We split up when we're nearer the building, Levi insisting I go in through the front doors without offering any explanation other than telling me he'd meet me up in his room. He doesn't allow me to ask any questions, either, before he's pushing me in the direction of the door and disappearing from sight. I'm a little stunned at first, watching him vanish like that, but I waste no time getting back into the building and rushing up the stairs. It's as if I'm afraid that if I don't make it up there in time, he'll vanish completely.

He doesn't, of course, and when I push the door open he's already there waiting for me, perched in the still open window. His hair looks windblown and his wings are extended just a bit. I quickly shut and lock the door behind me, my eyes never leaving his face as he steps soundlessly into the room.

Levi isn't returning my gaze. He's looking around the room, walking along his untouched work desk and dragging his fingers along its wooden surface, leaving trails through the dust collected there over the years. He's opening the door to the bathroom and peering inside; moving to the dresser and opening the drawers, finding everything to be the exact same as it was before his last expedition. Everything except the bed, that is, which is untidy from my having slept in it recently, although accidentally.

He pulls a pair of sleepwear bottoms from one of the drawers, shakes them out a bit, and moves toward the bed where he shakes off the torn jacket and shirt and steps out of what's left of the other pants he'd already been wearing. While he redresses, I can only stare at his wings. In the growing light of the room, they're an absolute wonder - blacker than the night sky the stars cling to, darker than his hair, and despite being tucked neatly to his back, they're quite large.

"Does everyone get wings when they die?" I find myself whispering.

Levi turns, still half naked. "Don't know," he responds, equally as soft. "I'm the only dead person I've ever met."

I swallow hard and take a step toward him. "So...you are still...d-dead."

He nods, finally meeting my eyes. My breath hitches automatically, my teeth latch onto the inside of my lip. I inch toward him, wanting again to touch him and make sure he's real like all the contact on top of the wall wasn't enough.

As soon as I'm within reach, he's taking my hand and guiding me down onto the bed where we sit, both cross-legged and facing each other. I don't let go of his hand; he doesn't pull away, either.

"How long?" I finally ask to break the silence.

"How long for what?"

"How long can you stay?"

"I told you, Eren. As long as you're holding on, I won't disappear."

An unimaginable amount of hope fills my chest. If there was any possibility of me ever letting go before, it's gone now. Gone with the wind. He's here, and that's all I've wanted for years. If I'm the one with the power to keep him here, that's what I'll do.

A thought occurs to me.

"Do you want to stay?"

His gaze is steady. Even. Though there's a moment of silence, he isn't seeming to think about it. Just taking it all in like I am.

"Yes," he says finally. "You don't know how much I've been wishing I could touch you like this again." He squeezes my hand. "Been wanting to just reach out and..." His hand lifts, his knuckles brush over my flushed cheek. I swallow again.

"You said you've been here," I begin. He nods. "You've been around here...watching me?" Another nod. "So you've...you've seen everything." Yet another nod. "You saw me when I was drawing."

"Mhm."

"And when I was talking to Thomas."

"Yeah."

"And when Mikasa told me she was pregnant...and when she had Rory...and when I've gone to see them." More nods. "You've...seen...all my breakdowns..." My voice wavers. I feel his hand tighten.

"All of them." I detect a hint of regret in his voice.

"Oh hell..." I grumble, burying my face in my free hand. "You watched me throw every one of those stupid planes off the wall and heard me talk out loud like you could hear me..." I mutter, embarrassment bubbling up.

"Idiot," he mutters. "I did hear you."

"Oh god," I continue. "You must think I'm a lunatic."

"Not hardly," he says, voice suddenly soft. I can't help but look back up because of it, peeking cowardly through my fingers. "You've been having a rough time, sure. But you're not a lunatic."

I can't help but snort. "Rough time. Yeah, I guess you could say that..."

Levi says nothing. Our gazes hold steady with each other; eventually my hand falls from my face, the embarrassment fading away without a trace. We stay like this for a long few minutes. The sun continues to rise, chasing away the darkness little by little, and it reminds me of all the times I'd been up here before his death and the sky would become lighter and lighter, but he'd always send me out before I could see the sun come all the way up, always reminding me we couldn't be caught by anyone.

My eyes widen. "We have to go tell everyone," I say, suddenly eager. I'm already halfway off the bed when he tugs me back.

"We can't."

I frown at him. "Why not? They'll be happy to see you again."

"They won't be able to."

"Huh?"

"I'm still gone to them, Eren. Unlike you, they've made peace with my passing. They won't be able to see me. Or, rather...I'd fade into the background without making any impression. There's no point."

My throat is suddenly thick again and I relax back into my spot. "Oh," is all I can think to mumble, disappointed. "But...how do you know? How do you know any of this?"

"I just do."

I'm frowning again, unable to understand what he means. Still, there's no way I can really question him on that, so I don't.

"You just..." I lift a hand, slowly extend it toward him. When he doesn't stop me, I press my palm to the center of his bare chest. At first I'm afraid I won't feel it, if he's still technically 'gone', but I do. It's there, steady and strong, just as I'd always known. "You don't feel gone. You feel perfectly alive to me."

"It's because of you."

I can't help but roll my eyes. "Don't go getting all cheesy on me. It doesn't suit you."

And he rolls those smoldering gray eyes right back. "No, idiot," he mutters. Places one hand over mine on his chest and takes the other, cradles my own in it before pressing it against my own chest where I can feel my own heart, just like his. A strange kind of warmth radiates from my palms. And what's stranger - our hearts beat exactly in sync with each other. Ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump, like two drums keeping time.

"Whoa," I breathe.

"I'm literally here because of you, Eren."

He's right. I don't know how I know, but I do, and he's right. That must be how he knows these things - 'I just do.' My heart keeps his beating. My heart beats, so does his. My heart stops, so will his. I'm suddenly a bit dizzy...

"Lie down," he instructs suddenly, his eyes a bit narrower. I can't help but comply; this is all so overwhelming - his reappearance, how it's because of me, how he's alive because of me, but not really. On top of that, I'm exhausted. Still, I'm afraid to sleep. Afraid that I'll wake up and he'll be gone, that this will all have just been some ridiculous dream despite how, deep within my core, I know this is all completely real. That sick part of my mind can't believe it and never will; it's more potent than I'd like to admit.

I curl up on my left side without letting go of his hand; he watches me steadily, almost like he's considering something, before he finally lies down next to me. Though my eyelids are drooping, my brain trying to pull me under, I force them to stay open, to be able to look at him for as long as I can.

"Go to sleep, Eren," he mutters, clearly seeing right through me at what I'm trying to do.

I sigh, much too tired to argue. I take a small risk, finally letting my tired eyes shut and move toward him to rest my forehead against his chest. His skin is unbelievably warm and I wonder if he may have a fever until I remember...

It comes like a dagger being thrown and lodging itself right in my stomach, the memory of his death forcing its way forward - his last words; his tense, weak body; his heart thudding to a stop; his eyes losing their stoic luster; his skin losing color and his entire form going limp in my arms. I think he feels me tense, because he runs a hand through my hair and curls his fingers in it.

He's here. He's real. These are things I find I already have to constantly remind myself of. But I also know his death was real, the last several years since its occurrence are real. He says he wants to stay, says he won't disappear if I don't let him go - I've made it clear I can't, I won't - but does that really mean he can stay? Does he really belong here with me, even like this, with so much warmth and scars on his legs and giant wings sprouting out of his shoulder blades? It doesn't make any sense. No one, out of the thousands of others I'd known who died in the war, have ever come back.

Or...have they?

It hurts to think about. Still, something doesn't feel completely right about this. I need more reassurance.

I peel my eyes open one last time to find the room to be lighter; it's sunrise.

"Levi?" I whisper.

"Mm?"

"Is...it okay...if we stay like this? Is it okay if you stay with me?"

He doesn't answer right away, and I don't expect him to. Instead he moves to pull the sheets around me, leaving the duvet at the end of the bed, though I don't need them because he's plenty warm next to me. I feel him draw in a deep breath, hear him blow it out through his nose, long and slow.

"I broke my promise to stay once...I don't really want to do that again. It would be a shitty thing to do to you."

I find my arm, stretch it around his waist. "Good."

"Hmph. I told you to sleep."

A bit of joy bubbles in my chest at the sound of his hard yet quiet authoritative tone, reminding me of the way he always used to be and reassuring me that the person I fell in love with still exists.

* * *

Levi was tired. Exhausted, in fact, to the point where he felt he was about to pass out right where he was, shuffling his feet along the wooden floor toward his room. Even he, who only slept in three to four hour increments every twelve or so - provided he had the time to - would be on the verge of collapse after nearly three full days without rest. He didn't even bear the consciousness to wonder why his door was cracked a bit as he stumbled toward it, the soft orange light of a lit torch shining from the other side.

Groggily, he edged it open with his shoulder, a hand faintly gripping the frame to hold himself up. A tall, lean figure with disheveled hair stood near the window looking out, holding one curtain aside.

"Oi," Levi muttered, simply to catch his attention.

Eren turned, letting the shutter fall closed. As soon as he caught sight of the captain, he was striding quickly across the room to catch him before he collapsed altogether. Almost as soon as he'd let go of the doorframe, his body was tumbling forward, unable to even hold itself up any longer it was so drained of energy.

"Levi," the brunette murmured worriedly, instinctively holding him around the waist, Levi's face pressed into the taller's chest.

"'M so tired..." he grumbled. All of his weight pressed into Eren's frame at that point.

Eren spared one hand to push the door shut and lock it before he scooped his superior up into his arms, careful to hold him delicately, practically cradling the man to his torso. Levi didn't protest in the least; his long lashes fluttered as he just barely clung to consciousness.

The teen laid him across the bed, upright against the pillows. "You gotta get out of your clothes," he said, tugging a bit on Levi's jacket. The captain sighed heavily, letting the other coax it off of him, along with his cravat and shirt. Once he'd pulled his boots off, Eren gave up on attempting to coax him into more suitable sleepwear due to Levi's grumpy mutters.

"Eren," he muttered as the teen was working on putting the dirty clothes in the hamper, knowing that if Levi woke up to find a mess, he'd get an earful.

"Hmm?"

"C'mere..."

The younger turned to find Levi in the same position, half naked, an arm extended toward him. Butterflies awoke in Eren's stomach and he swallowed hard before crossing the room and crawling into the bed next to the man, who automatically curled into his side and made a pillow of his shoulder. Eren automatically curled his arms around him, pulling the covers up. He reached over to extinguish the torch and sunk down a bit.

"Hey," Levi muttered again.

"What?"

"Stay."

Eren couldn't help but grin a little. "Go to sleep."

"Hmph."

"You shouldn't have let yourself get so exhausted in the first place," he chastised softly.

"Shut up."

"It's not healthy," Eren continued. Levi only sighed. "Sleep."

"Sshhh..."

Eren chuckled and moved to press his nose into Levi's messy hair, taking the slight risk to press a soft kiss into it. It only seemed to relax the raven more and eventually his breathing deepened, evened out, and Eren knew he'd finally fallen asleep.

Eren himself stayed awake awhile longer, absently tracing circles and such into Levi's arm with the very tips of his fingers, all the while watching his face as he slept, so relaxed and lacking the hardened stoic mask, absent of the creases between his brows or on his forehead, of the slight downturn of the corners of his lips. Quiet. Peaceful. Handsome.

He appeared so much more vulnerable in his sleep, a side not even Eren saw often. His breath was soft, even, and deep; he seemed even younger than he generally appeared, with his hair unruly and fanned out over his forehead, a contrast to its usual organized array.

Eren couldn't help but smile a little at the wondrous, rare sight. He drank it in, let his eyes rove over Levi's face for a long while, committing it to memory and tucking it away for a rainy day. He didn't often catch Levi sleeping, especially not so soundly. If he was asleep, Eren generally was, too, or they weren't around each other. He'd woken up once or twice after sneaking up to Levi's room to find him having fallen asleep in his chair, right at his desk with his arms and legs crossed. Knowing it couldn't possibly be comfortable, he'd woken him up before taking a good look at his face. Other times, his features would be twisted up in discomfort as he was subconsciously trapped in a nightmare; more times than not, Eren would have to wake him to free him of it as much as he hated to do so. Levi got such little sleep already...

But that night was different, as the corporal was curled into his side so easily with such naked trust. It was humbling, to say the least; Eren felt honored to be the one he was as open as he was with. So often, he wore a hard, practiced mask of indifference and stoicism, hiding his pain and anger from anyone who wasn't looking and, more importantly, from anyone who was. And it was believable, and ridiculously so. Eren had seen the emotion he'd kept concealed away firsthand, and as much as he knew Levi detested breaking beyond that mask and showing what, in Levi's mind, was weakness, Eren was glad. If there was anything he truly understood, it was how holding back emotions until you broke was horrendously detrimental. Not even Levi, dubbed Humanity's Strongest by anyone who's heard his name, could handle so much.

And Eren loved him for it. Loved that, when he needed to be, he was strong. Supportive. Caring, though showing it in subtle ways. And loved that he had his moments of weakness, too. Loved that, out of everyone Eren had come across in his life, Levi was the most undeniably human because of it - past his shit jokes and tea addiction (little attributes Eren couldn't deny to himself he liked, too).

The brunette fell asleep with these things on his mind, drifting slowly into unconsciousness, the tiniest of smiles gracing his lips. That night, he'd truly fallen for the corporal.

~

Much to his surprise, he awoke before the raven as well. In his sleep, Levi had rolled away from him and was near the edge of the bed nearest the window on his left side, the sheets having ridden down past his waist to leave his torso completely bare. One arm was tucked between his head and the pillow, the other thrown carelessly over his stomach. Eren rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, ran a hand through his hair, and sat up with a sleepy sigh. He glanced back over at the other, could see his ribs expanding and contracting with his deep breathing, and smiled a little.

And then all the thoughts from the previous night rushed forward, snapping him to full consciousness and causing his cheeks to heat, his heart to pick up the pace a bit, and his stomach to flutter uncontrollably. He forced a swallow, his mouth and throat dry likely from having breathed through his mouth sometime during the night.

'Oh my god, I'm in love with him,' he thought.

Flustered, he pushed his hand through his thick chocolate locks once more and pushed the covers off of his legs, careful not to move them away from the other, and stood up. He needed to get out of there before he did something he'd regret or be embarrassed about later. Thankfully, it was still just before sunrise, the sky a soft blue-gray in the crack between the curtains, so he'd have enough time to sneak out before someone woke up and he was caught. He strode toward the door quickly and soundlessly, placed his hand on the knob, twisted...and couldn't help sparing one last glance at the still-sleeping man. A smile tugged again at the corners of his lips and he finally pushed himself to leave the room. He surveyed the hall, listening hard to make sure no one would round the corner or open a door across the room and see him sneaking around - normal routine. He tiptoed down and around to the stairs where he practically flew down into the basement as quietly as he could. As soon as he was at his cell, his hands clasped onto the cold metal bars as he sucked in a deep breath, trying to straighten his thoughts out and make sense of what the hell he was going to do about this...

Thanks for reading, and as always let me know what you think? :) (I also have another fic published called Be My Salvation if you're interested in checking that out!) :*♥