Boring Author Comments, but please take one minute to read.

Yay! First SNK story that has been sitting in my brain forever!

Okay, first thing you should know is that this is most definitely an alternate universe, where they're still behind walls and such, but it's a more modern setting, and as for our favorite little guy Levi, he's definitely different in this one. I thought it would be cute to do a story like this. So please, ignore the mistakes, this is my first SNK story, I'm in a new fandom, and I'm still towards the beginning of the series, and honestly, I shouldn't be writing this when I know so little about the characters and the actual series itself, but if I wait any longer I believe I shall die!Also, in case you haven't realized this yet, the characters are different. like, I don't want to portray Eren as the crazy titan killing machine everyone always says he is (I believe he cares about things other than killing titans, just saying.)

Anyway I hope you enjoy and I hope this comes out as good as it seems in my head! Otherwise I'd go into a corner and shun myself for eternity!

The woman held her tiny son in her arms. The woman held on as long as she could. She looked down and wiped the tears from the boy's eyes and smiled lightly to him.

"Don't cry. Mommy will be right back." She reassured this small child in her arms. "Just remember... mommy loves you." She kissed his dirty little head and set him down. She walked away down the dark scary alley way, and the boy waited.

He waited and waited and waited. His mommy never returned. The boy was just sure she fell asleep. She sometimes fell asleep. He went to look for her.

"Mommy?" He called out looking around. He called for her over and over again, but she never came back. The child stood in the cold alley and he looked for his mother. The one that loved him. The one that he loved. He started to cry. He didn't know what to do without his mommy. He felt lost and confused. Where was she?

A few months passed by and the child was starving. Usually his mom would've gotten him food by now. The boy came across a big building where rich people must've lived. It was big. He crawled through the vents and the first opening he came across, he went through. He landed on the floor and went to a cupboard. He found a jar and went to open it, but it didn't open and his grip slipped. The boy watched in horror as the jar fell and hit the ground with a loud crash.

It was a peaceful night for Eren Jeager. After a long day of Hanji probing and poking and testing and making him transform, he was happy to finally get some peace and quiet. It was quiet, and he was happy that not a lot of people were making a lot of noise outside, because if anything destroyed the peace, he wouldn't hesitate to kill the thing that disturbed him.

There was a gentle breeze coming in from the window, and he love the feeling of the cool against his skin.

Thump.

Eren thought nothing of the sound and he dozed off, figuring it was just someone outside trying to get back to their barrack. That is, until there was the loud crash of a jar breaking. Eren shot up out of bed and growled curses under his breath. He was exhausted and not in the mood for any kind of prank or anything of the sort.

He inspected the small living room along with the bathroom and small office area. Nothing. He walked into the kitchen where he found a jar laying in front of the counter, shattered, and the sticky grape jam inside leaking out on to the floor. Eren walked around trying to figure out what had done that. Perhaps something in his cupboard fell and knocked the jar down. But Eren knew something was off. It was just a tiny feeling.

'What on Earth...?' He followed the small trail of jam to the area between the cupboard and counter, a very tiny child had wedged them self back there and was looking at Eren wide eyed and panicked. The child looked and smelled awful.

His hair had mud stuck to it, his feet were brown with dirt and possibly more mud, his clothes were at least three sizes too big, ragged and torn, dirty and ripped, and he was very tiny, he almost looked like a fragile doll. Eren looked at him and noticed a few bruises peeking out from the collar of the shirt and he sighed.

At first there was a twinge of anger, but as he looked at the boy, his anger subsided and pity came next. Eren reached in to help him out but the boy pressed himself back further whimpering in fear.

"Hey, I'm not going to hurt you." Eren spoke in a cool calm voice trying to find out more about this kid and why he was here. "Can you come out here for me?"

The boy stayed there watching Eren. If Eren really wanted to, he could've pulled the child out, but he didn't want to scare him any further.

"Are you hungry? Is that why you're here?" Eren waited for a response and when he got none he stood and got a piece of bread and put some honey on it and returned to the boy. "Here. You can have this, I put honey on it so it will taste really good. Go on, take it. I wont hurt you I promise."

The boy stared at him for a minute but couldn't deny the fact he was hungry. No, he was starving. He reached out cautiously and grabbed the bread and quickly held it to his chest, protecting it, making sure Eren wouldn't trick him and take it back.

When he felt confident Eren wouldn't take it back, he nibbled on it, surprised at first that the bread tasted sweet. He loved it.

"My name is Eren Jaeger. Do you have a name?" The boy stayed silent and watched Eren not sure what to make of the man who was feeding him and talking to him like nothing was wrong.

Eren sighed when the boy still stayed silent. He then cautiously held out his hand. "Are you thirsty? Maybe you would like something to drink?" And again, he didn't get a reply.

The child sat in the cramped space as Eren spoke to him, trying to get him out of the space, and eventually, the child cautiously crawled towards Eren. Even standing, the boy looked horribly small. He was crying a little and watching Eren with hope that this man wouldn't hurt him.

Eren used slow and cautious movements, he was sure to watch the child's reactions when he would move. Although he was dead tired, this child intrigued him.

"Where are your parents?" Eren tried. He watched the boy who looked to the floor.

"Gone..." The child whimpered the word. It surprised Eren that the boy had spoken, but even his voice was quiet and it sounded fragile.

"I see... how did you get into the military base?" Eren watched the child shift in fear and he pointed to the vent.

"Y-you're not gonna hurt me are you?" The child asked looking at Eren in fear, tears forming in his small tired eyes.

"No, I promise I wont hurt you." Eren watched the boy who seemed to still not know if he should trust this strange man or not. Eren got the boy a glass of water and watched as he ignored it and instead planted his thumb into his mouth. Eren wasn't sure what to think of the boy, and he wasn't sure what to do. He could always give him to the Military Police... but that could end horribly. The child already seemed terrified of his own shadow, and he didn't want to make him even more terrified than he already was.

The little boy on the other hand was taking his time to look around the seemingly big place. He couldn't help but notice the little things, the way the floor wasn't dirty and uneven, the way everything had a place and it was all clean, he knew he had stumbled into a rich man's place, and he wasn't sure what this rich man was going to do to him. Everything seemed so big to him, and it was new to be in such a place. He was used to the dirt and the smell of decay, he wasn't used to the clean feeling... and he kind of liked it.

"Can you tell me your name?" Eren tried again. Maybe this child didn't have a name, or maybe he didn't know it, but he still wanted to try to see if he could get any information out of the boy. What did he mean when he said his parents were "gone"?

The boy looked at Eren. Maybe this rich man was going to help him? "My mommy... called me Levi..." He replied quietly.

"Your name is Levi?" Eren asked actually surprised he got an actual answer.

"I guess." The boy really didn't know much. He knew his mom knew, but she left, and he didn't know where she went. He wanted to find her because he loved her and he wanted her back.

"Levi, how old are you?" Eren sighed when the boy held up 4 fingers. "So you're four?" The child nodded. "Where have you been sleeping?"

"Outside."

Eren didn't know how to respond to that. He felt angered towards the boys parents. Who would let their child sleep outside? Where were his parents and why weren't they taking care of their child?

"Why don't you spend the night with me until we can figure out where your mom and dad are?" Eren suggested.

Levi looked at Eren like he was crazy. A rich man was actually inviting him inside to stay with him, even after he tried to steal from him? This had to be a trick... a horrible horrible prank. But what if he wasn't joking? What if it meant he got to sleep in a warm place, even if it was on the floor, he didn't care.

"I'm willing to let you stay here, but we got to give you a bath first okay? It wont be too bad, we just got to get the mud and dirt off so that way I can actually see your face and so you don't smell as bad. Is that okay with you?" Eren didn't want to push Levi into doing anything he wasn't comfortable with doing (even if it was something as simple as getting a bath) he wanted Levi to trust him.

But the child nodded. The concept of a bath was foreign to him, the only way he knew how to get "clean" was to wait until it started to rain and go out into it. But even that didn't clean him.

Eren reached his hand out for the child to take it, and to his surprise, the child took it this time. He followed Eren into this newer place he had only heard about. There were these areas where water would come out just because you wanted it to, there was a brush, an actual toilet, it was amazing. The child had never seen anything like this before. He was amazed again by the littlest things this rich man had. Eren turned on the shower and Levi looked to him amazed.

"You can control the rain?" He asked. It looked like rain, it was pouring from the ceiling, and it was water.

Eren chuckled. "I guess you could say that." He helped the boy get undressed and get inside, and the child was still amazed on how this rich man could control the rain. He noticed Eren leaving and he panicked slightly. He didn't want to be alone anymore, the thought alone terrified him.

"Wait!" The child looked at Eren hoping he would come back. "Please don't go. I'm sorry."

Eren turned back around and looked at Levi obviously confused. "Why are you sorry?"

"I don't want you to leave." The child whimpered. "I'm sorry if I made you mad."

"You didn't make me mad." Eren walked back over and knelt down next to the tub. "I just thought you would want some privacy."

Privacy. That was another foreign concept to the child. This rich man was using words he had never heard of before, or if he had heard them, he didn't know the meaning of them.

"But if you want I will stay." Eren made himself comfortable on the floor and Levi "cleaned" himself making sure Eren was still there every few seconds. In the end, Eren helped Levi clean most of the dirt off of him, it was like the boy had no idea how to clean himself. He still had dirt caked on his head and legs.

Even they were finished, instead of putting the same dirty clothes back on, Eren gave the boy one of his. Eren still had shirts from when he was a kid and he had never really bothered to get rid of them. Even though they were way too small to fit Eren, they were still way too big for Levi. But after using what felt like a thousand safety pins, the shirt finally stayed up on its own.

Eren got a pillow and a blanket and put it on the couch for Levi, and when Eren went back to his room, Levi got upset.

"Wait! I thought you said you were gonna stay!" The little boy whimpered. Eren stopped and thought to himself for a minute.

Even though he would be in the next room, the small child still saw that as being left. Eren sighed. Could there really be any harm from letting the child sleep with him?

"Well why don't you come sleep with me?" Eren suggested. Levi quickly ran over to Eren not giving him the chance to change his mind. The two got situated in the bed and Eren made sure Levi was alright. The child had to be exhausted because after a couple minutes, the child was passed out with his thumb planted firmly in his mouth. Eren smiled lighty. The child was so small and so adorable. What kind of person would leave this sweet and innocent child all alone outside. It made him very angry and it made his heart break at the thought of this child alone in the cold wondering what he ever did wrong.

Eren knew he wasn't ready to have a child, (he could barely take care of himself!) but he would try his hardest to care for this child, he knew that this boy needed him and wanted him a lot. Eren couldn't abandon him. That was the last thing this child needed.