"Well?" Erwin said to Levi at dinner, nudging him with his elbow.
"Well what?"
"What do you think of Eren?"
Levi glanced over to where Eren was sitting at the corner of the table, clearly uncomfortable among so many unfamiliar faces.
"Not much. He's a fucking brat. We'll see how he does with the Survey Corps."
Erwin gave him a look of disappointment.
"You know that's not what I'm talking about."
"What else am I supposed to think?"
"You're interested in him."
Levi frowned, so Erwin made it easier for him.
"It makes sense, Levi. You didn't know that there was anybody else like you. Isn't that why you wanted to take charge of him?"
"I wanted to kill titans with him. Seemed like a good idea at the time."
"There's nothing wrong with being interested," Erwin insisted. "The two of you are-"
"He turns into a fucking titan," Levi snapped. "He grows back limbs. We're not alike at all."
"Maybe you grow back limbs, too. We've never had occasion to check."
Levi shot him a disgusted look.
Erwin remembered the first time he had seen Levi transform, flying out of nowhere to snatch him out of danger in the middle of battle. Levi had been elegant and beautiful, and Erwin had suddenly realized just why he was so damn good with the 3D maneuver gear. Levi had tried to run away after that battle; Mike had had to sit on him to get him to listen long enough to hear that they still wanted him, that they would protect him.
And they had, ever since.
"Talk to him," Erwin suggested.
"He doesn't know anything!"
"It would do you good," Erwin said softly. "None of us know what it's really like. He'll be able to understand in a way we can't."
"You do understand me," Levi said sullenly. "I have the Corps. I don't need anybody else, especially not some dumbshit kid."
Erwin smiled internally, touched. It wasn't often Levi was so open. Some part of it must have shown on his face, because Levi's eyes flicked to him then quickly away, and he looked embarrassed.
"Besides, who knows if he's trustworthy?" Levi continued.
"I want you to talk to him."
"Is that an order?"
"A request." Erwin fixed him with a look. "Watch for a bit. See what you think of him."
Levi speared a bite of meat with more forced than necessary, his gaze on his plate. "No promises."
"Just remember," Erwin added, "the castle is big, and it's just the Corps here right now. Nobody else will see. It's a good chance. Actually, you could cut loose a little for a few days if you want, we don't mind." He couldn't help the amusement in his eyes. Levi was pretty when he transformed, and the rest of the squad did a bad job of hiding how much they liked it. Especially Hange.
Levi shot him a look of horror. "Like hell."
The first day Eren spent mostly being terrified because the Survey Corps seemed weirder by the minute, and there was no knowing when Corporal Levi would decide to flip his shit next, and Eren did not actually like getting beaten up. He had gotten beat up a few times in his life, but never quite so thoroughly. So he tried to keep a low profile, while everybody around him kept making strange statements that might be able to be interpreted as awkward jokes, but Eren didn't yet trust his familiarity with them enough to do so. He mostly responded to these maybe-jokes with flinching.
After a while, they got the hint, and cut it out. For a few minutes at a time, at least.
Most of the day was spent cleaning anyway, and Eren had a moment of panic when the corporal told him to redo his part, until he saw that almost everybody was asked to redo something. So it wasn't just him.
All in all, he made it through an entire day without getting beaten up once.
The week mostly continued like that, getting steadily weirder, what with Hange's experiments and all. Everybody seemed to be following Eren around, and he was commanded to follow Corporal Levi around, so the whole situation resembled a very strange game of follow-the-leader.
But still, Levi didn't seem to find Eren any more annoying than he found the world at large, so maybe that was just his default expression. His teammates certainly seemed to get along with him well enough (sort of? Maybe? Perhaps Eren would know he'd acclimated to the Survey Corps when their dynamic started to seem normal to him).
As a result of the (relative) success of Hange's experiments with his titan form, the corporal started to show more interest in Eren generally, though Eren soon realized that interest was taking the form of really nerve-wracking questions that Levi of all people really shouldn't know to ask.
Questions like "can you tap your titan power without transforming? Do you think you've ever done that? Do you want to?"
The only logical implication Eren could attach to that was Levi assuming that his titan-self was leaking into his human self, which was fucking scary and not a thought he wanted to entertain. He promptly denied all accusations, but Levi's only response was a shrug and a 'hm'.
But that wasn't the end of it. Every day Levi ran Eren through a training session, and every single time the questions would come.
"Do you feel when you're reaching the limit of your transformation?"
"How quickly do you integrate with your titan body while transforming? Have you tried to speed it up? Why not?"
"Have you ever transformed at night? Did you notice any difference?"
"Can you end a transformation on your own, or does it have to come from the outside?"
Eren kept looking for traps hidden in the questions, but no matter what he answered, no retribution was forthcoming. The questions were always asked in an inquiring tone, and most of the time, Eren's answers were met with a thoughtful hum. Maybe Levi wasn't out to get him, he started thinking hopefully, when a whole week had passed and nothing bad had happened. So he tried to answer as best as he could, because lying was probably a bad idea even if the corporal didn't harbor any homicidal tendencies.
Privately, though, the questions made him nervous, because they were so damn specific. Even Hange didn't ask questions like that, mostly testing his responses and seeing how he felt afterwards. But he could accept, now, that whatever the corporal's mysterious purpose was, it probably wasn't some sort of hidden nastiness. Eren resolved to do his best while training, cooperate with whatever was asked of him, and trust that the corporal was actually looking out for his best interests. Even though he was very demanding, Eren didn't feel that Levi was stricter with him than he was with the rest of the squad, or with himself, for that matter. Of course, since the corporal seemed scarily capable at everything he did, that wasn't saying much.
It was late evening, the castle's few used rooms throwing pinpoints of light out into the darkening sky, when Levi abruptly turned to him.
"Come on, Eren."
As if Eren didn't follow him around everywhere anyway.
"We're going to the roof."
Which was weird, because Levi didn't usually bother explaining himself. After the day they'd had, Eren thought, his muscles strained from trying to master a particularly difficult maneuver, Levi probably wanted to throw him off the side of the building or something. Eren couldn't restrain a sigh.
Levi glanced at him sharply, but thankfully, didn't say anything.
They climbed up endless staircases, and Eren quickly realized that they were headed towards a less-used portion of the base. They encountered nobody on the way, and no light except for Levi's lantern. It was a relief when they were out on the ramparts, breathing cool, clean air, the stars strewn above them.
Eren felt a curl of curiosity when Levi turned to him and set the lantern down. Though, the light was anything but comforting, since it lit Levi's face from below, giving him a harsh, otherworldly air.
"We need to talk," he ground out, and yeah, Eren had no idea what was going on.
"Yes, sir."
"The two of us," Levi began, and then he stopped. Eren waited for a few seconds to see what would happen, but it looked like Levi had decided to just give up.
"This wasn't my idea," Levi started over. Eren had never seen him flustered before. He actually had the feeling that a flustered Corporal Levi was liable to be volatile, and tried to breathe as little as possible.
For that matter, if something was enough to bother Levi, maybe he should be worried as well?
"You're not to talk about this with anybody," Levi shot out. "Actually, scratch that, it doesn't matter, nobody would believe you. I hope." He frowned. "I wouldn't believe you, but then, I'm not an idiot. Just… no talking about this, you hear?"
"Yes, sir!" Which meant that he hadn't brought Eren here to kill him, which was a relief.
"Erwin says we're alike." Levi's face twisted, as if the thought was unpleasant, which kind of saddened Eren. "Personally I think 'alike' is too strong a word. But we have something in common."
The only thing Eren could think of was killing titans, which was really obvious so it probably wasn't that. He watched Levi pace back and forth quickly for a few seconds. Finally he stopped in front of Eren and fixed him with a glare.
"I also transform," he said.
The words echoed through Eren's brain, and only on the third pass did they start making any kind of sense.
Transform. Corporal Levi transformed.
Before he could even think of all the reasons why it was suicidal, he grabbed him by the shoulders, almost shaking him, staring into his eyes, looking for some hint that this was a lie, a joke.
"You're a titan shifter?" It was perfect, it made so much sense – that was why the corporal had vouched for him, that was how the corporal knew to ask all those questions – if Corporal Leviwas a shifter, that meant it was okay, Eren would get it under control and he'd be fine, he wasn't alone, not the only one. He could never be ashamed of being like the corporal.
"No," Levi stated, and Eren had hardly realized how powerful hope was until it crashed at his feet, leaving him empty. "I'm… don't look like that, Eren. I don't even know what the fuck I am. At least youmake sense."
Eren searched his eyes again. What could Levi possibly become that made less sense than suddenly turning into a titan?
Levi shook Eren's hands off his shoulders and took a step back. "I'll show you."
He pulled a knife out of his boot, and carefully pricked his thumb with it (so familiar, Eren had almost expected him to bite, but now that he thought about it, no way Levi would do something so unsanitary). There was a blast of heat and displaced air, a tiny crackle of lightning and clouds of smoke, and Eren felt the familiar spike of adrenaline telling him to prepare for titans.
But no titan appeared. Instead, two huge black somethings burst out of Levi's back, dark against the night sky, the lantern light reflecting liquidly off of them. Levi shook them out and Eren realized he was looking at wings, two dark wings attached to the corporal's shoulders.
Of course, of course I turn into a hulking titan and he gets to turn into a-
"You're an ange-" he blurted, before one wing smacked him on the side of the head, making him stumble.
"Don't even start," Levi growled, huffing. The wings huffed as well, returning to their position behind his back and hunching, the feathers fluffing out. They managed to make Levi look twice as annoyed as usual, which was an amazing achievement.
"But they're so prett-" This time he managed to cut himself off and dodge before he could absorb another hit.
"Are you finished?"
Eren couldn't help a grin, and nodded. Corporal Levi had wings. Which led to the obvious question…
"Can you fly?"
The corporal snorted. "They'd be bloody useless if I couldn't."
Eren could hardly tear his eyes away from the wings, watching how they kept shifting minutely, reflecting Levi's movements. "How strong are they? Can you carry someone?"
"You're what, sixty something kilos?" Levi narrowed his eyes, shrugged, and suddenly looked almost evil. He stalked towards Eren, wings half spread, close enough that Eren started backing away towards the edge of the roof. Eren had an inkling of what was coming, but couldn't wrap his mind around it.
"What are you…"
The ramparts were already at Eren's back. He had nowhere to run. Levi grabbed him by the waist straps of his maneuver gear and hoisted.
"N-no wait I really don't-
"Legs around my waist, arms around my shoulders," was all Levi said, before there was a sudden sickening lurch and the ground was gone from beneath Eren's feet. Eren let out a shriek he would never admit to and clung to the corporal's torso in panic. Everything was heaving madly around him, there was wind in his hair and his ears, and he dimly heard Levi's voice telling him to keep his mouth closed lest he bite his tongue.
It was nothing like 3DMG-controlled flight. Actually , it was nothing like any form of flight where Eren was in control, because right now he could do nothing but hold on with a death grip and pray reality didn't choose this moment to reassert itself and realize that people were not supposed to fly. He jerked and lurched with every wingbeat, his arms and legs clamped around the corporal for dear life, buried his face somewhere in the corporal's neck and wished it would end.
It took him a few seconds to realize that the lurching had solidified into a steady wind against him, and he could hear Levi's voice vibrating against his skin. One of Levi's arms was supporting his back, steadying him, and Eren's panic receded enough to realize that he was wrapped around the corporal, and with the ground so far away there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.
"Tch, what a waste bringing you up here. You're not going to look?"
Eren gulped and tightened his arms. They were moving pretty steadily now, Levi coasting, only beating his wings every so often, making the flight much smoother. Up here, the air was actually kind of warm, though it had been freezing at first.
He hadn't made it this far in life by being a coward. Making sure his arms and legs were still clamped tight, he carefully twisted his head to look around. The moon was large tonight, illuminating the ground beneath him, which was… farther away than Eren wanted to think about. He could see little pinpoints of light here and there, clustered in groups, bright against the dark ground. Further, he could see the blotch of Wall Sina, enclosing a much larger constellation of lights. In the other direction, towards Wall Maria, there was darkness where once had been people's homes.
Above him the sky stretched impossibly large, the stars closer than ever. He felt suspended between two skies, stars above and below. From this height, humanity's vaunted walls seemed tiny, insignificant, nothing more than the cage he had always known them to be, the small islands of civilization impossibly small and fragile. He strained his eyes towards Wall Maria, trying to see what lay beyond them, but it was too dark to see much. If only it had been daylight!
Neck starting to hurt with the effort of all that twisting, Eren looked back up, realizing suddenly just how close the two of them were. Levi looked down at him, his breath brushing Eren's face at this distance.
"Arms okay?" Levi shouted, the wind tearing at his words.
Eren nodded furiously. He wasstarting to feel the strain, but now that he had gotten used to the feeling of flying, he never wanted to land. And Levi could do this whenever he wanted… could leave the walls… how far had he gone? Had he seen the sea? The questions ate at him.
And all Eren got to turn into was a fucking titan.
"Should have hooked your harness to mine," Levi said. "But that would have ruined the surprise. You've got some lungs on you."
Eren huffed in embarrassment, then twisted around to watch the view again. Levi did another sweep, circling widely over the area of Wall Rose, before deciding it was time to give Eren another heart attack.
"Hold on," he said, his tone of voice not even hinting that he was about to go into a fucking dive.
Eren couldn't see for wind in his eyes, his ears popped furiously, and he was pretty sure that he was screaming bloody murder because they were just falling towards the ground and Levi showed no sign of slowing down- he could do nothing but hold on as tightly as possible, and pray, eyes clenched shut so he wouldn't have to watch his demise nearing.
"-my ears are dead," Levi was saying. "I guess I'll have an excuse not to listen to Erwin anymore. Oi, brat, you can let go now."
It took Eren a few terrified seconds to realize that they weren't moving anymore, he was upright once again, and they appeared to be standing on solid ground, back on the roof where they had started. His arms and legs felt cramped into position around Levi; he didn't think he could let go even if he wanted to.
Levi gave him a few ungentle pokes, and Eren managed to untangle himself, wobbling unsteadily. He staggered, his legs like jelly, before managing to straighten up. A long stretch popped his back into place, while his heart rate slowly pounded its way back to normal.
He looked over at Levi, who shook out his wings, stretched his arms and neck, and looked more at peace than Eren had ever seen him. The wings really suited him.
"Let's do that again!" Eren blurted, grinning wildly. Next time he was definitely bringing some hooks for their harnesses, so he could watch properly – maybe a pair of binoculars – and they definitely had to do it during the day –
"You're as bad as the rest of them," Levi sighed.
"How far have you flown? You've flown outside the walls, right? Have you seen the mountains? The sea?" Eren suddenly paused, sheer possibility making his breath catch. "Can you fly to Shiganshina?"
"It's infested with titans. I could make it there with you, but the two of us could never fight our way out. Erwin has me on long-distance flight and weight training, but I don't think I could carry you there, fight, and get us back safely." He shrugged helplessly, the wings rippling with it, and Eren recognized the tightness in his voice as frustration. "We thought of ferrying people to the tops of the walls one by one, but that would take days, and I'd be a wreck. If anything went wrong, I'd never be able to get everyone out, either. And you're not fast enough in your titan form to get all the way across to safety. Even Erwin hasn't been able to figure anything out yet. There's just one of me."
"What about your family?"
"I never knew them."
Levi took a step forward, swallowed. He fixed his eyes on Eren's, and when he spoke, there was something delicate in his voice. "Your father – he's the one who told you to look in your basement. Did he ever… say anything about somebody like me?"
Eren wracked his brains, trying to come up with the least mention, a memory, something to give Levi, who was looking at him with guarded hope in his eyes. He thought of living his life different from everybody else, not knowing where he had come from, not having even a hope for an answer hidden away somewhere, not even a key. Anything…
"Sorry," he finally said unhappily, but rushed on, before Levi could turn away. "But my memories aren't complete – maybe there's something in my basement for you, too! Maybe I just don't remember…"
"Whatever," Levi sighed. "It doesn't matter. Figuring you out is more important anyway. We're not being attacked by winged people now, are we. It's not a priority."
"I'm sorry," Eren said desperately.
"Forget it."
The walls were coming up between them again, and Eren didn't want that. He wanted to see more of who the corporal really was, the man he had caught a glimpse of in that moment of vulnerability. Even if they weren't the same, there were so many similarities, he wanted so badly to be able to talk to somebody who knew what it was like to go through this.
"I'll find your answers!" he said fervently. "I'll look everywhere, if it's not in my basement it's got to be somewhere!"
Levi's expression softened, a soft snort escaping him. He shook his head, as if to clear it, and when he looked back at Eren, he was more the corporal and less Levi, but not completely closed off.
"Come on, Eren, help me get rid of these things. I want dinner." Levi turned around, presenting Eren with his back. Eren watched curiously, his eyes following the line of soft feathers to where they seemed to fuse with Levi's green cloak.
"How do they connect?" he asked, reaching daringly to tug at the fabric, trying to find some kind of hole or tear. The wings, which burst out on either side of the Survey Corps emblem, twitched around him, and Levi shifted from foot to foot. When he spoke, his voice was a bit higher than usual.
"Same way you fuse with your titan form. Doesn't make any fucking sense, but it works around clothes and even maneuver gear. Here." He tossed Eren the knife from his boot, and stretched out his left wing. Eren closed his fingers around the hilt, uncomfortable with where this was going.
"Well?" Levi said. "Chop it off, I don't have all night."
"But…"
"That's an order."
Eren gulped. Gingerly, he closed his left hand around the thick upper muscle of the wing to steady it, and was surprised at how soft the feathers were. His fingers sank into them, the soft spines tickling from every angle. He couldn't help giving it a quick stroke, straightening the feathers and aligning the ones out of place, before taking a firm grip, and bringing his right hand around with the knife, steeling himself to cut off near the shoulder.
Levi's breath hitched around a small noise, and Eren nearly dropped the knife.
"Get on with it," Levi said, his muscles shifting beneath the feathers against Eren's palm.
It was sacrilege, to cut off such beauty, Eren thought, and couldn't resist another pass of his fingers along the dark feathers.
"Quit petting, godfuckingdamnit," Levi gasped.
"Does it hurt?" Eren immediately let go.
"No, it's just sensitive, will you hack off the damn things already?"
"Does it feel good?" Eren returned his hand, sliding his fingers under the larger feathers, scratching very gently with the tips of his fingers. This time the moan was audible.
Levi jerked forward, snapping his wings up and out, away from Eren's hands. "Yeager, you stop feeling up my wings this fucking instant, or you will be cleaning the latrines with a toothbrush for the next six months."
Eren gulped. "Sorry, sir," he said, trying to keep the grin out of his voice. "But sir, doesn't it hurt to have them chopped off? Why not let them just dissolve?"
The wings returned to their semi-folded position against Levi's back, and he looked over his shoulder at Eren. "It hurts, but I can't walk around the base like this now, can I?"
"Doesn't the rest of the squad know?" Eren cajoled. "You look so happy with them out."
"Shut the fuck up, Yeager," Levi growled, and ruffled his feathers. It just made Eren want to keep talking, seeing how expressive they were, wondering how else they would respond. (For that matter, he wanted to touch them again, hear that small sound in the back of Levi's throat, but now wasn't the time).
"Please, sir. Don't make me cut them off." He couldn't cut off Corporal Levi's wings.
When Levi whirled around to glare at him, Eren kept up his best hopeful face, and gingerly held out the knife.
"Fucking insubordinate wretch," Levi groaned, snatching the knife back. "You squeamish imbecile, Erwin put you up to this, didn't he? The way all of you get off on watching these things flap is just fucking disturbed, I don't see any of you drooling over birds day in day out, Petra wouldn't chop them off either – don't you know they fucking grow back every time?" He took a deep breath to huff out, curled his lip at Eren and stormed off towards the door, leaving Eren to trail after him.
Levi grumbled under his breath all the way down the stairs, and managed to smack Eren in the face with his wingtips a few times, definitely on purpose. Apparently not everybody in the entire Corps was privy to the secret, because Levi took them on a roundabout route to their squad's small mess hall, avoiding the more populated areas of the castle. Eren found himself looking around nervously, worried that he had put the corporal in danger. Surely, though, if it truly wasn't safe to walk around base like this, he would have insisted, right?
When they reached the mess hall, Levi kicked the doors open with a bang and stalked in, drawing all eyes to him, and a loud "oooh" of excitement. Eren, right behind him, saw the way everybody glanced, then looked again, their eyes lighting up in a positively scary way. The Survey Corps were a collection of freaks, no question.
Levi grabbed a chair and sat down on it backwards, plonking his plate onto the table, an expression of long-suffering on his face as everybody flocked around.
"You talked to him!" the commander said, a bright smile on his face. "How'd it go?"
"Bastard wouldn't cut 'em off," Levi grumbled.
"And well he shouldn't!" Petra said. "You should be proud of your wings!"
Eren grabbed some leftover food and sat down, noticing how Petra wasn't the only one to immediately start petting the wings, despite how Levi kept flicking them irritably out of the way.
"I trust you understand the situation," Erwin said, fixing Eren with a look that somehow lost a good chunk of intensity when one of his hands was stroking Levi's distractingly pretty feathers. Eren nodded quickly.
He opened his mouth to say something serious and intelligent, but what came out was, "He took me flying." Everyone's attention was immediately arrested.
"Ooh, you'll take me later, won't you?" Petra said. Levi kept his eyes on his plate.
"Lucky," sighed Gunter. "I never get to go."
"You're too heavy," said Auruo archly (and Eren tried to erase the mental image of Auruo with his legs wrapped around Levi's waist, because that was weird).
"The commander got to!"
"It was only the once," said Erwin, "and not exactly for pleasure."
"He dragged your ass out of a titan's mouth," said Mike. Erwin chuckled, not even embarrassed.
"And nearly lost my wings because of this fucker's weight," Levi ground out. "Took my back a week to recover. I think both my arms popped out of their sockets. Next time you decide to go diving in a titan's stomach, I'm going to let you."
"I cherish the memory," said Erwin.
"And lord it over the rest of us landbound suckers," Mike sighed.
Erwin poked Levi in the nearest wing. "You milked that injury for all it was worth, if I recall. Breakfast in bed every day, was it?"
"I fucking deserved it."
For all that he complained, Eren thought, Levi put up with their doting rather well. In fact, Eren had the suspicion that he liked it, having his teammates embrace even this strange, nonhuman part of him. He thought of what it would be like to have his friends enjoying his titan form, rather than considering it just something horrible to be feared, or at best, tolerated. Perhaps, when he got full control, Mikasa and Armin could be persuaded to ride on his shoulders? The view from there couldn't compare to Levi's flight but it would certainly be nice enough.
"Look how smug Eren is," Petra said, making Eren take another hurried bite and try to neutralize his expression. "It must have been fun. But don't get used to it, Levi's really stingy. Maybe you can trade him for titan rides, though."
Levi rolled his eyes, but didn't outright refuse. Though, why Levi would want to ride a titan when he could fly was beyond Eren.
"If he ever gets control of that beast of his," the corporal responded.
"You'll help me, though, right, sir?"
Levi met his gaze for a moment, then nodded. "I don't know how similar our situations are, but we'll see."
Eren's reply was forestalled by the sound of rapid pounding. The doors of the mess hall were suddenly thrown open with a bang, and Hange appeared.
"Levi!" she crowed. "You've got the wings out and you didn't tell me? How could you?" She swooped down on him and managed to wrap her arms around one of the wings, while Levi cursed and tried to dodge.
"Because you react like this every time!"
Their brief scuffle ended with Levi sitting on the floor, staring off into the distance and pointedly ignoring the way Hange was playing with his wings. Eren considered joining in again, but it was probably a bit dangerous; he was the only one in the room Levi could threaten with latrine cleaning duty, after all.
The Survey Corps was weird, but as Eren watched them together, close as family, he found himself proud to be one of them. Even though they still didn't quite trust him, if they could accept Levi's wings, they would certainly learn to accept Eren's own transformation one day – and so would his own teammates.
Originally a kinkmeme fill, now a multiparter... I hope you enjoyed!