Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Hey, Petra!”

“Yes, Gunther?”  Petra replies sweetly, beckoning for Gunther to come into her office properly.

“I got a reassignment request from downstairs for you.  It was marked ‘urgent’ and it needs to be addressed by the big man himself.”  Gunther informs solemnly.

“Don’t tell me it’s that case again?”  Petra whines.

“I’m sorry to say that it is.”

“Oh man, the King is going to be so angry…”

“Better hop to it then.  The sooner you do it, the better.”

“Got it.  Thanks, Gunther.”  Petra sighs.

“You’re welcome.  Good luck.”  Gunther waves, taking his leave from Petra’s office.

“Thanks.  I need it.”

Petra pulls up the case on her tablet and pulls up the case data, scrolling down until she gets down to the list of qualified monsters to take on the reassignment.  Her eyes widen as she crosses off the names that have already attempted the case.

“Oh man, I’m so royally screwed…”  Petra whines, quickly straightening her outfit and spreading her wings.

With a simple gesture, the door to her office is open and she flies out, zipping down the long hall to the grand pair of double doors at the end.  She takes a steadying breath before knocking on and opening the ornate doors, revealing to her a grand and grim throne room, rich with reds and blacks.  Her eyes land on the pale figure at the far end of the room, his long and rich black cape only serving to make his pale skin and ivory horns stand out, even from across the room.  Petra approaches carefully, not catching his attention as he speaks in low and hushed tones with his advisor.  She stops before him, saluting and waiting quietly for his conversation with his advisor to come to a lull before speaking up.

“King Rivaille, sir?”  Petra squeaks timidly.

“Hmm, what is it, Petra?”  Rivaille purrs, giving his full attention to the smaller demon.

“You seem to be in a good mood today, sir…”

“I am.  Eld brought me the reports for the past week and the newbies are making good progress.  Soon they’ll be ready to finish their Shadowings and move onto actual assignments soon.  I’m quite pleased."

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I have a reassignment request for you that needs to be filled promptly.”

Rivaille’s slight smirk fades, making way for a furrowed brow and a frown.

“Case number and assigned monster?”

“The case is #3736523437, subject Eren Jaeger.  Assigned demon is currently Mikasa Ackerman, class 10A specialty doll demon.”

“Oh fuck, not this case again.  I though Mikasa was going to work out!  She’s one of my top agents, and she still couldn’t haunt this kid properly?”

“That appears to be the case, sir.  She’s been on this case for two weeks; I’m sure there is a perfectly good reason-”

“I’ve told you a thousand times, Petra, there are no good excuses.  If I wanted excuses, I’d let every demon that wanted a transfer write me a sob-story about why they can’t do their fucking job!  It’s faster to just reassign her anyway.  Do we have someone available that could use her haunting ability about now?”

“A teenager by the name of Dimo Reeves has proven to be willful and difficult for those assigned-”

“Put her on the Reeves case then.  She better scare the living shit out of this kid or I’m demoting her.  Do I make myself clear?”  Rivaille snaps.

“Crystal, sir.”  Petra replies.

“Who is available to assign to the Jaeger case that we haven’t assigned already?”

“Taking into account all of the monsters that have tried haunting this kid of the appropriate rank, there is only demon left that hasn’t taken a crack at his case yet.  I’m not sure they’ll take the case or not, though.”

“They’ll take the damn case whether they like it or not!”  Rivaille growls.

“But—”

“Spit it out, Petra!  Who is it?”  Rivaille yells.

“It’s you, sir!”

Her words echo in the oversized throne room, reverberating in the heavy silence.  Rivaille’s advisor starts laughing uncontrollably, even when the demon king sends zir a sharp glare.

“Hanji, you piece of shit, can it before I cut off your research funds!”

Hanji falls quiet in an instant, a small smile still lingering on zir lips as ze watches zir King intently to see what course of action he will take.

“You mean to tell me that there is no other demon available and qualified to deal with this stubborn child?”

“Y-yes, sir…”

Rivaille dry-washes his face in frustration, grumbling under his breath about being “too fucking busy for this shit…” while Petra waits anxiously for his ultimatum.

“Seems like I have to eat my words.  I’ll take the damn case.  When am I needed?”

“2100 hours tonight sir.”

“Fuck… Fine.  You are dismissed.”

Petra breathes a sigh of relief and flutters quickly toward the exit, but Rivaille’s booming voice stops her before she can leave.

“Petra?”

“Yes, King Rivaille, sir?”

“Take the rest of the day off.  Oluo can cover for you.”  Rivaille sighs.

“Are you sure—”

“Yes, you’ve dealt with my shit enough for one day.  Now hurry up and leave before I change my mind.”

“Yes, sir!  Thank you, King Rivaille, sir!”  Petra smiles, taking her leave with a shoo of the King’s hand.

“You really are just a big teddy bear, aren’t you, Rivaille?”  Hanji teases from zir sentinel beside Rivaille’s throne.

“Shut up, shitty glasses.  I’ve got work to do, and having a headache on top of it will only make it harder.  I’m putting shitty eyebrows in charge while I’m out, am I understood?”  Rivaille growls.

“Yep!”

“And get me this Jaeger kid’s case file.  I want it and your analysis on my desk by 2030 hours, or there will be severe consequences.”  Rivaille snaps.

“You got it!”

Rivaille sighs, standing from his throne, and with a snap of his fingers, he is gone, leaving only Hanji in the throne room to carry out the task that Rivaille has ordained.

Hanji is ready and waiting for Rivaille when he apparates into his office at exactly 2030, ready to go and looking irate.

“Hanji!”  Rivaille holds out his hand and Hanji hurries to hand him zir tablet with Case #3736523437’s data pulled up, as well as a profile analysis.

Rivaille scans the file quickly, trying to quickly sort and file away relevant information away into the back of his mind.

Case #3736523437

Name: Eren Jaeger

Sex: Male

Age: 11

Hair: Brown

Eyes: Green and Gold

Nationality: American

Rivaille skips down to Hanji’s analysis of Eren’s profile and picks up reading there.  He’d never admit it to zir, but he trusts Hanji’s conclusions on subjects over anyone else’s.  He’s seen zir in action, and knows exactly how well ze can read humans and demons alike.  In the hundreds of years he’s known zir, ze hasn’t been wrong once.

Hey, short stack, here’s what I’ve concluded on the bundle of joy that is Eren Jaeger!  He’s certainly an oddball, this one!  He’s never had an assignment last longer than two weeks since he turned eight years old.  On average, the demons that appear humanoid and/or male have lasted longer than the female or androgynous demons assigned to him thus far, but that is probably because they’re more stubborn.  His assignment turnaround is unnaturally fast, and has actually broken a record for number of reassignments!  This leads me to believe that there is something wrong with this kid rather than incompetence on our end.  His mother tucks him in at 2100 hours every night after singing him a lullaby.  There are few prominent hiding places in the room aside from under the bed, so I would recommend that you go early and hide promptly and wait for him to come to you.  The only other thing noted in his assignment reports is that he seems to be a light sleeper, so be sure to be as stealthy as possible!  Good luck and have fun on your assignment, short stack!!! :)  ~Hanji

“Is that it?”  Rivaille asks incredulously.

“I tried getting in contact with Mikasa and managed to ask her some questions about Eren, but she wouldn’t answer me until I said who had been assigned his case.  When I said it was you, she only smiled and said, ‘Good’ before taking off to go prepare for the Reeves case tonight.  I was going to try to find Annie, but I realized that I wouldn’t have enough time to finish this report and get it back to you in time, so I opted to be punctual.  I got the feeling from Mikasa that you wouldn’t need it anyway.  Besides, even you need a challenge every now and then, shorty!”

“I already let you get away with such casual language.  Call me shorty again.  I dare you.”  Rivaille growls.

“Okay, okay, your Kingliness, I get it!  Anywho, you should probably get going.  Clock’s a tickin’!”

“Shitty glasses…”  Rivaille grumbles, getting ready to apparate into Eren’s bedroom.

“Oh and Rivaille!”  Hanji calls out, breaking his concentration.

“What the fuck do you want, shitty glasses?”

“Bring me back some data, okay?”

Levi rolls his eyes and huffs.

“Let’s just get this over with.”

And with a snap of his fingers, he’s gone.

Rivaille finds himself in a little boy’s room, the walls a soft green color and covered in various drawings, mostly in crayon or marker.  Rivaille quickly scans the room for possible hiding places, but when he hears footsteps on the creaky floorboards, he dives for the first possible hiding place available, which just so happens to be under the boy’s bed.

Hiding under the bed?  How fucking cliche.

“Now get into bed, Eren.  If you don’t, Mama won’t sing you a lullaby.” 

“I’m going!  I’m going!” 

Rivaille presses himself up against the wall to hide in the darkest shadows, biding his time for Eren’s mother to leave.

“Are you all snuggled up, Eren?”

“Yes, mama!”

The woman begins to sing a soft tune in German, and Rivaille listens quietly to the sound of her voice, feeling himself get a little bit sleepy from the soft tune.

Die Stühle liegen sehr eng

Wir reden die ganze Nacht lang

Dieser niedrige Raum ist nicht schlecht

Wir können uns gut verstehen

So ist es immer, unser Licht ist nur das

Trinken und singen wir, begrüßen morgen

So ist es immer, unter'm riesigen Himmel

Leben wir zusammen, die Nacht ist lang

Da die Sterne nicht leuchten

Kann der Mond auf diese Stadt nicht scheinen

Schauten wir das Licht selbst an

Singen wir unter dem Sternenmeer…

“Now go to sleep, baby.  I’ll see you in the morning, okay?”

“I love you, Mama!”

“I love you too, Eren.  Sleep well, sweetheart.”

The woman leaves the room a moment later, the door closing with a soft click and leaving the room in complete darkness.

Perfect.

Rivaille sits patiently, waiting a few minutes to make sure the mother is gone for good and that the boy is about to drift off to sleep before letting out a low growl, reveling in the way the vibrations spread through his chest and into the floor below him.  Above him, there is a sharp intake of breath.

That’s it…

Rivaille, snaking a hand around the edge of the bed, willing it to change shape to that of a wing, quickly brushing the cool feathers across the bottom of the boy’s foot before pulling the wing back under the bed.  The boy’s breathing quickens, and Levi smirks to himself, knowing that with a little more baiting and he’ll be able to scare the socks off this kid.

“Hey!”  Eren whispers.

Rivaille transforms his wing into a tentacle and is about to grab the boy’s ankle when the boy whispers something makes the blood freeze in his veins.

“Mika?  Is that you?”

Chapter Text

“What the fuck?”  Rivaille hisses, caught off guard.

“You said a naughty word!  Don’t let mama hear you, or you’ll be in big trouble!”  Eren gasps.

THAT’S THE LAST OF MY CONCERNS RIGHT NOW!

“I take it you’re not Mika, then?”  Eren pouts.

Rivaille stays quiet, letting Eren think that he left before suddenly grabbing Eren’s ankle with his tentacle.  Eren jumps in response, then falls into a fit of laughter.

“It’s so slimy!”  Eren giggles.

Rivaille releases his grasp on the boy in shock.

“Are you trying to scare me?  You must be new!  What’s your name?”

Rivaille grows several more tentacles, snaking up the sides of the bed and grabbing the boy from all sides and lifting him off the bed.  The boy only laughs harder, his body shaking with the force of his laughter.

“What do you know?”  Rivaille growls.

“Do you mean about the Haunters?  That’s what I call you guys.  And I like your deep voice; it’s super cool!”

“‘You guys???’”

“Yeah.  You and Mika and Sash and Conny and Bertle and Yumir and—”

“Just how many of us do you know?”

“All of you!  I know the names of every Haunter that visits me.  I asked the kids at school and they think ‘monsters under the bed’ are scary or fake, but I know that’s not true.  You guys are actually super, super nice!  It’s too bad they don’t stay long…  But I make a point to never forget a single Haunter that visits me because it would be so embarrassing if one day someone came back and I couldn’t remember their name!”

“I can’t believe this!”  Rivaille fumes, putting the boy back down.

“Believe what?”

“No one is supposed to know about this, about us!  And then there’s you, this kid who can recall the name of every single demon sent to visit you and isn’t scared by a single one of us!  I’m the Demon King, the King of Fright for fuck’s sake, and even I can’t scare you!”

“You’re the King?  That’s so awesome!”

Fuck.

“I can’t believe the King of the Haunters came to see me!  So what’s your name, your Highness?”

“I’m not going to tell you!”

“Well, you’ll be coming back tomorrow, right?  If you’re the King of Fright, then that means I’m really special right?  No one is higher ranked or cooler or smarter or faster than the King, so you gotta come back tomorrow!”

Rivaille opens his mouth to protest, but the kid’s argument is regrettably valid, leaving Rivaille with a rapidly beating heart and no response.

“King Rivaille.”

“King Levaii?”

“Rivaille.”  Levi corrects.

“Levai?”

“Rivaille.”

“Livai.”

“No, it’s—  Nevermind.”

No wonder he botched everyone else’s names.

“Help me fix it, I want to get it right!”  Eren demands.

“It’s Rivaille.”  Rivaille sighs.

“Levi?”

“You got it, brat.”  Rivaille relents, giving up on Eren ever getting his name right.

“I’m not a brat!  I have a name too, and my name is Eren.”  Eren huffs.

“Sure, brat.”  Rivaille rolls his eyes, even though Eren can’t see him.

“That’s not very nice!  Did you—?  Nevermind, I’m sure you did.”

“Did what?”  Rivaille asks, his curiosity getting the better of him.

“Did you have a bad day or something?  You’re awfully grumpy.”

“I’m always grumpy, kid.  Or at least that’s what people tell me.  It’s not a matter of having a bad day or not.”  Rivaille sighs.

“That doesn’t seem right, if you ask me.  You’re actually very nice!  Sure, you might be a little rough around the edges, but I can tell you’re actually a good person.  So maybe it’s because you’re stressed?  Is it because you can’t scare me?  I can pretend to be scared if you’d like.”  Eren genuinely offers.

Rivaille can’t help but laugh at the absurdity of Eren’s words, the low rumble of his laugh filling Eren with a pleasant feeling that kinda makes him want to hear Rivaille laugh again.

“You’re a funny one, brat.”  Rivaille compliments, reaching a tentacle up to ruffle the kid’s hair.

“Thanks, King Levi!  You’ve got a nice laugh.  I could listen to it all the time!”  Eren exclaims.

Rivaille’s heart picks up its pace suddenly, making its owner frown at the strange sensation.

“I’m sure you could, brat.  I should leave now; try and go to sleep okay?”

“You’ll come back tomorrow, right?”  Eren asks timidly.

I probably shouldn’t encourage him… but there’s no one else I can assign to him for now…  I guess that means I’ll be back tomorrow night.

“I’ll be back tomorrow, but only if you go to sleep now.”

“Okay!  Goodnight, King Levi!  I hope you have a better day tomorrow!”

“Thanks.  Goodnight, kid.”

Rivaille gets ready to apparate back home, but he hesitates, a weird pulling feeling in his chest begging him not to go.  He frowns, confused by this foreign feeling, but then brushes it aside, visualizing his bedroom in his mind and then disappearing in utter silence.

Even though Rivaille apparated into his personal quarters, Hanji is still there waiting for him when he arrives.

“So, how did it go?  I’m sure the kid was scared shitless!”

Rivaille doesn’t answer zir, instead taking off his cape and brushing past zir to go into his bathroom and splash some water onto his face. 

“You did scare him, right short-stack?”

“Not even a little.  I don’t get it.”  Rivaille murmurs, wiping off his face.

“What?  Even you couldn’t scare him?”

“Yeah.  I, uh—  He…  knows all about us.  It’s crazy.  Unheard of.”

“What?  Is he a threat?”  Hanji asks seriously.

“No, no, he’s not a threat, but he’s not… normal.”

“Not normal?  Tell me more!”  Hanji squeals.

“I didn’t get a chance to look at him, but I don’t think there are any physical abnormalities.  He’s just…  how do I describe it?  Optimistic.  Full of life.  He looks for the best in people, and I’ve never met someone like that before.  It’s strange.”  Rivaille admits, frowning.

“Are you going back tomorrow?”  Hanji asks quietly, zir emotion unreadable for once.

“Yeah.  There’s no one else at the moment, is there?  Besides, I’m curious.”

“Sounds good.  Just be careful, okay?  I assume you’re going to turn in for the night, so I’ll go ahead and leave now.  Keep me posted!”

Hanji leaves the room, waving as ze goes, leaving Rivaille alone with only his thoughts.

Chapter Text

The next night, Rivaille apparates into Eren’s room at 2045 hours, making a point to leave himself more time to scope out the room better.  The curtains are partially drawn, the moon shining through and leaving a small patch of light in the room but leaving the rest in utter darkness.  Even in the low light of the room, Rivaille can make out the drawings on Eren’s walls, and he steps closer to examine them.  The drawings lower on the wall are sloppy and rough, but higher up on the wall, the drawings get better, with clearer shapes and flowing lines and better techniques that create depth and add shadows.  The pieces are similar, all depicting monsters of various kinds, names scrawled carefully in their corners.  Rivaille focuses in on one of a medusa-like creature, with blonde hair and ice blue eyes, her beauty enchanting despite the terrible snakes in her hair. 

Annie?  This doesn’t look quite like her, but I can see the resemblance.  She must have described herself as a snake demon and this is what the kid came up with.  It suits her though.  The look in her eyes is the same, even if the body isn’t right.  She’s less like medusa and more half snake, half woman.  Regardless, it’s a good attempt—

The sound of approaching footsteps brings Rivaille out of his thoughts, and on gut instinct, he dives under Eren’s bed and hides in the shadows just in time for the door to the room to open.

“You’re ready awfully early tonight, Eren.”  Eren’s mom comments.

“I’m just really tired, Mama.”  Eren replies, crawling into bed.

“This morning, did you have trouble with—”

“Yeah, but I’m fine.  Just tired.”  Eren dismisses.

Eren’s mother sighs, sitting down on the edge of Eren’s bed and singing the lullaby from last night to Eren again before kissing him, turning out the light, and leaving.  The room is silent for several long beats, and Rivaille is preparing to create some distant howling noises to try to creep out the boy when he hears him sit up in bed.

“King Levi?  Are you there?”  Eren whispers loudly.

Rivaille sighs, giving up the ghost and replying back.

“I’m here.”

“Yay!  I was so excited to see you again tonight that I was thinking about you all day today!”

“Is that so?”  Rivaille asks slowly, perplexed by the slight heat in his cheeks.

“Yeah!  I have so many questions for you; is it okay if I ask you a couple?”

“I guess.  Don’t expect that I’ll answer them all though.”  Rivaille warns.

“Really?  Oh my goodness, thank you!”

Rivaille has to fight off the twitching of the corners of his lips as he waits for Eren to ask his first question.

“First things first: how was your day, your Majesty?”

He can ask me anything, and he chooses to ask me about my day?  What a strange human.

“Long.  Same old, same old.”

“What is it that you do in…  Where do you live?”

“The Shadowlands.  It’s not hell or anything like it, it’s a realm just for demons.”

“That’s such a cool name!  So, as King, what do you do in the Shadowlands?”

“I mainly delegate duties to other demons, settle disputes and the like.  It’s more or less what you’d expect any other King to do, but instead of governing people, I rule lower ranking demons.  They’re quite the unruly bunch, really."

“Unruly!”  Eren exclaims, laughing uproariously at Rivaille’s unwitting pun.

“It’s not even that funny…”  Rivaille grumbles, hiding a smile of his own.

“So, if you’re a King, do you have a Queen?”

The question, while perfectly reasonable, catches Rivaille a bit off guard.

“I have chosen not to take a Queen at this point in time, but I do have a number of advisors with which to consult if needed.”

"Is it lonely?”

“I’m surrounded by people almost constantly; I’m never alone.”  Rivaille grumbles.

“You can be surrounded by people and still feel alone.  I feel alone sometimes.  But not anymore, because now I have you!  You’re not going to leave me, right?  You’re the King, so you can stay as long as you want!”

Rivaille is stunned into a shocked silence, his mouth opening and closing as he tries to find the appropriate response to what Eren just said.

“That is… unless you don’t like spending time with me…  Are you going to leave me too?  Like ev-everyone else…”  Eren sniffles, his voice wavering as he teeters on the edge of crying.

Rivaille, the mighty Demon King of the Shadowlands, the Master of Fright, the Harbinger of Tears, feels something within his chest twinge, the unfamiliar feeling of guilt crushing him from all sides.  Wanting to make things right, Rivaille extends a feathered appendage around the edge of the bed, brushing his raven feathers against Eren’s hand in a gesture of comfort.

“I can’t promise you forever, but I’m not going anywhere any time soon, so stop jumping to conclusions, idiot.”

“O-okay…”  Eren sniffles.

Eren’s fingers hesitantly wrap around Rivaille’s feathers, being super gentle so as to not hurt Rivaille in any way. 

“King Levi?”

“Yes?”

“I know it’s kinda selfish of me, but…  could you please stay with me until I fall asleep?  It’s just—”

“You don’t have to explain yourself.  I’ll stay.”

Rivaille feels Eren’s grip relax a bit, relieved that Rivaille isn’t just going to leave just yet.

“Thank you, King Levi.”  Eren whispers, and before long, his grip relaxes completely and the sound of even breathing fills the room, signaling that he is sound asleep.

Rivaille carefully pulls his wing back under the bed, ready to apparate back home, but he feels rooted to the spot, unable to quite leave just yet.  He carefully comes out from underneath the bed, using the opportunity of Eren being asleep to get a good look at the kid.  What he finds is something that even his profile couldn’t prepare him for.

The kid has brown hair as expected, but it’s a warm chocolatey brown, shiny and soft looking.  His skin is a gorgeous caramel color, and there is a soft rosiness in the boy’s round cheeks.  Even closed, his eyes are big, with long eyelashes framing them.  His brow is relaxed, and his lips, a rosy pink color, are slightly parted as he takes long, slow breaths.  His pajama sleeves, a minty green that complements his skin tone nicely, are bunched up adorably, revealing his tiny hands and forearms covered with—

Are those bruises?

Anger boils inside Rivaille, and before he even realizes what he is doing, Rivaille is brushing his hand over the yellowing marks and they fade away in a matter of seconds, leaving only pristine skin in their wake.  Shocked at himself, Rivaille apparates away immediately, collapsing onto his own bed in the Shadowland castle.

What the fuck is happening to me?

Chapter Text

Hanji knocks on the door before entering Rivaille’s room, which ze never does, so Rivaille immediately knows something is up.

“I’m not in the mood for hearing about whatever the fuck you just discovered while you were playing around in the lab, Hanji.  Leave me the fuck alone.”  Levi growls, sinking lower into the warm water of his bath.

Hanji, being Hanji, comes into his room anyway and it doesn’t take long for zir to find him in the bathroom, soaking in the giant tub.  If it was anyone else, Rivaille would try to cover himself immediately, but he knows that Hanji has probably seen him nude thousands of times, so he just huffs and tries to ignore zir presence.

“I’m not here to talk about a recent discovery.  I’m here to talk to you.  Your advisory team, myself included, is concerned about you.”

“So I can’t show up late without you guys being ‘concerned?’  I’m not some Shadowling that needs to be supervised at all times; I’m the fucking King of this place!”

“You almost never show up late.  Ever.”

“So?  It’s not like anything important was scheduled for today.”

“Rivaille, that’s not the point.”

“Then what the fuck is the problem?”  Rivaille snaps.

“This is!  You’re not coming out of your room, you’re pouting, you’re snapping at me, and being a total asshole!  I know you often try to come off as a dick because you’re so ‘tough,’ but we both know that’s not really who you are!  The last time this happened was after Kuchel passed, so how about you stop acting like a petulant child and tell me what the fuck is wrong with you so I can help you, dammit!”  Hanji yells.

“I feel things for him, okay!?  Are you happy now?”  Rivaille snaps back.

The room falls quiet, tense as Rivaille tries to reign in his anger and process his outburst.

“I’m sorry; what?”

“I said I feel things for him.”  Rivaille says slowly.

“Feel things for who?”

“That kid.  That human.”

“You mean case subject #3736—”

“Yes, Eren.”

“Why do you think that?”  Hanji asks carefully.

“My chest feels fluttery when I’m around him, Hanji.  His laugh makes me smile, his compliments make me feel weird in a good way, his tears make me upset, his injuries make me angry—”

“Injuries?”

“Bruises on his forearms.  I healed them before I even realized what I was doing.”

“Rivaille!”

“I know, okay?  I know.”  Rivaille mumbles.

“Fucking hell…”  Hanji curses, dry-washing zir face.

“So what do I do?  You’re my advisor, you’re concerned about me, and clearly I am not thinking straight, so what do I do?  Tell me!”

“I don’t know, just…  Give me some time, let me do some research.  I’m sure that this isn’t the first time that this has happened.”  Hanji sighs.

“Fine, but what about tonight?”

“What about it?”

“I have to go back again.”

“Well, if you have to go, then go.  Just try not to do anything reckless like show yourself.”

“I’m not stupid, Hanji.  Have a little faith in me.”

“I do have faith if you, but people tend to do crazy things when they’re… like this.  Just keep that in mind, Rivaille.”

“Will do.  Now, if it’s all the same to you, I’d like to finish my soak in peace, please.”

“Of course.  I’ll be back to check on you later, your Highness.”  Hanji bows, leaving the room as swiftly as ze came.

Rivaille sighs, sinking further under the water, using a little magic to bring the cooling water back up to the desired temperature.

What has this kid done to me?

Chapter Text

Rivaille is reluctant to go back to Eren’s room that night, but since he told Eren he would be there, he persuades himself to return.  There’s a dark sense of foreboding settling in the pit of his stomach, but he brushes it off as anxiousness over his recent revelation regarding his feelings for Eren.  Taking some deep breaths, Rivaille takes his place under Eren’s bed moments before the door opens, bringing Eren’s small bare feet followed by his mother’s sensible brown leather shoes.  Eren climbs into bed quickly and his mom sings her lullaby, lingering a little longer than usual.

“I love you, baby.  I love you more than anything in the world and that fact will never change.  Never ever forget that, okay?”

“Okay.  I love you too, mama.”

“Fall asleep quickly.  I’ll see you in the morning.” 

Rivaille’s brow furrows while Eren’s mom kisses Eren on the forehead before quickly leaving.

“King Levi?”  Eren whispers as soon as his mom is gone.

“I’m here, kid.”

“Yay!  I like spending time with you like this.  How was your day today?”

“It was a long day…  I…  came across this problem, but I have no idea how to solve it.  It’s stressful, to be honest.”

“What’s the problem?  Maybe I can help!”

“It’s nothing that you could help with, I’m sure.”

“Well, if you’re sure…  But you can always tell me if you change your mind!  Though don’t let it get you down too much.  Being down doesn’t feel good.  I hope you feel better soon!”

Eren’s words are so reassuring that Rivaille doesn’t even bother to try to quash the feeling of warmth in his chest.  He was sick of worrying about what his feelings meant, so Eren’s simple wish for Rivaille’s personal happiness is enough for him to push aside his worry, if only for a little while.

“I’ll keep that in mind.  How was your day?”

“Oh, it was pretty good!  Thank you for asking!  Ms. Ilse, she’s my teacher, said that I did really well on my math test and since I usually don’t do very well in math—”

The sound of a door slamming somewhere else in the house cuts Eren off mid-sentence.  Eren and Rivaille listen intently, the jarring thump of footsteps causing their heart rates to pick up.

“He’s home.”  Eren gasps.

“‘He’s home?’  Who is he?”  Rivaille questions, worried.

Eren doesn’t respond, instead jumping out of bed and crawling underneath with Rivaille.

WHAT THE FUCK?  NO NO NO, THIS IS SO NOT HAPPENING RIGHT NOW!  WHAT IN THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON?

“Scoot over!”  Eren pleads, panicked, and Rivaille creates as much distance between him and Eren as he possibly can while he mentally freaks out.

The bedroom door slams open.  Rivaille can feel Eren shudder next to him, doing his best to not make a single sound as two heavy feet enter the room, an awful stench suffocating the entire room.  Despite his hundreds of questions, Rivaille senses Eren’s distress and keeps quiet.

“Where are you hiding, you little shit?  Are you under your bed again?”  A man’s voice menaces, and a large hand thrusts its way under the bed, groping around for something. 

The hand grabs ahold of Eren’s forearm, violently yanking him out from under the bed, and Eren barely misses hitting his head on the bed frame.  There is a loud smack and Eren cries out quietly, unable to keep himself silent.  Rivaille’s eyes widen as he puts two and two together, suddenly understanding the gravity of the situation.

“You better not start crying, you ungrateful little fuck!”

The man draws his hand back to hit Eren again, and Eren tenses to take the hit, but it never comes.  He opens his eyes to see his intoxicated father staring wide-eyed at the twelve foot demon holding his hand back, covered from head to toe in shiny ebony feathers, his eyes blood red and burning with rage.  Eren’s father screams in agony, the hand that was about to hit Eren now bent at a nauseating angle, and a split second later Eren is pulled from his father’s grasp and placed on his bed, the demon now standing between him and his father.  Eren can only watch in stunned silence as he watches the demon grab his father by the throat and lift him off the ground, bringing him up to the demon’s full height.

“Listen here, you insolent mortal.  If you dare to ever touch, scare or harm my Eren ever again, you will feel my wrath for all of eternity.  I will break all of your bones, I will bleed you dry, and I will inflict every torture that I so fancy for all eternity and I will enjoy. Every. Damn. Second.  Consider that the Demon King’s promise, you impudent piece of scum.  Now get out of my sight before I summon the hell hounds.  They’ve been looking for a new chew toy.”

The demon drops the man, who quickly gets up and runs from his room, the scent of his piss betraying his fear as he flees.  The demon closes the door and turns on Eren, taking in his shell-shocked appearance and eyes staring blankly in awe at the towering demon.  The demon’s form immediately starts to shift, shimmering and twisting and condensing into a humanoid form, the ebony feathers becoming a heavy cape covering porcelain skin, his harsh blood red eyes melting into narrow silver orbs, his ivory horns growing shorter and becoming framed by a jet-black undercut.  The demon approaches carefully, keeping a calculated distance from Eren, who still has yet to say anything.

“I’m sorry if I scared you…  Are you afraid of me now?”  Rivaille asks carefully, genuinely hoping for the first time in his life that someone is not afraid of him.

Rivaille is unable to make eye contact with Eren, so he stares down instead at the boy’s bare feet.  A drop splashes onto Eren’s foot and Rivaille’s head whips up, only to met with Eren’s eyes full of tears.  Fat droplets fall down Eren’s reddened cheek as his long lashes flutter up and down and Rivaille panics, afraid he’s traumatized Eren, that Eren might never want to see him ever again—

Eren throws himself at Rivaille, who catches him easily, sobbing into Rivaille’s neck and hugging him close.

“Eren?”  Rivaille breathes.

“Thank you.”  Eren whispers, hugging Rivaille tighter.

There are a million things that Rivaille wants to say to Eren, thousands of reassurances, sweet comforts, promises he probably shouldn’t even make but knows that he would damn well stop at nothing to keep if that meant Eren, precious, sweet, innocent Eren would be happy and safe from harm.

“I’m just glad you’re safe now.”

Rivaille holds Eren until he stops crying, running his fingers through Eren’s hair as his tears die down and his shuddering breaths grow steady once more.  Rivaille carefully sets Eren down upon his bed, carefully tucking him in under the covers where he belongs.  Eren holds tightly onto Rivaille’s cloak, not ready for Rivaille to leave just yet.

“Stay with me?”

“Of course.” 

Rivaille takes a seat on the edge of Eren’s bed, his hands taking one of Eren’s small hands into his own.  His hands dance gracefully across Eren’s skin, pausing briefly at the pulse point on Eren’s left wrist.  Rivaille brings his fingertips to his lips, then back to Eren’s pulse point, and where his fingers touch Eren’s skin, tiny violet heliotrope flowers bloom, dainty and full.  Eren’s eyes widen, entranced by the sight of the living mark on his skin.

“If you touch this mark to your skin, I will be able to hear you, wherever you are, and if you need me, I will be there.”

“Really?"

“I mean, if you don’t like it, I can remove it; I just thought—”

“I love it!”  Eren squeals, wrapping his arms around Rivaille’s neck again for a big hug.

Rivaille can feel his heart beating rapidly in his chest, surprised to be on the receiving end of such affection.  Eren, in his burst of joy, presses a kiss to Rivaille’s cheek before pulling back and getting comfortable in bed.  Rivaille’s breath catches and he stares transfixed at the angel of a boy next to him, utterly under the Eren’s spell.

“This means so much to me!  This has to be the best day of my life!”  Eren announces, smiling from ear-to-ear and radiating pure happiness.

Rivaille feels a sharp tug in his chest, giving a small smile back, taking Eren’s hand in his own once more, never wanting to let go of this precious bundle of joy.

“I’m glad, but you need to get some sleep, otherwise you’ll be tired tomorrow, okay?”

“But I don’t want this day to end!  I don’t want to go to sleep because when I wake up, you’ll be gone…”

“I won’t be gone, remember?  You have the mark now.  I’ll be with you whenever you need me.”

“You’ll still visit me every night, right?”

“Yes, but only if you get some sleep.”  Rivaille bargains.

Eren quickly buries himself under the covers, and Rivaille can’t help but snort at the adorable behavior.  He runs his hand through Eren’s hair thoughtfully, humming a soft lullaby as he waits for Eren to fall asleep.  Before long Eren is snoring softly, his tiny fingers wrapped around the end of Rivaille’s cloak.  Rivaille carefully disentangles himself from the boy, taking one last look at him before apparating back to the castle. 

“Hanji!”  Rivaille summons, taking a seat in the high-backed chair in his office and tilting his head back to stare up at the ceiling.

Hanji appears in a matter of seconds, tablet in hand and zir face showing signs of weariness.

“What is it, Rivaille?”

“I figured out why he wasn’t afraid of us.”

“Really?”  Hanji lights up.

“He… he’s not afraid of us because… he’s already terrified of his own demons.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t understand the full extent of it, but…  fucking hell, no wonder we look tame next to what he has to deal with.  I mean, his father was completely intoxicated…  He cussed at him and tried to beat him.  The only reason that child isn’t covered in injuries right now is because I stepped in.  And before you start lecturing me, I know that was a reckless thing to do, but I couldn’t just sit by and watch it happen.  Not to him…”  Rivaille admits, putting his head in his hands.

“That was a dumbass move, Rivaille.  That being said, you did the right thing.”

“I’m sorry, what?”  Rivaille asks, surprised.

“You did the right thing.  If it came down to a matter of demon safety versus human safety, obviously demon safety is more important, but the man was inebriated and won’t be able to separate what was real and what wasn’t.  As for the child, he already knows so much about us already, what’s one more thing?  And of course, if you hadn’t stepped in, I’m fairly certain you would have been wracked with guilt.  Nothing would get done around here.  Your mental health and peace of mind are also important to consider.  No real harm was done here.  You’re still a colossal idiot for not thinking this through, but I guess I shouldn’t really be surprised.  After all, he’s made a mark on you, hasn’t he?”  Hanji chuckles.

“Actually…”

“What have you done now?”  Hanji asks, eyebrow raised.

“I gave him a susurri mark.”  Rivaille states.

“What shape did it take?”

“Heliotrope…”

“Shit, are you serious?  He’s bewitched you, hasn’t he?  Just wait, you’ll drop everything the moment he says he needs you.”  Hanji laughs.

“I will not—!”

“His susurri mark is a heliotrope, Rivaille!”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“In the language of flowers, heliotrope means devotion.  Don’t you get it now?”

“Shit…  What did I get myself into?”  Rivaille groans.

“I don’t know, but I’ll be interested in watching how this turns out.  Anywho, I’ve got research to do, but keep me posted, ‘kay?”  Hanji grins, apparating to another part of the castle.

“Goddammit, Hanji!”  Rivaille shouts, and even from the far side of the castle, Rivaille can hear Hanji’s maniacal laughter mocking him.

Fuck, I’m so whipped…

Chapter Text

Hanji was right, of course.  Rivaille had said it himself, Hanji’s conclusions about humans and demons alike were almost always correct, so why would that stop being true now?

Eren cherished the susurri mark Rivaille had blessed him with and did his best not to bother Rivaille too much with his problems outside of their daily meetings.  But there were times where he struggled to keep to himself, like when he made new friends at school or won a big soccer game (He had to explain soccer to Rivaille, who was utterly clueless about a lot of human activities and traditions).  With the good comes the bad, and occasionally he’d touch his mark when he needed some of Rivaille’s comfort.  His father’s death hit him harder than expected, so Rivaille’s quiet condolences did wonders for Eren’s ability to recover quickly.

Eren’s susurri mark turned out to be a two-way street however, and when he first noticed that the flowers changed colors, he immediately asked Rivaille what it meant when the flowers turned a dangerous red-orange.  Rivaille had been in the middle of dealing with two rowdy Shadowlings that had gotten a fight and he was getting increasingly more irritated.  Eren was able to talk Rivaille down from his anger, and the flowers turned a relaxed sky blue.  It didn’t take long for Eren to figure out that different colors meant different emotions, so he would make a point to soothe Rivaille when the flowers would turn dark colors or when they became less vibrant.  He’d never admit it to anyone else, but Eren’s attentiveness made Rivaille’s feelings for Eren grow even more.  Hanji would tease him relentlessly about how much influence Eren had over him.  It was embarrassing for Rivaille at first, but in time, Rivaille gave in to it because Hanji was right.  He knew that if Eren said jump he would immediately ask how high.  Rivaille was well aware that it was pathetic, but he was quite frankly too smitten to care anymore.

Rivaille continued to visit Eren at night.  It became their evening ritual, and Eren would stay up until Rivaille arrived, without fail.  Sometimes their meetings were brief and they would talk about their days then part for the night, but sometimes they would be up half the night talking about anything and everything from favorite colors to the Shadowland legal system.  One time, after a particularly long day, Rivaille appeared into Eren’s room still in his night terror form.  He panicked and quickly transformed back into his humanoid form, immediately apologizing for scaring Eren.  Eren laughed it off, reminding Rivaille that he doesn’t scare him, even going to far as to admit that he thought Rivaille was beautiful, regardless of his form.  Eren was pleased to discover that Rivaille’s cheeks turn as pink as the flowers on his wrist when he’s embarrassed. 

Most of their meetings were soothing and pleasant, but sometimes they would have little fights.  The worst of these fights started when Rivaille visited Eren, now age 16, after a long day at school…

Rivaille apparated into Eren’s room at the usual time, brushing invisible specks of dirt off his feathered cloak before turning to find Eren curled up in bed, the blankets pulled high over his chin.  Rivaille cracks a small smile and comes to sit on the edge of Eren’s bed as he usually does when he visits.

“You didn’t fall asleep waiting for me, did you?”  Rivaille teases.

“No, of course not.  Who do you take me for?”

“I figured, but you’re buried under the covers already, so it’s hard to tell.  Are you going to come out and let me see your beautiful face?”

“I’m not beautiful…”  Eren mumbles, pulling the blanket up higher.

“Nonsense, brat.  Now stop hiding already.”  Rivaille says, pulling the blanket down and away from Eren’s face.

Eren is quick to cover his face with his hands, but Rivaille has already seen Eren’s split lip and the budding bruise on his cheek bone.  Eren’s hands don’t help his case either; his knuckles are red and raw and the abrasions on his elbows are hard to miss.

“Eren, what the fuck happened?  Who did this to you?  I’m going to skin them alive for hurting you like this—”

“Levi, I’m fine, let it go—”

“What do you mean let it go?  You’re hurt—”

“I know, and I’ll heal in no time at all.”

“That doesn’t mean it’s okay!  What happened?”

“I got in a fight with Jean at school.”

“Why didn’t you summon me?  I would have taught his stupid ass a lesson—”

“I can fight my own fights, Levi!  You don’t have to protect me all the time!  I can take care of myself!”  Eren snaps.

Rivaille falls quiet, stunned by Eren’s sudden harshness.

I should have known this day would come.  He… he doesn’t need me anymore.

“Of course.  I’ll go now.”

Rivaille’s voice is achingly hollow, but before Eren can say anything else, Rivaille is gone.

“Get the fuck out of my way!”  Rivaille snaps, scaring the second-year Shadowling in his path, who quickly runs down a side hall to get as far away from Rivaille as possible.

Rivaille storms into the meeting room where his advisory team is waiting for him.  Erwin, Hanji, and Nanaba look somewhat startled when Rivaille bursts in while Mike calmly sniffs the air, nodding to himself with a frown on his face.  Rivaille practically throws his tablet down onto the table and drops into his seat, an air of impatience surrounding him as he uses his power to close the door with a loud bang.

“What the fuck was so important that you four shits had to call an emergency conference?”

“Your Majesty, we originally wanted to call this conference to discuss an issue regarding the expansion of the training grounds to accommodate the unusually large wave of new Shadowlings, but I think there’s a more pressing issue to address now.”  Erwin states.

“And what the hell would that be?”

“Your emotional state, your Majesty.”

“What the fuck is wrong with my emotional state?”

“You’re on edge, sir.”

“I am not on edge!”

“Then if you’re not on edge, you’re distressed, King Rivaille.”  Nanaba supplies, Mike nodding in agreement.

“Does this have anything to do with Eren?”  Hanji asks, the resident Eren-Rivaille relationship expert.

“Do you mean the child that Rivaille has come to care for—”  Nanaba starts.

“Yes.  Look, I don’t need a fucking intervention; I’m fine!”  Rivaille yells.

“Rivaille, no, you’re not.  How about you take a deep breath and kindly tell us what’s on your mind?”  Hanji demands coldly.

Rivaille fumes, but takes a deep breath and complies, knowing that he has an advisory team for a reason.  He tries to find the words, but when they don't come, he takes another deep breath.  And another.  And another.  Rivaille puts his head in his hands as the words that he needs to say get stuck in his throat.  When the words finally do come out, they’re faint, but everyone in the room hears them.

“He doesn’t need me anymore.”

“Why do you think that, Rivaille?”  Hanji asks, zir voice now tender and gentle.

“He got hurt in a fight and I was asking him about it because I would have gone to him immediately, but he snapped that he didn’t need me to protect him.  I just want the best for him and I can’t stand to see him like that, especially after his father—”  Rivaille chokes, covering his face as he takes some shuddering breaths to calm down.

“I don’t know much about Eren, but I think that this is a big misunderstanding.”  Nanaba says slowly.

“Nanaba’s right.  You were both worked up by the situation.”  Erwin adds.

“Talk to him.”  Mike speaks up.

“You’ll feel a lot better after you do.”  Hanji concludes.

Rivaille sighs, running his fingers through his hair.

“I’ll talk to him tonight.  Thanks for putting up with my bullshit.  Now, we need to discuss the Shadowling facilities?”

(X) As it approaches time to apparate to Eren’s room, Rivaille becomes more and more anxious about seeing Eren again.  He paces back and forth in his private suite, worrying and not paying attention to the time.

What if he wasn’t overreacting?  What if he was telling the truth?  What if he really doesn’t need me anymore?  No, I can’t keep dwelling on these what ifs…  I just need to suck it up and talk to him about it… 

Rivaille checks the time and sees that he’s running late to meet Eren, so he takes one last deep breath to steel his nerves before apparating directly into Eren’s room.  Rivaille’s heart sinks when he doesn’t immediately see Eren, but then he notices the bunched up comforter at the end of the bed, which is uncharacteristic of Eren.  He sits down on the edge of Eren’s bed, observing the piled up blanket when he hears a soft hiccuping.

“Eren?”

A loud sniff comes from the mound of fabric and Rivaille tenses.

“Levi?”

“I’m here.”

Slowly, a messy mop of brown hair emerges from the bundle of cotton, Eren’s face shiny with tears and eyes rimmed red from crying.  It hurts Rivaille to see Eren in such distress; he wants nothing more than to pull the blanket away and just hold Eren and reassure him until he’s okay again, but he keeps his hands to himself for fear of crossing a line.

“Eren, are you okay?”  Rivaille asks carefully.

“I’m s-sorry, Levi.  I didn’t mean to s-snap at you like that yesterday.  It was uncalled for; you just wanted to help me and I was being such a brat.  I just c-couldn’t take the questions and—  I was frustrated and upset and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.  And when you didn’t come right on time I started p-panicking because I thought you weren’t going to come—!”  Eren apologizes, his voice cracking as he breaks into tears once more.

“Come here?” 

Rivaille opens his arms to Eren, who dives into Rivaille’s embrace immediately, burying his face in Rivaille’s neck as he holds onto Rivaille tightly.  Rivaille hugs Eren back, rubbing small circles into Eren’s neck and running his fingers through Eren’s hair soothingly.

“Shhh, it’s okay.  I’m here and I’m not going to leave you.  I…  I’m sorry too.  I pushed you too hard with the questions when I should have left it alone.  You would have told me when you were ready, but I was worried for you and wasn’t considering your feelings properly.  I’m sorry for being so overprotective…  I couldn’t help it because… you’re the first person I’ve ever wanted to protect.  I took it too far though and I need to learn to back off.  You’re old enough to take care of yourself.  Just… promise me you’ll call for me if you’re in serious trouble?  If something were to happen to you…  I just… I can’t lose you.”

“I promise.”  Eren sniffles, tightening his arms around Rivaille.

The room falls quiet, no words needing to be said as Rivaille holds the upset teenager in his embrace.  Rivaille continues to comfort Eren with gentle touches, and a deep feeling of serenity settles between the two of them, the heavy weight dragging them down all day finally lifted and leaving their relationship even stronger in its wake.

“Levi?”

“Yes, Eren?”

“Did I ever tell you why I got in that stupid fight?”

“No.  Why did you?”

“Jean was making fun of me for the flower mark you gave me…  Normally I’d just brush it off, but…  I’ve told my close friends about you, but Jean’s convinced that you’re just a figment of my imagination, and I’m pretty sure Armin and Marco think so too…  Anyway, he started talking shit about you too and I got so angry that I punched him.  Of course, he punched me back and a teacher had to break up the fight.”

“Really?”  Rivaille asks, awe-struck that Eren would put himself in harm’s way to defend him.

“Yeah.  It was a stupid reason to get in a fight, but the asshole had it coming for a while now, so I don’t feel too bad about it.”  Eren grins, pulling back so Rivaille can see his face.

Before he can talk himself out of it, Rivaille leans in and kisses Eren’s cheek, no more than a brief brush of his lips, but it’s enough for both Eren and Rivaille to blush bright pink over the contact.

“You’re an idiot…  Don’t do stupid shit like that if you’re going to get hurt in the process…”  Rivaille mumbles, unable to make direct eye contact after such a bold move.

“O-okay…”  Eren stutters, unable to stop looking at Rivaille, who, if he’d bothered to look up, would have realized just how happy he’d just made a certain green-eyed teen.

“It’s late, so I should probably go so you can get some sleep.  Goodnight, Eren.”

“Goodnight, L-Levi.”  Eren bids, and with that, Rivaille vanishes, leaving Eren with only his thoughts and the hot pink heliotropes on his wrist.

Chapter Text

It wasn’t until Eren was 18 years old that Rivaille ever apparated to the human world during daylight hours.

Rivaille had been in the Shadowlands, in the middle of a meeting with his advisors and the organizers of the Shadowing program when he’d heard Eren’s voice pop into his head.

L-Levi!  His voice gasped, breathless.

Rivaille froze in place, closing his eyes to shut out excess stimuli so he can focus on Eren.

Ngggh!  A-ah…

The connection was spotty, on and off at best, the contact not lasting long enough for Rivaille to try to communicate back. 

“Everyone, shut up!”  Rivaille barks, and the room is silent in an instant.

Rivaille can tell that Eren’s breathing is uneven, all gasps and pants and grunts, unable to get a real breath of air.

What the fuck is happening?  Is someone hurting him?  Is he drowning?  Choking?  I can’t contact him…  Shit!

“I’m sorry, but I have to go!  It’s an emergency!”  Rivaille says urgently, disappearing before anyone can ask him what’s going on.

Rivaille immediately recognizes Eren’s bedroom, his eyes quickly landing on his brat.  Eren is laying on his side under the covers of his bed, eyes wrenched shut, his body trembling and covered in sweat.  He cries out and Rivaille is by his side immediately.

“Eren, are you alright?  Are you hurt, are you sick?  Talk to me!”  Rivaille panics.

Eren’s eyes shoot open and meet Rivaille’s, who is staring down at him with a look of utter concern.  Eren lets out a deep breath and starts laughing awkwardly, covering his face with his right hand as he turns tomato red.  Rivaille’s expression morphs into one of confusion - just a moment ago Eren was breathing like he was struggling to hold onto life and now he’s laughing?

“Fuck, this is embarrassing…”

“What?  Are you okay?  Eren, what the hell is going on?  I heard you through the mark—”

“Levi, I’m fine.  I promise you, I’m embarrassed, but fine.”

“Embarrassed?”

“I was, uh…  Well, I was jacking off.”

“Jacking off?”  Rivaille asks, not understanding what Eren means.

“It’s another way of saying masturbating…”

“Masturbating?”

“You don’t know what masturbating is?”  Eren asks, incredulous.

“No…  Should I?”

“Oh my god…  Um, how do I explain it?  It’s-  It’s, uh, when you’re aroused and you touch your genitals to create a pleasurable feeling…  Not unlike one you’d feel when you have sex.”

“You can do that?”  Rivaille asks, wowed.

“Yeah…  In that form, I figure you would be able to do it too…”

“Really?  How do you do it?”

“Are you asking me to show you?!?”  Eren half-shouts.

“Is there something wrong with it?”

“N-No…  It’s just…  private.  You are vulnerable when you masturbate so… showing someone is very special…”

“Oh, okay…  Why were you calling my name then?”

“I…  I, uh… was… thinking of you while I was…”

“Masturbating?”

“Y-Yeah…”

“Why?”

“Oh god, this is so embarrassing…  Uh, I was pretending that y-you were touching me instead of me touching myself…”

“Why would you—”

“You know what?  Fuck it.  Levi, I have fantasies about you because I want to do this with you someday but I was too scared to tell you!”  Eren blurts out.

“You would want to… have sex with me?”  Rivaille echoes.

“I-I’m not ready yet, but… yes.  I want to make you feel good and I want you to make me feel good too.”  Eren admits, shy again.

Rivaille has no words.  He’s overwhelmed with feeling — proud that Eren trusts him, happy that Eren chose him, needy now that Eren wants him — so he does the only thing he can think of to communicate his feelings to Eren.  Rivaille kisses Eren on the lips for the first time and it’s fierce and hungry and overwhelming but Eren accepts it and kisses back with reciprocal force, filled with the same wanting and desire that makes Rivaille feel hot from the top of his head to the tips of his toes.  Eren can’t help but moan into the kiss, overcome with the sensation of Rivaille’s lips on his own.  Their lips part only to clumsily collide again moments later, desperate for more.  They devour each other’s mouths until they’re truly breathless, gasping for lungfuls of cool air.

“If you’re comfortable with it, show me how you pleasure yourself.  I’ll do my best to make you feel good.”  Rivaille breathes.

Eren’s eyes widen, swallowing at the implications of Rivaille’s words.  He nods his head slowly, pulling back the blanket to reveal his lower half, his stiff length sticking out of his sweatpants.  He blushes bright pink, feeling exposed as Rivaille examines him.  He makes tentative eye contact with Rivaille before taking himself in his left hand, shuddering at the contact.  Rivaille’s intense gaze makes Eren feel even hotter than before as he pumps slowly, occasionally tightening and loosening his grip or even twisting to vary the level of friction, quietly gasping from the sparks of pleasure lighting up his groan. 

“Can I try?”  Rivaille asks quietly, and Eren can’t choke down the groan that escapes his throat at Rivaille’s innocent offer.

Eren nods again, pupils dilated with lust, and Rivaille’s hand replaces his own, making Eren gasp quietly.  Rivaille touches Eren with the upmost care, his grip gentle and hesitant, not wanting to hurt Eren in any way.  Rivaille’s tenderness warms Eren to the core, filling him with a feeling that swells in his chest so much it almost hurts.

“S-squeeze a little?” 

Rivaille complies and it just feels so right as he continues to unknowingly tease Eren with his slow pace.  Eren is getting lost of the sensation of Rivaille’s delicate touch when suddenly his hand twists-

“Oh fuck, Levi!”  Eren whimpers, a shudder coursing through his body.

Rivaille immediately stops, afraid he’s done something wrong.

“Did that not feel good?”  Rivaille frowns, unsure.

“Levi…  It felt incredible.”  Eren breathes.

“So when you make noise, you feel good?”

“Yes, please don’t stop.”

Rivaille resumes rubbing Eren’s hard length, torturingly slow and careful until Eren asks him to please move faster, to which Rivaille immediately obeys.  Eren’s toes curl under the blanket, his breathing growing shallower as his heart rate picks up again, desperately trying to keep up with the pleasure he’s receiving.  Rivaille tries twisting his hand again and Eren moans, his fingers bunching up in the hem of his shirt.   Eren’s breath stutters as Rivaille squeezes on the upstroke, catching the underside of the head, and Eren can feel blood pooling in his groin, the pressure and pleasure building.

“A-ah-ah~!  I’m so close…”

Rivaille’s thumb catches Eren’s slit, and that extra burst of stimulation has Eren keening, teetering on the edge of orgasm.  A couple more pumps and a twist later, Eren hits his climax, moaning obscenely as his back arches and his seed shoots everywhere, his expression debauched and blissed out.  Eren is about to fall back onto his bed, but Rivaille catches him, his face twisted with worry as he looks between Eren’s semen and his wrecked face.  Rivaille’s concern is incredibly endearing and Eren’s chest aches with emotion.

“Are you okay?”

“I’ve never been better.”  Eren smiles, his hand caressing Rivaille’s cheek and pulling him down for a gentle kiss, tender and sweet.

“So I take it that I did okay then?” 

“You did wonderfully.  Just you wait, one day I’ll return the favor and you’ll learn what you’ve been missing out on your entire life.”

“You are what I’d been missing out on my entire life.”

“Levi…”  Eren breathes, pulling Rivaille down for more kisses, unable to get enough.

Needless to say, when Hanji found out what transpired between the two of them, ze gave Rivaille so much shit for a) ditching an important meeting to spend time with Eren, b) not knowing what masturbation was, and c) not getting zir a sample of human sperm to study.  Regardless, ze was happy that Rivaille had someone in his life that meant so much to him and could make him so happy.

Chapter Text

“Levi, guess what?”

Rivaille is so entranced by Eren’s face brimming with childish excitement that he almost misses what Eren says.

“What’s got you so excited?  You look fit to burst.”

“I got accepted to the Sina Institute for the Arts!”

“Is that the college you were telling me all about?”

“Yes!  I got my letter today in the mail saying that I’m admitted!”

“Congratulations; you deserve it.”  Rivaille smiles, bracing himself to catch Eren as he throws himself at Rivaille (which Rivaille has come to learn is a bad habit of Eren’s when he gets excited).

Rivaille hugs Eren tight, peppering Eren’s face with little kisses until Eren is laughing from the ticklish sensation, drunk on happiness.  Eventually Rivaille relents, allowing Eren to catch his breath, wiping away the tears of joy that accumulated in Eren’s long lashes.  A thought occurs to Rivaille, making him frown and turn serious once more.  Eren notices this and adjusts himself on Rivaille’s lap, getting settled for a serious conversation.

“What’s wrong?”

“Does this mean you’re leaving?”

“Yes and no.”

Noticing Rivaille’s confused expression, Eren continues.

“I will be moving out of this house, but not for several months.  I’ll be living in the dorms on campus for my first two years as least, after which point I may choose to move into an apartment or share a house with some roommates.  I know the real reason you’re concerned though; you’re worried about me leaving you.  Don’t you worry about it; you couldn’t get rid of me at this point even if you tried.”  Eren teases, placing a dainty kiss on the tip of Rivaille’s nose.

“Mmm, good.  But would we still be able to meet like this?  If you have a roommate, it’d be hard to visit you without being discovered.”

“That’s true, but Sina is known for having divided doubles — rooms where you have a roommate but you have a wall dividing your room so you can still have privacy.  The dorms are a part of what made Sina more appealing than Rose University.  I’m sure that if we keep our voices down, we’ll have no trouble meeting each other regularly.”

“Perfect.  If I was unable to hold you like this every night, I might just steal you away to the Shadowlands, where no one can bother us.”  Rivaille growls softly, no real threat in his words.

“Oooh, how romantic…”  Eren teases.

“Mmm, that’s not all.  I’d dress you in the finest clothes the Shadowlands produce, I’d feed you the most delicious ambrosia prepared by the greatest chefs, you’d sleep on the softest bed, and I’d wait on you hand and foot, ready to lavish you in attention and worship every inch of your body.  You’d be treated like a Queen.” 

Between the detail of Rivaille’s words and the honest and somewhat surprised look on his face, Eren figures out that this isn’t the first time that Rivaille has thought about this and maybe it wasn’t something he planned on telling Eren, or at least any time soon, be it out of embarrassment or not wanting to force his feelings on Eren.  Either way, Eren finds it ridiculously endearing.

“It sounds like you’ve thought about this quite a bit.”  Eren remarks.

“I have.”  Rivaille admits.

“You’re quite the romantic.  I’m sure any demon would swoon for you if you pursued them with promises like those.  How is it that you still don’t have a Queen?”

“I’ve been waiting for the right person.”

“Any luck?”

“Yes, actually.  I think he’s the one.”

“Wow, he must be the luckiest person alive then.”

“Actually, I consider myself the lucky one in this situation.”

“He must be quite a catch then.”

“He most certainly is.  He’s gentle, considerate, articulate, witty, smart, insanely beautiful and extremely talented - why, I even heard that he recently got accepted to the Sina Institute for the Arts!”

“You flatter him too much!  Though I guess only the finest will do for the caring, cunning, charming, sarcastic, strong, devilishly handsome and all-powerful Demon King!”

They fall into a fit of giggles, laughing at the other’s exaggerations, all the while meaning their own words.  Eventually their laughter dies down slowly and Eren grows serious.

“The only bad thing I can think of about being accepted to college is that I’m going to have to pack up my stuff in order to move out.  I have to go through everything in order to decide what to take and what to bring, not to mention haul all of it…”

“I could help you pack, you know.”  Rivaille offers.

“It’s fine; you don’t have to.”

That’s what Eren had said then.  But when it finally came down to the moment of truth, Eren was desperate.

“There’s so much to pack!”  Eren whines to his susurri mark, ready to pull his hair out.

Rivaille apparates into the room behind him, his eyes playful as he regards Eren and the mess his room is currently in.  He comes up behind Eren and wraps his arms around Eren’s waist and whispers directly into his ear.

“Are you sure you don’t want my help?”

Eren jumps a little bit but then relaxes, smacking Rivaille’s arm for scaring him.

“It’s rude to sneak up on people just because you can apparate.”

“I couldn’t help myself.  Your reaction was adorable.”  Rivaille replies, kissing the nape of Eren’s neck and sending a shiver down his spine.

“Are you going to help me pack or not?”  Eren huffs, pulling away with a slight blush on his cheeks.

“I’m at your service.”

“I have to go through my closet, but if you could pack up my clothes, that would be helpful.  Put all the clothes from these two drawers in this box, those two drawers in that box, and the other two in that third one.  Thanks.”  Eren instructs, kissing Rivaille on the cheek as he passes him to head toward his closet.

Rivaille tries to will away the heat in his cheeks as he gets to work packing Eren’s clothes into boxes, treating the folded up clothing with the upmost care.  Rivaille is just about finished with the first two boxes when he hears Eren chuckle.  Rivaille pauses his work, turning around to find  Eren with a large stack of papers in his hand, and wanders over to find out what is so amusing.  It’s all of Eren’s drawings of his Haunter friends, somewhat sloppily drawn and the names scrawled almost illegibly in the corner.

“These were some of my first drawings.  I wonder what they would say if they saw any of these.  It’s been a long time; I wonder if any of them would recognize me, let alone remember me.”

“You want to find out?”

The words are out of Rivaille’s mouth before he can even process the possible consequences of what he just proposed, but he knows that he can’t take them back when he sees just how excited Eren is.

“You mean a field trip to the Shadowlands with you?  Fuck yeah, let’s go!”

“Hold on a moment.  Before you agree, I have to warn you that the Shadowlands are potentially dangerous for a human like you.”

“So?  You’ll be there with me.  You’re the King; you’ll protect me, right?”

“What kind of question is that?  Of course I will, just don’t go wandering off and don’t do anything reckless, okay?”

“Got it and got it!  Can we go now?”  Eren asks, his face glowing with a familiar, childish excitement.

“One more thing.  Give me your hand?”

Eren offers up his hand willingly, which Rivaille takes in his and closes his eyes.  Eren watches in wonder as the susurri mark grows, delicate purple flowers blooming up the length of his arm and creating an armlet.  Ancient markings appear just below the armlet, glowing purple like the heliotrope flowers before settling into a deep black hue.

“This hopefully should protect you from just about anyone in the Shadowlands, except maybe Hanji.  Stay away from zir; ze’s a bit unpredictable.”

“How will I know which one is Hanji?”

“You’ll know, I promise.  You ready to go?”

“Hell yes!  Let’s do this!”

Rivaille sweeps Eren off his feet, holding him up bridal style in his arms.  They apparate a moment later, appearing in Rivaille’s room, which is deserted as it should be.  Rivaille absently puts down Eren, who almost falls over as soon as his feet touch the ground.

“Woah there, are you okay?”  Rivaille asks, steadying Eren before he collapses to the floor.

“F-Fine.  Just a little light-headed.  Apparating feels really weird.” 

Rivaille helps Eren onto his bed and Eren sinks into it, the silken sheets unbelievably cool against his skin as he catches his breath and tries to reorient himself.

“So, where are we exactly?”

“This would be my private quarters, actually.  There are few other places that I can apparate to in the Shadowlands where I can guarantee I’ll be alone when I arrive.”

“So this is your bed?  It’s sooo comfy!”  Eren hums.

“I’m glad you like it.  Alas, I seldom get to sleep in it for long.  No rest for the wicked I suppose.”

“How do you not sleep in this bed often?  If this were my bed, I’d be inclined to never get up!”

“I’m busy most of the time and I have a special someone to visit every night.  Besides, we don’t need more than two or three hours of sleep a night; anything more than that is a luxury.”

“You work so hard, Levi!  You deserve a little luxury!”

You’re all the luxury I need, Eren.

Rivaille bites his tongue before the words escape his mouth, opting instead to change the subject.

“We don’t have all day, so we need to get a move on.  Now that you’re here, who do you want to visit?”

Eren frowns slightly at how Rivaille brushes off taking care of himself but then considers who he wants to see most.

“Mika.”

“She’ll be happy to see you.  Now the question is where would she be at this time of day…  Probably teaching her stealth class.  Are you ready to go?”

“Fuck yeah, let’s do this!” 

Eren gets up, stumbling briefly before righting himself, smiling widely at Rivaille who is looking at him with concern.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.  It will get better once I’ve walked around a bit.  Lead the way!”

Rivaille pushes his concern to the back of his mind, going to the door and opening it, peering outside quickly to see if there is anyone out there.  Once he determines that the coast is clear, he waves Eren over and they leave quietly.  As they walk down various halls, Eren is looking around at the ornate decor with a slack jaw, trying to absorb as much as possible.  Rivaille is entranced by the expression of pure wonderment on Eren’s face, so much so that he almost misses the sound of wings rapidly approaching.

“King Rivaille, I finally found you—  WHAT IS A HUMAN DOING HERE?  REINER, COME QUICK, THERE’S AN EMERGENCY!”

Rivaille doesn’t even turn to find out who’s screaming like a banshee, he just grabs Eren’s hand and starts running, dragging the boy behind him as he dashes down the hall, making split second decisions and making turn after turn until he’s sure that he lost anyone who might be following them.  Eren is panting hard from running so hard, gasping for air as his heart tries to beat out of his chest.

“That was… exciting.”  Eren comments wryly between gasps.

“I panicked, okay?  This is the first time that a human has been in the Shadowlands, so it’s not like I know what will happen if the guards find you.”

“But you’re the King!  They will listen to you!”

“You’re right.  I just—  Nevermind.  We’re not far now.  Let’s go.”

Rivaille starts walking off but is forced to stop when Eren’s hand grabs his.

“Levi, look at me.”

Eren’s soft tone and unyielding grip forces Rivaille to meet Eren’s eyes, strong and determined.

“Nothing is going to happen to me, so stop worrying so much.”

Rivaille wants to protest, but the look in Eren’s eyes, begging Rivaille to trust him, has him swallowing down the words on the tip of his tongue.

“Okay.”

Eren smiles, letting go of Rivaille’s wrist to take his hand, lacing their fingers together tenderly.

“Show me the way.”

Eren continues to hold Rivaille’s hand as they wander the halls, arriving at a wing blocked off with giant double doors.  With a flick of his wrist, Rivaille opens the doors and they enter, walking to the end of the hall, taking a left, and then stopping in front of the door just before the end.

“Stay here.  It’s going to be too dark in there for you to see, so you’re better off out here.  I won’t be long.”

“Okay!”  Eren grins, and Rivaille nods, heading into the pitch black of the room, closing the door behind him.

Rivaille blinks once and his eyes adjust to the utter darkness, scanning the obstacle arena for signs of life.  He sees a burst of movement out of the corner of his eye and side-steps the beelzebub-class Shadowling’s gnashing teeth as it lunges at him, grabbing the back of it’s head as it passes him and holding it off the ground.

“Awfully bold of you, trying to attack your King.”

The Shadowling goes rigid and then begins quivering in fear, whining out apologies and begging to be spared.  Rivaille sucks on his teeth and rolls his eyes, throwing the Shadowling across the arena with minimal effort.  He listens for the sound of the Shadowling hitting a wall and then scurrying off, but it never comes.

“I understand you’re annoyed, but you shouldn’t throw one of my students across the arena.  Regardless of whether or not they deserved it.”

Rivaille turns to see Mikasa at his side with the Shadowling in her hand, the stitches on her mouth pulling as she frowns at him.

“That was a warning and I was going to leave it at that, Mikasa.”

“Still.”  Mikasa warns.

“Fine.  Do you have a minute?  There’s someone here to see you.”

“Someone to see me?”  Mikasa asks, putting down the Shadowling, who scampers off into the safety of the arena.

“I do believe that’s what I said.  Are you coming?”

“One moment.”  Mikasa closes her eyes and snaps her fingers, a chill going through the room and the air growing deathly quiet as everyone freezes in a perfect stand-still.

“You’ve gotten better at that.  Have you been practicing?”

“A bit.  Thanks for noticing.”

“I give credit where it’s due.”  Rivaille responds, pulling open the door to reveal an empty corridor.

Shouts echo down the hall and Rivaille’s head turns to the right so fast that he almost gets whiplash.  Rivaille bolts down the hall, reaching the end in two seconds flat, eyes widening at the scene before him.  There are three guards between him and Eren and there is a blue fire ball hurtling straight at Eren, half a second away from burning him to a crisp.

“EREN!”

Eren’s large green eyes meet Rivaille’s panicked ones, but in the next moment there is a bright flash of light, blinding everyone present, a thud, and then all is quiet.  Rivaille blinks once, twice, clearing his vision and his eyes settle on Eren, strewn on the floor like a rag doll.  Rivaille pushes past the wall of guards separating him from Eren, falling to his knees beside the fallen boy.

“Eren!  Eren, wake up!  Eren, please!”  Rivaille begs, shaking Eren and taking his hand, his body trembling.

“Your Majesty, get back!  It’s dangerous—”

“The only ones in danger here are you three if he doesn’t wake up!”  Rivaille snaps.

“But—!”

“SHUT UP!  HE IS MY CONSPONSATA AND IF HE’S DEAD, I SWEAR ON MY LIFE—”

“Levi.”

Rivaille’s full attention is on Eren the moment he speaks, his eyes blinking open wearily, squeezing Rivaille’s hand to try to calm him.

“What happened?  Are you okay?  Does anything hurt?  I’m sorry, I’m so sorry—”

“Levi, you don’t need to be sorry.  I’m okay, I just hit my head a little when I fell.  I’m fine, see?”

Sure enough, there is not a single singe mark on Eren, on his clothes, or even on the floor behind him.  Eren’s susurri mark glows however, purple light gently pulsing on his skin and charged with magical energy.  Rivaille pulls Eren into his arms, holding him close to just reassure himself that Eren is there and he’s fine and that he doesn’t need to worry anymore.

“If something were to happen to you… I can’t lose you.”

“Levi?  Everyone is staring at you like you have three heads.”

“Right.”  Rivaille sighs, releasing Eren and helping him to his feet and placing himself between Eren and the other demons.

“At ease.  I am not in any danger, so you three are dismissed.  Get out of my sight.  NOW.” 

The guards look at each other, bewildered, but apparate away, leaving only Rivaille, Eren, and Mikasa.  Eren peeks out from behind Rivaille and when he sees Mikasa standing there, his face lights up with recognition.

“Mika?”

“Eren…”

“It’s been awhile.”  Eren grins, brushing his hair out of his eyes.

“You look so much better than when I last saw you.  You’ve grown up well.”

“I couldn’t have done it alone.  I had a lot of help.”  Eren says, taking Rivaille’s hand in his.

“I think you’ve helped him too.”

“I’m right here, you know.”  Rivaille rolls his eyes.

“So how have you been, Mika?  Did you and Annie finally…?”

Mikasa flushes, her nails plucking at the stitches along her cheeks nervously as she averts her gaze.

“Mika!  You have to tell her how you feel!”

“I know, I just…  I don’t want to mess things up between us.”

“So you have a thing for Leonhardt?  She’s been making goo-goo eyes at you for the past decade.  You should just do something about it already.”  Rivaille smirks.

“You make it sound so easy, yet you haven’t had the balls to do something either.  I’d be willing to bet a hundred francorum that Eren doesn’t know what consponsata means.”  Mikasa retorts.

Rivaille scowls, but when Eren squeezes his hand reassuringly, he relaxes a bit.

“I’m sure you’ll explain what those words mean to me later, right Levi?”

“Levi?”  Mikasa snorts.

“Don’t…”  Rivaille warns.

“What?  I don’t—”  Eren starts.

“His name is Rivaille, Eren.”

Eren promptly turns bright red, thoroughly embarrassed.

“Why did you never correct me?”  Eren protests, smacking Rivaille’s arm.

“There was never a good time to!  Besides, I thought it was cute.  You’ve messed up all of our names.”

“REALLY?” 

“He’s right, Eren.”

“Can the floor just open up and swallow me whole please?”  Eren groans, Mikasa giggling at his antics.

“Oh my gosh, you are as cute as he said you were!”  Hanji exclaims, appearing right next to Eren.

Ze reaches out to touch Eren’s face, but before ze can make contact, zir hand is wrenched away and ze is flung down the hall in an instant.  Eren looks mildly alarmed at Hanji’s sudden appearance, while Mikasa barely bats an eye.

“Nice.  I think that’s a new record, Levi.”  Mikasa teases.

“Shut up.”  Rivaille growls.

Hanji picks zirself off the floor and comes back over, approaching somewhat slower this time.

“Are you Hanji?”  Eren asks.

“Wow, you already know me?  Does Rivaille talk about me often?”

“Consider it a lucky guess.  And he only talks about you with the upmost disdain.”  Eren teases, winking cheekily at the Demon King.

“Awww, you do like me!”  Hanji coos, glomping onto Levi, who flings zir off again.

“Shitty glasses, cut it out with the touching.  Keep your hands to yourself; you’re not some fucking Shadowling.”

“You say that Rivaille, but I’m sure you let Eren touch you all the time, isn’t that right Eren?”  Mikasa challenges.

“Wow Rivaille, I feel so special now.  What else do I get away with that no one else does?”

“That’s a loaded question, so I am not answering that one.”

“We’ll find out eventually…”

“No, you won’t.”

“Oh look, Eren’s susurri mark is turning hot pink, Rivaille!  Are you getting—  Holy shit, you’ve named him your consponsata???”

“Hanji.  Leave.  Now.”

“But—”

Before Hanji can complete that thought, Rivaille snaps his fingers and Hanji is gone.

“Is ze—”

“Hanji’s fine, Eren.  Don’t worry about zir crazy ass.  I’ll deal with zir later.”

“You’re not going to hurt zir, are you?”

“No, I’m just going to lock zir out of the lab for a week.”

“Rivaille, we both know that’s worse.”  Mikasa points out.

“Rivaille…”  Eren starts, sticking out his lower lip in an adorable pout and putting on his best puppy eyes.

“Oh fine…  A day then.”  Rivaille relents.

Eren lights up, delighted to have gotten his way, and plants a kiss on Rivaille’s cheek.

Mikasa opens her mouth to comment, but Rivaille cuts her off.

“Not a word.  Don’t you have a class to go teach?”

“Understood, your Highness.  Go whisk away your little consponsata away from prying eyes.  I know I’ll see him again soon.  It was nice seeing you, Eren.”  Mikasa smirks, waving and swaggering down the hall back towards the arena.

“I kinda want to tease you about everything I just heard, but obviously you’ve had enough teasing for today.  If you promise to bring me back to the Shadowlands for another visit sometime, we could get out of here, maybe go back to your room and cuddle for a while…  It might help you relax and unwind a bit.”  Eren suggests.

“Fuck yes.”  Rivaille groans, sweeping Eren off his feet and growing a pair of wings, huge and full of raven feathers darker than night.

Eren giggles as Rivaille takes to the air, flying quickly through the halls until they’re back in Rivaille’s room, safely hidden away from prying eyes.  Rivaille kicks off his shoes next to the closed door, pulling in his wings and setting Eren on the edge of the bed.  Rivaille kneels in front of Eren and pulls off his shoes, lining them up neatly beside the bed.  Eren scoots over and Rivaille crawls in next to him, wrapping his arms around Eren and tucking him under his chin.  Rivaille’s fingers run mindlessly through Eren’s hair, stroking the chocolate strands and making Eren purr in contentment.  Rivaille closes his eyes, finally calm and content, the heliotropes on Eren’s arm turning a soft azure.  They stay like that for several minutes, but eventually, Eren speaks up and breaks the silence.

“Rivaille?”

“You can still call me Levi if you want.  I don’t mind.”

“No, I’ll call you Rivaille.  That is, unless you want me to call you Levi instead?”

“I want whatever you want, Eren.”

Eren flushes, his cheeks burning against Rivaille’s chest, and Rivaille chuckles lowly, the grin staying on his lips even when Eren smacks him half-heartedly in embarrassment. 

“Sorry, you wanted to ask me something?”

“What does consponsata mean?”

Rivaille hesitates, his hand stopping in mid-brush, but then he resumes as if nothing happened, a soft sigh escaping his lips.

“I…  I didn’t mean to call you that.  It just kinda… slipped out.”

“But what does it mean?”  Eren presses, his hands gripping the front of Rivaille’s shirt nervously, wrinkling the fabric.

“Consponsata means… intended.”

“Intended?  Intended to what?”

“Intended to marry…”  Rivaille admits, red-faced.

Eren pulls away, stunned.  Rivaille panics, backpedaling in an attempt to recover.

“I mean, unless you don’t want to, of course!  I knew I shouldn’t have said anything; just forget that I mentioned—”

Eren cuts Rivaille off, his nose mushing against Levi’s in his rush to kiss him.  Anything else Rivaille had been meaning to say is gone in a heartbeat, his mind briefly going blank as he reciprocates the messy kiss.  Eren’s fingers tangle in Rivaille’s ebony locks and Rivaille relaxes, letting Eren take the reins and guide him where he needs him.  They part breathlessly, and Rivaille can’t help but admire Eren’s swollen pink lips, knowing his likely match.

“Fuck, how are you even real?”  Eren breathes, bright green eyes shining up at Rivaille.

“I think, therefore I am?”  Rivaille teases with an easy grin.

“You’re such a smartass.”  Eren groans, rolling his eyes.

“And you have a dirty mouth.  I guess we’ve rubbed off on each other.”

“Shut up and kiss me.”  Eren demands, and Rivaille does.

Chapter Text

“It’s officially been one month since you started college!  How are you adjusting, sweetie?”

“I’m doing really well, actually!  You don’t need to worry mom, my roommate is great!  His accent is a bit thick, but he’s very enthusiastic and bubbly.  He’s not around a lot though, but that’s fine with me.”

“Accent?”

“Viktor is actually an exchange student from Russia!”

“Wow, sounds exotic!  Is he hot?”

“Mom!”  Eren protests, turning pink.

“What?  It’s a good question!”

“Yeah Eren, it’s a good question.”  Rivaille teases quietly, nipping at Eren’s neck with playful kisses while he listens in on Eren’s call with his mother.

Eren glares at Rivaille, putting his hand over the receiver of his cell phone so he can address Rivaille.

“Shut up, my mom is enough of a handful as is.”  Eren scolds, then removes his hand so he can continue talking to his mom.

“Viktor is very attractive, but he’s not my type, mom.  Besides, I’m pretty sure he’s seeing someone already.”

“Please, your mom can’t be that bad.”  Rivaille retorts quietly.

“Aww, that’s too bad.  What about you, sweetie?  Are you seeing anyone?”

“Actually, I am seeing someone, mom.”  Eren replies, giving Rivaille a pointed look.

“Really?  You have to bring them home with you next weekend!”

Eren cherishes Rivaille’s look of terror way more than he ought to.

“Will do, mom!  I’m so excited for you two to meet!”

Eren silently laughs when Rivaille drops his head on Eren’s shoulder in defeat, patting the back of Rivaille’s head affectionately as he turns his attention back to his mother.

“Yay!  So, what’s his name?”

“Ri—  What do you mean ‘What’s his name?’”

“Please, sweetie.  I’ve had my suspicions all this time.  So tell me, what’s his name?”

Eren despises that he can vividly recall his mother’s smug smile, tormenting him even from miles away.

“You know what, you’ll just have to wait until you meet him next weekend.  I’ve got lots of homework to do, so we will just have to catch up more later.”

“You have to do homework, huh?  I’ll just have to call him Mr. Homework then.”

“Mom!”

“Try not to disturb your roommate too much!  And use protection!”

“MOM!”

“See you next weekend, sweetie!  Love you!”

“Love you too, mom…  Bye.”  Eren bids defeatedly, hanging up.

“Not. A. Word.”  Eren hisses.

Rivaille doesn’t say anything, but he does chuckle quietly, gently caressing Eren’s crimson cheek.

“Payback’s a bitch, isn’t it Eren?” 

“Right back at you, you dick.”

“But you seem to quite like my dick, so I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“I hate you.”

“No, you don’t.”

“You’re right, I don’t.  Now where were we before my mom interrupted?”  Eren asks, not waiting for Rivaille to answer before pouncing on him and peppering him with kisses.  Eventually, the relentless kissing tapers off, leaving Rivaille flushed and with some budding souvenirs on his neck to take back with him to the Shadowlands.

“So I’m meeting your mom next weekend?”

“Yep.  I’m surprised you sound so relaxed about all of this.”

“Why…?  Should I not be?”

“Well, if I am your consponsata, then it’s key that you make a good impression on my mom.  In the human realm, it’s customary to ask your intended’s parents for their blessing.  Not to mention the whole ‘you-don’t-marry-the-person-you-marry-the-family’ thing.”

“Really?”  Rivaille asks, his eyes wide with disbelief.

“Yeah, really.”

“WhatdoIneedtodotoimpressher?”

Eren throws back his head and laughs, thoroughly amused with Rivaille’s panicked reaction.

“Don’t worry about it too much; just be yourself.  My mom has been dying for me to get involved with someone for years, so she’s going to be over the moon that we’re together.  She’ll have high expectations, though I’m pretty sure if she knew about how you and dad got along, she’d marry me off in two-seconds flat.”  Eren grins, pulling Rivaille to lay down with him, nestling his way into Rivaille’s welcoming embrace.

“I suppose I’m not allowed to mention that?” 

“Unless you wanna explain how I started dating the King of the Shadowlands, then no.”

“Touché.  It’s probably for the best then.  I’ll shift so that way I appear like a normal human then.”

“It’s a tragedy, but it must be done.”  Eren sighs dramatically, flopping backward onto his bed.

“Should I bring some sort of offering or gift?”

“You don’t need to, but in the end it’s up to you.  If you wanted to bring something, maybe flowers?”

“I can do that.”

“And not a bouquet of 250 like you tried to bring me…”  Eren adds, sending Rivaille a pointed look.

“It was only 200…”  Rivaille protests.

“Still…  and you probably should stick to human flowers, or at least ones that resemble human flowers.  Hanji should be able to help you; ze will enjoy the project.”

“That ze would.”  Rivaille hums, petting Eren’s head.

“I’m really excited to introduce you to mom…  We can finally stop tiptoeing around and be open with our relationship…”

Rivaille kisses the crown of Eren’s head and hugs him tightly, conveying without words his agreement with Eren’s sentiment.

“Wait just a little while longer, Eren.  Just a little longer.”

“It’s kinda odd seeing you without the horns and tail.”

“It feels a little weird to be in this form without them.”

“You still look devilishly handsome, though.”  Eren grins, taking in Rivaille’s crisp black suit and pressed cravat.

“And you look absolutely angelic.”

“You think so?”  Eren asks, twirling in place and letting his white tunic flutter in the wind.

“No one can even dare to deny it.”

“An angel with a demon king on his arm.  Seems a little ironic, doesn’t it?”

“Perhaps, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.”  Rivaille declares, pressing a kiss to Eren’s cheek.

“Nice job with the flowers.  I’m sure my mom will love them.”

“You think so?”  Rivaille asks, fidgeting with the bouquet of pinks, reds, purples, and whites.

“I know so.  She’ll love you too, so stop being so nervous.”

“Is it that easy to tell?”

“Yeah, but she’ll find it endearing, I’m sure.  C’mon, my car is over here.”

Rivaille trails after Eren, trying to keep his face passive as he takes in his surroundings with awe.  He gets in the passenger’s side of Eren’s car, following Eren’s lead and putting on his seatbelt.  When Eren starts the car, Rivaille startles, which makes Eren laugh.

“Right, you haven’t been in a car before.  Don’t worry; I’ve been driving for two years now so I know what I’m doing.  Just sit back and enjoy the ride.”

Rivaille nods silently, not doubting Eren’s driving abilities but still being a little apprehensive about riding in a car.  Eren grins and puts the car into reverse, placing his arm over the back of Rivaille’s seat and turning around to back out of his parking place.  Eren then shifts into drive and pulls out into the street, keeping his eyes on road and handling the car with practiced ease.  Rivaille alternates between watching the world flash by outside the window and looking at Eren, admiring his confidence and focus in his task.  Two hours feel like mere minutes in the car, and before he knows it, they are pulling to a stop in front of a yellow house.  Eren turns the key in the ignition and kills the engine.

“You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

Eren and Rivaille get out of the car, quickly joining hands and walking to the front door together.  Rivaille braces himself and Eren knocks, only to have the door open before he can even finish.

“Welcome home, Ere-bear!”  Eren’s mother exclaims, pulling Eren into a hug.

Eren grins, hugging his mother back zealously.  She gives him one last squeeze and then releases him, turning to take in Rivaille.

“And you must be the mysterious new boyfriend.”

“It’s a pleasure to—”  Rivaille gets cut off by Eren’s mom pulling him into a bone crushing hug.

“Trust me, the pleasure is all mine!”

Eren’s mom releases Rivaille from her grasp and gestures for them to come inside.  Eren grins and pats Rivaille on the back on his way in as Rivaille tries to catch his breath from the violent hug he just received. 

“Oh, where are my manners?  I’m Carla, Eren’s mother.”

“I’m Rivaille.  Here, these are for you.” 

“Wow, thank you!”

Rivaille hands over the bouquet to Carla and she happily accepts the arrangement.  She looks over the variety of flowers and snorts to herself, her smile growing even bigger.

“What’s so funny, mom?”

“The choice of flowers.  A touch dramatic, don’t you think?”

“Not at all.”

“Oh?  Good answer.  I’ll be back momentarily; I’m going to put these in a vase.  Please, make yourselves comfortable.”

Eren motions for Rivaille to follow him into the living room, subtly touching his susurri mark.

‘What was my mom talking about?’

‘ Flowers have symbolic meanings to them; in fact, there is a whole language of flowers.  Hanji is quite well-versed in it and helped create the arrangement. ’

‘What flowers were in the arrangement and what do they mean?’

‘ Tulips mean a declaration of love and violets mean faithful love.  The red flowers are Camellia Japonica and they mean ‘my destiny is in your hands’ and the little white flowers are called baby’s breath, meaning innocence and purity of heart. ’

Eren laughs out loud, pulling Rivaille down onto the couch and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

“You’re a hopeless romantic.”

“I’m your hopeless romantic.”  Rivaille corrects, pressing a kiss to Eren’s cheek, just in time for Carla to walk in.

“So Rivaille, tell me a bit about yourself.  Eren’s refused to tell me anything about you so far.”

“Really, Eren?  I’m wounded.”  Rivaille teases.

“Oh, shut up.”

“How did you two meet?”

“Pure coincidence.  I live just down the hall but I accidentally ended up in his room coming back from the showers on the second day.  Eren nearly got an eyeful.”  Rivaille says, reciting the practiced lie with ease.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing…”  Eren laughs, waggling his eyebrows.

“I never said it was…”

“How long have you been together?”

“I asked him out not long after.”  Eren brags.

“You were tripping all over yourself.”

“You thought it was adorable and you weren’t doing much better, you dork.”

“Touche.”

“What was the first date?”

“Rivaille had somehow never had coffee before so I decided I had to introduce him to it.  He’d always struck me as the kind to drink black coffee, so I offered him some.  He spit it out almost right away!”

“Eren, please don’t tell me you thought giving black coffee to someone who had never had coffee before was a good idea.”  Carla groans.

“In my defense, I took him to a teahouse the next day and he found out he really, really loves tea.”

“Speaking of which, how about I make some tea?  Rivaille, do you want to come with me to the kitchen to come pick out a blend you like?”

“Yes, please.  Thank you.”

Rivaille follows Carla into the kitchen, where she puts on a kettle of water to boil and grabs a box of tea, revealing an assortment of twelve different flavors.  Rivaille looks over the flavors carefully before selecting Earl Grey.

“Good choice.”

“Thank you.”

“So, Rivaille…  I have to ask: what are your intentions toward my son?”  Carla asks, all seriousness as she leans back against the counter.

“What do you mean exactly?”  Rivaille asks nervously, fidgeting with the box in his hands.

“What do you want out of your relationship with Eren?”

“Honestly?”

“It’s the only answer I want.”

“I… I want to spend the rest of my life with him.  I don’t want my selfish wish to hold him back from doing anything he wants to with his life, but I know that he’s the only one for me.  If he doesn’t want to, I’ll respect his wishes because I don’t want to pressure him into anything he doesn’t want, but I’ll never feel the way I feel about Eren for any other person.  I’ve never met anyone like him before and he’s now my entire world.  More than anything else, I want him to be happy.”

“That’s pretty serious for someone who’s only known him for a month.”

“I feel like I’ve known him half his life.” 

“Is that so?  What has he told you about his father, Grisha?”

“He told me that after his father lost his job, he started to drink.  And that drinking led to abuse of both the alcohol and then of his family.  He died of liver failure when Eren was thirteen.”  Rivaille lies carefully.

“Interesting.”

“How so?”

“Eren’s never told anyone else about how his father treated him before, not even his best friends.  Yet, he’s told you even after knowing you for a month.  That’s a little strange isn’t it, Levi?”  Carla accuses.

“…It’s been a while since I’ve been called that name.”

“I thought your voice was familiar.”

“You knew?”  Rivaille asks, surprised.

“I had my suspicions.  Eren had imaginary friends from an early age, but when he was eight, he finally started to grow out of them.  I thought he had finally moved on, but then Grisha got fired and started to drink and shortly after, they were back.  I was really concerned, but I didn’t tell him to stop because he was happy when he talked about them.  Who was I to deny him his method of coping with the sudden change in his father’s behavior?  But then Grisha got worse and started to hit me.  I tried to keep it quiet for his sake, but I think he knew.  When his father turned on him, I could no longer sit idly by and do nothing.  I knew better than to try to physically intervene myself, so I installed a camera in his room and waited for the next time his father came for him because I knew that once I had indisputable evidence, I could make sure Grisha never hurt me and Eren again.  You can imagine my surprise when I turned on the camera the first night and heard Eren talk to a ‘King Levi’ of the ‘Shadowlands,’ only for this ‘Levi’ to reply.  I was even more surprised when this same ‘Levi’ reassured him and then came out from underneath his bed, touched him briefly, then disappeared.  I was scared for him, but when I woke him up the next morning, his bruises were gone.  I had no idea who ‘Levi’ was, but I figured that he had to be some sort of guardian angel for Eren, so I didn’t intervene.  I was proved correct the next night, because when Grisha came for him, ‘Levi’ transformed into this terrifying creature and protected my son.  I saw everything.  And when I saw the flowers tattooed on the inside of his wrist, I knew he would always be safe from his father.  Grisha never laid a hand on him, or me for that matter, ever again.  I uninstalled the camera not long after that.  I knew you looked familiar when I first saw you and when I heard your voice, I figured out that you were ‘Levi.’”

“Does it bother you?”

“Not as much as it probably should, but I wish that Eren would have told me sooner.”

“He probably didn’t want to worry you.”

“So, when did things change?”

“Eren asked me to be his boyfriend when he was sixteen.  I had feelings for him before then, but I didn’t ask because I was scared he didn’t feel the same way and I didn’t want to pressure him into returning my feelings.  I warned him that if he chose me, we wouldn’t have a normal relationship because of who I am, but he said that didn’t matter to him.”

“Of course.  He’s stubborn like that.”  Carla grins.

“Yeah.”  Levi smiles fondly.

The kettle whistles and the conversation gives way to quiet contemplation as Carla grabs three mugs and prepares the tea.  Rivaille helps her by grabbing the mugs and carrying them out to the living room, while Carla follows him with milk and sugar.

“What were you guys talking about for so long?  Rivaille, did she threaten you or something?”  Eren asks, looking between Rivaille and his mother.

“Not at all.”

“I probably should though…”

“Mom, please don’t!”

“But what kind of mother would I be if I didn’t embarrass my son a little bit?”

“A good one?”

“Rivaille, did you hear him?  My own son!”

“Now I have an idea where he gets the dramatics from.”

“Rivaille!”  Eren and Carla protest simultaneously.

Rivaille tries to hold in his laughter to no avail, dissolving into a charming fit of laughter.  Carla and Eren join in shortly thereafter, realizing that their reaction only proved Rivaille’s point.

“I think it’s only fitting that we hear some embarrassing stories about Rivaille now.”

“What kind of embarrassing stories?  I’ve got plenty.”

“How about the time with the flowers, Rivaille?”  Eren cheekily suggests.

“I guess that’s as good one as any.  So I was super busy at work one day and Eren had a late class so I ended up having to miss one our nightly meetings.  I felt super bad about it, so I left him a note and flowers — pink and white carnations to be exact — to apologize.  Of course, I didn’t have a great sense of what was appropriate in terms of quantity, so instead of a bouquet of a dozen or so flowers…  I left him 200 flowers.  It wasn’t until later that I found out that I had gone a little overboard.  Eren still won’t let me live it down.” 

“For a good reason!  I still don’t know why you thought 200 flowers was appropriate.”

“Anything for you, my dear.  Though I will remind you that I have just as many embarrassing stories about you as you have of me.”

“Like?”  Carla prods.

“Well, there was that one time you accidentally snorted tea—”

“Rivaille, no!”  Eren interjects.

“Another time then, Carla?  I’ll just have to come back to visit you on another day so we can swap stories about Eren.”  Rivaille winks.

“No, no, nope, that is not happening, so don’t even think about it for a moment—”

“Sounds like a great idea!”

“It’s settled then.”  Rivaille smiles.

“Why did I ever agree to introduce you two?”  Eren groans, hiding his face in his hands as Rivaille and his mother laugh at him.

“It was long overdue, I’m afraid.  What, did you think you were going to be able to hide your strong, sexy boyfriend from me forever?”

“Yes, thank you very much.”  Eren states, grabbing onto Rivaille’s arm, who rolls his eyes.

“Well, he’s a catch, that’s for sure.  As long as he keeps you happy, he’s welcome back any time.”

“Thank you so much.”  Rivaille bows.

“Please, drop the formalities.  You wouldn’t be this formal with your mother, would you?”  Carla teases.

When Rivaille straightens up with wide eyes, Carla winks at him.  Rivaille, now smiling from ear to ear, mouths ‘thank you’ to Carla before peppering Eren with kisses.

“What did I miss just now???”

“So what happened between you and my mom?  You two got buddy-buddy really fast.”

Rivaille chuckles at Eren’s childish tone, letting him snuggle more into his chest.  They had tried cuddling in Eren’s dorm room bed right after Eren first moved in, but after discussing it further, decided to relocate to Rivaille’s bed for most of their snuggle sessions because his bed was bigger and more comfortable. 

“Do you want the long version or the short version?”

“Long version please.”

“When your mom called me into the kitchen, she asked me about my intentions toward you.  When I gave my honest answer, she asked me what I knew about your father.”

When Eren stiffens, Rivaille pauses, working his hand up and down Eren’s back and pressing kisses into Eren’s neck to distract him.  Rivaille doesn’t continue until Eren is relaxed again.

“I told your mom what I knew and she said that it was interesting that I knew because you had never told anyone else about what happened, yet you had told me after a month.  And then she actually called me Levi.”

“SHE KNEW?”

“To shorten a long story, yes.  She had installed a camera in your room to try to catch your father in the act so she could report him and saw everything that happened that night…  She took down the camera not long after that, but somehow she never forgot about me.  That’s how she recognized me years later.  Well, that and Levi and Rivaille do actually sound kind of similar.”

“Then what was that bit later, after you bowed?”

“I think she was giving me her permission to marry you one day.  I’ll still ask her more formally to be sure, though.”

“REALLY?”  Eren lights up.

“Yeah, really.”  Rivaille grins back.

Eren pulls himself out of Rivaille’s grasp only to tackle him onto his back, kissing him passionately, his elation overwhelming him to the point of forgetting to breathe through his nose.  Rivaille laughs at him and pulls him down for another kiss once Eren has caught his breath, this one softer and sweeter.  Time loses all meaning as they kiss over and over, warm and content in each other’s arms.  They fall asleep together that way, still in Rivaille’s bed.  Eren ends up being late to his eight AM class the next morning, but he’s too happy to care.

Chapter Text

“Hanji, I need your help.”

“What can I do for you, Eren?”  Hanji asks, looking up from zir book.

“I want to become a demon.”

“YOU WANT TO WHAT???”  Hanji screeches, dropping the book and losing zir page.

“Shhh Hanji, or he’s going to hear!  This is supposed to be a surprise.”  Eren whispers, trying to get Hanji to calm down.

“Oh my stars!  This is so exciting!”  Hanji squeals quietly.

“So can you help me or not?”

“Yes, yes, YES!”

“Hanji!”  Eren scolds.

“Sorry!  I was hoping a day like this would come someday, so I’ve already figured out how you might be able to transition!  I’ll get to work on the primers right away!”  Hanji cheers, turning back to zir work bench and working to clear things away to create space for zir new project.

“Um, how will I know when it’s done?”

“Oops!  Silly me!  Can I give you a susurri mark?  It’ll let us keep in touch!”

“Yes, just… make it discreet?”

“Of course, of course!  Turn around for me please!”

Eren nods, turning around and closing his eyes as he feels Hanji press two fingertips to the base of his skull.  Solomon’s Seal, a greenish bell shaped flower, blooms there, a faint outline hidden almost completely by hair.

“There.  It should be pretty hard to see, especially covered by your hair.  Just touch your mark and you’ll be able to get in touch with me anytime!  Don’t worry, this one’s temporary; it can be removed later.  Check in with me in about three days; the first part, the primers, should be ready by then!”

“Thank you for helping me with this, Hanji.”

“No, thank you!  I was wondering when you guys were going to take the next step!  I’ll go over the details of the process once I’ve finished the primers.  Now hurry along, we don’t want Rivaille wandering in and ruining his own surprise prematurely, do we?”

“I’ll be in touch.”  Eren winks, excusing himself from the lab to find Rivaille.

Three days later, Hanji confirms that the primers are ready, so when Rivaille comes to visit Eren that evening, Eren asks him about making a trip down to the Shadowlands while he snuggles into Rivaille’s chest.

“Hey Rivaille?  Can I go with you to the Shadowlands tomorrow?  I don’t have any classes this week because finals start Monday but I need to study and your room is so much quieter than anywhere on campus.  You don’t have to stay with me all day or anything because I know you have work to do, but it would be nice to spend some time with you between all of my studying.”

“Sure?  I’ll never say no to you wanting to spend the day with me.”

“Great!”  Eren grins, making Rivaille’s heart speed up again.

How is it that we’ve known each other for ten years and he still makes me feel this way?

“When should I come pick you up?”

“Hmmm…”  Eren considers, carefully scratching the back of his head and grazing over the base of his neck.

“0900?  That should give me some time to go to the gym, get breakfast, and pack up a bag of stuff.  I can’t stay overnight or anything, though maybe I can this weekend?  I need to be rested up for finals and I always sleep best when I’m with you.”

“That sounds lovely. I’ll be here at 0900 sharp tomorrow morning.”  Rivaille replies, pressing a kiss to the crown of Eren’s head, his fingers carding through Eren’s hair all the while.

“Thank you.”  Eren mumbles, his face pressed into Rivaille’s neck, his feelings overflowing in his chest and making it hard to breathe.

“Eren?” Rivaille breathes, his voice tender and concerned.

“Hmm?”

“You okay?”

“Yeah, why?”

“You’re crying.”

“Oh.  It seems I am.”  Eren chuckles, wiping at his eyes.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not yet.  Soon.”  Eren whispers, his voice heavy with promise.

“I’ll be here whenever you’re ready.”  Rivaille swears.

“You’re too good for me, you know that?”  Eren sniffles, his heart ready to burst.

“Nonsense.  Nothing is too good for you.”  Rivaille dismisses, pulling away so he can see Eren’s face.

He cups Eren’s face in his hand, wiping away a stray tear with his thumb and kissing under Eren’s eyes.  Eren makes eye contact with Rivaille, drifting toward him slowly.  His eyes flutter shut to kiss Rivaille, but the atmosphere is broken by his roommate crashing through the door.  Both Eren and Rivaille jump, but when Eren sees the door dividing his roommate’s side of the room and his is closed, he relaxes again. 

“My roommate must be back early from the party he said he was going to.  His boyfriend probably wasn’t there, so he must have gotten bored.”  Eren remarks, rolling his eyes.

“Yuuri, mmmm—!”  Eren’s roommate moans, followed by a muffled thump.

“Plot twist?  Sounds like the boyfriend’s here too.”

“Oh Vitya~, I’m going to pound you so good!”

“Aaaaand that’s my cue to put on my soundproof headphones again.”  Eren groans.

“I should probably go. Sure you don’t want to come back with me now?”  Rivaille chuckles.

“As tempting as that offer is, I shouldn’t.  Thank you though.  I’ll be fine.”

“If you say so.  If you change your mind, just let me know.”  Rivaille offers, pulling Eren in for a tender kiss before disappearing.

Eren smiles to himself, enjoying the lingering sensation of Rivaille’s lips on his and warm spot Rivaille left behind.

“Oh, Yuuri!  Fuck, it feels so good!  More!”

Eren groans, pulling his pillow over his head and trying to shut out the sounds of his obnoxiously loud roommate and boyfriend.

While Rivaille is off at a meeting, Eren sneaks off to go find Hanji and get the primers.  He moves quickly and quietly, now more familiar with the maze of hallways in the castle, and he is lucky enough to not run into anyone on the way to Hanji’s lab.  He slips in and closes the door quietly, breathing a sigh of relief and waving to Hanji.  When ze sees him, ze leaps out of zir chair and drags Eren over.

“Eren!  Did you have any trouble getting here?”

“Nope.  I didn’t run into anyone on the way over and as far as I know, Rivaille doesn’t suspect a thing.”

“Lovely!  Come sit down with me?”  Hanji asks, gesturing to two chairs nestled in the corner of the room.

Eren nods, getting comfortable when Hanji sits down across from him.

“So, I have the primers all made up for you, but there are a few things you should know before you start taking them.  Once you start the primers, you’ll need to take them everyday for ten days.  You’ll have to take two a day, spaced about twelve hours apart.  For maximum efficacy, you’ll have to take them as close to the same time every single day.  If you don’t take your primer within a two hour window, one hour before or one hour after, you may have to take the primers for a longer period of time, which you do not want.”

“That doesn’t sound too hard.”

“It’s a lot easier said than done, trust me.  Please do not hide it from me if you miss a dose, because it’s really important to make sure you receive the full affect of the medication.”

“Will I notice any changes in my body?”

“Do you mean start changing into a demon?  No.  The primers don’t turn you into a demon, but they do prepare your body for the change.  Once you’ve built up enough of the primer in your system, your body will be ready to change if you get the signal to within the next twelve hours.”

“Signal?”  Eren asks, getting a sigh in response.

“While I was working on your primers, I went back to check the literature and found out that you cannot change without the assistance of another demon.  You will need another demon’s blood in you to start the change.”

“Would we be able to use yours?

“No.  I mean, yes, you could, but you wouldn’t want to.  You will imprint on the demon you take blood from, so if Rivaille found out…”

“Oh.”  Eren’s face falls.

“On the bright side though, your power will be of similar quality and level as the person you receive blood from!  You’ll easily be one of the most powerful demons alive by forging a bond with our dear old Rivaille!”

“That’s good…”  Eren mumbles.

“Why are you so down, Eren?  Is it because it won’t be a surprise?”

“It’s just…  he does so much for me and I wanted to be able to do this one thing to surprise him but I can’t even do that on my own!”

“I’m sorry that it won’t be a surprise, but I’m pretty sure it’s for the best.  The shift is… less than pleasant, to put it lightly.  You will likely be in extreme agony as your body transitions over and there’s no way of knowing how long it will last.  Having Rivaille to help you may ease the process.  Additionally, taking the primers have some side effects just like any other medicine you might take.  It’s hard to say what side effects will manifest, but I expect that you will experience hormonal imbalances, which will affect your hunger, libido, energy levels, and emotions.  It will be like puberty on steroids, and having support may make the side effects easier to deal with.  I won’t tell Rivaille anything about this, so it’ll be up to you how to tell him and when, be it now or later, before or after taking the primers.  I’m going to strongly recommend sooner rather than later, but it is ultimately up to you.” 

“I understand…”

“Here are the primers; there are plenty in there, so don’t worry about them running out.  Keep me posted on how you’re doing and I’ll do my best to help you through the process.  I think it’s really brave that you want to do this.  If you change your mind before you start, I’ll understand completely.  This isn’t an easy thing to do.”

“No, I want this.  For Rivaille and for myself.  Are… are there any long term side effects of taking the primers?”

“There’s no way to know for sure, but I don’t think so.  You definitely shouldn’t feel them once you’ve transitioned at least.”

“Got it.  Thank you, Hanji.  For everything.”

“Anything for you, Eren.  Good luck.”

“Thanks.  I’ll keep you posted.”  Eren replies with a wobbly smile, pocketing the primers and slipping out of the lab.

Rivaille is heading back from his meeting with Erwin when the first sounds of muffled tears reach him.  He picks up his pace, following the sound and getting faster the closer he gets to his room.  He bursts through the door, ready to fight anyone who might be bothering his Eren, but no one is there.  The crying immediately quiets to shaky breaths, making it harder to locate Eren, but Rivaille eventually finds him hiding under the bed, curled in on himself facing the wall.  Wordlessly, Rivaille shifts his arms into tentacles, reaching under the bed and gently grabbing Eren.  When Rivaille tries to pull Eren out from underneath the bed, Eren doesn’t move, neither helping or struggling against the demon.  Once Eren has been extricated, Rivaille pulls him close to his chest, his arms reforming to he can hold Eren tightly.  He sits down with Eren on the bed, adjusting his hold so that he can surround and cover Eren in an attempt to make him feel safe and secure.  After a moment, Eren burrows into Rivaille’s chest, accepting the comfort, and Rivaille’s chest floods with both relief and concern.

“S-sorry…”  Eren sniffles.

“Why are you sorry?  You haven’t done anything wrong.”

“But I haven’t done anything right, either…”

“Nonsense.  Talk to me.  Are you stressed about finals?”

“No…”

“Then what seems to be the problem?”

“I was going to…  You know what?  Here.”

Eren pulls the bag of primers out of his pocket and hands them to Rivaille.

“What is this?  Are these pills?  Is someone pressuring you?”

“No, no!  These are primers; Hanji made them for me at my request.”

“Primers?  Primers for what?”

“Primers so I can transition to be a demon like you…”  Eren admits.

Rivaille is quiet.  Rivaille is dead silent and that makes Eren nervous.  Rivaille scoots back on the bed and gets comfortable by leaning against the headboard, Eren still cradled in his arms, before finally speaking.

“Why are you doing this?  Are you doing this because you think this is what I want?”  Rivaille asks, his voice strained.

“Yes and no.  We both know that my being human will affect our relationship in the future.  I will be more prone to harm. I will age faster.  I will die before you do.   And do you think people will ever recognize me as your Queen if I’m just a mere human?  It’s unlikely, Rivaille, and I think we both know it.  I want to turn because I want to save both of us the heartache that is bound to come later if I don’t.”

“But think about the heartache it will cause you.  I don’t know how risky it is to try to turn.  You will outlive every human you know.   And if you ever change your mind…”

“You don’t think I haven’t thought of all that?  And I won’t change my mind because I will never change my mind about you.  I want to be yours and I want you to be mine, forever.  If this is what I have to do in order for that to happen, then so be it.”  Eren declares.

“Then… why were you crying?”

“I was going to surprise you with this but I need your blood to change so I can’t even do this on my own!  I’m just so mad that I can’t do anything special for you!” 

“Eren… you don’t have to surprise me.  I’m a simple person.  I don’t need any grand gestures from you; I just want your time and affection, which you provide in spades.  If you want to transition, I will be overjoyed that you want to spend your life with me, but only if that’s what you want for yourself.  Your happiness is my happiness Eren, and that’s how it will always be.”

“Rivaille…”  Eren tears up, hugging him tight and burying his face in Rivaille’s neck.

They sit in silence, holding each other tight.  They embrace for what feels like a short eternity before Eren finally pulls away, looking Rivaille dead in the eyes.

“I still want to transition.”

“If that’s what you want, I’ll be happy to support you the entire way.  When do you want to start the primers?”

“I would like to start as soon as possible, but it would probably be wise to wait until after finals.  I’ll have a couple weeks off, which should be plenty of time to take the primers, transition, recover, and maybe even play around with my new powers before I have to go back for second semester.”

“Now that’s a thought: you, but with demon powers.  Yikes.”  Rivaille teases.

“You better watch out.  Imagine all the things I could do to you once we’re on equal footing in terms of powers.”  Eren sniffles, giggling.

Rivaille fails to suppress the shiver that ripples down his spine.

“Are you scared, Rivaille?  Or aroused?”  Eren whispers in Rivaille’s ear.

“Definitely both.”

“As you should be.  Just you wait.”

“Why wait?”  Rivaille retorts, tackling Eren to the mattress and kissing him all over.

“I like how you think!”  Eren laughs, kissing Rivaille back.

Chapter Text

“I can’t believe apparating still makes me this light-headed…”  Eren complains, putting a hand down on Rivaille’s bed to steady himself.

“It won’t for much longer, I promise.”  Rivaille grins, kissing Eren on the forehead and taking his bag to put away.

Eren pushes himself back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling with a stupid smile.  He closes his eyes and when he opens them again, Rivaille is hovering over him, a tender expression making his heart swell.  Eren grabs the front of Rivaille’s shirt and pulls him down beside him, his hands roaming over Rivaille’s clothed chest, around to his back, up his neck, and through his hair to settle around Rivaille’s horns.

“I can’t wait any longer.  The past ten days have been hell.”

“You handled it like a pro.  I’m so proud of you.”

“Thank you.”

“Eren…  I want to ask you one more time—”

“Yes, Rivaille.  I’m sure I want to do this.  Do you trust me?”

“With my everything.”

“Then I know everything will be okay.  Now shut up and kiss me.”  Eren demands, pulling Rivaille’s horns so that their lips meet in a tender union.

When Eren pulls away, his heart is thumping loudly in his chest and he takes a moment to drink in Rivaille’s face, gently caressing it as he memorizes every detail as if for the first and last time.

“Let’s go, shall we?”  Eren says, his voice gentle but determined.

Eren was nervous.  He hid it well, but when he kissed Rivaille his mind filled with what-ifs.   What if Rivaille didn’t like him as much as a demon?  What if he couldn’t handle it? What if…  What if he never saw Rivaille again?

Once finals had ended, Eren had gone back to see Hanji, hoping to learn more about the transformation process.  Ze had explained that while starting it was easy — all it took was a small injection of Rivaille’s blood to start the change — there was little that ze could say for sure about the actual process of transforming.  Ze knew it would take several hours, likely be very painful, and probably leave him weak for a while after, but assured him that with Rivaille by his side that he would be well cared for in that time.  However, ze did add one other thing:

“Eren, there is a chance that you may not make it.  It’s very likely that you’ll be just fine, but…  Rivaille’s magic is very powerful.  It may strain your body too much and there could be some major complications.  Taking the primers has greatly upped your chances of making it through successfully, but I cannot say this procedure is entirely without risk.  Are you sure you still want to go through with this?  If you don’t want to or want to wait, I know Rivaille will understand.”

“I know, but I still want it and I accept any associated risks.”

“Very well then.”

Since then, Eren had never spared Hanji’s warning a second thought until now.  He felt fear well up in his chest, but he shoved it back down and put on a brave face.  The only outward manifestation of his trepidation was a small squeeze of Rivaille’s hand as they approached the room he would be transitioning in.  He would be fine.

“Eren, Rivaille!  I just finished setting up!  Eren, will you lay down over there, and Rivaille, come over here with me please?”

Eren nods, laying down on the bed prepared for him as Hanji speaks quietly to Rivaille and preps to draw blood from him.  Rivaille’s eyes close as Hanji draws blood from him with a needle, the liquid dark and almost purple in color, his face the picture of serenity.  Satisfied with the blood drawn from Rivaille, Hanji withdraws the needle and transfers the contents to a new syringe before cleaning the remaining blood from Rivaille’s arm, the remaining pin prick already healed up.

Hanji and Rivaille come over to Eren, Rivaille pulling up a chair on one side of him and taking his hand while Hanji comes around to Eren’s other side and starts wiping down Eren’s upper arm to prepare him for the injection.

“Are you ready, Eren?

“I’ve been ready for a long time now.  Do it.”

Hanji nods, locating the vein in Eren’s arm and pressing the needle in.  Eren sucks on his teeth briefly and Hanji depresses the plunger and removes the needle.  Ze throws the needle away and comes back to join Eren and Rivaille.

“Now we wait.  It’ll take a few minutes to start working, so just try to relax until then.”

“Okay.  Thanks, Hanji.”

The room falls into silence, waiting anxiously for the transformation to start.  When it does come, Eren barely notices it, just feeling increasingly hot.  It’s not until his shoulder starts to burn that he really registers the change.

“It’s starting.”  Eren gasps, clenching his eyes shut and hissing as the sensation grows stronger and starts to spread down his arm and across his chest.

It doesn’t take long for the burning sensation to spread through his entire body, the heat mounting with every passing minute, gradual and searing like slowly being consumed by fire.

After the first hour, Eren is covered in sweat and his breathing grows labored.  After two hours,  his muscles start to spasm, feeling poked and prodded from inside.  After four hours, Eren can’t keep quiet, whimpering and crying as the pain consumes him. Rivaille squeezes his hand every so often to ground him, forced to watch helplessly as Eren writhes in agony.  By eight hours, Eren could swear that he has never known anything but pain, begging for something to reduce it, cool it, make it stop.  Hanji had been wiping down Eren’s sweat soaked body but no longer can because it hurts too much to have any physical contact.  Rivaille forces himself to drop Eren’s hand, anxious and upset that he can’t do anything to help Eren.  By twelve hours, Eren is quietly crying but otherwise numb, having grown accustomed to the feeling of his fried nerves under the surface of his skin.  Rivaille and Hanji are exchanging concerned whispers, but they fall on deaf ears as Eren puts all of his remaining energy into surviving the ordeal. 

As Eren approaches thirteen hours after receiving Rivaille’s blood, the pain mounts once more, targeted in his upper back, lower back, and temples.  His cracked voice starts once more, building up to a fever pitch as the pain reaches a new peak, the feeling bunching and bundling, trying to push out of his skin.  Rivaille watches in alarm as blood start to trickle from Eren’s head and back, staining the sheets a shade of red so dark that it almost looks black.

“This is it.  C’mon, Eren, you can do it.”  Hanji breathes, watching wide-eyed as Eren begins to thrash about, his eyes screwed shut as he starts clawing at his temples.

In the middle of his thrashing, Eren suddenly stops, his eyes rolling back in his head and his back arching as he lets out a piercing scream that echoes throughout the castle.  Eren’s hand reaches out and grabs Rivaille’s wrist, squeezing it hard enough to nearly break bone.  Horns, wings, and a tail sprout suddenly from his body, dripping with blood and gore.  In a matter of seconds, they are fully formed and extended, mirroring Levi’s own.  The pain suddenly vanishes, replaced with a wave of sudden pleasure.  Eren takes a few choking breaths as the feeling washes over him then goes limp, releasing his iron grip on Rivaille.

“Eren!”  Rivaille exclaims, panicked, taking in Eren’s deathly still form bleeding out.

“Rivaille, I need you to stay calm.  Do you feel him?”

“His hand is—”

“No, reach out with your magic.  Can you feel your power in him?”

“Y-yes.”

“Good.  That means he shouldn’t be in danger of dying anymore.”

“ANYMORE?”

“Rivaille, focus!  We need to clean him up and staunch the bleeding; he can’t heal himself properly with this little energy.  Turn him over onto his stomach so I can apply a clotting factor to his back.”

Rivaille does as instructed, turning over Eren as gently as possible, making sure he can still breathe and Hanji has full access to his injuries.

“I didn’t realize that this would go on for so long.  He’s very strong.”  Hanji mutters as ze wipes away the blood and applies the clotting factor to the base of Eren’s new horns, wings and tail.

“There, that should do it.  He’s definitely dehydrated, so you need to make sure he drinks a lot when he wakes up.  And he needs a bath, but be gentle with his new additions; they’re probably sore.”  Hanji instructs, returning Eren to his original position.

“Shitty glasses, why didn’t you fucking tell me that he could fucking die from this?”

“You would have tried to stop him.  Not only was this his choice, but once your blood was in him, it would be too late to do anything about it anyway.  Your magic effects him now, so it was for the best that you didn’t know.  He’s finished the transformation, so he should be out of the woods for the most part.  Just focus on caring for him, yeah?”

Rivaille releases a shaky breath and nods, putting all of his focus on Eren, who seems to be a lot more relaxed again.

“He’ll need to rest for a bit, so if you need to go—”

“Eren is my top priority.  I’ve handed over my duties over to Erwin until Eren has completely recovered.  My only job is to be here for him.”

“Can I get you something then?”

“No, I’m fine.  I’m just tired and… relieved.”  Rivaille says, staring tenderly down at Eren’s sleeping face as he gently brushes the hair out of Eren’s eyes.

“Amazing…”  Hanji breathes.

“What?”

“Rivaille, your arm!”

Rivaille looks down at his arm where Eren has grabbed him and sees a small bunch of flowers, white and heart shaped, clustering near the top of a small sprout.

“It’s a susurri mark…”  Rivaille breathes.

“His first spell is a susurri mark?  And without full consciousness?  Wow, Rivaille, I knew he would take after you but he is very powerful.”

“What does it mean?  The flower, I mean.”

“It’s Shepherd’s Purse.  It means ‘I give you my heart and soul.’”

“Oh, Eren…”  Rivaille murmurs, his eyes getting watery as he smiles down at his angel and presses a soft kiss to his lips.

When Rivaille pulls back, Eren’s eyes flutter open, faultless emeralds sparkling in the light, causing his breath to catch.  Eren blinks slowly, weary and slightly unfocused.

“Wha…?  Why am I sticky?”  Eren groans hoarsely, trying to sit up.

Hanji laughs and lets Rivaille help Eren up.

“Well, now we know that you’re not traumatized by the experience.  You’re kinda covered in blood from sprouting your new wings, tail, and horns.  How do you feel?”

“So that’s what that was…  I’m achy, tired, and I could really go for a glass of water or ten, but on the whole I feel… good.”  Eren coughs.

“Good?”  Rivaille asks, helping Eren to drink from a glass of water Hanji had given him.

“Yeah.  It really hurt then, but now it feels like I just had a bunch of rounds of rough sex or something.  There’s this… glow, I guess?  That’s the best way to describe it.  I feel happy and full inside, even if my body feels a bit worse for wear.”

“That’s great, that’s great!  Can you try moving your wings and tail for me?  I just want to make sure they’re responding properly.”

Eren nods, frowning in concentration as he lifts his tail and gives his wings a quick flap before pulling them in against his back.

“Very good, Eren!  I would like to give you a full examination later, but I’m sure you want to get cleaned up first.  Rivaille, he’s all yours, but no apparating — Eren would probably faint at this point.”

Rivaille nods, scooping Eren up in his arms, uncaring of the blood everywhere and carrying him out, Eren protesting all the while.

“I can walk—”

“No way.  I’m carrying you.”

“But Rivaille—”

“I want to.”

“Fine…”

Rivaille continues to hold Eren in his arms as he uses his magic to fill the giant tub in his bathroom with warm water.  He summons over some aromatherapy oils and pours some into the tub, the room filling with the scent of lavender, mint, and eucalyptus.  With a wave of his hand, Rivaille removes his clothes and Eren’s without ever putting him down.  Rivaille steps carefully into the tub and lowers them both into the warm water.  Rivaille sits up against the back of the tub, seating Eren between his legs with his back to Rivaille’s chest.  Eren sighs and relaxes, melting into Rivaille’s lap almost immediately after getting settled.

“Feels so good…”  Eren moans.

Rivaille doesn’t reply, tightening his hold on Eren, pulling him even closer so they have as much skin contact as possible and nuzzling his face into Eren’s neck.

“Rivaille?  What’s wrong?  Are you not happy with the transformation results?  I’m sure once I get the hang of magic I can take a form that is more desirable to you—”  Eren asks, growing increasingly worried.

“No, no, no!  Eren, you’re always beautiful, gorgeous, stunning!  I can’t keep my hands off you, let alone my eyes.”

“Thank you, but… what’s the problem then?”

“You scared me.  You were in so much pain for so long and then you passed out and Hanji said—”  Rivaille starts, his earlier panic bleeding into his voice.

“Shhhhhhh…  I’m sorry that I scared you like that, but I’m fine.  I’m better than fine.  I, uh, don’t know if you noticed before we got in the tub, but remember how I said it felt like I had a bunch of rough sex?  Immediately after the shift finished and my wings sprouted and all that jazz, I, uh, came in my pants.  Hard.”

“What?  Why?”

“I got this really intense feeling of you inside me.  All of me.  And it felt so fucking good that it just… happened.  I’m pretty sure that’s what this warm tingling feeling under my skin is too, the feeling of being completely yours.”

Rivaille groans, tucking his head into the crook of Eren’s neck.

“How is it that you can think that I don’t find you sexy?”

Eren laughs, his tail tentatively wrapping around one of Rivaille’s legs.

“Do you like that kind of talk?  Do you like it when I say I can feel you deep inside me?  Do you like how much I enjoy being yours?  Do like knowing that I crave to make you feel the same?”  Eren purrs.

“Don’t say shit like that when you know I can’t do anything about it.  You’re such a goddamn tease.”

“But I’m so horny, Rivaille!”  Eren simpers, his arousal obvious as he grinds back on Rivaille.

“I don’t know if I can resist you right now.  Maybe I should leave so you can rest…”  Rivaille replies, moving to get out of the tub.

“NO!  STAY!  I’LL BE GOOD, I PROMISE!”  Eren desperately exclaims, grabbing Rivaille’s wrist to keep him from leaving.

There’s a pregnant pause, but Rivaille doesn’t leave, returning to his original position and pulling Eren back up against him.

“Hey, you feeling okay?”  Rivaille asks quietly.

“Yeah.  Sorry about that…  I think this is part of the imprinting that Hanji mentioned before.  You said you were leaving and my mind just screamed at me stop you, to keep you as close as possible no matter what.”

“I wasn’t going to go far and it was only to keep myself from jumping your bones.  You’re still recovering, but if you need me close, then I’ll hold you as long as you need.  Though be careful, you might have a hard time getting me to let go later.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”  Eren giggles.

“I’m serious.  If it was up to me, I would never let you out of my sight.  You’re too precious.”

“Mmm, that’d be tough.  I still have stuff to do on Earth and you have responsibilities here.  Though once I figure out the magic thing, I can mark you like how you marked me.”

“You already did.  See?” 

Eren gapes at the sprig of flowers on Rivaille’s right forearm when Rivaille shows it to him.

“I did that?”

“Yeah, right at the end of your transformation.”

“Well, do you like it?” Eren asks softly, his fingers lightly ghosting over the mark.

“Eren, I love it.”  Rivaille replies, voice earnest and tender.

Rivaille places his hand over the mark, his hand brushing gently against Eren’s.

I love it because I love you.

Eren goes still, pausing to process the confession before turning to look at Rivaille’s face, tears brimming in his eyes.

“Rivaille…  I love you too.”  Eren whispers, his voice quivering with emotion.

“I know, even when you don’t say it.  Fuck, I’ve known it this entire time.”  Rivaille breathes, leaning forward so his lips meet Eren’s in a tender, perfect kiss.

Chapter Text

“Are you ready?”  Mikasa leans over to ask.

“Mika, I’ve been ready for a long time.”  Eren whispers back, staring straight ahead.

“Just checking.  He looked pretty calm out there.”

“I can assure you that he’s barely keeping it together.”  Eren grins.

“He’s that excited?”

“And terrified.”

“I don’t blame him.  I mean, he is putting you on the throne.”

“Hey!”

“I’m just teasing.  You’ll do great.  You’ve charmed every single one of us you’ve met and I highly doubt that will stop any time soon.  I’m sure everyone else will fall for their new Queen.  Besides, even if they don’t, they’ll have Rivaille to answer to.”  Mikasa giggles.

“Thanks, Mika.  I really needed to hear that.”

“Anything for you, your Highness.”  Mikasa bows.

“Okay, now you’re just trying to kiss my ass.”  Eren accuses.

“Imperatrix meum, it is time.”  Nanaba interrupts.

“Right, right.  Do I still look okay?”  Eren frets.

“Here, let me just…  Perfect.  No one will be able to take their eyes off you.”  Nanaba declares, having adjusted Eren’s dress.

When Hanji had first pitched the idea to Eren about wearing a dress for the coronation, Eren had been hesitant about it because he wasn’t sure the design would flatter him, but Hanji had come through for him and made the most breathtaking dress he had ever seen in his life.  The base of the dress was a silky white fabric with a delicate sheen that flowed from a gossamer- thin sheer across his shoulders down to an opaque marble, pure like the first snow of winter.  The bottom of the dress is packed with tiny lilac flowers of varying pinks, purples, yellows, and blues, bright and colorful throughout the train and thinning out and getting lighter in color until they are a pristine white as they grow up the dress.  The sheer sleeves go all the way down Eren’s arms and over the backs of his hands, connecting to silver rings on his middle fingers, careful not to cover the expanded sussuri mark that curls possessively across Eren’s tanned skin.  While Eren has chosen to get rid of his tail so as not to interfere with the dress, his wings, large feathered affairs that look like they belong on a literal angel (though many would argue Eren was already well on his way to being one himself), are held out proudly.   And while the rest of him is polished and neat, Eren’s hair still refuses to be perfectly tamed, so his chocolate locks are tousled around curved horns, decorated with sparkling silver chains. 

“If you say so.  Let’s get this show on the road, shall we?”

Nanaba nods and the attendants open the giant doors to the throne room, where almost every demon sits, waiting to meet their new queen.  When the doors creak open and Eren’s presence is announced, everyone turns to look, but Eren barely notices, for his eyes are fixed on Rivaille.  While Eren is dressed almost entirely in white, Rivaille looks the part in obsidian black, rich fabric flowing around him making him look almost like a shadow given life, markedly sharp and imposing, but ethereal and smokey around the edges.  The sleeves grow sheer down his arms like Eren’s in order to showcase Eren’s mark on him.  His wings are a gradient of black to gray, fading into white at the very tips of his longest feathers.  Atop his head is a sparkling crown of silver vines, covered in thorns and dangerously beautiful.  Rivaille’s outfit combined with his regal posture and expression makes him look every inch the king that he is, but the moment he lays eyes on Eren, his expression shifts from one of a king to that of a devout servant, living only to serve the man now walking down the aisle to take his place beside him.

“Wow…”  Rivaille breathes.

“That’s all you have to say?”  Eren teases under his breath.

“Every time that I think I’ve seen you at your most beautiful, you find new ways to steal my breath away.”

Eren blushes at Rivaille’s words, delicate pink coloring his cheeks at the compliment.

“See, there you go again.”  Rivaille whispers, transfixed.

“Stop it, or I’m going to implode right here.”  Eren complains, turning an even darker shade of red.

“I’m sorry; I can’t help it.”

“I know you both look great, but will you guys stop flirting with each other so I can get along with the ceremony already?  You’re already married.”  Hanji interrupts, mildly irate.

“Sorry, Hanji!”

“Thank you.  Demons of the Shadowlands, you are gathered here today to witness the coronation of your new imperatrix.  Eren, if you would please kneel before me.”  Hanji requests.

Eren immediately complies, careful of the skirt of his dress as he gets down on his knees before Hanji so that ze may carry out the ceremony.

“Eren, do you pledge your allegiance to the Shadowlands and all of its inhabitants?”

“I do.”

“Do you promise to rule with a firm and just hand beside our King?”

“I do.”

“And do you swear to look after our beloved King, to support him and counsel him through thick and thin?”

“I do.”

“King Rivaille, would you please do the honors?”  Hanji asks, smiling as she offers him a pillow, topped with a thorned silver circlet that matches his crown.

Rivaille, misty-eyed, nods his head, taking the circlet and placing it atop Eren’s head with the upmost gentleness, carefully nestling it in his husband’s chocolate brown locks where it glows briefly before returning to normal.  Before stepping away, Rivaille waves his hand, his fingers rippling into his palm to create a fist that now holds a single sprig of shepherd’s purse.  He brings it to his lips, kissing it briefly, and with eyes fixed on Eren, he tucks it behind Eren’s ear.  He offers his hand then to Eren, who is now also on the verge of crying, helping him up so that they may stand side by side and face the people of the Shadowlands.

“All rise for your King and Queen, Rivaille and Eren Ackerman.  May your reign be long and prosperous!”

“Cunctis regibus grandinem!”  The crowd choruses, breaking into applause as Eren waves to his people.

“I never imagined that this day would come.”  Rivaille whispers to Eren, taking his husband’s hand.

“What?  That you’d have a Queen?”

“That I would meet a person that I could treasure and who would treasure me back with equal measure, despite my many faults.  You are my life and love, Eren, and I couldn’t ask for a better husband or Queen to rule beside me.”

Eren pulls Rivaille in for a kiss, unable to express his feelings any other way.  The assembled crowd whoops and hollers, and Rivaille responds in kind by kissing Eren back, even dipping him a little bit for show.  When they finally part, they only have eyes for each other, absently hearing the cheers as a far off thunder as they drink each other in.

“So, I’m new to all of this coronation stuff…  Is there an equivalent to consummation for this occasion?”  Eren asks, trailing his fingers down Rivaille’s chest.

“There’s no tradition that I’m aware of, but I’m all for making new traditions.”  Rivaille purrs.

“I like how you think.”  Eren winks.

“I think this coronation is just about over then.  Shall we go together?”

“I’m ready now.”

“On the count of three: one, two… three!”

Eren and Rivaille take flight in sync, taking advantage of the high ceilings to soar high into the air, twisting and dancing in above the crowd, hands firmly entwined as their wedding bands sparkle in the ambient light.  The crowd oohs and aahs as they watch, the pair’s loved bared for all to see.  They linger a moment longer, laughing and smiling freely as they soar above their people before flying for the parted double doors, off into their happy future together.

Chapter Text

“Jean?  Jean Kirstein?”

Upon hearing his name being called, Jean turns to see his childhood friend not three feet away from him.

“Eren?”

“Hey, horse-face.  Glad to see some things never change.”  Eren grins cheekily.

“You suicidal bas—”

“Now now, that’s no way to talk to an old friend, is it?”  Eren chastises.

Jean sighs, trying to push the insult aside and act like an adult.

“Wanna go grab some lunch and catch up?  It’s my day off.”

“I’d love to!  Got any place in mind?”

“I know this great little sandwich shop just down the street…”

Once they’ve placed their orders and snagged a table to sit at, Jean and Eren finally get down to talking.

“What brings you to Trost, Eren?  I thought you had moved to Sina after high school.”

“I did, but I’m back here on business.  I managed to snag a contract with a publishing firm for a book series and their headquarters are back here.  I’m the author and illustrator for the series.  Maybe you’ve heard of it — it’s called ‘In Stitches.’”

“No fucking way, you’re not fooling me again Eren.  There is no way that you are Imperatrix LaStrange.”  Jean laughs.

“The one and only.”  Eren grins.

“Ok then, wise guy:  When did Yumir and Kristi start dating?”

“Right away.  ‘Will you go on a date with me?’ were the first words out of Yumir’s mouth the moment she was close enough that she could talk to her.”  Eren replies smoothly.

“How many flowers did Riv get Erin?”  Jean quizzes.

“200 exactly, that dork.  They made such a mess.”

“When do Ann and Mika finally get married?”

“It took them ten years before Ann finally popped the question.”  Eren shoots back, without a moment of hesitation.

“Holy shit, you are Imperatrix LaStrange.  That part hasn’t even been published yet.”  Jean breathes.

“Ah, shit!  Jean, if I so as hear a whisper of those spoilers on the internet, I will find you and I will end you.”  Eren threatens, eyes flashing gold.

“Say no more, man.  You won’t hear so much as a peep out of me.”  Jean replies, putting his hands up in surrender, secretly five seconds away from pissing his pants.

“Order numbers 37 and 38!” 

“That’s us!  I’ll go get our food; be right back!”  Eren cheers, getting up and approaching the counter to retrieve their orders.

He comes back a moment later with sandwiches for both of them, handing Jean his sandwich before unwrapping his own.

“Enough about me, how have you been, Jean?”

“Life’s been good, I guess.  I work in the accounting department for Uniq Clothes; they have their Marian headquarters in Trost.  They were willing to hire me pretty much straight out of college and the benefits are pretty good, so I’ve just been climbing the ranks here rather than shopping around with other companies.  Sure, desk work is a little boring, but when I go home at the end of the day, there’s nothing else I have to think about for work, you know?  It’s nice.”

“I’m glad to hear it.  Do you live in the neighborhood?”

“Yes, actually.  We have a place about a half mile from here.  It’s small but it’s the perfect size for us.  It’s not a bad distance from the office either; I bike to and from work most days.”

“Us?  We?  Jean, are you going out with someone?”

“Sorta?  Do you, uh, remember Marco?  I proposed a few weeks ago.”  Jean blushes.

“You and Marco are engaged?  Congratulations, I’m so happy for you guys!” 

“Thanks.  Regrettably, we’re not quite ready financially to get married yet, but we’re saving up, so it’s only a matter of time now.”  Jean smiles.

“That’s so exciting!  Have you thought out any of the details yet?”

“Not really, but we agreed it would probably be a small ceremony, just close friends and family.  We also agreed we didn’t want to have any religious affiliations and Armin said he would get ordained so he could officiate our marriage.”   

“Oh, that’s so sweet!  I’m sure it will be an absolutely wonderful wedding.”

“So what about you, Eren?  Are you seeing someone?”

“No, or at least, not anymore.  I already got married.”  Eren grins, flashing the gold wedding band on his left finger.

“Wow, already?  Congrats.  Who’s the unlucky bastard?”  Jean teases.

“Oh hush, you could say the same about Marco.  And I’ve told you about Rivaille before.”

“Wait, you mean your imaginary boyfriend?”

“For the last time, Jean, he’s not imaginary!”

“Oh yeah?  Prove it.  I want to meet him.”

“Fine.”  Eren declares, rubbing his susurri mark subtly.

Hey babe, are you busy?

Not particularly, why?

Can you come here for a minute, then?  I at JJ’s Sandwich Shop and I have a point to prove.

“Do you want to plan to meet back here tomorrow then so I can meet your ‘not imaginary’ husband?”

“No need.  He’ll be here any minute.”  Eren smirks.

“What do you mean he’ll be here any minute?  Don’t you need to text him or something?”  Jean asks, Rivaille walking in the door behind him dressed in a casual button down and dress slack combo.

“Nah.  Hey babe, thanks for coming on such short notice.”  Eren greets his husband, returning Rivaille’s kiss on the cheek with one of his own as Jean just gapes at the two of them.

“No problem, I’d do anything for you, Eren.  Who’s this?”  Rivaille asks, pulling up a chair at their table and sitting down.

“Oh, this is Jean.  I’ve told you about him before.  Jean, this is Rivaille, my husband.”

“Isn’t he the one that you got in that fight with you nine years ago?  It feels like it was just yesterday.”  Rivaille remarks, his voice taking on a slight edge at the memory.

“I, uh…”  Jean starts.

“The one and only!”  Eren confirms cheerfully.

Rivaille’s expression turns very dark and Jean looks over in fright to Eren who’s just grinning like he’s immensely enjoying the whole interaction.

“It’s not a big deal though.”  Eren adds.

“It’s still a big deal to me…”  Rivaille starts, rising a little in his chair.

“That won’t be necessary, Rivaille.  I’m over it and we’ve moved on.”  Eren declares, a triumphant smile still firmly in place as Rivaille settles back down, taking Eren’s hand in his own.

“So, uh, Rivaille, what do you do for a living?”  Jean asks, treading carefully.

“I occupy a minor position in the government.” 

“Oh, quit underselling yourself, babe.  He’s quite accomplished!”

“Not as accomplished as you, sweetheart.  You’ve got the entire world eating out of the palm of your hand.”  Rivaille compliments, staring lovingly at his husband.

“The only one I want eating out of my hand is you, love.”  Eren purrs.

“Okay, okay, that’s a little too much information, yes?  I don’t feel the need to hear the details about what you two do behind closed doors.”  Jean whines.

“Mmm, we’ll just have to keep that to ourselves then, hmm?”  Eren hums, his hand sliding over the inside of Rivaille’s thigh.

“Sounds good to me.  You know I don’t share very well.”  Rivaille intones, his eyes getting intense and his voice starting to take on a more smoky quality.

“Jeez, you two!  You’re still knee-deep in the honeymoon period, aren’t you?  How long have you been married, three months?”

“Six years and a half years?”  Eren guesses.

“Six years, six months, and six days, exactly.”  Rivaille confirms.

Jean’s eyes widen in surprise, gaping as he takes in the two of them.

“Holy sh—  I can only hope that I’m that madly in love still after six years.”

“We’re what I think you’d call ‘#RelationshipGoals’?”  Rivaille asks, looking to Eren for confirmation.

“Exactly.”  Eren grins, kissing his husband on the cheek.

“Oh my god, you two are something else.”  Jean snorts.

“Indeed, we are.”  Eren smirks.

“Hey, Eren, amica mea, Petra is calling for us.  We need to go now.”  Rivaille says.

“Okay…  It was good to see you, Jean!  I hope you have a wonderful wedding; I’m sure you and Marco will be very happy together.”  Eren wishes, pushing out of his chair and standing with Rivaille.

“Wait, what’s your address?  I’ll send you an invite.”  Jean says, standing up as well.

“Um, where is it?  Ah, here!”  Eren pats down his pockets and produces a calling card and hands it to Jean.

“I’ll be waiting for that invite then!”  Eren winks, taking Rivaille’s hand in his.

“It was nice meeting you, Jean.”  Rivaille says.

“It was nice to finally meet you too, Rivaille.  I’ll see you two around.”

“Bye, Jean!”  Eren waves, pulling Rivaille out of the sandwich shop. 

Jean sits back down, staring at the remains of his sandwich in its paper wrapper.  It occurs to him that Eren had never cleared away his trash, but he looks across the table to find it perfectly clean.  Jean looks out the window to try to catch one last glance of his long time friend and his husband, but they’ve already disappeared from sight, leaving Jean wondering if the entire encounter even happened.  He looks down at the only evidence of the meeting, the calling card that Eren gave him, and finds a PO box number and a cell number written in an elegant navy script on the cream colored card.  Jean idly flips it over in his fingers and finds a note written on the back, the ink shimmering in the industrial lighting like it was written only seconds before.

‘Don’t forget our wedding invite!’

And to only add to Jean’s confusion, he watches a pair of five-petaled stephanotis flowers appear on the card next to the note, stroke by stroke as if drawn by an invisible hand.

“What the actual fuck…?”  Jean mutters, rubbing at his eyes, but the flowers are still there.

Jean pulls out his phone and dials Marco’s number, bringing the phone to his ear and leaning back in his chair, as he stares at the card in his hand.

“Hey, babe.  Yeah, I know you’re still at work, but when you get off do you want to meet me at Off the Wall?  I could really fucking use a drink…"