Metamorphosis

Chapter 20

"I will once you stop teasing me."

He ignored me in favor of glancing down at my exposed lower half. "Looks like you're going commando this morning, because I'm not going to let you wear the same boxers you had on last night. That's gross."

"You act like I've never gone commando before." I scooped up my jeans from off the floor and slipped them on. "Take my word for it, I'm going to prepare the best breakfast you've ever eaten while I'm not wearing underwear."

Levi wrinkled his nose. "Way to kill my appetite."

I slipped my thumbs into the two belt loops on the front of my jeans and purposely pushed the rough material down over my hipbones, low enough to reveal my happy trail. His eyes shot down to follow the movement. "Sure about that?"

"That's not even fair." He pointed at me in an accusatory way that made him look like an angry hamster that was about to attack—too cute for words. "You know your V-cut and happy trail are my ultimate weaknesses! That's foul play!"

"Still yelling when you're nervous, I see," I said.

"I'm not nervous. I'm yelling because I'm mad! So mad... I'm seeing red!"

I laughed. "God, I love you. I really do."

His eyes widened, and then he covered his face with his hands, but not before I caught a glimpse of the blush spreading across his cheeks in a deep shade of pink. "Little cheater," he mumbled, voice muffled against his palms. "You can't just drop that on me without any type of warning."

"Why not?" I walked up to him and wrapped my hands around his wrists to pull them away from his face. He stared up at me, the flush in his cheeks deepening. I kissed the warm skin there. "It's true."

He crossed his arms in false imitation of anger. "J-just go make breakfast."

"Okay. Don't get flustered now," I said in a teasing tone. Then I went into the kitchenette and hunted through his cabinets for the ingredients I would need to make porridge. When I had everything set out on the counter, I put a small sauce pan on the stove burner and added water, almond milk, cauli-oats, and flax to it. Although I'd made this for Levi several times over the past few months, I had never tried it myself. Vegan food just wasn't for me. It always tasted bland in comparison to other things I enjoyed eating, though I would never admit that to him. This was his lifestyle and I wasn't about to inject it with negativity.

After the oats were cooked, I poured some into a bowl and topped it off with sliced bananas, granola clusters, and a few pinches of cinnamon. I set it down on the table while Levi made green tea.

"That smells good," he said as he came to stand beside me with an absurdly small mug in hand. He turned his head and leaned up on tiptoes to kiss me. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"What are you going to eat?"

I leaned to the side and picked up a banana as a last minute resort. He didn't like when I didn't eat breakfast. "This."

"That's not enough for someone your size."

"I'll pick up something after we leave."

"Okay. You better," he said while he went to sit down at the dining table.

As he ate his porridge with a book in his free hand, I went through the text messages I'd received while we slept. Most of them were from Jean and Mikasa, reminding me that I was supposed to be meeting up with them in a couple of hours to go over tonight's security plans and also to touch base on Levi's after party, which was a secret I somehow managed to keep from him. He had no idea about our plans for when the curtains came down, but everyone wanted to celebrate his first performance, so we all pitched in—me the most. Last night, when I was supposed to be at the warehouse, I'd made the boys' lug a bunch of shit to the club. None of them minded too much, because they all knew how much Levi meant to me. I had never tried to keep it a secret.