Wanderlust

Chapter 12

Paris, Eren decided as he lay in bed after the most amazing and most embarrassing night of his life, was the best, strangest, most frustrating, and most confusing experience thus far.

He discovered that he had a lot of time to think when his mind was too excited replaying the events of the day to let him fall asleep as peacefully at the man beside him.

The past days were the best for obvious reasons: he was in Paris, he was spending time with the most attractive man he'd ever met, and did he mention he was in Paris?

They were boring because the majority of his days were spent locked up in Levi's tiny apartment with nothing but his sketch book and crappy French soap operas to keep him company. Not that he watched said soap operas. (Pierre was 100% innocent by the way, it was the psycho chick named Maria who killed Colette.)

They were frustrating because of a mix of reasons. He loved walking through the city with the older man and exploring Paris through the eyes of a native, yet he still hadn't seen the Eiffel Tower. And yes, he knew he was being childish because there were so many other sights to see in the city other than some oversized, romanticized cellphone tower, but it was iconic.

He was not some romantic sap who thought he'd find true love under the tower, he just really wanted to see the monument that left such a mark on the minds of the world.

When he was stuck in Trost and thought of Paris, the Eiffel Tower was the first thing that popped into his mind's eye. He had seen millions of pictures, thousands of postcards, hundreds of works of art centered around the metal giant, but he had yet to see it for himself. He knew he just had to give it time, they'd only been in the city for a total of four days, but he was still dying to go see the Tower. He wanted to sprawl out in the grass in front of it and sketch for hours, wanted to share some picnic lunch with a certain raven-haired man, and maybe, just maybe get a kiss in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Okay, maybe he was a slight romantic sap, but he knew it was never going to happen.

Which led him to the reason as to why he was confused. And a little frustrated.

Levi.

He cast a glance over at the slumbering man to find that he was still in what appeared to be a dreamless sleep.

The older man had been the perfect tour guide through the city, pointing out hidden gems throughout Paris that no tourist would even have the luck of finding. Walking the old streets together, Eren could see how easily Levi blended in with his motherland. He spoke perfect French, conversing with waiters, baristas, and even the man who served them crepes at the park with grace and poise. He seemed perfectly at home in the city, which raised the brunet's curiosity as to why he had left for America in the first place.

The problem wasn't that Levi wasn't a good tour guide, no, it was that he only acted as Eren's tour guide.

Eren had thought.. fuck he didn't know what he'd thought.

No, he knew exactly what he'd thought, but he was just too embarrassed and cowardly to admit it.

He had thought that after everything, all their teasing and flirting and cuddling, that maybe, just maybe, the older man had feelings for him. Or at least was open to something more than just the current "travel partner" relationship that they had going on.

This clearly wasn't the case, as Levi had yet to make a move to indicate he'd be okay with any progression beyond friendship. Eren wasn't sure exactly what he wanted but he definitely wanted more than just a casual friendship between them. He thought he'd made that clear with all his innuendos, and hell it seemed like Levi had made it clear with his provocative comments, but either the other man was clueless or he wasn't interested.