Chapter 3: Reunion

The day before

Eren follows Levi into the castle, they had returned from the city. A quite day off before the new soldiers would arrive. Both knew that Erwin would make them teach the soldiers in the 3DM gear, so they used this last day for a date as Eren would call it. Levi isn't sure he would name their trip to the city a date. They got his favourite tea, had lunch and took a walk in the park. They didn't wear their uniforms and could pretend to be normal citizen of Trost. Sometimes they do that, pretending. It makes Eren feel free and Levi calm when they pretend that the city isn't surrounded by walls and the danger of being eaten wouldn't exist.

But they never forget, not completely. The calling of freedom and a future is always there and it takes a lot out of them to forget their worries. Since they had joined up, they achieved to live under the blue sky, nothing more. Out there is still an enemy to fight and Eren wants to kill all the titans. When they are gone he can go out and be free. Levi´s hand in his tells him that he wouldn't be alone outside and it makes all the doubts that he might have disappear.

Tomorrow Eren has to face another source of worry. Armin and Mikasa. They would join the Survey Corps and he has to face them. It isn't the fact that he will be their superior or their trainer. Eren has changed. No, not changed, he had become who he really is. The monster that longs for freedom and would walk over bodies, drink the blood of his enemies or sell his soul when it gets him to this goal. They knew him from before the underground city, at least Armin and Eren isn't sure how to act around him.

"What is going on in that head of yours?" Levi asks and pulls Eren out of his thoughts. Confused green eyes meet grey ones.

"I … I don't know how to act around Armin." Eren confesses and finally notice that they had returned to the castle without him noticing.

"Don't act at all. You are you. The you, you are now is the one that should be out there showing off your skills, smiling and laughing as much as you want and destroy everything that´s in the way of your dreams." Levi doesn't smile and his eyes tell Eren that he is worried about him. Levi always pretends not to worry, that he doesn't care but Eren can always read between the lines.

Eren searches his hand out to take Levi´s and he gets them squeezed just enough to let him feel alive and whole and at the right place. It takes so little to let Eren feel at home at the man´s side. They follow the hall down to their shared room and as the door closes behind them is Eren pulled into a long, deep kiss that let all the worries disappear. Levi buried his hand in Eren´s hair and places the other on the back of his neck. Although his breath had been taken away Eren answers the kiss and deepen it. His hands wander under Levi´s shirt and he feels the older man´s breath hitch under his touch.

Suddenly there is a knock at the door and bock break apart, breathless, heavy breathing fills the small space between them. Their pupils blown wide, hairs messy and cheeks flashed. "How is it." Levi asks as he is the first one to recover enough to talk.

"Open up. I have the list of new recruits for you, their files and Erwins intended timetable for the next week." Hanji, Eren growls but steps back from the door, tries to fix his hair while Levi opens the door. Hanji storms in like always, clearly oblivious to what she just interrupted. "Hey, how was your trip, did you get your favourite tea?" She puts the files on the desk and turns around, taking in the two men. "Oh, did I interrupt something. I just saw you return and wanted to give you the files as soon as possible."

"Are you done?" Levi asks, she nods with a bride smile. "Good, than leave. We are busy." Levi holds open the door and she seems to get the hind.

"Enjoy the night together." She singsongs down the hall.

"She is such a mood killer." Eren comments as he looks at the files on the desk, work. Sometimes he hates it but better then Levi, he always hates paperwork. Behind him Levi starts to laugh, a small and quiet laugh, reserved for Eren alone.

"You could say that." Levi stands next to Eren and opens another file. "Don't be ashamed of who you are." The file that lays open in front of Eren is the one of Armin Alert. "You are my monster and together we will take over this world. We will pull down the walls and kill the titans. We will get our freedom and we will live until we reached our goal." Eren lifts his eyes from the information covered page.

"I´m your monster and you are my demon." They look at each other. "The future and the world will be ours." A promise they give each other every night when they climb into the same bed, share the same blanket and feel the warmth of life from the other body next to them.

Their lips meet, a softer kiss, filled with love and emotion, not as heated as the kiss from before but sweeter. Files forgotten and fears dismissed Eren pulls Levi down to the bed. They aren't really tired but Eren needs a good cuddle and Levi always delivers the best. Wrapped up in each others arms they fall asleep.

Presents

The next day starts too early for Eren´s liking. Still wrapped in Levi´s warm arms he fights the sun that finds it´s way inside the room. Today he will meet Armin and Mikasa again. They will be all grown up, they will be soldiers like him and he will teach them and go out to fight the titans with them together. There is still this small voice of doubt in his mind that couldn't be silenced by Levi or anyone else.

Will they still look at him as a human or will they only see the monster he had embraced as he got the branding. Eren takes a deep breath. He isn't that small boy anymore. He is a soldier and he will fight, with everything to survive and make sure his friends do too. The monster will not be tamed, for no one because the monster keeps them all alive.

He feels Levi´s breathing change. "We should look at the files before we face our new recruits." Eren turns around hin Levi´s arms and kisses him good morning. "Good morning, sunshine." Levi growls, he doesn't want to get out of the warm bed, never does and it reminds Eren of a cat that had claimed his place.

"We have to be the responsible ones, remember, we are the teacher. We can´t be late or Erwin let us clean the stables together with the new recruits."

"Fine." Levi grumbles and gets up.

Hours later they look at the new recruits, all of them forced into silence by Eren´s blunt answer to the soldier's question. He feels Levi beside him fighting a laugh at the faces in front of them. "Good than let's start with the training. Everyone get your gear ready." Eren calls out and he sees Armin and Mikasa do as he asks. Like everyone else. He will be questioned later by them but right now they are like all the others. Ready to learn from the two best and most skilled soldiers the Survey Corps has to offer.