While reading this chapter (and any chapter of this story, really) keep in mind that the PoV is third person limited. The perspective switches sometimes, but that perspective is always limited. As in, when it's in Eren's perspective, you don't get magical insight into Levi's thoughts and feelings. Eren is 100% an unreliable narrator.

Also, can I just say that you know you're bad at pacing when the first day of your story spans seven chapters (yes, seven, there's still one more after this). And the chapters following those first seven are filled with time skips. I'm such a noob.

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The station was about a half hour from campus, and the wait wouldn't have been so bad if Eren had had any of his stuff. As it were, all of his stuff had been taken before his was questioned: his phone, his wallet, his jacket, hell - even his shoes. All he could do for the next thirty minutes was stare at the wall across from the cot he was seated on, picking pictures out from the uneven texture of the stone like he was gazing at clouds. Maybe even that wouldn't have been so bad. It was mind numbing, without a doubt, but it was the type of monotony that lulled you into a trance and made time pass quickly. So maybe it wouldn't have been that bad - if not for Levi.

It was bad enough that the man arrested Eren, bad enough that he sat in on the last half of Eren's questioning, and bad enough that he listened to all of Eren's phone call with Mikasa. It was bad enough that Eren's day had gone down the drain just because Levi existed. It was worse that Levi was still there.

It had been a long day. Eren was in a jail cell, having been put there by his soulmate after a fight with his girlfriend about said soulmate. He just wanted to be alone for half an hour before he had to face Mikasa and probably end up fighting with her yet again because of the tension that had been running rampant between them lately. He wanted to close his eyes and enjoy some calm, peaceful silence. He wanted to finally let go of the anger that had been burning in his stomach since his argument with Mikasa.

But no, of course he couldn't do that. He couldn't do any of it, because Levi was still lingering. He had locked Eren in a cell, and Eren had waited patiently for him to clear out, but the man just sat himself in a chair, and pulled out his phone like he was in it for the long haul.

Eren didn't know what to say. All he could do was gape and glare suspiciously as Levi leaned his chair back on two legs and tapped away at some game. He wanted to yell, scream something, but at this point he didn't know what to say. Few things could render Eren Jeager speechless, but congratulations to Levi, he had done it. Something unintelligible fell from Eren's lips, and Levi glanced his way with a thin eyebrow quirked.

"Something bugging you, brat? You look constipated."

"What are you doing?" Eren spluttered, the words shocked out of him by the challenging look in Levi's eyes. Levi glanced at the phone in his hand before waving it slightly.

"Playing ," he replied. Eren narrowed his eyes in disbelief. Was he really just sitting there playing some shitty game as if everything was completely normal? Though Eren supposed that was strangely apt. The game was all about growing so you could devour other people. "I'm fucking awesome at it."

He was doing this intentionally, Eren knew. Levi probably wanted to be somewhere else just as much as Eren did, but the sadistic shrimp apparently enjoyed making Eren uncomfortable more. Eren could see the gleam in Levi's eyes that told him that the man knew just how uncomfortable Eren was with the situation. Eren took slight solace in the fact that Levi must be just as uncomfortable.

Being someone's soulmate was so incredibly awkward. Here they were, supposedly perfect for each other because of some bands they used to have on their arms. Anyone who knew they were soulmates would expect them to make nice, start dating, and eventually get married. But they wanted nothing to do with each other. They had yet to have an actual conversation (hopefully they never would) and the only words they had exchanged were hostile ones. Levi's insistence on hanging around was just making everything worse. He should have gotten the hell away as soon as he could, but it seemed that his desire to make Eren suffer outweighed his desire to put distance between them.

Without further comment, Levi returned to his game.

"That's not what I meant and you know it." Eren scowled and he could swear he was developing a twitch at the side of his mouth from doing it so much. He had a short temper, sure, but that was usually balanced by a good bit of cheerfulness. Today is seemed like he was just pissed all the time. Correction: it didn't seem like he was pissed all the time, he was pissed all the time. Levi spared him another glance and sighed.

"Fine," he conceded. "You're in police custody. Someone has to be back here to supervise you."

"Okay, I get it," Eren said, with a brisk nod of grudging approval. "But why you?"

"What do you mean, why me?" Levi asked, and Eren felt like an idiot from Levi's look alone. "It's my fucking job. What the fuck do you want from me, brat?"

The question was rhetorical, but Eren answered bluntly and honestly: "Mainly for you to go away."

Levi stared at him for a long moment, and Eren was sick and tired of the man's completely unreadable expression. Was he mad at Eren for being a dick? Was he enjoying making Eren uncomfortable? Did he even have an opinion on the situation? Eren couldn't tell. Just as the silence was getting uncomfortable, Levi sighed.

"Well I can't fucking do that. Just suck it up; your girlfriend will be here soon."

As hard as Levi was to read, even Eren could hear the spite wrapped around the word "girlfriend," and he immediately bristled. He understood that Levi didn't like him, but that was no reason to judge Mikasa. Eren was stupid and short tempered and apparently a "brat," but Mikasa was nothing like him. Levi had no right to judge her just because he was dating Eren.

For a moment Eren considered letting it go, because it had been a long day and he was tired of fighting - but then again, Eren never let things go. He stood, moving away from the shabby cot, and came to a stop at the front of his cell, near where Levi was seated.

"Oi," he called pointlessly, since Levi's attention had been on him since he stood. Eren gripped a bar in one hand, leaning down slightly so he was closer to Levi's eye level, and put on his best intimidating glower. "What do you have against Mikasa?"

Pure shock shone on Levi's face. His features fell slack with it, his usually hooded eyes widened, and his hands twitched. It was the first time Eren had seen Levi display a genuine emotion for longer than a split second, and Eren bitterly noted that Levi actually looked human like this, instead of like a robot or some kind of doll.

"What do I have against Mikasa?" he parroted, grey eyes wide and baffled. His fingers tightened around his phone, folding tensely over the brightly colored screen of game over. "Well, I don't know. What could I possibly have against your girlfriend, Eren?"

Eren jolted slightly at the use of him name, delaying his reply. Honestly, Eren had never expected Levi to call him anything other than "brat." He hated the way Levi said his name - hated that Levi said it at all. It sounded wrong and unnatural, if only because it sounded completely normal and fine when it shouldn't have. Eren swallowed.

"I don't know," he finally replied. "You don't even know her. You have no reason to dislike her. She's a better person than I am, anyway."

Levi exhaled heavily, raising a hand to press slender fingers against his temple as if he was fighting a headache. He glared, and it was different than all the glared before it. Levi was just about always glaring, but those were "I'm angry at the world, and I hate everything" glares. This, though - this was and "I'm angry at you, and I hate you" glare, and Eren shuddered slightly to be the focus of all that emotion.

"You're an idiot," Levi sighed, voice angry but resigned. "Go back to your shitty cot. Your girlfriend should be here any minute."

Eren's protests that he was not an idiot were met by stony silence, and when it became obvious that his efforts were fruitless he retreated to the cot and collapsed back into it. Burying his face in the flat pillow he noted that Levi was right, not about Eren being an idiot, but about Mikasa's imminent arrival. Thirty minutes had just about passes, so she could be walking up any moment. Dread bubbled in Eren's stomach, and it took him a moment to become consciously aware of why.

Mikasa was coming here. Levi was already here.

Mikasa, his paranoid, angry girlfriend, was coming here. Levi, his soulmate, was already here.

Mikasa, his paranoid, angry girlfriend was coming here, and she was going to meet Levi, his soulmate, the very person she was paranoid and angry about.

The apprehension churned in his stomach, bringing with it the horrible awareness that this was not going to end well. Pressing his face further into the pillow, Eren squeezed his eyes shut and tried to calm himself down. Maybe this would be for the better. Mikasa would meet Levi and realize that he was no threat to her. She would calm down and their relationship would go back to the way it was meant to be. Or, better yet, Mikasa would come get him, they would leave, and she would be none the wiser as to who Levi was. Things wouldn't get better, but they wouldn't get worse.

Eren snapped up when he heard footsteps moving down the hall, breath catching in his throat as he steeled himself in determination. He moved to the door of his cell to see Mikasa approaching, escorted by Petra. Levi made no move to open the cell, opting instead to watch the girls approach. Eren slapped his shoulder, and Levi retrieved his keys with a roll of his eyes.

When Eren left his cell, he walked immediately to Mikasa, ignoring both Levi and Petra as he did everything he could to leave as quickly as possible. Mikasa met him with flat, slightly irritated eyes, placing her hands on his arms as she appraised him.

"You're covered in bruises," she informed him with a disappointed shake of her head. "It'll probably take hours to clean you up. Your hands are mess." Eren glanced down to see that she was, in fact, correct. His knuckles were bruised, split, and scraped - a bloody mess that would probably hurt like hell tomorrow.

"I still have plenty of first aid stuff back at my dorm," he dismissed with a careless shrug. He was well accustomed to patching himself up (and occasionally Jean, much to his chagrin).

"I can't believe you got in another fight," Mikasa sighed. She shook her head with a look that spoke of major frustration that Eren couldn't understand. Eren had been getting in fights his whole life. She had had twelve years to get used to it, but she still sometimes seemed surprised. "But I'm glad you're okay." One of her hands moved from his arm to his cheek, and she leaned up slightly to place a kiss at the corner of his mouth.

"I am 100% okay," he confirmed, grinning cheekily. "Let's just go back. Jean is with Marco tonight, so you can hang out at my place with Armin and me. If you want." Mikasa hesitated long enough to make Eren uncomfortable, but cautiously smiled, and he wrapped his arms around her, bowing his head against hers.

"Sounds nice."

Petra watched their exchange with a soft smile and dreamy eyes. "Ah, young love," she sighed with a small laugh. "Levi, go get his stuff so they can go."

Eren knew the exact moment where he became fucked. Mikasa tensed in his arms and her eyes closed off like a wall had dropped behind them. She turned, pulling away from Eren's hold to stare at Levi's back.

"He's Levi?" she questioned, voice hot with a hollow anger. "That prick is your soulmate?"

Petra, still standing innocently on the side, gasped, head whipping around to stare after her coworker. She blinked several times in rapid succession.

"Yeah," Eren answered weakly, knowing that he would just aggravate Mikasa further if he kept silent. "That's him."

"What the hell is he doing here?"

"He's a cop, apparently."

"Your soulmate is a cop?" She laughed at the irony. "That doesn't make any sense."

Eren shrugged helplessly. Mikasa was basically just stating things that he had already thought.

Levi returned a moment later to a tense silence. Petra watched with morbid anticipation. He hefted the plastic bag filled with Eren's belongings before tossing them over, content to ignore the atmosphere between his companions. Mikasa caught his eye and they stood, running their gazes over each other with thinly veiled hostility (on Mikasa's part, anyway - Levi was unreadable as always). Mikasa's lips twitched.

"Jesus, Eren, he's so short," she snickered. "I thought you had taste."

Mikasa, appeased, turned back to Eren and gripped his arm, telling him that they were good to go. After they left, Petra turned to Levi, eyes still wide.

"I didn't know you met your soulmate," she said cautiously, hunting for tells as to what he was feeling. She found none.

"It's not like it fucking matters," he replied before turning away. He gathered his things quickly and left the station, making for his car to go home. His shift had ended hours ago.

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Last time on Risk: Eren was stupid.

This time on Risk: Eren was stupid.

Next time on Risk: Eren is stupid.

Hm. I'm sensing a pattern.