Levi Has A Pet
Summary: Levi has a pet, an unusual one, but it's a pet and he likes it with all of his dark little heart. It's small, undemanding and, most of all, clean. But it's a blast from the past and when word gets out, everyone wants it. Levi has to make sure his unique pet remains his and free. Eren, already done with this BS 2000 years ago, gets dragged into it. He's not complaining, despite his complaining.
It's been three weeks since Levi Ackerman and his pet Hallucigenia unofficially moved in with his two former subordinates when a confused Eren Jaeger wandered into the living room with his laptop in his hands and an uncertain air about him. Levi and Armin, who had been feeding their 'pet' - well, Armin was a bit more preoccupied with making notes on every single thing the Cambrian animal did, really, while Levi just went through his usual routine of feeding the thing; Armin had been very impressed and a bit freaked out when Levi demonstrated the origins of the Titans' ravenous hunger for human flesh by feeding the Hallucigenia the dust he'd collected from around the house during his usual cleaning sprees - immediately sealed the container shut and turned their full attention to the brunet who moved to sit by Levi on their lone but big and comfy couch that they took turns on sleeping every night.
It had taken them no time at all to get used to living together, considering they had been doing it for years two thousand years ago. They created a cooking and couch-sleeping schedule so everyone would be comfortable but Levi had insisted that he takes over most of the house chores, since not only was he living out of the two young men's pockets, but he was also at the moderately sized apartment practically all the time with nothing better to do than watch trashy TV shows in a language he didn't understand or read books Armin and Eren had brought with them from their home countries. The only other thing he would have to do would be to stare at the Hallucigenia all day long and that had gotten boring after a few hours back when he was seven and first found the thing.
Though he has taken note that it's started acting differently since he moved in with Eren and Armin and he can only guess it was because of Eren himself. He'd been its last inherited host or whatever. And the Hallucigenia had only ever been proactive when it came to protecting Eren, or rather itself perhaps, while it had been inside Eren? It was weird. Even Eren was weirded out by it. Eren made sure to spend as little time around the thing, especially alone, as he could help it. It can't be helped when it starts that awful hissing sound, but it has remained overall friendly to their new roommates. It still preferred Levi and Eren over Armin, but it had warmed up to him, too, so there's that.
"Is something wrong, Eren?" Armin asked once the brunet was seated but didn't say anything for a whole minute straight. The blond and raven exchanged a look, both knowing Eren's silence usually meant trouble.
This time, though, that didn't seem to be the case.
"I just got an invitation to a science fair sort of thing. In Tokyo. By Hange-san," he said, showing them the screen of his laptop and said digital invitation attached in an email. "I think she remembers, because I have yet to do anything noteworthy in any science field for them to invite me to this thing. It's one of the biggest gatherings of genius scientific minds in the world and it's held only once every three years. Besides, she gave me two additional tickets, not one, as people usually do. Clearly, she's expecting me to bring Armin and Mikasa. Boy, is she going to get the shock of her life when she sees you, huh, Heichou," he joked, but he still sounded a bit disturbed, perhaps? Then again, someone had just tracked him down by unknown means and sent him an email invitation to an event halfway across the globe.
Then Eren looked down at Levi and the shorter man understood: Eren wasn't worried that he was so easily tracked down for himself; he was worried because he'd just realized how easily he could lead someone to Levi if he got even the slightest bit careless.
It was a cold awakening for Levi, too. In the past three weeks, he'd almost all but forgotten that he was on the run, too busy catching up with his two former comrades, getting used to sleeping in an actual bed most of the nights and cleaning. And indulging Armin's curiosity about the Hallucigenia, completely forgetting that he usually left whatever place he stopped at during his journeys after only a week at most. He'd fallen back into an old routine that could have very well turned out deadly - yes, deadly, because half of his pursuers didn't care about whether he lived or died, while the other half wanted to know how and where he found his damned shining parasite of a pet (not that the Hallucigenia is actually a parasite, but he still calls it that because it's an annoying piece of shit) - not only for him, but for Armin and Eren, too. He'll need to be careful. Perhaps a sudden trip to Japan would be good. Throw whoever might be following him off the trail and all.
"Oh, wow. I always wanted to attend one of those! But should we go?" Armin asked, directing his question more at Levi than at Eren. "I mean, we'd have to book a private flight and we don't exactly have the cash for that ... "
"And sneaking onto a plane would be damn near impossible," Eren said with a sigh, putting his laptop on the coffee table beside the Hallucigenia's container. "Besides, would it even be safe? I mean, surely the craze of this fare or convention or whatever would be none other than the Hallucigenia, right? People found out you had a living specimen two years ago, right? They've never had the chance to discuss it or compare notes or shit like that."
Armin brightened up at that. "I can't believe I currently know more about the mysterious Hallucigenia than some of the leading scientists in the world!"
"You know more than all the scientists in the world, Blondie," Levi said with a snort. "You not only read all the publications about it, you had a first row seat to see how it moved, what it does on a day to day basis, how it feeds, how it shits and everything in between. No one else had that."
"Well, besides you and me, too," Eren commented and Armin looked like he was in a happy daze. "So, back to the topic at hand: should we go? And how even would we?"
"We probably should," Levi said with a sigh, running a hand through his hair. He needs a trim. "If anyone knows anything about weird shit even remotely related to Titans, it's Hange. Besides, going to Japan so suddenly might throw off anyone trailing me off my tail."
"But then, how will we get there?" Eren asked and Armin brightened up.
"Wait! I think I remember seeing a familiar last name a while ago on the list of the top 100 most wealthy in Spain! It was near the bottom of the wealth rankings, so I caught a glimpse of it but didn't think much of it," Armin said as he took Eren's laptop and opened up google.
"One of our friends became that rich?" Eren asked, a frown on his face.
"Can't be Blouse. She'd spend all her money on food in a week," Levi commented with a snort, which earned him agreeing chuckles from the two giants he was living with. "And no offense to Springer but he doesn't exactly look like the corporate type."
"It could be their parents, for all you know," countered Eren with a grin but Levi just rolled his eyes.
"Sasha would have still eaten her parents out of house and home." Neither could argue that. "Perhaps Leonhart?"
"No, definitely not Annie," Armin said and blushed when the other two gave him knowing looks. "Ah, here it is!" He said as he pulled up the list and started scrolling. "Bingo! Kirstein, 96th spot on the list of the 100 richest families in Spain."
"Horseface!?" Eren exclaimed, utterly scandalized. Levi sniggered, earning him a betrayed look from the brunet, before he turned back to the topic at hand.
"How'd he get the money?"
"Well, I'm only assuming it's Jean, based on this," the blond replied as he showed them a web page of a horse farm: Kirstein & Bott. Levi saw nothing special in that, other than Bott not being the most Spanish surname out there, though he supposed neither was Kirstein, but the name clearly meant something to Eren, who suddenly looked both sad and happy. "I can't be sure, but I think it's Jean and Marco. I wonder if they remember?"
"Who is this Marco?" Levi finally asked. He needed to know if whoever his old subordinate's partner was reliable and trustworthy or not. He can't afford to be around someone who might want to earn an extra buck by reporting him and his little 'pet'.
"Oh, right. Heichou doesn't know him," Eren said in realization and Levi nearly rolled his eyes at him.
"Remember when Jean beat the shit out of Reiner in the forest?" Armin asked and Levi thought back on it. He did remember. He'd never seen Jean that angry before besides when Sasha died, though he'd already been overtaken by despair by the time Levi got to face his squad after their attack on Marley. But as he remembered the details of that particular night, he frowned.
"Unfortunately."
"Yeah, that Marco."
"Ah."
The silence that followed was beyond awkward. Eren and Armin seemed lost in their memories of their cadet days. Levi could only watch as grief flashed over their faces, followed by guilt. The latter was far more prominent on Eren's face than Armin's, but Armin felt guilty as well. He'd had Bertolt's memories of Marco's death but he'd never said anything. Jean and Armin had quite the argument after the war when it occurred to everyone that Armin had kept it a secret. Not even Mikasa had stood in Armin's defense, only Annie had spoken up to say anything and that had been ignored. The only reason Jean didn't test whether former Titan Shifters could still regenerate was because Levi had stopped them from arguing further. They had stopped out of respect and worry for him, as they had all walked on eggshells around Levi those first few months after the Rumbling. They had all felt guilty about the state of Humanity's Strongest while he was recovering. No matter what Levi said to reassure them, they had been brats and worried.
"Where is this farm?" Levi finally asked, figuring that they should focus on other, practical things. "How long would it take us to get there? And when is this thing happening?" The last he directed straight at Eren, who could only shrug.
"In four days. We have time to decide whether we want to go."
"Not if we're going to reserve plane tickets," pointed out Armin. "And the farm is two hours outside of Barcelona by car, to the west. Should we go now? Should we announce ourselves?"
"No," Levi answered immediately. "We'll go tomorrow and we'll just ask for Jean Kirstein. Say we're his acquaintances or something and were just passing by so we wanted to say hi. If it's Jean and if he, miraculously, remembers, we'll ask for his help. If not, we'll think of something."
"I guess that would be our safest bet," Armin hummed contemplatively. "We also don't have to be at the aquarium tomorrow. And having a definite answer will be necessary if we're going to ask for a few off days, too."
"Then it's settled!" Announced Eren, clapping his hands once. "We're visiting maybe-Horseface tomorrow, bright and early! Now, whose turn is it to sleep on the couch tonight?"
Turns out, it was Armin's, so Levi that night found himself staring up at the ceiling of Eren's room once again. Somehow, for some reason, Levi was always put to sleep in Eren's room when it's not his turn to couch-nap and Eren would simply go to sleep in Armin's room. Levi honestly didn't get why but he was glad tonight, as he couldn't sleep and Eren's ceiling was star-charted, so he gets the chance to refamilirize himself with the stars and the constellations he used to navigate the world by. Everything in the world had changed but the stars. It was the one thing not even the Rumbling could reach. It was comforting to have at least one thing remain unchangeable, though he knew that wasn't true, either. It just took far longer for the naked eye to see the changes in the cosmos because everything was so far away and even light could travel only so fast.
The Ackerman sighed as he realized he wouldn't be getting any sleep that night. It seems he's finally caught up on his two year long sleep debt and now his paranoia of being hunted down in his sleep and the Hallucigenia being taken away from him was back in full force. Thankfully, the Hallucigenia still shined as always, lighting up Eren's room in a gentle bluish white light that assured Levi more than anything that he was still somewhere safe, that his efforts in this life are not for nothing.
That didn't mean he was going to fall asleep anytime soon.
"Do you have magical sleeping powers, by any chance, you piece of crap?" He asked the Hallucigenia whose container was placed on Eren's desk by the bed. The room was small but tidy; had been tidy even before Levi and the Hallucigenia became its second inhabitants. Actually, Levi currently spent more time in Eren's room than Eren did ... Something to think about another time. Or never.
The Hallucigenia stared at him with its weird purple eyes.
Levi stared back.
The Hallucigenia stared some more.
Levi snorted. "Guess not. You're a bit useless when it's not about Titans and Ackermans, aren't you?" The creature wiggled its back spikes, seemingly offended, and Levi smirked at it. "Oh? Did I hit a nerve?" The Hallucigenia repeated the same - possibly - rude gestures it had made at Armin when Levi had first been reunited with his past subordinates. "Yeah,fuck you too, you Cambrian shitstain-"
A knock on the door cut off their little 'conversation', making both Ackerman and Hallucigenia look towards the door. "Levi-heichou? Is that you talking in there?" The door opened and Eren peeked his head inside, eyes immediately landing on Levi. Eren's eyes always seemed to glow in the dark and would take up an aquamarine color, especially around gentle, white light. The Hallucigenia's shine seemed to really make that color stand out. "Is everything alright?"
"Couldn't sleep," the former Captain replied casually. "Decided to have a little talk with our prehistoric friend over here." Eren nodded but instead of going back to bed or going to the bathroom or whatever it was that he'd woken up for in the first place, the brunet stepped fully into the room, closed the door behind him and joined Levi on his bed, sitting with his back against the wall it was pushed up against. "What, you couldn't sleep either?"
"I guess I'm a little excited," Eren said with a shrug. "Armin and I have been trying to find the others for years, but we never lucked out. Then you came along and suddenly we're preparing to talk good ol' Horseface to fly us out to meet Hange. It feels surreal. Will we find more of our friends along the way? Why are we discovering them now? Is it the Hallucigenia's doing? And why do only three, potentially four with Hange, of us remember? I get that my parents probably have impressions of our last life lingering in their minds or souls or whatever, but so far, only the three of us remember. Plus possibly Hange. Why is that?"
"Yeah, I've been wondering about that since we met," Levi admitted. "But does it matter?"
"I guess it both does and doesn't," Eren relented. "Maybe we'll discover some answers when we find Hange. Maybe we won't ever find any. I just don't like going back to not knowing anything about things that are life and death, you know?"
Levi hummed. "You've mellowed out."
"Nah," the taller one countered with a chuckle.
"No, seriously, you have. Otherwise you'd already be raging over how unfair it is that we're burdened by past memories or something. You usually didn't have to work hard to find something to be angry at."
"Hey, everyone has anger issues. They just like to pretend that they don't!"
They both laughed at that protest and they both seemed in awe when they realized the other had laughed. Levi couldn't remember the last time he'd seen a genuine, happy laugh from Eren, while Eren had never heard Levi actually laugh before, so Levi wasn't surprised by how awed Eren looked right now, like he'd just witnessed an otherworldly occurrence. Levi decided to ignore the lingering stare as he tipped his head back, gazing up at Eren's ceiling again.
"If you're studying marinology, why chart stars? And this accurately at that," he finally asked after a long stretch of comfortable silence.
"Well, when I was a kid, I actually wanted to become an astronaut," Jaeger confessed, causing Levi to tilt his head so he can look at him. Eren was also staring up at his very own miniature sky, eyes far away and face in a calm mask. "I wanted to see what was out there, you know? The final frontier, they call it. 'The sky's the limit!' people used to say, and then it wasn't. We discovered that there was so much more beyond the sky ... But then I realized that there was so much more under the waves than most people are aware of. Ultimately, though, what cemented my decision on what I want to do with my life was when I first saw an injured baby seal washed up on the beach, tangled up in some illegal fishing net or something. Vets and the police were already on the scene, trying to make sure the poor thing gets the medical attention it needs, but it was too late. It had lost too much blood and the seagulls had taken their own chunks of its flesh, too, as an easy meal. That's when I decided I want to dedicate my life to marinology. Work with animals. Dive into the deep and see things most people can't even dream about. Who needs space when the ocean is already hiding so many mysteries! I mean, we've only explored just under 20%! Who knows what's out there!"
"Well, I guess that does make sense," the raven haired male commented. "You, Armin and Mikasa always wanted to see it. Though I guess I never pictured you as someone working for an aquarium or a zoo, considering your stance on freedom."
The other man wrinkled his nose at that. "Yeah, if I were to work at a zoo, I'd probably start an animal rebellion, but I can't do that with fish, unless we're talking about dolphins. Though they're not fish, they're aquatic mammals, but you get the point." Levi had to laugh at the fact Eren really hadn't changed all too much. He was just glad he didn't actually go through with the urge to set animals free from their cages. "What about you? You were in high school when you had to leave home, right? What would you like to do if you weren't in this fucked up situation?"
"Probably open up a tea shop," he replied with a hum. "It's something I used to dream about even in the Underground, but when I got to the surface, well, the only place I belonged in was the Survey Corps as Humanity's Strongest Soldier," he said with an ironic snort at the end. He never understood why the people had felt the need to give him that moniker. Sure, he'd earned it and, to the very last battle, had proven why, but it still felt ridiculous. "And after the war, well ... At first, I had to make sure your friends wouldn't fall apart after what they had been through. I had to attend meetings with Armin as the last Survey Corps veteran and the only other higher ranking officer left. Those negotiations were a cause of constipation, I swear. But after shit settled down a bit and the others started focusing on trying to integrate Paradis to what was left of the world, I found myself caretaker to Gabi and Falco, seeing as they'd lost practically all of their family in the war. Onyankopon helped a lot. And after they grew up, well ... " Levi shrugged.
After Gabi and Falco had grown up, they had decided they should move to Paradis and had insisted on taking Levi with them. Gabi opened a restaurant in Sasha's memory with Niccolo's help, Falco helped out with it and Levi was in no condition to try to run a business of his own, so he'd helped around as much as he could. Then Gabi got pregnant and he became an honorary grandfather and his days were filled with playing with and taking care of children. Before he knew it, he was old and wrinkled and gray, Gabi and Falco were gripping his hands as they tried not to cry in front of their own children and grandchildren as Levi finally joined his comrades, as he finally got to rest. He'd had a surprisingly fulfilling life considering the shit he'd lived through and that he'd never gotten to open up that tea shop he used to tell Farlan and Isabel about.
"Sounds busy but peaceful," Eren said with a happy yet sad smile. Clearly, he wished he could be there to see it, too. "I'm glad it all worked out somehow, though I don't think you fully agree."
"I don't agree with genocide, but I always knew you'd do some stupid shit like that," Levi retorted with a teasing lilt to his words. But then he sobered up, his entire being washed over by seriousness. "I know I really shouldn't thank you for the crimes you've committed, but I still feel grateful to you for the sacrifices you made. You stopped the death of people I cared about, of our people, and as horrific as it was ... Well, it hurts to admit, but it was probably the only way we could survive. I just wish it hadn't been."
"... Me too." They sat in silence for a long while, neither saying anything or feeling the need to, really. Levi was surprised to find his eyes drooping when he'd been prepared for a sleepless night just a few minutes ago. "What do you think we should do? About this whole Hallucigenia situation?" Eren asked, almost startling the nineteen year old with the suddenness of it. "I mean, you can't stay on the run forever. Maybe we really should just dump it in the Mariana Trench ... "
"And risk reenacting that Megalodon shit? No thank you."
Eren sent him a very confused look. "Megalodon shit?" He repeated in askance and Levi snorted, really sleepy right now.
"The movie, you uncultured swine. Even I got to see it and I live on the run."
"Oh! Well, I don't think things function that way. Sonars are pretty good these days, so I doubt they wouldn't detect even more depth than the established one. Besides, even if there was more depth than we are aware of, I rather doubt that there is a world the likes of which that movie shows. For instance, the depth beneath the supposed 'current' depth in that movie has a world full of underwater volcanoes. Nothing wrong with that, over 70% of all volcanoes on Earth are under the sea, but if there are so many, then that barrier that supposedly exists between two entirely differently temperatured water wouldn't really exist because active underwater volcanoes can heat up quite a few gallons of water in their surroundings and-"
And Levi just let Eren's rambles lull him to sleep. It was quite comfortable background noise; as long as he wasn't talking - more like yelling or snarling - about killing Titans, Eren had a really smooth, soothing tone of voice that threatened to make Levi melt.
He wasn't even aware when he fell asleep, but he woke up the next morning to Armin shaking him and Eren awake, nearly making the taller fall over from where they were leaning on each other when Levi snapped to awareness at the realization he'd been comfortable enough not to sense someone enter the room he was sleeping in. He didn't allow himself to dwell on why he felt so comfortable and - dare he say it? - safe around Eren because they had a long busy day ahead of them.
Confusing, complicated feelings for former subordinates and one-time-near-enemies can wait.
