Fuck cuddling, was Levi's first coherent thought of the day.

He cringed when he woke up the morning after the big reveal fiasco, realizing half his body was dead and the other hurt horribly. He looked down at the heavy body using him as a body pillow and thus being responsible for his state as it slept happily away, completely oblivious to its mate's torment. He got a mouth full of hair as a result.

Let him say it again. Fuck cuddling.

The alpha tried extracting himself gently from the vice grip his omega had on him but Eren would have none of it. Even unconscious he was relentless. Levi gave up being gentle when feeling started to return to his rescued arm, hurting like a bitch. He needed his body back and go take a shower as it would hopefully help him forget the terrible feeling of needles pricking every damn bit of the right half of his body, while simultaneously relaxing the sore muscles in the left half of his body. Even the thought of it made him moan in relief.

Mind made up, Levi pried Eren's arms from himself and got up, wobbly on his legs. He was halfway to cursing cuddling to hell and back all anew when a soft sounds of protest came from behind.

"Leeeviii~ Come baaack~" Eren was mumbling, barely coherent as he blindly searched around for his mate.

Levi almost gave in and went back to bed to cuddle the shit out of this cute creature. Almost.

And it wasn't even his aching body that stopped him; instead it was the noise from outside. The birds were making a racket already and the castle would be full of people soon.

He sighed regretfully as he sat on the edge of the bed, ruffling Eren's hair. The brunet groaned pitifully and tried to swat the hand away, only managing to make Levi smile. "Eren, you have to get up. It's morning."

"No."

"Yes. And we don't want to make Erwin even more pissed than he already is when someone sees you leaving here, do we?"

Eren groaned, finally sitting up. He looked at Levi sleepily, blinking a few times. "You're a cheater," he stated in a gruff voice before yawning tiredly.

"Morning to you, too," Levi smirked, giving Eren a light peck on the cheek.

Eren only hummed noncommittally in response, fumbling to get out of bed, obviously still half asleep.

Levi was already dressed and started gathering the things he needed for his shower by the time Eren put on his shoes and stood in front of Levi to get a proper good morning kiss, bad breath and all.

"See you later, Levi," he said with a lazy but still bright smile.

Levi couldn't help but kiss him again.

Later in the day, Levi was observing his squad carefully during their hand-to-hand combat practice when he felt a presence next to him. They didn't say anything for a good while, just watching as Mikasa explained Armin how to do some more advanced move or what looked like Krista scolding Ymir for not trying hard enough.

"How are they doing?" Erwin finally asked.

Levi sighed deeply before replying, "You can see that yourself. They are still a far cry from Eld and the others. Mikasa is the only one coming close. All of them have potential but- SASHA! CONNIE! FIVE LAPS, NOW! AND IF I CATCH YOU SHITTING AROUND AGAIN, YOU'RE SPARRING WITH ME!" The two officers could hear some high pitched squeaks before the two soldiers hurried off for their laps, accompanied by badly muffled snickers.

Levi wanted to bash his head against the nearest wall. This was what he had to work with. Erwin didn't bother hiding his amusement over Levi's suffering.

"As I was saying," Levi continued from before, "all of them are talented in a certain way but it will take time to train them up to standard. The one good thing is that they are from the same group and have known each other since beginning their training. Their teamwork is pretty good."

Erwin nodded in understanding. "That's the most important thing. And if they are as talented as you say, their skill will up rapidly with your training." The commander's tone turned more serious. "Also, they know all too well what they are facing. That's some motivation to get better."

Levi hummed in agreement but then his eyes caught some suspicious movement to the side and he looked over to see Sasha and Connie shove at each other while doing their punishment and he had to groan while jerking his hand in their direction. "Try saying that to them – or her," he added, when he saw Ymir letting Krista overpower her again without even putting up a proper fight.

Erwin laughed lightly, "Well, I suppose they are trying to have fun which is admirable in this situation. But honestly, they seem to be doing their best regardless. And as for that girl..." Erwin took a few moments to study the interaction between the two female sparring partners. "Seems to me she's doing the same thing you would if you were to fight with Eren."

Levi scowled, rolling his eyes. "That's bullshit and you know it. I would never go easy on anyone, Eren included." Levi turned to give Erwin a slightly accusing look. "You're just trying to steer the topic in Eren's direction. Is that why you are here? To pry into the privacy of our relationship?"

The blond alpha smiled, not looking at his captain. "No reason to pry. Since Eren is currently with Hanji getting thoroughly examined, I figure it's easier to just wait until Hanji tells me everything she finds out without me even having to ask, rather than try to force anything out of you. But otherwise, you would be correct. You know me too well, Levi."

"You weren't exactly subtle. Are you that pissed off that you didn't figure it out yourself?" the other scoffed.

Erwin hummed as if contemplating Levi's accusation. "Maybe a little bit." He ignored the snort and a mumble of "Yeah, right," coming from beside him as he continued. "Mostly I'm angry at you for going through with it. What exactly were you thinking Levi? Did you really think it was a good idea to knock up one of your soldiers? One that you are directly in charge of, mind you?"

Levi raised an eyebrow as he mockingly repeated, "'Knock up'?"

His commanding officer just continued staring at him with unchanged expression so Levi gave up with a sigh. "It wasn't really my plan to make him pregnant, you know? But it happened so we all just have to accept it and adjust accordingly."

"And put all of us, including all our plans, in serious danger while we're at it, right?"

Levi could hear the hidden irritation behind the polite conversational tone. He elected to ignore the biting remark.

Erwin bit back a frustrated growl, continuing his lecture. "Let me start again. Levi, this relationship between you two would be bad enough on its own. Putting aside the current situation, did you really have to go and mate him? I'm asking as a friend now, do you realize what you did?"

Levi's eyes flashed in anger. How dare another alpha question his choice of mate?

His rational side immediately came up to try to calm the instincts down. He was sure Erwin didn't mean to insult his omega in any way; he was just looking out for them but the alpha in him still didn't like the possible hidden implications.

Erwin noticed the dangerous glow to his friend's steel grey eyes and immediately backtracked. "It's not that I disapprove of Eren as your mate in itself. If you make each other happy than in any other situation I'd be the first one to congratulate you but we are in this situation. We are soldiers of the Survey corps. We could die anytime we go out. And as if that in itself wasn't enough, Eren is in constant danger from inside the walls as well." Erwin paused as he came to the point he was wary of the most. "And you are the one who might have to kill him one day."

Levi's glare was still just as fierce as ever but at least his eyes weren't glowing anymore. "Your point?" he barked with venom.

Erwin gave him a look. "Don't play dumb. You know what mating does to people. If one of you dies, the other will be left behind with a piece of their being missing, unable to mate anyone again to fill it back in. They would suffer for the rest of their life. Would you be able to continue fighting if Eren died? And don't even try to tell me you would be able to go through with killing Eren yourself if the situation called for it."

Levi looked away. There was no need to give an answer to that.

Erwin, satisfied, went on, "Moreover, anytime one of you is in danger, the other feels it. Your instinct won't let you ignore it and you're going to abandon whatever mission you have to get to the other. That is a prospect I very much don't like. It poses danger not only to the two of you, but also everyone else on the field with you."

The blond took a breath, rubbing his temples "You live a life where either of you can die any moment, the whole population of the corps, no the whole human population depends on you two and you go and do... this. And then you bring a child into this mess as well."

Levi still kept his gaze on his new squad, although not really seeing them, when he finally answered Erwin's scolding rant in a quiet voice. "That's why."

"What?" Erwin didn't understand what Levi was trying to say.

"That's why I mated Eren. We could die anytime in this shitfest of a world and I couldn't stand the thought of Eren being in danger without me to help him. Again," Levi elaborated with a growl.

Erwin's eyes lit with understanding. "The female titan?" he asked for confirmation.

Levi sighed, looking up at the bright, bright blue sky sadly. "Yeah."

The tall alpha frowned at how tired his friend suddenly looked. "It wasn't your fault, Levi."

Levi chuckled humorlessly, "I know. It wasn't anyone's fault. It's in the job description. But Eren could have died; hell, my whole squad died and I had no idea. If I went looking for them a few minutes later, Eren would be gone. If I went looking for them a few minutes earlier, I could have saved them. Now I can at least know when he needs me."

The raven slowly looked Erwin straight in the eyes and resolutely stated, "I made the choice I would regret the least."

They held each other's gazes for several painfully long minutes before Erwin shook his head in surrender. "Well, it's not like I can do anything now but complain about how much stress you two have dumped on me. I can't exactly tell you to un-mate each other or to un-pregnate him so you can stop glaring at me like that."

Levi smirked, suddenly feeling a lot less tense with how defeated Erwin sounded. He used the opportunity to shout instructions at his squad, sending them off to run a few laps before stretching to finish off the training. Then he gave his attention back to Erwin, who looked like he wanted to start asking further questions. "What is it?"

"Did you talk about who you are going to tell about Eren?"

Levi immediately turned suspicious. "A little, why?"

"Just asking. Can you tell me who you two have in mind?"

Levi narrowed his eyes. He had a feeling he won't like where this conversation would be heading. Still, he reluctantly opened his mouth. "I'm pretty sure you know I don't have anyone besides you, Hanji, Mike and Nanaba that I trust or care to tell shit. So I guess you want to know about Eren."

Erwin nodded silently, only making Levi more wary. "He's telling his sister and childhood friend as soon as you give the go ahead. And then probably one other friend if he gets over his pride." Erwin raised an eyebrow at that. Levi explained quickly. "Jean, the guy who was Eren's body double in Stohess."

"Ah," Erwin nodded, understanding perfectly what Levi meant.

"But eventually he wants to tell all his friends from his trainee days. Now will you tell me what the deal is?"

Erwin was quietly contemplating for a few minutes, completely ignoring Levi's impatient prompting.

Levi was about ready to punch Erwin for his creepy behavior when he finally opened his mouth. "If Eren trusts his sister and those two friends with all three of your lives, you can tell them whenever. And I don't really have any complaints about the rest either. It would make sense to tell them since they are now a part of your squad and in charge of protecting Eren as well, besides just being his friends. But if you can wait with that, then I would appreciate it."

Levi's frown deepened. "You're planning something."

"I always am."

Levi rolled his eyes, crossing his arms irritably. "You know what I mean, you big shit."

Erwin chuckled but shook his head. "It's just an idea, not a solid plan yet. But I will let you know when it's time, like always."

"I trust you, Erwin," Levi stated slowly, "but I swear; if put Eren in danger on purpose..."

Erwin smiled. "You just said it, Levi. If you trust me, then don't worry."

Levi scoffed and looked away, still feeling uneasy over this 'idea' Erwin had but decided to not dwell on it for now.

Noticing the kids had finished their run and started stretching, Levi was about to head off to talk to them without looking back at Erwin.

However, Erwin called after him before he did more than two steps, clear warning in his voice, though Levi heard the underlying worry as well, "Just be careful, Levi."

Levi looked back over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow, echoing Erwin's earlier remark challengingly, "I always am. Do I have to remind you how you even found out at all?"

Erwin frowned a little, only more worried now with Levi's obvious confidence. "People fuck up, Levi. Do I have to remind you how I even found out at all?"

"Touché."

"Keep it in mind, Captain."

Levi rolled his eyes at the title, waving Erwin off and finally leaving to relate his observations throughout the training to his squad.

Next time, Sasha and Connie needed to be split up. Same with Ymir and Krista. Neither of them would get any better if Ymir didn't try. Ymir would have to fight with Mikasa from now on. He had a feeling Ymir could fight if she tried; just needed a reason to. And Mikasa would be a pretty good reason. Hopefully she won't disappoint Levi and prove to be good enough so Mikasa would improve, too. Otherwise he would have to be Mikasa's sparring partner himself.

Armin was rapidly getting better with how much effort he put into training, desperately trying to get on the same level as his friends. Jean, Reiner and Bertholt really just needed to fight, fight and fight. All of them had to get better if they wanted to survive and other than experience and training, there was no way to do that.

As Levi gave them pointers to correct their techniques while they stretched thoroughly, he thought that maybe Erwin was right. They needed to be careful, at least until these brats got good enough to protect Eren and their kid. Luckily they were learning quickly and improving each day but there was still a long way to go before he trusted their skills and especially them as people enough to share the responsibility for his brats' safety with them. As much as he wanted to believe in Eren's judgment, he'd rather make his own opinion of them first.

He was still contemplating this as he dismissed the group and took off towards the castle before he was rudely torn away from his thoughts.

"Captain!" a girl's voice called after him and he turned around to see Mikasa jogging towards him.

"What is it?" he asked when she was close enough for him not to have to shout.

"Sir, I wanted to ask where Eren was. He didn't say anything at breakfast and he doesn't normally miss training unless he's recovering from transformations." She looked worried, even Levi could tell that from her expression.

He looked around, noticing that everyone else had left already except for Armin, who was lingering nearby, obviously waiting for Mikasa and any news she might get from Levi. Deeming it safe to talk, he answered her honestly, "He's with Hanji. She's giving him a full checkup."

Mikasa's eyebrows drew together at that. "But he had a checkup the day before yesterday and he had no transformations since."

Levi paused, contemplating how much he could tell her, before he opted for the censored truth. "Well, there was something in his blood results that needed to be looked at properly."

Now she looked even more worried. Just great, Levi thought. "What was it? Is it bad? Is he sick?"

Levi stopped her before she could go look for her brother to make sure he was alright herself. "He's fine, it's nothing bad. He will tell you what's going on soon, so calm down."

Mikasa looked like she wanted to protest but thought better of it and instead just saluted her superior. "Thank you, sir. I'll take my leave now."

Levi just nodded and watched as she walked away with Armin, who looked like he was asking what she found out.

Being faced with how much Eren's closest friends cared about him made him feel a weird warmth in his chest but then again, remembering how skilled Mikasa was with her swords and how smart Armin was, he made a mental note to ask Eren for a heads up before he tells them. He'd rather not wake up one day to find out he had been castrated in his sleep.

A/N: I feel like this chapter is kind of awkward... ㅠ.ㅠ I tried. If you noticed any weird wording or something, don't hesitate to let me know and I'll try fixing it :)

If you know where the "plot" is heading, rise your hand.