A/n: I hope you like it, please let me know what you think and if there are any mistakes! And thank you all for the reviews, they make my day.

*polymetric falcighol derivation – to put it simply – a fractal is used as a password.

"Levi…" She couldn't believe it. Yet it made all the pieces fit. "What have you done."

"He's fifteen. And grew back two molars I kicked out." Levi tried explaining as calmly as possible, hoping she'd be okay with the short version of what had happened.

"So you brought him home?" Hanji groaned, lifting up her glasses to pinch the bridge of her nose.

"Wait, what?" She looked at Levi wide–eyed. He wouldn't joke around in a situation like this, right?

"I told you I witnessed it. Ask him yourself, that's what I needed you for – to get me every scrap of information there is about him." He spoke quickly and in a hushed voice. It was better to get this over without her questioning him. "And before you ask, Erwin doesn't know, I told him Eren was on the run and requested extension."

Hanji didn't say comment on it, thankfully. She trusted Levi to sort his own messes out, even if this was a grand one.

"So you still plan on killing him?"

"That depends."

Hanji nodded, letting silence settle between them.

The eggs were burnt to a crisp and Hanji dumped them in the garbage before Eren re–appeared from the bathroom, looking much more alert and with his shirt now buttoned up properly.

"I borrowed one of the packaged toothbrushes, I hope you don't mind." He said, hesitantly sitting down at the counter.

"It's fine. You should still be sleepy, aren't you going to go back to bed?"

Levi tried not to pay any mind to how preposterously casual all of this sounded when there was nothing ordinary about the situation.

"No, I don't think I'll be able to sleep."

Hanji offered Eren breakfast and they ate in silence, probably because of the dirty glares that Levi would've shot her if she dared to speak with her mouth full. Eren looked like he was bursting apart with questions riddling his mind, but kept it together.

As soon as the dishes were stacked in the sink, Hanji turned to the boy, grin bordering on maniacal.

"So, Eren, right? I'm Hanji Zoe. Nice to meet you, despite the circumstances. I heard from Levi here that you were able to re–grow teeth, quite curious, isn't it? I'd like you to tell me everything you know about your ability."

"I thought your name was Rivaille?"

"There was no need for you to know my real name." He shot back before glaring at Hanji. And he would've liked to keep it that way, not being as careless as his colleague who gave out personal information to someone she had just met.

"You're as paranoid as ever, didn't you say the kid's fifteen?" Hanji rolled her eyes, doubting that Eren could do any harm.

"And you," she looked at the boy expectantly. "Don't ignore my questions; your life may depend on it."

Eren stared at his hands, still as unwilling to talk as he was yesterday.

"I want to call my friends first. "

Levi's eyes flashed dangerously. "Think about your situation here, kid. You should've been long dead by now, you're alive out of sheer luck and have important people after your head. As much as we'd like to know just what is up with this, don't forget whose hands your life is in. We're placing ourselves in danger by saving your sorry ass. It's in your best interest to tell us everything you know and quick. You'll get to call them afterwards."

That had been building up since the moment Levi noted Eren's hesitance about answering anything and it felt good to see the boy's facial features instantly morph into an apologetic expression.

"I'm sorry, okay? But I already told you that I am unsure of my own memories."

Both of their stares made Eren shrink in his seat. Well, it wasn't like he could make the situation any worse.

"All I know is that my dad did this. He regularly injected me with something and ran tests since I was ten. He told me that I was ill and he was looking for a cure. Half a year ago I noticed that injuries healed much faster than they should. I once broke my nose in a fight and my father just set it back. Within an hour there wasn't even a bump left."

A shocking realization was dawning upon Hanji. "Wait, your last name is Jaeger. Is your father by any chance the Grisha Jaeger?"

Eren nodded, watching her eyes widen. A second later she had grabbed Eren by his arm and dragged him to the couch, pushing the boy down on it.

"Levi, get me a thermometer." The man complied, using the chance to slip away from the kitchen to also get dressed quickly.

"Eren, would you mind if I saw your abilities for myself?" She asked, while rummaging through her bag, not exactly waiting for an answer as seconds later she was holding a scalpel In her hand and Eren finally got what she had meant.

"Er… okay, I guess."

"Don't be scared, you won't even–" She grabbed the boy's left arm and a made a small incision, barely an inch in length. "–notice it."

He flinched, trying to pull his arm away instinctively, but the woman held it in an iron grip.

"Here's the thermometer." Levi placed it on the coffee table before freezing at the sight before him. "Hey, not on the couch!" He exclaimed, expecting the blood that oozed from the wound to drip down.

Yet it didn't. The droplet hung millimeters away from dripping down Eren's forearm before stopping, as if time had frozen. The red substance glinted in the sunlight streaming in through the window, indicating the first movement that the human eye couldn't register.

It began seeping back into the wound, like someone had hit a reverse button, not leaving a single smear on Eren's skin. Soon all of the red was gone and small whirls of steam came from the wound as the skin slowly stitched itself back together with invisible threads.

"Holy shit." Was all Hanji could manage before her brain kicked back into gear, the need to understand whether if this was really what she thought it was stopping her from screaming in excitement.

She grabbed the thermometer and stuck it underneath Eren's tongue, effectively startling him.

Hanji turned towards Levi, who had a questioning look on his face. "This will take a while, I'll need to go back and run blood tests. But if this is what I think it is, I might've been stumbling upon the edges of it for a while. There's no way to be really sure though–"

"Just spit it out." Levi interrupted her rant, plopping down on the couch besides Eren, even if there wasn't much space, so he could look the science nut in the eye while she kneeled in front of the boy, who in turn also looked intrigued.

"Grisha Jaeger? That name really doesn't ring a bell to you? No? Pity. Three weeks ago there was this huge scandal about four doctors losing their licenses at the same time. No names were mentioned in official channels though, but something about it seemed fishy, so I dug deeper."

The thermometer beeped and Hanji pulled it out. "37.9°C, are you running a fever?"

Eren shook his head quickly. "It's always like that, I feel fine." Although it was quite handy when he wanted to get away from school. "What were you saying about my dad?"

"It took me a while to find, but I read some rumors on charter web that included the name of Grisha Jaeger. No one really took them seriously since no official protocols or other documents were leaked. The Eotena project – striving to improve the human body, in a nutshell. Not exactly ethical or legal." Right now, she glossed over some of the gruesome details that she really felt like Eren wasn't ready to know. She shot Levi a meaningful look before finally setting the thermometer down.

"What, so I am a part of some project!?" Eren looked mildly shocked. Of course he had figured that he wasn't actually ill, especially after he saw a bruise go through the stages of healing right before his eyes for the first time, but he never could've guessed that he was actually involved in something bigger.

"You might be." Hanji stood up, walking to the counter to pour herself and Levi another cup of coffee. Levi, who, until now, had been carefully watching Eren's expression, also got up.

"You obviously didn't know about this, which doesn't explain why you were so hesitant to talk about it." He took the cup from Hanji and sipped the lukewarm coffee before continuing.

"This makes me wonder if there's something about your condition that we're unaware of. Spill it."

With a defeated look on his face, Eren finally obeyed. "About 5 months ago the black–outs started. I'm apparently still… me, kind of, well, I'm awake and do stuff normally enough for no one to notice, but I can't remember anything I've done. At first it was just a few hours. Now I lose up to three days – not entirely, but it's like the black–outs dominate most of my time. A month ago I…" Eren trailed off, considering skipping over this. They'd find out eventually though and then there would be hell to pay.

"I woke up covered in blood that wasn't mine, three hours away from home by bus. I killed two people. I've no idea who were they."

Neither Hanji nor Levi were the ones to judge. However, this posed a possible threat – Eren was a ticking time bomb that couldn't account for his own actions, which he could manipulate with.

"Does anyone know about any of this?" Levi asked. "It's likely that they are in danger too."

"My friends have some suspicions, but I managed to hide everything, I think."

"Then it's better if you play dead, for your own sake and theirs."

Disappointment displayed across Eren's face. Levi rolled his eyes, what had the kid hoped for, that Levi hide all his friends in his tiny apartment too?

"Do you understand?" Levi asked, more sternly than needed.

"Yes, I do." Defeat and sorrow was audible in Eren's voice. He was really bad at holding back his emotions. It was probably only now sinking in that he'd never see his friends or family again, his life wouldn't be going back to the way it was. Levi couldn't care less, as long as the boy didn't try to sneak off or call anyone. It was for his own good. Seeing his friends drop dead, get into an "accident", be brutally tortured or simply disappear would be worse.

"I'll take some blood samples and then you go and rest, okay, Eren? You look like hell." Hanji smiled, more gently this time. She felt bad for the boy and the situation he was in, plus he seemed like a genuinely nice kid. And he had to stay with Levi, who didn't have the temper to deal with hormonal teenagers appropriately. She didn't envy him.

Levi did the dishes while Hanji filled three vials of blood before talking Eren into going back to bed and he heard something that suspiciously sounded like 'and grab a spare pajamas or something, sleeping in that can't be comfortable, top left drawer, I think'.

Once the door closed shut Hanji looked at him with a grim expression on her face. If Eren had heard only a version of the truth from her, then Levi had to hear everything.

"Firstly, Eren isn't the only one, if we can believe the rumors. They have some substantial material in them though, since one of the things noted was the higher than normal body temperature." She had come over to the kitchenette now, standing close to Levi and lowering her voice.

"Countless have died in trying to make this work. Some are still in progress, like Eren. The military is behind this, which makes sense. However, the final stage of the Eotena Project is somewhat..." She paused. It had sounded ridiculous even to her. "Nah, probably just some conspiracy nut adding their own share to the information. I can't tell much before seeing some official files."

"However, I have to bring Mike into this. Else I won't be able to help you since I'm not capable of polymetric falcighol derivation and we need every file there is on the Eotena Project, if they aren't gone already, to make sense of this."

Levi nodded. He trusted Mike almost as much as he did Hanji. "There's only one question – what am I to do about him? I can't exactly keep him here, can I? He has no life to look forwards to."

"Could you kill him?" Hanji raised an eyebrow.

"I won't really have a choice when it comes to that."

"You could get someone else to do it."

"That's not the issue." Levi shrugged it off. He had been thinking about the kid's death non–stop for nearly three days, he really needed a break.

Hanji chose not to comment on it. She had a fairly good idea of what would happen.

"I guess I'll get going then. Get some sleep. As soon as I know something, I'll let you know." She went to put the blood samples in her bag with a sigh. "You know, you really could've told me what to take. I packed so much stuff I didn't even need."

"Still worth it, isn't it?"

"Oh honey, you don't need to get me anything for Christmas now."

"Wasn't planning on it."

And then she was out of the door. Levi had never wanted her to stay so badly. He wanted to go out for his morning run. Hell, even grocery shopping. Instead he was alone with Eren Jaeger yet again, with more questions than he had before.

There were a lot bizarre things going on in this world, a lot of bizarre people. What made Eren so special to keep him alive?

Why was he looking for a reason in the first place?

It wasn't like he could sleep it off either, his bed was already taken. So Levi just sank down on his tiny couch, staring at his phone. Erwin still hadn't replied, probably busy with meetings and under the assumption that Levi had gone ahead to ensure that the job got done, extension approved or not.

The news weren't grabbing his attention, neither was the tv. He slowly drifted off, caffeine doing nothing for his exhaustion. Levi didn't even feel the couch sink lower with the added weight of someone else; he was out by the time Eren had peeked out of the bedroom door.

He hadn't slept this peacefully in a long time.

Levi woke up two hours later with something warm pressing against his side and strands of hair tickling his neck. His right arm had fallen asleep.

"What do you think you're doing, brat?" He couldn't muster up a voice loud and harsh enough to really startle the boy, but neither did he have the heart to push him off.

Green eyes blinked open slowly and glanced up at him before Eren pulled back.

"Sorry."

Levi partly wanted to tell the kid to get lost, stop bothering him or something, but decided against it. There was nowhere for Eren to get lost to anyway. Instead they just sat there in silence, pretending to watch the muted television.

A few minutes passed in relative comfort before the warmth was back, even if Eren was clearly awake, he had slumped against Levi's shoulder.

"What are you, trying to cuddle?" Honestly, was he stupid?

Eren stared at his knees stubbornly, still not pulling back. His lower lip was trembling slightly.

Oh god, no, please don't cry.

Forcing back the sigh that threatened to escape his lips, Levi snaked an arm around Eren's shoulders, patting it stiffly. That was enough incentive for Eren to relax against him further, head resting against his shoulder again.

It wasn't uncomfortable, Levi had to admit. Just really awkward, at least to him. He didn't comfort people, never had. No one ever came to him for comfort and he never went to anyone. Things like that required attachment.

Yet this kid had the guts to demand it from him, in his own passive agressive, personal space bubble bursting way.

"Can I hug you?"

"No."

This was already out of Levi's comfort zone.

Eren drew in a shaky breath. Was he doing this on purpose or was he simply just that desperate for human contact?

"Fine." Annoyance was clearly present in his voice. He might've just gotten guilt tripped into a cuddle and it was a blow to his ego he wouldn't forget anytime soon.

Levi ended up in an awkward position with his upper body twisted sideways as Eren's arms wrapped around his waist, cheek resting against his shoulder while folded legs rested on top of his thighs. He was thankful that Eren had enough tact not to breathe down his neck.

It would probably be more comfortable if they swapped places due to the irritating fact that Eren was good ten centimeters taller than him. But then again the last thing he wanted was for them to get comfortable. He wanted to spend as little amount of time as possible like this.

"Just don't cry. It gets all snotty, wet and ugly." It would be healthier for the boy to just let it all out, but there was a limit to how many articles of clothing Levi was willing to sacrifice for him.

"I won't." Admittedly, his breathing was starting to calm down.

He even went as far as to wrap his other arm around Eren, cue more awkward patting. Was he supposed to say something? 'It's okay, I probably won't kill you today. Can't say for sure though. Oh, and sorry about your family probably being dead and your friends probably being in danger. And sorry about beating you up.' Yeah, great, now he was really starting to feel guilty.

Eren let the tension slip away from his muscles and the older man couldn't help doing the same, mind going blank as warmth from the other's body seeped through his clothes and at the moment that was all that existed. Levi's hand rubbed light, soothing circles against Eren's back.

The arms around his waist tightened, pulling him closer and Levi felt warm fingers against his skin where the fabric of his shirt had bunched up. The boy turned his head so his nose pressed against the crook of Levi's neck, the ghost of Eren's breath blanketing his collarbone in warmth.

This was becoming increasingly more awkward when Levi didn't believe it could. Eren was one wriggle away from sitting on his lap.

"Tea?" He didn't let any of the annoyance or that how uncomfortable he was to seep into his voice or facial expression. Thankfully, Eren pulled back, having already pushed the man far enough and he didn't have a deathwish.

"Yeah." There was a hint of a sheepish smile on Eren's lips and Levi got up quickly, making his escape to the kettle.

Eren drank his tea black, two sugars. Levi chose peppermint for himself and refused to return to the couch, even if both of them sitting at the kitchen counter made him have a bad sense of déjà vu. At least Eren had witnessed him make the beverage this time.

"What is it like, working as a hitman?" Eren asked, genuine curiosity in his voice.

"There's no need for you to make small talk. You're not good at it." Levi pointed out.

"I'm just curious, that's all. I know nothing about you except your name and that you can deliver sick kicks."

Was that supposed to be a compliment?

"It's a job. It pays well, it's strenous and the ability to seperate it from your personal life is vital." Levi found himself answering honestly after an inner deliberation.

"You seem... too normal. Too casual for that."

The boy really didn't think before spouting nonsense.

"What did you expect?"

"Well, someo–"

"It was a rhetorical question."

Eren fell silent after that and Levi regretted interrupting him. He wasn't good at conversations. He was too straight–forward and didn't clutter his own mind with thoughts of what others thought of him, of their feelings.

It showed.

It was 10.27am and all they could do was wait. Levi hated waiting. He used the silence to excuse himself for a shower and told the boy to watch some tv.

When he came out, Eren had dozed off on the couch again, lanky limbs sprawled across the pillows in all directions. Some cartoon channel was on (since when did he have that?) and Levi switched the tv off.

He didn't disturb the boy as there was no reason to hide him anymore. The only person who'd show up on his doorstep anytime soon was Hanji.

His phone chimed. Speak of the devil.

"The files are on our sister server, added three days ago, incomplete. Got the lab results. I'll be at your place in 40 min or so.

–Hanji"

Their sister server? Apparently, the same people that wanted Eren dead were the ones that created and terminated the project, nothing surprising there. Levi had thought so too. Hanji had said there were others, so it was safe to assume that at least most of them were dead already.

What didn't make sense were the incomplete files. Were they trying to hide something? On a server that's protected by a fractal password? That put even Levi's paranoia to shame. But, if so, they would appear as edited three days ago, not added. This reeked of theft.

Just in whose affairs was he meddling now?

He glanced back at Eren, who was still in the same position.

"Grab some take–out on the way.

–Levi"

He knew she'd get something good, not too drenched in saturated fat. And there was no way Levi would cook today.

He spent exactly 23 minutes catching up on the news, finances and politics mainly, when the doorbell rang. Hanji was quicker than expected, but he wasn't about to complain.

Levi opened the door only to freeze on the spot.

Erwin Smith stood before him, suit immaculate and briefcase in hand, the same unreadable expression in place.

"Where's Eren Jaeger?"