Thank you to UnicornWithABananaHorn for suggesting: Someone closes Eren's tail in the door or steps on it and for two weeks Eren stays on the top shelf or hidden while other people are there.

I did that, more or less.

Eren POV

I loved the holidays. Because it would be Christmas and Levi's birthday. Not to mention it was also the day that I first met Levi a couple years ago. I won't lie, I didn't think I would end up loving him much as I do now.

Levi always mumbles things about how much he hates Christmas and his birthday, but he also puts up a small Christmas tree and lights around the house. He doesn't put on Christmas music, but if he's surfing through channels on tv and one comes on, he leaves it.

He says he doesn't like the holidays because that's when everyone comes over and he has to entertain guests. That's what I love the most, because I get even more petting. Recently Erwin started dating a guy named Armin, and Armin loves cats so he loves me. And he knows exactly where I like to be petted. I think that when I die, I'll go to kitty heaven and my heaven will be getting pet by Erwin, Armin, and Levi.

This is the time of year when all of Levi's friends stop by at least once. Most of them spend Christmas with their families or go on vacation, which means they're not here for Levi's birthday, so they bring him presents. That also means I get presents. And I know Erwin and Armin are going to get me something good.

Right now I was watching as Levi prepared a bunch of food, he was pulling some cookies out the oven.

"Don't come near, Eren. I dont want you getting burned,"

I'm not stupid Levi, I know that hurts. I stayed in my spot by my food bowl. It wasn't until then that I realized I was hungry and started meowing until Levi got the message. I'm hungry over here. I don't remember if you fed me breakfast and if you did I'm hungry again so give me more food. Levi! Levi! LEVI! He kept ignoring me so I went to walk around his legs now that he had put the cookies down. Levi, food.

"My god, Eren. Shut the fuck up! Can't you see I'm cooking. Don't you have some kind of decency to leave me alone for a while," I'm a cat, I dont have decency, I have my three basic needs. Eat, sleep, and look after you. So you could at least feed me!

"I swear, Eren," oh no, he sounds mad, "I'm taking you to the pound if you don't stop," I cringed. We had watched a documentary about some animal pounds. And I was traumatized.

I lowered my head, I didn't like Levi getting angry with me, I'm sorry, I'm just hungry. I walked back to my food bowl.

"Oh fuck, food. You want food," Well I did but not if you're going to yell at me. "Shit, Eren. I'm sorry,"

I watched him scurry around the kitchen and open the cupboard where he kept all my different foods. He grabbed one of the good cans and opened it before he walked over to me and my bowl and emptied it out. I didn't eat it.

"Come on, Eren. Eat," I still didn't. He wouldn't really take me to a pound would he? I went and sat underneath a chair. Levi bent down so he was on his hands and knees and peered at me, "I'm sorry I didn't feed you earlier. I got busy. Erwin, Armin, and Hange are coming over,"

Erwin and Armin? And Hange? They always bring me presents. Maybe one of them will take me and not threaten to leave me at the horrible hell.

But I still didn't get out from under the chair until Levi stood up and I heard the same sound I always do when he's just stocked up in my food. I slowly crawled underneath to watch as Levi took out all the nasty food. He's not going to make me eat them all is he? I shrunk back as he walked passed me, but instead of putting them in my bowl like I thought, he threw them all into the trashcan.

"I won't feed you any of the food you don't like anymore, ok? Just eat, please,"

I stayed underneath the chair, asshole. Levi seemed to give up and went back to cooking. I stayed silent listening to him move things above the table and watched him walk back and forth between the table and stove.

I continued to think about whether or not he would truly send me to the pound or not. He joked about it before, but I always knew he was joking. Today, though, he said it when he was angry and I was afraid he actually meant it this time. I mean the pound was scary. So many animals in a small space, and it was loud, with all the animal noises. I mean, Levi is pretty quiet, and I like the quiet.

I don't know how much time passed when Levi grabbed my bowl of food and slid it so it landed next to me. And my Kitty God, did it smell delicious, I had to cover my face with my paws just so I wouldn't be tempted to eat it.

After a little while, I heard Levi mutter some curses before he was on his hands and knees like last time and looking at me again, this time he had chicken in his hand, he put the handful on top of my bowl and then stood back up.

This time I couldn't resist it and as quietly as I could I bit a piece of the chicken. It tasted so good. My plan was to eat enough that Levi wouldn't be able to tell I actually ate any, but I was still satisfied. But I ended up finished almost my entire bowl, not even caring once I had finished the real chicken and had moved on to the canned food.

I decided I would forgive Levi, he did seem to be worried about whether I ate or not, and the chicken he had given me was probably from the chicken they were going to eat at dinner. I pushed my bowl out from under the table with my head and bumped Levi's foot with it.

Thank you for the food, asshole.

Levi looked down at me and I meowed at him.

"Oh thank god you ate," he picked up my bowl and set it back where it always goes. Just then, the doorbell rang and Levi walked over to it.

I walked into the living room behind him. It was Armin, Erwin, and Hange. They each hugged Levi and said happy birthday, then handed him a present.

But there were no other presents, they didn't seem to notice me, had they forgotten about me?

Maybe my present was so big they couldn't carry it and it was outside the door. I walked passed them while they chatted, the door was still wide open. I peeked out to look out into the hallway and there was nothing there. I took another step out, trying to look farther.

I faintly heard Levi asking them if they wanted to head to the kitchen when all of a sudden I felt an excruciating pain in my tail. I jumped up and yelped.

I looked up to see Armin had attempted to close the door on me, "Eren! I'm so sorry!" he took a step closer to me and tried to pick me up, but I dashed past him and all the others. I immediately jumped onto the highest shelf and I heard Levi cursing.

"I'm so sorry," Armin did sound sorry, but I was in too much pain to care. I moved my tail to lay in front of me and licked at where the door had hit it. It hurt and I hissed at the pain. I could taste a little blood.

Next thing I know, Erwin in standing in front of me, he's taller than Levi, so he could reach me, and trying to coax me to go to him. No thanks.

I hissed at him and moved farther back. After a few more failed attempts, Erwin was pushed away and Levi's face came to view, "come down, Eren. Armin didn't mean it," I snarled at him, "look, he even bought you this annoy as bell for your collar," Levi held up a shiny looking bell I recognized from all the Christmas movies, a jinglebell.

"Hey!"

"It's annoying,"

It looked pretty, and I wanted it, but Levi obviously didn't like it. Not to mention he did nothing to protect me and I didn't want him anywhere near me. I had just forgiven him and he had already let me get hurt.

I wanted to hiss and snarl at him like I had done to Erwin, but instead I just turned the other way and continued to lick at my tail. I wanted to cry, but I didn't want to give him that satisfaction.

"Fine, stay up there,"

"Levi, you can't leave him there," that's right, Hange. Defend me.

"Well he doesn't want to come down, he's been moody all day," I have not been moody! You've just been an asshole, Levi!, "see what I mean?" No.

I turned to him and he had disappeared, I heard them all make their way to the kitchen. I was still upset so I stayed where I was and tried to take a nap.

I tried, I really did, to fall asleep. But they were laughing and talking loudly and I was still upset so anything they did made me even angrier. Especially when I heard Levi.

After a while, I decided to flatten and cover my ears with my paws and closed my eyes. It seemed to work okay because next time I opened my eyes, the room was dark. There was a small bowl of water in front of me and a few more pieces of chicken.

I ate the chicken and drank all the water. The bowl was small enough that I could fit the edge of it in my mouth. I made sure to grip it hard and jumped from the shelf to the table next to it and then to the floor. I guess I didn't hold onto it hard enough because I accidently let it go when I landed on the ground. It made a loud sound and I winced.

If Levi was sleeping, the sound, no doubt, woke him up. As expected, a couple seconds later, Levi appeared in the living room, clutching a baseball bat.

"Eren?" he whispered. I'm right here, I dropped the bowl.

Levi flicked on the lamp and saw me, "you came down? I thought you were afraid of heights,"

Right...

He walked close to me and picked up the bowl, I took a few steps back, I was still cautious of him.

He put it in the sink and walked back to me. He tried to pet me but I ran from him and he sighed. Levi didn't say anything after that, he simply turned around, turned off the lamp and left. I heard the soft click of his bedroom door.

I jumped onto the couch and pulled at one of the pillows so it was flat and I laid on top of it to fall asleep.

Levi didn't love me anymore.

...

I woke up the next morning with Levi telling me to get off the couch cushion. I did so, but not because he told me to, but because I was hungry.

I was surprised to find my bowl full of real chicken, the not the canned kind. I was skeptical. Why was Levi giving me this food? And then it dawned on me, he was taking me to the pound. It made perfect sense, that's why he hadn't fed me yesterday, he was preparing me to not get enough food. And then he felt guilty so he was only giving me good food.

I still ate it though, I might as well go to the pound with a full stomach. I finished it and then walked around the apartment. Levi always kept it clean, but he was running around everywhere and cleaning everything. He even used the lint roller on the curtains since I liked to rub up against them sometimes.

Wait, Levi only ever cleaned like this when...there was someone at the door.

"Fuck,"

Fuck.

Levi walked to the door and took a deep breath to open it, I was already on top of the shelf. For various reasons, my tails was still sensitive and I didn't want to risk it getting caught in the door again.

"Maman,"

Maman. That's the other reason I was up here. Levi's mom hated me.

"Levi! Darling," I watched as she embraced him.

"How was your flight, Maman?"

"Oh it was dreadful! It was delayed by two hours, I'm lucky I made it to the hotel in time to check in. I almost lost my reservation!"

"Maybe you should try a different airline next time,"

Levi was always so much out of character when his mother was around. It would be hilarious if it weren't for the fact that his mother was the reincarnation of the devil. Had it been anyone else he would have told them to "stop fucking whining." But this was his mother

"Well we'll see, sweetie," she had stepped into the apartment already, Levi had taken her coat and purse and hung then up next to the door, "I see you got rid of that filthy cat, I'm glad,"

"His name is Eren, mother. And I haven't gotten rid of him,"

She sat down on the couch, "well you should. It's obvious he doesn't know how to behave," she traced her finger over a couple of the scratches I had made on the wooden coffee table, "maybe you should get some fish,"

"Eren will eat them,"

"I mean in placement of Eren. Take him to an animal shelter, or to a pound,"

Eren froze at her comment.

"I'm not getting rid of him. He was a gift and I enjoy his company,"

"Fish can be great companions! And they don't leave fur everywhere," I could assure you there was probably one string of fur on that couch and she had managed to find it. She pinched it between her fingers, then let it fall to the ground, "besides, if he's such a great cat as you sometimes claim, I'm sure he'll quickly be adopted,"

I swear if I wasn't so afraid of bursting into flames by simply meeting her gaze, I would have pounced on her and clawed her eyes out.

I couldn't see Levi, just the back of his head, but the way he spoke sounded like he was clenching his teeth, "older cats don't tend to get adopted,"

"Then leave him in a different neighborhood or something. I'm sure he'll do fine, and maybe someone will find him an-,"

"HE'S MY CAT AND I'M NOT GETTING RID OF HIM, MAMAN. END OF DISCUSSION. NOW DO YOU WANT SOME FUCKING TEA OR NOT?!"

I just stared at maman, who looked to be completely frozen. It seemed like a long time later, but it was probably just a few seconds later that she cleared her throat and stood, "hmm, well. I'll go make the tea then," she headed for the kitchen.

I jumped from the shelf and walked over to Levi. He did care about me. He was still standing in his place on the opposite side of the coffee table from where maman had been sitting.

I rubbed against his pants and meowed happily at him. He looked down at me, "I yelled at my mother," he whispered. He looked distraught.

I jumped onto the coffee table and put my paws on his abdomen and rubbed my head against him.

Thank you for standing up for me. I love you.

Levi petted my head and rubbed behind my ears a little bit.

"Oh sweetie, you really need to watch what you eat. There really is so much food in the fridge, and not a lot of is very healthy for you. And who's going to want to date you if you look your slim figure?"

I hissed in the general direction of the kitchen. He doesn't need anyone else. He has me! Levi tapped my head with his fingers to get my attention.

"I know she's a bit much. I'm sorry. Go sleep in my room while she's here. I'll take you some food later," then he turned around and headed for the kitchen.

I should have gone to his room right after that, but instead I followed him into the kitchen and spent the next hour walking around his feet and purring whenever he pet me, which was a lot. To be honest, I knew he was doing it to spite maman. But, so was I.

But one could only take so much of her. I ended up leaving after Levi fed me to go take a nap in his room. I knew better than to get on his bed, so I curled up on the chair in his room. I held my tail in between my paws and licked at it where it was still slightly red and swollen until I fell asleep.

When I woke up, I started panicking. I was on Levi's bed. Did I somehow sleep walk and get on here? I stood up quickly so I could get off before Levi caught me. But that's when I felt a heavy arm across my back and I turned and saw Levi, fast asleep. Had he moved me over here. But this was his bed. I wasn't allowed on his bed.

I hesitantly laid back down. I pulled my tail into myself and that's when I noticed that there was a white bandage taped around where it had gotten hurt. Levi had taped me up. I could cry. But I didn't.

I didn't hesitate anymore as I pressed my head against his shoulder and nuzzled him. He had been on his back, but when I nuzzled him, he turned his body to face me and hummed as he pulled me closer to him. I purred in response and nuzzled him again.

There was a cool breeze coming in from the window and I felt Levi shiver a little. I grabbed at the blanket with my teeth and pulled it up, and rubbed my tail against him, don't worry Levi, I'll keep you warm.