On Monday Erwin surprised both Levi and Eren when he came up to them during breakfast and informed them their meeting would not be held in his office but rather in the meeting room. The mates exchanged glances as they watched the Commander go around and inform more and more people about the event. Eren was glad his friends already knew as it seemed it would very soon be Levi's turn to come clean.

Levi grumbled as he watched Nanaba give Erwin a concerned look and Eren snickered. The alpha turned his glare at the boy, who only shrugged and whispered so only Levi could hear, "Who was it who said it would only get worse with time and to tell them as soon as possible?"

Levi's eyes slid from Eren to pointedly stare at Mike and Nanaba, than directly at Mikasa. He stared so hard Mikasa turned her head questioningly. Levi than looked back at Eren with raised eyebrows, an unspoken question in his eyes. Are you really comparing my friends to yours?

The omega just rolled his eyes before returning to his meal. He heard Mikasa's voice asking, "What is it, sir? Why were you staring at me?"

He looked up in time to see Levi shake his head and answer with a slight smirk, "No, it's nothing. Sorry."

Mikasa gave the other alpha a suspicious look but didn't say anything.

Even after a few days it was still weird to see his mate and sister interacting normally. Eren couldn't believe how fast things normalized between them, as if they were always sort of friendly yet respectful and not at each other's throats all the time.

Eren tried to ask what happened after Mikasa stormed Levi's office and he himself was forced to leave them alone, but all Levi gave him as a reply was sarcasm. "Nothing, I just confessed my undying love for you." Ha! As if Eren would believe that; especially in that tone.

What Eren didn't know was that that was pretty much exactly what happened; only summed up into one sentence instead of a half an hour long discussion about how clumsy and cute the omega was to the two alphas. (They quickly realized they both wanted different things from the boy and thus concluded it was more productive to protect him together than fight over him constantly. The two had a great time sharing stories about Eren while the boy in question was worried sick about them.)

And so their rivalry became a thing of the past in a matter of minutes, confusing everyone the next day at the morning exercise when they greeted each other almost cheerfully instead of just ignoring the other's existence.

Eren was just finishing his food when Hanji burst in, oddly cheerful, with what looked like blood in her hair. But judging by the look of her, it either wasn't blood at all, or it wasn't her blood. A foreboding shiver ran up Eren's spine when she turned towards their table, giving a bright grin.

Eren already dreaded the moment he found out what that was about.

After breakfast, the training went by quickly; except the one moment when Eren tripped while doing some speed building exercises and fell face first into the mud. Levi almost had a heart attack but judging by the reactions Mikasa and Armin gave, he wasn't the only one. Even Jean flinched as if to run over and then he kept giving Eren concerned glances even as he teased him about being an idiot. The guy might mix with Eren like water and oil, but he was still an alpha, Levi supposed.

Then training was over and it was time for lunch, and then that was also over. Suddenly it was time to head to the meeting and Eren was nervous. He didn't know what to expect. Luckily, Levi and he planned to go there together as they shared some tea after lunch, and the alpha's calm presence assured him somewhat.

When they arrived to the meeting room, the door was slightly ajar and some rustling was coming from there. Levi pushed the door fully open only to freeze in place immediately. Eren almost ran into him.

Hanji was the only one who was currently inside and she had already been there for quite a while apparently. The big table was shoved more to the side, the chairs rearranged so that there were seven chairs on one side and two on the other. As to where the rest of the chairs were, they had no clue.

But the new arrangement was not what really caught them off guard. It was those two lonely chairs. They were loosely wrapped and tied together with what appeared to be a red, fancy ribbon and on the wall behind them there was a big banner with a bright pink, elegant cursive of "Seats of Shame" with a smaller, sloppy writing, apparently added as an afterthought, "And congrats, by the way." The empty space on the banner around the writings was entirely covered with hearts the same shade of red as the ribbon.

When they entered the room, Hanji was balancing on the chairs, trying to adjust the banner so it was hanging just right. Levi cleared his throat, annoyance clear on his face and Hanji's head snapped towards the door. She smiled widely and Eren realized this was why she was acting so suspiciously during breakfast. Probably why she came late with red in her hair, too.

"Ah, perfect timing! Can you tell me if I have this thing hanging straight?"

Instead of a response, Levi only said, "What the fuck is this shit, Shitty Foureyes?"

The beta pouted briefly, before the grin was back. "I prepared special seats for you! Do you like it?"

"Where did you even get all this stuff?" Eren squeaked.

"Oh, I made it! I found some torn up old sheets and thought of this brilliant idea. It took all night to mix the perfect colors and soak the sheets and write on them. I haven't slept at all but I think it was totally worth it, don't you agree?"

"No," Levi deadpanned, scowling and crossing his arms.

Eren only looked on, taking in all the little details. He had to admit he was kind of impressed at the work Hanji gave into it but he was way more horrified. He would have to sit there, oh god.

Now Hanji really pouted. "Meanie. Will you at least tell me whether I have it right?"

Before Levi could tell her to go eat shit and her shitty decorations while she was at it, the door opened again and in came Mikasa. She took a second to take in the absurd situation but then her hand shot up to her scarf, pulling it up over her mouth. Both mates narrowed their eyes at the obvious mirth in her eyes.

Hanji on the other hand cheered, "Mikasa, what do you think? How does it look, isn't the banner crooked?"

Mikasa shook her head. "No, it's okay. It looks perfect." And she actually gave the beta a thumbs-up with both hands. Eren felt betrayed on the most basic level.

Hanji heaved a sigh as she jumped off the chairs. "Thank you," she grinned at the female alpha before turning a disappointed eye at the boys. "See? This is how you appreciate someone's hard work."

Levi rolled his eyes and muttered several choice insults towards the women who apparently ganged up on them. Eren couldn't get a word out if he tried anymore.

The next to arrive was Armin, looking a little flushed, trying to catch his breath. "I'm not late, am I?" he still hadn't looked up.

"No, you're not even close to being last," answered Mikasa, still some suppressed laughter in her voice.

At that Armin looked up, ready to question her amusement but then his eyes caught the red. And pink. And suddenly he had trouble not bursting into laughter himself. "Wow, this looks great," he giggled despite himself.

Hanji beamed at the praise.

Closely behind Armin came Mike, who scanned the banner, snorted, and put on a look like suddenly everything made sense.

Eren frowned in confusion at the reaction but Levi only shook his head. He would bet that over the time the weirdo could smell changes around Eren and him but probably couldn't tell what was going on until Shitty Foureyes supplied a hint.

Nanaba and Jean actually came in together for some reason. The boy immediately burst into laughter before cowering at the glare Levi sent him. On the other hand, an expression of utter confusion spread over the woman's face, and not only over the peculiar choice of decoration, but the odd mix of people in the meeting as well. Eren was one thing but the other cadets? She was already surprised enough when she ran into the young alpha boy in the hallway but there were two others as well.

No one cared to explain to her yet.

It took Erwin another five minutes to arrive with a huge stack of papers but when he did he only smirked at the sight. "Thank you, Hanji, for the appropriate decoration," he said apparently not as opposed to the display as Levi or Eren hoped. "But I do hope you'll take this down before someone unwanted sees and connects the dots."

Hanji saluted with enthusiasm. "Thank you, and of course, Commander Erwin, sir," she said with a happy grin.

Erwin nodded in acknowledgment before running a quick look over the room. "Well everyone, take your seats."

Eren immediately ran towards one of the seven chairs but Erwin's hand on his shoulder stopped him. His face fell when he looked up to see the Commander's eyes twinkling with mirth. "Oh no no, Eren. You have to sit in your designated place."

The omega looked desperately back at his mate, who was ignoring him in favor of glaring at their chairs with obvious disgust.

Everyone was seated before Eren even moved, too mortified to do anything. He only sat down stiffly after Mikasa prompted them not to hold the meeting up any longer and Levi sighed in defeat, flopping into one of the chairs, plastering an expression of nonchalance on his face. As if that would fool anyone.

The omega was scared to look up as he was sure what he would see. All the evil smirks. He knew all of them were enjoying this. He wanted to be mad. He really wanted to shout at them all – granted, mostly at Hanji – but he couldn't bring himself to feel anything other than embarrassment. Embarrassment that only got worse when he felt Levi's arm land on the back of his chair as the man made himself comfortable. Eren just wanted to crawl somewhere and die.

After a minute of silence Erwin cleared his throat. "It has come to my attention that some of us present don't know what the focal point of this meeting is, so before we start, I would like to ask one of the causes to kindly explain."

Eren could feel the heat in his face only getting stronger, just as his ability to make a sound left him completely. He looked to his mate sitting by his side helplessly.

Finally Levi rolled his eyes before supplying an explanation. "We fucked. We made a baby. No abortions. End of story."

There was a beat of silence before Hanji burst out laughing hitting the table in her glee. Mikasa joined her soon after with quiet chuckles muffled by her scarf.

Armin only blushed at the word choice; Jean looked like he was too scared to laugh but was having trouble holding himself back. Mike was smirking openly while Nanaba looked like she couldn't really comprehend what Levi was trying to say and Erwin could only rub the bridge of his nose. He was about done with Levi's shit (and didn't want to admit to himself he wanted to laugh as well.)

"Okay, so what Levi is trying to say is," the Commander glared at his Captain halfheartedly and Levi only rolled his eyes at him, "that against any common sense they might have had, he and Eren mated. On top of that they were careless which resulted in Eren now being almost a month pregnant. With how bad abortion might affect Eren, we can't afford to risk it. I hope all of you realize how serious this situation is."

Halfway through Erwin's speech Eren started feeling less embarrassment, and instead shame took its place. He felt so bad, making more work and stress for everyone. Levi would let Erwin's rant in one ear and out the other as he didn't give a shit about his friend's tantrums, but sensing Eren's distress, he couldn't just let it be. "You don't have to still be so sore about it just because you're jealous some of us decided to have a life and mate someone other than our work."

Eren's eyes widened and he almost smacked Levi over his leg to reprimand him but he didn't think the others would appreciate such display.

Hanji gasped dramatically, "Low blow Levi. You should leave Erwin's non-existent love life out of this." She was grinning behind her scolding voice and the mocking didn't go unnoticed by the Commander – or Mike who snorted and looked away from Erwin.

The Commander frowned at all three of them, "This is not about me; this is about common sense. By the way all of you should be prioritizing your work over your libidos, not only me."

Levi only shrugged and looked away, his mission accomplished. Sure, now his mate wasn't too happy with him, but at least he wasn't feeling stupidly guilty anymore.

"Okay, okay," spoke Nanaba for the first time. "Why do I get the feeling I was the only one who didn't know about this?" She felt left out. She didn't like it.

Mike sniffed before supplying a reply, "Because Levi is too shy to share with us. I only realized when I came here, too."

The two off them gave a simultaneous disapproving look to Levi who only flipped them off.

"Maybe we should actually start the meeting so we at least get the basics down," Hanji proposed, still grinning.

"Yes, we should," agreed Erwin shifting his attention to the stack of papers in front of him. "So first of all, the people who are here are the only ones who know about this so far. It has to stay that way for now."

He looked everyone in the eyes and watched them all nod.

The commander continued. "Soon I plan to let Levi's squad know but not yet. There are some things I need to look up first. For now I want you to keep it to yourselves and be extra careful with Eren's protection.

"Next, according to Hanji's report, Eren is in perfect health so for now he is free to continue training normally, as long as he is careful and Levi holds his protectiveness in check."

Eren visibly relaxed at the go-ahead, glad he wouldn't be forced to miss months of training as he would have a hard time catching up with everyone later on. Levi, on the other hand, scoffed at the last remark, not knowing whether to glare at Erwin or Hanji for that one.

Erwin sighed, putting the papers down for now. "The problem is with the experiments. We have no idea what effect shifting might have on Eren right now; or if he would even be able to shift at all. But we won't know that unless we try. First we have to make a decision whether to risk it or not." He gave Eren and Levi a questioning look as this wasn't a decision he could force them into. If one of them said no, than there was nothing he could do.

Eren immediately nodded, "Of course I want to continue the experiments. I'll do my best to-"

"I refuse." Neither Erwin nor Eren could say they were surprised by the interruption.

Hanji smiled as she spoke up. "Levi, if I may." Levi gave her a look that clearly said no, she may not, but she continued anyway. "I think there is not much risk for either the baby or Eren himself. My theory is that if the shifting posed any threat, Eren's omega side would recognize it and prevent the shift from happening. Of course I don't have any proof but omegan protective instincts are very strong; you said so yourself, miscarriages are extremely rare and those instincts have a big part in that."

Levi scowled; he still wanted to protest, but Eren's hand on his knee stopped him. He looked at his mate questioningly and was met with pleading eyes. "Please, at least let me try."

Levi couldn't say no to those eyes.

He couldn't say he was happy with it though.

He gritted his teeth and after a long battle with himself finally agreed. "I will be there, though. Every single time and if I feel anything is wrong, I have the right to stop it immediately, no matter what any one of you says," he growled angrily.

Eren smiled at him squeezing his knee one last time, silently thanking him.

Erwin nodded and Hanji looked positively joyful.

"Thank you, both of you," Erwin said, moving on. "Now that this is decided, there is another issue with this. We can't just straight up continue where we left off. We will have to slow down, test the waters.

"However, we have to send regular reports to the capital. If we send the real progress reports they are going to question why we are repeating tests we did months ago already. So we either come up with a damn good reason as to why we do the experiments we do, or we come up with false reports. And if it turns out Eren can't shift at all?"

"I think this is for Hanji to decide," piped up Nanaba.

Erwin nodded. "Indeed, it will be up to her to her to come up with either of those things while keeping records of the actual experiments as well, so she should be the one to say what to do." He thought he heard Hanji mutter something along the lines of 'Wow, thanks Levi,' but he wasn't sure. "But if any of you have any ideas, they will be welcome."

Armin hesitantly raised his hand.

Erwin smiled encouragingly, "Yes, Armin?"

"Um, I don't really have any concrete idea, but if Hanji needs any help with the experiments or record keeping, since she can't ask for help from Moblit, I thought I could help instead?"

"You would?!" Hanji shouted excitedly, leaning on the table to be able to look at the boy properly. The blond could only lean away to be as far from her as possible even as he sat far away enough as it was. "Can you draw? How fast can you write? Do you think you could-"

"Great," Erwin interrupted. "You can go over the details yourselves later. Any other suggestions?"

As he was met only with silence, the blond alpha sighed. "Okay. Tel what you decided by this evening. Now, I want to talk with you about what to do in case anyone asks too many questions."

Levi groaned. This was going to be a long meeting if Erwin was going to give them a lecture about every stupid unlikely scenario imaginable. As if they were all idiots who would spill shit the first opportunity they had.

It was another two hours before Erwin told them they were free to leave and another thirty minutes before they actually left as Levi felt the need to make sure Hanji didn't leave any mess behind.

A/N: I wrote and edited this chapter sleep deprived in between lectures. I hope that's not too obvious. I'm honestly surprised I managed to finish it on time ^^;;

On another note, I made my tumblr a functional one (I made one post and it has all of 3 notes as of now, yay! :D ) and if I manage to stop regretting the decision and being anxious about it and actually use it, I will occasionally talk about what is going on in my life. Ergo, you would know if I couldn't write a chapter on time. So if you want to, you can check it out... (I have no idea how to link stuff, so here's the actual address: )