Levi awakens to find himself in an all too familiar setting, familiar yet incredibly unwelcome.
He knows this room, probably knows it better than the layout of his beautiful apartment back in Trost, the one he'd helped design himself. He's memorised the patterns of the stains on the walls, the feel of the cool, hard floors under his bare legs, the solid, very broken radiator against his back and the cracked tiles of the ceiling that he's counted more times than he can remember.
It's not just the room itself that's familiar, the cold stainless steel of the cuffs around his wrists are biting into his flesh in a way that's more numbing than painful now. The blood on his wrists and under his finger nails have dried and crusted over, falling to the ground in flakes with every odd movement. The stench of soiled clothes and unwashed skin make his eyes water and stream over the fresh, excruciating burns still unhealed and marring the left side of his face.
He assesses his surroundings with a barely recognisable twinge of his stiff neck, he knows he hasn't eaten in a very long time, and his strength is depleting rapidly. But he won't give up, he can't give up.
To his right, there are four slumped, also hand-cuffed figures against the wall adjacent to the one he is propped up against. With a quick look he can see that Oluo's mouth is covered in fresh blood and Eld is brandishing a new black eye, but they're awake and that's promising at the very least. Gunther is asleep and whining with every intake of breath, it's likely that his ribs are bruised with the treatment he's received, several probably broken. However, Levi is more concerned about Petra, she is on the floor so he can only see the top of her head, she hasn't moved a muscle all night, and he is unable to tell if she's breathing properly. He wants to order one of his men to check on her, but he can't get the words to come out of his dry mouth.
With monumental effort, he shifts to look to his left and is met with a pair of once vibrant blue eyes, now dulled but not quite lifeless yet. The blond boy is lying on his right side across the room, hands behind his back like the others and yellowing bruises cover every visible inch of skin. And there is a lot of skin on show, each of them had been stripped of their heavy-duty boots, camo cargo pants and jackets when they arrived, and left only in their thin, once olive green vest tops and underwear since. Levi and the boy stare at each other with blank expressions for an undeterminable length of time.
Before Levi can even try and speak again, there is a ruckus coming from outside the door. It's that time of day, and even though Levi knows exactly what's going to happen now, he tries to fight his fatigue, his sore muscles, his restraints and get closer to the boy. It's no use, and the boy knows it's no use. His bright blue eyes show resignation, not acceptance, but he knows there is no point in fighting what's yet to come. The boy opens his mouth and manages to say a few words.
"Lance…C-Corporal, s-s-stop struggling. I'll be fine. I p-promise" The corners of his mouth up-turn in what looks to be reassurance.
Levi is running out of time before the bolts are unhinged and the door flies open, so he lets himself slump back against the radiator and fights his instincts to croak out a few final words to the boy.
"I'm sorry. I'm s-so…."
And then, the door opens with an odd ringing noise.
Levi shoots out of bed and finds that the incessant ringing sound is coming from his own cell phone. He takes a few deep breaths and rubs at his face before checking the caller ID.
Hange. Of course, she's probably been busting Erwin's ass all night to get his new number from him. Good, he thinks. He accepts the call and is met with a shrill shrieking at the other end of the line.
"Levi! You evil little midget! How dare you not call me when you landed! It's been a whole day and you promised you would call when you got settled! What if your plane had crashed?! Or you had been murdered by hoodlums?! Or…"
"Shut the fuck up shitty glasses for one second, I'm just up." Levi says, already feels a headache coming on when he's supposed to be babysitting the baby Jaeger brat all day. Perfect.
"Really? It's 7am, that's pretty late for you."
"Well I had a pretty long night and not too restful sleep at the end of it." Levi admits, he can hear Hange sighing on her end.
"Oh Levi, is it the nightmares again?" she asks softly and takes his silence as an affirmative, "I knew when Erwin told me about the type of job you'd taken that this would be hard on you. Especially since…"
"Don't say any more." Levi interrupts, he doesn't think he can take her saying the actual words, "Just stop talking, I can't deal with that shit right now."
"Sorry, but you should know that I do agree with Erwin! He can be a real thicko at times, but I do think he knows what he's doing here. And hopefully by working with this boy you'll get to see what that whole community is really like, this could be really, really good for you. And maybe by getting to know the kid a bit better you'll feel more comfortable and see that it's not all like…"
"What part of stop talking do you not seem to understand? I don't want to talk about it, not now, not ever." Levi interjects once again, temper flaring dangerously.
"Levi, you know what happened back then was just as much my fault, I should have never…"
"I'm gonna hang up now."
"Please don't, I swear I'll stop! I just…want you to stop feeling so guilty about everything. Nobody could have foreseen…" she wavers, "You already know what I think about it all, and while I understand why you feel the way you do, I think you're limiting yourself greatly. It's not been an easy 2 years for anyone, especially not for you, but you're the strongest person I know, and I love you."
Levi huffs out the breath he'd been holding before responding "Ditto, you dumbass."
Hange giggles, heavy atmosphere now gone and continues, "So tell me about the boy, Eren isn't it?" she asks, although Levi has no doubt that she's already bled all of the necessary information out of Erwin and done her own, extensive research on his client.
"Cocky little shit if ever I met one, overconfident, arrogant, full of himself…need I go on?"
"Uh oh, has pretty boy already touched a nerve there Levi?" Hange teases.
"Just because he's got a few inches on me doesn't mean he can be a rude fuck about my height, asshole doesn't even know the amount of damage I'm capable of doing to his shitty…wait a minute. How do you know he's pretty?"
Hange is silent for a few seconds, "Oh, um, well, you see…" she knows she's been caught out and there's no going back now.
"You found his YouTube channel, didn't you?" Levi assumes, not in the least bit surprised.
"Okay I did, but Levi you have no idea, that boy is a wizard with a make-up brush! I must have watched about 3 or 4 of his tutorials, not that I'm much a of make-up wearer myself…and those eyes! How interesting! It's called Heterochromia Iridum you know, I've never actually had the experience of meeting someone with the condition before but I would love to see it in person, and did you know it only affects about…" she rambles on.
"Are you done? Because I actually have things I need to be doing today? Picking up said boy wizard and taking him to work being one of them." Levi says, pulling himself out of bed and gathering his things for the day with his unoccupied hand.
"I can take a hint, but please call me in future! Otherwise, I'll worry. I'll come and visit once you have a new place sorted. Speaking of which, do you know what you're gonna do with your Trost apartment?" Hange asks curiously.
"I haven't decided yet, I don't think I could bear the idea of having random tenants wreck the place while I'm gone. And I don't know how long I'll be in Shiganshina, if I don't insult the kid and his posse too much it could be a permanent move. I've actually been thinking of offering it to Oluo and Petra, I know they've been looking to start a family and get out of their shitty place for a while. It's not like I need the money anyway."
"Are you sure Levi? As much as I know they'd love that, you put your heart and soul into that apartment. You designed it specially to your tastes."
"I know, but there are too many bad omens there now. I moved into it 4 years ago and since then I've experienced nothing but misery. Maybe Oluo and Petra will have better luck with it and will be able to create their own happy memories there." Levi says, "Anyway, I do have to go now, I'll call you soon."
"Alright, I'll speak to you later my little muffin man!"
"Fuck off, shit specs." Levi concludes, before hitting the "end call" button.
At 8am, Levi decides to check out the hotel gym before he takes his morning run and shower. There are only a couple of other people there at the early hour, however Levi quickly concludes that while it looks clean enough, it certainly doesn't meet his standard of cleanliness to even bother using any of the machines or lifting any weights. Maybe he can come earlier another morning and give it a good clean before anybody else shows up…
After his run and brisk shower, Levi dresses in a slightly more casual manner than the day prior. While he still wears a new pair of black slacks, a crisp white shirt and his signature cravat, he has decided to forgo his waist coat and blazer, the weather proving far too warm for his usual state of dress.
He eats a small breakfast of two buttered croissants (nothing compared to the ones his mother used to make), and a pot of English Breakfast tea and vacates the room exactly as he'd found it prior, housekeeping would have an easy enough job, and goes outside to meet Annie.
Like Levi, she doesn't look like she's had a very restful sleep, but with his impressive deduction skills he soon decides that the content of her busy night…and morning by the looks of it…has nothing to do with her sleep itself and the reason is more of an adult nature. Her hair is still styled in a bun, but has not quite been tamed, her body is flushed with a healthy glow and she walks with a very slight limp that would be unrecognisable to the untrained eye. Levi wouldn't even have noticed himself if she hadn't reminded him of his old college student roommate who avoided his eyes in the same embarrassed manner that Annie is now, as if he can see right through her.
Which he can to be fair, but Levi is neither phased nor cares about the antics of her personal life. Sex (heterosexual sex at least) itself doesn't alarm him, nor does the idea of other people having sex bother him, it just simply doesn't interest him. It has never really interested him in fact.
"Did you have a nice night?" Levi asks automatically, out of trained politeness more than anything.
Annie flushes a touch more at his question before answering, "Yeah, it was…good. My fiancé has been away on business for a while and he came back last night as a surprise. He can be gone for months at a time, so it's always a treat when he comes home for a while."
"I see." Levi says, really not wanting to push for further details on the matter. Not that Annie seems like the type of person to divulge such things. Annie, for a second, does look like she wants to say more, but decides against it, and invites Levi into her car once more. For a second Levi wants to ask what she wanted to say but the moment is gone, and he doesn't feel the need to press the issue. He enters the car and they set off without another word.
In less than an hour, Levi has received the keys of his new company car. It's a brand new, silver, BMW. A saloon car. Not bad, Levi thinks. It's coming up to 11am, so Annie wastes no time in giving Levi the address of Eren's apartment, his agency and his phone number. She tells him to give her a call if he has any questions or problems, and that she would be working from home for the rest of the day. Levi assures her that he will, and they soon part ways, Levi programming Eren's address into the built in Sat-Nav and setting off.
Eren's "apartment", as Annie had described it, turns out to be more of a small, single-story house in what looks to be a nicer part of town.
There are white picket fences bordering all the houses in the area like something out of a movie, the streets are clean and there are people milling around either walking their dogs, jogging or chatting with neighbours.
Levi makes his way to the front door and double-checks he has the correct address before knocking, once he's satisfied, he notices the door-bell and rings it twice in succession. There is no answer.
He frowns at the bell, as if it had somehow been the one to ignore him and checks his watch. It's not long until Eren's business meeting, and Levi knows it'll take some time to drive in an unfamiliar city, it'll do no good for his client to turn up late for a meeting on his first proper full day on the job. After several minutes of standing outside with no response, he rings the doorbell again, this time pressing it down sharply every few seconds before he can hear footsteps on the other side with some muttered grumbling and cursing. The door flies open just as Levi removes his finger from the bell.
A very disgruntled looking young man appears in the door way, leaning against the front door, yawning and rubbing at his eyes. When he opens them fully, Levi recognises the unmistakeable emerald green and shining gold he'd been acquainted with the night before.
"Levi?" Eren asks confused and annoyed, "What are you doing here at this ungodly hour?"
"Ungodly hour? It's eleven thirty you shit, you have a meeting at noon. I'm here to take you unless something more pressing has come up?" Levi folds his arms, scowling.
"Ahh crap, I forgot about that." Eren knocks his head on the door and moves out of the doorway, "You'd better come in, I need to get dressed."
Levi follows Eren into the house and through to the living room with adjoining kitchen. He has a quick look around the room and is surprised to find that it's not as much of a mess as he'd been expecting. It definitely has a lived-in feel but everything is in it's place and doesn't quite look like the warzone that is Rogue's dressing room. It's a welcome surprise if Levi is honest with himself, but Eren is still very much on his shit list for making him wait outside like an idiot and forgetting he was coming.
"Make yourself at home, there's coffee and tea in the kitchen if you want some. I'm gonna take a quick shower and make myself look at least a bit more decent for this thing." Eren says looking at Levi. Levi takes a second to look at the man properly for the first time, his face is clean of the make-up and glitter he'd been covered in, he's wearing a slightly stained T-shirt and a pair of sleep shorts, but what captures Levi's attention the most is Eren's shaggy mess of brunet hair which is wildly sticking in all directions and comes down to his shoulders. He's not sure why, as he'd only seen Eren in a wig cap the day before, but he'd assumed it'd be much shorter.
"Just make it quick brat, we're already running late and I'm still getting used to driving here. So, go and hurry it up before I have to drag you out looking like that." Levi snaps.
"Jeez, what crawled up your ass and died?" Eren retorts before shaking his head and leaving the room in a shittier mood than when he'd let Levi in.
Levi occupies the time Eren is gone with looking around the living room and ends up gazing at the artwork on the rear wall next to the door leading to the back garden. The wall is filled with landscapes of watercolour and charcoal pieces dating back from when Eren would have been around 15 to fairly recently. Levi doesn't know much about art, but he can tell Eren is very talented in his work. He's in the middle of examining a charcoal portrait he's found of what looks to be a young Asian woman when Eren's voice reaches his ears.
"Are you finished snooping around my things and ready to leave, or do you need more time to get your rocks off?" Levi turns to glare at Eren, as he continues "I mean, I can leave the room if that's what you're into." He's fighting a smirk, little shit.
Eren is now fully dressed and looking far more presentable than he had done 10 minutes ago, wearing a stain-free band T-shirt under a leather jacket, with some black, ripped skinny jeans and lace-up biker boots. He has added a faux leather baker boy hat, his hair has been brushed and slicked back, and tied up in a bun at the back of his head. He's a million miles away from his alter ego and far less flashy, but overall he looks trendy and well put together.
"It's not exactly snooping if everything here is out in the open for the whole world and their mother to see, genius. And we're late as it is, so let's just go." Levi says, already stalking towards the door.
Eren rolls his eyes, "Lead the way, sir." He sarcastically spits out the last word.
"Aww man this is so cool, having my own personal Chauffeur to drive me around in style. And to think I almost told Annie to shove the idea up her ass." Eren chuckles, leaning back in the passenger seat.
"Get your feet down off the dash you idiot, what the fuck's the matter with you? Were you raised in a fucking barn? And what's your fascination with asses anyway? Actually, don't answer that, it's a stupid question." Levi says, swatting at Eren with one hand without looking away from the road too much.
Eren cackles loudly in Levi's ear, who cringes, and puts his feet down as requested. But if Levi thought that was the last of his problems, he was proven dead wrong with Eren cranking up the car stereo, singing very loudly, and very off key. Levi shuts it off and gives Eren his best death glare. It doesn't do much to deter Eren's shit eating grin however, despite many other, much scarier men, crumbling under it in the past.
"Listen here shithead, there are gonna have to be some ground rules if I'm going to be driving you around, as you put it. First, keep your hands, head and feet in the car at all times and off of my dashboard, I won't be held responsible if you're stupid enough to injure yourself or worse, me. Second, you do not touch the radio without specific permission from me and me alone, and before you ask, no I won't be giving you permission." Eren rolls his eyes like a child, "Thirdly, no dumb ass questions, I promise you will be ignored for the entirety of the journey. Lastly, and most importantly, you do NOT make a mess of this car, and that includes food or drink spillage, vomit or any other bodily fluids I don't wanna know about. And if I'm taking you home after a show, you will scrub EVERY piece of glitter off your skin before you even think about setting foot in this car. I am not driving around in something that looks like a fucking unicorn has been murdered in it. Any breaking of this rule will result in you cleaning the car from top to bottom with your toothbrush, understood?" Levi raises an eyebrow in question at Eren.
"Dude, you need to learn how to relax. Remove the stick and chill out a little. And lucky for you if you're need of a little help in that area, Mama Eren is here." Eren winks.
"If you value your life even one little bit, you will NEVER refer to yourself as Mama in my presence again." Levi stops the car a little too harshly and it sends Eren scrambling for purchase, he hadn't had the forethought to put his seatbelt on. He recovers quickly enough.
"Seriously though man, you need to lighten up, you're gonna get wrinkles if you don't stop scowling like that. Look, there's already one right there…" Eren points and moves to touch his finger to Levi's face.
"Get off me you asshat! We're here now and you're already late." Levi exits the car and Eren, the brat, waits for Levi to open the door for him. 'I'm gonna kill him, and Erwin's gonna fire me, and I'm gonna have to clean it up…." Levi grumbles incoherently under his breath as he lets a smug looking Eren out of the car and locks it.
"According to the information Annie gave me, we're at Sina Enterprises and we've to go to the 15th where you're meeting with a Mr Nile Dok. If we hurry, you shouldn't get into too much trouble." Levi sets off in the direction of the tall building, Eren trailing behind him with his hands in his pockets, looking very much like an out of place university student rather than someone that's come for a business meeting.
Levi opens the glass door of the entrance and Eren cuts in front of him, "Thank you kind, sir" and makes his way to the elevators at the end of the long hall of the building. Levi is left cursing him out and following in his path. As they stand together waiting for the elevator, Levi is reminded for the first time today of their height difference, Eren seems to have noticed too and is side-eyeing Levi whilst laughing softly to himself. To someone looking in from the outside, the idea of Levi acting as a bodyguard for a man that is a good 4 inches taller than him is really quite ridiculous. But Levi is used to being short, what he's not used to is being made to feel like his height is a handicap.
His train of thought is brought to a halt with the arrival of the empty elevator. They make their way in together and Levi pushes the button for the 15th floor, sharing a look with Eren.
"Let's get this shit show on the road, shall we?" Eren grins, and Levi simply hums in agreement.