Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

“Well, this fucking sucks.”

Ace raised an eyebrow at his companion, hating just a little bit how he had to crane his neck back just to look at him. “Has no one ever told you to be careful about how you ask a Genie for favour? You should have been more specific.”

“I’m not the one who made the stupid wish!!”

“You did. Multiple times. How about a thank you?”

“For what? This?!” The uselessly tall man cried, waving his hand in a dramatic gesture a few times, only to end up letting go of a frustrated shout, gripping his long, white and blue-green hair and pulling.

Ace snorted, the sound soon morphing into a full-blown laugh. “I don’t see what your problem is, Mr Tall-and-Handsome-with-Perfect-Hair. Your handcuffs are off. You can do whatever you want!”

“Whatever I want?” the man repeated mockingly. “I can’t do shit! I can’t do any magic, I’m broke, and I’m homeless! Hell, I can’t even get us out of this stupid cave!”

With a shrug, Ace kicked the old, beaten up oil lamp out of the way, then threw himself on the ground; if they were stuck here, he might as well get comfortable. As he wiggled around, trying to find a comfortable spot where the stone of the cave wall wouldn’t dig into his back, he tilted his hat upwards and, with a smirk playing on his lips, drawled, “Welcome to humanhood, Mr Genie.”

“Fuck you,” the ex-Genie groaned.

“Sorry, not on the first date.”

“This isn’t funny! It’s all your fault. You should have asked for the princess or something instead!”

“Why? So I’m forced to suffer ceremony and be nice to people I can’t stand? Please. I’d rather have the Genie owe me for granting his own wish.”

The Genie growled, rubbing at his face…before he finally sighed as all energy left him and joined Ace on the cold, damp ground. “My name is Yamato, by the way.”

“Well, aren’t you glad you’re finally allowed to call yourself by your own name? Hm, Yamato?” Ace asked cheekily, nudging Yamato’s side with his elbow.

“Don’t act like you knew that.” Yamato said flatly, giving Ace an unimpressed look—even though he couldn’t hide the soft smile that spread on his face, one that made him look younger and softer, and Ace caught himself thinking how nice it would be if he could keep him smiling like that. “Ah, but… I guess it’s nice. The shackles are off, too. Feels weird but I’ll take it.”

“See?” Ace grinned cheekily. “And you even get awesome company!”

Finally, for the first time since Ace had met him… Yamato laughed. A light, happy, beautiful sound that echoed around the cave until it was the only thing Ace could feel. “You’re full of yourself. But yeah. This isn’t so bad.”

Their eyes met, almost-eerie orange to brown, and right then, Ace knew they would not be parting ways anytime soon. Even after they would inevitably get out of this stupid cave, Yamato was there to stay.

Chapter Text

There wasn’t a whole lot Eren liked at school. He did pay attention, even got decent grades, but it all felt pointless; what good was it that he could calculate the surface area of a fucking cone when the world was figuratively and literally on fire? I didn’t make a difference.

And he wanted to make a difference. He was born into this stupid world and he was damn well going to make it liveable.

He didn’t know how he was going to do it yet, but he did know that he needed to understand how to use proper punctuation and what the difference between Calvin and Krebs cycles was to do it.

“I didn’t think a hot-headed, shitty brat like you took his exams so seriously.”

“Well, excuse me for not wanting to fail bio,” Eren huffed as he carefully highlighted his way through the aerobic respiration process.

“Here I thought you were here because your ass needed help with physics. Should I make the test you’re getting next week harder?”

Eren paused, looking up from his bio notes to instead stare at his boyfriend. “Are you actually jealous of my biology midterm?”

Levi scoffed, crossing his legs as he leaned further into the couch in his office, not saying anything, and Eren had to bite his cheek to keep himself from laughing. How was this man so adorable?

Capping his highlighter so that it didn’t stain the carpet or something, Eren rose from where he was sitting on the ground by the coffee table and threw himself on the couch next to Levi. As he leaned into his boyfriend’s side, Eren grabbed for Levi’s hand, lacing their fingers together, and batted his eyelashes at him. “Don’t you want me to do well on all my exams? You could help me study for other things than physics, Professor Ackerman.”

Ignoring Eren’s pointed remark, Levi stated flatly, “I don’t know shit about plants and fucking cells, Eren.”

“Technically, this is basically chemistry rather than microbiology or botany.”

Levi clicked his tongue, tapping Eren’s head with his fingers. “Brat.”

Eren couldn’t hold back anymore. His lips stretched into a smile, and he chased after Levi’s touch like it was the oxygen he breathed. He knew he shouldn’t, knew they shouldn’t, but in that moment, he didn’t care that anyone could walk into the teacher’s office at any time, asking for help or to hand in homework or doing an errand. Right then, none of it mattered and he leaned forward, pressing his lips against Levi’s.

He was surprised when Levi didn’t pull away; instead he returned the kiss, his free hand coming to rest on the nape of Eren’s neck and pulling him closer. It was making Eren’s heart speed up, heat spiling in his chest, his whole body tingling, and he smiled wider, pressed himself closer.

The kiss only lasted a moment, a precious few seconds stolen between classes, but it was enough. In only a few months, Eren would be graduating, and then they would finally be free—free to live, free to love, free to choose.

And Eren had already chosen to live his life loving Levi.

Chapter Text

Levi had heard from Eren a thousand times about what the sea was supposed to be like but nothing could prepare him for how incredibly, indescribably horrible actually being there was.

“Hanji, stop fucking touching every shit-covered thing you find,” Levi called with thinly veiled revulsion as he watched Hanji shove her hands into the foul smelling water again.

“Levi, come look at this weird pincushion thing!!” Hanji shouted back excitedly, clearly never even hearing what he had to say, and Levi clicked his tongue. See if he cared when she dropped dead because that entire big ass puddle and everything in it was poisonous.

“Do you really hate it so much, Captain?”

Turning in the direction the voice came from, Levi glared at the young man who sounded like he was about to start laughing. Levi refused to admit that the sight of his wide, almost child-like grin and golden eyes which all but sparkled with excitement made his heart skip a beat or twenty. So, instead, he scowled, his words dripping with sarcasm when he replied, “No, Eren. I love this giant fucking lake that keeps moving for no reason and smells like piss. I hope we all shit sand for a week.”

Eren’s face twisted as he struggled not to laugh in Levi’s face but it was a futile effort as only a second later, the shitty brat was basically doubled over, his amusement bubbling over, and Levi clicked his tongue again.

“You won’t be laughing when you get sick from sticking your head in that dirty fucking water,” Levi stated flatly, staring pointedly at Eren’s hair, which was dripping wet and sticking to the brat’s face.

“Worth it,” Eren said cheekily, grinning even brighter if that was at all possible.

With a huff, Levi looked away. “Well, count me out.”

“Will you thank me if I tell you I managed to talk Sasha and Connie out of dumping a bucket at you?”

Immediately, Levi’s lips curled back in absolute disgust. “I’ll fucking gut you if any of you brats even try to pull shit like that.”

Eren chuckled before his lips curled into a smirk, a mischievous glint in his eyes, and Levi narrowed his eyes in warning. But, before Levi could take a step back or react in any way, Eren cupped Levi’s face and leaned forward, firmly pressing his lips against Levi’s.

Despite his better judgement, Levi’s eyes fell shut and he kissed back almost automatically…but he quickly pulled away, immediately wiping his mouth and face, an annoyed hiss on his lips. “Fuck, you taste disgusting. And you got sand all over my fucking face. I’m going to fucking end you, you shitty fucking brat.”

Eren burst out laughing, the sound happy and melodic, and if Levi wasn’t so pissed off, he might have found him beautiful. As it was, he only growled Eren’s name angrily when the brat stole one final kiss before dancing away and out of Levi’s reach.

Full of light and happiness and despite himself, Levi felt his lips stretch into a small smile in response.

Chapter Text

“Eren!!”

Sasha jumped at the angry shout, instinctively hiding behind the tray she was carrying. Ah, she really hated working the same shift in the bakery as those two!

“What now, Levi?!” Eren shouted back, just as angry. Sounded like he was at the ovens in the back…

“You left your station dirty again, you fucking brat!”

“Well, excuse me for not wanting your damned buns to get burned?!”

Levi clicked his tongue, and Sasha flinched, knowing exactly what was coming—and she was not disappointed.

“If you didn’t take so fucking long with your shitty fucking decorating, you’d have enough time to wipe the fucking sugar!”

As the sound of the oven slammed shut with more force than necessary, Sasha couldn’t stop the pathetic noise from escaping her.

Why the hell wouldn’t Connie just switch shifts with her?!

Sasha sighed as she sat down at the corner table at the coffee shop next to their bakery after her shift, idly mixing her iced coffee with her straw. “I really hate working with you, you know,” she announced flatly, giving Eren a look.

“Huh?” Eren let out, his brow scrunching up slightly. “Why?”

“‘Cause you keep fighting with Levi and it’s stressing me out!! Why can’t you just get along in the kitchen?”

Eren huffed, looking away with a defiant look on his face. “Well, maybe, if he learned to appreciate how much effort and love pastry decoration takes, I’d be happier to share the space with him.”

“To be fair, you’re just as much of a bitch about how he makes his bread and stuff. It’s really good, you know?”

Eren gave her a look. “I know. Doesn’t mean he has to be fucking asshole about it.”

“The hell are you bitching about now?”

Sasha and Eren both looked up as Levi placed his iced tea and Eren’s mango matcha latte on the table before pulling out his chair.

Eren smirked, answering shamelessly. “You.”

“Oh? Should I leave and come back?”

“Nah, I’ll be happy to tell you what an irritating asshole who doesn’t know how to appreciate my work you are to your face.”

Levi snorted. “Brat.”

“Asshole.”

As the two of them exchanged a kiss, completely casually, without any regard for their surroundings or Sasha’s mental stability, Sasha rolled her eyes at them both. “Yeah, I really fucking hate working with you guys.”