deer inbox

[dirtdevil]

a stupid gif will go here probably
until then please use your imagination

Comments

un: aquila (misfire event!)

[grice]

[ you're about to get some cringe serenading through the power of technology. this includes give me a kiss, we belong together and sincerely.

what's worse, this ain't even falco's doing!!! ]

cool music right?
anyway, i like you! ❤️😚❤️
we could hold hands.

[dirtdevil]

[ uhhhh.








what?

frankly, he doesn't have the heart to message Falco back and tell him who this message actually went to, so he waits at the end of the day for him to come home and tell him in person.

which might actually be worse. is that worse? fuck. he doesn't know.

anyway, whenever Falco drops by he'll just be sitting on the couch with his omni trying not to look too ominous. ]

Hey.

[grice]

. . . Hello.

[ —okay, he’s low-key worried manabu talked to levi about his “message” and that he’s either in trouble or going to be sat down to talk. he hopes it’s none of that, but levi just sitting there, with his omni out . . .

falco ducks his head. to his luck or unluckiness, he hasn’t a clue about what had been sent, a touch more warped than what he’d first typed up. ]

I, um— Is it okay if I stay at Jun’s again tonight?

[dirtdevil]

You don't have to ask my permission.

[ it's probably a good thing Falco isn't actually his son because he very clearly has no idea how to parent. then again, how would he?

he sighs inwardly; he's not looking forward to this at all. but he might as well get it over with, so he pulls up the message on his omni and holds it out for Falco to come over and see for himself. ]

Pretty sure I wasn't meant to see this.

[grice]

[ . . . he did send something recent, and he hopes it isn’t that as his heart sinks, meandering over—

what was already a growing green tint around the cheeks goes deep and all the way down to his neck and at the tips of his ears. sputtering, sputtering, sputtering— and his voice cracks the signature way a teenage boy’s does. ]

I— I didn’t send that, I didn’t— write it, [ clears his throat an octave, ] like that—

[dirtdevil]

[ oh, boy. this is how they're doing this, huh? the "it wasn't me, I swear" way. he waves a dismissive hand because it doesn't really matter and pockets his omni. ]

Look, this isn't any of my business, anyway. I just wanted you to know because I'm assuming whoever you did want to send this to never got it.

[ he is kind of curious, though, admittedly. who has caught the attention of his fake son? he couldn't even guess. ]

[grice]

I-I didn’t want to send that to anyone! Not like that—!

[ it’s exaggerated, dad!! it’s ‘shopped!! unreal!! ]

[dirtdevil]

[ it's not that he doesn't believe what Falco is telling him, but he's feeling a little skeptical about all this. he tilts his head, though, making an attempt to understand. ]

Then how did I get it?

[grice]

I was trying, um— to send a question, to someone, and—

[ look at him! he can't even make eye contact! ]

The omni's been sending them to other people . . . Different.

levi's birthday!!!! :) :) :) :)

[theomachy]

[ erwin is a planner, as ever. he plans things to the last detail before executing them, or at least usually. he's sharp as a tack, quick as a whip, and he always, always knows what to do in any situation.

he sits on figuring out what to get levi for his birthday for weeks.

why? he knows that whatever he gets levi will like it because it's from him, but that's not good enough. he wants it to genuinely be something levi will enjoy.

he settles on a couple of things, eventually, one practical and one more personal. both are perfectly tailored for levi in different ways.

so when he comes up behind levi in the kitchen, plants his chin on top of his head, and wraps his arm around him, his voice is pitched low and pleased. ]

I have something for you.

?!?!?!?!?!

[dirtdevil]

[ frankly, he doesn't give a single shit about his birthday. if he wasn't wished a happy birthday on the same day every year (by Erwin, usually, until he was gone) he'd forget all about it.

this year is no exception. between the perpetual drama of being here and being even more permanently attached to Erwin than he was before, he has no attention span left for stupid shit like his birthday.

Erwin does, though.

so he's not terribly surprised when Erwin comes up behind him, or when he claims to have something for him. he'd never be able to guess what it is, but it almost doesn't matter. Erwin being there at all is by far the best gift he could possibly receive.

he's happy no matter what. ]

Oh? Seems kinda unprofessional. Is it a firm handshake?

[ a firm left handshake, of course. ]

[theomachy]

[ erwin doesn't care about his own birthday, but he cares about levi's. isn't that just how it goes? since levi cares about erwin's. ah, love, what it does to people.

he huffs a little snort-almost-laugh through his nose at the commentary, turning his head to rest his cheek against his hair instead. his hand plants flat at levi's chest in a way that's evocative of their bond because it's right over where his handprint will linger forever. ]

Unfortunately, I need you to be prepared for something even more unprofessional than that.

[dirtdevil]

Hmm.

[ it does feel very Correct having Erwin's hand there, but he's going to turn around to face him anyway, slipping his arms around his waist. there's almost a smile on his face. ]

Well, thanks for warning me, then.

[ he drops the facetious tone. ]

You didn't have to do anything, though. Having you here is more than enough for me.

[theomachy]

Oh, I'd always warn you first. What kind of man would I be if I didn't?

[ still light, still teasing, though he sighs contentedly when levi turns, his hand planting at the small of the back instead so he can look down at him. ]

I knew you'd say that. I want to, though.

[ he leans in just enough to brush lips over his temple. ]

You deserve good things.

[dirtdevil]

[ he sighs in resignation. there's no point in arguing it; if their positions were reversed, he'd be saying the exact same shit.

maybe a little less eloquently. ]

I have you.

[ there's no better thing. ]

[theomachy]

[ get this, levi. get this.

he has a rebuttal for this one too. ]

You can have more than one good thing.

[ :) ]

[dirtdevil]

[ hmm.






sounds fake. ]

—Yeah, I should know better than to try arguing with you.

[ he is a fool in so many ways. ]

ssssometime in january.

[theomachy]

[ it's been a weird little while: dry skin is one thing, but the extent of this is honestly pretty ridiculous. of course he does his best to keep up with it, especially after he steps out of the shower one night and a sheet of skin had peeled right off his hip.

okay, okay, lotion it is.

it steadily keeps getting worse no matter what he does to the point where he honestly feels guilty for sleeping in the same bed as levi simply because they keep having to change the sheets as his skin sloughs off. so yeah, not the greatest month anyone's ever had.

that said, he wakes up one morning and his skin feels normal? fresher, even, there's no dryness, no peeling, no nothing, and he instinctively sits up on his elbows to look around the room when—

—wait, elbows? plural?

he knows shit gets weird here, he knows magic abounds and so do transformations, but nothing like this. nothing like giving him his arm back. so he can't even say anything for a moment, just stares down at both hands with his brow furrowed. he looks over at the floor by the bed and he can't even be disturbed by the near-perfect replica of him in dried up skin form laying there, because he's too flabbergasted to really feel that kind of distress right now.

eventually, he croaks out: ]

Levi. Levi, wake up.

[dirtdevil]

[ please understand that if this was anyone else in the entire universe shedding skin all over his shit, he would be intensely grossed out. but it's not anyone else—it's Erwin, which means not only is he not grossed out at all, he's also quite distressed. they've been spared from any weird afflictions so far in this place, but it seems like that luck might have finally dried up. pun not intended. at all.

he doesn't mind changing the sheets; he'd much rather change the sheets constantly than not have Erwin next to him. plus he probably already changes the sheets a ridiculous amount because he's fucking weird. it's fine.

that said, while he has been sleeping a million times better next to Erwin, he hasn't slept well since this particular ailment cropped up. he's just worried.

he's always kind of worried one morning he'll wake up and Erwin will be dead again.

he does eventually sleep, but he's a light sleeper when he does sleep, so it's not difficult to wake him up, especially if you're Erwin. almost immediately his eyes are open and he's propped himself up to see what's going on. ]

Wh—

[ it takes him a moment to really wake up and figure it out, but it's clear enough from the way Erwin is staring at his hands.

hands. plural.

he just stares at them too, eyes wide with disbelief, at a loss for words. ]

—What the fuck?

[ okay, almost at a loss for words. ]

[theomachy]

[ even though levi doesn't seem to mind, erwin still feels bad, okay? he knows how levi feels about Things Like That so it's kind of given him a temporary complex.

it's completely forgotten in light of what's going on right now though. the way levi echoes his own sentiments even if erwin isn't swearing even in his own brain.

speaking of his brain, it's kind of screaming now that it's catching up and levi can probably feel it. it's not panic, but it's something he doesn't quite understand, and his breath sounds strange a moment before he can make himself say anything. ]

I don't know.

[ erwin very rarely doesn't know things, but it's been happening more and more often lately. he stares at his hands a moment longer, then stretches out his right arm. wiggles the fingers. turns in bed. uses that hand to touch levi's face.

then, on a breath, reverent: ]

I can feel it.

[dirtdevil]

[ if Erwin doesn't know, probably nobody else knows either. that's pretty much how he used to live his life. once Erwin was gone, then...

well. no one would ever replace him, no matter what he might have insisted in life. it doesn't matter.

so Levi is not even trying to work it out in his head—partially for that reason, and also because then Erwin touches his face, with his right hand, and it feels like a fucking hand. it's warm and clean and attached to the rest of him.

holy shit.

he reaches up to cover Erwin's new hand with his own, and it feels like a hand from there, too. he's incredibly confused but it doesn't matter: he smiles, and presses Erwin's hand closer against his own face. ]

Huh. No pain or anything?

[ he'd feel it if there was, but he asks anyway. just to be sure. it just seems too good to be true. ]

[theomachy]

[ and that is what it is. just a hand. but it's so strange and astounding and erwin is honestly really overwhelmed by it: he's only ever regretted not being able to hold levi properly and now he can. a whole new world of being to wrap both arms around him is here, and he takes another slightly rough breath before he answers levi's question. ]

No. No pain at all.

[ then they're a goddamn tangle on the bed because erwin wraps both arms around levi and drops them back onto the mattress, not even doing anything like kissing him frantically or anything because he's too busy burrowing in against him and gripping the back of his shirt with two entire fully working hands. ]

[dirtdevil]

[ he's barely opened his mouth to express relief at the lack of pain when suddenly he's back lying down and Erwin's arms—arms!—are around him. he's never once wished for something like this; he's so incredibly grateful to have Erwin back in the first place that he's never even entertained the imaginary notion of what it would feel like to have two arms around him instead of one. why would he? the only person he wants has only one arm, and it's not like Erwin can just spontaneously grow back his other arm.

...unless.

his arms curl around Erwin too, and he leans into him, just taking in the feeling for the first time. there are so many things Erwin could have chosen to do immediately upon realizing he had two arms again, and this is what he chose.

it makes him smile. again. ]

Well? How is it?

[theomachy]

[ it's something they'd never thought to imagine possible but here they are, erwin with both long damn arms curled around levi, hands shifting to press flat to his back, pressure and weight and something close to desperation to just keep feeling now that he can.

and levi's wrapped around him too. it's honestly, full stop, the best thing that he's ever felt.

he manages to even himself out, huff out a breath, and answer. ]

I thought nothing could ever be better than wrapping my arm around you. I was wrong.

[dirtdevil]

[ oh. okay.

he makes a sound like a scoff, but it's less of a scoff and more like the sound of the wind getting knocked out of him by that absolutely ridiculous statement. ]

That's so lame.

[ but there's still a smile in his voice, and for some reason he holds him a little closer anyway. ]