Disclaimer: I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin/Attack on Titan or any of the character or other brands and stuff and things I've mentioned.


Being a rich and successful business man because of a generous inheritance did indeed have its very many perks. When one's family was the founders of the largest weapons manufacturing brand – designing and creating everything from small arms to weapons of mass destruction – every child in that family would undoubtedly be taken care of. Not only that, but every first born child would be groomed from a young age to continue the legacy, developing weapons that suited whatever the modernizing world needed.

One of these very many perks was the copious amount of free time said business owner would have. The only time the owner of such a well-run, massive, international company such as Colossus would have to show face at the office would be if something was incredibly wrong. So wrong in fact that it hand already gone through every level of management to the point where not even the CEO could resolve the problem. Instances like that were extremely rare in Colossus, and when they happened, somebody would definitely be losing a job.

On this particular Thursday morning, frightfully cold and adequately gloomy, the newest owner of the company, Levi Ackerman, stormed into the office with a thirst for blood. For the first time in a long time, he was called to work because something had gone wrong somewhere along the line. Heads were sure to roll for this because if there's one thing Levi Ackerman did not like it was being told what to do. He worked when and how he pleased, and being summoned to work like just another worker in the system definitely did not bode well with the millionaire.

Not a single person dared greet him as he marched through the lobby with an aura of dark hatred enveloping him. He made a beeline for the elevator and waited with little patience as it took its sweet time to descend to the ground floor before opening its doors agonizingly slowly. With a growl, Levi boarded the elevator and dared even one person to join him in the already cramped space as he made his way to his office on the top floor of the impressive skyscraper.

The quiet ride in the elevator did little to calm the man down as he thought about the mess that the company had landed itself in, a mess that was described to Levi as potentially being 'the fuck-up of the century'. As if being summoned to work like a bee was not bad enough, it was to see himself lose money. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as a fresh roll of anger course through his body, and he swore then and there to rip the head off of whichever impudent fool who thought it was a splendid idea to betray Colossus and the incredibly violent Levi Ackerman.

When he saw the steaming cup of coffee on his desk, he would've normally felt a wave of relief wash through him shortly followed by the tingling anticipation of caffeine entering his bloodstream. This morning, however, Levi barely acknowledged the fresh coffee waiting for him. He sat down and took a sip of the coffee, letting the strong, black fluid burn its way down his trachea to unleash its toxins into his body. He would allow himself only five minutes of pleasure before he started to do his job.

What was his job description? 'Cleaning up where others fucked up'.

As he enjoyed his coffee, Levi couldn't help where his mind had wandered off to. The first thing he thought of when he woke up this morning was that obnoxious brunette whom he had seen the previous night. Waking up remembering how that pompous brunette strutted around like he owned the place, an offensive shirt gracing his torso, was a sure sign that today was going to be a bad day. Of course, Levi was never wrong, and when he got the call to go to his office to put an end to the thieving saga once and for all, his mood went from bad to worse.

But as the coffee calmed him down – albeit infinitesimally – the warmth radiating through his body took his thoughts in a whole new direction. The memory of the brat's shocking green eyes locking with his across the room, the burning desire to live and live dangerously swirling in his eyes as green met with grey. And then that smile; that sheepish yet dazzling, almost flirtatious smile, a smile riddled with sincerity but also a dangerous confidence. And it wasn't just that one incident. All night, the green eyes sought him out, locking onto him for immeasurable amounts of time as if the world would wait for them to stop staring at one another. The teen couldn't stop looking at the man, and the man couldn't stop himself from returning each and every single gaze the teen sent his way.

Levi groaned and smacked his cup back on the saucer, the calming effect nullified as he stared at the cup like its contents had offended him. What was he doing thinking about a teenager, of all things? It was disgusting, unethical, and probably illegal. That brunette was probably nothing more than an asshole anyway, just another young fixed-wing pilot jumping on the 'let's hate chopper pilots' bandwagon, and who knows how many others. Levi thought to himself that he wouldn't be surprised if the kid was a raging homophobe and a part-time racist as well. If not for the girl that followed him like a dog all night, he would've thought the brat could probably be misogynistic.

He hated the brat already. Hated his existence, his arrogance, his attitude, his damned good looks, his confidence, his captivating aura…

Damn it, Levi! The man smacked a palm down onto his desk and ran his fingers through his hair. He had to focus, now. Thinking about beautiful brunette boys would definitely not save his company from ruin, and it definitely would not bring the traitors to justice. He couldn't afford to have these sorts of feelings, especially not now, because he knew just how dangerous it could be.

It could destroy him.

These feelings have nearly destroyed him once before.

Mikasa had invited Eren to join herself and Armin for drinks since it was Thursday and that meant The Garrison had 'student night': happy hour (half-priced drinks) would be extended to three hours and all drinks would have a discount as long as the drinkers could produce a student card. The Garrison was a simple establishment, built like an old military fort. It had four thick walls surrounding an open-aired courtyard, and on each corner was a square tower. The entire establishment was four-storeys high. There was an entrance on each wall, and on the inside, the walls were lined with bars and tiny fast food joints all tucked as close to the wall as possible, giving maximum space for the communal wooden benches that took up the majority of the floor space in the center. Each corner had a staircase that led to age-restricted pubs and clubs in the towers.

The trio couldn't enter those clubs even if they wanted to. They were all only nineteen, and the minimum age for access to the lowest age-restricted club was twenty one. They didn't mind though, since none of them were dancers. The entrance fee and drinks were ridiculously expensive at those clubs anyway, Mikasa had said after having managed to get in with some of her lady friends once.

Seeing his friends again made Eren's week. Sure, he'd seen Mikasa just yesterday, but now that she was no longer living with him, he couldn't help but miss the incessant pestering and her obsession with him that used to drive him up the wall. And as for Armin, Eren hadn't seen the blonde in weeks. Armin was forever busy studying, and Eren often joked that Armin didn't have to study nearly half as much as he let on and he was just using his studies as an excuse to avoid Eren.

"Your avoidance skills have improved, Armin," Eren said with a teasing smile.

Armin had learnt to play Eren's games; they were innocent and would end much quicker if the brunette didn't have to fish for reactions. So the blonde simply smiled deviously and replied to Eren, saying, "I took some notes from when you and Mikasa still lived under the same roof."

The brunette's jaw dropped and his eyes shot wide before he whined, "Armin!"

Armin threw his head back and laughed curtly before taking an unusually large sip of his beer. The last time Eren saw Armin, the blonde was still drinking 'pink-drinks' – cocktails and coolers and all those kinds of girly things. Now, Armin was drinking beer with Eren and Mikasa, swallowing it manfully and without flinching. In addition to that, Armin's face seemed to have filled out with more masculine features; a slightly more pronounced jawline, and more defined cheekbones. And he was definitely taller.

Eren smiled at the realization that his little blonde friend was becoming a man.

"When are you writing again?" Armin asked.

Eren suddenly took a great interest in his beer, turning it over in his hand, studying the text on the label as guilt flooded his eyes. After a few seconds, he mumbled something and took the last sip of his beer before jumping to his feet, announcing that he would pay for the next round.

But before he could leave, Mikasa's death-grip clamped down on his wrist. Yes, he missed her incessant pestering, but not enough to want it back in his life.

"What, Mikasa?"

"Armin asked you a question."

Eren scowled and looked at Armin with a pleading expression, which was met with Armin's raised brows. The blonde clearly expected an answer. Eren groaned and threw himself back into his seat, dejectedly glancing up at Armin while wondering what medical school had done to his best friend to turn the blonde into such a traitor.

"Tomorrow."

"What!" Armin and Mikasa cried out together. Mikasa continued, "Why didn't you tell me, Eren? We could've done this another time!"

"'Cause you know how little free time Armin gets," Eren mumbled, dropping his head and missing the guilty look on Armin's face. "I miss him and didn't know when I'd see him again…"

"That's no excuse, Eren!" Mikasa scolded. "You can only fail two tests and you know that includes flight tests as well! You need to leave room for error."

Eren groaned. He didn't need to be reminded of that. He was consciously aware that if he failed anything once, he'd receive a warning. Twice, and he would be brought before a panel to reassess his ability to continue the cadet program. If the panel decided that he could no longer perform to their standards, he would be kicked out of the program and most likely be made to pay back every single cent that Wings Aviation had spent on him. He shudder at the thought of how much that could be.

"I'm fine," Eren lied. "Reiner helped me with the engine stuff…everything else is pretty straightforward…"

"After this, we're done," Mikasa said.

"Mikasa, no!" Eren whined. "We just got here! Let's have a couple more, at least."

"No, Eren."

"Armin, back me up here!"

Armin sighed. "Mikasa has a point, Eren."

Eren stared at Armin in shock. This was not the guy Eren had always known; his right-hand man, the boy that would stand beside Eren no matter what. But that wasn't what had Eren's heart clenching as the shock turned to hurt and then to anger. It was the realisation that Armin wouldn't fight for him, that Armin was content with just these few minutes together, content with parting after one drink for who-knows how long again. It was as if Armin didn't want to be around him.

"What the hell!" He turned to Mikasa then, his anger flaring up red-hot. "Why are you doing this to me again, Mikasa? We spoke about this before! I'm not a kid! I don't need to be in bed by seven on a school night! I know I'm writing tomorrow so of course I'm not gonna get wasted like an idiot! I'm not an idiot so stop taking me for one!" He turned to Armin then and spoke angrily, but much softer. "And you…why are you so eager to get away from me? I came to see you even though I'm writing tomorrow, Armin. Do you know what kind of a sacrifice that is? Screw you guys. I'm out."

With that, Eren jumped up from his seat and marched off, ignoring the protests from his friends, which was easy to do because of the loud music and chatter all around. He was thankful that it was so crowded already, which would make it easy to lose the pair. Although it would only be a matter of time before Mikasa found him, Eren decided to make the most of the few minutes he'd have alone and dashed to the bar furthest from where he had been sitting with his friends. He bought a beer and made his way to a large table that only had a blonde girl as its sole occupant.

"Sorry, do you mind if I sit here?" Eren asked.

The girl looked up, her disinterested blue eyes dead for just a second before recognition flashed in them. She eyed Eren for just a second before the teen recognized her as well. She was a girl he'd gone to school with, a quiet and withdrawn girl that never had any friends except for Reiner and another tall, dark-haired guy. Eren remembered one very important thing about the girl: she was quiet and reserved, but she was also the country's MMA fighting champion in her age group.

"An-Annie?" Eren tested, not quite sure of her name. She nodded stiffly. "Oh, hey. What's up?"

"Nothing."

Just then, a pair of large hands landed on Eren's shoulders, grabbing him roughly and giving him a tight squeeze before a booming deep voice growled right into Eren's ear. "Stealing my girlfriend, punk?"

Eren all but jumped ten feet away from the man, whirling around, fully ready to explain, himself or defend himself, when he saw a raucously laughing blonde that he instantly recognized. Eren hissed in irritation and took a large gulp of his beer.

"Jesus, Reiner, don't do shit like that!" Eren growled, coming back to the table to take a seat beside Reiner.

"How you, Jaeger-boy?" Reiner called. He handed Annie an unidentifiable drink before settling with his own unidentifiable beverage. "Given up on the engines yet?"

"Completely," Eren admitted. "I'm writing tomorrow so I'll just wing it. It is multiple choice after all, so how bad can it be?"


Pretty bad, actually. Eren stared at the computer screen before him with what had to be the worst hangover of his short life as a drinker. To say his head was being split open by a nine-inch nail being hammered right into the middle of his skull by a ten-pound hammer would be a colossal understatement. The teen could hardly keep his eyes open due to the sun's mere existence, never mind look at the bright white computer screen long enough to actually read the tiny words written on the screen.

Why were the words so tiny? Wasn't there a zoom button somewhere here? He was about to search for one when he remembered the eyesight requirements for pilots…there wouldn't be a zoom button. He was supposed to be able to read all the words on the screen, as any pilot should be. With a groan, Eren tried to read question one again for the umpteenth time, hoping that this time he would understand the black gibberish on the screen. At least he recognized that it was in English.

As Eren stared at the screen lifelessly, clicking whatever answer he thought would be appropriate based on reading only half of each question, the words he'd yelled at Mikasa the night before replayed in his mind agonizingly loudly. Of course I'm not gonna get wasted like an idiot. Famous last words. Wasn't he always the one that ended up the drunkest despite always being the one adamant on drinking the least? How did this happen again? He swore he'd only have three beers and get home before ten. In the end, he'd drunk too much to even stand and ended up being driven home at three in the morning.

Reiner.

What a wonderful influence that guy was. Even after Eren had run out of money, the beers and shots kept flowing as the ox-livered, brawny blonde made sure that they would have a night they would never forget…or in Eren's case, never remember. The last ting Eren remembered was pretending to leave with Mikasa and Armin, circling the block and then coming right back to The Garrison to continue his night with Reiner and Annie.

Now, here he sat, in an online examination center at the aviation authority head office, unable to distinguish two consecutive words because everything was such a bright blur. If it weren't for his sheer determination, and his pride, Eren would've simply called in sick and faked food poisoning to attain a doctor's note and then rescheduled the exam. He knew he wasn't ready for this exam in the first place, yet he still insisted on taking it in what was a barely-human state.

It had been the longest, most agonizing hour and a half of his entire life. Eren fought the constant urge to vomit and fall asleep, and not necessarily in that order, and could only hope to god that he didn't smell like a walking brewery. He skimmed through every question and ended up choosing his answers randomly for most of them, especially when the diagrams of various strokes of the piston appeared on the screen.

How he'd made it through the ninety minutes without expelling his stomach contents all over the floor and himself, he would never know. It was his sheer determination, and the grace of whatever force insisted the teen at least keep his dignity if not his sobriety. But as soon as the timer ran down and he submitted his exam, the nausea finally got the best of him.

With a speed he'd last used when playing sport in high school, Eren jumped from his seat and dashed to the nearest bathroom, which was thankfully just across the hall form the online examination center. He slammed a cubicle door shut and immediately dropped to his knees with his head in the toilet, barely settling before his entire body convulsed as he started to retch. He emptied his stomach of the good litre of coffee he must've drunk since he woke up, and very soon there was nothing else to expel. The dry-heaving was painful, bringing tears to the teen's eyes as he desperately tried to control himself. Amidst his pain and discomfort, he felt angry that his body simply wouldn't take the hint and just stop trying to vomit. It was like his body had become a rebellious entity fixated on torturing him.

Eventually, the dry-heaving ceased and Eren pulled himself together enough to freshen up. As he washed up, he was thankful that the bathroom had stayed empty during his disgusting episode. His head was still pounding and his body still felt sore and sluggish, but after spewing the brunette felt exponentially better. Eren was confident that now he'd at least be able to get himself home without needing to stop at the side of the road to vomit.

Just as he turned to the hand dryer, a man entered the bathroom in a fury. He was short and well-dressed, with a neat undercut and feathery black bangs hanging slightly over his eyes, parted in the middle. His stormy grey eyes looked up to meet Eren's, and upon recognition, both men froze.

It was the same man from safety evening, the man Eren had never seen before. There was no doubt about it, because Eren swore he'd be able to recognize those grey eyes and that intense glare anywhere. The boy had not thought of the man since their night of awkward eye contact, but now that he saw the man before him, Eren remembered the intrigue he felt. It was what had led the boy's eyes to follow the man all night, until the man sped off in his black SUV with the urgency of an ambulance on call.

"Are you gonna get out of my way or what, brat?" the man hissed, his voice deep and smooth and…familiar?

It was the first time Eren had heard the man speak, yet he felt like he had heard this man's voice a million times. He had never met the man before, yet he felt like he knew this man. There was a familiarity about this man that Eren couldn't place, and because his brain was still fogged-over by alcohol, he couldn't even formulate the words to ask.

"Tch." The man simply brushed passed Eren and made his way to the urinal.

Taking that as his cue to leave, Eren dashed out of the bathroom to collect a printout of his exam results so he could hurry home. He felt better now, but he knew exactly how his hangovers played out: the strength of the sickness varied throughout the day, giving him moments where he felt completely fine as well as moments where he felt like his Medulla Oblongata couldn't even keep his heart beating. Of course, fate wouldn't be so kind, and Eren had run into the man who had made, and could easily break, his career as a pilot.


As if his week couldn't get any worse, Levi had gotten a belated reminder that his currency fees were due on his license. Why no one had cared to notify him in advance was beyond him, and after giving every person responsible a good, hard chewing out, the irritated businessman headed straight for the aviation authority head office to pay his fees lest he spend the weekend without a valid license. Given the way the week had played out, a weekend without his license would be the death of him.

Of all the things that could've happened at the head office, he had to bump into the one brat he couldn't stop thinking about since their first encounter only days ago. As soon as their eyes met, Levi froze, first thinking he'd fabricated the brat's existence because of his incessant obsessing over the brunette. But the faint smell of beer wafting form the kid made it painfully obvious that this was not a figment of his imagination. Even so, the raven was unable to react, and simply stood and stared into those bright green eyes that were now devoid of the life and confidence he'd seen just days ago.

After using the facilities and freshening up, Levi found himself wondering what could've happened that made the brat look so dead. Did he go through a break-up or some other stress that had made him take to the bottle? Or was the brat just tired from studying…that was possible since he was likely here to write an exam. Perhaps he was just being an irresponsible brat and had gotten so drunk that his hangover had stolen his basic brain function.

That seemed like the most logical explanation.

With a click of his tongue, Levi once again cursed himself for thinking so intently about the stranger. He'd come here in a foul mood and now his grumpiness had been disarmed by his own curiosity, which irritated the man to no end. His obsessing over the gorgeous teen would be the death of him, and he knew he had to get the boy out of his head…and fast. He was not an easily intrigued man, and a much less easily infatuated one, but once he saw something he liked, he became obsessed with it until he got it.

And he always got what he wanted.

Walking out of the bathroom, Levi abruptly stopped when he saw a very familiar figure standing a few meters from the bathroom. The man may have had his back turned to Levi, but Levi could recognize those broad shoulders, that proud stature and the neat, blonde undercut of his oldest friend from miles away. But it wasn't the shock of seeing Erwin Smith on these premises that halted the raven – on the contrary, as a man in aviation, Levi expected Erwin Smith to frequent this building. It was who Erwin was with, and how he was talking to this person and laughing as if they had known each other for years.

It was none other than that brunette brat.

Levi watched them curiously, barely able to resist the urge to eavesdrop on their conversation as Erwin laughed heartily and often touched the brunette on his arm. Touched him? Levi growled at the thought of Erwin's hands on that brat.

What the fuck?

Why was he feeling so jealous and so possessive? He didn't even know the brat. Maybe he was feeling jealous and possessive of Erwin? Levi pondered this for just a second before nearly gagging at the thought of Erwin's naked body. Hell no. They had been nothing more than friends for years, and that was never going to change. But then that meant that he really was feeling these things for the brat. The brat that had irritated yet intrigued him, the brat whom he didn't know but already hated, the brat that had infiltrated his mind, the brat he now wanted to own.

"Damn it, Levi," he hissed under his breath, before turning and stalking off to find where he had to pay his currency fees.

It had been years since Levi last felt this desire so strongly: the desire to claim someone as his own, to completely possess them, make them his. He never thought he'd feel it ever again after…her…since that relationship had left him completely crippled. Yet here he was, feeling these things all over again, only stronger. He may hate the kid, but he wanted that kid to be his. There was no denying it. Levi knew he had to stay away…far, far away.

"You've been scarce, Levi," a voice said, interrupting Levi's train of thoughts.

He recognized the voice instantly, therefore instead of retaliate, he simply sighed and nodded his head. Erwin was right, the two of them hadn't seen each other let alone spent time together in what had to be months. Their careers were both busy ones, and Levi was a notorious loner.

"I never thought I'd see you here of all places," Erwin continued.

"You seem to forget that I'm a licensed pilot," Levi retorted, "I have responsibilities."

Erwin chuckled quietly. "Indeed you do."

They arrived at the office where currency fees were to be paid, and Levi groaned internally at the length of the line. He couldn't believe there were so many people here in the middle of the day, as if none of them had jobs to do.

"Would you like some company?" Erwin asked, sensing his friend's unease.

"I would like someone to do this shit for me," Levi snapped.

Once again, Erwin chuckled. Unlike most, Erwin was never perturbed by Levi's aggression or by his dark demeanour. He had known Levi since school, and had seen Levi at his absolute worst, therefore the man knew Levi was relatively harmless now.

"How are things at Colossus?" Erwin tried to spark up some small talk.

"Don't even ask." Levi was not going to elaborate further, but one more look at the queue and the knowledge that Erwin wasn't going anywhere prompted the raven to continue. "Someone has been stealing designs and selling them to other companies. The investigation has been running for four fucking months and no one made any progress. Then I show up to work yesterday and weeded out the traitorous fucker in less than twenty-four hours."

"Ah!" Erwin smiled. "As expected of the great Mr Ackerman."

"Tch."

The two stood in comfortable silence as the queue slowly shuffled forward. Levi once again found his mind wondering to the brunette teen he'd seen talking with Erwin. How would such a young kid know Erwin? Erwin was an adult, probably twice that brat's age, and aside from Erwin's career being in aviation, the two had nothing in common. Yet they were speaking as if they knew each other personally.

His curiosity got the better of him, and before he could stop himself, he'd asked, "How do you know that brat?"

Erwin eyed Levi incredulously for a second. "I'm a cadet recruiter, I know many 'brats'. You're going to have to be more specific."

Damn you, Levi thought. His eyes narrowed to dangerous slits as he eyed Erwin, who seemed completely oblivious to Levi's darkening mood. Levi knew well that Erwin knew exactly who he was talking about, but the sadistic blonde wanted to hear his friend say it.

"The brunette brat you were just talking to like he's an old butt-buddy," Levi hissed.

Erwin smiled. Oh he knew what it meant when Levi got like this. He'd seen it once, and thought he'd never see if again. There was something about that boy that had caught Levi's attention, and Erwin of all people knew what that meant.

"He's Eren Jaeger," Erwin said, pride evident in his voice. "He's one of our cadets at Karanese Central. He's a gifted and hard-working young man. Great kid…I look forward to him joining the airline one day."

"I didn't know you knew your cadets so intimately," Levi hissed.

"Is that jealousy I sense, Mr Ackerman?" Erwin teased, which earned him a hard glare. If they weren't in public, he would've gotten much more than that. He chuckled at Levi's annoyance and continued to speak. "I met Eren in a unique way. Long story short, he sent his application directly to me and since he got accepted into the cadet program, I've taken him under my wing."

"Uh-huh."

"You seem quite interested in him. Have you seen him somewhere before?"

Levi immediately turned away from Erwin and glared darkly ahead. Trust Erwin to see right through him, and curse Erwin for that gift. He couldn't deny the accusation, but he didn't want to admit it just yet. The teen was nothing than a disrespectful, annoying, egotistical punk who thinks the sun shines out of his ass and treats the world accordingly. An obnoxious, irritating, loud brat with wild yet honest green eyes, a dazzling, breath-taking smile and tanned skin that looked as smooth as silk…

Erwin smiled. "He's a good kid. You'll definitely like him when you get to know him. Oh, and he's nineteen, which makes him legal…"

"Fuck off, Smith"


Thanks for reading!