If you're looking for plot twists and beautiful story arcs, this fic is more of a poorly cobbled together series of events that demonstrate the characters themselves and their developments. Constructive criticism is welcome, but, seriously there's about zero plot in this thing. Also, I spent endless hours on the shit cover art so it is mine, however it was inspired heavily by an ereri fanart I found once and haven't been able to track down since; if it looks familiar hit me up so I can give them credit:)
There's two smutty scenes towards the end so keep an eye out:*
Trigger warnings for non-graphic mentions of child abuse and some angst in general
It was cold as balls and the wind got some vindictive pleasure from attacking him personally.
Wrapping his scarf more tightly around himself and burrowing his nose into it further, he once again cursed Hanji and their wackadoo ideas. Like fresh air would help him curb his cigarette addiction which he'd mostly kicked anyway, or like it would actually help him be less surly.
He wasn't surly to begin with, thank you very much; it wasn't his fault everyone he came in contact with was a fucking idiot.
Despite the cold and despite the biting wind that also decided it'd be just grand to blow snowy particles into his face, it was actually quite peaceful at the park.
No one else but him was stupid enough to be out in this shitty weather, and he'd gone deep enough that even the noise of New York traffic was largely muted; in fact, the only sounds were the rustle of the trees or the occasional squirrel darting up a tree, chattering away (probably bitching about the cold, Levi mused).
He'd found a bench in front of the pond which was somehow just as tranquil frozen over and covered in a thin layer of white than if it had been flowing with a couple of ducks swimming about.
Or it would have been tranquil had the sounds of some moron bumbling through the underbrush then racing out into the middle of the fucking ice not killed the mood. The kid probably wasn't even legal yet, standing there with a red face and large eyes that screamed "Oh shit" just as loud as the sound of the shattering beneath his feet.
Levi had known what was about to happen, was already on his feet and stripping off his scarf and coat by the time the kid suddenly plummeted straight downwards, everything lost beneath the ice and the snow and aw, fuck, this was going to suck.
Of course he'd left his phone back at the apartment to spare himself from Hanji's pestering. He knew how to take care of himself all too well so didn't see it as a necessary precaution to save his own skin; what he hadn't thought of was how it might help some random stupid-ass kid because he was used to idiots but this one was a special kind of stupid.
So here he was, running around to the other side where the kid had entered because if the ice had been strong enough to hold him then, it should be strong enough to hold Levi now. And, here he was, crawling on the ice trying to distribute his weight evenly and ignoring the way the once soft looking snow was now rough and chafing, trying to even his breath to reduce exertion for the plunge he was likely about to take.
The kid wasn't anywhere near the hole (now is not the time for "that's what she said" jokes; get your shit together, Levi), but he removed the floating chunks of ice as best as he could to provide an out.
The sun was blocked by clouds and, even though the snow made everything brighter, when it was piled on top of ice it obscured all of the light and made the water pitch black.
Aw, fuck, this was going to suck.
Taking a good sized breath, Levi dropped himself down, his skin burning from the frigid water and his eyes stinging as he tried to look for some type of humanoid shape.
So far all he could see was weird plant life and the occasional littered trash because people were gross but then, there he was - a dark mass almost at the bottom of the fucking pond.
He was floating and not flailing, which didn't bode well, but Levi wasted no time pondering the potential for this kid's survival, instead paddled down and looped an arm around his chest, yanked him upward and wished he'd had more time to strip because his clothes were weighing him down and he might be strong but this kid was heavy and his muscles were starting to seize up already and the hole was so far away and oh, god, he wasn't going to make it -
Just then the bundle in his arm started to flop around and he glanced down to see that the kid was staring back at him. Levi jerked his chin upward, got a nod for his trouble, and soon they were both swimming towards the surface, fingers loosely clutching each other because Levi didn't come all this way just for the kid to lose consciousness and die anyway.
By the time they finally broke the water, Levi's lungs were so on fire he wished they would at least warm the rest of him up. Instead, he was numb and just about lifeless except for the incessant chattering of his teeth and rattling of his bones.
"Stay as flat as you can," Levi instructed through the drumming of his pearly whites and for the first time he wished he had dentures if just so he could take them out. (Would gums knocking together like that hurt? Oh great, he was getting delirious.)
"Kick your feet out and try to drag yourself out, not pull up."
The kid nodded, shaking even harder than he was and such a deathly shade of purple that Levi was once again questioning whether or not he would make it. Was coughing out so much water and jostling the pond and ice so much it was a wonder the whole thing didn't break right then and there.
Somehow they both managed to haul themselves out and land on the opposite end of the bank without falling in again, and for the first time ever the snow felt warm compared to that swirling hell hole they had just come out of.
Lying there for several beats panting and trying to make his limbs cooperate, Levi flopped his head to the side.
"You going to live, kid?"
A nod. Or maybe he was just trembling so much it looked like one.
Levi gingerly pushed himself to his feet, tried not to shiver as he had to walk all the way back to the bench on the other side of the lake for his coat and scarf and shoes. Collapsed next to the kid once he'd retrieved them and immediately began stripping him of his coat, earning weak protests.
"Shut the fuck up, you'll catch hypothermia and die in these wet clothes," Levi grumbled, jerking back when a lump under the kid's drenched coat moved.
"Is this some Invasion of the Body Snatchers shit?"
To his surprise (and concern) the kid started wheezing out what could only be laughs.
"'S'why I went in," the kid slurred back, a dopey grin plastering his face.
Levi eyed him dubiously, noting that he was likely suffering cold-induced psychosis but, knowing he'd have to get him out of as many soaked layers as possible, he carefully peeled back the coat and found a tiny gray kitten huddled inside.
A couple expletives poured out - he wasn't sure which ones, but maybe that was for the best - and he carefully pried the kitten out and tried to swipe off the worst of the water, quickly wrapping it up in the scarf and breathing onto it.
"You tried to kill yourself for a kitten? Suicidal bastard," Levi shook his head, though a surge of fondness spread through him because people like that just weren't around these days.
"I'm not suicidal," he chattered, trying to sit himself up. "I didn't know there was a pond there."
Levi shook his head again, once more returning to the task of getting the boy out of that coat, made all the more difficult now that he was relying on one hand whilst the other was paying attention to the kitten.
"Shouldn't you at least buy me dinner first?" The kid waggled his eyebrows - or tried to, but his face was still mostly frozen so it came out as this awkward spasm.
"Shut up," was all Levi said, adding an order of, "Take off your shirt and put this on."
"Sounds kinky. And that coat probably won't fit."
Levi whipped his head up, narrowing his eyes. "You're an ungrateful son of a bitch, aren't you?"
"You need it too," The kid dipped his chin in acknowledgment of Levi's equally dripping state.
"If you would hurry up and put it on we can go get a taxi and then I won't."
There was a beat of silence before he just said. "Oh. I suppose arguing with you would only cause your death after all, eh?"
He took it back; the kid wasn't ungrateful - he was cheeky, and Levi was torn between laughing and shoving him back under the ice.
Though Levi couldn't help but frown, because the kid wasn't wrong. It really was too small for him, barely covered past his elbows and had no hope of covering his chest.
His exposed chest.
Which, Levi noted (then instantly discarded) wasn't the worst set of pectorals and abs he'd ever seen, and the dark tan was pretty easy on the eyes even tinted white and covered in splotches of maroon.
"Come on," he said instead, leading them out of the goddamn park in the quickest way possible. Was caught off guard when something touched his shoulder and almost knifed the perpetrator right then and there.
Was more caught off guard when he saw the kid was wearing the coat like a cape and trying to cradle Levi against his side.
"This is fucking ridiculous," Levi muttered under his breath, pressing the kitten securely between them and relieved when it started mewing because at least it still had some fight in it.
Couldn't find it within him to protest anymore because, considering he'd just been submerged and it was still barely twenty out, the kid was pretty warm.
. . .
By the time they reached the edge of the park and were able to hail a taxi, any spurt of life or second wind or whatever the hell it should be called had completely died, and they were more leaning on each for support than warmth. At least a taxi responded quickly, some concerned old guy trying to get them to go the hospital.
Levi sure as hell wasn't about to go, but he thought maybe the kid needed it and was just starting to agree when the kid piped up,
"No, I'm fine, just crank up the heat and head to - " He stopped then, turning to Levi. "Do you need the hospital."
Levi shook his head resolutely.
"You live around here?" He questioned, which made Levi bristle a bit because he was paranoid, but he shrugged and said,
"Twenty minutes." It would be closer to five with the taxi, but whatever.
"I'm closer then. Wanna' head back just to get dry? I promise I won't get fresh," the kid added with a grin.
Motherfucking cheeky bastard.
"Take us to wherever this asshole lives then," he gestured vaguely, opening up the scarf to peer down at the kitten who seemed better off than both of them combined and was actually purring, the endearing little shit.
The kid spouted off some address which really was closer than Levi's place and the cabby cranked the heat, claiming it felt like a sauna to him though both he and the kid agreed by way of eye contact that it still felt like a fucking fridge.
. . .
Levi insisted to pay for the taxi, giving him a tip because he got there fast and had an excellent heating system, even though both of them were still shivering and in varying degrees of wetness. Couldn't help but cringe with how damp and gross feeling the bills were, and sighed because at least he didn't have his phone or anything else that would be permanently damaged from the water.
They stumbled out of the car, immediately cursing the wind and the snow and everything about goddamn winter in goddamn New York, and then walked up some stone steps to an apartment complex that finely straddled the line of "shitty but livable" and "livable but not middle class".
Staggered up too many flights of stairs (it was barely two, but Levi was going to bitch about anything he damn well pleased), and fumbled with the lock to the kid's door.
Eren had already stripped off Levi's coat and draped it around his own tiny frame and was walking over to what looked like the thermostat to blast it as high as it would go.
"Stay here, I'll go grab some clothes - "
"No, that's fine, I'll be on my way," Levi was already muttering, but a sharp interjection of, "No!" halted his hand on the doorknob.
"I just came to make sure you didn't die on the way," he commented expressionlessly, tilting his head to the side and trying to take back his earlier agreement of staying until he was dry.
"You could die, too, you know!" The kid pointed out - literally pointed - with the most graceless gesture Levi had ever encountered.
"We're all going to die someday," came his response which was weird and morbid even for him, but to his astonishment it earned a laugh.
"You have shit humor, you know that?"
He did, he really did - both literally and figuratively - but what he didn't know was why he got a laugh out of it.
"Look, just stay until you aren't shivering so much you'll break your bones and you stop looking like a vampire," the kid pleaded.
"I'm not exactly Malibu Ken, you know. I don't get much darker," Levi informed him crossly.
The kid just stared for a bit - probably gauging his seriousness - then ran a hand through his still damp hair, cringing when his fingers came back slick with pond water.
"Please?" He finally asked, pathetically, looking like a kicked puppy who had his ice-cream stolen. Which was a really stupid-ass analogy, but -
"Oh for fuck's sake, fine," Levi growled darkly, ignoring the happy grin sent his way.
"Great, you - "
"Can I shower?" Levi cut him off rather rudely, but his mood kept plummeting the more aware of the situation he became.
He was standing in some kid's apartment, dripping icy water onto the floor as he half-heartedly held a purring kitten against his freezing chest, and his teeth were still chattering so hard it was a very real concern they would shatter.
"Oh, yeah, of course! Definitely. I'll still grab you clothes though," the kid stuttered over his words, turning beat red for some reason and it was then that Levi's mind chose to remind him that the kid was standing shirtless in front of him, rapidly gaining color that went straight to the blush in his cheeks.
Levi just nodded, sure to look as bored as possible and thankful the kid didn't demand he rip off his own shirt in the name of not-contracting-hypothermia. He was proud of his body, all solid muscle despite his size, but he had enough imperfect skin bubbling up everywhere that he wasn't exactly down for the third degree from some teenie bopper.
"I never did tell you my name," No, he did not jump at the sudden voice and anyone who claimed otherwise better prepared for their throat to be slit.
"I'm Eren, Eren Jaeger," he beamed, thrusting a bundle of clothes and trying to pry away the kitten.
Levi withdrew and sheltered the kitten protectively for a moment before he processed the kid's - Eren's - intent and gently handed it over in exchange for the clothes.
"Thanks," he groused, stalking towards the bathroom only to realize he wasn't entirely sure where it was.
Eren, bless him, simply said, "Take the left and it'll be right there."
Levi nodded again.
"I didn't catch your name?"
It was definitely a question - one Levi debated answering falsely or ignoring entirely before sighing and figuring it wouldn't kill him.
"Levi."
And he went into the bathroom.
. . .
Considering the kid was probably twelve and likely born in a barn, the bathroom was overall pretty clean; not exactly tidy, what with the toothbrush and paste haphazardly tossed on the sink and the shampoo and soap tipped over awkwardly on their sides, but it was devoid of any gross stray hairs or bodily fluids or even mildew so Levi could deal with it.
Gently peeled off his clothes and found his fingers so numb that undoing the button and zipper on his pants was almost impossible, the tips so purple he was mostly convinced he'd actually contracted frostnip which, at least, wasn't quite frostbite but was still pretty shitty.
He filled up the sink with hot water and submerged his hands in it, hissing at the contact and sudden change in temperature, but keeping them there until they felt a little less numb and swollen. Also promptly realized he was standing buck naked in some brat's bathroom shivering everywhere but his hands which were immersed in steaming water.
Sighing, (because how did this even become his life?) he reached over and turned on the tub, struggling to figure out how his shower worked because everyone's was stupidly different, and he never got why there couldn't be some universal shower system to spare people this exact situation.
But he managed, and soon the head was spraying down bullets of water so hot it seared against his skin in a soothing way and smoked up the entire bathroom.
He didn't stay under long, wanting to make sure the kid had his chance too and feeling guilty he didn't do a better job of making him go first because Jaeger was the one dying and, shit, Levi could be such an asshole. He toweled off and was pleased he could feel the fibers scraping against his skin, was equally happy about the fact his muscles worked well enough to scrape it against his skin in the first place.
Levi had been clever enough to realize that the kid was at least six inches taller than him and had probably fifty pounds on him, but the way his entire fucking body was swallowed up by the mammoth clothes he'd been provided had him cursing as he tried to roll up the sleeves to a reasonable amount and the waist band high enough that he wouldn't be tripping and fuck, if he didn't look ridiculous.
He scowled darkly, shuffling out of the bathroom and hugging the clothing tighter to himself in a double effort to stay warm and not have it fall right the hell off.
Following the sounds, Levi waltzed into the kid's kitchen where he was standing by the stove preparing something (was that tea?) and draped in about three different throws and a comforter so only his head and hands popped out.
So he looked like the abominable snowman and Levi looked like some brat trying on his dad's clothes, and because everything about this whole situation was so ridiculous Levi didn't even question it other than to wonder why he hadn't expected it in the first place.
The kid turned around, two steaming mugs of something in his hand, and startled so badly when he saw Levi that at least half of the liquid sloshed onto either the floor or the top blanket.
"Goddamn ninja," he muttered darkly once his chest stopped visibly heaving even under the twenty-seven layers.
"Fucking scaredy-cat," Levi retorted with a roll of his eyes, stepping forward to grab one of the mugs.
"Drink this and then go get a shower. That pond water was filthy," Levi added so there would be no room for argument even though he sensed rather than saw the protest frothing inside the kid.
"Yes, mother," he snarked back instead, sliding his feet across the floor rather than actually lifting them up in some sort of awkward shuffle that was as annoying as it was endearing.