Chapter Text
"Excuse me?" Levi pulled down the handkerchief covering his mouth.
Eren flushed red and twisted the filthy cloth in his hands. He started scowling, but seemed more frightened and embarrassed than angry. It was hard to tell which scowl meant what.
"I asked you if you needed to hit me again. Because. In court, you said Sir, you said that you were going to..." He dropped eye contact with Levi completely and stared at the cloth in his hands, wringing it and dripping dirty water onto his boots. "Well I can't remember exactly what you said, but it was implied that you were going to... hit me. When I'd been bad," he sounded childish, and immediately corrected himself. "I mean. When I made mistakes?"
Levi blinked at him. He'd only told Eren he'd missed a spot. "I thought we already established that beating was for show. I've apologised several times, Eren. On separate occasions. Publicly." Levi grimaced. He rarely apologised. He rarely did things that warranted apology, in his opinion, but he wanted it drilled into Eren they were on the same side, and it didn't hurt to have some of his men and women overhear. Word of what had happened in court had spread like wildfire, and the last thing he needed was mistrust fostered amongst his own ranks.
They needed to think Levi was fair, and not inclined to snap and beat someone to a pulp. They needed to think Eren was well in control of his titan power.
An army didn't march well on fear. And Levi's men had fear in spades already.
"I know I just... I thought you might," Eren dropped his cloth in the bucket of water by his feet, and gave Levi a hopeful look, "... I thought you might. Like to. Sir."
Levi was... a little outraged, admittedly. But he didn't yell. He swallowed all of the insults bubbling on his tongue and spoke to Eren in as gentle a voice he could manage, "... I'm going to give you a chance to leave now. I will pretend you did not just fucking say that, and you will pretend I didn't hear it."
Eren stammered, "I. I meant no disrespect! I just... w-when you hit me. I liked it, and I thought-"
"You thought wrong," said Levi, sharply.
An exceedingly awkward silence followed. Levi attempted to continue scrubbing the floor, and Eren just stood there, red and sweating, squeaking occasionally.
"Please don't tell anyone I liked it, sir," he said, finally.
"Mum's the word, Eren, trust me," Levi snorted. He carried on cleaning, or rather, he tried.
"I just. I thought you. You might, and I. Well I hoped that-"
Levi cut Eren off midsentence with a groan. "I don't get my fucking kicks beating boys less than half my age. I take no pleasure in giving out beatings, or in boys half my age period. Is that clear?" he looked pointedly at Eren, who looked ashamed and annoyed with himself.
"Crystal," he muttered. He picked up his bucket, waiting to be dismissed formally, perhaps hoping Levi might have a change of heart. Levi went back to work on the floor.
"Out of curiosity, Eren, was it the pain, or the people watching?"
Eren swallowed. "Both."
"Oh my. Quite the little deviant, aren't we?" Eren went to answer, but Levi waved him silent. "I'm sure one of your comrades would be happy to indulge you if you asked. You're an attractive boy," Levi said it deliberately, not one to humiliate a boy and completely crush his self esteem in the same day, "and you're a brat, I'm sure someone would jump at the chance to punch you in the face."
"It was a mistake to come to you, and I'm sorry," Eren mumbled. Levi nodded.
"Quite right. You're an idiot, aren't you?"
"Yes, sir."
Levi rolled his eyes. "Dismissed."
Eren slopped dirty water on the floor as he left.
*
"So Eren likes you? In a sexual way?" Hanji whistled, almost in disbelief. Levi found that quite rude. "Don't you think that's just fascinating?"
"What, that someone would like me in a sexual way?" Levi snorted. Hanji thought for a moment.
"Well, yes, it makes you wonder what's going on in his head," Levi rolled up a wad of Hanji's notes and struck them across the arm. Hanji, unphased, continued, "but, I meant more, considering the titans' lack of sex organs? You might think that would affect his sexuality out of his titan form, but it obviously doesn't!"
"Obviously," Levi sneered. He put his (freshly polished) boots up on Hanji's makeshift desk. There were few rooms suitable to sleep in for the moment, and Levi had been forced to share his quarters with Hanji while they were here. He hated sharing with Hanji.
"And you'd think it'd bother him, wouldn't you? That he'd maybe have too many things on his mind to be interested in sex..." Hanji thought for a moment, "Unless he's worried he's going to die a virgin. I think we both know what that feels like, eh?"
"Not really. You joined up younger than I did," said Levi. "Plus, he didn't ask me to fuck him, he asked me to hit him. There's quite a difference. Idiot."
Hanji's eyes narrowed, "... Do you think that's related to him being a titan?" Hanji shot from their chair and scrambled over Levi to the desk. "This is fascinating! I should be taking notes!"
"No you shouldn't," said Levi. But it was rather too late, Hanji was wielding a pencil and a tatty notebook, out of arm's reach before Levi had a chance to snatch it away.
"I'm going to take notes. For the good of mankind," Hanji nodded, and began furiously scribbling, "So you think he's sexually excited by the idea of a beating?"
"He basically told me he was."
"What if you misinterpreted? Perhaps, to him, sex and violence are unrelated, and he simply enjoys it... Recreationally?"
"I sincerely doubt his motivations were pure. Who enjoys being kicked half to death in public, just... for fun. He'd have to get off on it." Levi sneered again. "That's a moronic suggestion. Even for you."
"It isn't! A titan might enjoy it!"
"At his age?" Levi said. Hanji thought for a moment, gnawing their pen, which Levi made a mental note never to touch again.
"I wonder if sexual maturity has anything to do with the emergence of his titan form..." Hanji said. They stopped writing. Levi could see Hanji performing mental gymnastics. He knew that they were about to say something immensely stupid. "Captain, maybe you should..."
Levi cut Hanji off. "I'll remind you you're talking to a superior."
"I know! Just... For research's sake! For humanity!"
Levi blinked. "Dismissed."
"You can't dismiss me from my own quarters!" Hanji protested. Levi thanked the heavens he'd had Hanji take the bedroom, while he slept on the couch. He'd have had nowhere to dismiss them to, otherwise.
"I think I just did." Levi made a shooing gesture. "Off you go. Or else."
"Oh what are you going to do, send me to a firing squad?" Hanji guffawed. "Honestly Captain, you're absolutely no fun. And you have no respect for my science. We could have a very important breakthrough on our hands here!"
"You know as well as I do that this is a lot less to do with your research and a lot more to do with you being a nosey piece of shit."
"It could be both!" Hanji shrugged. Levi picked up the least chewed looking pencil he could see, and looked for some papers to pretend to work on.
"Dismissed, Hanji, I mean it this time," he said. Hanji pouted.
"Alright, but only because it's bed time," Hanji wandered over to the bedroom door, but stopped just before leaving. "Captain... When was the last time you-"
Levi flung the pencil.
Once he was sure Hanji wasn't going to come back in again, Levi buried his face in his hands. Of all the superior officers Eren could have picked, he'd picked Levi... Granted Levi had been the one to beat him in court, but... None the less, it was rather a tactless choice on his part.
Eren could have gone to Hanji. Hanji would have been happy to indulge him. Hanji would have taken notes, and thanked him for the opportunity.
Levi grumbled under his breath. Eren was a nice looking boy. Add ten years to him and subtract the bizarre request, and Levi probably would have pursued the offer. Assuming it was an offer, not just a clumsy attempt at getting another ass-kicking.
The thought of beating Eren up again did very little for him, in all honesty. Violence wasn't something he took much pleasure in. It was a tool. It was a tool in the courtroom, a tool on the battlefield, a tool in training and drills and nothing else.
Though, the thought of sleeping with Eren was... admittedly an awful lot more appealing than it should have been.
It had been a long time since Levi had been with anyone.
He was a busy man. He was small, disagreeable and rather odd looking, if he went to drink on his few days off, he didn't exactly do well with men or women until his name was mentioned. Half anonymous encounters with people who wanted a fuck with Humanity's Last Best Hope for the sake of the story tended to leave a bitter taste in his mouth. He was too proud to go to whores and not enough of a scum bag to take advantage of the fears and reverence of some of his younger soldiers.
It had been years. Years since he'd slept with someone, and even longer since someone had shown him genuine interest.
He was annoyed with himself now. Self pity was a useless thing, it never saved a single life, or brought down a single titan. He was annoyed with Eren Jaeger too, because he'd barely thought about sex in ages and now he couldn't get the idea out of his head.
Eren Jaeger with his foul temper, with deep worry lines slashed all over his forehead and hair he didn't wash enough. Who probably didn't want to sleep with Levi, but definitely got off on being beaten up. In public.
The idea that Eren might have been hard in court amused him enough that he almost laughed out loud.
He entertained the thought, just for a moment, of indulging Eren. Another kick across the face behind closed doors, hard enough to knock two teeth out this time; his boot pressing Eren's red, bloody face into the dirty floor. He would leave Eren's hands untied, and stamp on his fingers as he tried to get up.
And Eren, being the respectful boy he was, would undoubtedly be so grateful for Levi's incredibly kind, selfless beating, he'd crawl over to Levi and offer his thanks. He imagined Eren reaching for the buckle of his belt with swollen, shaking fingers and... Levi would probably swat him away because he couldn't bear the thought of someone that grubby and bloody going anywhere near his dick.
Levi changed the setting in his head, with Eren fresh out of a bath and older. His jaw would be sharper, he'd be taller, and he'd have lost some of that hopeless puppyish look to his eyes. His mouth would be hot and soft on Levi's neck, nipping and sucking in the right places. His skin would still be humming with the warmth from the bath, and it'd be tan and smell of soap.
Eren's hands would quiver when he went to unbutton Levi's trousers. He'd stutter and scowl like he always did, earnest in his frustration. Eren would worry he was doing it wrong, get annoyed with himself.
Levi read Eren's reports from training. Not a natural at anything, but an extremely hard worker, with outstanding diligence and tenacity. He imagined Eren would suck his cock eagerly and messily. It would be his first, so he'd try to take Levi too deep, he'd choke and drool on himself, and take to lapping at him like a cat with a bowl of milk instead.
Levi imagined those hard green eyes gone black with lust, gazing up at him, silently begging for approval. Levi might throw him a bone and pull his hair too hard, or something.
A thud from Hanji's room brought him back to the present. Back to the draughty room of the dirty castle. He was half hard, and rather more annoyed with himself than he had been five minutes ago.
Hanji yelled goodnight to him, and the fantasy was well and truly ruined. When Levi washed and changed for bed, the imagined Eren in his head was gone and replaced with the frightened teenager with strange powers and odd kinks. He wanted Imagined Eren back on his knees, but all he got was flashes from the afternoon, Eren red faced and wringing a wet rag in his hands.
*
Eren's concentration levels had plummeted, and Levi didn't even want to think about having him experiment with his titan power like this. So Levi had him clean. Erd complained that cleaning wasn't what they needed him to be doing, and Levi told Erd to shut up and get started on the windows.
Eren was steadily becoming more sullen and disobedient. While he'd previously been very polite to Levi's team, he'd started getting short with everyone. Eren questioned any order that didn't come direct from Levi or Hanji and even then he hardly took them well. He argued every time he was told to go to his room, and worst of all, he was doing a very half-assed job of cleaning.
Levi went to check up on him a week after the Incident, found him down in the basement, cross legged by a bucket and sulkily slapping a scrubbing brush against the floor.
"This doesn't look much like cleaning," said Levi.
"So," Eren said. He didn't look up. He didn't say sir. He didn't even stop slapping his brush on the ground. Levi glared, and it was wasted. "Why aren't we running experiments? Hanji said a week ago we should be doing something."
"Hanji agrees with me that you're being too much of a little shit to experiment at the moment." Hanji's words were milder. Levi crouched in front of Eren, but Eren still failed to meet his eye. "I thought you wanted to kill," Levi made air quotes, "Every last titan, Eren?"
He looked up then. "I do."
Levi rolled his eyes, "Then I have to wonder where this sudden... lack of motivation has come from."
"Cleaning a castle isn't titan killing," Eren snapped.
"How very fucking astute," Levi sneered. Eren looked back down at the floor, turning red, ever-present scowl deepening, "We can't work with you if you won't behave yourself. You're acting like a fucking brat."
Eren slammed his brush on the floor, and leaned in close to Levi. He stared Levi down, looked angry enough to shout. "I'm not a brat," he growled. Levi didn't lean away from Eren, but he didn't lean closer. He wound his hand into the collar of Eren's loose work shirt and stood, hauling Eren to his feet as well.
"Yes you are, you're a spoilt little brat," Levi growled. Eren tried to stand up straight, stand over Levi, but Levi yanked him down before he could. He readied his hand. He didn't like to hit his men, but he wasn't above it. "I suggest, you buck up your fucking ideas if you..." Levi wound his hand back, and Eren watched. He didn't flinch, he didn't brace himself for impact, he watched. He watched, and his face went redder than it had been. He trembled. Levi let his arm drop. "You manipulative little shit."
"What?" Eren whined, incapable of hiding his disappointment. Levi let go of his shirt, positively furious.
"You are trying to piss me off on purpose," he said. Keeping his voice level required an obscene amount of energy. His blood boiled. "And it almost worked."
Levi couldn't remember the last time he'd been so furious. A week. He'd wasted a precious week waiting for Eren to come out of his mood, and the whole thing had been a fucking ploy. A very transparent ploy, that Levi was mortified he hadn't seen through.
He'd flattered himself too much. He'd thought Eren might be in a bad mood because Levi had rejected him. He'd flattered himself, and underestimated Eren.
Levi thought for a moment, gritted his teeth, knocked Eren to the floor and kicked him hard in the stomach.
He lay for a while, coughing and spluttering.
"Why did you... What was that?"
"Call it an incentive," said Levi. Eren blinked at him. "I don't like negotiating with pubescent monsters who won't cooperate, but if you are so desperate for this, so pathetic, that you'll risk our being prepared for your first mission - and your life, in fact, and everyone else's lives- that I suppose I have no fucking choice." Levi pinched the bridge of his nose, and Eren... appeared to be crying. Red faced, and staring at the wall beyond Levi, tears bubbling and dripping onto the floor. He looked like he felt guilty. Levi was glad. "If you behave. If you behave impeccably, then I will reward you with a beating so vicious, your children will feel it," Levi said, disdainfully. "Assuming that's what you want?"
Eren sat up, and wiped his eyes on his sleeve. "Yes, sir."
"Do not back me into a corner like this ever again, Eren," Levi snarled. "I don't need to remind you that I could hand you over to the military police, and it'd be over, do I?"
"No, sir."
"And you know that if you chose to misuse your titan power, I could cut you down like I was cutting roses."
"Yes, sir."
"I'd hit you again, you little shit, if I didn't know you'd enjoy it." If Levi was a crueller man, he might have spat on the floor; he might have spat on Eren. "I hope you feel ashamed of yourself," he said.
*
Eren behaved wonderfully for the next week. He worked hard to earn the trust of Levi's squad. He was polite, he was obedient, and they even managed to find out that Eren could only use his power if he had a goal in mind.
Petra had told Levi privately she thought he really was a sweet boy, and Levi told her he mightn't go that far.
*
Eren had picked a room on the basement floor, one with no light of its own, and a stone floor. The room was bare, barring a dusty old desk and a pile of chairs, and four gas lamps, one for each corner.
Eren knelt down on the floor and offered his hands to be bound. Levi kicked the door shut behind him, and pulled an old belt from his pocket. The leather was thin and soft now, and he didn't particularly care if it got broken. He circled Eren, and crouched behind his back, clutching the belt between his teeth as he pulled Eren's arms round.
"C-Captain..." Eren mumbled. Levi pulled his wrists together, and buckled the belt (having to roughly punch a fresh hole as he did), wrapping the excess leather round as tightly as he could
"Yes?"
"I want to apologise. For making you do this. Sir," Eren said. His voice was wobbly, and thick. "I'm really sorry I just... I didn't think? And by the time you made me think about it... you already said you'd do it and..."
"Essentially, you're sorry for what you did, but not sorry enough that you'll let me out of this." The belt was secure, so Levi stood and walked back over to the door.
Levi leant back, and surveyed the scene. Eren really was a nice looking boy, it was rather a shame he didn't have him on his knees under different circumstances. Eren stared up with round, green eyes and chewed his lip. The frown was gone, and he just looked upset with himself. It was starting to get difficult for Levi to be too angry with him. No wonder he was such a spoilt brat, Levi struggled to imagine a mother who could reprimand someone with a face like that.
"It won't happen again. I promise," Eren said, almost a whisper.
"I know it won't." Levi stepped closer. "How far does this have to go?"
"I don't know, sir."
"For fuck's sake," Levi mumbled. "Just say when, okay?"
"Okay." Eren nodded. He took a deep breath. He was shivering.
Levi delivered his first kick directly to Eren's jaw. He spat out something viscous that could have been blood or spit - it wasn't quite bright enough to tell. Levi landed a second kick in Eren's ribs, then a third, then a forth, till Eren cried out and spat again.
"Are you finished yet?" asked Levi. Eren moaned a "no" into the floor. Levi pressed his boot into Eren’s cheek and wondered where to hit next. He decided on the back of the knees, then his stomach, before he hauled Eren up and kneed him in the face. Eren’s nose crunched against his kneecap, and his lip popped. Levi was glad he’d changed out of his uniform into something black, he’d hate to have to explain to whoever was on laundry duty how he’d gotten blood all over himself.
Eren sniffed loudly and spat again, then flopped back, cracking his head on the floor. His calves and his feet were tucked beneath his thighs, leaving his legs spread and his hips elevated. Even in the dim light of the gas lamps, Levi could see how hard Eren was.
"Enough," Eren panted. “Thats enough." He was breathless. He sounded like a man mid-fuck, desperately asking his lover to stop sucking or fucking or else he’d come.
Levi pressed his foot on the outline of Eren’s cock and rubbed slightly. Eren rolled his hips and gave a wet moan.
"Do I have to take care of this too?" he pressed harder. “Is this why you asked me to stop? You didn’t want me to see you make a mess of yourself?" Eren panted and ground himself up into Levi’s boot.
"You… Ah… You don’t have to but… If- if you did me I could, I could do you, i-if you want and, ah!" It was the kind of awkward, fumbling offer Levi could imagine Eren making to one of the other boys in his training squad. Levi pressed down hard again, and Eren wriggled desperately, he moaned half like an expensive whore, half like a dying man.
"That won’t be necessary. As I’ve already told you, I don’t get my kicks beating up teenage boys," Levi said. Though Eren’s moaning and groaning was peaking his interest a little, he was about as soft as he could get, and the thought of a grubby, bleeding teenager all over his cock didn’t exactly help. “But if you’d like to thank me for this at a later date, then I sincerely doubt I’d have the willpower to stop you," Levi mumbled.
Eren gave him something that might have been a nod, but might have been a shiver, as he continued to rub himself up against the sole of Levi’s shoe. His back arched and he sobbed, then made a funny choking noise. He sat up suddenly, and Levi’s foot slipped away. Eren took a moment to spit another mouthful of something foul on the floor, before snorting noisily and spitting again. He started to rub himself up against Levi’s leg. Levi cringed.
“Aren’t you embarrassed by this?" he asked. Eren nodded. Levi took his leg away and Eren whined. “I understand that humiliation is probably part of this, but really, I’m not about to stand here and let you hump my leg like a dog."
Eren mumbled something that sounded like a “please".
Levi crouched again, and unbuttoned Eren’s flies.
"You don’t have to touch it," Eren squeaked. “I’m close. I’m so close you don’t- just let me-"
Levi took a fistful of his hair, and Eren choked on his words. “Shut up, Eren." Levi took Eren’s cock out of his rather damp underwear, and ran a thumb roughly through a well of precum at the tip. He forced Eren’s head down a little. “Look at the mess you’ve gotten yourself into," Levi sighed. He clicked his tongue.
Admittedly he was half hard now. Eren’s cock was bigger than he’d expected it to be. Fairly average, but still bigger than he’d expected.
He gave it a few experimental pumps (rather rougher than he’d be with his own) and had Eren coming with great shudder and a silent scream.
Levi wiped the cum on his hand on to Eren’s thigh.
"That was quick," said Levi. But he feared Eren wasn’t listening. Still shuddering and twitching, he appeared to be having trouble keeping himself upright. Levi let go of his hair, and supported his neck.
He got a good look at Eren’s face for the first time, and found it an absolute mess of blood, snot, spit and tears. His nose was now sitting at a very strange angle.
"I broke your nose," said Levi. Eren sniffed. “Stay still, I’ll reset it. I’m going to move my hand now, so keep your head up," Levi told him. Eren grunted in response.
After Levi had reset Eren’s nose, he unbound his hands, buttoned up his pants and brought him to his feet. After what Levi had done in court, Eren’s injuries had completely vanished within three or four hours, so Levi’s priority was getting him clean rather than patched up.
He wasn’t about to put Eren in bed with his face a mess. Auruo was in charge of wake up calls.
There was a rather rudimentary bathroom in the basement, with a bath, a sink and a toilet.
Eren was half asleep by the time Levi had hauled him there. Levi propped him up against the bath, and ran the tap, grabbing a nearby washcloth and wetting it. By the time Levi had turned back around, Eren was asleep.
He carefully unbuttoned Eren’s shirt, and inspected the damage. His torso was spattered with nasty looking bruises, and Levi prayed these would heal up as fast as his other injuries had. He put his hand on Eren’s ribs to check for any breakages, and found his skin impossibly hot, enough that if Levi left his hand there, it would burn.
He took hold of Eren’s chin with one hand, and cleaned away the mess on Eren’s face with the other. Eren was out for the count, and only seemed to stir if Levi scrubbed particularly hard.
Levi got to watch his split lip knit itself back together in minutes, and thought about how much Hanji would loved to have seen that. He watched bruises that had been purple a moment ago, fade through to blues, to greens, to yellows to disappear completely. The kink in Eren’s reset nose had vanished completely by the time Levi had wiped the blood from it.
He was almost completely healed within about half an hour of receiving his injuries. Levi wondered if it was because he was sleeping. Or he hoped it was any way. He’d have to tell Hanji now, and he doubted he’d hear the end of it if Hanji deduced that sexual release greatly increased the speed of Eren’s healing.
He took a moment to watch at Eren as he slept. He really was lovely looking when he wasn’t glowering or snarling. He looked peaceful, and young. Much too young for Levi to even be thinking about doing what he was probably going to end up doing, provided Eren remembered what Levi had told him. He sighed. He shouldn’t. He really, really shouldn’t, but if Eren turned up at his quarters, looking the way he did and eager to thank him, Levi sincerely doubted he’d be able to say no.
Levi took off Eren’s trousers and dumped them in the bath tub along with his pants. With some difficulty, he lifted Eren onto his back and dumped him rather unceremoniously on his bed. Eren woke with a snort as soon as he hit the mattress.
"Is it morning?" he asked.
"No."
"Oh. Where are my clothes?"
"In the bath. I took them off for you."
"Thank you, captain." Eren looked like he was about to salute, or stand to attention or something.
"You just came in my hand, you’re allowed to drop the formalities."
"Sorry," mumbled Eren. He glance down at his mostly naked body, and folded his arms over his chest. “Thank you, for doing this. Despite the fact I… Compromised our progress. And stuff."
"It’s fine," Levi sighed. “I know this rather goes against my earlier insistence that I have zero interest in teenage boys, but if you’d like to thank me properly, you know where my quarters are," Levi said.
"Goodnight," said Eren, he shot Levi an unnatural looking smile.
Levi wondered what he'd gotten himself into.