It was barely a week after finding Eren that everyone got back to their usual regime. The only difference it seemed was commander Erwin's constant presence when he wasn't doing paperwork. Levi was specially training Eren out in the lightly wooded area next to their current base. Mikasa, Armin and the others were doing their daily chores save for Historia, who was currently helping Hanji with god knows what.
Currently Levi was sparring with Eren, after the kidnapping Levi wanted to make sure the kid could handle himself and currently the brat was doing better than Levi thought he would. Easily dodging Eren's grab Levi swept his feet under the teen making the brunette fall on his ass. Sighing Levi looked down as Eren rubbed his sore bottom not making a move to get up.
"Oi, brat. Are you just going to sit there?" The Corporal said exasperatedly. Eren blushed brightly and shook his head before getting back up and falling into a defensive stance. Rolling his eyes Levi rushed him, Eren barely missed Levi's fist as he dodged the onslaught of punishes and kicks the Corporal was sending his way. Levi raised a brow in slight surprise 'Ho? He can dodge me, not bad. Let's see how he handles this then' after that thought Levi jumped up and preformed a roundhouse aimed at the teen's head, Eren brought his arms up in just enough time to block the attack, once again impressing the raven haired soldier. Eren took a few shaky steps back before he blinked owlishly at his Captain. 'D-did I just do that?' Levi relaxed his stance and walked over to Eren, placing a hand on his shoulder smirking slightly.
"Seems like your training is paying off brat." Levi then walked over to their previously discarded 3DMG and started to strap his on before glancing back at Eren. "You coming or what?" Eren's eyes widened as realization struck him, 'Levi's gonna train me with our maneuver gear!' He thought excitedly, he smiled brightly and nodded as he headed over. Levi's eyes widened a fraction at the blinding smile that was cast his way before turning his head and clicking his tongue on the roof of his mouth. 'Damn brat, doesn't know how cute he is does he?' Once the Corporal was finished with his gear he waited for Eren who was just about done strapping on his own. Once both were ready Levi shot up into the trees Eren right behind him. Once on a high enough branch Levi landed, Eren landing right next to him.
"Levi Heicho?" Eren asked as he cocked his head to the side cutely. Levi almost blushed at the cute look Eren was giving him, almost. Levi crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the tree.
"Show me how good you are with your gear, so I can see what you need work on" Eren straightened his back and nodded.
"Yes sir!" Levi sighed 'I told the brat he could call me Levi when it was just us' shaking his head the Corporal gestured for Eren to go ahead. Getting the hint Eren jumped off the tree his gear shooting out as he flew around the wooded area as Levi watched his movements intently. Eren was passionate in his moves, actively swinging and flipping around in the air. 'Uses his gas well, quick too. Hmm uses his weight to propel him faster and save gas, not many can do that. Moves like he belongs in the air too' Levi thought as he watched Eren use his gear professionally. 'Pretty good, his file did say he was able to stay up on broken gear too, maybe I can show him a few things' Levi watched as Eren swung near him, just as Eren was about to get away Levi jumped down beside him and looked over.
"Oi! Brat! Watch what I do and do your best to copy it, alright?" Levi yelled, Eren smiled once again and nodded happily. Levi groaned mentally 'Shit kid, keep looking at me like that and I won't be able to resist.' Mentally pushing his personal feelings aside Levi moved ahead of Eren performing some of his own movements, ones that he was well known for, ones that no one had been able to copy before, but as he looked behind him he saw Eren Doing just that, albeit a little shaky and sloppy, but he was still doing it. And after about a half an hour of Levi drilling him Eren got the basics of what it took to perfect it. Levi had left with Eren by his side, proud of the teen.
By the time the two of them got back it was time for lunch. Heading to the mess hall Levi glanced over at Eren who was happily walking next to him, his finger twitched as he itched to grab Eren's hand. 'When did I get this soft?' Sighing in audibly Levi looked back in front of him. 'I know when, it was when I fell I love with this shity brat.' Once at their destination Levi dragged Eren over to where he normally sat and ate, with Hanji, Mike and Erwin, as well as the Captains of the other squads who Levi never paid much attention to. After sitting down Levi pulled Eren down to sit with him, their standard military meal in front of them, soup and bread. Hanji grinned widely as she leaned over the table.
"Hey, hey! Eren! It's my turn with you after lunch right?" She said excitedly, Eren blinked then nodded slowly. The scientist squealed in excitement as Levi sighed and started eating, Eren starting right after him. Erwin smiled at the two of them as Mike sniffed at them before smirking. Hanji ate quickly and excitedly, choking in her haste quite a few times, before hurrying off the get things ready for what she had planned. Levi groaned internally as he watched her scamper away before glancing back at Eren. He could just tell the rest of the day was going to be long, if the way Hanji acted said anything about what was to come.
When Levi and Eren had finished eating and headed out there Hanji was jumping up and down waving their way screaming Eren's name. Eren looked over at his Captain slightly nervous, memories of being in the dungeon chained up as Ackerman tortured him playing behind his eyes. Levi's gaze softened as he reached up and placed his hand gently on top of Eren's head.
"Don't worry. If it gets to be too much for you tell me and I'll stop it." Eren blushed as Levi softly ran his hand through his chocolate locks. Nodding Eren gulped nervously, Levi sighed, the hesitation and fear not leaving the teen's tri-colored eyes. "Eren, I told you I'd protect you, remember?" Eren blushed again and nodded, Levi grinned slightly. "The trust me, I won't let her go farther then you're comfortable with." Eren's eyes widened unshed tears blurring his sight, nodding Eren closed his eyes preventing the tears from escaping and smiled relived. "Okay then, let's go." Eren nodded and when he opened his eyes Levi grinned once more before they headed over to an excited Hanji and empathic Molbit.
"Eren!" Hanji exclaimed happily as she tackled the teen. Eren held his ground and smiled awkwardly as Hanji proceeded to squish him before finally letting go. "Hey, hey Eren, you remember that fiery Titan you turned into when you fought Annie?" Eren scrunched his face up in concentration as he thought back to the fight, he remembered at one point being so angry he had felt like nothing could beat him, he had lost an arm and leg and still managed to take her down, but fiery? What did she mean by that?
"Fiery? I'm not sure what you mean but that. But I do remember a sudden rush of rage when I was fighting her." Eren said, Hanji cocked her head to the side and placed a finger up to her chin tapping it in thought for a moment.
"That could be what triggered it. But no Eren you were literally on fire! Some of your skin was torn away, the muscles glowing underneath like flames fire flowing out of it, your teeth got sharp too, like fangs. Even your eyes glowed! They were a blue-gold color!" Hanji explained, as Eren listened his eyes widened in shock before falling in despair. 'I looked like that? I-I really am a monster huh?' Blinking rapidly Eren took a deep breath before looking back up at Hanji. Levi was watching as Eren processed what was being told to him, frowning, he could read the brat like an open book. 'I'll have to talk to him later about this' he thought briefly before Hanji started talking once more. "Anyway! When you did that we had thought you lost control but you didn't right? It was like a power boost for you! Like Annie's hardening ability!" Eren looked at Hanji confused as he pushed he previous thoughts to the back of his mind, now wasn't the time to be thinking of such things. Sighing Eren nodded reluctantly.
"So you want me to try and make myself like that again?" Hanji nodded vigorously as she smiled brightly at the teen. Gulping nervously Eren nodded a confirmation before bringing his hand up to his mouth, hesitating briefly before biting down, drawing his own blood. In an explosion of heat and smoke along with the usual strike of golden light Eren shifted to his titan from, where the teen once stood was now a 15-meter titan. Eren let out a breath of air, hot steam flowing from his mouth as he adjusted to the change before carefully sitting down, adjusting himself so that he wouldn't crush Levi and the two scientists on the ground. Levi crossed his arms over his chest as he gazed up at Eren. 'He's not the worst looking titan, if his hair was shorter and he had lips he'd still look like himself. Not bad huh.' Levi thought briefly. Hanji squealed happily and jumped up and down before waking over to Eren who bent down to look at her.
"I can never get enough of this! Amazing! Hey Eren I know you can't talk in your Titan form but I've gotta ask what does it feel like? I bet is amazing!" Hanji talked excitedly, Eren only cocked he head to the side in confusion and grunted, which came out more as a sigh. Hanji held up a hand and adjusted her glasses before taking a deep breath to calm herself then smiled brightly once again. "Okay then, Eren you remember the feeling you got with Annie when you fought her right?" Hanji asked, Eren nodded slowly in reply. The scientist grinned then continued. "Can you replicate that feeling again?" Eren thought for a moment his eyes briefly blinking, just as he was about to reply Hanji screamed excitedly and reached up. "Eren do that again?" Eren slightly confused cocked his head to the side. "Your eyes! What you did with your eyes do it again!" Eren blinked in reply still confused which made Hanji squeal once again. "Amazing! You don't blink like humans! You have a membrane that does it for you! How does it feel? Oh can I touch it? Please?!" Eren stared down at the scientist still slightly confused. 'Membrane? What is she even taking about?' He thought briefly before nodding, placing a hand down in front of Hanji for her to step on to. Smiling happily Hanji jumped onto the hand offered to her before Eren slowly and carefully and slowly raised her to his eye level. 'She kind of looks like a small toy in my hand right now' Eren thought absent mindedly as Hanji reached up to his eye as he blinked, her hand coming in contact with the amphibian like membrane that briefly covered his eye only to pull it away quickly. "Amazing Eren! It's almost transparent! It's hot though, not as hot when you don't have skin but too hot to keep my hand on it!" Hanji babbled excitedly. "What other surprises do you have Eren?!" Eren shrugged his shoulders and huffed in response before slowly lowering Hanji to the ground once more. As soon as her feet touched the ground she cleared her throat and smiled once more. "Anyway, about today's experiment, Eren can you replicate the rage you felt when you fought Annie?" Eren thought back to when he fought his friend, frowning internally he nodded slowly. "Excellent! Whenever you're ready then Eren! Levi get ready just in case he loses control!" Hanji looked over to the corporal who had already drew his blades to his sides, his eyes trained on Eren as he nodded in acknowledgment.
Eren huffed as he adjusted his legs carefully into a cris-cross position, looking down at the ground he thought back to Annie's betrayal. 'Why did she do it? Weren't we friends?' Eren thought he could feel his anger rising, but not peaking to triggering his rage response, scowling mentally Eren continued to harp. 'What about Berthold and Reiner?! They betrayed us all too! All three of them. And they knew what they were. They could have told at least me! I am like them right?!' Eren's anger was rising with each passing thought. 'And what about our friends?! So many people died because of them! It was their fault my mom even died! We had gone through so much together in training, and all along they were the ones who hurt me most and they knew.' Just as Hanji was about to call out to Eren his eyes began glowing, his skin steaming as lines of fire ran along his muscles threads of skin burning off and glowing at the intensity of the heat, his teeth sharpening. Eren's Titan body trembling in rage as he continued to think of the other three shifters. Levi watched with a scowl as Hanji began jumping for joy, demanding Molbit to write down the information. At this point Eren had started to growl lowly, his hands clenching into the earth brining up chunks. Eyes narrowing slightly Levi watched as Hanji walked over to Eren once more.
"Eren! Are you still in control?" Hanji yelled out, her hands cupping over her lips to yell louder so that Eren would hear her. The shifter nodded stiffly as he glanced down at her. "Good! Eren that's great, now try to calm down! You're letting off a lot of heat and just standing near you is hot!" Eren nodded once more as he started to relax his muscles, breathing out long thick clouds of steam. Levi began to relax as he saw Eren return to his normal titan form. Hanji was grinning like a mad man at this point as she walked closer to the titan. "You did great Eren! I'd love to do more tests but we just got you back! I don't want to strain you do for today we're done" Hanji looked over and Levi and nodded, giving a brief nod in return Levi shot up to the back of Eren's neck getting ready to cut him out. "Levi's gonna cut you out ok?" Eren grunted an approval as he slumped his head forward giving Levi better access to cut him out. As soon as Levi made the first cut steam rose into his face. Grunting Levi then made a second cut revealing Eren who at this point pulled his head out of the Titan body. Turning and smiling weakly at Levi, his face adorning the typical burn marks around his eyes that where slowly fading. Eren began to help Levi pull his limbs out once free from his Titan body Levi grabbed Eren around the waist and used his head to propel them down to safety as the body began to disintegrate. Hanji and Molbit were watching intently, and taking notes on the day's experiment. Once Eren had landed and gotten his balance back he followed Levi back to the castle intending on taking a shower before dinner started.
As Levi walked with Eren by his side, making sure no one was around he laced his fingers with Eren's nonchalantly. The brunette blushed brightly as he looked down at their hands, despite being shorter than him Levi had a larger hand than his own. Smiling shyly Eren enjoyed the feeling of Levi holding his hand as they walked back to the castle. It was only until Eren clearly saw people doing their chores outside did Levi let go of his hand, but remained just as close, the backs of their hands brushing against each other's occasionally as they walked. That was when Levi broke the comfortable silence.
"Oi, brat." Eren looked over to his Captain who was looking ahead of them.
"Y-yes sir?" Levi sighed in mild annoyance at the word 'sir' before continuing.
"Take a shower then meet me in my room, you're going to help me with some paper work today. Then after dinner today I expect you back in my room" Eren blushed and nodded, Levi caught the gesture from the corner of his eye. "Good" recently Eren had been sleeping in the Lance Corporal's room with him and every morning he would wake up with his head buried in to Levi's chest, his captain's arms wrapped snugly around him. Needless to say it was slightly embarrassing for the teen, but still comfortable. Most of all Eren woke up feeling safe in Levi's arms, a feeling he hadn't experienced since his mother had died. All too soon did the two of them reach the castle and the two of them parted, Eren to the communal showers and Levi to his private bathroom both intent of taking a hot shower.
As Eren made his way into the communal showers he noticed no one was there, smiling slightly to himself before heading into one of the stalls. Unwrapping the towel he had on his waist to cover himself Eren draped the cloth on the wall separating the stalls as he turned the water on. Briefly running the water over his hand to check the temperature, the brunette after declaring the water hot enough stepped in under the spray. Eren let out a relaxed sigh as the hot water bore down on his worked muscles before moving to grab the soap and shampoo. After thoroughly scrubbing his body so not a single speck of dirt remained Eren washed his hair. After he was clean Eren turned off the water and turned to grab his towel, quickly drying himself. The shifter walked into the changing room, changing into a fresh pair of clothes before heading to the kitchens, making Levi some tea before heading to the Lance Corporal's office/room. When Eren entered the room Levi was sitting on his chair at the desk, his elbow propped up on the desk as he leaned on to his hand, his other hand was holding up a stack of papers, his steely blue-grey eyes moving back and forth as he read the document. Cleaning his throat Eren walked up to the desk, placing the tray that held a tea pot and a cup for Levi, on the desk. Levi rose an eyebrow in a questioning glance before looking at the tea placed before him. Sighing Levi placed the papers down and glanced at Eren expectantly.
"You make this?" Eren blushed and nodded shyly hoping the Corporal would like what he had made for him, it was something his mother used to make, something she and him had made together countless times for his father when he worked late at night. It was also the very first tea he had ever made Mikasa when he had brought her home that night when he had killed two grown men to save her. It was a special chamomile tea, it had lemon leaves and mint leaves mixed in as well.
"Y-yes sir." Levi sighed in annoyance at the formal tone in the teen's voice.
"Oi, Eren I told you to call me Levi when it was just us." Eren's blushed deepened and nodded before reaching over to pour the tea, the Captain watching his every move.
"Y-yes L-Levi" Eren said shyly as he poured the tea, handing the up over to the captain. Levi took the cup, cradling the cup gently above the mouth as per usual. The brunette watched nervously as Levi took a sip of the liquid. As soon as the calming tea had reached his tongue the captain's eyes widened slightly before he lowered the cup slightly.
"You made this?" Eren blushed and nodded hesitantly, did Levi not like it?
"It's good. Not that shitty crap Hanji makes or that premade stuff Petra used to make." Eren smiled shyly at the compliment and watched as Levi drank his tea, using his free hand to gesture to Eren to sit down on the chair across from his own then picking up the papers he was reading before. Eren watched intently as Levi finished with the document, placing his now empty cup in front of Eren to refill once again as he signed the document and grabbing another two. "Think you can read this then tell me what the basic purpose of it Eren?" Eren gave the cup back to Levi and grabbed the papers offered to him nodding. "Good. A lot built up when we had to save both you and running from the law during that time didn't help. Damn MPs demanding all this shit from us even though they're all on probation for now." Eren looked at the papers sadly. 'How much trouble did they go through to get me and Historia back?' Levi saw the dismayed look on the teen's face and sighed, making Eren look back up at him slightly confused. Levi placed his cup down and reached across the table, grabbing Eren's free hand and bringing it to his lips, kissing his knuckles gently. The shifter blushed brightly as Levi lowered his hand, still gripping Eren's slightly smaller hand in his larger more callused ones. "Eren it wasn't your fault. It doesn't matter what we had to do to get you back, everyone was willing to go to hell and back to get you and Krista back. It was worth everything we did." Levi said gently, his eyes slightly softening before he kissed Eren's hand once more before letting go, grabbing his cup and going back to his reading. Eren, still blushing, smiled slightly, relieved as he began to read the document in his own hands.
After an hour or so of Eren reading, hen relaying what the document was for, Levi signing it and giving the teen more Levi and Eren had worked through every paper but one. Levi grabbed it and read silently, sipping his last cup of tea as Eren relaxed in his chair.
"You have got to be shitting me." Levi grumbled, annoyance clearly lacing his voice. Eren looked up at Levi, concern shining in his sea foam and cold colored eyes.
"Levi?" Eren questioned shyly, still not quite used to addressing the Captain so casually. The Corporal sighed as he placed the paper down, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance.
"Erwin decided it would be a good idea to take you and all the rookies outside the Walls alone with a few of Hanji's men. We wouldn't be good going far, but dammit it's a shitty idea. And in two weeks no less." Eren frowned slightly as he looked over at his Captain worriedly. "Your friends aren't ready for that shit yet, maybe that sister of your's would be, but with so little people for back up, is he trying to kill you all off?!" Levi growled, Eren looked sadly down at his hands before getting up and walking behind Levi, wrapping his arms around the Corporal's shoulders loosely, hoping it wasn't the wrong move. Levi relaxed in Eren's arms, placing the paper down before turning around to face Eren. Blushing brightly Eren adverted his gaze, smirking slightly Levi pulled Eren into his lap, the teen shyly and awkwardly sitting in the Corporal's lap, his arms around the man's shoulders as Levi's strong arms enveloped his waist. "Eren" Levi whispered huskily, making Eren's face turn a brighter red as he turned to look over at the Captain. Smirking Levi quickly claimed the teen's petal soft lips with his own, kissing the shifter gently and passionately. Eren lost himself in the kiss, moaning and mewling quietly as Levi pushed his tongue into his mouth, their tongues dancing around each other's, fighting for dominance that Levi easily won. Eren was trembling and panting when Levi finally pulled away, a string of saliva connecting their lips before Levi smirked and attacked Eren's lips once more, this kiss deeper than the last, his mouth and tongue staking claim on the teen trembling in his grasp. Eren was starting to get lightheaded at this point, his body being engulfed by an inferno of love and pleasure. When Levi pulled away once more Eren looked completely debauched. The teen leaned his head in the crook of Levi's neck as he tried to catch his breath, the Captain running his fingers through Eren's silky chocolate locks lovingly. The Corporal continued to run his hand through Eren's hair as he thought about the upcoming weeks. He didn't have much time, but Levi was sure, by the time they had to leave for their next exhibition two weeks from now Eren would be ready, no matter what he would survive. Even if it cost Levi his own life, he would protect Eren to the end.