Fleeing Again

Levi awoke to a familiar warmth and comfort. As many times as he'd shared a bed with Eren, he'd grown used to the feeling. More than that, he'd grown to appreciate and enjoy the feeling, but never so much as this morning. He was laying half on Eren, using the younger's shoulder as a pillow. One wing was draped over them both like a heated blanket. He usually just got out of bed and started his day as soon as he woke up, but today, for the first time in his life, Levi took the time to enjoy and truly appreciate the comfort of the person beside him.

His hand was warm where it rested against Eren's chest, and he could hear the strong, steady heartbeat. Eren's chest rose and fell slightly with each soft breath he took. Levi looked up at the sleeping man's face. He took in the long, brown lashes that rested on his soft cheeks and the slightly parted and oh so tempting pink lips. His chin was rough and lightly shadowed with the beginnings of stubble. He eventually lay his head back on Eren's shoulder, debating whether or not he wanted to go back to sleep. He was about to drift off to sleep when he felt a pair of soft lips kiss the top of his head.

"G'morinin'," came the sleepy greeting.

Levi lifted his head to look down at his smiling lover. "Mornin'."

Eren stretched out his body with a happy groan, then cocked his head to the side when he looked back up at Levi who was smiling down at him with his silver eyes filled with love. His eyes and his smile widened. "You should smile more often," Eren commented. "It's beautiful."

Levi hadn't even realized he'd been smiling. "Look what you do to me," he chuckled.

"I like it," Eren replied as he stretched again.

"You know, we should probably get dressed and head back to the lodge," Levi suggested. "Preferably before my meddling mother comes looking for us and finds us laying here naked."

Eren's eyes widened. "Or worse still, sends my mother to find us!"

"Even worse, they both come."

The two men looked at each other for a moment, horrified by the possibilities. They then both got up and pulled on their clothes as fast as they could. "It's still early," Levi stated as he looked at his watch before putting it on. "Maybe we can sneak in without anyone seeing us."

"I'm pretty sure I left the balcony door open in the bedroom. You could fly us up there to get in," Eren suggested.

"Good idea," Levi agreed.

The problem was, when they got there, someone had closed and locked the door. "Mother," Levi growled. "She did that on purpose. She wants to catch us going in. Normally a lock wouldn't be an issue, but I don't usually carry my lock picking tools with me when I'm here."

"You carry lock picking tools?"

"Useful things to any hero. They're good for breaking in to villain facilities; breaking in to a home to save someone who's incapacitated and can't come unlock the door; breaking in to Hange's apartment pigsty to clean."

Eren snorted. "Armin said Hange's place was a federal disaster area. It took him and Mika over an hour just to get to the bed in the guest room and then another hour to get everything off it."

"Sounds about right," Levi grunted. He glared at the door handle, laid hold of it and commanded, "Let me pass." There was a soft click and he turned the handle and stepped into the room.

"That. Was cool." Eren exclaimed as he followed Levi inside.

The two men went through their normal morning routines then left the room to go to breakfast like they always did. They came down the stairs to the entry hall to find, as expected, both mothers standing, facing the doors waiting.

"G'morning, Mom," Levi said has he started down the stairs. "Are we expecting to have visitors?"

Both women whirled around in surprise and then disappointment. "Oh. Good morning, Levi. Good morning, Eren. No, no visitors. Carla and I were just discussing . . ." Kuchel drifted off.

"Um . . . how to get rid of the aphids on the roses on the veranda." Carla finished.

Levi raised an eyebrow as he reached the bottom of the stairs. "I don't recall seeing any roses on the veranda."

"Maybe she meant the garden," Eren suggested helpfully. "But I don't remember seeing any aphids on the roses, though. And I was there yesterday."

"Are you two okay?" Levi asked. "You're acting pretty strange this morning."

"No!" they both yelped a little too quickly.

Levi and Eren looked at each other, shrugged and headed for the kitchen. "I need caffeine," Levi announced.

"Me too," Eren concurred. "Lots of caffeine."

As the four sat around the table, worshipping their coffees, Eren spoke up. "Kuchel, I need to thank you for the suggestion of a bath in the meditation pool. It worked wonders for me. Slept like a baby last night."

"You went to the meditation pool last night?" Levi asked, keeping his signature bored expression. "Huh. Musta just missed each other."

The completely deflated expression on their mothers' faces was priceless.

"Okay, you two are acting really weird this morning," Eren confronted. "All of a sudden you look like we kicked your puppy or something."

"Mother," Levi said dangerously. "Did you send Eren out to the pool for less than innocent reasons?"

Kuchel was the picture of feigned innocence. "What ever do you mean?"

"Mother."

Kuchel sighed in defeat. "Alright. I had hoped the Eren would find you out there. I hoped you would both finally acknowledge your feelings for each other."

"Meddlesome," Levi accused dryly.

"I'm a mother," Kuchel deadpanned. "It's in the job description."

Eren was trying desperately not to laugh and give up the game. But he wasn't good enough to fool his mother. "Kuchel, I do believe your little scheme worked," Carla ratted.

Eren's eyes widened as everyone suddenly looked at him. Levi shook his head with a faint smirk. "You'd be a shitty poker player," he told the younger.

Eren hung his head. "Yeah. I can't lie worth shit either."

Both men jumped when a high-pitched squeal pierced the air. "FINALLY!" Kuchel yelled triumphantly as she rushed around the table and crushed both Levi and Eren in a victory hug. "I'm so happy for you!" Neither man knew how to respond to the tearfully overjoyed woman. It became even more awkward when Carla added herself to the already suffocating embrace.

"Okay. Okay. I'd kinda like to breathe now," Levi said in a strained gasp.

Kuchel whacked her son on the back of the head when she released him. "Frickin' took you long enough!"

"Yeah. Whatever," Levi grumbled.

"Geez, Mom," Eren wheezed. "Never thought you'd be so excited that I got boyfriend instead of a girlfriend."

"You can't help who you fall in love with, dear," Carla told him. "And it's never wrong to love."

Eren smiled in relief. "Thanks, Mom."

"So. I hear Eren's taking it up the ole poop chute," Oluo stated as he strode into the kitchen with the other household members.

"OLUO!" Petra squawked as she pinched his ear hard. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

"What makes you assume I'd be on the bottom?" Eren asked indignantly.

"More importantly, don't you all know that eavesdropping outside the kitchen door is rude?" Levi added. "But if you must know about our private sex lives, Eren is a phenomenal top."

Everyone's jaw dropped at the bluntly crass statement. Levi smirked wickedly and Eren almost fell under the table laughing at the dumb looks they were getting. Levi drank down the last of his coffee an stood up. "Well. That's enough fun for now. Let's get on with your training now, shall we?"

Eren wiped tears of laughter from his eyes and followed Levi from the kitchen. "Sounds great," he said weakly as he tried to stop laughing.

Kuchel and Carla stood in the kitchen door as the men went outside to train. "Our moms are pretty awesome, aren't they?" Eren commented, unaware that said moms could hear.

Levi smiled in spite of himself. "Yeah. They are."


More days of training followed. But there was also plenty of time spent just enjoying each other's company. It was a completely knew experience for Levi, being so completely free and relaxed around another person; being in love. He especially enjoyed time spent just holding, or being held by Eren, who clearly enjoyed the same.

Sex was particularly fun as they experimented with each other and spent endless hours exploring each other's bodies, learning just what turned the other on. "You know," Eren started after three rounds of sex with Levi topping for the middle round. "You're so dominant in everything that you do and so totally alpha-male in your personality, that it's no wonder Oluo assumed that I bottomed. It's kinda hard to believe that you would want to be the submissive one in sex."

Levi chuckled. "I suppose you have a good point. I've always been a bit of a control freak. Sex is the one thing where I want to just let go and let someone else have control and make all the decisions. It's the primary reason why I've always been so selective about my partners. I've only ever had four partners in my whole life. I have to really trust someone before I have sex with them. I have to trust them in order to let them take control."

Eren sat up to look down at Levi. "Wait. What are Erwin and Hange going to say? Aren't you currently with them?"

"That's more of a friends-with-benefits relationship," Levi said. "It's just sex; nothing more. We're friends and we trust each other. That's my only real criteria. Until you came along, love never entered the equation. Now that I have you, I won't need to go to them for . . . relief."

Eren's eyebrows went up. "Wow. That's cold."

Levi reached up to flick Eren's forehead. "Okay. That came out wrong. You know I suck at expressing myself. Basically, they're both smart people, so I'm sure they knew what was between us before even I did. Especially Hange. They've always been particularly in tune with my emotions, even if I denied having them."

"I'm okay with sharing if that's what you're worried about," Eren stated. "Just for sex, that is."

Levi chuckled. "While I appreciate the sentiment, the fact is that sex with those two, while it was great, would be rather unsatisfactory now. Now that I've been with you and I now know how beautiful sex can be when combined with love, I can never go back." His lips pulled into a sly smile. "Guess you've ruined me for everyone else."

Eren's smile was blinding. "I can live with that. I may be willing to share, but I'm glad I don't have to." He leaned in and kissed the older man passionately. "Honestly, I was afraid I wouldn't stack up very well to your past experiences. I mean, I had no experience at all."

Levi's eyes widened. "Wait. I was your first fuck?"

Eren bit his lower lip and nodded. "I just never connected enough to anyone that made me feel like going all the way. I guess that's kind of messed up."

"Not at all. Lots of people are demisexual."

"Demisexual?"

"Yeah. Means you need to have an emotional connection to someone before you can feel sexual attraction," Levi explained. "I guess I'm kind of the same way, since I need to really trust a friend before I feel any kind of sexual attraction. Now that I have love, however, friendship and trust just aren't enough anymore."

They settled back in for post-sex cuddling for a while, until Levi decided they both needed a shower before going to sleep. As they showered, Eren was deep in thought. "What's on your mind?" Levi finally asked.

"How do you think things are going back in Mitras? I mean, we've been here for the past three weeks and haven't heard anything."

Levi paused in drying himself off. "Honestly, I don't know. I've been keeping mental tabs on Hange and Erwin, and neither of them have had any unusual distress, but things are definitely strained back there."

"We should tell them what the Fates told you, and what Ilse learned about the Super clones." Just to be a brat, Eren lightly ran his index finger up Levi's spine from the top of his ass cleft to the nape of his neck.

"You little shit," Levi growled, though the growl couldn't be taken very seriously since he was also chuckling as a mass of goose bumps erupted across his entire body. "And you're right. We should. Erwin told me to wait until he sent for me, but now that I know how to create a portal, I could take us back directly into headquarters without being seen."

"Should I start packing?" Eren asked as he began to dry off.

Levi took Eren's towel away and pushed him back towards the shower. "We'll leave tomorrow. For now, I'm thinking you need to fuck me against the shower wall." He pointed down at his rapidly hardening phallus. "You need to take responsibility for doing this to me with that spine tickle."

Eren obligingly lifted Levi up by the thighs and pressed the smaller man to the shower wall with his own body. "Gladly."


Hange, Erwin, I'm about to create a portal into the common room. Make sure everyone is out of the way and doesn't attack us when we come through, Levi sent telepathically.

Alright, Levi. We're ready, Hange responded.

Levi turned to his mother and gave her a hug. "I may be back, depending on what Erwin has decided. Thank you for letting us stay here."

Kuchel hugged him back. "Of course, dear. You know you're welcome anytime. Eren too."

"I love you, Mom. I don't say it nearly enough. Thanks for everything."

Kuchel squeezed her son a little tighter. "I love you too, Levi. More than anything."

They separated and Levi looked back to where Eren was hugging his own mother goodbye. "It's time to go."

Eren separated from his mother and went over to where Levi stood. "Thank you for everything, Kuchel. Especially for helping Mom."

"You're very welcome, Eren. You two take care of each other. Remember, you need each other in order to succeed against Titan," Kuchel said.

Levi nodded in acknowledgement, then held out his right hand. A bright light filled the area on the veranda as the portal opened. Without another word, Levi and Eren stepped through.

Both men froze in their tracks the instant they stepped out the other side and the portal collapsed behind them. "Holy shit!" Eren exclaimed.

Not two inches from where they both stopped, stood Hange, a crazed look of open fascination in their bespectacled eyes. "What the fuck, Four-eyes?!" Levi snapped. "Are you trying to get run over?"

Hange never moved, but let out a long, breathy, "Wowwwww."

Levi stepped around the lunatic. "Nice to see you too," he snarked.

"Oo! Oo! Oo! How'd you do that? How'd you do that?" they asked excitedly as they followed him over to one of the sofas.

"Magic," he replied flatly as he dropped his backpack on the floor and flopped down onto the sofa.

"Cooooooooool!"

Eren shook his head in amusement as he went to sit beside Levi.

"Where's Eyebrows?" Levi asked.

"He's upstairs at work," Hange replied. "Everyone else is asleep."

"Figures. We need to talk to him. I found out a few hints about the heads of Titan."

"Did the Prophet finally see something?" Hange asked.

"No. She still can't see anything, but the Fates gave me a few insights."

"The Fates. As in the three weaver women, Greek mythology Fates?" Hange's eyes were wide with curiosity.

"Sort of. But they're nothing like the ancient myths. There's a maiden, a mother and an old woman. They don't decide our fates or destinies, though. There are many roads to reach our individual destinies, but because everything we do affects everyone around us, they make sure that the threads of our lives all weave together flawlessly so that the fabric of destiny doesn't unravel."

"And you talked to them? You actually met them?"

"Yep. Multiple times over multiple lives, apparently. This was the first time in this life, though," Levi explained as he laid back on the top of the sofa. "My soul is what remembered them and the reason I got it into my head to go see them and how to get there."

"You mean that really cool portal thing you came here with?" Hange surmised.

"Yeah. They wouldn't give me any details, of course, but they did give me a few hints and, more importantly, hope."

"What hints?"

"For one, the reason we're having so much trouble finding the head of Titan is that there's more than one. All wealthy and all with considerable power and influence. However, there is only one weakness. There is one person that somehow holds the entire organization together. Take out that one and the entire organization goes up in smoke." Levi chose to leave out the part about the "evil" that was truly behind everything and about having to fight this battle again in 2,000 years.

"So?" Hange asked impatiently. "Who is this weakness?"

Levi laid his head back against the back of the sofa and closed is eyes. "Didn't say. Only that they're closer than we think and to 'look up'."

"Look up?"

Levi just sat staring at the ceiling. Then his brow slowly furrowed, and he sat up a little straighter, still looking up at the ceiling. "Look up," he said distractedly. Suddenly he looked at Hange. "What do we know about the owner/CEO of Wellington Tech? Didn't he buy up 80% of the stock in the company ten years ago?"

Hange looked confused for a moment, then looked at the ceiling along with Eren. Realization dawned on the two at the same time. "Look up. You think it's possible?"

"Closer than we think and look up. I think it's very possible," Levi confirmed.

"I thought Marley inherited Wellington Tech when his father was killed in that train wreck ten years ago," Eren stated.

"That's partially true," Hange said. "He inherited a sizeable number of stocks from his father, but not enough to have a controlling interest. Marley owns stock in a large number of companies around the globe, so it wasn't much for him to buy up enough stock to take primary ownership of Well-Tech."

"As I recall, that train wreck was never properly explained. I remember that incident. I was there helping with the rescue. Not that there were many alive to rescue," Levi added. "Unofficially, the derailment was caused by a rail coming loose and shifting out of alignment, and when that high-speed train hit that gap it just went flying everywhere. One of the cars ended up on one of the overpass bridges which caused a 37-car pileup since it happened at evening rush. Thing is, they never were able to explain why the rail came loose. From what I saw, the spikes were missing completely; not even laying near the track. Looked to me like someone removed the spikes on purpose, but it was never investigated. Officially, they just blamed the engineer and called it operator error, and since the engineer was dead, there was no one to contest that."

Hange shook their head. "287 people died in that wreck. Another 13 were killed up on the overpass. There were 322 people on the train to begin with. Normally, a wealthy guy like Arlo Wellington wouldn't be on a commuter train, but it was to prove a new traffic tracking technology would help traffic controllers with coordinating trains and avoiding collisions between them. He was in the front with the engineer and four city officials when the accident occurred."

"You really think Marley would have orchestrated his own father's death just to gain control of Wellington?" Eren questioned in disbelief.

"It's possible. People commit murder for less. But we have no proof. Just like we have no proof that the Shiganshina riots were to trap your father in the city. It's all strictly circumstantial coincidence," Levi told him. "Thing is, this guy has control of a lot of large companies around the world. Take him out, and a lot of those companies would collapse without his support, including Wellington. From what I understand, he has no heirs."

"If he is really with Titan, and he finds out who Erwin really is . . ." Hange started.

"Or he knows already, which would explain how Titan found our old headquarters. He could have traced Erwin somehow," Levi finished. "It's all just theory, though I still think it's an avenue worth pursuing. Better to err on the side of caution."

"Right," Hange agreed. "I'll go see what I can dig up on Marley Wellington before Erwin get's back. Maybe I should check Keith Shadis, the company president too, seeing as he's Erwin's boss. We should check Erwin for tracking devices when he gets here. If we find one, we'll have to leave this headquarters too."

Levi groaned. "What an absolute shit show."


To say Erwin was surprised when he stepped into headquarters to have Hange smack their palm against his forehead and hold it there would be an immense understatement. "Um, Hange? I'm pretty sure I don't have a fever."

"Ha ha," they replied dryly as they turned to Levi. "I was right. He's got a whole host of nanomachines in him."

Erwin's eyebrows went up in surprise. "I beg you're pardon? And what are you doing back, Levi?"

"Long story," Levi replied. He proceeded to explain everything that he had discussed with Hange. He was thankful everyone else was awake and gathered in the common room so that he wouldn't have to explain things a third time. I hate having to repeat myself.

Everyone turned pale when the theory of Marley Wellington being a linchpin in Titan and of Titan finding out Erwin was The Commander. "So that's why the check for some kind of tracking tech," Erwin surmised.

"That's right," Hange confirmed. "I can easily disable the machines, but since Titan knows we're here, they may attack if the machines are disabled before we're ready to leave. Thankfully, all they can do is track you. They can't attack you or relay anything other than your location."

"How the devil did they get a pile of nanomachines inside the Commander?" Ymir asked.

"I probably ingested them. Marley is fond of serving drinks at high end meetings and social gatherings. Who knows how long they've been tracking me?" Erwin replied.

"Okay, so how'd they know that Erwin Smith and The Commander are one and the same?" Ymir followed up.

"That I don't know," Erwin admitted. He held his head in his hands and groaned. "Very well. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to fry this facility and move to Site C. Levi, we'll need you to create a portal to Site C for us to use. It's the only way to ensure Titan can't track us. You, me and Hange will be the last ones to go through the portal. Hange, you'll fry the nanomachines right before I step through the portal. We'll figure out how this happened and what to do from there once we're settled in."

Everyone nodded and set about gathering up everything they were taking with them and destroying that which they had to leave behind. Once everything was set, Levi created a portal to the Site C, for which only he, Krista, Ymir, Hange and Erwin knew the exact location. Once everything and everyone else was through, Hange stood in front of Erwin. "Um . . . you're probably gonna feel this. I've never fried anything that was inside someone before, so I'm not sure how it's gonna go. You'll have to tell me what you feel. You know, if it hurts or tickles or makes you dizzy. Oh! And pay attention to any odd symptoms, such as nausea, headache, heart palpitations, MMMMPH!"

"Just shut the fuck up and do it already you freaky geek!" Levi scolded as he covered their mouth. "UGH! Fucking gross!" he yelped as they lapped his hand and he yanked back as if burned.

"Killjoy," Hange accused. They placed their hand on Erwin's forehead. Levi knew the deed was done when the large blond jumped and let out a high-pitched yelping laugh. Hange was ecstatic. "Oo, oo, oo! What'd it feel like? What – HEY!"

"Ask him later!" Levi told them as he shoved both through the portal, going through right behind. The portal closed the instant he was through the other side. "Okay, four eyes. Now you can ask your twenty gazillion questions."

Instead of bombarding Erwin, however, Hange turned to where the portal once was and bombarded Levi instead. "Woooooooah! That was soooo cool! How do you do that? Are you bending space? Or maybe cutting through another dimension . . ." Levi just rolled his eyes and proceeded to ignore their endless onslaught of questions. Erwin just looked relieved to have been spared; at least temporarily.