Thanks to some combination of Ozymandias talking him into it, boredom, and remembering conversations with Yuri, Eren does in fact sign up to work on the airship. He's vaguely aware that sexy clothes are involved here, and entirely aware that he's not at all customer service material, but whatever.
He's not entirely expecting full on lingerie (this picture is nsfw! but for what he's wearing imagine booty shorts to go over that lace) and almost backs out. But it's like any challenge, right? Imagine just backing down because of clothing. It's not as if he's modest to begin with. He spent weeks running around without a shirt or whatever, after all. This feels…more personal.
People look at him, because that's what this is about. He brings drinks, though he's not very good at the entertainment part, but he can bring drinks or food or sit and have a conversation if that's your thing. Feel free to tease him or be suggestive. He's not unreceptive to the idea of where this could lead, but since he's working or whatever, he won't propose it himself.
OR if you're also working, find him taking a break in some employee lounge somewhere, obviously still dressed in lingerie, but away from prying eyes. Wanna blow off some steam? Here's a chance to do that!
This…isn't exactly a quest so much as it is curiosity. Whichever one of them actually picked this isn't relevant; they both decided they'd try the rope thing after seeing it pop up in the Underground Mall. Maybe it was a dare. Maybe it was just maybe.
Either way, they're here now, the bedroom lit this time. Eren stands in front of Reiner looking down at the rope between them.
"You sure?" he asks, as if he's not the one about to let himself get tied up by someone who literally wanted to capture him only months ago. For Eren it was years, but not for Reiner. Eren is dimly aware of how stupid and reckless this is. He could be completely at Reiner's mercy doing something like this, depending on how it goes. He saw some of the demonstrations, the way people's arms and legs were drawn up.
Well, he could always bite his tongue or something if it came to it. But he doesn't think anything bad will happen, simply because neither of them want that. They're doing this to see if it's as sexy as it looks or something. Eren doesn't really think much of the spell aspect. He knows magic is real and spells work, but something about unburdening? Yeah right. There's too much inside him to possibly let any of it go, rope or no rope.
He runs the rope through his hands a little. It's not like rope he's felt before; this is silky, soft to the touch, not stiff or scratchy. He's been tied up and chained up plenty of times, but this? Definitely not.
He holds it back out to Reiner. At least one of them is sure.
Levi doesn't deign to dress up for the mission. In fact, he chooses to wear casual clothes rather than his nice uniform (though honestly, some of his ideas of casual clothes isn't too far off from pirate aesthetic), though he does have his gear on, and he is, in fact, sporting an eyepatch.
Not one from the research center, though. It seems to be a spare one of Hange's (of course thoroughly disinfected), or at least it looks the same. Levi isn't too happy about it, but after accidentally poking himself in the eye with a teaspoon once or twice thanks to his new blind spot, he figured it's probably best to cover it when there's a chance he'll have to do battle.
For now, he's taken over steering, as it seems Eren prefers working the cannons (it may or may not be a bad decision, considering Eren is the only one who has a license for piloting any kind of ship), but so far they were sailing into the lake without much issue.
Until, that is, an empty-looking ship starts heading toward them, perhaps intending to board or simply ram their smaller boat. There may be some locals sailing with them, in which case they probably urgently unroll more sail for speed, while Levi struggles turning the giant unwieldy wheel so the damned ghosts can eat some lead.
That's right, he can bloody see them. It doesn't matter until they have to actually fight them, though; as long as they can destroy the ship, that should be unnecessary.
"Aim for the sail pole," he instructs Eren, shattering any illusion that they actually know shit about ships, as the boat finally turns the way he wants it to, broadside cannons facing the approaching ghost ship.
A not-significant part of Reiner wants to do this somewhere else. He wants to do this in his bedroom, not in the neutral ground of a hotel. He wants to lay Eren down on his bed, tie Eren up on his sheets, press his nose to Eren's hair and feel his mind fully relax, soothed by the knowledge that he's successfully "captured" his target. However, Reiner isn't a fool. Doing this in his bedroom would just be begging for something to go horribly wrong, setting off a disastrous chain reaction. And besides, Reiner is pretty sure that tying Eren up, period, will soothe whatever part of his brain hungers for victory.
Anyway, this isn't about Reiner finding peace of mind. It's about Eren. It's about erasing whatever haunts Eren's dreams—even if only briefly. That's what the spell is supposed to do, right? Reiner isn't sure if it will work, still having a mental block about certain aspects of magic. But for Eren's sake, he hopes it will.
And if it doesn't? Well, hopefully Eren will still enjoy it. Reiner is damn sure that he'll enjoy the sight alone, all those intricate knots crisscrossing Eren's skin.
While Eren inspects the rope, Reiner glances over a pamphlet detailing various knots one last time, ensuring he has the steps correctly memorized. He practiced these knots in the Underground Mall (albeit on a dummy, not a person); there, the instructor's only advice was that Reiner leave a little more slack in the rope. ("You're not tying up a prisoner," they'd said; Reiner only smiled weakly.) He's confident that he can do this properly.
"I'm sure," Reiner says, accepting the rope, his fingers deliberately brushing Eren's. He lets a smile tease the corners of his lips, leaning forward slightly as he adds, "You're going to look amazing."
Another time, with some sort of established level of comfort, Eren might even agree to Reiner's desire, wrists tied to bedposts or tied behind his back or who knows what, pressed against green sheets. Eren so rarely thinks of any of this taking place in his own space, his own bed. He doesn't consider any space he inhabits his so it doesn't really matter to him. Someday maybe he'll get over his transient thinking, but he's not there yet.
Today, the neutrality seems necessary. It's not loaded like this, at least not any more than it has to be.
Eren is fairly self-aware but he's not quite so self-aware that he can properly assess why he wants to do this. It's not about the unburdening bit; he doesn't really give a shit about that. Is it about loss of control? Is it some sick sort of familiarity, rope against his skin, in another context than he's had it done before? It's surely more than base curiosity.
He tilts his head and meets Reiner's eyes.
"You think so?"
Predictably, he doesn't smile back, but that teasing sort of smirk works its way onto his face.
"You gonna be able to be patient enough to actually tie those knots, or you think you'll get too hard and have to give up halfway?"
It's the stupidest kind of challenge, but at least it's one that's safe. This isn't the kind of challenge with teeth, not the kind at the water joust. Eren's fine about saying things like this when he still has his clothes on. It's when he gets flustered that he stumbles.
Eren does know how to pilot an airship, but this seems pretty different from that. Besides, then he'd feel like the captain and he'd rather leave that up to…the captain, obviously.
So far it's not going poorly, and it's not like this ocean-lake is really all that choppy. There's no storm on the horizon. They're fine. Shooting things is possibly fun, or as close to it as Eren really acknowledges these days. Skewed? Sure, but as always: it's not genocide.
Levi doesn't answer his question. He is aware Levi can see ghosts, but he sort of forgets they're a thing here most of the time. He doesn't believe in ghosts, or didn't until now, so they're not often on his mind anyway. Well, even if the ship is driven by magic, they can still take it out.
"Sail pole, got it," he says. He doesn't know much more about ships that go in the water and not in the air, alas. But regardless of the lingo, he understands what it means. He rotates the cannon, a slower process than he'd like, and takes aim.
It's hard to correct for the motion of the waves, though, especially as the ships turns. So when he fires, it misses. Not by much, but it's still a miss. The cannonball blasts a hole through the sale and only grazes the wood of the mast ship pole. Still, it causes the other ship to falter and to slow. Without a functional sail, it's better than completely missing.
He turns to pick up another cannonball from the pile of them. He's strong, but it's not the fastest reload in the world.
[ Eren has no concept of when people have children; one of his friends had them at like 17, though that was a complicated situation. He didn't mean to be insulting.
Klee goes on with her fish bombing. ]
How did she even get bombs like that? She's so young.
[ Not to mention that they're not like anything Eren has ever seen, but there's a lot of stuff in other worlds he knows nothing about. This is just one of them. ]
I don't know much about where you're from. This seems…peaceful.
[ It's a weird thing to say considering the bombs, maybe, but this isn't like a war zone or anything. It really does seem peaceful to Eren, even if that's such a strange, difficult concept for him. ]
Eiden had spent some time working on this airship. He had a lot of fun of his own in those first few days. He liked dressing up, and he enjoyed engaging and entertaining other people. He's done it before, and he's helped others find their footing in doing the same. And while doing that was fun, he decided to take a few days to himself from that part and just relax and enjoy his time on the ship. This was the perfect place to simply relax, go with the flow, and take his mind off of any business that he had going on.
Even though he's not hosting, he still dresses in a way that he finds appropriate for this ship. He's wearing (picture nsfw-ish) an open shirt with a collar and straps across his chest, as well as a pair of black slacks. Around his neck hangs the Neon Gemstone that he wears at all times. He's relaxing into one of the more comfortable pieces of seating, thinking about just having a few drinks and watching the show when a familiar face makes his an appearance, bringing a drink for him.
He scoots over in his seat, there's plenty of room. He's certainly not going to make the other join him, but the invitation is there.
"You look amazing. It'd be a shame to take my eyes off of you." Shamelessly opening with a flirt, as always. It's simply how Eiden is. "If you want, you can sit with me. Or on me." He speaks shamelessly. "I can get you a drink if you want one, too."
Eren's glad to see a familiar face, even if he still feels a little out of place dressed like this. It took him a while to get used to the feeling of lace at all. Does he like it? He hasn't decided. Other people seem to, which is…a realisation he's still slowly absorbing.
Eiden is always quick with a smile and a flirtatious comment, which is easier to follow along with. Eren's not very good at being flirtatious. He doesn't smile, for one. He's a little bit freer than he was when he and Eiden first met, more of his emotions accessible whether he wants them to be or not.
He lets his eyes slide over Eiden's form, shamelessly. It's a good look for him, the open shirt, those leather straps.
"I think I'm the one supposed to get the drinks," Eren answers. He wishes he was bold enough to literally sit on Eiden's lap, but he's not there yet. He has to warm up to it.
In the meantime, he does accept the offer to sit there next to Eiden. He crosses one leg over the other the way he's seen Yuri do (he's not as graceful at this, but he's not at all clumsy) and sets his arm along the backrest behind Eiden.
"You have anything specific you want?" He could be talking about drinks or whatever, but they're both aware of the kind of ship this is. Eren gets a lot of attention because of how he looks, but his ability to interact with people could use work.
[Yes, she's only eight. Yes... she's actually making bombs. No, nobody is stopping her. Klee seems to be having fun in any case and Diluc doesn't look much inclined to stop her, really, though he also doesn't think she's going to catch many fish by throwing explosives into the ocean.]
This is the Golden Apple Archipelago. As the story goes, it was created when the Anemo Archon Barbatos was reshaping Mondstadt, and he split off the tops from mountains and threw them into the sea. [Honestly... sounds like something Venti would do, when he thinks about it.]
But they don't officially belong to any territory. Neutral waters, if you will.
Edmond would have never come up here on his own, but he was persuaded by a certain someone (Eiden) who had told him it would be a good time and then gone swanning off to enjoy himself. It's not deliberate, he's sure... Eiden just likes to indulge his many vices and they would probably have words about this once they were both back home...
For now, Edmond accepts the fact that he can't leave just yet. He's wearing a fairly elaborate outfit as he sits and occupies his time and when someone comes close to him he looks up with a faint start and turns slightly pink.
Gods-- there really is no shame here, is there?
"Did you put that on willingly?"
Look he... doesn't really mean to be rude, and the question is a genuine one, but Edmond has a way of being very blunt and especially when he's flustered, and the words just come out of him before he can stop them.
Eren can feel his face warm a little at the question. He's always blushed too easily, which makes this job kind of a pain for him. He can handle compliments sometimes, even if he's not good at the whole customer service thing. Hard to be good at it when your expression barely changes, but whatever, he's still getting paid to be here and people still like looking at him. Apparently.
"Did you put that on willingly?" he asks in return before he can think better of it.
Shit. He hears what he said too late to do anything about it. Looks like they have that kind of thing in common.
"…They're paying me, so."
It's not a direct answer, but it's good enough. He put this on more or less willingly, though Ozymandias talked him into it. He hadn't just done it. It probably sounds worse the way he says it, since it kind of sounds like selling himself for money, even more than it actually is.
It is indeed not genocide, especially since the things they're shooting aren't technically alive, anyway, so Levi supports it as an idea for entertainment.
And they're also getting paid, that's always a plus.
It's not a clean shot, but with the other ship slowed down, it should be easier to outrun and maneuver around it. Levi lets their own boat sail a little further, just to make sure there's enough room for turning, and steers them after the ghost ship again.
"Take the chain shot," he yells at Eren over the voices of their few crewmen struggling to keep up with following the captain's orders because he's not saying half of them aloud (but luckily, the ship's turn is completed successfully this time).
At least they know some shit about artillery, since they did have cannons and variety of ammo back home. And considering what chain shots could do to titans, not to mention the much more generous margin for aiming, Levi's quite confident it should decimate the other ship's masts sail poles quite easily.
Reiner hums, his eyes falling to Eren's lips. That teasing smirk isn't as good as a smile—he has yet to see one of those grace Eren's face in Ellipsa—but it's not bad. Not bad at all. It makes Reiner want to rise to the challenge, an urge to win that easily commingles with his desire for victory. Potentially dangerous in other circumstances, but here? Here, they're on neutral ground. Here, it's just the two of them and a smooth, soft rope.
"I can handle it," he (perhaps foolishly) asserts. "Besides, your mouth will be free."
The implication hangs heavy in the air—that Reiner might tie Eren up and use his mouth to get off. It wouldn't be the first time. And that first time was better than Reiner could've dreamed. He imagined it would feel good for him, fantasizing about the wet heat of Eren's mouth, the threat of teeth, the incredible tightness of Eren's throat. But Reiner never could've anticipated how hard it made Eren.
To think that Eren enjoyed it so much…
His gaze rises to meet Eren's again, his smile having given way to a little smirk of his own. Cocky, even when he knows Eren is at least partially correct: there's no way Reiner won't wind up hard as hell from this. Cocky because he thinks he can win—and he thinks there's a chance that Eren will wind up in the same achingly hard state.
"You want me to start with your arms or legs?" he asks, free hand reaching out to rest on Eren's hip, fingertips toying with fabric.
Eren, as he often does, watches Reiner's mouth when he speaks. He's thinking about Reiner's mouth doing other things, though he hasn't moved into specifics in his head yet.
Besides, your mouth will be free, he says, and Eren's eyes jerk back up again. There's that telltale pink just touching his cheeks. He pretends it isn't there.
To his credit, he manages to say, "Yeah. I guess it will," though he doesn't quite manage nonchalantness about it. Of course he's turned on by the thought. Last time, he'd given up control but could have taken it back at any time just by shoving away with his hands. Without them, that's harder.
Fuck, why is that hot?
He swallows, as if that will clear up whatever it is that gets in the way of his words.
"Legs, I guess. If you did arms first it would be trickier to balance, I think."
He doesn't move away from Reiner's touch, but he does at least pull his shirt off. This isn't something they're doing fully clothed, right? Or at least he isn't; he hasn't graduated in his brain to considering that Reiner doesn't have to take his clothes off. Eren always leaps before he looks, not considering a whole situation like this, what the power dynamic inadvertently could fall into.
Not that he would care or stop or slow down even for a second.
From someone very special to him, as it turns out. So... yes, yes he did put it on willingly, but that doesn't stop him from turning pink again at the response. That he doesn't immediately get riled up is only a testament to how far his temperament has come since he first met Eiden.
"But I've seen people do more humiliating things for money," he goes on, and only belatedly realises that he's defensively folded his arms as if that might have any effect on anything. It's almost enough to make him roll his eyes at himself. "You're hardly the most immodestly dressed here."
Getting paid for murder, fine, getting paid for sex, not fine? Priorities, apparently.
Eren holds on to the side of the ship as the ship swings around. He's not entirely sure what direction is going to happen since many of the orders Levi is really issuing are to him, leaving the crew to figure it out and Levi to steer. See where he gets his lack of communication from, captain?
Chain shot. That's a good call, he thinks, though he doesn't bother saying that aloud. He loads the chain shot into the cannon. The ship moves into position. He fires again, the twin balls sailing through the air, rotating until they slam into the mast sail poles, first the bigger one, then a second lesser hit to the smaller ones.
The bigger one falling is really what takes out the weakened smaller one, torn sails collapsing around them. Are those shapes caught under the cloth? Ghosts made more corporeal but still not visible to Eren? Hm, weird.
"Captain! Another shot?" he asks, but he's already reaching for one. The sail poles might be down but that's not gonna sink a ship.
Eren is cute when he blushes. Reiner said so back in that alley what feels like a lifetime ago, murmuring it against Eren's lips as they touched each other's cocks for the first time. It remains true now, the pink dusting Eren's cheeks causing Reiner's smirk to widen slightly, gold eyes glittering with interest. He can't help wanting to make Eren blush even more. Can't help wanting to render those pretty lips unable to do anything but plead and moan.
But that will come later. For now, it's time to tie Eren up. (And to try not to get too hard in the process.)
"All right," he says, leaning in to brush the tip of his nose to Eren's. "Legs it is."
His fingers find the clasp of Eren's trousers, working on unfastening them while Eren removes his shirt. Practice has made such a thing easier than that first time. However, Reiner still gets distracted by the warmth of Eren's skin, fingertips brushing below Eren's navel, just appreciating the contact.
It's been weeks since that awful sickness tore their Titan-heat away. They've seen each other since then, touched and kissed and whatever else. Still, Reiner takes a moment to simply soak in that heat. He missed it when it was gone. Lately, it feels like he misses it more often, craving that contact whenever they're close. Even when they're pressed against each other, bare skin to bare skin, Reiner always wants more of it.
Once Eren's shirt and trousers are off, Reiner leans in to kiss him, thumbs hooked in the waistband of his underwear. "On the bed," he murmurs, eager to get started.
Eren catches the blush but he's really not one to tease about it. He doesn't have ground to stand on; he only brought up Edmond's clothes because Edmond started it.
"A friend talked me into doing this mission," he says. (It's a quest, but he always thinks of them as missions so that's what he says.)
"So…it's not my normal kind of thing." He looks a little awkward; he's obviously not exactly the social butterfly this kind of job was really asking for. If it wasn't for Ozymandias, he wouldn't be here at all.
"Mostly I serve drinks while people look at me like they wanna fuck me," he says. No sense beating around the bush. Aside from fooling around with Eiden, he hasn't really done anything all that racy.
Eren finds himself leaning towards Reiner's touch, craving him and they've barely done anything. His blood isn't racing yet, he's not hard or wanting (at least no more wanting than he always is). But Reiner's touch, warm like his own, uncalloused fingers like his but shaped different, feels (right) good. It doesn't have to be much at all these days.
Eren pulls his shirt off and Reiner deals with his pants. Maybe he's handsier than he needs to be, but who the hell cares? Eren gets his hands on Reiner, too, because he won't have that luxury soon. What a heady thing to think about, something he's vaguely imagined but never dared to chase further. It's one thing to have your freedom taken away, something he will never tolerate. It's another to give it to someone for an hour. He hasn't set it down like that in his head, not those terms, but maybe he'll get there eventually if he does this kind of thing again.
He's right there to kiss Reiner in return, demanding more because he can't help it. But Reiner talks against his mouth, and he decides to listen. He moves onto the bed on his knees and reaches to pull Reiner closer, rope or not.
They're both fine! Eren just clearly has way more experience with one of those, so they're concerned he might not ask for help if he needs it!
Indeed living together must not be doing any favors for either of theirs communication skills, but Levi will happily ignore that fact for now. He was absolutely communicating right now, wasn't he?
He hears the satisfying crack of the enemy mast main sail pole, which then falls on another one bringing them both down. The ghosts appear to be in disarray, which is just as good, because it means they don't have to worry about a counterattack just yet.
Which means they should try and use this opportunity to sink it.
"Get the heaviest one you can find," he shouts over the noise, "and aim right below the waterline!"
If they can just punch a hole anywhere in the hull below the surface, the fight should be won, right?
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