Hello friends! Sorry for the lateness, I finished high school this week so eeeeeeeppp I had to get stuff done. BUT HEY SUMMERS HERE FOR ME NOW SO MORE WRITING TIME. And more time for Ghosties and I to scheme...mwuahaha.

Anyway...Disclaimer: We do not own Attack on Titan or the wonderful Levi-Heichou and Eren. Too bad, huh?

We hope you guys enjoy! Thanks for reading, review please!

~Aria

-Ghosties

Hanji quietly opened the door to the infirmary, in case the room's only occupant was still sleeping. She peered into the darkened room cautiously but easily spotted Levi's form sitting up in the bed. He was looking out the window, head turned away from her.

She approached wordlessly, not really wanting to disturb him. But once she was fully positioned at his bedside and he still gave no acknowledgement of her presence, she decided to alert him to it.

"Hey shorty," she greeted with her normal range of eccentricity.

He visibly flinched and whipped his head to face her, looking a bit startled as he did. Levi glowered when he realized what had been said, "Fucking woman! Don't come so fucking close and talk so loud."

Hanji, meanwhile, was very surprised. "Wait you mean you didn't hear me come in?"

"How the hell would I hear that from this far?" His tone was annoyed and yet tired.

In all the years she had known the man, she had never once been able to enter a room without him hearing the slightest sound from the door. It simply wasn't possible to enter his range of hearing without being detected. She supposed that was from his time in the underground, strengthening his senses for self preservation.

So to have actually, and unintentionally, startled him when she wasn't even trying shouldn't have been possible.

"No.. Levi you always hear me," she argued in confusion.

He seemed to realize it as well and stared back at her stoically. Though she could see the slightest build up of tension in his shoulders.

Her frantic thoughts went back to what Levi's squad had told her of the expedition and the events that had led up to his untimely injury and near death. She was forgetting something. Then it hit her.

"That… thing picked him up like nothing. It shook him around like some sort of toy…" Jean had said.

"H-He was screaming so badly… We thought it had torn off one of his limbs," Sasha mentioned with a shudder.

Connie continued from there, "Then it brought him to its face and roared. It was damn near ear shattering from our position below. I can't imagine how loud it must've been to him…"

A sinking feeling engulfed her chest. Hanji swallowed nervously and looked back anxiously to her wounded comrade. "You really didn't hear me come in?"

Levi shook his head mutely.

She bit at her lip, "Okay… Bear with me for a minute here. I'm going to make some noises and whispers; tell me if you hear them."

His brow furrowed a bit, "Hanji.. What does this-"

"Please," she pleaded, "I need to test this."

He released a ragged sigh, wincing just slightly as he did, but nodded.

By the end of her short test, Hanji was only feeling worse about the whole thing. She remained quiet at his bedside, considering the results.

Levi watched her with a careful eye, "Now what the fuck was that for?"

There was no sense in lying to him. She ran an anxious hand through her bangs. "During the incident," she began, "the titan that had you in its hold apparently roared at full volume. The cadets in your squad told me that it was half deafening for them on the ground below…"

"Yeah..so?" His annoyance was obviously growing.

"You were right in front of its face when that happened, Levi." Her brown eyes looked up to him, willing him to understand. "You were bleeding at the ears when I got to you," she continued in a softer tone of voice, being sure to not be too quiet. "Initially I thought nothing of it, figuring it was part of your head wound… But now.."

Levi was silent. "It fucked up my hearing?"

"You've always had stronger hearing than the rest of us, but now it seems your ability to hear quiet frequencies has been hindered," she replied factually, trying desperately to keep the sadness from her voice.

A long silence passed between them.

Hanji looked to her comrade anxiously, "Levi-"

"Is it permanent?" Came the almost cautious sounding question.

She couldn't lie to him. The brunette bit her lip again, casting her eyes downwards.

Levi shifted his gaze away, "I see.."

There was something in the intonation of those words that tore at her heart. "I'm sorry," she breathed, "I can do a lot, don't get me wrong… but even I can't bring back your sensitive hearing."

"Shut the fuck up," he snapped, fist tight on his blankets. "You make it sound like I've lost something precious, but this is fucking nothing compared to what most have lost."

"I know.. but you've still lost something," she defended lightly, "and it is still something that won't come back. You'll still have to adjust." Hanji sighed, "I'm just sorry that it happened and that I can't do anything."

"My sensitivity to sound wasn't a vital part of my being, it doesn't fucking matter that it's gone."

Hanji bowed her head in defeat, "Yeah.. Okay fine." She stood from her chair, "If something changes, let me know."

As she neared the door, something else occurred to her. "Once you heal up a bit, I'd like to explore this further to see how deeply your hearing has been affected. It might be more than your sensitivity to quiet frequencies that has been altered."

"Whatever," was his only reply.

The woman left then, shutting the door with a bit of force so as to ensure the patient within heard. As she started down the hall, her brain got thinking again.

Levi had said it wasn't a big deal, but it was. The majority of his life he had relied on his sharp hearing to keep himself safe. Granted it hadn't always worked, but from the few stories he had told her, it had certainly saved him more than once. His very instincts had adapted around his sensitivity to sound.

So to suddenly have that sensitivity ripped from him, had to upset his base structure. He would have to evolve a bit to accommodate the change. It was ultimately a small thing to outsiders, but to him it was something rather sizeable. Some of his habits would change, his perception of sound would be different - perhaps more damaged than she realized.

She knew he would adapt, but until then it was a source of vulnerability. Hanji contemplated telling Eren for only a moment but ultimately decided it was Levi's job to tell him.

Hanji sighed tiredly. Between Eren and Levi, she could hardly catch a break. A small smile worked onto her face as she continued on to her lab.

Of course, in the grand scheme of things, she wouldn't have it any other way.

By midweek, Hanji had deemed Levi healed enough for him to move around with some restrictions. She kept up with his bandages, always making sure his ribs were bound with enough pressure to help him breathe. The woman couldn't help but marvel at how quickly he seemed to be healing, it was nearly Eren's usual healing pace which was admittedly a bit concerning.

While her worry over her raven haired friend decreased, her worries instead increased for Eren. The fever he had been fighting for the last couple of weeks seemed determined to hang on. Hanji made it her top priority to try and get his nutrition back up to where it should be. That and trying to figure out a way to stem the fever that constantly plagued him.

She worked herself endlessly, stopping only for the occasional rest. If anyone was going to help the teen out of his sickness, it was Hanji.

When Eren finally became aware again, there was a cool hand against his cheek, moving ever so gently. He leaned instinctively into the touch, peeling his eyes back with a bit of effort.

A small smile appeared as he took in his lover sitting at his side. "You're here," he croaked.

"Yes," Levi replied, "and you're still here, and still sick."

Eren's smile didn't fade, "Yeah… I seem to be good at that."

"Unfortunately," came the dull retort.

The brunette was silent for a bit as he looked over his spouse, tired eyes raking over the bandages that still were scattered about the other's form. "Are you better?"

He shook his head a bit, "Don't worry so much about me, I'll be fine soon enough."

"But you are a bit better, aren't you?" The question was pleading, as though begging him to give a direct answer.

"Yes," Levi relented, "I'm getting there, so you need to focus on recovering too, shitface."

The use of the nickname brought the small smile back to the teen's face. "Good," he breathed, settling back more on the bed.

"How are you feeling?" He asked in return, gray eyes looking at him with scrutiny.

Eren gave a half shrug, "Sore, tired and.. sick I guess."

Levi rolled his eyes, "Thank you for the specifics there, shit for brains."

He childishly stuck out his tongue. "My muscles have been aching more than usual, I almost constantly have a headache, I still can't eat much, and I'm just so tired. I feel like I could sleep for days and still not have enough sleep."

"Well you are running on about empty and the baby is still sharing your nutrients," another voice cut in, "so the exhaustion makes sense."

The duo turned to find Hanji standing there.

She waved slightly, "Sorry to cut in like that. But your extreme exhaustion makes sense to me. We do need to try and get more food and water into you though. You've not had anything filling stay down for a solid week or so."

A look of guilt crossed the teen's face as he sent an anxious glance to his stomach.

"Which isn't your fault," she quickly added. "You can't help that your body is fighting this, we'll just have to work harder at combatting it."

"Why do I feel like our room is going to be a godawful mess from all of this?" Levi muttered.

Hanji crossed her arms, "Actually I think I'm going to keep Eren here until he has the baby. I have all the supplies in here and he's already mostly settled… so…"

Levi looked around in distaste, "You want us to stay in here for another month and a half?"

"Well at least Eren," she shot back, "you, on the other hand, are allowed to go back to the room if you want."

A sharp raven brow rose in response, arms crossed.

The woman chuckled a bit nervously, "Right - I forgot. Package deal and all.." She sighed, "I mean if you two really want to go back to your room, I won't stop you; but I really do want him in this room when it comes time for the baby."

Eren laid lax against his pillows, eyes looking at them lazily. "Let's just stay in here, Levi. I don't have the energy to handle being moved. We'll make it until the baby is ready."

He wrinkled his nose a bit, "Fine. But I want our bed brought in. I can't fit in this bed and I'm not sleeping on that… thing over there."

That earned him a small laugh from his love. "It's just a couch, babe," he pointed out.

"That probably has thousands of dust mites and god knows what else on it."

Hanji, meanwhile, had paled, "You want your bed in here?"

Their bed had been handmade for them, seeing as all the other beds for Main HQ were singles or doubles. Theirs was a queen sized one with a carved wooden frame. Hence, it was both large and cumbersome.

She let lose an unsteady breath, "Well… I suppose we can. It's going to require a lot of manpower. We can put the single bed aside for now. Anything else?"

"Yes, I'll need a desk. I'm sure there's paperwork to be done. We can put it against that wall, there," Levi said.

She nodded, "Okay that's a bit more manageable… anything else?"

The raven tapped absently at his chin with thought, "Not right now, Eren is there anything you want?" A lack of response made him turn, only to find the other male asleep once more.

His brunette companion furrowed her brow and placed a delicate hand on the younger's forehead, "Still running a low grade fever."

"Is this part of his body rejecting the pregnancy as well?"

"Yeah, I think so," she confirmed. Hanji brushed back his bangs with a small sigh, "My poor little titan."

"My titan," Levi asserted quietly.

The older approached the bed and sat on the edge, scooping up one of his lover's hands in his own. He ran the pad of his thumb over the knuckles. "Will this pass?" He asked suddenly.

"I'm not sure, I had hoped so. I gave him a bit of a medicine I whipped up, which wouldn't hinder the baby any, but I'm not sure it did anything besides make him drowsy," she said in a slightly defeated tone.

The mood change didn't go unnoticed by the short male. He huffed quietly, "Don't look like some kind of kicked puppy, that's the fucking brat's job. You can't fix everything Hanji, just accept it and move on."

She lifted her head, a look of mild astonishment on her face.

He raised a brow, "What?"

Hanji smiled but shook her head. Mentally she marveled at how much being with their beloved titan shifter had softened her friend. Her smile widened at the mere thought.

"Keep smiling like that and you might finally get admitted to the asylum," Levi remarked sarcastically.

That brought a laugh from her, "You say that as though they could contain me."

"I wonder sometimes," he muttered.

The brunette stood up straighter, cracking her back a bit. She smirked as Levi wrinkled his nose in distaste. "Something wrong shorty?"

"The fact that even with my fucked up hearing, I can hear every crack of your spine. One day your back will just break when you do that," he said with a look of mild disgust.

"Ha! And by the time that day comes, I'll have already figured out a way to fix it," Hanji declared.

That night, Levi dreamed. It wasn't often that it happened, and even when it did it was most often nightmares. So the somber images that floated through his head were a strange, but not unwelcome difference.

In fact, he felt himself pulling a strange enjoyment out of them.

It was a disgustingly cliche scene; a lovely village home on the hills, smoke rising from a warm fire in the hearth, and sweet laughter filling the brisque air. The aerial view subsided and he found himself in a cozy room, stoking a fire with plenty of wood, mumbling grumpily as Eren rolled backward toward the fire's crackling flames-tearing up from laughter as he held a smiling child above him.

"She's so cute, Levi!" he oozed, tossing and bouncing the cooing baby.

He said something like, "Whatever you say, brat," as he stoked the flames and shook his head, smirking at his husband.

Eren grinned that beautiful smile of his, and even in sleep Levi felt his heart skip. The bright-eyed man leaned forward and their lips met chastely before he held out the smaller, teal-eyed child towards its father. Levi rolled his eyes, pressing an equally sweet kiss on the child's forehead. The baby giggled happily, its chubby hands reaching for its father's embrace. Levi chuckled a bit and took the child into his hands.

Lifting the child, he felt a sharp stab of pain from his right arm, and immediately snapped awake. He flinched, realizing that he had been dreaming and sighing.

Levi might've been a stoic man, but even he wished he could have a life as calm and sweet as in his dream. He threaded his arms around Eren's sleeping form and allowed his mind to imagine such a life as he drifted back into a dreamless sleep.

Afternotes:

Yayyyy! Sweetness chapter ends! Alright friends see ya next week, hope you enjoyed and read and review as always!

Also, due to the resounding support for an "extra special" epilogue...there will be one :) Prepare your little perverted hearts for that when we get there (not quite yet but fairly soon were coming to a close!)

~Aria and the Ghosts