"Erwin is back?"

"Yeah, he just walked in upstairs. He's trying to talk to the trash we picked up last night. They're finally conscious enough to talk. I guess some people just can't handle their horse tranquilizers."

Levi was looking at his hand, fingers curled and inspecting his nails for potential grime. He kept any emotion off of his face, but he shot Hanji a look that Eren couldn't decipher. Whatever it was, it had Hanji furrowing their eyebrows and looking back at Eren.

"He's not going to be completely happy that we brought him here, is he?"

"Probably not." Levi shrugged, "then again, who knows with Erwin? The kid is Red Scarf's brother and he clearly knows the rules."

"And he's so adorable, there's no way that Erwin would do or say anything mean to him."

"Hn. If you like fifteen year olds."

"I'm twenty-one! …and I'm not adorable."

"Now that was adorable." Hanji was grinning at him. "See, Levi? No way Erwin will be mad."

"You just want to experiment on him."

"Mayyyyyybeeeeee..."

"Freak." Levi turned on his heel and walked away silently. Eren couldn't tell if he had walked up the stairs or not.

"Well, we might as well just bring you upstairs now and introduce you to him rather than have him find you down here later. Does your head feel okay?"

"Yeah. I've had worse. Occupational hazard of being the perpetually kidnapped brother."

Eren hadn't realized that the majority of their headquarters was actually on the ground floor of the building. The area downstairs was apparently for immediately after they returned from their missions. Hanji explained that Levi had insisted that there be somewhere for them to wash and potentially grab something quick to eat in order to keep the rest of their space clean. They referred to it as "the quarantine zone" since Levi refused to let anybody go directly into the main part of the building without showering there first.

So basically my crush is a total control freak with OCD who heard me jerk off in the shower. Great, you really know how to pick 'em, Jaeger. He's still hot though, so I guess there's that. I just wish his personality was just a little bit less... asshole-ish. I'd feel way better about still wanting to have him fuck me if he even attempted to be nice. Though I guess yelling at Hanji to properly deal with the cut could be considered 'nice'? It probably is for him...

As they walked through a hallway at the top of the stairs that he hadn't noticed earlier, a large open area came into view. There was a workstation that took up the entire far left corner that looked like a small bomb had gone off, scattering papers and objects out into the rest of the room. Just looking at it, Eren could tell that it was where Hanji usually worked. Levi was currently standing next to two other men, both blond (though one had longer and messier hair) and talking about something. Again, Eren caught the word "titan" but very little else.

"Hello everybody!" Hanji's voice was loud and they smiled broadly as everyone turned around. Their enthusiasm was countered by Eren's increasing discomfort as he realized who one of the men was.

Holy fuck. Commander Handsome.

"Erwin! I found a new subject for my research on the physiological responses related to extensive exposure to stressors related to superhero-supervillain dynamics." They continued to smile brightly even as the man (I guess Erwin is Commander Handsome!?) furrowed his brows as he stared back.

"Hanji..."

"I think this is going to be really useful. Or at least interesting. Very interesting."

"Hanji."

"He could really provide a breakthrough in a field that gets minimal attention due to its relatively small subject group."

"Hanji."

"He was there when we picked up those two so I can question them and look at it from both sides of the experience."

"You were there with the two members of Titan?" Erwin turned towards Eren, his gaze sharpened and he looked at him intently. "Do you remember anything that they said while you were with them?"

Holy crap. Commander Handsome is talking to me. He's actually interested in what I have to say. I'm not really a fan of the Captain America type, but damn he is good looking. Shut up, Jaeger. Answer the damn question.

"Yeah, it was a little difficult to hear what they were saying. I really only caught a sentence or two. Honestly, they mostly ignored me."

"Hmm. Would you mind talking with me about it?"

"Um... yeah? Sure!" Eren felt the need to stand up a little straighter when he was talking with the other man. "Could I ask you some questions as well? We hadn't heard anything about them until just last night and they hurt my sister pretty badly. Armin was hoping that you could give us some information."

Four sets of eyes were on him and Eren felt like he was burning up from the gaze of one of them. Erwin was looking at him, evaluating his request against what they could possibly gain from what he had to say about his own interaction with Titan.

"His sister is Red Scarf, since the brat can't seem to be bothered to add that bit of information." Eren flushed a bright red at Levi's comment.

Fuck, I should have mentioned that first.

"Doesn't Red Scarf patrol the West Side of the city?" Erwin was looking at Mike now, concern evident on his face.

"Mmph." Mike gave a curt nod.

"So they're expanding their operations north and west."

Everyone remained silent. Eren didn't know anything about Titan but he could tell from the tone of Erwin's voice and the looks on their faces that this was in no way a good thing. Erwin looked lost in thought, staring down slightly and to his right.

"I believe that an exchange in information would be beneficial to all parties involved."