HAPPY HALLOWEEN.

October is basically over, and this story is still nowhere near finished. See? I told you it wouldn't be done withing the timeframe of the story. But whatever. Not like I was expecting it to in the first place. Good news is, you won't have to wait until next October because I am NOT confining this story to that month. So I guess that means you con go ahead and disregard the title from this point onward.

I want to thank everyone who has reviewed so far. As anyone who's read my crap before, I LOVE hearing what people think of it. But there is one thing that people have been asking over and over and that is WHEN IS LEVI GOING TO TURN INTO A HUMAN? And my only answer to that is WAIT. There is more to this story than meets the eye .It gets a lot more complicated than this! I can promise you that much.

You might have to wait until the next chapter to find out about that, though.

SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION TIME. asking-appelia is my tumblr author blog. go look at it. follow if you're interested. Being that I only have eight followers at this point, I would really appreciate it.

And now, story time.

There was a knock on the door early on Saturday morning.

"Eren? Hey, Eren, are you awake?"

He was. But not really.

Eren cracked one eye open at the sound of rapid tapping on the door. There was someone outside. They were saying something, but he couldn't really understand what it was. He rolled over lazily in his bed and pulled the edge of his comforter over his head. His eyelids drifted back down. Then the knocking started all over again.

"Eren?" the visitor called again.

Eren pulled his blankets tighter over his head. So that idiot was still trying to get his attention. He really didn't feel up to getting out of bed and answering the door. He'd worked his ass off two nights earlier, and he'd passed his calc test with something more than a just-barely-cutting-it grade (for once). He felt as if he could sleep for a year. And that was exactly what he intended to do. At least he would, if that goddamned knocking would stop.

Where the hell is Mikasa? Why won't she answer it?

Eren's bedroom door creaked open. Soft footfalls scampered into the room and something small and heavy landed directly on Eren's back. Four sets of tiny, razor-sharp daggers sank through the comforter and pricked at Eren's skin.

It was Levi, reminding him that Mikasa is at work, dumbass.

Eren pushed the comforter down to his shoulders and craned his neck around to look at the irate feline. Levi fixed him with his sharp little eyes and stuck him with his claws again. Eren wormed an arm out of the covers to shove him away, and Levi deftly moved out of his reach before he had the chance. The visitor knocked on the door again. Levi meowed. Eren sighed heavily and dragged himself out from under the covers. He glanced at the clock. It was almost nine thirty. After another melodramatic sigh, Eren pushed himself to his feet and staggered out of his room, wondering how the hell Mikasa could have gotten up so early and gone off to work when he was still barely even functional yet.

The visitor started knocking for the twenty thousandth time when Eren opened the door. Armin's hand froze in mid-air, inches away from hitting his friend in the face.

"Oh," he murmured, his eyes even wider than usual. "H-hi, Eren."

"Hmnnnnhey," Eren grumbled in response. He reached up to rub at his blurry, half-closed eyes and blinked a few times. No matter what he did, he just couldn't get his brain to wake up. "Why are you coming up here so early?"

"Early? I've been up since eight, so it's not really all that- Oh, wait. Did I wake you up?" Armin's face drew into a slight frown. "I-I'm sorry, I thought that, you know, since Mikasa got up for work and everything, maybe-"

"Nah, it's fine," Eren mumbled. "You wanna come in?"

"Um... sure." Armin stepped inside, and Eren pushed the door shut behind him. He was carrying a cheap drawstring sports bag full of textbooks, which he dropped next to the end table.

"What did you bring those for?" Eren asked.

"I've got a few hours of work at the vet's office after lunch," Armin replied. "I also have some studying to do, and some assigned reading and stuff, so I figured that if I manage to catch a break at work..." He shrugged. "I might as well."

"Oh," Eren mumbled. "I get it." Actually, he didn't. How would Armin be able to find enough spare time at his job to do all of that? Honestly. Sometimes he was just like Mikasa. Only he had never seen his friend work himself into a coma like his sister did at least once a week. Maybe he did and Eren was just never around to see it.

"So," Armin prompted. "How's Levi been doing lately?" He dropped down onto the couch and leaned over the arm to fish through his bag.

"He's been okay," Eren replied as he wandered over to the kitchen. He pulled one of the cabinets open and took out a box of cinnamon Life. "He's been hiding all week, though. I've only ever seen him come out a couple of times. But he's been getting better. I guess he's just not used to the apartment yet."

"Probably not. Cats are adaptable, but they still take a while to get adjusted to new surroundings. Or maybe he's just skittish."

"Maybe." Eren took out a clean bowl and filled it with cereal. After sleeping for almost ten hours, he was starving.

"They all have a personality of their own, you know?" Armin rambled on. "I've seen it myself. I've seen a whole plethora of different kinds come in at the vet's office. It's so fun, getting to meet them all, and seeing what they're like. It's really interesting, actually."

"That's cool," Eren mused. He glanced back at his friend as he poured soy milk over his cereal. It wasn't until then that he realized how rude he was being. "Oh! Crap, um... do you... do you want anything?"

"No, not really," Armin responded, glancing up from the textbook in his lap. "I already had breakfast before I came over."

"Okay." Eren nodded and turned back to the counter. He wasn't sure whether of not Armin was telling the truth. But he knew well enough that Armin was never one to make a burden of himself. His situation was much different from Eren's. Sure, he didn't exactly have thousands of dollars at his disposal, but he wasn't trying to scrape out a life all on his own, either. He had his grandpa and the old family bookstore he ran back home, the one he used to work in before he went off to college. He had savings that he could use. He knew well enough that neither of Eren's parents were around to provide for him anymore, and he had to hang on to every dime he had. That didn't mean Eren couldn't do something so trifling as giving his friend a snack when he came over, though. But he didn't bring it up. He just crossed over into the living room and curled up in the opposite corner of the couch, holding his cereal in his lap.

"So, how did the calc test go?" Armin asked.

"Great, actually," Eren answered through a spoonful of Life. "I studied for days and wanted to rip my head off by the end of it, but I checked my grades last night. I scored a B."

A smile lit up on Armin's face. "Wow. That's fantastic, Eren! I told you, you can do it. You just needed to study harder."

"What did you get?"

Armin's face flushed a faint shade of pink and he dropped his eyes shamefully to the floor. "A-an A. I got an A."

Eren rolled his eyes. "Don't you ever get bored of getting perfect grades all the time?"

"They're not perfect," Armin protested. "Remember in the third marking period last year? I missed all those days when I got sick and almost dropped to a C in organic chemistry. It was the worst!"

"Dude, I only passed my science prereq because I was getting Cs. You need to stop complaining."

"Alright, fine," Armin sighed. He glanced back down to the textbook in his lap. "So, I wanted to ask you if you could help me study for the quiz in history on Tuesday. I think I've got most of it down, but there are still a few things I can't remember."

"Oh," Eren mumbled. He hadn't even remembered that they had a quiz. "S-sure. Totally. It's your first class of the day on Tuesdays, right?"

"That's why I'm doing this now. I won't have time to study in the morning."

"You would be doing this even if you did."

"Yeah, you're right. I probably would."

Eren leaned over sideways to place his bowl on the floor next to the couch. "Okay. Where are we starting?"

"Well, I'm still having some trouble putting the events of the Spanish-American War in order. And I know the whole Philippines issue happened afterward, but I can't be sure to what extent the US was involved at that point."

Eren stared at him, the words flying straight over his head. "Um... okay. We'll start from the beginning of the war, then."

The two of them passed the time bent over the same textbook, Eren quizzing Armin and re-learning the facts for himself as he did. He picked up his bowl of cereal and ate a few spoonfuls every minute or so, not really caring when it started to grow soggy. He was more concerned about trying to re-memorize all the details that he'd forgotten than what his cereal tasted like.

"Alright, so Emilio Aguinaldo had been an ally to the US while they were taking the Philippines from Spain..."

"Yeah, that's right."

"But then the US didn't give them their independence, and he switched sides and became the leader of the rebellion against US occupation. Right?"

"Uh-huh. And what about Puerto Rico?"

"Puerto Rico. Um... well, I'm pretty sure the Insular Cases applied to them too, so the US kept them on as a territory but didn't-"

Eren looked up from the textbook. Armin was looking at something on the floor, his eyes wide. "What is it?"

"Um, Eren... your cereal..."

My cereal? Eren looked down at the bowl that he had left on the floor. Why would Armin be staring at his cereal?

Because Levi had his face in it, that was why.

"L-Levi!" Eren cried out. He scrambled out of his crosslegged position on the couch and swung his feet over onto the floor. Levi looked up at the sudden noise, then his eyes flew open and he skittered out of the room. Eren looked down at his ruined cereal and sighed.

"He does this all the time," he grumbled, crouching down to pick the bowl up off the floor. "I don't know why. I leave cat food out for him, but he doesn't eat it. I'm not starving him or anything. He just never wants to eat what he's supposed to.."

Armin stared off in the direction that the cat had just disappeared to. "Well, most animals would rather eat human food than their own, if given the chance."

"I know. But I always try not to give him the chance." Eren dumped out the remains of his cereal into the trash and dropped the bowl in the sink. "I don't want to get him sick or anything. But sometimes it seems like human food is all he ever wants to eat. I can't even tell you all the times that I have left a plate of something unattended for literally ten seconds and by the time I get back to it, he's gotten to it. I don't know how he does it."

Armin stifled a giggle. "He's a sneaky little bastard."

Eren scoffed. "You're telling me."

Armin stood up from the couch and stretched his arms over his head. "Ugh... my shoulders hurt. How long have we been studying for?" He turned to look at the microwave clock in the kitchen. It was almost eleven. "Whoa."

Eren glanced over at it as well. He smirked. "You think we've done enough for today?"

"Definitely," Armin replied, rubbing at his stiff, rubbery neck. His spine popped under his fingers, eliciting a startled gasp from him. "Hnn... I don't even know how I can stand upright anymore..." He walked around the side of the couch and towards the tiny hallway where the door of Mikasa's room was standing ajar.

Eren passed by him as he returned to the living room. "Where are you going?"

"I want to see Levi again," Armin said absently. "I haven't been over in ages, and the last time I was here you didn't have a cat. I just want to get a better look at him. He went over here when he ran off, right?"

Eren started and whirled around to face the hallway. "W-what? Don't tell me he's in Mikasa's room again!"

"Wait, he's not supposed to be in he-" Armin began, but he was cut off as Eren shoved him out of the way and dashed into Mikasa's room. Sure enough, Levi was on her bed again, just below the collection of pillows laid haphazardly next to the headboard. He looked up at Eren with half-closed eyes and kneaded contentedly at the bedspread.

"Goddammit, Levi," Eren groaned. He stepped into the room and dropped down onto the bed. He reached toward Levi to pick him up, and the cat dug his claws into the bedspread in response. Armin came in and helped his friend unhook the cat's claws one by one from the fabric. Ripping a few threads loose was basically unavoidable.

Eren wrapped one arm tightly around his cat and squished him against his chest, running his free hand dismally over the ripped threads in the bedspread. "You don't think she's going to notice this, do you?"

Armin shrugged. "I don't know. She might, but she probably won't be that mad about it."

"I hope not." Eren sighed and stood up, securely fastening his other arm around Levi before the cat had a chance to get cross with him for not holding him properly. "God, why the hell can't you ever behave yourself?"

"He's a stray, Eren. He's never had to behave himself before," Armin pointed out.

"I know, but I've told him a million times that he's not supposed to go into Mikasa's room, and he does it anyway!"

"He's a cat, Eren. Do you really think that he can understand anything you say?"

"I- I don't know," Eren stammered. He walked out of the room and collapsed onto the couch, letting Levi settle into his lap. "Sometimes I feel like he does. But I never really know. I'm pretty sure he just does it to piss me off."

Levi stood up and arched his back, then jumped off of Eren's legs and perched himself on the arm of the couch. Eren reached a hand over to try and scratch him behind the ears, but a quiet growl from the cat made him take it back.

Armin laughed quietly as he pulled Mikasa's door shut and went back to the living room. "Well, he's definitely a lively one."

"Believe me, lively doesn't even cut it," Eren said flatly. His best friend sat down next to him on the couch and balanced his elbows on his knees, leaning over to look at the cat on the other side. Levi looked pensively back, blinking once at the blonde visitor. "That's Armin," Eren told him. "You've seen him before. Remember?"

Levi cocked his head to the side, as if he'd actually been listening to what Eren had said. He jumped off the arm of the couch, stepped carelessly over his human's legs and approached his friend. Armin straightened up in response, his eyes turning an even brighter and more curious shade of blue than before. He tentatively extended his hand toward the cat, his fingers delicately bent to let him sniff at his knuckles. Levi stretched his head out toward Armin and twitched his tiny black nose, puffs of air ghosting across his fingers. He drew back after a second and fixed the blonde with a calm, level stare.

Armin shifted uncomfortably in place. "Okay. Um... does that mean he likes me, or..."

"I don't know," Eren replied. "You never really know with him."

"He doesn't seem threatened or anything," Armin mused, gazing intently at the cat in front of him. "You know him better than I do. Does he normally act like this? Should I try and pet him or something, or do you think he's going to try and bite me?"

Eren shrugged. "You can try, I guess. I can't promise you anything, though."

Armin hesitantly extended the fingers on the hand Levi had just examined. The cat watched, but didn't react. He let out a sigh of relief and slowly moved his fingertips over the cat's head, giving him a gentle rub on the back of his neck. Levi's eyes closed into slits.

"Well, he tolerates me, at least," Armin said.

A minute later, Levi began dodging Armin's hand. The human quickly took his hands away from the cat, and the feline got to his feet and jumped off the edge of the couch to scamper off elsewhere in the apartment. Eren glanced at the microwave clock again. "Hey, Armin, when does your shift at the vet start?"

"Around one. Why?"

"You should probably get going soon."

"Oh. Well... you want to go out for lunch? We could stop somewhere on the way there." Much like Eren, Armin was used to walking everywhere he had to go. That included the vet's office that was twenty-six blocks away from the campus.

A smile crossed Eren's face. "Sure," he said brightly. He glanced down at himself. He was still wearing the beaten-up old shirt and slouchy flannel pants that served as his pajamas. "I should probably get dressed first, though."

"Then go ahead. I'm not going anywhere."

With that, Eren got up from the couch and rushed back into his room. He kicked the door shut behind him, ripped his shirt off and threw it carelessly at the bed. He almost missed the quiet scuffle that followed the soft flumph of his shirt hitting the bed. Eren spun around toward the noise, and there was Levi, splayed out on his bed with his claws digging panickedly into the comforter. His eyes had widened into steel blue marbles. They flickered up to fix on Eren, who flushed in surprise.

"Oh my god. I-I'm so sorry!" he stuttered, rushing over to the cat and kneeling down in front of him. "I didn't know you were in here. I didn't mean to... I am so, so sorry."

Levi's eyes narrowed back into their normal shape as apologies began spilling uncontrollably out of Eren's mouth.

"Did I scare you? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

He held a hand out to see if Levi would accept a quick scratch as repayment for his mistake. The cat made no move to attack him, so he took it as an invitation and rubbed him gently behind the ears. Levi seemed to loosen up at that, then drew back once he'd had enough of Eren's petting. Eren stood up and began digging feverishly through his drawers to try and find something to wear. Once he'd unearthed a pair of worn-in dark jeans and an 8-bit Yoshi shirt, he began tugging at the ties of his pajama pants. Armin was waiting on him. He had to be quick, and he'd already wasted considerable time making up for startling Levi.

Speak of the devil, he was still sitting on the bed, even after having a shirt thrown at him. His blue-mercury eyes stared impartially off into the distance. Or...

Or was he looking at Eren?

An involuntary shiver ran down Eren's spine. His cat was watching him get dressed.

And that, for some reason, made him really uncomfortable.

What am I getting so worked up about? he thought to himself as he let his pants drop to the floor and kicked them away. Levi is a cat. He doesn't even wear clothes.

Still, Eren felt a more pressing need to put some clothes on than usual.

Once he'd gotten dressed, Eren yanked a random sweatshirt out of his closet, along with a knitted beanie, and pulled them on as he dashed back out into the apartment. His sneakers were waiting for him by the door. So was Armin.

"Ready," Eren said hurriedly as he crouched down to pull his shoes on. He snatched his keys, phone and wallet off of the kitchen counter and jammed them into his pockets.

"There's no rush," Armin said. "We've got more than an hour. Where do you want to go?"

"Um... I'm not sure." Eren straightened back up and fixed his beanie over his ears. "Maybe that little sandwich place with those weird herbal fries-"

A loud, adamant Meow! cut through the apartment before Eren could finish his sentence. Both students turned back from the door to see a streak of black racing up to the front of the apartment. It skittered to a stop next to the door and looked up at Eren with insistent blue-grey eyes.

"What do you want, Levi?" Eren asked. The cat ran over to the door, rubbed his side against it and meowed again.

"Yes, I'm going. I'll be back soon."

Meow.

"Do you want to go out?"

Meow.

"Levi, I can't do that."

Meow.

"It's not safe! You might get hit by a car, or run into someone's dog or something!"

Meooooow.

Eren sighed and rolled his eyes. "No, Levi. You aren't going outside."

"Actually, Eren," Armin piped up, "some people do let their cats outside every now and again."

"I know, but think about it," Eren tossed back. "He doesn't have a collar, and he still looks kind of like a stray. What if someone calls animal control and has him locked up somewhere? What if he gets lost and can't find his way back here?"

Armin knitted his eyebrows. "Um... then..."

"Wait. I've got an idea."

Eren ran back into his room before Armin could say anything more. He pulled his closet door open and grabbed one of the shoes scattered haphazardly over the floor. Eren made quick work of taking the shoelace out and went back to the front door, where Levi was still rubbing insistently against the drywall. He knelt down and looped the long, tattered string twice around the little cat's neck. He tied it into a tight knot and took care to tuck the loops back into the portion around the cat's neck so they wouldn't get caught on anything.

"There," he said proudly. "It's a collar... sort of."

"Well, at least no one will mistake him for a stray anymore," Armin said with a smirk.

Eren stood up and pulled up the zipper of his sweatshirt. "That was the idea. Now come on, let's go. I don't want you to be late because of me."

Armin pulled the door open and Levi wove between both their legs and dashed down the stairs ahead of them. Eren went after him and stopped at the front door where the cat was pacing around in sleek little circles. He knelt down next to him and looked into his bright, mercurial eyes.

"I want you to be back here before dark," he said firmly. "Okay?"

Levi stared back at him, his face unchanged. Eren wasn't sure if he understood him or not. But he felt as if he did. And he certainly hoped so. It would be kind of tragic if he lost his new cat less than a week after bringing him home.

Eren straightened up and pushed the door open. In a flash, Levi was down the front steps and running out into the front yard, his short little legs working at an unbelievable speed. Armin caught up and the two of them set out in the direction of the vet's office.

Levi would be fine on his own for a few hours. Eren was sure of it.

Eren stayed out after lunch with Armin. He hadn't been planning on going anywhere that day, but once he'd gotten out, he didn't really want to go back in anymore. So, after he parted ways with his friend at the vet's office, he decided to wander around town for a while. He walked through a few of the shops, but didn't buy anything. He didn't have the money. But they were still fun places to visit. The odd little things they sold were always different every time he came back to them. Especially Mr. Pixis's thrift store. He always had the strangest things on display there. And people bought them. Eren had no idea why, but the shop had been on that same busy street in the middle of town for as long as he could remember, so it was staying open somehow.

He lingered there a little longer than usual. This was the shop where he had found Levi. And for some reason, he had taken a new liking to the it that he'd never had before. It felt nostalgic. Like he had fond memories bonded to it. Something like that.

By the time Eren finally checked the time again, it had passed five in the evening.

Mikasa was probably back from work already. He'd forgotten to let her know that he'd gone out for the day. Eren felt guilty for a minute, but it passed soon enough. She was probably asleep by then. Her boss always ran her ragged whenever she showed up at the diner for work. So, to make up for the accidental slip-up, he would bring home dinner. After a quick check of his wallet, he decided he had enough to pick a few things up from another of the little cafe-type places that were scattered all over amongst the shops. And he could always use his employee discount at the one where he worked.

He stopped by the cafe and ordered a few sandwiches and cartons of soup to bring home while trying to look as much like an inconspicuous customer as he could. Then he started home again, determined not to get sidetracked by anything else.

That had already happened at the thrift shop. But he didn't exactly regret the purchase he had made.

Eren slipped his free hand into his pocket and brushed his fingers over the tiny folded-up paper bag. He could feel the tiny woven ring concealed inside, and the tiny metallic box of the copper buckle that held it in its shape.

He wasn't sure whether or not Levi would like wearing a collar. But he was going to need one if he wanted to go and wander out on his own from time to time.

Besides, this was a nice one. A vintage. And he's gotten it for three dollars. That definitely wasn't a price that any regular pet store could boast about.

He'd told Levi to be back before dark, but he wasn't sure that he actually would. Knowing him, he probably wouldn't turn up again until the next day. Or the next week. Or never. Levi certainly seemed like the kind of cat who would disappear forever just to spite his owner.

Maybe that's how he wound up in the streets in the first place, Eren thought as he gradually made his way up the street.

Levi was waiting for him on the front porch when he got back.

The sun hadn't even gone down yet.

Eren made his way up the steps and set the bag of takeout food aside. "Hey, Levi," he said, kneeling down to the cat's level. "You're home early."

Levi looked inquisitively at him, as if he were confused. It took Eren a second to realize why.

Home. I just referred to my apartment as home.

He extended a hand toward Levi, and the little black cat sniffed at it before rubbing his head against the human's fingertips. Eren rubbed the top of his head.

I wonder if he thinks about it that way, too.

Eren stood up, gathered up the bag of food and opened the door. Levi slipped past his legs and ran up the stairs ahead of him. Eren couldn't help the smile that lit up on his face.

Maybe he does.

With that, he walked in and pulled the door shut behind him.