the hell out of him, no matter how nervous it might make him. Erwin turned to Levi, taking one hand in his and squeezing it gently, “Thanks for last night, Levi. I’ll talk to you later.”

He figured just the hand-holding would be enough to make Zeke jealous. What he wasn’t expecting, however, was for Levi to bring Erwin’s hand to his lips, planting a light kiss to his knuckles, “Thanks, Erwin. See you later.”

Erwin went red and nodded stupidly, letting go of Levi’s hand and walking past Zeke, unable to help but glare at him as he walked by. He headed back towards the dorm, wondering just what it was that Hanji needed from him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zeke and Levi were left standing there, Zeke clearly looking pissed off and jealous at the exxchange that had just occurred between the two men. He hadn’t been particularly fond of the position he’d found the two in, let alone the kiss on the hand that Levi had given Erwin.

“So,” Zeke snapped, “Not trying to replace me, huh? That’s what you said, right?”

“Zeke,” Levi sighed in exasperation, “I don’t want to argue. I know you and Erwin aren’t on good terms right now, but can’t you just be happy for me?”

“Be happy for you?” Zeke questioned incredulously, “So... what? You two are an item now?”

Levi looked embarrassed, clarifying, “No! We’re just friends, Zeke. I thought you’d be happy considering I don’t have many of those.”

“ Friends ,” Zeke practically spat, “Friends don’t kiss each other like that.”

“Well apparently they do,” Levi quipped back, “You literally did that to me yesterday.”

Oh shit, he has a point , Zeke thought, mentally kicking himself. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. He could feel the anger that had settled in his stomach from watching the closeness between Levi and Erwin.

“Just - don’t do that shit around me,” Zeke grumbled.

“I thought you would be more accepting of me,” Levi frowned, looking disappointed.

“Are you fucking stupid?” Zeke snapped, “Do you think everything is about you?”

Zeke couldn’t understand how Levi was not reading the situation properly. Wasn’t it obvious that he was jealous and not being intolerant? Why did Levi think all these situations were about him and not about Zeke’s jealousy?

“I’m not stupid,” Levi challenged, clearing getting irritated if he wasn’t already, “I just don’t understand what the fuck you’re talking about.”

He’s fucking useless , Zeke thought in exasperation, taunting back at Levi, “Well maybe if you pull your head out of your ass, you can stop being so fucking selfish.”

Levi looked both pissed off and hurt, his fists clenched at his side as he fumed, “Fuck you, Zeke. Talk to me when you’re done being a dick.”

And with that, their conversation was over, Levi making his way past Zeke and back towards their dorm suite. As soon as Levi was gone, Zeke’s anger began to subside, and guilt took its place. He didn’t understand why he would get so upset and let himself go out of control when confronting people. And he didn’t know why he wasn’t able to just keep his mouth shut instead of ruining everything. As he stood alone on the balcony, he could feel the regret pooling in the pit of his stomach. I fucked up .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hanji?” Erwin knocked lightly on their bedroom door. The door swung open a couple of seconds later, Hanji standing there adjusting their glasses.

“Erwin?” Hanji asked, looking confused, “Did you need something?”

“I thought you were looking for me?” Erwin replied, uncertainty plastered on his face, “Zeke said...”

Zeke, Erwin thought angrily, Of course he lied. Hanji had basically figured out what was going on just from Erwin’s facial expressions. They sighed and leaned against the door frame, “You should probably stop believing everything Zeke says, Erwin. He can be sneaky sometimes.”

Erwin pressed his fingers to his forehead in frustration, cursing himself for being so stupid as to fall for this rouse by Zeke. He was more than annoyed, feeling furious that Zeke would come up and interrupt his time with Levi just to steal him away as well. Who knows what we would have done if he hadn’t come up there? Erwin thought in irritation. That’s when he heard the unmistakable sound of jingling keys behind him, coming from the direction of the front door. Erwin whipped around to see Zeke walking into the dorm suite, and their eyes met - Zeke’s full of surprise and Erwin’s full of anger.

“Oh shit,” Zeke muttered, trying to rush to their room so he could lock the door behind him. But Erwin was too quick, and he grabbed Zeke’s arm roughly, forcing him to turn around and look at him.

“What the hell is your problem?!” Erwin snapped, “Why can’t you just leave us alone? I don’t interrupt you two when you’re together!”

Zeke ripped his arm, growling back, “Don’t fucking touch me!”

Erwin got up in Zeke’s face, “Then back off .”

Their eyes were locked in anger, and Erwin was ready to fight Zeke if he had to. Zeke shoved Erwin backwards almost immediately, “Get the fuck away from me.”

Erwin went to charge at him again, when Hanji stood in between them, looking more pissed than either of them were over the situation. And when Hanji was pissed, they were fucking terrifying .

“ Knock it off ,” they cautioned angrily, and the two men immediately backed off, Erwin looking to the ground, so he could try and calm himself - looking at Zeke would just make him angrier.

“In the kitchen, now ,” Hanji ordered, turning on their heel and heading towards the kitchen.

Zeke and Erwin exchanged a sheepish look before they followed Hanji into the kitchen, the three of them sitting at the kitchen table. The two waited for Hanji to say something, Hanji pushing their glasses up on their face.

“This bet is tearing you two apart,” they sighed in frustration, “I’ve never seen you two so angry with each other, and I won’t stand for this childishness. You two need to spend some quality time together and work on your friendship.”

Zeke, already picking up on what Hanji was going to do, shook his head and whined in annoyance, “Hanji no , I’m not working with him on anything .”

“I’m in charge of the bet, Zeke,” Hanji reminded him, pointing at him in annoyance, “And I will end the bet unless you do what I ask.”

Zeke grumbled angrily to himself and sat back in his chair, crossing his arms. Erwin sat still, awaiting whatever Hanji was going to order them to do. He figured they probably deserved this. Hanji was right, he and Zeke had never fought like this before the bet. Sure, they would bicker every once in a while, but at the end of the day they were still roommates. With this sudden competition between the two of them, they hadn’t shared a joke or even a proper conversation in a while.

“You two have to clean the apartment until it’s spotless,” Hanji announced, and Erwin grimaced a little at the thought. Usually, Levi was the one who did most of the cleaning, and Erwin and Zeke definitely weren’t used to having to take responsibility for the chores. This project would clearly take them some time to complete.

“That’s not fair, Hanji!” Zeke complained, “I’m busy! I have tons of homework to do!”

“Then I guess you’ll have to try to work as a team to get it done quickly, won’t you?” Hanji smiled, and it was almost more terrifying to see them smile in irritation than it was to see their actual angry face. Zeke shut his mouth and sighed, mumbling ‘fine’.

“You can start tomorrow morning,” Hanji explained, “And if I find you two fighting...”

Hanji took a second to think about what they would possibly do if they found them fighting again. Their eyes narrowed, “Let’s just say you don’t want me to find you two fighting.”

Erwin wasn’t sure if Zeke was as intimidated by Hanji as he was in this moment, but he was definitely terrified of them right now, and committed to trying to work with Zeke to get the project done. It was up to Zeke whether they actually could accomplish this, and Erwin looked over to Zeke to see what he would say.“Fine!” Zeke exhaled in annoyance, “But while we’re here I want to have a meeting about the bet.”

“Fair enough,” Hanji’s expression softened, and they leaned back in their seat, “So how far have each of you got?”

Erwin waited for Zeke to start talking, and when he didn’t he decided to speak up, “Well, Levi and I cuddled last night, and we’ve held hands and talked. That’s mostly it.”

Zeke frowned at Erwin’s answer and waited his turn, his arms still crossed as he muttered, “Same here. We spent the night together the other day, and we’ve been the same outside that.”

Hanji nodded, “See? Nothing to be so angry about. You’re both in the same place - nobody’s pulled ahead yet.”

“We’ll see about that,” Zeke mumbled, uncrossing his arms and sitting up, “Can I go now?”

Hanji sighed, “Sure. Go ahead.”

But before Zeke could get up, Levi emerged from the bathroom, looking incredibly irritated and hair wet from a shower. For a moment the three of them were worried he’d heard what had been said about the bet, but Levi’s next words confirmed that wasn’t the case.

“Did you two have another fight?” Levi asked suspiciously, “I could hear you two arguing again.”

Zeke opened his mouth to speak, but Levi interrupted him before he could, “ Don’t lie to me about it, Zeke. I’m not messing around right now.”

Erwin could tell Levi was angry with them, and though Levi was often annoyed by those around him, he knew that Levi’ss pure anger was a rare occurrence unless he was trying to make a point.

Zeke started again, “Look, Levi we-”

“And I don’t want excuses either,” Levi snapped coolly, managing to keep his anger under control, “I thought you two were better than this, but you’re acting like children! I don’t want two of my close friends to be constantly at each other’s throats!”

Two of his closest friends , Erwin thought, feeling good that he was on par with Zeke in Levi’s mind, or at least his words made it seem that way. Zeke didn’t take well to this, scowling a bit.

“L-Levi,” Erwin piped up, “It’s my fault. I’m sorry, I-”

“No it’s my fault,” Zeke admitted, “I started it.”

“Look, I don’t care whose fault it is,” Levi sighed, “Just... do whatever you two have to do, but please stop with all this arguing. Just promise me you’ll try to get along.”

Zeke and Erwin exchanged a glance, neither of them particularly excited about being forced to get along twice in the past ten minutes. Erwin knew he could be civil with Zeke, but it was up to Zeke whether things stayed that way. He wouldn’t take abuse from him though, so it truly depended on Zeke whether they would get along. He waited for Zeke to respond first, knowing he could only agree if Zeke did.

“Promise,” Zeke finally said; as if he had another choice. Erwin repeated Zeke’s statement firmly, and Levi nodded in satisfaction at their answers before turning to head towards his room without another word. He was still clearly angry with them, but the promise appeared to at least put him at ease for the moment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A guilty feeling gnawed at Erwin for most of the day. He felt bad for not only pissing off Hanji, but also he felt bad mostly for hurting Levi’s feelings because of his confrontation with Zeke. The two of them were sitting at the kitchen table eating their lunch in silence. Zeke and Hanji were both off at a lab class they had together, and Levi was barely acknowledging him even though they were sitting right across from each other. Erwin had specifically chosen to sit with Levi for lunch just so they could talk, and he was trying to build up the courage to do so at the moment.

“Levi? Can we talk?” he asked nervously.

Levi took a deep breath, “What is it?”

“I... I want to apologize for earlier,” Erwin frowned, looking away sheepishly from Levi, “I just want you to know that I intend to keep my promise, and I won’t start shit with Zeke anymore.”

Erwin heard Levi sigh, and he looked up to meet the shorter man’s gray eyes. Levi appeared to be searching Erwin’s face for signs that he was being honest with him, and he nodded after a moment of doing so.

“It’s fine, Erwin,” Levi finally spoke, breaking the silence between the two, “I just don’t like it when you two fight.”

“I... I know,” Erwin looked back down, feeling bad for having been the one that had started the argument earlier, “And I won’t let it happen again.”

“You’d better not, dumbass,” Levi replied, trying to lighten the mood as he got up to put his plate away.

Eriwn nodded, smiling a little at the ‘dumbass’ comment. Levi got up first and held his hand out to Erwin to help him up. Erwin took it and stood up, tripping on the leg of his chair and stumbling into Levi’s arm. Levi was quick to catch him and help set him backward, so he was standing more steadily. He gripped Erwin’s hip tightly, and Erwin was blushing at his clumsiness. He was going to apologize, when Levi suddenly pulled him closer by his hip. They were now inches apart, and Erwin could practically smell the tea on Levi’s breath. Erwin couldn’t help but gasp a little when Levi pulled him closer, and his breathing became uneven as he nervously looked down into Levi’s eyes.

Levi raised his other hand to gently rest on Erwin’s chest, staring up at him with an intense gaze. Erwin’s mind was quickly filling up with lewd images, and his body itched for him to do something, anything , to close the distance between the two of them, to reach out and grab him.

He chose the latter, reaching one of his hands to grip the fabric of Levi’s shirt. Once his hand was there, though, he didn’t know what to do with it. He was too busy staring down at Levi’s lips. Fuck .

“L-Levi, I...” he trailed off, his voice coming out raspier than he wanted it to. Levi’s hand was gently rubbing circles in his chest, and Erwin could feel his pants becoming tighter as redness crept up on his face.

“Erwin,” Levi practically whispered, noticing the nervousness written on Erwin’s face, “It’s just me. It’s okay.”

It’s okay , the words floated in his head. Erwin’s eyes snapped up from Levi’s lips to his eyes, and as they moved closer, he could feel that Levi’s heartbeats were as frantic as his own. The clear erection in his pants and the beating of his heart were winning against his nerves. Erwin brought his hand up to tangle it in Levi’s hair, and took the initiative to bring their hips together. The entire mood died for him as he felt Levi’s own erection. It suddenly all became too real, and although Erwin was still incredibly turned on, he pushed himself away from Levi, too afraid to continue what they were doing.

“Erwin?” Levi asked in concern, and Erwin could swear he almost sensed neediness in Levi’s voice as well. Erwin stared at Levi, not fully sure why he moved away. He was definitely turned on, and definitely wanted to kiss Levi, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. What am I so afraid of?

“Hey,” Levi spoke gently, staying where he was so as not to make Erwin any more anxious, “We don’t have to yet. Take your time.”

Erwin nodded a little, seeing Levi turn to leave for his room and silently cursing himself for being such a coward. Erwin clearly wanted this, and so did Levi. Plus, Zeke was busy, so there had been no chance of him interrupting. Everything was laid out perfectly, so why couldn’t he have just kissed Levi? He mentally kicked himself, grabbing his plate to put it in the sink before heading back to his own room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zeke and Erwin began their work early the next morning; Erwin dusting while Zeke cleaned the floors. They had mainly worked in silence over the past hour, occasionally exchanging glances but nothing more. Zeke had taken charge, and Erwin submitted to him reluctantly, mainly for the sake of Hanji and Levi (mostly Levi).

As for whether this was helping them get along, Zeke didn’t think so. The silence between them obviously did nothing for their relationship, and Zeke was fine with keeping it that way for the moment. He flipped through the pages of a blank journal he found on Hanji’s desk (both Hanji and Levi were in class), and decided this was a well-dserved time for a break. He got up and picked up a pencil from Hanji’s desk, sitting himself in their chair and looking around for inspiration. His eyes settled on Erwin, who was busy dusting some bookshelves. Zeke grimaced at the thought of drawing his rival, but he didn’t have much else to draw anyways. He turned back to the paper and began to sketch, glancing up at Erwin every once in a while to make sure he got the shape of his body right.

Erwin looked over from what he was doing and frowned, “Hey, what are you doing?”

“Taking a break,” Zeke replied shortly, continuing to sketch, “Just keep doing what you’re doing.”

“That’s not fair,” Erwin argued, protesting as he put down the duster, “I’m taking a break too.”

Zeke rolled his eyes, sighing and starting to erase the lines he had drawn, “Fine, but you have to pose for me.”

Erwin furrowed his eyebrows, looking confused, “For what?”

“I’m trying to draw you,” Zeke replied, motioning to the chair in front of him, “Sit there and stay still.”

“Why me?” Erwin asked, still doing what Zeke said and going to sit in the chair anyways.

“Well I don’t exactly have many options in here, now do I?” Zeke quipped, looking at how awkwardly Erwin was sitting in front of him. He looked uncomfortable and stiff, and Zeke let out a breath in exasperation, “Can you pose like a normal person?”

“How do you want me to pose?” Erwin asked, looking slightly irritated.

“I don’t know!” Zeke sighed, “You’re just so stiff and awkward. Just get more comfortable and pose however you want.”

Erwin took a second to think before he leaned back in the corner of the chair, pulling up one leg to rest over the armchair and resting his hand on the back of the chair. Zeke was a little surprised Erwin had chosen such a... well, he couldn’t think of any word other than sexy , pose. He couldn’t help but laugh a little. He did say to pose however Erwin wanted, so if this is what he got then so be it.

“Damn Erwin,” he joked, starting to sketch again, “Didn’t know you had it in you.”

“What do you mean?” Erwin asked, trying not to move from his position.

“You literally chose the sexiest position you could,” Zeke chuckled, continuing to draw, “Not developing a crush on me, are you?”

Erwin shifted a little uncomfortably, rolling his eyes and laughing a little himself, “You wish.”

Zeke grinned. They hadn’t shared a laugh over anything in the past few weeks. It felt nice to share jokes with Erwin again. He continued to sketch, finished with the shape of the body and starting to work on the details.

“I didn’t know you took up drawing again,” Erwin continued, “I remember you used to sketch a lot when we were in high school.”

Zeke smiled a little and nodded, glancing up at Erwin before continuing his work, “I picked it up again when we started college. It helps with the stress. I try to draw whenever things get to be too much. It takes my mind off everything.”

Erwin nodded in understanding, “I can imagine. It’s stressful being a history major, I can’t imagine majoring in neuroscience would be very easy.”

Zeke couldn’t help but laugh, “Erwin, you’re literally double-majoring in history and international studies. I don’t think it gets more stressful than that. I wouldn’t ask to trade places for anything.”

They sat in silence for a second, and Zeke almost felt bad that they were discussing how stressed they both were. He started to sketch Erwin’s hair, glancing up at Erwin every once in a while to make sure he was getting the cut right.

“How have you been coping with the stress?” Zeke finally asked, avoiding Erwin’s gaze, “I mean... have you been doing okay?”

Erwin swallowed thickly before answering quietly, “I’m okay. Yeah, it can be stressful, but having my friends there for me really helps.”

“I’m sure it does,” Zeke sighed, guilt rising in his stomach. He hadn’t been a good friend to Erwin, and he knew it deep inside. Though he knew he still wouldn’t let Erwin win the bet, and they might have further disagreements over Levi, he also knew he needed to be there for Erwin just like his other friends were. He finished up the rough sketch of Erwin, brushing the eraser bits from the paper.

“Done,” he said, and Erwin sat up from his position.

“Let me see,” Erwin replied eagerly, reaching out for the journal. Zeke smiled and handed it to him, and Erwin’s eyes widened a little as he examined the drawing, “Wow, Zeke. You’re really good.”

Zeke laughed nervously at the compliment, thanking Erwin and reaching to take back the journal when Erwin was done looking. He closed the book and tossed it amongst the piles of papers on Hanji’s messy desk.

“Let’s just leave that sexy drawing for Hanji to come across at some point,” he grinned, and Erwin busted up laughing at the thought.

Zeke laughed with him, and for a moment things seemed to be okay between the two of them. Maybe Hanji was right , Zeke thought to himself about the time they’d spent together today, Maybe we did just need some one-on-one time .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Levi approached his and Hanji’s bedroom, walking in to look for his roommate. He needed to talk to someone about what had happened with Erwin, and he knew for a fact it was a bad idea to go to Zeke over it. Even though he had confronted both Erwin and Zeke yesterday, he was still pretty angry with Zeke and hadn’t talked to him since their argument on the balcony. He didn’t understand what had made Zeke so irrationally angry. He’d told Zeke he wasn’t going to replace him as a friend. Why didn’t Zeke believe him?

Hanji looked up as Levi closed the door behind him, smiling at the sight of their short friend, “Levi! How are you?”

Levi went to sit on his bed, ignoring the question, “Hanji I need to talk to you about something.”

Hanji raised an eyebrow, going to sit on the edge of their own bed as they leaned forward curiously, “What is it?”

He sucked in a deep breath before mumbling quietly, “I think I like Erwin.”

“What?” Hanji asked, not hearing him properly.

Levi cursed quietly before saying a little louder, “I said I think I like Erwin.”

Hanji’s mouth practically dropped open, but a grin soon plastered itself across their face as they began to rave, “Aww! Levi, that’s so sweet! You two would be so cute together! Have you kissed him yet? Have you-”

“Shut up, shitty glasses,” Levi shot them a glare, wanting to flip them a middle finger for being so annoying, “You look crazy when you talk like that.”

They were still grinning stupidly at Levi. Clearly, they couldn’t believe that Levi was admitting this to them. The fact that Levi had a crush was news in itself, and the fact that it was Erwin was even better news.

“Well,” they took a deep breath, trying to calm down, “Have you two done anything?”

Levi looked away from them, seemingly in embarrassment, as he rubbed his hands together nervously. “Well... we almost kissed yesterday but Erwin kind of chickened out. He gets really in his head about everything, and I think he was just too nervous.”

“Aww,” Hanji smiled, and Levi shot them another glare, “That’s so sweet.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Levi rolled his eyes.

“So... why are you here? Do you need advice?” Hanji asked.

Levi almost laughed, “Advice? From you? What romantic advice do you have, four eyes?”

Hanji pouted a little, “Hey! I have romantic advice! I’m not entirely useless when it comes to romance, Levi. You don’t know about my love life.”

They were right. Levi had never asked Hanji about their love life. He wasn’t sure he really cared, to be honest, but maybe he would humor them one day and ask about it. Today was not that day.

“Well I’m not here for romantic advice,” Levi continued, “I just needed to get it off my chest.”

Hanji nodded, that stupid grin still on their face as they asked, “Are you going to ask him to be your boyfriend?”

Levi cursed himself as he felt a blush creep up on his face. Is that what I want? Levi wondered, not really sure where everything was going with Erwin. All he knew from yesterday was that he definitely wanted to kiss Erwin. In fact, he wanted Erwin, period. But boyfriend? Levi hadn’t truly thought about it, and he was embarrassed to say the thought made his heart flutter. God dammit, Hanji.

“I-I don’t know,” Levi stuttered, “We haven’t even kissed yet, Hanji.”

Hanji nodded, looking like they had a million questions they wanted to ask. Levi knew he needed to get out of there before they could ask them, so he stood up to leave, noticing how sweaty he was getting under the pressure of thinking about him and Erwin’s relationship. Gross, he thought, wiping his sweaty hands on his pants.

“I’m gonna go make some food,” Levi said, “Thanks for the talk.”

Hanji stood too, waving a little at Levi as he headed for the door. “No problem, Levi,” they said, “See you later.”

“Oh, and Hanji?” Levi turned before opening the door, “You’d better keep this a secret.”

Hanji nodded, taunting him before he left, “Okay Levi. Now go find your boyfriend .”

Levi’s face flushed, and he grumbled a ‘fuck you four-eyes’ before shutting the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Something was off. Zeke could tell from the moment he stepped into the kitchen, where his three roommates were sitting at the kitchen table doing some homework together. Zeke went to join them, sitting across from Levi as usual, and he could tell the atmosphere was different. Levi kept glancing at Erwin, who sat next to him, with a look that Zeke couldn’t quite put his finger on. They were exchanging looks and light touches that made Zeke’s stomach churn uncomfortably. He and Levi still hadn’t talked about their fight, so it wasn’t surprising that Levi was paying no attention to him, but the special attention he was giving Erwin was too much, and it was something Zeke had never seen them doing so much in comparison with before.

Hanji was in the middle of saying something to the three of them, and Zeke watched Levi reach over and grasp Erwin’s hand gently, giving him a short glance and looking a little red in the face. Erwin, of course, smiled back at him and squeezed his hand lightly, looking more embarrassed than Levi was. Zeke gripped his pencil tightly in his hand, using all his self-control not to snap it in half. He watched Erwin lean over and whisper something in Levi’s ear. Levi visibly blushed and elbowed Erwin in the arm, shushing him and clearing his throat as he tried to recover from whatever Erwin had said to him.

Zeke frowned, wondering what was so important that Erwin had to tell Levi at this moment. Zeke was hoping it wasn’t anything sexual. He couldn’t stand not knowing what was going on, and he tried to avoid looking at them while he kept working, listening to Hanji explaining something to Levi. His eyes turned to Hanji once they finished talking, noting that Hanji too was focused on Levi and Erwin, occasionally looking over at them with a smile. They know something , Zeke thought, narrowing his eyes at them a bit.

Soon enough, Levi and Erwin agreed to take a break and go sit in the living room together to watch TV, and Hanji and Zeke watched them get up and work their way towards the living room, holding hands and clearly infatuated with each other. Zeke could feel himself getting disgusted with their public affection, and watched them thankfully as they left. He then turned to Hanji, who met his gaze with some surprise.

“Zeke!” they smiled nervously, “Did you need something?”

They’re acting strange, Zeke noticed, They definitely know something .

“I need to talk to you,” Zeke emphasized, trying to read the look on their face as he wanted to figure out what secrets they were hiding from him. Their eyes were darting around the room, trying to avoid looking at Zeke. Why won’t they look at me? Zeke wondered, crossing his arms as he waited for Hanji to respond.

“Okay,” Hanji said, “Well what’s up?”

“Did Levi talk to you? There’s something weird going on between him and Erwin and I think you know what it is,” Zeke accused, staring them down.

Hanji sighed, knowing they were not a great liar, especially when it came to Zeke and his usual tricks. “Yes,” they admitted, “Levi talked to me, but what he said was told to me in confidence. It’s private, and I can’t just share it with you.”

Zeke sat up, trying to work out from their face what Levi could’ve possibly told them. There was a thought in the back of his head that he hoped wasn’t true, and he avoided letting it come to the forefront of his mind at first. But it broke forward, and he needed to know if what he was thinking was true. He took a deep breath before looking up to meet Hanji’s eyes.

“Fine,” he said, trying to control the fit of emotions inside him, “Don’t tell me just... if Levi likes Erwin, then pick up that pen.”

Zeke pointed to the pen next to Hanji’s laptop. Hanji at first avoided looking at the pen altogether, which was already not a good sign. Then, so quickly that Zeke might have missed it if he wasn’t paying such intense attention, Hanji extended their hand and picked up the pen. Zeke felt a wave of nausea in his stomach, a faint ringing in his ears as he immediately stood up and left without a word, heading straight into his bedroom and slamming the door shut. Zeke bit his lip to the point of nearly drawing blood, trying hard to control the emotions that were welling up inside him. He refused to cry over this; he was not ready to reach that level of pathetic yet. Zeke sat down in his chair and ran his fingers through his hair. He didn’t know what to do. Of course he’s choosing Erwin , he thought miserably, letting a few tears roll down his face, Why would he want to be with a dumb asshole like me anyways?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Levi heard the bedroom door across the hall slam loudly - Zeke’s bedroom door. He frowned, getting up from his spot on the couch and going to see what was wrong. If he’s mad at Erwin again, I swear to god, he thought, but was surprised to find an empty hallway, all except for Hanji, who stood in the kitchen. What had happened? Is he okay? Levi wondered, suddenly becoming concerned for Zeke despite the fact that they hadn’t made up yet. He began to walk towards Zeke’s bedroom door, when Hanji came and stood in between him and the door.

“Don’t go in there,” Hanji ordered.

“I want to talk to him.”

“You can’t.”

“ Why not? ” Levi questioned, starting to get annoyed with Hanji for blocking his way.

“Zeke’s... going through something right now,” Hanji explained, “He just needs some space.”

“Since when does Zeke come to you about stuff?” Levi interrogated, a jealous feeling starting to brew inside him. Zeke always came to Levi about anything that was wrong, so he didn’t understand why Zeke would tell Hanji instead of him, or why Hanji was so in tune with Zeke’s emotions all of a sudden.

“Levi, chill,” Hanji sighed, “I’m sure he just came to me because you two still haven’t made up yet. I would just give him some space for now. You going in there will only make things worse.”

Levi looked irritated, but decided it would be best to back off, not wanting to get into it with Hanji. He’d already had a fight with one friend this week, he didn’t need Hanji and his relationship to be in the same position.

“Fine,” Levi muttered, trying to take some deep breaths to calm himself. He didn’t say another word, going back to the couch where Erwin was waiting for him patiently. He heard Hanji go into their bedroom and close the door, and became excited at the prospect of him and Erwin being alone.

He sat back down next to Erwin, feeling the taller man wrap his arm around his waist. He could feel his fingers at his side and squirmed a little, the feeling tickling him slightly. He couldn’t hold back a giggle as Erwin’s fingers tickled his side lightly, and he was starting to think he was doing it on purpose.

“S-Stop!” Levi giggled, pushing him away.

A mischievous grin came across Erwin’s face, “You’re ticklish?”

Levi shook his head, not liking the look on Erwin’s face. The taller man took both his hands and began tickling Levi’s sides lightly, grinning at Levi’s giggly reaction as he tried to fight off the attack.

“Erwin!” he laughed, pushing at his hands, “Cut it out!”

He pushed Erwin’s hands away, trying to get back at him as he climbed into his lap and straddled him, pinning his hands down at his sides. He had intended to tickle Erwin back, but suddenly he realized the position they were in, and a blush came across his face, seeing Erwin turning red as well.

“Oh shit,” Levi blushed, “I... sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Erwin breathed, looking terrified to move. Levi didn’t mind their current position, and could already feel himself getting hard just from how they were sitting. Erwin’s arms were still at his sides, and Levi’s hands moved to rest on Erwin’s chest gently. Levi could feel his heart pounding in his chest, and he looked up into Erwin’s deep blue eyes, which darted around nervously before landing on Levi’s. Levi was also scared to move. He knew that if he even touched Erwin right now, his half hard-on would turn into a full one. It felt like minutes rolled by that they were sitting there, not moving, their eyes remaining on one another. The more Levi sat there, the harder he was getting, and he decided he would have to move at some point.

He tried to move himself from Erwin’s lap, but he froze when a familiar blissful feeling run through his body. Their clothed erections had rubbed against one another, and Levi heard Erwin groan quietly, the noise making everything far worse. His lips parted slightly, and he wanted desperately to grab the back of Erwin’s head and push their lips together. Erwin wasn’t moving, and their eye contact hadn’t broken yet either.

Levi knew that one more small move, and he wouldn’t be able to control himself much anymore. He felt Erwin move up slowly and tingles shot up his body. Fuck . His fingers moved to grip the back of the couch as he jerked his hips downwards without even thinking about it, his face flushing as Erwin ground his hips up to meet him. They could no longer pretend like what was happening was an accident, and Levi knew he would have a hard time stopping himself now. Erwin reached up to grip Levi’s hips as Levi clung to the back of the couch, starting to grind down on him in a slow rhythm. Erwin let a low groan escape his mouth as he bucked his hips up to meet Levi’s. Erotic noises were escaping Levi’s mouth, and he bit his lip hard to quiet them.

“L-Levi,” Erwin gasped as they continued, “You have to be quieter - they might hear us.”

Levi couldn’t even respond, and he buried his neck into the crook of Erwin’s neck as he tried to muffle his noises. The knot in his stomach was growing, Erwin gripping Levi’s hips tightly as he brought him down over and over again onto his erection. Levi could feel his vision starting to blur as the intense feeling of his orgasm was coming over the horizon. The hands that Levi was using to grip the couch moved to Erwin’s chest, his groans growing as he gripped the shirt fabric roughly.

Levi felt himself losing control as his eyes rolled back a little from the feeling of pure pleasure coursing through his body. He was so close. He could feel Erwin’s hand in his hair, pulling his head forward so that they were looking at each other in the eyes. Erwin used his other hand to grip Levi’s hip and bring him down more intensely on top of his erection, Levi practically bouncing off him at this point. With one final thrust, Levi felt his orgasm tear through him, a quiet groan escaping his mouth. He felt Erwin spasming underneath him and knew he too had finished from the low groan that he emitted.

They both stayed there for a moment, neither of them moving. The two of them were panting heavily, and Levi tried to calm his breathing as his heart rate normalized. Did we really just do that? He wondered, feeling embarrassed that they hadn’t even kissed yet, but here they were dry humping each other as if they were horny kids going through puberty.

Levi could feel the regret pooling in his stomach as Erwin turned his head to face his, their eyes locking. Levi just stared at Erwin with wide, almost terrified eyes, as if he didn’t know what Erwin was going to do next. He then looked away, his eyes darting around the room nervously.

“Levi?” Erwin whispered, trying to get his attention. Levi was trying to focus on something else, anything else; his mind clearly not all there at the moment.

“Levi?” Erwin repeated after a moment of silence, reaching up to gently stroke Levi’s cheek. That’s when Levi began to finally snap out of it, looking down to pierce Erwin’s eyes with his own. Erwin was using that same hand to pull Levi closer, bringing him within mere inches of his lips. They were so close.

And then, all of a sudden, they weren’t close anymore. Levi practically flung himself off the couch, backing away with a nervous expression written on his face. He laughed awkwardly and muttered a quick ‘see you’ before exiting the living room and heading straight for the bathroom, his heart pounding loudly in his chest. He didn’t know what had made him so nervous, but something about kissing Erwin had scared him. Maybe it was the feeling that kissing him would make what they’d done real , and Levi wasn’t sure whether he was ready to accept that yet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hanji, I fucked up,” Erwin said as soon as he saw them next, which was at dinner where they sat at the kitchen table together. Levi had resigned to his room for the day, still not having spoken to Erwin since their sexual encounter earlier in the day.

“What happened?” Hanji asked, watching Erwin already starting to turn red as he thought about what happened.

“Levi and I... um... we did things,” Erwin admitted, looking incredibly embarrassed.

“Uhhh,” Hanji started, not sure how much they really wanted to know, “Like what?”

Erwin looked away from Hanji, mumbling quietly, “We kind of... grinded on each other - with clothes on.”

Hanji went a little red as well, but looked incredibly thrilled, “Oh my god! You did?! That’s so exciting!”

Erwin looked as though he didn’t know what to say, seeming incredibly embarrassed that he had even told Hanji this information. He cleared his throat, looking away from Hanji as he waited for Hanji to say something first.

“So how did you fuck up?” Hanji asked curiously, leaning forward as they asked the question.

“After we... you know, finished ,” Erwin continued with some hesitance, “I tried to kiss Levi and he... he just ran out on me.”

Hanji frowned. Damn, that is embarrassing. He thought to himself, No wonder Erwin feels like shit . Hanji wondered why Levi would run out on Erwin like that. Maybe he just got too nervous?

“Well,” Hanji questioned, “Why do you think he ran off?”

“I don’t know,” Erwin sighed in exasperation, “I think he got too nervous. He might have just been overwhelmed or something.”

Hanji nodded in understanding. Clearly the two men liked each other a lot , Hanji had been hearing about it from both of them. But the two apparently liked each other to the point where they got so nervous they couldn’t even kiss each other. Erwin had run off and now Levi had too? What was wrong with them?

“You two are hopeless,” Hanji rolled their eyes, “Do you two even want to kiss each other at this point?”

Hanji knew this wasn’t exactly helpful, but for god’s sake, when were the two going to get over their nerves and kiss finally? Erwin frowned, looking a little sheepish as he took in Hanji’s statement.

“I mean, yeah ,” he responded defensively, “Of course we do, I think both of us are just worried about doing the wrong thing.”

“Well the wrong thing is running off and not kissing each other,” Hanji continued, “Especially when the two of you clearly want to kiss. Plus, you both clearly like each other a lot. From what I’ve seen, I don’t think either of you are the type to judge if something were to go wrong anyways.”

Erwin looked down at his lap nervously as he asked, “Do you really think Levi likes me?”

Hanji could’ve smacked him. Isn’t that incredibly obvious? They thought to themselves, but Erwin had been sincere about the question - Hanji could tell from how nervous he was when he asked it.

“Of course he does,” Hanji replied, patting his hand reassuringly, “And you like him too. So don’t be so nervous! It’s all going to be fine.”

“Good,” Erwin smiled a little, letting out a deep breath as he released the tension in his shoulders, “Thanks Hanji.”

“Anytime,” Hanji smiled back, watching Erwin get up to refill his water bottle at the fridge. Though they were pretty confident about Erwin and Levi’s relationship, they had no idea how close Zeke and Levi had gotten at this point. They were beginning to get worried that all three of their friends were going to get hurt by this bet, and as they watched Erwin return to his seat, they wondered how long it would be before Erwin would come back to them with bad news regarding his relationship with Levi.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zeke couldn’t focus on his work. He had given up trying to read his assignment for that week and was laying on his bed, scrolling through his notifications. All three of his roommates were gone at class, so he didn’t have anyone to talk to. He’d been stressing about Levi; wondering how he was going to fix their relationship after their recent fight. That’s when his phone pinged with a notification from a group chat he had with two of his high school friends: Pieck and Porco. Pieck had texted them to ask how the new semester was going. She often checked in with them, which Zeke thought was incredibly kind of her.

Shitty , came the response from Porco moments later. Zeke chuckled a bit at the text and went to type back before a FaceTime call came through from Pieck. He tapped the answer button and saw both Pieck and Porco; Pieck smiling sweetly and Porco looking a little indifferent and slightly irritated.

“What’s up?” Zeke asked, smiling a little at the sight of his friends.

“Just thought I’d give you both a call,” Pieck explained, “And I thought we could cheer up Porco. Why are you having a shitty time?”

Porco sighed a little, “I’m drowning in homework. I have to take a science class as a requirement and it’s kicking my ass.”

“That’s only because you don’t have Zeke there doing it for you like he did in high school,” Pieck joked, and Zeke couldn’t help but laugh a little, as the statement was true. Zeke had always been good at science, and it wasn’t exactly Porco’s strong suit.

“Shut up,” Porco mumbled, looking a little embarrassed at having been called out like that.

Pieck giggled a little before turning her attention to Zeke, “So how’s it going, Zeke?”

“I don't know,” Zeke responded truthfully, “Levi’s mad at me so it’s not going great.”

“Somebody’s always mad at you,” Porco rolled his eyes a little, “What’d you do this time?”

“You are quick to anger, Zeke,” Pieck agreed, “What happened?”

Zeke frowned a little, not exactly excited that his friends appeared to be picking on him, though he knew they weren’t entirely wrong about their assessment of his character. He turned to lay on his stomach and absentmindedly started playing with his bedsheets, not exactly sure how to respond. He couldn’t tell his friends about the bet; that was against the rules. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t try to get advice from them anyways.

“I just got jealous,” Zeke admitted, “I want to make it up to him but I don’t know how.”

“Why’d you get jealous? Do you still have a crush on him after all these years?” Porco teased, grinning a bit.

Zeke scowled, glaring at him through the phone screen as Pieck added, “Of course he does, Porco. Isn’t it obvious?”

Zeke was beginning to regret asking his friends for help if they were only going to tease him about his crush.

“This isn’t helpful,” Zeke pouted a bit, “I really need advice.”

Pieck tapped her chin in thought as Porco shrugged, “I mean, you definitely should apologize. That’s a start.”

Zeke nodded. That was obvious. He shouldn’t have gotten so angry with Levi, and he definitely owed him an apology. But how to go about approaching Levi, he wasn’t sure. That’s what he needed his friends’ advice for.

“Hmm,” Pieck said finally, “Here’s what I think. You should get him flowers-”

“Flowers?!” Porco exclaimed, “Isn’t that a bit too romantic? It’s not like they’re dating or-”

“No, no,” Zeke interrupted, smiling a little at Pieck’s suggestion as he thought about it, “I think that’s a great idea, Pieck.”

Pieck smiled back at him through the phone and Porco rolled his eyes a little, “Look, I gotta go. I have to try and get this science homework done. Good luck, Zeke. Bye Pieck.”

He waved a little at the two of them before hanging up. Pieck smiled softly at Zeke, “I should get going too. But it was nice to check in with you. I hope everything with Levi goes okay. Let me know if you need any more advice.”

“Okay, thanks Pieck,” Zeke replied, “Talk to you later.”

With that, they hung up, and Zeke was back to being alone. He set down his phone and sighed, the thoughts of Pieck and Porco’s advice swirling in his head. He sat up and swung his legs over the edge of his bed, getting up to leave. Time to go buy flowers, I guess, he thought to himself as he headed out of his bedroom door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Erwin was sitting at the kitchen table when Levi exited his room. They stared at each other awkwardly for a moment. Erwin had been low-key avoiding Levi since their incident the other day, but now that they were faced with such a blatant confrontation, Erwin knew he would have a hard time avoiding a conversation with the man.

“I’m sorry,” were the first words out of Levi’s mouth as they stared into each other’s eyes, Levi’s eyes a little wide as he confronted Erwin, “I didn’t mean to run out I just... I got nervous and-”

“It’s fine, Levi. I completely understand,” Erwin interrupted, understanding the feeling that had made Levi run out like that. He’d had similar nervousness before, so he wasn’t at all mad that Levi had rushed out on him. Levi smiled sheepishly at him, clearly thankful that Erwin had accepted his apology. The two stood there in silence for a moment before Levi piped up again to interrupt the silence.

“I want to kiss you,” Levi practically whispered, “You know that, right?”

“I want to kiss you too, Levi,” Erwin admitted, staring up at Levi and moving to get up from his chair. He stood and took a step towards the shorter man, wanting to close the space between them. He was feeling a lot more confident after his talk with Hanji. Levi also took a step forward, reaching out to take Erwin’s hand in his own.

“Come on, let’s go to my room,” Levi said as he tugged at Erwin’s hand, turning to drag him towards his room as he explained, “Hanji’s at the gym.”

Erwin suddenly began to feel nervous all over again. He hadn’t expected Levi to take him to his bedroom , and the dirty ideas that were flowing through his head were quickly going straight to his pants. But Erwin followed him nonetheless, letting himself be dragged along by the shorter man. When they got to his room, Levi pushed the door open and pulled Erwin inside, waiting for Erwin to shut the door. Erwin could see the lustful look in the shorter man’s eyes as he took a step in Erwin’s direction again. Erwin looked down nervously, staring at the ground until he could see Levi’s socks practically touching his own. He looked up to meet Levi’s eyes, but Levi was staring directly at his lips. Erwin could feel the room closing in on him as his heart pounded loudly in his chest, his hands sweating as he kept them awkwardly at his sides.

“Why are you shaking?” Levi asked huskily. Erwin sucked in a breath, trying to calm himself.

“Because... you’re going to kiss me.”

“No I’m not,” Levi leaned upwards towards his face, and Erwin could feel the shorter man’s breath against his skin.

“Y-You’re not?” Erwin asked as Levi got even closer, their lips barely an inch apart.

“No,” Levi practically whispered, their noses touching at this point.

“Shit,” Erwin blushed as he watched Levi tilt his head slightly to get better access to his lips.

“Guess what?” Levi whispered again, and Erwin could feel his heart pounding away loudly in his chest.

“What?” he asked.

“I lied,” Levi finished before he lightly pressed his lips to Erwin’s. Erwin could feel his stomach doing flips, and practically melted at the feeling of their lips moving against each other. Levi pulled away for air before going back in, wrapping his arms around Erwin’s middle. Erwin took the hint and placed one of his hands on the small of Levi’s back, the other gently cupping Levi’s kiss as they continued to kiss.

Levi opened and closed his mouth tantalizingly, nibbling and licking at Erwin’s bottom lip. Erwin gripped Levi’s face tightly as he groaned into the kiss. Levi continued to bite and suck at Erwin’s lip, and Erwin could feel the shorter man gripping and caressing every piece of him that he could find. Erwin could feel himself losing his sense of control over the situation and bit roughly on Levi’s lip. Erwin heard a low groan escape Levi’s mouth, and he used the opportunity to push his tongue into the shorter man’s mouth. Levi’s breath tasted like mint and black tea, and Erwin suddenly felt self-conscious as he was sure that his breath wasn’t nearly as fresh.

Their tongues danced together in various forms of intensity. Erwin moved away to catch his breath, and they stared at each other, both of them breathing heavily. They were both clearly thinking the same thing: let’s do that again.

But before they could continue, a small knock on the door interrupted them. Levi took a second to fix his hair and take a deep breath before going to the door and opening it, looking surprised to see Zeke standing there with a bouquet of flowers.

“Sorry,” Zeke said coolly, “Didn’t mean to interrupt anything.”

Did Zeke just apologize for interrupting? Erwin thought to himself in shock. But Zeke wasn’t even looking at Erwin; all of his attention was on Levi.

“I got you some flowers. Thought we could talk.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before Zeke knew it, he was standing outside of Levi and Hanji’s bedroom door, and the telltale signs of two people kissing were coming from the room. He bit the inside of his cheek hard, knowing exactly who those two people were. But he knew getting angry would only make things worse. He was here to make up with Levi, not start another fight. He took a second to calm down before knocking softly on the door. After a few seconds of silence, Levi opened the door, and Zeke could see that both him and Erwin look disheveled. But he tried to focus only on Levi, so that he wouldn’t get too riled up over it.

“I got you some flowers,” he said, holding them out to Levi, “Thought we could talk.”

Levi stared between the flowers and Zeke for a moment before nodding a bit, turning to Erwin, “Do you mind if we...?”

Erwin looked a little annoyed, but he nodded, “I’ll go. I don’t mind.”

“Okay, I’ll see you later,” Levi replied, leaning up and kissing Erwin lightly on the cheek. Erwin couldn’t help but scowl a bit as Erwin blushed, reaching up to touch the spot before mumbling a quick ‘see you’ and heading out the door. Zeke closed the door as soon as Erwin left, wanting to rid his thoughts of what had just happened.

“So can I take this as an apology?” Levi said sternly, taking the flowers Zeke was holding out to him and sitting down on his bed. Zeke was busy examining Levi’s small frame, his lean body, and most importantly, his calm and cool eyes. Zeke’s anger slowly faded the longer he looked at Levi, pulling up a chair and sitting in front of him.

“Yeah,” Zeke replied seriously, “I’m sorry I got so upset with you the other day. I was in a mood and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”

Levi couldn’t help but smile a little, looking at the flowers and sighing, “You’re an idiot.”

“Hey,” Zeke pouted, “I’m trying to be sincere!”

A small laugh escaped Levi’s mouth as he set the flowers down, “It’s strange to see you so apologetic. I’m not used to it.”

Zeke smiled, quipping, “Well, it doesn’t happen often.”

He then reached out to take Levi’s hand in his, interlacing their fingers like they usually did. Levi had a calm look on his face, and let Zeke hold his hand, looking satisfied with Zeke’s apology.

“Zeke,” Levi spoke up, “Have you been doing okay?”

“Why do you ask that?” Zeke looked into the shorter man’s eyes in confusion.

“I heard you slam your bedroom door the other day,” Levi admitted, “I could tell you were upset by something.”

Zeke frowned, reminiscing about the small meltdown he’d had over what Hanji had told him. He sighed a little, not wanting to admit how Levi’s interactions with Erwin had affected him, “I’m fine. I was just stressed, that’s all.”

“Well, you know you can come and talk to me about it, right?” Levi asked, squeezing Zeke’s hand gently to reassure him. Zeke couldn’t help but blush from the extra attention, and he nodded in response to what Levi had said to him.

“Of course,” Zeke replied, “I just didn’t want to stress you out. You already have a ton on your shoulders.”

Levi nodded a little, saying sarcastically, “Good to know you care about me.”

Zeke took a second to look into Levi’s eyes. He knew Levi was just joking around with him, but he wanted to make sure Levi knew he was serious when he leaned forward slightly and said, “I do care about you, Levi.”

A visible blush crossed Levi’s face, not having expected that answer. Zeke smiled at the redness on the shorter man’s face, and he gently brushed his hand against Levi’s cheek, chuckling, “Don’t look so embarrassed.”

“I’m not!” Levi protested, “I just wasn’t expecting you to say that.”

“Well, it’s true,” Zeke smirked a little.

A smile crept up on Levi’s face, and he looked away in embarrassment as he mumbled, “I care about you too, Zeke.”

That was all Zeke needed to hear to know that he was still in this. I won’t lose this bet, Zeke thought to himself as he had finally reestablished his friendship with Levi, I still have a chance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hanji was sitting at their desk, flipping through an empty journal to figure out if they had used it before. They came across a rather raunchy drawing of Erwin, and their eyebrows furrowed in confusion. That’s when Zeke appeared in their doorway. He was the only one who they knew could draw like this, and they held the picture up so he could see it.

“Did you do this?” they asked, and Zeke couldn’t help but bust up laughing.

“Yeah,” he admitted between giggles, “Sorry. Erwin and I were just joking around.”

Hanji rolled their eyes. At least they’re getting along , they thought, closing the book and setting it down on their desk. Zeke finished up his small fit of laughter and leaned against the door frame.

“So what do you need?” Hanji asked.

“I was wondering if you know where my denim jacket went. I can’t find it in my closet,” Zeke sighed in annoyance.

“Oh yeah!” Hanji replied, getting up and going to show him, “I put it in the front closet by the door.”

Zeke followed them to the front closet, and Hanji opened the door. They tried to hide their shock when they saw Levi and Erwin making out. Levi practically had his tongue down Erwin’s throat, and his hands were busy undoing Erwin’s shirt. Erwin, meanwhile, was biting and sucking on Levi’s lip feverishly, his fingers tangled in Levi’s dark hair.

Their position only lasted a moment because as soon as they caught wind of Hanji, they pulled apart and stared at them with panting chests and guilty eyes. Hanji kept silent, calling out to Zeke who was on the other side of the open door, unable to see the two men who had been making out in the closet.

“You said your denim jacket, right?” Hanji said, motioning to Levi to hand it to him.

He quickly did so, realizing that Zeke was on the other side of the door when he answered ‘yes’ to Hanji’s question.

“You know, I could’ve gotten it myself,” Zeke started, going to walk around the door.

Hanji slammed the door to the closet shut and handed the jacket over to Zeke, trying to hide what they’d just seen, “It’s fine. Here.”

Zeke narrowed his eyes a little, sensing that they were acting strange, but not entirely sure as to why. He took the jacket, deciding it was probably best not to question them. After mumbling a ‘thanks’, he turned around and headed back to his room. As soon as he rounded the corner, Hanji let out a deep breath of relief. They wanted to open the closet door again to scold the two men hiding within it, but they could already hear the kissing noises that had resumed. They rolled their eyes a bit and headed back to their room, trying to reassure themselves that it was okay that they’d helped Erwin and Levi instead of Zeke in that situation. Hanji just didn’t want to hear Erwin and Zeke fighting again, and they knew that the two of them would definitely have had some harsh words to exchange if Zeke had found them like that in the front closet. Why am I getting myself in the middle of all of this? They wondered as they closed the door to their bedroom and headed back to their desk to get more work done.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Levi found himself going to Hanji for advice for the second time that week. He cursed himself for relying on them so much lately, but it wasn’t just getting something off his chest this time. He needed their advice. He remembered them saying something about having a love life, and he hoped that would be enough for them to give him some guidance. Levi entered their room and closed the door, pulling up his chair next to Hanji’s desk. Hanji looked up from what they were doing and smiled a little at him.

“Levi,” they greeted, “What’s up?”

Levi sat down in the chair and mumbled, “First, I want to thank you for covering for Erwin and me yesterday.”

Hanji couldn’t help but smirk, and Levi could feel himself already starting to get annoyed. He truly was grateful - he didn’t exactly want Zeke to find them in that position, as he seemed to get angry whenever Levi was with Erwin for some reason.

“No problem,” Hanji smiled mischievously, “You two looked like you were having a good time, I couldn’t just interrupt you.”

A blush crept up on Levi’s face as he rolled his eyes and muttered, “Shut up, four eyes.”

Hanji laughed a little, but Levi moved on to what he was really there for, continuing, “Second, I need to ask you for your advice. I-”

“See!” Hanji interrupted, “I knew you’d come back for my romantic advice!”

Levi paused for a moment before continuing, unfazed, “Look, I want to... um...”

He didn’t know how to say what he wanted to. Levi could feel his heart pounding away in his chest as he looked away from Hanji sheepishly. He felt incredibly uncomfortable all of a sudden, but knew he needed to get this out so that he could hear what Hanji had to say.

He cleared his throat, “Do it... with Erwin.”

Hanji stared at him for a moment before bursting out laughing, “ Do it?! What are you? Twelve?!”

Levi rolled his eyes, feeling a little stupid for having phrased it that way. He went to get up, grumbling, “Fine. If you don’t want to help, I’ll just go.”

Hanji grabbed his arm to stop him, managing to get out in between giggles, “I’m sorry... I can help you, I just... oh my god.”

Levi sucked in a deep breath and sat back down, trying hard to stay patient as Hanji tried to calm themselves down. Hanji took a deep breath, wiping a tear from their eye and muttering ‘fuck’ as the last remnants of their giggle fit fizzled out.

“Okay,” they sighed, “I’m fine now.”

“You sure?” Levi teased, his arms crossed in slight irritation, “Are you good now?”

Hanji nodded, still grinning a bit from the previous laughter, “I’m good. Okay, so you want to have sex with Erwin. Have you had sex before?”

Levi cringed as he reminisced about the couple of encounters he’d had with sex; only twice, but both were with strangers at parties, and he hadn’t particularly enjoyed either time. But he knew the intricacies of sex, and had a pretty good grasp on how things worked.

He nodded, “I have. I know about the birds and bees, I don’t need that talk.”

Hanji chuckled a bit and crossed their legs, “Okay, well what advice do you need then?”

“Just... I really like Erwin. And I don’t know when a good time to have sex is,” Levi admitted, looking a little embarrassed, “I don’t know how slow I should take this. I don’t want to scare him.”

Hanji nodded, tapping their chin in thought before asking, “How far have you gotten? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Levi refused to look at Hanji as he told them about how far him and Erwin had gone. Hanji looked at if they were trying hard to hold back laughter, though Levi wasn’t entirely sure what was so funny. This was the first time the two were sharing the details of their sex life, so perhaps that was somehow comical to them.

“Well,” Hanji smiled when he finished explaining, “It doesn’t really matter what pace you go at. It’s up to the two of you to decide. Whatever you’re most comfortable with is how you should go about it. Do you know if Erwin wants to have sex with you?”

Levi nearly went red from the thought, cursing under his breath as he considered whether Erwin wanted to have sex with him or not.

“I-I don’t know, but from the way things have been so far I could assume he’s at least interested,” Levi admitted sheepishly.

Hanji chuckled at Levi’s nervousness, “You two should definitely have a conversation about it. That’s important.”

“What am I even supposed to say?” Levi said, looking lost, “‘Hi Erwin, let’s bang’?”

Hanji shrugged a bit, “Sure, if that’s what you want to say. I feel like you’re definitely overthinking this, Levi. You’re pretty smooth, you’ll think of a way to come across it in a cool and calm way.”

Levi sighed, covering his face in some embarrassment as he mumbled, “I really like him, Hanji. I don’t want to fuck this up.”

“Aww,” Hanji grinned, reaching out to pat his arm reassuringly, “You won’t fuck it up. I’m sure Erwin’s more nervous about fucking up than you are, anyways. So even if you do fuck up, he’ll probably be understanding about it.”

Levi glared up at them through his fingers at the ‘aww’, and pulled his hands away from his face, “You’re right.”

“I’m always right,” Hanji replied, causing Levi to scoff at them.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” he said, getting up to leave, “Thanks for the help, four eyes.”

“No problem,” Hanji smirked, wanting to make Levi embarrassed, “Also, next time you two hook up, you really need to be more quiet. The other day I could hear you through the bedroom wall.”

Levi went a little red at this comment, and grumbled under his breath before he headed out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“It’s missing, Hanji!” Zeke exclaimed as he entered the kitchen.

Hanji had been in the middle of typing an email, and they immediately jumped at the sudden intrusion. They scowled at the screen, having keyboard-smashed a little from the surprise of Zeke bursting in.

“What?!” they asked in annoyance, “What’s missing?”

“My sketchbook!” Zeke frowned, “It’s gone.”

Hanji sighed and stood to help him look, abandoning the email they’d been typing.

“Where was the last place you saw it?” they inquired.

“It was on my desk,” he explained, “But I came back this morning, and it’s not there anymore.”

Hanji tapped their chin in thought, “Well, where else have you been since you last saw it?”

“I don’t know - I checked the bedroom,” Zeke went on, stopping dead in his tracks when he saw Erwin exiting the living room and coming into the kitchen to see what all the fuss was about.

Erwin , Zeke thought angrily, He must’ve stolen it . Sure, maybe it was just the jealousy talking, but he had a feeling in the pit of his stomach that Erwin would be the only one who would’ve taken it.

“Did you take it?” Zeke growled, storming towards Erwin, “You took it, didn’t you?”

“Took what?!” Erwin immediately became defensive and irritated by the confrontation, not understanding what he had done wrong this time.

“My sketchbook,” Zeke glared, “You took it!”

“Zeke,” Hanji sighed in exasperation, “You can’t just blame Erwin-”

“He’s got a guilty look on his face!” Zeke exclaimed, grabbing a fistful of Erwin’s shirt and pulling him closer, “Where is it?”

Erwin shoved him away instantly and nearly shouted, “I don’t have your stupid sketchbook! Fuck off!”

Zeke was about to advance on him again when he heard a quiet voice from behind him.

“Zeke? This is yours, right?”

Zeke whipped around to see Levi standing by the front door, having just come back from class. He held Zeke’s sketchbook in his hands, which must’ve fallen out of Zeke’s backpack at some point. The anger immediately melted away, and he walked over to Levi and wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug, exclaiming, “Levi! You found it!”

Levi looked a little surprised, obviously not aware of what had been going on moments before, but he wrapped his free arm around Zeke anyways. Erwin stared jealously as the two hugged for what seemed like forever.

“Wait,” Zeke pulled away, “You didn’t look in it, did you?”

Levi shook his head, “No. It’s not mine, I’m not going to go snooping through your stuff.”

He handed Zeke the journal, and Zeke took it happily, pressing a kiss to Levi’s temple. Levi blushed from all the attention, mumbling, “You’re welcome,” before heading towards Hanji and his bedroom, dragging Erwin along with him. But Zeke hadn’t noticed, already headed back to his own room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Levi was confused as to what had just gone on with Zeke, but he was trying hard to put it to the back of his mind. Who he had originally come back from class looking for was Erwin, but he had found Zeke’s journal instead and went to return it to him. When he saw Erwin standing in the kitchen, he tried to quickly shake off what happened with Zeke and drag the taller man into his room. He locked the door behind him and almost immediately threw himself at Erwin. He’d had a particularly raunchy daydream about Erwin during class, and when his class ended, he was on a mission to find him. Erwin nearly yelped in surprise, but quickly melted into Levi’s arms as their lips pressed together eagerly.

Levi pulled away after a moment, practically whispering, “Sit.”

He motioned to his desk chair, and Erwin did as he was asked, sitting down and waiting as Levi climbed on top of him and began attacking his neck with kisses, sucking and biting at the skin there. Erwin inhaled a sharp intake of breath and groaned, wrapping his arms around Levi and taking a fistful of Levi’s hair in his hand, pulling gently.

“We have to be quiet,” Levi explained before continuing to nibble and suck at Erwin’s neck, “Hanji said they could hear us last time.”

“You mean you have to be quiet,” Erwin chuckled a little, much to Levi’s annoyance. He knew he was loud, but he didn’t need Erwin to remind him of this fact. He felt himself starting to lose control as he busied himself kissing at Erwin’s neck and grinding his hips down against Erwin’s erection.

“L-Levi,” Erwin whined, trying to stay quiet, “Did you at least lock the door?”

Levi pulled away from Erwin’s neck to look down at him, “Of course I did. I’m not an idiot.”

“Right,” Erwin breathed before Levi leaned down and planted his lips on him. At first, Erwin appeared to be in shock from Levi’s eagerness, not knowing what to do with his hands. But soon enough, he began rocking his hips back up against Levi’s and furiously sucking and biting at Levi’s lower lip. Erwin pulled away for air and looked up at Levi, whose hair was caressing his face and eyes were heavy with lust.

“Fuck,” Erwin whispered huskily before he clutched Levi’s neck and smashed their lips together again. His right hand wandered to Levi’s ass, squeezing it as he used his other hand to grip Levi’s hair. Once the kiss broke, Levi’s lips went right back to Erwin’s neck, practically ramming himself down onto Erwin over and over again.

“We have to... I need...” Levi breathed out, unable to form full sentences. He’d been slowly losing the ability to do so the more their activities continued. Levi sat up and unzipped Erwin’s pants, desperately yanking them down to expose his erection to the cold air. He was extremely red in the face, but quickly began to work at undoing Levi’s pants, practically ripping off his underwear as he tugged them down.

“L-Levi,” he groaned, thrusting up against him. Both of them appeared to be a little inexperienced in this, but Erwin reached down and clutched Levi’s erection in his hand, causing the shorter man to thrust into his hand and emit a low groan.

“F-Fuck,” Levi practically growled, gripping tightly around Erwin’s neck and moving against him roughly. Erwin let go so they could continue grinding against each other, and the feeling of their hips moving faster and faster was enough to make Levi go mental.

Levi clearly didn’t care about people hearing them anymore, as he was making erotic noises and couldn’t help but be loud. Erwin groaned and writhed, moving against Levi viciously. The familiar tightening of Levi’s stomach was becoming way too close to release. Erwin was close too, and he buried his face in Levi’s chest to help muffle the sounds he was making as he orgasmed, Levi not far behind him. Levi spasmed slightly from above him as he too finished.

The two of them sat there for a moment, both panting and trying to catch their breath. Levi pulled away for a moment to press a light kiss to Erwin’s lips before he nuzzled his face into Erwin’s neck. Levi smiled against Erwin’s skin, feeling content. But that contentment wouldn’t last long.

“I have to go to class soon, you know,” Erwin whispered sadly. Levi pulled away from his neck to lean their foreheads together and stare into Erwin’s deep blue eyes, kissing him sweetly.

“I know.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Erwin lay in wait in the kitchen, watching Zeke close their bedroom door and head out the front door to his lab. Ever since the incident with the missing sketchbook, Erwin had been curious why Zeke was so seemingly worried that Levi had looked inside. Once Zeke was gone, Erwin got up and walked into their bedroom, starting to feel a little guilty. But he considered all the times that Zeke had interrupted him and Levi, and the fact that Levi had tried to start shit with him again by accusing him of stealing the sketchbook, and he didn’t feel so bad about it anymore.

He snuck into the room and shut the door behind him, looking around the room cautiously before heading to Zeke’s desk. His desk was practically empty besides some papers and a cup of pens and pencils. Erwin pulled open the top drawer of his desk and frowned in disappointment: more folders and papers. He sifted through the papers and scowled when he didn’t find anything, closing the drawer and going through the second drawer, only finding a bottle of whiskey and some glasses.

Erwin stood up and tapped his chin in thought, looking around the room and settling his eyes on the bookshelf behind him. He walked over and looked through the books, seeing a skinny journal amongst them. Found it , he thought, pulling it from the bookshelf and opening it to the first page. There was an innocently drawn picture of Levi. Is that it? He just drew some pictures of Levi? Erwin thought, not understanding what Zeke was so worried about. He paged through the journal, and the reasons became more clear the more he flipped through.

Some pages contained the same innocent looking drawings of Levi in different positions, even drawings of other people Zeke was friends with, but other pictures were more raunchy: Levi wearing barely any clothes, in suggestive positions, with lustful looks on his face. Erwin grew increasingly more embarrassed the more he saw, and he closed the book before he got too turned on. So that’s why . Erwin thought, gently placing the journal back where he found it.

As he left their bedroom to go back to the kitchen, the images replayed themselves in his mind. He couldn’t believe Zeke had drawn such sexual pictures of Levi, and he prayed to god they were drawings from Zeke’s imagination and not from real life experience. As Erwin headed back to the kitchen, he didn’t feel guilty for looking through Zeke’s stuff. In fact, he now felt like he had another leg up in the competition. He knew Zeke’s secret.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zeke watched Erwin walk from the bathroom back into their bedroom and turned to Hanji, who was sitting next to him on the couch, “We need to have another meeting about the bet.”

Hanji nodded and went to answer, immediately shutting up as Levi entered the room and sat on the other side of Zeke. Zeke went to smile at Levi, but noticed that the shorter man wasn’t even paying attention to him or Hanji. He was looking straight into the kitchen at Erwin, who had exited his bedroom to grab a snack. Erwin’s eyes met Levi’s, and a visible blush crossed his face as he waved a little. A small smirk crept up on Levi’s face as he waved back. Hanji watched them and couldn’t help but grin. But Zeke felt sick. Why did it feel like everyone was excited about Levi and Erwin except for him?

“Levi?” Zeke interrupted, trying to capture his attention. Levi turned his head, looking at Zeke and waiting for him to say something.

“Are you busy later?” Zeke asked, reaching out to take Levi’s hand. He frowned when Levi noticed and pulled his hand away before Zeke could take it. Since when does he not want me to hold his hand? Zeke wondered, starting to feel disconnected from the shorter man.

Levi shook his head, leaning back on the couch and trying to get comfy, “I’m free. Did you want to do something?”

Zeke nodded, starting to feel a little insecure. He didn’t know what to do with his hands now, and settled them uncomfortably in his lap.

“Like what?” Levi asked curiously.

“We could play cards again or something,” Zeke suggested.

“You mean you’re not sick of losing yet?” Levi joked, elbowing him a little to get him to smile.

Zeke pouted a little, “I’ll kick your ass at cards.”

Levi laughed and quipped, “You’re on, then. We can hang out after I’m done with my homework.”

Levi went to get up, waving at the two before heading back to his room to start on that homework he’d been talking about. Zeke waited for the bedroom door to close before he called out to Erwin, who was still in the kitchen searching for something to eat.

“Erwin! Come here,” Zeke called, getting the blonde man’s attention.

Erwin hesitantly walked over to where they were, looking at Zeke with some suspicion, “What do you want?”

“We’re having a meeting about the bet,” Zeke said, motioning for Erwin to sit down in the chair next to him.

Erwin looked between Zeke and Hanji before he sat down, crossing his arms and waiting for one of the two to say something first. Hanji leaned forward on the couch and clasped their hands together.

“Okay, so how far are you, Erwin?” they asked.

“Well,” Erwin said, clearing his throat, “We’ve mostly just been kissing.”

Zeke rolled his eyes and bit the inside of his cheek to prevent himself from saying something rude to Erwin. Hanji looked at him, waiting for him to say how far he’d gotten. Zeke sighed and shrugged, “Nothing still.”

He could see the smug look on Erwin’s face and sucked in a deep breath, grumbling, “It’s because Erwin keeps stealing all of Levi’s time from me.”

Erwin frowned, “That’s not true!”

“Zeke, chill,” Hanji said, “You’re hanging out with him tonight, aren’t you? That’ll give you some time alone with him.”

Zeke couldn’t help but smile, both at Erwin’s jealous look and the thought of hanging out with Levi later on. He nodded at Hanji, who seemed to be satisfied with their short meeting about the bet.

“Levi seems like he’s doing okay, so I’m fine with us continuing this,” Hanji said, “But if you two start fighting again or Levi gets hurt, it’s over.”

The two men nodded, trying to avoid looking at each other. Zeke knew it would be hard to control his anger, but if it meant the bet could continue, he would try his best.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zeke spent most of the evening getting ready to hang out with Levi, changing into something a little nicer and making sure he smelled nice, knowing Levi would appreciate that more than how he looked. He heard a knock on his bedroom door, and it soon opened to reveal Levi, who appeared to be ready to hang out.

“I finished my homework,” Levi smiled, “Ready to play cards?”

Zeke nodded and grabbed the cards from his desk, “Yeah.”

“No alcohol tonight?” Levi asked as Zeke began to follow Levi into the living room.

“Nope,” Zeke joked, “It messes with my game.”

Levi scoffed and rolled his eyes, “ What game?”

Zeke couldn’t help but grin a bit, sitting next to Levi on the couch with his legs crossed, turning to face him. He began to shuffle the deck of cards, but Levi put his hand gently over Zeke’s to stop him from doing so.

“Can we actually talk for a bit?” Levi asked, “We haven’t hung out in a bit, I thought we could catch up.”

Zeke was a little taken aback, and suspicious about what Levi could possibly want to talk to him about. His heart started to beat a little faster, and he tried to calm himself. Levi just wanted to catch up, why was that so nerve-wrecking to him?

“Sure,” Zeke smiled nervously, putting down the cards, “What’s up?”

“Well... first, I want to make sure you’re still doing alright,” Levi said, looking up into his deep gray eyes, “Are you okay? Is there anything you need to tell me?”

Zeke was glad that Levi seemed so concerned about him, but remained cautious about his true motives. He cleared his throat and did what he usually did when they were going to talk about something serious: he grabbed Levi’s hand. He wanted so badly to tell Levi how he was feeling, but didn’t know how to say it out loud. This time, unlike earlier, Levi didn’t pull his hand away. He let Zeke lace their fingers together, but this time felt different for some reason. The way Zeke was looking into Levi’s dull gray eyes was different . Zeke was trying to convey a message through his eyes, needing Levi to understand what he was trying to say but couldn’t speak out loud: that he had feelings for him. Warmth radiated off their adjoined hands, and their eyes were locked. Zeke squeezed Levi’s hand to try to get the message across in some way. Levi’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, but he almost instantly squeezed back. Zeke knew that if he leaned forward and tried to kiss him now, Levi wouldn’t stop him. Levi swallowed heavily and broke their eye contact, though, and Zeke lost his chance.

“I actually... I have something to tell you,” Levi admitted, looking down at his lap.

“What is it?” Zeke asked hesitantly, knowing there was something ulterior motive to why Levi really had started this serious conversation with him.

“I don’t want to tell you... well I do,” Levi rambled, “I just don’t want you to make fun of me. I just... I can’t help how I feel and... I don’t know...”

Zeke couldn’t remember a time he’d ever seen Levi so nervous, nor could he remember if he’d ever heard Levi ramble like this. Zeke’s heart felt like it was exploding out of his chest, praying silently that this would be Levi’s confession to him, especially after the moment they’d just shared. After all, they’d known each other for so long. They’d been so close for so long. How could this be anything other than a confession of a crush?

“...you’re my best friend, Zeke,” Levi continued, “I just feel like you should know that... well... I’m seeing Erwin. I mean, not seeing really. It’s just... we’re intimate right now. And I... I think I want to havesexwithhim.”

Levi finished the last part nervously and quickly, taking a deep relieved breath when he was done. Zeke’s stomach dropped. He clenched his teeth roughly and stared at Levi through narrow eyes. Erwin. The name, the face, the clumsy tall body flashed into his mind and consumed him. Anger, nothing but anger, ran through his body. He knew that Levi and Erwin were making out, but given Levi’s recent confession, it sounded like they had done more than that, if Levi was willing to have sex with him.

“Zeke, please say something,” Levi practically whispered. But Zeke couldn’t even look at him. It hurt too much. He was afraid that if he looked at Levi, he’d think too much of him and Erwin, and whatever they’d been doing.

“Zeke?” Levi said a little more loudly.

“Did you do anything with him already?” Zeke asked stiffly, needing to know.

“We... uh, rubbed nakedly,” Levi admitted sheepishly, “But that only happened-”

“Do I need to hold up a sign or something here, Levi?” Zeke interrupted, starting to get pissed off if he wasn’t already. He couldn’t believe that Levi didn’t understand, even after the moment they’d just have, that Zeke had an enormous crush on him. If he did understand, he wouldn’t have ruined the moment by bringing up Erwin.

“Are you mad at me?” Levi asked, looking a bit worried.

“It’s not about you!” Zeke snapped, getting up off the couch, “You’re so fucking self-absorbed!”

He thought Levi would have read all the signs: holding his hand constantly, the hug and kiss he’d given him yesterday, even the fucking flowers . Did Levi really miss all that? Was he that fucking stupid? He’s too wrapped up in Erwin .

“Fuck you!” Levi responded, getting up after him, “What the fuck is your problem?”

“Never thought you’d stoop as low as to fuck Erwin Smith ,” Zeke spat, the name coming off his tongue as if he were disgusted by the mere thought of him.

“Fuck off,” Levi glared, crossing his arms angrily, “I don’t need to explain anything to you , Zeke.”

Zeke’s fingernails clenched into his fists. The anger and pain he felt was coursing through him, and standing there with an apathetic Levi wasn’t helping. His mind immediately went to the one other person he wanted to hurt, and not with words: Erwin . He immediately turned on his heel and marched right out of the living room, heading straight for the bedroom he shared with the blonde man. Levi muttered, “Fuck,” before rushing off to get Hanji, knowing this wouldn’t end well.

Zeke ripped the door to their bedroom open, Erwin sitting at his desk. He jumped a little as the door slammed back against the wall loudly, and took his headphones out as he stared up at Zeke with some surprise.

“What the-”

Zeke stormed over to him, and Erwin quickly got up, sensing the need to defend himself. He held up his hands in some innocence, not understanding what was going on or why Zeke looked so incredibly angry.

“You fucking asshole ,” Zeke snapped, taunting, “So sorry to keep you from your fuck buddy, Erwin.”

“Fuck off,” Erwin snapped, clenching his fists.

“You probably missed your little boyfriend, didn’t you?” Zeke growled.

“Zeke, fuck off ,” Erwin replied angrily.

Levi and Hanji rushed into the room, Levi exchanging a stressed and concerned look with Erwin, and Zeke walked over to Erwin until they were mere inches apart, practically seething, “You two are ruining everything . I can even fucking smell him on you, you pathetic whore.”

Erwin looked taken aback by the comment, snapping back, “ I’m the whore? What about you? You want to tell Levi about your drawings, huh?”

“ Don’t go through my stuff! ” Zeke shouted.

He was practically blinded with rage at that point. He could only see Erwin’s stupid face, and that was all he needed to see at the moment. He lunged at Erwin, everything else just looking like a blurry assortment of colors. He raised his fist to hit him, but was grabbed around the middle by Hanji, who yanked him off Erwin. Levi was standing in front of Erwin now as if protecting him.

Zeke tried to break free from Hanji’s grasp for a moment, but when it was clear that he couldn’t, the surrounding blurriness began to clear, and he breathed through his nose heavily, trying to control his anger.

“What the hell is going on, Zeke?!” Hanji yelled, but Zeke’s only response was to give them a middle finger.

“Let me go, I’m not going to attack him!” he shouted, and Hanji hesitantly let him go. Everything went silent, and Zeke found this soothing for a moment, as he could finally think to himself for a bit. He was staring at the floor while he thought, before he looked up again.

“Listen,” he began quietly, almost too calmly considering what had just happened, “I’m packing my shit and moving in with Hanji. Levi, you’re switching with me. That way you and your boyfriend can have all the horny fun you want.”

Levi winced at his words, looking thoroughly confused and hurt by Zeke’s anger. He had practically spat the word ‘boyfriend’ before continuing, “And I don’t want you,” he pointed at Levi, “or your boyfriend,” he pointed at Erwin, “to come anywhere near me .”

And with that, Zeke walked to his side of the room, starting to pack up some of the most important things he needed before he slung the bag over his shoulder and headed towards Hanji and Levi’s room. The three of them just watched him for a moment before going back to their normal activities, as if nothing had happened. Levi left the room to go pack up his belongings, not wanting to argue with Zeke anymore, and Hanji followed to make sure Zeke wouldn’t get into any more trouble. But as soon as he laid down in his bed that night, he waited until he heard Hanji fall asleep and began to let the tears fall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After Zeke’s angry confrontation with Erwin, everyone had essentially gone back to their normal routines. Levi hadn’t even looked at him after the fight, just went back to his room and packed his things like Zeke had asked.

The only good thing that had come out of the fight was that Zeke had sent Levi right into Erwin’s arms. Excitement skipped through Erwin’s veins as he sat at his desk. They could do anything now without interruption. Sneak away to make out, run off to their room and close the door - no interruptions . They could even share the same bed if they wanted to.

As images of him and Levi sharing a bed zoomed through his mind, Erwin let his mouth hang open and his anger from the earlier fight subside. His thoughts turned to Levi, and just as he thought about the shorter man, Levi appeared in the doorway with a Duffel bag full of clothes and his backpack over his shoulder. Upon seeing Erwin, he frowned, clearly not as excited as Erwin was in that moment. He was likely still upset from earlier.

“Hey,” Erwin greeted quietly.

“Hey,” Levi said as he opened up one of the empty dresser drawers and started putting his clothes inside. He wasn’t looking at Erwin, and just continued to unpack the items from his Duffel bag, placing them around the room haphazardly. Erwin watched as Levi exited the room, returning with some cleaning products. He supposed Levi probably cleaned when he was stressed.

“What are you doing?” Erwin asked anyways, not knowing how to start up a conversation at the moment.

“Cleaning.”

“Why?”

Levi shrugged in response and continued what he was doing, not even paying attention to Erwin. Erwin went over to sit on what was now Levi’s bed and watch him. He could tell Levi was still incredibly bothered by what happened earlier.

“It’ll be okay, Levi,” he reassured him, “Zeke’ll come around.”

“No he won’t,” Levi sighed, not even bothering to look at Erwin as he started to dust the bookshelf next to the bed, “I... I think he’s right.”

“What?!” Erwin practically gaped at him, wanting to be angry but feeling far more surprised than anything.

“We are ruining everything,” Levi continued, explaining as if he was talking to a toddler, “He’s right.”

“How can you say that?” Erwin asked, anger beginning to rise as the shock subsided.

“Look, Erwin,” Levi turned around, finally facing the taller man, “I think we should stop what we’re doing together.”

Erwin furrowed his eyebrows in hurt and confusion as Levi’s words slowly settled over him. His heart sank, anger raged within him, and a sad, miserable feeling was building inside him.

“Why?” he asked.

Levi exhaled loudly, continuing to dust as he avoided Erwin’s gaze, “Because we’re ruining things, Erwin. You heard what Zeke-”

“Does he really influence you that fucking much?” Erwin growled. Levi exchanged a glare with him before he set the duster down on the bed and faced him properly.

“It’s not about that, Erwin,” Levi snapped, “We have more important things to focus on, like schoolwork. We can’t be running around behind everyone’s back. We have to think about others.”

“About Zeke, you mean,” Erwin grumbled, getting up from his desk as he prepared to leave. He couldn’t stand that this was the conversation he was having with Levi. This was not what he had expected at all, and he was both disappointed and hurt.

“You’re fucking impossible to talk to,” Levi said viciously, turning his back to Erwin as he started to dust again.

“You stole the thoughts right out of my fucking head,” Erwin retorted, heading for the door. He just wanted to go sleep on the couch and forget about Levi. He regretted starting up this conversation, though he supposed this would’ve been coming to him either way.

“Just don’t come around me anymore,” Levi ordered angrily. Erwin gnawed at the inside of his mouth. Was this really the same person he had been spending so much time with? The person he had trusted so much and given so much care and love and time? He was ruining his friendship with Zeke over this idiot?

“You’re a miserable dick, Levi,” he growled as he left, slamming the door behind him and solidifying the finality of it all that slashed at Erwin’s insides. As he headed for the living room, he felt an emptiness inside that he hadn’t felt in a long time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zeke stayed in his bed that night and the entire next day, not caring what he was missing. He felt broken inside, and needed to take the day to pull himself back together, if that was even possible at that point. He spent most of the day in bed, alone with his thoughts and emotions. Zeke kept reminiscing about the day before, replaying the events over and over again in his head. He couldn’t believe that Levi was so oblivious to his feelings.

That’s when he heard Hanji walking into their room later in the night. He scowled and turned over, not particularly feeling like talking to anyone at the moment. He huddled under the covers, hoping Hanji would just leave him be.

“Hey Zeke,” they said quietly, still standing in the doorway, “I just came to check on you. Can we talk?”

Zeke groaned in frustration. He didn’t really want to talk to anyone, but he did appreciate the fact that someone at least bothered to come check on him. He nodded a little in hesitance, waiting for Hanji to say something. He turned back over and watched Hanji pull up a chair next to the bed, frowning at Zeke’s clearly disheveled state as he lay in bed with messy hair, red eyes, and an empty look on his face.

“How are you doing?” Hanji asked.

“Fucking amazing,” Zeke quipped.

Hanji sighed a little, knowing how hard it was to get through to him, “I’m serious, Zeke. You blew up yesterday. I know you’re not okay.”

“Then don’t ask,” Zeke mumbled, pulling the bed covers up over his face.

“Zeke, please look at me,” they said gently.

Zeke sighed heavily before pulling the cover back to look at them and snapping in irritation, “You’re only here because you have to be.”

Hanji looked a bit taken aback and hurt, retorting, “And you’re only here because you’re jealous of Erwin’s relationship with Levi.”

“Fuck you!” Zeke nearly shouted, ripping the cover back up over his face and turning away from them, “Just fucking leave me alone.”

Hanji sucked in a deep breath, trying to control their anger. Zeke let the anger pass as he bit down on his lip to resist it. But as the anger passed, he just felt more of what he had been feeling all day: drained and depressed . He forced his eyes closed to prevent any tears from coming forward. He refused to cry, especially in front of Hanji. Zeke knew they were only trying to help. Slowly, he turned back around and pulled the covers back down.

“What are you here for, anyways?” Zeke asked quietly.

Hanji noticed the tears in the corners of Zeke’s eyes and frowned, reaching out to rub his arm comfortingly.

“I just wanted to make sure you’re okay,” they replied. Zeke bit the inside of his cheek hard as he felt tears well up. He shook his head as if to answer ‘I’m not’, and almost welcomed Hanji’s touch.

“Zeke, you need to decide if you really want Levi or not,” they explained, “Otherwise you’re just putting yourself through this for no reason.”

Zeke couldn’t even look at them. Of course he still wanted Levi, regardless of how furious he was with him at the moment. But he really didn’t want to talk about this. At the moment, he just wanted to go back to sleep and forget that Levi and Erwin even existed. Then maybe he could wake up and grasp some newfound understanding of the situation. Maybe he could even learn to accept that Levi and Erwin were together. Besides, what other choice did he have? If Levi wanted Erwin, there was nothing he could do about it.

He nodded at Hanji’s statement, “I know.”

“So... do you really want him?” Hanji asked cautiously. Zeke swallowed heavily and shook Hanji’s hand off his shoulder, pulling the covers back over him.

“Zeke?” Hanji asked, concern ringing in their voice.

“I’m going back to bed,” Zeke muttered, turning back over as he felt tears flowing down his cheeks. He prayed that Hanji would just leave so they didn’t have to see him crying. He heard them stand up, and waited for the sigh and squeak of the floorboards that told him they were walking towards his door to exit.

“I’ll come check on you tomorrow, Zeke,” they promised, leaving the room and shutting the door behind them.

Zeke closed his eyes tightly, trying to stop the tears from flowing. As they stopped, he tried to erase his mind of all thoughts of Levi. This was proving useless, though, and he fell asleep with thoughts of smooth black hair, dull gray eyes, and a few hot tears spilling over onto his cheeks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Erwin didn’t sleep much that night. He spent the night on the couch, tossing and turning as he reminisced about the fight he’d had with Levi. He couldn’t believe Levi would say such awful things to him, and when it was time for him to finally get up in the morning, he felt groggy and unsettled from the night before. He sat at the kitchen table with a bowl of cereal, but was barely eating, just spooning at the food in front of him as he felt the uneasy feeling of their fight pooling in his stomach. Hanji came out of the bedroom they now shared with Zeke and frowned upon seeing the state Erwin was in.

“Erwin, are you okay?” Hanji asked, looking concerned as they sat across from him at the kitchen table.

“No,” Erwin admitted, sighing heavily as he looked up at Hanji. He rubbed his eyes sleepily and yawned a little, “I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“I’m surprised Zeke’s effecting you this much,” Hanji admitted, not realizing Erwin and Levi had fought, “You’d usually brush it off by now.”

Erwin frowned, knowing he needed to tell Hanji about what had happened. He didn’t look forward to reminiscing about his fight with Levi, but he needed to get it off his chest at the same time.

“Levi and I had an argument last night,” Erwin took a deep breath, “A really bad one.”

Hanji looked a little surprised, not expecting this to be what Erwin was going to tell them. They looked as though the dots were starting to connect: why Erwin had slept on the couch and why he was so broken up and hadn’t gotten sleep.

“What did he say?” Hanji inquired, looking curious.

“He, um... ended things between us,” Erwin said, looking away from Hanji as he felt the sadness growing in his chest, “He basically said he doesn’t want anything to do with me anymore.”

“Oh...” Hanji frowned, “Erwin, I’m so sorry.”

Erwin sucked in a deep breath, trying not to appear too sad so he didn’t worry Hanji too much. He took a moment to reply, nodding a little and forcing a smile, “Thanks, Hanji. I’ll be okay, I just need some time.”

Hanji nodded back in understanding, reaching out to put their hand gently on Erwin’s in a supportive way, smiling back at him gently, “It’ll be okay, Erwin. Just give it some time. I’m sure Levi was just upset from the fight you and Zeke had last night. He probably didn’t mean it.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Erwin replied, though he wasn’t sure how much he believed that statement. From the way Levi spoke to him last night, he was pretty sure Levi didn’t want anything to do with him, permanently .

He must have been stuck in his thoughts for too long, because Hanji was squeezing his hand gently to bring him back to reality, asking him quietly, “Are you sure you’re okay, Erwin? You don’t look so good.”

“I’m fine,” Erwin replied, going to get up and get ready for the day.

But Hanji looked at him skeptically, clearly not believing that he was okay. In fact, Erwin wasn’t even sure if he was okay, but he wouldn’t let on that he wasn’t. He would just have to try and bury himself in his work to put Levi out of his mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few days passed with none of the three men talking to each other. Zeke had gone back to his every day activities, and so had Levi and Erwin. Hanji had just come back from class when they entered the room they now shared with Zeke, who was sitting on his bed scrolling on his phone. He didn’t notice them at first, until he looked up from his phone and offered a fake smile their way. Hanji could tell he was forcing it, but wanted to enter the room with a happy energy to help cheer him up.

“Zeke!” they exclaimed cheerfully, “How’s it going?”

“Just lovely,” Zeke responded sarcastically, going back to looking at his phone.

Hanji frowned a little. Zeke Yeager. Hanji couldn’t quite put their finger on it, but they knew there was something that was still sustaining Zeke. He was missing a few pieces here and there, yes, but Zeke wasn’t broken . Hanji had been considering ending the bet, but every time they did, their mind turned back to Zeke. If Hanji called off the bet, they knew Zeke might completely break; the knowledge of not having yet lost the bet might have been giving him some sort of drive to continue to fight for Levi. No one else might have noticed, but Hanji saw the way that Zeke still looked at Levi, even if the two weren’t talking; the way Zeke would scope out Levi’s eyes with his own and try to hold his stare. Of course, neither Erwin nor Levi would notice any of this. Hanji couldn’t just end the bet. If Zeke hadn’t given up, then neither would they. He just needed some inspiration to stop moping around and get his feet back on the ground.

“Zeke?” Hanji went to sit next to him on his bed, pulling their legs up to cross them as they turned to face him.

“Hmm?” he mumbled in response, not looking up from his phone. Hanji knew that Zeke had spent most of his days with the bedroom door shut, leaving his desk to spend most of his day in bed, basically just coming and going. He barely even left the dorm to get food, just left the room to grab snacks now and then.

“What are you going to do about Levi?” Hanji asked carefully. Zeke snorted.

“Lock him inside a burning building.”

“I’m being serious, Zeke.”

Zeke sighed and finally looked up at Hanji, saying shortly, “Nothing. He has Erwin, doesn’t he?”

Hanji’s heart sped up when they heard the vulnerability in Zeke’s voice. Sadness overwhelmed them. He sounded so in despair and alone. They wanted to help; needed to help him.

And only one horrible idea came to mind.

“I don’t think everything’s going so smoothly between Erwin and Levi,” Hanji blurted before they had the chance to bite their tongue.

Zeke sat up straighter and stared back at Hanji in some disbelief.

“What?” he asked. Hanji swallowed nervously.

“Um... well... they seem a bit off lately,” Hanji admitted as Zeke’s eyes widened with interest.

“Off like how?” Zeke breathed. Hanji could practically feel the excitement radiating off Zeke’s figure, and could feel hopefulness hanging in the air.

Fuck it .

“Yeah, Erwin told me they had a fight the other evening,” Hanji replied, leaning in as if they were a couple of gossiping teenagers.

“Oh really?” Zeke raised an eyebrow, looking curious, “About what?”

“Well, I guess Levi doesn’t want to... do things anymore,” Hanji spoke slowly.

“With Erwin?”

“Yeah.”

“ Really? ” Zeke said, his face breaking out into a grin. Hanji smiled back guiltily. They knew they shouldn’t have done that, but the smile on Zeke’s face was enough to make them feel like it was worth it. Plus, Hanji had covered for Erwin and Levi that one time they were making out in the closet, so now things felt a little more even.

“Really. So what are you going to do about Levi, then?” they asked. Zeke’s smile shrunk a bit, and he slumped back against the wall.

“I don’t know. It doesn’t seem worth it anymore,” Zeke said weakly.

“You don’t believe that,” Hanji rolled their eyes as they crossed their arms.

“I don’t know, Hanji,” Zeke shrugged, “I don’t know if I want to put myself out there again.”

“You’re worried about being rejected?” Hanji asked, not entirely convinced that Zeke was ready to give up.

“I’m just worried about being on the bottom. You know I do better on top,” he smirked, and Hanji couldn’t help but laugh at his joke.

“I don’t know,” Zeke continued, “I might be willing to give it another chance. Plus, I think I’ll play with Levi a bit, you know? Continue the silent treatment. He’s fun to toy with.”

Hanji smiled at Zeke’s newfound confidence as he stood up, grinning down at Hanji as if to thank them for their pep talk. As he left the room, probably to get some food as it was near dinner time, Hanji felt much better about the situation, proud of their accomplishment.

However, almost as soon as Zeke left, Levi showed up in their doorway, looking almost as equally stressed as Zeke had been moments before. He walked in and shut the door without waiting for an invitation from Hanji, pulling up a chair and sitting down across from them.

“Hey,” Hanji frowned, “You okay?”

“I just... feel like shit,” Levi mumbled, “It’s all my fault.”

“What are you talking about?” Hanji asked, furrowing their eyebrows. How was any of this Levi’s fault anyways?

“None of this is working out,” Levi rambled, “Everything... it doesn’t make sense. I didn’t choose for it to...”

Hanji stared at him with a clueless expression, “What-”

“I miss him,” Levi whispered, dropping his head in his hands and exhaling loudly in frustration.

“Erwin?” Hanji questioned.

“Zeke,” Levi corrected.

Hanji’s eyes nearly shot out of their head in surprise. Zeke?

“ Zeke? ” they asked incredulously. They hadn’t expected Levi to say his name, especially considering the fight that had happened last night. They thought Levi would miss Erwin far more.

“He’s my best friend. I’m used to talking to him about stuff. It just doesn’t seem...” Levi trailed off, rubbing his temples in stress.

“So you don’t miss Erwin?” Hanji asked, trying to figure out what the actual hell was going through Levi’s head at this moment.

“I miss them both,” Levi stressed, “But things between Erwin and I can’t be how they were before.”

“Why not?”

“ Because Hanji,” Levi sighed in exasperation, “Zeke... he was right . We were ruining everything. I can’t just run around with Erwin behind everyone’s back. With all this fighting, I could jeopardize our schoolwork.”

“Levi, that’s a bullshit answer,” Hanji snapped, “You know it is. That didn’t seem to bother you before, and I can tell you from my own experience that you and Erwin weren’t ruining anything . You were ruining things for Zeke , but that’s it.”

Levi stayed silent for a moment, looking unsure of how to respond. He seemed to be incredibly conflicted with what Hanji had just told him.

Hanji frowned and sat back against the wall, “You know you can tell me things, Levi. For instance, you could start with why you broke things off with Erwin.”

“Everything’s falling apart,” Levi started in a small voice, “Zeke won’t speak to anyone... I’m pretty sure he hates me now, and...” he took a deep breath and closed his eyes, a painful expression on his face as he continued, “Now Erwin hates me too. I just thought... I thought I could fix everything.”

He opened his eyes back up as he finished, and Hanji felt a knot growing in their stomach. How could I agree to this bet? They wondered, feeling guilty for agreeing to moderate. Levi clearly had no idea what was going on, and he was hurting just as much as Erwin and Zeke were.

“Levi...” they started, at a loss for what to say.

“I just didn’t want to ruin everything, and now they’re both mad at me,” Levi chewed on his bottom lip and looked at the ceiling, “I don’t know what to do. I don’t think it’s a good idea to approach either of them right now. I’ll probably just give it some time.”

Hanji nodded, thinking this was probably a good idea. But one question still gnawed at them, and they asked, “So did you actually want to end things with Erwin?”

Levi looked back at Hanji with a somber, sad look, “I have to. It doesn’t matter what I want.”

Before Hanji could respond, Levi stood up to leave. They went to speak, but Levi held up his hand as if to stop them.

“Thanks, Hanji,” he said, leaving the room quietly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zeke walked back into the dorm suite from class, seeing Levi and Erwin’s bedroom door open. Erwin was gone, probably getting lunch or in his own classes, but Levi practically pounced from his desk as soon as he saw Zeke walk in and head towards his bedroom door. Hanji was gone on a field trip for the day, and their bedroom door was locked, so he went to grab his keys to unlock it, fumbling with them quickly as he tried to avoid Levi, who had now exited his bedroom to talk to him.

“Zeke,” Levi said, and Zeke completely ignored him, continuing to fiddle with his keys as he found the right one and put it in the keyhole to unlock the door.

“Zeke!” he tried again, waiting with him outside his bedroom door.

“Go away, Levi,” he grumbled. Levi sighed a little, and Zeke had to remind himself that it wasn’t sexy.

“You’ll forgive me, won’t you?” Levi said, trying to make eye contact with Zeke, who unlocked his door and pushed it open. Levi stood in his way.

“In your dreams,” Zeke muttered, glaring at him, “Get out of my way.”

“You’re going to forgive me!” Levi proclaimed cockily.

Zeke sighed. If Levi really wanted to play this game with him, he would play this game. He looked down at Levi, staring at him in annoyance.

“Why should I forgive you and your little boyfriend? Hmm?” he asked maliciously.

Levi stiffened and bit his lower lip, not realizing how sexy Zeke found him when he did that. Although Zeke already knew that Levi and Erwin weren’t currently on speaking terms, he couldn’t let on to Levi that he knew that.

“Me and Erwin... we’ve stopped... doing that ,” Levi said in a small voice, a sense of pleading apparent on his face. Zeke sighed and rubbed his eyebrows. Levi had reacted in just the way he knew he would. Now what was he supposed to say? Since talking to Hanji, he’d realized he needed Erwin and Levi’s relationship to even open up the possibility of him and Levi being together. Now that Levi thought being in a relationship would ruin things for everyone, how was Zeke supposed to try and get in Levi’s pants? He felt as though he had no other choice. Levi and Zeke were best friends; Levi wouldn’t do anything if he suspected Zeke was going to be hurt by it.

“Zeke?” Levi piped up, interrupting the silence, “I promise I won’t see E-”

“You should go back to him,” Zeke blurted. After saying it, he felt as though a huge weight came off his chest.

“What?!” Levi exclaimed, looking confused and surprised.

Zeke bit his lip and started, “When I found out... I was just confused, okay? And pissed, of course. So I exploded. But I didn’t mean to. I don’t have a problem with it, okay, Levi? If you want to go around holding hands with Erwin, I’ll be fine.”

“W-What?” Levi asked, looking at Zeke as if he had two heads.

“I’m not mad anymore! Just be with Erwin!” Zeke sighed in irritation, even though the thoughts inside his head were drastically different from the words coming out of his mouth. Levi was standing there, looking shocked and staring up at him in confusion.

“Stop looking at me like that,” Zeke snapped. Levi blinked a little before things were starting to click in his head.

“You mean... so you’re okay with Erwin and me?” he asked in disbelief.

“Yes, you idiot! I’m fine with it,” Zeke replied. Truth be told, he was disgusted by the idea of Levi and Erwin being together, but he felt as though this was all he could do. When Hanji had told him that Levi broke things off with Erwin, underneath all his happiness, he knew he had made a mistake. Zeke had instilled an awful thought in Levi’s head: that being in a relationship (physical or not) was going to ruin things for all of them. He knew that if he let Levi be with Erwin, then he had a better chance at getting to Levi. He just had to make the right moves and then Levi would be his.

Levi took a deep breath to calm himself before asking, “You’re being serious, right?”

Zeke rolled his eyes and tried to hide his grimace, “I’m not joking, Levi! Bring Erwin over here now! You two can make out in front of me!”

Levi blushed a little, before glaring at Zeke and thumping him roughly on the arm.

“What the hell was that for?!” Zeke asked as he rubbed his arm.

Levi couldn’t help but smirk, “For being a dick earlier.”

Zeke grinned a bit, knowing they were back on joking terms. Plus, he realized he probably deserved that, at least a little. He was happy that they could at least joke around again, and relieved that they were back on speaking terms. But in the back of his mind, he was worried about Erwin, and whether Levi was going to go and talk to him again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Erwin was finishing up eating dinner in the kitchen when Levi exited their shared room. He made the mistake of looking up, and met Levi’s dull gray eyes. When they made eye contact, Erwin realized he was the exact person that Levi was looking for, and he didn’t exactly know how to feel about it. He broke their eye contact and tried to focus back on his food, but he’d already finished most of it and it was difficult to pretend he hadn’t seen Levi at this point. Levi came and stood in front of him.

“Erwin?” Levi spoke up, and Erwin refused to look at him. He knew the more he looked into Levi’s eyes, the less angry he would be with the shorter man. Levi had a way about him that he just couldn’t stay mad at.

“What?” Erwin asked shortly, finishing the food on his plate and getting up to put it in the sink. He brushed past Levi without even looking at him, and Levi followed him to the sink like a lost puppy.

“Can we talk?” Levi inquired awkwardly. Erwin finally looked over to him to see the begging look on Levi’s face.

Erwin sighed in annoyance. He’d spent the last few days trying to get over Levi, and now here the shorter man was trying to talk to him? He didn’t want to still be thinking about Levi, and this conversation would make that a lot more difficult of a possibility. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized they probably needed to talk about what had happened between them. It would be immature of him to turn Levi away. In fact, it sounded too much like something Zeke might do.

“Sure,” Erwin finally agreed, and Levi started to lead him back to their room for them to talk. Erwin followed cautiously, sticking his hands in his pockets nervously. He didn’t know how ready he was to have this conversation. He’d gone through a range of emotions over the last couple of days and truthfully still felt like shit over the whole situation.

Levi unlocked their bedroom door and walked in, Erwin walking in behind him and turning to close the door. When he turned back around, he was greeted by Levi standing right in front of him, probably only a foot away.

But something was different. Levi wasn’t looking at him awkwardly anymore. His eyes were dark and focused on Erwin’s own gaze. His lips were parted, his hair seemed messier, and the top button of his shirt was unbuttoned. Erwin couldn’t help it - his eyes raked over Levi’s form, their dangerously close proximity getting the best of him.

“I want you,” Levi breathed.

Oh fuck .

All the animosity and bitterness he had felt towards Levi practically flew out of the window as he grasped Levi’s shirt viciously and sealed their lips together. The spark between them was intoxicating, and Erwin could feel Levi’s hands gripping at his back as he brought their torsos flush against each other. They pulled away for a moment, and Erwin snapped his head back as he felt Levi littering his neck with bruising and passionate kisses. Erwin didn’t realize just how much he missed this.

Blindly, he grasped the bottom of Levi’s shirt and pulled it over his head forcefully before returning to kissing him viciously, moaning into his mouth as he felt Levi’s tongue snake in between his parted lips. Levi grasped his shirt roughly and began tugging him towards his bed, still kissing him forcefully as they went. He pulled away only to lay down on the bed, pulling Erwin on top of him.

Erwin went to kiss him again, but Levi moved away, “E-Erwin.”

“Yeah?” Erwin asked, not meaning for his voice to come out so needy and desperate.

“I’m sorry,” Levi said. Erwin stared at his lidded eyes before he planted a kiss to Levi’s lips once more.

“It’s okay,” Erwin whispered. And it really was. Erwin no longer cared about the stupid fight they’d had; he no longer cared about the pain it had caused him; and he no longer cared about what had suddenly given Levi a change of heart. At least he’d actually apologized and tried to make things right.

“I didn’t mean to-”

“Shh, Levi, it’s okay,” Erwin shushed him, kissing his cheek sweetly before properly straddling him and starting to grind his hips against Levi’s. Levi let out a low groan before bucking his hips to meet Erwin’s.

“But I-”

“Levi,” Erwin sighed in exasperation, starting to undo his pants, “I want you.”

These words seemed to snap Levi out of his sudden fixation on their fight. Levi reached up to help Erwin unbutton his pants and ripped them down harshly along with his boxers. He quickly worked at taking down his own pants and underwear, and soon they were both naked, Erwin still wearing his shirt. As soon as they were properly relieved of their pants, Levi flipped their positions, pushing Erwin roughly onto the bed and straddling him. He started to grind down on him, and Erwin couldn’t help but groan loudly.

“Fuck,” he moaned and bucked his hips, gripping at the sheets below him tightly.

Prickles of pleasure shot up his body and centered around his erection, blood pumping there wildly. Desperately, he hooked his legs around Levi in order to make the friction more intense. Both men groaned at this action. The sight of a naked Levi thrusting on top of him was far too much for Erwin to handle. In fact, being with Levi in general was way too overwhelming. All the prior experience he’d gained in terms of lasting longer always went out the window when Levi was involved. Plus, they’d just made up from a fight, and everything was somehow much more intense.

Erwin swiveled his hips and growled, “F-Fuck, Levi.”

He was trying to warn Levi that he was close, but his abilities at proper speech had suddenly left him. A moment after that, though, and he no longer cared about lasting anymore. The skin-on-skin contact between the two of them felt far too good.

Erwin’s hands flew up from the sheets and grasped at Levi’s thighs, forcing him to grind against him faster and harder. Levi groaned and bit his lip - his face was flushed, and his eyes were clouded with lust as he pushed onto Erwin over and over again. Before he could even say anything, Erwin’s legs tightened, and he felt his orgasm coming over him. His chest was heaving, his skin was sweaty, and his back was arched as he squeezed his eyes shut, trying to catch his breath.

Levi backed off, his body practically shaking as he was clearly close too. Erwin’s eyes opened again, and he reached up and gripped Levi’s erection, jerking at it forcefully. Levi bucked his hips and groaned. Erwin stared at his face: it was red, his eyes were dark and unfocused, and a bit of sweat made his dark hair cling to his forehead. With one final, low groan, Levi bucked and slammed his hips wildly into Erwin’s fist before he finished.

He wiped his hands on the sheets and Levi grimaced, collapsing next to Erwin and mumbling something about needing to change his bedsheets now. Erwin couldn’t help but smile at Levi’s need to keep everything clean.

“Did you miss me?” Erwin teased, wrapping an arm around Levi gently and snuggling close to him.

“Of course not,” he joked, lazily draping his arm across Erwin’s stomach and cuddling close to him.

Everything was right again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That morning at his desk, Levi felt incredibly better. He’d fixed things with both Zeke and Erwin, and on top of that him and Erwin had gone back to their sexual activities, which Levi was more than happy about. He and Erwin had even been spending the night in the same bed, cuddling each other. He actually liked waking up in the morning next to Erwin; something about it felt right. Levi was glad that Zeke had encouraged him to continue things with Erwin, and as his thoughts turned to Zeke, he looked out his open door across the hall to Hanji and Zeke’s room, which had its door open as well. Zeke was busy drawing, his eyes intently focused on the paper in front of him. Levi wondered what he was drawing, and decided it was a good time for a break anyways; he could pay Zeke a visit that way. Plus, both Erwin and Hanji were out for the day, so he could have some time alone with his friend.

“What are you drawing?” Levi asked as he approached the bedroom door, and Zeke nearly jumped out of his seat in surprise.

“Oh shit,” Zeke cursed, “You scared me, Levi.”

“You shouldn’t be so jumpy,” Levi joked, “I might think you’re trying to hide something from me.”

Zeke’s face flushed, and suddenly Levi felt like Zeke might actually be hiding something from him. But he brushed this feeling off, focusing back on his earlier question as he repeated, “So what are you drawing?”

Zeke slid the paper across the desk so he could see it, “Today I’m drawing Hanji.”

“Not bad,” Levi said, sliding the paper back, “Why don’t you ever draw me?”

“Oh, I have drawings of you,” Zeke admitted almost sheepishly, getting up, “Come here.”

Levi followed Zeke across the room to the bookshelf, and watched as he took a journal off the second shelf, opening it to one of the first pages and handing it cautiously to Levi. Levi recognized this as the sketchbook he’d found in the hallway for Zeke, and took it from him. He was surprised to see a perfectly drawn portrait of himself, and flipped the page to be met with another drawing of himself sitting at his desk, typing away at his laptop. He flipped the page again and saw another drawing of himself, and he was beginning to wonder if the whole book was filled with drawings of him. Zeke quickly snatched the sketchbook back, looking a little embarrassed.

“They’re not that good,” Zeke muttered, “No drawing could do you justice.”

Levi blushed a little at the remark and shook his head, “No, Zeke. These are really, really good.”

Zeke was putting back the sketchbook on the shelf when Levi said this, and he looked back at Levi in somewhat disbelief at his comment. Then, as if out of nowhere, Zeke grabbed Levi’s shoulders and pulled him close, their lips smashing together.

Levi quickly pushed him away, looking at him with shocked eyes. Using the back of his hand, he wiped his mouth in confusion, still staring at Zeke as if he had two heads.

“What the fuck was that?” Levi asked incredulously.

“A kiss,” Zeke responded, reaching out to pull him back in.

“Zeke, you’re freaking me out,” Levi said in a low voice, allowing himself to be pulled back in anyways.

Zeke leaned their foreheads against each other and stared into his eyes deeply.

“Z-Zeke, no!” Levi pushed him away again. Zeke stood there, watching Levi’s red face. Levi was breathing heavily as if he didn’t know what to do with himself, and his eyes were... his eyes were...

Levi lunged at him. He wrapped his arms around Zeke and practically pushed him against the wall. Levi’s lips were on Zeke’s and this time they were responsive . Zeke groaned and wrapped his arms possessively around Levi as they opened their mouths at the same time and their tongues collided. Zeke trembled at the contact and Levi moaned into their kiss, his hands reaching up and tugging at Zeke’s blonde locks while Zeke’s hands caressed Levi’s back. He sucked at Levi’s lower lip and bit down roughly.

Zeke couldn’t get enough of him. He tangled his legs with Levi’s as he sucked on his tongue and groaned into his mouth. Levi pressed him harder into the wall - so hard that Zeke was beginning to feel suffocated, but he gasped when he felt Levi’s hardness collide against his own. It took all of Zeke’s inner strength not to grind against him eagerly. Needing air, Zeke stopped the kiss and pulled away for a moment, leaning his head back on the wall.

“Fuck Levi... you’ll be the death of me,” Zeke practically growled. Levi’s lustful eyes suddenly changed - apparently Zeke shouldn’t have said that.

“Fuck,” Levi muttered, stepping back from him quickly, “I... I’m seeing Erwin so... I can’t- I have to go.”

Levi practically dove for the door and rushed out of the room. A grin crept up on Zeke’s face as he touched his lips gently. Levi had wanted that; really wanted it. And Erwin was only an afterthought.

All the pain he had been going through suddenly felt worth it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Fuck,” Levi kept mumbling as he rushed back to his room and shut the door, “Fuck fuck fuck.”

He couldn’t believe how painfully hard he was - and not from Erwin, but from his best friend , Zeke. He also couldn’t believe he had just made out with his best friend. What was wrong with him? Kissing Zeke was not normal. It was weird .

But then again, it wasn’t. Not really. For Levi, kissing Zeke almost felt natural . When their lips met, it almost felt as natural as breathing .

Levi wished it wasn’t. He wished that Zeke’s lips felt wrong on his own. He wished the strength he had summoned to push him away the first time had stayed with him when Zeke kept pulling him in. Levi felt like they were two magnets just waiting to come together, and felt powerless to that feeling. Now he was confused, hard, and a bit sick to his stomach. Underneath all of this, though, he couldn’t shake a horrible feeling that was growing inside him.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that every glance, every caress, and every smile that he and Zeke had shared had somehow led up to this . To that stupid fucking kiss. Like there had always been something between them that was sleeping up until the moment they had just shared together.

Levi sat down at his desk and rested his forehead in his hands, his elbows on the hard surface. He felt like he might be going crazy. What had Zeke meant by that kiss anyways? He was probably just messing with him, right? Just another one of Zeke’s fucking games. What was he to Zeke? A joke? An experiment?

“What a dick,” Levi whispered as he rubbed his forehead in stress, his thoughts beginning to turn to Erwin.

Erwin was going to kill him. If he ever found out that Levi had made out with Zeke, he would... well, Levi couldn’t even imagine how Erwin was going to react. He couldn’t tell him; it wasn’t worth it. Levi liked how things were with Erwin; they were so easy and stress-free. Especially after their recent fallout.

There was a knock on the bedroom door, and he could hear Erwin at the other end call out to him, “Levi?”

Fucking perfect , Levi thought, both in seriousness and in sarcasm. He didn’t particularly want to see Erwin after what had just happened, but he also needed help with his erection anyways.

He got up and opened the door, dragging Erwin in and shutting it again. Levi shoved Erwin down into his desk chair and climbed on top of him, starting to grind against his leg.

“Fuck... Levi!” Erwin gasped in surprise, “Damn, what were you thinking about before I came in here?”

Levi couldn’t admit what he had been thinking about - Zeke. Erwin moved to bite and nip at Levi’s neck, and Levi groaned at the intense tingles of pleasure he felt as he continued to grind against the taller man’s thigh.

“Y-You do know I have another class soon, right?” Erwin managed to get out, “I just stopped back here for my books.”

“Fuck,” Levi grumbled. Of course he didn’t know that. He reached down to grasp Erwin’s own erection, but Erwin stopped him.

“It’s fine,” Erwin explained, reaching his hand down Levi’s pants, “You clearly need this more than I do.”

He grasped Levi’s erection and twisted his hand, tugging at it roughly. Levi gasped and groaned, the pleasure building as he jerked back against Erwin’s hand. He nuzzled his face into Erwin’s neck as he came, breathing heavily and practically collapsing into Erwin’s arms.

“I have to get going, Levi,” Erwin said quietly, pulling his hands out of Levi’s pants, “Let’s go get cleaned up.”

Levi couldn’t comprehend everything that had happened with Zeke. Not when everything with him and Erwin was so fucking right . He was not going to ruin things between him and the man that was holding him. Especially not on some fucking dick who was hell-bent on ruining things for him as a joke, or a sick experiment, or whatever the hell was going through Zeke’s mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zeke showed up in Levi’s bedroom doorway the next morning, finding Levi alone in the room. After their kiss, Levi had been avoiding him. In fact, now that he stood in Levi’s doorway, Levi didn’t even look up to acknowledge him, already knowing who was there to bother him.

“Hey,” Zeke started, “Are you going to keep ignoring me?”

“Fuck off,” Levi muttered, continuing on with his work as he quipped, “Are you going to keep trying to kiss me?”

“Maybe,” Zeke smirked, “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

Levi finally looked up at him, irritation written on his face as he shut his laptop to focus on Zeke, “No! Don’t say that!”

“Can I say that you’re turning me on right now?” Zeke sneered, watching a small blush creep up on Levi’s face.

“ Don’t! Just stay away from me!” he practically whined in annoyance.

But Zeke stepped closer, shutting the door behind him, “You know, technically that whine you just let out was a response.”

Levi held his breath as Zeke walked over to his desk, but didn’t bother to tell him to go away. He stared up at Zeke, waiting for him to do whatever he was going to do. Zeke couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Oh, you want it.”

“Stop it!” Levi said, standing up to face Zeke angrily, “I don’t want to be a part of your experiments, Zeke!”

Zeke leaned down to kiss Levi, who wasn’t stopping him or protesting in any way. He let Zeke kissed him, and in fact, leaned into it. The same sort of intense feelings caressed Zeke’s chest, and he found Levi eagerly responding to the kiss. Zeke felt Levi wrap his arms around him possessively, and the shorter man groaned into his mouth wantonly. This only lasted for a moment though, as Levi appeared to regain some of his sanity and shove Zeke away.

“Why do you keep doing that?” Levi asked.

“Because you like it,” Zeke smirked.

“Fuck you,” Levi snapped, shoving him again lightly, “I’m not one of your experiments.”

“You already said that,” Zeke responded in a bored voice.

Levi kept pushing him until he was at the door of his room. He opened the door to usher Zeke out, growling, “Don’t talk to me. Don’t touch me. Got it?”

Zeke grinned a bit at Levi before walking out the door and singsonging, “Denial is a horrible thing, Levi.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After they’d finished eating a dinner that Hanji had cooked for everyone, Zeke stood up to clear his plate, walking past Levi and singsonging the word ‘denial’ before putting his plate in the sink and leaving the room. Levi looked irritated and got up, putting his dish in the sink as well before going to his own room. Hanji and Erwin exchanged a look as they finished up their food.

“What was that about?” Erwin asked Hanji, practically in a whisper.

Hanji looked back at him curiously and shrugged. Erwin furrowed his eyebrows as he stared after the two men who had just left. There was something off between the two of them. Levi refused to even look at Zeke, and Zeke kept looking at Levi with a suspicious smirk on his face.

“Do you know what Zeke and Levi are fighting about?” Erwin asked Hanji.

“I don’t know. Nobody’s told me anything,” they replied.

“They didn’t even sit across from each other today! And I can’t even remember the last time Levi looked at Zeke,” Erwin said. Even though he wanted to know what was wrong with them, he couldn’t help the small amount of elation that ripped through his chest when he thought about Levi ignoring Zeke and focusing all of his attention on him. A small smile captured his lips.

“Really? I haven’t noticed anything,” Hanji responded.

“Maybe I’m just imagining things,” Erwin sighed, but his words halted in his chest when he thought about the word Zeke had used. Denial . That was what he had said to Levi. It didn’t take Erwin any more than two seconds to realize the implications of that word. But Hanji said they hadn’t heard or seen anything unusual, right? This didn’t have to mean that . Zeke was probably just pissing Levi off with one of his jokes, per usual. This didn’t have to mean what Erwin thought it meant.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Erwin closed his eyes and moaned contently when he felt Levi’s body sliding off his. They were sweaty, naked, and breathing heavily, having just come down from their orgasms. Everything between the two of them was great. Sure, they hadn’t had sex yet, but that barely mattered. He almost didn’t want to confront Levi about Zeke. He didn’t want to hear the words that had been floating around in his head - he didn’t want to hear Levi’s confirmation of his thoughts. But he knew that he had to ask.

“So, what’s been going on with you and Zeke?” Erwin asked. Levi opened his eyes sleepily and looked at him with an almost amused expression.

“We just get through with that and all you can think about is me and Zeke?” he chuckled under his breath.

“I’m serious, Levi. What’s up with you two?” Erwin rolled his eyes a bit at the joke.

Levi’s expression immediately darkened, and he momentarily turned away from Erwin in order to pick up his shirt off the ground.

“Just a disagreement,” Levi said shortly.

Erwin looked at him skeptically, repeating, “Just a disagreement?”

“Yes, just a disagreement,” Levi confirmed in annoyance, “Now clean yourself up. I can’t have my bedsheets messy again.”

Erwin got up and went to clean himself up, Levi doing the same. After they were both nice and clean, Erwin jumped back into bed and held his arms out for Levi to join him. Levi climbed into bed, turning to face Erwin as they let their legs intertwine underneath the covers. Levi closed his eyes and nuzzled his face into Erwin’s shoulder.

Erwin furrowed his eyebrows, still not fully believing that was all that had happened between Levi and Zeke.

“So, you’re sure that nothing happened between the two of you?” Erwin asked cautiously, trying to remain subtle.

Levi’s eyes shot open, and he pulled away to look Erwin in the eyes, saying quietly, “Trust me, Erwin. Nothing happened, okay?”

“Okay,” Erwin replied, letting go of the breath he had been holding in before giving Levi a quick peck on the lips and closing his eyes. He believed Levi. Maybe he was just seeing things. Zeke was probably just trying to intimidate him. Fuck that. He and Levi were together now, and Zeke would have a hell of a time trying to pry them apart.

“Goodnight,” Levi whispered. Erwin smiled happily, relief flooding his system.

“Night.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mind games were great, but they couldn’t last forever. Zeke knew this. Fucking around with Levi was one of his favorite pastimes, but if he was going to get anywhere with him, then he needed to step up his game. If he dragged things out too long, he could wind up sending Levi straight into Erwin’s arms, and that was unacceptable.

He made his way over to Levi’s bedroom as soon as he saw Erwin leave for class, and knocked on the door, waiting for Levi to say ‘come in’ before he pushed the door open. Levi looked less than pleased to see him, but Zeke had something that might tempt him to have an interest in talking to him.

“Hi Levi,” he smiled.

“Go away, Zeke,” Levi said shortly. He looked up for a moment and their eyes met. A whirlwind of energy passed between them, and Zeke actually had to catch himself before he stumbled from the force of it. Levi looked away.

“Actually,” Zeke spoke as he tried to regulate his breathing, “I have some drawings I want to show you.”

Levi raised an eyebrow, asking, “Really?”

“Yes, really,” Zeke rolled his eyes, “Come on, let’s go.”

Levi stared at him hesitantly before getting up and following him cautiously to his bedroom, passing Hanji who was eating lunch in the kitchen. Levi shut the door behind them and followed Zeke to the bookshelf again, watching him take the journal back down. Instead of turning to the first few pages, Zeke flipped to the end of the book and held it out for Levi to look at. Levi’s eyes went wide as he stared down at the page: there was a raunchy drawing of him, naked with a cloth across his pelvis, in a very suggestive sexual position. He immediately turned red and tried to shut the book, but Zeke pulled it away before he could, and flipped to the next page. Levi couldn’t help but look and was greeted with the same type of drawing: in this one he was wearing a maid’s outfit, bending over to pick something up off the ground.

“W-Why are you showing me these?!” Levi exclaimed, looking away from the book in embarrassment, “I told you - I don’t want to be part of your weird experiment!”

“Yeah, Levi. Because I have nothing to do but sit around and contemplate how I can experiment on you,” Zeke snapped sarcastically, shutting the book and putting it back on the shelf.

“Well, how else am I supposed to explain what’s going on?” Levi continued, “When you found out about Erwin and me... you wouldn’t talk to me for days! But now, all of a sudden, you’re coming up to me and kissing me, showing me sexual drawings?!”

“You’re not a fucking experiment, Levi,” Zeke nearly shouted, trying to get it through the shorter man’s head.

“It seems like it!”

“Well you’re wrong!”

“A joke, then?! Is this all a joke?!”

“ It’s not a fucking joke!” Zeke yelled at him. He took a step back from Levi to calm himself down, “How many times do I have to say it before it penetrates your thick fucking skull?! Huh?! Did you ever think that the reason I was pissed off about you and Erwin had nothing to do with our friendship?! Did you ever think that maybe I was jealous?!”

He had to lay it all on the line in order for Levi to finally understand his feelings. He had been waiting to say something like this for weeks. With all the hints he had dropped, Levi still hadn’t caught on. Even kissing him wasn’t enough for Levi to understand his feelings. So he had to just come out and say it.

Levi’s mouth opened and closed as he fought with what he wanted to say in response, but all that could come out of his mouth was, “No. No no no! Zeke... just stop!”

“I’m telling the fucking truth,” Zeke said strongly, watching Levi rub his forehead in a stressful manner.

“No no no. It’s not the truth! Stop-”

“I’ve wanted you for a long fucking time , Levi. Longer than anyone else! Including Erwin,” Zeke explained, trying to step closer to the already-fragile man in front of him.

“No!” Levi shook his head, sucking in a deep breath in confusion.

“‘No’ what, Levi?! You can’t honestly tell me you don’t feel it!”

Levi stopped stressing for a moment to look at Zeke with wide eyes as he questioned stupidly, “Feel what?”

Zeke took another step forward. “This thing between us! This connection,” he explained, “We can fucking look at each other and know what we’re feeling and thinking! Don’t tell me you don’t feel that too!”

What if Levi didn’t feel it? What if the connection between them - the connection that allowed them to be open with each other more than with others - what if it was really just one-sided?

Levi swallowed heavily and looked away from him, “It doesn’t mean that the connection is a sexual sort of thing - it might just be something between friends!”

A mixture of intense relief and frustration flooded through Zeke’s chest. He was ecstatic that their connection wasn’t one-sided, but how fucking stupid was Levi?! Could he not see that this wasn’t just a friends' thing?!

“For fuck’s sake, Levi! You can’t be that stupid! It’s not just a friends’ thing, and you know it!”

Levi was quiet, appearing to not know what to say. But Zeke still had a weapon in the back of his mind. He knew exactly how to get through to Levi. Something that they had repeated to each other countless times, since they were young. Zeke could always use it in times like this for Levi to know he was serious .

“Levi,” he said quietly, “What did we promise each other? Since we were little, what have we always said?”

Levi stared at him unblinkingly. A long stretch of time passed between them before Zeke saw a tug at the corner of Levi’s mouth as he remembered their promise to each other, “We promised to live...”

“Live for who?” Zeke stepped closer once more, awaiting Levi’s answer.

“To live for each other,” Levi practically whispered.

“That’s right, Levi. You,” he stepped as close as he needed to, gently lacing his fingers in Levi’s dark hair, “and me,” Zeke leaned forward so that their noses were touching, “It’s always been about us, Levi. Always,” he whispered. They were still staring into each other’s eyes, and the close-proximity made Zeke’s heart race.

“Z-Zeke?” Levi stuttered, letting out a shaky breath. Zeke massaged Levi’s scalp gently while his other hand came up and cupped Levi’s cheek. There was a tightness growing in his chest, and he was breathing more heavily than normal.

“Yeah?” he asked, trying not to devour every inch of Levi as he felt the shorter man wrap his arms around his waist.

“I... want...” but that was all Levi could manage to get out before he connected his lips with Zeke’s.

It was soft and experimental - as if Levi was trying to decide whether this could work between them. Zeke moved his thumb in small circles on Levi’s face. He felt as if the world was exploding all around him - was he really kissing Levi? And like this? When they had kissed before, it was much more quick and unfocused. This felt so much more real .

Their lips moved together slowly at first, but it was still intense with emotion and a growing sense of passion. Zeke continued to press against Levi’s lips, and pulled away only to catch his breath. He stared Levi in the eyes. Levi’s dull gray eyes were dark, and his face was practically glowing. His mouth was open, his lips swollen, an almost begging look on his face as he glanced at Zeke’s lips. Zeke realized, in some embarrassment, that his own mouth was open just as eagerly as Levi’s was. Zeke tilted his head down and felt his dick twitch when Levi tilted his head upwards as well, ready to meet him. The fingers that Zeke had in Levi’s hair gripped tighter as he shoved their lips together again, a spark tingling up his spine. Levi groaned and snuck his tongue inside Zeke’s mouth.

Zeke groaned and breathed heavily through his nose as he tasted Levi’s mouth with his tongue. Levi’s small noises filled his ears and Zeke thought his dick was going to explode. He parted from Levi momentarily and focused on Levi’s neck instead. Zeke began to kiss and suck at Levi’s neck, moving downwards toward his collarbone. The shorter man groaned and held on tightly to Zeke, muttering, “Fuck.”

He dislodged his neck from Zeke’s lips and brought them to his own again, roughly kissing the taller man. There were no mistakes now; no insecurity and no hesitancy between them. This kiss was drive by pure passion and lust. The kind that made Zeke feel dizzy. This was much better than the first time they had kissed; it felt more sure and certain. It felt stronger .

Levi gripped Zeke’s lower back tightly before pressing their hips together, Zeke gasping a bit when he felt Levi’s hardness pressing against his own. Zeke led them quickly to his desk chair and shoved Levi onto it, climbing on top of him and resuming their passionate kissing. Levi wrapped his arms around Zeke with a possessive nature. Zeke snuck his hands under Levi’s shirt, pressing his fingers into the warm skin and taking Levi’s shirt off in one swoop, trailing the skin underneath with hot kisses. Levi groaned and watched as Zeke laid kisses along his stomach and down further and further. His face now sat in front of Levi’s erection, hidden behind his pants. Judging by his overexcited reaction, Zeke could tell that Erwin hadn’t done this with Levi before.

Though this gave him a sense of superiority, he was still incredibly nervous. He didn’t want this to go badly and have Levi run right back to Erwin. As Zeke unbuttoned Levi’s pants, he realized they were both shaking - Levi twitching in anticipation and Zeke in nervousness. But if he could do this, he would be miles ahead of Erwin. And he wanted it too, badly . Plus, it wasn’t like this was his first time giving head. If he was really awful at it, at least he could take comfort in the fact that he was likely better than Erwin at it.

Levi sensed his nervousness, and he leaned down to kiss Zeke sweetly, “You don’t have to.”

“I just want it to be good,” he whispered before he could stop himself. Fuck, why am I so emotional?

“My standards aren’t very high,” Levi replied.

“But I still want to,” Zeke said as he moved down Levi’s body, kissing every bit of him that he could reach before he grabbed the shorter man’s pants and tugged them down. He went to take down Levi’s underwear as well, but was interrupted by a loud knock on the door.

He’d never wanted to kill Hanji more than at this moment.

“Zeke! We have a lab soon, are you in there?” Hanji’s voice carried through the door.

They both sighed in frustration. They had been so close to doing what they had been building up to, and now they were stuck. Levi quickly started tugging his pants back up, and he answered Hanji, “He’ll be right there!”

“Why?” Zeke almost glared at him.

“Because I don’t want to get caught - Hanji could’ve burst in here and seen us!” Levi explained.

Zeke laid his head on Levi’s stomach and sighed dramatically, “Fine. Just promise me you won’t change your mind.”

“Don’t worry,” Levi leaned down and began kissing the taller man again, before pulling away and trying to fix all the signs that they’d just been making out. Zeke did the same as he got ready to head out for his class. God-damn this school , Zeke thought to himself as he headed out the door to follow Hanji to their lab.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You’re so pretty, Levi,” Zeke whispered.

“I know,” Levi said as he ran a hand through his flawless hair. Levi and Zeke were both seated upon Zeke’s bed; Levi running his left hand up and down Zeke’s forearm while smiling at him wantonly. A lustful smile was given to him in return.

“You’re so cocky,” Zeke accused.

“So are you.”

“And that’s why we’re so perfect together, baby,” Zeke said as he reached over and squeezed Levi’s thigh.

“Exactly,” Levi replied as he reached up and began to bite and suck at the skin on Zeke’s neck. Zeke groaned and pressed kisses to the top of Levi’s head gently.

Levi began unbuttoning Zeke’s pants and got on his knees, taking Zeke’s erection into his mouth and beginning to suck eagerly.

“Fuck, Levi,” Zeke groaned, running his fingers through Levi’s hair. After a few moments, Levi pulled away and Zeke tugged him onto his lap. He stared up at the shorter man on top of him with lust and affection.

“I love you, you know. I always have,” Zeke said strongly. Levi, suddenly naked, was bouncing on top of Zeke’s lap, riding his dick like his life depended on it.

“I love you too,” Levi moaned automatically. Zeke grinned before grasping Levi’s hips and forcing him to move up and down onto his erection, his dick fucking into Levi roughly.

“More than Erwin?” Zeke gasped, struggling for air.

“Fuck yes, way more,” Levi groaned, bouncing on top of Zeke’s dick harder and faster.

“Why?” Zeke breathed, practically panting as he gripped Levi’s hips tightly.

Levi smirked down at Zeke.

“How could I love a study buddy like Erwin?”

Erwin practically jumped up in bed, his body sweaty and his heart racing. He looked around him, almost expecting to see Levi and Zeke fucking in front of him, taunting him , but instead he saw Levi’s small frame, sleeping peacefully beside him.

Erwin swallowed thickly and ran a hand through his sweaty hair. A dream. It had all been a stupid dream. The sex, the words of love, the study buddy remark... it had all been a stupid fucking dream.

He collapsed back on the bed and breathed quietly, staring at the shadows on the ceiling as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. But he couldn’t get the images of Zeke and Levi out of his mind, and he sat up again, staring down at the sleeping figure of Levi. Now that he thought about it, the interactions between Levi and Zeke had changed dramatically. Before, due to some mysterious disagreement between them, Levi was basically doing everything in his power to avoid Zeke, whilst Zeke was feeding off Levi’s irritation and making him angrier and more frustrated. Now, they were acting as though they were best friends again. That wouldn’t be too odd, if it wasn’t for the fact that they were acting a bit closer than best friends. Erwin couldn’t exactly put his finger on it, but something between them had changed. They were touching each other more, sharing more significant looks, and their surrounding aura was overall alarming to him. Erwin just hoped that the change in atmosphere had nothing to do with his dream.

He fell back onto the bed in frustration. He looked over to the sleeping form of Levi and continued to twist and turn over the next several minutes, trying to get comfortable again and go back to sleep.

“Erwin?” Levi grumbled as he looked at Erwin groggily, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Erwin muttered, “Just a bad dream.”

“Oh?” Levi suddenly sounded concerned, and Erwin recalled the conversation they’d had about nightmares a week or so ago, “What happened in the dream?”

Levi turned to face him and took his hand gently for support. Now Erwin was feeling a little self-conscious for having such a stupid dream, but it was a bad dream, a terrible dream to him.

“It was about you and Zeke,” he admitted in a small voice. He was ashamed that it had resorted to this, but Levi’s reaction to his dream would tell him exactly what he needed to know about Levi’s feelings towards Zeke.

“Oh, what about us?” Levi asked uncomfortably, his face instantly becoming shielded as if he was wearing a mask. That wasn’t a good sign.

“You were... doing stuff.”

“Like what?” Levi asked shortly.

“I don’t know, you were kissing and... other stuff,” Erwin emphasized, hoping Levi would know what he meant by that.

Levi chuckled under his breath, “That’s hilarious, Erwin. As if that would ever happen.”

Erwin sighed in relief, “Yeah, it was pretty stupid.”

“I had a bad dream too, you know,” Levi said after a small moment of silence.

“Yeah? What was it about?” Erwin asked, raising an eyebrow.

Levi smirked as he joked, “You were having trouble taking a shit.”

Lovely.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Levi woke up.

He didn’t want to. He closed his eyes again and licked his lips to wet them. He felt cold and numb. He hated it, and he just wanted to go back to sleep.

Levi rolled over and faced Erwin; the taller man was on the edge of waking up himself, his body moving slightly as his breathing became more sharp and shallow.

Guilt and superiority had been fighting with each other since this had all started. Guilt because of what he was doing - going between Erwin and Zeke like they were disposable. Superiority because they had wanted it. Levi didn’t consider either one of them as anything more than a friend until they started coming onto him. Erwin was the first to strike and Levi had fallen for it. He couldn’t help it; Erwin seemed to have some sort of power over him. And then Zeke had to come along and fuck everything up, per usual. And it wasn’t like Levi hadn’t tried to resist! He’d pushed Zeke away, avoided Zeke, all because of Erwin. But that had all gone to shit at this point, hadn’t it? Zeke had cornered him, declared his feelings, and what was Levi supposed to do? Tell him he was two weeks too late and to fuck off? It sounded easy when Levi thought about it in his head, but he couldn’t just do that to Zeke. But he couldn’t hurt Erwin either, and they were both counting on him now. No matter what he did at this point, he felt as though he would come out as the bad guy either way.

“Levi?” Erwin called softly. Startled, Levi jumped a little before looking over at the taller man.

“Is something wrong?” Erwin asked, curiosity and concern written on his face.

Levi swallowed, instantly feeling uncomfortable, “No. Why?”

“I don’t know,” Erwin muttered, “You just look so miserable.”

Levi winced a bit, hoping that Erwin was just exaggerating. He was more angry and distraught, but miserable? He wasn’t miserable, was he?

“I’m fine,” he replied, turning away from Erwin to stare at the wall. He could do it right now if he wanted to. He could come clean about everything and risk Erwin hating him for a while; risk never touching him again. Then he would only have to deal with Zeke.

“You sure?” Erwin asked. Levi turned around in surprise; Erwin had crawled up behind him. Without thinking, Levi leaned back and Erwin opened his arms to welcome him, their bare skin colliding. Levi closed his eyes and allowed himself to smile a little as he felt Erwin tenderly kiss his shoulder. Usually, Erwin and him were so rough together, but now Erwin was gently, affectionately kissing him?  Levi knew what this meant, and it scared him more than telling Erwin the truth.

His lids fell closed and he leaned into Erwin further. Breathing heavily, he opened his mouth and sought out Erwin’s, tasting and caressing. He put his hand on Erwin’s face and held him there, enjoying his smell and the sloppiness of their kiss. Levi’s stomach leaped. It suddenly dawned on him that his feelings too were getting tangled up in their relationship. That’s why he didn’t want to leave him. Levi kissed Erwin harder, more desperately, as these strong feelings took over him.

As the kiss became deeper, guilt began to eat away at Levi. He still had to go back to Zeke; he had made him a promise that he wouldn’t change his mind. Could he really let him down? What about Erwin; would he be letting him down too?

The guilt consumed him to the point where it began eating away at his stomach, and nausea began to pass over him. Levi ended the kiss, quickly backing away from Erwin and hopping off the bed. As he stood, the nausea only got worse, and he closed his eyes as he tried to take control of his suffering body.

“Are you okay?” Erwin asked. Levi squeezed his eyes together more firmly, not wanting to look at him and be consumed by those feelings all over again.

“I’m going to get dressed. I have a lot of work to do today,” Levi mumbled as he darted around, collecting a new pair of clothes and heading to the bathroom. In the bathroom, he stared at himself in the mirror. His eyes were tired, a distraught, stressed look overtaking his face.

Why are they doing this to me?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Levi knocked on Zeke’s bedroom door that night, as Zeke had asked him over to his room at dinner that evening. The way he had asked him was so sexual, too, Levi couldn’t help but notice. I’ve got something to show you, is what he said. Hanji was gone at their boyfriend Moblit’s dorm for the night, so Levi and Zeke both knew they would have the chance to be alone together. Zeke opened the door, and Levi cursed to himself. The taller man’s shirt was halfway unbuttoned, and Levi could already feel himself getting aroused by the sight. God dammit . He thought to himself in annoyance, walking in when Zeke moved aside.

“Lock the door,” Levi ordered, his voice coming out a lot weaker than he wanted it to. Zeke nodded and locked the door. Levi looked around the room nervously and took a deep breath as he avoided looking at Zeke. He focused on one spot in the room in order to avoid Zeke’s gaze.

“Did you want to sit down or something? Maybe that’ll calm your panic attack,” Zeke taunted, grinning at him. Levi took his eyes away from the curtains he’d been staring at and looked at Zeke. Why did Levi, all of a sudden, find him so attractive? Had he always seen Zeke this way, and just didn’t notice before?

When Levi finally looked into Zeke’s eyes, he realized how flushed Zeke’s face was, the man’s mouth parted slightly. A spark rippled through Levi’s body and a few moments later he realized he was pulsing with need.

With careful steps, Levi walked towards Zeke, nearly running into him - but he couldn’t stop getting closer when Zeke’s scent was invading his nostrils and making all his logical thoughts shut down. Their noses touched, and their breath intermingled, but they didn’t kiss. Instead, Levi backed Zeke up, pushing him towards the bed. The back of Zeke’s knees hit the edge of the bed. At the same time that Levi pushed Zeke back onto the bed, Zeke grasped Levi’s shirt and brought him down on top of him, the two of them landing on the bed with a grunt.

Barely wasting any time, Levi got up on his knees and tried to take control of the situation, but Zeke caught him off guard when he flipped the two of them so that he was on top of Levi. Zeke pinned his legs down and held his arms above his head, grinning at him mischievously.

“Hey, what the f-” Levi was silenced when Zeke pressed a bruising kiss on his lips. He closed his eyes immediately and responded hungrily, biting at Zeke’s lower lip. Zeke moved his tongue around Levi’s mouth viciously, and Levi could do nothing but moan and growl, passion taking over his body. It was hard to discern who was doing what; as their messy kiss had their noses bumping against each other, tongues making obscene noises as they danced against each other, swollen lips pressing against each other. Their erotic noises filled the air as they continued, Zeke’s free hand grasping and kneading at every bit of Levi that he could reach. Levi could feel his head spinning. He leaned back and closed his eyes tightly as Zeke kissed his neck wetly, nibbling and sucking at the skin there.

“Let me go!” Levi gasped when Zeke started sucking on a particularly sensitive bit of his neck. He needed to touch Zeke, and now .

“No,” Zeke said smugly, moving his lips down to his chest and then onto his stomach, leaving kisses on as much skin as he could get to.

“Zeke,” Levi whined, “Let me go!”

He knew that if he wanted to, he could flip them right there and fuck Zeke up - he was strong enough to do so. But he enjoyed playing along with Zeke’s games, and his hips jerked upwards as Zeke continued his kissing assault on his body. But that’s when Zeke started asking him for too much.

“Beg me,” Zeke smirked.

“No!” Levi glared, starting to get irritated.

Zeke couldn’t help but laugh as he let go of Levi’s hands, not wanting to upset the shorter man as he released him from his grasp.

“Fine.”

As soon as he let go of the shorter man’s hands, Zeke started undoing Levi’s pants, practically ripping the buttons out of their holes haphazardly. Levi’s hands flew to Zeke’s hair and grasped the curly blonde locks tightly. Zeke tugged down Levi’s pants and hesitated when he was faced with Levi’s erection tenting in his briefs. Trying to encourage him, Levi bucked his hips eagerly and massaged Zeke’s scalp as gently as he could. This seemed to do the trick. Levi hooked his thumbs in Levi’s underwear and pulled it off in one swoop. Zeke’s breath caught in his throat and Levi couldn’t help but blush. Levi’s fingers in Zeke’s hair moved faster, encouraging him to stop staring and just get on with it. But Zeke apparently had other ideas.

He crawled on top of Levi’s body again and kissed him sweetly. Levi’s chest squeezed, and he held onto Zeke for dear life as he kissed him back with equal tenderness. After a few minutes, Zeke backed off and grasped at Levi’s shirt, trying to take it off. Levi helped Zeke with the shirt, and once that was taken off, he practically pounced on Zeke’s clothes, not wanting to be the only naked one. He pulled off Zeke’s shirt, clumsily undid his belt, unbuttoned his pants, and took off his pants and briefs in one quick motion. Once Zeke was naked, he stared at the taller man with lustful eyes, taking in all the imperfections that made Zeke completely perfect to him. This wasn’t the first time they were seeing each other naked. After years of friendship, they’d been naked around each other before. But now that they were here, taking in each other’s bodies in this lustful situation, it felt like the first time all over again.

Before he could stare anymore, Zeke pushed him back down on the bed and positioned his head over Levi’s erection once more. Levi wasn’t even able to prepare himself before Zeke went down on him. When Levi felt Zeke’s tongue swirling around him, he thought that he was going to die right then and there. For as long as humanly possible, he watched Zeke’s head bobbing up and down until it became too much, and he had to close his eyes. Oh fuck . This was way too fucking good. Levi started panting loudly and crudely as the sensations became incredibly intense. Zeke was driving him crazy and for a passing moment, he wondered if Zeke had done this before. The man was sucking eagerly, swallowing around him and staring up at him with an insanely lustful look that was sending Levi to planes of existence he didn’t know he could go to.

When Levi began to lose control of his hips, Zeke pulled away and moved up Levi’s body, kissing him on the lips. Zeke moved and sucked on the shell of Levi’s ear before he once again lowered himself to engulf Levi’s erection in his mouth. Levi let out a low groan at the feeling of warmth and wetness surrounding him again as Zeke’s mouth set back to work on him again.

With a small grunt, Levi pushed Zeke away from him lightly. Zeke looked confused and like he was going to make some sort of annoyed comment before Levi flipped them, climbing on top of Zeke and straddling him. He leaned over him and clung to the taller man, grinding their hips together and groaning.

“Together?” Levi asked breathlessly, not really sure where the words were coming from. Zeke moaned and moved with him helplessly. He feathered kisses on Levi’s neck as he started moving a little faster. Levi groaned loudly and grinded back against him, gripping onto him tightly.

“I’m close,” Levi breathed. Zeke gasped and started moving faster, his nails digging into Levi’s skin. Levi’s entire body twitched and convulsed as the sensation of them rubbing against each other became far too much to handle. He held onto Zeke tightly as he came, groaning into Zeke’s shoulder. Zeke held on for a few seconds longer before he too was cumming, breathing heavily onto Levi’s skin.

They stayed in that hugging position for some time. Zeke was trying to calm down his breathing while Levi was trying to calm down his thoughts. That was one of the greatest orgasms he’d ever had, so why did he feel like it was a punishment? Why did Erwin’s hurt face have to swim in his mind? Why did his heart have to dip; why did his stomach have to curl; and most importantly, why did he choose to feel this guilt now of all the times he could?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hanji!” Zeke exclaimed excitedly as Hanji entered the room the next morning and closed the door behind them, “I did it!”

Hanji stared at him incredulously, “You won the bet?”

“No!” Zeke said, “I sucked his dick!”

Hanji took a deep, frustrated breath as they rubbed their forehead in stress, “Good for you, Zeke. I really did not need to know that.”

“You’re the moderator,” Zeke smiled, sitting down on the bed, “Of course you need to know.”

Hanji couldn’t help but smile back at Zeke’s positive energy. They hadn’t seen Zeke this pleased since the bet had started. Hanji’s heart jumped a bit, as they liked seeing a positive outcome of the bet, rather than the fucked up things that were happening because of it.

“It was fucking... it was great,” Zeke glowed, an affectionate look on his face.

“That’s great, Zeke,” they said sincerely.

“Yes it is,” Zeke grinned maliciously, “I reckon it shouldn’t be long now before I win. Stupid Erwin won’t even see it coming.”

Ah, there it is, Hanji thought as the negative aspects of the bet came to the forefront again.

“Levi’s still seeing him,” Zeke explained with a hint of bitterness, “He’s sneaking off with Erwin behind my back. I expected it, actually. Fuck, it’s actually better for me - I can handle it, I know Levi. But when Erwin finds out...” Zeke trailed off, a vengeful smile on his face.

“Zeke, don’t do anything mean,” Hanji advised. They were unsure as to how much longer Erwin should be kept in the dark, but they knew that the last thing Erwin needed was for Zeke of all people to help him come to the light.

“Oh, trust me, Hanji. I won’t have to do anything,” Zeke said, grinning evilly. Hanji’s stomach dropped. They wanted to question Zeke - find out what sort of plan was going through his head - but the look on Zeke’s face, the Levi-induced euphoria, silenced them. They closed their eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again. Hanji would let Zeke exist in his happiness, even if they were drowning in dread.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hanji could tell that something was very wrong with Levi as they sat across from each other at the kitchen table doing homework. He looked distraught, a stressful look crossing his face. At first, Hanji thought maybe it was the homework that was worrying him, but Levi was barely even focused on doing his homework.

“Levi?” they said quietly. Levi said nothing, his head in his hands in frustration as he avoided  Hanji’s gaze. Hanji frowned, “You can tell me if something’s wrong.”

“I... nothing,” Levi said ambiguously. Hanji tried to get him to talk again, but after a few minutes of Levi not responding to any of their questions, Hanji stood and got ready to leave for their room.

“Wait,” Levi called out in a small voice. Hanji froze and stared at Levi once more. He had lifted his head from his hands. Levi looked horrible: he was deathly pale and there were pinkish bags under his eyes as if he hadn’t been sleeping.

Hanji just stared at him, not saying anything. They were shocked, and fuck - they didn’t even know what to say. They watched Levi stand up slowly, almost shakily, and take a deep breath.

“I-I don’t know what I’m doing,” he whispered, looking lost, “I don’t know what to do. I don’t even know why I’m telling you this. I just need to tell someone .”

Hanji moved to stand closer to him, reaching out a hand to place on his shoulder in comfort, “What’s going on, Levi? Are you alright?”

“ Do I look alright?! ” Levi snapped, looking a bit surprised at his own outburst.

“Calm down, Levi,” Hanji replied, rubbing his arm gently, “You look stressed. I just-”

“You know I’ve been seeing both of them at the same time,” Levi interrupted, “You probably think I’m a horrible person.”

“Levi-”

“I know , Hanji,” he sighed heavily, not letting them speak, “I can’t have both of them, but I don’t-”

“ Levi, ” they emphasized, squeezing his arm to get him to stop, “I didn’t judge you, did I?”

Levi stayed silent, not looking at Hanji. He went to sit back down, pressing his fingers to his forehead in stress, “I tried to stop, you know.”

Hanji sat next to him, listening to his calm but distant voice, “I tried to tell Zeke to back off, I really did. But now I’m fucked. I’m so fucked.”

“Levi,” Hanji sighed, “I’m so sorry you’re in this position.”

“I have to choose someone,” Levi sucked in a deep breath, “I don’t know what to do. It’s killing me. They’re... They’re both going to end up hating me.”

Hanji watched as Levi covered his eyes with his hand and tried to normalize his breathing. The shorter man was clearly stressed, and he was usually pretty good at handling his stress, but not now. Hanji had never seen him quite like this. Everything was getting out of hand. Hanji felt useless. They hadn’t even thought about what Levi was feeling - they just assumed that Levi was having a good time going between the two of them. Looking at the clearly frustrated Levi now, they realized that he was going through just as much emotional turmoil as the rest of them. On the day that they made the bet, Zeke had said that Hanji could end the bet if it got out of hand - Hanji had been worried that they might mess with Levi’s feelings if they had done this.

And that was what Hanji needed to do.

By agreeing to moderate this bet, Hanji had essentially fucked up all of their lives. It felt like it was their fault. And it needed to stop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hanji had Erwin and Zeke meet up in their bedroom the next evening. They needed to do what was right. Ending this bet would help make all of their lives less stressful, and Hanji knew it had to be done. Erwin and Zeke came into their room, both looking a little confused as to why they were there.

“We’re having a meeting about the bet,” Hanji said as soon as the door closed, “Sit down.”

The two of them sat down on Zeke’s bed and waited for Hanji to speak. Hanji pulled up a desk chair in front of them and sat down.

“I’m ending the bet,” Hanji announced, eliciting open mouths from the two sitting across from them.

“ What?! ” they asked in unison.

“The bet’s over,” Hanji repeated, “I’m the moderator, and I’m ending it.”

“Why?!” Zeke exclaimed.

Hanji sighed and leaned back in their chair, knowing they couldn’t reveal the things Levi had said to them, “Look, I can’t entirely explain, but-”

“If you can’t explain it, then you can’t end it!” Zeke interrupted, looking irritated.

“Yeah, Hanji!” Erwin agreed, “Why do you want to end it?”

Erwin’s eyes looked full of hurt, as if Hanji was ending the bet just when things were starting to move forward with him and Levi. If only Erwin knew that he wasn’t the only one who had captured Levi’s attention.

“It’s just... Levi’s really upset, and I promised that I would end the bet if this thing started messing with his feelings,” Hanji explained.

“What’s Levi upset about?” Erwin asked almost instantly. Hanji looked away from him. They probably shouldn’t have said that.

“He’s a big boy, Hanji,” Zeke insisted, “He can handle it!”

“Handle what?” Erwin asked, looking completely lost.

Hanji ignored Erwin for the moment, replying to Zeke, “You didn’t see how stressed he was yesterday!”

Zeke rolled his eyes, “He’s just moping because his little game has gotten complicated.”

Hanji glared at Zeke, retorting, “Whose game? His or ours?”

“ Can someone tell me what the fuck is going on?! ” Erwin interrupted, sounding exasperated as he tried to figure out what they were even talking about.

“Levi and I are together!” Zeke exclaimed, “Fuck, I can’t believe you haven’t caught on yet.”

Erwin’s expression changed completely: color drained from his face and shock was written across it. He asked quietly, “He’s... you’re what?”

Zeke couldn’t help but smirk, taunting cruelly, “You seriously didn’t know? Levi and I have been messing around - can’t you smell me on him when he comes crawling back to you afterwards?”

Erwin opened and closed his mouth, looking to Hanji for confirmation. Hanji couldn’t look at him; they felt too guilty and knew they couldn’t lie to Erwin. Hanji, still looking away, nodded slowly to confirm Zeke’s words. Erwin’s breathing grew uneven, and he got up quickly, heading out of the bedroom before they could even say anything.

Hanji got up to follow him, but Zeke stood up and blocked the now open doorway, “Whoa, whoa, whoa! We aren’t done here! You’re not ending the bet!”

“Don’t you think there are other things to worry about other than this fucking game?!” Hanji snapped.

“We’re not just going to end this because Erwin’s upset! I’ve been upset too, and you didn’t end it for me!” Zeke frowned, “That’s not fair!”

“It’s not just because of Erwin. Zeke, this has to stop!”

“No it doesn’t!”

“I don’t have time for this,” Hanji sighed as they shoved past Zeke and left the room. Is Zeke really that blind? Doesn’t he see all the problems this bet is causing for everyone - and not just him?!

As Hanji exited their room, they saw Erwin standing near Levi’s room, Levi standing in the doorway as Erwin spoke to him. “I’m done,” he was saying to Levi, “You can do what you want, it doesn’t matter. Just don’t talk to me anymore. I’m going to switch rooms with Zeke; that way you two can be together .” He spat the word ‘together’, staring down at Levi with a hurt and angry look.

Hanji stepped closer, and could see the flushed and surprised look on Levi’s face as he quickly tried to rush after Erwin, who had begun to storm down the hallway towards the front door.

“Erwin, wait!” Levi tried, but Erwin left the dorm suite and slammed the door loudly behind him. Levi stood in the middle of the hallway, looking lost and devastated. Before Hanji could go over to talk to him, Levi regained the ability to function, and went back into his room and shut the door. This wasn’t supposed to happen! When did everything get so complicated? Why did I agree to moderate this mess? They felt like everything was their fault.

Behind them, they heard someone hum. Hanji turned to see Zeke, who they had forgotten, had followed them out of their bedroom.

“And that, Hanji, is how Zeke Yeager gets everything he wants,” he grinned.

“You’re an asshole,” Hanji said, walking back into their room and slamming the door shut.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Erwin spent that night unpacking his stuff in Hanji’s room, Zeke having moved into Levi’s room as soon as he had the chance. Hanji sat at their desk, glancing up at him every once in a while to make sure he was still doing okay. Erwin looked indifferent, unloading his clothes into the dresser with some pointed anger in his harsh actions.

“Erwin?” Hanji piped up, watching Erwin slam the drawer shut, “Are you okay?”

Hanji suddenly realized Erwin had angry tears in his eyes, and he refused to look at Hanji as he clenched his fists by his sides. He shook his head before going over to his bed and sitting cross-legged on top of the sheets, grabbing a pillow and chucking it across the room angrily. Hanji watched him. They’d never seen him so upset before; Erwin wasn’t usually one to display his emotions like this.

“I think he’s just confused, Erwin,” Hanji tried, “You two are competing for his attention - you must’ve expected this might happen.”

“Don’t talk to me if you’re just going to blame me for this,” Erwin snapped, glaring at Hanji in annoyance.

“I’m not trying to blame you, Erwin,” Hanji sighed, “I just know from talking to him that Levi’s been going through some shit too, and I don’t think he did this to be malicious or to hurt you on purpose.”

“You’re not fucking helping,” Erwin said angrily, picking up another pillow and hugging it to his chest, “Just leave me alone.”

Hanji frowned and took a deep breath, staring at their angry friend, “I’m sorry, Erwin. I’m just-”

“It’s fine,” Erwin said shortly, laying down on the bed, “I know you’re trying, but I just need to be alone.”

Erwin’s anger was slowly subsiding, and the angry tears were breaking through as his emotions set in. Hanji got up and went to sit on the edge of his bed, rubbing his arm comfortingly as tears spilled over and rolled down Erwin’s cheeks.

“I can’t believe he would do that to me,” Erwin mumbled, “I’m so stupid.”

“You’re not stupid, Erwin,” Hanji reassured him, pushing some hair out of Erwin’s face, “You trusted him. It’s okay to feel upset over this.”

“I really trusted him, Hanji,” Erwin sniffled, reaching up to brush away the tears that were falling, “He was going to let me... we were so close to... doing it . That’s how much I trusted him, but he’s fucked it all up now.”

Hanji frowned and practically whispered, “I’m so sorry, Erwin. I know you really liked him.”

Erwin nodded a little and squeezed his eyes shut tightly, a hurt expression written on his face. He sucked in a breath and opened his eyes again, saying quietly, “I think I’m just going to go to bed.”

Hanji nodded and got up, patting Erwin gently on the arm, “It’s going to be okay, Erwin. You just get some rest.”

But as Hanji went back to their own bed, they weren’t sure if everything would be okay. Or at least, when everything would be okay for Erwin. He looked over at Erwin and watched him snuggle under the covers, still sniffing and wiping at his eyes. This bet was causing way too much stress for all of them, and Hanji got into bed that night feeling guilty for agreeing to moderate it and letting it continue.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Levi opened the bedroom door that night, he looked miserable . Zeke had been waiting for him, excited about the prospect of them sharing a room. He’d already packed up all his stuff ready to move into Levi’s room. But noticing the sadness on Levi’s face, Zeke swallowed a jealous lump in his throat.

He got up and went to stand in the hallway to talk to him, looking over at Levi as he feigned indifference, “Hey.”

“Hi,” Levi responded quietly.

Levi stood there and stared at the bedroom door as if he was lost. Zeke rolled his eyes, starting to get annoyed. Why the fuck was Levi so broken up over Erwin?! What was so special about him?

“Are you done acting stupid? Quit just staring off like that,” Zeke practically barked as jealousy began to flow through his veins.

“Sorry,” Levi mumbled and turned to face him, “Did you need something?”

“Come here,” Zeke said, “Why are you standing so far away from me?”

“I... I don’t think I want to, actually,” Levi replied, staying where he was.

Zeke raised his eyebrows, “What?”

“I’m fine over here,” Levi said with a clenched jaw.

Zeke bit the inside of his mouth angrily, not understanding why Levi was being so standoffish towards him. It wasn’t like he had done anything wrong - Erwin was the one who told Levi not to talk to him, so why was Zeke getting punished for that?

“Good, I guess if you stand there forever then Erwin might come crawling back to you,” Zeke snapped.

Levi looked up at him so fast that Zeke swore he heard his neck crack.

“Fuck you,” Levi grumbled as he began to open the bedroom door to hide away inside again.

“Fucking! You’ve been doing a lot of that lately, haven’t you?” Zeke sneered as he crossed his arms.

Levi spun around and growled, “ You’re the one who kissed me! You got me into this mess!”

“Really?!” Zeke spat, “Who was the one who couldn’t keep his hands to himself?!”

“ You , actually,” Levi snapped, stepping back in Zeke’s direction angrily, “Since you’re the one who kept following me around and kissing me whenever you got the chance to!”

Zeke glared at the shorter man and clenched his fists, “You know as fucking well as I do that you responded to every single one of my fucking advances!”

“ I felt sorry for you! ” Levi responded, “That was the only reason why I did it!”

The atmosphere began to change as Zeke took in the words that had entered his ears. Was that really true? Did Levi only play along because he felt sorry for Zeke? Zeke’s eyes narrowed as he looked down at Levi, sneering, “That’s a load of bullshit, and you fucking know it.”

“You’re in denial ,” Levi replied cruelly. Zeke pressed his lips together and walked towards Levi decisively. Surprisingly, Levi didn’t move. He just stared at Zeke with slightly widened and questioning eyes, as if he didn’t know whether Zeke was going to hit him or kiss him.

“What are you doing?” Levi asked nervously.

“Don’t walk away,” Zeke said, his voice almost begging, “Please.”

“I-”

But before Levi could even get any words out, Zeke had leaned down and planted a tender kiss on his lips. Much to his relief, Levi responded almost instantly. He moved his lips desperately against Zeke’s and their bodies seemed to melt together as Zeke wrapped his arms around Levi.

“N-No,” Levi mumbled against Zeke’s lips, and Zeke pulled away.

“You feel sorry for me?” Zeke smirked somewhat breathlessly. Levi pushed him away lightly and ran his hands through his hair, looking a little mortified at himself for what he’d just allowed to happen.

“This can’t go on,” he whispered.

“Why not?” Zeke asked.

“Because it’s destroying everything! ” Levi growled, turning on his heel to leave again.

“Wait!” Zeke grabbed his arm gently, and Levi paused, not turning around but waiting to hear what he had to say.

“You really care about him that much?” Zeke asked after he took a deep breath, “You don’t want to be with me anymore, do you? All you want is him.”

Zeke practically had to gasp the words out, his face red and his eyes more desperate than he would’ve liked them to be. Levi immediately turned to look at him, a curious expression written on his face. Zeke’s head was practically spinning, and his emotions were rapidly changing from confusion to anger to jealousy to pain.

Zeke waited patiently for Levi to respond, but he didn’t answer. He was completely still, just staring at Zeke with calculating eyes. Zeke used the arm he was holding to gently pull Levi in, looking down into his eyes.

“Levi, do you want to be with me, or him? It’s that simple,” Zeke demanded in a crackling voice, his emotions coming through a lot more than he wanted them to.

Levi looked off to the side and bit his lower lip.

“I need more time, Zeke,” he mumbled.

“You had plenty of time when you were busy making out with Erwin behind my back!” Zeke snapped, “I want an answer. Do you want to be with me?”

Levi sucked in a deep breath, still avoiding Zeke’s gaze as he nodded a little, “Of course I want to be with you, but I... I want to be with Erwin too. I just need more time, Zeke.”

Zeke only heard the part about wanting to still be with him, and he was overcome with a gush of affection. He leaned forward and captured Levi’s lips in an intense, passion-laced kiss. Levi leaned into it, kissing him back for a moment, only to move away and back off Zeke completely.

“I just need more time,” Levi repeated, turning to leave. This time, Zeke let him, having gotten the answer he was searching for.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Are you sure you don’t want to come with, Erwin?” Hanji asked, about to go out for drinks with some friends, “It’ll be good for you to get out of the dorm.”

Erwin had been reminiscing of all the times he’d had with Levi, the memories playing again and again in his head as he felt sick to his stomach from missing the shorter man. He’d barely left his room, and Hanji was probably right, but he didn’t feel like going anywhere at the moment.

“I’m not in the mood,” Erwin grumbled, still laying down in his bed.

Hanji sighed and sat on the edge of his bed, “Look, I know things are... difficult -”

“I’m fine,” Erwin answered nonchalantly.

“You’re not fine-”

“Yes I am.”

“No you’re not! You haven’t left your room in days , Erwin!”

“That’s because I don’t want to see them! ” Erwin replied, a look of disgust crossing his face as he thought about the two that he’d been avoiding. Levi and Zeke were prideful about their new relationship. From the couple of times that Erwin had left his room, to get a snack or use the bathroom, he would see them together. They could barely keep their hands off each other - sincere touches or gentle brushes, they couldn’t stop touching each other. Erwin had expected this behavior from Zeke, but not from Levi.

“It’s not as bad as you make it out to be, Erwin,” Hanji said for the hundredth time, but Erwin didn’t believe them. Out of respect for him, the two shouldn’t be flaunting their relationship at all . It fucking hurt him to see it.

“Whatever,” Erwin sighed, turning over on his bed, “Just go without me, Hanji. You guys have fun.”

Hanji sucked in a deep breath and nodded, going to head out the door. This hadn’t been the first time Erwin had rejected their offers to go out, and Hanji was beginning to think Erwin might never get over Levi.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zeke hovered over Levi’s figure, grinding their hips together roughly. Levi groaned and brought his hips up to meet Zeke’s, leaning up to kiss him hard on the lips. They were in Levi’s bed, and had been making out for some time before starting to take it up a notch. Levi had been responsive up until that point. When Zeke started to undo his pants, Levi pulled away, looking like he wasn’t really into it anymore.

“Wait,” Levi said, “Can we stop?”

“Yeah,” Zeke pulled away and sat up, trying to catch his breath, “What’s up?”

“It’s just... I think we should go visit with Hanji. We haven’t seen them in a while...” Levi mumbled, looking away guiltily as he sat up as well.

Zeke scowled, knowing that by that, Levi had meant he hadn’t seen Erwin in a while, “That’s because they’re too busy trying to comfort Erwin.”

At the mention of Erwin’s name, Levi looked down and frowned. Zeke rolled his eyes in annoyance. For the most part, Levi had moved on from Erwin. He stayed in Zeke’s bed most nights, engaged in sexual activities with Zeke, and was having fun with him - or so it seemed. Unfortunately, whenever Erwin came up in conversation, Levi would become sad and disengaged. And to Zeke, that was really fucking annoying.

“Oh, get the fuck over it, Levi!” Zeke snapped.

Levi gave him a dirty look before turning his head away and saying shortly, “I am over it.”

“Doesn’t fucking look like it.”

“Zeke, stop that, okay? I’m over it. I’m with you now,” Levi insisted, looking back at Zeke with pleading eyes as if to beg him to cut it out.

“And why should I believe you?”

Levi leaned towards Zeke and began playing with the end of Zeke’s shirt distractedly as he explained, “Because you’ve seen me. You know I’m happy with you. Okay?”

“I just feel bad about everything,” Levi continued, “I haven’t spoken to Erwin since what happened, and I don’t even know what to say .”

“Baby,” Zeke whispered affectionately, brushing some hair out of Levi’s face, “Just give it some time, okay? I’m sure Erwin will get over it.”

“I guess,” Levi muttered, biting his lip in thought.

Zeke gently planted kisses all over Levi’s face, smiling down at him, “I’m glad you’re happy with me, though.”

Levi gave a half-assed smile back, leaning up to kiss Zeke tenderly. Zeke leaned into the kiss, nipping and biting at Levi’s lower lip as he opened his mouth slightly. Levi took this opportunity to let his tongue slither into Zeke’s mouth, and soon their tongues were swirling against each other. Zeke pulled away for air and grinned, “You ready now?”

Levi nodded, leaning up to kiss Zeke again. Zeke pushed him down onto the bed and climbed on top of him, starting to unbutton his shirt as he kissed back roughly. Levi whined into the kiss and watched as Zeke took off his own shirt. Zeke then worked on Levi’s pants, undoing them and tugging them down along with his underwear. Zeke hovered over Levi’s erection before putting it in his mouth, sucking on him roughly. Levi tossed his head back and groaned, running his fingers through Zeke’s hair.

Zeke moaned and swirled his tongue around the head, pulling away teasingly and licking at the tip. Levi whined and stared down at him, “Z-Zeke, quit teasing me.”

“Who’s in charge here?” Zeke smirked.

“Clearly not the one on his knees,” Levi shot back.

Zeke grinned mischievously before he backed away from Levi and stared at him with crossed arms.

“Who’s in charge?” Zeke sneered. But Levi was too horny to play into any of Zeke’s little games. He grasped Zeke’s arm and yanked him close, bringing their lips together passionately. Zeke groaned and grinded their hips together roughly before pulling away to attach his lips to Levi’s neck, attacking the skin there by kissing and licking roughly at it. Levi groaned and held onto him tightly, bucking his hips up against him. Zeke reached down and grasped Levi’s erection, watching Levi tremor and grasp at the skin on Zeke’s back. Zeke sighed contently and began kissing his way down Levi’s chest and stomach. He took Levi’s erection back into his mouth again, eliciting a low groan from the man under him.

“F-Fuck,” Levi stuttered in a husky manner. Zeke couldn’t smirk with a dick in his mouth, but if he could, he would’ve. He took him as far in as he could before swallowing around his length, sucking eagerly and pulling away a little to lick at the head. He tried licking and sucking and doing everything imaginable to send Levi over the edge.

“Zeke!” he whined as he bucked his hips, nearly causing Zeke to choke.

Zeke detached himself for a moment to say in a lustful voice, “Shh, baby. Just relax.”

He latched his mouth onto Levi’s dick once more and watched the shorter man’s eyes practically roll back in his head from pleasure.

“Oh my god! ” Levi threw his head back and gasped as he grasped at Zeke’s locks. Zeke’s chest felt tight with the passion he was putting into his work as he continued to practically suck the life out of his lover. Levi was making the most lewd, erotic noises Zeke had ever heard. He cried out as he came, Zeke swallowing and pulling away as he wiped at his mouth.

“Holy shit,” Levi mumbled absentmindedly as he stared up at the ceiling almost in disbelief at what had just happened.

“I believe it’s my turn,” Zeke said, going to lay down next to Levi.

Levi nodded and climbed on top of him, tugging down Zeke’s pants and underwear and gripping his erection in his hand. He began pumping his erection in his hand, kissing Zeke deeply as he did so. Zeke groaned and bucked his hips lightly into Levi’s fist, watching as Levi hovered his head over Zeke’s erection. Zeke held his breath, watching Levi hesitate slightly before engulfing his erection into his mouth. Zeke almost couldn’t believe himself; he hadn’t expected Levi to reciprocate the act.

“Shit,” he gasped, feeling pleasure coursing through his body as Levi began bobbing his head, glancing up at Zeke with an erotic but innocent look as he tried to make sure Zeke was enjoying this. Zeke groaned simply from the look and dropped his hands to Levi’s dark hair, tugging at it gently.

Levi groaned around his erection and took him deeper, gagging a little as he tried to fit his entire length in his mouth. Zeke could barely handle the sight, and had to look away as he used all his self-control to stop himself from moving his hips. Levi breathed heavily through his nose and choked a little, the corners of his eyes pricked with tears as he tried to hold back his gag reflex.

“L-Levi,” Zeke whined, using his free hand to grasp at the sheets, “F-Fuck. I’m so fucking close.”

Levi sucked harder and groaned around him, feeling Zeke’s legs shaking as he orgasmed. He swallowed thickly and pulled away, wiping the tears away from the corner of his eyes as he smiled happily, looking satisfied that he’d clearly done a good job. The two of them took a second to catch their breath, before Zeke took Levi’s face into his hands and looked deeply into his eyes. He needed to know if Levi was ready. Zeke obviously wanted to win the bet and have sex with Levi more than he could even fathom, but he needed to make sure the shorter man was ready. One wrong move, and he could push Levi away, which was not something he wanted to happen.

Levi stared at him intently before he leaned over and placed a deep kiss on Zeke’s lips. They parted in silence, but the eye contact was still there. He wasn’t completely certain if Levi was ready, but he knew that he was making an effort to be. And, fuck, they had waited long enough already. Zeke had to have  him. And it had to be soon .

“Next time,” Zeke whispered strongly, squeezing Levi’s hand in reassurance. Levi’s eyes widened slightly for a few seconds before he nodded. At that moment, it felt as though a hundred butterflies had escaped from a cage inside of Zeke’s stomach, and they were fluttering about excitedly.

Next time .

He couldn’t even breathe properly, but he didn’t want Levi to see the state that this recent development had put him in. So he just stared at the ceiling, thinking. He had to prepare for their next sexual encounter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Erwin frowned when he saw Levi exiting his bedroom, walking over to him cautiously. Erwin had come into the kitchen thinking the other two were asleep for the night, Hanji already being asleep. But clearly he was wrong about that, as Levi was still awake. Erwin pretended as though Levi wasn’t walking right in his direction, continuing to search the pantry for a snack.

“E-Erwin?” Levi spoke up.

Erwin didn’t say anything, his back facing Levi as he continued to look through the pantry. He didn’t particularly want to talk to Levi, especially not now when his stomach was empty and all he wanted to do was get a snack and go back to bed.

“Erwin... please talk to me,” Levi tried again, a pleading clear in his voice.

Erwin sighed, something inside him tugging at him to turn around and give Levi another chance. He didn’t know why, but his heart was still straining inside him for Levi’s attention. He craved it, and wanted to hear what Levi had to say. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t still angry with him for doing things with Zeke behind his back.

“What do you want?” Erwin frowned.

“Can we talk?” Levi asked, his eyes wide and begging.

Erwin sucked in a deep breath before nodding hesitantly, turning around and crossing his arms as he stared at him. Levi breathed a sigh of relief.

“So... how are you?” Levi asked quietly, looking up at Erwin carefully as if he was worried he might set him off.

Erwin just stared at Levi, unsure of how to even respond to that. He was not okay, but he knew he couldn’t let Levi know that.

“I’m fine,” Erwin mumbled, “What about you?”

“Good. I’m good.”

“Good,” Erwin said. Levi scratched his nose and tried to look Erwin in the eyes, but Erwin refused to look back at him.

They stood there in silence for a moment. Erwin sighed heavily, not knowing what to say. The truth was, he didn’t really want things to end up like this. He didn’t want to talk to Levi as if nothing had happened between them; he didn’t want Levi’s cool demeanor to make him forget how mad he was at him. Erwin wanted to confront Levi; he wanted to find out why Levi had cheated on him.

“So...” Erwin started once he had summoned up enough courage, “Where’s Zeke?”

Levi looked at him with discomfort written all over his face, answering, “He’s sleeping. He had a migraine earlier.”

Erwin nodded, continuing with his line of questioning, “So how are things with Zeke going?”

Levi, who was now avoiding Erwin’s gaze, paused, his eyes widening slightly in surprise as he answered shortly, “He’s good.”

“You two sharing a bed now?” Erwin blurted. He’d have to be blind to miss the way that Levi’s cheeks flushed.

“That’s not really any of your business,” Levi snapped.

Erwin glared at him angrily, “Of course not. Apparently, it’s never any of my business when it’s about you and Zeke.”

“Erwin-”

“That’s why you didn’t tell me that you were cheating on me, right?” Erwin asked harshly.

“Erwin-”

“I’m just some stupid study buddy to you, right? Why should you tell me anything?!”

“Stop it! You’re-”

“It’s fine, Levi. I’m used to being kept in the dark. The only thing is, I thought that we were together! It’d be useful to know if you were cheating on me!”

“Erwin!” Levi stood his ground, trying to get through to him.

“But you never told me, did you? No matter how many times I asked!”

“Shut up,” Levi growled, “You’re acting like an idiot.”

“You lied to me!” Erwin accused, pointing a finger at Levi.

“I was trying to protect you!”

“Protect me?!” Erwin practically shouted, completely enraged at this point, “Don’t lie to me! You did it to save your own ass!”

“I didn’t want to hurt you! I was trying to sort everything out!”

“Fuck that, Levi. You never cared about me!” Erwin accused, and Levi’s eyes narrowed in anger.

Throughout everything, Erwin had never seen Levi get actually angry - he was usually upset or indifferent, but never angry unless it was him and Zeke fighting. Erwin didn’t know what chord he’d struck.

“That was probably the stupidest thing you’ve ever said, Erwin,” Levi growled. Erwin looked down. His heart was beating rapidly, and his stomach was clenching and twisting so much that he thought he was going to be sick. He closed his eyes and sighed.

“Do you love him?” Erwin asked. The question appeared to come out of nowhere, but Erwin knew that it was a question that had been haunting him for ages. He needed to know the answer.

Levi blinked, “What?”

“Do you love him? Zeke,” Erwin asked. Levi backed up a bit and ran his hands through his hair.

“What? I don’t know what you’re talking about-”

“It’s a simple question, Levi. Do you love him? ”

“You should leave,” Levi said suddenly, looking severely uncomfortable by this question.

“Fine,” Erwin yelled, “Why should I ever expect you to face anything?!”

“Maybe I should be more like you, then?” Levi snapped, “Maybe I should hold a grudge about everything!”

“Is that what you think this is, Levi?” Erwin asked incredulously, “A stupid grudge?”

They stayed like that for a while, just staring at each other, before Erwin looked down and shoved his hands in his pockets nervously.

“I have something to say,” Erwin spoke quietly. Levi took a deep breath before staring at Erwin curiously and waiting for him to continue.

“I don’t... I don’t understand why I like you,” Erwin whispered, his chest tightening and constricting with all the emotions he was feeling, “There are parts of your personality I try to avoid.”

“Wow, you really know how to charm, don’t you?” Levi rolled his eyes.

Erwin looked up and stared directly into his eyes. He could feel the blood pumping through his veins, his heart racing as all the feelings consumed him.

“Despite any of your flaws, I just... I can’t stop...” Erwin trailed off as his voice refused to finish the sentence. He felt his throat closing up, and he blinked hurriedly as tears began to pool in his eyes. Levi was staring at him in terror now, not used to dealing with Erwin’s tears.

“Levi... everything is going wrong. I don’t know how to handle things... and I don’t like being upset all the fucking time. I don’t like waking up and my first thought being about... b-being about... how it was before,” Erwin stuttered. A tear broke past his lid, rolling down his cheek as he sniffled quietly.

“Erwin...”

“I don’t know what I did wrong,” Erwin nearly whimpered as he took a few more steps towards Levi, “I don’t know why you... decided to... do that . And I don’t know why you didn’t just tell me.”

“Erwin, you didn’t do anything wrong,” Levi breathed, and Erwin felt happiness swirl inside himself, despite the fact that a few more tears were running down his red cheeks.

“Do you... Do you miss me?” Erwin asked as he stepped closer. He felt a weight lifting off his chest as all his emotions were on display, tears flowing out of his eyes and words spilling out of his mouth.

“Erwin, I’m with Zeke now,” Levi said. Erwin stepped closer anyways.

“Do you miss me?” he asked more pointedly. Levi’s eyes darted around the room nervously before he settled on Erwin’s face and let out a shaky breath.

“ Yes .”

“I miss you too,” Erwin breathed, blinking back more tears. He stepped towards Levi again and reached out. He touched Levi’s shirt experimentally, clutched it in his calloused fingertips. Erwin moved closer to Levi, close enough so that Erwin could feel Levi’s breath against his skin. Levi put his hands on Erwin’s shoulders, trying to push him away.

“You can’t,” Levi said quietly. Erwin moved forward gently and rested his forehead against Levi’s. Erwin stared into Levi’s dull gray eyes and licked his lips before slowly bringing them down on top of Levi’s. This kiss felt electric; more powerful than any kiss they’d shared before. Erwin could feel the tingles shooting up his spine, and he let out a quiet moan as he clutched Levi’s shirt more firmly in his fist. Levi kissed back, desperately sucking and biting at Erwin’s lips as he clung to Erwin’s shirt harshly.

Erwin, blind with arousal, pushed his hands underneath Levi’s shirt and began to knead at the skin there, eliciting a small groan from the shorter man. Erwin backed away  just to take a moment and look at him. Levi’s eyes were closed, his cheeks were flushed, and his lips were red and swollen. Erwin could tell just from the look on his face that Levi was having a serious internal conflict about what was happening right now. Erwin waited for Levi to open his eyes again before he pressed another heated kiss to his lips, desperate and needy.

Erwin could feel his arousal pulsing through him as Levi held onto him firmly, running his hands along his hips. Erwin slid his tongue past Levi’s lips and pulled Levi’s tongue into his own mouth, sucking on it gently. Levi retreated his tongue and bit Erwin’s lower lip harshly. Erwin groaned loudly, but neither of them seemed to care how desperate they both sounded. They were both panting and moaning, the sound of their wet kisses filling the air as they became lost in each other.

Levi began pushing them backwards, pressing Erwin against his and Hanji’s bedroom door and kissing him feverishly. Erwin pulled away to begin sucking and licking at Levi’s neck, causing the shorter man to whine and palm for the door handle, turning it and opening the door as they spilled into the room, still kissing and groping at every inch of skin they could get to on each other.

“W-Wha...?” Hanji yawned as they began to stir from the noise of the two coming into the room.

“Hanji, get out,” Levi practically growled, pulling Erwin back towards the bed.

Hanji’s eyes suddenly opened wide as they realized what was going on, “Oh fuck.”

They got up quickly and grabbed their pillow and blanket, rushing out of the room and shutting the door behind them, not bothering to argue as the two men were clearly very into the moment they were sharing. As soon as the door closed, the back of Levi’s knees hit the edge of the bed and he fell back, Erwin climbing on top of him. They were so caught up in the moment that Levi didn’t even know how Erwin suddenly lost his shirt; it was just gone all of a sudden. Levi quickly went to remove his own shirt, and as soon as it was tossed aside, Erwin leaned down to kiss him passionately again. Erwin made himself comfortable on Levi’s body, straddling his hips as he continued to kiss him urgently. He grabbed both of Levi’s hands and pinned them above his head before he started a slow grind against Levi’s clothed erection, both men groaning from the pleasure they experienced upon rubbing against each other. Levi whined, his eyes rolling back as he let out a sound of approval at Erwin’s actions.

Erwin released Levi’s hands and began to attach himself to Levi’s neck again, grinding down on him and sucking on his skin. Levi stopped responding for a moment, and Erwin pulled away in some confusion. But Levi was smiling softly up at him, and reached up to wipe away the excess tears on Erwin’s face from crying earlier. Erwin swallowed thickly at the gesture; he was so touched he felt himself getting teary again, but he knew that would ruin the mood between them. Levi leaned up to kiss both of Erwin’s cheeks affectionately, Erwin reveling in the loving feeling they were sharing. He rubbed gentle circles on Levi’s arms to encourage him, and felt a smile tug at his lips when Levi let out a happy sigh.

But then it was back on again. Levi moved away from his cheeks and kissed his lips roughly, and Erwin began the slow grind of their clothed erections again, pinning Levi’s hands above his head for a second time. Levi groaned and thrust his hips up hungrily. Erwin moved away and tugged Levi’s pants and boxers down roughly. Levi groaned from the feeling of the cold air skating across his erection.

Erwin smirked down at him with a dark and needy expression. Levi used the same hunger to pull Erwin’s pants and boxers down, groaning when Erwin positioned his erection on top of Levi’s and began rocking their naked dicks against each other. Erwin groaned and stared down at Levi with a lustful expression, breathing heavily.

“L-Levi... I want to...” Erwin groaned as Levi bucked his hips up to rub against him. Levi held back in order to allow Erwin to speak.

“You want to... what?” Levi asked. Erwin could feel Levi’s fingernails in his back as he continued a slow pace of grinding down against him.

“I want to have sex with you. Please ,” Erwin answered. Levi stopped his hips from meeting Erwin’s, his thrusts halting completely.

“Are you sure?” Levi asked, and Erwin could hear the trembling in his voice from the excitement. Erwin groaned a hurried yes, and Levi nodded quickly, spreading his legs in front of Erwin. Erwin’s breathing increased heavily as he pushed Levi’s legs apart a little wider. This wasn’t his first time, but he certainly felt inexperienced - it had been a while. He was a bundle of nerves, but he really wanted this. So fucking badly . Erwin wanted to feel himself inside of Levi, and he knew he was ready for this.

“Hold on,” Erwin said as he climbed off the bed, going to his nightstand and rummaging around the top shelf for a small bottle of lube and a condom. He coated his fingers in the substance and climbed back onto the bed, circling his fingers at Levi’s entrance before he gently pushed one in. Levi gasped and whimpered, tossing his head back. A look of discomfort passed over his face before it turned to one of pleasure, and Erwin was wondering if Levi was a virgin just from how tight he was. Levi gripped his arm tightly as he added a second finger, pumping them in and out as gently as he could. Levi was practically writhing under his touch, and Erwin let out a low groan just from the sight. Levi let out the most erotic noise as he added a third finger, and Erwin thought he might die right then and there.

After a few minutes, Erwin removed his fingers and pulled on a condom. He positioned himself, glancing down at Levi to make sure he was still okay. The shorter man nodded eagerly, biting his lip as he waited for Erwin to continue. Erwin began pushing in as gently as possible. Levi hissed in some discomfort at first, gripping at Erwin’s arms and groaning. Erwin kept still once he was all the way in, waiting for Levi to get more comfortable. He waited a good minute before he started to move slowly. Erwin lay on top of Levi and kissed him sweetly as he continued to move, eliciting a groan from the shorter man. He let out a quiet cry as Erwin started to deeply thrust in and out of him. On one particular thrust, Erwin hit a certain spot that had Levi’s entire body shuddering in pleasure.

“Oh my god. Keep doing that,” Levi breathed, looking like he was starting to enjoy things the more they continued. Erwin growled and continued to rock and grind into that spot, enjoying the lewd noises that were coming out of Levi’s mouth. Levi moaned wantonly and wrapped his legs around Erwin’s back, helping him reach that spot more easily. Erwin dropped his head to Levi’s neck and began sucking and biting at the skin there. He groaned into Levi’s ear, the feeling of Levi’s tight warmth around him being almost too much to handle. He could hear Levi’s arousal spilling out of his mouth, and his own arousal increased just from the noises. Erwin could feel Levi clawing at his back, his hips arching off the bed as he tried to meet Erwin’s thrusts.

Levi was usually such a composed person, and seeing him like this - being the person who was making him like this - was making his head swim. The mattress below them was squeaking loudly from their actions, echoing throughout the room; though it wasn’t nearly as loud as the noises the two of them were making between heavy breathing.

Levi was making the most raunchy noises that Erwin had ever heard. Although, he wasn’t doing much better. Every time Levi would clench around him, he would swear and growl. Levi was moaning and writhing under Erwin’s thrusts, unable to help himself. He could feel himself growing closer and closer by the second, and he gripped Levi’s hips tightly and continued to thrust into him a little more wildly, groaning as he did so.

“Erwin!” Levi cried out as Erwin picked up the pace, his orgasm close. Erwin bit and sucked on his neck as he rammed in and out of him. Levi’s eyes rolled back as he arched his back, an intense orgasm washing over him. Erwin clung to him, thrusting a couple more times before he too finished. He pulled out and collapsed next to Levi, practically gasping for air. Levi was already looking like he was ready to pass out, seemingly exhausted from their activities. Erwin leaned over and pressed a gentle kiss to Levi’s cheek before he snuggled up to the shorter man, knowing that Levi was his. Knowing that he had won the bet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zeke had gone to bed early with a massive headache. He had been incredibly pissed about this because he had wanted to bang Levi instead, not lay in bed like a helpless old man. But Levi had insisted that he go to bed and rest, so he begrudgingly agreed to do so. Aside from the torturous thought that he had once again been thwarted in his attempts to bed Levi, actually getting down to the sleeping part hadn’t been all that bad. Sure, he didn’t remember what he had dreamed about, but he did remember the peaceful feeling that had come over him as he settled into a calming, deep sleep.

A sleep that was interrupted by sounds that Zeke, in his foggy state, didn’t quite know how to identify.

His eyes fluttered open at the noises he heard - rustling and frantic movements. He rolled over to see Levi packing a bag with all his stuff, tossing books and clothes around haphazardly in no effort to be quiet. A confused look came across Zeke’s face, and he was wondering what the hell Levi was doing in the middle of the night gathering his stuff. He cleared his throat, and Levi looked up.

“What the fuck?” came the simple question from Zeke. Levi fidgeted uncomfortably.

“Oh, you’re awake,” came the lame response. Zeke sat up slowly, rubbing his eyes.

“What time is it?” he asked as he brushed his curls out of his face.

“I don’t know,” Levi answered quietly.

Zeke squinted as he picked up his phone, turning on the screen and looking surprised by the time, “It’s four in the fucking morning.”

“Oh. Is it that late already?” Levi asked, avoiding Zeke’s gaze.

Zeke rolled his eyes, “Yes, you idiot. Come to bed.”

Zeke took a moment to fully examine his surroundings - mainly the small pile of clothes Levi had in a bag next to the door, the books piled up on the dresser. He raised an eyebrow, waiting for Levi to give him an explanation.

“I’m not really that tired,” Levi said shortly, nervously fidgeting with the bottom of his shirt.

“What the fuck is going on?” Zeke asked as he crossed his arms, a nasty feeling crawling around in his skin.

“What do you mean?” Levi replied, clearly playing dumb. Zeke tilted his head towards the pile of stuff, and Levi ran his hands through his hair before he turned away from him, “Oh... I just thought I should do some of my laundry.”

“At four in the morning? ” Zeke asked incredulously, before his voice lowered as he tried to frantically read Levi’s face, “You’re a terrible liar, Levi.”

Something wasn’t right. He could feel it.

“Zeke...” Levi said, finally turning to face him, “I have to tell you something.”

“Tell me then,” Zeke demanded as his blood boiled and his stomach clenched. He waited for a few moments before repeating in a more serious tone, “ Tell me .”

Levi sighed loudly and covered his face, muttering, “I’m sorry.”

It was so quiet that Zeke almost thought he’d imagined Levi saying those words.

“I’m so sorry,” Levi repeated, still covering his face. Zeke stared up at him with cautious anger. Levi looked so fragile and broken, and Zeke just didn’t know what the fuck to do about it. He didn’t think it was right to just explode at him right out, not when Levi looked this distraught.

“Sorry for what?” Zeke said in a much harsher tone than he would’ve liked. He was trying hard to control his anger, but it was hard. He could hear Levi’s shaky breathing, and for a moment became worried that he was crying. Levi uncovered his face to reveal a dry, but twisted face - twisted with pleading and sadness - and Zeke stared at him for a few seconds, mesmerized, before he looked away. In all the years he’d known him, he’d never seen Levi look like that before.

But then it was gone. Levi composed himself, and he was staring determinedly at the ground as he avoided whatever secret he was hiding from Zeke.

“ Sorry for what?! ” Zeke asked again. Gray eyes met gray, and Levi’s words came out like a thick syrup as he murmured:

“I had sex with Erwin.”

Zeke’s heart pounded in his chest at the horrid confession, and he clenched his fists as soon as Levi had uttered those words. His mouth filled with a bitter taste as he scrunched his nose in disgust. Truthfully, he wanted to punch Levi right in his dumb face - to hurt him until Levi was hurting just as much as he was. But then again, he didn’t. On the other hand, his stomach fluttered, and a calmness overtook him as he took in this information.

Because he’d known since Levi uttered his first apology what Levi had done. He had guessed; he wasn’t stupid. And he had had a horrible feeling, ever since he had made Levi choose between him and Erwin, that this might happen, which is why Zeke had tried so hard to discourage Levi from talking to Erwin - at least until after they had sex first. Zeke didn’t know why they did it, but his best guess was that Levi and Erwin had some unfinished business that led to sex. Zeke had hoped this wouldn’t happen. He had hoped that Levi had been telling the truth - he had hoped that Levi really did want to be with him as much as Zeke wanted to be with Levi. Apparently, he had been wrong. Levi had cheated.

“Zeke?” Levi’s small voice questioned after a long moment of silence had passed. Zeke blinked and bit the inside of his mouth.

“Why are you here?” he asked shortly.

Levi shook his head in confusion, “What?”

“ Why are you here? ” Zeke spoke as if he was talking to a child, “Shouldn’t you be with him?! ”

Zeke could feel all the bitterness, jealousy, and anger pooling at once in his stomach.

“I-I’m here to get my stuff,” Levi said as he pointed to his things, “I told Erwin I’d move back in with him, so I figured I should come move everything.”

“And you couldn’t have waited until the morning to move your stuff?” Zeke asked, staring at Levi intently.

“Well, I couldn’t sleep, and I just thought-”

“ Why are you here, Levi? ” Zeke asked as he rolled out of bed, standing up to face the shorter man, “Why not just wait?”

“I was already awake, so I figured that I would-”

“Wake me up by throwing all your stuff in front of the door?!” Zeke loudly accused.

“I was trying to be quiet!”

“Bullshit! I saw you, Levi! You were tossing your stuff around!”

“I was trying to be quiet,” Levi frowned as he determinedly stared at a place beyond Zeke’s head. Zeke nodded mockingly and took a step towards Levi.

“You know what I think,” Zeke said cockily, “I think that you wanted me to wake up.”

“Why’s that?” Levi asked sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

“Because you wanted me to stop you.”

They stared at each other for a long time before Levi snorted and shook his head with a small smile, “In your dreams.”

“You wanted me to stop you,” Zeke said as he stepped closer to Levi, “You wanted me to tell you that you were making a huge mistake; you wanted to seemingly convince you not to move out!”

“You’re wrong,” Levi snapped, not looking Zeke in the eyes anymore.

“But I would only be seemingly convincing you because you’re already convinced, aren’t you? You’re already convinced that you don’t want to be with Erwin! That’s why you came here and woke me up! You didn’t want to disappoint the baby by telling him yourself, so you came here to look for my disapproval! What Levi? Do you want me to go into the other room right now and tell Erwin that you two can’t be together because I don’t approve of it?”

“Did you ever think that maybe I came in here because I was feeling guilty about what had happened?!” Levi exploded after listening to Zeke’s rant, “Did you ever think that I came in here to apologize?! Or did you just jump right to the wrong conclusion, like always?!”

Zeke’s expression turned cold, “But why now, Levi? Why in the middle of the fucking night?!”

“I didn’t want to wait until the morning! I wanted to talk to you about it first-”

“So you could get my approval!”

“Before a huge fight happened!” Levi yelled, “You’re acting crazy, Zeke! You’re just pissed at me because I still want to be with Erwin!”

“ I have every fucking right to be pissed at you! ” Zeke shouted back, anger surging through his veins as he continued, “You said that you were with me, Levi! That’s what you fucking said! Sorry if I actually thought that you were telling the fucking truth! But I guess the truth is only good when it’s convenient for you, isn’t that right?!”

Zeke yelled until his eyes were practically bulging from his head, and he could feel the heat on his face from how red he probably was. He picked up his pillow and threw it right at Levi’s head, who quickly dodged it and paled as he watched Zeke’s actions.

“Do you care about anyone?! ” Zeke went on, “Aside from yourself, of course! I asked you days ago who you wanted to be with! You could’ve said ‘him’! I would’ve been pissed, but at least you wouldn’t have been fucking stringing me along! ”

“I wasn’t stringing you along!”

“ Don’t fucking talk to me! ” Zeke boomed as he challengingly stepped closer to Levi, “You’re a fucking pathetic piece of shit who can’t keep his dick to himself! I’m almost glad you’re going with Erwin! You can be his problem now!”

Zeke spat his words furiously, backing away once he was done. Hurt was plastered all over Levi’s face, and Zeke reveled in his pain.

“I came back to apologize,” Levi said stupidly, as if he couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“Right, and that’s supposed to make everything better!” Zeke clenched his fists and continued to study Levi’s face. Levi didn’t make a sound, though. He looked as though he didn’t know what to say in response. Zeke grew even more frustrated and irritated with the man in front of him. He looked away from him.

“Just take your shit and go,” Zeke said calmly, trying to hold himself together.

“I came back to apologize!” Levi tried again, “I did it because I care! You can’t honestly think I don’t care about you, Zeke!”

“ Just get out ,” Zeke growled, closing his eyes angrily, “ Or I’ll make you get out. ”

“Then make me,” Levi challenged.

Zeke looked back into Levi’s eyes less than a second after Levi finished what he was saying. He clenched his fists and walked towards Levi with all the venom in his veins, intending to pick the short man up by his neck and throw him out.

Levi looked ready for it; he stared at Zeke with a glare and a stony face. Zeke admired Levi’s pride for almost a second before he grabbed the collar of Levi’s shirt and started dragging him over towards the door. Levi allowed himself to be dragged for only a moment before he found his footing and concentrated all of his body weight, grabbing Zeke’s shirt and slamming him up against the door before Zeke had the chance to open the door. Zeke’s eyes widened in shock for a second as he found himself pinned against the door. Levi breathed deeply through his nose, looking furious, and Zeke was so mesmerized by it that he didn’t even think about switching their positions.

“ Listen to me! ” Levi yelled in his face, and Zeke stared at him harshly, “I wasn’t stringing you along, and I do care about you! I care about Erwin too, though, and you have no fucking idea what it’s like to have to deal with something like that! I can’t disappoint him because he needs me and I can’t disappoint you because you’re my best friend, and fuck , I have all this pressure building up on me, and I can’t even do anything without someone hating me for it! To be honest, half the time I don’t even know what the fuck I’m doing because I’m so fucking sick of having to look out for other people, and it’s making me fucking miserable!”

Zeke didn’t even dare to blink as Levi continued, “So yes, Zeke, I do care about you. I want to be with you and I want to be with him, and I haven’t had any time to think about who I want to be with more because I’m constantly being pulled in one direction or another, and I’m fucking sick of it! But I promised Erwin that I would move my stuff out of your room and... god, Zeke... he said things. And I can’t fucking let him down now. So I’m sorry, but that’s just what I’ve got to do!”

Levi finished, practically gasping for air as he tried to calm himself while he still held tightly to Zeke’s shirt. Once he had fully absorbed Levi’s words, Zeke licked his lips and stared at Levi seriously.

“Then break it,” he whispered.

Levi shook his head in confusion, “What?!”

“ Break the promise ,” Zeke suggested, “You said it yourself that you haven’t had time to sort things out because you’ve been caught up in everything, so... don’t get caught up. Take time to think.”

Zeke’s anger was starting to disappear. It was only on rare occasions when Zeke got to see Levi so worked up about something, so when these moments came along, he always took them seriously.

“It’s not that easy... Erwin won’t get it.”

“Then make him get it. Levi, you’re not the only one going through shit here,” Zeke said, looking down guiltily when thoughts about the bet flooded his mind... a bet he had just lost to Erwin Smith . “The more you try to please everyone, the more it’s just going to fuck everyone up. And fuck, you’re not a god! You don’t have to please everyone!”

Levi sighed heavily, “I guess... yeah. Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

He stared at Zeke’s lips. A shiver went up Zeke’s spine - a shiver that Levi didn’t miss.

“I just need to,” Levi whispered as  he stepped closer to Zeke, their bodies aligning smoothly, “Take a break from everything,” Levi began to move his hands in small circles on Zeke’s chest, and Zeke bit back a gasp. “For a few days. Then I’ll... sort it out, and decide,” Levi breathed. Zeke raised an eyebrow as he felt blood pooling to his dick. Of course, only Levi could make him pissed off, sympathetic, and horny in less than ten minutes.

“After... this ,” Zeke smirked a little, bringing his hand down to squeeze Levi’s ass.

Levi nodded instantly, “After this.”

Zeke tugged Levi closer and smashed their lips together hungrily, their bodies melding together. He could feel Levi grasping as his shirt desperately, and his own hands were groping at Levi’s ass roughly. Their movements were frantic and rough, but at the same time loving. It was how things always were between them - a perfect balance. Levi began grinding against Zeke’s thigh, and Zeke dropped his head to Levi’s neck as he began kissing and sucking at the skin there.

“Fuck,” Zeke groaned as Levi shoved his hand down Zeke’s pants and grasped at his erection. Zeke whined a bit at the feeling, bringing his head back up to meet Levi’s lips in a passionate kiss. He pushed his tongue past Levi’s lips and began rubbing their tongues together, feeling the cool taste of Levi’s mouth. He’d never felt this way about anyone else - only Levi could make him feel this way. When he was with Levi like this, his heart pounded, his stomach fluttered, his head clouded with feelings of affection. When they were together, he felt as though he didn’t need anything else . Only Levi. Of course, Zeke had dropped the Erwin situation as soon as Levi showed signs of distress. He couldn’t stay mad at him, even if he knew he should be.

What could he do? He was in love with the shallow idiot.

As soon as that though gripped his mind, he felt the back of his head hit the door. Levi was still stroking his erection, and sometime during his mind’s wanderings, Levi had managed to relieve both of them of their shirts. Fuck, love . Zeke was in love with Levi. The thought was simple, practically obvious, and Zeke had known it for a very long time. Just because his mind had been persistent in neglecting those feelings, that didn’t mean that his heart had been also.

“You’re really hard,” Levi said in a low voice. Zeke snapped his attention back to Levi and noticed Levi was looking at him with some worry, clearly because he’d stopped paying attention. But Zeke had been paying attention. Just on another level.

“That’s because you’re stroking my dick,” Zeke deadpanned. Levi couldn’t help but smile before Zeke captured his lips in another deep kiss, his hands wandering down to Levi’s pants as he began to undo the buttons. Levi helped him fumble with the pants, dropping them to the ground as they kissed hungrily, but Zeke couldn’t stop thinking about what had just crossed his mind. The ‘L’ word. Love . How would Levi react if he said it? Should he tell Levi? Or should he wait? And fuck, why did love feel so suffocating?

Zeke pulled away from Levi for a moment after the shorter man’s pants dropped to the ground, “Do you see a problem with this image?”

Levi looked at him with some confusion, already having started taking Zeke’s pants off, “Um... no?”

Zeke smirked and stepped out of his own pants, placing his hands under Levi’s ass and carrying him over to the bed, “You still had me up against the door. We can’t have that now, can we?”

Levi blushed and quickly hooked his arms around Zeke’s neck, muttering ‘fuck you’ as he was tossed unceremoniously onto the bed. Levi laid back and spread his legs a little, Zeke climbing on top of him and beginning to suck on Levi’s neck. He reached over to his bedside table and grabbed a small bottle of lube, spreading the liquid on his fingers. He covered his erection and Levi’s entrance with the liquid before gently inserting a finger, watching the shorter man gasp a bit and squirm under his touch. Zeke added a second, and then a third finger, silently thanking himself for being an expert at this as he watched Levi groaning and cringing at the sensation.

“God Levi. You’re killing me,” Zeke breathed as he hastily took out his fingers and grabbed a condom from his bedside table, ripping it open and rolling the latex onto his erection. He positioned himself as Levi’s entrance, leaning down and kissing Levi deeply as he pushed himself completely inside Levi’s body. Levi’s nails nearly broke the skin on Zeke’s back as he let out a low groan.

He hesitated for a moment before moving in and out slowly. He immediately went to focus on hitting Levi’s prostate, trying to find the spot that would drive the shorter man wild. When Levi gasped and cried out, Zeke knew he’d hit it. He gripped Levi’s hips tighter and began moving against the spot, watching Levi grip the sheets and arch his back.

“Does that feel okay?” Zeke asked insecurely as he slowly moved in and out. Levi nodded his head quickly, writhing in pleasure. He was groaning and gasping at the feeling, and started to grind back against Zeke faster than he was thrusting.

“Go faster,” Levi groaned. Zeke moaned and lifted Levi’s legs over his shoulders, steadying himself before slamming in and out of him wildly. Levi let out a long string of curse words and clawed at the sheets.

“Levi, I love this between us,” Zeke said. Levi nodded, but his eyes were closed, so Zeke grabbed Levi’s face in his hands, watching the shorter man’s eyes immediately snap open from Zeke’s touch.

“You don’t get it. Levi, I love this between us,” Zeke said, accenting the word as much as he could in order to make Levi understand. Levi’s eyes widened slightly as he recognized exactly what Zeke was saying. Levi grabbed Zeke around the back of his neck and tugged him down, smashing their lips together in a deep kiss. Zeke could feel Levi moaning against his lips as the shorter man came. Zeke squeezed his eyes shut, continuing to thrust as fast as he could until he felt his own orgasm wash over him. He pulled out and collapsed on top of the shorter man with a goofy smile on his face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as Zeke came back from class the next morning, he was bombarded by Hanji, who practically tackled him with eagerness.

“Down, Hanji,” he said dryly. Hanji smiled sarcastically at him before they shook their head.

“Come to my room, we’re having a meeting about the bet.”

Zeke sighed. He had known this would be coming at some point. Erwin’s fucking award ceremony.

“Right now?” he responded, “But I didn’t get to buy Erwin a congratulatory ‘fuck you’ gift.”

Hanji smiled sadly at him and Zeke rolled his eyes. He didn’t need the pity. He didn’t really feel like he’d lost, anyways. When it came down to it, the bet didn’t matter. Levi now had to choose who he wanted to be with; even though Erwin had won, it wasn’t his place to ‘claim' Levi as his boyfriend. That was Levi’s choice.

Plus, Zeke knew Erwin would be extremely upset upon finding out that Levi had immediately gone to have sex with Zeke right after his sex with Erwin.

“Levi’s not back from class yet,” Hanji explained, “It’s best we just do it now and get it over with.”

Zeke nodded and followed Hanji into their room, sitting down next to Erwin and saying loudly once the door was closed, “Okay! If you’ve prepared a victory speech or something, then you might as well go ahead.”

Erwin’s eyes quickly flung over to Hanji’s, who shrugged awkwardly.

“How do you know?” Erwin asked suspiciously.

Zeke leaned back in the chair, trying hard not to grin, “Levi told me.”

Erwin shook his head in confusion, before he settled his eyes on Zeke once more.

“When did he tell you that?” Erwin’s voice was tense, and he stared over at Zeke was an almost concerned look in his eyes.

“Right before we fucked, actually,” Zeke said without any emotion as he stared at Erwin. Erwin’s eyes widened in shock before he looked down at the ground and shook his head stubbornly.

“No. Levi wouldn’t do that.”

“But he did. And it was fucking good, actually.”

“You’re lying.”

“Believe what you want. I’d like to know, though, was Levi next to you when you woke up?” Zeke sneered cruelly. Erwin looked at the ground instantly, and Zeke could see the dawning of comprehension on Erwin’s face. He continued, “I’m guessing he wasn’t. And that’s because he was too busy sleeping next to me.”

“Zeke!” Hanji scolded in warning. Erwin was staring at the floor in determination, blinking furiously.

“What?! I’m just telling the truth!”

“But why would he do that?” Erwin asked in a small voice, though he was speaking more to himself than anyone else.

“You mean, why would he beg me to fuck him after having just banged you? I don’t know. Maybe you were just fucking awful!” Zeke smirked, and Hanji gave him a look of death. Erwin glared at him and clenched his fists.

“He begged you to fuck him?” he asked, his face tight. Zeke nearly cackled.

“Get it through your thick skull, Erwin! This bet was fucking pointless! Levi’s going to fuck whoever he wants, regardless of whether you won or not! It was stupid, really, wasn’t it? Starting a bet to see which one of us would fuck Levi first. But the stupidest bit was actually thinking that whoever won could claim him as their own! That backfired, didn’t it?!” Zeke yelled.

“But I won,” Erwin said absentmindedly. He seemed to be clinging to that one thought.

“Yeah, well, you may have won the bet, but that doesn’t mean that he’ll choose you in the end,” Zeke said shortly. Seconds after the words had left his mouth, a large bang erupted from somewhere behind them and Zeke jumped, startled, and turned around.

“ A bet?! ” Levi was standing in the bedroom doorway, his face red and his body practically shaking from anger as he stared hotly between the three guilty people. Zeke swallowed.

He’d never seen him look so angry.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hanji was just wrapping their head around the fact that Levi had slept with Zeke after just having slept with Erwin before the door slammed open and the subject of their discussion came into view.

“ A bet?! ” Levi said incredulously. His body looked tense, his face red with anger, and Hanji thought for a moment that he may have forgotten how to breathe. Hanji bit their lip, their heart race increasing tenfold. They had hoped this moment would never come - that Levi would never find out about the bet. After all, they were only the moderator, and it was killing them to watch this bet play out. They couldn’t imagine how Levi was feeling. Then again, they couldn’t imagine how Erwin or Zeke were feeling either.

“So that’s all this fucking is, then? A bet?! ” Levi shouted as he pounded his fist against the door, causing it to slam into the wall again. Erwin was staring determinedly at the ground, his face tense and his arms crossed. Zeke was leaning back against his chair casually, looking indifferent.

“After everything that I’ve done, that’s it?! It was all just for a stupid fucking bet?! Is that it?!” Levi stared between the three of them, giving Hanji an extra-long look of anger.

“ Answer me! ” Levi demanded loudly when nobody said a word. Zeke cringed in annoyance.

“Fuck, Levi! You’re blowing my fucking eardrums out!” Zeke barked. Hanji swallowed thickly as they watched Levi’s eyes nearly pop out of his skull.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Zeke,” Levi said in a dangerous voice that made Hanji’s blood run cold as he yelled into Zeke’s ear, “ Am I disturbing you?! ”

Zeke shrugged and started inspecting the dirt beneath his fingernails, “A bit, yeah.”

Hanji looked down at the ground, not wanting to look at Levi’s face anymore. Hanji wasn’t afraid of Levi, but they certainly weren’t used to seeing him like this. Hanji knew how to handle Zeke when he was upset, and they knew how to handle Erwin when he was upset. But Levi was a different story.

“Did you do this? Did you start this bet?” Levi asked Zeke in a deadly whisper.

Zeke snorted, “So what if I did?”

Levi clenched his fists as he visibly shook, asking, “How long has this been going on?!”

“Does it matter?”

“ How long has this been going on?! ” Levi growled.

“ Does it matter?! ”

“ HOW LONG HAS THIS BEEN GOING ON?! ”

“For two weeks!” Erwin answered before Zeke and Levi could kill each other. Hanji looked over at Erwin and noticed that he was still staring at the ground somberly, his expression torn.

“You’ve been doing this little experiment for two weeks?! Fucking wonderful,” Levi exclaimed.

“Levi...” Hanji started. They wanted to say something. They wanted to apologize, to tell him they were sorry for not ending the bet sooner - for allowing it to even happen in the first place. But Levi didn’t even notice Hanji speaking, which was good because Hanji’s throat had closed up before the words even escaped their mouth.

“So was I a good subject?! Hmm? It must have been so fun - tossing me around and messing with my head!” Levi shouted.

“Calm down, Levi. You’re one to talk about tossing people around, aren’t you?” Zeke responded coolly. Levi stared at him incredulously.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Levi asked through clenched teeth.

“Like you don’t fucking know?! Levi, you know exactly what the fuck I’m talking about!” Zeke challenged.

“That wasn’t the same thing! I was trying to look out for you both! I was trying to make everyone happy - I wasn’t doing it for my own sick enjoyment like you!”

“That’s a load of shit,” Zeke snorted, “You weren’t looking out for us! You were looking out for your own dick!”

“Wow, like you would know anything about fucking caring about other people?! ” Levi yelled so loudly his voice cracked.

“ And you would?! ” Zeke yelled even louder, pointing at Erwin, “You promised you were going to be with him! And then what did you do? You ended up getting fucked by me! Good job caring about him! ”

“Zeke, don’t drag me into this!” Erwin joined in the shouting match, finally looking up from the floor, “Not five minutes ago you were gloating about how Levi came crawling back to you! Don’t pretend we’re on the same fucking side!”

“We are on the same fucking side, dipshit! He used us! He’s the one who messed with our heads! And now what? He finds out the same thing’s been happening to him, and he thinks that he’s the only one who deserves an apology?! Fuck that!” Zeke explained loudly.

Hanji tried hard to hold back from scolding Zeke. He wasn’t entirely wrong. Everyone owed each other a whole slew of apologies, not just to Levi. The thing that was bothering Hanji was Zeke’s proclamation that he had been ‘used’ and ‘messed with’. When Levi and Zeke had first gotten together, Zeke knew that Levi was fucking around with Erwin, but he hadn’t seemed bothered by it! And when Levi had sex with Erwin and then went back to Zeke, it sounded as if Levi had explained everything to him before they slept together. So... why was Zeke so upset? He was happy just a few minutes ago - ecstatic, in fact - so why the change all of a sudden?

“Just... don’t drag me into this,” Erwin repeated, going back to staring at the floor determinedly.

“Fine. If you want to let Levi walk all over you, then that’s your own fucking problem. But I’m going to stand up for myself. I’m not going to sit here and let him accuse me of doing the same fucking things that he’s been doing!” Zeke shouted, practically gasping for breath once he had finished.

“Fuck you, Zeke! I don’t have to explain this to any of you! ” Levi thundered, “I’m fucking leaving!” He turned sharply and walked out of the bedroom. Hanji, suddenly able to find their strength again, shot up and bolted after him. Nothing would get resolved if Levi just avoided the problem. And obviously nothing was going to get resolved if they just continued yelling at each other. They needed to have a proper discussion about this.

“Levi! Wait! Can we just sort this out?!” Hanji called after him. Levi whipped around, a cold look on his face.

“I can’t believe you let this happen!” he growled before turning around again. Hanji took a deep breath, struggling to find words. Levi was completely right. They shouldn’t have let this happen! They shouldn’t have agreed to this in the first place! It was all their fault.

“Don’t blame Hanji! They wanted to end it, but I wouldn’t let them!” Zeke yelled as both he and Erwin exited the bedroom. Levi stared at everyone furiously before he let out a sadistic laugh.

“Well, what’s done is done, right? I’m glad you had a laugh at my expense!”

“Oh, go cry somewhere else, would you?!” Zeke snapped, Hanji shooting him a scornful look.

“No, Zeke ,” the way Levi said Zeke’s name made Hanji visibly shudder, “I’m not going to cry! I’m not going to cry over a bunch of dicks who pretended to care about me for some dumb fucking experiment! Actually, I might celebrate! Because at least now I know that I have a bunch of cruel, pathetic, and fucking repulsive people as my friends ,” Levi shouted before he whipped around and walked out of the dorm, slamming the door so hard that the hallway shook.

It was silent after that, and Hanji actually welcomed the silence. Beyond his fury, Hanji had seen the hurt look in Levi’s eyes when he left. It was heart-wrenching, and it made Hanji incredibly upset. Everything between the four of them was falling apart. And if Levi was giving up, then what would happen? Could their friendships really be destroyed?

“Well, thanks for the fucking help in there, Erwin! Really appreciate it!” Zeke turned on Erwin sarcastically.

Oh fuck .

“You were doing fine making Levi hate you on your own. You didn’t need my help!” Erwin retorted as he crossed his arms and faced Zeke. Hanji groaned quietly in frustration and rubbed their forehead. Another fight. Just what they needed.

“Oh what’s this? Are you still holding out for Levi?” Zeke glared; Erwin rolling his eyes in response.

“Don’t be fucking stupid,” Erwin growled. Zeke snorted.

“Well, that’s what it looks like! What?! When Levi comes back, are you going to have him sit on your lap, so you can rub his fucking back and tell him how sorry you are?! Is that your plan, Erwin?! Pathetic.”

“Just because I didn’t want to yell like a fucking lunatic and make everything worse doesn’t mean that I want to get back with him! Because honestly, Zeke, you can fucking have him!”

“Oh really? Well, thanks for your approval, but I’m sorry to tell you - that doesn’t fucking matter! Levi’s going to end up being with me no matter what! Why the fuck would he even consider choosing someone like you?!”

“Someone like me?!” Erwin challenged as he took a step closer to Zeke.

Hanji cleared their throat, stepping towards the two of them cautiously as they tried, “Come on guys! Do you really think it’s the time to-”

“Fuck off, Hanji!” Zeke said before turning to Erwin, “Yeah, someone like you! Someone weak and naive; you let people walk all over you!”

“I’m not weak!” Erwin thundered, taking another step closer to Zeke, “You’re just mad because I wouldn’t side with you and yell at Levi! Fuck, Zeke, you haven’t spoken to me normally since the start of this fucking bet, and you just thought I’d drop all that and side with you?! After all of that?! And especially after you just got done teasing me about how Levi came and slept with you right after me?! No. I wasn’t going to agree with you just because you decided that you wanted me on your side! How’s that for letting people walk all over me?!”

“You’re a fucking idiot!” Zeke seethed, “You think that you’re all tough, but you’re not! You’re still the same thing to Levi that you have been from the beginning: a fucking study buddy.”

“And you’re just a shallow, temperamental idiot who makes everyone else feel terrible just so you don’t have to deal with your own issues! You’re fucking insecure and pitiful - I fucking feel bad for you!”

“Get the fuck away from me, you son of a bitch!”

“Well, then maybe you should shut the fuck up for five minutes! Nobody wants to hear you talk anyways!” Erwin yelled.

Everything that happened next went by so quickly. Hanji was watching the two of them throw more insults at each other one second, and then watched Zeke throwing a punch the next. He had his fist raised high, took a step forward, and brought his fist down to punch Erwin in the face. Erwin was caught off guard at first, but ducked the punch, shoving Zeke back hard. Zeke stumbled a little before charging at Erwin once more, letting his fist fly a second time. This time it connected with Erwin’s face, and Erwin cried out in pain as he fell to the ground from the punch, slamming his head hard against the wall with a smack .

Hanji’s eyes widened as the realization of what had just happened dawned on them. Their body filled with panic as they heard the sound of Erwin’s head hitting the wall. Their heart began pounding loudly in their chest as they moved in Erwin’s direction to help him, but quickly froze when a strangled cry escaped Zeke’s mouth, echoing in the hallway.

“ Erwin! Fuck!” Zeke had reached Erwin before Hanji even had the chance to step forward.

“Are you okay?! Shit ,” Zeke asked, watching in terror as some blood began to leak from Erwin’s nose due to his punch. He quickly tangled his fingers in Erwin’s hair and began to search for injury, looking mortified at what he had done.

“I-I’m okay,” Erwin said quietly, looking a little shell shocked from what had just happened, “I think there might be a bump there later, but I’m fine.”

“Oh my god. I’m so fucking sorry. Does it hurt?” Zeke inquired, biting his lip as he saw Erwin’s bloody nose, “ Oh my god , you’re bleeding. Oh fuck.”

“I-I’m fine, Zeke,” Erwin insisted, “My head just aches a little. It’s like... a throbbing pain.”

“I should get some ice and tissues,” Zeke stated strongly, standing up and hurrying down the hall into the kitchen. He returned moments later with a bag of ice and a box of tissues, kneeling down next to Erwin. Hanji was just staring in awkward curiosity, having to close their mouth, as it had apparently been open that entire time without them even realizing it.

“You don’t have to do all this, Zeke,” Erwin said.

“I fucking punched you, Erwin! Now I’ve got to be your nurse. And don’t you dare start fantasizing about me in a nurse’s outfit,” Zeke grinned a bit as he held some tissue to Erwin’s nose, starting to clean up the blood. Erwin cracked a small smile.

“ You’re my nurse?! Who’s getting punished here, you or me?”

“Probably me. Again, you’re the one who gets to fantasize about my body,” Zeke quipped.

“Oh yeah, I do that all the time,” Erwin rolled his eyes, Zeke placing the ice pack on his head and holding it where his head had hit the wall.

“You don’t think you have a concussion, do you?” Zeke asked, concern clear in his eyes.

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Damn. I’ll have to try harder next time,” Zeke smiled and Erwin laughed at his joke. Hanji was stunned. After everything that had happened between the two of them - all the insults and the dirty looks and fists thrown - that was all it took?! Erwin had gotten hurt, and now they were just friends again?! Just like that?!

“Come on, let’s go to the living room. You can sit on the couch,” Zeke said as he carefully helped Erwin off the floor, wrapping an arm around him gently as he led him into the living room. Then, Hanji realized, of course it was one little moment that had brought them together again! Because their friendship had always been like that; their friendship had always been simple . There was no trying to pull them together; they just came together on their own. No matter the circumstances.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hanji walked down the hall towards Levi’s room. Hanji had offered to sleep on the couch while Erwin and Zeke took the spare room so that Levi could be in his room by himself. Hanji had waited all day to finally go talk to him, giving him time to calm down a little. Hanji knew that Levi was probably still pissed at them, but probably not as pissed as he was at Erwin or Zeke. They figured they might be the best person to try and get through to Levi. Hanji knocked on the door cautiously, listening to see if they could hear anything. There was a slight crashing noise and the sound of stumbling footsteps before the door opened, revealing a very red-faced and drunken Levi. He smelled heavily of whiskey, and Hanji could see a half-empty bottle in his left hand. Levi frowned when he saw who it was.

“Go away,” he slurred, going to shut the door.

Hanji quickly stuck their foot in the door and pushed it open, asking, “Oh my god, Levi. How drunk are you?”

Levi glared up at them as Hanji gently pushed their way into his room, grumbling, “What the hell do you want?”

Hanji shut the door and held Levi’s shoulders gently to stop him from swaying, suggesting, “Maybe you should sit down.”

They gently began to lead him to his bed, but Levi shook their grasp and pointed a finger at Hanji, “Hey! I’m still angry at you!”

Hanji sighed, “That’s okay. I deserve it. Just sit down before you hurt yourself.”

Levi huffed in irritation before sitting on his bed, still swaying slightly in his drunken state. Hanji sat in a chair across from him, placing a hand on his knee comfortingly and asking, “Are you okay?”

“Fuck you,” Levi slurred, still gripping the whiskey bottle in his hand, “And fuck them.”

Hanji assumed ‘them’ meant Erwin and Zeke. They took a deep breath and nodded, “I know. It was a bad... a horrible idea. I tried to get them to end it, but I’m sorry I let it happen in the first place. I was a terrible friend, and I’m sorry for that.”

Hanji stayed silent after that, looking down at the floor in guilt. They felt Levi’s hand softly touch theirs, and they looked up to see Levi, his eyes watery and wet. Hanji’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, and they quickly took Levi’s hand, squeezing it encouragingly. He squeezed back.

“I can’t forgive you yet,” Levi whispered, “But I appreciate you coming here.”

Hanji smiled at him sadly and nodded in understanding, figuring that was probably the best they could ask for, especially since Levi was drunk. Levi went to set the whiskey bottle on his bedside table, but missed, the bottle falling and shattering on the floor. Levi froze and stared at the broken glass.

“I broke it...” he said in a small voice.

“It’s okay Levi. I’ll clean it up,” Hanji reassured him.

“I broke it,” he repeated, a tear rolling down his face, “I fucking broke it!”

Hanji’s eyes widened slightly, and they quickly moved to sit next to him on the bed, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and rubbing his arm gently. They knew that he was only having this reaction because he was drunk, but some of these feelings must have been real regardless.

“Levi, it’s just a bottle,” Hanji said carefully, not wanting to upset him further.

“I break everything,” he whimpered, “Zeke and Erwin hate each other, and it’s my fault. I had sex with both of them.”

“Levi, it’s going to be okay,” they assured him, gripping his arm a little tighter, “Maybe you should lie down.”

“They hate me! And it’s my fucking fault! I shouldn’t have slept with them,” Levi rambled, clenching his fists and sniffing loudly as another tear escaped his eyes, “I wanted to be there for both of them, but I couldn’t! And I wanted it to; I wanted to sleep with them! But I shouldn’t have! Erwin’s never going to trust me again, and Zeke hates me!”

“Levi, listen to me. No one hates you. This will all work out!” Hanji said.

“No it won’t!” Levi shook his head, his face now red from tears, “They hate me! And they lied to me too! I thought he loved me... I thought they both might have, but they were just pretending. And... and...”

“Levi, everything’s going to be okay. I’ll talk to them. You just get some rest,” Hanji whispered, helping Levi lay back in his bed and covering him up with his bedsheets. Levi didn’t protest, looking exhausted as he snuggled under the covers and wiped his tears away.

“Good night, Levi,” Hanji said, walking over to clean up the broken glass still on the floor.

Levi’s vision was blurring in and out of focus as he watched the distorted figure of Hanji start picking up broken glass. He sadly rubbed his head and mumbled a ‘thank you’ to Hanji as his eyelids began to protest them being open.

“ I love him ,” he slurred before he fell asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Erwin could feel the anxiety gnawing away at his stomach as he sat in the living room, trying to read an assignment for class. Levi was on his mind, as usual. He, of course, felt bad about the bet, but what was bugging him worse was why Levi had gone to sleep with Zeke immediately after him. His initial reaction was shock and anger, but it had subsided to become heartbreak and insecurity at this point. He put the book down, unable to focus, and picked up his phone, scrolling through his contacts and dialing his close childhood friend, Mike, hoping he might have some advice for him. He was truly desperate, and knew Mike was the type of person who could tell him straightforward if he was being stupid or not.

After a few rings, Mike picked up, “Erwin?”

“Mike,” Erwin sighed in some relief, sitting up a little, “How have you been?”

“Fine,” Mike answered shortly. He wasn’t really one for small talk anyways, and he quickly caught on that Erwin wasn’t looking for just any conversation, “What do you need?”

“I... I’m...” Erwin sighed heavily, not knowing where to start, “It’s Levi.”

Erwin had told Mike about his feelings for the shorter man, but this was long before the bet, when it was just a mere crush and an afterthought to Erwin’s heavy work load for school.

“What happened with Levi?” Mike asked, sounding at least somewhat curious.

Erwin began to explain everything, including the bet. Mike listened attentively, not interrupting even when the story got to its most intense parts. Erwin finished his tale, sucking in a deep breath once he was done.

“Well?” he asked when Mike didn’t have an immediate response. He must’ve been taking it all in, thinking of what to respond with.

“Well,” Mike started, “I guess it depends on how willing you are to forgive him for sleeping with Zeke.”

“I just feel like I must not be good enough for him,” Erwin explained, his voice cracking a little as he said so, “If he went and slept with Zeke right away, am I... was I really that bad in bed?”

Mike couldn’t help but chuckle a little at Erwin’s concern, “I’m sure you did fine. You said Zeke said that to you, right? He’s just trying to put doubts in your head. If you weren’t enough for Levi, why would he keep coming back to you? He’d have left you for Zeke by now.”

Mike had a point. But Erwin still wasn’t sure if he was ready to forgive Levi for what he’d done. Would he ever be ready to forgive him for doing something like that? But he also thought about the bet, and how he owed Levi an apology as well.

“I guess you’re right...” Erwin sighed.

“I know,” Mike said, “So what are you going to do then?”

“I don’t know,” Erwin bit his lip, “I know I owe him an apology... but I-”

Just as he was saying this, Levi entered the living room, and Erwin immediately shut his mouth, looking up at Levi in some surprise. Levi was clearly looking for him, as he stopped when he saw Erwin was on the phone.

“Mike? I have to go,” Erwin said quickly, “Thanks for the help.”

“Sure,” Mike replied, “Talk to you later.”

“Bye,” Erwin hung up the phone, turning to look at Levi, who had begun to walk towards him again after he ended his phone call.

“Erwin,” Levi muttered as he walked up to Erwin, “Can we talk?”

Erwin looked up and sighed heavily, nodding a little as he motioned for Levi to sit down next to him. He needed to know why Levi had done this to him, and he needed to apologize for the bet. After all they’d been through together, he at least owed Levi that much.

Levi sat down next to him and said quietly, “So... um...”

He appeared to not know where to even start, but Erwin knew exactly what he wanted to say.

“I’m still pissed at you,” Erwin blurted, swallowing heavily after he’d said it.

What a great way to start a conversation , he thought, cursing himself angrily.

“I know,” Levi replied, “I came to apologize to you. I’m so sorry, Erwin. I shouldn’t have slept with Zeke right after you.”

“Why did you?” Erwin asked defensively, needing to know, “Was I really that bad?”

A blush rose on Levi’s cheeks as he looked up at him in some surprise at his question, and he shook his head quickly, “No! You weren’t- it’s not about that. You were perfect . I just... Zeke and I... he got in my head. I didn’t go to him intending for that to happen.”

Erwin nodded slowly, taking the statement in. He was regretting beating himself up all week over thinking he was bad at sex or just not good enough for Levi. He knew that Zeke had his way of manipulating Levi, and wasn’t really all that surprised that Levi had given in to Zeke’s advances.

“I’m sorry too,” Erwin said after a moment of silence, “We shouldn’t have... the whole bet idea was stupid.”

“Yeah, well it’s over, right?”

“Yeah, it’s over,” he said quietly, watching Levi nod and scratch the side of his nose. Eyebrows furrowed, Erwin stared at the floor and bit the inside of his mouth. He had to let Levi know that he still had feelings for him, and he had to put himself out there, even if he didn’t want to.

“Look, Levi... nobody faked anything with you. Everything that happened... everything that happened between us - it was real. At least it was on my end,” Erwin said shakily. Levi closed his eyes and nodded, and Erwin could’ve spotted his relief from a mile away.

“My end was real too,” Levi whispered, staring him in the eyes. At that moment, Erwin felt his heart rate accelerate dramatically.

“Good,” Erwin whispered back. Levi couldn’t help but smile a little, and Erwin return the gesture, getting a familiar jolt in his stomach.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Zeke,” Levi knocked on his door for a fifth time, “I know you’re in there. Please let me talk to you.”

The door finally swung open and Zeke stood there, giving him a stony glare, “What do you want?”

Levi cleared his throat awkwardly before he asked, “Can we talk in your room?”

Zeke snorted and went to close the door, “No.”

Levi stuck his foot in the door and forced it back open, “ Please, Zeke.”

“No,” Zeke snapped, “If you’re so desperate, you can talk to me right here, in the hallway.”

Levi glanced down the hall towards the living room and kitchen, where he knew Erwin and Hanji were. He looked back up at Zeke before taking in a deep breath, “Fine. I just wanted to say that I’m sorry.”

Zeke stared at him with a bored expression, asking, “Is that it?”

Levi looked affronted, obviously having expected some form of apology in return. He couldn’t believe Zeke was being so standoffish when he’d been equally in the wrong in this situation.

“Yeah, well, don’t you have something to say?” Levi asked, annoyance clear in his voice.

Zeke shrugged and asked snidely, “Welcome back?”

Levi stared at him for a few seconds before he rolled his eyes and walked away, muttering under his breath. He supposed he should’ve expected this type of behavior from Zeke. So much for that .

Levi went to grab the doorknob to his bedroom, and was surprised when he was whipped around and brought into a tight hug by Zeke.

“I’m sorry,” Zeke whispered in Levi’s ear, using his right hand to tenderly stroke Levi’s hair. Levi didn’t understand what had caused this change of heart, but perhaps Zeke had finally come to his senses and realized he didn’t want to lose Levi. Maybe this meant he still wanted to fight for his love. Levi could almost feel the affection radiating off Zeke’s skin as he clung to him, his fingers still locked in Levi’s hair.

“It’s okay, Zeke,” Levi said, hugging him back. Eventually, the two parted and Zeke smiled at him before he walked back towards his room. Tomorrow, everything was going to change.

And Levi hoped that he was ready for it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Levi felt sick. He was running out of time. He knew he had kept the two men waiting too long already. But he was so confused and nauseous that he was tempted to ask Hanji to do it for him. But he knew that was a coward’s way to go. He had to deal with this problem head on, and there was no way out of this. He knew he’d have to let somebody down - one of his friends was going to end up loathing him, despising him, and that’s why he had waited until the last possible minute. Levi let his head fall into his hands as he sucked in a deep breath.

Erwin was wonderful. When Levi was with him, he was reminded of all the great times they’d shared over the past few weeks. When Levi was with him, he felt more alive and goofy and just genuinely happy . He liked it when Erwin put his head on his shoulder, and when Erwin smiled at him so tenderly, and when Erwin told him extremely cheesy dad jokes that would have Levi giggling and rolling his eyes, and even when they bickered about shit that didn’t matter.

But Zeke was wonderful too. There was always such a simple understanding between them - he didn’t have to try too hard to read what Zeke was thinking. Levi felt like he could be himself around him: he didn’t have to play himself up, he didn’t have to be perfect, and he didn’t have to show off. Zeke made him feel free and open and happy. Levi liked it when Zeke randomly kissed him, and when he would laugh at Levi’s jokes, and when he would start up an argument just for the fun of it, and when he would talk to Levi for hours - talk to him in a way that Levi knew that he was the only one to have seen Zeke so open and unguarded.

It was killing him that he had to choose, but Levi had already figured it out a while ago. He knew who he had to choose, but he was terrified of the consequences. Terrified for the sake of his friendships. He had to do it, though. And he had to do it now.

Practically shaking, Levi stood up and walked to the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zeke was looking out the windows of his bedroom; his eyes scanning the chaos of the busy university streets below. At least looking out the window was taking his mind off Levi for the moment. Despite the fact that Zeke wanted to be collected and calm when Levi came over to either accept or reject him, he was almost fucking trembling from nervousness.

He closed his eyes. Fuck it - whatever happened would happen. If Levi wanted to fuck off and be with Erwin, then good luck to him. If Levi wanted to be with Zeke, in a real relationship with him, then Zeke would welcome him. Either way, Levi’s decision was out of his control, and he knew stressing about it wouldn’t change the outcome.

The bedroom door behind him opened and closed. Swallowing thickly, Zeke turned around to see Levi standing against the bedroom door, biting his lip nervously. Zeke tried to will himself to relax, but his heart was pounding away in his chest. He was trying to prepare himself for whatever Levi was going to say.

“What do you want, Levi?” he asked impatiently, just wanting to get this over with, no matter the outcome.

He couldn’t even look Levi in the eye, and he crossed his arms over his chest defensively, as if to guard his still heavily beating heart.

“I want... I want to talk to  you,” he answered simply, going over to Zeke’s bed and sitting down.

Zeke snorted, rolling his eyes a little, “Well then talk. It’s something that you do with your mouth. You know, aside from that other thing you do with your mouth.”

Levi sighed loudly, “Zeke-”

“Just say it, Levi!”

“Fine, I’ll make this quick then,” Levi said in irritation, and Zeke’s heart dropped, “I want to choose Erwin.”

Zeke crossed his arms tighter around his chest, as if trying to protect himself from the blow that Levi had just dealt him. Everything around him felt like it was crashing down and shattering at his feet, and he wondered if Levi could tell how unstable he was.

“And what... you want my permission or something?!” Zeke asked in a weak voice. He had allowed himself to love Levi, allowed himself to need him, and now it was just supposed to be over? After all that, Levi still wanted Erwin? Maybe it was his own fault. Maybe he was just too much of an asshole; maybe he was unlovable.

“I just... I just want to know that things are going to be alright between us,” Levi said, his voice sounding almost apologetic. But that only make Zeke angrier. He didn’t need Levi’s pity; it made him feel pathetic.

“And what if I say no?!” Zeke shouted as he looked up at him furiously, “What if I say that I’m never going to talk to you again?! Would you still choose Erwin?!”

Zeke dropped his clenched fists to his sides, trying hard to control his ever-growing anger.

“I- what?! ” Levi furrowed his eyebrows, glaring a bit at Zeke.

“You heard me! Would you still choose Erwin?!”

“Zeke, you can’t honestly be thinking of ending our friendship over this!”

“Thanks for answering my question,” Zeke spat,” So you’re going to choose Erwin no matter what I think!”

“Zeke!”

“What the fuck are you doing here , Levi?!” Zeke growled violently. Zeke loved Levi to the point where he would have given him anything . And in return, Levi had come to gloat about choosing Erwin over him. Fuck Levi .

“I just wanted to make sure we were going to be okay!” Levi yelled.

“Well, we’re fucking not! ”

“You... You’re not going to end our friendship over this, are you?”

Zeke stared at him incredulously, “What the fuck do you think, Levi?! Of course not - Erwin’s not worth that much.”

“Zeke,” Levi tried to speak as calmly as he could, “I don’t want anything to... I just want us to be okay. Please just tell me that everything’s going to be okay.”

“Why are you choosing Erwin anyway?” Zeke asked bitterly.

“Zeke, what’s this got to do with anything?!”

“I just want to know why he’s going to be replacing me,” Zeke said, crossing his arms again.

Levi pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance, “Zeke, Erwin’s not going to replace you! He’s just... we’re just going to be together.”

“Just answer the question, Levi.”

“I-”

“Is he better at sex? Is that why you’re choosing him?!” Zeke interrupted angrily.

“Zeke-”

“Or do you like him because he’s easy to control?! That’s what really gets you off, doesn’t it?!”

“Zeke, I love him!” Levi finally admitted, looking at the floor.

Zeke’s heart nearly stopped beating in his chest. Levi loves Erwin?! Really? Zeke couldn’t even comprehend the words that had just left Levi’s mouth.

“You know what I think, Levi?” Zeke questioned, taking a step closer to him, “I think you’re a coward .”

“What?!” Levi blurted.

“You’re making the easy decision,” Zeke replied.

Levi stared at him in some disbelief before fury took over his face as he stuttered, “You... You think I’m making the easy decision?! Neither decision was easy! That’s why it took me so goddamn long to come tell you!”

“Oh, don’t give me that bullshit! You knew who you wanted to choose ages ago - you were just too afraid to face the consequences!”

“I didn’t want to hurt anyone!”

“ Shut the fuck up! ” Zeke yelled, “I’m fucking sick and tired of you making excuses about how you just want to make everyone happy! That’s the same pathetic excuse you used when you were going between me and Erwin like a slut!”

“I’m not a slut,” Levi growled dangerously, glaring at him, “And it’s not a pathetic excuse - it’s the truth! ”

“No, it’s not!”

“Then what is it, Zeke? Why was I cheating on you and Erwin?! Hmm?!” Levi challenged furiously.

Zeke bit the inside of his cheek, “Guilt.”

“Guilt?!”

“Yes, guilt,” Zeke said with crossed arms as he stepped closer to Levi yet again, “When Erwin was first coming on to you, you accepted it. But then when I started coming onto you, you knew you wanted me more than him. But you felt too guilty to leave him, so you went back and forth between us. And when I made you choose, you chose me. You chose me! And for the entire time that we were together, you felt guilty about letting Erwin down. So when the moment presented itself, you let him fuck you. You couldn’t resist his huge dick because you’re a desperate whore, apparently. Then, you felt guilty about cheating on me, so you came back to my room and I fucked you too. See, Levi?! Everything you’ve done has been about guilt!”

Levi was seething, looking like he was unable to even comprehend Zeke’s words.

“How long did it take you to come up with that stupid story, you manipulative fuck?!” Levi snapped angrily, taking a step towards Zeke.

“You know it’s the truth!” Zeke retorted, a small smirk appearing on his face as he was certain he was right, “Stop trying to pretend that’s not what’s been going on!”

“Zeke, you’re not going to manipulate me out of my decision!”

“Levi, you and I both know that I haven’t been able to manipulate anything you do for years ,” Zeke growled, “If you feel like you can be easily manipulated, then that must mean that I’m telling the truth!”

“You’re not! Look, I’m sorry if you can’t accept my decision, Zeke, but this is just how things are going to be!” Levi shouted.

“ You’re the one who can’t accept your decision! That’s why you came to ask for my permission!”

“I was just trying to be nice!”

“You were trying to get me to change your mind!” Zeke yelled, stepping closer to Levi as they were now mere inches apart from each other. He reached down and grasped Levi’s chin, tilting it up to look at him, “I could fucking kiss you right now, and I bet you wouldn’t try to stop me because you want me .”

Levi ripped his chin away from Zeke’s grasp, glaring up at him, “And what makes you so sure about that?!”

“Well, first off, you sucked my dick,” Zeke answered bluntly, causing Levi to blush in some embarrassment, “You wouldn’t have done that unless you felt something for me.”

“Zeke...”

“And secondly,” Zeke continued before Levi could get anything else out, “When we had sex, you came right after I told you that I loved you.”

Levi’s eyes widened a little in fear at what Zeke had said, and he immediately looked at the ground as he began to fiddle with the bottom of his shirt nervously.

“Zeke... I was already close,” Levi answered, his eyes still trained on the ground.

“My words brought you over the edge,” Zeke retorted in a quiet voice.

“Zeke, I was already close,” Levi repeated quietly, his voice practically shaking.

“ Levi ,” Zeke whispered, gripping Levi’s shoulders and watching Levi finally meet his gaze, “After I told you that, you practically kissed me to death before you came.”

“ Zeke- ”

“You want me, Levi. I can see it in your eyes. You want me ,” Zeke breathed, gripping Levi’s shoulders tightly. Levi continued to stare at him for a few more seconds before he dropped his head in his hands and sighed in defeat.

“Fuck,” he muttered, looking distraught as he ran his fingers through his hair, “ Why did you have to do that?! Why couldn’t you have just let me be with Erwin?! Why do you always have to do that?! Erwin and I were going to be together! We were going to be happy! We were... We...”

Zeke watched Levi practically shaking before him, though it wasn’t from anger anymore.

“You what?” Zeke asked quietly.

“You were wrong about me,” Levi replied, his lips shaking as he tried to hold back tears, “I wasn’t with Erwin because of guilt. I really liked him. And then you had to come around and fuck everything up. I tried to keep my relationship with Erwin going, but then you... I couldn’t keep away from you and...”

Zeke couldn’t breathe anymore. He could sense what Levi was going to say, and he couldn’t even prepare himself for it.

“What are you trying to say, Levi?” Zeke asked, desperate to know the answer.

“I love this between us,” Levi practically whispered, resurrecting the words that, between them, they both knew to mean “I love you”. Zeke let out a gasp of relief as the words washed over him.

“But I love Erwin too!” Levi tried to redeem himself, “I love him in a better... no, a safer way. I can control it. But when I’m with you, I...”

He trailed off, looking down at his feet as he sighed in frustration. But Zeke wasn’t paying attention to what Levi had said. He enveloped him in a tight, loving hug, reveling in their closeness. Levi was everything Zeke wanted. And now he was his . Zeke could feel the excitement radiating off him.

“So... you love me?” Zeke grinned, pulling away a little to look down at Levi.

Levi sighed a little, nodding, “Yeah, yeah. I love you.”

“Does this mean I can start calling you my baby?” Zeke teased a little.

“Shut up,” Levi grumbled, grabbing Zeke by the back of the head and tugging him close for a passionate kiss. Zeke smiled into the kiss and sighed happily once they pulled away, knowing that Levi was his.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Erwin had heard the entire exchange. He’d been out in the kitchen when he heard the two shouting at each other. He hadn’t meant to listen in, it was just difficult to not hear them. And then, of course, he’d become curious and snuck down the hallway to listen in.

Once he heard the sound of them kissing, he walked back to the kitchen and sat down, feeling completely numb. He didn’t know how to feel about what he’d just heard. Levi loved him, but he clearly loved Zeke more. He loved Levi too, and now he would have to try and get over that man. The man who he’d fallen for, who he didn’t think he could live without. He was now with Zeke, and Erwin couldn’t do anything to change his mind.

Suddenly, Zeke and Levi were walking towards him from the bedroom, giggling and teasing each other lovingly. Zeke had his arm draped over Levi’s shoulder, the two smiling as if they were annoying in love, which Erwin now knew they were. But the two stopped dead in their tracks when they noticed Erwin sitting there with a bitter and hurt look on his face. This was enough confirmation for the two of them to realize Erwin had heard their conversation.

“I’ll be in the living room,” Zeke said quietly, giving Erwin an almost sympathetic look as he walked out.

Levi was looking at him with discomfort and sadness, and Erwin wanted to smack the look off his face. He didn’t want pity from either of them. He stood up, preparing to go to his room, when Levi stopped him, standing in front of him and enveloping him in a gentle hug.

“I love you,” he whispered. Erwin’s eyes widened a little in surprise, but he knew that Levi didn’t mean he loved him in the same way that he loved Zeke, nor in the same way that Erwin loved Levi. But the words worked on him anyways, and he practically slumped into Levi’s embrace, hugging him tightly as he felt tears welling up in his eyes. He couldn’t be mad at him for making a decision. He knew that there was the possibility he’d get rejected, and though it stung and broke his heart, he knew he couldn’t be angry with Levi for finally making a choice.

“Please don’t hate me,” Levi whispered sadly, “I’m so sorry.”

Erwin shook his head in Levi’s shoulder, sniffling a little, “I’ll be okay.”

By the time he’d finished those words, Levi had walked away from him. He was gone, and there was nothing left. Even if he could go back and redo everything that had happened between them, he knew he couldn’t change the outcome. Levi would never love him as much as he loved Zeke.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zeke and Erwin began their work early the next morning; Erwin dusting while Zeke cleaned the floors. They had mainly worked in silence over the past hour, occasionally exchanging glances but nothing more. Zeke had taken charge, and Erwin submitted to him reluctantly, mainly for the sake of Hanji and Levi (mostly Levi).

As for whether this was helping them get along, Zeke didn’t think so. The silence between them obviously did nothing for their relationship, and Zeke was fine with keeping it that way for the moment. He flipped through the pages of a blank journal he found on Hanji’s desk (both Hanji and Levi were in class), and decided this was a well-deserved time for a break. He got up and picked up a pencil from Hanji’s desk, sitting himself in their chair and looking around for inspiration. His eyes settled on Erwin, who was busy dusting some bookshelves. Zeke grimaced at the thought of drawing his rival, but he didn’t have much else to draw anyways. He turned back to the paper and began to sketch, glancing up at Erwin every once in a while to make sure he got the shape of his body right.

Erwin looked over from what he was doing and frowned, “Hey, what are you doing?”

“Taking a break,” Zeke replied shortly, continuing to sketch, “Just keep doing what you’re doing.”

“That’s not fair,” Erwin argued, protesting as he put down the duster, “I’m taking a break too.”

Zeke rolled his eyes, sighing and starting to erase the lines he had drawn, “Fine, but you have to pose for me.”

Erwin furrowed his eyebrows, looking confused, “For what?”

“I’m trying to draw you,” Zeke replied, motioning to the chair in front of him, “Sit there and stay still.”

“Why me?” Erwin asked, still doing what Zeke said and going to sit in the chair anyways.

“Well, I don’t exactly have many options in here, now do I?” Zeke quipped, looking at how awkwardly Erwin was sitting in front of him. He looked uncomfortable and stiff, and Zeke let out a breath in exasperation, “Can you pose like a normal person?”

“How do you want me to pose?” Erwin asked, looking slightly irritated.

“I don’t know!” Zeke sighed, “You’re just so stiff and awkward. Just get more comfortable and pose however you want.”

Erwin took a second to think before he leaned back in the corner of the chair, pulling up one leg to rest over the armchair and resting his hand on the back of the chair. Zeke was a little surprised Erwin had chosen such a... well, he couldn’t think of any word other than sexy , pose. He couldn’t help but laugh a little. He did say to pose however Erwin wanted, so if this is what he got, then so be it.

“Damn Erwin,” he joked, starting to sketch again, “Didn’t know you had it in you.”

“What do you mean?” Erwin asked, trying not to move from his position.

“You literally chose the sexiest position you could,” Zeke chuckled, continuing to draw, “Not developing a crush on me, are you?”

Erwin shifted a little uncomfortably, rolling his eyes and laughing a little himself, “You wish.”

Zeke grinned. They hadn’t shared a laugh over anything in the past few weeks. It felt nice to share jokes with Erwin again. He continued to sketch, finished with the shape of the body and starting to work on the details. As he began to draw clothes on Erwin, a dirty thought popped into his mind.

He bit his lip, not looking up at Erwin as he continued to sketch, suggesting quietly, “You should take your shirt off.”

“I... what?!” Erwin exclaimed, some shock in his voice.

“Don’t be weird about it, it’ll just make the drawing look cooler,” Zeke explained, glancing up to see Erwin hesitate for a moment before he began unbuttoning his shirt. Zeke couldn’t help but stare at the chiseled chest that was revealed by the shedding of Erwin’s shirt, and he sucked in a deep breath as he began to sketch Erwin’s chest, feeling himself getting a little hot from doing so. He was surprised by himself, unsure of why he was finding Erwin so sexy all of a sudden. Maybe it was because he’d never seen him in this light before. He glanced up from the paper to see Erwin running a hand through his hair, and the way he was doing so made Zeke’s pants tighten a little. Damn , Zeke thought to himself, putting the pencil down and getting up. He needed to do something about this. He was getting more aroused by the second, and needed to get Erwin on board with his plans.

“Erwin?” he asked as he got up, walking over to him slowly.

Erwin stayed in the pose he’d been in, looking up at Zeke in curiosity, “Yes?”

“Have you and Levi done anything?” he asked cautiously, not wanting Erwin to think he was trying to start an argument. His intentions were far different from usual, and he needed to know the answer to this question first.

Erwin raised an eyebrow as he shook his head, rendered speechless by the question. He also appeared to be nervous by the question, hoping that Zeke wasn’t going to start anything with him.

Zeke smirked a little, ordering quietly, “Sit up.”

Erwin did as he was told, staring up at Zeke with a captivated look, as he was clearly trying to figure out just what Zeke was up to. Zeke climbed onto his lap and straddled him, hearing Erwin gasp in some surprise.

“W-What are you doing?” Erwin asked.

“Don’t you want to get some experience before you try to get with Levi?” Zeke inquired, putting his hands on Erwin’s shoulders.

Erwin’s eyes narrowed a little as he looked up at Zeke, truly confused as to what was going on, “What makes you think I don’t have experience?”

Zeke started laughing. Erwin was so clearly a virgin to him that it was almost sad. He grinned a bit, “Come on, Erwin. I know you’re a virgin.”

Erwin stared up at him for a moment before he grasped Zeke’s hips and ground up against his erection, causing Zeke to gasp in some surprise as he tried to suppress a groan. His eyes widened a little in some surprise as Erwin grasped his hair roughly and brought him down for a deep kiss, biting roughly on his lower lip before pulling away.

“ Actually , I do have experience,” Erwin murmured against his lips, “And I’m not a virgin.”

Zeke could feel his heart practically beating out of his chest at what had just happened. He was shocked. Clearly he’d read the situation wrong, or at least, he’d read Erwin wrong. He was looking down at Erwin skeptically, not sure whether to believe him or not.

“Prove it, then,” Zeke said, “I don’t believe you.”

Erwin appeared to be thinking things over, looking anywhere other than Zeke. He bit his lower lip in some thought before looking back up at Zeke and gripping his hips tighter. For the first time, Zeke felt Erwin’s own erection under his own, and blushed from the feeling.

“ Fine ,” Erwin smirked a bit, bringing his hips up to grind their erections together again. Zeke groaned quietly, tangling his fingers in Erwin’s hair as he moved back against him. That smirk scared him a little, and he wasn’t sure exactly what Erwin had in store for him, but he was starting to believe that perhaps Erwin had been telling the truth about having some experience.

Erwin leaned up to kiss him roughly, sucking on his lower lip and pushing his tongue past Zeke’s lips so that their tongues were moving against each other. Their lips vibrated as Zeke moaned into the kiss, feeling Erwin grinding up against him at a steady pace. His pants were getting tight, and he needed to get them off as soon as humanly possible.

“E-Erwin, can we... I want to move to the bed,” Zeke asked quietly, starting to unbutton his pants and taking them off.

Erwin nodded a little and Zeke got up, ready to move over to the bed when he felt Erwin grab him and pick him up, tossing him over his shoulder.

“Hey!” Zeke gasped in some protest, struggling a little in Erwin’s grip before he was tossed onto the bed, Erwin climbing on top of him and starting to grind their hips together, dropping his head to Zeke’s neck as he began to lick and suck at his neck. Zeke was trying to figure out how to take control of the situation, but he was so busy enjoying himself that the thought was starting to pass.

“Do you have any experience?” Erwin asked as he pulled away from Zeke’s neck, continuing to rock their erections against each other as his breathing picked up.

Zeke nodded a little, whimpering at the feeling as he bucked his hips to meet Erwin’s, “Y-Yeah. Fuck.”

“Show me,” Erwin pulled away, starting to undo his belt buckle and taking off his pants.

Zeke grinned. Finally, an opportunity to take control. He waited until Erwin had his pants off before he flipped them, settling himself between Erwin’s legs and starting to tug down Erwin’s underwear. He couldn’t help but stare at Erwin’s erection, now flush against his stomach.

“Jesus,” Zeke grumbled, “Of course you’re bigger than I am.”

Erwin couldn’t help but chuckle under his breath at the comment, “Just get on with it, will you?”

Zeke nodded and leaned down, taking Erwin’s length into his mouth and trying to fit as much into his mouth as physically possible. Erwin moaned a little and gripped Zeke’s blonde locks in his fingers. He sucked eagerly and felt Erwin buck his hips slightly, causing him to choke a little before he recovered and shot Erwin a glare.

“What? You can’t handle it?” Erwin teased.

Zeke continued to glare at him before he pulled away, “Of course I can. Do your worst.”

Erwin couldn’t help but grin mischievously, and Zeke put his erection back in his mouth, eyes still connected with Erwin’s. As soon as he’d done so, Erwin began thrusting into his mouth, Zeke groaning as he held his gag reflex back.

“Fuck, good boy,” Erwin growled, gripping Zeke’s hair harder. Zeke could feel himself blushing, not particularly fond of the nickname. He opened his mouth wider and breathed through his nose as Erwin continued to fuck into his mouth. After a good minute or two, Erwin pulled himself away, his breathing heavy.

“Take off your boxers and bend over,” Erwin ordered, and Zeke backed off Erwin’s dick, looking a little shocked at what Erwin was telling him. He narrowed his eyes, not entirely sure that he was ready to submit to Erwin like this. He didn’t mind the idea of being on the bottom, but submitting to Erwin was another thing.

That’s when Erwin, whose hand was still in Zeke’s hair, tugged Zeke forward harshly and growled in his face, “Do as you’re told.”

Zeke gasped in some surprise before staring into Erwin’s eyes, trying to figure out if this was a trick or not. After a moment, he started taking off his boxers and got on his knees and elbows, still feeling a little hesitant about the whole thing. He’d never bottomed before, and he wasn’t exactly thrilled about starting now. But he also wanted to get off, and if this was how it was going to happen, then perhaps he’d give it a try.

Erwin got up and went to Hanji’s bedside table, opening the bottom drawer and smirking when he found condoms and lube inside. Zeke watched, unsurprised that Hanji would be more prepared than the two of them were. Erwin climbed back on the bed and poured a considerable amount of lube on his fingers, pushing a finger in slowly so that Zeke could get used to the feeling. Zeke bit his lip hard. It was cold and searing, but he had to admit it felt good. He got used to the feeling and groaned when Erwin began to move his finger, adding a second one shortly after.

“Oh my god,” Zeke whined a little, gripping at the sheets.

“Do you believe me now?” Erwin smirked as he curled his fingers up, starting to pound his fingers against Zeke’s prostate roughly. He then added a third and continued what he had been doing.

“F-Fuck!” Zeke cried out, “Jesus- yes!”

“Good,” Erwin murmured, pulling them out and ripping a condom wrapper open. Zeke soon felt the latex at his entrance and sucked in a deep breath to prepare himself. Erwin pushed in slowly, groaning as he did so. Zeke gasped and gripped the sheets so hard his knuckles were turning white.

“Shit,” Erwin muttered, pushing himself as far in as he could until he was flush against Zeke’s ass, “You needed this.”

“What are you talking about?” Zeke groaned, whimpering as he felt Erwin start to move.

“You needed to get fucked like this,” Erwin growled, starting to pick up the pace, “Take your ego down a peg.”

“Oh g-god,” Zeke moaned, his breathing growing heavy as he felt Erwin slamming into him roughly. He buried his face into the crook of his elbow, erotics noises escaping his mouth as Erwin continued. He wanted to disagree with the man, but he couldn’t even form the words.

“You’re taking it so well,” Erwin said in a low voice, continuing to pound into him hard, “So submissive for me.”

Zeke could feel himself getting embarrassed, the tips of his ears turning red. But part of him didn’t particularly care. He was too busy enjoying the pleasure coursing through him with every thrust that Erwin was giving him. The feeling of his hole being filled by something so big was almost unbearable, but the pleasure was intense, and he wondered why he hadn’t let Erwin do this before.

“You like this? Hmm?” Erwin asked, grabbing Zeke by the hair and pulling his head back so that he couldn’t hide his moans in his elbow anymore.

“God, y-yes,” Zeke groaned, not caring how much he was giving in to this submissive role anymore. His brain was turning to mush from Erwin’s constant thrusts, and he was no longer embarrassed about being fucked by the blonde man.

“Good boy,” Erwin mumbled, angling himself and starting to hit Zeke’s prostate straight on. Zeke cried out, whimpering and grasping at the sheets desperately as he felt himself starting to lose control. Arousal was pulsing through his body intensely, and he knew he couldn’t hold on much longer. Erwin’s fingers were digging into his sides, and Zeke whimpered as he felt his orgasm rising in his stomach.

“You’re such a good boy, Zeke,” Erwin repeated, running his fingers through his hair sensually, “So gorgeous getting fucked by me. Can you do something for me, baby?”

Zeke could feel himself blushing from the nickname, his chest swelling with pride from the compliment. He couldn’t help but enjoy the words Erwin was saying to him, and he nodded a little, mostly curious as to what Erwin wanted from him.

Erwin stopped thrusting and pulled out most of the way, running his fingers over Zeke’s ass and requesting quietly, “Fuck yourself on me.”

Zeke whined from the loss of contact, and quickly made work of thrusting himself back on Erwin’s dick, causing both of them to moan. He pushed back as quickly as he could, feeling the arousal in his stomach growing closer and closer to climax.

“E-Erwin, I-” Zeke groaned, “I’m so close.”

“Not yet, baby,” Erwin murmured, running his hand over Zeke’s ass before smacking it lightly, “I’m not done with you.”

“Sh-Shit,” Zeke whimpered, his legs starting to shake as he continued to push back against Erwin.

“You want me to start fucking you again, hmm?” Erwin asked, holding Zeke back from fucking himself this time with his hands.

Zeke could feel himself getting desperate, his shame starting to subside as he moaned, “Y-Yes please. God, I want it so bad.”

He could hear Erwin chuckle under his breath, and if he wasn’t so stupidly desperate for dick at the moment, he probably would’ve turned around and smacked him for laughing. He felt Erwin pump into him at a slow, agonizing pace, and it was killing him.

“E-Erwin, you fucking tease,” he whined, “ Please - go faster, I need- ah! ”

He cried out as Erwin gripped his hips tight and started fucking into him as fast and as hard as he could, the sound of their skin slapping against each other echoing throughout the room.

“Let me hear you, baby,” Erwin whispered huskily, “I want to hear how much you love this when you cum, okay? Can you do that for me?”

Zeke nodded, practically mewling from the pleasure he felt as he was jutted against the mattress. He was panting hard, his orgasm growing close. He could feel it coming over the horizon, but he knew he still had to do what Erwin asked of him.

“I-I love it- ah fuck - Erwin, please-” he managed to get out as Erwin began slamming into his prostate, “Fuck me! Oh god- fuck me! I’m gonna cum!”

He was sure he probably looked like quite the sight at the moment: his sweat making his hair stick to his forehead, his glasses all fogged up, his eyes half-lidded, and his mouth hanging open as he panted. Erwin apparently agreed, groaning and continuing to fuck into him wildly, not bothering to let up.

“You’re gonna cum for me?” Erwin growled, gripping his hips tighter and fucking into him unrelentingly, “Cum for me, then.”

Zeke could feel the pleasure building, and squeezed his eyes shut. But Erwin clearly wasn’t done with him. The man gripped his hair and tugged his face up, sharing a bruising kiss with him before pulling away. Zeke opened his eyes to see the flush over the man’s face as he too was clearly getting close.

Erwin ordered, “Cum, now .”

With that, Zeke felt his orgasm wash over him, panting as Erwin continued to thrust into him as he chased his own orgasm. Zeke was listening to his breathing growing heavy, his groans becoming louder.

“Shit,” Erwin moaned, “You’re so fucking hot, cumming just from me fucking you. Jesus, Zeke. Who knew you could be such a good fuck? I should’ve bent you over a long fucking time ago.”

Zeke whined, his dick already starting to pulse as it fought to get hard again. His eyes were lulling into the back of his head, and he felt Erwin slam into him with a few more strangled thrusts before he finished, breathing hard and staying inside Zeke for a moment as he caught his breath. He pulled out slowly, and as soon as he did so, Zeke’s legs gave out. He collapsed onto the bed, still trying to catch his breath. Erwin soon lay next to him, also breathing heavily.

Maybe Hanji was right , Zeke thought to himself, Maybe we did just need some one-on-one time .

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