Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/ works/14132640. Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: Underage Category: F/M, M/M Fandom: Shingeki_no_Kyojin_|_Attack_on_Titan, Call_Me_By_Your_Name_(2017) Relationship: Levi/Eren_Yeager Character: Levi_(Shingeki_no_Kyojin), Eren_Yeager, Eren_Yeager's_Parents, Grisha Yeager, Carla_Yeager, Mikasa_Ackerman, Armin_Arlert Additional Tags: Bottom_Eren_Yeager, Top_Levi_(Shingeki_no_Kyojin), Japan, Japanese Culture, A_few_words_in_Japanese, I'll_put_the_translations, Matane, Romance, Eventual_Romance, Eventual_Smut, Anal_Sex, Anal_Fingering, Day At_The_Beach, Lots_of_mentions_of_juice, like_guava_juice, Written_in_a style_I'm_not_use_to, Eventual_Happy_Ending, it's_based_in_1997 Stats: Published: 2018-03-28 Chapters: 1/? Words: 2058 ****** Paper Walls ****** by DatWriterWannaBe Summary A crossover. Call me by your name / Attack on Titan. Eren Yeager and his family live in Kamakura, Japan. Levi was invited to stay in their home over the summer to assist Grisha and Carla with translating their soon to be published work. This is the story of the summer they spent together, and the thin paper wall that separated them. Notes This style of writing is very outside my element. When I watched 'Call me by your name' I knew it had to be rewritten for Levi and Eren. I didn't expect the book to be written in such an advanced style (especially in comparison to my work over the years.) It really jumps all over the place. However, below is my attempt, and I hope you enjoy it. Konnichiwa. Hello. Matane. See ya. See the end of the work for more notes This work was inspired by Call_my_by_your_name by André Aciman “Don't you think it's rude?” I asked my mother one morning after Levi had just left for the day. We sat behind the house together, bathing in the sunlight, the sound of ice clinking in our glasses as we sipped our juice. “His 'matane’?” I didn't wait for a reply instead scoffing over my breakfast and refusing to meet her eyes. “I feel like when he does leave us, all he’ll say is 'matane.’” At that point it wasn't like it really mattered. Levi had been staying with us one week but already caught ‘family like’ affection from my mother and father. Carla just smiled at me, the kind of knowing smile that only a mother could give to their child. “I don't.” She replied, “he's saying he’ll see you later, Eren. And doesn't he always see you later?”  I didn't say anything back, I couldn't. Part of me wanted to tell her that wasn't true, that sometimes I wouldn't see Levi until the next morning. Which, I suppose is 'later,’ but I wanted to see him sooner. I wanted to see him every second of everyday, I wanted to scream it into the ocean, beg of whatever god may still linger there that they'd allow me to be with Levi always. Only one week of his presence and the man had managed to own me, body and soul. I didn't know that though. At the time I was always annoyed with him, brushing him off while not fully understanding the feelings I was having toward him. I was only 17, but I had never been attracted to another man before. And I wasn't about to admit it then, it was a fluke, my attraction only coming from someone new being in the area. It wasn't like we got a lot of visitors, and sure, my father had a new comer every summer to come and work with him but most of the time I avoided them.  I wish I realized that it was different with Levi sooner, that I hadn't wasted so much of that summer wishing he was mine, watching him as some of the girls I knew went after him - falling over him and bringing him back to their homes. I didn't care that Levi was with them, that he wasn't coming home until late at night, or at all. I just wish I knew sooner.  “Are you sleeping with her?” It slipped out of me one evening, while we sat in the grass together in my backyard. The sun was still setting, some of it's rays leaking through the trees and onto us, saying farewell to the night to come.  “With who?” He wouldn't look at me, only kept his eyes forward to some of the trees in front of us, those trees with more age and wisdom than I could ever hope to achieve. “Petra.” “No.” “Someone else then?” Finally he looked at me, those eyes that swirled with blue on top of gray, eyes that belonged to me and only me. They studied me, trying to understand the true meaning behind my question. I looked back at him, pleading with him to tell me the answer I wanted to heard, that he didn't want anyone else. That he just wanted me. “No.” I might have admitted it then, taken him into my arms and given him my first inexperienced kiss, and he looked so tempting, so honest - with his eyes showing me that he wasn't the only one who wanted something to happen. Only I didn't. The sliding doors behind us opened, my father, Grisha, stepping through and bringing us juice that was made only minutes before. He sat beside Levi, handing him a glass which he then handed over to me, our fingertips brushing over each others in a silent confession between us. While the two of them talked I stared into my glass, the pinkish liquid swirling from my shaking hands. ___________ It was the summer of 1997 when Levi first came to my parent’s home. As much as I may have tried to forget it during my adolescence, it was a day that would forever bloom into my mind whenever I was alone and my thoughts would betray me. The sound of the cicadas was never ending, the ocean waves in the distance - crashing over the soft sand that I could still feel beneath my toes. And his voice, his repeated 'matane’ like a skipping CD that played the same song over and over, making you fall for the sound that you once hated. Levi had scratched the disc of my mind - forever etching his mark which would never leave me. Not for a single moment. Though my family and I resided in Japan, we weren't of native blood. My father, Grisha, and my mother, Carla, were both born and raised in Germany, the two decided long ago that a life near the beach of Kamakura would be better suited for them, and for their own studies on the ocean life in that area. Try as they might, I would never have the same interests as them. While I could agree that octopus were fascinating, I wasn't one to focus my thoughts on their strange behavior. Though, changing one’s skin color was something I wish I could do, as you can imagine a German boy didn't fit in well with the schools in that area. The younger generation tended to look past that, befriending me anyway and making me feel welcome among them - still teasing me at my awful Japanese but helping me perfect it as the years passed. Still, I would never be good enough. I could perfect my Japanese but it wouldn't be good enough for him. The first time I greeted the native man, Levi scolded me on my simple 'hello.’ “Konnichiwa.” He told me, which at first, I assumed was him only saying hello back to me. I learned to never assume with Levi on that day. The man was set in his ways, he never really spoke unless he had something to say, which more often than not was him correcting someone on their misinformation or to send a small comment filled with snark in their direction. To this day I'm not sure what lured me to a man so much different than myself, his eyes cut through me like Japanese steel, their shade from afar looked like a light grey - something I'd never seen in another person before. But I'd come to learn that they weren't gray, and I learned that rather quickly, based solely on my own insistence to actually get close enough to the man's eyes, that they were blue. A light blue, a peaceful calming blue, at least to me. To others they might seem cold, or curious, or welcoming, or warm, or judgmental. His mood seemed to change just as quickly as the weather of those orbs; yet, I never felt more at home looking into those stormy eyes. The steel I first saw was rare, only appearing when he was annoyed, angry, and wanted nothing to do with me. I made sure to avoid him when those eyes turned to metal, even though I actually wanted to be around him anyway. When they turned to blue, I was beside him in an instant - willing those eyes to look my way and allow me just a peek into who he truly was. It wasn't until he I had known him for weeks that I learned of a third version, a combination of the two mixed into one. Eyes that were just for me, eyes that no one else saw, eyes that were designed to lure in an unexpected passion from a basic stranger. I would be that stranger, again and again, if it meant I would be the only one allowed a taste of the world through his eyes. And he was short. Far shorter than myself, I could rest my chin on top of his silky raven hair if I wanted to, though I would rarely dare. His height never seemed to truly bother him, I never noticed any insults affect him in anyway, besides he was intelligent and strong, jabs at his one shortcoming would never bother him. That was what I thought anyway, until one day we were riding our bikes to the train station together. My mother had requested we purchase some of the flat, and to put it bluntly, strange Japanese cookies that were set in a half Moon shape. A cookie that was meant to be given as a gift when one travels, to bring home to their family and friends - a treat that says 'I will always think of you, please enjoy this cookie.’ My mother's excuse was that she liked the cookies, and insisted on having them to eat freely. A touch over priced, but she was more than willing to splurge on the small treat. While Levi and I stood in line within the tiny shop, watching the bubbly women behind the counter as she smiled brightly and handed the customers their packages with two hands, a foreigner cut in front of me. I wasn't one for coming up with the best insults, and it certainly wasn't something that was coming to use among the people in the area, but watching that man not only cut in front of me, but maybe six other people I had to fight back in some way. A simple shout left my lips, “Hey! Get to the back of the line, you tiny old man!” The words were in English, a common enough language for the foreigner to understand. And he was short, and old. I wasn't wrong in that aspect. But, he was taller than Levi, most definitely not as young as the man I had grown to enjoy company with.. but as soon as the words left my mouth I saw Levi flinch. It wasn't until much later that Levi admitted to me his insecurities, the older male confiding in me over his height. “It doesn't bother you, does it?” He asked me.  “Of course not.”  It was so much different than that first moment I met him. Those steel eyes already annoyed at my existence while they roamed over me, judging the teenage boy with the piss poor Japanese.  “Konnichiwa.” He wound up repeating when I only offered him a goofy grin. “Konnnnnnnnichiwa.” It was then that I caught on to his attempt to teach me. His tongue holding the 'n’ to the roof of his mouth as he spewed it in my direction. My parents only stood and watched, my mother going as far as to cover her mouth to stifle a laugh. “Konnichiwa.” I said back, looking over to my parents to confirm if it was being said correctly.  A sharp flick to my forehead brought my attention back to the stranger before me. “No.” He barked, “Konnnnnnichiwa.”  More flicks to my forehead and huffs were passed between us before I finally said it to Levi's liking. The man hadn’t even bothered to take in his surroundings, most strangers to our home were gasping at the size of it, gasping at how it managed to seem so secluded in an area were the houses were almost touching, gasping at the small stone onsen hidden behind the house, gasping at the paper thin walls that held back no noise.  In the end.. the punctuation didn't matter anyway. Levi was from Osaka, and apparently their 'hello’ sounded a touch different than the way I had learned.  I still hold the 'n,’ the method being forced onto me since that summer day in 1997. Sometimes, when I was alone, I would say it to myself, standing in my deserted bedroom and imagining Levi in front of me. The twitch of his thin lips as I repeated the word over and over, that fraction of a smile that would make my chest swell with pride over something so simple.  “Konnnnnnichiwa.” I would say each time I saw him. Levi would roll his eyes at me, but he could never hide the smile behind those gentle gray eyes with a swirl of blue I adored.  Ko nnnnnni chiwa. Ko nnnnnni chiwa. Ko nnnnnni chiwa.   End Notes I wasn't kidding when I said it jumps all over the place. I'm on Tumblr It's very NSFW, I'm slowly posting the NSFW stuff on a personal blog. Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!