"You told me you're from the Underground."

Last night he had hoped that Eren wouldn't remember him asking about his past, but when he'd woken up this morning he realized that what he really regretted mentioning was that he was from the Underground. He still couldn't believe that he had mentioned that. Trust the kid to remember that without any prompting.

Levi stared impassively at Eren; this wasn't a conversation he wanted to be having and it definitely wasn't a topic suited for a diner. If he was honest with himself, a diner was one of the most ill-advised locations to bring Eren if he was going to talk to him about what he had originally intended. He had bargained with himself over it; he wanted hot food that wasn't pre-packaged and he owed Eren something for last night. If he'd felt guilt last night as he went to sleep, it was nothing compared to what hit him when Hanji woke him up. The realization that he had told Erwin something that had been said to him not necessarily in confidence, but certainly not in a manner that implied that he could say anything to someone else. He was still turning over just why he had told Erwin. He knew that Hanji was right, he did feel empathy for the kid – more than he really wanted to admit – and him telling Erwin was sort of strange 'fuck you' to a man who couldn't fully comprehend just how difficult it could be to talk about your past. A strange attempt to explain just how messed up the kid was and why.

No matter how focused on his own thoughts he was, he couldn't ignore the kid's gaze practically boring a hole in his head.

"Yes, I did. I also told you to drop it."

"You're the one who brought it up then to begin with."

"I shouldn't have."

"But you did."

"I'm not having this argument again."

"So how did you get me to back off last night?" Eren grinned at him. "We both know I'm a tenacious fuck so what the hell did you say to get me to back off. Say it again and I might."

His tone was teasing but Levi couldn't bring himself to even keep his frown in place. All expression dropped off of his face like water slopped at a window. He spoke, keeping his voice as affectless as his face.

"There's nobody else that can tell you about my past because they're all dead."

"Oh. Yeah." Eren's expression went from teasing to uncomfortable in a fraction of a second. "That would shut me up pretty quick."

"It did."

They both sat and picked at their food somewhat awkwardly.

Okay, I wanted the kid to back off but I didn't mean to fuck him up again. But I guess he understands what that sort of loss is like, maybe even deals with it similarly. If repression were an Olympic sport…

He looked at Eren and watched him a moment longer.

Yeah, definitely repression or he wouldn't be so pissed at Erwin.

"So, there's an actual reason that I asked you to come to breakfast."

"You mean besides buying me apology breakfast?"

"Guilt is a hell of a thing."

"Why did you ask me to eat with you then? Besides guilt that is." He watched as Levi grimaced and looked like he was dealing with some sort of inner conflict. He waited patiently for it to pass.

"I think you have a right to know what's going on and not be completely in the dark. I don't think it helps you any if you know fuck-all about the situation right now."

"So you're just going to tell me everything?"

"I can only tell you what I know, but yes – everything."

"I'm getting the feeling that you're doing this without asking Erwin first." Eren's mood shifted and he was grinning at Levi.

"You have a right to know. It's your ass on the line right now."

"And it's a cute ass, isn't it?" A mischievous smile met Levi's glare and faltered.

"Don't push your fucking luck, kid."

I don't need this. This was an awful idea. Why the hell did I ask him to go to breakfast with me? Kid, I may feel guilty but I'm sure as hell not going to fuck you.

"I was joking, Levi." No you fucking weren't. "Jesus, wake up on the wrong side of the bed?"

"I got about four hours of sleep on a shitty couch after questioning our favorite practically-a-dead-end stalker last night."

"So… what did you find out then? That's what you wanted to talk about, yeah?"

"He's not the same shadow as the one that was around the night you were with your friends."

"The night you showed up?"

"Yeah."

"So there's someone else out there?"

"Was. We're pretty damn certain he's dead."

"Why do you think he's dead?"

"They were both with the Military Police from what he said and I can't imagine that they would have people rotating trying to get a hold of you. Ideally a shadow trying to capture you knows your habits and swapping people out constantly makes that pretty damn difficult."

"You said that you and Hanji were swapping off shadowing me."

"It's ended up being pretty much just me. Hanji just got a ton of shit that they need to research thrown at them that they're trying to get through. And even if we were rotating we're not trying to capture you so there's a lot of shit that we don't have to care about."

"Like what?"

"I don't need to know that you usually eat cereal for breakfast and roughly when you've run out so that I can nab you while you're out grocery shopping."

"Do you actually know that I eat cereal almost every morning or was that a stab in the dark?"

"You're a college kid, I expect you to not be able to cook and eat like shit. I bet you even eat Lucky Charms."

"Okay first off, I can cook really well, I just don't always have the time. Second… I prefer Cocoa Krispies." Eren paused a moment and a thoughtful look crossed his face. "Does that tell you anything useful about me if you were trying to kidnap me?"

"Maybe." Levi shrugged. "But probably not. Either way, you wouldn't have multiple people wandering around trying to kidnap the same person so we're pretty sure that this first shadow was dead, especially since he apparently 'skipped town' or some shit. We can only assume that it was the Titans who took out the first guy."

"You don't know anything more than that?"

"About why the Military Police are after you as well? Unfortunately, no. Not only was last night was the first night he was shadowing, he also didn't know shit. Presumably because his predecessor met an untimely end and they didn't want any potential leaks."

"What about whoever was watching the night Hanji picked me up from the lab building? I know that there was someone there even if I couldn't see them."

"Whoever that was… well, they weren't Military Police. The first person they had after you was clumsy as fuck so I can't imagine that they would have been able to keep themselves that well out of sight that Hanji oryou wouldn't notice them."

"Hanji and Mike checked out the area the next day and found nothing useful. So that's a shitty dead end as well."

"You know, you're really just telling me that you don't know shit."

"Exactly."

"What the hell does 'exactly' mean?"

"That even we don't know what the fuck is going on and you need to keep an eye out and not do anything stupid."

"Great. Super useful. Thanks, Levi." Eren huffed and crossed his arms as he leaned back further into the booth.

"And Erwin's been hounding you about Grisha." He heard the small growl that Eren made and chose to ignore it. "Even I'm a bit in the dark on that, he's keeping his cards close to his chest and I'm not too thrilled about that myself." He watched as Eren sat up and moved closer to the table, a bit more interested in what Levi had to say.

Erwin probably doesn't want him knowing much more but fuck it, he has a right to know.

"I can only really say that Erwin is pushing pretty hard to find out just what your father was working on before he left. I know it can't be easy to talk about your past, but give us something to work with. Stonewalling us does nothing to help your situation or ours. If you'd prefer to write things down rather than talk then do that."

"Yeah, that might work better but then I have to look at what I'm writing and I really don't want a physical reminder, even if I am handing it over straight to you guys."

"So then record yourself talking, I really don't give a shit." He watched Eren fidget and shift around in his seat a bit, looking down at his hands and cracking his knuckles.

"Would it be okay if I talked it over with you? I'm not really comfortable with Erwin or Mike and Hanji would probably start talking about something random, wouldn't they?"

"Hanji is a very good listener when they want to be. Sometimes they just get carried away. I'll see when Hanji is free."

"Didn't I just say that I was more comfortable talking to you?" He could see the muscles near his jaw tense as Eren grit his teeth.

"Yes, and I think it would be better if you talked to Hanji."

"What, don't want to be around me because I have a crush on you? Which by the way, I'm an adult and I can separate that out if I need to, asshole." His voice was rising in volume now.

Fucking hell, kid. Don't cause a fucking scene.

"Keep your voice down, brat. And I'm saying you should talk to Hanji because they're a better listener than I am and a hell of a lot more tactful." He sighed and continued. "But if it would make you feel more comfortable then I can be there too."

I don't need this empathetic bullshit.